#an alternate ending to the everest scene

[ink-asunder]

Doctor Strange (2016) deleted scene.

B&w filter because all I had at my disposal for coloring was highlighters and it turned out not well. A lil appreciation post for Her lesser-seen Everest outfit.

#doctor strange #the ancient one #my art #fanart #mordo #an alternate ending to the everest scene

[skeletonmob]

The Pirate’s Fate - Severely Undercooked

The Pirate's Fate is a visual novel written by T.F. Wright and illustrated by Volkenfox. It's not very good. Well, I guess that gives the wrong impression. It's not completely horrible and it's not the worst visual novel I've ever played, it's just . . . a hot mess. Visual novels are primarily story based, usually with player choices leading to branching narratives and the occasional minigame thrown in. As such, writing is extremely crucial for a visual novel, and the story of The Pirate's Fate is severely undercooked.

I bought it on a whim about a year ago, intrigued by the premise. I played it a handful of times then, and a handful of times more recently to refresh my memory. The premise is, in a world of anthropormophic animals, a spice merchant by the name of Mila is rescued by the Dread Pirates, consisting of Darious, Leeko, Morgana, and later Tam-Tam, after her ship sinks. The group then rope her into their quest to find a series of enchanted coins, which have the ability to transform a person into whatever they wish.

(using images off google because I forgot to take my own)

This is a really interesting premise for a story, and one that's very suited to the branching narrative of a visual novel. The problem, however, is that this is used less to flesh out a fictional world, or put our characters in intriguing scenarios, and more so used to show of the creator's barely disguised fetish. The story's too excited to turn Mila into hulking amazon warrior or give Tam-Tam tits the size of Mt. Everest, that many of it's more interesting ideas aren't given room to breath.

To give you a better idea, during the intro, you find a coin inside a griffon's cave. Afterwards the primary antagonist, Rourkie, holds you hostage and demands you hand over the coin. You have a set of three options to choose from, and from there the story branches out. I chose the second option, which I believe was to feign compliance and then attack. My playthrough then went as follows, Morgana died, we recruited Tam-Tam, visited Circe's island, visited a beauty temple, visited haunted house isle, had an audience with the queen, met someone named Steamchaser, visited a matchmakers shop, and finally the story ended in a mysterious library. I stopped early because I realized I was about to get an ending I saw before, so my total run time was about and hour and 37 minutes. Excluding the intro, all proceeding scenes last about 11 minutes, and with the amount of stuff that happens, that's not enough to flesh anything out.

In this route, Darious feels guilty about Morgana's death. Circe then manipulates that guilt and transforms him into a bear. That alone could carry an entire story, it's a strong if tropey character arc. But after he transforms, he has a heart to heart with Mila, and that's it. All of Darious' guilt vanishes in that one scene, and then he gets possesed by a ghost later on in order to keep the plot going. A similar thing happens on other story branches as well. In one of them, Tam-Tam is transformed from a female lizard into a male rabbit, and she's just kind of cool with it. She still identifies as female, and the conversation in the scene afterward posits her views on gender and identity, and that's it. The rest of her crewmates are totally okay with this development after this one conversation, and nobody reflects on their own gender identity beyond this.

In other branches, you find a coin that allows you to go back in time and change the past. When Darious gets possessed by the ghost, you have the option to go back in time to try and prevent this from happening. If you do, Darious ends up dying instead of Morgana, who's declared herself captain. There's a scene between Morgana and Mila discussing what happened, and that's it. Morgana isn't freaked out that her crewmates come from an alternate timeline. Nobody finds this weird. Nobody wonders what happened to the original crew she had, because she clearly wasn't sailing alone. Nobody posits about what they would've done if they were using the coin. It's just 'wow! time travel exists!' and the story moves on. Again, just like with Darious' potential character arc, this could carry the entire story. There's already a shitload of movies, books, and games based around time travel, but here it's just a plot device.

The world building also suffers from this as well. New settings and characters are introduced and then hastily thrown aside to continue the story. At the beauty temple, we get a lore dump about how the religion of the island is centered around beauty and physical appearances, but we never look beyond that. We never get to look at the surrounding town or talk to anyone else except the two characters that give us the lore dump.

In one route, Leeko gets transformed into the world greatest baker, and the rest of the gang concoct a plan to use him to gain access to the queen's coins. He'll be hired as the head baker, then after gaining her trust, then the gang will kidnap her and hold her for ransom. Aside from being a stupid plan (why couldn't you sneak in and steal the coins while the queen was distracted?), we don't see Leeko meeting the queen or gaining her trust, it just skips right over to her being held for ransom. There's also multiple times where character's say things along the lines of 'We've been searching for these coins for months'. Like, no, it's been five minutes, and skipping scenes like these only make that worse.

The other major gripe I have is that characters die for no reason. In one route, Mila, Tam-Tam, and Morgana have been captured by the queen and are going to be executed. While it's not shown, Leeko is meeting up with Steamchaser, and he agrees to use his magic to help Leeko out. A similar scenario happens on multiple routes, and no matter what, Tam-Tam is executed. Why, though? Like, in this moment, it would make sense for someone to die, but from a big picture perspective, was it really necessary? I can't think of a reason why she needed to die, other than dramatic stakes, and I don't think the story would suffer if she didn't. Also, Steamchaser uses his magic like a minute after Tam-Tam is carried off, could Morgana and Mila not have stalled for time?

Again, this isn't the worst I've seen. The main cast is great, the banter Morgana and Tam-Tam give are some of my favorites. The music is good and so is the voice acting. It's interesting to see the story branch out and wonder what ending you'll get. It's interesting to see what the characters transform into. But none of this excuses the fact that the story consistently fails to properly set anything up or follow through on it.

#the pirates fate #indie game #indie dev #game review #visual novel #furry #volkenfox #tf wright #leeko #tam tam #darious #mila #morgana #writing

[flybi91]

I got inspired while watching some David Lynch, specifically the last scene of twin peaks, you know the one and loved the idea of a strange alternate bubble universe. Here’s a surrealist, cosmic horror concept. It’s messy and not the best so you can feel free expand on it or write your own if you want.

You were just helping them ghost hunt in a long abandoned house, you weren’t expecting anything except for garbled sounds on Ryan’s radio and MAYBE you’d feel something touch your arm or something.

You saw your house at the end of a block in the middle of a suburb. The only problem was it was you house from when you were a little kid, and you grew up in New York. It looked EXACTLY like the house you lived in. Shane played it off as a strange coincidence, even Ryan wasn’t too phased by it but even looking at it gave you a gut wrenching feeling.

You walked in and almost instantly you were on the verge of a panic attack. In front of you on the left was the hallway with the bathroom and closet across from each other and on the right. The stairs leading to the 2nd floor had the same dark blue rug you remember, you could see the 2nd floor from the entry and saw the love seat under the large window that you loved to sit under and look at the moon.

You turned around and saw the two large dog statues on either side of the front door. The problem with the dogs was you took the statues everywhere you moved and when you left for California your parents kept them and the statues you were looking at had the same chips and scratches as yours did.

Everything looked identical like your old home that you lived in until you were about 7.

They could see how pale you were and asked if you were ok but you couldn’t say anything. You just looked at them before you walked into the room on your right. You could hear them talking, you didn’t know if they were talking to you or each other but you couldn’t pay attention. You took one step into the room and froze in place. It was the room your mom didn’t let you go into. The one with all her breakable figures sitting on delicate glass shelves.

You all jumped when you heard the staticky sound of an old tv turning on from where the family room is.

“I thought this place was abandoned?“

“It is,it’s been 30 years.“

You looked at Shane with a knot the size of mount everest siting in your stomach. Shane did that weird thing where he could “turn off” his fear, and if SHANE was becoming unnerved there was a problem. 

You walked into the living room with Shane to see what was going on with the tv. It took a little to register what you were seeing. It was a cheesy 90′s sitcom opening with you, Shane, Ryan, and some other people you were friends with like Sara, Mari, the try guys, etc. You watched the tv in silent horror, at not you and not your friends.

You looked over at Shane and could see the gears turning in his head, struggling to think of an explanation for what the fuck was happening.

You walked all the way across the large room to examine the tv and what threads were holding your mind together snapped. The tv wasn’t plugged in and it had no glass, it was just an empty casing.

All you could do was fall to your knees and scream as Shane and Ryan tried to comfort you and ask you what happened.

#shane madej #ryan bergara #bfu #buzzfeed unsolved #watcher entertainment #we are watcher

[sambuckylibrary]

LONG-ISH ALTERNATE UNIVERSE 

Round #1

want you the right way by flowermasters 

E | 19.4k | no warnings

Bucky is a bouncer with a past. Fortunately for all involved, Sam is a bartender with some baggage of his own. 

Commentary: Club Owner AU. A really good look into Sam’s insecurities and trauma and how that affects his relationships. Was so nice to see this portrayed even in an AU setting.

Leavin' (you) was never an option by winterscaptsam

M | 10.8k | ccntw

But its not his fault that maybe he found more comfort in Sam’s touch than anything before. That the tightness of his muscles around him was the safest thing up in Brokeback, that the smell of wet leaves and smoked breathes felt sweet when it came off of Sam.

Commentary: Brokeback Mountain AU. A beautiful and emotional journey with these two, as well as some comic moments, a dash of angst, and gorgeous scene descriptions. Happy ending yay!

Strawberries and Cigarettes always taste like you by winterscaptsam

T | 10.6k | no warnings

There’s a sweet agonizing simplicity in leaving behind your safe haven, like the thrill of adrenaline, reaching the top of Everest, allowed to admire its beautiful icy view but with the everlasting fear of not making it back down. [..]

Commentary: Black Mirror: San Junipero AU. The most beautiful story, all the details of the episode and everything true to sambucky perfectly woven together! You’re gonna cry despite the happy ending, so get those tissues ready!

to bleed on paper is to create by honestlyfrance

T | 7.3k | no warnings

Sam, an amateur artist, and Bucky, an international nude model, blur the lines of work, ending up being unprofessional to the point that they'd need to end it. 

Commentary: Artist & Model AU. Beautiful and poetic blended with some silly banter and cute moments. Very romantic!!

one for the money (two for the show) by capmackie

M | 8.9k | ccntw 

james’ a fighter sam owns a bar can i make it anymore obvious?

Commentary: Crime AU. Exciting, sexy and Bucky is a relentless bad boy in this one, and is helplessly in love with Sam! Loved every last word, especially the angsty bits. Edge of your seat kind of stuff.

The Pet Shop by queenmab_scherzo

T | 19.7k | no warnings

Bucky adopts a dog, and she's great, honestly. She's just a handful. And Bucky is short on hands. Lucky for him, his buddy Steve works at a corner pet store, so he hooks Bucky up with the dog trainer there, Sam Wilson.

Commentary: Pet Shop AU. Listen, the pining and the flirting and the tension in this had me weak! So cute! Sam trying to stay professional despite being attracted to Bucky and Bucky being a hot mess in front of Sam. Heart Eyes.

love is in the air (i smell coffee) by Flora_K, hermionesmydawg

T | 6.3k | no warnings

Sam Wilson - graduate student, part-time barista, part-time salesman, and full-time father - doesn't have time to sleep, much less date. At least, that's what he tells himself.  

Commentary: Coffee Shop AU. There were parts in this that had me wheezing on the floor! Very funny, cute friendships, single dad Sam Wilson making a friend and getting back out there and lovely characterization. Plus embedded art! 

winter, Sweetheart by wilsonsnest 

T | 17.5k | ccntw

To know the Falcon’s identity feels surreal to Bucky. It means nothing. As far as Hydra was concerned, Sam Wilson was erased. He has only ever been The Falcon and to Bucky he’s always been Sweetheart.

Commentary: Captivity AU. Loved this!! Sam and Bucky being in hydra captivity together and they’re in sweet, sweet love despite the brainwashing. Beautiful and layered with angst but topped with a long awaited but satisfying ending.

The Rainbow Shield by Siancore

M | 9.3k (wip) | ccntw

Sam works at the VA, and Bucky works for the Modern Military Association of America. The pair form a working relationship, but Sam thinks there could be more between them; more than easygoing conversation and light flirting. Is he right, or is Bucky just doing his job and Sam reading too much into it?

Commentary: Career AU. So so sweet and filled with amazing, realistic scenes and interactions. Patiently awaiting chapter 4 from the author ;) 

Years in the making by glittercake

G | 7.3k | no warnings

Bucky and Sam meet as two young soldiers, but the time is never quite right to make it anything more. Until it eventually is.

Commentary: Military AU. A little self rec too :)

#sambucky #sambuckylibrary #winterfalcon #sam wilson #bucky barnes #masterlist #alternate universe #mixed ratings #one shot #chaptered #complete #under20k #au round 1 #mod: sammy

[konstantya]

Recent thoughts now that I actually have some time to myself, ahahahahaha:

Finally finished The Tick!  (Spoilers ahead, FYI.)  Overall, I liked the first season more than the second (I do think it started to take itself a wee bit too seriously toward the end), but I’m still sad to hear it got cancelled.  There was a lot of potential, and they clearly had plans for Superian, Rathbone, and I have to imagine Janet as well.

Speaking of Janet, she might have been my favorite part of season 2?  She was complicated and sympathetic in season 1, but taking the “is she a hero now? is she still a villain?” turn with her and still managing to keep things ambiguous at the end was a delight.  (Sidebar: There’s a fic on AO3 that pairs her with Superian?  And I need to Check That Shit Out, because that’s a pairing I can Get Behind.  I loved the scene they shared at AEGIS.)

While I think Dot developing super powers of her own was a neat twist, a part me still laments the loss of studying-to-be-a-doctor, roller-derby-playing, paramedic Dot?  It seems those aspects of her character just got...dropped.  And, like, they do kind of address it in canon?  Like the events of season 1 definitely affected her, and in the beginning of season 2 she talks about how she woke up and suddenly didn’t want to go to work, but...idk...does canonically addressing a (relatively) sudden character shift make that shift better?  Discuss.

(On that note, the practical ramifications of her character shift keep bugging me?  Like, it’s just a show, I should really just relax I know, but if she quit her paramedic job, how is she paying her bills?  Like, she has an apartment and a cell phone and whatnot, and sure, she might have some savings, but???  (I guess you could say the same thing for Arthur, but I think it’s implied--or you could at least assume--that he’s getting some kind of stipend from AEGIS?)  Or are we supposed to assume Dot gets rid of her apartment and moves in with Overkill on Dangerboat?  Does this mean she’s going to start eating only Fo-Ham like he does?  GIRL, NO.)

On the Overkill/Dot note, I need to finish up the fic I started back in November.  It might be a little weird, timeline-wise, as I started writing it before finishing the series, but I think I can still make it work?  Worst case scenario it turns out to be a very slight AU, I guess.  But it’s fun and funny and literally like three paragraphs away from being complete, so.  #stupidsexyvigilantes

In a weird way, I kind of ship the Tick with Lobstercules?  I mean, as much as you can conceivably ship a character like the Tick with anyone?  (HE LOVES HER BABIES.  HE’S SO GOOD WITH THEM.  HE CALLS HER “SWEET LADY.”  ALSO “MOMSTER,” WHICH IS HILARIOUS.  THEY COULD BE SO SWEET, AND YOU CAN FIGHT ME ON THIS.)

I want a full prequel romance novel about how AEGIS agent John Wu fell in love with Joan Everest, the widow he was merely supposed to protect from a distance.  GIVE IT TO ME NOWWW.

In other news, I just rewatched Die Hard for the first time in...idk, like, at least ten years?  And damnnn, I kind of forgot how legitimately great it is.  (It’s also long?  That sucker’s 2 hours and 12 minutes, which is admittedly nothing in this day and age, but was a Pretty Big Deal back in 1988.)  And for all that it’s become a classic action movie, it’s really only heavy on action toward the very end?  Like I was kind of surprised (in a good way!) by how much more of a thriller/suspense film it is for most of it.

Fun fact: it was based on a book that was a sequel to a book called The Detective--which had been turned into a movie of its own in the ‘60s starring Frank Sinatra.  And anyway, because of that connection, apparently the filmmakers were contractually obligated to first offer the role to Sinatra, and idk, it just tickles me to think that there’s some alternative universe out there where 70-something-year-old Frank Sinatra plays John McClane, pfft.  (Which, interestingly enough, would make it skew closer to the original story, as the character is significantly older in the book, and visiting his estranged daughter, not his estranged wife.)

Anyway, it’s a really good film, I miss Alan Rickman, I kind of wish there were more scenes involving Hans and Holly (because the tension and hostility there is *chef kiss*), and sorry this got so long and I can’t be bothered to put it under a cut (ahahahaha! ^^’).

#the tick #the tick 2017 #die hard #overkill/dot #overdot #? #(is that the ship name? is this fandom even big enough to have portmanteau ship names?) #anyway yeah i've been busy as hell #2019 was pretty bad for me overall but at least it's ending on a relatively good note? #(i say so now i mean lolololol there's still a couple weeks left shit could still hit the fan again lololololololol) #personal

[philharmaddy-blog]

Disney Tag

So I think in the coming weeks I’ll be alternating posts between fun/hype and informational, so I thought I’d start off with a Disney Tag! Thanks to Steph for letting me steal her Disney Tag format, you can find her blog on her upcoming DCEP here.

So without further ado, let’s get into it... Grab your snacks, because this will be a long one!

Disney Movie: This is a hard one, but I think I have to go with The Little Mermaid just because of the number of times I watched that movie as a kid on VCR purely because my parents wouldn’t let me watch the behind the scenes footage that played after the movie unless I watched the whole thing through! FUN FACT: I was terrified of all animated movies as a kid, because I thought they were all as scary as A Bug’s Life, the crazy creations of Sid in Toy Story and the two terrifying scenes from Fantasia (Rite of Spring dinosaurs and Night on Bald Mountain)

DCOM Movie: Does The Lizzie McGuire Movie count?

Pixar Movie: The Incredibles. I love that soundtrack so much!

Disney Sequel: Either Lion King 3/1.5 or The Rescuers Down Under. Although I’m sure with Wreck It Ralph 2 coming out soon, my answer will probably change!

Disney Song: Belle. The writing is brilliant, the backing orchestral score is beautiful, and it sets the scene of the small provincial town so perfectly as the opening number of Beauty and the Beast.

Disney Love Song: It’s not a duet (well, it kind of is if you count the Muses), but I Won’t Say I’m In Love from Hercules is one of my favourites. 

Disney Villain Song: This one is easy. Poor Unfortunate Souls is such a classic.

Disney Song that gets stuck in my head: My brain will switch between Someday My Prince Will Come and A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes. But nothing is as much of an ear worm as It’s A Small World...

Disney Soundtrack: If we are including Pixar, it would be The Incredibles, because I love Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band. If it’s strictly Disney Animation, then I would go with Sleeping Beauty since they used Tchaikovsky’s ballet score. Or maybe Princess and the Frog for that sweet Dixieland jazz? I don’t know, it’s too hard to decide! Never ask a musician what their favourite music is...

Disney Quote: “I give myself very good advice, but I seldom follow it” (Alice in Wonderland)

Disney Ride: I think I have to go with Expedition Everest after my younger brother and I tricked my dad into riding it (we didn’t tell him about the bit that goes backwards!). Plus I love that documentary about its construction, even if we now only have the Disco Yeti.... 

Disney Show: Wishes will always be my favourite. 

Disney Parade: Festival of Fantasy, although I don’t know if it’s as good now that the dragon has gone down in flames.... literally...

Disney Food: The beignets at Port Orleans French Quarter

WDW/DL? I have to go with WDW since it’s the only one I’ve visited

WDW Park: Has to be Magic Kingdom since it’s the one that I spent the most time in, but I also adore Animal Kingdom

Disney Photo:  It has to be my amazing candid shot with Gaston. 

Time for some characters!

Princess: Anna, she’s such a goofball!

Disney Princess Dress: I love the classic Cinderella dress. Although Merida’s looks super comfy!

Prince: Either Flynn Rider or Prince Naveen, I love those suave, charming personalities

Couple: Meg and Hercules

Side-Kick: Mushu

Villain: I love all the villains so it’s hard to choose, but I narrowed it down to Ursula and Hades. All the sass!

Animal: Maximus (the horse from Tangled)

Pixar Character: There are so many good ones to choose from! But I think Dory takes the cake

Disney character I most identify with: Probably Ariel or Anna because I am overly enthusiastic about the most mundane things

Pixar character I most identify with: The seagulls in Finding Nemo any time there is food around

Disney movie I would star in if I could: Probably Hercules because I would love to be a Muse.... but really, we could all do with having a new Disney film where the princess is an alto...

Disney movie that makes me laugh: Again, Hercules. Despite how badly inaccurate the movie is to Greek mythology (even the name itself is wrong), I still think it’s one of the funniest of the animated movies. Either that or Aladdin, because Robin Williams is a gem.

Disney movie that makes me cry: Not technically Disney since it’s Pixar, but Up. Every time. Storytime: my state orchestra were doing ‘Pixar In Concert’, where they played medleys of the soundtracks with clips of the movie up on a massive screen. But not for Up, no.... They played the entire first 15 or so minutes of the movie with the soundtrack live. I think everyone in that entire theatre was sobbing by the end of it.

Disney item I collect: I don’t have any at the moment but I’m hoping to start pin trading and collecting signatures once I get there! I’m more of an experience over material kind of girl.

Most treasured Disney item: A card that says “If you can dream it, you can do it”, signed by all the teachers of the music department from my high school that I was given at the end of my final year when I was music captain.

First Disney movie I ever saw: Fantasia. I had a Sorcerer Mickey plush in my room, but I was asleep for the majority of the movie. Except for the two sections I mentioned earlier that scared me off watching more animated movies for years...

What I would like to see in a Disney movie: Please make the princess an alto and non-belter! Please!!! For the sake of all of us girls with low voices who can’t belt out Let it Go or warble along to Sleeping Beauty or Snow White!

What I would like to see at a Disney park: Still waiting for that fifth gate based around Disney Villains filled with thrill rides! Or maybe shooting a bit lower in expectations, a revamped version of the old and forgotten Fire Mountain idea for Adventureland in the form of a roller coaster themed around the volcano from Moana?

Park character I was/am looking forward to meeting: I’ve met Gaston which was pretty great. But otherwise I really want to meet some of the other princes! In particular, Flynn Rider and Naveen. Also can’t wait to meet Chewie in Hollywood Studios!

Best Disney Story: So to set the scene, it’s just as the park is about to open after Extra Magic Hours, I had been hanging out in New Fantasyland solo while my dad was sleeping in. I go to try and find where the meet and greet for Cinderella’s step family are, only to be given the hint by a Character Attendant to get in line for the carousel. I end up on a horse in between Anastasia and Drizella, with Lady Tremaine a few horses away! But that’s not the end of the story… After getting off the ride, I end up walking with Lady Tremaine to her character spot, idly chatting about how awful Cinderella’s hospitality was at the Royal Table last night, how the matriarchy will rise again, etc. Finally get to the character spot and see a massive line has already formed. So I get ready to say farewell to the characters. But no! I get told by Lady Tremaine that I’m a “VIP” and as a lady of such high class deserve only the best. And so I skip the entire queue and get an amazing photo right away!

And that’s all, folks! 

If you’ve made it this far, congratulations! My next pre-DCEP hype post will probably be a full bucket list - so probably even longer than this one!

#disney tag #pre-dcep #about me #disney parks #dcp2019 #disney international program

[joeonmusic]

On escapism

Music has always been my escape from everything that life throws at me. That has become even more the case over the last 18 months when the world shrunk to spending most of my time at home and physically leaving these four walls was often much more difficult. While some people like to think of escapism as going somewhere fantastic and beautiful, I am drawn to exploring dark places and difficult times. I find the stimulation I get from that as uplifting as anything else.

I haven’t abandoned the idea of albums. Although it probably doesn’t make as much sense in the modern world as releasing lots of singles, I just like to create a longer body of work. My new Album, Before the robots told us where to go, drags the listener away from their everyday life to tell some stories that will surprise, horrify, but also (I hope) inspire. I want to take people out of their comfort zones and on an intense journey through things they may not have considered before.

The opening track, ‘Is not everything morbid?’ sets the scene. Released as a single in September, this song, based on the life of American writer Djuna Barnes, says that: “no matter how dark and bleak things are, we can confront them and create something new”. I already wrote a blog post about it in more detail here. 

After that, I take you up Mount Everest (given its proper Tibetan name of Chomolungma) to gaze at the disasters of selling bucket list adventures, we see the horrors of colonialism in Africa in ‘Mr Stanley, I presume’ (also previously released on an EP) and then travel to Japan to hear how nationalism poisoned a talented poet in ‘Elegant and brutal’. 

The themes covered follow a similar vein to my debut album in April (you can read about that here), but the production skills of Joe Adhemar have elevated my home-recorded material to a level that any record label would be proud to put out. He also a great musician in his own right, so please check out his website to see more of his music: https://joeadhemar.com/

Musically, my songs take in a variety of influences from British singer-songwriters like Elvis Costello, American alternative rock to shoegaze and punk. Just as The flame’s gone did on the first album, the fifth track (Made their misfortune) throws a real curveball though, with an 80s-influenced synth pop song about American settlers reduced to cannibalism after making some disastrous decisions. 

I’ve always loved reggae and have played bits of it in previous bands, so I also include a reggae influenced song about becoming obsessed with appearance (The mind created a monster). Sandwiched between those two is a discordant piece of noise rock called Lightning telegram about revolutionary Russian poet Vladmir Mayakovsky. My recent single, Blind bends offers a more personal story about anxiety and being obsessed with the past. There’s a punk anthem on Joey Deacon and discrimination, which very much ties in with my day job where I work for an advocacy charity that supports adults with Learning Disabilities. 

The closing track is the one which Joe Adhemar is most proud of. His production has given it echoes of the Spectoresque 1960-70s wall of sound while the lyrics pay tribute to American poet Anne Sexton, a less well-known contemporary of Sylvia Plath. It’s a sombre end, but a really beautiful one and if you don’t want to buy the whole album on bandcamp, you can presave Keep the nightmares out as a single on Spotify here.

I don’t write crowd-pleasing songs with vague meaningless words. Each track has its place in this album and each has a very strong story behind it. I want to take listeners away from the problems of the present and challenge them to think about what we can learn from hearing about dark times in different places. That’s my version of escapism. I hope this makes my work stand out from the crowd and people will love listening to this album as much as I loved writing and recording it.

Before the robots told us where to go will be released on Bandcamp on Friday 3rd December: joepeacock.bandcamp.com/ - the album will appear on streaming services some time in 2022.

Keep the nightmares out will also be released as a single on the same day through all streaming services.

You can follow me on social media:

Twitter @joe_peacock 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/JoePeacockMusic 

I also have a YouTube channel, where I post acoustic versions of my songs, covers of other people’s songs, as well as my official videos. 

#indie music #singer songwriter #album release #Joe Peacock #before the robots #joe adhemar

[shinyalternatives]

Q&A with Catalyst Latex

Kyle&Selina: Can you provide a short bio of your background in fashion?

Catalyst Latex: My name is Gord and I may be seen as the frontman at Catalyst Latex.  However, I’m just part of the management team including my partner Hils and daughter Kit. My management background in engineering and materials provides functionality and rationale, but Hil’s degree from the London College of Fashion and Kit’s art college background together provided the creative aspects for Catalyst

K&S: How did you discover latex as a material to use in fashion?  Did you have a personal interest in wearing latex or was it just a material that you found interesting?

Catalyst: I have been a latex lover for many years, but a high-flying career kept me as a purchaser of latex designs, with no time or inclination to actually make any clothing.  However, my interest in latex and science led me to experiment with the chlorination of rubber – a process that gives latex clothing a totally smooth finish, ending the need for talcum powder as it was then, or lubes as used today.

K&S: Can you provide a bit more in depth explanation regarding chlorination?  We understand it makes it smooth, knocks down the natural latex smell and may dull it. 

Catalyst: Chlorination is a “wet” process that micro-smoothes the surface of the latex.  As an end result, you will not need talc or lube in most cases to get the garment on.  The outside of the garment will also be smooth.

Chlorination has added benefits as it reduces the noise and natural smell of the latex material.  It will not self-stick when dried after cleaning, thus allowing for better and easier storage.  The lower friction reduces external wear and enhances “layering.”  Finally, there seems to be a decrease in allergenic behavior.

K&S: Allergies to latex appear to have become an issue.  Whether or not a person has a latex allergy has become a standard question when visiting a doctor or dentist.

Catalyst: The allergy aspect is interesting, but as I am not a medic I cannot offer any explanation.  It appears that people with a latex allergy can handle chlorinated latex.  We offer free samples for people to try out for allergy.  After 11 years, we have not had A SINGLE REPORT  of allergic reaction to our latex samples.  Though, as we’ve not plied the Pharma industries with thousands of monetary units for Official Tests, we may not claim it to work.  But it sure as hell seems to.

K&S: To what degree does it still take shine and hold it?  Does polishing the latex have an effect on the chlorination effect? 

Catalyst: We don’t use or recommend shine.  We’re not against it.  It’s just something we don’t do.

Most latex wearing is either party or private.  For party you want to show it off at its best and polish it to a perfect shine.  In private that may matter less, and the sensual feel of unpolished, chlorinated latex is truly something to behold.  So it’s just a bit of my own history really, not doing parties in my early days, that never brought me in touch with polish and techniques.

When you polish latex, the polish – whatever it may be – coats the surface if the latex, burying the soft, smooth caress it once held, beneath a veneer of sticky silicone stuff.  You can gauge my standpoint here.  The process of donning and doffing will lead to spreading that polish to the inside of the garment, concealing the smooth chlorinated surface and making it like any other ordinary latex.

Of course, if you are actually able to completely remove that silicone – and good luck to you – the original chlorinated surface will still be there for you.

K&S: How long does the chlorination effect last? Is it permanent or does it diminish in the long run? 

Catalyst: Chlorination, as a surface process, lasts as long as the surface. High wear areas, depending on your activity might be knees, bums etc, may lose the natural latex shine earlier than other areas. Chlorinated or not.  Makes no difference.  It is possible to rechlorinate the latex and restore the smooth feel, though not the natural shine.

K&S: How difficulty are repairs since latex does tear when you are not careful?

Catalyst: Chlorinated latex is so soft and smooth that regular latex glue has a hard time sticking to it.  A conventional repair might just fail in seconds for that very reason.  So you need to prep the latex first by physically breaking down the outer chlorinated skin with fine grit sandpaper, or like  Scotchbrite™ nylon scourer, or similar, to score the surface and provide a good key for the adhesive.  Apart from a bit of extra prep then, it’s a repairable as normal latex.

K&S: That was an interesting and informative digression on Chlorination. Back to the fashion questions. At what point did you decide to take your personal interest in latex?

Catalyst: Having discovered the chlorination process, in 2004 we offered it as a service to fellow latex lovers on the internet, which drew remarkable interest and provided a second, tiny income stream.  This was to prove invaluable in 2009 when redundancy from full-time management forced big decisions to be made.

K&S: A business has a number of things that one must deal with that sometimes dim one's passion.  You have rent, insurance, utilities, materials, employee salaries etc.  What end of the market absorbs more time - the celebrity couture or the consumer market? How do you balance your passion for creativity with the need to be profitable?

Catalyst: You don’t take up mountaineering tomorrow and tackle Everest next weekend.  We started slowly, in a small way, with our main income from fitting bathrooms and other small renovation works, where self-employment enabled the flexibility to maintain an income stream, while developing our latex offering.

We recognized there was a number of strong players already on the scene and felt we needed to have a clear identity to offer, so developed two clear tag-lines.

“Rubber without the Rub” summarized our promotion of chlorinated latex and at the time I believe we were the only latex clothing maker to offer full chlorination of all our products – a market leader if you like.

“Real clothes in Rubber” was put together to explain that we made latex versions of clothing you’d find in Marks & Spencer UK, Macy’s etc.  So we don’t do catsuits and gimp masks, but we do beautifully tailored proper clothing, outerwear and underwear – in rubber!

K&S: You're running a business.  You have competition.  Rubberists often feel alone - as if they're the only ones with this interest.  The cost of latex garments is not crazy when compared to well made traditional clothes.

How sizeable do you feel the latex market is?  It must be substantially larger than a small group of people to support so many companies.

Catalyst: Before the advent of World Wide Web, rubberists were indeed “Alone” Sure there were exclusive clubs, clandestine private gatherings and small adverts for “please rush me …” The internet did as much to change all that as the steam engine did for industry.

Catalyst started with the internet, recognizing many established players, and found its own niche with Real Clothes in Rubber, and Rubber without the Rub offering of chlorinated latex.  By this time, people were no longer alone and the interweb gave instant access and the ability to compare price, delivery and quality at the flick of a mouse.

Our market research shows the market place to be growing still, with a huge influx of young adventurous, sexy, nerdy types hungry for shiny, cosplay, streetable, sexy latex that’s easy to wear and care for, and those criteria are a big part of what we offer the market today.

But we still offer the old school mainstays and find a remarkable following in our Victorian latex line, sleepwear, and just real clothes in rubber.

In our short existence on the scene, we have already seen several brands come and go, some with adventurous styles, others with knock-down prices. We’re here for good, with the stuff that most people really want to wear.

K&S: Latex can be described as a "Fetish," a "kink," "Alternative fashion" or simply "fashion" Do you prefer one description over another?

Catalyst: With “Real clothes in Rubber” becoming accepted as a tagline, we found the sweet spot between fetish and fashion where folk of all ages and backgrounds could find latex they could be comfortable with, and comfortable in.

K&S: It seems many latex outfits are designed to be body hugging.  I've heard latex referred to as a "Second Skin."  Do you agree that latex should be used for tight outfits or does it lend itself to "loose" outfits?

Catalyst: Looking again at real clothing, we see some garments need to be close-fitting like undergarments, lingerie, stockings, swimwear etc., whereas flowy dresses, puffer jackets, lounge pants are better as a loose fit.  The extra benefit of chlorinated latex is the ‘swish factor’ as the latex will never self-stick, but moves and flows like silk!

K&S: If it's a "second skin" does it mean it needs to be worn without "undergarments"? Does that intimidate people from wearing it?

Catalyst: Someone asked if they should wear their bra under a latex dress. It was hard to find kind words to portray the mush of damp polyester wadding and wet flesh that would occur, so we only ever recommend wearing latex under latex, under latex – hell, as many layers as you like! Chlorinated latex layers just slide over one another.  Wear latex knickers under your latex dress – real clothes.

K&S: In your experience, how concerned are people about body image when considering fashion choices.  Does latex, as a material, help or hinder these decisions?

Catalyst: Latex can be as revealing or concealing, according to garment style and size; our client base runs from stick-thin to absolutely huge (can we say that??)  We can only guess that it depends on the context of how and where an outfit will be worn, and many other factors personal to the individual.

K&S: Do you feel latex tend to express one's body with honesty as if is was no different than a "second skin" or is it more of a fashionable type of shapewear that fixes a person's perceived "flaws."

Catalyst: Very similar to your previous point.  More a question for the catsuit manufacturers I reckon. Look at our flowing styles to see that latex clothing can be selected to enhance any body type or shape.  It’s a beautifully natural, draping fabric that can flatter anyone in the right garment.

K&S: How do you find the market for latex wear distributed between men, women, cross-dressers (men or women), celebrity couture?

Catalyst: Celebrity couture is quite subtle and usually it is the stylist making the inquiry/order.  It will be quite specific and exacting, and a surprisingly tight on budget at the outset.  Get the stylist onside with a basic appraisal, add in the extras and get famous!  Not quite, as you may never be fully sure who will wear it and to what event.

With regard to real folk like you and I, we need to define the word ‘customer’.  There’s the adventurous ‘vanilla’ girl buying a pencil dress for a party, there’s a man buying for his partner, there’s a Domme being bought-for by a client, there’s a pseudonym buying a dress for himself .. you should never doubt or question, but so often the sizing data will reveal another story so yes, regardless of the name on the PayPal, the end-wearer could be anyone. Who is the customer there?

Our only concern, particularly when a man buys a woman’s style for himself is that is should end up looking good, so that he will feel great.  When people try to conceal or blur the truth, it makes it harder for us to deliver the look they ultimately crave.  So please folk, be honest and upfront!

K&S: What is your favorite piece of latex that you've created in your career for a man and for a woman?

Catalyst: One of our earliest and most enduring Statement Pieces is still our Catalyst Kilt.  It remains to this day the most authentically styled kilt on the market.  Sure, its not cheap but takes a full 2-3 days to make and meticulously finish, gives years of service and excellent value.

Women’s wear is harder to pinpoint as we change many of our styles each season, but for sheer volume, our underwired pencil dress, fully chlorinated for easy-on, has been a runaway winner the past 18 months!

K&S: People can state that they don't like latex because of the smell, or because the material doesn't breathe and they sweat to much, or because it's too tight or it makes them look like they're selling sex.  How do you address those concerns?

Catalyst: I tell them to buy Spandex!  Seriously, people that drill down to us are already committed to latex.  We are not an entry-level designer, and happily rarely get entry-level questions (We do, but we’re not telling!)  Has to be said also that all our chlorinated pieces have reduced odor and increased wearability.

K&S: What is your design philosophy?  What drives your creativity?

Catalyst: Listen to your customers and watch TV!  Filter out the background of catsuit inquiries and see what interesting outfits people want.  Keep an eye to the Cosplay arena.  Listen to your photo models as they pick up on styles from places we don’t go.  Watch TV, read fashion mags.  Our best-selling dress ever evolved from a UK TV prog! See what’s trending, what the people are ‘liking’ and above all, be aware of Copyright.

K&S: Less or More?  Do you prefer designing a latex outfit which is more on the revealing side or leaning towards full coverage.

Catalyst: Not fussed.  We all have skin and integrate it with out clothing. I’m not a 100% coverage purist. Whatever works and makes a confident look is more important that some random ethos.

K&S: How do you feel is the best way to integrate latex into an everyday "public" outfit.  How would you mix it with other materials?

Catalyst: Oh wow.  I think this is our Soapbox.  

To begin, chlorinated latex needs no talc or lube and so can just be ‘worn’ like everyday clothing. It is soft and smooth and has no surface drag so integrates nicely with/over/under other fabrics. Chlorination does NOT make the latex more shiny (mythbuster there), rather if anything it dulls down the luster.  Many folk find our chlorinated blends in with everyday clothing, as opposed to the highly polished ‘obviously fetish’ latex we see elsewhere.  Again it’s that wearing just one piece of soft chlorinated latex, typically a tee or leggings, with your 90% regular streetwear that gives you the buzz without the attention.  When you get real confident – then get out the polish, if you need to make a statement.

K&S: What are your goals for your future in latex design?

Catalyst: Carry on making Real clothes in Rubber, and get our chlorination better than perfect!  Avoid the catsuit trap – everyone else makes them, mostly very well – no benefit for us.  Listen to customers and try to make their dreams come true (unless they want a catsuit)

K&S: What is your favorite part of being a latex fashion designer.

Catalyst: Not sure there is one.  It’s bloody hard work.  You have to deal with a whole range of customer inquiries from the most sensible to the most, well rude! It’s not just about cutting and gluing, but we do accounts and payroll, health and safety, purchasing and stock control, social media … but I think I personally get into the best headspace when I’m actually making up a garment.  It’s the craft, the feel, the aim for total perfection every time and the satisfaction of holding up a customer order when made, looking at it and thinking, that’s perfect!

K&S: What is your blue sky accomplishment to achieve in the world of latex clothing or fashion in general.

Catalyst: To build a business with a solid reputation, a go-to brand, a name people know they can trust, a place they can always find something new and exciting, an entity I can pass on to our next generation to carry on developing and delivering.

K&S: President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated that "We have nothing to  fear but fear itself."  People tend to be fearful of things that are different.  They express that fear thru aggressive or demeaning behavior towards others to express that their position is superior.  Even without external pressure, a person can be fearful due to internal thoughts over how people will react.

This brings us to fashion.  You can say the more different something a style is from the norm, the more people will react negatively.

Do you agree with this.  Is latex "too different" from what is accepted fashion to be common place.  How much more extreme is it than wearing leather?  Women often wear leather to corporate jobs. Is latex that much more extreme?

Is men's latex wear more "extreme" than women's wear? What do you say to someone who deep down would want to wear latex in public settings?

Catalyst: Hmmm – not my president, but I take the sentiment.  Nah, latex will never be mainstream.  Too picky and care-needy.  Men will always be the big fetishistas and women the fashionistas. Generally.

K&S: Women's clothing seems to have such variety.  Can men's latex be as interesting?  What are your thoughts on men's latex fashion?

Catalyst: Most men are too scared to buy anything slightly unusual (exceptions always exist – I’m talking down the average).  A designer may invest a lot of time and resource designing a new rage for men, big launch etc., and never see the sales to recover the investment.  Sad but true.  So why should a designer bother, frankly?

Example - we put a photo of a new style on Social Media.  If it’s a girl’s style we get hundreds of likes, if it’s for men, maybe a handful.  What does that tell you?

K&S: Is there anything you would like to add?

Catalyst: No -I’d just add it’s taken me 8 weeks to get to this point and I’d not want to delay any further.  Thanks for the opportunity to express!

K&S: Thank You.

[gramilano]

Don Quixote with Timofej Andrijashenko © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018

In 1959, Rudolf Nureyev, with Ninel Kourgapkina as Kitri, danced Basilio for the first time at the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad. He was 20.

02 Don Quixote with Nicoletta Manni, Timofej Andrijashenko © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018

03 Don Quixote with Nicoletta Manni, Timofej Andrijashenko © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018 (2)

04 Don Quixote with Martina Arduino, Marco Agostino © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018

05 Don Quixote © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018

After he defected to the West in 1961, the role became his calling card around the world, the character suiting his comic talents and mischievous nature.

He restaged the ballet, based on Marius Petipa and Alexandre Gorski, for the Vienna Opera Ballet in 1966. John Lanchbery reorchestrated much of Minkus’ score. He revived it in 1970 for the Australian Ballet with Lucette Aldous, and this is the version that he filmed in a studio with the company in 1972.

In 1971 Rosella Hightower invited him to stage it for the Marseille Opera Ballet, and here Maina Gielgud was Kitri.

Don Quixote with Nicoletta Manni, Timofej Andrijashenko © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018

In one of his books on Nureyev, Alexander Bland wrote,

This version shows the way in which Nureyev managed the great movements on stage even more clearly: the Spanish numbers swirl around the enormous village square and form an ingenious diversity of configuration intended to demonstrate the steps characteristic of Spain.

Although the purely classical sequence of the “vision” of Dulcinea and the Dryads was performed in its entirety – exactly as it was handed down by Kirov tradition – Nureyev preceded it with a scene involving a gypsy camp as a pretext for developing an amorous meeting between Kitri and Basil: moonlit pas de deux under the sails of a giant windmill.

Rudolf Nureyev also shortened the ballet to three acts with prologue: the gypsies, the windmills, the puppet theatre all becoming one scene, followed by the appearance of the Dryads. Nureyev considerably expanded the comedy aspect. In his version, he introduced the spirit of “Commedia dell’Arte”, where Don Quixote would be Pantaloon, Kitri would be Columbine, and Basil, Harlequin, a brilliant, fast moving, leaping master of ceremonies, who runs from one end of the ballet to the other.

07 Don Quixote with Timofej Andrijashenko © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018 01

08 Don Quixote with Nicoletta Manni © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018

09 Don Quixote with Nicoletta Manni © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018 01

September 1980 saw his Don Quixote arrive in Milan with Carla Fracci making her debut as Kitri, at 44, and dancing six performances in seven days (plus a public dress rehearsal the day before the opening).

10 Don Quixote with Nicoletta Manni, Timofej Andrijashenko © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018 (4)

11 Don Quixote with Nicoletta Manni, Timofej Andrijashenko © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018 (5)

12 Don Quixote with Timofej Andrijashenko © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018 (2)

13 Don Quixote with Antonino Sutera © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018

Laurent Hilaire said of Nureyev’s choreography:

He made a revolution on the way to consider a male dancer. All of the big classical ballet was meant to value the woman, and also his work reflected the dance he saw in Denmark, France, England and Russia. He learned from all over the world and he created his own style. You know when it’s a step from Nureyev as soon as you see it. You cannot really compare it, but his choreography is as rich as the language of Shakespeare or Molière.

Don Quixote with Nicoletta Manni, Antonella Albano, Virna Toppi © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018

Boston Ballet mounted Nureyev’s production in 1983, and Anna Kisselgoff wrote in the New York Times:

When Rudolf Nureyev did four alternating double turns in the air to the left and the right, landing each time in arabesque, last night at the Uris Theater, it came as no surprise.

Very few dancers, almost none in fact, can do such a difficult sequence in both directions and it is rare to see them try. Mr. Nureyev, however, continues to scale the Everests of his own creation and when he triumphed in this final variation from ”Don Quixote” with the Boston Ballet, he did it with the casualness of a great actor playing with a throwaway line.

For Nureyev watchers, it was obvious from his first danced step that this was going to be a consistent performance, calculated in its tensions, totally pulled together in a re-emergent sleekness of line.

15 Don Quixote with Nicoletta Manni © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018 (2) 01

16 Don Quixote with Virna Toppi © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018

17 Don Quixote with Giuseppe Conte © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018

Reviewing the Australian Ballet in 1971, Clive Barnes said,

“Don Quixote” is an old ballet that is both gorgeous and ghastly. The music has little more than a cheerful tinkle to it, and the dramatic conventions are far less than adroit, but the choreography (or at least its choreographic traditions—for only a rash man would say nowadays what the authentic choreography is) can be absolutely marvelous.

It exists — in two varying versions more usually attributed to Gorsky than Petipa —  in both Leningrad and Moscow. Nureyev’s version owes not too much to either. It tries, most intelligently, to make more sense of the story, and give it a little more progression and humanity. Thus the lovers are not united until the final act, and it is not the hero, Don Basilio, who picks a quarrel with Don Quixote, but Basilio’s rich and stupid rival to Kitri’s hand, the foppish Don Gamache. These are all very pertinent innovations, although in an admittedly, even attractively, ramshackle ballet such as this, such dramatic inconsequentialities matter less than in most.

18 Don Quixote with Nicoletta Manni, Timofej Andrijashenko © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018 (6)

19 Don Quixote with Nicoletta Manni, Timofej Andrijashenko © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018 (7)

20 Don Quixote with Nicoletta Manni, Timofej Andrijashenko © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018 (8)

21 Don Quixote with Maria Celeste Losa © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018

22 Don Quixote with Timofej Andrijashenko © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018 (3)

23 Don Quixote with Nicoletta Manni © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018 (2)

24 Don Quixote with Timofej Andrijashenko © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018 (2) 01

When Nureyev died in 1993, Mikhail Baryshnikov said,

Rudolf emerged to everyone’s surprise in the early ’60s like discovering a wild flower which never existed before. This flower emerged in the middle of nowhere practically, it emerged somewhere in the desert and mountains, a flower of infinite beauty. You could admire it, you could be amazed by it, you could touch it, but you could never cut this flower. Because this flower had very strong roots, very strong stem which has supported that beauty.

Rudolf was an unusual man in all respects, instinctive, intelligent, constant curiosity, extraordinary discipline, that was his goal in life and of course love of performing. He loved strong women, loyal men, he loved his life. I learned a lot from him, although we are very different performers.

I will miss him for the rest of my life. That’s for sure.

Don Quixote with Nicoletta Manni, Timofej Andrijashenko © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2018

Photo Album: Don Quixote at La Scala with with Nicoletta Manni Timofej Andrijashenko In 1959, Rudolf Nureyev, with Ninel Kourgapkina as Kitri, danced Basilio for the first time at the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad.

#Antonella Albano #Carla Fracci #Don Quixote #La Scala #Maina Gielgud #Mikhail Baryshnikov #Nicoletta Manni #Rudolf Nureyev #Timofej Andrijashenko #Virna Toppi

[sending-the-message]

My friend has been living in an alternate reality - (Part 10) by Mr_Outlaw_

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

ENTRY 32:

I’ve been having a hard time trying to wrap my head around Kagenori’s words. It… it couldn’t be, right? I mean, how the fuck could the world have come to this?

Well, I didn’t need to wait much longer for further explanations. Kagenori woke a few hours later. After devouring some forest-creature meat, he finally told me and Lauren how the hell he ended up here.

As it turns out, he went into hiding in Paradise X after our initial break-in. But since the whole city was kind of a mess to begin with, he was never actually caught. He tried staying hidden on the streets for a few days before he started going delirious from the lack of food in his system. Eventually, somebody stumbled upon him singing to himself in an alleyway. The guy took him into his apartment and fed him some energy bars.

“Those things were fucking vile” he told me. “But you gotta eat something.”

The guy – named Ace, was nice enough to let him stay. But from the way that he described it… the place sounded like absolute hell. While there was running water, it always scalding for some reason. In addition, AC wasn’t really a feasible amenity, so they were sweating buckets in there. But the worst part was the “neighbor”. Ace explained that he didn’t exactly know what it was in the room next to them, but that they weren’t supposed to risk “letting it out.” That meant at night, they were forced to listen to something stomp around next to them while letting out a ghoulish wail. And for whatever reason, it only moved around at night.

Eventually, Kagenori started working at a food production factory, in order to help with the rent. It was the same one Ace was employed at. It was easy for him to land the job because the staff turnover was staggeringly high. I almost gagged when he told me what those bars were actually made out of.

Anyways, a few weeks pass and he finds himself walking home alone at night. But even though the place was lawless, crime surprisingly wasn’t a huge problem. However, I guess it made sense. Everybody in that place was essentially a walking shell. Just a ghost wandering around in hell. Nobody would really bother trying to rob anybody else. It just wasn't worth it.

As he’s about halfway back to the apartment, he spots somebody up ahead. In any other instance he wouldn't have cared, but this person seemed familiar. It was Rust. He caught up to him and they started talking. They were both about as equally surprised to see each other. When he asked Rust how he’d gotten here, his demeanor soured. Apparently, the settlement that we’d first stumbled upon years ago was decimated by the Paradise X soldiers. The reason was unclear, but it probably had something to do with our break-in. He said that he’d seen innocent children get slaughtered in front of his very eyes. This… was not pleasant for me to hear, of course. I felt that I already had too much blood on my hands. Fucking hell… Anyways, as it was about to be his turn, he tried reasoning his way out of death. He claimed that he had skills that could be useful to them. This was true, of course. The guy had three engineering degrees. After an extensive period of pleading, they decided to give him a chance. There was a helicopter that needed work, and nobody over there had the technical skill to do it. If he could fix it within a month, then he’d be spared. If not… well, you get the picture. It took him 29 days, but he finally did it.

After that, he was essentially employed as a mechanical engineer. However… he wasn’t planning on staying. He told Kagenori that "he had something big in mind.” What that was exactly, Kagenori would just have to find out. Rust instructed him to survive for two more weeks before meeting him at his place.

“That was all that he told me” Kagenori stated. “I just trusted him. There was nothing else I could do, you know?”

He waited, just trudging along for the next couple weeks before knocking on Rust’s door. He didn’t say much when he opened up. Just told Kagenori to follow him. That the plan was “already in action”. He led him to the factory where he’d apparently been working at. The soldiers guarding it asked Rust who the hell Kagenori was. In response, he pulled out a nail gun and shot them both in the head. And since all that they had were batons, they couldn’t do anything about it. Reeling in shock, Kagenori asked him what the hell he was doing. Rust just told him not to worry. That this was the only way out. They walked into the place and started heading towards the back. Once there, Rust swung open a metal door and they found themselves in a tight maze of corridors. This is when Rust told him to run. They maneuvered around the claustrophobic space, taking out more guards that were scattered throughout. After a while, they started hearing distant yelling and footsteps behind them. Kagenori yelled at Rust to let him know what the fuck was going on, but he was just told to be patient. He soon realized why. About twenty seconds later, a thundering explosion could be heard from outside. As Rust would tell him later, he'd been spending his free time working on crude explosives with materials he’d stolen from the factory. He’d been discretely setting them up near the barrier walls, day by day, until it seemed enough to create a considerable entrance hole. A hole big enough for the creatures to get in.

Eventually, they found themselves in a control room with a ladder leading upwards. There were two more guards in there, which Rust also took out. It was perfect because after that, he’d run out of ammo. They hurried up the ladder, sealing the entryway with scrap metal, as they climbed onto a rooftop. There was a helicopter sitting there, about ten meters away. This was the one that Rust had been commissioned to fix.

You see, he’d been planning ahead for a while. Even though he’d essentially fully fixed it within the first few days he was here, he pretended like he hadn’t. He did this in order to have more time to tamper with the controls, as well as asking around and trying to get a sense of what each button and lever did. In the back of his mind, he knew that flying away was the only way off the island.

Eventually - on the 29th day, he’d figured it out completely. That’s when he started planting the bombs. The thing is, even though he’d fixed the engine, it still took an exorbitant amount of time to power up. About an hour and change. That’s why he needed a distraction. If he just sat in the aircraft waiting, the guards would’ve easily gotten to the rooftop in time and smoked him. But thanks to the explosion, now they were forced to deal with the horrors outside the walls.

As Rust started up the helicopter, Kagenori looked down at the chaos that had plagued the city. Monstrous abominations were rampaging the place, killing everything in sight. The guards tried quelling the ungodly assault, but to no avail. At one point, a large crocodile-looking thing started climbing up the walls to the roof, towards them. It took Kagenori about 22 swings with a baton before it eventually decided to crawl back down.

About an hour passes before they start to hear banging coming from the rooftop entrance. It sounded like somebody was using a battering ram. Fortunately, the helicopter had taken off before they had to deal with it. As they ascended into the murky sky, Kagenori looked back down at scene below. As it turns out, Rust underestimated how strong his explosives were. A huge chunk of the wall and the surrounding areas had been decimated. There wasn’t even much movement on the ground anymore. Everybody was either dead or in hiding. That’s when it dawned on him… Rust had just inadvertently killed a lot of people. A lot of innocents, in fact. He was about to say something when Rust seemed to read his mind and stopped him.

“Those people down there… they didn’t have lives worth living” He told him. “I just put ‘em out of their misery”

Kagenori didn’t try and argue with him. Deep down, he agreed with him. He just didn't want to admit it. They flew around for a few hours before he finally asked Rust where they were going. In response, he just sighed and said he didn’t know. But that anywhere would be better than Dusk Blue.

Eventually, they spotted an island and decided to descend. The engine needed to cool down anyways, so Rust thought this was a better time than ever.

The island itself was insane. Just off the flat shore stood mountains that apparently put Everest to shame. The whole place was full of them. At the base of the monumental Alps were what appeared to be vast, open cave systems. They explored the place cautiously, not wanting to draw any attention to themselves. However… it seemed that there was nothing on the island at all. Just them.

Rust told Kagenori to stay back and watch the helicopter while he explored the caves. While he initially objected to this, he figured that it’d be safer on the shore than in the darkness of the caverns. Rust put together a make-shift torch with some scrap wood and disappeared into the entrance.

Kagenori said that he waited there for what felt like hours. He was starting to get worried. Eventually, Rust finally surfaced from dark. He seemed unharmed, but his expression told a different story. He looked horrified. He was also holding a small book. Kagenori asked him what had happened before Rust just handed it over. It was old and the cover was peeling off, but there was no denying what it was.

A Bible.

Kagenori had been protestant for the longest time, so he’d essentially memorized the first few pages by heart. He read it over and it lined up perfectly. Rust explained that he found it sitting in the middle of a crudely drawn symbol, like it was part of some kind of botched ritual or something. They just sat there for a while after that. None of them had any words to say. This was a troubling revelation, after all. Rust broke the silence a while later.

“That wasn’t it.”

Apparently, he’d also seen cave paintings in there, along with pieces of what looked like torn manuscripts. He pulled them out of his bag, but they were all in Latin. Fortunately, Rust knew the language. From what he’d pieced together, something happened in 2026 that sent the world spiraling into what we were in now. It was unclear what this event exactly was, however. The writings were all vague, with words like “Corrupted” and “Reborn” popping up a lot. However… that wasn’t even the most interesting part. The year 2014 also seemed to be significant. Rust’s conjecture was that somebody had done something back then that took 12 years to fully manifest. Again, what really happened remained a mystery. All he had was the dates.

There was one last significant thing that he saw in there - a painting of a map on one of the cave walls. It seemed to be an outline of the new world. Apparently, the only thing that Rust could somewhat recognize was North America and East Asia. The other continents were torn into pieces. However, there was one small island that seemed to worth noting. It looked to be on the equator line, around where South America should have been. There was an arrow pointing to it, connected to a single word:

“Liberatio” – Latin for deliverance.

“That’s where we’re headed” Rust exclaimed. "Maybe we'll find answers". Kagenori asked him how the hell they were going to get there. “I’ll figure out a way” was Rust's only response. Right after he said that, the ground beneath them started rumbling. They soon figured out why there was nothing else on the island.

They looked over at the mountains behind them. They were shaking, but it didn’t look like an earthquake. There was a pattern to it. Almost as if they were being caused by footsteps. Eventually, they saw something moving in the distance. Something colossal. They didn’t waste any more time, hopping into the helicopter and getting the hell out of there. As they left they island behind, Kagenori watched as a creature around double the size of the mountains made its way onto the shore. Since it was obscured by some kind of mist, he couldn’t quite make out the details. But it was humanoid, for sure. What disturbed him the most was the bellowing laugh that it let out afterwards. The voice was deep and guttural, sending ripples through the sea below. It was also sinister in tone. Like it knew what they had just discovered.

After that, they flew around for a few more hours before Rust admitted that there was a problem. He didn’t know how to get to the island depicted on the cave painting. He suggested that they scavenge another island, in order to find materials for a compass. However, there didn’t seem to be one in sight. They weren’t low on fuel just yet, but that could change quickly.

The situation got even worse when they flew into a brutal storm. Kagenori claimed that it happened so suddenly. One second the skies were dry, the next, they were filled with heavy winds, rain and lightning. It was inexplicable. But then again… in this world, that seemed to be the norm.

It got so bad that Rust told him to put on one of the parachutes, “just in case”. There were no doors on the aircraft, after all. As it turns out, that was a good call. As a particularly strong burst of wind titled the helicopter to the side, Kagenori’s fingers slipped from a railing he was holding onto and he fell out.

As he made his harsh descent, he tried to gauge what he was heading into. However, the rain had gotten so bad that he could barely open his eyes. He made a swift judgement, waiting 10 seconds before ultimately opening the parachute. As he felt himself floating downwards, he started feeling the rain subside. He opened his eyes, being both surprised and relieved to find land waiting for him below. There seemed to be people on it as well. But as he got closer, he came to a horrifying realization. Those weren’t people. Or at least… not anymore. He’d made it to dead man’s land. After landing, he freaked out and started running away from the horde of zombies that had now focused their collective attentions on him. Eventually, he’d come across the settlement that we were in now.

He’d been here ever since, going on regular hunting trips and establishing himself as part of the community. But about a year ago, he’d been captured by the psychos we encountered yesterday. As it turns out, they were bat-shit crazy. They took turns torturing/toying around with him, as well as the others that he was with for pure entertainment. At one point, they were driving out, planning on tying him to a tree and letting the zombies swarm him. Fortunately, that was also we crossed paths with them ans saved him. He seemed to be getting light-headed as he finished telling me this. The nurse told me that he needed more rest, so I let him be. However, he let me know one more thing before slipping out of consciousness again:

“I don’t know if Rust is still alive. I don’t know where he is... I don’t know…”

I’m sitting here now, pondering the implications of Rust’s discovery. If this really is the future… then what the fuck happened in 2026? How could that have led to this? What was on that island Rust was trying to get to? Were we ever getting the out of here? But like Kagenori... I guess I just don’t know.

ENTRY 33:

I woke up this morning to heavy commotion. Everybody seemed scared of something. I asked around, eventually finding out that some kind of machine had been shot down over the island just a few minutes ago. I walked over to where they were keeping it. Smoker was already there, holding it in his hands. It was small and compact, looking extremely futuristic, which made sense now. I asked him what the hell it was. He stared at me, eyes wide:

“Neo-Civitus” he uttered out “This is a scout drone. They always send these before they’re about to invade.”

Confused and shocked, I took a closer look at it. In big bold letters was the phrase “NC military” written right on top of it.

Fucking hell. Not sure what’s going to happen next. But based off of everything that’s happened so far… it’s gonna be one hell of a time, for better or for worse.

#reddit #nosleep #scary #story

[unlikelywallflower]

catching up part 2: on perfect fairytale engagements

[This is part 2 in a multi-part catch-up of events from December 2019 to March 2020. If you want to catch up on part 1 first, you can find it here.]

The joy and relief at having made the commitment (telling NTU I was ready for him to propose) did not remove all of my uncertainty, but it absolutely put me in a new place. I had made my choice, and I had made it freely. I had put my trust in this man and this love. Yes, this was moving incredibly quickly, but we came to realize after sharing our story with a lot of people, and hearing their stories in turn, that a LOT of love stories move really quickly. Some work out, some don’t, and we only tend to look aghast at the pace of the ones that don’t work out.

The next week or so became a rollercoaster of joking about when/how he would propose and both of us getting anxious the closer we got to it. The plans that he jokingly shared with me alternately included a mariachi band, a marching band, the top of Mt. Everest, doing it the next day and doing it six months later. I knew that with his upcoming surgery, it was either going to be soon, or a month or two down the road, and given he’d said he needed some time to put his plans in place, I figured it was further away.

As the anxiety swelled and crested New Year’s Day, our worst habits of testing each other and our love came out in full force, and we had our first big, tearful fight. We were, fortunately, able to move back toward each other with some tenderness before I got on a plane to Alaska the next day for work. Part of this was coming to a place we felt like we could rest in the conversation; part of it was recognizing and granting compassion for the fact that while both of us would have loved to be in the fantasy of an easy, fairytale love, we are complicated, anxious, intense people who don’t make much of anything about life easy for ourselves. Another part of it, at least for me, was recognizing that there was a purely chemical aspect to this unbalance; having not had a truly restful night’s sleep for weeks, I was beginning to unravel at the seams. When I got home from Alaska, I was so happy to be home in his arms (and to eat the delicious roast chicken he’d made us). And, for the week or so after, I still felt somewhat unsettled and disconnected. It turns out, that was me unwittingly absorbing and protecting myself from his anxiety, which he was feeling but couldn’t tell me about just yet, because he was busy planning the biggest surprise of my life.

Because he was having surgery just a few days before his birthday, NTU told me one day that he’d booked us a reservation for the week before his birthday at Union, the beautiful restaurant where we’d had our second date (during which I’d told him about my baby-making plans). He said he’d done it so that we could go out and have a fun night before he was in recovery for his actual birthday. He’d also bought us tickets to the symphony for the following night. I thought it was a little weird that someone would plan his own birthday (especially with me, the Queen of Celebration, for a partner), but I rolled with it. That is, until it began to dawn on me that maybe there was a very real reason we were having two super-fancy back-to-back dates in one weekend. Can you blame a girl for thinking that one of those might not be “just” a pre-surgery early birthday celebration? I was simultaneously in excited overdrive, and replaying every scene in every romcom where the female lead builds up what she thinks is going to be a proposal in her head, only to get very different news. (To be clear, I wasn’t actually afraid NTU was going to break up with me instead of proposing, à la Warner and Elle in Legally Blonde. I just thought that there was a real possibility that I was setting myself up for ridiculous and ungrateful disappointment if it really was “just” a pre-surgery early birthday celebration.) I still went out and bought two fancy new outfits and filed my nails, though; it couldn’t hurt to be prepared and looking fabulous.

For the next part of the story, I need to backtrack a bit. The day after we met, when NTU told me how little sleep he regularly got, I teased him about it, wishing him a long, restful night. The next morning, he texted me the single number 7.5. Confused, I asked him about it, and he told me it was how many hours of sleep he’d gotten the night before. Abashed, I assured him that I hadn’t intended that he report his sleep hours to me every day, but I was glad at the increase. He replied, “So it wasn’t just a phenomenally transparent excuse to say hello?”. Laughing, I told him if he needed an excuse, he could just text me a random number every morning. From the next morning onward, NTU texted me a number every single day. Sometimes the number had to do with something we’d done together, or talked about, or something one or both of us was into. A game developed wherein I had to guess what it meant; after a while, I got very good at this game, falling into a pattern of first asking, “animal, vegetable, or mineral?”, and then deciphering from there. NTU kept a spreadsheet of all the numbers, my guesses, and the correct answers.

On the morning of his early birthday dinner, I woke up, for the first time in almost two months, to no text message, no number. Disappointed, my heart fell. I’d known it would have to happen sometime; we’d talked about how it couldn’t go on forever. Gathering myself, I walked out of the bedroom and found a handwritten note on the coffee table with the number ‘55’ written on it. I broke into a grin and immediately texted NTU, beginning our morning guessing ritual. But that morning, he said there were to be no guesses, and that at some point in the day, it would all fall into place. My certainty that he was going to propose that evening mounted, but I was also driven nuts by the fact that I wasn’t allowed to guess. At some point, a thought occurred to me and I pulled out a calendar; that day was 55 days from the day we’d met. Ignoring his “no guessing” decree, I texted NTU, and he told me that I was wrong, and not allowed to guess anyhow. So I chilled out on the guessing for the remainder of the day (well, I stopped guessing; chill would be a stretch).

After having gotten all gussied up, and running a little late, we made it to Union for our dinner reservation. The host said “right this way” and began to lead us to heated, walled-in patio at the back of the restaurant. In my head, all I could think was “It’s cold back there! Couldn’t we ask for a table up front?”, but I bit my tongue. And when I walked through that door to the patio, it was filled with loved ones: most of my closest friends, my brother, a couple of NTU’s friends. My heart and my eyes filled, and I knew that it was happening.

NTU made a beautiful, nervous speech about the numbers, our guessing game, the handwritten note that morning, and about how it had been 55 days (and 3 hours, to be exact) between the moment we’d met to the moment he was now asking me to join him in the adventure of a lifetime. My life was a fairytale, and this beautiful man was down on one knee, asking me to marry him. After an answer of “yes, a thousand times yes”, he stood up, slid the ring on, and kissed me. We turned to our people, and I realized that my brother’s phone wasn’t just recording the moment; my parents (one of whom was at home in Sarnia, one of whom was on vacation with friends in Mexico) were on FaceTime. We spent the rest of the blissful evening canoodling, talking with our loved ones, and eating the absolutely incredible meal that NTU had worked out with the restaurant to cater to our very wide selection of dietary needs.

It was everything I’d dreamed of, and more. He’d fulfilled everything I’d asked, and made it so incredibly special by having my people there to celebrate with us. We went home deliriously happy and tired, and kept floating in that bubble through the next evening at the symphony.

In the next catch-up instalment: on the bubble bursting and the beginning of the end.

#feministdating #singlefeminist

[castilloann840]

FULL TILT, IRELAND TO INDIA WITH A BICYCLE – WRITTEN BY DERVLA MURPHY

Not long after her tenth birthday celebration, Dervla Murphy aspires to cycle to India. After nearly 20 years, she set out to accomplish her aspiration. Her epic voyage started during the coldest winter in memory, taking her through Europe, Persia, Afghanistan, over the Himalayas to Pakistan, and into India.

A story of self-satisfaction anyone would want to crave for.

HONEYMOON WITH MY BROTHER A BOOK – WRITTEN BY FRANZ WISNER

In the wake of being abandoned at his wedding, the protagonist takes off on a two-year honeymoon in 52 countries with a sibling he barely knows. What pursues is a progression of passionate, entertaining and sudden experiences as the protagonist fights to defeat his misfortune and reconnect with his sibling. One of the most tragic books to read while traveling, so prepare your tissues.

CARPET WARS: FROM KABUL TO BAGHDAD BOOK – AUTHORED BY CHRISTOPHER KREMMER

An individual’s odyssey through war, fellowship, and craftsmanship along the old Silk Route. An intriguing travel book that lights up the contemporary story of Southwest Asia and offers an exceptional understanding of the characters of warlords, presidents, and sheiks.

JUST A LITTLE RUN AROUND THE WORLD – AUTHORED BY ROSIE SWALE-POPE

When her husband died of cancer, 57-year old Rosie set off on a journey to run around the world and to raise money in memory of his husband. Pursued by wolves, wrecked by a bus, defied by bears, chased by a stripped man with a firearm and stranded with extreme frostbite, Rosie’s amazing 20,000-mile, multi-year, solo adventure is as grasping as it is motivating.

INTO THE WILD – WRITTEN BY JON KRAKAUER

Maybe one of the most well-known books to peruse while traveling, Into the Wild pursues the true story of Chris McCandles, a youngster who strolled into the Alaskan wild looking for illumination and ultimately perished. This sad tale triggers the other side of human emotions.

DARK STAR SAFARI – AUTHORED BY PAUL THEROUX

Traveling the bush and desert; traversing down the waterways and crosswise over lakes; skipping the country to another, Theroux visits are probably the most delightful scenes on earth, but with absolute danger. It is a journey of revelation and rediscovery of the obscure and the unforeseen. The story follows the young and idealistic Theroux.

Dark Star Safari discusses the aid of Western countries in Africa.

THE CLOUD GARDEN – WRITTEN BY TOM HART DYKE AND PAUL WINDER

This intriguing book recounts the story of two far-fetched explorers who teamed up and attempted to get past the hole from Panama to Colombia by walking. After a tiresome journey and only a few hours from success, they were caught by the FARC fighters and held a detainee in the wilderness for nine months.

Follow this break sweating adventure and hold on to your seats as the story take you away.

THE KITE RUNNER – BOOK WRITTEN BY KHALED HOSSEINI

An interesting read about Afghanistan under Taliban rule. The story pursues the destiny of two little fellows, one of whom can get away to America, while the other is compelled to remain behind. Make sure to take a break after reading to exhaust all your feelings.

THE LOST CITY OF Z – AUTHORED BY DAVID GRANN

This is the book you need to peruse on the off chance that you are going into the Amazon. The book tells the story of a capricious British adventurer, Percy Fawcett, who invested his time on earth driving into the Amazon looking for the unbelievable Lost City of Z. The book relates his life, his experiences with un-reached clans and his last undertaking, from which he didn’t return. Think of this as another Indiana Jones story.

THE KILLING FIELDS – WRITTEN BY CHRISTOPHER HUDSON

One of the best books you can find out about Cambodia. The story focuses on the time Cambodia is under the rule of the Khmer Rouge. Awful, flawlessly composed and historically accurate, this book will change how you see Cambodia until the end of time.

MUD, SWEAT, AND TEARS – AUTHORED BY BEAR GRYLLS

The rousing personal history of Bear Grylls in which he recoups from a crushed spirit and became one of the youngest climbers to scale Mount Everest. Probably the best book to peruse while traveling anywhere! It genuinely motivates you to challenge yourself.

NINE LIVES – WRITTEN BY WILLIAM DALRYMPLE

A Buddhist priest wages war to oppose the Chinese intrusion of Tibet – at that point spends the rest of his life attempting to make up for the brutality by hand printing the best petition signals in India. While a Jain sister tests the forces of separation as she watches her closest companion customarily starve herself to death.

Nine individuals, nine lives; everyone taking an alternate strict way, every one an exceptional story. Nine Lives will take the storytelling to another level. Prepare to see nine different people simultaneously in one reading.

ABSURDISTAN – AUTHORED BY GARY SHTEYNGART

The story follows Misha Vainberg, an overweight child of a rich man. As the story flow, you will see that this book does not dwell only on how Misha would find his love, but at the same time, exhibits a tragicomedy between International relations. Do not be intimidated, try and read. And you will be laughing at every satire you will get to read.

These are only some of the books you would love to read. However, these books are also ideal gifts for travelers. So if you are not yet decided what to give to your travel-holic pal, these books might be the perfect choice.

#travel corner #travelcornerorg #DESTINATION #travel around the world

[s8nstar-blog]

Analysis of Section Three: Post-Colonialism Theory

Into Thin Air is an interesting example of white perspective in a postcolonial story. It is clear to me that the story Into Thin Air is a novel written specifically for the purpose of highlighting what it means to be white in a more accepting culture than colonial times.

When examining Into Thin Air from a postcolonial perspective, it becomes clear that the novel serves as an example of what it means to be white in today’s society, which is no longer meant to be colonised. The book represents the white struggle of attempting sensitivity towards racial issues, but also benefiting due to the privilege of being white. This theme is shown through white privilege, bystanding vs helping victims of racism and the alienation of a race in the novel, along with attempts at racial inclusivity throughout the novel. Although Into Thin Air is clearly written with racial struggles in mind, and was written at a less accepting time than now, there are lots of ways that it’s mistakes can be seen with a postcolonial perspective.

The novel, Into Thin Air, first arrives on it’s major themes of whiteness in POC issues when it mentions the troubles the South African expedition had with its racist leader, Ian WoodWall. The team is engaging on the expedition as a mixed race group, in the hopes of putting the first black person on the summit, and creating some unity between races back home in South Africa, when the entire plot unfolds beneath them. Edmund February, a black paleoecologist/climber says, “I saw the expedition as a powerful symbol of a young nation trying to unify itself … To show that we in South Africa could climb Everest together, black and white on the top--that would be a great thing.” Some may argue that themes of racism and colonialism began on the very first page, with the introduction of Jon Krakauer, a white male who climbed Everest and was the only one to survive when many of his comrades died. The South African team is described as even more inexperienced and shaky than Jon. Why is this? Is it just by chance that one of the only racialised groups on the mountain had little to no chances of surviving it? Can something be said about the lack of black people in athletic sub-groups like hockey, mountaineering or golf? It can also be questioned if his privileges as a white man are what led him to be more experienced than most and what helped him stay alive on the mountain, where multiple others did not. Though of course the story of Into Thin Air isn’t fictional so the narrative cannot be changed, the circumstances of the lives the climbers led before they arrived on the mountain certainly could have been meddled with because of racial privilege. Though we have passed colonialism, it’s effects are ever present today. Into Thin Air serves as a good example of the white struggle because it shows black peoples’ stories from a white person’s perspective which allows you to visually see the privilege of being the world’s “dominant” race. This also paints over black peoples' stories but I digress. Being written in first person also helps Into Thin Air expand on it’s themes.

The black South African characters in the story believe themselves to be living in a lucky time, where their rights are considered more than they would have been before. They believe they are in “a different nation now,” free from “the yoke of the apartheid.” They believe that they have been invited to Mount Everest because they are respected and their skin colours are respected. Culturally, they are seen as still alienated, and this is better shown when Woodwall, the leader of the mixed-race expedition is revealed to have falsified the permits that allow the team to be on the mountain on the first place. It is found that he never intended to let the black members of his expedition stay on, but wanted to send them home when they were only half-way up. Culturally, the black members of the team are seen as “other” and as token black people so that the team can seem more racially sensitive and as having moved past segregation. The South African incident proves the thesis because in this portion the main character Jon Krakauer makes an attempt to understand why the South African expedition seemed to be social piranhas but ends up bystanding for the majority of the event instead. He says, “Andy Harris and I hiked over to the South African compound to meet their team and try and gain some insight on why they had become such pariahs.” But he is able to quickly put it behind him and move onto Camp Two without the racial issues really affecting him. It could be debated that this is a climbing book and that there is no room for tackling racism inside it. But if you were to say that it would just show how little you know and care about racism. Because racism worms its way into every field, no matter what. The fact that Jon is able to move on rather seamlessly, is another great example of the white perspective you see in many stories today. They are caught between caring and not caring. Helping and bystanding. It is interesting to see Jon alternate between the two, just like many people who are not in the black community do.

The Sherpa people are treated almost like an “other”. Jon Krakauer specifically says, “The Sherpa people remain an enigma to most foreigners, who tend to regard them through [a] romantic scrim.” The people who live in the mountains beneath Everest’s summit are employed to accompany the expedition members up the mountain, to carry their loads and tend to them and risk their lives in their place. They are remarkably close to slaves or servants and get hardly any credit throughout the story for their hard work. Even though the novel intends to make a connection between the Sherpa and the racism they face, it still, in a roundabout way, seems to be stereotyping them even more. Early on in the book a scene occurs between a Sherpa waitress and a Western foreigner.

“‘We hungry,’ a ruddy cheeked man announced to her in overly loud pidgin, miming the act of eating. “Want eat po-ta-toes. Yak bur-ger. Co-ca Co-la. You have?”

“Would you like to see the menu?” Ngawang Doka replied in clear, sparkling English that carried a hint of Canadian accent.

The American trekker, unable to comprehend that this brown-skinned woman of the hills was addressing him in perfectly enunciated King’s English, continued to employ his comical pidgin arot.”

Even though the author is attempting to be racially sensitive by showing the exact opposite of the stereotypical foreign Sherpa, he fails in realizing how powerful a book like Into Thin Air could be in further stereotyping the Sherpa people, even if that wasn’t his intention. Their traditions are seen as strange by the main characters, their work taken for granted and are overall hardly mentioned in contrast to the other characters. The book seems to be adding more fuel to the colonialist fire. This proves the thesis because the Sherpa people are alienated, background characters. Only a person who struggles with racial issues completely sideline the race they are trying to uplift.

Into Thin Air is an interesting example of white perspective in a postcolonial story. It is clear to me that the story Into Thin Air is a novel written specifically for the purpose of highlighting what it means to be white in a more accepting culture than colonial times.

[recommendedlisten]

Did 2017 suck? On a collective level, the short answer is “yes,” but make no doubt about it -- Music as our always reliable creative backbone and support system through these troubled time had an outstanding year. There were so many great albums coming from every direction of the sonic spectrum that if this year’s list had 20 more spots to give, it would have been easy to fill each and every one of them. We got the best out of everything this year: Familiar favorites continuing to excel at what they do, reunited comeback surpassing expectations, breakouts from new artists who are just getting started in writing their own legacies, guitar rock far drom dying, the two best young rappers once again dueling it out for the throne, and others who focused their energy and voices to resist, preach change, or at least try to make sense of this world. We escaped it together. We got our hearts broken together. We holed up in our heads together. We got angry together. We grieved together. We found hope on the other end of darkness together. The 30 Best Albums of 2017 are just as much a part of us as we are them.

30. Liars - TFCF [Mute Records]

In Liars’ world, nothing is ever as it once was, and no greater are those words true on the band’s eighth full-length TFCF. It’s the first album where the outfit is now working entirely through the creative psyche of founder Angus Andrew since the dissolution of his partnership with its other primary creator following the promotion of 2014′s laser raver Mess, and with that, Andrew uses TFCF as a formal vessel to mourn that loss through Liars’ endlessly shape-shifting body. Its minimalist shift is jarring when held against the band’s latter outputs where dance mechanics and electricity ran through in no short supply, and no turn is ever predictable. In a sense, this feels like Andrew reclaiming a sense of his own identity through the sonic outlet he has poured two decades of exploration into, and while the listen harbors an underlying trepidation in going at it alone, it’s also an adventurous fresh start for the revered noisenik’s work that reminds us why we signed up to tag along for the journey to begin with.

29. Charlotte Gainsbourg - Rest [Because Music]

One of the most peculiar angles to observe about Rest, Charlotte Gainsbourg’s third proper studio effort and first since 2011′s excellent Beck-assisted effort IRM, is that it’s a grief album that sounds nothing of darkness, and dances in the face of death. While the background context of much of it has been discussed by Gainsbourg herself (her half-sister and photographer Kate Berry passed away in 2011,) the actress / musician has surrounded herself with fellow French sound designers Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk and producer SebastiAn in a manner that outlines her catharsis in neons and clean-lined synthesizers that, even for a mpm-Francophone-fluent listener, feel robust with life. Ultimately, the album isn’t so much about how death has taken its toll, but rather been pushed far enough away from Gainsbourg to a point where it can co-exist with the honors of what we must appreciate living for as well. So is the mark of an artist who often deters from cliché, and instead poses a challenge to procenceptions.

28. Spencer Radcliffe & Everyone Else - Enjoy the Great Outdoors [Run for Cover Records]

In short, Spencer Radcliffe is an anomaly. The multi-instrumental songwriter has quietly become some of your favorite artists’ favorite artist for years now thanks to his treasure trove of self-released efforts and experimental oddities strewn across BandCamp, but ever since he signed with Run for Cover Records to release 2015′s proper debut full-length Looking After, that sense of stability has wrangled in the eccentricities going on his head without trampling them. On Enjoy the Great Outdoors, Radcliffe’s friends help bring his sound outside of the metaphorical bedroom, and the result is a long, winding day trip journeyed on ragged guitars, grumbling percussion, and high as a kite existentialism appropriate for coastlines drives, camping retreats, sand-sprawled beach days, or maybe just a lazed nap in the backyard hammock. It’s music for a mindset rather than a concrete destination.

27. Japanese Breakfast - Soft Sounds from Another Planet [Dead Oceans]

Michelle Zauner has traveled across the entire universe of sound at a speed faster than light to evolve to the point where she is today as an artist. Psychopomp, last year’s debut album from her band Japanese Breakfast, was a promising reintroduction to the singer-songwriter we had once known as the lead vocalist for the Philly indie punk outfit Little Big League. It carried the weight of a heavy mourning sound on airy vestiges of dream-pop while embossing Zauner’s penmanship, and on its follow-up Soft Sounds from Another Planet, it’s as if that gauzy cloud has drifted out of view. What we see is a vivid realization of the wonders in her art, traveling across a galaxy of sound where crystallized synth-pop, big romantic ballads, and grizzled indie rock can coexist without impinging upon each others comfort zones. Zauner may have put herself in the storyteller’s chair of writing a sci-fi love story with this effort, but it turns out that no matter the medium, those emotions are universally binding.

26. Margo Price - All American Made [Third Man Records]

Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, last year’s debut effort from outsider country songwriter Margo Price, wasn’t just a breakthrough by merit of putting in a decade’s worth of starving artist work in someone who never folded under the weight of rejection, but also because it was a survival story that sang the life out of hardships faced in between, lending credence to her “authenticity” as a genuine country songwriter in the process. Following the 2016 election, the stories behind this year’s sophomore follow-up All American Made didn’t take as much time to collect themselves as she flips her perspective onto world where women still are fighting for respect and equality, or there’s a need to advocate action rather than thoughts and prayers for the country’s undercut farming industry, all scribed in wry one-liners and a modern spin on traditionalism. If you want an accurate picture of what your neighbor is up against, Price is the precisely the hard-working voice to make that call for empathy.

25. The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Always Foreign [Epitaph Records]

The World Is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die have done everything in epic proportions since a creative big bang placed them in the music universe. 2015′s excellent sophomore outing Harmlessness delivered an ambitious self-care guide vesseled in mythological folk tales and song sequences that borderlined a night at the indie-emo opera, but with it pondered where the CT collective would go after climbing Everest. The answer is back down to Earth, as their third studio effort Always Foreign is the band’s most compact work to date, refining their songcraft with sharpened hooks and trimming away the meandering excess without necessarily watering down their epic appeal. Yet, what a scary, alien place this world they’ve gravitated back down to has become since their last chapter. If Harmlessness fought to make space for a sense of humanity in every particle of light in our bleak, existential throes, Always Foreign is defined by leader David Bello accepting that most everything around us is going to remain terrible despite us naïve hopefuls’ best efforts. Drastic turns to brazen righteousness just may be the survival tactic needed to see us through to tomorrow.

24. Vagabon - Infinite Worlds [Father / Daughter Records]

Brooklyn’s best kept secret weapon is now the world’s to share. Following the release of a coupling of demos and an EP, Cameroon-born and NYC-based songwriter Laetitia Tamko, b.n.a. Vagabon, and her debut full-length Infinite Worlds collects her migrated experiences alongside the boundary-less perspective of the indie rock universe. It’s title is an ideal descriptor of its sound, as the listen is a layered lo-fi adventure of electric guitars and bedroom synths that not only defines the DIY songwriter’s own possibilities to create for herself, but for a scene stymied by monotonous representation. As a black female voice in a densely white scene, Tamko’s pursuit for the authentic and her own identity despite those odds steers the wheel away from sonic predictability. She’s demonstrating with effect how outside exposure doesn’t necessarily have to lead to a total reconstruction of the home’s foundation. A fresh coat of paint will do.

23. Ratboys - GN [Topshelf Records]

In the soil of the indie rock underground, a new crop of alternative takes on country continues to sprout. The Chicago duo Ratboys wear their threads well, sounding simultaneously scrappy and well-collected from the inside, especially in the latter through the songwriting prowess of vocalist Julia Steiner reflecting as much of her own personal experiences into their songs as she does the emotions connected to them. Their 2015 debut AOID safely laid the groundwork for their brand of twangy indie rock, and here on GN, they continue sculpting their identity in a grainy field quickly saturating itself of Saddle Creek-era devotionals by telling stories that only Steiner, alongside primary cohort and guitarist Dave Sagan’s scene-setting assists, can. Every step along their long and winding journey yearns for the close comfort of home – seemingly eternally out of reach – giving the listen a wistfully warm undercurrent that makes for a pretty good imitation of it.

22. Kindling - Hush [6131 Records]

It isn’t easy being an indie rock band who has to follow in the footsteps of a very distinct Western Mass pedigree. The outside world still compares every band from the area to the ‘90s alternative lineage of Dinosaur Jr., the Pixies, and Sebadoh with boxed-in sonic schematic assumptions. The Easthampton quintet Kindling certainly love their reverb, but on their sophomore breakthrough Hush, they have created a shoegazing sonic boom in the valley that stays loyal to the area’s legacy of loudness while putting their own stamp of hardcore influences on an otherwise lush atmosphere of rock. There are just as many moments throughout the listen that double as invitations to the pit as their are celestial drifts, with guitarists Gretchen WIlliams and Stephen Pierce’s dueling vocals becoming part of its soundscape at every turn. Sure, there are its flickering moments of golden age alt-rock stomps and whirring shoegaze in its booming production courtesy of Justin Pizzoferrato (Dinosaur Jr., Speedy Ortiz), but Kindling is pushing those sounds into a new direction that leaves the past in star dust.

21. LCD Soundsystem - American Dream [Columbia / DFA Records]

James Murphy has realized that putting the final nail in LCD Soundsystem’s coffin didn’t have to be a thing if he didn’t want to, or because it’s how other artists did their business, and that only he could decide under what terms their story ends. What LCD Soundsystem has become during the in-between on American Dream is a timely and necessary comedown of their catalog’s euphoria during these anxious times does not hurt either. If 2010′s This Is Happening was the sound of hundreds of black and white balloons falling from the rafters of Madison Square Garden in a swan song of celebratory fashion, then American Dream is hearing each one of them attempting to crawl toward your feet before they deflate and shrink to the floor in one of their last moments of exhale. It’s a darker and heavier album compared to the confetti and disco ball flashes of the past, with the blue skies and puffy white clouds on its cover offering a patronizing oppression -- Quite literally the new age sounds of death from above.

20. BROCKHAMPTON - Saturation II [Empire / Question Everything, Inc.]

As usual, the discussion around hip-hop this year will mainly revolve around Kendrick and Vince as two of the year’s biggest standouts once more, but the cross-country collective known as BROCKHAMPTON have secured their place as the rap game’s biggest breakouts. Saturation II isn’t even the only album they’ve put out this year – it’s the second in a trilogy that began in early summer and will be imminently concluding with a third installment – but it’s the effort that has rightfully caught buzz beyond the Internet forums where this self-professed “American boy band” joined forces. If their end game is world domination, then their brand of pop-infused, Kanye-worship hip-hop is good way to get there, and it doesn’t hurt that the team effort of every member bringing a different story to the table makes Saturation II play like a non-stop assembly line of crew anthems.  

19. Moses Sumney - Aromanticism [Jagjaguwar]

After years of relentlessly molding his craft of experimental electronic soul, Moses Sumney finally puts the finishing touches on his wondrous cynicism with his debut full-length Aromanticism. The album has the characteristics of an album that appeals to emotional masochists, but it’s when Sumney creates these temporal flickers of light within his sound where even the darkest paths of the rabbit hole uncover a beauty in the despair. Radiohead, Bon Iver, and Sufjan Stevens have centered entire careers on existentialism with more elements, built for larger stages, yet Sumney proves here that he needn’t expand much beyond his natural body to achieve this. It can feel almost uncomfortably voyeuristic, as if we’re privy to an intimate encounter, except Aromanticism is the opposite of that: A quiet cry into the infinite, hoping patiently that some day someone reaches back.

18. Big Thief - Capacity [Saddle Creek]

If you want to sit down with a few good stories mired in truth, tragedy, and fiction, then Adrienne Lenker is your best summer read. Last year, the Brooklyn-based songwriter turned the music world’s ear her way when she and her band Big Thief released their promising debut Masterpiece astutely in the right avenue of ramshackle indie rock on Saddle Creek, and its sophomore follow-up Capacity builds on the upward interest by penning several new chapters of prose haunted by the past and subtly beautified by the ornate features of folk rock. It’s by no means in comparison to the rest of summer’s sounds a booming listen, but is its own force of nature that forces you to hang onto Lenker’s every word with full attention to reap its riches. City slickers often make great escapes to seek out this kind of peace and quiet in retreats, but Big Thief’s solitude finds its way to you without ever leaving home.

17. Kelela - Take Me Apart [Warp Records]

Kelela has been an influencer in spilling a dark wave from the dance and R&B undercurrent into the collective mainstream conscious since appearing virtually out of nowhere in 2013. Through mixtapes and EPs, her futuristic style wrapped grime, dubstep and modern techno’s rattling walls around her sensual moves and ethereal vocal presence, and finally, on her debut full-length Take Me Apart, her hallucinogenic formula of R&B pop becomes more lucid than ever as Kelela  continues to mutate every influence since the days of growing up (as she puts it) “in the ’burbs listening to R&B, jazz and Björk” and beyond together. Her art of seduction has also moved onto a universal plane here as she navigates the messy world of late night hookups, drunken texts in the early hours of a restless post-breakup, and eventually, moving on for the better. While still soft and pillowy, Kelela’s voice has never sounded in such focus as it does here, which is to say her intentions gleam through the soundboards loud and clear.

16. Jay Som - Everybody Works [Polyvinyl Records]

The work of 22-year-old Melina Duterte exists in its own space, because that’s exactly where it was born. As a fledgling songwriter living on the outskirts of the Bay Area, she began recording music under the online name-generated moniker Jay Som over the course of the past five years, haphazardly posting them onto her BandCamp page without caution before peaking the interest of venerable indie rock label Polyvinyl Records. On her debut full-length Everybody Works, she puts in the effort of tenfold humans to deliver an album so rich in dream-pop textures and visceral fuzz rock that she’d have you believing more warm bodies were standing right next to her during its recording. And yet, despite Everybody Works many layers, her proper introduction bares the markings of the warm insularity of the bedroom where Duerte recorded every instrument on her own doing. It’s filled with enough tenderness to compliment its intentionally rockist ways, bringing to the forefront a unique, introverted identity that blurs the line drawn between proper studio mechanics and the magic of homespun spaces.

15. The National - Sleep Well Beast [4AD]

The National are one of the most consistently great indie rock bands to survive the NYC Aughts scene and all of its history that has for the most part become anecdotal enough to fill up the pages of Lizzy Goodman’s Meet Me In the Bathroom. Consistency can be its own trap, however, as it can lead down the road of creative sameness,but their seventh full-length Sleep Well Beast feels like a needed shock to their system even if so much of it tip its hand to what made their early catalog bold. There’s Matt Berninger and his wife Carin Besser reconnecting his prose with matters of lovers’ quarrels and commitments, and just the right amount of darkness swallowing up the night that has become synonymous with the National’s relationship with the city. Funny how they actually had to flee the city to record the album, and that wilderness experiment is what ends up feeding Sleep Well Beast its electricity as the quintet refit their machine with artificial limbs and heartbeats. For the National, success in grandeur is in the way they convey intimacy.  

14. Converge - The Dusk In Us [Deathwish Inc. / Epitaph Records]

Holding The Dusk In Us up against any of Converge’s other albums results in this one joining the superlatives of added consistency as one of the strongest catalogs reigns in the hardcore and metal scene, and how they’re a thousand miles away from their nearest peers. Their 9th full-length in particular excels in the way that the Boston heavyweight’s brawny existential substance injected into each track isn’t due to the concept itself or focusing on a certain aspect of their sound, but instead embracing each member’s strengths and ability to bring out the best in what they’ve collectively refined as singularity when in each others’ presence for the past 27 years. According to frontman Jacob Bannon, not even parenthood or aging have changed the way he and his ‘mates approach writing songs in the wide eyed way they did when they were just kids, since this listen transcends those notions as  a timeless anomaly of hardcore perfectionism. If anything, time only serves to emboss Bannon’s scrapes for meaning or light in an increasingly dark world despite the burrowing anxiety of breakdowns they flail into.

13. The War On Drugs - A Deeper Understanding [Atlantic Records]

By design, A Deeper Understanding, isn’t actually all that difficult to understand. For years, the War On Drugs’ mastermind Adam Granduciel has been perfecting his craft as a new age highway vagabond by bridging the gaps between classic heartland rock and synthetic pastures, and on his Philly band’s major label debut for Atlantic, he comes closer than he ever has to getting that formula entirely right. Those years on the independent scene seamlessly flow from their tributaries into the mouth of high end studio precision – Not that much of a departure from where 2014′s craft beer classic Lost In the Dream left off, but rather a widescreen continuation of its colors with more lucid light and memory behind them. Whether your journey leads you down winding mountain roads or a stretch sandwiched between endless field, A Deeper Understanding can make each of those landscapes bolder, and even if life doesn’t take your there physically, Granduciel’s music still has that power to.

12. Slowdive - Slowdive [Dead Oceans]

The challenge facing a reunited Slowdive two decades since their last record is how a band of their legacy status goes about reinventing the wheel of a genre they helped mold, but has since seen its shape stretched to a breaking point. . Previous to Slowdive, their only attempt at transformation came with the divisive electronic experiment and initial death knell in 1995′s Pygmalion, but the modern age is more open-minded to these kind of creative risks. While Slowdive orbits closely to the cosmic tour de force of their debut classic Slouvaki with greater consideration to concentrating its deeper impact, the album indulges in the dense atmospheric properties of its genus offshoot post-rock, while other moments point to how without Slowdive, there might not be a Radiohead. A formidable comeback is one thing, but Slowdive proves the band’s legacy has not only withstood the test of time, but that they’re active participants in keeping it alive better than where they left it.

11. Girlpool - Powerplant [ANTI-]

Before the world got big on them, Girlpool were just two teenage friends and budding songwriters sitting in a bedroom with a guitar and a bass, wide-eyed with ideas, but not really sure where any of them would lead them. That tiny childhood bedroom where Girlpool, now out of the teenage woods, came to life is no longer big enough to fit all of their world experiences and emotions resonating in daily lives, yet on their sophomore effort Powerplant, they’re able to add more substance to their minimalist sound without necessarily squeezing small-spaced intimacy completely out of the picture. The project is still primarily the vehicle of Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker, but this is the first effort that includes built-in drums by Miles Wintner as well as an added supply of electricity in the studio that makes that tiny room style of theirs boom from wall to wall. If their music was a thing of line drawings and outlines before, then Powerplant paints the world around them in full technicolor with a sound that comes through the speakers as wholly three-dimensional.

10. King Woman - Created In the Image of Suffering [Relapse Records]

Bay Area artist Kristin Esfandiari has been refining her brand of doom and gloom for years in a duality between her metal band King Woman and her shoegazing solo outfit Miserable. Each of those facets play an integral part in turning a confident new corner, however, for the former on their immaculately grim debut full-length Created In the Image of Suffering. In our current political climate, it’s a resistance necessity, as Esfandiari heaves a wrecking ball into patriarchal tropes and theological repression. She damns humankind’s origin folklore into a sludgy, gauzy hell, and reconceives it through the womb of terrifying transcendence. This listen scrapes into bone and marrow under sunburned skies as much as it does ominous thunderclouds, and ushers in King Woman as the new savior of a world whose limits stretch well beyond metal boxes, making for the year’s top honor in its class of heavy.

9. Lorde - Melodrama [Republic / Lava Records]

Lorde still had almost half a decade left on the clock as a teenager when she released her breakout debut Pure Heroine, and that reminder brings with it the realization than not even all of the fame and accolades coming at her fast could protect her from a growing pain so pedestrian as young love and heartbreak, presented with #nofilter on Melodrama. The few, improvable criticisms of Pure Heroine barely exist here. Where that album’s highlights were in its low sizzle stunners of teenage festival anthems, Melodrama has something different going for it altogether in its post-breakup party night concept that strings the narration along from start to finish through a synesthesia of sound and color wired with vivid detail. These sensory synapses wouldn’t be set off without Lorde’s lyricism, as her past work’s vaguely universal themes of being a shoulder-shrug millennial give way to hyper-specificity in both pain and recovery. 20 is a beautiful age to start seeing the world for what it really is, and we’re lucky to be living it through Lorde’s eyes.

8. Julien Baker - Turn Out the Lights [Matador Records]

Julien Baker probably sees her growing position as a patron saint of sadness as a shared experience of universal catharsis much like how we are expected to grieve and deal with personal traumas in our own way. Listening to her sophomore effort (and first for Matador) Turn Out the Lights indeed does sound like an emotionally wrenching experience for an artist to undertake in the studio in the way she leaves no naked thought uncovered from our ears, but that she has managed to take the foundation of what was otherwise a skeletal sound on her 2015 debut Sprained Ankle and transform it into a fully fleshed body that hits our souls with deeper impact is her super power. Her songwriting style remains largely cavernous by treating her electric guitar like a strummed acoustic, occasionally allowing the organ hum and piano keys sink, but the inclusion of Sorority Noise’s Cam Boucher on clarinet and saxophone can transform a song like “Appointments” from a soft hymn into a therapeutic gospel post-rock symphony. Elsewhere, she crafts explosive self-care ballads or relies on Camille Faulkner's strings as turnbuckles while wrestling with life's big questions. It's impossible to find fault in Turn Out the Lights, considering the depth in Baker's EQ's through song is a gift that helps us all cope, too.

7. Sorority Noise - You’re Not As ______ As You Think [Triple Crown Records]

Sorority Noise are a rock band shoved under the emo banner, probably because they talk about the quiet things few have the guts to spill in public out loud. Life, in reality, is filled with messy moments, and they’re at the forefront of an incredibly diverse fourth wave landscape that’s carving out their own space in the modern indie rock cannon proper for coming of age discussions on existentialism, sociopoltiical issues, self-care, and in the Connecticut quartets case on You’re Not As ______ As You Think, a skeptical faith, grief and death. Here, they’re tempering pop-punk riffs into wall-scaling post-rock climbs, puddling effects, and echo chamber vocals that dissect complex spiritual dialogues in light of life’s murkier moments. There’s no social taboo too fearful to tackle with humility here, and they’re all framed inside of quotables and sing-a-longs that will undoubtedly be tattooed into the memories of listeners for years to come. If this isn’t an ideal way to pay your final respects, then nothing else is.

6. PRIESTS - Nothing Feels Natural [Sister Polygon Records]

PRIESTS burst onto the scene back in 2014 with an EP entitled Bodies and Control and Money and Power, and forcibly stated their intentions on taking back the second and fourth words specifically in regards to inalienable human rights. That being said, the D.C. quartet’s full-length debut Nothing Feels Natural wasn’t something immaculately conceived as soon as the country woke up on November 9th to the American nightmare ahead. Its themes are subjects that needed public outcry all along, and yet, are made all the more critical in dialogue as we stand here in discontent today. Yet, Nothing Feels Natural does more than just protest status quo and rail against systematic injustices. Every great once in a while, the punk scene is in need of a new voice of wreckoning to kick it upside down, and PRIESTS’ fluid cross-style of sounds in the realms of existentially exhaling post-punk or cantankerous free jazz make Katie Alice Greer’s incendiary statements all the more evident.

5. Kendrick Lamar - DAMN. [Aftermath / Top Dawg Entertainment / Interscope Records]

To Pimp a Butterfly placed Kendrick Lamar on a pedestal as not only a savior to the rap world, but one wielding his power for greater purpose in calling out the country’s unresolved racism. DAMN. is past the point of addressing the problem, though, and now that Lamar’s focus has been broadened, he’s doing what we already knew him to be, and that’s humblebragging as the self-proclaimed best living rapper right now. There is no distinguishable commitment to a particular vibe on this outing, as DAMN. is more of a singles-driven affair where instead of one story bleeding from one track into another, you get 14 versions of K-Dot that stand on their own while still piecing together a bigger picture, neatly tied together by the bookends of the Top Dawg origin story from beginning to end. In between, Kendrick is switch-hitting between shutting down his critics and sinking his teeth deep into his own dark existentialism. He’s just a man after all, who realizes his life and success is a gift not to be taken for granted granted, and on DAMN., Lamar ensures every moment counts.

4. Paramore - After Laughter [Fueled by Ramen]

Paramore’s 2013 self-titled effort was a surprising reboot that saw the band growing up with tough love realizations. It was also the moment they began finding their own lane in the music universe at large with a sound that was as striking as Hayley Williams’ dye job thanks in part to working with atmospheric alt-rock producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen (M83, Nine Inch Nails.) Despite its success, life hasn’t gotten any more fun for the pop-punk survivalists on After Laughter. The band may have made amends with original drummer Zach Farro, but it’s an effort standing in the shadow of loss following the messy departure of bassist Jeremy Davis and Williams’ crumbling marriage. The business of being celebrity is hard times, and here, Williams lets out one deep sigh in widescreen format filled with arena-ready pop-rock she and her ‘mates only began to experiment with four years ago. It’s committed fully to the sparkle and shine of what they always were, except now they’ve figure out a way to glow without resorting to being fake happy.

3. (Sandy) Alex G - Rocket [Domino Records]

It should be maddening to listen to an artist trying to be too many things at once, but it’s what has made the career of prolific Philly songwriting wunderkind Alexander Giannascoli so enthralling. As (Sandy) Alex G, his many releases over the years have been a grab bag of indie rock and esoteric influences that when hodgepodged together somehow shape themselves into a semblance of sounds that makes sense together as much as they do apart, and on Rocket, the variations are more abundant than ever. The end result is the songwriter’s most collected release while establishing him as one of his generation’s ebst musical multi-tasker. Heard here in his indie rock fashion line is wearing everything from country, hardcore, to his brand of Frank Ocean-endorsed bedroom pop convincingly, and at this point, it would actually be a letdown at this point if he didn’t pander toward these patterns criss-crossing into one another while creating these strangely beautiful moments of parallel. A world where (Sandy) Alex G didn’t do that would just be too grounded, and Rocket is proof that he is meant to be far out orbiting the Earth.

2. Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory [ARTium / Blacksmith / Def Jam]

Over the last three years, Vince Staples has either released a mixtape, EP, or full-length album that have turned all ears inside and out of the hip-hop world in his direction. He has in jest referred to the movement going into his sophomore follow-up Big Fish Theory as “Afrofuturism,” referencing a millennium from now as its sonic starting point, but being the humblebragger who leaves any assessment in his listener’s hands, the thought of putting any kind of label on it would be a failed attempt at restraining its orbiting persona. With his stock continuously on the rise, Staples is in the moment here, ruminating from within the id against a corrupt world as his backdrop, putting every word to pen as if it’s his last and his legacy depended on it. He’s at the cutting edge with where hip-hop is headed, working with LA beat scene wunderkind Zack Sekoff on a majority of the LP’s tracks, a few twisted ventures with pop deconstructionist SOPHIE, as well as bass-heavy DJ duos GTA and Christian Rich. If you were to remove the rhymes, you’d still be left with a fashion-forward avant techno album, but alas, Staples puts the boom and static on the same level as his ego, and we get the year’s most adventurous foray from rap music.

1. Zola Jesus - Okovi [Sacred Bones Records]

Zola Jesus returned to her haunted home Sacred Bones for her fifth and career-best full-length Okovi, and the road leading her there has been a long and winding one. Her dark art began forming in the corners of noise and industrial gothic pop in the late Aughts, and after attempting a pop crossover with it on 2014′s Taiga, her experiment in grande ambition has done nothing but inform her method in writing an album that puts every facet of being onto the same soundscape. Here, she uses that unbreakable foundation to process a series of heavy life-altering events in a manner that only Nika Danilova can when it comes time to holding our existence up to questioning. On paper, conversations on illness, death, and depression can sound incredibly grave, but even in life’s darkest moments, Danilova’s siren calls amid ornate transcendentalism finds a way to the light, and it’s that journey filled with agony that makes Okovi – the Slavik word for “shackles” – a visionary breakthrough. It’s a reminder than regardless of how overwhelming and even terrifying it can be just to be alive, life would be taken for granted if it weren’t for pain reminding us to live it to the fullest. In 2017, we may have let our nihilistic fears shake us, but we also fought for every ounce of hope as well. No other album embodied that struggle better than Okovi.

#best of 2017 #zola jesus #vince staples #(sandy) alex g #paramore #kendrick lamar #priests #sorority noise #lorde #girlpool #king woman #slowdive #the war on drugs #converge #the national #jay som #kelela #big thief #moses sumney #brockhampton #lcd soundsystem #kindling #ratboys #vagabon #charlotte gainsbourg #the world is a beautiful place & i am no longer afraid to die #margo price #japanese breakfast #spencer radcliffe & everyone else #julien baker

[himalayanasiatrek]

Top 12 Nepal Trekking Packages 2022/23– Himalayan Asia Treks

Nepal Trekking Package is a remarkable experience seeing the grandiose Himalayas and multiethnic social individuals' locale.  World over journeying is considered as the overhauled rendition of climbing. Be that as it may, in Nepal journeying is ordinary exercises for local people living in the bumpy and Himalayan district of Nepal. Various tough and downhill along the green rich timberlands crossing the frosty stream and savouring stunning landscape of snow-clad mountains without a doubt make your experience strolling occasion in Nepal hypnotizing. Join Himalayan Asia Treks for the experience, administrations and neighbourliness while you journey to brilliant spots of Nepal Trekking like Everest travelling bundle, Annapurna Trekking Package, Langtang Trekking Package, Mustang Trekking Package, Dolpo Trekking Package, Manaslu Trekking Package and in some unexpected directions.

Everest Base Camp Trek

Everest Base Camp Trekking gives a chance to all voyagers and globe-trotter satisfying their fantasies to stand and appreciate world number one pinnacles, remaining at the foot of Mt. Everest tallest mountain on earth with a general display of other monster snow-topped pinnacles. Everest Base Camp Trekking, made more renowned and famous victory to its culmination in May 29th 1953 by legendry late mountain dwellers Tenzing and Hillary, from that point forward the mass progression of travellers, explorer and mountain dwellers have poured in this magnificent region high and beautiful Khumbu valley in the shade of Mt. Everest.

The experience finishes up with a jump on top grand Kalapathar at 5,545 m high rewards you with a stunning scene of mountains with Mt. Everest at a simple separation and afterwards going to Lukla for an energizing short trip to the hurrying around city life of Kathmandu with overpowering time and recollections on Everest Base Camp Trekking.

Highlights of Everest Base Camp Trek

Explore the significant strict center points in the Everest district including the Tengboche Monastery which has the Mani Rimdu celebration

Appreciate the bewitching path through the Sagarmatha National Park

Witness the Khumbu ice sheet and icefall from the Everest Base Camp

Relish the charming dawn over the Himalayas in the Everest massif from the Kalapatthar perspective

Appreciate and find out about the Sherpa culture and way of life at the towns like Namche Bazaar, Tengboche, and Lobuche

Everest Base Camp Gokyo Lake Trek

Everest Base Camp Gokyo Lake Trek, perceived for the arrangement of lovely turquoise lakes in the Gokyo valley and the well-known Cho La Pass, takes us through the milestones of the Khumbu district in the organization of wonderfully taking off mountains, agreeable Sherpas, brilliant cloisters, the Namche Bazaar, the Sagarmatha National Park, and, obviously, to the base of the strong Everest. Everest Base Camp Gokyo Lake Trek is in progress to the base of the world's tallest mountain delineates tremendous vistas from such praised perspectives like Gokyo Ri and Kala Patthar. Everest Base Camp Gokyo Lake Trek likewise grants us with extraordinary perspectives on the Khumbu Icefall. Journeying to the Everest Base Camp through Gokyo Lakes, more or less, will be a lifetime involvement in the exciting sights of Mt. Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Nuptse, Amadablam, Pumori, and Tengboche Monastery – the biggest cloister in the Khumbu locale of Nepal.

 Highlights of Everest Base Camp Gokyo Lake Trek

Staggering perspectives on Mt. Everest from Gokyo Ri, an acclaimed spot which offers an alternate point of view of the mountains cape.

Shimmering perspectives on the 5 cold lakes in Gokyo Valley.

Journeying to the Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar (5545 meters).

Journeying across off-the-beaten-path brimming with lavish vegetation in the Gokyo valley.

A stunning Departure from Kathmandu - Lukla-Kathmandu

Everest 3 High Passes Trek

Everest 3 High pass Trek is extremely decent for those explorers, who like the mountains, Nature an undertaking. We start the excursion by a trip to Lukla 35 minutes at that point strolling en route to High passes Renjo–La 5,446 m, Cho-La 5,420 m and Kongma La 5,535 m, which is well known goes in Everest Region. The grand perspectives are on Majestic Himalayas just as the most noteworthy top on the planet remaining on Khumbu valley. Nepal is appreciated for Trekking into the mountains with euphoric strolling encounters in the course of your life additionally very readiness for your Health subsequent to strolling into the mountains to lose the weight inside 3 weeks.

We are climbing each day 5 to 6 hours aside from the goes en route to Everest Gokyo to work Everest Base Camp and Kalapathar then trip down through third pass Khongma-la it relies upon Trekkers inclinations. The vast majority of the climbers keep on holding strolling to last down to work Chhukung Village. Everest Three High Passes Trek is a very testing objective for novices anyway outstanding amongst other marvellous snow-topped mountains sees over 8,000 meters, for example, Everest 8,848m Lhotse 8,516m, Cho-Yu 8,210 m and Makalu 8,463m a lot more and others little pinnacles remaining in Khumbu just as a chance to investigate audacious through the risings of Gokyo Lake 5,350 m, Kalapathar 5,545m primary attraction of Mt. Everest than a journey down through severals towns likely Dingboche, Pangboche, Tengboche, Namche, Lukla for coming back to Kathmandu.

 Highlights of Everest 3 High Passes Trek:

You get the chance to appreciate the sublime perspective on four of the world's eight most elevated pinnacles: Cho Oyu, Mt. Lhotse, Mt. Makalu and the most noteworthy pinnacle of the world, Mt. Everest.

Journeying here and there the moving slopes so often which will demonstrate that life is a struggle yet wonderful.

The stunning scenes including Himalayan display will make your day.

The perspective on profound Dudh Koshi River Valley is something beyond words.

You become more acquainted with about vegetation of Sagarmatha National Park which is recorded in a world legacy site.

The cold stroll over Khumbu icy mass resembles strolling in heaven.

Everest Base Camp itself is the primary feature. The camp close to the most noteworthy pinnacle of the world is lying on nature's lap.

360 level of Himalayan Panorama can be seen from Gokyo Lakes and Gokyo Ri.

The three passes Renjo La, Chola and Kongmala will be the extraordinary way of your life.

You get the chance to invest energy with incredible mountain climbers called Sherpas. You will be dazzled by their neighborliness.

Everest Base Camp Luxury Lodge Trek

Everest Base Camp Luxury Lodges Trek is one of the most acclaimed journeying Packages in Nepal for giving exceptional perspectives on powerful mountains, delightful mountain towns, old religious communities, and the way of life of incredible Sherpas. Remaining at the foot of world's most elevated pinnacle, Everest (8848m), while appreciating an extravagant remain at the best extravagance hotels of the little Sherpa towns is something that includes to the recollections made in the Everest area. Everest Base Camp Luxury Lodge Trek is extraordinarily intended for the individuals who are happy to put in a couple of additional bucks to have the most pleasurable involvement with the lap of the Himalayas. We have structured our agenda utilizing the best extravagance lodges in Everest Base Camp Trekking course so you don't need to stress over convenience and cleanliness. You can appreciate a clean comfortable bed with electric cover, hot shower with appended washroom and have extraordinary food as the day's end on the path. Thus, be a piece of our Everest Base Camp Luxury Lodge Trek on the off chance that you need to contact the foot the strong Everest in full style and solace.

 Highlights  of the Everest Base Camp Luxury Lodges Trek

Visit the base of the world's most elevated top in supreme extravagance and solace.

Luxurious convenience at 5-star lodgings in Kathmandu.

Private devoted vehicle day in and day out for you in Kathmandu.

Witness the wonderful 360-degree all-encompassing perspective on the Mahalangur Himalayan Range from Kala Patthar.

Luxury Lodges in the Khumbu area.

Knowledge into the nearby Sherpa way of life and customs.

Witness a portion of the sacrosanct and antiquated landmarks of the Kathmandu valley.

Chance to observe a portion of the world's best scenes and natural life.

Langtang Valley Trek

The Langtang National Park is the closest park to arrange in the north-focal Himalayan locale. Its 51 kilometres north of the Kathmandu Valley, Langtang National park was built up since 1976 by his highness' legislature of Nepal to preserve the novel greenery trees incorporate the deciduous oak and maple, evergreens like pine, and different sorts of rhododendron in Langtang National park the recreation centre contain a wide assortment of climatic zones from subtropical to snow-capped. Wild Animal life the Himalayan mountain bear, the mountain goat-like Himalayan Thar, Assam macaque and red pandas 46 warm-blooded creature species have been recorded in Langtang National Park. The Assamese monkey, dim wolf, red panda, blurred panther, panther feline, snow panther, musk deer and Tibetan sheep are remembered for the secured rundown of the National Park and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973. In excess of 250 types of winged animals are found in Langtang National Park. The Himalayan Monal (Lophophorus impedance), the public winged creature of Nepal, and satyr (Tragopan satyrs) are ensured fowls found in the recreation centre. Langtang valley Trek gives a magnificent favourable place to Ibisbil (Ibidorhyncha Struthers), an internationally undermined fowl animal varieties. Wood kill, another comprehensively compromised fowl species, is found in the birch timberlands of Kyangjin can explore in Langtang Valley Trek.

It has a zone of 1710 SQ KM stretches out over pieces of Nuwakot, Rasuwa and Sindhupalchok region the district is famous for facilitating the Langtang public park which inevitably comprises the fringe with the Tibet self-governing locale of China. Around 4,500 individuals live inside the recreation centre with Tamang as the larger part.

 Highlights of Langtang Valley Trekking

Delightful journey into Langtang National Park

The trailhead is open by street transportation

Kyanjin Gompa, Yala cheddar production line at Kyanjin

Exceptional culture, custom and way of life of Tamang towns

Mountain perspectives on Langtang Ri, Langtang Lirung

Gosaikunda Lake Trek

The Gosaikunda Lake Trek located inside Langtang National Park and takes in the high height freshwater pool of Gosaikunda (4,380m). Gosaikunda Lake, implying that it is a wetland of universal significance, yet is a site thought about heavenly to the two Buddhists and Hindus. On this week-long journey, there are emotional perspectives on the Manaslu extend, Ganesh Himal run, Tibetan pinnacles and Langtang Lirung, just as the three pools of Gosaikunda, Saraswati Kunda and Bhairab Kunda.

In Hindu Mythology, Gosaikunda is the house of the divine beings Shiva and Gauri. Truth be told it is accepted that Lord Shiva shaped the lake when he pushes his heavenly spear into the mountain to extricate water to drink. The waters are considered of specific criticalness during the Janai Purnima celebration at the full moon in August when a large number of explorers assemble.

The Gosaikunda Lake Trek located inside Langtang National Park and takes in the high height freshwater pool of Gosaikunda (4,380m). Gosaikunda isn't just a Ramsar site (since 2007), implying that it is a wetland of universal significance, yet is a site thought about heavenly to the two Buddhists and Hindus. On this week long journey (with the likelihood to broaden longer), there are emotional perspectives on the Manaslu extend, Ganesh Himal run, Tibetan pinnacles and Langtang Lirung, just as the three pools of Gosaikunda, Saraswati Kunda and Bhairab Kunda. In Hindu folklore, Gosaikunda is the house of the divine beings Shiva and Gauri. Truth be told it is accepted that Lord Shiva shaped the lake when he pushes his heavenly spear into the mountain to extricate water to drink. The waters are considered of specific criticalness during the Janai Purnima celebration at the full moon in August when a large number of explorers assemble.

Highlights of Gosainkunda Lake Trek

Amazing view Manaslu, Ganesh Himal, Langtang, and Tibatan mountain run.

Tibetan Villages.

Tamang culture, way of life, and day by day exercises.

Buddhist Monastery, Stupa and Hindu Temple.

Yak Cheese factory

 Manaslu Circuit Trek

Picking up in notoriety continuously and named by many 'The New Annapurna' regarding its general intrigue, the distant Manaslu Circuit Trek remains to a great extent evident its notoriety for being an exceptional wild encounter even as tea houses along the path have made the climb simpler as of late from the point of view of fundamental food and convenience needs en route. Manaslu Circuit Trek despite everything stays far less swarmed than a portion of the better-known courses through the Himalayas while offering all the exemplary parts of an incredible trip, from falling waterways and sharp path, dazzling perspectives and subtropical timberlands, brilliant mountain landscape and a steady rising to a breath-grabbing high pass, and a large group of side outings and additional items that have the degree to transform the experience into an epic excursion.

The Manaslu Circuit Trek is perhaps the best trip known for its solidarity and protection. This district sees not many guests with the goal that the path are less trodden making the excursion a serene, regular and delightful experience ideal for those looking for an escape from the ordinary occupied lives. The entrancing regular excellence, yet the customary Tamang and Sherpa settlements with their novel societies are another feature of the excursion. The Manaslu Circuit Trek visit begins from Kathmandu where we visit the UNESCO world legacy locales and afterwards to Arughat from where the real travelling starts. The whole course is enhanced with the ideal perspectives on the snow-clad mountains, an exceptional mix of rich social legacies and experience in the midst of vantage focuses with unique magnificence and uncommon bio-assorted variety. Mt. Manaslu remaining at 8156m is the most elevated top in the territory which is likewise the eighth most noteworthy top on the planet. The Manaslu locale is popular for its high height icy mass lakes, entrancing greenery, social decent variety and wealth which make it one of the most loved objections for adventurers around the globe. The standard circuit journey starts at Arughat and closures at Besishar and requires a journeying license to travel completely through the Manaslu region.

Manaslu Circuit Trek Highlights

The stunning regular excellence of the timberlands, waterways, and verdure in the Manaslu district.

Cordial individuals, the rich culture of the area which incorporates both Nepalese and Tibetan ethnic gatherings (generally Sherpas).

Larke La Pass (5167 meters), the most highest  point on the journey.

Dazzling perspective on probably the most elevated tops on the planet Manaslu, Cheo Himal, Himlung Himal, Nemjung, Gyaji Kang, Kang Guru, and Annapurna II.

Bountiful natural life including Tahr (Mountain Goat), Agali (Blue Sheep), Pika (Highest living Mammal), Himalayan Marmots and, on the off chance that you are fortunate Snow Leopard.

Annapurna Circuit Trek

Annapurna Circuit Trekking begins with a beautiful drive to the path head in the Marsyangdi Valley where we start climbing through beguiling terraced ranches and towns. The path follows the incomparable Marsyangdi Valley to arrive at the north side of the Annapurna Massif where we are encircled by incredible tops on all sides. Past the town of Manang, on the north side of the Annapurna's, we start the extreme climb to the Thorung La Pass, the most noteworthy point on the Annapurna Circuit Trekking, which contacts the edge of the incredible Tibetan level. We at that point slip through the most profound canyon on the planet, for example, Kali Gandaki valley lastly reach Muktinath which is a renowned journey site for both Hindu and Buddhist fans. The path proceeds through the lovely Kali Gandaki Valley for two relaxed days to reach Ghorepani. We make the early morning climb up Poon Hill to watch the sunrise break over Dhaulagiri and the Annapurnas and enjoy another awesome view. The circuit gets done with a day drop to Nayapul, where a vehicle will be holding on to take our drained legs to Pokhara. We will appreciate a very much earned rest in the loosening up climate of Lakeside with the novel valuation for its extravagances and accommodations that originate from a long trip in the mountains. Other than the incredible mountain landscape all through the entire journey, the height ranges from 900m to 5416m which represents each sort of vegetation from thick tropical wildernesses to the tremendous view of the high, dry Tibetan level. There are unlimited perspectives on a portion of the world's most grand mountains; Annapurna, 8091m, Dhaulagiri, 8167m, and Machhapuchhre, 6993m. The most noteworthy and most energizing purpose of the trip is the moving move to the Thorung La Pass, 5416m.

All through our Annapurna Circuit Trekking, we appreciate customary contact with neighbourly residents and can undoubtedly feel the social movements as we arrive at the high mountains. The ethnic gatherings bear progressively likeness to their predecessors in neighbouring Tibet. The Annapurna Circuit Trekking follows antiquated ways utilized as shipping lanes among Nepal and Tibet, where salt was traded, yet in addition, new culture and religion infiltrated this blocked off district.

Highlights of Annapurna Circuit Trek

Get a long way from the clamouring city life into a quiet and immaculate nature

Witness dazzling perspectives on Annapurna, Lamjung Himal, Dhaulagiri, Nilgiri and the sky is the limit from there

Remain in tea-places of little towns

Cross Thorong La Pass (5,416m)

Visit Muktinath, other heavenly sanctuaries, and cloisters

Investigate delightful towns of Braga, Manang, Kagbeni, Jomsom, and Marpha

Look at the stunning Annapurna go from Poon Hill

Famous Hot spring at Tatopani

Appreciate the enthusiastic night of Pokhara

 Upper Mustang Trek

Trekking in Upper Mustang is an uncommon benefit. Here you will encounter a lifestyle of genuine mountain individuals, who for a long time, had next to no contact with the remainder of Nepal and held their rich social legacy. Up to this point, their ruler was authoritatively perceived by the Government of Nepal. From multiple points of view, a journey into Upper Mustang is like travelling in Tibet, as geologically it is a piece of the Tibetan level. The locale of Mustang was, until 1950, a different realm inside the limits of Nepal. The last ruler, the Raja of Mustang, despite everything, has his home in the antiquated capital known as Lo Manthang.

Upper Mustang has opened to non-Nepali adventurers just nearly fifteen years back and even today, access is still profoundly confined. To enter Upper Mustang, that is to travel further north of Kagbeni, adventurers need an exceptional journeying license and should be joined by an administration delegated official. Upper Mustang, being in the Himalayan downpour shadow, is one of the areas in the nation reasonable for travelling in any event, during the rainstorm. During this time, the upper Kali Gandaki valley is still very dry with just periodic precipitation. The Upper Mustang Trek isn't especially troublesome, the most elevated point came to being just 3,800 meters, yet the conditions on occasion can be strenuous. Bronco is cold in winter and is consistently breezy and dusty as the year progressed. Winter journey is best evaded because of unforgiving climate.

There are scarcely any convenience offices accessible above Kagbeni, so bunches must be completely independent, particularly in fuel. While doormen are accessible in Jomsom it is desirable over go through donkeys to convey the heaps to Mustang. These pack creatures are accessible locally and are more conservative, and absolutely more earth well-disposed than doormen.

Highlights of Upper Mustang Trek

Investigate the historical backdrop of Lo Manthang in the wake of investigating the castle of lord Lo.

You can walk uninhibitedly without stressing over the downpour as the district lies in the downpour shadow zone of Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges.

You will have profound feel strolling through numerous Gompas, chortens, fluttering petition banners, caverns, rock works of art, and extremely old religious communities.

You will get a live look at Tibetan impact on the ordinary exercises and culture of local people there.

You will continue further on the outing with the luring perspectives on Nilgiri, Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, and different chains of mountains.

Inhale the otherworldliness of the Tibetan like individuals and priests with their petition banners, mani dividers, and custom reciting.

You will observer of regular day to day existence and culture of the nearby individuals who live intently like their Tibetan neighbor.

Annapurna Base Camp Trek

Annapurna Base Camp Trek (Annapurna Sanctuary Trek) is a standout amongst other journeying Packages in Nepal. The Annapurna Base Camp trip carries you into the core of the Himalayas from the very beginning of the climb. With so numerous stupendous high tops on the show, it is nothing unexpected this week-long climb is high on numerous individuals' agenda. In the case of going for a brief timeframe or going with more seasoned kids, this journey is for everybody: the view is unimaginable, culture is drawing in, convenience agreeable and strolling not very demanding. From the Annapurna Base Camp, and the Machhapuchhre Base Camp the perspectives are of the grand Machhapuchhre (also called Fish Tail), Mount Hiunchuli, Annapurna South, Annapurna I, and Annapurna III, among others. At the Annapurna haven, there is a 360-degree display and a close vertical perspective on the south essence of the Annapurna overshadowing.

 Highlights of Annapurna Base Camp Trek

Dawn Views of Annapurna ranges incorporate Dhaulagiri and the Kali Gandaki from Poon Hill

Trip to Annapurna base camp (4,130m),

Investigate special in verdure Annapurna Conservation Area.

Exploring up Hot spring at Jhinu danda

Astounding View of Hiunchuli, Annapurna South Annapurna I, Khangsar

Gangapurna, Annapurna III and Machhapuchhare.

pretty towns and farmland at Ghandrunk,

Experience country Nepalese life

Ghandruk Ghorepani Trek  

Ghorepani Ghandruk Trekking is certainly a quick caper for not many days around the pleasant town to catch a brief look at rich culture and excellent sub-tropical snow capped Rhododendron timberland track focusing on one of earth best vantage – Poon Hill – to watch dazzling dawn and nightfall and the display of the world seventh, eighth and tenth most elevated – Mt. Dhaulagiri (8167m), Mt. Manaslu (8163m) and Mt. Annapurna (8091m) separately. Ghandruk Ghorepani Trekking is an incredible opportunity to experience neighborhood individuals and amazing nature in under seven days occasion window through Ghandruk and Ghorepani town. Also, it is charming to climb on trails with mountain setting through the lovely town and the enticing scenes – so rich, that it will thump to the picture taker side of you. You just couldn't avoid yourself submerging into it.

Ghorepani Ghandruk journeying day three walk starts with a short firm move up Poon Hill for 360o dawn perspectives on the Annapurna Range and the southern fields towards India. After breakfast, the trip to Ghandruk keeps on offering perspectives on the high tops from edge towns and has especially great perspectives on Annapurna South, Hiunchuli and hallowed Machhapuchhare from Ghandruk town. This area is occupied by Gurungs and Magars; individuals of Tibetan beginning currently associated with horticulture with the last likewise gifted experts in stone and wood. They are inviting individuals who will invite you heartily into their tea houses and shops. Be cautioned: this short trip is probably not going to fulfill your delight in this grand corner of the world – you will undoubtedly return for longer journeys later on.

Highlights of Ghorepani Ghandruk Trek:

Short and easy trekking

Dawn see from Poon Hill

Nearby social experience

A genuine taste of Nepalese way of life

Warm neighbourliness from Ghandruk and Ghorepani village

Incredible Mountain sees just before your room

Mardi Himal Trek

Mardi Himal Trek is found only east of one of the most amazing journeying bundles in Nepal. Mardi Himal journey is a concealed diamond yet. Barely any adventurers advance toward the Mardi Himal Base Camp remarkably situated at the base of Mardi Himal and the Annapurna locale's most notable mount Machapuchhre actually signifying "Fishtail". The path comes little twisting ways, through captivated rhododendron timberlands until you move out of the woods at a height around 3,300 meters. The scene changes suddenly into a tough high mountain scene, with astounding perspectives on Mardi Himal, Machapuchre, Annapurna South and Hiunchuli.

The picturesque normal excellence is tremendously dissipated all through the locale. Strolling past the customary Gurung towns and seeing Buddhist culture is really delighted. The warm neighborliness of locals at towns like Kande, Pothana, Siding, Deurali, and so on is striking. This magnificent excursion takes you to 4,500 meters to show the sublime scenes. The Low Camp, Forest Camp, High Camp, and the Mardi Himal Base Camp are such astounding spots to be at.

Highlights of Mardi Himal Trek

Fabulous perspective on Annapurna locale

New and clean journey courses

Towns view and its unadulterated culture

Fishtail mountain sparkling during dawn and dusks

Pokhara Phewa lake and its novel arrangements

Clean, Silence and well notice city and trips

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Upper Mustang Itinerary

The shrouded universe of the antiquated Buddhist kingdom, Upper Mustang Tour is a remote region in Nepal with very saved Tibetan culture. Because of military turmoil in the late 80s, it was not until 1992 that this district was revived to outside trekkers. Tucked and escaped the outside world, the way of life, generally of Tibetan starting point, has been very much saved. The locale brags of pristine nature with scene dissimilar to some other places in Nepal. Despite the fact that it lies in the Himalayas, the territory is a blend of snow-topped mountains and desert lands. The general population of Mustang endeavors to safeguard the excellence and culture of the spot, and consequently, trekking in this district is a benefit. The neighborhood government has forced extremely severe arrangements, and costly expenses to restrict the passage of the outside world to this mystery kingdom in Nepal. Furthermore, hence, this spot isn't exceptionally known to numerous visitors and particularly less voyaged.

Our brilliant Upper Mustang trek begins from Jomsom subsequent to taking a grand departure from Pokhara, driving you to the shrouded Shangri-La of the antiquated Buddhist kingdom of Mustang, additionally called Lo. Lo used to be a piece of the Tibetan domain, and is accordingly firmly associated with Tibet. Tibetan Buddhism is as yet being drilled in an unadulterated structure and towns are worked in Tibetan style, with white washed houses with kindling tucked on the roofs.Until as of late you could just come to Upper Mustang with a completely sorted out outdoors trek. Be that as it may, these days a few townspeople have opened up little guesthouses and you can remain in a guesthouse in each medium-term place. While remaining there, you are free to sit with them in the kitchen. In Tibetan culture, the kitchen is the focal point of the house, and manufactured like a sort of family room. So there is no better method to gain proficiency with somewhat about the day by day life than investing energy in the kitchen!

The way of life and custom as well as the scene is particularly identified with Tibet. Bronco lies in the downpour shadow of the Dhaulagiri and you stroll in a total forsaken scene, encompassed by rocks in all sort of hues and odd arrangements. In this infertile scene the towns with their splendid shaded fields resemble oases.The trail pursues the salt band course of the past times, amid which the general population of Mustang exchanged Tibetan salt with grain from the swamps. The objective of the Upper Mustang trekking itinerary is the capital of Upper Mustang, LoManthang. Lo Manthang is a medieval old town, encompassed by an immense town divider. From the pass Lo La (3950 m) you can see the town sparkling out yonder in the fruitless scene. Entering LoManthang through the town door you enter an alternate world. It is only awesome to meander through the restricted back streets. On a few corners of the road you can discover little gatherings of ladies turning fleece and talking about the updates on the day.

Toward the finish of the evening huge groups of goats are being let through the city entryway and through the tight rear ways, back to their sheds, which are inside the town. In Lo Manthang you can discover the royal residence of the ruler, an immense 4 story high structure. At the point when the ruler is at home, you can even visit him some of the time. The ruler doesn't have any genuine power any longer, however is obviously still very regarded by his kin. In addition, there are a couple of wonderful huge religious communities, for instance the ThugchenGompa, worked in the fifteenth century. Or on the other hand visit the amchi historical center and amchi school. An amchi is a conventional Tibetan specialist. There are 2 amchis living in Lo Mangtang, which are likewise the official specialists of the ruler. They established a school to safeguard this old astuteness. Likewise intriguing is a ride by steed to Chhoser, where you can visit a little religious community and exceptionally old cavern abiding, arranged high in the stones.

The Upper Mustang trek itinerary is a definitive door to the puzzling universe of the old Buddhist kingdom of Mustang, additionally called Lo. When illegal and detached from the remainder of the world for a considerable length of time, the zone had the option to advance inside its own unmistakable culture and rich customs firmly attached to Tibet. This moderate, lesser-realized trek goes through one of the driest areas of Nepal and gives staggering mountain view.

The areas detachment from the outside world has added to a profoundly protected Tibetan culture and pristine nature. Colt lies in the downpour shadow of the Dhaulagiri massif making a roughly dry land encompassed by rocks in all sort of hues and noteworthy arrangements. This desolate scene is spotted with settlements of white washed houses, grain fields and chortens decorated with petition banners which add a sprinkle of shading to the scene.

The trail pursues the antiquated salt troop course through which the general population of Mustang exchanged Tibetan salt for grain from the marshes. The objective of the Upper Mustang trek cost and itinerary is the capital of Upper Mustang, Lo Manthang. From the pass Lo La (3950 m) you can see the walled medieval capital out yonder, the white-washed 6-meter tall divider standing out in sharp complexity to the infertile scene.

Entering Lo Manthang through the town door resembles venturing into an alternate world. A universe of limited back street ways, concealed chortens, long dividers of excellent petition haggles of cultivating creatures walking in from the fields toward the evening to defer to their sheds inside the city.

Focal points in Lo Manthang are the imperial royal residence, a couple of wonderful religious communities like the Thugchen Gompa worked in the fifteenth century. Or on the other hand visit the amchi historical center and amchi school. An amchi is a conventional Tibetan specialist. There are 2 amchis living in Lo Mangtang, which are additionally the official specialists of the lord. They established a school to save this antiquated insight. For a journey outside the city you can contract Tibetan horses for a ride to Chhoser where you can visit a little religious upper mustang trekking cost and itinerary community and exceptionally old cavern staying arranged high in the stones.

Upper horse trekking takes you to the remote and semi-free Tibetan kingdom which ended up autonomous in 1380. It is situated toward the north of Annapurna on the Tibet fringe in Mustang locale of Dhaulagiri zone in Nepal. It is arranged in a normal height of 4,000 meters. The valley of Mustang is a piece of Tibetan level geographically and socially. Lo-Manthang is the capital of Mustang area and it's conceivable to visit lord castle in Lo-Manthang. It is a medieval city encompassed by enormous divider. The valley has parched and downpour shadow desert. Thus, you can do this trek even in the long stretch of July, August and September (stormy period of Nepal). In upper Mustang, there are beautiful shake developments comprising numerous caverns abiding high up in the bluffs.

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