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godslove · 10 days

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Dear Anon,

Beloved, when was the last time you read the Bible, prayed to God and basked in His presence for at least 30 minutes? Some pray and stay in God's presence for up to 4 hours. It's possible. I want to quote a man of God when he said that “I have never seen a man of God with a strong prayer life and reads the Bible/the Word of God that doesn't have peace.”

Why do you feel that way? Why are those the thoughts you think? There are 3 voices that we hear:

God

Satan—the enemy, spirit of the anti-christ, the devil, the one who fell from heaven/the fallen, the evil one (this is a long topic for another post. Read Revelations 20:7-10 to know his destiny in the end times.)

The flesh—the corrupted, sinful nature of the devil mixed with the pure body that God created. In Genesis, man took the sinful nature when Adam and Eve gave into temptation.

‭¹⁹ “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

—Galatians 5:19-21

We have to pray to cast out demons and its whispering lies of gaslighting, slander, gossip, condemnation, self-hatred, self-doubt, hatred towards others, deception, depression and fearfulness. Sometimes the thoughts we hear are not ours. The emotions we feel are not from God. It's either the enemy or the flesh. The flesh grows or shrinks depending on how much you feed it or starve it. It's the part of you that always wants more and complains or blames other people when you don't get what you want.

‭“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”

—Galatians 5:16-17

God only gives us a spirit of power, of love and of self-control. Anything other than that is from Satan.

We pray with faith in God's power:

¹⁴ Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

—‭1 John 5:14-15

We lift up our burdens to Him and lay them all at His feet. When we pray, we let it all go and let God be God. Our loving Father will always give the best for His children.

The answers you are seeking are in the Bible. When I read the Bible, He reveals to me the answers I seek about everything in life. When I asked for deliverance, He was faithful to deliver me when the pain was too much to bear.

‭ And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”

— Jesus Christ, The Prayer in the Garden, Mark 14:36

There is purpose in every suffering dear. Sometimes the pain we experience can be excruciating but sorrow that brings you closer to God is better than comfort that pulls you away from Him. Don't look at others and say that “God has favorites” because we don't know the personal problems they are going through which we have no knowledge of. We all have our cup of suffering. Followers of Christ are not free from the winds of trials and tribulations, especially in this earthly life.

The more you walk closer to God, the more the enemy tries to pull you away from God either via pleasure (the worldly temptations) or pain (problems in all areas of life). If that happens, pray to God and stand firm in your faith.

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

⁴ Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.

⁶ He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday.”

—‭Psalms 37:3-6

God answers prayers dear. Your heart posture has to be right first. When you pray, approach His throne with thanksgiving and praise. Remember the sacrifice Christ has done on the cross for each and everyone of us, God's children. Remove the shame and guilt because ‘it is finished’. When you are already purified from sin, grateful and peaceful, that's when you can ask God to help you bring yourself closer to Him and experience His loving presence. He is always with us dear, He longs for His children to come to Him. Listen only to God's voice.

‭“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

—Matthew 6:33-34

If you have prayer requests kindly send them so I can pray for you. If you have questions, I'll answer them as best as I can. I read it all. It's alright dear. I'm here. And so are the rest of our brothers and sisters in Christ who walk this journey with you. God bless you! *Hugs*💐🤍

#Anon #💌#ask #Christianity #christian community #christian tumblr #christian blog #christian #christian quotes #christians

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lemon-natalia · 25 days

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Harrow the Ninth Reaction - Chapter 37

hmm yeah it is suspicious that the Emperor has to be locked away during the attacks. he gives an explanation, but we really only have his word for it

the Lyctors seem perfectly (and very convieniently) made to be able to enter the River while still defending themselves, which makes me wonder if that was the original purpose of creating Lyctorhood, and the Emperor maybe has some kind of plan revolving around it?

now this guy is quoting fucking Psalms 26 in Latin?? thats different to the quotes from before, the fact that its religious is interesting given this guy is apparently ‘God’ now, but he’s quoting a biblical text. also given Harrow can’t possibly know what he’s quoting 90% of the time, he’s awfully pretentious

Harrow’s eighteen, i’m pretty sure she knows how babies are made dude. at least she definitely knows after you guys nearly had a threesome in front of her on the dining room table

he’s been thinking Harrow and Ianthe are a thing omfg

the mysterious A.L.! somehow i was right that the Annabel Lee poem connected to her. and her having another name, and being dead for ten thousand years, i feel like thats a pretty good candidate for the good old Locked Tomb body. at least, thats my current theory.

‘She was my Adam’ again with the biblical stuff, this guy is seemingly religious, but also thinks he’s God??

and apparently the First House was destroyed via climate change and nuclear explosions. if i needed any other confirmation that its Earth (or some equivalent) then i’ve got it here i think

also he was just a normal person before the world ended, and he was the only one who survived and somehow became an incredibly powerful necromancer. i mentioned waaay back at the beginning of this liveblog that i knew there was a guy named John who had something to do with an apocalypse, but i didn't know if i was misremembering him being actually responsible for it, or if i was mixing it up with the Magnus Archives. and i, uh, still have no clue if that is the case or not from this convo, though i do feel like there's more he's not saying about this anyway (please no spoilers about this, i really appreciate everyone explaining things to me in the notes but i'd like to find out whats actually going on with this specifically while reading)

and A.L. was not a ‘normal human being’ whatever that mean, and the Lyctors are ‘in a very real way’ A.L.’s children … what on earth does that mean? she discovered the secret of Lyctorhood maybe?

well that whole conversation both answered a whole bunch of questions and absolutely nothing at the same time 😂

well okay the dude’s gone past playing parent and just outright told Harrow he sometimes wishes she was his daughter. i really don’t know how much of that affection is genuine

imagine telling someone you view them as a surrogate daughter and they fucking. smash a glass table in response lol. and yeah if its been ten thousand years and you haven’t developed emotional intelligence yet, then i don’t think its happening mate

ohhhh shit she’s telling him about the Locked Tomb. and i suppose there are worse ways this could have ended than him not believing her at all, but i really don’t think she’s wrong, especially since Gideon said she saw her do so/saw the door open in the last book, i think she did get in there somehow

wait i was working under the assumption that it was the Emperor who’d messed up her memories, but its not! did she do it to herself then after writing the letters?

#lemon natalia reads the locked tomb #tlt #the locked tomb #the locked tomb liveblog #harrow the ninth

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hedgebotherer · 10 months

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Random thoughts about Good Omens 2 that either I haven't seen addressed much or haven't been addressed to death or I just want to address anyway.

- The opening scene with the creation of the nebula was astounding, despite how distracted I was by AngelCrowley's Mr Whippy curls. It really hammered home the themes of the original book and the show as a whole to the point where it reminded me why I see Good Omens as essentially the secular humanist Bible. I feel like Good Omens 2 was more scathing in its criticism of the idea of God's 'ineffable plan'. It pulled no punches and kept punching through the whole Job story line. Religious people may disagree, or agree but more angrily.

- Why Eccles cakes? Don't get me wrong, I like an Eccles cake. They're considered old fashioned, but they're actually nice. I'm one of those weirdos who enjoys dried fruit. But calming? I wonder if the whole thing was a subtle bit of foreshadowing based on the fact that Eccles cakes (along with their dried fruit filled cousins, such as the Chorley cake and the currant slice) are sometimes known as fly pies.

- Aziraphale slightly misquoted the Buddy Holly song Everyday when first asking the record shop owner Maggie about it. I don't know how likely this is, but I wonder if this was a sneaky reference to the fact that the Good Omens novel quite famously got many of the song lyrics it quoted slightly wrong (to the point where avid reference collectors wondered if it was deliberate).

- Everybody and their talking dog spotted the Discworld 'seamstress' reference, but not everybody might be aware that this may have been a real historic euphemism for sex workers.

- Some viewers night also not realise that John Hammiel's 'Who told you I was naked?' is a Biblical reference. 'Who told you that you were naked?' is something God asks Adam in Genesis. I admittedly only know this because of a sketch from A Bit Of Fry And Laurie!

- The idea that a song can be remembered even after the rest of your memory is jumbled might have a bittersweet real world inspiration. Neil Gaiman once recounted his favourite memory of Sir Terry. He said: "The last time I saw him. We had been left on our own and Terry (who had Alzheimer’s) had sort of drifted into his head. He stopped talking. So I started to sing They Might Be Giants’ song Shoehorn With Teeth. And after a few lines, Terry started to sing along.". This song seems to have been 'their' song. You can even find a clip of them singing it together!

- I had no idea ducks love frozen peas. This is important information.

- Speaking of ducks, way back when the credits sequence was first dropped I thought I spotted among the procession of animated characters a duck playing an accordion. But, no, surely if there was such a thing then everybody would be talking about it. Then, in a scene were a man is miraculously evicted from his seat in a bar, he's shown reading a newspaper with a headline about a duck that was taught to play the accordion. Vindication! I want this musical duck to be significant to series 3 somehow.

#good omens #good omens 2 #neil gaiman #terry pratchett #theaccordionduckisthesecondcoming

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thoughtfulfoxllama · 3 months

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Seraphim

Who said that Seraphim were angels? Same with the Cherubim, or the Wheels

I argue that they are not angels, in the Traditional Sense of the Words. In order to understand, we need to understand a number of concepts, beginning with:

Animal Spirits

In the Journal of Discourses, Brother Brigham said that all life has Spirit. This quote (aside from being unashamedly animist) suggests that Plants & Animals have Spirits of their own, and can achieve some level of Glory. We also see this in D&C 77, where Joseph is told the 4 Beasts in Revelation are animals who have fulfilled their roles, and merited the greatest reward of being in the presence of God. And there are animals who merit that reward on Earth (22 the Wolf from Yellowstone is my favorite example. Also, Joseph Smith's Horse. Remember, God said that a Horse is getting into the Celestial Kingdom. You're his children)

Also, in the End of Revelation, John speaks of Trees in the Celestial Kingdom. Revelation is Symbolic, but since Animals have Spirits can can be Glorified (in their sphere), than why not plants

Evolution

"What does Evolution have to do with this," you may ask. Well, just be patient.

I unashamedly believe in Evolution. And this relates to the 4 Beasts. They are:

Lion-like

Eagle-like

Man-like

Ox-like

These are known in Judaism as the "Chaiyot," or the "Living Creatures." These are Cherubim in Chriatianity. This relates to another Brigham Quote. Many speakers in the JoD speak of life (plant and animal) being transplanted to this Earth. My theory is that these creatures are Glorified Beings who, like Adam, came to this Earth, and fathered their races. The reason for so much diversity is because life evolved. However, it wasn't in a vacuum, as life existed outside of these spheres. This is why we have fish, and dogs, and lizards (although, that means my cats are the descendants of Celestial Beings)

To make it short, Cherubim are from another planet, who are the ancestors of a variety of life on this Earth

Etymology

Let's look at the word Seraphim itself. Seraph means "Flaming." This is a fair description of Celestial Beings of all sorts, so we need to be more specific. It is also used to denote Serpent (snake). Despite our current negative associations, Snakes were seen as positive in the Ancient World, denoting Rebirth & Wisdom

In addition, the Book of Enoch specifically calls the Seraphim "Dragons," and there is no evidence that Seraphim were considered Angelic Beings until after the First Century

Bringing it together

In Isaiah's Vision, this all comes together. Isaiah sees God sitting on his Throne (Ophanim, or the Wheels in Wheels), surrounded by Seraphim singing praises. Seraphim are flaming serpents with 6 wings, covering their body with 4 of them. One of them purifies Isaiah with a Coal from the Alter of Incense. If the Seraphim are Dragons, then this action is Symbolic of the Spirit (Fire) cleansing Isaiah (Rebirth through the Atonement) and giving Wisdom

Ultimately, I think it's beautiful that (if this theory is true) God wanted his pets there with him, and he was able to find a way to use them. I wonder if, when I'm Exalted, if I'll be able to use my Cats to help me

#mormon #lds #tumblrstake #queerstake #lds church #ldschurch #mormon hot take

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mlobsters · 1 year

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supernatural s5e18 point of no return (w. jeremy carver)

saying no to suicidal dean. again.

Dean's goodbye letter (S5Com):

Sam and Bobby—Given what's about to happen, I'll be surprised if this package ever finds you. But if it does, I want you both to know that what I'm doing isn't about giving up. John taught us better than that. This is about time. We've run out of it.

Left the Impala in Cicero. Where I'm going, we don't need roads. I know you'll look after her for me. Bobby—you've taken more for the team than anyone could ever ask. That makes you an honorary Winchester in my book.

Sam. You told me once that you pray every day. Not sure if that's still true. Probably isn't, but if it is, give it one last try for me. And Sammy—one Winchester lost to this fight is enough. When it's over [...]

no.

DEAN How could I? All you’ve ever done is run away.

SAM And I was wrong. Every single time I did.

wonder if that penetrated dean's thick skull. he's got that half lidded self destructive completely checked out look on his face so i'm gonna vote no.

also, say no to suicidal bobby.

BOBBY You can’t give up, son.

DEAN You’re not my father. And you ain’t in my shoes.

fuck you, dean. that was unnecessary.

SAM Why would they do this?

CASTIEL Maybe they're desperate. Maybe they wrongly assumed Dean would be brave enough to withstand them.

DEAN Alright, you know what? Blow me, Cas.

SAM Look, no way. After everything that's happened? All that crap about destiny? Suddenly the angels have a Plan B? Does that smell right to anybody?

SAM Still, trust me. The one thing worse than seeing dad once a year was seeing him all year.

ADAM Do you know how full of crap you are?

SAM What?

ADAM Really. You see, it was me and it was my mom. That's it. She worked the graveyard shift at the hospital. I cooked my own dinners. I put myself to bed. So you can say whatever you want about our dad, but the truth is, I would have taken anything.

okay but one caring parent that isn't around because she's working is a different beast from the one parent who leaves for a week plus at a time with an 9 and 5 year old. maybe uses them at bait. perhaps berates the 9 year old for not being the perfect soldier left behind. can't believe we're fighting over who had the most neglectful childhood.

DEAN Well, Cas, not for nothing, but the last person who looked at me like that…I got laid.

flirting via death glares? seems like dean is just trying to piss off cas. but hey whatever

DEAN I just…I—I don’t believe.

SAM In what?

DEAN In you. I mean, I don’t. I don’t know whether it’s gonna be demon blood or some other demon chick or what, but…I do know they're gonna find a way to turn you.

SAM So you’re saying I’m not strong enough.

DEAN You’re angry, you’re self-righteous. Lucifer's gonna wear you to the prom, man. It's just a matter of time.

SAM Don't say that to me. Not you...of all people.

DEAN I don’t want to. But it’s the truth. And when Satan takes you over, there's got to be somebody there to fight him, and it ain't gonna be that kid. So, it's got to be me.

thanks, i hate it. i hate how brotherly conflict is the bread and butter of this show now. so sam fucked up and dean just can never get past it? that's bullshit. we talked about this! we're rebuilding trust. and now he's just like nope actually can't

ZACHARIAH So you know you can’t trust them, right? You know Sam and Dean Winchester are psychotically, irrationally, erotically codependent on each other, right?

ADAM I don’t know. They said a few things about you.

ZACHARIAH Really? Trust me, kid, when the heat gets hot, they're not gonna give a flying crap about you. Hell, they'd rather save each other's sweet bacon than save the planet.

i had seen that quote as a tag on ao3 so i had looked it up to see if it was in fact a quote, because okay. that's a lot. kind of curious what the motivation was for the writer to go there. i tend to assume the worst when it comes to the ship of plausible deniability.

what even is this episode good lord

CASTIEL I rebelled for this?! So that you could surrender to them?

DEAN Cas! Please!

CASTIEL I gave everything for you. And this is what you give to me.

DEAN Do it. Just do it!

not sure i can take 15 minutes more of this.

SAM What the hell happened to him?

CASTIEL Me.

ZACHARIAH Cool your jets, Corky. Sit down. We’re doing it together. Plus, you still get your severance. You still get to see your mom, okay?

a life goes on reference??? *squints*

DEAN Well, they’re right. Because either it’s a trap to get me there to make me say yes, or it’s not a trap and I’m gonna say yes anyway. And I will. I’ll do it. Fair warning.

SAM No, you won’t. When push shoves, you’ll make the right call.

DEAN You know, if tables were turned…I’d let you rot in here. Hell, I have let you rot in here.

SAM Yeah, well…I guess I’m not that smart.

DEAN I—I don’t get it. Sam, why are you doing this?

SAM Because… you’re still my big brother.

guh.

funny trick there, cas

that was a very nice, subtle but also visible change of heart, really well done there jackles

SAM I saw your eyes. You were totally rockin’ the “yes” back there. So, what changed your mind?

DEAN Honestly? The damnedest thing. I mean, the world’s ending. The walls are coming down on us, and I look over to you and all I can think about is, “this stupid son of a bitch brought me here.” I just didn’t want to let you down.

SAM You didn’t. You almost did. But you didn’t.

DEAN I owe you an apology.

SAM No, man. No, you don't.

DEAN Just...let me say this. I don't know if it's being a big brother or what, but to me, you've always been this snot-nosed kid that I've had to keep on the straight and narrow. I think we both know that that's not you anymore. I mean, hell, if you're grown-up enough to find faith in me…the least I can do is return the favor. So screw destiny, right in the face. I say we take the fight to them, and do it our way.

SAM Sounds good.

jesus. okay. stress levels always go down when they're working together and no one is actively suicidal. team screw destiny in the face. saved by the power of love. however i'm going to take a wild guess that someone is gonna sacrifice themselves before this is over

other day i was wondering about that too, dónde está jesús lol

#long post #sorry #supernatural #spnwatch #spn 5x18 #psychotically irrationally erotically codependent #jeremy carver

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paradisecas · 2 years

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just to find a love that feels this right

midamoul week day 1: family (? kinda)

Kate used to tell Adam that all she ever wanted was for him to find his person and never ever pick someone like John. She never said it outright, but her life was meant to be a warning. An omen. Adam should avoid people who could fuck him up like John did her, even if he didn’t mean to at first.

A decade and a thousand years later, Adam has ignored that warning and decided that his people are the two beings that have hurt him the most.

It’s fucked up. He knows it’s fucked up, in some tiny crevice in the back of his mind—Ghoul is a monster and Michael is technically the oldest being in all of creation after Chuck and Amara and Death all died or were transferred. Nothing about them cries relationship material.

It’s so fucked up that he hasn’t gone to see Kate yet; he knows what she’d say, and it’s the same thing she told him a hundred times growing up.

Make sure they’re right for you. Don’t stay because you feel like there’s no other choice. Don’t ask for something normal from someone who can’t provide it.

He doesn’t think he’ll be able to look her in the eye when he’s ignoring everything she taught him.

They’re probably not right for him. He doesn’t have any other choice. And they’re so painfully abnormal that it hurts sometimes.

But—they try. They really try.

“We’re out of eggs,” Michael tells him, standing in front of the open fridge. “I wanted to make breakfast for you tomorrow.”

“There’s no bacon either,” Ghoul adds, peering over Michael’s shoulder a safe distance away.

“That’s because you ate it all,” Michael gripes. “Adam, would you like me to do the shopping for us?”

Technically, Michael could probably snap his fingers and their fridge and pantry would be stocked with everything they need for a week. Technically, Michael could do a lot of things with his powers, but Adam quickly realized that letting him felt like using him and the ease of it all meant he’d never leave the house, which wasn’t good for anyone’s cage-or-graveyard themed trauma.

Adam also quickly learned that sending Michael to the grocery store, even with a list, would end up with him buying the most ridiculous ingredients, like four dozen eggs that he can’t eat before they expire because he doesn’t even eat eggs that much and Michael can preserve them but that feels wrong because some things are just meant to go bad, or a whole box of bruised beets because they’re healthy and Adam should eat better even though beets are actually disgusting, or a live lobster that he felt bad for, or carb free bread that’s unsettling and crunchy because of all the seeds? wheat? in it. The bill ends up being hundreds of dollars that he doesn’t pay and he usually has to wipe a memory or two in the process which fills Adam with an indescribable guilt and the horrible thought that Michael can be so similar to Chuck, which he has to tuck into the darkest recesses of his mind lest Michael see and have a crisis of biblical proportions.

Ghoul can’t do the shopping either. He’ll come back with nothing but raw meat that technically Adam can eat too and a live lobster as well because that’s the one thing those two can agree on and, one notable time, looking like someone else because he quote, saw this total smokeshow and thought it might be a nice surprise for Adam so he snuck a bite in the middle of Aldi and definitely didn’t get kicked out before he could even buy the groceries.

They also can’t go together because they’ll end up with yet another live lobster—Adam is not immune to feeling bad for them when Michael and Ghoul are in his ears talking about the poor things being trapped for entertainment and bought for the slaughter—and he’s tired of telling Michael to take it back to the ocean and he just knows that they’re gearing up to ask for a tank to keep them all in that he won’t be able to say no to because they’ll be on the same team for once, and Michael will brandish his beets and multi colored carrots with bright eyes and Ghoul will point at people he thinks are attractive and say that Michael’s here so there’s no risk and Adam will come back home with nothing he went there for.

Kate would call it weaponized incompetence. They do such a bad job so he has to step in and do it for them, but she wouldn’t understand.

They’re not John. They’re not being ridiculous on purpose. This is them trying, really earnestly trying because they want to make Adam’s life easier, and they do! Michael makes him breakfast and Ghoul never forgets to thaw the chicken and going to release another lobster is like a mini vacation sometimes and people watching has turned into a game of Who Should Ghoul Eat Next, which would horrify Kate and should horrify Adam but the reality is, people are just so young and so small after all his time locked away with the biggest being in the universe.

Everything that happened to him at the hands of Michael and Ghoul set him on the outside of the world; he can’t live the normal life she wanted for him anymore. Maybe this is why so many people stay hunters; it’s easier to keep to the outskirts rather than integrate with people who don’t know anything.

At least they’re on the outside with him.

That’s what Kate wouldn’t understand, so he doesn’t go see her. He doesn’t ask Michael to take him and he doesn’t ask Ghoul to stay behind because this is his life, for better or for worse.

“I’ll go,” he says, “but you can help me make a list.”

#midamoulweek #midamoul #not attached to the title it just almost fits the vibe #(they dont know abt us 1d. in case u were wondering. its a really funny midamoul song)#happy day 1 sorry its so late #my laptop is having a meltdown at me #mine #my writing #i wrote this in like half an hour and rereading is like damn this is more grim than i intended

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twopartyopera · 1 year

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Gentleman and Soldier

Two Party Opera comic 955 Abigail Adams is struck with George Washington in "Gentleman and Soldier" #americanhistory #presidentialhistory #georgewashington #webcomic

In the letter I’m using from July 16 1775, Abigail Adams quotes Don Sebastian by John Dryden to describe George Washington: I was struck with General Washington. You had prepared me to entertain a favorable opinion of him, but I thought the half was not told me. Dignity with ease and complacency, the gentleman and soldier, look agreeably blended in him. Modesty marks every line and feature of his…

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kamilyperuvianlitblog · 1 year

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Week #15 blog

Turn right at Machu Picchu - Mark Adams (82-94)

Summary

I have read that Andrew Garman, narrator, had met a man named John. John didnt speak any english so any time Andrew would try to have a conversation with John, he wouldn't understand what he was trying to tell him. He would just nod yes or no. They went out to dinner together to talk about their plan to go to Machu Picchu, John lived North of Machu Picchu. Now, John's life had been a struggle when he was younger. He suffered from hay fever and asthma so severe that "in order to breathe, he had to get up every night around one o'clock to take his ephedrine." He had eczema so bad he would rip through his skin, blood would stick to his skin, etc. Both Andrew and John had to wake up early to start making their way to Machu Picchu. Now when they woke up, they made their way to the Incas which would take up the rest of their afternoon going up the staircase. John knew where he was going but Andrew, being a tourist, had no idea where he was. "How many times have you been through here?", Andrew asks. "8, 10, yo no sabe". They had finally made it to Huanacacalle.

Critical analysis

John says in broken English. "Is true Michael Jackson dead?" and Andrew, trying but failing to come up with the Spanish words to say "The King of Pop will live forever in our hearts". So he just nodded yes and tried to look sad. I chose this quote because it goes to show that Michael Jackson is a huge artist, even in the smallest city in the biggest country, people know who he is. He had such a big cultural impact that people knew who he was but nobody in that city knew if he was really dead or not.

Personal Response

This chapter wasn't really a huge difference from the last 10 pages that I read because it was just introducing a new character, John, in the story. But looking past that, I found it interesting that he just met a guy, then the same day he told him about his story and his life, then trusted him enough to let him take him out to the Incas, Huanacacalle, and then later in the book, to Machu Picchu, if he decided to stay.

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bowtiesnmusicals · 1 year

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Here is my recap of the A Glee-nomenon (Mattress) episode of the podcast.

Kevin said this episode was a wild, crazy, and memorable experience.

Jenna really enjoyed watching and shooting this episode.

This episode aired December 2, 2009.

This was the highest most viewed episode after the piglet.

Empire State of Mind was still #1 on the charts.

The Blind Side moved up to #1.

Some of the cast did an appearance at Bryant Park for TJ Maxx and Marshalls. It was a Carol’oke contest. Kevin and Jenna were not a part of this appearance.

They went to their first Kiss FM Jingle Ball.

They went to The Trevor Projects Cracked Christmas.

Cory and Jenna had just gotten over the flu.

This was the beginning of their long relationship with The Trevor Project.

They were really small at this point. Adam Shankman directed a lot of these events.

Glee the Music volume 2 came out.

The boys did a Vanity Fair photoshoot.

At this time Kevin kept getting strep throat. All Kevin can remember from the photoshoot was just trying to keep it together because he was so sick.

Mattress was directed by Elodie Keene. It was written by Ian, Ryan, and Brad.

John Ross Bowie and Chuck Spitler were the guest stars for this episode.

The episode was originally called Once Upon A Mattress. They couldn’t get the rights for the title.

Baby gate is peaking. Will finds out Terri is lying.

By the time the episode aired they knew they had gotten more episode. They probably did not know the fate of the show when the episode was being written so a lot of storylines were getting wrapped up in these next two episodes.

Emma has some really good one liners in this episode.

The wedding was going to be in Hawaii but then they told me I couldn’t bring my own fruit.

Ken has a lot of flaws. He has 74 flaws as of yesterday.

Oh my gosh Sue, did someone finally punch you?

Chris nailed this scene. Kevin didn’t know how Chris would get this scene without messing it up. It was a really difficult monologue. They didn’t want to mess him up but they had things to interject during the monologue.

A thousand dollars is insane for a page in the yearbook.

Diggings suggests Will use Santana and Finn for the photo. He says to use a good looking cheerleader but not the pregnant one and the quarterback.

This is a very good episode for Rachel and Lea. Lea is very good at physical comedy.

The cast would sometimes do impressions of their characters between breaks during filming.

Some of the scene with Rachel being a part of every club did not age well.

Quinn says I want my kids to look back at these books and see who I was and make them proud. Not the bastard one I am carrying now. The ones I will have when I am ready. This quote made Jenna gasp and laugh when she rewatched the episode.

We see how the yearbook affects everyone on the show. Kevin says he likes when they leaned into these high school things like this.

Terri says no five times when Will tells her he is going to buy an ad in the yearbook.

Everyone votes for Rachel to be in the yearbook.

Will asks Emma for advice. She tells Will she thinks Ken scheduled the wedding on purpose.

Will decided Rachel needs a co-captain.

Kevin remembers filming with Lea because this was the first time Artie and Rachel have a one on one.

Kevin’s bid for didn’t age well. Mercedes she can’t be co-caption because she has no time because of Kwanzaa.

Artie says I can’t because it will mess up the composition because if you lean over it will look like you have stomach rolls. Brittany says no way because she doesn’t want to be in a picture with her because it will be defaced. Rachel says no it won’t and Brittany says yes it will, I will be the one doing it.

Everyone was excited about doing Smile by Lily Allen.

Jenna was uncomfortable watching this number. They both fast forwarded though this song. It felt like it was inserted for the sake of needing a song. Usually the songs moved the plot or were fun big numbers. This one was like why is this here. Kevin said it was like Ryan throwing them a bone because they wanted to do this song. Brad on the piano is really getting into it. Rachel awkwardly slaps Finn on the butt.

Kevin love Karofsky and Azimio together. They were a really amazingly horrible bully duo and funny together. Drawing the nazi symbol was not okay at all.

Karofsky is now on the football tam.

John Ross Bowie was on Speechless and the Big Bang Theory. The scene with Lea is weird but also so good.

The mattress part of the episode is Kevin and Jenna’s favorite part.

Jenna said this episode moved very quickly.

The mattress scene was rehearsed in an an actual mattress factory. It was hot. They were sweating.

The delivery of the lines in this scene were excellent.

They rehearsed really late at night. They were left alone on the sound stages alone a lot.

Heather is going full acrobatics the entire time. She was doing her best cheerleader.

Zach basically asked them what they could do.

How did Mattressland afford Van Halen?

Cory was very excited about this number and doing the scream at the beginning of the song.

They’re brought trampolines covered in mattress pads on tour.

Jenna vaguely remembers doing mattress. She had like seven layers of clothes on because they would just tear of a layer and do another number on tour.

Amber sings the highest notes known to man over and over again.

That number is great and performed really well.

They had to turn the air off because of sound issues.

Jenna asked for water at one point and it was hot because it had been outside.

They costumes were really comfortable. They had tank tops under the button up shirts.

They didn’t know if Kevin should be bounced.

Chris got injured during this number. He tried to do a flip and landed the wrong way. He hurt his neck.

This was one of the most fun and memorable numbers because of the sheer size of it.

This was probably all Ryan’s idea.

Kevin started out doing local commercials.

The first commercial he ever did was for the local WB. He did a Radio Shack industrial for internal use. He also did a Blockbuster industrial.

Jessalyn was excellent in this episode.

Will was looking for his pocket square and finds the fake pregnancy belly.

Terri’s lie was pretty legit.

Kevin said if he pulled out the pregnancy bump he wouldn’t know what it is but in Will’s case all his suspicions were being confirmed.

This is a really beautifully acted, directed, and shot scene. It was a loose handled camera scene. It feels like you are right in the middle of the action.

Kevin was freaked out and thought Will was going to hit Terri.

Will was like a tea kettle and was about to explode.

Terri’s line of this marriage only works because you don’t feel good about yourself. This is a very dark line.

Will goes to the school and sleeps on one of the mattress.

They left Matt’s mark tape on the floor and you can see it when he throws down the mattress. They forgot to remove it for this scene.

They scene with Emma and Will was a really grounded and honest scene.

All of the storylines come to a boiling point.

The Sue’s corner is really inappropriate. The performance was great but the subject matter is not so great.

There is a stack of mattress in the choir room piled as high as the empty hair gel bottles in the dumpster outside of your apartment is a hilarious Sue line.

Sue says I didn’t’ see that one coming at all.

Kevin loves when Sue is talking about Will but looking at Figgins.

Jenna has a new appreciation for the scenes in Figgins office with Sue and Will.

Quinn steps it up in this episode. She is going to blackmail Sue.

She demands a full page photo for Glee club for free and that she’s back in the Cheerios.

Sue says you remind me of a young Sue Sylvester.

Quinn says she would rather be a part of a club that is proud to have her as a member.

The only person that has a really big significant story arc is Quinn.

It’s a nice redemption arc for her.

One of Elodie’s signatures is the shots where you shoot back to see the whole glee club.

The cast has the picture from this episode framed. It was a really special moment. It was the first picture they had of everyone together.

You start to see characters bloom in this episode.

They were allowed to improvise and figure out their characters.

Smile was Michael Jacksons favorite song. They recorded a week after he died.

They sang Smile at a Trevor Project event and the White House.

This is the penultimate episode of the first 13.

They yearbook picture gets defaced.

Tartie Takes:

Ouchies - Sue’s Corner, Kwanza bit, hitler mustache, rice paddy hat

Worst Dance Move - Smile

Best Song - Jump

Best Performance by a Prop - mattresses

Didn’t Age Well - Anything that comes out of Sue’s mouth

Best Line - Terri saying this marriage only works because you don’t feel good about yourself, sue’s tear ducts, and Sue saying what if I murdered you will.

Shit We Found on Tiktok:

Someone made a fan cam of Figgins. It’s all the clips of Figgins talking to the camera and waving. It’s incredible and insane.

Kevin said they need to get Iqbal on the show and send it to him.

If you need to smile just watch this video.

Next episode is Sectionals.

#and that’s what you really missed #atwyrm #jenna ushkowitz #kevin mchale #podcast #glee #mattress

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pazodetrasalba · 1 year

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Candied Crushes

Dear Caroline:

You might be surprised to know how popular the word 'crush' has become among the younger generations here in Spain. I wouldn't be surprised if it was incorporated pretty soon into our dictionaries...

Your choice of Every Flavour Beans was mildly surprising, and I do think it says things in particular about you, which can also be gleaned from other entries in your blog. It seems your preference is usually for the highly intelligent, rational, a bit socially awkward and nerdy type, a bit tempered as you age with an added ingredient of ambition, power and success in politics and economics.

I had to look up Numair Salmalin. As for Spock, he makes perfect sense, as I can imagine your Rationalist community seamlessly merging with a Vulcan away team that has infiltrated Earth, except perhaps for the weird mating and sex ethics (let it remain an open question which ones seem weirder to me, the Vulcan or the rationalist).

Cromwell's leaves me a bit flabbergasted, except for the power-and-intelligence kind of thing. There is probably a very good biography of his that you can recommend and that influenced you on this, but my take on him (very heavily biased towards his representation in A Man for All Seasons) is of a wicked, ruthless, completely amoral stooge for who is probably the most tyrannical king in English history. In the case of Hamilton, I imagine the implicit book recommendation would be Ron Chernow's and the derived musical. I am shamed to say that he is probably the well-known Founding Father I know the least about (US history is not that much of a thing here in Europe) but again, my mental image of him is mostly derived from the 2008 John Adams miniseries which depicts him in a less than favorable light.

My own choices are, I suspect, much less interesting and also very illustrative of my weird mental hardwiring. They include (from when I was really young) Jane Badler / Diana from the eighties' tv series V, Hypatia of Alexandria, Hildegard von Bingen and Sei Shōnagon (already told you about these), Dante's Beatrice, Héloise, Eowyn (real girlboss, and yet really feminine, shy and lovable), Lizzy Bennet (particulary in her Keira Knightley incarnation), Jane Eyre, Queen Esther and Amy Farrah Fowler. As for my current massive crush, it is pretty transparent to guess.

Quote:

But love, first learnèd in a lady's eyes, Lives not alone immurèd in the brain, But, with the motion of all elements, Courses as swift as thought in every power, And gives to every power a double power, Above their functions and their offices. It adds a precious seeing to the eye; A lover's eyes will gaze an eagle blind; A lover's ears will hear the lowest sound, When the suspicious head of theft is stopped: Love's feeling is more soft and sensible Than are the tender horns of cockled snails: Love's tongue proves dainty Baccus gross in taste. For valour, is not love a Hercules, Still climbing trees in the Hesperides? Subtle as Sphinx; as sweet and musical As bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair; And when Love speaks, the voice of all the gods Makes heaven drowsy with the harmony. Never durst poet touch a pen to write Until his ink were tempered with Love's sighs.

William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost

#caroline ellison #crushes

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accessoriespolh · 2 years

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Inpector gadget. artoon

#INPECTOR GADGET. ARTOON MOVIE#

#INPECTOR GADGET. ARTOON SERIES#

#INPECTOR GADGET. ARTOON TV#

Inspector Gadget’s Brain also took part in the sequel, which was a good thing.

#INPECTOR GADGET. ARTOON SERIES#

Adams, of course, voiced Gadget in the original series and its various spinoffs, which were somewhat of a parody of his role as the main character in Get Smart, which was itself a parody of spy movies. In a end-credits cameo, Don Adams provides the voice of Brain as he talks to Penny via a collar walkie talkie. In other canine moments, during a dream sequence Brown flings a Chihuahua across a street (and then catches it safely), and a car theft is accomplished in front of a vet clinic. (Possibly Skip in My Dog Skip helped with this, too.) He contributes to the film by comforting various characters when they need it and stealing a minion’s underwear during the final fight sequence. On the other hand, there is Brain, Penny’s Beagle, who is the reason I fell in love with the breed. Penny is more like Gadget’s mother than his pre-teen niece, which is a little odd,

#INPECTOR GADGET. ARTOON MOVIE#

Rupert Everett’s Claw was nothing like the cartoon version, instead being an unhinged creeper, and Gadget himself harassed Brenda throughout the movie as well. (Dabney Coleman’s line about a cross between Columbo and a Nintendo is about the best quote.)

#INPECTOR GADGET. ARTOON TV#

There are a disconcerting amount of random spoof attempts ranging from Mission: Impossible to Godzilla and the 1960’s Batman TV series, some of which work better than others. While I loved it as a kid (had the complete McDonald’s Happy Meal set of tie-in toys), even then I knew it was terrible, and a recent rewatch really confirmed this opinion.Īfter security guard John Brown is killed during a robbery, he is rebuilt and resurrected as a cyborg, sworn into the Riverton Police Department as a PR stunt, and stumbles his way through finding the guy who killed him, a rich businessman named Sanford Scolex (AKA Dr. If you don’t remember it (or blocked it out of your memory), Inspector Gadget is a 1999 Disney comedy that moves at a frantic pace (80 minutes, 12 of which are credits), starring Matthew Broderick (WarGames, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, 1998 Godzilla ) as the clueless eponymous cyborg police officer, Michelle Trachtenberg as his niece Penny, Joely Fisher as would-be love interest Brenda Bradford and comedian DL Hughley as the voice of his car, the Gadgetmobile. While fans of the 1980’s syndicated cartoon series may disagree, it seems kind of obvious. Inspector Gadget’s Brain is without question the best part of the movies. Inspector Gadget’s Brain was the best part of the movies, easily. There's only so much we can do with our lives.By Wesley Coburn 2 years ago Follow Tweet And to anyone who was listening, don't watch it, it ain't worth it. Sigh, I think I might as well stick a DVD of the old and far better Gadget on. Well, how about the ugly and unappealing animation that looks rushed and dull? Or the fact it's the usual Canadian toon that has 2 segments nowadays in one episode which means everything is rushed? Is that fine for ya? Hold on a minute, no one's here. Okay, what if I told you that Dr Claw isn't menacing in the slightest and has an actor who overacts so much you'll pine for the days of Frank Welker? Oh and even better, what if I said he has a new sidekick who is irritating? Still not enough. What if I told you that Inspector Gadget has been turned into an annoying and bumbling fool who falls other every time just to get a cheap laugh from the audience? Will that turn ya off? No. I'll have to think of cunning ways to tell you why you shouldn't watch it. But no, I'm not here to praise the original like some happy type of guy who just had his first taste of coffee, I'm here to say that this so-called "updated" version ain't worth your time. We all know what the original series was like, it had good animation, funny jokes and memorable characters. Boom! Did you hear that sound? Something tells me another childhood favourite has bitten the dust and has been replaced by a lifeless CG version.

#Inpector gadget. artoon

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forestlingincorporated · 3 years

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When Superboy Died For Nightwing

When reading Infinite Crisis and it’s build up, you may notice that Nightwing seems to have a target on his back. The reason for that is fairly simple... Nightwing was supposed to die.

The decision came from Dan Didio, who admitted to not really liking Dick all that much, but always claimed the decision was a rational one: Dick Grayson had touched the most heroes lives, his death would effect the most people, and bring the most people together. Didio felt Dick’s death would be a hero’s send off for a character that had lived through his coming of age arc and had no where to go.

Didio: We were looking for the big death in Infinite Crisis – the big moment. We were looking for something that would have equal import and merit and weight in this story. One of the things I’ve been proven wrong about is that I had felt that Dick Grayson was a redundant character – Tim Drake had filled his role as Robin, he would never be Batman, so where could he go? My big fear was that Nightwing would get older than Batman.

As Didio states, he was wrong. Dick had plenty of storylines to be told, and even had his own run as Batman, which was wildly loved. Stories we got because the other people on staff disagreed that killing Dick was the right move - not that it wouldn’t be impactful, but that is was just not a good idea.

Phil Jimenez: Though I can’t think of a character who would have a greater impact than Nightwing dying.

Geoff Johns: True, but it’s Dick Grayson. My mom knows who he is. Nightwing would’ve been a mistake.

Geoff Johns, who ended up writing Infinite Crisis #6, in particular went to bat for Dick. He thought the idea of killing Nightwing was so bad, he offered up a character, who he’d not only been writing for but was one of his favorites, in his place - Conner.

Geoff: Superboy was the best choice.

Phil: Just in terms of links to other characters, though. Dick has so many connections to other characters. In many ways, even more than Superman or Batman, Nightwing is the soul, the linchpin, of the DCU. He’s well respected by everyone, known to the JLA, the Titans, the Outsiders, Birds of Prey – everyone looks to him for advice, for friendship, for his skills. He’s the natural leader of the DCU. His loss would devastate everyone and create ripples through the DCU. If it wasn’t him, it had to be a hero that really impacted so many.

Geoff: Well, what other character? Not Wonder Girl. Enough women have died in the DCU. Superboy was my favorite Titan. And I literally had to offer him as a sacrificial lamb.

Interviewer: You killed your favorite Titan? That must have been hard to write.

Jeanine Schaefer: I literally had tears in my eyes when the pages came in.

Geoff: I really fought to have Conner in TEEN TITANS. He gave the title a dynamic the book never had before.

Jeanine: It’s one of the reasons [his death] worked so well and became such a powerful scene. I remember talking to Geoff when the decision was made, and he was, correctly, really adamant that it matter.

Geoff: And Phil did such a great job with facial expressions there, depicting everyone’s sorrow.

Eddie Berganaza: We were hoping to save both Nightwing AND Superboy. But at the end of the day, if we were going to do something really impactful, we really had to go all the way. It just worked for the whole story.

Notably, DC has had off-and-on legal disputes over the Superboy IP with the Siegel family for years (if you’re wondering why they never called Clark ‘Superboy’ in Smallville... yeah) and were actively Going Through It with the Siegels around this time. So, yeah, if two writers were presenting DC with two characters asking the corporate execs to pick which one to kill off, and one of them was Extremely Profitable Fandom Darling Nightwing and the other had their hero name wrapped up in a messy legal battle... I can’t prove that was a factor, I don’t have a quote saying it is, but I know which one I would pick from a cold, business-oriented standpoint.

All of that to bring me to a rather interesting comic given it’s time frame, writer, and characters involved... Teen Titans #33, by Geoff Johns and Marv Wolfman, published one month before Superboy dies in Infinite Crisis #6. It makes a note at the beginning to read Infinite Crisis #5 before reading Teen Titans #33.

This is a team-up comic between Conner and Dick, who have really not had much interaction, especially not one-on-one. We get a good look inside both of their heads and really see into the emotions of both characters.

There are several panels that use their mental dialog to parallel the two characters. Dick is doing his best to be a mentor figure, and Conner is trying his hardest to appear put together, which puts them at odds where Dick is hoping Conner will be vulnerable with him and admit when he’s worn out or needs help, and Conner doesn’t want to show weakness in front of Nightwing because he doesn’t want him to think he’s a fuck up.

It’s really sweet, actually, Dick is a fantastic mentor, even if Dick personally feels out of his depth sometimes doing it.

And they are given just enough time to really bond for a minute...

Just in time for Conner to die in Dick’s place.

It’s a really interesting comic from that standpoint, designed to put Conner in harms way for Crisis #6, wrap up a lot of Conner’s emotional drama and self-worth issues with the help of a mentor figure (note that Conner’s sacrifice ends up being about Conner coming to terms with himself, and not about motivating other characters as Nightwing’s would have been), and masks a Superboy send off as a Nightwing send off.

I’m not even completely sure if they made their decision on who to kill when Teen Titans #33 was written, but it’s clearly on their minds, and I find it a very interesting read with the behind the scenes background in mind. It’s an easy comic to overlook if you don’t know what was being discussed, but it’s very much a sweet gesture to give these two room to bond and have Conner literally sacrifice himself for Dick on the page.

It REALLY turns into a real bait and switch right there at the end, they very much lean into the idea that it’s going to be Dick right up until it’s not. When the decision to kill of Conner instead was made, they leaned into it hard as a surprise, and I gotta be honest... I feel like it works very well.

#Conner Kent #Superboy #Nightwing #Dick Grayson #infinite crisis #Teen Titans

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no-reply95 · 3 years

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I was scrolling through the Beatles topic on Twitter the other day and came across a tweet from Mark Lewisohn referring to a talk he’d given to the Fab4cast podcast on the Get Back sessions and Spring period of 1969. I assumed that it was a recent talk so I gave it a listen but the talk is actually from 2019.

I tend to find Lewisohn’s podcast interviews to be very interesting. He’s obviously got decades worth of Beatle knowledge stored up so you’re almost guaranteed to learn something new or hear an anecdote that you’ve never heard before but more than the factoids he’s accumulated over the years I find his interpretations of the band extremely telling.

The part of the conversation that really caught my attention was when the podcast hosts brought up the fact that John and Paul’s weddings were really close together and wondered if the two events were connected in any way, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that this probably got the biggest reaction out of Lewisohn, the main points of the exchange are outlined below (time stamp 47:12)

Host: “Well also in this period there are two events, the marriages of John and Paul, within 8 days of each other… I read that John wanted to marry on the 14th, two days after Paul’s wedding but couldn’t do it because of legal issues, how much was his [marriage] a response to Paul’s marriage do you think?”

Lewisohn: “I’ve read that people say that it was but never heard John say that it was so there’s no validity to those claims they’re just people assuming that John didn’t want to be outdone by Paul… that’s the kind of writing that annoys me because it becomes part of the fact and it’s some writer thinking that’s what it probably was… Unless someone out there can find a Lennon quote in which he actually says it in which case I stand corrected and I’ll be very happy to do so”

There’s a lot going on in these quotes so I’m gonna break down my thoughts on this further:

The illusion of John’s honesty

What Lewisohn displays here is something I believe is pretty common within the Beatles’ authorship. I believe in Revolution In The Head Ian McDonald referred to John as “truth” and Paul as “beauty” and I think a lot of writers do tend to assign those attributes consistently to John and Paul. Reading (or listening) to the Lennon Remembers interview now, it’s hard to believe at one stage people took what John was saying as fact and never even questioned whether there were emotions or agenda behind what he was saying, despite the contradictions (“Me and Paul stopped writing together in 1962” vs “Me and Paul worked really closely together on Sgt. Pepper”) and because John was so charismatic and would speak openly in interviews and to people he knew about both the good and bad in his life I think people, and in this case Lewisohn, assume that John told us everything of note that happened in his life, which I don’t think is a realistic expectation of anyone, let alone someone as famous as John. I think it’s problematic to take John’s or anyone else’s words, especially when they’re said in public, as the gospel truth because everyone has an agenda and John was no different. I also think it’s unrealistic to believe that John would ever announce that the reason he and Yoko got married when they did was in any way connected to Paul, that would have sullied the sanctity of “John and Yoko TM”, I mean, how can you be the greatest love story ever if the reason you decided to get married was because your musical partner who you may have unresolved romantic feelings for got married? I don’t think John would publicly embarrass Yoko like that or risk undermining the strength of the brand he was trying to create with his new relationship by admitting that Paul’s marriage spurred them on. That Lewisohn is apparently holding out for a lost interview of John stating that Paul was involved in the timing of his marriage to Yoko just sounds pretty far fetched to me.

The timing of John’s wedding in relation to his and Yoko’s divorces

As discussed in this podcast, Paul and Linda got married (pretty unexpectedly I believe) on 12 March 1969 and John and Yoko got married 8 days later (and apparently they wanted it to be sooner) on 20 March 1969. Aside from the extremely close proximity of John and Paul’s weddings it should be noted that John’s divorce from Cynthia was finalised in November 1968 and Yoko’s from Tony Cox was finalised in January 1969.

So why am I bringing up John and Yoko’s divorces? Because it meant that they were free to marry each other from January 1969, there was no longer a legal issue preventing them and if John’s bursting out in song about it, you would assume that they would have started planning their wedding ASAP… but curiously they didn’t. How do we know John and Yoko weren’t planning a wedding before Paul married Linda? Because once Paul was married John and Yoko started scrambling to get married ASAP, suddenly there was a rush and need to be married that hadn’t existed before, John suddenly wanted to marry Yoko on a ferry but they couldn’t be married there, then John wanted to marry Yoko in Paris but they needed to be resident in Paris for a period of time before they could get married there so eventually they settled on Gibraltar as they could get married there at short notice. Clearly there was a sudden need for John and Yoko to get married that didn’t materialise until around March 1969, am I and countless other people (including Paul himself) crazy for assuming that Paul’s wedding impacted John’s sudden desperate need to be married? If it wasn’t Paul’s wedding, what was it?

Authorial interpretation and assumptions

I’m really fascinated by the visceral reaction Lewisohn had to just the suggestion that the timing of John and Yoko’s wedding was connected to Paul and Linda’s. For Lewisohn to state it annoys him was pretty shocking to me because, given what is publicly known about this period and the lack of any other logical reason for John and Yoko’s wedding to be so close to Paul’s and Linda’s, I don’t think it’s bad writing to point out the proximity and suggest that the timing was more than a coincidence.

Based on his reaction, you would assume that Lewisohn would be set against any form of interpretation where the principal in question hadn’t confirmed that the interpretation was in fact correct but that would be an incorrect assumption to make. Some of you may be aware of the Hornsey Road shows Mark Lewisohn was giving in 2019 around the 50th anniversary of Abbey Road. During these shows Lewisohn played a clip from the, now infamous, 4-4-4-2 meeting tape and gave a presentation on the Abbey Road period in the Beatles’ history. One of the points Lewisohn raised during the show was that during the sessions, after the car accident in Scotland, a bed was brought into the studio for Yoko so she (and sometimes John) could rest while work on the album progressed. According to Lewisohn, one morning they turned up to the studio and someone had removed one of the legs from the bed, leaving it with 3 legs *dramatic pause* which was him heavily hinting that he thought Paul broke Yoko’s bed on purpose and then bragged about it on the Ram album by including a song called 3 legs, I’m not going to go into the validity (or lack thereof) of this claim but I find it very interesting that Lewisohn was annoyed about authors suggesting that the timing of John and Yoko’s wedding was connected to Paul and Linda’s but he seems happy to publicly speculate that Paul was sabotaging Yoko’s bed in the studio based on the title of a song that he would release on Ram two years later and nothing else.

Is there any evidence that connects John’s wedding to Paul’s?

I’ve already outlined the suspiciousness of John and Yoko choosing to get married right after Paul, when they had been free to marry for weeks prior but is there any other evidence that either proves that the weddings were connected or is Lewisohn right to deem that suggestion as lacking in validity?

Interestingly there actually is unverified eyewitness testimony that does connect John and Paul’s weddings (something not mentioned by Lewisohn in this podcast). I believe there’s an anecdote from Les Anthony (John’s chauffeur at the time) about him driving John and Yoko around when news of Paul’s wedding suddenly came across the radio, to which John apparently said to Yoko that “we have to get married now”… I couldn’t track down the exact source for that story (if anyone knows the source please let me know) so I’m not sure how credible that anecdote is but, assuming it is accurate, then that would suggest a correlation between John and Paul’s weddings that Lewisohn is adamant doesn’t exist.

Why does this matter?

I do think that this podcast interview could be indicative of a few future concerns I personally have around the way the Beatles discourse will progress in the future. Firstly, this was only a podcast interview so it’s unlikely that when Lewisohn releases the final book in his trilogy that he’ll discuss the weddings in this manner (I.e. although he’s adamant the timing of John’s wedding had nothing to with Paul he failed to offer any sort of explanation regarding why John and Yoko were rushing to get married when they’d had weeks to prepare a wedding).

It’s a slight worry that Lewisohn seems to believe that John announced every single thing that happened in his life of note, especially concerning Paul and Yoko. If John had told us everything of interest about him, surely his Dakota diaries would be the basis of a Netflix series by now and not locked away in a vault (assuming they haven’t already been destroyed). To me, like several authors before him, Lewisohn seems to be mistaking John’s emotional honesty with factual honesty. It didn’t escape my attention that several clips of the Lennon Remembers interview were inserted into this podcast and Lewisohn quotes extensively from it in Tune In as well. There’s nothing wrong with using Lennon Remembers as a source but if you do use it you should be analysing the veracity of what was said as we know that John was in a torched earth mentality at that time and even he himself has said what he said in that interview wasn’t meant as a timeless manifesto. It’s a shame that given his ability of analyse sources Lewisohn has never (to my knowledge) critically analysed Lennon Remembers, given that other sources have been analysed this makes LR a strange omission.

Finally, Lewisohn does tend to make some good insights and does have the ability to read between the lines (I.e. him noting Paul’s tendency to say “we” when in most cases he means himself) but with John I do think he has a bit of a blindspot. Why Lewisohn is happy to speculate without evidence in some cases (3 legs) but he draws the line at the suggestion that John and Paul’s weddings being connected is anyone’s guess. If Lewisohn can turn his attention to reading between the lines with John and the other Beatles too and connecting the dots then we should get a Beatles biography that finally addresses a lot of the issues we cover on this site. However, if we take the approach of only using John and Yoko’s PR to understand the events that transpired before and after the band broke up then the story hasn’t moved much further than 1970 and given all that we know now I think that would be a huge shame.

#the beatles #john lennon #paul mccartney #john and paul #mark lewisohn #paul and linda #john and yoko #double wedding #beatles podcasts #given Lewisohn’:s status it’s crucial he doesn’t just dismiss things he doesn’t like as invalid #interpretation is fine as long as it’s correct #i have other podcast thoughts on a separate show #thoughts #long post

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clear-as-starlight · 3 years

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Nathan Hale’s Death vs the Primary Sources

(aka did William Hull actually know anything?)

“The first the Americans heard of Hale’s death was on the evening of the twenty-second [September 1776], when Captain John Montresor…an aide de camp to General Howe, approached an outpost…under flag of truce. His main business…did not concern Hale, but was to transport to Washington a letter from Howe offering an exchange of high-ranking prisoners. Joseph Reed, accompanied by General Israel Putnam and Captain Alexander Hamilton, rode to meet him. After passing over the letter, he casually added that one Nathan Hale, a Captain, had been executed that morning.”

This passage comes from “Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring” by Alexander Rose and it, along with the wonderful @queerrevolution1776 inspired me to go on a (brief) primary source deep dive of Hale’s death. A challenge, given the lack of primary sources surrounding Hale’s spy work, and the tall tales that grew up around it.

I started here: Why was Hamilton there? He was not an aide-de-camp at this point, why would he be present? And that question, my friends, led to a whole host of others!

(Info under the cut because there is a lot, and it’s fascinating :))

The (Un)reliability of Recollection

The idea of Hamilton having been present to hear of Hale’s fate, so far as I can see, is first related in “Revolutionary Services and Civil Life of General William Hull”, a biography based on Hull’s unpublished memoirs, and written by his daughter, Maria Hull Campbell:

“In a few days, an Officer came to our camp, under a flag of truce, and informed Hamilton, then a Captain of the Artillery, but afterwards an aide to General Washington, that Captain Hale had been arrested within the British lines, condemned as a Spy, and executed that morning. I learned the melancholy particulars from this officer, who was present at his execution, and seemed touched by the circumstances attending it.”

William Hull was a friend of Hale’s from Yale, and they were both in the 19th Regiment, before Hale transferred to Knowlton’s Rangers. A lot of what we know of Hale’s death seems to come from Hull’s memoirs, right down to his (possibly incorrect and/or exaggerated) final words: “I only regret, that I have but one life to lose for my country.” Hull was a close friend of Hale’s, so it does make some sense that he’d know something of it. However, the above biography was written in 1848, and related conversations that had taken place a long time earlier. Campbell herself admits she includes conversations not even present in her father’s memoirs.

Though her book is not the only 18th/19th century one about Hale’s death, it quickly became clear that all of them were based on conversations with Hull. The first time the name ‘Nathan Hale’ even entered the public conscious properly after the war was in 1799, in Hannah Adams’ “A Summary History of New England and General Sketch of the American War” where she writes: “The compiler of this History of New England is indebted to Gen. Hull of Newton for this interesting account of Captain Hale.”

Hale isn’t mentioned again until 1824, in a book by Jedediah Morse, who says he got his info from Adams, who in turn got it from Hull. It seems likely, then, that the idea of Hamilton being there (and indeed, that most of what we know) came from Hull’s supposed recollection, 20+ years after the event took place.

Now, this is not to say that Hull was lying. Return records show that he and his Regiment were certainly present at “Camp near to Harlem Heights” with Washington’s forces at the time that Washington would have been given the information about Hale, and we know Hamilton and his Artillery were present also, as it is at Harlem Heights that he apparently first came to Washington’s notice (according to John C. Hamilton). It did seem a bit strange though, to both me and @queerrevolution1776 , for Hull or Hamilton to have met with an official flag of truce, when they were both only Captains, and not on Washington’s staff (he’d only just become aware of Hamilton’s existence, after all).

Washington makes no mention of either of them in his correspondence, instead writing to Jonathan Trumbull Sr. that it was Colonel Joseph Reed whom Howe’s aide, John Montresor, met with. It makes sense that Reed would have met with Montresor, given his position on Washington’s staff. Reed is mentioned in Rose’s book, but not Hull’s account, and I thought that was a discrepancy worth a look. Hull, writing after the fact, mentions only Hamilton, who by then was a well-known, and scandalous, public figure. Reed, on the other hand, was nowhere near as popular, and perhaps did not serve as such an interesting figure in a story about Hull’s friend, one of America’s earliest spies.

Sure, Hamilton could have been nearby, or overheard the discussion, and in turn told Hull what he had heard—which could explain why Hale’s last moments have been exaggerated, or perhaps accidentally falsified, given that a British officer who was present apparently heard: “It the duty of every good officer, to obey any orders given him by his commander in chief” and not what is so often recounted. Even a newspaper (The Essex Journal) publishing an account five months later, quoted Hale as having said: “If I had ten thousand lives I would lay them all down, if called to it, in defence of my injured, bleeding country”—No one seems quite able to agree exactly what he said! Hull may well have also told his children he was there to make the story seem more personal, and exciting.

(And I’m really starting to doubt that Hamilton was at the meeting at all. It’s never mentioned in any of his writing, or in the John C Hamilton biography)

There’s no “official” reports of Hale’s death either (excepting the noting of his death on the 22nd September casualty list) which is why so much has relied heavily on what Hull claimed to have been told. When Washington wrote Trumbull about the flag of truce meeting the next day, he was mostly concerned with the fire that had engulfed New York the day before, and the claims that Continental soldiers and spies had set it. The only possible reference we have from him that concerned the meeting between Reed and Montresor, with perhaps an oblique reference to Hale, is as follows:

“On Friday night about eleven or twelve o’Clock a fire broke out in the City of New York, which burning rapidly till after Sunrise next morning, destroyed a great number of Houses—By what means it happened we do not know; but the Gentleman who brought the letter out last night from General Howe, and who was one of his Aid De Camps informed Colo. Reed that several of our Countrymen had been punished with various deaths on account of it. Some by hanging, others by burning & c. alledging that they were apprehended when committing the fact.”

Howe himself never mentioned Hale explicitly in official correspondence between him and Washington, and Washington never did either. In fact, neither of them mentioned the spies or the fire to one another at all, concerned with prisoner exchanges, and the accusation of ill-treatment of British prisoners (Howe to Washington 21st September 1776 and Washington to Howe 23rd September 1776). Hale, and his fate, was unfortunately left to Montresor’s verbal account, and Hull’s dubious reporting.

Tench Tilghman on Hale’s Death

In terms of other primary correspondence that might reference Hale’s death, even remotely, we have accounts from Washington’s aide-de-camp, Tench Tilghman.

Firstly, Tilghman wrote his father, James Tilghman, on the 25th September 1776, of the events and executions surrounding the fire. He was sent to deliver Washington’s reply to Howe’s camp under another flag of truce the day after Montresor’s, and spoke with some men in Howe’s camp then:

“Reports concerning the setting fire to New York: If it was done designedly, it was without the knowledge or Approbation of any commanding officer in this Army…every man belonging to the Army who remained in or were found near the City were made close prisoners. Many Acts of barbarous cruelty were committed upon poor creatures who were perhaps flying from the flames, the Soldiers and Sailors looked upon all who were not in the military line as guilty, and burnt and cut to pieces many. But this I am sure was not by Order. Some were executed next day upon good Grounds… I went down to the Enemy's lines yesterday with a Flag to settle the Exchange of prisoners…I met a very civil Gentleman with whom I had an Hours conversation…”

In Rose’s book, he mentions Hull & Colonel Samuel B. Webb going with Tilghman to the camp to further question Montresor about Hale. Webb, another aide-de-camp to Washington, may well have gone. But it seems a bit strange for Hull to have done so. And Hull’s account did not mention Webb, or Tilghman, which is also a bit odd. Rose made no note of his source for this, but I’d like to find it! Perhaps it’s mentioned in Webb’s journals, something I’d have to travel to Yale to see :(

Tilghman did, eventually, mention Hale explicitly, though not by name, when he wrote to Egbert Benson on 3rd October 1776:

“I am sorry that your Convention do not think themselves legally authorized to make examples of those villains they have apprehended…The General is determined if he can bring some of them in his hand’s under the denomination of spies, to execute them. General Howe hanged a Captain of ours belonging to Knowlton' s Rangers, who went into New-York to make discoveries. I don’t see why we should not make retaliation.”

So he definitely knew of Hale’s death by then, and it seemed to anger him greatly.

Miscellaneous Reports of Hale’s Death

There were also reports made by various others, that mention explicitly, or might imply, Hale’s death:

“Friday last we discovered a vast cloud of smoke arising from the north part of the city, which continued '‘ill Saturday evening…those that were found on or near the spot were pitched into the conflagration, some hanged by their heals, others by their necks with their throats cut. Inhuman barbarity! One Hale in New York, on suspicion of being a spy, was taken up and dragged without ceremony to the execution post and hung up.” (A Letter from September 28th 1776)

“We hanged up a rebel spy the other day, and some soldiers got, out of a rebel Gentleman’s garden, a painted soldier on a board, and hung it along with the Rebel; and wrote upon it, General Washington, and I saw it yesterday beyond headquarters by the roadside.” (Kentish Gazette, November 1776)

“A spy from the enemy (by his own full confession) apprehended last night, was this day executed at 11 o’clock in front of Artillery Park.” (General Howe’s diary)

“The Enemy charged some stragglers of our people that happened to be in New York with having set the City on Fire designedly and took that occasion as we were told to exercise some inhuman Crueltys on those poor Wretches that were in their power.” (Committee of Secret Correspondence to Silas Deane 1st October 1776)

What does all this mean?

Hamilton probably wasn’t there (but I can’t make a call on that for sure!)

basically, it’s clear that the primary sources on Hale’s death are few, and somewhat contradictory in places. I found it super interesting, and thought y’all might too! Please keep in mind I’m not calling William Hull a liar (and I definitely haven’t done anywhere near enough research to say anything conclusively!)

But I definitely think it’s always worth examining what we think we know from primary sources. And it’s very fun!

#this took me literal days to collate so I hope y’all find it as interesting as I did #should’ve been doing uni work but no regrets #we all know history research makes me ridiculously happy #nathan hale #William Hull #alexander hamilton #tench tilghman #spy work #September 1776 #american revolution #amrev #tw: death #izz gets historical #izz rambles

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