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octaviasdread · 3 years

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any girls! dark academia movie recs? i really struggle to find anything not about a group of boys (as much as I love them)

SO MANY!!! This is probably a far more detailed answer than you were expecting but this is a popular question and I want to keep a list for myself and others.

Feel free to add to it/give opinions. I've tried to give a tw for anything I can remember

Girls! Dark Academia Movies/TV Shows

Mona Lisa Smile (2003)

1950s Women’s college

Art professor! Julia Roberts

She’s legit the female Mr Keating of the art & college world

Feminism vs. Tradition

Maggie Gyllenhall x Ginnifer Goodwin; their characters were more than friends. Fight me.

Does not end how you expect

Strike!/All I Wanna Do/The Hairy Bird (1998)

MY FAVOURITE!!!

Free on YouTube under one of its various names

Comedy

1960s all girls boarding school

Young Kirsten Dunst

Group of girls plot to sabotage a merger with a boys school less prestigious than their own

Secret attic clubhouse meetings of the D.A.R aka Daughters of the American Ravioli (eaten cold, ew)

girls get political & advocate for their rights using ANY elaborate and chaotic scheme

TW: eating disorder, vomiting & creepy male teacher but the girls plot against him too

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)

based on a short book I read for uni by Muriel Spark

1930s girls school in Edinburgh

Scottish teacher! Maggie Smith, controversial with a focus on romantic ideals

Spoiler alert, the liberal teacher is actually a fascist

Her group of fave students has cult- vibes and it’s fascinating

Picnic at Hanging Rock

1970s movie or 2018 mini series

Never watched either but I plan to

Wild Child (2008)

00s romcom every UK teen girl loves

Emma Roberts as the spoiled rich American teenager sent to a strict English boarding school

Plots to get herself expelled but oh no she’s making friends with the girls who help her

And the headmistress has a hot son, and he’s nice??? Double oh no

ICONIC SCENES

Everything! Goes! Wrong!

omg she burns the school down

Feel good, comfort, nostalgia

St Trinians (2007)

English girls boarding school

The kids are all criminals, no joke

So are the teachers

CHAOTIC

gay awakening for british girls

Art heist pulled off by school girls

Government tries to shut them down but oh no, the education minister & the headmistress are ex-lovers

Colin Firth x Rupert Everett in drag

Superior cast: Jodie Whittaker, Gemma Arterton, Juno Temple, Stephen Fry, Colin Firth, etc...

embodies the phrase 'problematic fave'

St Trinians 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold (2009)

Mystery, pirate ancestors, hidden treasure

omg Shakespeare was a woman

girls disguised as boys to infiltrate and rob the posh boys school

Villain! David Tennant in that ICONIC boat scene

Teen girls vs. ancient misogynist brotherhood

like the first film but MORE chaotic and BETTER!???

The Falling (2014)

1960s all girls school

best friends! but its unrequited love

Agoraphobic + distant mother aka mommy issues

Sudden death and the school suppresses/ignores the students grief, sparking mass hysteria & a fainting epidemic in the girls

Cast: Maisie Williams (GoT) & Florence Pugh (Little Women) & Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders)

TW: teen pregnancy, death, vomiting, underage s*x, sibling inc*st, past s*xual assault

READ THE PLOT SUMMARY FIRST

The Book Thief (2013)

Based on an amazing book by Markus Zusak

set in 1940s Nazi Germany

Daughter of a communist whose family were taken by the Nazis/died is fostered by an older couple who teach her to read & she paints a dictionary on the basement walls

Coming of age story about a compulsive book thief. No joke, this kid steals books from banned book burnings and breaks into the mayor's library through the window

Family hides the Jewish son of an old friend in their basement and he helps her to start writing about her experiences in the war

TW: death, bombings, WW2 anti-semitism

Mary Shelley (2017)

Overall good & roughly biographical

Pretty costumes and aesthetic

Modern feminist take on Mary Shelly in her own time period

So many INACCURACIES for the drama so don’t take it as truth

Percy Shelley slander and not all of it is justified

Cast: Elle Fanning, Douglas Booth, and Maisie Williams

The Secret Garden (1993)

Based on a fave childhood book

1901 colonial India & Yorkshire, England

Orphaned, spoilt & neglected girl sent to live with her reclusive Uncle in the English countryside

Gothic elements, mysteries, secret doors/passages/locked gardens

local boy with a flock of animals, magic, kids chanting around a fire and all around immaculate vibes

Happy ending!!!

Hidden Figures (2016)

African-American women as mathematicians for NASA

1960s space project

Women balancing a career and family obligations

Deals with racial & gender discrimination

Loosely based on the lives of Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan who worked for NASA as engineers & mathematicians

Anne of Green Gables (1985) & sequel (1987)

Adaptation L.M. Montgomery’s ‘Anne of Green Gables’ books

Canada (late 1890s/early 1900s)

Highly imaginative & bookworm orphan is adopted by a reclusive elderly brother and sister duo

Small town & school years comedic drama

Unrequited Enemies -> Friends -> lovers

Inspiring new woman teacher

Girls re-enact Tennyson’s poem and nearly drown for the aesthetic™

Dramatic poetry reading with INTENSE 👀eye contact👀

Writer! Anne & English teacher! Anne dealing with unruly girls school antics

Collette (2018)

biographical drama on french writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Collette

Victorian & Edwardian era France

More talented than her husband so she ghostwrites for him

Fight for creative ownership of her wildly successful novels

Affairs with a woman called Georgie and also with Missy, born female but masculine presenting

Cast: Keira Knightly, Dominic West, Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark)

Enola Holmes (2020)

Netflix book adaptation

Younger sister of Sherlock Holmes

Victorian era! feminism/suffragettes

Mother-daughter focus

Mystery, adventure, secret codes, teens running away & escaping from (and eventually fighting) assassins

Cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin, Fiona Shaw, Millie Bobby Brown

Ginger & Rosa (2012)

1960s England

best friends since literal birth navigating troubled teen years

poet & anti-nuclear activist! Ginger

off the rails but also catholic! Rosa

Shout out to Mark & Mark the gay godfathers we all want

family troubles

TW: older man has an affair with a 17 yr old

Testament of Youth (2014)

based on WW1 memoir by Vera Brittain

young woman (writer & poetry lover) escapes traditional family & goes to study at Oxford University

abandons to become a war nurse

romance, tragedy and war trauma

Cast: Alicia Vikander, Kit Harrington (GoT), Taron Edgerton (Rocketman), Colin Morgan (Merlin)

Little Women (2019)

Writer! Jo & Artist! Amy

Mother/daughter focus and sister dynamics

the March sisters’ theatre club is *chefs kiss*

champagne problems edits of Jo x Laurie are a mood

Ambivalent ending perfectly captures Louisa May Alcott’s dilemma with the book the movie is based on

set in 1860s America

ALL STAR CAST and a Greta Gerwig masterpeice

Lady Bird (2017)

coming of age in early 2002/2003 Sacramento, California

all girls catholic school

writer! Christine aka Lady Bird wants to get outta town and start her life again at college 'in a city with culture'

Mother/daughter dynamics - so realistic!

I live for that Jesus car stunt & the nun's reaction

school theatre program

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Timothee Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein

Another Greta Gerwig gem

Beguiled (2017)

Virginia, civil war era

Girls school with only five students and two teachers left

Find an injured Union army soldier & bring him inside

Women & teenagers want his attention (v. problematic) before uniting against him

(tbh you'll either love it, hate it, or watch once & forget it)

Sofia Coppola film so its very feminine gaze

TW: violence, death, underage

Legally Blonde (2001)

No questions will be taken

Elle Woods was the blue print

TV series:

House of Anubis (2011-2013)

I know it’s a kids/young teen show but I still unironically love it

ANCIENT EGYPT!!!!

Modern day with Victorian era links to treasure hunters & Egyptian research expeditions (stealing from tombs)

Chosen one plot lines, curses, kidnapping, mysteries, secret tunnels under the school, elixir of life

Teens have investigate & protect themselves cus oh no the TEACHERS are involved in some shady stuff

new American kid at British boarding school is the actual premise not just a fanfic au

Nostalgic, light-hearted, funny, and kinda cheesy but I will accept no criticism

The Alienist (2018 -now)

Mid 1890s, New York

Woman’s private detective agency (Season 2)

Serial killer mystery

Woman secretary turns detective and teams up with a criminal psychiatrist and a newspaper editor to solve crime

TW: violence, child pr*stit*tion

Cast: Dakota Fanning, Luke Evans, Daniel Bruhl

The Queen’s Gambit (2020)

Woman chess prodigy

1950s & 1960s

TW: drug & alcohol abuse

Gentleman Jack (2019 - now)

Based on the diaries of Anne Lister

Victorian Yorkshire, England

Upper-class lesbians

Confident, suit wearing! Anne Lister x shy! Ann Walker

Business woman! Anne running the family mines

Cast: Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster) & Sophie Rundle (Peaky Blinders)

TW: violence

Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)

bubbly/ambitious single mom + intelligent daughter

bookworm! Rory Gilmore gets into a prestigious private school and then an Ivy League college

Small town drama is comedic gold

Fast dialogue packed with pop culture and literary references

Comforting & nostalgic

TEAM JESS

Anne with an E (2017-2019)

Loose adaptation of L.M. Montgomery’s ‘Anne of Green Gables’ books

they completely change the plot lines but it’s still very good content!

Orphan girl with trauma and a love of books/poetry is adopted by an elderly brother & sister duo, bringing light and fresh ideas to a rural community

Feminism, girls writing club, lgbtq safe spaces, girls eduction, black/indigenous representation

Miss Stacy as THAT inspiring teacher

Aunt Josephine’s lavish gay parties have my heart

TW: creepy male teacher tries to marry a student, racial discrimination, indigenous assimilation school

Victoria (2016-2019)

Adaption of Queen Victoria’s life

Victoria navigating her political, royal, and personal life

Albert’s involvement with The Great Exhibition, 1851 (on cultural + industrial innovations)

Alfred Paget x Edward Drummond is exquisite

Gorgeous costumes and aesthetics

TW: bury your gays trope

Derry Girls (2018-now)

1990s Northern Ireland during the troubles

Comedy, episodes 20-25 mins long

English boy sent to an all girls Catholic school with his cousin

✨Dead Poets Society parody episode ✨with a free-spirited female teacher

Sister Michael, the sarcastic nun who hates her job & reads the exorcist for giggles

Wee anxious lesbian! Clare Devlin (plus her friends wearing rainbow pins)

Badass with bad ideas! Michelle Mallon

Main Character! Erin Quinn

Lovable weirdo who would fight a polar bear! Orla McCool

Wee English fella & honorary Derry girl! James Maguire

Dickinson (2019-now)

Loose adaption of the poet Emily Dickinson’s life

Set in 19th century Massachusetts, US

Historical drama with modern dialogue & music that works SEAMLESSLY

gives a great understanding of Emily Dickinson’s poems

💕Vintage gays! Emily x Sue💕

Theatre club, writing, poetry, dressing as men to sneak into lectures, love letters, teen drama, feminism, and an underground abolitionist journal as a brief side plot in season 2

Wiz Khalifa plays death in a horse drawn carriage

TW: opium use

A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017-2019)

Based on great childhood books

Bookworm! brother, Inventor! sister, and baby sister with sharp teeth

Mystery, secret organisations, orphaned siblings figuring things out & fending for themselves against the villain after their fortune

Adults either cartoon evil, comedically incompetent, or SPIES

Boarding school, library owner, scientific researcher, and theatre episodes

Ambiguous time period which is really fun to try and pin point

Killing Eve (2018-now)

Classic detective who has homoerotic tension with the assassin she is tracking down

British Detective! Eve Polastri figures out the notorious assassin MI5 are investigating is a woman, is fired & then put on a secret MI6 case with a small team

Assassin! Villanelle, a psychopath with a tragic past and a mastery of both accents & fashion

Woman MI6 boss! Carolyn Martens, head of Russian section

Travel Europe following Villanelle’s killings and escaping the assassins sent by Villanelle’s organisation

‘You’re supposed to be my enemy and moral opposite but omg you’re the only one smart enough to get me and why am I obsessed with you????'

🚨 GO IN FOR A KISS AND THEN STAB YOUR ENEMY 🚨

Cable Girls/Las chicas del cable (2017-2020)

Spanish drama set in 1920s Madrid

Four young women at a telecommunications company form a group of friends and help navigate the difficult situations they are all in

Secret identities, dangerous pasts, murder, crime, lgbtq couple & throuple, trans man character, feminism/suffragists

girls commit crimes for humanitarian reasons and cover! it! up!

UNDERRATED SHOW!!!!

Gorgeous costumes and set

Haven’t finished it yet and I’m catching up

TW: abuse, violence, death

Outlander (2014 - now)

haven’t watched yet but plan to

Woman time travels to Scotland, 1743

Rebel highlanders, pirates, British colonies, American revolutionary war

Time jumps between 18th & 20th century

#CO posts #answered asks #asks #dark academia girls #dark academia recommendations #dark academia recs #dark academia women #dark academia movies #dark academia tv

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therappundit · 3 years

Text

Top 10 Rappers of 2020

The finish line of this long, surreal year is finally upon us...which means that it’s time for me to throw down the gauntlet in the ‘Best of 2020’ frivolous list race! 🙌

*Just to be clear*: this is a list of MCs who I believe turned in the best overall performances in 2020. ***This is NOT a list of the my top 10 favorite MCs***, or even who I believe to be the best MCs in the world at the moment...these are simply dope artists that put forth the strongest, most consistently interesting and important (to the genre) high-quality work in the perilous year that was 2020.

If you think your favorite MC was slighted....well, Michael Jordan is the greatest to ever play the game of basketball but even he didn’t win MVP every year, right? I encourage you to write your own list - it’s a cool way to dap artists that are too often overlooked by industry websites, and share the music you enjoy with others that may not have given the record a spin otherwise.

Even if 2020 didn’t bring you the “instant classic” you had been hoping for, I think it’s hard to deny that this year really had impressive depth when it came to showcasing some of the most diverse music that the genre has to offer. I can’t speak for music in general - sadly I’m just The Rap Pundit, not The Music Pundit - but I can say that it has been an impossible task to keep a playlist less than 500 songs deep at a time, because for every truly great release in 2020 there seemed to be 30 very good releases. 👌

So how did I come about these 10 MCs (and Honorable Mentions)? Before you get huffy about who I snubbed (and that is pointed directly at my jury of older head peers that consider themselves tastemakers, but also haven’t opened their minds up to any new takes on rap styles since the year 2000)...here are the five chief pieces of criteria that I put into finalizing my list:

- quality (whatever lane you’re in, how often did you ‘own it’?)

- quantity (at least 10 very good-to-great songs released, and 3-4 verses that stand out as a ‘must-hear’ for any rap music fan)

- consistency (not just 4-5 great features and a few forgettable solo tracks, will I want to keep at least 7 or 8 of your own new songs released in 2020 in my rotation for 2021?)

- impact (are you so vital to the type of rap music you make that if you stopped rapping tomorrow, there’s no one else in the game that could fill that void?)

- “it” factor (are you carried by a co-sign or an elite production team, or did you bring a style/talent to the table that could carry a record in and of itself?)

Got it? Then here we go...

1. Conway the Machine

I hope 2020 was the type of year that Conway the Machine had been hoping for since he first began his journey with rap music. After years of scraping and hustling towards music industry recognition (and not just cult figure status), at year’s end we see Griselda’s top Lieutenant holding down a rare balancing act: champion of underground hip-hop, and most requested feature by any mainstream rap star looking to add some tough-talking muscle to their album.

While much of Conway’s content has always been driven by surviving an attempt on his life in 2012, much like 50 Cent, Conway’s way with words and perspective manage to elevate the quality of his material to a higher tier than most. And where - at least in his heyday - 50 Cent benefited from an indestructible super-villain persona, Conway’s success can be greatly attributed to a larger-than-life heart. With every braggadocious act of gunplay, there are moments of gratefulness to still being alive to share success with his brethren, as well as a painful longing to be with close allies that are no longer with him (at least not in the physical form).

Above all else, in 2020 Conway the Machine did what he has always done throughout his career: delivered well written, passionate bars about coming up in an impossibly challenging environment and coping with loss...only now his craftsmanship and understanding of how to channel all of those feelings into a more polished final product have yielded the most well-rounded solo project of his career in From King to a God. Progress is a slow process, but the long and winding road has finally taken Conway a step closer to that G.O.A.T. status he will hopefully continue to reach for...

Best Evidence: FKTG, and a countless number of scene-stealing verses alongside rap acts ranging from deep underground to household names

2. Freddie Gibbs

I don't use the word "sauce" all too often (this may actually be the first time), but if there was any MC guaranteed to bring sauce to any rap record right now, it's Freddie Gibbs.

Forever existing somewhere between gritty gangsta and syrupy old soul, the flavor that Freddie brings to every verse is malleable enough to work on virtually any type of record, which was certainly proven in 2020. Anyone foresee a Gibbs & Alchemist Grammy nomination heading into 2020? It’s a testament to how high quality work, through consistent reliability and dues paid, can elevate a project from underground niche following to critical acclaim. While his work with Alchemist may not reach the lofty levels of his heralded collaborations with Madlib, Alfredo represents the best that “quarantine music” can offer...two talented friends saying one day, “hey we should finally drop a full tape together, why not?” - and then BOOM, it happens.

Too many fail to remember that Gibbs already has a long accomplished body of work behind him...so the fact that he may just be entering his prime now, is scary.

Best Evidence: Alfredo, Machinedrum’s “Kane Train”

3. Boldy James

Comeback MC of the year, and no it is not close (but big shout-out to Grafh, another dope MC who had an amazing year).

I'm old enough to remember when folks like Roc Marciano and Ka were seen as sleepy, monotone rappers with little hope of reaching permanent rap icon status (flash-forward to today, and they are widely consider geniuses). For some, the quieter, less hook-dependent approach to making rap songs, was....well, not great rap music. They were wrong then and they’re wrong now, but similar to how the coolest, smartest cat in the room is rarely the loudest, it can take some time and patience before everyone learns what’s what. Time is what is required to appreciate Detroit’s Boldy James, a veteran that has been through it - both in terms of the ups and downs of the music business, as well as the streets through which he draws his stories and inspiration.

Boldy makes it seem all too easy, rapping his verses with the cool, casual tone of telling old stories to a close friend over drinks. Dropping multiple projects (with one still to come) in one year can often lead to over-saturation. Even the most dedicated fans/stans can begin to feel less enthusiastic about new releases when they have already received a healthy portion of more of the same...but most rap fans are not necessarily Boldy James fans. Boldy fans (much like Roc Marciano and Ka fans) are already aware that knowing what type of material to expect from your favorite MC can be a blessing if that MC takes pride in the execution of the final product, rather than the noise leading up to it.

The beauty of his collaboration with The Alchemist (big year for that guy, huh?), The Price of Tea in China, is that it celebrates the more subtle nuances of boom-bap, proving that great MC and producer chemistry can trump the “shock & awe” of more uptempo rap music. The shock in Boldy James’ lyrics sits within the detailed descriptions of the cold world he grew up in...so monotone or not, how can any music could be more gripping than that?

Best Evidence: TPOTIC, Manger On McNichols, a long list of consistently perfect feature verses

4. 42 Dugg

I would say this is more of a longterm investment rather than the celebration of a rapper already within rap’s inner circle, but 42 Dugg didn’t just steal the show on every feature this year, he also displayed maturity in his ability to craft well-rounded, high quality rap singles. I’m talking joints that work just as well on the street tape level as they would at the radio level. That is especially rare to see from a rapper that is still relatively new to national conversations.

So much more than just a co-sign of Lil Baby and Yo Gotti, the Detroit eastsider has already proven that he can craft a full solo album with the swagger of a far more seasoned MC. 42 Dugg combines a Boosie-esque, "oh you think you’re better than me??” chip on his shoulder with the unpredictable bombast of Lil Wayne. What he may lack in punchlines he makes up for in musicianship, his voice bringing one of the most nimble touches to trap music that I have heard in a long time. 42 Dugg music is hard and soulful, with the natural hunger of a rapper that knows me might be one smash away from superstardom. By this time next year, I’m betting he will be.

Best Evidence: Young & Turnt 2 (Deluxe), features on high profile records like Lil Baby’s “Grace” and “We Paid”, and a growing stream of attention grabbing solo loosies

5. Rome Streetz

In 2020 it was almost impossible to be an underground MC with a great project unless you landed a Rome Streetz verse.

Rome has been bubbling for a while now, but in 2020 he unleashed an onslaught on the game. At times he seemed like the hardest working MC in underground circles, busting his ass to not only make as many appearances as possible, but also to own any song he guested on. He raps like every verse might be “the one” that gets him a huge contract, and that’s a level of hunger and consistency that will likely land him more than one huge contract someday. In spite of that laundry list of strong features, the young Brooklyn MC still managed to release multiple dope solo projects, all flashing a rap style that feels at once a throwback and the fresh voice NYC rap needs.

Rome is clearly from the same school as many of the New York City greats, because he has the capacity to deliver dark, potent bars with the sharp intellect of a Harvard lecture (think AZ before “Sugar Hill”). While he sounds most at home when he’s rhyming over instrumentals that run more coldblooded than a horror flick, it’s easy to picture him popping up in more places in 2021...if that’s even possible.

Best Evidence: Noise Kandy 4, Kontraband, The Residue, and at least 50 incredible features with a who’s-who of the underground’s finest

6. Stove God Cook$

No one saw this coming....well, maybe Roc Marciano, Lord Jamar, Busta Rhymes and a few more NYC heads in the know - but I guarantee you, no one else saw the Stove God coming!

Bar for bar, no MC owned more rewind-worthy rap quotables in 2020 than Stove God Cook$. Dropping a solo debut with VERY little fanfare and zero features (apart from the steady, reliable guidance of Roc Marciano - low key one of hip-hop’s most reliable producers), a slow bubbling word of mouth campaign on social media eventually got Stove God verses exposed to more and more high profile ears. Such a grass roots campaign is rarely seen...I mean, a rap album slowly becoming a critical darling simply off the strength of more and more random folks discovering the music and Tweeting about it, as opposed to the buzz being calculated before the product??? It feels almost too good to be true these days, as early reviews of Reasonable Drought typically lead with something along the lines of, “hey, have you heard of this album? I have no idea who this is, but it is 🔥🔥🔥”

It has often been said that Roc Marciano has a lot of “sons” in the game, implying that Roc Marci gave birth to a style that a whole generation of underground MCs run with today. So it’s ironic (or perhaps highly appropriate?) that the next level of progression for Roc might be to have a protege, a young Jedi to carry on the tradition on Roc’s own terms, and become the next new star to be embraced by the old heads. But Stove God isn’t a clone of Roc, or anyone else, he’s simply one of the most exciting artists to hit the NYC underground in a generation. Everything from his word choice, to his fresh references and sense of humor, to his delivery and the way he structures his verses, feels like a collection of “firsts”, there’s simply no one sounding like him. And if his work in 2020 is any indication, he will continue to be in a league of his own for years to come.

Best Evidence: Reasonable Drought, spotlight snatching features alongside Roc Marciano and Griselda’s finest

7. Lil Baby

Once viewed by some as just another “Lil”, Lil Baby had been rollin’ coming into 2020, but by the end of 2020 it’s clear that he has arrived at the forefront of rap music’s most reliable hitmakers right now.

A must-have feature on any rap album reaching for max exposure, Lil Baby’s dexterous flow, charisma, and pen that is significantly sharper than early reports indicated, made him one of the few shining stars in 2020 to consistently deliver good rap music to what in any other year would have been considered smash hits in any club.

What makes Lil Baby’s music standout is that he could easily be a “cookie cutter” MC, phoning in verse after verse just to get another check, but instead he continues to bring it - trying to squeeze in an extra catchy lyric, maybe flow in a way that breaks up a verse to make it stand out from the pack a little more - and even when he is featured over cookie cutter beats that sound like every other trap inspired beats that came before it, Baby seems eager to prove something. I think that’s what I like about him - he’s on a short list of mainstream-bred Young Thug disciples that seem to really want to put the work in to becoming one of the greats.

Best Evidence: I mean...did any rap star have more songs in circulation this year? Dude was everywhere, but “The Bigger Picture” got his name officially into the lyricist conversation (even though personally I don’t even think it’s one of his more impressive records - at least not stylistically)

8. Westside Gunn

No one denies that the Griselda Records team had a banner year, yet somehow the vocal leader of the group managed to drop a handful of dope projects without receiving credit for being a great MC in his own right. Great artist, great album curator, great business man - sure, but great MC?? That credit is rarely given to the FLYGOD. He might not even understand how natural he is as a solo MC, waxing unpredictable flows and half-bars that stick in your mind in place of catchy hooks or predictable song structure. He might call himself an artist first, but I still call him one of the most prolific rappers today (regardless of whether he retires after the ball drops).

I can’t believe I have to tell rap fans this in the year 2020...but......you all know that message and punchlines are just part of the art of rapping, right...and not the only thing that defines who is a dope MC and who isn’t?? Play any solo cut from Westside Gunn and filter out the “doot-doot-doots” and stream of conscious hooks and what you are left with is one of the most distinctive voices in rap music, attempting off-kilter flows and phrases over some of the most impressive production in rap music today, and to me that sounds like my kind of rap music. What the Buffalo floor general lacks in diversity of subject matter he makes up for with a relentless imagination.

That’s why it’s not all that surprising to me that Westside Gunn enjoyed more mainstream attention in 2020 than he ever has before. All he needed was a window of exposure and he certainly capitalized on it, pitching his sound and his vision in all the right places, without compromising his style or vacating his lane. So strictly as a MC, I would consider him the Young Thug of the east coast underground scene, and if 2020 does turn out to be his final year of recording solo projects, I am thankful that he already has a long list of quality projects with high replay value to revisit again and again. But don’t wait - give this man his flowers now.

Best Evidence: “Euro Step”, “Rebirth”, “327″, “Shawn vs. Flair”, “Michael Irvin”, and YES he even had a more than worthy verse on “$500 Ounces” alongside Freddie Gibbs and Roc Marciano

9. Benny the Butcher

Who else is more reliable to deliver a dope feature verse than Benny?

By now you must be muttering at least a few things about me, so let me just make two points: YES, I am a big fan of Griselda records, but NO I do not consider that an unreasonable bias because even on paper according to a large variety of sources, it’s clear that Conway, Boldy James, Westside Gunn and Benny are true specialists when it comes to the quality of the work they distribute. Its not a fluke or a trend, they’re just that good at what they do...I have been saying this for almost 5 years now, but in 2020 the rest of you sleepy heads finally just stopped hitting snooze.

Benny the Butcher already possesses the writing capacity, attention to detail, and skills of observation/personal reflection to put himself within special company as one of the nicest pens in the business today. But in 2020, he dialed things up even higher...or perhaps word of mouth just finally caught up with the rest of his peers? The tribute to the classic Roc-A-Fella era that was his Burden of Proof project with Hit-Boy helped expose Benny to a much larger audience, and it has been beautiful to see so many more folks quoting and sharing his lyrics on Twitter, because I recall when he had about the same amount of Followers that I do, because it wasn’t all that long ago (I just hope they go back to experience all of his prior work - I’m still partial to his incredible verses on “Shower Shoe Lords” and “Pissy Work”)!

In my not so humble opinion, I do think some of the more dramatic pomp and circumstance on the BOP album was more suited to a Rick Ross or Meek Mill than Benny, so I’m actually more excited to hear what Benny has in store for 2021. He truly sounds at his best over more minimalistic production that lets his lyrics fill the spotlight...but still, tracks like “Timeless” and “Legend” do remind me of some of my favorite moments from old JAY-Z albums...blasphemous, maybe, but true.

A shot to the leg last month seems to have done nothing to slow his momentum, so if you didn’t board the bandwagon by now, you are inexcusably late.

Best Evidence: Burden of Proof, mercilessly slaughtering every verse on every Griselda projects, and a ton of show-stealing features

10. Drakeo the Ruler

What a journey it's been for the L.A. rising star.

Flexing a penchant for placing local slang into his music and delivering dark verses with a clear sense of humor, it's easy to see the appeal of Drakeo's style. If Thank You For Using GTL was an inspiring attempt to do anything possible to keep his buzz going (in that case, recording his verses over a prison phone), the quick release of We Know The Truth shortly after he regained his freedom seems to have given him a 50 Cent-esque teflon aura at the moment.

But this is about more than just Drakeo himself, it’s about what he represented before incarceration, and what he represents now. As one of the more visible forces in a new generation of west coast hip-hop, Drakeo was a few key features away from exploding onto the national scene. Now after surviving his ordeal, likely with a great deal more to write about, his ceiling has only been raised - and along with his growth potential, so rises the potential for the current rap scene out in L.A. right now. Mark my words: by this time next year Drakeo’s flow will be one of the most flagrantly jacked flows in rap music coast to coast.

A sincere welcome home from the rap world, Drakeo the Ruler. Hopefully the worst is now behind you. 🙏

Best Evidence: We Know The Truth, Free Drakeo, Thank You For Using GTL

*Honorable Mentions*:

Che Noir, Ka, Ransom, Billy Woods, Royce Da 5′9″, Jay Electronica, Fly Anakin, Curren$y, Lil Uzi Vert, Roc Marciano, Skyzoo, Black Thought, Tee Grizzley, Your Old Droog, Flee Lord, Lil Wayne

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recentanimenews · 4 years

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Bookshelf Briefs 6/8/20

Ace of the Diamond, Vol. 26 | By Yuji Terajima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The fall season has begun! Furuya is wearing the ace number and dominates the first game, much to Eijun’s distress, since he’s still suffering from “the yips” after striking a batter with an inside pitch. Thankfully, Miyuki and Coach Kataoka arrange for Chris to drop by and teach Eijun a new trick, which seems to help get him out of his doldrums. Meanwhile, Furuya’s performance begins to deteriorate, rumors about Coach Kataoka’s imminent departure begin to circulate, and the guy who’s been observing them (but who is probably Kataoka’s replacement) plans to focus solely on cultivating Furuya the ace and objects to how much time and effort Kataoka devotes to the other players. I mean, I can only assume that this guy is going to get sent packing at some point, but I definitely appreciate that Terajima-sensei is able to make me this anxious about his presence. Perennially recommended. – Michelle Smith

A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy, Vol. 3 | By Kazuma Kamachi, Yasuhito Nogi, and Kiyotaka Haimura | Seven Seas – The first half of this volume is a giant flashback, and you know those are always bad in the Indexverse. Expect dead kids, dead adults, and a whooooooole lot of evil science. Unfortunately, there’s also a lot here that relies on the reader knowing one of the antagonists is from New Testament Vol. 11… which we have not seen in English, and might never see. Too much continuity. Junko continues to be laughably retroactively strong, going toe to toe with a level 5 here. And there’s the bond between her and Misaki, which may be “master and servant” but is also a close friendship (and yuri tease, as Misaki herself demonstrates). Railgun fans will like this. – Sean Gaffney

The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Vol. 8 | By Nagabe | Seven Seas – The eighth volume of The Girl from the Other Side is unbearably sad—so much so that I struggled to finish it, as watching Shiva come to terms with losing Teacher is a shattering experience. Compounding my sense of anguish were the final chapters, in which we learn why the Inside world was so desperately interested in Shiva. The parallels between her situation and our current health crisis are impossible to ignore, reminding us about the human cost of capitulating to fear, ignorance, and superstition in the face of a pandemic. In a less fraught moment, I’d be inclined to recommend The Girl from the Other Side for the lessons it imparts, but I think it’s OK to decide that Nagabe’s allegory is a little too on-the-nose to offer insight or comfort right now. – Katherine Dacey

Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest, Vol. 3 | By Aki Irie | Vertical Comics – After two messy but interesting volumes that see-sawed between mystery and travelogue, Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest finds its groove in volume three. Michitaka—who disappeared from the previous volume—takes center stage in the latest installment, as Kei inadvertently stumbles across some important clues about what happened to his aunt and uncle back in Japan. Though Kei’s discovery propels the story in a new and unexpected direction, the latest plot twists feel earned; the sometimes awkward shifts in tone and genre that characterized the first two volumes are smoothed over by new revelations about Michitaka, and a new sense of urgency about solving the trail of gruesome deaths he’s left behind. The result is a compelling story that has the trappings of a Scandinavian crime show but the soul of an X-Files episode. Recommended. – Katherine Dacey

Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition, Vol. 3 | By Kouji Kumeta | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Whereas Zetsubou-sensei made a point to seemingly attack everything in the world for leaving the author (and, by extension, Nozomu) in despair, Kakushigoto is zeroing in on the manga profession in particular. Here we get mysteries answered, such as why are the pages of weekly magazines colored differently, who determines the order the stories go in, and what is the exact nature of a deadline? We don’t get real answers for any of these, as it turns out things are very fluid. As for Hime, she’s still cute, and still investigating things with her not-Zetsubou girls mystery club. And there’s still that flashforward threatening us with the death of Hime’s father. Will the series get that dark? – Sean Gaffney

The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History’s Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants, Vol. 1 | By Shu, Kayaharuka, and Yoshinori Shizuma | Square Enix – This isn’t my usual fare, but I hoped it would help with my Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun withdrawal. And it actually did! Anoth Voldigord was the all-powerful demon king, but sacrificed himself to end a perpetual war with humanity, pledging to reincarnate in 2000 years. When he does so, he’s invited to a school attendend by his many descendants but nobody believes he’s who he says he is because his magic is too vast to be measured and all of the facts about his reign have been distorted or forgotten over time. Anoth isn’t too likable at first, but the fact that his smug announcements of superiority garner no reaction, his jokes fall flat, and he must deal with a pair of doting and dimwitted human parents all help to humble him a bit. I guess it sometimes pays to venture out of your comfort zone! – Michelle Smith

My Senpai Is Annoying, Vol. 1 | By Shiromanta | Seven Seas – Thankfully, the senpai is not annoying in the way that I feared—this is all on her. Futaba is a new OL at a company who is so short she looks about twelve years old. She also has a near-terminal case of tsundere. This mostly comes out when around Harumi, her senpai at the company, who is huge, nice, helps her with her work and occasionally lightly teases her, and she is absolutely not ready to deal with it. This manga has one joke—Futaba is embarrassed and gets mad to hide it—and if you like that joke, it can be fun. It’s also based on a webcomic, with most “chapters” being about two pages. Towards the end, there’s longer original content, and that works much better. Recommended for those who like 4-komas and tsunderes. – Sean Gaffney

New Game!, Vol. 9 | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – You got the sense that Kou wasn’t going to stay in France forever, and sure enough, she’s back by the end of this volume. There’s some nice stories here about not-quite-rivalries between her and Aoba’s friend Hotaru, and of course the inevitable yuri tease between Kou and Rin, which will never rise above a certain level but that level is pretty damn high. Other than that, a big part of this volume features the danger of farming out parts of your game to outside companies to complete, as they’re harder to control and can easily affect quality in ways that need to be fixed somehow. We also see Aoba continue to grow into her role as a real adult, even as she continues to never quite take the starring role. Cute. – Sean Gaffney

Primitive Boyfriend, Vol. 1 | By Yoshineko Kitafuku | Seven Seas – Kamigome Mito is popular with the boys at her school but feels nothing for any of them, finding them all insufficiently manly. Mito is lamenting her circumstances while working on the family farm, when she suddenly receives a visit from Spica, Goddess of the Harvest. Mito’s hard work has not gone unnoticed and as a reward, Spica sends her back in time 2.5 million years to meet her soulmate, a member of the species Australopithecus Garhi. He takes care of Mito, she falls for him, and when she’s sent home just as his life is in peril, she’s desperate to return. It’s pretty fun, I guess, if you don’t let yourself get bogged down in the realities of how their relationship will never work. Thankfully, it’s also only three volumes long. It’s short, it’s unique, and thus I will keep reading to see how it all plays out. – Michelle Smith

Species Domain, Vol. 8 | By Noro Shunsuke | Seven Seas – The series has now reached the Culture Festival, and seems like it might slowly be gliding to an ending, which in a series like this means pairing up more people. The “joke” confession that wasn’t in the last volume gets revisited here, with much embarrassment all around. Kazamori’s desperation for other girls to be attracted to Ohki may end up getting her in trouble down the road. Mikasagi explains why he isn’t ready to commit to anything, etc. There’s also an extended bathhouse scene, for those who like fanservice, which includes discussion about where Mizuno should be, on the men’s or women’s side. Again, I appreciate the care they’re taking with this character. Fun. – Sean Gaffney

The Way of the Househusband, Vol. 3 | By Kousuke Oono | Viz Media -As I have said in previous reviews, you read this series for its one gag, and should not expect more than that one gag done extremely well. Beyond that, here we see that our househusband is not the only former yakuza trying to make a living doing mundane everyday things, and that it’s much easier to change what you do than how you act. We also see why he’s such a good husband, manipulating things a bit so that his wife can meet some live action Pretty Cure actors (or rather the non-copyright violating Pretty Cure knockoff). That said, I think it’s Santa’s appearance that is absolutely the highlight of the volume, along with the stunned reaction of all the children. Hilarious. – Sean Gaffney

By: Katherine Dacey

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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potuzzz · 5 years

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The Bible, and Why Thoughts Should Be Separated from the Original Source and its Backers

(((Forewarning: This post is a stream of thought. Don’t read if you’re expecting something that avoids the tangential and has a coherent structure)))

` ` ` ` `

I don’t like hypocrisy--I’m guilty of it, as we all are, albeit I make it a point to avoid it. And, sure, there are other (IMO) worse traits a human being can have. But almost anybody would agree that hypocrisy is bad, and the hypocrite’s words are worthless at best, toxic at worst.

I understand the sentiment, but, for the sake of perspective, I would like to defend the hypocrite and morally defunct with this following post.

Now, being well aware of Tumblr’s main demographic make up, I’m sure most people on here aren’t big fans of the Bible.

Truth be told, if you look at the world through the lens of the disgruntled, orthodox Christians, their fears, grievances, and predictions ring quite true--I’m not saying I agree with them, I’m just saying, through their worldview, the notion that Christianity is losing ground steadily to sin and depravity has enough evidence (for them) to enforce this worldview firmly. Homosexuality running rampant, men and women rebelling against their “roles,” brown heretics invading their bastions of innocence to rape and pillage and steal jobs, hip hop becoming the most popular music to corrupt their children and brainwash them to do drugs and get piercings and show shoulders and kill babies and kneel for anthems, these same Jaxton’s and Peyton’s being forced by the Deep State Pedo-Ring to take a non-English language class and learn evolution, fiery Hell, they’re even calling this the “Common Era” instead of “Anno Domini.” I can see how the modern age looks like the setup for the Apocalypse, their Book of Revelation. The rapidly growing Internet, which was once an obscure, semi-useless sort of nerd thing, and then in popular movies for a decade or two was only referenced as some silly cat-joke platform, is slowly but surely becoming a very serious aspect of human life. You can’t make it far without a WiFi connection, not in society, not in business, not in leisure, nothing. And this new frontier, this fresh-faced future, here they have it the worst, constantly being belittled and called names and having mean science-y devil worshipers “debunk” their worldviews, whatever slimy libtard nonsense that all means.

Orthodox Christians that use a religion--a somewhat neutral thing--to justify their their bigotry, the sort of Christians that fit the of bedrock for an otherwise atheist and secular alt-right probably ensure, if anything, that liberally-inclined youngsters like myself push themselves as far away from Christianity as a whole as possible. Christianity is a sort of thing that people here in America almost thought synonymous with race; you were born into it, and you died with it. I mean, hey, people can’t seem to wrap their mind around the idea that Islam isn’t a race. People would identify as being Christian, even though they never went to church (save maybe Easter and/or Christmas), didn’t pray unless gramps was around, and never read a lick of the Bible, let alone mulled it over. Nowadays, there’s a growing portion of young people that aren’t just apathetic and passive with their family or culture’s religion, they’re proud to actively reject it.

Orthodox Christians have made a really bad name for themselves, their religion as a whole, their precious Bible, and, alongside it, anything and everything they associate themselves with, especially ideas and opinions.

(Quick disclaimer: I’m picking on Christianity right now, but insert whatever religious or spiritual beliefs you like. It just happens to be the biggest demographic here and easiest example that comes to mind for what I’m trying to achieve in this post. Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, paganism, Satanism, even atheism all are just ideas wreathed in metaphor (or “fact” when it comes to atheism) that are neutral on their lonesome, but are used for evil but society and the individual. Back to the program.)

For the most part, I’m like, “serves you dumbass chauvinists right,” but I wouldn’t have made this post if I didn’t have mixed feelings about the deeper implications and consequences.

QUICK TANGENT TIME!

Let’s say you have a...I don’t know...coworker, we’ll call him Fraxley (lol). So Fraxley isn’t most of everybody’s favorite. Ya’all work at a restaurant. He’s loud, obnoxious, entitled, immature, petty, judgmental, lazy, whiny, condescending, pretty much everything you’d dread in a coworker. But, one fateful day, you’re talking to your boss, Mrs. Boss. This is how it goes:

Mrs. Boss: “Man, did you see the table by the restrooms?”

You: “Uh, no, what happened?”

Mrs. Boss: “Some party of two parents and their kids had a birthday party...not only did they leave a huge mess, but nobody used coasters, and now there’s horrendous watermarks all over.”

You: “Reese’s Pieces, what?”

Mrs. Boss: “Yeah, like the parents didn’t stop them or nothing.”

You: “Damn...would degreaser or something help? I guess I’ll grab--”

Mrs. Boss: “No no no, see, that’s the real problem, we’re out of all our cleaners and we can’t get any in here until next Monday.”

You: “Ouch.”

Mrs. Boss: “I guess just scrub it as best as you can. If Ownerpeople comes in tonight and sees it in that state, they’ll lose their shit.”

You: “Okay, just let me see if--”

*Fraxley kicks open the front doors (letting in customers before you’re open), hocks a loogie on the window, flips a water bottle into the fryer, and blows Bongwater-flavor Juul clouds in your face that resemble Baroque architecture*

Fraxley: “Sup, bitches. Heard we got some fuckin’ tabletop probs.”

You: “Yeah.”

Mrs. Boss: “...Hi, Fraxley, could you--”

Fraxley: “Well, Brossolini, if you don’t want to be an epic NPC fuckin’ retard about it, toothpaste works great for watermarks on wood. Makes that bitch moannnn. J to the S, G.”

Mrs. Boss: “Fraxley, could you clock-in and put some ice in the bin?”

Fraxley: “UghhHHGHhh. What’s up with you, sour tits?”

Mrs. Boss. “Now.”

Fraxley: “Meesa no likey. *winks coyly at you* Later, buddy.”

. . .

So, the question is, what do you do?

Most people would ignore Fraxley, and for good reason. But his tip, his two cents, his wisdom (which, keep in mind, didn’t even originate from him!) shouldn’t be automatically discarded.

Here’s another quick example. Read some of these quotes:

“Words build bridges into unexplored regions.”

“The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.”

“He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.”

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.”

Not my like, all-time-favorite, Earth-shattering, epiphany-inducing quotes, but still pretty wise, huh? Worth a mulling over? Worth soaking in, and applying to your life and your perspective, from time to time, eh? Certainly, I believe I can apply, say, the last quote, to current-day politics. I can apply the first one to nearly every single second of every single day.

I found these quotes by this Google search: “quotes from hitler”

Yep!

Words to me are kind of like children. The context of their parents is important, but, ultimately, they are their own individual beings, and shouldn’t be judged for neither the goodness nor the evil their parents have wrought on this world.

You see, sort of, what I’m trying to say about the Bible? Really, anybody and anything, but for this discussion, the Bible?

I have my own personal spiritual beliefs and worldview that I would like to think is particularly unique, one which doesn’t fit me smoothly into any predetermined box. When it comes to the events of the New and Old Testament, I have mixed feelings. The Old Testament...I believe nearly all of it is more or less a metaphor. As for the New Testament, I believe Jesus was alive. Less surely, I believe he was the most powerful human being we’ve witnessed (or an extraterrestrial/extradimensional being, or something), a practitioner of magic that we all have the potential for, deep down somewhere. He’s a Level 99 person, whereas most of us never get past Level 4 to 7 or something along those lines. I believe many of the events in Jesus’s life, as recorded, did happen, and along the way, some areas were perverted by both his humanly human apostles recording them, as well as the numerous translations and re-writes and edits that have happened in the last 2000 years, with a fat ol’ margin for both accidental error and malicious, egotistic inserts.

So as we can see, I’m already biased in part to favor some bits of the New Testament, and even be patient enough and curious enough to think about the Old Testament. It probably doesn’t help that I was raised Muslim, in America no less, so I probably have some learned sympathy for Abrahamic religions in general.

Now, I’ve only ever really dug into the Book of Mark, thanks in totality to an Intro to New Testament class I took in college (it was either that or some even more presumably boring garbage). As for the rest of the Bible, I know the general events (as most of us do) of the Old Testament, I was challenged to read a bit of the Book of Job during a (horrifying) Ouija experience, and other little bits here and there have come to me by chance. I’m no expert. But, my bias acknowledged, it really makes me sad that some people are never going to consider a single word in the Bible as anything other than a weapon that has been used against them. It has some excellent metaphors, lessons, and stories that not only can be applied in simple day-to-day life, but I have found myself applying to my understanding of human psychology and the human condition, of my internal journey towards actualization and self-understanding, of love and hate and chaos and order, and my understanding (or accepted lack thereof) of the universe and reality I inhabit, the life within it, and the events after.

What’s also important to add, is the Bible isn’t the skeleton of my beliefs and perspective. It’s not some major slice of the pie, it’s just a few Lego bricks in an enormous set that took me years to construct. Without it, sure, it’d likely be much the same, but in some ways, it wouldn’t. My fundamental ability to accept teachings from the Bible, both because of my subconscious bias for it and despite my growing conscious bias against it, are what have caused me to accept a wide berth of teachings, that, had I remained close-minded and say, only trusted celebrities I like and factual science (whatever the fuck factual means anymore), my enormous structure would instead be a trifling, misshapen, tragic little thing.

The same thing that allowed me to accept the Christian Bible, to just entertain its ideas, has also allowed me to garner wisdom and knowledge from all sorts of celebrities, musicians, artists, politicians, generals, prodigies, and scourges both in my day and age, and throughout history, not just the ones I happened to like but even the ones that struck me the wrong way.

I liked Sun Tzu, because why not, so I got to absorb bits of The Art of War, but I’ve also learned some wisdom from current day American generals who bomb my cousins. I never reached a high enough edge level at any point to consider entertaining Satanism into my lifestyle, but hey, Satanism has some interesting things worth a good mull, or even quoting in everyday conversation. People might look at me like I’m mad, but if you past the skins these jewels are shrouded in, you get to reap the intriguing beauty within, without compromising your core self in the process.

I watch an unhealthy amount of YouTube at times--when I’m at my highest functioning, I limit it to drives to and from work. I like a lot of progressives, unsociopathic intellectuals, hip-hop commentators, and the like (links on names): Shaun, Jeffrey Almonte, ContraPoints, Academy of Ideas, D Respect, hbomberguy, TD Hip Hop Media, probably a few others.

Emphasis on progressive. It’s hard for me to relate and appreciate much else--I don’t want someone mindlessly parroting pop-woke garbage, I just want someone with a little bit of soul and a lotta bit of brain, and I do well to forgive and forget when the aforementioned have opinions that differ from my own.

But, a while last month, I was recommended a channel: Alternative Hypothesis.

Now, silly ol’ me, read that as, “Oooh, someone who’s very likely counter-culture, possibly a little pretentious but let’s give’em a listen.”

Basically, emphasis on ALT.

I only got through about 5 or 6 videos, but see, that’s the thing. I could recognize the guy was well spoken, good at structuring a video and articulating a point. It wasn’t complete laughable swill like Ben Shapiro or Sargon of Akkad. This guy actually made me stop and think some pretty wild ass shit, like, “was slavery really that bad?” Fucking horrifying, right? Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty sure I’m not a great debater, but I had enough sense to debunk his videos both logically and morally. But he really challenged me and my viewpoints. Made me stop in think. Now you might think, “well, it’s not like you’re black so you don’t exactly have a lot of eggs in that basket,” and I get why you’d think that. Even I double-checked myself on that. But I will let almost any of my core beliefs be challenged, and I don’t think that makes me a pushover or weak, morally or mentally or otherwise. If anything, it strengthens my resolve, and makes my beliefs feel more mine, and less insecure attempts to fit into a mold. I’ve let myself attack whites, suburbanites, Muslims, Arabs, rappers, specifically white rappers, writers, artists, men, the insecure, the dark (of head, not skin), the indecisive, Americans, talkers, introverts......these are all things that are me. If I’m critical of anyone at all, it’s me.

Funny thing, I actually vaguely remember a quote that went something like, “Don’t defend your attacks on your character you know are wrong, or you’ve already lost.”

I don’t really remember where that quote originated, whether it was the Bible or the Daily Stormer or Gandhi or Jake Paul, but it’s reminding myself right in this very second that I’m okay, I don’t need to justify shit, I going on a cutting-edge ramble or something, and I just need to be self-satisfied and go on my merry way. And I need that right now. I don’t care where it came from.

Go read the Bible. The same book (Book of Leviticus) that forsakes homosexuality does the same with eating fat, eating pigs, wearing mixed fabrics (aka wearing most of anything nowadays), cutting your hair, touching weirdly specific things, getting your red wings, adultery, incest, mixing crops, getting tattoos, blasphemy, and working on Sunday. Obviously, a load of this is trash. Don’t get hung up on the little ugly bits.

I recently finished reading Stranger in a Strange Land. The author obviously had a couple stupid worldviews, mainly general sexism and a part where a female character chimes in that 9 out of 10 rape victims were essentially asking for it. If I were the stereotypical over-sensitive, virtue-signalling young’un in today’s day and age, I would’ve thrown the book right then and there against a wall and lit the place on fire, vowing to purge every word I had read thus far from my mind. Instead, I kept reading, and the book is fucking amazing. I will look past the author’s glaring flaws, which we all have, and instead of sheltering myself from the real world, I got to add another excellent artwork to my experiences. Go read Stranger in a Strange Land, it’s about Martian Jesus.

Stop having knee-jerk reactions--if you’re forming a demonized version of me in your head when you read me writing phrases like “over-sensitive,” or “virtue-signalling,” or “knee-jerk,” or my imaginary character Fraxley saying “retard” or “bitch,” you’re doing yourself absolutely no favors, in the short nor the long term. The world and its wisdoms are not PC. You can retain your morals and still absorb a wealth of knowledge from an individual that might be the antithesis of your beliefs. I literally think true progressivism, minus all the ulterior motives and “justified” cruelty, is nearly synonymous with morality. If this post has upset you, please get your head out of your ass. I’m telling you because you need to hear it, not because I want to put you down or assert superiority or any dumb shit, I literally want to see you and our planet succeed.

I love you.

#bible #wisdom #judgement #open mind #progressiveyoutube #ideas #get your shit straight #pearl #reality #self love #quotes

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airadam · 4 years

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Episode 137 : Goodbye Summer

"I'm like when we turn the clocks back in October..."

- Sha

The autumn is here, but given that we're still mostly shut up in the house, it's a pretty academic point. Still, it means that musically we start looking in the hoodies and Timbs direction, and some of that cold weather flavour makes its way into this month's selection...

Twitter : @airadam13

Twitch : @airadam13

Playlist/Notes

Curren$y & Harry Fraud : 1 Luv (Roll The Credits)

Curren$y is so prolific, it feels like every time I log onto Spotify he's got something new out. This is the outro for the 2020 "The Director's Cut" mixtape, but works just as well as a low-key intro. I'd definitely recommend giving the whole release a spin.

Bagnon Titi : Love And Time

We've been to the "Smooth Grooves Beat Tape" a few times, but inexplicably not for this track until now! I personally might have preferred the mix/EQ to be a bit different on this one (more prominence to the bassline maybe), but the flipping of this well-known sample is excellent.

Nas : N.Y. State Of Mind Pt. II

"Mama should have cuffed me to the radiator" is one of the starkest, rawest lines ever, and the sad story of nine friends reduced to three is told with more efficiency than you could imagine possible. Sequels often disappoint compared to the originals, but this is a worthy successor to the first "NY State Of Mind", with Nas and DJ Premier coming back together on "I Am..." for an underrated classic.

Shyne : More Or Less

Shyne was well into his prison term for the 1999 Club New York shooting incident when "Godfather Buried Alive", his second album, was released in 2004 - understandably not on Bad Boy, but by Def Jam. The vocals were mostly pre-prison recordings with a few things recorded over the phone, and as such, it's not as coherent as you might like - but this was a great cut. A quality bit of sampling from the early days of Kanye West drives this one along, and Shyne comes with the rawness on the mic. "Hip-Hop's not responsible for violence in America / America's responsible for violence in America"? Can't argue with that.

Chemical Brothers ft. Beth Orton : Alive Alone

I remember playing this one in the headphones on many a dark, rainy night after "Exit Planet Dust" was released, so I thought it'd be a good one to include this month. Dark, slow, moody, with Beth Orton's gentle vocals over the top - perfection.

Mayhem Lauren : Peace Dad

Back over to Queens for some flavour (pun partially intended) from one of the biggest culinary fans in the Hip-Hop game. A short and sweet two verses over Tommy Mas production from the "Respect The Fly Shit" mixtape.

[Pete Rock] Edo G : Just Call My Name (Instrumental)

It was great that the most recent release of the "My Own Worst Enemy" LP by Edo G and Pete Rock contained instrumentals of all the tracks - really makes it an essential purchase for fans of these two legendary veterans. I don't know if the bass and horn samples come from the same place, but the interplay is expertly done!

Nas, Remy Ma, Ghostface Killah, Dave East, Styles P, RadhaMUS Prime : The Mecca

Brand new heat! From the soundtrack to the new film "The 40-Year-Old Version" comes a wicked NYC collaboration that features contributions from all the five boroughs (with Brooklyn represented by Da Beatminerz on production). This one should earn a few rewinds, as all the veterans get busy.

Shabaam Sahdeeq : Pendilum

We take it back to the heyday of the underground 12s for this A3-side - it may not be an example of Chuck's Law (the main track is a killer), but it's still quality. Shabaam is all Brooklyn lyricism on the mic and Dr.Sato (on what looks to be his only production credit) uses what sounds like a sitar sample as the centre of the beat.

LMNO & Kev Brown : Who's That?

LMNO is one of the least subtle MCs I can think of, but he does his job well enough here alongside the bassline king Kev Brown on the "Selective Hearing" LP. That said, the bass is pretty sparse outside of the hook and leaves plenty of space for LMNO to take centre stage.

Torae ft. Sha Stimuli and Kel Spencer : Save The Day

I've been waiting to play this song specifically in October just for the line that I used for this month's epigram :) Khrysis is on the boards with the heat, and the trio of MCs coming with the goods on this cut from the 2008 "Daily Conversation" LP. If you haven't heard it, it's a solid release, definitely worth checking out.

Da Beatminerz : Take That (Instrumental)

This beat may be almost 20 years old (originally from 2001's "Brace 4 Impak"), but it smacks strongly even today - a testament to the quality of the production and the engineering.

Oh No ft. Buckshot : Gets Mine

"Exodus Into Unheard Rhythms" is one of the first LPs I can think of that was based around samples from one artist only - in this case, the late multi-talented composer Galt McDermot. This track has a cross between that midnight creep sound and some majestic piano business, and while Oh No has a quality verse, bringing in Buckshot as the feature was inspired - perfect choice.

Timeless Truth : What A Life

Straight no chaser from the 2013 debut by TT, "Rock-It Science" (great title). R.Thentic chops the pianos in a serious fashion over a boom-bap beat, and despite this being on a group LP, Solace goes solo end-to-end on the mic.

Rapsody ft. King Mez and Laws : Top Five

I can't quite believe that "Thank H.E.R. Now" is almost ten years old already, but it's an entry in Rapsody's catalogue that is definitely worth going back to explore if you missed it the first time round. "Top Five" is a nice all-southern mic workout with Rapsody and Mez repping North Carolina, and Laws coming out of Florida. Production comes from Amp of The Soul Council, and if I dare say it, sounds reminiscent of mid-2000s Preemo style.

Redman ft. E3 : Ride

This track is the month's rediscovery thanks to my vinyl digitisation project - I hadn't dug it out for years! It's drawn from the soundtrack of a 2003 film called "Biker Boyz" which, from the critical reception, I probably won't ever get around to watching, but I got this on a promo 12". Production and vocal duties are both shared between Redman and E3, and it's really well-executed within the style frame it inhabits - polished, nicely engineered, but with the funk on the low end.

Ilajide : Number One

To my ears, this man is lining himself up as ones of the kings of the bassline - not when it comes to complexity, but just the sheer sonic impact. This instrumental from "3" bangs along with a low end that will give any system a workout.

Boot Camp Clik : And So

When it comes to hoodie and boot weather, you have to include the Boot Camp Clik in any musical discussion. You'd also usually be talking about Da Beatminerz in the same breath, but this cut from 2002's "The Chosen Few" was produced by Curt Cazal, best known for his work as part of JVC Force. On the mic, the late Sean Price, Tek and Steele, Top Dog, and Buckshot of Black Moon kick it straight Brooklyn style, and it sounds very much like they may have had an issue with a certain mixtape DJ...

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

Check out this episode!

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pamphletstoinspire · 7 years

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Angry with God

My older sister Patricia died of spina bifida before I was born. My younger sister Linda died of spina bifida when I was 3. Given that I was raised in a traditional, stoic, Irish-Catholic family, my sisters and their deaths were never talked about. In fact, I didn’t even know they existed until I was 5 and found their names in our family Bible. “Who are these people?” I asked my mother.

“They are your sisters”—that was all she said.

As I grew, I thought about them a lot. Eventually, I began to ask my mother why God did this to our family. She said simply that some crosses were heavier to carry than others. Somehow that answer and the related resignation didn’t work for me. And so I began to become angry. Specifically, I began to become angry with God.

For most of my youth, I felt this anger was wrong, sinful. Yet it didn’t go away. I encountered more and more suffering that did not make sense. A friend lost both his parents by the eighth grade. A very good priest dropped dead of a heart attack. The brother of a friend died in Vietnam.

As I began my work as a psychologist, I would touch on spiritual matters with my clients. I found that I was not alone in my anger. Worse, I met people whose explanations for tragedy were heartbreaking.

One woman, for example, believed that her prayers for a dying daughter did not work because her prayers were “not worthy of God’s attention.” Even my own father, as he dealt with a series of strokes, told me they were “punishment for my sins.” As I heard such struggles, I felt more and more that, because of anger, I was bound to grow away from my faith. Then I read the Book of Job.

Job: Not Merely Silent Suffering

Given that the Catholicism of my youth did not include a great deal of biblical study, I knew very little about Job other than the phrase “the patience of Job.” When I read this marvelous book, I realized among other things that Job was hardly patient. In fact, like me, he was angry!

The story of Job begins with a bet. Satan is arguing with God, saying that faith is easy when everything is going well in one’s life, but that people tend to lose that faith when times are tough. He then brings up Job, pointing out that Job has great faith but is also very comfortable and successful. But suppose, suggests Satan, that Job falls on hard times: Will he then be so faithful? God gives Satan permission to take away everything of Job’s but not to harm him. Satan does this, but Job holds on to his faith. So Satan ups the ante by asking God to let him harm Job directly.

And so Job ends up homeless, penniless, and afflicted with horrible skin diseases. He begins to seek an explanation from God. In fact, Job demands an explanation!

Job’s friends show up and offer standard explanations for his troubles. “You must have sinned,” suggests one. “You haven’t prayed hard enough,” says another. And yet Job continues his outcry, ultimately demanding that God show up and explain himself.

And God shows up! Granted, God tends to put Job in his place and never really answers Job’s “Why?” question. But the important points are that God shows up and that he never punishes Job for his outcry.

But Why, Lord?

I think the Book of Job is there to encourage us to embrace our outcries, not suppress them; and to struggle with the “Why?” question, not dismiss it. And so, somewhat timidly, I began to allow myself that anger.

It soon became clear to me that I needed to explore my anger at several levels. The most immediate level was the “Why?” question that was a large part of my youth. As I began to read, I found out that the “Why?” question has in fact given rise to a specific area of theological study called theodicy. Specifically, theodicy examines the issue of how an all-good, all-loving God can permit evil.

As I explored my anger, I came across the book May I Hate God? by Pierre Wolff. Despite its provocative title, this is a very gentle-spirited book that reminds us that God is a loving parent; and that loving parents, upon learning that their child is angry with them, want to hear about the anger—not necessarily condone it, but hear about it. This opened up to me the awareness that, when I am angry with God, my tendency is to express that anger in the same way I do at a human level. I shut down and use the “silent treatment.”

Novelist Joseph Heller put it another way in his novel God Knows. King David is reflecting on whether he is angry with God and concludes, “I’m not angry with God. We’re just not speaking to one another.” So it was with me and the God of my understanding.

In any case, Wolff’s book helped me to accept my anger. But I still struggled with the “Why?” question. Other thinkers offered helpful insights. Viktor Frankl did not answer this question, but he observed that, while we don’t always have a choice over what happens to us, we always have a choice regarding how we face it. Similarly, Rabbi Harold Kushner, in his well-regarded When Bad Things Happen to Good People, offered what for me was a novel idea—that perhaps God wasn’t responsible for some of the bad things that happened to us.

At first, Kushner’s notion was comforting. Maybe God wasn’t behind my sisters’ illnesses or children with cancer or senseless random shootings. Maybe those things just happened. Somehow that thought made me fear God less. Yet the thought that perhaps God wasn’t behind all bad things that happened created another question articulated by Annie Dillard, who wrote in For the Time Being, “If God does not cause everything that happens, does God cause anything that happens? Is God completely out of the loop?”

My anger at God brought me to wrestle with some important issues. It challenged me to reexamine my image of God. Did I see God as punitive, misreading the Old Testament? Did I see him as loving, as in many New Testament stories? Did I see him as uninvolved, caring for the big picture and leaving the details to us, as the Oh, God! films suggest?

My anger also brought me face-to-face with my struggles about prayer. Does God answer prayers? Clearly not all prayers. It’s been said that there are many unanswered prayers at deathbeds. If God doesn’t answer all prayers, to follow Dillard, does he answer any prayers?

These struggles have been productive, prodding me toward a more mature understanding of God, as well as a more clear appreciation for prayer. But I still come face-to-face with my anger.

A Personal Encounter with God

Over the past few years, I have read the entire Bible three times. It has been a truly enlightening experience. I saw clearly that Job wasn’t the only one to argue with God. Abraham did it; Moses did it; even Jesus did it! I was in good company.

I saw, too, that David’s Psalms were at times outcries. Within the poetry, one can hear the oppressed poet yelling out to God, “Do something!”

I’ve learned from my many clients who sit and try to understand tragedies in their lives. In asking these great teachers, “Are you angry with God?” I’ve heard many instructive answers. One woman wrestling with a lifethreatening illness said, “Of course I’m angry with God! But he’s God. He can take it!” Another very spiritual young woman observed, “No, I’m not angry. But I sure would like to have a peek at his operations manual.”

Harold Kushner recently published a piece on the Book of Job titled The Book of Job: When Bad Things Happened to a Good Person. It is a literate and scholarly book that offered me a new note of comfort. Kushner suggests that Job is comforted and consoled not so much by God’s explanation but by the encounter itself. Job deeply experienced God’s presence and took comfort in that meaningful experience. I found a note of personal truth in this thought. I realized that, yes, I’ve had meaningful encounters with God in nature or in the world of great art or in the sound of my grandchildren’s laughter.

But I realized that I have also encountered God in my anger in a way that has been profound. As I voice that anger, I feel God in a manner as profound as, albeit different from, my experience of God in nature.

The story of this journey of anger has a more recent turn to it, one with which I am still dealing. I recently saw an episode of The West Wing, a program from the early 2000s starring Martin Sheen as a fictional president. Prior to this episode, the president had lost a much-loved secretary in a senseless car accident. After the funeral, he stands alone in the National Cathedral and unleashes an anger that shocked me. As an example, his character refers to God as a “vengeful thug.”

I felt I’d long validated the importance of anger in my relationship with God, yet I found myself uncomfortable with the intensity of President Bartlett’s anger. But, upon reflection, I understood it. My anger is more than annoyance or disappointment—at times it is rage. Yet, out of fear, I withhold that rage and instead, like David in Heller’s novel, stop talking to my God or at least temper my feelings. Yet, when I allow myself to approach that rage, I find God waiting for me.

And so I come face-to-face with the God of my understanding. Is that God a vengeful parent who will not tolerate my anger and will punish me for speaking up? Such was the God of my youth. Or is the God of my understanding a loving God willing to wrestle with me, willing to accept my vented rage in the name of open, ongoing dialogue and genuine encounter? And do I have the courage to fully embrace this understanding of God and remain in dialogue in the midst of my rage?

The great Jewish scholar Abraham Joshua Heschel once wrote, “God stands in a passionate relationship with Man.” Anyone who has lived in a longterm, passionate relationship learns that passion is a package deal. You can’t have the joy and ecstasy unless you also accept and embrace the anger and alienation. I’ve dealt with several couples who say they don’t fight. But they are in my office because their relationship is stagnant. Without the struggle, there is no passionate intimacy.

The Path of Relationship

I realize at this point that, for me to have a joyful, peaceful, vibrant relationship with the God of my understanding, I must also embrace the rage. Not just annoyance, but rage!

And so, as I struggle, I return to reflect on my mother’s faith in the face of tragedy. I see that her faith was not some passive, shoulder-shrugging, “Oh well, it could be worse” type of faith. Throughout her life, she believed not only in the power of prayer but also in the persistence of that prayer. Like the woman in the parable seeking justice, she would not quietly plead or go away. Rather, she would “storm heaven with prayers.” Nor did she let tragic loss engender cynicism: on her deathbed and with absolute certainty and joyful anticipation, she said, “I’m going to see my girls.”

And yet I know my path is one of wrestling and arguing. It occurs to me that perhaps within the mystical body of Christ, we both play a part. People like my mother indeed inspire me to not lose hope and to continue to believe that understanding God’s mysterious way is possible.

But perhaps people like me—the questioners, the wrestlers—help others not to lapse into passive, depressed resignation. Perhaps in encouraging others to “fight back,” we help them experience real encounters with God. Perhaps we wrestlers help others to hope that our pain and anguish do matter. And perhaps together we can link arms and sing those words of Job offered not as an answer but in hopeful expectation: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!”

Richard B. Patterson, Phd, is a clinical psychologist and freelance writer from El Paso, Texas.

#angry with god

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abandonedinthesouth · 5 years

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Liza Minnelli's abandoned mansion

Beverly Hills is full of magnificent homes. Yet somewhere among the glamorous villas of the rich and famous lies a decrepit building. The mansion was once the home of talented Hollywood director Vincente Minnelli and his family – but it has since been abandoned and left to decay. And its crumbling walls and overgrown gardens are a sorry testament to the legal battle that seems to have engulfed the place.

Vincente Minnelli made a name for himself in the movie business during the mid-20th century, helming multiple classic musicals. For instance, in 1951 he sat in the director’s chair for An American in Paris – a film that later took home the Academy Award for Best Picture. And seven years later, he repeated that success and also earned the Best Director award for his work on Gigi.

Over the course of his life, Vincente married four times. Indeed, he tied the knot with his first wife, accomplished actress and singer Judy Garland, on June 15, 1945. Like her husband, Garland was involved in many movies throughout her career. She received considerable recognition for her work, too, picking up a Golden Globe and Special Tony among other awards. The star is perhaps known best, however, for her role as Dorothy in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz, for which she earned a Juvenile Oscar.

Vincente and Garland had one child: Liza Minnelli. Born on March 12, 1946, Liza would grow up to become a star in her own right. Indeed, she bagged an Academy Award for her role in the 1972 film Cabaret and is also widely celebrated for her singing voice. Some of Liza’s more famous performances took place at Carnegie Hall and Radio City Music Hall in the late ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s.

But alas, things didn’t end happily for Vincente and Garland. In 1951 the couple divorced, and their struggles were supposedly sparked by Garland’s streak of self-destructive behavior. Wracked by insecurity, anxiety and depression, the actress reportedly took sleeping pills and amphetamines. Eventually, she suffered a nervous breakdown and even made two attempts to take her own life after MGM terminated her contract. The star also started having an affair – spelling the end of her marriage.

As previously mentioned, Vincente married three more times before his death, wedding his final bride – Lee Anderson – in 1980. Six years later, the director passed away from pneumonia and emphysema in his Beverly Hills home, aged 83. And in the years since his death, the ownership of his mansion has proven to be controversial.

Indeed, Vincente left his property – said to be worth some $1.1 million at the time – to Liza. But he also left lifetime use of the house to Lee. So, while his widow continued to live there, his daughter apparently paid the bills. Then in 2000 Liza put the house up for sale, apparently without Lee’s knowledge. And as recompense, Liza offered her stepmother a $450,000 condo – yet Lee refused to leave.

Even when the house finally sold a couple of years later, Lee still wouldn’t vacate the property. Liza supposedly responded by ceasing payment of the mansion’s electricity bills, and she also fired the staff who were employed to take care of it. As a result, Lee filed a lawsuit against her stepdaughter, kicking off what would ultimately be a short legal battle.

The lawsuit in question alleged that Liza had breached a contract and brought emotional anguish upon Lee. Indeed, the court papers ascertained that moving the then-94-year-old “will no doubt be the death of her.” Liza’s 2002 wedding to David Gest added further fuel to the fire too.

For one thing, the lawsuit caused Liza to withdraw Lee’s invitation to the wedding. But it was the lavishness of the festivities that apparently drew the most ire from Liza’s stepmother. In reference to the wedding, you see, the lawsuit read, “While the defendant is honeymooning all over the world, having fed 850 of her closest friends a 12-foot cake, [the] plaintiff is alone in a cold, dark house at age 94.”

Despite the fracas, though, the legal battle came to a conclusion fairly quickly. Lee in fact dropped the lawsuit a month later after Liza had reportedly reached out to her and invited her to dinner. The pair then came to an arrangement over the mansion: Liza would pay rent to the new owners while Lee continued to reside in the property. And after Lee’s death, the buyers could finally take full control.

In 2006 – four years after the buyers made their offer – the house finally closed escrow. And three years later, Lee passed away – less than a month after her 100th birthday. It was at this point that the new owners could take residency of their $2.75 million purchase. First, though, they discussed plans to renovate the property.

Ultimately, however, the new owners’ plans seemingly fell through the cracks – and no restoration supposedly ever took place there. And rumored visions to scrap the property and construct a new estate on the same site never materialized, either. As a result, the mansion appears to have since been home only to squatters.

But let’s take a look at the property’s history. The home was first built in 1925, which was around the time that Spanish Colonial Revival architecture was apparently coming into fashion. The hallmarks of that style include smooth plastered walls, terracotta features and flat roofs. However, the mansion was renovated and redesigned between 1944 and 1953 by John Elgin Woolf – this time in the French Louis XV style.

In total, the house – which is situated at 812 N. Crescent Drive, CA – boasts 19 rooms, six of which are bedrooms and another six of which are bathrooms. The mansion is set over around 5,900 square feet on a lot that spans a whopping 42,500 square feet. It’s an enormous space, then, and certainly fit for a celebrity. Vincente moved in shortly after his split from Garland in 1951.

At the turn of the millennium, the Los Angeles Times profiled Lee Minnelli and painted a grand picture of the mansion in which she resided. As well as describing “python-skin-covered walls” and “vast dressing rooms,” the story highlighted the various designer outfits that hung in Lee’s wardrobes.

The images that are available of the house in its current state, you see, paint a much more depressing picture than what is conjured in the Los Angeles Times article. The years since Lee Minnelli’s death have not been kind to the mansion, it seems. The grass and trees are overgrown and untended, for instance, suggesting that the property has been absent of a groundskeeper for some time.

What’s more, located in among the enormous plot’s untamed vegetation is an outdoor swimming pool. But just like the rest of the property, it’s a shell of its former self. Devoid of water, it looks more like a huge cavern in the ground. Seeing it empty is strangely eerie, particularly when you remember the glamorous people by whom it would have once been enjoyed. Now, the pool is simply a remnant of a time long since passed.

Unfortunately, the inside of the house doesn’t spin a different tale. The kitchen, for instance, is in a sorry state. Cupboard doors are torn off their hinges, while drawers have been pulled out and stacked haphazardly. Broken furniture, dishes and other detritus are scattered here and there, and the dirty sink is in desperate need of attention.

Upstairs, the words “Judy Garland” are scrawled across one of the walls. There’s no way to know who penned them, but it’s not hard to imagine someone getting wind of who used to live here and coming to scribble the name. Regardless, it’s a much-needed reminder of the lofty figures that were once associated with the now-abandoned house.

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grandemasterpyrokitsune · 7 years

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Happy 10th!

The time has finally come to talk about why PaF is so important. Really, anyone could do this anytime, but this date alone has a significance to it. To any of my followers who don’t know(and will sit through this brick wall of text to find out), today is the 10th anniversary of the sneak peek premiere of Phineas and Ferb; technically, February 2008 is when it officially premiered around the world, but I’m sure that everyone else in the fandom is eager to kick off the celebration today. I’m sure this will turn out to be a multi paged thesis, so I’ll try to split this up into parts.

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PART 1: Best Day Ever

Anyway, ten years ago today marks the 10th anniversary of Phineas and Ferb. This show is considered an old soul of sorts, enjoying a long lifespan of 8 years, tons of merchandising and entertainment opportunities, the admiration and respect of many celebrities, and a very long summer. As formulaic as it appears, this show has more history to it than it appears to have.

PART 2:Busted

(This part details history of Disney’s TV animation ventures and basically life before PaF. Feel free to skip if you’re clued in to its history.)

The 2000s were considered a lousy time for TV animation . While many say it's the "worst" decade for it(whether worldwide or just in North America), I'd call it a transitional period. The 90s was an exciting a refreshing time for TV animation where the stories were driven by the creators, not toy designers. I would generally consider it more of the same from the Golden Age of Animation but more modern. The 2000s had newer technologies to work with and perfect while the ‘90s mainly just worked w/ cel animation and did it so well. Flash and CG were in their infancy, so I assume the software got a bit more attention than the stories. Primarily, companies were just looking to work with more cost effective options to make their shows with. It was a rough period,but far from the worst. Anyway, this kind of TV animation is still a relatively new type of animation. Disney were the first ones to spearhead this movement and they made three or four blocks of new cartoon for different generations of kids.

The first block(formally known as Disney Afternoon)was ushered in with three pilots; Fluppy Dogs, Wuzzles and Ducktales. While the former two merely tested the waters and the latter was the only one successful, all three were made with stellar animation and complex storytelling for what everyone knew as entertainment for kids. After the success of Ducktales, Disney was brimming with pride and made seven years worth of cartoons for this block. Even if some cartoons didn't strike people the right way, they were still wildly memorable. While their D.C. original programming generally doesn't get more than short compilation discs, the DA 'toons get full series releases digitally and through DVD. This prompted to launch One Saturday Morning on ABC.

With the acquisition of Nicktoon Doug, Disney paired it up with Recess and Pepper Ann, chasing after the success they had a few years before. The aforementioned series were the highest rated on the block while other series are more obscure and buried by Disney. They are acknowledged as good but were overshadowed by 24/7 network like Nick and Cartoon Network bringing a lot more cartoons to a lot more times of the day.

Disney started to notice how much of an animated surplus they had and that they air their cartoons for weeks on end. Thus, Toon Disney was founded,which became a more visible hub for the cartoon blocks of the 90s and all other ages of Disney. At one point,they started airing Sonic the Hedgehog and making their own co-productions under their most popular TV cartoon brand, Jetix. As extensive as these programs got, they were being seen by fewer and fewer people.

To overlap slightly with the end of OSM, Disney started making more cartoons for the Channel’s demographic. Shows like Kim Possible, Lilo and Stitch, and American Dragon:Jake Long began airing and netting extraordinary ratings. In fact, Disney Channel was probably most successful in the early 2000s. It found its new groove if you will with its signature style of tween/teen sitcom and animated series. The former seem to have more clout on the network after the premiere of Lizzie McGuire,solidifying the formula. Similar to OSM, many cartoons were more or less not acknowledged the way they were 10 years before. Since sitcoms dominated because they were faster and cheaper to make, it seemed that the outcome was better. Over the course of the period (c. 2002-2008) they released the smallest selection of DC cartoons ever while the sitcoms got more and more press. It’s unclear what Disney was going to do next, but soon summer of 2007 came along...

PART 3: Gotta Make Summer Last

Disney Channel aired the premiere of High School Musical 2 and decided to air the first episode of PaF afterwards. As a result HSM 2 netted 17.6 million views and PaF 10.8 million views. We could easily deduce that eager HSM fans made up the clout of viewers, but that’s not to say the show couldn’t prove interesting to viewers anyway. In fact, Disney delayed its original 2007 release in the US to release it in February in multiple countries. Places such as Latin America, Brazil, Japan, France and Portugal got to experience the show right along with us. International promotion was rolled out which only netted PaF even more press. It became one of Japan’s most popular Western cartoons, it got wild promotion in Latin America and most of Europe(all around) made excellent dubs and gave it the lion’s share of time slots. This was a pretty good outcome all things considered.

Thus the cycle began. First came DVDs and games, then came interviews and guest spots, than movies, Disney park attractions, live events and then omnipresence.... scratch that last one, but you get the idea. The TV Movie itself was more or less the peak of the show. It remains the 10th most watched DCOM premiere of all time and the show remains one of the longest running animated series of the main Disney networks(DC, XD, and Junior). I think the last time Disney mass merchandised a TV cartoon this much was Lilo and Stitch(last one not already a franchise was Doug or Recess). The show is even part of the Marvel and Star Wars universes(non canonically of course)Even then, Disney elevated the show to new heights. It had everything Disney wanted; likeable protagonists, innocent motifs, enough songs to last for days, episodic adventures, and tons of mass marketing appeal. This simple show connected people across the world(if the Tumblr/DA fandoms for PaF were any indicator)through its mult-faceted music and rudimentary themes. While this show raised the bar, it also left the bar to be raised another notch by...

PART 4: Meet the Man of Mystery

In 2012, Gravity Falls premiered as a sneak peek behind DCOM Let it Shine. While not an instant ratings hit, it quickly became one of the most critically acclaimed Disney TV cartoons of all time. The spotlight quickly began to fade on the smartest stepbrothers around as new episodes were coming infrequently. While the numbers were still big enough to make Teen Titans Go mutter in awed jealousy, it still was becoming less of a force on the main network. However on Disney XD, it was still Adored by the Network. I remember how I felt watching day long marathons several times a month, sometimes without reason. Despite its mass appeal, Phineas and Ferb could be classified easily as a boy targeted program due to the protagonists and the subject matter. Until XD found its groove, they would continue to spam PaF for what felt like eons. To this day, they still occasionally air it in primetime slots.

The way I wrote this last part may sound cynical,jaded, and/or pessimistic. However, it’s written that way to emphasize another point. After the success of this series, Disney went from relying on a few filler shows to releasing a new show basically every year and truly giving them all the promotion they could. While not all series got the treatment we all wanted them to have, a lot more of them have come and gone to try to re-innovate and reinvigorate the brand. Phineas and Ferb (more or less) singlehandedly convinced Disney TV to put more stock in their animation division. Don’t know how many Fallers know this but Disney actually asked Alex Hirsch to make his pilot for them after seeing his work. They were actively seeking out new talent and new stories. Honestly, while Kick Buttowski and Pickle and Peanut got a lot of flac in the day, they were(to an extent) a sign that the House of mouse was trying to experiment and make something they liked to see. The latter especially seemed like a personal pet project of XD’s off sense of humor.

I’m sure the networks would have reinvented their cartoons eventually, but PAF brought it out in the best way. In a way the boys were kind of dc celebrities in their heyday. When you can summon a bunch of popular characters from the live action sitcoms to dance for possibly hours for a two minute music video in the name of a teal platypus made out of digital ink and pixels, that’s pretty special indeed.

CONCLUSION

Phineas and Ferb is my favorite animated series,explaining why I can info dump mostly from memory as I have in this post. While many have told me that it’s nothing special, to me it stands out as the brightest diamond in the rough and a shining testament to the duality of animation in general. Ten years from now, I hope that I can write better when I must wax sentimentality about my favorite cartoon show. Thanks to the cast, crew, creators, and fans for making summer last. See you at the 20th!

#Phineas and Ferb #phineas flynn #ferb fletcher #Disney Channel #disney xd #disney #analysis #personal essay #infodump #reblog with tag tldr for short version

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blessedishername · 7 years

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On Appropriation and Other Matters

My main complaint against Tumblr is that it tends to splinter conversations. There has been so much very thoughtful and earnest discussion going on in the last few hours, but I find myself perplexed in trying to engage it, as it is now split across, by my count, seven distinct threads. At the risk of making things worse, I’m going to attempt to weave them all together here. I do have somewhat to say regarding @seekingsoteria‘s original questions about Janyatic colors and the term “Sai”, but that will actually make somewhat more sense after addressing the main theme the conversation has taken on. @seekingsoteria writes: “In a lot of orthodox Deanist resources there’s a lot of appropriation, which is another reason I want to start my own tradition; I don’t want appropriation to keep new members from joining, and I don’t want us to think casually using Hindu terms or Chinese goddesses is okay.” I will return to the question of starting one’s own Déanic tradition; for the moment, however, I feel obliged to reject the notion that there is “a lot of appropriation” in orthodox Déanist resources. On the subject of “Hindu terms”. First, it should be pointed out that the “Hindu terms” in question are not exclusive to Hinduism. They are Sanskrit terms, also used in Buddhism and Jainism, and indeed used in the discussion of any religion to which they are applicable when that conversation is occurring in Sanskrit. Sanskrit is still used occasionally in academic and other formal contexts in India, and when an Indian scholar writes a paper on, say, Christianity in Sanskrit she will without hesitation refer to Jesus in Christian theology as saguna brahman (God with form), for example. The use of these terms in English is attributable, as the Chapel often notes, to the lack of sufficiently precise theological terms in English. The Chapel’s use does not redefine the terms (as was observed by @jules-morrison) and, to the extent that it might pull them out of some kind of “original” context in Dharmic thought, it is careful to note distinctions (as, for example, in observing that the Janyati are similar to, but not identical with, the Hindu concept of deva). There is no more appropriation here than there is in our English use of such phrases as nom de plume, Schadenfreude, or mono no aware—all of which are terms borrowed into English to represent concepts English simply did not have adequate terms to express. Chinese goddesses are a more complicated matter. The only one whom I am aware of us dealing with in any substantial measure is Guanyin. In her East Asian context she means many things to many people, and it is not entirely clear that she is even originally Chinese. Many common Chinese stories of her may be amalgams of an indigenous Chinese figure with an imported Buddhist one traveling from India (this was quite common, as evidenced by the way in which the Hindu goddess Saraswati, who also belongs to Buddhism, ended up as the Japanese kami Ugo Benzaiten in a number of Japanese shrines). As @underhermantle pointed out, some Buddhists regard her as a universal figure transcending cultural divisions. The nature of our claims about Guanyin is important to examine in detail here, however. When we discuss her, it is by way of asserting that she represents a particular cultural reflex of a universal figure in world mythologies (in @jules-morrison‘s terms, I would consider this “understanding them within their original system”). We make this same claim about a wide variety of other figures, including our own (since we do not actually make the claim that the Daughter, for example, as she appears in our Scriptures is a culturally unmediated Ding-an-sich). In this respect, our “use” of Guanyin is no more cultural appropriation than her (or any other figure’s) “use” by comparative mythologists, or folklorists, or archetypal depth psychologists, or literary critics, or anyone else who academically makes a claim to reveal a more universal level of meaning behind the figure. At the risk of trying everyone’s patience, I will illustrate the point. Christian theology incorporates something called “typology”, which is both the doctrine that all events in the Old Testament were foreshadowings of Christ, as well as the related discipline of explaining just how they providentially signaled the future coming of the Savior. This has been Christian practice since the earliest days of that faith, and has annoyed Jews to no end for 2000 years. Jewish theologians counterclaim that Christian typologists read out of context, distort the meanings of Hebrew words, etc. We do not, however, generally regard this as appropriation, and I think there are two reasons for this. One is that Christianity does not actually claim that, when Moses raised the bronze serpent on the pole in the Book of Numbers to turn away the plague of fiery serpents, he had Jesus in mind. Christian typology respects that the original Jewish view was something different, and then simply claims, on the basis of subsequent evidence (i.e. the New Testament), that it is now possible to understand the events of the Old Testament more profoundly than people in Old Testament times could. In that sense, it is not appropriation, but a point of theological debate to which both sides are bringing evidence to support normative truth claims. The second reason that I think we do not take this to be appropriation is that that would be patently absurd, since we would then have to regard (at least all gentile participation in) Christianity itself as a massive act of cultural appropriation of Judaism, invalidating it as a distinct religion with its own history, teachings, customs, and culture. If we are not prepared to dismiss Christianity as misunderstood Judaism, we cannot regard it as appropriative. Even the most questionable of Déanic uses of figures from other religions are no more so than Christian typology, and generally significantly less. If we were to take typology as appropriative, however, we also would hit a reductio ad absurdum, since some would argue that Judaism as we understand it is a distortion of pre-Exilic Judaism, itself arguably ripped out of a pagan Hebrew context. Are modern Jews “appropriating” Moses by potentially attaching meanings to him that he would not have regarded himself as having? Where would the chain end? Who gets to be “original”, and how much do you have to change something to make it new, and therefore “original” to you? This question is pertinent to Déanists in light of the observation that at least two people intimately involved with the formulation of orthodox Déanism had authentic connections to Hinduism (as @underhermantle cogently reminded us), and it would seem (as I argue in the ECE) that many of the original Madrians had similar bona fides in respect of Catholicism. Would we accuse Catholics of appropriating Mary, or Hindus of appropriating Sri Lalita by incorporating, not even the figures themselves, but certain unconventional understandings of them, into a new doctrine which they did not attempt to represent as “real” or “authentic” Hinduism or Catholicism? If they took these figures from “their own” traditions in good faith and wrapped a certain way of understanding them into a new, independent tradition which they then gave to us, isn’t that just us inheriting the tradition of Déanism, rather than us appropriating Catholic or Hindu traditions? As I say, however, they did not directly incorporate any of those figures. They simply bequeathed us a theology of religions that understands those figures in a particular way—as providential preservations of a Mother God image that is eternal and primordial (in the strictest sense), and predates all subsequent religions that have embraced it. In that sense, their teaching was that all patriarchal religions are “appropriations” of the ancient Mother God faith, and that we are at least as entitled to the wealth of its images and symbols as anyone else, if not more so. The pages and pages of nuanced and carefully argued reflection they produced on Guanyin’s symbolism, or on the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception as necessarily indicating identity with atman, suggest to me that they were not, and we are not, “casually using” anything. We, like Christian typologists, are engaged in a very thoughtful, well-researched conversation with theologians in other traditions over the proper meaning and understanding of particular symbols and incidents in prophetic history. Regardless of what one thinks of the merits of our case, arguing it from a body of evidence spanning the world’s religions is certainly not appropriation. The devotional use of icons may be more troublesome, but not, I think, insurmountably so. When @hanashisara observes that we have a “fragmented tradition”, she reiterates the essence of what the Aristasians called “the Filianist controversy”, in which one party felt that Filianism was too incomplete (as we possess it in Telluria) to follow, and that it would be better to embrace Hinduism or other Tellurian traditions, while another felt that enough of Filianism was available to us to be effective as a spiritual path. The two eventually worked out an amiable coexistence, which is part of what gave rise to the distinction in the literature between Filianism and “simple Déanism”. In proportion as we move away from orthodox Filianism toward simple Déanism, we actually become more—not less—dependent on borrowing from established Tellurian traditions, until we eventually hit the point of simply converting to them and practicing a Mother God devotion within their paradigms. (Most of us are here because, in some way, that did not work for us.) Even the strongest Filianic position still involves some borrowing from, or at least reference to, existing Tellurian traditions in order to understand how to apply Filianism in this context (a point @jules-morrison made with regard to iconography), but here we come back to the crux of Traditionalism. The Madrians and the Aristasians drew heavily on René Guénon and Ananda Coomaraswamy, who both argued that all the great world religions are reflexes of the same divine truth and that the “ownership” of any of their teachings and practices belongs, ultimately, only with that God Who inspired them. In this sense, all (Traditional) religions are “open”. One can dispute whether Guénon (a Catholic who converted to Sufism) and Coomaraswamy (a Hindu) had the right to make this claims, but they are far from the only ones. Historically, there are no “open” or “closed” religions (a point @jules-morrison made with specific respect to Hinduism). Christianity is conventionally “open” in that it seeks to spread itself and convert the whole world, yet there are sects in the US Midwest that have been stuck in remote corners since the 19th century and accept no converts, holding that only their few homesteads following “true Christianity” will go to heaven. Conversely, while there are Hindus who passionately contend that one must be born a Hindu to be one and that no one else is permitted to engage the religion at all, many devout Hindus came to preach to the West and argued that Hinduism was part of the same sanatana dharma (universal, eternal path) as Christianity, with some even embracing Jesus as an avatar of Vishnu. Today the Hare Krishnas make it their mission to encourage people of non-Indian descent to give themselves to Krishna, fill their homes with images of him, and even retell his stories in creative work. Every religion has partisans for declaring it “open” or “closed”. Personally, I would agree with Guénon and Coomarawamy that no partisan gets to own a religion—the religions of the world belong only to God. All of that being said, I think we would all like to work, as much as possible, with materials indigenous to our own tradition. @seekingsoteria mentioned the lack of material on the siari (faeries), and I too have been frustrated at not finding more on this. That being said, there is much more Déanic “mythology” (in the highest sense of that term) than I realized before I started combing meticulously through old Madrian documents. The new ECE, for example, contains an Appendix C with a couple of allusions to Déanic myths which occur in Madrian material without the whole story being given. Interestingly for our present discussion, one of these is a reference to a story of Inanna riding in the chariot of an Amazon princess before a great battle, which the Madrian source asserts is the archetypal origin of the story of Krishna in Arjuna’s battle-chariot in the Bhagavad Gita (a “patriarchalised” version of the Inanna story, as the Madrians would have it). Who is appropriating whom here? Or is it better said that both reach back to a universal theme that belongs to all maidkind? Still, we can do more to establish Déanism in its distinctiveness, and I have long thought that commissioning original Déanic icons would be a good place to start. There are a couple of Madrian sources that specify iconographical traits for the Janyati (the most detailed one is here), and I have been working on collecting these so that an artist would know how they were meant to be depicted. I might note that the existence of these descriptions, which are unique to Déanic teaching and not copies of any other tradition’s iconography (though there are certainly similarities to multiple other traditions’ iconographies, as one would expect given the cross-cultural occurrence of many archetypal symbols), further reinforces the idea that we draw comparisons with images from other traditions, rather than appropriating them. The Chapel is very careful about this, and will never say of an image of Sri Durga, for example, that it is an image of Sai Vikhë, but only that the Déanic devotee may see something of the essence of Sai Vikhë in it. In many cases, the Chapel even particularly notes the ways in which distinct traditions of iconography are not equivalent, as in observing that Sri Lakhshmi and Sri Saraswati are both figures that incorporate elements that, in Déanism, would be divided between two separate Janyati. I hope it goes without saying that, if relating Déanism to Hinduism, or to any other tradition, makes you uncomfortable, you shouldn’t do it. If you don’t feel right about having an image of Sri Durga on your altar as a way of approaching the essence of Sai Vikhë, then don’t. These comparisons—borrowings, relations, whatever one wants to call them—are meant to be helpful, and if they aren’t then they may be set aside. As time goes on and the community grows—as it accumulates more of its own artists, thealogians, etc.—they will become less necessary anyway. For that to happen, however, we have to hold the community together as best we can. That is where I become a bit uncomfortable with @underhermantle‘s suggestion that one could swap Janyatic color correspondences in one’s “own tradition”. In one’s personal meditation and reflection, by all means explore the “blueness” of Sai Sushuri or the “greeness” of Sai Thamë. They are sisters after all, and Hindu iconography combines elements of both in the figure of Sri Lakhshmi, who is interesting to reflect upon in this regard. One could also explore the fact that, until very recently, Japanese had only one word—aoi—that served for both blue and green. On the level of “official” Déanic teaching, however, I think the preservation of our shared symbolic/liturgical heritage as we have received it is very important for building and sustaining our broader sense of community (to say nothing of the importance of the metaphysical teaching itself). It would sadden me to think, for example, that if a Déanic artist finally rose from our ranks to produce the beautiful icons we all wish for, that her work would in the meantime have become out of alignment with a variant branch of teaching. This does not mean that we can never disagree or alter anything, but I think we should be very, very careful about doing so. @seekingsoteria said, “I would love for us to have our own culture and images and terminology, but we just haven’t been around for long enough.” As with other historical religions, it’s partly about being around long enough, and it’s partly about maintaining unity on as much as possible over time. The more effective we are at doing that, the more quickly and more strongly our “own culture” will be established. Thus I come at last to make a point on the idea of having one’s “own tradition” of Déanism, or of establishing a “denomination”. This strikes me as a very Western sort of idea. The Chapel frequently reiterates that Déanism “in the Motherland”, has no rigidly separated “denominations”, for all that it has various temples, religious orders, and devotional movements that have their own (broadly compatible) traditions. This might come off as a bit semantic, and perhaps it is, but I think articles like this one highlight how much all of us raised in the modern West will have to readjust our thinking (starting, as Confucius said, with the rectification of names) in order to manifest Déanism truly in Telluria. And with that, at last, at last, we come to the “Sai” prefix. As @jules-morrison noted, it is a Herthelan prefix, linguistically cognate to both Sanskrit sri and Latin sanctus, which is the root of our “saint”. Like both of those, it is used as an honorific before the name of a Janya or of a hera—i.e. a saint. Two common such uses are the legendary Herthelan figures Sai Rayanna (who defeated the demons to establish the Cairean Empire) and Sai Suanti (who rejuvenated popular religion with a devotional chanting movement). Interestingly, the oldest attestation of this term that I have found comes from a Madrian article on world religions, perhaps worth reading in light of all the above discussion on appropriation (it can be found on pp. 3–6 of this PDF), which contains the phrase “Sai Jesus”. PS On the point that came up while I was writing this about our mind’s ability to perceive God, I suppose I always assumed that’s what the Scriptures were talking about when they said that Her brightness had become too great for us to look upon and that it therefore had to be mediated through the gentler light of the Daughter. Is there another interpretation of that of which I have not been aware?

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karismaadriatic · 7 years

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Olives – A Thousand-year-old Trees

Old Lady from Mirovica (near Bar) Natural monument protected by law since 1957. Over 2000 years old Olive Tree and one of the oldest in this part of Europe.

When this ancient plant offered its first branch and was slowly growing up into a young tree, the lions were slowly disappearing from the territory of Western Europe, the Roman Empire was at its peak, Arena in Pula was built and two major world religions emerged – Buddhism and Christianity.

For more than 2000 years, old olive has witnessed history. Its exceptionally long life, which continues to be crowned each year with the fruit of exceptional quality, makes this plant one of the oldest in the world.

When I visited Old Bar on the Montenegrin seaside, the townspeople proudly showed me their olive groves on the hills around the town. Those are the gardens of a row of generations. Most of the olive trees in this area, and in the whole Montenegrin seaside are a hundred, two hundred, or even five hundred years old, and some are older still.

One should know that an olive tree can live for a thousand years and sometimes even longer. The one which is over two thousand years old dwells by the road leading from Bar to Ulcinj! Experts have confirmed its age and marked it as the oldest tree in Europe. It is huge indeed, with a trunk about ten meters in circumference. This olive, as a unique tree on the continent, is fenced and under protection of the state. Tourists gladly visit this olive and take photos under its treetop. On its still green branches fruits are sparse, but it is, still, the most expensive tree in Europe. Experts from Rome used to offer as much as a few million lira for it. They planned to root it out completely and take to Rome in order to decorate and enrich a botanical garden of their own.

But this old “lady” is not only olive tree here; there are many more of them, and all provide shelter from the hot and steamy summer days under their dense crowns, both for tourists and local people. Old olive groves often inspire poets and painters who come to the Montenegrin seaside in the summer time. They sing to them, make paintings and take these canvases with them as souvenirs. In fact, many of old olive trees are songs, stories and memories themselves, both of their own and of the human past. Very often, a hundred, five-hundred, and a thousand-year-old olive trees receive personal names: Đuro’s, Radun’s, Todor’s, Risto’s, Periša’s. They are named thus after the individuals who planted them: Đuro, Radun, Todor… Who knows when? They planted olives on hills, stone terraces and valleys and these long-lasting trees have preserved their names in return. That is how olives became the monuments of their past owners and it seems as if they are telling the stories of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers to the younger generations. That fact is that a man who plants an olive does not do it for himself but for his sons, grandsons and great-grandchildren. Olives grow slowly, and one has to wait long for them to fruit. Its fruits begin to grow and mature after the first thirteen years of a tree’s life.

As years go by, the tree develops, bearing constantly richer crops. It grows wider, and puts forth new branches. They give the best crop when they are about a hundred years old. But fruits grow and mature even at two hundred years and more. And, eventually, years and centuries pass by, the olives get old, and only few spring flowers and autumn fruits can be found in their branches.

The stories and legends about olive growing are told even today. They are usually connected to encounters and meetings of boy and girls. A story tells that in the medieval times there was a law preventing a young man from getting married unless he had planted at least ten olives. That was the reason for which boys grew these long-living trees with special care and attention – they cherished them, made small terraces around their roots, dug up the soil, fertilized it. In winter they wrapped up young plants with linen or straw to protect them from the frost that used to come down from the hills of Lovćen and Rumija. It was customary to plant two seedlings in the ground. Even today, when you go through these olive groves you often see two olives growing one by the other. At their treetops the branches are intertwined so that they seem to hug each other. This possibly explains why many people call the olive the fruit of love and future. Olive trees have always been believed to bring their owners not only fruits, but also love, good luck and longevity.

The symbolism of an olive branch dates back as far as the 5th Century, and over time has held significance in a multitude of cultures. This week’s top 5 introduces the various meanings behind our beloved olive trees.

VICTORY Even though the origins of an olive branch as a symbol of peace lie in ancient Greek mythology, its symbol of victory was also prolific during the same period. It was Athena’s victory over Poseiden when she was awarded possession of Athens by the court of the gods & goddesses after she planted the first olive tree. Such a gift to the land was far better a gesture than that of Poseidon’s dramatic attempts.

WISDOM Furthermore, as the goddess of wisdom in ancient Greek mythology, Athena’s gesture to claim and successful acquire the possession of Athens through planting the first olive tree, has since associated the olive branch with The Tree of Wisdom.

PEACE With a strong symbolism of peace in Christianity, the olive branch was noted for it’s same significance across many other cultures & religions. Our favourite peace signifier of the olive branch is that which originates from times of war. Because of it’s slow growth and not being cultivated during war time, olive trees were considered as “peace-time trees”.

FERTILITY In folk tradition of Greek medicine olive oil was considered to be an aphrodisiac. The new year’s olive oil harvest was gifted in the shape of bread to young couples as an antidote to sterility.

HOPE In the Old Testament a dove returns to Noah’s ark with an olive branch, as a symbol of hope to the people at the end of the great flood.

Source: LIKE MONTENEGRO http://www.likemontenegro.me/old-lady-from-mirovica/

This noble tree is grown not only on the Montenegrin Coast but also all over the Mediterranean Shore. Sailors used to tell me that chains of olive trees create a huge green garland around the azure seawater all the way from Egypt to Istria. However, in the northern part of the Adriatic Coast olives are far less grown than in the southern, which is conditioned by the air temperature. Regions with hot summers and mild winters provide the best conditions for olive growing. Therefore, the most convenient climate for them is to the south of Dubrovnik, and the real olive “homeland” stretches exactly across the Montenegrin Shore.

This area has not only a suitable climate, but also and ideal soil structure for them. Olives prefer mild clay and loose soil containing higher amount of limestone and this is exactly the composition of Montenegrin seaside land.

According to statistics, there are over 550,000 olive trees on the Montenegrin coast. This means that the olive production is the most widespread fruit-growing business in this region. Ulcinj’s plantation has the best olive groves constantly records bumper crops. When I visited this property, the olive picking was in its prime. The pickers were mostly girls and young women.

Olive picking in this area is much like grape-picking at vine-growing regions. The only difference is that men take a minor role. They load bags and panniers, and after carrying their burdens from the olive groves, load them onto the donkeys, horses or vehicles which will carry them to the ‘ransom stations’.

Israeli and Palestinian olive harvesters in the village of Qafin, northern West Bank, Palestine Author: Orrling, Source: Commons.Wikimedia

The picking season lasts a long time, sometimes running from the middle of September to the end of February, especially when weather forecast is for sunny autumn and mild winter. Slow picking makes for a higher income, because it allows the fruit to mature gradually, as is natural.

But, when the olive yield is abundant all this effort is repaid tenfold. From one hundred kilograms of olives 20 kilograms of first class oil can be extracted. Unrefined olive is used for various spices and as winter food. The sorts most often used for this purpose are drobnica and oskulenka olives, while the žutica, oblica and levantinka varieties are better for oil. Oblica and žutica are the most prolific, and for this reason they are most extensively grown. It is reckoned that from the olive groves of the Montenegrin seaside about one million kilograms of oil are extracted each year.

This figure best shows how much benefit the population can gain from this ancient fruit. For this reason extension and improvement of olive groves are permanently under way. Community farms and agriculture cooperatives, as well as individual farms, progressively apply scientific farming methods in cultivation of olive groves are permanently under way. Community farms and agriculture cooperatives, as well as individual farms, progressively apply scientific farming methods in cultivation of olive groves, particularly in Ulcinj and Bar districts.

Text taken from: Traveling Through Montenegro, Draško Šćekić

#olive #olive tree #maslina #ulje #maslinovo ulje #olive oil #victory #wisdom #peace #fertility #love #montenegro #bar #old lady #Mirovica #Old Bar #Crna Gora #Stara Maslina

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alimonytony · 4 years

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This is a repost from my rant forum on my site and since I'm interested only in it being read, rather than advertising or shilling it out for hits, I'm going to just repost it here. Before I do let me give you a quick introduction.

I finally registered on the SA forums a week or so ago having been a loyal reader for a couple of years. I don't like the new design of the site, I want to kill it with fire, I liked my good-old Web1.0 scrolly site, give it back please.

I'm posting this here because you lot are smart, and as such, I have no issues with you telling me that you think I'm wrong with this pseudo-rant. This may also be preaching to the choir a bit and for that I sincerely apologize. I hope at least you get some enjoyment out of this. If you're one of those fellows who likes to Digg, the article also has a Digg page, do with it as you see fit - http://digg.com/general_sciences/At...you_intelligent

With that said and done, here goes.

"It's novello time, and it's about religion, so unless you're ready to deal with some views you may not agree with, switch off now. In the words of Illidan "You are not prepared".

Let's get this out here right now. I'm a 23 year old law graduate with an IQ of 155. My political beliefs are liberal and leftist, I listen to Metal and I enjoy violent movies, books and videogames, and I've been a Christian since birth. Baptised, confirmed of my own free will, son of a priest (who are pretty notorious for rebelling against their father's religious beliefs just for the sake of it). I'm part of the Anglican Church of England, which is pretty much the result of Henry the 8th getting pissed off with the catholics not allowing him to divorce his wife(s). We're the state religion of the UK, if you could even say the UK has one, we're pretty liberal about most things, women priests, gay priests, homosexuals in general, sex before marriage, contraception, we take the modern, reasonable way of looking at all of them. At the end of the day, the Bible taught us about forgiveness and being excellent to one another. It had a bit of a round-about way of doing it but what do you expect for a 2000 year old book written entirely by clerical males? It's gonna be a bit out of date, you've gotta read it in context.

I have no problems with anyone's beliefs. Be whatever you want, as long as you believe (or don't believe) for a good reason. But here's what I really don't like, trend-atheism/trend-theism (also referred to as e-atheism, since it seems to be most prevelant in the domain of anonymous blogspammers and Digg-users).

In my late teens, I spent a long time thinking. Yeah, just sitting around and thinking, thinking about faith. Thinking about what it is that I believe in. Rationalizing the various conflicts and contradictions that faith presents us with, looking at the viewpoints of other faiths, or those with no faith at all, taking into account the new things we discover every day and factoring in the influence of science. Some people would claim that, if I had indeed done that, I'd have come to the conclusion, as an intellectual, rational thinker, that God does not exist. They would of course, be wrong.

My beliefs center around several factors. Firstly, it is important for us as human-beings to realize our own limits, and the limits of our understanding. Centuries ago we believed the world was flat. "The Bible told us so!", would be the first cry. Wrong, it really didn't. In the Old Testament, Job 26:7 explains that the earth is suspended in space, the obvious comparison being with the spherical sun and moon. The Old Testament, you remember that one? The one with the fiery bushes, the pillar's of salt, the cool plagues and such? Even that managed to get it right. There's a few more references as well to the 'round' earth (and before you say anything, flat is not a shape, it could have been a flat octagon for all they knew) but I'm not going to go into that yet. We've had computers for less than a century, powered flight for just over a century and of course our amazing horseless carriages. Genetics, electricity, nuclear-bombs, toaster-strudel, the world is in the palm of our hands! And it didn't take us too long did it?

Reality-check, we're still primitives. In the great scheme of things this technology is a mere blip on the historical radar. We've got an awful long way to go before we're able to dissect and understand the mysteries of the universe. We haven't even put a man on Mars yet, let alone left our solar system to find out what exactly is out there. How can it be that we have suddenly, so recently, become so arrogant as to believe we know more than we really do? The Laws of Science are written by man, based on our understanding of how things work. They are theories that, while prove true today, may be debunked by another amazing discovery tomorrow. Which leads onto my next point.

Name this quote "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". Arthur C Clarke, physicist and author, smart fellow. It also hilights the point I'm making. Our understanding of the universe is peerless only amongst ourselves. We are not as smart as we think we are. Just as fire wowed the neanderthals, what would it take to wow us? What would make our jaws drop and our minds boggle? Well, any sufficiently advanced technology of course. And what is technology after-all? Man-made machines. The concept of technology is a human concept, a concept that may, in other parts of the universe, not even exist, replaced by something even more advanced than that, so advanced that we cannot comprehend it. Not surprising really as we mammals only use 10% of our brains.

So where am I going with this? Simple really, take yourself off of your high-horse, you, and the human race, is not as smart as it thinks it is. Now, open your mind a little, and let's explore some possibilities.

The definition of a God. Let us turn to the good book.

Wikipedia.

"God most commonly refers to the deity worshipped by followers of monotheistic and monolatrist religions, whom they believe to be the creator and ruler of the universe. Theologians have ascribed a variety of attributes to the various conceptions of God. The most common among these include omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, perfect goodness, divine simplicity, and eternal and necessary existence. God has also been conceived as being incorporeal, a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent"

Hmm, a tall order one might think. Could such a being exist? Some argue that logically, he could not, however, there is very little logic in denying the possibility that a being or beings of such power and advancement exist that they could indeed, be considered 'God' within our definition. That's not to say that God is a small green alien with a flying saucer and a phaser though that would give some of the overzealous fundamentalists something to sweat over, much to our amusement. But what is this God? A creator? Sure, we create. We create technology, we're getting to the stage of being able to create life in one form or another, using the basic building blocks of nature. Could it not be surmised therefore that it is entirely within the realms of possibility that someone or something created those building blocks? Like a programmer creates a new program, someone must have also created the coding language in which he created it. We scramble for answers. We come up with theories. Some believe in the beginning there was nothing, which exploded. Some believe a man in the sky created it everything in 6 days and then mooched around on the 7th. Which is valid?

Neither, and both. They attempt to apply meaning to something where meaning may, or may not exist. Creationism and the Big Bang are in that sense, as bad as each other. They are both merely attempts for us to explain the unexplainable. The Big Bang contradicts our laws of physics (something most catalyse an explosion, therefore something must have been there in the first place, where did that come from, at which point your brain melts). The Creation Story contradicts our laws of physics (Same reasons, who created God after all?). Everything we've so far managed to come up with, from the sublime to the ridiculous, the complex to the simplistic, it's an exercise in desperate straw-clutching. At the end of the day, we don't know jack.

And that's ok. Someone once said that the journey matters more than the destination, it's not the winning, it's the taking part, at least ya tried sport. These explanations of where it all comes from, be they ancient or modern all boil down to the same need. To know. Who'd have thunk it, we've got brains for a reason, and they rather like being used. Those neurons like to be fired, the little grey matter likes a little exercise every once in a while. Just as the Creation Story was a way to explain an unexplainable concept, so is the Big Bang theory. If one were to compare the human mind to a computer, try feeding the Big Bang theory to the medieval man, and it's like trying to shove Bioshock into a Commodore Vic20. Good luck. And what will our children's children's children's grandchildren's children think of our Big Bang theory? My money's on exactly the same thing.

So what am I trying to tell you, stop asking questions, stop looking for answers and just believe whatever the hell suits ya? Absolutely not. Believe whatever suits you, but question it, never stop thinking, never stop asking or learning. In this day and age it seems people are way too willing to believe, or not believe. Belief, or non-belief should be a life-long arduous process and it should end involuntarily, when you fall over dead. Someone (there's a lot of talkative someone's aren't there?) once said 'Never stop believing', I say, "Never stop asking yourself what you believe, and why".

It's time to criticize, so let me load port and starboard cannon and fire a volley at both atheists and theists alike. Believing, or not believing, does not make you intelligent. Smart people do not come to a conclusion on the basis of insubstantial evidence. Smart people do not mindlessly attack other people's beliefs just because they don't conform to their own. Smart people do not assume that their own rigid, poorly formed definitions of logic and faith, reason and belief are mutually exclusive and that if one exists, the other cannot. Smart people think outside the box, not pick fights with those poor souls trapped in it.

What makes you intelligent, is knowing why you believe what you believe. Knowing that you are but one mind, and knowing that at any time you could be proven wrong, only for that person to be proven wrong ad infinitum as we as a race advance.

I suppose you're waiting for my personal beliefs, waiting for this to be some kind of sermon, preaching why my God is better than your God, or non-God. You'll be waiting a long time, because it's not coming. My personal beliefs are just that, personal, they're mine, they belong to me. You cannot take them away from me, only I can. What I can give you though, are my opinions.

Right now shots are being fired. They're not physical shots, they're bullets and shells of ignorance and bigottry. And it's no one-sided battle let me tell you that much. Factionalized camps everywhere you can imagine. Atheists, Theists, Satanists, Christians, Republicans, Democrats, Capitalists, Communists, every group you can imagine, all shouting 'Your God/Non-God sucks, mine is better!'. These days, the internet's become their battleground. So much for sharing knowledge, we're sharing ignorance.

The bigottry and the condemnation has to stop. The sad thing is, I'm having to condemn the condemners. Isn't it lowsy how you generally have to be a hypocrite in order to make a point these days? Food for thought. We can look at the extremes and see the simplistic, secular vs sacred, trend-atheists vs fundamentalist evangelical christians, the most common stereotypes. But in reality, it's so much more complicated than that. It's this stereotyping and narrow-minded attitude that prevents us as a race from achieving the greatness we can. I could make as many decrees as I wanted till I was blue in the face, and I'm going to just to let off a little steam mind you,

"Trend-atheist Digg users, shove your agendas where the sun don't shine, refusing the possibility of a supreme-being does not make you a genius or a radical thinker, it makes you a bloody sheep hiding behind a cloak of anonymity"

"Evangelical Fundamentalist morons, get your overly simplistic, judgmental, dogmatic Crayola God out of my face, you have about as much understanding of the universe as a wet lettuce. That does not make you holy, pure, or guaranteed a private booth at the big game in the sky, it makes you a bloody sheep hiding behind a cloak of propaganda that you only believe because you're told to"

Wow, that feels good, I can understand why you internet-bound condemners like it so much. Gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling doesn't it? What, I'm not allowed to indulge in such a guilty pleasure every once in a while? Play fair Wink

Where's my conclusion? Hell if I know. Did you have the mistaken impression this was some carefully constructed plea for tolerance? Absolutely not, it's an angry slap in the face to my peers. Wake the hell up and use your brain, because my God/Non-god/Explosion/Man-in-the-sky/Vic20 gave you it for a reason.

TB.

#long post #a classic

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topworldhistory · 4 years

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Around the globe, the serpent carries potent symbolism.

Ever since Eve’s transgression in the Garden of Eden, snakes in Christian tradition have been associated with lies, evil and temptation. But in other cultures, as far-flung as ancient Greece and Egypt and indigenous North America, snakes symbolize fertility, rebirth, renewal and even immortality. The ouroboros, the ancient symbol of eternity that was famously depicted on King Tut’s tomb in the 14th century B.C., is a serpent devouring its own tail.

From the Aztec god of wind, rain and creation to the semi-divine human-snake creatures that guarded the Buddha, here are nine snakes or serpents that have emerged, through history or myth, to play important roles in the cultures they represent.

Snake in the Garden of Eden

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

A man. A woman. A snake. And a fateful apple. In the Old Testament Book of Genesis, a serpent memorably appears in the Garden of Eden, the earthly paradise God created for the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. The cunning snake convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit of the “tree of knowledge,” telling her that “when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When God learned of Adam and Eve’s transgression, he banished both of them from Eden and cursed the snake for its role, saying “You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.” Debate has long raged over whether the serpent in Genesis was a literal reptile, an allegory for sexual desire or temptation or even Satan himself.

Snakes that St. Patrick drove out of Ireland

St. Patrick depicted with a snake under his foot.

Irish culture is brimming with myths and legends, perhaps none so prevalent as that of St. Patrick, Ireland’s patron saint, banishing every last snake from the Emerald Isle. As the story goes, St. Patrick, a fifth-century Christian missionary, was fasting for 40 days atop a hill when he was attacked by snakes. He waved his staff, driving all Ireland’s snakes into the sea. Though Ireland—like New Zealand, Hawaii, Greenland, Iceland and Antarctica—is in fact devoid of snakes, that has less to do with St. Patrick than with the fact that since the post-glacial age it’s been surrounded by water, and before that its climate was too cold for any snakes to survive. The story makes more sense as an allegory: Snakes were a symbol of paganism, and Patrick was given credit for driving the pagans out and bringing Christianity to the Emerald Isle.