#bedlam watches rebels

[bedlamsbard]

Number 7 for the chose violence ask game?

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

This is an immediate and unhesitating Star Wars answer: Ahsoka.

so these days a lot of my annoyance is about the canon, but go back in time to 2015 when the Rebels S1 finale came out. at this point Ahsoka had not appeared in (real time) Star Wars canon since the first TCW series finale (this show has had three for various reasons), which aired in March 2013, which is actually not that long. (She showed up briefly in Yoda's vision when Lost Missions aired in 2014, the second TCW series finale.) From a 2023 perspective, two years is not that long, but it was 2015, okay. TFA had not yet come out. Rebels S1 had just aired. The decanonization of Legends wasn't even a year old yet; the amount of new (Disney) canon Star Wars was in the single digits. This was years before Disney+ or TCW S7 (the third TCW series finale) and live action Star Wars television was an oft-shotdown rumor (Star Wars Underworld, we remember you kindly).

Back in 2014 when they first announced Rebels, there was a lot of bitterness about it -- did they cancel TCW for this, why aren't any of these characters Ahsoka, could Sabine maybe be Ahsoka? (They first introduced her helmeted.) You can probably find some of this on my Tumblr if you go back far enough because I was also very wary at the time. All through when Rebels S1 was airing there was a lot of conversation about when or if Ahsoka was going to show up in a way you really wouldn't get today, because these days we're used to cameos and crossovers. When Fulcrum made their debut with the masked voice in Out of Darkness, people reverse-engineered that voice and did digital...stuff...to try and figure out if it was Ashley Eckstein voicing the character, because back then people immediately did assume that Fulcrum was Ahsoka. And then Fire Across the Galaxy came out, and Ahsoka actually did appear, and then the animated side of Star Wars fandom lost its fucking mind.

so you have to understand that a lot of TCW fans did not go over to Rebels when it first aired. many did, I was one of them, but a lot didn't because they were very angry about TCW being cancelled, about Ahsoka not being a main character, about Rebels' art style -- gods, that one had (and still has!) people furious. and then Ahsoka appeared in Rebels with her new design and people just LOST IT.

(not my edit)

people were FURIOUS she didn't like her TCW vision version -- like, you think the reaction to her live action appearance was bad? please, we were all dead inside by that point and inured to Star Wars' nonsense. I have seen some shit in the Star Wars fandom and the reaction to Ahsoka's Rebels redesign is way up at the top of the list. The shape of her lekku and montrals. The tiger striping on her lekku. The shape of her face. The way her facial markings changed. Her skin color. The one that always sticks in my head are the people who argued that because she was wearing a different headband Filoni and Co. had stripped her of her cultural identity as a Togruta. The list goes on. I swear to gods however bad you think it was from what I'm saying it was worse. No, worse than that.

That's just the aesthetic elements. What also happened as soon as she had appeared was people going "well, Ahsoka's here, so Kanan is obviously going to die," and this went on for ALL of the hiatus summer between S1 and S2, and ALL of S2. As many SW fen who follow me know, Kanan is my favorite, so I was logging on every day to find people discussing how Kanan was extraneous and marked for death because why would you have Kanan when you could have AHSOKA. I got very bitter about it. (Not helped by canon completely fumbling Kanan every time Ahsoka was onscreen, I am still EXTREMELY angry about the hot mess that was The Future of the Force.)

Two years later canon quite literally did swap Kanan out for Ahsoka, and I've never really gotten over it, but when World Between Worlds aired that was the first thing that I thought of. It was just...extremely bad.

And then in general people get extremely weird about Ahsoka in the way that people always get about their faves (depth? flaws? we've never heard of them), in a way that's just been getting much worse over the years since Rebels S4 (which I hate) and TCW S7 (which I hate) and the live action appearance (which I hate) and the upcoming show (which I refuse to acknowledge). Even as a fic writer, it got to the point where I'd really hesitate to put Ahsoka into a story or a chapter because I knew that if I did, I'd get a large number of comments (large being relative here) that ONLY talked about Ahsoka and not about anything else going on in that chapter. And then when I didn't put her into a chapter (you can see this in the last few chapters of Crown that I posted earlier this year), I'd get people going BUT WHERE'S AHSOKA? As a cast of thousands writer it was a combination guaranteed to drive me crazy, even if I hadn't been, at that point, pretty neutral about the character. And I started as a fan, you know? I didn't come into TCW until S4 was airing, so the show had to sell me on her, but it worked, and I was a fan. It just...went wrong in every possible way.

(The Marvel equivalent for me is Peggy Carter, and I am doing a lot of work on my end to not end up as bitter about Peggy as I am about Ahsoka, because I know it's a danger for related but not identical reasons, and I'd really rather not have that response to two characters. And mostly I have been successful, because I'm pretty careful about where I go in the fandom and I'm not picking up rabid Peggy fans the way my Rebels fic picked up rabid Ahsoka fans, since it's a much larger fandom and people who are very aggressive about Peggy are not reading a clearly labeled SteveNat fic. It's helped by the fact that these are very different canons and very different fandoms, and that I came in well after Endgame, because I know if I'd come in before I'd be way less clear-headed about it; there's a reason I avoid all the Captain Carter stuff, which makes me rabid for various reasons.) (That said I know I'm blocked by at least one Peggy fan.)

#fleurdufeu #bedlam replies #bedlam watches star wars #bedlam watches rebels

[catsafarithewriter]

A/N: PART 25 of the Bedlam au! Lmao sorry for the late update, I thought I had queued this... turns out I had not!

X

The Bedlam tilts his head to better appraise the Creation. He notes all the ways he improved upon the original design – from the sharper cut of the suit, to the softened stripes beneath the eyes – perfect, save for the eyes.

Maybe if he'd gone with green buttons, his prey might have taken his offer.

"Do you want to know why your smart, sensible Haru fell for my world," he asks, "even with button-eyed doppelgangers? Why she couldn't see the web, until it was too late?" He meets the cat Creation's gaze head on, and marvels how easy he is to read with those eyes. "She was blind, Baron, because she wanted to be. Because she desperately wanted the lie I offered to be true." He smirks. "Because even an alternative version of you was better than nothing."

There — he sees it: the rage weakens, and grief flickers in the Baron's eyes.

"You made it easy, Baron," the Bedlam purrs. "Practically threw her into my arms."

"Not too easy though," the crow Creation adds. He doesn't bristle with rage, like the mortal cat, nor burn with the same intensity as the Baron. Part of that is surely from his longer stay in the Bedlam's cage, his anger spread out thinner, but there is still something pointedly calculated in his eyes. "She didn't seem so eager to throw away her soul for a chance to stay with you, even after all the time you've spent winning her over."

"A miscalculation," the Bedlam replies. "I let my temper get the better of me." Perhaps he should have played his part for longer, kept up his charade – but his attention had been divided by his intruders, and when he had come back to the matter at hand, his meal had been halfway to the archway, led by none other than one of his own puppets.

That's another dilemma...

He looks on his captives, two out of the three the baseline for his marionettes. For weeks, he had watched them, refining their doppelgangers – a little less of the arguing, a little more teamwork – and now, as he considers their blind rush into his world to save their friends, he sees his mistake.

He had made them too true to the originals. They care too much for Haru, enough that they would rebel against him, if it meant saving her.

It's a mistake he won't make again, but the damage is done for this trap. He doesn't have the time to weave them anew; the best he can do is make sure their strings are good and tight.

Before Haru returns, he will be sure to bind all his puppets with more web. Even if they don't want to play along, he can make sure they dance to his tune.

One problem down...

#bedlam au #cat writes #short today! #we reunite with haru tomorrow!

[favoredsouls]

gods of war fight themselves constantly.

a foot soldier see himself in the enemy as the charge propels him forward.

the mounted warriors circle themselves with harrying blade amd arrow.

the sniper peeks over cover and spots a flash of light, equal parts divinty and panic.

the general watches a dozen small gods of war tackle into eachother and themselves. all the while plotting the downfall of that dreaded doppleganger he spies in the command tent opposite theirs. they watch back.

War gods are not omnipotent but they are omnipresent. every regiment has one. one that smells the swear of their counterpart in another army. they seek eachother out.

sword and gun and horse and command all intertwined in an endless dance as old as war itself. momentum and velocity marking turning points in an endless maze of conflict. where the blood congeals is where two gods fought.

ripping eachother to bits in hail of bullet and flurry of steel. still they rise. no memory of victory or defeat. for in war there is nothing like that for eternal gods of strife. they catch the smell on the wind and move to the opposing army, join up, and the battle of hunters begins again.

the generals order capture but as soon as they lay eyes on eachother there is chaos. fist, knife and teeth all cuddled up for warmth in the blood of the victim. they both fall but the day is won. they already plotted their maneuvers to see the war ended. all that matters is the deatb of the other.

hollow point deities seek eachother out and let loose sheets of metallic fire. in their bedlam there is no friend or foe or neutrality. only the ruined remains of themselves.

for a god to see themselves is to assert dominion over domain. so they hunt and fight and kill.

a clash of steel, a tearing of skin and sinew, another god felled but the injuries lefr the victor vulnerable. it wasnt long before a roaming squad caught scent and collapse on the limping entity.

to them they see a warrior like themselves, wearing the colors of foreigners or rebels or imperialists or barbarians. but the blood on their colors call out in rich reds. they pull the weapons out of their sheaths almost unwittingly. they crush the poor god like a hammer on a grape.

the cycle begins anew when the horsemen notice eachother. they charge immediately, bringing their horses around and forward, spears lowered, and bows firing. arrow after arrow. pass after pass. an intricate dance of control and unyielding advance. till they both run out of arrows and imoale eachother ontheir lances.

so the little prophets whose gospel is bloodshed and turmoil end another day of soaking the earth in their blood. they rise the next month. or year. or decade. another war. another battle. sign up. train. charge and fall. A tempo as calm as firing squads. as war drums. as marching. always marching.

#gods #idk i felt inspired and it felr right here #blood mentiom #gore mention #battle #war

[bio-where]

Jedi survivor talk Part 2! More spoilers here!

--------------------------------

I'm not really trying to organize this, so if this feels scrambled, it probably is!

I want to talk more about the side characters and Koboh as a setting.

A frontier world with the bones of high republic ruins and a crashed separatist lukerhulk capital ship is a really fun setting, plenty of mysteries to solve and places to explore, all while fighting raiders employing separatist druids to boost their military presence. It's really cool.

It's just confusing to think about the timeline. Jedi Fallen Order takes place 10 years after order 66. There are small pockets of rebel factions fighting the empire but nothing concrete. The game does not say how much time has passed in between the games, only that the time frame of years gets thrown around a bit. The fourth movie happens 19 years after the third one. There's only so much time before you start bumping against the full-on rebellion, and it feels like Cal would be there in a heartbeat. But he isn't. The game starts with him helping the Partisans (Saw Guearra's people). (I can't explain any further, if you don't know him, I'm sorry, watch... rouge one? Seems like the shortest way to know the character)) but after that, he's more on the jedi side of things for the rest of the game.

So the game is a big detailed way of saying why Cal isn't in the rebellion, which I kinda guessed was going to be the point of this game anyway. Which isn't a bad thing!

The Bedlam Raiders are cool, I like how after you defeat their bosses, the characters in game talk about how the empire is finally moving in to take control of Koboh more and more now that the ones challenging their power is broken.

I hope you have enjoyed these blurbs about Jedi Survivor, I will probably say more.

#star wars #jedi survivor #jedi survivor spoilers

[theyoungturks]

Charlie Kirk using the midterms to try to sell "doomsday survival kids." Jayar Jackson, A.B. Burns-Tucker and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks. Watch TYT LIVE on weekdays 6-8 pm ET. http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live Read more HERE: https://www.mediaite.com/politics/charlie-kirk-warning-of-democrats-causing-bedlam-if-gop-wins-the-midterms-hawks-survivalist-emergency-food-kits/ "Charlie Kirk, the right-wing Pro-Trump radio host, hawked a coupon for “a three-month emergency food kit” during his radio show on Thursday, linking the need to be prepared to Democrats possibly creating “bedlam” if the GOP wins the midterms next week. “Look, we are living in chaos right now. I think it’s fair to say, and hopefully, Tuesday fixes that,” Kirk began in the now-viral clip shared online by Jason Campbell."* *** The largest online progressive news show in the world. Hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian. LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET. Help support our mission and get perks. Membership protects TYT's independence from corporate ownership and allows us to provide free live shows that speak truth to power for people around the world. See Perks: ▶ https://www.youtube.com/TheYoungTurks/join SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ http://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks TWITTER: ☞ http://www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM: ☞ http://www.instagram.com/TheYoungTurks TWITCH: ☞ http://www.twitch.com/tyt 👕 Merch: http://shoptyt.com ❤ Donate: http://www.tyt.com/go 🔗 Website: https://www.tyt.com 📱App: http://www.tyt.com/app 📬 Newsletters: https://www.tyt.com/newsletters/ If you want to watch more videos from TYT, consider subscribing to other channels in our network: The Watchlist https://www.youtube.com/watchlisttyt Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey https://www.youtube.com/indisputabletyt Unbossed with Nina Turner https://www.youtube.com/unbossedtyt The Damage Report ▶ https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport TYT Sports ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytsports The Conversation ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytconversation Rebel HQ ▶ https://www.youtube.com/rebelhq TYT Investigates ▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNJt9PYyN1uyw2XhNIQMMA #TYT #TheYoungTurks #BreakingNews 221104__TB03_Charlie_Kirk_Uses by The Young Turks

#IFTTT #YouTube

[septic-stories]

A Siren's Forte: First Impression

The Watchtower

December 04, 19:09 EST

Banshee stood, arms crossed, alongside his friends while he tried to reign in his enthusiasm. He, along with several others on the team, had been planning for days. 

They were serious about forming a team of their own. One that didn't operate in the shadows. One that could inspire teens out there that were trying to be just like them. Now, they just had to convince their superiors.

Miss Martian watched her little brother step forward to address the adults in the room. "Okay, Garfield, you called this meeting," she said, handing the metaphorical microphone to him.

"And I appreciate you hearing me out." Beast Boy's eagerness and determination to get started were visible on his face. "Kaldur, though the Justice League's ranks are divided, you stand centerstage defending a world seemingly committed to stopping your good works. And, M'gann, you lead the team against our adversaries while avoiding the spotlight. Despite all obstacles, you're both making a difference...but something is missing."

Tigress glanced over at her friends uncertainly. "Okay, I'll bite," she decided. "What?"

"A public version of the team," Beast Boy revealed. "Young heroes rebelling against the system to fight the good fight in clear view."

Aquaman's expression was stern. "No. We do not put those kinds of targets on our underage heroes. That is what the Justice League is for."

"The League can't do what we need, because you're playing on the Light's game board. Have you seen the headlines lately?"

Above their heads, different articles appeared.

"Lex Luthor's grip on the United Nations. The public fear of meta-humans. Meta-teen trafficking," Beast Boy rambled off. "Bad guys like Granny Goodness and Baron Bedlam are capitalizing on all of it. We've lost the hearts and minds of the people we're trying to protect. Demagogues and fear-mongers have caused folks to give up on the heroic ideal, the reason the Justice League was formed in the first place!"

Tigress sighed, looking dejected. "Great, now I'm thoroughly depressed," she mumbled.

"Don't worry. I've gotcha covered." Beast Boy spread his arms. "See, we're gonna break the rules the League can't, we're gonna connect with people in ways that can't be blocked by governments, we're gonna quiet the fears of the public terrified by the meta-gene generation, and we'll do it all by inspiring that generation. Because we are them. Raised alongside them in the fallout of a scary, meta-human world, we can be the heroes that empower them to conquer their fears."

Miss M's brow furrowed. "That's a great speech, Gar. Sincerely. But...how's that any different from what the League's trying to do now?" she wondered.

"The League and the Light are fighting spin campaigns, and the Light's winning. That's not what I'm talking about. Look at this."

Keep Reading

#young justice #young justice fanfiction #young justice season 3 #aqualad #nightwing #tigress #miss martian #superboy #blue beetle #wonder girl #kid flash #original female character #original male character #bisexual female character #gay male character #aqualad x oc #blue beetle x oc #action and adventure #canon compliant #fluff and angst #lots of angst #eventual romance #a siren’s forte #septic stories #tss siren #tss jenna lance #tss banshee #tss sam hendricks

[trufflesandbedlam]

Stories of the Light Side… and the Dark.

The first time I watched the Clone Wars, I took in bits and pieces. I admitted to myself that I was a Rebels fan first and foremost, and I wanted to fill in the gaps of my knowledge. I don’t think I recognized at the time that I’d fall in love with so many characters, or develop interests in those that had only a little screen time. 

As things worked out, it took a rewatch and a read of Stories of Light and Dark, and a handful of the comic books, but eventually it clicked. (And that’s where I started looking for fanfic, but that’s a whole other kettle of fish. When I reach the point of “I need fanfic for these characters” you can assume I’m completely committed and there’s no way out.)

To this day, I still wonder if seeing Order 66 happen in RotS didn’t colour my interpretation of the Jedi from the Clone Wars era initially. I needed to get to know them better to really fall in love, and having reached that point, I miss them now that the series is over.

Making any kind of art for these characters brings you closer to them, I think, and it keeps them alive. So I’m gonna keep doing that.The first wave of our Clone Wars magnetic bookmarks is available here and on our Etsy. There will absolutely be a second wave. No question.

–

Truffles & Bedlam Website | Etsy | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram

#stories of light and dark #star wars #Star Wars: The Clone Wars #The Clone Wars #magnetic bookmarks #bookmarks #bookmark shop #bookmarks for sale #kit fisto #anakin skywaker #obi-wan kenobi #mace windu #ahsoka tano #padme amidala #Darth Maul #Maul #Asajj Ventress #Ventress #Kenobi #Jedi #Sith #Etsy Shop #small shop #Etsy #chibi #Chibi Star Wars #fanart #chibi art #Star Wars fanart #sw

[dragon-grunkle]

star wars and flight rising are in the same universe and here’s why, a ted talk by stanley

in an effort to both 1. talk about my lore more often like i’ve been meaning to and 2. explain what i meant when i went off about it in the tags of my last post, i’m gonna attempt to explain my rationale for deciding star wars and flight rising can totally coexist in the same universe.

there’s a tldr at the very bottom! i do use rebels as a basis for some of this lore, since it basically just confirms concepts i was already thinking of before i even watched the show, but it IS a little spoilery sometimes.

SO. what do we know about sornieth? here’s a summary: it’s the fourth planet from its sun. it has at least one but possibly two or more moons. powerful beings of pure elemental energy sprung up in the early days of the planet’s formation. a darkness from beyond attacks the planet, and the gods build a pillar to keep it out. after this, humanoid races flourish and they learn to combine magic with technology, but eventually someone gets too arrogant and builds a big machine that blows up all of civilization. from this, the arcanist is born. he grows curious and encounters the shade, which breaks the pillar. the other gods see this and decide to go their separate ways. they create dragons.

this new society has reached a point roughly equivalent to the 1920s, and that’s as far as we’ve gotten. that’s it, that’s flight rising. no aliens mentioned, except for the shade (and possibly the forbidden portal enemies if you count those, but that’s for another time).

what about star wars? as we all know, it’s set ‘a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away’. there is a lot of history here that isn’t really relevant, so i’m just going to talk briefly about the layout of the galaxy: it isn’t named, but there are different sections to it that are, and they’re grouped according to how far away a planet is from the center of the galaxy. you have: the core worlds, the inner rim, the mid rim, the outer rim, and wild space. generally, planets are more densely populated towards the center of the galaxy and less as you go out. compare coruscant, a core world entirely covered by a city and inhabited by trillions of people, to tatooine, an outer rim planet that wookieepedia states has 200,000 inhabitants total. 

-----

where does sornieth fit in this map? the answer is simple: wild space. this region lies beyond the outer rim, where not many bother to travel because it’s just not worth it, and it’s where i’ve placed sornieth in this scenario. wookieepedia says:

Unlike other regions of the galaxy, Wild Space existed along the entire circumference of the galactic disk and on the borderlands of the Unknown Regions. It was inhabited by sentient species but not fully charted, explored, and civilized.

star wars: rebels touches on wild space a bit: one of its main characters is a lasat, a species thought to be wiped out by the empire. lasats come from lasan, but they have a legendary ancestral homeworld called lira san. except it turns out that lira san isn’t a myth: it’s real, it’s populated, and it’s in wild space.

the fact that an entire species believed their original homeworld was a myth means we can easily set sornieth there without ever having to worry about political groups such as the republic, the empire, and the rebellion coming across the planet and mucking up our established rule of No Aliens Besides Shade (And Maybe Arcanist). it’s conveniently out of the way AND protects the lore of both continuities very well, ensuring that they don’t interfere with each other by introducing a previously-unheard-of super-powerful flying magical race to the galaxy, or having stormtroopers invade the southern icefields, or something else fucky like that.

------

now that we’ve got location covered, we have to talk about the force, magic, and the gods. i’m gonna get a little handwavey here, but it’s also, i think, the most interesting part of this whole thing, so here we go.

first off, the force. what is it? here’s how obi-wan describes it in a new hope:

It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.

with that description in mind, i want to draw attention to one little throwaway line from the flight rising lorebook chapter 1: the first age: 

From this bedlam, the magical energies themselves began to concentrate and change. Similar particles receded into four great beings, each overwhelmingly dense with a different element. As if eager to proudly display their emergence to some unseen divinity, these beings took on the shapes of great wyrms.

that ‘unseen divinity’? yeah, that’s the force. you could even take the ‘similar particles’ bit to mean midi-chlorians, if you want to acknowledge the prequels’ interpretation of the force.

as we know, some people are stronger with the force than others. these people usually become jedi or sometimes sith, depending on whether they use the light or the dark side. but the jedi and sith aren’t the only force users out there: there are plenty of civilizations who have different names and explanations for it and how it manifests itself varies from person to person. in fact, the lasat people i mentioned earlier recognized the force as something called ‘the ashla’. so different concepts for the force exist across the galaxy, and it’s very possible that what we know as ‘elemental magic’ on sornieth is simply how dragons see different aspects of the force. as if that wasn’t enough, we also know some force users can use the force to manipulate the elements themselves, like how palpatine can use the dark side to create lightning.

so really: i don’t think it’s a stretch to say some intensely powerful creatures born of the universe itself could specialize in a specific aspect of the force and manifest entirely that way.

[billy mays voice] But Wait, There’s More! i’m gonna reference rebels again. yeah, i know. on the planet of atollon lives the bendu, a being of the force who is neither light nor dark. he’s powerful, and at one point, turns himself into a giant storm and strikes down ships with lightning to defend his planet. loth-wolves are a similar concept. they’re animals which are shown to have a deep connection to the force, but only as it relates to the planet they call home, lothal. at one point a character asks if the loth-wolves are on their side and the answer is "they're on lothal's side.” this is how i see the gods as existing in the greater star wars universe: powerful beings intrinsically linked to the planet they originate from. they’re capable of great feats on their own, but can guide others (like humans or dragons) to use the force / magic in their stead.

the gods are real inasmuch as the force is real, and act as extensions of one another. if we wanna go a step further, the deities could all be light-side users and the shade is their dark counterpart, which is a REALLY fun concept to explore.

-----

phew, that’s it. i’ve covered most of it except for how dragons get off sornieth and into the wider galaxy, which is...somewhat less essential than the stuff i talked about above, but i still want to address it, especially since we’ve established they have no outside contact and are limited to 1920s tech. to keep it brief, the easiest answer is...magic.

i don’t want to get tooooo deep into rebels stuff again, but space-time portals do exist in star wars, which is really exciting for me personally, and also a nice setup for dragons to get out into the galaxy - if they have access to them, that is; in rebels they only appear in a jedi temple, but i think it’s possible other access points exist, given that other force-societies also exist. the point is, being handwavey and saying ‘eh, portals’ is a valid excuse that doesn’t totally break either universe because they are canon to both universes. you could also go the route of magic experiments gone wrong, the deities picking off a few special individuals and sending them out, or crazy lighning-arcane tech mergers shooting dragons off into space, never to be heard from again.

there’s any number of possibilities here, ranging from crazy space wizard shenanigans to early spaceflight gone very very wrong.

-----

tldr: sornieth is located in the far reaches of the galaxy, away from major events, and has remained undiscovered. the deities are manifestations of the force channeled through the planet itself; the gods and the force are extensions of one another. sometimes dragons can get off sornieth, but not often, so dragons are rare in the wider galaxy. there is no conflict of lore that says these two things CAN’T exist in the same universe, and in fact, the lore sometimes even supports them coexisting.

or in other words: star wars and flight rising coexist because i want them to, but also because i have legitimate justification for it. i’m too powerful and nobody can stop me from making star wars dragons now.

#flight rising #star wars #fr lore #crossover #flight rising lore #stanley says stuff #wait i dont have a lore tag.....a travesty #stanley loves lore #<- bc it has to be alliterative in some way #there we go. lore tag exists now #if anyone reads this i will be shocked lmfao #i will go feral if anyone reads and asks me questions about this shit #im still debating whether or not i should post that 10k monster lorefic but for now theres this #bc i sorta needed to organize my thoughts for myself too + bc i need to explain my mando dragon who ive already shown off

[idealisticrealism]

So, who wants to hear me gush about something in Blindspot that was almost certainly completely meaningless?

What is it, you (didn’t) ask? 

It’s this. 

So, let me start by saying that this scene was one of my favourite scenes of Blindspot, like ever. I am living for the friendship that is forming between these two, and the way they are helping each other through their individual traumas. The added dimension of former CIA agent Tasha helping Rich recover from his torture at the hands of the CIA is just so perfect, not to mention they have the added connection of knowing what it’s like to be a ‘bad guy’ operating outside the law. 

(I also like to think that Jane and Tasha talked together about how to help Rich, but since Jane was already supporting her hubby as well as carrying the team, Tasha took the reins on this one.)

But even though I totally could gush about that scene (especially that hug omg), that’s not actually what this post is about. This post is about me being a HUGE NERD for IMPRESSIONISM.

(Still sure you want to get into this lol?)

Alright then, here goes: 

So, this absolute classic is probably at least vaguely familiar to a lot of people; it’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, painted in the mid 1880s, and arguably his most famous work.

(While watching the ep I initially took it for a Monet at first glance, which is super embarrassing for me but also I can’t help that I have this like Pavlovian response to Impressionism that makes me go YO IS THAT MY BOY MONET YOOOO the moment I see any painting even remotely of the style lol)

But let me tell you why I am losing my nerdy marbles over the use of this artwork in the show (even though I am very certain that they probably just used whatever relatively recognisable piece they could find that didn’t have any like copyright stuff attached) because oh boy do I have Thoughts.

So let’s get analytical up in this biz....

First off, there’s the big one: it’s an Impressionist piece. The very foundation of the style is that from afar, all looks normal, but when you actually look closely, everything is blurred and distorted; nothing is distinct. Which is doubly appropriate for this show: firstly, the team is currently pursuing a mission that seems clear-cut (to clear their names and get their lives back, to free the FBI of Madeline’s corruption) but which actually involves a lot of uncertainty and murkiness and blurred lines (are we willing to break multiple laws? to potentially kill people deliberately, not just in self-defense? how far are we willing to go to achieve our mission, and if we succeed, will we still be the same? etc). Secondly, and more relevantly to this particular scene, the style is fitting for Rich himself following his experience in the blacksite. Look from a distance, and he seems alright, still normal (or as normal as Rich could ever be). But look close, and you start to see that everything is actually hazy and muddled, the cracks starting to show. He is not okay.

But wait, there’s more! Because this work isn’t just Impressionist, it’s Neo-Impressionist (specifically, Pointilist) which ol’ boy Georges was one of the pioneers of-- he was literally considered a renegade because of it, a rebel operating against the status quo, which I find very appropriate for our own little band of rebels lol. But the point (lol) of Pointilism is to create scenes filled with vivid colours, ones that almost seem to jump out of the canvas, which is achieved by combining small brushstrokes (points) of different colours which from further away appear to be practically just one bright colour. So again, looking from a distance you see one thing, and from up close you see that it’s actually more complicated than that. Like this team; they’re all individuals, all their own distinct colours, but look at the bigger picture and you see that they blend together to create a balanced, harmonious whole. And that same concept can be applied to them all individually, too-- each one of them is made up by a veritable rainbow of traits. Light, dark, and everything in between; every stroke makes them who they are. 

But that’s just the style, though, which is only the half of it. Look at the actual subject of the painting; at its setting. Art is an escape from one’s own reality, and for someone practically trapped in a concrete box underground, what better choice of escape is there than a scene of people happily enjoying the outdoors, spending time in the midst of sunshine and nature, with no walls or ceilings in sight, no one being hunted or hurt? See, too, how the foreground of the painting is in shadow-- it gives the sense that the viewer is in shadow too, the dimness of the bunker and the shadow of the painting blending together, like if Rich were to stand in front of the painting and step forward, he’d be stepping out onto the grass. It’s a hopeful thought; the team might be in shadow right now, but the light of day isn’t so far away. A little longer, a little further, and they’ll be out there too, enjoying their lives and their freedom just like the people in the painting.  

And speaking of the people in the painting... there’s a few other little things about this painting that makes me love that it was the one they chose. Firstly, I love that Tasha brought Rich a painting which was described with words like ‘bedlam’, ‘scandal’, and ‘hilarity’ when it was first exhibited, which are probably the exact words that would come to mind if you had to describe Rich and his life in three words lol (pre-blacksite, sadly). Though the painting looks very normal and serene to us, when you look closely, there are a couple of pretty weird things, especially for that time. For one, the woman in the foreground has a pet monkey on a leash, which I think is a fairly apt representation of Rich’s role in the team haha, particularly early on. There’s also a lady off to the left who is fishing, and if I remember correctly, she was thought to symbolise a prostitute reeling in her clients down by the docks/waterside lol, an interpretation which I feel like Rich would absolutely love. In a more Blindspot-specific sense, another character of interest is the man lounging right near the front-- I can’t be the only one who thinks he looks just like ‘old’ Weller, right down to the little hat? The fact that his outfit seems out of place for the time, and also the subtle... sexiness (for the lack of a better word lol) of his clothes and pose makes it feel like Rich’s consciousness could have conjured him there (bc lbr, we all know Rich loves some sexy Weller). And lastly, I can’t not mention the little girl in the center, who is famously considered to be staring right at the viewer of the painting, as if fully aware she’s being observed and totally ready to throw down about it. And I know that this one is extra silly and had obviously never crossed the prop-designer’s mind, but, well... this painting is French, and if someone asked me to think of an appropriate name for a little French schoolgirl, I would pick the name of the one I spent many hours of my childhood watching cartoons and reading books about: Madeline.

As a last, final bonus (and yet another totally irrelevant thing that I am ascribing my own meaning to), just look out on the water in the distance-- there’s what appears to be a steamboat. Or is it The Boat, and is it sinking, a plume of smoke rising from it as it goes down in flames? 

But that’s the thing about art, isn’t it; there’s no limit to what we see in it. So when Rich looks at this gift, I hope he sees freedom. Hope. A future in the sun.

Because he’s earned it.

They all have.

#Blindspot #Blindspot spoilers #Impressionism #LOOK I KNOW THIS IS RIDICULOUS #BUT I JUST LOVE IMPRESSIONISM OKAY #AND SYMBOLISM #AND RICH #AND THIS SCENE #don't ask me anything about literally any other art style bc I would not have a clue #god I'm so curious to know if the choice was even slightly deliberate #it won't be #but still

[mooifyourecows]

The playlist for 'royal pain in the ass' slaps man. How do you find such good music??

Incoming: I'm sleepy and sick and just wanna boringly ramble about my relationship with music rn, sorry, you've been warned

Im obsessed with music.

And I know everyone and their cat is enthusiastic about music, I ain't special, but when I say I'm obsessed I mean I'm obsessed. I dont like silence, makes me uncomfortable, so I've always worked really hard to fill up every moment with sound.

When I was a kid, I had a portable cassette player and I listened to the same Garth Brooks cassette on repeat for months. I used to sleep with headphones on before my parents got me a CD player for my room. It was a 5 disk changing player and I got more use out of that thing than I did of my own brain back then.

I didnt have my own CDs at first so I obsessed over listening to my parents' and my sister's instead. Queen's Greatest Hits, The Cherry Poppin Daddies, Alanis Morissette, Carole King, Fleetwood Mac, Eiffel 65, Sum 41, The Eagles, Sheryl Crow.

My CD player was on almost 24/7. I'd come home from school and go straight to my room to read... and music would play in the background. Music would play in the background as I did my homework. It played when I slept. When I played videogames that didnt have too much dialogue.

Constant music.

Then I started getting my own CD's. Nelly Furtado's Whoa, Nelly!, Maroon 5's Songs About Jane, James Blunt's Back to Bedlam.

I got a little mp3 player and I was able to ditch the bulky portable CD player and bag of CD's I used to haul with me on the school bus. I put all my music onto it and I took it everywhere I went, my most prized possession.

My favorite function on my brother's PSP was that you could upload music onto it and I would steal it and listen to Tenacious D and Weezer and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. I found out I could play Halo 2 AND Green Day at the same time on the original Xbox and I used to play the Scarab mission over and over and over again until I had it, and Good Riddance (Time of your Life) memorized.

When Guitar Hero came out I holed myself in my room and spent hours everyday perfecting Sweet Child O Mine until it was the one and only song I could destroy my brother at on expert mode.

I used to ditch church and hide out in the parking lot listening to Foreplay- Long Time by Boston and Roundabout by Yes.

Every morning at 4 am during the week of the county fair, my mom and I would sing to Low Rider by War and Cows with Guns by Dana Lyons on the way to the fairgrounds where I'd listen to Aerosmith while I washed my show heifer in the dark.

Back when I used to ride 4 miles on my bike every day, I'd put Black Friday Rule by Flogging Molly on at the start of the worst hill so that I reached the crest right at the end of the guitar solo.

The first time I ever felt like a rebel was singing Big Balls by ACDC in front of my mom on the way home from school one day.

For my 8th grade talent show, my friends and I choreographed a dance set to a mashup of songs including Shakira's Hips Dont Lie, MC Hammer's U Cant Touch This, Aretha Franklin's Respect, and Foreigner's Jukebox Hero. We won the Crowd's Favorite vote.

In the middle of donating blood, the Mennonite lady watching over me as the blood was being drawn noticed I was frowning and asked if everything was alright. I asked the name of the song that was playing overhead at the moment. It was That's All by Genesis. I downloaded it when I got home.

My brother bought me a sound bar for my 17th birthday and I still use it to listen to music while I sleep today, almost 8 years later.

The easiest way to impress my younger cousins back in the day was to recite the "Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail's Black Knight, and Benito Mussolini and the Blue Meanie, and Cowboy Curtis and Jambi the Genie, Robocop, the Terminator, Captain Kirk, Darth Vader, Lo-pan, Superman, every single power ranger, Bill S. Preston and Theodore Logan, Spock, The Rock, Doc Oc and Hulk Hogan" part from The Ultimate Showdown by Lemon Demon or the "a combination AK-57, uzi, radar laser, triple barrel, double scoped, heat-seekin' shotgun" part from Da Turdy Point Buck by Bananas at Large.

I absorbed songs from the people around me. Bolero (Ravel) by the London Symphony Orchestra and Indian Lady by the Don Ellis Orchestra from my dad. That was a Crazy Game of Poker by OAR and Warehouse by the Dave Matthews Band from my brother. Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen and Dog Days are Over by Florence + the Machine from my mom. Fat Lip by Sum 41 and One Way or Another by Blondie from my sister. Wish You were Here by Pink Floyd and Islands by The xx from my high school boyfriend.

My best friend from high school and I would go to Hastings and buy random CD's from the sales rack. That's how we ended up listening to Mott the Hoople on repeat one summer when her dad hired us to clean up a house for the next bunch of renters. We used to stop what we were doing every time All the Young Dudes would play so we could clap and sing along, "All the young dudes, carry the news! Boogaloo dudes, carry the news..."

I got my boyfriend hooked on Modest Mouse and we started collecting CD's to crowd the glove box of our busted Nissan Sentra and get stuck in the clicky CD player until I melted down and broke a butter knife ripping the entire stereo from the dash.

We went to Pink Floyd light shows at the planetarium and argued about whether long, meandering instrumental solos are shit or not (They're shit)

We went to Blue October concerts and met the band and danced to The Getting Over it Part and sang all the words of Into the Ocean.

We went to a Modest Mouse concert and realized for the first time that it was hipster music when we noticed a suspicious amount of people hula hooping.

We took long road trips and discussed how we would make an AMV out of One Piece's Dressrosa arc to the Glass Animals song Walla Walla.

Certain songs by the Dixie Chicks pluck me from my life and stick me right back into my 8 year old body lying in bed in the middle of the afternoon reading yet another Tamora Pierce novel and wondering if I'd ever be a writer.

The past 20 years of my life have been a constant journey of collecting music. I'm constantly rediscovering old music and falling in love with it all over again. More and more music keeps getting made and popping up on my YouTube or my Spotify or in commercials or movie trailers and I hunt them down and I browse the artist and I find artists similar to them and I keep listening and searching and finding and it's a neverending cycle that only gets better and better with every new discovery.

So yeah like....... that's how

#sorry #this is long and stupid #lmao #im sick #feel sorry for me #also im tired #my dog woke me up at 6 and im still awake #why #but anyway #music is good

[racingtoaredlight]

Gabbin About Gambling Season 6: Week 11

Week 1 Gambling Account Balance: $56.19 Week 2 Gambling Account Balance: $35.74 Week 3 Gambling Account Balance: $39.84 Week 4 Gambling Account Balance: $49.72 Week 5 Gambling Account Balance: $38.17 Week 6 Gambling Account Balance: $42.47 Week 7 Gambling Account Balance: $26.82 Week 8 Gambling Account Balance: $26.13 Week 9 Gambling Account Balance: $5 Week 10 Gambling Account Balance: $Negative 50 Week 11 Gambling Account Balance: $20.53 I AM THE GREATEST GAMBLER ALIVE NOW AND FOREVER! 

What Happened

Five for five! Tropical climate suits me. Is there a better place to break a slump than department store Tequila?  Fire up the Rebel music, James McCourt with Liffy water in his veins wins again. McCourt himself kicked the Illinois money line over Rutgers straight into my wallet. Legend. Normally mutual aid sent abroad from the Irish American is guns but I’ll take my money. Mr. McCourt I owe you a pint. 

Marshall, on the 50th anniversary of the plane crash, decided to honour their former fallen teammates by beating Middle Tennessee by more than 24.5 Class act.  Miami moneyline beat Covid and Virginia Tech, I watched the game and still don’t understand how. 

I took the over in the game Will Muschamp got fired, happy to be a part of history. 70 was the over, Ole Miss 59 Southcakalacky 42. 

Drunk in a hammock I took Mexico +125 over Japan in soccer game. Viva El Tri!  Week 11 Bets 

What can we say about Florida St that hasn’t be said about Afghanistan. Clemson first half covers are back.  What sounds more pitiful, $10 Canadian dollars or $154 Mexican pesos? 

Fuck..... there is no ethical consumption of college football. Why the hell did I bring an LSU t-shirt all the way to the Yucatan? Scum. If rape was an impermissible benefit the NCAA would punish Oregon accordingly.  Scum. 

South Carolina is giving up on the season, players are opting out. Missouri has a QB. 

Other Bets I am Bet Curious About

Bedlam over. Am I crazy, why is the number 60? 

Spread For The Stein (h/t Cabbage, Ulrich, Trey)

Losers. 

Best of luck punters. 

#bets #gabbin about gambling #college football #cutler 6

[bedlamsbard]

oh yeah for those that don’t remember I used to be able to tell you literally anything you wanted to know about in-universe pin-up art in Star Wars. I probably still can because I don’t think there’s been new pin-up art in Star Wars since Rebels S1. (The first few eps of Rebels S2 reused some old pin-up art from TCW, including a couple of unused pieces that were developed for the original Bad Batch eps then got cut out of TCW S7 and actual TBB years later.)  Rebels S1 got away with so much stuff because Disney wasn’t paying attention back then.

but also. the amount of background semi-skeezy sexiness in TCW if you’re paying attention is...A LOT. and that’s not even getting started on the Twi’lek table dancers.

this is all pinup art that really truly no lies actualfax appeared in TCW, just from a quick trawl through my files (which is why it’s so Twi’lek focused).

and of course how could we forget the topless poster (or space Playboy cover) in Zeb and Ezra’s room with the strategic crease

#bedlam watches tcw #bedlam watches rebels #okay that was your weekly star wars thought #also I had to pull up rebels for this because I couldn't find my original screencaps and...I miss them #(NOT THAT MUCH THOUGH ALEX DO NOT HOLD AN INTERVENTION)

[caltropspress]

CROWD NOISE: The Aesthetics of the Riot

1.  

What should the aesthetic response to the riot be? Can there be an aesthetic response to the riot that doesn’t undermine its energy? How can the ephemeral nature of the riot be contained without becoming co-opted? Is it possible? Is it even worth the attempt?

2.  

The riot, at its core, is pop. It must be populated enough to qualify as “unrest,” or “bedlam,” or “insurrection,” or “uprising.” An individual can protest alone, but—short of self-immolation—it often takes a crowd to shut down freeways, ransack public offices, interlock arms and beat back the batons at the barricades.

3.

In Equipment for Living, poet Michael Robbins writes, “A pop song is a popular song, one that some ideal ‘everybody’ knows or could know. Its form lends itself to communal participation. Or, stronger, it depends upon the possibility of communal participation for its full effect.”

In this way, the Macarena blaring over the loudspeakers at Yankee Stadium, or “Sweet Caroline” blasting at a wedding, or “Living on a Prayer” playing on the jukebox in a Jersey bar harnesses more people power than “Bulls on Parade” ever could. We can’t bother with applying aesthetic judgment to—what many fair-minded listeners would agree—are such loathsome songs. Recontextualized as shared, communal phenomena, they don’t stand to be scrutinized according to any standard metric for “good” or “bad” music. We need to acknowledge the power of the moments these songs engender, not the songs themselves.

4.

There are exceptions. The aforementioned “Bulls on Parade” certainly functioned in the spirit of the riot when it was performed on a stage outside the Democratic National Convention in 2000 and led to mass arrests. The filming of the music video for “Sleep Now in the Fire” forced the New York Stock Exchange to shutdown. The most recent example is the spontaneous cultural force of Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” at demonstrations.

As reported by NPR, Kendrick’s 2015 “Alright” has become, if not a fixture, then an act of faith at rallies and ruptures in the fight for racial justice. It incants when the police are arresting young, Black boys in Cleveland and when protestors gather outside LAPD headquarters. Where This is what democracy looks like! and Whose streets? Our streets! can lose its luster as the masses are kettled, dispersed, and splintered by the State, We gon’ be alright functions as both palliative and rebel yell.

5.

I’ve heard some say pop music is escapism—the same for ambient. It’s a salve for the post-march sore feet, an Adderall for the after-party. For when you realize you have work in the morning and the revolution hasn’t—despite the thrum you felt hours ago—arrived. 

I’ve heard people call pop music a distraction, an opium. Pop music as a blissfully ignorant soundscape for shoppers who rely on mall escalators for their scenic overlooks. 

But what if pop music is evidence of a world on the brink of true, unutterable, as-yet-unseen solidarity? Pop music as devotional hymns. 

6.

You can hear cops barking dispersal orders through megaphones. Sirens are wailing. There’s the low rumble of crowd noise—a din for the dispossessed. Acapellas of pop music rise from this chaos, like a balm over the shrieks and chaos. A bed for bedlam to rest its battered head on.

Could there be any better form than the acapella for the occasion? Save for the militaristic thumps of drum circles, our voices are what carry us through collective action. Shouts, hollers, and hip hip hoorays. A capella—with its origins “in the manner of the chapel”—raises those hectic voices to the level of saintliness. Voices doing the work of gods.

The echoes that have been added, the calm and comfort of reverb, contribute to a sense of containment. Not in the way the cops kettle crowds of protestors. The containment is in how the effects act to interiorize the ecstatic, open-air uprising. Riots are out there. They are rehearsals for the revolution, as they say. By their very nature, they refuse containment. But on Side A of CELL, Issue 5: ACAPELLA - Riot In Versace—a tape release from PTP—the sounds of insurrection are captured, contained, and packaged into a Norelco case, offered up to the masses.

Hearing Busta Rhymes’ abyss-deep voice sing If you give it to me, I’ll give it to you. I know what you want is like a concussed slumber. His voice is the one you hear when you’re coming to. Maybe you took a tear-gas canister to the temple. Riot In Versace is the Maalox running down your face to counter the agent.

7.

Pop music and protest truly makes for strange bedfellows. Nothing seems to work just right. Always contrived, or a cloak of co-optation, or a conspicuously raised consciousness. We soak in the suggestions of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On only to have Sly Stone raucously respond with There’s A Riot Goin’ On. It’s difficult to take finger-pointing songs serious when—so often—they sell so well. The intent is belied by the result. Songs don’t change the world, but they do earn profitable acclaim.

The slurry of pop vocals sampled on Riot In Versace seems to tease this idea, toy with it sadistically. The first voice we hear that isn’t culled from a field recording of the Ferguson streets is M.I.A.’s. For all her sociopolitical pop (the vocals are from “Borders”) and guerrilla decolonizer imagery, she gave birth to a Lehman brother. The pop/protest conundrum is most apparent in her appearance beside Madonna at the Super Bowl halftime show where she breached her contract by flashing a middle finger whilst lip-syncing—the rebel equivalent of sticking your tongue out at a teacher with her back turned.

The other multi-platinum pop artists who appear on the tape are Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Mariah Carey, and Madonna. All “edited,” according to self-proclaimed “Editor-in-chief” Geng (employing a decidedly non-musical title on this occasion), so as to foreground the People, the masses: “The youth want a better America but the battle will continue if the people remain unheard."

8.

Geng referring to himself as an editor-in-chief of Riot In Versace signals an awareness about the limits of pop music in an insurrectionary context. The tape is more of a text (a codex) than a record.

The nods to textuality remind me of another text. Where Riot In Versace documents and archives the Ferguson uprising, The 2015 Baltimore Uprising: A Teen Epistolary is a zine that captures Baltimore in the wake of the murder of Freddie Gray. It’s a text worth considering through Nicholas Thoburn’s insights, which he shares in an article titled “Twitter, Book, Riot: Post-Digital Publishing against Race.” Thoburn calls the zine an “experimental, small-press book whose content consists entirely of some 650 screen-grabbed tweets….[a] book [that] courses with crisis.”

9.

Thoburn accurately describes the role text-based documents have played in the concatenating struggle for racial justice, but he also identifies the pitfalls and problematics of giving primacy to the written word over that which is uttered:

…consider the role of Abolitionist tracts, the publishing genre of ‘slave narratives’, or anti-colonial works like Franz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth in galvanising struggles against racial violence. This is not to suggest that resistance to racism has taken shape through publishing without complication. In slave narratives, for instance, enslaved people sought to ‘represent themselves as “speaking subjects”’ toward ‘destroy[ing] their status as objects, as commodities, within Western culture’ (Gates 1988, 129). But these narratives succeeded, Ronald Judy (1993, 88, 97) argues, only insofar as they confirmed Western modernity’s principle that ‘writing [is] the sole avenue to humanity’. They hence fashioned ‘Negro’ subjectivity on the interdiction and invalidation of the ‘African’, voided of which the achieved subjectivity was ‘nothing so much as an investment in the terms of philosophical reflection: writing.’

The field recordings on Riot In Versace prioritize the voice, not the transcript. The primacy of the voices rebuffs these Western conceptions of “humanity.” It’s reminiscent of how Alan Lomax pointed a microphone at Lead Belly in Angola and implored, Now sing. Lead Belly was singing even without Lomax there to capture it (re-creating Lead Belly’s captivity in another sense, one beyond prison bars). Lead Belly’s voice was taken captive—like a haint—and [o]pressed as 78 rpm vinyl records, generating wealth that would be distributed unequally. It was no fair deal going down.

10.

All this being the case, The 2015 Baltimore Uprising: A Teen Epistolary is a curious item, seeing as how it reproduces authentic voices—albeit filtered through the trappings of social media—onto the printed page. Thoburn writes:

Publishing, then, is at once a significant terrain of black resistance to racial violence and one that is fraught and ill-fitting, such that Cornel West writes, ‘the “ur-text” of black culture is neither a word nor a book, not an architectural monument or a legal brief. Instead, it is a guttural cry and a wrenching moan’ (cited in Wilderson 2010, 109).

Thoburn quotes West who is quoted in Wilderson, all of which is now quoted by me. Case in point: we are x times removed from the immediacy of bodies in the streets. Same goes for the evidence of these extempore “Alright” celebrations. Where do I see them? YouTube and Twitter. That is, social media platforms, which are nominally “social.” Re-watching these moments on the internet might be sufficient for a shot of dopamine, but you’ll still be somewhere the rupture is not. You don’t have your ear to the street, so to speak, to hear the guttural cry.

11.

The tweets that comprise The 2015 Baltimore Uprising: A Teen Epistolary are examples of what we often call screaming into the void, as social media is echo-chamber or hellscape or vacuous pit—take your pick. But when those tweets are aggregated and collated into the pages of a physical book, they gain validity: the cries are heard and documented beyond the living, breathing, ephemeral moment.

12.

Pop music often appears as a polished, manufactured perfection of sound. It’s frequently auto-tuned, edited, punched-in: overproduced. It’s what gives so much pop music its sheen. Despite all these efforts, it’s a decidedly low art, vulgar even. It stands it stark contrast to the epistolary form. Thoburn meditates on the inclusion of that term in the book title: “But it is a surprise indeed to see it [the term ‘epistolary’] naming a contemporary book on uprising, and, given its elevated cultural associations, to find it attached to the ‘low’, commercial term of the ‘teen.’”

The same high/low register play can be found on Riot In Versace, where its title, too, reflects the dichotomy—“riot” representing the low, street politics; “Versace” representing high luxury and corporatization. Thoburn provides a physical description of how Baltimore Uprising further deconstructs the traditional connotations of “epistolary.” The zine, he writes, “is a pocketsize codex, monochrome throughout, with a tape-covered spine, comprising 272 staple-bound pages, and has non-standard dimensions of 11x14x1cm.” He describes the “flimsy paper covers” and how “the degraded monochrome of its photocopies pages convey a feeling that its coherence as a complete and integrated artefact is barely achieved.”

Therefore, the humble, DIY assembly and production of this material book subverts the “classical, eighteenth-century guise” so often associated with the epistolary form.

This isn’t the works of Samuel Richardson.

The book, most simply, amplifies (or signal boosts) the voices of teen rebels—voices which are typically, historically, muted, ignored, censored, or belittled.

13.

Furthermore, Riot In Versace is a document, with all the finalization that term connotes. That particular uprising is over, done with. But is that the case? Thoburn invokes Maurice Blanchot’s claim that “political publishing require[s]…media that [can] prolong [the] ‘arrest of history’, that [can] bear and extend its rupture through their material forms.” This tape from PTP is one such material form. It is an example of “ruptural media” whose “critical adequacy to the uprising resides above all in [its] fragmentary, fleeting, and incomplete nature, in [its] ruination of totalizing, encyclopaedic enclosure.” These pop voices appear and dissipate. They mesh and layer over crowd noise and blaring-cum-bleary sonics. They’re peeled from their instrumental foundations, hovering in a no-man’s land of unruly noise.

14.

Thoburn expresses an appreciation for how the book—like any zine worth the stolen materials it’s constructed from—was originally published free from the authenticating adornments books are known for. There weren’t any credits, and there were no signs of consumerism. No ISBN. No Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data. No bar code.

The absence of interpretative text, editor’s name, and publisher details again plays a role, for Baltimore Uprising in this way blocks the passage readers would otherwise be offered away from the uprising to an anchoring authority or interpretive summation external to its tumult.

In other words, this compilation of tweets from young, Black voices on the ground arrives unfiltered by white institutional power. The same can be said for CELL, Issue 5: ACAPELLA - Riot In Versace—there is little explanation as to the sounds presented, no official production credits, etc. We assume Geng’s credit as “Editor-in-chief” means he’s the human responsible, but there’s a clear attempt to eschew authorship/ownership. (Baltimore Uprising has no official or unofficial author—no names attributed to it at all.) Geng seems to be suggesting he’s merely the arranger of the sounds, unwilling to stake a claim to this autonomous and cacophonous chorus of voices. He’s only functioning in the role of archivist. Much like whoever combed Twitter for the tweets that would comprise the pages of 2015 Baltimore Uprising: A Teen Epistolary.

15.

The aesthetics of the zine are also a focus for Thoburn. He considers it an “anti-book” (Thoburn is also the author of a book called Anti-Book: On the Art and Politics of Radical Publishing) full of degraded images of screen-grabs—xeroxed to death, martyred for the purpose of reproduction and illicit redistribution. This decision is anathema to traditional publishing and marketability. The book (or anti-book) seems positively gleeful in its form and posture:

The book’s poor-image tweets have a mocking or menacing effect on the perfect image of Twitter’s clean, unifying, and innocuous interface, that visual scene epitomized by the infantilizing baby-blue dove that is Twitter’s corporate logo. They also trouble the value paradigm of Twitter. The tweets have been appropriated, without permission or license, and, in contrast to the adtech economy of social media, the attention they attract in this book has no payoff for commercial data-capture and audience brokerage.

Thoburn also notes the pop culture references scattered throughout the tweets, one of which reads “Told Yall . . .GTA 6: Baltimore Trenches!,” while another reads “This better than the actual Purge Movie” which, again, speak to a communal participation, a shared understanding, a [raised] collective unconscious. As if to say, We played your video games. We watched your films. We listened to your music. Now witness us exemplify what actually matters to us.

16.

Which brings me back, once again, to Riot In Versace. 

Like the degraded images in Baltimore Uprising, the pop songs on Riot In Versace are degraded, or at least appear so, as they’ve been buried in the mix under field noise and crowd static. Not to mention the songs have likely been lifted from vinyl, tape, CD, or mp3 recordings—it doesn’t matter which, really. The fact is they weren’t reproduced from the masters, the industry standard. It’s safe to say the makers of the tape also didn’t license these songs or contact publishing companies. To paraphrase Thoburn, CELL, Issue 5: ACAPELLA - Riot In Versace is less a tape about the uprising than of it.

Images:

Interior page image from The 2015 Baltimore Uprising: A Teen Epistolary | Protestors gather outside LAPD headquarters (screenshot) | CELL, Issue 5: ACAPELLA - Riot In Versace cassette | M.I.A. performing at the Super Bowl with Madonna (screenshot) | Robert Johnson’s “Last Fair Deal Gone Down” 78 | Exterior images of The 2015 Baltimore Uprising: A Teen Epistolary courtesy of Nicholas Thoburn | CELL, Issue 5: ACAPELLA - Riot In Versace cassette [2] | Interior image of The 2015 Baltimore Uprising: A Teen Epistolary courtesy of Nicholas Thoburn

[tekamedia]

Reporter's Notebook: With Mueller hearings ahead, the 'book' may be better than the 'movie'

New Post has been published on https://newsprofixpro.com/tekamedia/2019/07/22/reporters-notebook-with-mueller-hearings-ahead-the-book-may-be-better-than-the-movie/

Reporter's Notebook: With Mueller hearings ahead, the 'book' may be better than the 'movie'

“When you are courting a nice girl, an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder, a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.” – Albert Einstein, explaining his Theory of Relativity It’s hard to imagine there could be more bedlam in the … Read More

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Dual-band Wi-Fi supports: 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 and 5 GHz) networks Weight: 2.65 lbs Connectors: 3.5 mm Audio Jack, Micro USB Waterproof Compliant Standards: IP67 Model:

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[ciceroprofacto]

Hamilton War Timeline- SOA

Prior to August 1777, Hamilton’s actions during the war period.  No major content warnings.  This is based around historical timelines and conflated with fiction, so don’t take it as fact.  It’s just background for my narrative and characterization purposes.

1773, moves to King’s college- second choice school, loses some of his academic drive and gets distracted with Mulligan’s work with the Sons of Liberty. Alex is boarding with him, taking his advice about writing pamphlets and doing spy work to instigate riots and manage the uprisings

~February, 1775 age 20, drops out to help form The Hearts of Oak.  

June 15th 1775 Washington becomes Commander in Chief of the army.

June 25th 1775, Washington inspects The Hearts of Oak at the foot of Wall Street- first time Hamilton sees Washington, Mifflin and Trumbull- then aides to Washington.

August 23rd, John Lamb’s company supported by The Hearts of Oak and a light infantry unit, raids a shoreside battery under fire from 64-gun man of war, Asia. Loyalists had warned the captain of the Asia that they’d attempt to raid the battery he posted a patrol barge. The redcoats spotted Hamilton’s men and opened fire, Hamilton returned fire against the ship, killing one man- the Asia hoisted and started trying to sail away, firing shots, one hit the roof of a tavern.  Hamilton hands off his rifle to haul the ropes for a cannon which he successfully gets off the ship.  Mulligan leaves it on the ship, and Hamilton runs back for it under fire.

September 1775, called into Lieutenant Jay’s office to discuss the upcoming recommendations for commissions into the New York artillery. Since the Hearts of Oak stole the cannons, they’re the first in line to form the company of artillery to use those cannons. 

Hamilton’s skill with drill and his fearlessness under fire at the battery get him onto the list, but his superiors are concerned about his loyalty to the rebel cause- as he doesn’t seem to have the same attachment to ideals as others they’re considering

Alex resolves to put on the mask of patriotism for the sake of promotion.

Troup, Alex’s roommate, has been training Alex to have the physical ability to lead as an officer. He kisses him and expresses sexual interest which calls Alex to question why he assumed he’d be interested- hint that Alex has been using flirtation to prop up his social skills

October 1775: Alex talks with Mulligan about moving out so he’ll no longer share a room with Troup. Mulligan encourages it- so he’ll move in with Nicholas Fish, but warns Alex that he may not be able to avoid the desires that lead him here

Alex realizes that he thinks of Mulligan like a father

Alex realizes that he’s been working for the rebel cause because it made him feel like he had a family and it made him feel alive and like he had a purpose- he’s been following Mulligan, which has led him to feeling so at-odds with himself. He hasn’t picked the cause for himself, and doesn’t fully believe in it- because he’s following.

November- December 1775: Alex moves in with Fish and takes the job as match manager at Fighting Cocks. Fish regularly visits and Alex quickly learns that Mulligan has him tracking and working with a British double-agent, Cope. He knows loyalist sentiments are strong and most people in New York don’t want war. That culture is rubbing off on Alex despite his affiliation with the Sons of Liberty and his position in the Corsicans- and prospects of command.

No one trusts Cope is reliable as a double-agent but when the British are the aggressors, he’s stepped in and given info. He gave them the tip about the Asia which was the event that's been getting Alex attention now. Cope is playing both sides to keep the peace because he loves New York and doesn’t want to leave or see it destroyed in conflict while most of the people there are loyalist anyway. He’s essentially gone native.

Alex doesn’t like working with someone like that, but Fish reasons that they work with much worse- like known criminals, Dawkins and the Young brothers are counterfeiters and Dawkins has their connections in the prisons.

Cope is attractive and flirtatious and their relationship is a spitfire.

By interacting with Cope, Alex sparks the part of himself that is in this for himself and the urge to resist giving his loyalty to a cause or side. He hates it. They clash heads until the futility of playing both sides comes out and Alex realizes that if you don’t pick a team, you can never lose- but you also can’t win. They both end up polarizing each other.

It renews his drive and gives him the causes that Jay was sensing he lacked. He’s able to approach Troup again and continue physical training.

Jan 6th 1776, NY Provincial Congress raises an artillery company. Most commissions were going to native colonists of wealth and social position, but Hamilton worked his connections to get support of Congressmen John Jay and William Livingston.  His math professor from Kings vouched for his trig skills (exaggerating greatly) and Capt. Stephen Bedlam, an artillerist vouched for his skills with a cannon.

Meanwhile, Elias Boudinot, leader of NJ Provincial Congress wrote from Elizabethtown where Lord Stirling remembered Hamilton from the Academy and wanted him as a brigade major and aide-de-camp. (He’d be the youngest major in the army)

Nathanael Greene invited him to be an aide-de-camp as well, also with the position of major, but in charge of continental troops rather than militia.  

Hamilton doesn’t want to be stuck to a desk. He wants glory and a ticket out of the shadows. He sticks to his gamble for an artillery commission and on March 14th, NY Provincial Congress appoints him Captain of the Provincial Company of Artillery in NY.  He gets Mulligan to sew him a new uniform with the last of his St. Croix money.

March 15, John Clark, coincidentally, is commissioned as a 1st LT in the same Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment as McHenry is serving as an army surgeon.

Ham, Troup, and Mulligan go out recruiting, but they can’t match the pay of the Continental line and anyone interested goes to them for better training and not to be ‘canon fodder’.  Congress raises the pay on his request- when he writes that his own pay will be unchanged, but the men deserve more.  At the time, an officer’s pay was about a third of the British officer’s.  An american enlisted man was paid far more than rank and file in the British army, and in theory had rations, clothing, and equipment given to him at the public expense.  The whigs in Congress were trying to use the army to introduce their version of equality.

Within three weeks Hamilton had 69 men (only needed 30).  He begins to get a view of how hostile the city is becoming in its Loyalist bent and feels antagonized by that now that he’s taken a side.

While he’d been recruiting, he was ordered to relieve Brig. Gen Alexander McDougall’s First NY Regiment in guarding the colony’s official records as they’re shipped by wagon from City Hall to the abandoned Greenwhich village estate of William Bayard.  Hamilton spent his time researching the designs of fortifications, and when his company arrived at Bayard’s hill, he had his company build a heptagonal fort, Bunker Hill with eight 9-pounders and four 3-pounders.  Washington commends the fort and Ham’s troops “for their masterly manner of executing the work”

Mid-April- Soldiers were allowed to go into the city and scrap supplies from Loyalist homes, rip up carpets, cut down trees, etc.  Hamilton gave his company a framework of the supplies they were permitted to collect and had men paddled if they deviated.

Meanwhile, Harrison and Tilghman are anticipating the same and increase their intel gathering, imploring Washington to formalize the unit under his intel manager, Major Knowlton- he’s the obvious choice, recently promoted by Congress for successfully burning the remaining buildings at Bunker Hill after their loss of the city- without firing a single shot or losing a single man. Whenever they have field intelligence, he’s the man they call on.

Knowlton can’t yet work with any men in the army itself- no one can know Washington’s staff is setting up their own intel-collection system while Congress maintains that authority for itself.

May 12 Knowlton turns to the Sons of Liberty who’s already established intel within the city, and he works his way through their credible agents towards Mulligan at their core, then compares notes with him, both of them following whisperings about an assassination plot against Washington and his chief officers.

Knowlton takes charge of his sources on the former governor, William Tryon.  He begins sending out feelers and suspects the Tory mayor, David Matthews is in on it. He uses Mulligan’s sources to start trailing several of the overlapping sources from the army, giving Mulligan the discretion of assigning his best agents to the most vital suspects on their list. Results came in quickly.

Fish reported that, while watching Tryon in New York harbor where the former governor’s ship was taking refuge, he’d been staying at Fighting Cocks. He had gotten Mulligan’s old contact to the Long Island prison agents, Isaac Ketchum, drunk enough to confess, in about February, Ketchum had made contact with a man on Washington’s life guard, interested in a scheme to counterfeit money and pay off some debts- strange that he should be eager to settle scores and deter watchful eyes. The man had used an alias, and Ketchum isn’t smart enough to trace him, but if they can find the counterfeit bills, they can find the officer.

Knowlton has a list of officers to trace and Mulligan recommends Alex for the job.

Alex is suspicious why Mulligan would task him with a counterfeiting case- that’s below his level, but he doesn’t question the urgency or the fact that the orders are apparently coming from Washington’s headquarters.

Alex spends weeks trying to balance his responsibilities to his own unit and trailing these officers, but it’s a difficult task. Meanwhile, Lieutenant John Clark is trailing one of the men on Alex’s list. Thomas Hickey tried to pay a debt to him in counterfeit money. And, when Alex runs into a man trailing one of his suspects, Alex becomes even more suspicious and intercepts Clark about why he’s trailing this man.

They’ve pretty much wrapped up the counterfeiting case, and Hickey is being charged and tried, but Alex isn’t satisfied, positive that there was some bigger purpose behind the case and all they did was lock up their best lead. Clark is similarly suspicious, and having earned Alex’s trust and met Fish and Mulligan by this point, suggests they should try and get an agent inside the prison to pull the story out of him. Clark and Fish manage to get word inside the prison to Ketchum about the plot and entrust him with getting the confession- it’s his ticket out of prison.

Alex knows, even if Ketchum gets the confession, it’s unsubstantiated. They’ll need testimony from Hickey’s contacts.

Alex turns to Cope and tries to play that he’s still susceptible to the middle-ground approach and that their previous flirting had some effect on his attractions. He tries the seductive angle, and Cope sees through it “I know you’re not here for this.” Alex presses him not to question it, and after they’ve slept together, Cope divulges that a plot against Washington exists.

Alex presses for confirmation that Hickey is involved- the name of his contact. Cope refuses that, since the protection of his sources is his primary objective. In exchange for telling Cope his name (he’d been going by Alec Stevens) Cope does give Alex a lead of where to find someone who can confirm it- and Alex sends Fish to investigate the house of William Leary- whose employee, James Mason confirms his own involvement in the counterfeiting scheme and Hickey’s contacts to New York Mayor David Matthews.

Knowing that Cope could use his name to implicate Mulligan and take down the ring, Alex leaves with a threat that he knows Cope’s true name- and his most important contacts in the city, including his lover and illegitimate daughter. They’re both tied together and could bring down those the other loves. Alex promises that, if the redcoats take the city, they won’t hear from the Sons of Liberty.

June 28, 20k spectators gathered to watch Hickey hang. The spectacle around it inflames more loyalist sentiment.

July 4th, 480 warships start approaching NY Harbor towards Staten Island

July 9th, at night, Ham stands to attention on the commons to hear the Declaration read aloud from the balcony of City Hall, soldiers run down Broadway to pull down and smash the equestrian statue of King George III

July 12th, the Phoenix and the Rose sailed up the Hudson to check the American fortifications.  One ill-trained gun crew blew itself up trying to fire on the ships.  In Tarrytown, the colonial troops abandoned their posts to watch.  Hamilton’s company fired when the ships came in range of Bunker Hill, he made a few hits, but he warships returned fire and one of Hamilton’s cannons burst, killing one man and wounding another.  Still, Hamilton’s company was the only one to successfully fire.

July 15 When Knowlton provides Hamilton and Clark’s names to Greene and Washington for promotion, Alex gives ultimate credit to Clark. He knows he’s effective at this kind of work, and for once in his life, he’s been able to protect those around him, but only at the cost of putting them in danger in the first place. He has no desire to continue the cycle. He’s just gained some glory with his artillery company and wants to stay there.

Alex knows he’s most useful to the cause when he can operate in the shadows while keeping his face in the light. Saving Washington and Mulligan is proof of that- he’s never been able to protect the people he cares about, so this leaves an impact.

The arc ends with Alex convincing Mulligan to lay low and cut ties to the Sons of Liberty- when Mulligan insists that he wants to help the rebel cause, Alex assures him that, if they ever have need of someone in the city, he’ll find him personally.

August 12 Washington promotes Knowlton to Lieutenant Colonel and orders him to select an elite group of 130 men and 20 officers from CN, RI, and MA. He invites Hamilton and Clark to the party and promotes Clark to General Greene’s aide de camp.

By September, the city was lost to the British.  Greene wanted to burn the villages and suburbs which were largely loyalist, but Washington didn’t allow that, and ordered the army decamped.  The British attacked at Kip’s Bay on the East River, two miles north of Hamilton’s hill, leaving his company cut off.  Gen. Israel Putnam and his aide Major Aaron Burr went to evacuate them.  

Hamilton held to his orders from General Henry Knox to rally his men and stand, but Burr used Washington’s authority to drag Hamilton and his company with just the clothes on their backs, two cannons, and their men by a concealed path up the west side of the island to freshly dug entrenchments at Harlem Heights.

While they’re escaping, Hamilton quickly befriends Burr until the Major talks freely with him.  Burr mentions the plot Greene had suggested to burn the city behind them.  Alex says he can make that happen- and they take a detour to the Greenwich Village where Alex has a friend willing to cut a deal with him.

September 20th, Alex stops by the Fighting Cocks tavern where he still has a contact in Stoker, and convinces him to start a fire near Whitehall Slip. 493 houses, a quarter of the city burned down.  Washington wrote “Providence, or some good honest fellow, has done more for us than we were disposed to do for ourselves”

September 24th, Alex collects the report of Nathan Hale’s hanging in the park of artillery.  He meets Captain John Montresor of His Majesty’s army under a flag of truce who explains his purpose of his visit- the execution of Lieutenant Hale- a formal courtesy and a thinly-veiled warning that Washington’s attempt at espionage had been an embarrassing failure.  Hamilton is sent to report it to Washington himself.

September 26th, Hamilton meets Fitzgerald who’s acting as one of the couriers for Washington’s office and demands to be brought to meet him with a proposal.  

“He will remember me- we’ve met twice.”  

“He meets many people many more times than twice, Mister Hamilton.”  

“He’ll remember me.”

He knows several patriotic merchants in New York who he met in person while living with Mulligan- partners of the company he’d worked with. (Hamilton worked as a clerk in the Christiansted office of a New York-based import-export house for Nicholas Cruger, the 25-year-old scion of one of colonial America’s leading mercantile families.)

Washington doubts the vitality of any kind of spy ring in New York so deep into enemy lines.  He won’t risk sending a courier with any kind of letter that far into danger.  So, Hamilton offers to make the ride himself.

Washington’s aide, Fitzgerald says he knows a fast rider (Meade) who can help him get in and out of the city undetected or disguised.  

By October 1st, Hamilton’s presented his full plan to Washington and been approved.  Fitzgerald introduces him to Meade and they suit up to make the ride.

When he gets back, he wants a promotion to Major, recalling that he’d been offered that had he worked as General Greene’s aide, after the ride he’s made, he believes he deserves a better command.  Washington turns him away.  

“One short ride into New York which may or may not provide me viable intelligence doesn’t win me the war, boy…”  

He stomps out and passes Meade and Fitz, muttering, “If he wants me to win the war for him, fine.  If that’s what it takes.”

Fitz is like ‘Is this kid serious?’ Meade just nods, having seen Alex climb roofs, fight men twice his size, and talk people into circles until they’re agreeing with him without realizing it.

October 28th, Hamilton’s artillerymen are attacked by Hessians.  Ham’s gunners, flanked by NY and MD troops repulse the attacks before being driven further north.  They encamped, expecting another attack, but none came to Ham’s company before the Americans surrendered on Nov 16th.  The Americans evacuated so quickly they left 146 canons, 2,800 muskets, and 400,000 cartridges

Early November, Hamilton ordered back up the Hudson to join Lord Stirling at Peekskill and march to Washington’s camp in Hackensack, NJ.  He’s exhausted from his ride into New York to make post, and the trip makes him ill.

Hamilton hitches horses to his two remaining 6-pounders and marched his gun crews 20 miles in one day to the Raritan river past Elizabethtown where he went to school (he’s very familiar with the Raritan river).

None of his connections in New York have responded.  So, on the ride out, he stops to deliver a letter to New Jersey to follow through on his offer to Washington.  

Desperate, he swallows his pride and changes into civilian clothes, poses as a seventeen year old Princeton student, and visits someone he knew while he was at the boarding academy.  A John Honeyman who had... admired Alex while he studied in the apartment upstairs of his butcher shop.  Alex knows that Honeyman has been keeping his head down as a loyalist, but he also knows he harbors patriotic sentiments because of how he’d rail about taxes while Hamilton worked on his studies.

He makes it clear that there can’t be a paper trail- that’s why he risked the visit in person.  Honeyman is hesitant, but he knows he’s well-trusted to the British and he can get the information Alex needs.  So, he agrees to do what he can.

November 20th, Mulligan shows up where Hamilton is dug in near GW’s Hackensack headquarters.  He had been captured three months earlier at the Battle of Long Island and determined a ‘gentleman’ after his arrest, released on his honor not to leave New York City.  But, he got word of Hamilton’s offers out to their friends in NY.  Hamilton is ecstatic, and they set up plans for correspondence and passing information discretely.

The fighting continues, November 29, a force of about 4,000, double that of the Americans, arrived at a spot across the Raritan River from Washington’s encampment. While American troops tore up the planks of the NewBridge, Hamilton and his guns kept up a hail of grapeshot.

For several hours, the slight, boyish-looking captain could be seen yelling, “Fire! Fire!” to his gun crews, racing home bags of grapeshot, then quickly repositioning the recoiling guns. Hamilton kept at it until Washington and his men were safe

On December 20th, Honeyman wanders near the artillery line of camp where Hamilton’s company is stationed.  With Mulligan providing intel from New York, Hamilton doesn’t want to bring Honeyman in, but he’s already told Washington about him so he has to and he does.

Honeyman is brought to Washington as a legitimate prisoner and he gives his report of the British positions, men he had questioned and carefully counted.  Hamilton and Fitzgerald aide his ‘escape’ from the Patriot camp and give him directions back out to the Hessian camp where he’s to meet up with Colonel Rall and tell him “There will be no attack.  The American troops are so disheartened and so bedraggled, they have no plans of advancing any time soon.”  Hamilton then tells him the arrangements made to get his family to New Brunswick safely.  Hamilton gets away without having to show him any affection for the trade by being ill enough to be unattractive.  Fitzgerald makes several comments about how ill he looks, ‘knocking on deaths door’.

The gamble pays off and Rall believes Honeyman, expects no attack.  He informs his subordinates to stand down and commence Christmas celebrations- they break open casks of ale and Washington’s troops start boarding ships to cross the Delaware into Trenton

Tramping past darkened farmhouses for 12 miles, Hamilton’s company led Nathanael Greene’s division as it swung off to the east to skirt the town. One mile north of Trenton, Greene halted the column. At 8 in the morning, Hamilton unleashed his artillery on the Hessian outpost. Three minutes later, American infantry poured into town. Driving back Hessian pickets with their bayonets, they charged into the old British barracks to confront groggy Hessians at gunpoint. Some attempted to regroup and counterattack, but Hamilton and his guns were waiting for them. Firing in tandem, Hamilton’s cannons cut down the Hessians with murderous sheets of grapeshot. The mercenaries sought cover behind houses but were driven back by Virginia riflemen, who stormed into the houses and fired down from upstairs windows.. Riding back and forth behind the guns, Washington saw for himself the brutal courage and skillful discipline.

January 2, 1777, their numbers reduced from 69 to 25 by death, desertion and expired enlistments, Hamilton and his men wrapped rags around the wheels of their cannons to muffle noise, and headed north. They reached the south end of Princeton at sunrise, to face a brigade—some 700 men—of British light infantry. As the two forces raced for high ground, American general Hugh Mercer fell with seven bayonet wounds. The Americans retreated from a British bayonet charge. Then Washington himself galloped onto the battlefield with a division of Pennsylvania militia, surrounding the now outnumbered British. Some 200 redcoats ran to Nassau Hall, the main building at Princeton College. By the time Hamilton set up his two cannons, the British had begun firing from the windows of the red sandstone edifice. College tradition holds that one of Hamilton’s 6-pound balls shattered a window, flew through the chapel and beheaded a portrait of King George II. Under Hamilton’s fierce cannonade, the British soon surrendered.

In the wake of twin victories within ten days, at Trenton and Princeton, militia volunteers swarmed to the American standard, far more than could be fed, clothed or armed. Washington’s shorthanded staff was ill-equipped to coordinate logistics.  He turns to General Greene for assistance and Hamilton offers to assist him in working as a volunteer aide, a position he was offered and turned down- Greene takes his assistance and is impressed with his accounting ability.

This sets Hamilton in the clout of the other aides again and Harrison, Tilghman, and Fitzgerald are all raving about him, toasting him at parties and asking Meade stories about their ride together.  Meade’s just joined their staff and tries to involve him in their conversations but Alex stays reserved with them.  He jokes lightheartedly when Fitz applauds his miracles and mentions how he’d thought he was going to die of fever before they saw the victory he’d assured.  Alex teases that he’d bargained deals with a devil- of course he wouldn’t succumb before collecting on it.

Shortly after the army was led into winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey, Nathanael Greene invited Hamilton, who had just turned 22, to dinner at Washington’s headquarters. There, Washington invited him to join his staff with a promotion from captain to Major as he’d previously asked.  Hamilton demands rank as Lieutenant Colonel and stands by it- Congress had acted that Washington’s official aides all hold the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.  Washington capitulates.

On March 1, 1777, he turned over the command of his artillery company to Lt. Thomas Thompson—a sergeant who, against all precedent, he had promoted to officer rank—and joined Washington’s headquarters staff.

#SOA #Song of Alexander #Bonus Content