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verobatto · 4 years ago

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Unrequited Destiel...

The Legend of The Sun and The Moon

I just wanted to explain in a few words to those that are asking why Dean didn't reply to Cas or why is Jensen talking about angelical way to feel things.

I know they're a lot of post saying WE TOLD YOU THIS AND THAT, and is true. Because if you read my Destiel Chronicles from the beginning, you will see I ALWAYS CALLED THE UNREQUITED LOVE FROM CAS AND DEAN'S POV.

Some of you disbelieves this idea, but is the only way to intepretate why Destiel is the slowest slow burn ever.

No more intro, let's suffer together...

Season 4 and 5 JUST A FLIRTING GAME

Once Dean was pulled out from Hell, Castiel wanted to talk with him. He didn't wait a second. Things blew and it was messy, and even Bobby was scared that that thing would hurt his idjit. But it was just Cas, trying to speak with Dean, desperately trying to reach him in his true form. Why? Because he wanted to talk with him. He had to explain Dean's mission but also, he felt fascinated. And even more after their first meeting face to face when he was finally able to find a vessel.

And Dean just it took him just a little of his time to feel the same fascination. The almighty angel, that could see right through his soul.

But also the angel that said things like...

And we have the handprint too, such an intimate sign between these two.

Castiel showing him, honestly showing him with words and actions, his special interest on him:

"My superiors begun to question my sympathies. I was getting too close to the humans in my charge. You."

How would Dean take this here? The poor guy just decided to check out the angel, and speechless as he was at that moment, couldn't reply to it. "Is he flirting with me? Does he know how gay this sounds?"

Then Cas rebel against Heaven for Dean. Dean pushed him, the whole he pushed Cas to help him. If you rewatch season 4 Dean is constantly asking Cas to help him. Because he already know Cas was different. Because he felt Cas was his friend, his ally, and something else it was growing up in his chest.

While Cas pushed him against the wall, cut his forearm and drew the sigil, Dean's face is full of awe. He can't believe this soldier powerful angel is doing this for him.

And then... "We're making it up as we go."

Gif credit @cyxnrose

The beginning of season 5 is a very busy Cas searching for God, but also, the flirtation begins. Dean is like a cute boy flirting with his crush. The second meaning jokes, trying to figure out if Cas catch it is hilarious. But he will understand 'Cas doesn't understand that reference.'

From Dean's POV in these two season, we coul under he thinks angels are junk less.

Season 6: The profound Bond and the Longing

The romantic feeling from both sides began to flow even more when Castiel goes into the black side, and the first Destiel break up appears infron of our eyes in the middle of a very romantic scenes.

Gif credit @starlightcastiel

Gif credit @inacatastrophicmind

The last gif is out of discussion, bot men looking at each other with sad eyes, longing and as if their conversation isn't over. Dean being disappointed at Cas and Cas trying to make him see his point. Everything he does, he does it for Dean.

And now we know why it is.

Season 7: Mourning Dean and the Jealousy

Even with Showrunner Sera Gamble trying to focus Dean's morning into a Wincest subtext, we had put king Ben Edlund came to the rescue in episode 7x09.

Putting things in order, we were faced with Dean's source of depression: Castiel's death.

So, after that, when Cas really comes back, the reunion is another romantic movie. The MEMORY LOST trope.

And then... Castiel's pseudo wife...

The trope is getting better with the spicy Jealousy in Dean's eyes.

Gif credit @impalaofgrace

So he can't completely enjoy Cas is back because:

1) He doesn't remember him: so, how can be mad or anything else if Cas doesn't remember any details of their break up?

2)The guy has a wife! Okay, so, he has a wife, he easily got a wife from... Nowhere?

And then Meg comes and he is Jealous all over again!

Dean is a really mess of feelings, but in the end, when Cas recalls everything, and when I say everything, i mean Dean, because the majority of his memories was him, Dean just pulls out from his car Castiel's bloody trenchcoat and gives it him back!

So, if there was any doubts about why was Dean mourning and depressed for, we have the confirmation!

Then, let's turn the page, because now is Cas the mess... Depressed and suffering, because he almost destroy heaven, but, do you know what cares the most to Cas and when he cheers up? Yes...

When Dean says... "I RATHER JAVE YOU, CURSED OR NOT" Castiel immediately changed his face, he smiles, and kept staring at Dean with heart eyes. He was happy because Dean was forgiving him. Because since he recovered his memories, the biggest cause of it was Dean's rejection. Dean not being able to forgive him. That was the main cause of his sadness. That's why he avoided reality, he didn't have a cause, because his cause was Dean and Dean was mad at him. But now? Cas is happy again. That's why he decides to come back to battle. "I'll go with you."

Season 8 Purgatory of love and Pining!Dean

Okay, is in this season, Carver era, when Dean's POV has a turning point about Castiel and his true feelings for him and is in this season, when Dean starts pining strongly for the angel, and feeling his love is unrequited.

The cause of it, is Purgatory. The Purity about Purgatory resided in the capacity of that place to resides in abolish every human necessity to let the mind to focused in what really matters. In this case for Dean was SURVIVE AND CAS.

So we can say that what remained pure in Dean's heart was TO FIND CASTIEL.

That's why he prayed to him every night, and that's why in the moment Cas CONFESS he ran away to protect him, something in Dean changes forever.

Gif credit @agusvedder

If you pay attention to Dean's face reaction here, is the expression of the man that realizes in that precisely moment his feelings for Castiel. Even Cas stares to a side, because there was Benny watching them, and the thing he was about to say it was too intimate. I did it to protect you.

Dean, the Big Protector, is being protected by Castiel. So, in Purgatory, Dean Winchester find out his not platonic love for his best friend.

Then we had the entire season with pining!Dean and deception.

Dean's mind invented one excuse for Castiel running away from him because thinking his best friend abbandoned him, was just too painful. He does this again when Cas pushed him inside the gate and he stays in Purgatory. Dean just rewrote in his mind the whole sequence. Imagining that Cas was defeated. But the reality was, Castiel wanted to stay. And when Cas reveals this truth to the hunter, Dean's face is a mix of deep sadness and deception. He felt really rejected by his friend. He felt his unrequited romantic love for him. But he will feel it more stronger in the crypt scene, with the brainwashing and how Castiel's love for Dean broke th connection. But he left. That was a real rejection the hunter barely could handled.

Season 9: Pinning!Castiel and Human!Cas

When Cas became Human, he has to face all the intensity of human's feelings. In this season, is time for our angel to realize his romantic love for the hunter.

Castiel will mirroring Dean's pining in season 8, and he will also feel rejected by him.

Just like Dean in season 8, Castiel will feel his romantic love is unrequited, after Dean kicked him out from the bunker, being this the parallel to the crypt scene.

But then Cain's mark comes, and everything gets worst.

Season 10: Castiel is Dean's Colette

The whole Cain's mark was the visual sign of the Destiel handprint (profound bond) attempt of break.

With Cain and Dean going through a perfect parallelism in which Crowley was placed in the friend's spot, Sam in the brother's spot and Castiel in Colette's spot. Blatant and canon exposure of what Cas means for Dean.

But now, is time for Dean, after came back for being a demon, to feel unrequited again. And this is a detail that could be not seen, but it caught my attention.

CASTIEL: At least temporarily. It’s a long story. Crowley, stolen grace. There’s a female outside in the car.

This is what Castiel says when he goes into Dean's room and after Dean praises him...

Gif credit @inacatastrophicmind

Dean had been with Crowley when he was a demon this whole time, so Cas was heartbroken. Even this season opens with a very depressed Castiel in the bed just let himself die because Dean was gone. So, that's why Cas says this.

So you went with Crowley, i have a female in my car. See? I don't need you.

He was Jealous, and now Dean gets Jealous, but he also gets the sensation again of his love for Castiel is unrequited.

The episode that followed this one, Dean goes into a blind date with random chick he took from a date app (very ooc, but he did it because he had his heart broken and because he thought CAS had cheated on him while he was gone as a demon.)

Season 11: Dean resist a forced bond with Amara because he's bonded with Castiel

Season 11 is a blatant exposure of Dean's feelings for Castiel. There a lot of hints throughout the season telling us Dean is in love, just like in season 9 there was hints of this with Castiel. (Again, mirroring each other).

Dean resisted Amara because of his love for Castiel. But Cas is oblivious about this.

When Castiel is possesed by Lucifer, Dean switch's into desperate mode. If he was worried about his attraction for Amara, now the only thing he cares was Castiel, exposing again WHO DEAN IS IN LOVE WITH.

But when Dean wanted to rescue Castiel, and Cas didn't want to come back to him, it hurt him worst. Again, just like in season 8, Dean can't handle Cas doesn't want to come back with him (first from Purgatory and now from being possesed). Again Dean feels rejected and unrequited. That's why when Cas is back and the end of the world is close... Dean says these words...

"You're our brother, Cas. I want you to know that."

And Cas' face...

Gif credit @mad-as-a-box-of-frogs

That's a man with the heart broken, mostly because we know now he was in love with Dean CANON FACT! (sobbing louder).

Season 12 and the confusing I LOVE YOU

This season was full of married couple situations, but mostly, we had Castiel's I Love You in the barn, before "dying".

At first Dean thinks the angel was saying this as goodbye, expressing into words his feelings for the Winchesters. Because as and angel, maybe Cas was feeling he has to protect them all. But then he says this singular I Love You to Dean, and the guy doesn't know how to take it. It was a platonic ILY? A non platonic ILY? Does angels feel the same like us? Does he sees me as a brother? Dean was truly a mess, so he decides to respond to that with a Mixtape.

But, when Castiel disappears for days, he sinks again into that sensation of unrequited romantic love.

Then Cas comes back, and then he goes away again, and then he dies.

Season 13: The reunion and the meaning of Castiel coming back

Dean's mourning for Cas can't be interpreted otherwise than LOSING THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE.

And the longing for his angel plus some Nougat powers, brought him back.

The thing is, Dean didn't expr as his feeling for Castiel and when the angel asked him that he needed to believed that he came back for a reason, Dean goes...

Gif credit @inacatastrophicmind

This sound like if he was recruiting Cas for war. And Cas' took it as that. So he came back to soldier angel mode. Because, okay, if Dean and Sam needed him to fight, he will fight.

Unrequited Love again.

Season 14 Healing Dean and the prelude of the break up

Post-possesed Dean is a follow up of self knowledge and self growing. He was healing the whole season.

But in episode 14x04 we heard Dean being Jealous or hurt because Castiel didn't go to rescue him and then because he goes into hunts with Jack. Unrequited love again.

Did Cas miss me as I missed him?

Is the first time Dean will actually name the word LOVE talking with the kid.

And then Mary dies and everything is a mess.

Dean yells YOU ARE DEAD TO ME, and how sad that sounds now that the angel had died again. Saving his life.

Dark clouda over our ship...

Season 15: And Maybe is not too late...

In season 15 we lived the angst of the Destiel break up, but then their reunion in Purgatory was beautiful.

Again, facing the fact that he could lost Cas one more time, Dean went down on his knees and prayed to him, and because he was in Purgatory, his heart and mind were released from any distraction, and he was plenty focused in the love he feels for his angel.

He cried, and begged for him to come back.

And he found him, following his heart, the profound bond he has with Castiel.

But, when he was about to say something that he hadn't said in the prayer, Castiel cut him off. So... Again the hunter had to swallow his words and the unrequited love punch him again.

Then... Castiel's romantic love confession took Dean by surprise, because, now that you read all the clues i gave you and i convinced you that Dean and Cas thought their love were unrequited, you will understand Dean's reaction.

Gif credit @spnsmile

Dean didn't can't believe Cas had loved him the way he does this whole time and now, he will lose him again. Is too much pain he can't handle.

For a lot of reasons we had analyzed so many times (Dean's arc has to have a closure expressing his ILY to the angel, the Empty plot is not ended, Etc) Is logical to think Cas will come back in the last episode, and this slow burn story will end with them being together, finally.

To Conclude:

The legend of the Sun and the Moon talks about two lovers that can't be reunited but they love each other deeply.

Is accurate with Destiel, because these two men had always being pining for each other but never be able to be together as they wish.

Castiel always thinking Dean doesn't reciprocate his romantic feeling for him and Dean thinking because Cas is an angel, he doesn't love him back romantically.

The Sacred Oath always playing in Castiel's POV as an impediment too and Dean's love clocked in shame too.

The deal with the Empty had been settled as we suspected in season 14, as a romantic plot. So, it has to have a closure.

These thoughts are based on the volumes from my assay "The Destiel Chronicles", currently in it's 87th volume.

See you soon! Have faith!

Destiel Is Forever!

Tagging @gneisscastiel @emblue-sparks @magnificent-winged-beast @weird-dorky-little-d @michyribeiro @maleansu @legendary-destiel @a-bit-of-influence @thatwitchydestielfan @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover @lykanyouko @evvvissticante @savannadarkbaby @dea-stiel @mybonsai1976 @anarchiana @angelwithashotgunandtrenchcoat @trashblackrainbow @mishtho @dancingtuesdaymorning @feathered-cas @bre95611 @zoerayne2426 @justmeand-myinsight @that-one-fandom-chick @proccastinate @studio-hatter @pepevons @poorreputation @mrsaquaman187 @dizzypinwheel @jawnlockwinchester @dwstiel @ladygon @shippsblog @la-random-fangirl @lets-try-this-again-please @mychemicalobsession514 @destiel-shipper-11

@asphodelesauvage @2musiclover2

Buenos Aires November 17th 2020 8:33 PM

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lovemarriagespecialist01-blog · 6 years ago

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gaynoodled · 7 years ago

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Fangs & Seraph Blades

Simon was hanging out at the institute, waiting for Clary to be finished with her mission, and bugging Alec to the point of tears (of laughter in Simon’s eyes and of annoyance in Alec’s eyes). The two of them had been getting closer but Alec had reached his tolerance of people for that week and Simon was pushing it a little too far.

“Hey, Simon, why don’t you and I go train for a little bit?” Jace called noticing Alec had stopped making sassy comments and became very quiet and still.

“Yeah, okay. That sounds cool.” Simon smiled and walked off toward the training room.

“Thank you.” Alec said quietly.

“Go take a nap, or lay in your room for the rest of the day, you’re so done, dude.” Jace said.

Alec nodded and walked away, left Jace to deal with Simon. Jace didn’t mind too much, he actually rather enjoyed being around Simon. It was weird, for everything he didn’t like about Simon there were two things that he did like. It didn’t really make sense to Jace, but at the moment it didn’t matter.

“What are we going to do today?” Simon asked. “And not that I don’t love training with you but usually Alec, Clary and I train.”

“It’s good to train with other people so you don’t get too comfortable,” Jace told him. “Plus, you were about to be killed back there.”

“What?” Simon frowned, he didn’t recall any danger.

“You were on the verge of making Alec snap. If he snapped and got angry you’d be dead because he killed you. He snapped and cried, you’d be dead because Magnus and I would kill you.”

“Alec wasn’t going to cry. What are you talking about?” Simon was sure Jace was joking with him.

“Listen, I’m going to tell you some things about Alec, that neither you or Clary seem to understand,” Jace said as he grabbed his Seraph Blade. “Alec doesn’t like people.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” Simon’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

“No, you haven’t,” Jace replied, then went to strike the glowing blade. “people drain Alec. To the point he just shuts down. Alec has been in meetings all week and is dealing with a new group of Shadowhunters who have been reassigned to the New York Institute. He riched the end of his rope two days ago, and just now, you were tying the noose.”

“But, we’re friends.” Simon looked confused so Jace stopped “attacking” him with the Sareph Blade and grabbed his shoulders.

“Alec and I are Parabati and even I get too much for him when he’s this done,” Jace told Simon. “it honestly has nothing to do with you. He can’t handle anyone right now, probably not even Magnus.”

“But-”

“Alec has been like this since we were kids.” Jace sighed. “But back then, he didn’t really know how to fix it or why he was feeling like that, so he would just get more and more withdrawn.”

“Does he have social anxiety?” Simon asked suddenly.

It was Jace’s turn to be confused. “What?”

“You know him best, does he... I don’t know, does he dread parties and meetings to the point he could have a panic attack? Has he ever had a panic attack?”

“Simon, what the fuck?” Jace was offended that this Vampire was insinuating that Alec, his Parabati was broken. “How dare you! Alec is the strongest, most capable-”

“Jace, it’s not a bad thing.” Simon quickly and then realized he is talking to Jace, who is a Shadowhunter and probably doesn't know what Social Anxiety is. “It’s nothing to be ashamed about, it doesn’t mean anything is wrong with him, it just means we have to assist him in social situations, like parties, and meetings. That way he doesn’t get to this low point.”

“Oh...”

“So let me ask you this, has he had panic attacks in the past?” Simon asked.

“...I think so.” Jace said softly. “When we were kids.”

“What happened?”

“We shared a room, and I heard him crying one night. I thought he had a nightmare like I used to have, but when I turned on the light he was... he was freaking out. It was like he couldn’t breathe, but he was breathing. It scared me because I couldn't feel his pain, but I knew something was wrong.” Jace looked away from Simon, and for a brief moment, he felt guilty for telling him Alec and his secret.

“What did you do? After that I mean?” Simon asked. “How did you make it better?”

“I didn’t... I just held him until he passed out.” Jace sighed and looked up to Simon expecting to see anger or pitty on his face.

Simon smiled and put a hand on Jace’s shoulder. “That’s perfect.”

“What?”

“That’s all you could do in that situation,” Simon told him. “Trust me, I’ve had my fair share of panic attacks in the past, and Clary has done the same thing you did.”

“Oh.” Jace looked at Simon’s face and for a moment was overwhelmed by him.

Simon, former Mundane and newly changed Vampire, was so caring, and positive. He cared for Clary and Izzy. He jumped into the fight even when he didn’t know what he was doing. He always had a stupid joke ready that seemed to relieve some of the tension in the room, even when everyone groaned because of how stupid the joke was. Simon, the mundane they didn’t protect well enough, the Vampire who had worried about drinking too much of Jace’s blood, cared about Alec. He cared enough about Alec to want to figure out what was going on with Alec and fix it.

Jace’s heart swelled as he looked at Simon and saw how much he cared. He reminded Jace of Alec, the way he cared so deeply and so fiercely. But the difference between Simon and Alec was what heart him the most. Simon told people he cared about them, he wasn’t scared to show emotions or feelings, he wasn’t afraid to show he wasn’t a robot. Alec was. Alec was scared of rejection and terrified of anyone seeing the depth of who he was. Yet somehow Alec had found Magnus and was changing for the better, and Simon wanted to help Alec. He wanted to do what Magnus was doing and what Jace never did. And for that alone Simon was a hero to Jace.

In a moment of complete courage and fear Jace reached forward and grabbed Simon’s face. It wasn’t until after their lips had met that Jace realized what he was doing. He went to pull away, but Simon had wrapped his arms around Jace and was holding him gently as they kissed.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Simon said once he realized Jace was pulling away. “I thought you-”

“No! I mean... yes I did, I do... But I-” Jace lost his words as Simon removed his hands from Jace’s waist. “Ummm...”

“I get it,” Simon smiled and nodded. “It’s okay.”

“No! No, no, no.” Jace grabbed Simons hand in a rush. “I- umm.. you’re gay?”

Simon chuckled and shook his head, “No.”

“Oh... I’m sorry.” Jace said as he started to retreat toward’s his room. “I... sorry.”

Jace started sprinting down the hall and didn’t turn around when Simon cried “Wait, Jace!”

Somehow, instead of ending up in his own room he ended up in Alec’s room. Alec was laying on the floor with his feet on his bed, and a book above his head.

“Jace?” Alec was surprised to see his brother burst into his room.

“Alec, sorry,” Jace said as he went to lay on Alec’s bed. “I just... I’ll leave in a minute.”

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Alec asked as he stood from the floor and sat on the side of the bed. “What happened?”

“I... I didn’t mean to.” Jace was almost in tears.

“You didn’t mean to do what?” Alec asked as he pulled Jave closer to him and wiped his brother’s eyes. “Come on, I’m not going to judge you, Jace.”

“I kissed Simon.” Jace told his Parabati in a rushed whisper.

“Okay.”

“Okay!?” Jace yelled and at up. “Not okay!”

“Why? What it bad?” Alec questioned. “Fangs?”

“No, it was nice actually.” Jace sighed. “He’s not gay.”

“Are you?”

“No!” Jace replied quick.

“Okay, well neither is Simon, or Magnus, or Izzy, or Clary, or...” Alec left his list there and chuckled. “there are too many of us gays.”

“What are you talking about? You just said all those people aren’t gay!” Jace was getting frustrated.

Alec nodded solemnly, “No, sadly, I’m the only gay, but Magnus is bi, Raphael is ace, Izzy and Clary are... something, and Simon is pan.”

“What?”

Alec sighed and let out a breathy laughing, “Jace, we are all fucking queer.”

“So Simon-”

“Probably enjoyed the kiss, yes.” Alec finished Jace’s sentence.

“Oh.” Jace smiled slightly.

“Is there anything else I can do for you?” Alec smiled down at Jace and ran his fingers through Jace’s hair like he used to do when they were kids and Jace would have a nightmare.

“Are you... umm...”

“Gay? Yes.” Alec chuckled.

“No, I knew that.” Jace punched Alec’s arm lightly. “Do you have social anxiety?”

“Oh...” Alec stilled. “Magnus seems to think I have anxiety and depression... but, I think he’s projecting his issues onto me.”

“Simon thinks you do.” Jace told him softly. “Can I help you? Is there something I can do, to make it... I don’t know, better?”

“Magnus thinks it would help if I had a steady constant with me while doing things like going to parties or meetings. So stay with me?” Alec shrugged. “Keep me grounded? Be a distraction?”

“I can do that.” Jace nodded. “Will you tell me when you start to feel, umm... anxious?”

Alec nodded. “I can do that.”

“I can help too, you know that right?” Simon asked, standing in the doorway of Alec’s room. “I’m sorry about earlier. If I’d known I wouldn't have... done all that.”

“It’s fine, really.” Alec smiled. “I think you and Jace should talk, I’m going to go get some coffee.”

Jace and Simon were silent for a while, not really sure what to say to each other.

“I-” Simon started to speak but Alec came back.

“Don’t do anything on my bed.” Alec warned then ducked when a pillow came flying at his head.

#jimon #jace lightwood #simon lewis #alec lightwood #shadow gays #shadowhunters #parabati #kissing #gay #malec

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comedytv4-blog · 6 years ago

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The Truth of Truth Shows

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The Idea of reality reveals

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Same As the title itself says this kind of reveals either about Makeover of a individual's appearance or earn a renovation of your previous residence.

This One is your most critical subgenre of reality TV in which the boy meets girl and the crowd adhere to understand'will they or will not they' facet of this narrative.

Beginning with Candid Camera, this is perhaps the longest-running fact subgenre. It's about capturing the responses of innocent individuals put in unexpected conditions. This subgenre also covers exhibits that rely on content that is submitted.

The Many frequent kinds of the series in this subgenre are apps that explore paranormal happenings. The subgenre also encircles shows that focus on searching famous mythical animals.

• Traveling or Aspirational

Since Most audiences can not afford to go to the faraway lands to get a holiday, a lot people settle on appreciating these destinations by means of this kind of travel shows by which a individual, group or couple visit a trip and movie all their adventures for your audiences.

Apart from these Shows star talk shows or contests like ability search, experience, game displays or fear-based displays will also be mentionable.

Truth Shows in India

The First reality show of any sort on Indian TV was a quiz competition Titled- Bournvita Quiz Contest. It was hosted by the famed Derek O'Brien at the calendar year 1972. But it featured a live show in a variety of cities then proceeded air for a radio series. From the year 1992, it became the very first reality series to be showcased on ZEE TV and Indian Television. Then came"Sansui Antakshari" from the calendar year 1993 that was hosted by Annu Kapoor on ZEE TV also It became the first Indian singing fact series that conducted till 2006. Came in various variations of Star One and SAB TV with the exact same host following 2006. ZEE TV made its title to lead to home-grown reality reveals rather adapting global reality shows on Indian TV. Singing reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa arrived in the calendar year 1995 hosted by the famed singer of Bollywood Sonu Nigam and the dance fact show that changed the entire situation of dance reveals Dance India Dance arrived in the year 2009.

Sony Entertainment Television launched India's first dance reality series titled- Boogie Woogie that it was produced by Naved Jaffrey from the calendar year 1996 and hosted and hosted by Javed Jaffrey. It was as a direct hit for its channel. From the year 2000, Star Plus aired"Kaun Banega Crorepati" with Amitabh Bachchan (a version of"Who wishes to be a millionaire") that went on to become India's favorite and most watched reality series. To provide rivalry ZEE TV launched a different game series titled- Sawal Dus Crore Ka and Sony TV launched Jeeto Chappar Phhad Ke however KBC's popularity did not dissuade; which makes it the most prosperous reality series in Indian tv. Sony India came up with Indian Idol in 2004 that was an adaptation to the favorite global reality series"American Idol". Following its success with grown-ups, they arrived with children participants at the series which helped the series to acquire love by all.

The Manufacturing group of Endemol India came up with hot reality series Big Brother's Indian variant of Bigg Boss and Stress Factor on Sony TV at 2006. It turned into India's hottest international accommodated show after KBC. It had been transferred to Colors TV which makes it India's most viewed Hindi Television owing to its backing on Bigg Boss, Fear Factor competing with the likes of Star Plus and ZEE TV.

Next revolution reality reveals In India came using a version of other famous foreign shows such as The Voice India and So You Think You Can Dance on &TV. These shows altered the notion of dancing and singing displays on Indian Television. Other hot reality shows based on overseas shows are similar to MTV Roadies, India's Got Talent etc..

The real reality of reality reveals

It is Generally admitted that reality TV is actually kind of dreadful. What was considered revolutionary in the entertainment world, has become accidental comedies starring the many dreadful and embarrassing individuals conceivable. Now real is the very last thing which strikes you about reality displays. When it's a dance series where lesser-known confronts of telly world vie to get the best princess label or the Bigg Boss's home where racial slurs and catfights are part of the procedure to select winners, goes into introducing a reality series as actual. There's a great majority of reality tv shows which aren't 100 percent genuine, since there's a high amount of manipulation so as to attain sustained audience focus.

Outcomes are actually reveals mostly Controlled by producers/directors. They would like to keep viewers feel it's arbitrary and inconsistent, to communicate that the majority of the time a candidate is advised exactly what to do, the way to do. They're told to act in certain ways. And at the end nobody will reveal you everything, things will get edited and aired series might be a long ways from real reality. Reality Television is a genre of an specific description of the displays themselves. Producer's bogus shots and perhaps even re-stage dramatic moments which occurred when the cameras were not rollingout pretty much whatever is in fact plotted and planned out just like the ordinary scripted series. The majority of the reality shows still maintain a simple amount of fact, nevertheless, portraying events which did occur, even if they are acted again to the cameras. These shows feature individuals living their own lives and doing their jobs, even if a great deal was smoothed from the daily routine so as to edit out the boring bits.

The Majority of the talent Search, singing, dance in reveals based on overall knowledge such as"Kaun Banega Crorepati" participants needed to go through a very long battle. The majority of the time unemployment is completely rigged and the winner becomes determined according to their capability of maintaining TRP's high. The majority of the contestants of this reality shows, particularly the winners, may get frustrated shortly after their triumph, the focus shifts to the winner of the following season. The limelight being removed from them does not agree with lots of young men and women. Some contestants may get frustrated because they harbour false hopes that once they win the competition, their potential is place once and for all.

Effect of reality shows on society

New Boys & girls that are becoming reality TV star celebrities doesn't triumph on gift but utilize melodrama to at all times stay in the news. Among the worst consequences of the actions is on teenagers who attempt to emulate their behavior. Each of the stunts which are finished on such TV shows under coordinated requirements are duplicated by the folks in fact and leading to death. A few of the shows where contestants participate to win prizes reveal them in bad light as they utilize meanness and greed to outdo each other. The unwanted traits can manifest themselves from the crowds and make behavioural issues. Liberal doses of abuses are hurled on the displays since the directors believe the an increasing number of people will observe them. It's a massive mistake because poor words are captured by teenagers and children affecting their character in addition to behavior. Although children' reality shows such as Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs, Sabse Bada Kalakaar, Junior Masterchef India and lots of other displays draw the audiences and benefits great evaluations, it's not a good idea to place children under stressful circumstances in the first years of the lives! Little children are made to take part in fact shows, they've wrenched from all ordinary activities and chucked into a single-minded dedication to lending their voices to all these reality shows. They're compelled to take for extended hours, sometimes in hot sexy non-air conditioned rooms. Parents also pressurise their kids to shine on reality displays, little children become victims of a system which fosters and promotes unrealistic ambitions.

Some facts shows reveal participants carrying Intense dangers and placing themselves bizarre or harmful situations. Since younger kids mainly learn through imitation, Watching such programs can place them in danger of bodily harm. A Indicated that kids who watched high-risk TV programmes improved Their own self-reported risk-taking behaviour more than Children who were subjected to low-risk TV or saw less TV. Truth Shows which are focussed on several folks and their daily lives are a Significant annoyance and parents will need to draw a line in regards to kids Seeing these shows. They depict everything in an exaggerated fashion Which isn't in any way a reflection of actual life. To our kids. Reality gift shows, on the other hand, make parents Feel their own kids are insufficient.

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dangerouslyfunny-blog · 6 years ago

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The Truth of Truth Shows

youtube

comedy tv

The Idea of reality reveals

comedy tv

Different Sort of reality reveals

Some Kinds of reality shows are written below:

• Documentaries or Documentary Collection

• Contest or Elimination

Same As the title itself says this kind of reveals either about Makeover of a individual's appearance or earn a renovation of your previous residence.

This One is your most critical subgenre of reality TV in which the boy meets girl and the crowd adhere to understand'will they or will not they' facet of this narrative.

The Many frequent kinds of the series in this subgenre are apps that explore paranormal happenings. The subgenre also encircles shows that focus on searching famous mythical animals.

• Traveling or Aspirational

Apart from these Shows star talk shows or contests like ability search, experience, game displays or fear-based displays will also be mentionable.

Truth Shows in India

The real reality of reality reveals

Effect of reality shows on society

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livcosmos · 3 years ago

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Better Together BOOKTALK

Hello hello, I have been looking forward to this booktalk since… well since I finished “Again but Better” and I can’t believe we are finally here! Before I get into the spoilery details I just want to say a few things beforehand, I really enjoyed reading “Better Together”, I had a great time and it was really good. Now the thing is “Again but Better” hit me really really hard and it is one of my favourite books of all time, like that story was just a masterpiece and it’s hard for any book I read, to be honest , to get anywhere near that. As I loved ABB so much I of course had ... lets not say expectations but high hopes, and even though as I said I loved it and it was great… it just didn’t hit the way ABB did and I guess that made me little upset. But that’s just me being silly, it doesn’t has anything to do with the book I was just looking forward to the same feelings I got from ABB and I should have know that that wasn’t going to happen because it’s a totally different story. And that’s totally ok, it’s normal and I should have seen it coming! When I got half way through the book I was unsure if I was going to write this booktalk because the first half didn’t got to me but than things totally changed in the second half (I will say which particular part in the spoiler section) so now we are here after all! I just could not not do it, it would have been a shame! But enough with the nonsense let’s get into the fun stuff!!!

SPOILER WARNING

OK let’s start with the beginning shall we? So I immediately loved Siri, I don’t know what it was about her but I really liked her. Maybe because of the Ballet? I am such a nerd for dancing! Anyhow I could really empathise with her and ahh I felt so so bad for her injury and that she was so lost and I don’t know, I felt that we had a lot in common, I could really relate to her feelings. And oh boy do I need/ want to go to that Rediscover yourself retreat, like were can I sign up for that?

At first I thought it was really funny how Siri was not swearing and replacing the sewear words but I have to honest at some point it got a little annoying like just say it girl! And I do that too ( not with the words though )because I don’t like swearing and I try to avoid the bad words but thanks to Siri I realised how annoying it most be for everyone! One of my first notes I took while reading is “ I’m like Siri , I would like to be more like Jamie but I am as anxious and wired like Siri”, now that is true and please keep that quote in mind because we will have to come back to it. I just mentioned it now so that I work my way up through the notes chronologically so that I don’t get lost in all of it!

Ok I thing we might have to do a little jumping after all, so I completely lost it at the ‘Wreaking Ball’ reference from “Again but Better”, like I was so happy and ahhh I love Christine for bringing that in. I live for references about the things I love in books and it just made me so happy. Now at that point I wasn’t prepared for what was about to come… when Pilot and Shane made an actual appearance I lost it even more, I genuinely started crying the moment I read ‘Mr. Penn” like OMG!!! I got so emotional, seeing them again just made everything a 1000 times better. And that was actually the scene I was talking about earlier, the scene that turned on the switch and made me love the book. From that point on it just kept getting better and better! And I can’t say how happy it made me and how thankful I am that Christine let Shane and Pilot make an appearance!!!

Now back to the beginning or better say the first half of the book, I really loved that snow globe idea, as messed up as it is, like Siri I also think it has something beautiful behind it. And now even though I planed on saying that at the end I think I going to but it out there now, as I already messed up the chronology. So the quote from earlier wehere I said I related more to Siri because of the anxious thing... now right at the end of the book, at the Parent Trap reveal fight I realised that even though I do relate to Siri on that, in the end I am actually more like Jamie! It was really wired but also interesting at the same time to see that, can I call it evolution? I was more than convinced that Siri and I are so much alike but than right at the end I realised that it so not true! I saw so much more of me in Jamie, as I got to know her better, as she revealed more about herself. I really loved having that realisation and I think that it is one of the things I liked best about this book, that in a wired way I got to discover things about myself. And as Jamie has to do it too, I also need to work on that messed up stuff or characters have in common!

But enough about me, back to the story! Terry,… in my head she looked just like Janice from ‘Friends’, because she played the counselor in the Parent Trap and I could’t get her image out of my head every time Terry was around! But to be honest I didn’t mind it at all I was kind of funny actually. Oh an if we are at it her fiancée? Javed, his name sounds so familiar and, Zarar said that Javed used to be in a band with Pilot, now I hate it when I don’t remember details and I so have to check through all of ABB to see where exactly he was mentioned because I love those connections!

Speaking of Zarar I really liked him he was so sweet and I loved how he kept on trying with Jamie even though she pushed him away all the time! And of course may his sense of styling be here with this sentence appreciated, as well as Jamie’s cause I loved here’s too! I’m all in for the wired not mainstream fashion! OH oh and also Dwan’s style, I almost forgot to mention it, we also have to appreciate her fashion sense, I love how she dresses in one colour only and it all matches so well!!!

Before I go into the happy haunting… Timothée Chalamet?!!!! Loved it!!! Such a cool idea!!!

The happy haunting! I loved that it was glitter that set the whole thing off because glitter is so cool and I love glitter!!! I also loved how it was their Grandparents doing, that they ran into each other at the retreat, that they set all of that up!!! I also loved how they gifted them that sister road trip it was the sweetest thing ever!!! And I really really liked Gramps, she was so funny! Back to the switching, so I was so confused at first because I thought they were switched right after the glitter bomb exploded, I expected they would switch ’souls’ like in "Freaky Friday", but I am glad it was not like that, I really liked the idea of the projection. In general I really liked the facht that even though it was inspired from “The Parent Trap” and “Freaky Friday”, it wasn’t like any of them, that it was it's own separate story.

Omg I also loved how insane Jamie acted around Mara while they were switched, I loved how she freaked her out it was so funny! Speaking of Mara, I did not like her at all!!! She is so selfish and OMG I was so mad, she is really messed up. And what made me really angry was that at the revealing fight, Grier apologised to Siri for everything but she did not, she was still keeping up her messed up idea!!! Now I appreciate her wanting to be better at the end but I still don’t trust her!

But God did I enjoy the revealing part! I had so much fun reading that part, even though they all started to fight and everything, I was hyped for the revealing part since the beginning and it was really great, it didn't disappoint!

Oh and I loved the idea of writing this letters in order to move on! I love love love letters! AHHHH I also loved how Jamie organised that internship for Siri and that they both found their path in the end! I loved Jamie’s performance at the end and how everyone was there to support her, I got really emotional. Oh and I forgot to mention how much I loved the part wehere Jamie came to set things right with Zarar, with al those peppers that was adorable!!!

Now all in all I really enjoyed it, it was funny and sweet and I really liked it even though it was a little rusty in the beginning.

And I think that’s it! Thank you so much for reading and I hope to see you next time! Have a nice day and keep reading!!!

#reading #book #booktube #bookworm #book review #again but better #christine riccio #polandbananasbooks #book talk #better together

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jorality · 3 years ago

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I know when it comes to Disney movies people tend to do this thing where they simultaneously overanalyze, generalize, and just...not actually think critically about the situations disney characters are in. So -cracks knuckles- let's do some compare and contrast.

Let's discuss Mother Gothel as she appears in Disney's Tangled because frankly Disney Gothel and original Brothers Grimm Gothel are different yet similar beasts, both are just awful.

In Tangled and the animated spin off we get the info right away that Gothel is an absolute narcissist. Let's list everything she's ever done wrong in the Tangled canon.

Hoard a source of healing magic for herself

Kidnap a baby and "raise" her as her own for the sole purpose of exploiting the baby's magic power for herself

Abandoned her biological child

Continuously belittled and insulted the kidnapped child

Lied about the world to keep kidnapped child from escaping

Emotionally manipulated kidnapped child and used 'I said so' logic to keep kidnapped child in line

Stabbed a man

All this because she wanted to be beautiful forever. Gothel and Rapunzel's entire relationship was parasitic. Gothel has no redeeming qualities, she is one of the few villians that remains irredeemable and it's great, people like her deserve to turn to dust.

Gothel is a selfish bitch, comparing her and Abuela Alma is already a big mistake. Alma is a war refugee who in the grand scheme of things is trying to help her community at the cost of her family's mental health. Personally I really want Encanto to at least get a spin-off series, there's no way that's not on the table, but I'll just work with what I've got. So let's talk about what Alma has done wrong.

Place responsibility onto her gifted offspring for the benefits of others. Thus putting too much unspoken pressure on her gifted offspring

Neglects the family members who either don't have a gift or have a gift that seemingly has no benefit

In a way because of her unresolved trauma which she internalized Alma did this thing where as someone with PTSD she is stuck reliving the events that changed her. Losing Pedro absolutely destroyed her her pain is what created the encanto, the safe haven that kept her and the other refugees safe from the war and isolated them. Alma is surrounded by people who jave all suffered alongside her. They all had to rebuild from scratch and this makes survival Alma's #1 priority. When you are in survival mode, you are not focusing on how people are being emotionally cared for, you are making sure they have the essentials. Food, clothing shelter. Once that is taken care of they had to focus on infrastructure, the economy, and education. Alma is so focused on making sure the gifts are being used to make the villagers' lives easier and keep the village together that her family takes a back burner. She raised her kids to be civil servants and had their kids be civil servants. Alma believes she's doing what's best for the village and the family, she's making sure they all have a place to call home.

Now here is the key difference between Gothel and Alma. Alma apologizes after realizing how her being stuck in survival mode has inadvertently caused emotional damage to her offspring. Alma's actions are not done to be malicious, it is a consequence of not having dealt with her trauma and all the pressure she has put on herself and her family to keep the village running.

Gothel has absolutely no remorse for her actions. She doubles down on how she treats Rapunzel. Before the illusion of Gothel being Rapuzel's mother is shattered Rapunzel puts up with being insulted on the basis of her looks and her intellect. Tgen when the truth does come out Gothel doesn't make an effort to return Rapunzel to her parents, she quite literally puts Rapunzel in chains and is prepared to drag her to another location.

Gothel is absolutely an example of gaslighting. Anuela Alma doesn't use any tactics of gaslighting, she does put pressure on her family, but that's not necessarily trauma inducing, they just have poor communication skills and honestly I don't think the family is truly close enough to actually understand each other. I mean Mirabel spends most of the movie getting to know the deeper parts of her family.

TLDR; Gothel is an absolute villian, Abuela is trying to keep people alive

Again really great analysis by niquemarina. Here's the link.

#long lecture #tangled #encanto

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orbemnews · 4 years ago

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Newer Planes Are Providing Airlines a Trove of Useful Data This article is part of our new series, Currents, which examines how rapid advances in technology are transforming our lives. With few flights and even fewer passengers, the coronavirus pandemic unleashed a wave of challenges for airlines. Some have gone out of business and others are barely surviving as global passenger volume hovers at around 50 percent of 2019 levels. Without passengers to fill them, airlines have been retiring their older aircraft faster than normal. The more than 1,400 planes airplanes parked in 2020 that might not return to service is more than twice as many aircraft as would customarily be retired in a single year, according to a 10-year aviation forecast by the business consulting firm, Oliver Wyman. The result will a more modern fleet, the report states. In a glass-is-half-full observation, David Marty, head of digital solutions marketing at Airbus, noted that planes remaining in airlines’ fleets are younger, more fuel-efficient aircraft, with lower carbon dioxide emissions. New engine technology and lighter structures and components let the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350 burn 20 to 25 percent less fuel than the planes they replace, according to the manufacturers. The other significant change is digital. Each new generation of aircraft can collect more data with sensors and circuitry that — like a giant Fitbit — tracks the airplane’s health from nose to tail. On any particular flight, for example, an airline can calculate how much carbon it is emitting and what plane components may need attention on arrival. As the percentage of modern aircraft in airline fleets increases, the amount of data available will increase as well. And the airplane is just one contributor to the growing flow of information. “The world is clearly changing and airplanes are definitely providing more and more information,” said Vincent Capezzuto, chief technology officer for Aireon, an aircraft tracking and surveillance company. New broadcast tracking signals are flight specific but can also contribute information useful for air navigation services and airport arrival planning to help manage the flow of traffic in the air and at airports. In one novel use, Aireon has been hired by the F.A.A. to monitor all Boeing 737 Max flights to capture any anomalies for analysis. This is in response to the nearly two-year grounding of the Max following two deadly crashes. The Max returned to service at the end of 2020. (Some of the planes were grounded again this month because of a potential electrical problem.) To show how fast change has come, Kevin Michaels, the managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, an aerospace consultancy, points to the newest Airbus airliner, the A350. It typically records 800 megabytes of data per flight. The Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger airliner, which began operation in 2007, can provide only half of that. “There’s a lot more data available and better algorithms,” Mr. Michaels said. At Delta Air Lines, new technology has led the airline to create apps pilots use on a tablet like Flight Weather Viewer to avoid flying through turbulence. It was first launched in 2016 and updated over the years as new capabilities became available. Its Flight Family Communication app, started in 2018, lets all employees working on a specific flight communicate among themselves, from ground crews to flight crews. John Laughter, the airline’s chief of operations, says one of the best uses of the new data is predicting when parts will fail so maintenance can be done proactively. “I’ve been at Delta since 1993 and almost everything we did then was looking backwards,” he said. “We’d have a failure and we’d ask, ‘How do we fix it?’” Today, Mr. Laughter says “data scientists are looking at the data” so they can schedule what would previously have been an unscheduled and potentially disruptive repair. Today in Business Updated April 16, 2021, 1:30 p.m. ET Executives at Malaysia’s AirAsia say preventing delays is critical because their business model depends on planes spending no more than 25 minutes at the airport gate. Since 10 different entities have a hand in dispatching a flight, anything that slows the progress of one of those people can trigger a cascade of delays. By applying artificial intelligence to the data it collects, AirAsia has also been able to find small reductions in fuel and labor costs that add up, said Javed Malik, the airline’s group chief operations officer. “At the end of the year, that can save millions.” Still, many airlines have found it challenging to keep up with the volume of information. “Airlines and aircraft are like oil rigs in the ocean,” said Yann Cabaret, vice president of strategy, product and marketing at SITA, an airline industry-owned technology nonprofit. “And their data is like crude oil. They can’t do much with it. They need people and technology to refine that data so they can get value from it.” It’s not that airlines haven’t embraced new technology in the past, they have. Computer reservation systems, for example, were state of the art when they began in the 1960s. But six decades later, airlines are still trying to create a way to sell tickets and other products with the pizazz that web-savvy shoppers have come to expect. The rapid pace of change can create hurdles. “We’re locked into old systems for which our IT vendors have designed particular applications,” said Frederic Sutter, head of a data sharing platform called Skywise offered by Airbus. “When you had to mix the different data from different systems, the industry was not equipped to do so.” To solve that problem, in 2017, Airbus started selling to customers access to Skywise’s cloud-based platform where they could share with other airlines information about their planes, suppliers and components. One hundred and thirty airlines, including AirAsia upload their de-identified data to the platform “so they can compare themselves with the entire fleet,” Mr. Sutter said. Even Airbus is a beneficiary. “The data collected and shared enables us to validate our design and prepare for the next generation of aircraft,” he said. Should reports from the fleet show unanticipated issues, the company can begin planning design changes if needed. Global companies like Airbus, Google, and IBM have found a potentially lucrative market selling tech services to airlines because the carriers, some of which have been around for a century, are locked into what Vik Krishnan, a partner with McKinsey & Company specializing in the travel sector, calls “antiquated” systems. Newer airlines, like AirAsia, aren’t trapped by that history. It was just 5-years-old when its present owners bought it in 2001. After adding a long-haul carrier and acquiring a handful of affiliate regional airlines, the company decided to merge its disparate data and create what Mr. Malik calls a “connected ecosystem.” The airline wanted all its information accessible under one roof and visibility across departments so that, for example, a passenger’s biometric information — fingerprints or facial recognition, for example — could be used for security and boarding at the airport but also for purchasing products on AirAsia’s e-commerce platforms. This use of technology could create privacy issues that governments may need to address. “Those are separate, different technologies; payment and biometrics that need to work seamlessly in the background so the customer gets a great experience,” Mr. Malik said. In 2018, AirAsia partnered with Google to become one of the first airlines to move its data to the cloud, and more airlines have followed. Delta and IBM announced a deal earlier this year to move both customer and in-house apps to the public cloud while they work on strategies for handling increasing amounts of aircraft information. “Airlines have a greater capacity to use the data or process it or deploy artificial intelligence as they sift through and glean the information they need,” said Dee Waddell, IBM’s global managing director for travel and transportation industries. But as they fly farther into the digital age, airlines are also learning that being part of big data is not without its downsides, the burden of managing it all being one of them. Source link Orbem News #airlines #data #Newer #planes #providing #trove

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ashfaqqahmad · 5 years ago

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Faith versus Logic 3

Every new era’s discoveries have been solving previous questions

Click here to read the previous part of this article

Many discoveries have been made in last thousand years and thousands of mysteries related to nature have been solved— imagine times of fourteen hundred years ago, A curious person must have asked why these earthquakes come and some enlightened person would have told that the land on which women indulge in crimes, God instigates earthquakes there. Even today, you will find some Maulana saying that wearing of jeans by women causes earthquakes.

Like the cause of the earthquake, people also had the question that if a couple performs the same kind of sex, how are different children as a boy or a girl born. Then whereas someone would have taken patience to treat it as God’s act and someone else started looking for the reasons and reached to the chromosomes.

Now people caught the different question that in the same temperature, same conditions, people are born as male and female, how is it being decided— if there is an answer to it tomorrow, these people will not be there to see it, but their grandchildren will then be standing there with a new question that if this is so, why is it— why is the egg yolk yellow, why not the magenta. All the discoveries made in the world, inventions have been done – the physical things which people do not hesitate using, the resources with which the world has improved, all those are the result of those who struggle with questions, not theirs who simply have been defining the answer to every question as God’s will.

How did humans start their journey on earth

So friends, the list of questions will never end, but see that people like us struggle with those questions, discover them… But those religious people, in response to every complicated question, close the door of their wisdom by calling them as a will of God.

Not one— there were many questions in the past whose answers used to end in the shelter of God, but their answers were found, even today the questions which are there, answers to them will also be found tomorrow— then they will bring about new questions like of ‘Ishvar Sharanam Gachchami’. Those who ask questions must keep in mind while asking, that their logical answer should be there with themselves … It is not wise to lock the doors on the question by taking the shield of God.

Theist atheist or agnostic

However, according to me there is nothing like an atheist, someone believes in some unknown power which is the creator of the whole universe, then someone believes in the omnipotent nature— the difference is that he denies the customs established according to religious beliefs, keeps himself away from the cantrips of the book, then he becomes an atheist according to the religious and is reasonably damned and sometimes even reasonably murdered.

Well, as far as I am concerned I can be called agnostic and my thinking is that if something is created, there must be some creator. I find the theory of everything being created automatically to be strange. Closely notice a small part of the whole universe— our solar system. How eight planets, at a certain distance, in a certain order, and with a certain speed are orbiting on its axis for billions of years? Can it happen on its own… maybe or maybe not, how can we give a definite statement? It may also be a possibility that it is a computerized system and if it is a computerized system then there must be someone outside the universe… who designed this whole system.

Where did religion come from and how logical from the point of view of science?

Although the boundaries of the universe are endless for us due to our limited knowledge and limited intelligence, technically it is not possible that there would be no boundaries. So there will be someone beyond those limits who has created this universe – as long as we don’t have a sure answer, to keep their hearts people here can also believe that he only is God.

In my view, then he is a programmer or scientist (definitely not a human being, but in any form, which is also beyond our imagination) or there will be more than one programmer or team of scientists, but to the same power we have given a prevailing recognition in the form of a God, like an emperor, an eccentric king, a strict administrator or a magician who performed many miracles in the past (sometimes even nowadays) he, like any company owner, keeps writing everyone’s deeds through his accountant’s team and then based on them he will give promotion (Jannat) or Demotion (Dozakh) accordingly. I don’t think he will do that much for people like us who are far smaller of living beings than micro bacteria (according to the immensity the universe), while life on crores out of Trillions of planets of the universe like this may exist.

However, if we go according to the concept of God which has been created by the theists – then the biggest difference between the God of the theists and a real God (if any), is that their (theists) God is just theirs (as Allah for Muslims, as Bhagwan or Ishwar for Hindus or as God for Christians), He is an alien to others, will not give them salvation, will not give them heaven and eventually will only punish them.

what possibilities are there in the universe outside our planet

Whereas which can be inscribed as a God from the other point of view, is a God of everyone (believers of all religions, atheists), He has created everyone and is not alien to anyone and if indeed there comes a day of justice, then he will do equal justice with everyone.

And it is also certain that he is not there in the books, he is not even in these worship methods (Puja/Namaz/Prayer), and He is not in the houses (Temples/Mosques/Churches) built in his name. He is in mankind, in humanity, truth, right, justice and peace.

There are many complications associated with the concept of God

Now come on some things which have kept me entangled since childhood… While growing in my culture, I heard many things since childhood, whom I could never reconcile to. Even today, whenever those things are seen in the words of people here and there, then the old pain would emerge— let us see by these examples.

● God has already written everything i.e. the fate of the human—

If so, why is Gabbar Singh guilty of cutting Thakur’s hand or killing Thakur saheb’s family? It was just an actor named Amzad Khan, playing a mere character written by Salim Javed. If guilty as Gabbar, he was punished by Veeru and Thakur. Now that the film is complete, why to hold Amzad Khan accountable? Why the Heaven or Hell for him? The example of the film is given because we can also keep human life like that.

If God is there then how can it be from the point of view of science

Often some scholars answer that a person does not commit misdeeds because God has already written it— rather he does it on his own free will and is responsible for his deeds, but since God already knows all these things through ‘Gaib’, that’s why he wrote everything in advance. It is something like a person who can visit to see the future and come back and then writes it down. Of course, with this theory, everything /action/event can be adjusted in the same way, where a human hits a stone anywhere on the empty wall and then where the stones hits— he centralizes the place and draws a circle and tells the world how precisely I have hit the target.

● God determines the death and birth of man—

Now if you will hold your ear with a straight hand that when it was the destiny of Thakur’s sons to die by the hands of Gabbar, How did Gabbar become guilty? Or the way Amitabh was born in ‘Lavaris’, out of an illicit relationship between Amzad Khan and Rakhi, how come Amzad was accused of adultery? So maybe someone can give logic that God knew this, so he wrote this thing. But it was Gabbar aka Amzad who was responsible for the act— but remember that the theory of the God to fix the birth/death will prove to be wrong… or else we can assume that the child born due to illicit relationship and the murder of someone else was a will of the God and the person responsible for them could not be blamed.

● God writes the blessings of food for the people on the night of Shab-e-Kadra—

Then he also writes the blessings of food for the thief – the robber, the smuggler, the corrupt, the writes for prostitute too… then how do they become guilty for their deeds? Here if we fit this theory that God knows everything through ‘Gaib’ and on that basis he wrote, then it also has to be believed that it was his decision for the thief to earn the food by doing theft and since he already knew that such thing will happen, he has written it— but even in that condition, the blame for writing blessings of food for the thief came on him. Besides that millions of people worldwide die of starvation, then the blame for their death will also come on him, that why didn’t he write the food in the fate of those who died?

How to write a book in Microsoft word

● Two angels sit on both shoulders of a man and write his good and bad deeds—

When God already knows everything through Gaib and has written A to Z things accordingly, then what responsibilities are being fulfilled by these two angels sitting on the shoulders— is there any doubt that the writing of God may change? Or it is an exercise to check the honesty of the angels that both the accounts will be tallied later and if they are found guilty, punitive action will also be taken on the angels.

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इस लेख को हिंदी में पढ़ने के लिये यहाँ क्लिक करें

#islam #faith vs fact #faith and logic #religion and science #athiesm #agnoticism

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rurounidrift · 7 years ago

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Aug 23 Blurr’s Horror Stream - Little Shop of Horrors

In honor of the eclipse. In a shocking twist, even Blurr prefered the domestic ending to the monsters-destroy-humanity ending.

Missed the very start. Frenzy wrote “WASH ME” in Blurr’s leg dirt.

B l u r r: Oh yeah? /wiggles pede/ B l u r r: There's nothing new there. ItsyBitsySpyers: \\WHATCHA CALL THIS?\\ Drift: *arrives!* ItsyBitsySpyers: *Holds up a grimy fingertip* B l u r r: ... It's called space dust, I assume? B l u r r: /scratches helm finial. Wiggles claws at Drift / Drift: *walks over to Blurr, looks at his leg, snorts, and sits down.* ItsyBitsySpyers: \\'S CALLED YER FRAGGIN' FILTHY 'N IT'S GONNA SLOW YA DOWN.\\ B l u r r: ... Hn? It doesn't slow me down. ItsyBitsySpyers: *But that ain't his business, so he flops with Soundwave and the others after giving Drift a thumbs up hello* Bevel: *giggles* ItsyBitsySpyers: //Yo, Bev. Seat?// Bevel: Sure! B l u r r: Anyway, it was worth getting a little dirty. B l u r r: You wanna see what I found? It's wicked. B l u r r: Never seen anything like it before. K-Kyeheheh. ItsyBitsySpyers: //Sure! What's it?// Butterbun changed their nickname to Starscream. Drift: I wanna see. Bevel: Me too. B l u r r: /holds up a flat, circular object. It has a gold trim and a thick glass center. It looks almost like a monocle in his claw/ Check it out. B l u r r: If you use it, it automatically centers what you're looking at. ItsyBitsySpyers: //...So it moves the thing, or?// B l u r r: K-Kyeheheh. And it helps me keep track of moving objects, too. B l u r r: No, it centers it into the weird... system thing. I don't know, I tore it off a mech. B l u r r: He said it was like a compass. B l u r r: But it can adjust to any system. Apparently it has a data storage in it. Drift: What, do you look through the middle? How's it work? B l u r r: Yeah. See, look. /holds it up for Drift / If you look through the middle, it should start logging whatever you're looking at. B l u r r: And it centers for you and everything. B l u r r: I have no idea what I'll use it for, but it seemed interesting and he wasn't using it. B l u r r: I could also be using it completely wrong. /shrugs a little / Either way, it looks cool. Bevel: How does it center things? Drift: What do you mean, it "centers"? Does it start, like, turning to track whatever I'm looking at? *looks through it at... Bevel* Bevel: *grins at Drift* Starscream: *scoots his pretty little booty into the room* B l u r r: I don't know what it does, really. I mean it will center... ah... hn. /mumbles/ It'll focus on the object in the center. B l u r r: That's what I meant... /scratches finial sheepishly/ B l u r r: I think he used it to track bounties down. Drift: *grins back* So it's like a self-adjusting telescope? *waits to see what it does to Bevel* Bevel: That is really useful. B l u r r: Sort of? I don't know. But, so far, I've seen it logging things. Color scheme, names in databases, and the likes. Bevel: You could use it to find places that are really hard to find. B l u r r: That's what I thought! ItsyBitsySpyers: *Soundwave nods absently to Starscream and watches them all fuss over this strange object* B l u r r: Because he's been plenty of places. Which means he's been to places with valuables. Bevel: *color scheme huh? she'll just slowly shift her colors through a spectrum from her usual dark purple to a rusty red-orange* Drift: *... IS it doing anything to bevel?* B l u r r: / Probably just a name and location at the moment / B l u r r: / Seeing as Bevel hasn't really been with The Emperor long / Drift: ... Oh! Oh, yeah, I see, it changes their color, so they stick out more against the— *looks around the side of the glass* ... Oh. Never mind. B l u r r: K-Kyeheheheh. Bevel: *laughs* ItsyBitsySpyers: //Heh!// B l u r r: But. if you point it at ME. /smirks/ My bounty comes up. B l u r r: Along with where I'm from. Which is interesting. Bevel: Oh point it at Blurr! B l u r r: I guess this mech was using it to hunt people down. But, I didn't give him time to really explain it to me. It's a learn as you go thing. Drift: Ohhh. *looks back at the glass. yeah, he sees the name and location now.* So, what, it looks up a database about the person? B l u r r: [[ is everyone ready ? ]] Drift: *goes to the other side of the glass so he can look through it the other way at Blurr* B l u r r: I think so, but it also seems to work as a compass?I'm not sure. I have to play with it more. B l u r r: / snorts at Drift / ItsyBitsySpyers: ((SO READY :D :D :D :D)) drift changed their nickname to Tydrift. Tydrift: (I made it on time wow) B l u r r: [ yay! ]] Bevel: //welcome welcome B l u r r: The thing is, if it logs, I can try to get someone to hack into it and get its history transferred to our archives. Drift: What do you mean, like a compass? Does it point at the person when they move away from the glass? B l u r r: Which means I'll have lists of new places. B l u r r: No, I mean it has locations in it. B l u r r: I could track mechs back to their universes and get 'em. Drift: The locations of where they live or something? B l u r r: I don't know, I didn't make it. B l u r r: I told you, I'm still figuring it out. Bevel: It can track through the streams? Drift: Huh. B l u r r: Not sure yet. It knows where I'm from, but I suppose if I jave a bounty, that's common knowledge. B l u r r: *have ItsyBitsySpyers: //Bet it doesn't. Where's it gonna get all the data?// B l u r r: And /my/ bounty is higher than my Ultra Magnus. B l u r r: / smirks confidently / Bevel: Nexus? B l u r r: [[ okay so i know neddles is ready. Everyone else? ]] Bevel: //ready ItsyBitsySpyers: //What'sa Necks Us?// B l u r r: ... No idea. B l u r r: Sounds like something you can steal, though. B l u r r: That's not the coolest part, though. Drift: ((yep)) B l u r r: The coolest part is that I managed to secure more supplies! Bevel: Nexus is a universe cluster. It is where Axiom Nexus is. They compile and monitor different universes and stuff. Starscream: ((ready! ItsyBitsySpyers: *Soundwave immediately sits upright* ItsyBitsySpyers: [[They do? How?]] ItsyBitsySpyers: [[Are their records public?]] ItsyBitsySpyers: ((*WIGGLES*)) B l u r r: [[ omfg hold on ]] B l u r r: [[Itunes just froze. ]] B l u r r: [[ there. ]] Bevel: The bots there are waaaaay ahead of any other universe I have ever seen with technology and stuff. Tydrift: That's unsettling... is there a way to see if they're monitoring your universe? B l u r r: Sounds fake. ItsyBitsySpyers: ((It's gonna be tempting to show this on the 23rd of September)) Bevel: It is not fake. I lived there for a really long time. ItsyBitsySpyers: ((call a cop u say)) Starscream: ((do it B l u r r: Well, they're probably not watching our universe. B l u r r: Trust me no one is watching my universe. Drift: You can't know that. B l u r r: Well, it doesn't matter. We travel too much to worry about it. ItsyBitsySpyers: *Soundwave's feeler is already waving. This story amuses the living Pit out of him. Especially considering what's hiding in the storage shed.* Starscream: *..what's in the storage shed?* ItsyBitsySpyers: *A singing, carnivorous plant.* Starscream: *who's shed. where* ItsyBitsySpyers: *Outside Dancitron.* B l u r r: Anyway. I have my mechs tearing apart the idiot's ship right now B l u r r: Maybe we'll find something else cools. B l u r r: *cool Bevel: The data is not really public. Some of it is cause there's lots of travel from different universes in Axiom Nexus and everyone talks but sometimes the Nexus bots keep stuff secret. Starscream: *oh good. not his Cybertron. Attention back to movie* ItsyBitsySpyers: *He wants it. All of it.* ItsyBitsySpyers: *Imagine how much bigger his map could get...* Starscream: ..... Starscream: 8I *this is a movie about Cybertron. Welp* Drift: *you commenting on the quality of your leadership, starscream?* Starscream: *Cybertron is a work in progress* B l u r r: / you're a half asssed project / Bevel: *could tell him where more than a few observation stations are* Starscream: *you're a recycled project* B l u r r: / I sure am. / B l u r r: /snicker snort/ It does look like home. / B l u r r: *. Drift: *yes, it does. :c* Tydrift: Missing a few craters B l u r r: Missing a lot of Empties. Drift: *he's guessing "skid row" is human for "dead end"* B l u r r: Oh wait, there's Starscream. Perfect, the gang is all here. /snicker / Drift: Where—? Ugh. ItsyBitsySpyers: *Might take Bevel up on that later.* B l u r r: ... I love those fly trap plants. B l u r r: I wonder if I could make one... B l u r r: / hums/ Tydrift: [ silent gasp ] Tydrift: ( also I gasp too it's *** cute ) B l u r r: ... He likes odd and weird things? As opposed to the normal? Tydrift: (... it's not gonna stay cute is it) B l u r r: /tilts helm, finials flicking / I like him. ItsyBitsySpyers: ((YOU MEAN YOU'VE NEVER SEEN THIS?)) ItsyBitsySpyers: ((omg i won't spoil you a thing, i swear)) Tydrift: (NOPE IM A LOSER) Bevel: //*shakes fist* missed rhyme opportunity and i'm so mad and amused B l u r r: ... What do humans buy flowers for? ItsyBitsySpyers: [[Gifts.]] Tydrift: They give them to each other as tokens of affection. B l u r r: ... for whom? ItsyBitsySpyers: [[They're... pleasing.]] Tydrift: Or to make their homes look nice. Drift: Symbols of the ephemerality of beauty and life. B l u r r: ... Ah. B l u r r: Well, that explains why I have never received any. B l u r r: / tilts helm/ Dodge bought me a collection of data texts once. Bevel: My creator says most of the plants humans give as gifts are dying. Starscream: Bribes to soothe over wronged partners. B l u r r: Pit, Dodge always made me apologize. B l u r r: I wasn't allowed to buy him things. Drift: Yeah, that's why they're so ephemeral. They die fast. Starscream: ...so what did you do? Starscream: Bring him boquets of hands? ItsyBitsySpyers: [[They should give them still in pots.]] B l u r r: Pardon? Bevel: I would rather get a live plant so I could plant it somewhere. ItsyBitsySpyers: [[Flowers. Not hands.]] B l u r r: No, I told him I was wrong and he accepted. Starscream: *makes a face. Sounds fake* Drift: *pats Blurr's shoulder.* That's mature. B l u r r: /snort / Thanks ,Drift. B l u r r: I also cooked him dinner sometimes. Drift: ... What kind of plant did he say he thinks it is? ItsyBitsySpyers: [[A fly trap.]] B l u r r: ... /wicked grin / Starscream: Feed it flies. Drift: ... Wouldn't it need flies, then? Starscream: ..alternatively, traps. Drift: Aww, it wants kisses. ItsyBitsySpyers: //Haha!// Bevel: *giggles* B l u r r: K-KYAHAHHAA!! Tydrift: [ it's like a hatchling oml ] ItsyBitsySpyers: *Frenzy's imagining that thing with a bitbear trap in its mouth* Bevel: *imagining a scraplet mouth* B l u r r: / grabs Drift's arm and shakes/i want one!! B l u r r: I want ten!! B l u r r: I want a forest of them! Starscream: ...wait. Isn't this literally that carnacle that Whirl is keeping. Drift: *is shook* Starscream: *barnacle Drift: You'd need to keep organics around to feed it, though. B l u r r: Well, those are easy to get! ItsyBitsySpyers: [[Yes, you would. The barnacle only eats inorganic material.]] Starscream: ..blood seems like a very effective fertilizer. B l u r r: It satisfies most cravings. Starscream: ((i like the street advice girls Drift: (("I want a garbage disposal and my own washer and dryer" is she a millennial)) Starscream: Small dreams. ItsyBitsySpyers: [[He prefers blue, himself.]] B l u r r: [[ she isss ]] Starscream: ((you see where she lives. the answer is yes Tydrift: For a movie called little shop of horrors... there's a surprising lack of horror Drift: ((pine-sol)) B l u r r: ... Are you kidding? Drift: ((millennial whirl)) B l u r r: This is terrifying. Tydrift: This is nice Starscream: That decor is pretty frightening. B l u r r: this is terrifying. ItsyBitsySpyers: *Soundwave just huffs, his shoulders trembling. This poor stranger.* B l u r r: What do they do all day? ItsyBitsySpyers: [[Perhaps they're retired from the money the shop makes.]] B l u r r: ... What do they DO all day? Tydrift: Be happy? Drift: *dopey smile. it's all alien but the sentiment gets through.* B l u r r: You know what's terrifying? She hasn't killed that boyfriend of hers yet. Bevel: Eat him. ItsyBitsySpyers: *Frenzy flicks a snack at Drift* B l u r r: Seriously. ItsyBitsySpyers: \\MUSH.\\ Drift: Hey! Starscream: Mush. Drift: *FLICKS IT BACK* ItsyBitsySpyers: \\SEE? AIN'T I - OW!\\ ItsyBitsySpyers: *rubs his visor* B l u r r: She should just kill her boyfriend. Bevel: *titanic night was highly influential on how she thinks one should handle jerk boyfriends* ItsyBitsySpyers: ((wow it's dropping hard)) Drift: *... did somebody eat their boyfriend in titanic* Starscream: ((if someone ate their boyfriend in titanic i am so sorry i missed it)) Drift: ((same)) Bevel: *no but everyone thought rose should eat both dudes as they were rude af* Drift: ((... *points at seymour feeding audrey ii* shockwave.)) ItsyBitsySpyers: ((NO)) ItsyBitsySpyers: //She's one to talk.// Tydrift: Pft Drift: *they're so cute* B l u r r: ... I would have honestly killed this guy by now. Tydrift: Oh Primus Bevel: :| Tydrift: I think I agree with you Blurr B l u r r: Mmmm yes indeed. Drift: What's a dentist? B l u r r: I would have killed him. ItsyBitsySpyers: //So that's how come ya went learnin' medicine.// Rumble nudges his brother. // Heh.// B l u r r: He reminds me of someone... I know. ItsyBitsySpyers: \\PFFFF.\\ Starscream: ..... Starscream: *IS THIS HOOK* B l u r r: A dentist works on teeth, I think Drift: ... That's what humans chew with, right? B l u r r: Yes. B l u r r: I think so. Drift: ... So why would they want them drilled up? ItsyBitsySpyers: \\OH, OH, I KNOW!\\ ItsyBitsySpyers: \\THE TEETH THINGS GET LIL HOLES ALL IN 'EM 'N THEY GOTTA STICK METAL IN TO FILL 'EM. SO THEY DRILL BETTER HOLES 'N GET OUT THE VIRUSES 'N SCRAP.\\ ItsyBitsySpyers: \\LIKE FILLIN' DENTAL PLATES, ONLY THEY GOT A WHOLE BUNCH.\\ ItsyBitsySpyers: \\RATCHET WAS TELLIN' ME. HE HAD PICTURES 'N EVERYTHIN'.\\ Starscream: ..why don't they just replace the whole tooth with metal. B l u r r: ... /cringes a little by Drift / Eugh... Drift: Oh. Huh. B l u r r: He does remind me of him. B l u r r: That's disgusting. Kill him. ItsyBitsySpyers: //Punch 'im.// Bevel: Eat him. Drift: Break his teeth. B l u r r: Kill. Him. ItsyBitsySpyers: //Nah, he'll just fix 'em. Break his nose.// Drift: I was going for dramatic irony, but okay. Starscream: ((I sing this often ItsyBitsySpyers: ((me too)) B l u r r: [[[ same ]] B l u r r: / nudges drift / Hey. Drift: Hm? B l u r r: What if I make one of these plants? Starscream: A wishgranting plant. Drift: You'd have to keep visiting Earth to get it food. B l u r r: That's easier. B l u r r: ... Actually, this plant reminds me of me. B l u r r: /snort / drift: (my wifi crapped out and I come back to this what happened to my cute lil baby) drift changed their nickname to Tydrift. Drift: ((him grew)) B l u r r: ... Yes! Tydrift: (nooo omg please wifi work) ItsyBitsySpyers: *Rumble growls. He hates this part.* B l u r r: Oh yes yes yes, feed him to the plant! Starscream: Ah, yes. The neighbors will definitely not hear this. B l u r r: /kicking pedes / Drift: Yes! Drift: ((i love this scene)) B l u r r: [[ yeS ]] Starscream: ... B l u r r: K-KYAHAHAHAA!! B l u r r: [[ god poor seymour ]] ItsyBitsySpyers: //This is all kinda awkward.// Drift: ((incredibly specific fetishes)) drift: Is he... drift changed their nickname to Tydrift. Starscream: 8S Tydrift: [muttering] Please, just shoot him already... Drift: Yeah. B l u r r: Seriously. Starscream: *the bading of realization* ItsyBitsySpyers: //Primus, he's bad at this.// B l u r r: Really. B l u r r: Really bad. Starscream: I wonder that he doesn't get caught.. but maybe this is commonplace in Skid Row. ItsyBitsySpyers: //Guess it tenders the meat up real good.// Drift: Pff. Drift: Pre-break a few bones so Audrey doesn't have to chew as much. B l u r r: He didn't think to cut it up before hand? Tydrift: What a spoiled plant ItsyBitsySpyers: //With what? A lil' tooth drill?// Drift: I guess he thought it'd eat the body whole. B l u r r: An ax. K-Kyeheheh. Tydrift: (... is this the same guy from ghostbusters??) ItsyBitsySpyers: ((yep)) Tydrift: (EYY KEY MASTER) Drift: ((it always fvcks me up a little when her voice moves down to a normal octave)) ItsyBitsySpyers: ((heh)) Drift: *drift's dopey grin is back* Tydrift: [honestly let the movie end here this is enough for him] B l u r r: eugh... B l u r r: /rolls optic/ B l u r r: what a boring romance Drift: Whaaat? ItsyBitsySpyers: [[He murdered a horrible lover for her and you find that boring?]] Tydrift: He fed her abusive ex's dismembered corpse to a plant B l u r r: I guess. Tydrift: I would have expected you to consider that romantic Drift: He taught her to love herself. Starscream: He didn't bother hiding the evidence? B l u r r: I consider it a romantic gesture. B l u r r: It would have been better if he was soaked in blood or something attractive ItsyBitsySpyers: [[He IS new at this, Starscream.]] Starscream: It didn't need THAT one chopped up. Tydrift: Oh so now the plant will eat a whole body B l u r r: It's bigger now Drift: It got bigger since the last one. Bevel: Way bigger. ItsyBitsySpyers: *Soundwave steeples his fingers.* Drift: *DOPEY SMILE INTENSIFIES* Drift: ... You know, Audrey II never did say that he can't live on anything but human blood. Drift: He only said he needed blood and it had to be fresh. Drift: Seymour could've been giving him dogs all this time or something. ItsyBitsySpyers: [[It would be harder to trap him if it were dogs.]] ItsyBitsySpyers: [[The plant knows what it is doing.]] Tydrift: NO B l u r r: ... Hnh. B l u r r: No one fed someone to a killer plant for me before. B l u r r: I don't think anyone's done anything like that for me. Drift: It wouldn't NEED to trap him, because then he'd have no reason not to want to feed him. Starscream: ..how many people do you know with killer plants? B l u r r: Not many. Drift: ... Do barnacles count? B l u r r: I don't know. Starscream: Those aren't plants. B l u r r: but that must be nice. B l u r r: Just. Killing people for you. /chin claws / B l u r r: That's the perfect sign of affection. Drift: Yeah... B l u r r: / siiiigh / Starscream: ..is that the masochist? ItsyBitsySpyers: [[A new human.]] B l u r r: I've only seen one mech kill someone for me. As a gift. B l u r r: It was beautiful. Starscream: Odd. He looks similar. Starscream: *but lots of humans look alike* Starscream: ((more like the mun is going 'i don't think that's bill murray but it looks a LOT like bill murray)) Drift: ((it does)) ItsyBitsySpyers: ((i still like the play's ending better)) Drift: *on the edge of his seat* Drift: ((that's the alternate ending, right?)) B l u r r: [[ same ]] ItsyBitsySpyers: ((ye)) Tydrift: (what's that ending?) Drift: ((psst find it on youtube we should watch it after this)) ItsyBitsySpyers: ((i'll go look)) Starscream: ((YEAH Starscream: ((i saw the play before the movie so i was very ??? at first Drift: *THE DOPEY SMILE IS BACK* B l u r r: / pouting / B l u r r: / He liked the plant / B l u r r: / sinks down in his seat / Drift: *... tries to tone down the dopey smile for blurr's benefit* B l u r r: !!!!! B l u r r: / BIG GRIN / B l u r r: He's alive!! Tydrift: Maybe this time the plant will stay cute B l u r r: / throws arms up / He'll eat them all again! B l u r r: The monster lived! How exciting! B l u r r: / grinning wide / How perfect. ItsyBitsySpyers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyQpDCAWpbs )) Drift: Everyone gets a happy ending. :) B l u r r: [[ lemme try and load it ]] ItsyBitsySpyers: ((enjoy, tydrift mun :) )) Tydrift: (oh dear) Starscream: ...cronch. Tydrift: D: Drift: ... Oh. Drift: *IT HURTS HIS SPARK* Drift: *quietly grabs blurr's arm. blurr. blurr. she wants to be fed to the plant so that she can keep helping seymour in death. blurr. blurr do you see it. blurr.* B l u r r: / Hes TRYING NOT TO / Starscream: ......they set this up for a /pun/. Drift: 8( B l u r r: / but he sees it / Starscream: *burys his face in his hand. Why* B l u r r: / Pats Drift / Bevel: :( Tydrift: Kill the plant B l u r r: Keep the body. Bevel: Bad plant. Tydrift: Kill it ItsyBitsySpyers: [He'll get to that in a moment.]] Drift: And let her sacrifice be in vain?! Tydrift: KILL Tydrift: IT Drift: *grabs blurr's arm with his other hand. blurr. blurr. thEY NEVER GOT MARRIED.* B l u r r: / flickers optic at Drift / B l u r r: ... / pat / Drift: 8C B l u r r: / do u want a hug? / Drift: *yes* B l u r r: / hugs Drift / B l u r r: / Dodge is hugging too/ B l u r r: / Just so u know / Drift: *that's very good of him* B l u r r: / yes / Drift: ... Oh no. Drift: *HUGS TIGHTER* Tydrift: Why not kill the plant first Drift: Because she's living in it. B l u r r: / hugs Drift tighter / Tydrift: She's dead because of it Drift: But that's all that's left of her. Tydrift: If he wanted to keep what was left of her he shouldn't have fed it to a plant Drift: It was her last wish. Tydrift: Her last wish was ridiculous B l u r r: That Drift: So?! B l u r r: is rude to sayy. Drift: It's all she's got left. Tydrift: [YES KILL THE PLANT] Tydrift: You know what would have been better Tydrift: Burying her in an actual garden Drift: If she'd lived. Tydrift: That too B l u r r: Or just keeping her secured somewhere. B l u r r: / picking at his claws B l u r r: */ Drift: Humans rot, Blurr. B l u r r: Not always. Tydrift: It would smell B l u r r: Frames rot, too. Drift: Not as fast. B l u r r: No, not as fast, I suppose. Drift: ... He could've made a mummy out of her, I guess. B l u r r: That too. ItsyBitsySpyers: [[He could bronze her.]] B l u r r: Or frozen her. They don't rot if they're frozen Drift: ... She wouldn't have wanted that, though. ItsyBitsySpyers: [[Yes, she would. It turns green.]] Starscream: *whispers* Mulch. Drift: ... Don't think that's what she was going for. ItsyBitsySpyers: *Frenzy snorts* B l u r r: Well, now he's with her. So, there. Drift: ... At least they're together. :( B l u r r: ..... /has the biggest grin on his ugly scarred face / Drift: *... oh. another apocalypse.* Tydrift: [has just a let it all burn mentality at this point now tbh, let them all die then] ItsyBitsySpyers: ((and that's why that post was called "and peoria")) Drift: *yeah. well. sigh.* B l u r r: Look at all of the monsters B l u r r: /splays claws on face / Tydrift: Is this what she wanted ItsyBitsySpyers: //...How much ya think they gotta eat t'get so big?// Starscream: At least three more humans. Drift: ... Well, at least they're having fun.* Drift: *chinhands. still feeling bad for seymour and audrey* Bevel: *doesn't like this ending at all* Starscream: ..they had quite a lot filmed. B l u r r: Well, lucky for you, it's not the real ending, hn? /nudges drift / Drift: Kinda redundant. Drift: Maybe they wre gonna have trimmed it down if this had made the final film. ItsyBitsySpyers: \\I LIKE IT. LOOKIT ALL THAT DESTROYIN'.\\ Dreamy sigh. B l u r r: I know... B l u r r: All these beautiful monsters.. B l u r r: [[ can we just appreciate this 80s monster plant tho ]] Drift: ((it's a good 80s monster plant)) ItsyBitsySpyers: *Rumble punches Frenzy in the arm.* //Weirdo.// B l u r r: Well, at least the original end is your favorite. /pokes Drift/ So chipper up. ItsyBitsySpyers: *Soundwave vents contently and stands, stretching.* ItsyBitsySpyers: *Perhaps he'll spend a little time looking at the orchid tonight.* Drift: Yeah. S'true. B l u r r: /smirks a bit / B l u r r: Oh! I spent time with Optimus today. / nudges Drift / We talked about you. ItsyBitsySpyers: [[Come. We return home. There is much to do.]] ItsyBitsySpyers: //Awww... okaaaaaay.// Tydrift: [he's in a mood now he's just going to get up and go now] B l u r r: / waves claws at Frenzy / If you're not busy sometime soon, hit me up. ItsyBitsySpyers: \\SURE THING!\\ B l u r r: / omg tydrift ur so emo / Tydrift: (Thanks for streaming this! was a very good one ♥) Drift: *nods as his alternate passes.* B l u r r: [[ ♥ !! ]] ItsyBitsySpyers: *Frenzy 'whispers' a \\WHAT'S THAT MECH'S PROBLEM?\\ * ItsyBitsySpyers: *Rumble just rolls his optics and follows the boss out* B l u r r: / LOUD SHRUGGING AT FRENZY / Bevel: *gonna leave as well mostly because the mun has to be up early* Starscream: *a nod to Blurr. It was.. interesting? Yeah* Starscream: *STARSCREAM OUTIES B l u r r: / throws a snack at Starscream / Starscream: 8U B l u r r: ... /looks around like omg who was that / B l u r r: what a crime. Starscream: *does the 'i got my eyes on you' thing* Starscream: ((thanks for the movie dud! B l u r r: / does the same thing but only with one eye / B l u r r: [[ no problemo! ]] Drift: *JOINS THE EYE GESTURING* Drift: *now starscream's got three eyes on him* B l u r r: / yES / Starscream: ((play one of King George's songs Starscream: ((8DDDD B l u r r: [[ there u go ]] B l u r r: / leans over and hugs Drift again. Comfort squeeze / B l u r r: I liked the first ending better... if it helps. Drift: Really? You did? B l u r r: Mmhm. Drift: Why? I thought you'd like the monster plants destroying Earth more. B l u r r: ... I do. Drift: ((god i love this song)) B l u r r: But, I don't know. Starscream: ((yesssss B l u r r: / frowns a little/ I don't get marriage. I don't know what's so special about it. B l u r r: But, it must be nice. B l u r r: For someone to want to do that with you, I guess? B l u r r: And the plant lived in the end anyway. B l u r r: [[ YES ITS THE BEST ]] Drift: ... It is nice. B l u r r: I wouldn't know. B l u r r: /shrugs a little / Drift: It means you're wanted. It means someone said "I want you forever. Until we die." B l u r r: Where I'm from , we don't have... Conjux...Endura. / see. He did it / Drift: *he did it!!* B l u r r: ...Ah. Yes, no. That's definitely not something I'm gonna learn. /snort / Drift: ... I wanna be your best friend forever. B l u r r: That's different, though. B l u r r: I'd like to be best friends forever, too. /scratches finial / Drift: Kinda different. But not totally. B l u r r: I guess not. B l u r r: I'm lucky to have anybody, I suppose. B l u r r: They're usually uh.. dead or gone by now. B l u r r: Mostly dead. Drift: *nods* B l u r r: So, hnh. Thanks for sticking around. B l u r r: I know it's not easy. Starscream: ((now kiss)) B l u r r: [[ god. ]] B l u r r: [[ weRE FRIENDS ]] Starscream: Presentation Starscream: ((..wow alright GUESS IM NOT LINKING A PIC B l u r r: [[ LOL ]] Drift: ... It's easy because the reward is you. B l u r r: ... /oh wow/ B l u r r: / that's really nice ;A; / B l u r r: / just. Stare at . / B l u r r: W-Well... a pretty beat up reward. Drift: Worth it. B l u r r: Well, you are, too. B l u r r: Worth a lot. Dents and dings. B l u r r: Well, at the very least, at least I'll always have you. Even if the rest of them leave. B l u r r: As long as you want to stay, of course. /snort / Drift: *crooked smile* Always. B l u r r: / leans over and hugs Drift anyway/ Drift: *hugs back* B l u r r: I hope you don't forget me when I die. /snort/ that'd be depressing. Drift: No! Never. Drift: I'd rather you... not die, though. Besides, you've got orders. B l u r r: Mm... we talked about that today. B l u r r: But... I won't be dying anytime soon. Not in my plans. B l u r r: / Right. Pulls away from hug / You know you can always come by. B l u r r: Maybe you can meet Ratchet. He's responsible for me. Er...not like a ... an Amica? He's just my medic. Drift: Yeah, I getcha. Maybe I'll meet him sometime. *and maybe punch him for not putting more effort into fixing blurr's head.* B l u r r: / ruuude / B l u r r: / pokes Drift's nose. There is a sticker there / Chin up, Drift. Drift: *takes his new sticker. is it a star?* B l u r r: / it IS / Drift: *:) sticks it next to the rodimus star on his chest* B l u r r: / smirks/ Perfect. Drift: *gives Blurr another hug.* I'd better head back to the Lost Light. B l u r r: Mm... /hugs back/ B l u r r: My crew and I are taking off. B l u r r: So, if you need us, just comm me. Drift: Will do. B l u r r: / wiggles scar claw / Drift: *wiggles scar hand* See ya.

#chat

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rachelannc · 6 years ago

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Gurinder Chadha, Director, Nell Williams, Aaron Phagura, Viveik Kalra, Sarfraz Manzoor, Writer. Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers.

Music has the special ability to transport us. Whether it’s to a different place, time, memory or even state of mind, it’s an experience that hits us hard in our adolescence — a time where we are finding ourselves, our identities and place in the world.

For young Javed in Blinded By The Light, that experience is told in an exceptionally beautiful way.

An indie coming-of-age musical about a shy young poet who dreams of getting out, Javed (played by Viveik Kalra), stumbles upon the music of Bruce Springsteen and, in a moment of isolation, comes alive when he hears the lyrics from the Boss’s hit “Dancing In The Dark” play through his Walkman cassette player.

“I check my look in the mirror I want to change my clothes, my hair, my face Man I ain’t getting nowhere I’m just living in a dump like this There’s something happening somewhere Baby I just know that there is”

As the lyrics spill all over the screen in sweet music-meets-film synchronicity, Javed drowns himself in the music. And in that moment — a moment I feel many lost, adolescent kids can relate to — he feels seen. He feels heard in a way he hasn’t before. And goodness, is it beautiful.

As a young music lover and writer myself, I saw a lot of myself in this movie. Inspired by the real life story and memoir Greetings From Bury Park by Sarfraz Manzoor (a big Bruce Springsteen fan himself), director Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham) really brought his story to life in an entertaining, engaging and endearing way. Almost like a love letter to Bruce, the film perfectly captures the beauty of falling in love with music — and finding yourself through it — at a young age.

Taking place in 1987 small town of Luton, Britain, the film tells the story of a young Indian-Pakistani boy growing up in white Britain. Seeing the story of an incredibly relatable protagonist through the lens of the Pakistani background was fascinating to watch. The family relationships and racism present in their encounters in the schools and streets, with Javed biting his tongue and using the music of Bruce to propel him forward gave him the courage to do things he wouldn’t have otherwise — such as screaming through the halls of his high school with his best friend Roops (Aaron Phagura) blasting American “dad” music through the speakers (to others’ dismay), to asking Eliza (Nell Williams), a girl in his literature class, on a date — were silly, endearing moments that made this film entirely enjoyable.

The music of Bruce seemed to become the lens through which Javed began to find himself, and the way director Chadha blended the music and story to pay homage to Bruce while still keeping its storyline intact is something to be recognized.

As the movie is a sort of coming-of-age as Javed realizes his real potential as a writer, especially through the eyes of his English teacher Miss Clay, I began to see a lot of myself in Javed at this point.

“It’s your job as a writer to give a voice,” Miss Clay prompts him.

Javed, a seemingly tired and angsty teenager against the world, wants to write about what’s real and what’s true for his experience as a British-Pakistani kid living in 1980s Britain, and like all young dreamers, that encouragement means the world.

It isn’t until a teacher or someone older than you sees something special in you, that you begin to believe in yourself and your potential.

The film received a standing ovation at Sundance earlier this year and received a $15 million sale to set this movie off. The official trailer for Blinded By The Light also premiered today through Warner Brothers Studios.

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And if that isn’t enough to convince you to see this movie when it comes out, it’s nice to know that the cast themselves are kids my own age who are such a humble delight and newcomers to Hollywood (but I am sure to breakout after this film). It was an absolute pleasure to attend the advanced VIP screening and party for Blinded By The Light last month, here in Los Angeles.

Blinded By The Light is set for an August 14, 2019 release.

Viveik Kalra, Aaron Phagura, Nell Williams

Sarfraz Manzoor, Writer, Gurinder Chadha, Director,

Gurinder Chadha, Director, Viveik Kalra, Nell Williams, Aaron Phagura

Gurinder Chadha, Director, Nell Williams, Aaron Phagura, Viveik Kalra, Sarfraz Manzoor, Writer. Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers.

Aaron Phagura, Nell Williams, Viveik Kalra

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This was totally my jam. 📀 A film about a young writer who dreams of writing and finds himself through the music of Bruce Springsteen?! That hits a little close to home. Ty @sthanlee @iwgroup and the team at @newlinecinema for the fun night and opportunity to preview @blindedbythelightmovie, which stole hearts at @sundanceorg, including my own. As a music lover and sucker for any and everything music, I can’t wait to see what comes of this story, these people and this stellar cast. More soon. 🤘 #blindedbythelight #blindedbythelightmovie #gurinderchadha #viveikkalra #nellwilliams #aaronphagura #sarfrazmanzoor #brucespringsteen #dancinginthedark #80s #music #movie #filmscreening #asianfilms #british #pakistani #losangeles #hollywood #sundance #aboutlastnight

A post shared by Rachel Ann Cauilan (@rachelcansea) on Apr 4, 2019 at 5:19pm PDT

‘Blinded By The Light’ Film Review: The Indie Coming-of-Age Musical Set to Break Through in 2019 Music has the special ability to transport us. Whether it's to a different place, time, memory or even state of mind, it's an experience that hits us hard in our adolescence -- a time where we are finding ourselves, our identities and place in the world.

#Aaron Phagura #Bend It Films #Bend It Like Beckham #Blinded By The Light #Bruce Springsteen #Dancing In The Dark #Gurinder Chadha #Indie #Indie Movie #Javed #Nell Williams #Sarfraz Manzoor #Sundance #The Boss #Viveik Kalra

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marrowflavored · 8 years ago

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==> Weeks in the future, but not many...

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Shou demanded to leave the house as soon as he saw the lava Kanaya showed him, but halfway trying to get his immobile ass out the door he collapsed backwards and clutched his chest. He stopped trying to leave at that point, just kind of in dumb shaky shock as he lay back on the couch, shivering. Couldn't eat meat for a few days. Completely nonverbal for at least a day or two. Big eyed and confused and so shaky he needed both hands to drink water. He'd stared really large eyed at Alex and Frenchie when they got back, and it was hard to tell if he was surprised or not from the way he was already deer in the headlights but. Mentally afterwards, he's in shambles. Between the memories trying to force their way up and Jave's Self poorly reintegrating he's ungodly scatterbrained, muttering apologies and curling up on himself. His best exercise seemed to be literally that, exercise, so when he was mobile again got to grinding hardcore. He was always there for listening or holding someone, but he was helpless and useless otherwise, something that frustrated him to no end. He wanted to see Ghostie but wasn't in a state to insist, as much as he wanted to. He wanted to hug Alex, at least once. Frenchie, for sure, all the way through his alcoholic descent. He wasn't sure if Jave was 'there' or not but that the same time he kind of knew he was but wasn't sure how to integrate or properly deal with that. Since he was BACK but PART of shou again--Jave's things were becoming shou's, and there wasn't enough separation between the two to say 'he's here' without being utterly cruel. Shou takes a while before he stabilizes. It's poor stabilization anyways, but it's there. He'll still wince or shudder as a new memory tries to rip through him, but he's trying. He likely talks to Zack often. Often enough to know what the plan is. Enough to be nervous and hysterical about the prospect of being doomed and disappearing, but not without hope. Shou took some kind of hit when he had that fit on the day Jave died--he hasn't been quite the same since. Aside from being a neurological wreck with the worst memory issues, he just. Didn't hold himself the same. There would be times he'd stand there with his face utterly dead expression, sitting in his hip and hands tucked in his pockets. Suddenly Zack can't rely on Shou to be his sous chef, unless they're preparing things cold, since even the sight of a warm oven or boiling pot will send him into panic. He's been found under a blanket pile during a rainstorm, curled up with an ancient stuffed animal from his closet and whimpering like a small child. His voice will go strangely flat sometimes, less empty and more just. The Wrong Delivery of his words. He frowns if asked about it, sometimes just frowns in general, thinking hard. Apologizing quietly if he can't grasp it. Fighting in the day, and holding people close at night. Usual, if strained, Shou things. But especially towards the end, but sometimes in peeks before, there's something different. One of the hugs Frenchie gets feels different, no less forgiving but something in it is stiller and deeper than usual. Like someone else is there. Ghostie, of course, will get his before he leaves. Before, or after, it's hard to say, trying to track Alex down before she winds up dead. Hopefully, finding her before that point. Catching her arm when she tries to leave. Trying to explain the time plan. To fix this. To change this. When she tries to leave again, holding her in a hug from behind. Before she leaves with her portal, just muttering, "Star girl, please. Stay with me." "It's going to get better, I promise. We just gotta hang on a little longer."

Frenchie went several nights without sleep after watching his friend die, staying awake through the night to watch over Shou, Alex, and Zack. The first time he would manage to doze off would only last a few hours before he was woken, trembling and sweating, by nightmares of turning on the lights in the Miller's movie theater to see Jave's face crumbling to ash. Frenchie was noticeably jumpy and on edge for a week, unable to get more than one or two hours of sleep at a time, and became prone to nervously following Ghostie around the house to make sure he wasn't getting into anything shifty. Driven to desparation by paranoia and lack of sleep, he eventually turned to the only thing he knew was a surefire way to get some rest and relaxation - self medication. Whoever found him passed out near the alchemiter would only shake their head and move the empty bottle of whisky somewhere safer. It was only a matter of time before relapse arrived in this timeline, anyway. It eventually became clear to him that Alex was avoiding him (she was avoiding everyone, but in his vulnerable state it felt especially personal). Convinced of everything that he had suspected all along, that she only tolerated him until she could drop him and be with her real boyfriend, he tried several times to contact her before giving up and, in a fit of inebriated despair, deleting her number from his phone. A mixture of guilt, depression, and anger drove him to solitude, even as he sought to protect his remaining friends from the lurking threats of Sburb. he could usually be found outside, using lightning and fists to wreak havoc on Shou's endless enemies, or hiding in the bathroom, alone. Heavy drinking and hours of combat were the only ways he could maintain a regular sleep cycle and still drive off recurring nightmares. Frequently he would approach Shou, trying to comfort and find comfort in him, and sometimes it almost worked. Shou had the natural ability to make him feel Forgiven. But eventually the solace would end. Other times, he would attempt a casual hangout with Zack, but they'd both be too distracted to really have any fun doing it. Their contact mostly included tearful hugs or working in the kitchen together, not exchanging words.

Alex mostly cried the first few days. Similar to Frenchie, she didn’t sleep much and when she did it was mostly nightmares about Jave’s cooked corpse. After she calmed down, she would accept a little help, but remain kind of detached. Hugs from Shou would be met with a half-hearted pat on the back, talks with Frenchie just made her guilty or sad that she couldn't help him as a moirail. Relaxing makes her restless and she ends up thinking, which creates a downward of thought. She’d be angry at Ghostie for not listening and getting Jave needlessly killed. She'd be sad and upset about Jave's death, commenting about how she wasn't there to help him or even comfort him as he died. She'd think about going back to his planet for a burial but couldn’t make herself face that place again.  So more and more she sneaks out and runs off and goes the OPPOSITE way of her peaceful exploration, going out and looking for danger. The more she wandered off to get distracted the less she’d look at her phone and respond. When she sees Frenchie’s drunk texts, she feels even worse about not being a good moirail and keeps spiraling down until she virtually stops contact all together. One day Shou stops her and asks "Star girl" to stay, the nickname was only every used by Jave. She doesn't stop her violent explorations, but she does try to stay around closer to Shou's house, the home base. Shou never calls her that again, and she's in doubt enough to not consider the reason he did, and aware enough to know it wasn't a fluke or a trick of the mind.

Zack was more moral support overall. He’d try and comfort Shou with hugs and shoulder pats, and hug Frenchie close. He'd even give Alex hugs which aren’t returned. When Shou’s more healed up, Zack heads off to find answers, telling everyone his plans and making double sure that they know what he's up to. He Knows things weren’t supposed to go this way in the timeline, and he follows that trail of thought to his planet and his new God Tier. Because of the ascension he has a clearer knowledge of how things can be fixed, the most favorable option being “Wait through hell until Ghostie gets the bright idea to go back himself.” Until then, he keeps calling Alex and updating here even if she doesn't respond, taking drinks away from Frenchie, and helping Shou as best as he emotionally can. When Shou shows his fear and panic over heat after the incident, Zack changes to an all salad/sushi diet, or basically anything that can be consumed or cooked cold. Usually separates meals too, in case there is something like meat or warmth involved.

Ghostie held it together for a total of about an hour after Jave’s death. It was long enough to try (and fail) to find an adequate burial place, then wander the newly destroyed land, shell-shocked and shivering despite the heat. Then he broke down, violently, screaming and scratching at his arms until Frenchie dragged his catatonic body back to Shou’s planet. Ghostie knew he was alive now, and subsequently doubled his efforts to hurt, maim, and punish himself. He ate next to nothing, frequently raided the cabinets of Shou’s home for pills and alcohol, and never slept, instead choosing to sit awake in the corner. He picked fights with imps and ogres. He sought Frenchie’s attention by stealing the alcohol that he alchemized, but Frenchie refused to take the bait. After a couple of attempts to contact Alex, he could no longer face her rejection and gave up. He took to following Zack around, trying to stay out of sight, but for some reason taking comfort in his presence. He frequently revealed himself by accident, unable to be as stealthy as he wanted, but Zack never seemed to threaten him or mind his presence. In fact, it was quite the opposite, and a silent sort of kinship developed between the two. Ghostie found the older boy’s activities interesting to watch, and it made him think. To stay in this ruined timeline and let himself fade into oblivion was no less than what he believed he deserved, but after several weeks of guilt and self-destruction, he began to wonder if somehow, this could be fixed. Watching Zack grow stronger, honing his powers over time, Ghostie developed a suspicion that maybe this timeline was supposed to fail - and some other, fortunate one was meant to succeed. Maybe, for some other version of himself, there was hope. Maybe Jave could still live.

#==>#alcohol //#self medication //#dissociation //#idk what else uhhmmmmgmmgm #general despair //#self harm //

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thesnhuup · 5 years ago

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Pop Picks – June 15, 2020

What I’m reading:

I am almost in despair for the way the pandemic has reduced my reading time, some combination of longer days, lack of plane time, and mental distraction, I think. However, I just finished Marguerite Yourcenar’s magisterial Memoirs of Hadrian, a historical novel, though I hesitate to call it that because A) she would likely reject the term, B) it is so much more, and C) it stands among the towering pieces of mid-century literature for so many. It’s that last point about which I feel so sheepish. As a reasonably well-read person, how did I miss this one? It is a work of stunning achievement (don’t miss her exhaustive bibliography or end notes), highly refined style, and as much philosophy as anything else. It won’t be for everyone and you have to power through the first chapter, but it is a remarkable book. I’m intrigued to use it as a reading on leadership.

What I’m watching:

When I can finally turn off the computer screen, I find myself drawn to the television screen for its less demanding passivity. Pat and I absolutely reveled in the ten-minute installments of State of the Union (Sundance Channel), written by Nick Hornby, one of my favorite writers. It is stunningly good – witty, smart, warm, painful, and powered by the chemistry of its two utterly charming leads, Rosamund Pike and Chris O’Dowd. It’s just two people – funny and smart – trying to salvage their marriage and talking, in ten-minute snippets, in a pub and no one writes dialogue like Hornby. We devoured it. If you asked me to watch two people talk about their marriage for 100 minutes, I’d have said “no thanks.” But this was sheer, unequivocal delight. And because all great comedy is closely related to tragedy, there is more substance and depth and complexity here than sheer delight might suggest.

I don’t usually do two recommendations in my categories, but we also watched Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods. It is long, flawed, and uneven – but Spike Lee remains one of our most brilliant directors and Delroy Lindo already has my vote for Best Male Actor for his Shakespearian performance as one of the four buddies who go back to Vietnam to reclaim treasure, find the remains of their friend, and address the trauma of the war they fought then and the war fought against them as Black men in America. Even flawed Spike Lee is better than 95% of what makes it onto the screen and while made before George Floyd’s death, it feels so well suited for the time. Powerful.

What I’m listening to:

Protest music. Chronological and cleaned up for listening at home (if we could include the f-word, it would be a lot longer (see Nipsey Hussle or Kendrick Lamar), Pat put it together and you can find the playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3z1W5Dbfcn7F9LBFcayTqa?si=u2oxkMTkSFef7_sQy3cNXw

Archive

April 1, 2020

What I’m listening to:

Out of nowhere and 8 years since his last recording, Bob Dylan last Thursday dropped a new single, the 17-minute (the longest Dylan song ever) “Murder Most Foul.” It’s ostensibly about the murder of President John F. Kennedy, but it’s bigger, more incisive, and elegiac than that alone. The music is gorgeous, his singing is lovely (a phrase rarely used for Dylan even in his prime), and he shows why he was deserving of his 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. It’s worth listening to again and again. The man is a cultural treasure and as relevant as ever.

What I’m reading:

The Milkman by Anna Burns, the 2018 Booker Prize winner, felt like slow going for the first bit, a leisurely stream of consciousness (not my favorite thing) first person tale of an adolescent girl during “the troubles” in 1970’s Northern Ireland. And then enough plot emerges to pull the reader along and tie the frequent and increasingly delightful digressions into the psychology of terror, sexual threat, adolescence, and a community (and world) that will create your narrative and your identity no matter what you know and believe about yourself. It’s layered, full of black humor, and powerful. It also somehow resonates for our times, where we navigate a newfound dread. It’s way more enjoyable than I just made it sound. One of my favorite reads of this young year.

What I’m watching:

I escaped back in time and started re-watching the first season of The West Wing. It is a vision – nostalgic, romantic, perhaps never true – of political leadership driven by higher purpose, American ideals, and moral intelligence. It does not pretend that politics can’t be craven, self-serving, and transactional, but the good guys mostly win in The West Wing, the acting is delightful, and Sorkin’s dialogue zings back and forth in the way of classic Hollywood movies of the 50s – smart, quick, funny. It reminds me – as has often happened during our current crisis – that most people are good and want their community to be a better place. When we appeal to our ideals instead of our fears, we are capable of great things. It’s a nice escape.

February 3, 2020

What I’m listening to:

Spending 21 hours on airplanes (Singapore to Tokyo to Boston) provides lots of time for listening and in an airport shop I picked up a Rolling Stones magazine that listed the top ten albums of the last ten years. I’ve been systematically working through them, starting with Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I just don’t know enough about hip hop and rap to offer any intelligent analysis of the music, and I have always thought of Kanye as kind of crazy (that may still be true), but the music is layered and extravagant and genre-bending. The lyrics seem fascinating and self-reflective, especially around fame and excess and Kanye’s specialty, self-promoting aggrandizement. Too many people I know remain stuck in the music of their youth and while I love those songs too, it feels important to listen to today’s music and what it has to tell us about life and lives far different than our own. And in a case like Twisted Fantasy, it’s just great music and that’s its own justification.

What I’m reading:

I went back to an old favorite, Richard Russo’s Straight Man. If you work in academia, this is a must-read and while written 22 years ago, it still rings true and current. The “hero” of the novel is William Henry Devereaux Jr., the chair of the English Department in a second-tier public university in small-town Pennsylvania. The book is laugh aloud funny (the opening chapter and story about old Red puts me in hysterics every time I read it) and like the best comedy, it taps into the complexity and pains of life in very substantial ways. Devereaux is insufferable in most ways and yet we root for him, mostly because A) he is so damn funny and B) is self-deprecating. But there is also a big heartedness in Russo’s writing and a recognition that everyone is the protagonist of their own story, and life’s essential dramas play out fully in the most modest of places and for the most ordinary of people.

What I’m watching:

I can’t pretend to have an abiding interest in cheerleading, but I devoured the six-episode Netflix series Cheer, about the cheerleading squad at Navarro College, a small two-year college in rural Texas that is a cheerleading powerhouse, winning the National Championship 14 times under the direction of Coach Monica Aldama, the Bill Belichick of cheering. I have a new respect and admiration for the athleticism and demands of cheering (and wonder about the cavalier handling of injuries), but the series is about so much more. It’s about team, about love, about grit and perseverance, bravery, trust, about kids and growing up and loss, and…well, it’s about almost everything and it will make you laugh and cry and exult. It is just terrific.

January 2, 2020

What I’m listening to:

I was never really an Amy Winehouse fan and I don’t listen to much jazz or blue-eyed soul. Recently, eight years after she died at only 27, I heard her single Tears Dry On Their Own and I was hooked (the song was on someone’s “ten things I’d want on a deserted island” list). Since then, I’ve been playing her almost every day. I started the documentary about her, Amy, and stopped. I didn’t much like her. Or, more accurately, I didn’t much like the signals of her own eventual destruction that were evident early on. I think it was D. H. Lawrence that once said “Trust the art, not the artist.” Sometimes it is better not to know too much and just relish the sheer artistry of the work. Winehouse’s Back to Black, which was named one of the best albums of 2007, is as fresh and painful and amazing 13 years later.

What I’m reading:

Alan Bennett’s lovely novella An Uncommon Reader is a what-if tale, wondering what it would mean if Queen Elizabeth II suddenly became a reader. Because of a lucked upon book mobile on palace grounds, she becomes just that, much to the consternation of her staff and with all kinds of delicious consequences, including curiosity, imagination, self-awareness, and growing disregard for pomp. With an ill-framed suggestion, reading becomes writing and provides a surprise ending. For all of us who love books, this is a finely wrought and delightful love poem to the power of books for readers and writers alike. Imagine if all our leaders were readers (sigh).

What I’m watching:

I’m a huge fan of many things – The National, Boston sports teams, BMW motorcycles, Pho – but there is a stage of life, typically adolescence, when fandom changes the universe, provides a lens to finally understand the world and, more importantly, yourself, in profound ways. My wife Pat would say Joni Mitchell did that for her. Gurinder Chadha’s wonderful film Blinded By The Light captures the power of discovery when Javed, the son of struggling Pakistani immigrants in a dead end place during a dead end time (the Thatcher period, from which Britain has never recovered: see Brexit), hears Springsteen and is forever changed. The movie, sometimes musical, sometimes comedy, and often bubbling with energy, has more heft than it might seem at first. There is pain in a father struggling to retain his dignity while he fails to provide, the father and son tension in so many immigrant families (I lived some of that), and what it means to be an outsider in the only culture you actually have ever known.

November 25, 2019

My pop picks are usually a combination of three things: what I am listening to, reading, and watching. But last week I happily combined all three. That is, I went to NYC last week and saw two shows. The first was Cyrano, starring Game of Thrones superstar Peter Dinklage in the title role, with Jasmine Cephas Jones as Roxanne. She was Peggy in the original Hamilton cast and has an amazing voice. The music was written by Aaron and Bryce Dessner, two members of my favorite band, The National, with lyrics by lead singer Matt Berninger and his wife Carin Besser. Erica Schmidt, Dinklage’s wife, directs. Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play is light, dated, and melodramatic, but this production was delightful. Dinklage owns the stage, a master, and his deep bass voice, not all that great for singing, but commanding in the delivery of every line, was somehow a plaintive and resonant counterpoint to Cephas Jones’ soaring voice. In the original Cyrano, the title character’s large nose marks him as outsider and ”other,” but Dinklage was born with achondroplasia, the cause of his dwarfism, and there is a kind of resonance in his performance that feels like pain not acted, but known. Deeply. It takes this rather lightweight play and gives it depth. Even if it didn’t, not everything has to be deep and profound – there is joy in seeing something executed so darn well. Cyrano was delightfully satisfying.

The other show was the much lauded Aaron Sorkin rendition of To Kill a Mockingbird, starring another actor at the very top of his game, Ed Harris. This is a Mockingbird for our times, one in which iconic Atticus Finch’s idealistic “you have to live in someone else’s skin” feels naive in the face of hateful racism and anti-Semitism. The Black characters in the play get more voice, if not agency, in the stage play than they do in the book, especially housekeeper Calpurnia, who voices incredulity at Finch’s faith in his neighbors and reminds us that he does not pay the price of his patience. She does. And Tom Robinson, the Black man falsely accused of rape – “convicted at the moment he was accused,” Whatever West Wing was for Sorkin – and I dearly loved that show – this is a play for a broken United States, where racism abounds and does so with sanction by those in power. As our daughter said, “I think Trump broke Aaron Sorkin.” It was as powerful a thing I’ve seen on stage in years.

With both plays, I was reminded of the magic that is live theater.

October 31, 2019

What I’m listening to:

It drove his critics crazy that Obama was the coolest president we ever had and his summer 2019 playlist on Spotify simply confirms that reality. It has been on repeat for me. From Drake to Lizzo (God I love her) to Steely Dan to Raphael Saadiq to Sinatra (who I skip every time – I’m not buying the nostalgia), his carefully curated list reflects not only his infinite coolness, but the breadth of his interests and generosity of taste. I love the music, but I love even more the image of Michelle and him rocking out somewhere far from Washington’s madness, as much as I miss them both.

What I’m reading:

I struggled with Christy Lefteri’s The Beekeeper of Aleppo for the first 50 pages, worried that she’d drag out every tired trope of Mid-Eastern society, but I fell for her main characters and their journey as refugees from Syria to England. Parts of this book were hard to read and very dark, because that is the plight of so many refugees and she doesn’t shy away from those realities and the enormous toll they take on displaced people. It’s a hard read, but there is light too – in resilience, in love, in friendships, the small tender gestures of people tossed together in a heartless world. Lefteri volunteered in Greek refugee programs, spent a lot of interviewing people, and the book feels true, and importantly, heartfelt.

What I’m watching:

Soap opera meets Shakespeare, deliciously malevolent and operatic, Succession has been our favorite series this season. Loosely based on the Murdochs and their media empire (don’t believe the denials), this was our must watch television on Sunday nights, filling the void left by Game of Thrones. The acting is over-the-top good, the frequent comedy dark, the writing brilliant, and the music superb. We found ourselves quoting lines after every episode. Like the hilarious; “You don’t hear much about syphilis these days. Very much the Myspace of STDs.” Watch it so we can talk about that season 2 finale.

August 30, 2019

What I’m listening to:

I usually go to music here, but the New York Times new 1619 podcast is just terrific, as is the whole project, which observes the sale of the first enslaved human beings on our shores 400 years ago. The first episode, “The Fight for a True Democracy” is a remarkable overview (in a mere 44 minutes) of the centrality of racism and slavery in the American story over those 400 years. It should be mandatory listening in every high school in the country. I’m eager for the next episodes. Side note: I am addicted to The Daily podcast, which gives more color and detail to the NY Times stories I read in print (yes, print), and reminds me of how smart and thoughtful are those journalists who give us real news. We need them now more than ever.

What I’m reading:

Colson Whitehead has done it again. The Nickel Boys, his new novel, is a worthy successor to his masterpiece The Underground Railroad, and because it is closer to our time, based on the real-life horrors of a Florida reform school, and written a time of resurgent White Supremacy, it hits even harder and with more urgency than its predecessor. Maybe because we can read Underground Railroad with a sense of “that was history,” but one can’t read Nickel Boys without the lurking feeling that such horrors persist today and the monsters that perpetrate such horrors walk among us. They often hold press conferences.

What I’m watching:

Queer Eye, the Netflix remake of the original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy some ten years later, is wondrously entertaining, but it also feels adroitly aligned with our dysfunctional times. Episode three has a conversation with Karamo Brown, one of the fab five, and a Georgia small town cop (and Trump supporter) that feels unscripted and unexpected and reminds us of how little actual conversation seems to be taking place in our divided country. Oh, for more car rides such as the one they take in that moment, when a chasm is bridged, if only for a few minutes. Set in the South, it is often a refreshing and affirming response to what it means to be male at a time of toxic masculinity and the overdue catharsis and pain of the #MeToo movement. Did I mention? It’s really fun.

July 1, 2019

What I’m listening to:

The National remains my favorite band and probably 50% of my listening time is a National album or playlist. Their new album I Am Easy To Find feels like a turning point record for the band, going from the moody, outsider introspection and doubt of lead singer Matt Berninger to something that feels more adult, sophisticated, and wiser. I might have titled it Women Help The Band Grow Up. Matt is no longer the center of The National’s universe and he frequently cedes the mic to the many women who accompany and often lead on the long, their longest, album. They include Gail Ann Dorsey (who sang with Bowie for a long time), who is amazing, and a number of the songs were written by Carin Besser, Berninger’s wife. I especially love the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the arrangements, and the sheer complexity and coherence of the work. It still amazes me when I meet someone who does not know The National. My heart breaks for them just a little.

What I’m reading:

Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls is a retelling of Homer’s Iliad through the lens of a captive Trojan queen, Briseis. As a reviewer in The Atlantic writes, it answers the question “What does war mean to women?” We know the answer and it has always been true, whether it is the casual and assumed rape of captive women in this ancient war story or the use of rape in modern day Congo, Syria, or any other conflict zone. Yet literature almost never gives voice to the women – almost always minor characters at best — and their unspeakable suffering. Barker does it here for Briseis, for Hector’s wife Andromache, and for the other women who understand that the death of their men is tragedy, but what they then endure is worse. Think of it ancient literature having its own #MeToo moment. The NY Times’ Geraldine Brooks did not much like the novel. I did. Very much.

What I’m watching:

The BBC-HBO limited series Years and Years is breathtaking, scary, and absolutely familiar. It’s as if Black Mirrorand Children of Men had a baby and it precisely captures the zeitgeist, the current sense that the world is spinning out of control and things are coming at us too fast. It is a near future (Trump has been re-elected and Brexit has occurred finally)…not dystopia exactly, but damn close. The closing scene of last week’s first episode (there are 6 episodes and it’s on every Monday) shows nuclear war breaking out between China and the U.S. Yikes! The scope of this show is wide and there is a big, baggy feel to it – but I love the ambition even if I’m not looking forward to the nightmares.

May 19, 2019

What I’m listening to:

I usually go to music here, but I was really moved by this podcast of a Davis Brooks talk at the Commonwealth Club in Silicon Valley: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archive/podcast/david-brooks-quest-moral-life. While I have long found myself distant from his political stance, he has come through a dark night of the soul and emerged with a wonderful clarity about calling, community, and not happiness (that most superficial of goals), but fulfillment and meaning, found in community and human kinship of many kinds. I immediately sent it to my kids.

What I’m reading:

Susan Orlean’s wonderful The Library Book, a love song to libraries told through the story of the LA Central Library. It brought back cherished memories of my many hours in beloved libraries — as a kid in the Waltham Public Library, a high schooler in the Farber Library at Brandeis (Lil Farber years later became a mentor of mine), and the cathedral-like Bapst Library at BC when I was a graduate student. Yes, I was a nerd. This is a love song to books certainly, but a reminder that libraries are so, so much more. It is a reminder that libraries are less about a place or being a repository of information and, like America at its best, an idea and ideal. By the way, oh to write like her.

What I’m watching:

What else? Game of Thrones, like any sensible human being. This last season is disappointing in many ways and the drop off in the writing post George R.R. Martin is as clear as was the drop off in the post-Sorkin West Wing. I would be willing to bet that if Martin has been writing the last season, Sansa and Tyrion would have committed suicide in the crypt. That said, we fans are deeply invested and even the flaws are giving us so much to discuss and debate. In that sense, the real gift of this last season is the enjoyment between episodes, like the old pre-streaming days when we all arrived at work after the latest episode of the Sopranos to discuss what we had all seen the night before. I will say this, the last two episodes — full of battle and gore – have been visually stunning. Whether the torches of the Dothraki being extinguished in the distance or Arya riding through rubble and flame on a white horse, rarely has the series ascended to such visual grandeur.

March 28, 2019

What I’m listening to:

There is a lovely piece played in a scene from A Place Called Home that I tracked down. It’s Erik Satie’s 3 Gymnopédies: Gymnopédie No. 1, played by the wonderful pianist Klára Körmendi. Satie composed this piece in 1888 and it was considered avant-garde and anti-Romantic. It’s minimalism and bit of dissonance sound fresh and contemporary to my ears and while not a huge Classical music fan, I’ve fallen in love with the Körmendi playlist on Spotify. When you need an alternative to hours of Cardi B.

What I’m reading:

Just finished Esi Edugyan’s 2018 novel Washington Black. Starting on a slave plantation in Barbados, it is a picaresque novel that has elements of Jules Verne, Moby Dick, Frankenstein, and Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad. Yes, it strains credulity and there are moments of “huh?”, but I loved it (disclosure: I was in the minority among my fellow book club members) and the first third is a searing depiction of slavery. It’s audacious, sprawling (from Barbados to the Arctic to London to Africa), and the writing, especially about nature, luminous.

What I’m watching:

A soap opera. Yes, I’d like to pretend it’s something else, but we are 31 episodes into the Australian drama A Place Called Home and we are so, so addicted. Like “It’s AM, but can’t we watch just one more episode?” addicted. Despite all the secrets, cliff hangers, intrigue, and “did that just happen?” moments, the core ingredients of any good soap opera, APCH has superb acting, real heft in terms of subject matter (including homophobia, anti-Semitism, sexual assault, and class), touches of our beloved Downton Abbey, and great cars. Beware. If you start, you won’t stop.

February 11, 2019

What I’m listening to:

Raphael Saadiq has been around for quite a while, as a musician, writer, and producer. He’s new to me and I love his old school R&B sound. Like Leon Bridges, he brings a contemporary freshness to the genre, sounding like a young Stevie Wonder (listen to “You’re The One That I Like”). Rock and Roll may be largely dead, but R&B persists – maybe because the former was derivative of the latter and never as good (and I say that as a Rock and Roll fan). I’m embarrassed to only have discovered Saadiq so late in his career, but it’s a delight to have done so.

What I’m reading:

Just finished Marilynne Robinson’s Home, part of her trilogy that includes the Pulitzer Prize winning first novel, Gilead, and the book after Home, Lila. Robinson is often described as a Christian writer, but not in a conventional sense. In this case, she gives us a modern version of the prodigal son and tells the story of what comes after he is welcomed back home. It’s not pretty. Robinson is a self-described Calvinist, thus character begets fate in Robinson’s world view and redemption is at best a question. There is something of Faulkner in her work (I am much taken with his famous “The past is never past” quote after a week in the deep South), her style is masterful, and like Faulkner, she builds with these three novels a whole universe in the small town of Gilead. Start with Gilead to better enjoy Home.

What I’m watching:

Sex Education was the most fun series we’ve seen in ages and we binged watched it on Netflix. A British homage to John Hughes films like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Pretty in Pink, it feels like a mash up of American and British high schools. Focusing on the relationship of Maeve, the smart bad girl, and Otis, the virginal and awkward son of a sex therapist (played with brilliance by Gillian Anderson), it is laugh aloud funny and also evolves into more substance and depth (the abortion episode is genius). The sex scenes are somehow raunchy and charming and inoffensive at the same time and while ostensibly about teenagers (it feels like it is explaining contemporary teens to adults in many ways), the adults are compelling in their good and bad ways. It has been renewed for a second season, which is a gift.

January 3, 2019

What I’m listening to:

My listening choices usually refer to music, but this time I’m going with Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast on genius and the song Hallelujah. It tells the story of Leonard Cohen’s much-covered song Hallelujah and uses it as a lens on kinds of genius and creativity. Along the way, he brings in Picasso and Cézanne, Elvis Costello, and more. Gladwell is a good storyteller and if you love pop music, as I do, and Hallelujah, as I do (and you should), you’ll enjoy this podcast. We tend to celebrate the genius who seems inspired in the moment, creating new work like lightning strikes, but this podcast has me appreciating incremental creativity in a new way. It’s compelling and fun at the same time.

What I’m reading:

Just read Clay Christensen’s new book, The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty. This was an advance copy, so soon available. Clay is an old friend and a huge influence on how we have grown SNHU and our approach to innovation. This book is so compelling, because we know attempts at development have so often been a failure and it is often puzzling to understand why some countries with desperate poverty and huge challenges somehow come to thrive (think S. Korea, Singapore, 19th C. America), while others languish. Clay offers a fresh way of thinking about development through the lens of his research on innovation and it is compelling. I bet this book gets a lot of attention, as most of his work does. I also suspect that many in the development community will hate it, as it calls into question the approach and enormous investments we have made in an attempt to lift countries out of poverty. A provocative read and, as always, Clay is a good storyteller.

What I’m watching:

Just watched Leave No Trace and should have guessed that it was directed by Debra Granik. She did Winter’s Bone, the extraordinary movie that launched Jennifer Lawrence’s career. Similarly, this movie features an amazing young actor, Thomasin McKenzie, and visits lives lived on the margins. In this case, a veteran suffering PTSD, and his 13-year-old daughter. The movie is patient, is visually lush, and justly earned 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (I have a rule to never watch anything under 82%). Everything in this film is under control and beautifully understated (aside from the visuals) – confident acting, confident directing, and so humane. I love the lack of flashbacks, the lack of sensationalism – the movie trusts the viewer, rare in this age of bombast. A lovely film.

December 4, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Spending a week in New Zealand, we had endless laughs listening to the Kiwi band, Flight of the Conchords. Lots of comedic bands are funny, but the music is only okay or worse. These guys are funny – hysterical really – and the music is great. They have an uncanny ability to parody almost any style. In both New Zealand and Australia, we found a wry sense of humor that was just delightful and no better captured than with this duo. You don’t have to be in New Zealand to enjoy them.

What I’m reading:

I don’t often reread. For two reasons: A) I have so many books on my “still to be read” pile that it seems daunting to also rereadbooks I loved before, and B) it’s because I loved them once that I’m a little afraid to read them again. That said, I was recently asked to list my favorite book of all time and I answered Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. But I don’t really know if that’s still true (and it’s an impossible question anyway – favorite book? On what day? In what mood?), so I’m rereading it and it feels like being with an old friend. It has one of my very favorite scenes ever: the card game between Levin and Kitty that leads to the proposal and his joyous walking the streets all night.

What I’m watching:

Blindspotting is billed as a buddy-comedy. Wow does that undersell it and the drama is often gripping. I loved Daveed Diggs in Hamilton, didn’t like his character in Black-ish, and think he is transcendent in this film he co-wrote with Rafael Casal, his co-star. The film is a love song to Oakland in many ways, but also a gut-wrenching indictment of police brutality, systemic racism and bias, and gentrification. The film has the freshness and raw visceral impact of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. A great soundtrack, genre mixing, and energy make it one of my favorite movies of 2018.

October 15, 2018

What I’m listening to:

We had the opportunity to see our favorite band, The National, live in Dallas two weeks ago. Just after watching Mistaken for Strangers, the documentary sort of about the band. So we’ve spent a lot of time going back into their earlier work, listening to songs we don’t know well, and reaffirming that their musicality, smarts, and sound are both original and astoundingly good. They did not disappoint in concert and it is a good thing their tour ended, as we might just spend all of our time and money following them around. Matt Berninger is a genius and his lead vocals kill me (and because they are in my range, I can actually sing along!). Their arrangements are profoundly good and go right to whatever brain/heart wiring that pulls one in and doesn’t let them go.

What I’m reading:

Who is Richard Powers and why have I only discovered him now, with his 12th book? Overstory is profoundly good, a book that is essential and powerful and makes me look at my everyday world in new ways. In short, a dizzying example of how powerful can be narrative in the hands of a master storyteller. I hesitate to say it’s the best environmental novel I’ve ever read (it is), because that would put this book in a category. It is surely about the natural world, but it is as much about we humans. It’s monumental and elegiac and wondrous at all once. Cancel your day’s schedule and read it now. Then plant a tree. A lot of them.

What I’m watching:

Bo Burnham wrote and directed Eighth Grade and Elsie Fisher is nothing less than amazing as its star (what’s with these new child actors; see Florida Project). It’s funny and painful and touching. It’s also the single best film treatment that I have seen of what it means to grow up in a social media shaped world. It’s a reminder that growing up is hard. Maybe harder now in a world of relentless, layered digital pressure to curate perfect lives that are far removed from the natural messy worlds and selves we actually inhabit. It’s a well-deserved 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and I wonder who dinged it for the missing 2%.

September 7, 2018

What I’m listening to:

With a cover pointing back to the Beastie Boys’ 1986 Licensed to Ill, Eminem’s quietly released Kamikaze is not my usual taste, but I’ve always admired him for his “all out there” willingness to be personal, to call people out, and his sheer genius with language. I thought Daveed Diggs could rap fast, but Eminem is supersonic at moments, and still finds room for melody. Love that he includes Joyner Lucas, whose “I’m Not Racist” gets added to the growing list of simply amazing music videos commenting on race in America. There are endless reasons why I am the least likely Eminem fan, but when no one is around to make fun of me, I’ll put it on again.

What I’m reading:

Lesley Blume’s Everyone Behaves Badly, which is the story behind Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and his time in 1920s Paris (oh, what a time – see Midnight in Paris if you haven’t already). Of course, Blume disabuses my romantic ideas of that time and place and everyone is sort of (or profoundly so) a jerk, especially…no spoiler here…Hemingway. That said, it is a compelling read and coming off the Henry James inspired prose of Mrs. Osmond, it made me appreciate more how groundbreaking was Hemingway’s modern prose style. Like his contemporary Picasso, he reinvented the art and it can be easy to forget, these decades later, how profound was the change and its impact. And it has bullfights.

What I’m watching:

Chloé Zhao’s The Rider is just exceptional. It’s filmed on the Pine Ridge Reservation, which provides a stunning landscape, and it feels like a classic western reinvented for our times. The main characters are played by the real-life people who inspired this narrative (but feels like a documentary) film. Brady Jandreau, playing himself really, owns the screen. It’s about manhood, honor codes, loss, and resilience – rendered in sensitive, nuanced, and heartfelt ways. It feels like it could be about large swaths of America today. Really powerful.

August 16, 2018

What I’m listening to:

In my Spotify Daily Mix was Percy Sledge’s When A Man Loves A Woman, one of the world’s greatest love songs. Go online and read the story of how the song was discovered and recorded. There are competing accounts, but Sledge said he improvised it after a bad breakup. It has that kind of aching spontaneity. It is another hit from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, one of the GREAT music hotbeds, along with Detroit, Nashville, and Memphis. Our February Board meeting is in Alabama and I may finally have to do the pilgrimage road trip to Muscle Shoals and then Memphis, dropping in for Sunday services at the church where Rev. Al Green still preaches and sings. If the music is all like this, I will be saved.

What I’m reading:

John Banville’s Mrs. Osmond, his homage to literary idol Henry James and an imagined sequel to James’ 1881 masterpiece Portrait of a Lady. Go online and read the first paragraph of Chapter 25. He is…profoundly good. Makes me want to never write again, since anything I attempt will feel like some other, lowly activity in comparison to his mastery of language, image, syntax. This is slow reading, every sentence to be savored.

What I’m watching:

I’ve always respected Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but we just watched the documentary RGB. It is over-the-top great and she is now one of my heroes. A superwoman in many ways and the documentary is really well done. There are lots of scenes of her speaking to crowds and the way young women, especially law students, look at her is touching. And you can’t help but fall in love with her now late husband Marty. See this movie and be reminded of how important is the Law.

July 23, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Spotify’s Summer Acoustic playlist has been on repeat quite a lot. What a fun way to listen to artists new to me, including The Paper Kites, Hollow Coves, and Fleet Foxes, as well as old favorites like Leon Bridges and Jose Gonzalez. Pretty chill when dialing back to a summer pace, dining on the screen porch or reading a book.

What I’m reading:

Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy. Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, Stevenson tells of the racial injustice (and the war on the poor our judicial system perpetuates as well) that he discovered as a young graduate from Harvard Law School and his fight to address it. It is in turn heartbreaking, enraging, and inspiring. It is also about mercy and empathy and justice that reads like a novel. Brilliant.

What I’m watching:

Fauda. We watched season one of this Israeli thriller. It was much discussed in Israel because while it focuses on an ex-special agent who comes out of retirement to track down a Palestinian terrorist, it was willing to reveal the complexity, richness, and emotions of Palestinian lives. And the occasional brutality of the Israelis. Pretty controversial stuff in Israel. Lior Raz plays Doron, the main character, and is compelling and tough and often hard to like. He’s a mess. As is the world in which he has to operate. We really liked it, and also felt guilty because while it may have been brave in its treatment of Palestinians within the Israeli context, it falls back into some tired tropes and ultimately falls short on this front.

June 11, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Like everyone else, I’m listening to Pusha T drop the mic on Drake. Okay, not really, but do I get some points for even knowing that? We all walk around with songs that immediately bring us back to a time or a place. Songs are time machines. We are coming up on Father’s Day. My own dad passed away on Father’s Day back in 1994 and I remembering dutifully getting through the wake and funeral and being strong throughout. Then, sitting alone in our kitchen, Don Henley’s The End of the Innocence came on and I lost it. When you lose a parent for the first time (most of us have two after all) we lose our innocence and in that passage, we suddenly feel adult in a new way (no matter how old we are), a longing for our own childhood, and a need to forgive and be forgiven. Listen to the lyrics and you’ll understand. As Wordsworth reminds us in In Memoriam, there are seasons to our grief and, all these years later, this song no longer hits me in the gut, but does transport me back with loving memories of my father. I’ll play it Father’s Day.

What I’m reading:

The Fifth Season, by N. K. Jemisin. I am not a reader of fantasy or sci-fi, though I understand they can be powerful vehicles for addressing the very real challenges of the world in which we actually live. I’m not sure I know of a more vivid and gripping illustration of that fact than N. K. Jemisin’s Hugo Award winning novel The Fifth Season, first in her Broken Earth trilogy. It is astounding. It is the fantasy parallel to The Underground Railroad, my favorite recent read, a depiction of subjugation, power, casual violence, and a broken world in which our hero(s) struggle, suffer mightily, and still, somehow, give us hope. It is a tour de force book. How can someone be this good a writer? The first 30 pages pained me (always with this genre, one must learn a new, constructed world, and all of its operating physics and systems of order), and then I could not put it down. I panicked as I neared the end, not wanting to finish the book, and quickly ordered the Obelisk Gate, the second novel in the trilogy, and I can tell you now that I’ll be spending some goodly portion of my weekend in Jemisin’s other world.

What I’m watching:

The NBA Finals and perhaps the best basketball player of this generation. I’ve come to deeply respect LeBron James as a person, a force for social good, and now as an extraordinary player at the peak of his powers. His superhuman play during the NBA playoffs now ranks with the all-time greats, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, MJ, Kobe, and the demi-god that was Bill Russell. That his Cavs lost in a 4-game sweep is no surprise. It was a mediocre team being carried on the wide shoulders of James (and matched against one of the greatest teams ever, the Warriors, and the Harry Potter of basketball, Steph Curry) and, in some strange way, his greatness is amplified by the contrast with the rest of his team. It was a great run.

May 24, 2018

What I’m listening to:

I’ve always liked Alicia Keys and admired her social activism, but I am hooked on her last album Here. This feels like an album finally commensurate with her anger, activism, hope, and grit. More R&B and Hip Hop than is typical for her, I think this album moves into an echelon inhabited by a Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On or Beyonce’s Formation. Social activism and outrage rarely make great novels, but they often fuel great popular music. Here is a terrific example.

What I’m reading:

Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad may be close to a flawless novel. Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer, it chronicles the lives of two runaway slaves, Cora and Caeser, as they try to escape the hell of plantation life in Georgia. It is an often searing novel and Cora is one of the great heroes of American literature. I would make this mandatory reading in every high school in America, especially in light of the absurd revisionist narratives of “happy and well cared for” slaves. This is a genuinely great novel, one of the best I’ve read, the magical realism and conflating of time periods lifts it to another realm of social commentary, relevance, and a blazing indictment of America’s Original Sin, for which we remain unabsolved.

What I’m watching:

I thought I knew about The Pentagon Papers, but The Post, a real-life political thriller from Steven Spielberg taught me a lot, features some of our greatest actors, and is so timely given the assault on our democratic institutions and with a presidency out of control. It is a reminder that a free and fearless press is a powerful part of our democracy, always among the first targets of despots everywhere. The story revolves around the legendary Post owner and D.C. doyenne, Katharine Graham. I had the opportunity to see her son, Don Graham, right after he saw the film, and he raved about Meryl Streep’s portrayal of his mother. Liked it a lot more than I expected.

April 27, 2018

What I’m listening to:

I mentioned John Prine in a recent post and then on the heels of that mention, he has released a new album, The Tree of Forgiveness, his first new album in ten years. Prine is beloved by other singer songwriters and often praised by the inscrutable God that is Bob Dylan. Indeed, Prine was frequently said to be the “next Bob Dylan” in the early part of his career, though he instead carved out his own respectable career and voice, if never with the dizzying success of Dylan. The new album reflects a man in his 70s, a cancer survivor, who reflects on life and its end, but with the good humor and empathy that are hallmarks of Prine’s music. “When I Get To Heaven” is a rollicking, fun vision of what comes next and a pure delight. A charming, warm, and often terrific album.

What I’m reading:

I recently read Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, on many people’s Top Ten lists for last year and for good reason. It is sprawling, multi-generational, and based in the world of Japanese occupied Korea and then in the Korean immigrant’s world of Oaska, so our key characters become “tweeners,” accepted in neither world. It’s often unspeakably sad, and yet there is resiliency and love. There is also intimacy, despite the time and geographic span of the novel. It’s breathtakingly good and like all good novels, transporting.

What I’m watching:

I adore Guillermo del Toro’s 2006 film, Pan’s Labyrinth, and while I’m not sure his Shape of Water is better, it is a worthy follow up to the earlier masterpiece (and more of a commercial success). Lots of critics dislike the film, but I’m okay with a simple retelling of a Beauty and the Beast love story, as predictable as it might be. The acting is terrific, it is visually stunning, and there are layers of pain as well as social and political commentary (the setting is the US during the Cold War) and, no real spoiler here, the real monsters are humans, the military officer who sees over the captured aquatic creature. It is hauntingly beautiful and its depiction of hatred to those who are different or “other” is painfully resonant with the time in which we live. Put this on your “must see” list.

March 18, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Sitting on a plane for hours (and many more to go; geez, Australia is far away) is a great opportunity to listen to new music and to revisit old favorites. This time, it is Lucy Dacus and her album Historians, the new sophomore release from a 22-year old indie artist that writes with relatable, real-life lyrics. Just on a second listen and while she insists this isn’t a break up record (as we know, 50% of all great songs are break up songs), it is full of loss and pain. Worth the listen so far. For the way back machine, it’s John Prine and In Spite of Ourselves (that title track is one of the great love songs of all time), a collection of duets with some of his “favorite girl singers” as he once described them. I have a crush on Iris Dement (for a really righteously angry song try her Wasteland of the Free), but there is also EmmyLou Harris, the incomparable Dolores Keane, and Lucinda Williams. Very different albums, both wonderful.

What I’m reading:

Jane Mayer’s New Yorker piece on Christopher Steele presents little that is new, but she pulls it together in a terrific and coherent whole that is illuminating and troubling at the same time. Not only for what is happening, but for the complicity of the far right in trying to discredit that which should be setting off alarm bells everywhere. Bob Mueller may be the most important defender of the democracy at this time. A must read.

What I’m watching:

Homeland is killing it this season and is prescient, hauntingly so. Russian election interference, a Bannon-style hate radio demagogue, alienated and gun toting militia types, and a president out of control. It’s fabulous, even if it feels awfully close to the evening news.

March 8, 2018

What I’m listening to:

We have a family challenge to compile our Top 100 songs. It is painful. Only 100? No more than three songs by one artist? Wait, why is M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” on my list? Should it just be The Clash from whom she samples? Can I admit to guilty pleasure songs? Hey, it’s my list and I can put anything I want on it. So I’m listening to the list while I work and the song playing right now is Tom Petty’s “The Wild One, Forever,” a B-side single that was never a hit and that remains my favorite Petty song. Also, “Evangeline” by Los Lobos. It evokes a night many years ago, with friends at Pearl Street in Northampton, MA, when everyone danced well past 1AM in a hot, sweaty, packed club and the band was a revelation. Maybe the best music night of our lives and a reminder that one’s 100 Favorite Songs list is as much about what you were doing and where you were in your life when those songs were playing as it is about the music. It’s not a list. It’s a soundtrack for this journey.

What I’m reading:

Patricia Lockwood’s Priestdaddy was in the NY Times top ten books of 2017 list and it is easy to see why. Lockwood brings remarkable and often surprising imagery, metaphor, and language to her prose memoir and it actually threw me off at first. It then all became clear when someone told me she is a poet. The book is laugh aloud funny, which masks (or makes safer anyway) some pretty dark territory. Anyone who grew up Catholic, whether lapsed or not, will resonate with her story. She can’t resist a bawdy anecdote and her family provides some of the most memorable characters possible, especially her father, her sister, and her mother, who I came to adore. Best thing I’ve read in ages.

What I’m watching:

The Florida Project, a profoundly good movie on so many levels. Start with the central character, six-year old (at the time of the filming) Brooklynn Prince, who owns – I mean really owns – the screen. This is pure acting genius and at that age? Astounding. Almost as astounding is Bria Vinaite, who plays her mother. She was discovered on Instagram and had never acted before this role, which she did with just three weeks of acting lessons. She is utterly convincing and the tension between the child’s absolute wonder and joy in the world with her mother’s struggle to provide, to be a mother, is heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once. Willem Dafoe rightly received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role. This is a terrific movie.

February 12, 2018

What I’m listening to:

So, I have a lot of friends of age (I know you’re thinking 40s, but I just turned 60) who are frozen in whatever era of music they enjoyed in college or maybe even in their thirties. There are lots of times when I reach back into the catalog, since music is one of those really powerful and transporting senses that can take you through time (smell is the other one, though often underappreciated for that power). Hell, I just bought a turntable and now spending time in vintage vinyl shops. But I’m trying to take a lesson from Pat, who revels in new music and can as easily talk about North African rap music and the latest National album as Meet the Beatles, her first ever album. So, I’ve been listening to Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy winning Damn. While it may not be the first thing I’ll reach for on a winter night in Maine, by the fire, I was taken with it. It’s layered, political, and weirdly sensitive and misogynist at the same time, and it feels fresh and authentic and smart at the same time, with music that often pulled me from what I was doing. In short, everything music should do. I’m not a bit cooler for listening to Damn, but when I followed it with Steely Dan, I felt like I was listening to Lawrence Welk. A good sign, I think.

What I’m reading:

I am reading Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Leonardo da Vinci. I’m not usually a reader of biographies, but I’ve always been taken with Leonardo. Isaacson does not disappoint (does he ever?), and his subject is at once more human and accessible and more awe-inspiring in Isaacson’s capable hands. Gay, left-handed, vegetarian, incapable of finishing things, a wonderful conversationalist, kind, and perhaps the most relentlessly curious human being who has ever lived. Like his biographies of Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein, Isaacson’s project here is to show that genius lives at the intersection of science and art, of rationality and creativity. Highly recommend it.

What I’m watching:

We watched the This Is Us post-Super Bowl episode, the one where Jack finally buys the farm. I really want to hate this show. It is melodramatic and manipulative, with characters that mostly never change or grow, and it hooks me every damn time we watch it. The episode last Sunday was a tear jerker, a double whammy intended to render into a blubbering, tissue-crumbling pathetic mess anyone who has lost a parent or who is a parent. Sterling K. Brown, Ron Cephas Jones, the surprising Mandy Moore, and Milo Ventimiglia are hard not to love and last season’s episode that had only Brown and Cephas going to Memphis was the show at its best (they are by far the two best actors). Last week was the show at its best worst. In other words, I want to hate it, but I love it. If you haven’t seen it, don’t binge watch it. You’ll need therapy and insulin.

January 15, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Drive-By Truckers. Chris Stapleton has me on an unusual (for me) country theme and I discovered these guys to my great delight. They’ve been around, with some 11 albums, but the newest one is fascinating. It’s a deep dive into Southern alienation and the white working-class world often associated with our current president. I admire the willingness to lay bare, in kick ass rock songs, the complexities and pain at work among people we too quickly place into overly simple categories. These guys are brave, bold, and thoughtful as hell, while producing songs I didn’t expect to like, but that I keep playing. And they are coming to NH.

What I’m reading:

A textual analog to Drive-By Truckers by Chris Stapleton in many ways is Tony Horowitz’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize winning Confederates in the Attic. Ostensibly about the Civil War and the South’s ongoing attachment to it, it is prescient and speaks eloquently to the times in which we live (where every southern state but Virginia voted for President Trump). Often hilarious, it too surfaces complexities and nuance that escape a more recent, and widely acclaimed, book like Hillbilly Elegy. As a Civil War fan, it was also astonishing in many instances, especially when it blows apart long-held “truths” about the war, such as the degree to which Sherman burned down the south (he did not). Like D-B Truckers, Horowitz loves the South and the people he encounters, even as he grapples with its myths of victimhood and exceptionalism (and racism, which may be no more than the racism in the north, but of a different kind). Everyone should read this book and I’m embarrassed I’m so late to it.

What I’m watching:

David Letterman has a new Netflix show called “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” and we watched the first episode, in which Letterman interviewed Barack Obama. It was extraordinary (if you don’t have Netflix, get it just to watch this show); not only because we were reminded of Obama’s smarts, grace, and humanity (and humor), but because we saw a side of Letterman we didn’t know existed. His personal reflections on Selma were raw and powerful, almost painful. He will do five more episodes with “extraordinary individuals” and if they are anything like the first, this might be the very best work of his career and one of the best things on television.

December 22, 2017

What I’m reading:

Just finished Sunjeev Sahota’s Year of the Runaways, a painful inside look at the plight of illegal Indian immigrant workers in Britain. It was shortlisted for 2015 Man Booker Prize and its transporting, often to a dark and painful universe, and it is impossible not to think about the American version of this story and the terrible way we treat the undocumented in our own country, especially now.

What I’m watching:

Season II of The Crown is even better than Season I. Elizabeth’s character is becoming more three-dimensional, the modern world is catching up with tradition-bound Britain, and Cold War politics offer more context and tension than we saw in Season I. Claire Foy, in her last season, is just terrific – one arched eye brow can send a message.

What I’m listening to:

A lot of Christmas music, but needing a break from the schmaltz, I’ve discovered Over the Rhine and their Christmas album, Snow Angels. God, these guys are good.

November 14, 2017

What I’m watching:

Guiltily, I watch the Patriots play every weekend, often building my schedule and plans around seeing the game. Why the guilt? I don’t know how morally defensible is football anymore, as we now know the severe damage it does to the players. We can’t pretend it’s all okay anymore. Is this our version of late decadent Rome, watching mostly young Black men take a terrible toll on each other for our mere entertainment?

What I’m reading:

Recently finished J.G. Ballard’s 2000 novel Super-Cannes, a powerful depiction of a corporate-tech ex-pat community taken over by a kind of psychopathology, in which all social norms and responsibilities are surrendered to residents of the new world community. Kept thinking about Silicon Valley when reading it. Pretty dark, dystopian view of the modern world and centered around a mass killing, troublingly prescient.

What I’m listening to:

Was never really a Lorde fan, only knowing her catchy (and smarter than you might first guess) pop hit “Royals” from her debut album. But her new album, Melodrama, is terrific and it doesn’t feel quite right to call this “pop.” There is something way more substantial going on with Lorde and I can see why many critics put this album at the top of their Best in 2017 list. Count me in as a huge fan.

November 3, 2017

What I’m reading: Just finished Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, her breathtakingly good second novel. How is someone so young so wise? Her writing is near perfection and I read the book in two days, setting my alarm for 4:30AM so I could finish it before work.

What I’m watching: We just binge watched season two of Stranger Things and it was worth it just to watch Millie Bobbie Brown, the transcendent young actor who plays Eleven. The series is a delightful mash up of every great eighties horror genre you can imagine and while pretty dark, an absolute joy to watch.

What I’m listening to: I’m not a lover of country music (to say the least), but I love Chris Stapleton. His “The Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning” is heartbreakingly good and reminds me of the old school country that played in my house as a kid. He has a new album and I can’t wait, but his From A Room: Volume 1 is on repeat for now.

September 26, 2017

What I’m reading:

Just finished George Saunder’s Lincoln in the Bardo. It took me a while to accept its cadence and sheer weirdness, but loved it in the end. A painful meditation on loss and grief, and a genuinely beautiful exploration of the intersection of life and death, the difficulty of letting go of what was, good and bad, and what never came to be.

What I’m watching:

HBO’s The Deuce. Times Square and the beginning of the porn industry in the 1970s, the setting made me wonder if this was really something I’d want to see. But David Simon is the writer and I’d read a menu if he wrote it. It does not disappoint so far and there is nothing prurient about it.

What I’m listening to:

The National’s new album Sleep Well Beast. I love this band. The opening piano notes of the first song, “Nobody Else Will Be There,” seize me & I’m reminded that no one else in music today matches their arrangement & musicianship. I’m adding “Born to Beg,” “Slow Show,” “I Need My Girl,” and “Runaway” to my list of favorite love songs.

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