#interestingly this scene is only 30-40 seconds long

[skyward-floored]

You’ll do scenes from Incredibles 2 as well? 👀 Ooh

Ok idk if you’ve done this one already (i don’t think you have but forgive me if I forgot) but I’d love to see the scene where Helen tricks Bob so she can put the glasses on him but with Time and Malon? That scene is just evil lol

Gotta hand it to Pixar they did whump and angst very well in their heyday XD

I’d forgotten about that scene!! (...I really need to watch the movie again). And you’re right they really did didn’t they XD I hadn’t done anything for this scene yet, and I got so excited writing it I did basically the whole thing 😂 So... I’m just gonna share the whole thing because, well... it’s fun, hehe.

I used Screenslaver here as a temporary name. I’ll likely change it for the long run, but nothing came to mind so that’s why it is what it is. Those darn hypno goggles...

...

“Malanya’s in trouble.”

Cia’s words rang in Time’s head as he finally reached the ship where Malon was, heart in his throat as he met with up Cia. That was the only information he’d been given over the phone, and if anything had happened to Malon... he’d never forgive himself.

“Fill me in,” Time demanded as he practically ran down the hallway, Cia jogging to keep up with him.

“Well, good news and bad news. We found her,” Cia began, and Time exhaled a little in relief. “She seems physically fine, but she’s had an encounter with the Screenslaver and she’s acting kind of strange.” They reached a large door, and Time’s stomach twisted as Cia opened it. “In here.”

Time walked inside the darkened room, lit only by the light from the hall behind, and a faint blue shine. He blinked as his eyes adjusted, and he looked around, hair standing up on his neck. He didn’t see Malon anywhere.

“Strange how?” he asked, then felt something slam into his cheek.

Time reeled backwards as pain exploded up his face, and he stared in shock at Malon, standing in the shadows with another blunted arrow already strung on her bow.

He leapt out of the way as she shot another arrow at his face, the fletching grazing his chin as he tried to regain his wits.

Malon, what on earth—

Malon put away her bow as he tried to figure out what to do, and began throwing some of the chairs by the wall at him, Time throwing up his arm to block them. He muscled his way towards her, ignoring the wood splintering into pieces around them, and Malon rolled out of his way as he jumped, aiming a series of kicks at him.

Time struggled to avoid her quick attacks, his wife’s moves faster than his own. He finally managed to grab her leg, and shoved her over, grabbing her shoulders and looking into her goggled eyes.

“Malon!” he gasped, trying to figure out what was wrong with her. “Malon, what are you—”

Malon kneed his gut, slipping out of his hold when his grip loosened. Time lunged in an effort to grab her again, but she nimbly twisted herself around, jumping on his back.

Time grabbed at her as she pulled her lasso from her hip, and before he could stop her she’d gotten part of it around his neck.

She pulled and Time choked, struggling to get his hands around the rope or somehow loosen her grip. Malon didn’t budge however, no matter how he struggled, and Time felt his vision start to blur as he struggled to get in any air.

He didn’t notice Cia, still standing in the doorway, put a hand inside her coat.

Malon’s grip loosened just a bit, and Time practically threw her off his back, heaving in a gasp as he somehow managed to grab her again.

“Malon, it’s me!” he shouted in a desperate voice, and her struggling paused, her shoulders lowering as she stared at him.

Time heaved for breath as she looked at him, and all of a sudden she surged forward and kissed him. After a moment of shock, Time returned it, relief making his knees weak.

Behind him, Cia quietly slid a pair of goggles across the floor, the device stopping next to Malon’s foot. Malon hooked the toe of her boot around it, then silently tossed them up, smoothly grabbing them all while she continued to kiss Time.

Then she pulled back and slammed the goggles over his face.

Time’s vision went white, swirling with squares and patterns that he couldn’t identify. Betrayal slammed into him as he recognized the beginnings of his mind being taken over, and he tried desperately to resist the way his thoughts began to blur.

He’d faced mind control before, but not against himself, not in such an intense way that bored into his vision and rapidly overtook his thoughts, twisting and squeezing and pulling him into its depths until all that was left was...

Was...

Malon...

Time stilled as his mind went blank, tension leaving his body.

Cia smiled, walking into the room between him and Malon. She looked at the two of them as they moved to stand at her sides, and her smile grew as she waved for them to follow her.

Both of them silently obeyed.

#interestingly this scene is only 30-40 seconds long #which apparently translates to about 700 words #which does not bode well for the length of a fic based off a nearly two hour movie XD #incredibles au #Incredibles au fic #writing from the floor #technically a #wip #linkeduniverse #lu malink #answers from the floor #lovely adrift in thyme #fic #long post #tw injury #ask to tag

[agentnico]

Werewolf by Night (2022) Review

Anyone else agree the Marvel Studios logo is super indulgent? Their title card before each film/tv show is over 30 seconds long as is, and additionally in Werewolf by Night the Marvel Studios logo is shown three times - first comes “Marvel Studios Special Presentation”, then followed by the usual half-a-minute title logo and then straight away ‘Marvel Studios Presents’. Like yes, we get it, you guys are a big deal. So much so that you have managed to get away with making a load of content after Avengers: Endgame and most of it being a pile of sh**, yet still make the dollar. Yep, I said it. Get your act together Feige. When’s that Deadpool/Wolverine crossover scheduled for? 

Plot: On a dark and sombre night, a secret cabal of monster hunters emerge from the shadows and gather at the Bloodstone Temple following the death of their leader; the attendees are thrust into a mysterious and deadly competition for a powerful relic.

So following my little rant at the beginning of this review about how bad Phase 4 of the MCU has been, Werewolf by Night is actually quite good. Yep, talk about smooth transitions. My point is though what makes this Disney+ offering stand out is that it shows that the folks at Marvel are at least trying to attempt something different here. A call-back to the 30s/40s era of Universal monster movies, with the black-and-white grainy filter and over-the-top characters and featuring, well, monsters. 

Interestingly enough this also happens to be the directorial debut of Michael Giacchino. For those wondering why that name may sound familiar, this cool geezer *never will I ever use the word ‘geezer’ again, that felt weird and peculiar territory which I will never tread towards ever again, I do apologise*, any way, so this cool Giacchino dude is the man that’s been composing all the cool blockbuster movies that Hans Zimmer hasn’t for the past few years. Like this fella’s done it all - think Star Trek, think Planet of the Apes, think Star Wars, think Pixar, Jurassic World, Batman, fricking Cars 2! What hasn’t this guy composed!? Well, the Lord of the Rings fan within me acknowledges he never did any Middle Earth music, but let’s be honest, who would dare compete with Howard Shore! Ah just remember when Aragorn, Frodo and the fellowship walk through the misty mountains towards Caradhras as Shore plunges his orchestra to the mighty depths of Khazad-Dum and you can feel the instruments literally burning the atmosphere with its mastery!!! Sorry, I’ve recently been thinking of rewatching the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so I’m a bit in the zone. 

Anyway, that Giacchino guy, what did he do? Well, he directed Werewolf by Night and you can tell a composer directed this project, as the use of sound and music to build up tension and build to the bigger moments in the scenes here could have only been accomplished by a man with a very acute sense of hearing. And overall Giacchino seems to be a fan of those aforementioned monster movies. The use of retro style smoke and mirrors, cigarette burns and the use of practical effects, especially for the main werewolf that is evidently inspired by The Wolf Man, however I couldn’t unsee Nicholas Hoult’s Beast from the X-Men movies. It all does look really cool, and very unique, and though it never hits the cheesy level high’s of those original monster movies such as Dracula and Frankenstein, it’s a very unique direction for a Marvel production. I have also seen many other reviews mention how this is a gorier MCU outing, and I can see where they are coming from, but due to the use of black and white they are able to get away with it, as you don’t see any blood colours. As such its pretty harmless in that regard.

I enjoyed Werewolf by Night. Gael Garcia Bernal brings his usual likeable relatable vulnerability to the lead role, and Michael Giacchino exhibits qualities of a filmmaker who actually cares to bring something different to the table, yet not afraid to take inspiration from previous great works. Heck, where other Marvel projects would try to go bigger, Giacchino opts to go smaller. When the transformation of the werewolf occurs, he does so off-screen, and the camera instead slowly zooms closer and closer on the face of the terrified Elsa (played by Laura Donnelly) as we see only the shadowy silhouette of the man turning into a monster. It’s a neat trick that really heightens the tension and anticipation… and when we finally do see the werewolf, we then can enjoy a very satisfying rampage. But perhaps the biggest treat is Harriet Sansom Harris as Verusa, Ulysses’ widow and the night’s master of ceremonies, delivering an over-the-top performance that gives the whole affair huge theater-kid energy. Then again, there’s also a character named Ted in this thing, and he’s an example of comedy in Marvel done right. But no spoilers, if you’re wondering about who Ted is, you’re just going to have to go and watch Werewolf by Night.

Overall score: 7/10

#werewolf by night #michael giacchino #gael garcia bernal #laura donnelly #harriet sansom harris #marvel #mcu #disney+ #werewolf by night review #2022 in film #2022 films #2022 #movie #film #tv #streaming #movie reviews #tv movie #film reviews #Film Review #action #adventure #comedy #horror #superhero #supernatural #universal monsters #fantasy #mystery #thriller

[j4gm]

Obsidian lore thread!

Sharing this thread of lore, episode connections, and Easter eggs from Adventure Time: Distant Lands: Obsidian, originally written for my Twitter.

SPOILERS AHEAD, WATCH OBSIDIAN ON HBO MAX IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY

Keep reading for the full thread!

1) We've seen bombs scattered around the Land of Ooo before, but this is the first time we've seen the word "fission", confirming that they are nukes. Although we have seen the radiation roundel plenty of times so it's pretty obvious.

2) The "magic lightning" that created the Glass Kingdom could itself have been one of the nukes. Alternatively, it could have been the catalyst comet, although Finn has no connection to this place so that's probably not the case.

3) The subtitles for the first four minutes video suggested that Glassboy was saying "crap" here. However, the HBO Max subtitles confirm he is actually saying "crack".

4) All of Marceline's classic furniture is present, but Bubblegum's influence is very visible; a doily on the couch, a flask underneath, new barstools from the Candy Kingdom, and the pink lamp in the bedroom, just to name a few examples.

5) Lady Rainicorn slippers. That is all.

6) Chocoberry on the cover of a magazine. Looks like she's been dipped in white chocolate for this shoot.

7) This is the first time we've seen Choose Goose since he appeared as "Achoos Goose" in the Elements miniseries. Last time we saw his normal form was all the way back in season five's "Blade of Grass", nearly seven years ago. Is it weird that Choose Goose was the first thing in the episode to make me cry?

8) It appears that Princess Bubblegum has not rebuilt the Gumball Guardians since they were destroyed in the battle against GOLB.

9) There are lots of familiar candy people in and around the tavern, from a variety of seasons, including Kenneth, Dirt Beer Guy, Cherry Cream Soda, a Banana Guard 500, Lollipop Girl, and Smudge.

10) Simon is of course singing "Remember You". He is also using the omnichord that was used in that episode. Interestingly, this suggests he might remember some of his experiences as the Ice King.

11) This isn't the first time Dirt Beer Guy's tavern has hosted an open mic night. He also held one in "Son of Rap Bear", and even used the same banner, although it's looking a little tattered and worn out now.

12) Simon doesn't look any older than he did in the finale. This might mean that Betty's wish made him immortal, or it simply might not have been long enough for him to visibly age.

13) This is the oversized shirt given to Marceline by her father in the episode "Marcy & Hunson". It's looking a little faded these days.

14) Bubblegum's outfit is of a similar style to the one in "The Vault", but it's not the same. The fact she's not wearing her amulet might suggest this flashback takes place after "The Vault", but nothing is known for certain.

15) There are gravestones outside Marceline's house, but these actually aren’t new. They previously appeared in “Go With Me”. So don’t worry, these don’t belong to Jake or anything like that.

16) Simon's coping mechanism would be funny if it wasn't so sad. It's going to be a long time before he fully recovers. On a lighter note, the magnets on the fridge say "M PB" which is pretty cute.

17) This is our first time seeing the outside of Elise's van. We previously saw the interior in "Everything Stays". Also, we learned from the credits and subtitles that her name is Elise!

18) Previously, it wasn't known whether or not Elise survived the Mushroom War. Turns out she did... but not for long. It's also now unclear whether the flashback from "Everything Stays" happened before or after the war.

19) A nice little timeline detail: Marceline travelling with her mother for a while explains the awkward two year gap between the Mushroom War and the events of "Simon & Marcy".

20) Here's a comparison of the parts of Marceline's song that got corrupted into the current version. The Glass People got really obsessed with the idea of the song being about coconuts for some reason.

21) PB yelling "Scree!" to summon the Morrow is a callback all the way to the season two episode "Death in Bloom", which is when the Morrow made their debut.

22) Disease is added to the long list of things that helped wipe out humanity. I wonder if this disease is related to the one that Hugo and his crew gave to the grays in the BMO special. I also wonder if Marceline is immune thanks to her demon half.

23) The mutant puppy was able to say the word "wassup". Perhaps this is a halfway stage to the talking animals that now populate the Land of Ooo.

24) Turns out Marceline discovered her demon powers before she defeated the Fool. This is the first appearance of these kinds of soulless husks since "It Came From the Nightosphere" in season two.

25) This is the first new candy power we've seen Princess Bubblegum use since she learned how to create mints and soda in "Jelly Beans Have Power".

26) Marceline not caring about the glass people is very in line with her personality in the early seasons, such as when she was happy to let her father suck souls as long as she got her bass back.

27) No Easter egg here, just an extremely good image.

28) Here's the screenshot leaked by Adam Muto last month. Like the gas station in "Bonnibel Bubblegum", the graffiti here tells an interesting story. Seems like the Land of Ooo had a bit of a Mad Max phase while the humans were still around.

29) This is (as far as I know) only the second time an Adventure Time character has ever been shown bleeding. The first was the heart monster in "The Enchiridion", but that was a lot less realistic.

30) The fact that humans survived long enough to construct a whole Fallout-style bunker confirms that the near-extinction of humanity wasn't a quick process. It makes you wonder whether any other groups made it, besides the Islanders.

31) Apart from this being one of the darkest scenes in the entire show, I like the background detail of bank notes being used as toilet paper.

32) Marceline grew up blaming herself for her mother leaving, and says she is like her dad. It sounds like Elise has told Marceline a bit about Hunson Abadeer, and is scared and angry at him.

33) This actually isn't the first time Marceline's bass has been broken. She also snapped the handle during her fight with the Vampire King. However, it's never been completely shattered like this.

34) This might be a reference to the Hall of Egress. That's the only other time we've heard Bubblegum use that word.

35) Confirmation that Princess Bubblegum doesn't have bones. I guess that counts as lore?

36) The gag of the Banana Guards slipping over each other was also done in "The Thin Yellow Line" and probably some other episodes I'm forgetting.

37) Jake’s granddaughter Bronwyn is certainly an unexpected appearance. I wonder what affiliation she has with the main cast now?

38) And of course... FINN! I would estimate he's aged about five to ten years since the finale, but it's hard to tell with Adventure Time's style. He looks younger than he did in Puhoy's alternate future.

39) Lots of people have been theorising that the tattoo implies that something unfortunate has happened to Jake. Perhaps we'll get to know more about that in Together Again. Let's not dwell on it for now.

40) A canon origin story for the shirt, plus a Bubbline first meeting! This overrides the P.B. & Marcy comic, and re-contextualises a whole bunch of the old Bubbline episodes!

That’s all for now! Let me know if you can think of anything I missed!

#adventure time #obsidian #bubbline #lorepost

[ducktracy]

176. porky’s garden (1937)

release date: september 11th, 1937

series: looney tunes

director: tex avery

starring: mel blanc (porky, chickens), george humbert (neighbor), earle hodgins (salesman)

this would be tex avery’s final black and white cartoon until 1941, and his second to last porky cartoon. how time flies! i enjoy his porky entries a lot. the blow out, the village smithy, and of course porky’s duck hunt are all shorts of his that i find myself coming back to frequently. but, of course, greater tex cartoons lie ahead. interestingly enough, this is also the second and final credit for animator elmer wait, who passed away in july of 1937. chuck jones once described him as “a fine young assistant animator who died too young." i’ve heard speculation that tex’s little-known character elmer fudd was named in wait’s honor--i’m not sure if it was that, or the fact that every other cartoon character in the 1930′s was named elmer, but this is a claim i can find myself believing with more conviction than other animation claims. for now, we visit farmer porky, who’s eager to enter the local contest for the largest home grown product. however, his stereotypical italian neighbor seeks to out-perform him at any cost.

this cartoon is a peculiar anomaly in the tex avery-verse, in that it feels much more like the 1936 avery porky cartoons than the 1937 bunch—and almost deliberately, too. the cartoon starts off very similarly to his first directorial entry, gold diggers of ‘49, laying out the time (1927), the place (podunk center), and the population 500 502 — mrs. castle bottom just had twins!). though tex would constantly reuse gags all throughout his career (and quite well, often elevating the hyperactivity of the gag), it’s rather uncharacteristic for him to reuse a gag for nostalgic purposes. nevertheless, the opening is amusing, and faster paced than its facsimile over at gold diggers of ‘49. the sound of the baby wail as the 500 is replaced with 502 is an extra bonus.

a sign gag featuring the tried and true income tax gag (which has been used, and will continue to be used, in a number of cartoons--tex’s milk and money is another porky entry that uses this gag):

porky is amongst the group crowding around the sign, joyfully declaring that he’s going to win first prize with his garden. cue the antagonist of the picture, porky’s curious italian neighbor, voiced by george humbert. humbert was an italian actor, starring in a large number of hollywood films throughout the ‘30′s and ‘40′s. if i recall, bob clampett once mentioned that tex would go to the movies to get ideas, no doubt his reasoning for getting humbert to do the cartoon. humbert’s vocals shine and add a lot of vitality to this otherwise tame entry. speaking of, italian neighbor is quick to contradict porky: “ohohohoho no, i gonna ween with my cheeken!” with that, he leapfrogs over porky, who is quick to bumble along after him.

we get a brief overhead shot of the two neighbors and their respective houses, the overhead shot once again calling back to earlier porky entries such as milk and money. the competitors both go to their gardens to out-perform the other. cue a short gardening sequence with porky, who uses his straightened out tail to dig holes in the soil, big enough to drop seeds in. his neighbor, on the other hand, concocts a meal full of vitamins and tonics for his chickens cheekens, narrating all the way. the underscore is a stalling favorite, “chicken reel”, and if my memory is correct, i BELIEVE this is the first instance it’s used in a warner bros. short? cue a seemingly arbitrary cut back to porky, who finishes the job of planting. back to the neighbor who summons his chickens to eat his mystery feed of who-knows-what. the chickens dig in... only to halt, spit out the food, and hold their noses (beaks) in disgust. great timing--the drawings especially of the chickens rejecting the food feel quite avery-esque, which is nice: it’s always nice to feel the personal touches of the director.

cut back to porky, a cue of “carolina in the morning” (which is impossible for me to hear without thinking of daffy kaye’s rendition of it in the anomaly that is book revue) underscoring his plan to use hair growth tonic as a means of growing a quick, hearty, full harvest. the scene is cute, yet sluggish--if the cartoon were made even 5 years later, it would have been twice as fast, if not more so. nevertheless, his plan works: the ground shakes beneath him, and crops as tall as the eye can see spurt out from the soil. satisfied, old pigdonald strolls inside, “uh-veh-vuh-vo-do-de-oh”ing and “uh-uh-eh-beh-beh-boop-de-oop”ing all the way along (to remind our audience that this cartoon takes place in 1927--because, why not, right?)

meanwhile, pesky neighbor pops his head over the fence, equally as impressed with the results as porky. perfect food to fatten up the cheekens! the animation of the neighbor is rich and full, humbert’s vocals of course magnifying the quality. with that, the neighbor loosens up one of the boards in the fence, sparking the feeding frenzy: “come an’ get it!”

the chickens do just that. calling back to the days of porky the rain-maker (where there were vegetable gags galore), we get a montage of semi-amusing “chickens eating vegetables in creative ways” gags. one chicken uses a tomato vine as a straw, sucking out the pulp from all of the tomatoes connected. another rolls a line of peas straight into its mouth, rolling up the shell like a toothpaste tube. 

though the gags rouse polite chuckles at most today, the most uproarious gag is the last one: a chicken and a baby chick fight over a watermelon. big cheeken asserts its authority by flicking the baby chick away, spouting tearful insults at the bully chicken. just then, fortune: the chick spots a patch of spinach, the seeds belonging to jones (yes, that chuck jones--whose birthday is today! happy birthday, chuck!) garden company. i can’t say this with staunch certainty, but i do have reason to believe that this cartoon was backlogged for a few months: chuck jones would have been at bob clampett’s unit during the time of this cartoon’s release, but the allusion to his name, the animation of this scene looking peculiarly reminiscent of bob clampett’s animation, and the lack of irv spence animation leads me to believe as such. nevertheless, as you may be able to surmise, the chick transforms into a caricature of popeye, complete with jack mercer-esque mumblings and popeye speak. the newly transformed chick socks the chicken right in the face, usurping the half-eaten watermelon slice and gobbling it down all in one go. easily the highlight of the cartoon, and a gag that can be appreciated regardless of time period.

one last eating gag of a chicken plucking a ripe worm from an apple (fittingly scored to “in the shade of the old apple tree”). the joke suffers from constipated timing, more on the part of carl stalling than the animator. there is a nice, quick, shiver take as the chicken attempts to rip the apple open into two halves. fade out.

fade back in on the feeding frenzy. porky takes notice, and is not happy about it. he does a lumbering, quick little run that calls back to the 1936 porky entries where he was much more short and squat (virgil ross animation?), zooming out of screen, then back in again to retrieve a nearby broom. porky swats the chickens frantically, but to no avail: despite his angry demands for them to get out, they continue to eat.

virgil ross animates the next scene as porky confronts his neighbor: “hey, n-nn-ne-neighbor, eh-teh-teh-tell your cheh-cheh-cheh-chi-chickens to keep outta my uh-geh-eh-geh-eh-geh-garden!” the neighbor complies, his vocals hilariously disingenuous as he haggles with the chickens, who, predictably ignore him. thus sparks an overly-profuse string of excuses from the neighbor, who doth protest too much. “you see? i talk to them! but a-they don’t listen to me!” he pauses. “i’m too sorry for you.” another pause, just as we think he’s finished. “...but i cannot talk-a cheeken talk!” one more pause. “i can no make-a the cheeken coming out!”

neighbor finally leaves the disgruntled pig to his own devices, laughing as he talks to the audience. “eet’za too bad...” he looks at the audience and gives them a knowing wink as he finishes “but not too bad!” overall, a great scene. humbert’s vocals are divine, as is the comedic timing. porky’s befuddlement by the rapid-fire responses from his neighbor is another plus. 

back to a downtrodden porky, who mournfully sulks along to a succinctly timed rendition of “am i blue?” (if you listen closely, you can hear the beats lining up exactly with his footsteps.) suddenly, a thick vine growing out of the patch catches his eye. he follows the vine, pulling it like a rope... 

and the perfect solution awaits on the other side of the fence: a giant pumpkin! perfect for the harvest contest. 

porky lugs his new prize out from the fence, which instantly attracts the attention of the hungry chickens. spark the ever transformative avery moment, where the cartoon halts to make a big production out of nowhere--in this case, football. the favorite “freddy the freshman” score serves as the backing track of the makeshift football game as the chickens line up to take position: “HIKE!”

the next sequence appears to be animated by chuck jones: porky runs long, pumpkin in hand as he swats away the oncoming rush of chickens. the extra touches of making porky do some twirls and swivels as he attempts to maintain balance are not taken for granted. a nice straight-ahead shot of the football field turned garden, with a trellis in the foreground and clothesline in the background to form goal posts--very clever! 

it’s not the chickens who serve as porky’s pumpkin demise, but rather a spare crate left on the ground. porky trips, horrified as he watches his pumpkin launch into the air and across the yard. we get a tashlin-esque concealed pan as porky darts through his house to retrieve his prize, the action obscured: we only see a brief glimpse of the house’s facade, the drumroll and sound effect of the airborne pumpkin being our only indicator to the success of the stunt. thankfully, porky shuffles out of the other end just in time to catch his pumpkin (topped off with a triumphant “ta-da!” fanfare.) wasting no more time, porky dashes down the road and off to the fair. meanwhile, the neighbor’s chickens are all plumped up, ready to win the first-a prize. 

“the merry go round broke down” scores the scenes at the fair as we catch our hero bumbling along with his prize pumpkin into the fair, neighbor and cheekens not far behind. there’s a line of posters advertising the various attractions at the fair, including a caricature of bobe cannon (once more reinforcing the idea that this cartoon was back-logged: he would have been at the clampett unit by the time of the cartoon’s release.) 

earle hodgins voices the salesman (a specialty of his--he played the pill-peddling salesman in porky the rain-maker, as well as the oil huckster honest john in get rich quick porky) peddling the miracle “reducing pills”. his test subject? an elephant. the salesman pops a pill in the elephant’s mouth, who stares at the audience nonplussed as he shrinks to the size of a mouse... literally. 

the next scene of the salesman is great, as it’s full of energy, zaniness, and fervor. i wonder if it’s a clampett scene? the voice of the salesman rises into astronomical pitch as he describes the size of “teensy, weensy, weensy, bitsy, weensy, teeny little mouse”, capping it all off with a flamboyant “WOO!” and pose. the pose looks similar to the same one struck by daffy in clampett’s entry the henpecked duck 4 years later, hence my reasoning. nevertheless, a great scene of zany eye candy. 

peddling his wares, the salesman accidentally knocks over a spare bottle of reducing pills, right in the trajectory of the passing cheekens. and, predictably, the cheekens devour the pills in no-time.

cue a rather blunt cut to porky, who’s about to receive first prize for his pumpkin, standing on stage and politely soaking in the glory. just as the judge reaches to give him his dough, he halts, spotting the ginormous array of poultry behind the pig. the judge is quick to take back his bag of money, much to the awe of porky (which also gives us this intriguing little error for a few frames). neighbor accepts the bag--that is, until the pills kick in. the chickens revert back to the size of chicks, and there’s just enough comedic pause to let the joke sink in before the chicks revert back to mere eggs. 

we iris out--or so we think. just another declaration of tex’s love of playing with the iris out gags. that is one steamed ham.

not the snappiest entry in the avery repertoire, but not exceedingly dull, either. george humbert steals the show with his acting, and the popeye gag with the chick is wonderfully amusing. the cartoon mainly suffers from sluggish pacing in some parts, tired gags in others, but not enough to exclude a watch-through. it’s a fond look back at the earlier days of tex’s directing, and asserts just how far the cartoons have yet to improve. so, for that, i’d say i’m relatively neutral on whether or not to persuade you to watch it: the porky lover in me and ‘30′s cartoon lover in me say go for it! there are bits of greatness that you should definitely seek out. but it won’t kill you to skip this one either.

here’s the link! (excuse the butchered titles/credits: opening title music is the merry go round broke down which is wrong, and the title card music is the opening to porky’s tire trouble--also wrong, as is the porky “that’s all, folks!” ending over the written script) 

#lt #looney tunes #porky’s garden #reviews #long post #avery

[yeonchi]

Sasha Fokin (Crazy Ukranian Kid) - Behind the Meme

The language barrier is such a wonderful thing. Without the ability to understand the context behind something, we can react to it any way we want. As such, people are so easy to judge others.

The three-minute video above is usually the only thing that Westerners know about Sasha (because this is usually the only bit that gets used in memes and as such, is the only bit that gets translated). Sasha’s story is a two-parter that premiered in December 2011 with a lot of golden meme material left untapped. I know because I bothered to watch the videos and I used a bit of extra material in my own parodies, which I did in high school.

This show is a Ukranian adaptation of the BBC show Honey, We’re Killing the Kids, which was broadcast from 2005 to 2007. The show’s name in Ukranian is Кохана, ми вбиваємо дітей (Kokhana, my vbyvayemo ditey) and amazingly, it was broadcast on STB from 2011 to 2017. I mean, is it really surprising for a channel that has been known for reality TV?

I must warn you, I am only able to recap Sasha’s story (in the two-parter) from what I can see. The show was broadcast in Ukranian, but YouTube’s auto-transcription system assumes that it’s Russian, so the English translation I get is not very good. Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here.

Context

11-year-old Sasha lives with his mother Elena and 5-year-old little brother Oleksiy. Elena is a single OL, so presumably Sasha and Oleksiy are left at home. Sasha is addicted to computer games and television. He is known to play violent and gory video games. We see him laughing at a violent cartoon. There was a line where he said something that translated to “swears, blood and tits”. He and his brother are known to fight each other and they don’t eat healthily. His grandmother can’t control him and he refuses to do his homework.

The brothers are taken to do some tests to analyse their current condition. Elena meets with the host, Dmytro Karpachov, who shows them simulated images of what Sasha and Oleksiy would probably look like in their current situation when they turn 40. Sasha kind of looks like Sal from Futurama while Oleksiy reminds me of Brad Garrett (who played Robert in Everybody Loves Raymond). The life expectancy of Ukranian men at the time was 62; it was predicted that Sasha and Oleksiy’s life expectancies would be 59 and 57 respectively. Dmytro gives the family a few rules to live by for the week, which include limiting their screen time and only playing non-violent games, a change in diet and giving the brothers their own spaces.

Next, we see the family implementing their new rules for the first week. The brothers don’t want to eat the healthy food and Sasha begins playing his violent games again. We then come to the first half of the meme video, up to the point where Sasha goes into the kitchen and starts whacking some papers on the chair. What you didn’t see after that was that Elena came into the kitchen and Sasha attempts to attack her with anything he could find. She lectures him for a long time and Sasha is finally convinced to do his homework.

The next day, Sasha and Oleksiy are taken to a karate class in the hope that they can get some exercise. Interestingly, he gets interviewed during the class while the other kids stand in a line behind him. We then see them back at home practising their karate moves. Elena prepares a healthy dinner and both Sasha and Oleksiy are willing to eat it. They have the bedroom renovated and they get the kids involved.

On the third day, the kids are taken to a speech therapist. Upon getting home, Sasha is on the computer again and in getting him to do his homework, there is a verbal altercation between him and Elena. Elena has someone come in to create a new user account for Sasha so she can limit his use of the computer. This leads us to the second half of the meme video. Sasha goes on the computer and is led to use the new account that was made for him. He discovers that he can’t access his games or the internet. There’s the bit from the video where he makes a creepy smile and says “I will install all the games”. The ensuing argument is skipped in the meme video, up to when Elena gets Sasha to turn off the computer and she throws the keyboard away when she can’t. We then have the scene where Sasha starts crying and screaming at his mother. That’s when the meme video usually ends, but what happens after that is absolute meme gold. Elena and Sasha start fighting again, at which point the former gets psychologist Igor Artemyeva (he’s not the father) to restrain him (I interpreted it as a rape scene in my parody). This ends Part 1.

Part 2 starts with Elena seeing Dmytro to discuss their progress. He implements three new rules on top of the previous three; “it’s time to grow up”, meaning that they should start living a more adult-conscious life, “get to know the world”, which I might have mistranslated because of auto-translate, but he arranges for them to visit an animation studio, and also for Elena to “care for [herself] more”. Yeah, I kind of borked there. I’m starting the days again.

During what seems to be the second week, Elena goes for a snorkelling session at the pool while Sasha goes to buy food and make dinner. The next day, they go to visit the animation studio, where they make a clay stop-motion cartoon. Knowing Sasha, there is a violent nature to it, but it’s as violent as Dynasty Warriors is “violent”.

Later, Sasha helps plan his birthday party and we see his friends during the party. It’s unclear to me what happens after that, but from what I can make out, we see him bending the rules at home, making food in the kitchen, going to school, coming back from school, has a friend come over, then his grandma comes over and they have what seems to be a little argument about homework or something.

At the end of the week, they see Dmytro again and he implements three more new rules for the next week; “fight against aggression”, “help and respect your elders” and “win against the computer” or something like that, I dunno, there was a finish flag there.

During the next week, the family goes go-carting. While Elena is at work, Sasha learns how to take care of the house and do his homework. He also learns to build a canvas wardrobe. Sasha and Oleksiy start fighting again and there’s another interpreted rape scene where Sasha unzips his pants (but not his underwear) and pretends to pee on Oleksiy. After comforting Oleksiy (this kid, I swear), Elena makes a life-size punching doll for them to punch and hit all they want.

This is where things start to go back to where they were. After some days, Sasha somehow goes back on the computer again. His grandmother comes in and confronts him and there’s this bit where during an altercation, Sasha pushes her away and goes back on the computer.

During Elena’s final meeting with Dmytro, she did not seem positive about the changes. The simulation of Oleksiy at 40 shows a marked improvement over the initial simulation, but Sasha didn’t seem to change much. Dmytro states to Elena that there were rules she didn’t fully implement and some generally ignored. Later on, Dmytro goes to visit the family at their home. He finds Sasha still at the computer and in trying to speak to him, he gets sworn at.

This ends Part 2. There was also a set of behind-the-scenes footage that wasn’t in the episode, but is pretty memetic. Once again, a lot of things have gotten lost in translation, but I managed to get the gist of it. If anyone wants to correct me on something or enlighten me on the full details of what happened, feel free to contact me.

Sasha revisited

In 2015, Sasha, Oleksiy and Elena are interviewed in a special episode of the show filmed in front of a studio audience. I remember downloading the raw footage of it from VK and using the Sasha portion of it for another parody. It was nearly 30 minutes long and I had to fill it with random dialogue. I deleted the raw footage afterwards, but this YouTuber did a reaction video on that, which you can find here. And finally, you can see Sasha in glorious widescreen. In that 2015 interview, footage from this video was shown of him at school seemingly fighting a couple of others.

Around 2017, Sasha started posting on YouTube. For those of you who were wondering, 2017 Sasha looked about the same as 2015 Sasha, so this image is fake news. He’s basically a fucking gopnik now. He did a few crazy videos, but he also did a few videos talking about his time on the show as well. A couple of these “crazy” videos include this one, which seems to be some kind of debate between beer and cider that quickly turns violent, and this one, which seems to be an attempt at gopnik rap (fuck you, there’s no hardbass in this). He also did this reenactment of some key moments from the two episodes. He also had an Instagram account, but it seems to have been deleted.

This is one of the videos in which he shares his feelings about his time on the show. Gathering from this video and some other articles, I deduced that he was bullied by everyone at school after they heard about his family’s problems and was forced to change schools as a result. He also states that he doesn’t know how to act around girls, but I think that’s a separate thing considering there are other people with this problem. In this video, he mentions an incident where he shat himself in class because his tea was laced with laxatives.

Presently, he doesn’t keep up a regular social media appearance. Most of his interactions are isolated to VK, so I have no idea about it.

My thoughts

A lot of people know about Christian Weston Chandler’s life and how he is a “victim” of the trolling he received because he divulges lots of details and/or the trolling is very well-documented. Many people might have a one-sided view of him, that is, you hate him or you feel sorry for him, but there are some who have mixed feelings because of all the factors in his life that made him the way he is. CWC is different from Sasha in that even if you got both sides of the story for the former, you’d still hate him for a variety of reasons.

While there are not a lot of details on the internet (in English) about Sasha, I’d have to be one of the few people who actually feel somewhat sorry for him, after having learnt about what happened after his appearance on the show. Reality TV becomes the talk of the town and if Sasha or Minami-chan (from Japanese Kitchen Nightmares) are anything to go by, it’s that certain people, who the show seemingly fails because they don’t want to be helped themselves, are mocked quite frequently. These two have changed with time, so maybe people should be more forgiving when they see the “where are they now” stuff about them.

At the time when I made the Sasha parodies, I was under the impression that Elena was just a strict mother who was trying to get Sasha off the computer. However, some years and a lot of thinking later, I learnt that Elena was a shitty mother overall. In the end, while she got Oleksiy to eat his vegetables, she couldn’t get Sasha to control his time on the computer or respect his elders. I have mixed feelings for the older Sasha, though; there were photos and videos of him smoking, drinking and being a gopnik, but in other photos and videos, he seemed more mature.

I tried to understand Sasha’s situation as best as I could so I could make this post, but as I said, there are still things that are lost in translation and I might not understand him as well as I might think. I think the bottom line for us Westerners is, given that the meme is practically dead, that Elena was a shitty parent during the program and Sasha was bullied because of it and his actions, but he eventually became mature, even if he did have that gopnik phase. And I swear, sooner or later, I’ll have someone tell me, “Stop saying ‘gopnik’, it’s derogatory to us Slav’s!”

#crazy ukranian kid #sasha fokin

[newyorktextileco]

NYTC Thoughts On...LOWELL, MA.

In last months Thoughts On we wrote about Francis Lowell, one of the founders of the American textile industry and a key figure in bringing the Industrial Revolution to the US. In the process of learning about Francis Lowell, we naturally started to gather information about the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, which was named after him and quickly became an epicentre of the Industrial Revolution.

We found the history of the city to be quite intriguing, and so in the fledgling days of NY Textile Co. we decided to take a trip to Lowell to see the city for ourselves and in particular pay a visit to the American Textile History Museum, who although now sadly closed, were very supportive of our journey and provided some of the images below.

Incorporated in 1826, Lowell would come to be known as the cradle of the American Industrial Revolution.

The city was initially founded by the so called Boston Associates and specifically the Boston Manufacturing Company. Seeking space to grow from their first site on the Charles River in Waltham, the company decided to expand operations further north and set up shop on a new site located at the confluence of the Merrimack and Concord Rivers. With both rivers having a large number of waterfalls and rapids, the site was geographically advantageous with a continuous and strong power source.

This expansion was facilitated by taking over the financially strained Pawtucket Canal in East Chelmsford, roughly 12 miles from the site in Waltham and just outside of Lowell. The site was ideal for hydraulic power development and they eventually struck a deal to acquire and assemble the land of nearly the entire island site encompassed by the Merrimack and the canal, including all of the water rights.

The power afforded by the rivers was so strong that the company calculated the site could support up to 60 mills. However, clearly a development of this ambition would prove a huge financial and managerial commitment and in order to overcome this they came up with an ingenious plan to spin off the canals and waterworks assets as a new company, the Locks & Canal Company, with a separate (albeit interlocking) board of directors. 

By doing this what they effectively created was a wholly owned subsidiary which acted as a hydraulic power utility company by leasing out the power generated by the river to other mill owners. To do this they invented a water power unit to calculate a water leasing rate, then estimated how many water power units the works could support and set a unit price.

The Locks & Canal Company would quickly develop into the greatest industrial development in the country and by the mid 1830’s it served 25 mills and a variety of other water powered business such as machine shops. By the 1840’s its canal network was more than 17 miles long.

In addition to its utility function, the Locks & Canal Company also developed into a real estate and manufacturing business by leasing land and water sites to other mill operators, constructing waterworks and even the machinery for the waterworks. This was so successful that over time the property and manufacturing businesses were spun off too.

The system developed in Lowell proved extremely successful and it became a favoured venture investing model for the Boston Associates, who would acquire water rights on an undeveloped river, construct the power hydraulics (dam, canals, power supply for the first plant), build a textile factory and machine shop and then lease the remaining water power to other entrepreneurs.

The success of this model ended up with the Boston Associates owning hundreds of textile mills, using the profits from the mills to invest in railroads, establish banks and set up insurance companies. In fact over time they would end up owning about 40% of the banking capital in Boston in addition to 40% of all insurance capital and 30% of all railroads in Massachusetts.

As Lowells population grew, it acquired more land from neighbouring towns and developed into a fully-fledged urban center. Interestingly, many of the men who constructed the canals and factories were from Ireland, who were escaping the poverty and Potato Famine of the 1830’s and 40’s.

By the 1850’s, Lowell had the largest industrial complex in the US, and by 1860 there were more cotton spindles in Lowell than in all 11 states that combined to form the Confederacy.

However, like most good things it did come to an end as the city’s manufacturing base slowly declined as companies began to relocate to the south in the 1920’s. The city fell on quite hard times with Harpers Magazine describing it as “a depressed industrial desert” in 1931 and with only three of the major textile corporations active.

The next significant stage of the city’s development came in the the 1970’s and 80’s, when Lowell became part of the “Massachusetts Miracle”; a brief period of economic growth in Massachusetts focussed on the high-tech industry and financial services.

The city also saw thousands of new immigrants, many coming from Cambodia to avoid the Khmer Rouge, move to the city and started to re-position itself with a focus on culture. The most obvious example of this is the former mil district along the Merrimack becoming part of what is now the Lowell National Historic Park.

Today Lowell is the fourth largest city in Massachusetts and is home to the second largest Cambodian-American population in the US.

In addition to the city’s large student population owing to its two university’s, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Middlesex Community College, the city has a relatively vibrant art scene. This is perhaps best exemplified by Western Avenue Studios, which is home to the largest artist community on the eastern seaboard of the US and occupies three former mill buildings. Of no particular relevance to this story, but interesting nonetheless, Lowell is also the birthplace of both Jack Kerouac and Bette Davis. 

Looking forward, what the future holds for Lowell is for anyone to ponder, but given the city’s seemingly innate ability to adapt, we remain optimistic. What we do know is that the vibrant history of the city and its long lasting impact on US industry in general and textiles in particular, is something that we have enjoyed learning about and slowly come to admire.

#history #design #america #homedecor

[driftinghereandthere]

BUKU RANT AHEAD

Okay so Chaitlin and I went to Buku this year with the hope of it being an incredible experience, but it was fucking wack. First of all, the people in NOLA are fucking  r u d e. I have never experienced such dirty stares or loud shit talking in my entire life, and it didn’t get much better once inside the festival. I’m not a ~rave queen~ by any means, but what I do love about going to festivals is the overwhelming amount of loving energy that courses through the air. That was NOT the case for Buku. There was such an angry and aggressive energy permeating the entire place that Chaitlin and I couldn’t even find one little sanctuary of our own. No one smiles when they look at you, they aggressively try to cut in front of you, and they were all so focused on themselves! Out of all the people I met, only one was a decent human being and we didn’t say more than two words to each other. At one point, a man was butt ass naked getting a shot in his ass because he was practically DEAD and the people trying to walk around the scene were breaking out into a fight because they didn’t want to follow the security’s orders!

Now the first day wasn’t as bad as the second, in my opinion, but they had most of the top artists sets stacked right on top of each other (on opposite sides of the venue of course) so we were rushing to see bits and pieces of people we love. We missed Spag Heddy because the parking situation was wack (they said it was free, but it was $20 so we ended up driving around NOLA to find free street parking), and luckily we got to hear Ganja White Night + Boogie T but only because we were in this BULLSHIT water line that was right outside of that stage. Sidenote, we stood in that water line for the entirety of Ganja White Night’s set because the water was trickling out so slow and the girls next to us were trying to shove their way past us. At this point, I’ve popped like two points of molly so all I want to do is vibe peacefully. We made it to MGMT (which was fun but we only stayed for a couple songs because their music got a little weird) and then we hauled ass to go see SNAILS. That was the best time I had at Buku because SNAILS always comes through with the beat drops and the vibe, but we had to leave 30/40 minutes in because SZA was on at the other side of the festival and I was NOT going to miss that angel. So we get to SZA and I am having the time of my life. I’m rollie, she’s angelic, and I got to hear my favorite song. But BOOM, out of nowhere the stage is black and she is MIA 15 minutes before her time is up. What happened, you ask? She fucking fell off the stage and sprained her ankle. You can’t tell me that was a coincidence because she had the most loving energy radiating off of her and I swear to god Buku just fucked it up because after that happened things really started going downhill. One news article even joked that the stage she was on might be cursed and I wouldn’t doubt it. So SZA has to leave early and now we still have an hour until Migos. Well, like the trash they are, Migos ends up being 45 MINUTES LATE. I’ve seen them once before and the pulled the same shit, but their performance made up for it. Not this time though. They didn’t apologize for the delay, they mumbled their lyrics, and they only played 30 second previews of each song!!!!! I’m not making this up!!!!! People were fucking p i s s e d (well I know some were, but there were a lot of sorority/frat people who were like “oh my gooooooddd Migos was soooo gooooood”). Not to mention, they didn’t even play Bricks which was the whole reason we even sat through that trash set. So day one is coming to a close, but there was still Virtual Self and Flatbush Zombies. Well as we’re trying to get to that side of the venue, security has to close down the walkway for a good 35 minutes because a train was on its way through! I’m sure you can imagine everyone’s piss poor attitude during that hold-up. But we finally make it and long story short, Virtual Self was not our cup of tea, and Flatbush Zombies took 15 minutes longer to come on than expected so we just dipped because neither of us could be surrounded by those people and that energy any longer. 

So now it’s day two. We’re thinking, “hey, maybe it’ll be less people because most of the really hot artists were day one.” Wrong. It was twice, if not three times as packed and people were even RUDER.  We missed Noname because of more parking bullshit, and the next person we wanted to see didn’t come on for another four hours. The good part about day two is that we actually had time to look around at all of the little intricacies and we ended up buying cute rings and some food. Doing so though, we missed Illenium (who I wasn’t even trying to see, but watching footage afterward I wish we had seen them because they sounded good as hell). At around seven we end up finding our way to Emo Nite LA with the hopes of getting lit to some throwbacks, but it was just “eh.” I mean, they played some bops for sure, but they were literally just a group of 19/20 something year old fuck boys who take pride in not being dj’s and just pressing random buttons. Every song they played had annoying air horn and dolphin sounds playing over them. Not to mention, the people at that set were flailing their limbs around and just jumping up and down. Actually, it wasn’t just at that set, but the whole festival itself. Chaitlin and I are headbangers, but we can get wavy to some other stuff for sure, and then there are typically people who shuffle or do light shows. This place didn’t have any of that. It’s like all of the people there didn’t know how to dance, couldn’t find the beat, and they were doing this weird jump/lunge move while swinging their arms??? And no one could do a proper light show!!!!!!!!!!!! We had three different people with gloves offer to give us a show and they were all  t r a s h. Anyway, the time finally comes for Borgore, the daddy of filth if you will, and we LOVE Borgore because he gets dirty with his beats and his adlibs are fire. So we get in there and it’s packed as all hell, but he starts off with some good shit. However, the people standing next to and in front of us were all doing that body flailing shit! And they didn’t know any of his songs! So Chaitlin and I are sweating balls, people are blindly running into us, and we’re barely even rolling because we were so uncomfortable. And to make matters worse, Borgore pulled some snake ass shit and started playing BULLSHIT tracks I’ve never heard him perform before. Out of nowhere he starts playing uppity, jumpy, house tracks and the crowd fucking ate it up. The look of horror that spread across our faces was priceless and we ended up sitting down during his set because we just couldn’t do it. (It should be noted that while I’m not a lover of house, I can fuck it up on occasion but we were so excited to hear his usual shit and desperately needed to headbang out all of the anxiety we’ve been feeling the past two days). We ended up getting pretty close to the exit because we were fucking over it, but luckily he switched back to his trap/dubstep ways. Interestingly enough, the majority of the crowd bailed when he switched back and people that were coming in were asking if this was Borgore. Not to sound snobby, but how do you not know who Borgore if you’re at Buku? It’s like everyone was there to just say they were there, you know? We have this theory that the artists were told to play certain things because that’s what the crowd wanted. Borgore didn’t even do adlibs! He was silent through his whole set! Which is so unlike him because he is usually interacting with the crowd and constantly asking to see some titties lmao. After a very disappointing Borgore performance, we made our way to Bassnecter. We decided to avoid the giant crowd and chill in the grass under some pretty light structures, but boy was that a huge mistake. At this point, we’re on five points and can barely feel anything because the music and the people have been trash. But we get settled, Bassnectar is killing it, and the roll starts hitting. Well, we notice these girls smiling at us so of course I’m like, “Oh my god, hi!” because that was the first time in two days that someone actually smiled in our direction and I’m feeling lovey dovey rollie. So we go and sit next to them and that was the worst mistake we could have made. 

The main girl was the biggest narcissist I’ve ever met and wouldn’t stop talking about herself and probing us to ask her questions. She lured us in by complimenting us, but as we sat with her the compliments began to sound so ingenuine and she wasn’t listening to anything we had to say. Her friends were just as bad too, one of them was in there with a fake ID and the other one was so fucked up that she was talking over everyone and couldn’t stay steady in one place. However, we did find out through them that apparently, Lil Uzi didn’t even show up for his set! (Neither did Dex or Ski Mask the Slump God). For some reason though, we didn’t leave and just tried to keep it chill. I made the mistake of offering them a hit off my dab pen because next thing you know it’s getting passed around to who knows who and people are taking multiple fucking rips off of it. One girl needed a sip of water and next thing you know our water mug is empty. That continued to happen with the gum and lotion we brought as well (and later we put it together that they stole our pack of cigarettes). So by now, we’ve stopped rolling once again because this bitch is yapping about herself during Bassnectar’s set, my dab pen is empty, and we start getting antsy. We finally decided to just get the fuck out of there and go see Little Dragon. Now I’ve only really heard Little Dragon as a feature on other people’s songs, but I like her voice and from what I understood she had a wavy vibe. Nope. We couldn’t even sit through more than two songs because she didn’t say one word and she was playing trancy music! We bailed on that and made our way to Rezz, who went hard on the first song, but the rest was just more of that jumpy bullshit, and the crowd was horrendous. People were flailing and screaming all over the place and getting out was like something out of a nightmare. The people in the crowd looked so dead in the eyes and none of them moved out of the way, but instead stared us down as we were leaving. Rezz’s debut album is called Mass Manipulation and I swear to god it felt like that entire crowd was a group of angry, brainwashed zombies. Fitting, huh? At this point, the molly isn’t even working and we both start having lowkey anxiety attacks, but Isaiah Rashad is closing the festival and I’m a fan of his stuff so we head over there. Pfffffffff, first off, he’s a talker. He just talked, talked, talked, and took forever to actually play something. And when he did, it was terrible! His voice was overpowering the beat, and it was so heavy and rough. It sounded nothing like his recorded songs. We decided to just call it quits and head the fuck home because the anxiety was getting out of control.

So basically, my review is a 3/10. The concept was great but the execution was horrible. The crowd consisted of so many rich kids all wearing the same, overpriced “I Heart Raves” outfits or Hawaiian shirts, and everyone was so wrapped up in themselves. At one point, this guy next to us snapped at his girlfriend and was like, “the whole point of being here is to experience it, not take it” because all she was doing was getting her friends to take pics of her while artists were performing. The people were literally Energy Vampires. So many people came up to us asking if we had molly, and I’m convinced that the group of awful girls could sense our nurturing energy because they literally sucked us dry. I’ve never been to a festival where people at the back of the water line started arguing with the front because they think they deserve water first. I’ve never been to a festival where everyone is shoulder checking you, looking down on you, stealing shit from you, or bragging about their handmade, artisan, face jewels they bought for $30. It was a fake woke, commercial bullshit, evil energy environment that I don’t care to go back to. Thanks, but no thanks Buku. 

#personal #buku #buku 2018 #nola #borgore #sza #migos #snails #buku music and arts festival #mgmt #bassnectar #i want everyone to know how trash this was

[witchin-bitchin-twopointoh]

ANALYZING WHO KILLED MARKIPLIER CH. 1: PART TWO

Once again, this will be long. This is every notable piece of dialogue, action, clue, relevant theory, or anything else I see fit to include about the second half of the first video. Hold on to your hats, buckos. I’m a detective.

Part One

Scene 5: The Detective (7:02 - 7:51)

After the Mayor leaves, the Detective gives you the preliminary autopsy. 

After a totally procedural and trustworthy rectal exam, our detective has established that Mark died “around” 1:30 AM. Note the use of around.

Also, our Detective is clearly not a real Detective. Why then, I wonder, does The Mayor not have anything to say about it? Nor The Attorney (you)?

A pattern is beginning to develop; the Detective does not want any sort of authorities involved.

Which is odd, considering you’re an Attorney and the Mayor is involved.

You apparently give him your alibi through flashback. Must be that main character privilege. This is definitely Markiplier Logic, so I’ll let it slide, but you do learn something about yourself: you sleep with your eyes open. Weird.

Also, this drug induced flashback alibi is apparently 100% solid, despite there being no witnesses to confirm you didn’t just get up and murder Mark. Methinks the Detective trusts you a bit too much.

At this stage, the Detective says we need to find out everyone’s alibi (without directly saying “alibi,” a term a Detective would definitely know and use during an investigation).

However, after asking about alibis, he hastily includes that you should find who was with Mark last “at the very least.” This could imply that the Detective may not have an alibi.

You are sent off to try to piece together the events of last night, leading up to, including, and following the murder.

Also, you leave the Detective with the body to do more, er... rectal examinations.

Scene 6: Damien and The Colonel (7:52 - 9:46)

You duck under the crime scene tape and walk up to a room where you can see The Mayor through a door left a bit ajar. He’s talking angrily to someone we cannot see.

He accuses them of being flippant, and the Colonel responds from inside the room, out off view, that he is taking the matter very seriously. He sounds rather insulted.

The Mayor doesn’t believe it, and says that he knows the Colonel “hated” Mark, but that apparently Mark had “reached out” to him. What animosity did they have? This is a clear motive for murder, and just short of an active accusation that he did it.

The Mayor is upset. Clearly the most distraught of anyone.

He tells the Colonel he wants him to care. Others have pointed out that he may be saying this because the Colonel is throwing suspicion on himself by acting too aloof.

Meanwhile, the Colonel insists that he does care.

The Mayor expresses disbelief then leaves in an angry huff. This seems like it would be typical of the Colonel, so why the disbelief?

You enter the room once the Mayor leaves, and you approach the Colonel.

He believes that you are the Mayor, and inadvertently reveals the Mayor’s name is Damien.

The exact quote is “Damien, I don’t-” You don’t what, Colonel?

He is immediately quite interested in you.

Just like Damien, he reminisces about how wild you were the night before, calling you a rapscallion. Considering that multiple punches were thrown, Damien did a keg stand, and the Colonel pointed a loaded gun at people, just what did you do last night?

The Colonel doesn’t believe Mark was murdered.

He then gives us a black and white flashback of his version of what happened, voiceover and all. As of Chapter 2, this is the only explanation of what happened by a suspect.

This is silly, but there is some very important information about the Colonel here.

Whilst mocking Mark, he says “My name is Markiplier now.” Then follows that up with “forget all the friends who helped me along the way, just look at my money!” What happened between Mark and The Colonel?

Despite the Colonel insisting that Mark couldn’t hold his booze, Mark never actually drank.

The Butler and The Detective are next to Mark when he says “I need to pay people to be my friends.” Why them, specifically? If he was going for hired help, why not the Chef instead of the Detective? Is Mark indeed paying people to be his friends? If not, why would the Colonel seem to think so?

“You like me? Too bad!” What?

“Gotta go off to the little boy’s room, who wants to join me?” Is this a Detective-like innuendo or a clue?

“My house has more than one staircase!” Indeed it does. Why do you know that, specifically, Colonel? And why is it important?

Mark definitely didn’t die by falling off the stairs. But we have no real reason to believe the Colonel doesn’t believe this, so off you go to investigate the entire house. 

Interestingly, this also means you’ve stopped looking for alibis.

Scene 7: A Domain of Evil (9:47 - 11:02)

The Butler approaches you as you are leaving the home theatre you spoke to the Colonel in. Was he listening?

He has something to show you. Vague and ominous, but okay.

“Now if you’re looking for answers, there’s really no mystery at all.” Is the Butler hinting that he knows what happened?

The Butler knows every detail of the house, and claims he has vetted every guest. Is this a trustworthy claim?

This also makes everything the Butler says and does extremely important.

“A domain of evil this is.” Was this where the murder took place?

Some have claimed to hear an additional voice in the background here, but I simply can’t hear it. 

“You first.” He appears scared. What is he expecting to find?

This is a wine cellar, and the first obvious clue.

A bottle with a red top is smashed on the floor, though there is no liquid anywhere to be seen.

On the racks, there is one row of seven larger gold-topped bottles. Directly next to that is what should be exactly the same except in red, except there’s a gold bottle in the midst where the now broken bottle used to lie.

This means whoever smashed the bottle had to leave and come back to get the 8th gold bottle.

They also had to know and have access to where the wine bottles are kept, or even leave the Manor to get more.

Also, the Colonel’s flask is here. Hm.

The wine bottle appears split in two. That’s not how it’s supposed to look if it was smashed over something... say, a head. It’s safe to assume, due to how intact the bottle is, that something fishy is going on with that.

(...Or teamiplier didn’t want to clean up a bunch of broken glass.)

The Butler is extremely upset. Hysterical even. This is his first display of grief.

He asks you to avert your eyes. Is it because of the mess, or the clues?

He sobs loudly as you exit the cellar.

Scene 8: The Chef and His Little Buddy (11:03 - 13:01)

The Chef is in his kitchen as you approach, angrily chopping... something.

He threatens you in much the same way as at the beginning, brandishing a knife. This is a rather common murder weapon.

Once he recognizes that you’re investigating, he outright threatens you if you were to suspect he’s the killer, and he then launches into his alibi.

He was cleaning up after the food he prepared leading up to the time of the murder.

Obviously this line is funny, but what blood was he "sopping” up?

He retired to his room at 1 AM. 

His chef statue is a security camera.

The FNAF-style security footage has already been analyzed, far before the videos themselves came out...

However, we now have video and audio of the 1:17 AM meeting between Mark and the Detective.

Mark reveals that the Detective’s name is Abe.

Also, according to Abe, both the Chef and the Butler are “clean.”

Where did this occur? There are odd bars in view.

When you finish viewing the security footage, the Chef is gone.

Also, there’s a bottle of red wine on the counter with an empty glass.

Deciding there’s nothing left to do here, you move on to the courtyard.

Scene 9: Damien (13:02 - 14:12)

When you walk up to him, Damien is agitated, fidgeting with his walking stick.

Upon seeing you, he sighs. He then begins to explain himself from earlier.

He apologizes that you had to see him lose his temper. 

He also still seems to believe that the Colonel is acting uncharacteristically, even for him. He thinks that he is in shock.

Apparently, the Colonel is an eccentric. Shocker.

Damien is/was, apparently, friends with both Mark and the Colonel. 

Curiously, this seems to imply that Damien knew everyone at this party, if the familiarity with which he spoke to the Detective in Scene 2 is any indication of prior acquaintanceship. He and Mark are the only characters with this trait.

“I know I’m supposed to be a leader in this scenario...” Because you’re the Mayor? Because you were Mark’s best friend? Why, exactly?

Damien has known Mark since they were kids.

Also, Damien seems to be in denial.

“I don’t have any answers right now.” Damien assumes that his grief exempts him from possible guilt, and he doesn’t provide any sort of alibi.

He leaves to think.

Scene 10: The Body is Gone (14:13 - 14:40)

Abe calls to you from behind, clearly agitated. 

Apparently, the body has vanished.

There is crime tape to mark where the body was found. 

Also there’s a dick. Ha-ha, but Mark may literally have been naked when he vanished.

Also, what’s with the strange head shape?

The scene fades out, and the audience is called to join the hunt.

This took far less time than part one, but it’s also less detailed. I’m running out of steam, lol. This is abt two hours of work so reblogs would be super appreciated, and comments even MORE so!

#markiplier #who killed markiplier

[madewithonerib]

Welcome to this biblical site: Sodom & Gomorrah

I have been waiting a long time to do this video, this is absolutely staggering. These are the believed sites of Sodom & Gomorrah.

There is some discrepancy as to where they might be, but the evidence is so overwhelming. That right here, this is where S&G is.

I have absolutely been impacted & impressed by this.

Right now I just feel the sense of awe over me, as we’re here. As we go through this video, you’re going to see some amazing things, some sobering things.

We will talk about the evidence of why we’re in the biblical S&G; & we’re going to see some Scripture, as to what GOD did here & how S&G is a future looking forward to GOD’s judgment to come.

So follow along, enjoy yourselves, sit back. It’s a bit longer than normal, but this this is going to be a touching video.

1.] Biblical Gomorrah

The actual location is as we said, a little disputed, but there is growing evidence that these locations are S&G.

And we’re going to look at the evidence & some Scripture.

1a] So Josephus a Jewish historian writing around the time of CHRIST said during this time you could still the evidence you could still see S&G clearly—that they were still visible.

Now we have to understand that S&G existed about 4K yrs ago, so a few thousand years after S&G were destroyed.. Josephus writes that he could still see the cities, they were still visible. Now we’re 2K years beyond that.

But we also have to understand that when GOD destroyed S&G, & it appears to be also the surrounding cities in this Dead Sea region—that HE reduced them to ashes.

What we can see here is a lot brimstones here in this earth.

I’m going to talk about some of the evidence.

1b] They have discovered in this area a brimstone, & they’re like balls & this brimstone is totally different than any other place on the planet.

[See video from Ross Patterson Discoveries]

Most other brimstone, I should mention, brimstone is synonymous with sulfur—so brimstone is kinda the old word for sulfur.

So we have found sulfur balls all over in these city areas.

And it is unlike any other sulfur on the planet.

They are white, & they are about 90 to 100% pure sulfur.

So you can light them with a match, & they burn this deep blue & yellowish flame. Just burning the rocks, it’s almost solid sulfur.

Now most sulfur found around the world is greenish, & runs about 40-50% in sulfur purities.

So we have unique sulfur balls here, they’re round, & they are almost pure sulfur—white unlike any place on the planet as we mentioned.

1c] Also archaeologists have discovered in these areas, which is around S&G—about 1.5 million bodies engraved in these areas around S&G.

That tells us this area was densely populated.

Also we know when GOD destroyed S&G, HE sent fires.

I’m sure there was a lot of tumult & buildings falling down, & stuff like that.

1d] I should also mention these sulfur balls are not found inbetween the cities, so you can see these cities of S&G & these other places that I’m going to show you like Zoar.

They’re whitish in colour, they’re a high content of ash that are unlike the surrounding area, or the surrounding terrain.

So actually this S&G, Gomorrah is more located at the base & Sodom is a little further south.

You can see all these white ash, & you’ll see it just crumbles in your hands; it’s really an amazing product.

Here we are up close to one of these structures here, & I wanted to show you what this stuff looks like; I won’t touch it a whole bunch.

I’m going to reach down here & grab these lose stuff. And I’m telling you it’s just ash. It looks just like ash.

It putters away like ash.

This is really soft.

It’s really soft, yet remains preserved for over 4,000 years! How can we deny GOD has left this intact for all the world to see & know the truth of the BIBLE.

Not only that, but the existence of HIS Holy Being.

GOD & truth are inseparable. To acknowledge the truth of the BIBLE without also acknowledging the Creator behind it all is nonsensical.

People recording these events & the people uncovering the evidence [archaeologists/historians] are all playing their part.

Objectively, it’s obvious everything was orchestrated by this higher being, who is warning us of HIS will & plan.

Do not ignore these pleas to get right with GOD. The consequences are lasting & dire.

    Hebrews 9:27-28 | Just as man is appointed to die once,     & after that to face judgment, so also CHRIST was     offered once to bear the sins of many; & HE will     appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to     bring salvation to those who eagerly await HIM.

2.] So it says in 2 Peter 2:6, reduced S&G to ashes &      that is what you see here, in these areas.

         2 Peter 2:6-9 | if HE condemned the cities of          Sodom & Gomorrah to destruction,          reducing them to ashes as an example          of what is coming on the ungodly; &          if HE rescued Lot, a righteous man          distressed by the depraved conduct of          the lawless [for that righteous man,          living among them day after day,          was tormented in his righteous soul by          the lawless deeds he saw & heard]—

         if all this is so, then the LORD knows          how to rescue the godly from trials &          to hold the unrighteous for punishment          on the day of judgment.

     And I just can’t imagine being here in this area      when GOD destroyed S&G with these sulfur balls.

     And this fire, which we’ll see more Scripture how      Abraham looked down from the mountain range      up above S&G.

Probably up towards the Negev, & looked down so he could see the cities of S&G and the valley just a furnace & in flames,

So once again a lot of ash.

Now what we also see a lot of interesting formations that just aren’t normal, when you look around & drive around:

you see square angles [man-made structures at 90 degrees]

you see things that look like sphinxes, &

you’ll see things that look like pyramids.

Just looks like buildings, they’re just indescribable. And it just doesn’t fit in.

It seems to be ancient cities & they were the ones that GOD talked about—that HE destroyed with fire & brimstone.

Now interestingly the material of these formations is calcium sulfate, which is what limestone & sulfur turn into when heated.

>> The main building product in Israel was limestone.

There is also charcoal in the layers of these formations, black charcoal & ash layers, things like that which would talk about extreme heat & fire.

All these things point to the fact that these ancient cities were S&G.

No Other Plausible Causes

Also I should mention there is no geothermal activity, like volcanoes or things like that to explain these layers of charcoal & ash, calcium sulfate, or any of these strange formations that look like buildings, sphinxes, pyramids, palaces, it’s just amazing to see.

Now the thought that GOD would rain down fire & brimstone down on these cities & the peoples & is this area is staggering.

And it gives me chills up & down my spine, as I  think about it. It was just an oven & once again GOD destroyed S&G as it says in 1 Peter 2,  as an example of those who would come to to warn us of the Judgment of GOD.

GOD is a loving GOD, HE is a merciful GOD, but HE will mete out justice & HE will pour out HIS wrath on the world & on a person & people who reject HIM.

https://youtu.be/m-HNqoJxdkw?t=505

     Now we’re going to look at some Scripture here, so      follow along its absolutely breath-taking as we look at this.

     GOD told Abraham, through two angels, HIS plans      to destroy S&G and some of the surrounding cities.

     It says in Genesis 18,

           Genesis 18:18-20 | Abraham will surely become a            great & powerful nation, & through him all the            nations of the earth will be blessed.

           For I have chosen him, so that he will command            his children & his household after him to keep            the way of the LORD by doing what is right & just,            in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham            what HE has promised.” Then the LORD said,

           “The outcry against Sodom & Gomorrah is great.            Because their sin is so grievous, I will go down to            see if their actions fully justify the outcry that has            reached ME. If not, I will find out.”

     So GOD obviously knew everything that was happening,      But HE is talking about sending HIS angels down to      actually see & witness, and in essence allow these       Sodomites and these people to expose their sins.

     GOD is really going down to expose them.

     And to show them HIS justice in destroying them.

     Now Abraham pleaded with GOD to spare the cities,      because of those who might be righteous living there.

     So Abraham tried to persuade HIM not to destroy these      cities, but it says in Genesis 18:32,

           Genesis 18:32 | Finally, Abraham said,

           “May the LORD not be angry,            but let me speak once more.            Suppose 10 are found there?” And HE answered,

           “On account of the 10, I will not destroy it.”

     As soon as HE had finished speaking, the LORD departed      & returned to HIS place. You probably don’t remember, but      Abraham & GOD had a discussion.

     And Abraham kept saying, “If there’s 50...if there’s 40...30      ...20, finally got down to 10. GOD says even if there’s 10,      I won’t destroy S&G and some of the surrounding cities.

     And there were thousands, if not hundreds of thousands      in this whole area that GOD destroyed; & GOD could not      find 10 righteous people.

     So the wickedness of S&G is revealed.

     In Genesis 13, it says the men of Sodom were wicked,      exceedingly; & sinners against the LORD.

           Genesis 13:13 | But the men of Sodom were wicked,            sinning greatly against the LORD.

     So when GOD speaks of S&G, HE’s going to speak      more of Sodom, but it refers also to Gomorrah & some      of the surrounding areas (we believe).

     Now we pick up the story from Genesis 19, where the      LORD’s two angels are sent down to Sodom.      https://youtu.be/m-HNqoJxdkw?t=649

     Amazing.

     This scene not only depicts homosexuality, but group rape and      violent intent to start abusing Lot for turning them away.

     Talk about an unsafe neighbourhood, they were ready to break      down the front door to his house (v.9)

     Remember this is all the men of the city of Sodom!      My city consists of 100K, assuming 50% gender split, you do      the math of the sheer number of ppl chiming in on this threat.

     This happened before there was texting too.

     How in the world do you get that level of interest so quick?!

     This makes it clear that homosexuality is a grave sin,      & was the main reason why GOD destroyed S&G.

     Now there were other reasons as well, they were wicked      in other areas: stealing, corruption, child sacrifice, but it was      the homosexuality that brought the barometer up to      a point where GOD decided to step in.

           Jude 1:7 | In like manner, Sodom & Gomorrah            & the cities around them, who indulged in            sexual immorality & pursued strange flesh,            are on display as an example of those who            sustain the punishment of eternal fire.

           Ezekiel 16:49-50 | Now this was the iniquity of your            sister Sodom: She & her daughters were arrogant,            overfed, & prosperous ease; they did not help the            poor & needy. Thus they were haughty & committed            abominations before ME. Therefore I removed them,            as you have seen. ****

           Isaiah 3:9 | The expression on their faces            testifies against them, & like Sodom they            flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it.            Woe to them, for they have brought            disaster upon themselves.

     We’re not given all the gruesome details of every infraction,      but the gist is S&G did not hold back on doing evil:      “sinning greatly”

           Genesis 13:11-17 | So Lot chose the whole plain of            the Jordan for himself & set out toward the east.

           And Abram & Lot parted company.

           Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled in            the cities of the plain & pitched his tent toward Sodom.

           But the men of Sodom were wicked,            sinning greatly against the LORD.

           After Lot had departed, the LORD said to Abram,

           “Now lift up your eyes from the place where you are,            & look to the north & south & east & west, for all the            land that you see, I will give to you & your            offspring forever.

           I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth,            so that if one could count the dust of the earth,            then your offspring could be counted.

           Get up & walk around the land, through its            length & width—for I will give it to you.”

     Yet some specifics are given in Luke, Amos, Jeremiah.

     They refused to repent, be humbled by their known sins;      what they did instead was commend one another.

           Luke 10:10-13 | But if you enter a town & they do            not welcome you, go into the streets & declare,            ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet,            we wipe off as a testimony against you.

           Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of GOD is near.’            I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for            Sodom than for that town.

           Woe to you, Chorazin!            Woe to you, Bethsaida!

           For if the miracles that were performed in you            had been performed in Tyre & Sidon,            they would have repented long ago,            sitting in sackcloth & ashes.

           Amos 4:11 | “Some of you I overthrew as            I overthrew Sodom & Gomorrah, & you            were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze,            yet you did not return to ME,” declares the LORD.

           Jeremiah 23:14 | And among the prophets of            Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing:            They commit adultery & walk in lies.

           They strengthen the hands of evildoers,            so that no one turns his back on wickedness.            They are all like Sodom to ME;            the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”

    I believe that homosexual culture is a measuring     thermometer for moral degradation in a society;     when GOD has enough & sin reaches a grave level.

           Romans 1:26-27 | For this reason GOD gave            them over to dishonorable passions. Even            their women exchanged natural relations for            unnatural ones. Likewise, the men abandoned            natural relations with women & burned with lust            for one another. Men committed indecent acts            with other men, & received in themselves the            due penalty for their error.

           Matthew 11:23-24 | And you, Capernaum,            will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will            be brought down to Hades!            For if the miracles that were performed in            you had been performed in Sodom, it would            have remained to this day. But I tell you that            it will be more bearable for Sodom on the            day of judgment than for you.”

     These cities all serve as a warning, hell awaits.

     There are haunting passages that say the same thing,      here is the best explanation of Philippians 3:18-21.

     We all need to draw closer to GOD on our knees      day & night praying for one another that we:

        [1] remember how horrible sin is,         [2] recognize how easy it is to become repugnant              to GOD via self-righteous law-keeping or               delving into unrestrained sin, &         [3] ask GOD to help us to rely on HIS guidance             always & forevermore.

Bringing the BIBLE to life by seeing where it took place! with BIBLE teacher pastor Dr. Tood Fink

1.] To narrative at 5:55, they were not to look back (v.17),      hence Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt (v.26).

     Lot traveled south toward Zoar, as per (v.23).

     Thus it was only after the devastation that Abraham      looked & saw the smoldering dense smoke (v.27-28).

Genesis 19:17 | As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, & do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”

Genesis 19:26 | But Lot’s wife looked back, & she became a pillar of salt.

Genesis 19:23 | When the sun had risen over the land, Lot had reached Zoar.

2.] In terms of the number of cemetery sites:

     Amid the barren wilderness of Biblical Zoar (ancient Zoora)      southeast of the Dead Sea, thousands of ancient burials,      some more than 4,500 years old, have been discovered,      making it perhaps the ancient world’s largest cemetery.

     The ancient burials of Zoora shed light on the panoply      of cultures & religions that lived here from the      Early Bronze Age to the end of the Byzantine period.

3.] There is no doubt in my mind S&G is correctly situated      South of the Dead Sea, as identified here.

     WHY? Its close proximity of Zoar.

     There is no way Lot ask to traverse all the way from      North of the Dead Sea down to Zoar.

     [Ex. Israel to Neve Zohar is already 11.4km, 2hr 20m walk      Or Neve Zohar to Neot HaKikar is 31.0km, 6h 13min walk]

     They did not have all day to travel, from daybreak to noon. 

     There was no mountain climbing for Lot (v.18-20)

           But Lot replied, “No, my lords, please!

           Your servant has indeed found favor            in your sight, & you have shown me            great kindness by sparing my life.

           But I cannot run to the mountains;            the disaster will overtake me,            & I will die.

           Look, this town is near enough            for me flee to it, & it is a small place.

           Please let me flee there—is it not            a small place? Then my life will be saved.”

#Sodom & Gomorrah #Josephus Flavius #2 Peter 2:6 #2 Peter 2:9 #rescue the godly #held for punishment #day of judgment #calcium sulfate #limestone & sulfur #main building product #limestone #warning #Judgment of GOD #rejected #pillar of salt #Genesis 19

[cookinguptales]

update: lmao I am so fucking doped up right now. sorry to the world that I got behind on shimamatsu translations, but have you ever tried to translate while on muscle relaxants? it’s a bad scene. god, I’m in a lot of pain rn.

gonna talk about some of the movies from the film festival below the cut. doped up af but I’ve seen like 14 movies so far, hella. tomorrow I probably have to skip bc I just took two cyclos and that is gonna fuck me the hell up.

movies I’d recommend:

thelma a norwegian film which is basically a coming-of-age story for a fundie christian girl who goes to college and realizes she’s a lesbian. oh, and that she has insane supernatural powers. (it’s kind of carrie-ish but with canon f/f, but imo a lot better than carrie.) the love story is really interesting, if incredibly dark. like if you’re in the mood for dark, kind of mindfuck-y f/f, this is your film. despite the very long upcoming list of potential triggers, it’s not as scary or brutal as it sounds. lmao. highly recommended, probably the film I’ve enjoyed most so far. (tw: violence, nudity, drug use, death, [spoilers] child abuse, possible mind control, child death)

custody a french film based on a short film that I saw a few years ago, and it’s fantastic and gut-wrenching. the short film was about a woman running away from her abusive husband with her children; this feature-length film is about what happens when a stupid judge ignores what both the wife and children have to say and gives him joint custody. (spoilers: it doesn’t end well.) interestingly, it has all the same cast as the original short film, though the kids are markedly older. idk if it’s meant to be a straight sequel or if one just inspired the other. really well done, tho, I was fuckin white-knuckling it in the theater. people were like. yelling. the climax of that film is INTENSE. probably the best quality film we’ve seen so far, though I think the plot could’ve been tightened up a little. (tw: very explicit depictions of physical and emotional abuse, very terrifying moments. [spoilers] but no child death.)

I, Tonya tonya harding biopic. I’m not really a big one for biopics, but this was a good one. it tried to explain how harding’s life led her to where she got, but didn’t necessarily paint her as some innocent victim. it was sympathetic where it needed to be, empathetic where it needed to be, but rarely let her get away with bullshit. lot of good performances here, but Margot Robbie (even though she looked way too old for the part) did a great job. (tw: explicit child/spousal abuse)

the villainess Korean lady-gets-revenge-on-shitty-men bloody action flick. not really my genre, admittedly, but I feel like anyone who likes this kind of movie would really enjoy this one. very Kill Bill-esque. it’s the story of this girl who basically gets passed around between illicit assassination organizations, in-fighting, revenge on all those who wronged her, etc. it is Very Bloody and many people die. the action scenes are HQ if you are into that kind of thing. I was mostly invested in the huge amounts of f/f potential. like at one point she joins an assassin organization where all the operatives are female and that whole part of the movie!! was very gay!! the actual canon relationships are het, but there is a strong potential for dark f/f murderwives here. (tw: haha oh boy if it’s a problem it’s probably here. implied CSA, child abuse, creepy relationships, violence, gore, nudity, child death, everyone else death, non-con facial surgery...like it’s bloody af okay...)

love means zero this is a documentary about nick bollettieri, who’s this super famous tennis coach. (apparently.) I knew next to nothing about the world of professional tennis going into this documentary, but I still enjoyed it bc wtf this guy is a piece of work. it’s basically all about how he fucked over a ton of people (especially kids) when he was trying to make tennis champions. and how he succeeded! by fucking over a ton of people! the interviews with him are honestly kind of wild bc he’s just such a crazy narcissist. this was especially weird for me to watch bc I grew up in the sarasota/bradenton area and never even knew all this shit was going on there. it was weird seeing my hometown on the screen like that, but also interesting. (tw: child abuse, just generally being a fuckboi)

MOVIES THAT WERE OKAY but like I had Issues

brimstone and glory I feel like I really recommend going out to see this one if you can see it on the big screen. it’s a documentary about a fireworks festival in Mexico and honestly the cinematography is stunning. it’s just so, so, so cool. but the actual documentary part is kind of boring sometimes, and you gotta have a strong stomach bc it also shows some of the injuries people get at this insane festival. like I don’t think showing that is a bad thing; I think it’s the only responsible way to make a documentary about this festival. like it’s amazing, it’s so cool, but also these people are like. going blind, losing hands, dying. and taking their kids!! like if you cannot handle watching kids in dangerous situations, don’t go!! dad was freaking out, lmao. (tw: graphic depiction of real-life injuries)

radiance a Japanese film about a woman who writes audio description for blind movie-goers. the same director made An (Sweet Bean Paste) a couple years ago, which was notable for its depiction of what Japan does to its citizens who have Hansen’s Disease. (leprosy.) it was weird to me when that movie came out that none of the reviewers really talked about that aspect of the movie; they were all like “UGH IT WAS SO POINTLESS AND CLOYING” and I’m like “did you miss the point of the movie?? which was critiquing the social ostracization of these people in Japanese society??? did that completely go over your heads????” anyway, I appreciated the depiction of PWD in Japan bc having lived there while disabled, I know that shit isn’t easy. that’s why I went to go see radiance. it was...okay? I think the most interesting part was when they let the blind characters talk. the movie was otherwise pretty pretentious and self-indulgent. lmao. like... it’s a rent, don’t buy situation.

marlina the murderer in four acts this movie was not bad! it’s an indonesian film about a woman whose home is invaded and she kills all the invaders. it’s definitely a film that critiques misogyny in indonesian culture, but I feel like it undercut its own message by showing such incredibly graphic rapes. like honestly, I don’t really ever recommend movies that have very graphic rape scenes, but I guess she does end up killing her rapists during the rape scenes. I just. I feel like it could have been done in a way that won’t get people all sexually excited while watching a violent rape. : / y’know? other than that, though, I really liked the female characters in the movie and sympathized with marlina’s journey trying to get society to help her and realizing she had to just go it alone with her female friends. bc like. she’s attacked by men, but she’s also revictimized by shitty ordinary men all the time she’s trying to get to town, report the attack, etc. and so are the other female cahracters. so they just. have to be vigilantes. (tw: GRAPHIC rape, violence, mild gore, spousal abuse)

newton Indian film about a guy going out to the jungle to get votes in the main election. but like. none of the people out there even know who the candidates are, there’s a lot of anti-government violene, the villagers are caught between anarchists and the police, it’s just a mess. and I do think the movie was good at showing the futility of it all and showing how the people who really end up getting fucked over are the poor people in rural areas, but at the same time like. pacing was uneven, tone was ???, and I found the protagonist irritating. and there was what appeared to be some pasted on het which made no sense. (like honestly I cannot figure out why she ever wanted to talk to his dumb ass again.)

blade of the immortal it’s takashi miike making blade of the immortal. I mean. I feel like if you are familiar with those names, you already know if you want to see it or not. if you aren’t, idk how much you’d like it anyway. after already having watched miike’s ace attorney adaptation, I sense a pattern. the guy just looks at a HUGE corpus (like a VG with 5 cases, or a manga with 40 volumes) and is like “welll....then I guess we better make things fast.” so you have Big Bads being introduced in the same breath that they get killed, 30-second backstories, just a frenetic pace and a huge amount of information, and it’s confusing and overwhelming if you don’t already know it. and honestly, I haven’t read BotI so I can’t say how faithful this was. but if you already love the characters and just want miike’s trademark bloody action flick style, then I mean. fair enough. this here’s a bloodbath. I had a hard time getting emotionally invested as a fresh viewer, tho. highlight of the evening: an old man walking out grumbling about how he only likes classy martial arts movies, and apparently this did not qualify. having seen a lot of classics of the martial arts genre, still unsure what a “classy” martial arts film looks like. (tw: offscreen rape, death, blood, gore, just an unreasonable amount of killing honestly like it was funny by the end, attempted CSA)

gemini this is a “neo-noir” thriller. so essentially a murder mystery. unfortunately, the title of the movie basically gives away the entire story lmao. so while the build-up wasn’t bad, the entire last 15-20 minutes of the movie are a total letdown. it was nice to see canon f/f, I guess, but I feel like the movie never went in hard enough on that. like were they trying to make a point about how hard it is for celebrities to have same-sex relationships? I’m not sure!! I can think of a lot of things that would make this plot more interesting, but they just didn’t do them. acting was fine, I guess. John Cho was in it, even if his character was pointless. Zoe Kravitz is always fun. (tw: I mean it’s a murder mystery. so...murder.)

DID NOT ENJOY

scaffolding (israeli film, boring af)

the workshop (french film, kind of boring, makes questionable points about neo-nazis)

#haha I'm dying squirtle #if anyone wants a full review on any of these I'd be happy to #these are just some hot takes #i tonya #thelma #custody #the villainess #love means zero #brimstone and glory #radiance #marlina the murderer in four acts #newton #blade of the immortal #gemini #scaffolding #the workshop

[alexbandfan]

Alex Band & the Calling, it’s like riding a bike…Stephen Lavoie / November 18, 2016

Have you ever hopped on a bicycle after having not ridden one for awhile? Just as the old adage explains, you never really loose the ability to do so, once you’ve learned it, “it’s like riding a bike.” You may be a bit wobbly at first but it won’t take long to ascertain your balance, get your bearings and move right along.

Well that’s how it felt when Alex Band and the Calling took to the stage at Mall of Asia Arena last Friday night. The career and personal path for Alex has been a roller coaster ride, with numerous of ups and downs. He’s had some life threatening problems and legal battles concerning his music over the last five years and now appears everything is on the upswing.

Although the show may have started out a bit hesitant, with some lyrics even eluding him on a few occasions. When he did forget the words, he continued on like a professional, many of the excited fans may have not even noticed it, if he hadn’t pointed it out, in a joking self-depreciating manner. Didn’t really matter much, overall, by the end of the concert, they were peddling along without a hitch, firing on all cylinders.

Alex launched his career in 2001 as leader of the Calling, a post-grunge act, becoming an “overnight success” with their most renowned song “Wherever You Will Go”. A blockbuster of a hit reaching number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, number one on the Adult Top 40 for 23 weeks and named as the number one song of the decade by Billboard.

It’s the second longest running number one song in the chart’s history, only topped by Santana featuring Rob Thomas with the song “Smooth”. It’s one of the tracks that almost everyone in the world will literally instantly recognise, they might not know who sings it but they’ll know the song itself.

At the press con someone asked, “Out of your own catalog, what is your favourite song?” Alex replied, “I would say ‘Wherever You Will Go’ is my favourite song because without it, I wouldn’t be here, that’s the truth, I’ve had 8 number one songs in my career. And sold 21 million records but I would not have any of that without WYWG.” Interestingly he went on to say, “A song I wrote in 30 minutes, a song that just came from God and out of you, and that was it.”

The Calling’s popularity rather quickly tapered off, with future singles failing to chart as well as their first hit. Yes they produced two studio albums and achieved top 40 chartings with singles ‘Adrienne’, ‘Our Lives’ and ’Things Will Go My Way’, but none the less, the band eventually threw in the towel in 2005, when Alex pursued his interests as a solo artist.

His solo career, produced some hits but certainly was not unscathed from trouble, Alex told the crowd as he introduced his song, “Only One”, saying, “I don’t even know if you saw my solo record, because EMI went bankrupt before it even came out. So are the lows of the music business.”

His personal life journey also took him through some uneven roads, now on his third marriage with the first two ending in divorce, a ride familiar to many. But now happily married and excitingly announcing to the crowd that he has recently become a Dad, you could feel the joy in his voice when he spoke of his new roll as a parent.

At times, you can tell more about an artist by what they do off stage, than on. At the press conference, which is a stage itself but Alex’s responses were genuine, garnering insightful answers, with an appreciative and humble tone. You can also tell a great tell about an artist by the others in his band and the band management themselves, all of which were supportive and understanding, a well rounded, professional bunch of folks.

I asked, “You were once quoted as saying; ‘One of the greatest things in my life is to hear of our fans hardships and know they rose above them with the help of our music’. Whose music helped you do the same thing? Expectedly, the the first part of the answer included the typical artist one might expect to hear mentioned when it comes to musical inspirations, with likes of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and David Bowie. Explaining that he even named his first born son after the latter, Max Bowie Band.

Then he went on to say, “I was diagnosed with Parkinson five years ago, Michael J Fox, you know, Muhammad Ali. Anyway, when I’m making some miraculous recovery, which is amazing, I don’t know how, they don’t know how, I’m a mystery of science.”

He continued in a humble manner, “It started in a wheelchair, couldn’t move. Now I’m totally fine so I’ve got a second chance at life. So I know this is kinda ridiculous to say but my new music; that no one’s heard yet, was what I’d be listening to when I was trying to get through something extremely difficult. I was a complete paraplegic, I couldn’t walk or speak or anything for a while there; it was crazy. So, my new record helped me, and I’m excited to share it with the world!”

They have a couple of records coming out soon, an album of new songs and another with the Calling’s hits reimagined accompanied by a symphony orchestra. Keep an eye out for those, money has it they’ll be impressive.

The recent incarnation of the Calling, features Daniel Damico on guitar, Albert Berry on bass and Daniel Thompson on drums. Manila was the kick off city of their recent tour, which is always special, sometimes a blessing, sometimes a curse. The setlist was solid with all the hits and an acoustic portion of the set, where he did a version of WYWG, alone onstage while his bandmates took a break.

Before he began he addressed the crowd, “This was a song I wrote when I was 16 and it became this amazing song. Anyway, I never usually do this but I wanted to play this song twice tonight.” He continued, “But right now it’s just and me, later on we’ll rock it out. I’m really gonna play it how I wrote it.” I wish more artists would do this with their most popular songs, you don’t see it too often.

I’m certain if I took a poll, over 90% of concert goers would absolutely love to hear two versions of their bands favourite songs. This may have been the most moving portion of the concert, the feeling in the air was palpable. I also thought they did well with “Stigmatised”, after the acoustic set of the show they really hit their stride, well done indeed.

Alex Band may have had his highs and lows, as many of us do traveling through life, now it seems good things are on the horizon. Beginning with an emphasis on his recovery of being a miracle of modern medicine, they’re certainly now heading in a positive direction, up. A fresh start after a long absence from the music scene, hence the bit of rust under the hood, which I’m sure won’t take long to wear off. With just a few more concerts, release of the new material, and in 2017 they’ll be right back on top of the game, just like riding a bike.

(Special thanks going out to Subterranean Ideas Entertainment for a job well done on bringing the band to Philippines shores.)

Irocktography blog

#alex band #the calling #model #singer #alexnews2016

[memoriesofprojectkids-blog]

The Crackhead

The Crackhead As the blood slowly dried up the side of his mouth, I thought he was dead. He’d been lying still for the past thirty minutes and no one had even bothered trying to help him up.. If he was dead, an ambulance would come to take him and if he was alive, then he was no longer their problem. I’d just witnessed the worst beat down I’d ever seen in my life and I just kept wondering…..is he dead? It was the middle of the afternoon during the fall of ’87. Me and some of the other neighborhood kids were playing basketball in Vegas playground inside of our project. Vegas wasn’t the formal name for the playground, however, this became its adopted name because it was the main place for gambling in the projects and in the immediate area. Within the projects, many people sold drugs but one of the unofficial rules was no one sold in the main playground areas where most of the neighborhood kids would play. Maybe it wasn’t an official “rule” but more like a guideline. In fact, with it being the 80’s and shootouts being common, Vegas saw its fair share of action. What was also becoming more common was crack. The crack cocaine epidemic hit the inner cities fast and hard. It initially started out as a party drug but its cheap price and highly addictive nature turned out to be far more potent than most people bargained for. I can vividly remember neighbors who were “normal” one day and then seemingly overnight become a crackhead. It was similar to watching a zombie flick in how, once they got bit, they were gone. Additionally, these weren’t just anonymous people who appeared from out of the blue. These were mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, uncles and aunts. For me, some were those I considered to be my old heads and close neighbors. As a kid, you didn’t really see the actual transition. One day they were regular and the next thing you knew they were stoned out of their mind asking a nine year old kid could they “borrow” his Excite Bike Nintendo game. Equally disturbing was the violence which surrounded the crack game. Seeing gunfights and knowing individuals who were shot, paralyzed and even killed, became a common thing. But at the same time, it didn’t really seem strange. If you witnessed these scenes regularly it appeared rather ordinary. Some people would say it resembled the movies, but I don’t agree. A movie has a start, a middle and an ending. Then the credits roll. In the movies there’s a script and an angle. In real life, stuff just happened no slow motion movements, no camera shot of a menacing character pulling their gun and no sad music playing in the background as someone is laid out on the cold concrete with a bullet to the chest. To make matters worse, economic times were very rough in the 80’s. You know the hood motto for the Reagan era “The rich get richer and the poor don’t get a f*ckin thing”. In the eyes of many black youth, they had two choices: One was working at McDonald’s and the other was selling drugs on the corner. A lot of people took option B. Not, to say it was the right choice because as I became older and understood economics, I realized if you started out at McDonald’s as a teen and worked your way up to least a mid-level job in corporate, you would make a lot more money (and have better job security) than standing out on a corner, but those types of lessons aren’t taught in schools. It was the middle of the afternoon in the fall of 1987. Although the neighborhood hustlers didn’t openly sell drugs where kids were playing, there were no rules to where they kept their drug stash. Within the neighborhood and especially amongst the kids, we all kind of knew where they hid their drugs. In a bag of chips behind the bushes. Under the third bench next to the monkey bars. By the sewer grate next to the abandoned car. It was just common knowledge. On that day, as we were playing basketball on one of the crates, we saw a crackhead, wandering around the playground area. Normal. What wasn’t normal was how he kept pacing back and forth, looking around. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what he was trying to do and it also didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for. After a few minutes, his eyes caught a small bag, hidden behind some bushes. Initially, he seemed as if he wanted to be a bit more covert but he just dipped down, grabbed the bag and then looked around nervously. A second later, one of the kids playing ball with us, ran around the corner and told some of the hustlers what happened. Seconds later, another older guy at the end of playground shouted, “A yo Dave, one of them smokers grabbed ya stash.” The crackhead began to fidget and then nervously walked away from where he’d grabbed the stash. He must have been already high because as he walked through us kids, he actually tried to hide in my friend’s jacket……. while my friend has his jacket on! My friend shoved him away and the crackhead began to try and getaway. When I say getaway, I mean he ran into the house of one of his relatives and locked the door. “Oh shit, here come Dave now!” The dealer whose stash was stolen went to check his spot and immediately began to walk in the direction where people were pointing out the crackhead. His crew was behind him as they walked across the playground to where the crackhead was staying. Soon, dozens of people were standing in front of the house, waiting for Dave and his crew to get there. For me, I didn’t have to go far, the house was right next door (more on that later). Dave and his crew walked up to the door and kicked it. The door didn’t give way but it shook the frame. They banged on the door and one of them tried to pull the knob off. Someone inside quickly peeked out the front curtain and then closed it. After a few seconds a woman slowly opened the door “I know..I…I…I know what he did was wrong but he not here, he left…..” she said as Dave and his crew tossed her out of the way. By now there were at least 30-40 people standing around outside the home, me being one of them. You couldn’t really see much but you could hear the punches, the kicks and the sound of someone getting hit with a chair. Suddenly one of the guys said, “take this nigga outside!”. Soon the crowd parted as Dave and his crew dragged the crackhead out, into the front yard. They then proceeded, to stomp and beat the man into the ground. There were only a few punches because after about 5 seconds the guy was laid flat out in the dirt. They then proceeded to stomp him to the point in which he was just motionless. As they stood over him, a few of the guys spit on him and tried to wake him back up to no avail. Then, Dave, the leader of the crew began to look around and saw a large slap of concrete at the side of the garden. I can’t give any logical explanation for why a giant piece of concrete was just lying around but it was the projects and……random items just happened to be lying around. Dave then went over, picked up the concrete over top of his head and looked around at the crowd. Not one person uttered a phrase to prevent what was going to happen, everyone just stood there with their mouths open. He then slammed the concrete onto the back of the man who let out a yelp. It wasn’t a holler or scream but a yelp. The man writhed in pain as Dave and his crew slowly walked away, as the crowd began to dissipate. Since I lived next door, I stood there for a few minutes wondering if the guy was going to ever get up. About an hour later, was when the two police officers saw him on the ground and checked on him. They tried to ask him some questions but he was unresponsive, so they surveyed the area and simply walked away. By now everything in the projects was back to normal, with the exception of a man who probably had just had his spinal cord broken lying on the ground. To provide some insight, I would like to provide some closure on what happened to the man. Did he live? Did an ambulance ever come and take him? Was he permanently damaged? I honestly don’t know. The last image I have of the man is of him on the ground with people causally walking by him. Many years later, as a young adult, I saw Dave again. In fact, I’d seen him numerous times since the incident but because of the age difference, we never really spoke and we rarely were in the same circles. However we both happened to be at Joe, the neighborhood barber. Joe and another customer had also been there that day and for some reason, someone asked Dave about the incident. Interestingly enough, Dave expressed heartfelt regret over the situation. As life progressed, he’d learned a lot about the world and had gone on to college, finished graduate school and started a family. In his previous life, he explained how he didn’t really think about the consequences of his actions. Yet, life had taught him many lessons which he’d learned to carry on and become a productive member of society. He now does spoken word poetry and you can see him at numerous venues around the city. I doubt if he’ll go into these kind of tales, but from what I can say, he’s honestly a great guy and a great role model to the youth. Reflecting on this incident, there were so many contradicting and powerful aspects to it. With the crack cocaine era being a prominent aspect of life, such violence was not unheard of. At the time, many people felt it was worth it but when you talk with those who were involved that world, most wish they’d chosen another path. After 10-15 years, it became common to see both users and dealers not living the most comfortable lives. Personally, I also learned a very important lesson which remained within me throughout my youth. I’d always understood this but it became deeply embedded in me when I saw the rock being slammed on that man’s back. The lesson was……. SAY NO TO DRUGS!

[kim26chiu]

Ten Things You Need to Know About Indianapolis City Culture

Photo Credit: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0

What makes one city different from another? Some of it is the geography, the economy, or the buildings. But a big chunk of it is culture.

Every city has its own culture. A journalist recently interviewed me about Indianapolis and asked about some of the things that make that city’s culture distinct. I’m reposting ten of my observations here. Keep in mind that many of these points are relative, not absolute. They are comparisons versus what I see in other cities.

1. Indianapolis has a very open social structure. Many cities have very insular cultures that are difficult to penetrate. The Midwest river cities like Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis are like this. If you weren’t born there, in a sense you’re always something of an outsider. I’ve also heard reports of similar things about Cleveland, where people who come there have trouble making new friends and connections. The stereotype of some Southern cities is that who your daddy was, etc. matters a lot.

In Indy, outsiders can move to the city and rapidly make friends and contacts, and to get integrated into civic networks. Columbus, Ohio is similar I’m told. I speculate that these cities have a more open orientation because they are state capitals. They frequently have new players circulating in and out, and this opens up the social networks considerably.

A newcomer is likely to have a much better time of it in Indianapolis than most other Midwest cities.

2. The social life of Indianapolis happens in back yards. This was an observation made some time ago by local cultural commentator David Hoppe. It’s dead on. In a city like New York or Chicago, there’s a palpable sense of bustling street life. This is largely absent in Indianapolis. If you operate on the assumption that this is the One True Way cities should function, Indy looks bad. But in reality the history and even built environment of Indy simply created different forms of social life. Different doesn’t mean worse.

People in NYC have tiny apartments, so of course they want to be out and meet people out. People in Indy mostly have single family homes, and so people can gather inside and in back yards. This produces things like Sunday night dinners and porch parties. In my experience, this produces many more useful “collisions” than the merely physical ones you’re likely to have on the street in Chicago.

Monument Circle. Photo Credit: alexeatswhales, CC BY 2.0

3. A bimodal distribution of quality. Indianapolis has a “barbell” shaped quality curve. There’s a lot of stuff that’s pretty bad, but some things that are truly excellent. So, for example, the design of the average street in Indianapolis is terrible, but Monument Circle is one of the world’s great urban spaces. This contrasts with say Columbus, Ohio, where the vast majority of things are solid but relatively few stand out as terrible or exceptional. Interestingly, Nassim Taleb recommends barbell strategies. This may be one reason why Indy has the best small city tech scene in the Midwest.

4. An excessive preference for the pragmatic. This is a common Midwest trait. Again, I’m writing a future magazine column about this and its downsides. But for now note that the Midwest tends to actively discourage ambitious undertakings and the pursuit of excellence. This can produce a stifling environment for people who want to dream big and care about doing things right. Indy is certainly far better than the rest of Indiana on this, but it’s still present.

Looking at Indy’s barbell quality distribution, it’s clear the community gives itself permission to do A+ level work in certain areas: sports hosting, Monument Circle, etc. But I’ve yet to crack the code on what the characteristics of these are that made them acceptable while so many others were not.

5. A weak sense of neighborhood identity. Cities like Chicago and Cincinnati are deeply steeped in a sense of neighborhood. They have strongly delineated, long-standing neighborhood areas people strongly feel themselves to be part of. Like Detroit, Indy has always been more about what side of town you live on than what neighborhood you live in. There were some exceptions to this, but the norm has been a weak sense of neighborhood identity. Unigov, where the city took in a lot of suburban and rural areas in a city-county merger, doubtlessly contributed to this, but I suspect it far predates that.

One reason some friends and I started the Naplab Indianapolis Neighborhood Map project was to start strengthening a sense of neighborhood identity.

6. Low cultural differentiation vs. the state. People who live in Indianapolis are Hoosiers and think of themselves that way. There’s historically been little sense of urban identity apart from the state. Chicago is like a different planet from Illinois. People in Chicago think of themselves as Chicagoans first, and Illinoisans secondarily if at all. By contrast, in Indy people are Hoosiers first, residents of the city second. It’s telling that there isn’t even a commonly used word to refer to residents of Indianapolis. Indianapolitans anyone?

Also, the city is mostly a draw from the rest of the state, so it has a very Hoosier feel. In Chicago, there’s a Midwest feel because it draws from a regional catchment area. In Dallas, you meet people from everywhere.

This is one the urban progressives would probably like to dispute, but they are a relatively small tribe in the city.

7. Low institutional differentiation vs. the state. As the only big city in the state, the city’s major institutions are frequently pressed into double duty as statewide ones. There’s an Indiana Historical Society but no Indianapolis Historical Society. (Is Indianapolis the biggest city in the country without its own historical society?) The major state economic development groups like TechPoint are basically Indianapolis organizations that serve a statewide audience.

People in the rest of the state people feel the state and major institutions give too much focus to Indy. But again, in many cases these are de facto Indianapolis institutions doing double duty for the state. In many (most?) states there would be separate organizations for the major urban region and for the state. In Indiana, that’s not the case. (I’m not familiar with how others states with one major city like Georgia and Minnesota are set up. Are they similar?)

8. A strong civic but weak political culture. Indianapolis is known for having three top notch mayors in a row: Richard Lugar, Bill Hudnut, and Stephen Goldsmith. But in general mayoral leadership and city government have not been the drivers of change. I don’t know how Lugar operated as I was not around. Goldsmith seemed to have a strong mayoral agenda (e.g., outsourcing). But others relied more on a broader civic grouping of people – business, foundations, etc. to get things done.

I suspect most cities would claim their civic sector is strong. Chicago likes to boast of its corporate involvement, for example. But it’s also clear that Chicago likes to get things done through a powerful mayor in City Hall. In Chicago, if the mayor says Yes to you, you are probably golden. In Indy, however, that’s not the case.

It’s hard to describe how this works because frankly it’s very opaque. Civic initiatives are largely cooked up in the back room behind the scenes. There seems to be a big focus on consensus. Disputes are generally not aired in public. And there’s a very “go along to get along” civic ethic.

This has had a lot of benefits. First, while it generally takes longer for Indy to decide to do something than other cities, once the decision is made to go forward, it almost always happens. You don’t see things like Louisville arguing for 40 years over whether and where to build a bridge (which only got built because Mitch Daniels stepped in). You don’t see repeated failures to pass a light rail program, like in Kansas City. When Indy decides to do something, it has a very high success rate. (A critic might say some of these things should have failed and that success at doing something you never should have done in the first place is a Pyrrhic victory).

Indianapolis hosting the Super Bowl. Image via Shutterstock.

Secondly, there is long term continuity in civic initiatives. Rarely do things die when mayors change. The sports hosting strategy has gone back over 30 years, for example. While the current mayor didn’t strongly support the transit initiative developed under his predecessor of a different party, he didn’t stand in its way either. Contrast with how a new mayor came into Cincinnati and tried to pull the plug on a streetcar project. Or at the state level Chris Christie in New Jersey taking office and cancelling a rail tunnel project.

The downside is a very enfeebled and low capacity city bureaucracy. Also, some changes need to come from the political sector in order to have democratic legitimacy. This makes the Indianapolis system bad at solving certain kinds of civic challenges. It should be no surprise that the mayor-driven (i.e., politically driven) system of suburban Carmel, Indiana was better able to redesign infrastructure, for example.

Another downside is that it’s an extremely difficult environment for a civic entrepreneur to try to get things done. That’s where cultural fit comes in. If you don’t know how to navigate an opaque civic structure, accumulate political capital in that environment, etc. then you are going to fail to accomplish anything. This tends to reward insiders vs. outsiders. Though because of point #1, outsiders can become insiders fairly easily in Indianapolis, if they know how to play the game. Due to the nature of the civic structure, playing the game is likely to involve significant dilution of their ideas and compromises many people might find unpalatable.

9. A strong preference for local hires. Indianapolis might be the biggest city in the country that’s basically never hired a global starchitect to design a major civic structure. Now there are many negative things one might say about the starchitect trend, but this is still revealing of the local culture. There’s a strong preference to hire locally in most places, but it’s very high in Indianapolis and often very clearly trumps quality. In fact, an out of towner with high flying ideas is exactly the kind of person who is going to be resented by a significant faction of the local power structure, and probably not be long for this world.

Image via PRINTtEXT Instagram

10. You need to a guide to find the good stuff. Similar to point #2, you’re not just going to stumble into some famous place randomly, like you can in many cities. It’s a city where you need a guide to point you at the good stuff. For example, PRINTtEXT at 52nd and College is one of the best magazine stores in the entire world. I’m not exaggerating. But you’d never find it unless you were looking for it. There are all sorts of great things and great people in Indy, but they take time to find and get to know. In some cities the greatness is on the surface. In Indy, it’s in layers you need to dig up over time.

from Aaron M. Renn http://www.urbanophile.com/2017/03/14/ten-things-you-need-to-know-about-indianapolis-city-culture/

[barb31clem]

Ten Things You Need to Know About Indianapolis City Culture

Photo Credit: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0

What makes one city different from another? Some of it is the geography, the economy, or the buildings. But a big chunk of it is culture.

Every city has its own culture. A journalist recently interviewed me about Indianapolis and asked about some of the things that make that city’s culture distinct. I’m reposting ten of my observations here. Keep in mind that many of these points are relative, not absolute. They are comparisons versus what I see in other cities.

1. Indianapolis has a very open social structure. Many cities have very insular cultures that are difficult to penetrate. The Midwest river cities like Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis are like this. If you weren’t born there, in a sense you’re always something of an outsider. I’ve also heard reports of similar things about Cleveland, where people who come there have trouble making new friends and connections. The stereotype of some Southern cities is that who your daddy was, etc. matters a lot.

In Indy, outsiders can move to the city and rapidly make friends and contacts, and to get integrated into civic networks. Columbus, Ohio is similar I’m told. I speculate that these cities have a more open orientation because they are state capitals. They frequently have new players circulating in and out, and this opens up the social networks considerably.

A newcomer is likely to have a much better time of it in Indianapolis than most other Midwest cities.

2. The social life of Indianapolis happens in back yards. This was an observation made some time ago by local cultural commentator David Hoppe. It’s dead on. In a city like New York or Chicago, there’s a palpable sense of bustling street life. This is largely absent in Indianapolis. If you operate on the assumption that this is the One True Way cities should function, Indy looks bad. But in reality the history and even built environment of Indy simply created different forms of social life. Different doesn’t mean worse.

People in NYC have tiny apartments, so of course they want to be out and meet people out. People in Indy mostly have single family homes, and so people can gather inside and in back yards. This produces things like Sunday night dinners and porch parties. In my experience, this produces many more useful “collisions” than the merely physical ones you’re likely to have on the street in Chicago.

Monument Circle. Photo Credit: alexeatswhales, CC BY 2.0

3. A bimodal distribution of quality. Indianapolis has a “barbell” shaped quality curve. There’s a lot of stuff that’s pretty bad, but some things that are truly excellent. So, for example, the design of the average street in Indianapolis is terrible, but Monument Circle is one of the world’s great urban spaces. This contrasts with say Columbus, Ohio, where the vast majority of things are solid but relatively few stand out as terrible or exceptional. Interestingly, Nassim Taleb recommends barbell strategies. This may be one reason why Indy has the best small city tech scene in the Midwest.

4. An excessive preference for the pragmatic. This is a common Midwest trait. Again, I’m writing a future magazine column about this and its downsides. But for now note that the Midwest tends to actively discourage ambitious undertakings and the pursuit of excellence. This can produce a stifling environment for people who want to dream big and care about doing things right. Indy is certainly far better than the rest of Indiana on this, but it’s still present.

Looking at Indy’s barbell quality distribution, it’s clear the community gives itself permission to do A+ level work in certain areas: sports hosting, Monument Circle, etc. But I’ve yet to crack the code on what the characteristics of these are that made them acceptable while so many others were not.

5. A weak sense of neighborhood identity. Cities like Chicago and Cincinnati are deeply steeped in a sense of neighborhood. They have strongly delineated, long-standing neighborhood areas people strongly feel themselves to be part of. Like Detroit, Indy has always been more about what side of town you live on than what neighborhood you live in. There were some exceptions to this, but the norm has been a weak sense of neighborhood identity. Unigov, where the city took in a lot of suburban and rural areas in a city-county merger, doubtlessly contributed to this, but I suspect it far predates that.

One reason some friends and I started the Naplab Indianapolis Neighborhood Map project was to start strengthening a sense of neighborhood identity.

6. Low cultural differentiation vs. the state. People who live in Indianapolis are Hoosiers and think of themselves that way. There’s historically been little sense of urban identity apart from the state. Chicago is like a different planet from Illinois. People in Chicago think of themselves as Chicagoans first, and Illinoisans secondarily if at all. By contrast, in Indy people are Hoosiers first, residents of the city second. It’s telling that there isn’t even a commonly used word to refer to residents of Indianapolis. Indianapolitans anyone?

Also, the city is mostly a draw from the rest of the state, so it has a very Hoosier feel. In Chicago, there’s a Midwest feel because it draws from a regional catchment area. In Dallas, you meet people from everywhere.

This is one the urban progressives would probably like to dispute, but they are a relatively small tribe in the city.

7. Low institutional differentiation vs. the state. As the only big city in the state, the city’s major institutions are frequently pressed into double duty as statewide ones. There’s an Indiana Historical Society but no Indianapolis Historical Society. (Is Indianapolis the biggest city in the country without its own historical society?) The major state economic development groups like TechPoint are basically Indianapolis organizations that serve a statewide audience.

People in the rest of the state people feel the state and major institutions give too much focus to Indy. But again, in many cases these are de facto Indianapolis institutions doing double duty for the state. In many (most?) states there would be separate organizations for the major urban region and for the state. In Indiana, that’s not the case. (I’m not familiar with how others states with one major city like Georgia and Minnesota are set up. Are they similar?)

8. A strong civic but weak political culture. Indianapolis is known for having three top notch mayors in a row: Richard Lugar, Bill Hudnut, and Stephen Goldsmith. But in general mayoral leadership and city government have not been the drivers of change. I don’t know how Lugar operated as I was not around. Goldsmith seemed to have a strong mayoral agenda (e.g., outsourcing). But others relied more on a broader civic grouping of people – business, foundations, etc. to get things done.

I suspect most cities would claim their civic sector is strong. Chicago likes to boast of its corporate involvement, for example. But it’s also clear that Chicago likes to get things done through a powerful mayor in City Hall. In Chicago, if the mayor says Yes to you, you are probably golden. In Indy, however, that’s not the case.

It’s hard to describe how this works because frankly it’s very opaque. Civic initiatives are largely cooked up in the back room behind the scenes. There seems to be a big focus on consensus. Disputes are generally not aired in public. And there’s a very “go along to get along” civic ethic.

This has had a lot of benefits. First, while it generally takes longer for Indy to decide to do something than other cities, once the decision is made to go forward, it almost always happens. You don’t see things like Louisville arguing for 40 years over whether and where to build a bridge (which only got built because Mitch Daniels stepped in). You don’t see repeated failures to pass a light rail program, like in Kansas City. When Indy decides to do something, it has a very high success rate. (A critic might say some of these things should have failed and that success at doing something you never should have done in the first place is a Pyrrhic victory).

Indianapolis hosting the Super Bowl. Image via Shutterstock.

Secondly, there is long term continuity in civic initiatives. Rarely do things die when mayors change. The sports hosting strategy has gone back over 30 years, for example. While the current mayor didn’t strongly support the transit initiative developed under his predecessor of a different party, he didn’t stand in its way either. Contrast with how a new mayor came into Cincinnati and tried to pull the plug on a streetcar project. Or at the state level Chris Christie in New Jersey taking office and cancelling a rail tunnel project.

The downside is a very enfeebled and low capacity city bureaucracy. Also, some changes need to come from the political sector in order to have democratic legitimacy. This makes the Indianapolis system bad at solving certain kinds of civic challenges. It should be no surprise that the mayor-driven (i.e., politically driven) system of suburban Carmel, Indiana was better able to redesign infrastructure, for example.

Another downside is that it’s an extremely difficult environment for a civic entrepreneur to try to get things done. That’s where cultural fit comes in. If you don’t know how to navigate an opaque civic structure, accumulate political capital in that environment, etc. then you are going to fail to accomplish anything. This tends to reward insiders vs. outsiders. Though because of point #1, outsiders can become insiders fairly easily in Indianapolis, if they know how to play the game. Due to the nature of the civic structure, playing the game is likely to involve significant dilution of their ideas and compromises many people might find unpalatable.

9. A strong preference for local hires. Indianapolis might be the biggest city in the country that’s basically never hired a global starchitect to design a major civic structure. Now there are many negative things one might say about the starchitect trend, but this is still revealing of the local culture. There’s a strong preference to hire locally in most places, but it’s very high in Indianapolis and often very clearly trumps quality. In fact, an out of towner with high flying ideas is exactly the kind of person who is going to be resented by a significant faction of the local power structure, and probably not be long for this world.

Image via PRINTtEXT Instagram

10. You need to a guide to find the good stuff. Similar to point #2, you’re not just going to stumble into some famous place randomly, like you can in many cities. It’s a city where you need a guide to point you at the good stuff. For example, PRINTtEXT at 52nd and College is one of the best magazine stores in the entire world. I’m not exaggerating. But you’d never find it unless you were looking for it. There are all sorts of great things and great people in Indy, but they take time to find and get to know. In some cities the greatness is on the surface. In Indy, it’s in layers you need to dig up over time.

from Aaron M. Renn http://www.urbanophile.com/2017/03/14/ten-things-you-need-to-know-about-indianapolis-city-culture/

[sherristockman]

California Charges Man With Caffeine DUI Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola Some cases are interesting, and some are downright weird. Reports of a man arrested on charges of driving under the influence of caffeine definitely fall into the second category. It started on August 5, 2015, when Joseph Schwab was driving home from work and got pulled over in Fairfield, California, by Agent Ott from the California department of alcoholic beverage control, who was driving an unmarked vehicle. The agent said she was suspicious because Schwab was "weaving in and out of traffic, almost causing several collisions," exhibiting "erratic and reckless driving," including cutting her off in traffic. Schwab was booked on a DUI charge, more specifically, driving under the influence of caffeine. Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams said Schwab "seemed very amped up, very agitated, very combative and she thought he was under the influence of something."1 She added that they were sure Schwab was on something because of the officer's statement. When the 36-year-old union glazier worker was booked into the Solano County Jail and subsequently underwent "several field sobriety tests," his pupils were dilated, but nothing showed up in his blood screenings but caffeine. "I was 100 percent confident that I was not under the influence of anything," Schwab said.2 Nevertheless, he was charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence of a drug. Schwab's defense attorney, Stacey Barrett, said she'd never seen such a thing, and never heard of it, either. "I actually consulted with the other attorneys in my office to make sure that I wasn't missing something."3 How Can You Charge Somebody With Driving Under the Influence of Caffeine? Here's the odd part — one of them anyway: Schwab's breathalyzer test showed a 0.00 percent blood alcohol level. His blood was drawn voluntarily at the county jail, but the resulting toxicology report was negative for the usual suspects: cocaine, benzodiazepines, opiates, THC, carisoprodol (a muscle relaxant), oxycodone, zolpidem and methamphetamine/MDMA. What they did find was caffeine. Flummoxed, they tried testing again, Macedonia Online reported: "The sample was screened a second time by a laboratory in Pennsylvania, according to documents provided to [The] Guardian, where the sole positive result was for caffeine — a substance likely coursing through the veins of many drivers on the road at any given time."4 Another oddity: Schwab wasn't actually charged for 10 months. The initial arrest took place in August, and formal charges weren't filed until the following May. The initial charge stuck because "drug tests don't catch all drugs." According to chief deputy district attorney Sharon Henry, "The charge of driving under the influence is not based upon the presence of caffeine in his system."5 Jeffrey Zehnder, a forensic toxicologist who heard about the case through Barrett, said that in his 41 years on the job, he'd never seen someone prosecuted on a DUI from caffeine charge. "It's really stupid … If that's the case, then they better come and arrest me," Zehnder joked. "There are no studies that demonstrate that driving is impaired by caffeine, and they don't do the studies, because no one cares about caffeine."6 Zehnder said the prosecutor's case was problematic because she "would have to show that impaired driving was specifically caused by the caffeine and not any other circumstances."7 Schwab and his attorney filed a motion for the charges to be dismissed, citing the fact that driving under the influence of caffeine is not a crime. Charges Dropped Yahoo News commented that according to California law, a drug is defined as any substance that may effectively "impair, to an appreciable degree," someone's ability to drive and added, "How the state might attempt to argue caffeine did that to Schwab, we are not sure."8 After chatting with both forensic toxicologists and her top investigators, Abrams felt that proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt was a long shot. Finally, after 16 months and while Schwab and his attorneys were gearing up for a jury trial set for January 2017, the charges were dropped. So, at the eleventh hour, Abrams explained to KCRA News: "This is a case without a blood result, so it makes it a very difficult challenge to prove in court … After further consideration, without a confirmatory test of the specific drug in the defendant's system that impaired his ability to drive, we do not believe we can prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt …"9 CNN noted: "The DA's office said forensic lab experts claim it was 'highly likely the defendant was under the influence of a drug,' but since they have no way to prove it beyond reasonable doubt, Schwab's off the hook."10 The misdemeanor reckless driving charges, however, stuck. Today, Schwab says he's hurting, both financially and professionally, and feels his reputation has been damaged. He said the arrest made him look "like I was undependable, and when you tell this kind of story to someone they naturally are not going to believe it … I want the charges to be dismissed and my name to be cleared."11 Extenuating Circumstances: More to the Story While drug tests don't catch everything, some things might show up on radar if there were an actual screen for it, according to forensic toxicologist Edwin Smith. "Synthetic cannabinoids like spice, performance enhancing drugs like steroids and designer stimulants like bath salts are rarely tested in DUI blood tests."12 Smith thinks that if anything, caffeine helps people perform better, including driving. "Very few, if any, of those are having problems functioning in a task like driving," he commented. "Most are probably doing it as well, and potentially even better than they would do without it."13 Abrams said she really wished there were a way to test those and other substances (drugs), "because then we would know what was in his system."14 Something many of the reports didn't mention was that there were some suspicious-looking items in Schwab's car. They were workout supplements, including powders which, to officers at the scene, must have seemed an open-and-shut case, a smoking gun. But all of them ended up being legal. Caffeinated Coffee Has Numerous Health Benefits NBC News15 weighed in on the story, saying that consuming a seemingly innocent pick-me-up like caffeine would result in a boatload of arrests, because 54 percent of Americans over age 18 drink coffee daily, and the average consumption is 3.1 cups of coffee a day.16 As much as the majority of Americans love it and can't do without it, many are unaware of studies indicating that drinking four or more cups a day can lower your risk of colon cancer recurrence and death by 52 percent, and drinking two to three cups every day lowers your cancer risk by 31 percent.17 Caffeinated soda doesn't offer the same benefit. Studies also link coffee with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, a further advantage because this condition can "up" your risk of colon cancer and other chronic diseases.18 Experts say this may be because compounds in coffee positively affect the same pathways. The New York Times19 referred to an extensive 36-study review on coffee consumption and how it affects cardiovascular disease. They noted that people who drank a moderate amount of coffee — three to five cups a day — had the lowest risk. Interestingly, people who consumed five or more cups a day had no higher risk than those who consumed none.20 Additionally: "A meta-analysis published in 2007 found that increasing coffee consumption by two cups a day was associated with a lower relative risk of liver cancer by more than 40 percent. Two more recent studies confirmed these findings. Results from meta-analyses looking at prostate cancer found that in the higher-quality studies, coffee consumption was not associated with negative outcomes."21 Caffeine: Unlikely to Impair Driving Asked if caffeine would impair someone's driving capability, NBC medical contributor Dr. John Torres says it wouldn't. "Studies have shown that caffeine actually helps one's driving abilities. The only way that it might have an effect is if a person overdoses on caffeine or uses it to cover fatigue and then it wears off."22 Torres passed along a short list of little-known coffee facts: • Light roast contains more caffeine than dark roasts. Comparing beans, light roasts simply retain more caffeine because the beans are exposed to cooler temperatures than dark blends in the roasting process. Drinkers don't notice that much of a difference, but there are other ways to reduce caffeine, if that's what you'd prefer. If you want to ingest less caffeine, you might try switching to cold-brew coffees, or there's always decaf. (If you choose to drink decaffeinated coffee, be sure to choose one that is decaffeinated using carbon dioxide or Swiss water methods, the only decaffeination methods allowed in organic coffee). • Caffeine may have more impact in the afternoon. Believe it or not, grabbing a cup of coffee as the first thing on your morning agenda may not have the positive effect you think it does because of your cortisol level, which peaks 20 to 30 minutes after you get up. High levels of cortisol and high volumes of caffeine can actually lower the caffeine's effectiveness over time. It might be a difficult change of habit, but drinking your first cup midday instead may have a greater impact. • Caffeine may improve your athletic performance. Research indicates caffeine enhances athletic capacity and endurance. How? Caffeine directly effects muscle at the metabolic level to burn more fat, because it's used as an energy source, Torres said. This gives you an energy boost as well as the "want" to get your work out in. As cited earlier, too much caffeine intake can diminish your performance. Try drinking a cup about an hour before working out since it takes time for your body to metabolize the caffeine. Moreover, coffee is also a natural laxative, so drinking too many cups might cause problems you weren't expecting. • Caffeine gives your brain a temporary boost. In a very real sense, caffeine goes to your brain, quickly and positively. Clinical studies even show that caffeine can give you an upsurge in focus and concentration. As a natural stimulant, moderate caffeine consumption can increase alertness. How to Listen to Your Body and Drink Coffee (Black) Nearly every coffee drinker has experienced adverse effects of too much caffeine, such as jitteriness and irritability, which is unpleasant for virtually everyone. Pay attention to what your body is telling you and cut back if you notice you're feeling jangly and edgy. The Times article notes: "If you drink too much, you may experience common symptoms like restlessness, [irritability] and an upset stomach. For others, more serious side effects can include a fast or irregular heartbeat, anxiety and panic attacks. The key, Torres says, is moderation to get the benefits of caffeine without the side effects."23 If you're the type who likes "a little coffee with your creamer," you'll be interested to know that creamers aren't what they're cracked up to be. Non-dairy creamers (not to mention packets of toxic sugar substitutes) are offered at restaurants and churches, and are in many peoples' refrigerators at home, with options that come in liquids and powder form, plus "sugar-free" options. You know there is a down side, and there is: Ingredients lists usually include sodium caseinate, an "anti-nutrient" thickener and whitening agent that essentially squelches any nutritional content (not that there's much to speak of in non-dairy creamer). Dipotassium phosphate is used as an anti-coagulant, and it's used in fertilizers. Consumption has been shown to cause vomiting and diarrhea. If you want to know how to get the best from your coffee, drink it black, with no toxic sugar (which could initiate insulin resistance), and possibly more crucial than anything else, without chemical-laced sugar substitutes such as Splenda, aka sucralose, aspartame or saccharine. Ideally, select only coffee beans that are certified organic and, whenever possible, purchase sustainable "shade-grown" coffee to help prevent the continued destruction of our tropical rain forests and the birds that inhabit them.

#VitalityPath