#I spend a lot of time thinking about the collapse of our society and death! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

paging-possum · 5 months

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you asked for this. buckle in.

okay SO

I hope you remember that future-seer superhero I made for my cw class in junior year. Sibyl?? The Prophet?? & her beloved wife, The Boon??

We're back in that universe baby.

I know for a FACT I never told you about Starshine OR Martyr, so we're going there, but I know you know a bit about Ferryman??

So, Starshine is kind of our had honcho. He's THE hero, yk? You get told 'think of a superhero' and you think of Starshine. & in a society where powers are HEAVILY regulated, it's uncommon for a guy like Starshine to come about because, well, no one's really sure what his power is? He teleports, he floats, he's fast as anything, they have no solid proof of strength powers but surely he has some, right?

He's super close with the PR heads of the hero regulation council. & there's some VERY stringent laws on necromancy abilities, so he helped the chairman keep his son's own necromantic tendencies under wraps for a long time--- Until the Quintessential Building Collapse that would lead to a) The Boon's death, b) the Prophet's loss of anonymity, and c) the death of said chairman and his wife. Thanks, Martyr!

So, yeah, supervillain Martyr has kind of just gone full 'end justifies the means' in the worst way. His politics (namely, allowing metahumans to not be punished for having abilities. shout out necromancy laws & seer laws) are understandable, his methods are *not* because he's. Wild.

Anyway, this kind of the chairman's necromancy power kind of gets outted to the rest of the commission and they're like 'kids like you aren't allowed to exist.' and he's like 'yeah your laws are rubbish. What is I became a superhero?' and Starshine went, 'i'll do you one better. be my sidekick.'

and this was intentional. this was *very* intentional.

Because Starshine is a Martyr sympathiser.

Correction; Starshine is married to Martyr. In their civilian identities.

Now, neither of them knew initially who the other was, but Starshine was talking to his husband one day like, 'now, i'm not pro-mass murder, but like, the guy's got a point.' and so the huband was like 'Oh? Bet.' and the reveal happened from there and they were like, 'no we can use this. Mhm mhm.'

ANOTHER thing Martyr is trying to do is to further research into necromantic ablities, because laws & morality & whatnot has prevented science & necromancers from learning a whole lot. So he wants to get his hands on an honest to god necromancer to use as his little lab rat. And I mean that in the John Harper way not a fun dad way.

Starshine *knows* a necromancer, but he's not old enough to do anyting with yet. But then the collapse happens, and the world discovers this powerful ass necromancer kid who's been flying under the radar thanks to daddy's money & the world is split between 'he's a necromancer he's dangerous as hell and demonic.' and 'he's literally thirteen what threat is a thirteen year old' and so Starshine is like 'and im a dad now, actually.'

So he takes Ferryman and is like 'babe, husband, love of my life. Here's our necromancer. You've seen what he can do. But not yet. Let me train him first, before you get your hands on him.' and Martyr is like 'oh of course.' & Ferry spends *three years* living with Starshine & Martyr, not knowing he's living with *Martyr* and is doing fun cool hero things. Because the supervillain's been dormant since that attack, hiding from Prophet. Until he makes a comeback. And Prophet gets a vision--

And I've changed this; Ferry & Prophet don't know each other beyond their personas now.

But Prophet gets this series of visions. First was Ferryman's identity under his reaper mask, second was that Ferryman's legal guardian as Starshine, and third, was that Ferryman's other guardian as *Martyr* and Martyr was preparing to turn this kid into a living experiment (you dont watch MHA but think Shigaraki/the Doctor vibes).

So Prophet catches him while he's on patrol and she's like, 'you need to come with me.' and he's like 'what? no? who are you? I'm going home, lady,' and she's like 'No. You're *not* come with me." and in pops Martyr like heeeyyyy besties. And he's not happy.

Prophet makes quick work of busting the voice modulator & destroying the mask Martyr uses, and she hates that she has to b so calloused about Ferry finding out, but like...

And then Ferry quickly escapes with Prophet and fucking books it, not really knowing *why* but knowing he wasnt going home.

And then he pieces together that Starshine knew this whole time. And there was this very public moment where Starshine's patrolling and this greek-themed vigilante pops out of NOWHERE and tries to take his ass down, and very quickly people realise 'whos the greek necromancer?? THATS OUR GREEK NECROMANCER' except now he's using the alias 'Asphodel' because he's 15 and he's dramatic. He's also figured out he can bloodbend humans, but it doesnt work on Starshne because, well, Starshine isn't *human* (shout out to the galaxy I made for Prattled! Starshine is from the plant Prattled's planet's at war with. They would actually kill each other if left in a room)

So yeah Asphodel is going on a fucking EXPOSE. this boy is PISSED. he wants VENGEANCE, bro. His parents are gone, his sibling is 'missing' (but prolly also gone considering she was in the building) & his stepdads were their murderers this whole time??? oh it is WAR

and i dont know what happens next but I know there will be a showdown of epic proportions

OKAY I needed like a solid 20 minutes to sit down and read through this but we’re so here. I love ur superheroes. That marriage reveal is CRAZY btw I am so obsessed with superheroes and supervillains being in love this is delicious… sometimes a family is a hero and a villain and their necromantic kid…also give me a moment I started answering this and then realized it’s too loud for me to think where I’m sitting and I need to be somewhere quiet so I can be properly nuts about it. Please hold for scam likely etc etc

#ALSO I CANT BELIEVE YOUD ASSUME I DONT KNOW ABOUT MHA I READ SO MUCH OF IT IN MY FORMATIVE YEARS #OF COURSE I KNOW WHO SHIGARAKI IS #okay okay moving places now

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cordycepsbian · 8 months

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hihihigihi uhh

can you name some of your ocs?-

haven't seen much of any i dont thingk. or maybe i just am blind

that's fair we don't have our toyhouse linked anywhere and that only has a fraction of our ocs listed on it

bugs fable ocs;

chrys - never talked about them before whoops. from our bug fables future headcanons. they're a cuckoo wasp and they're on an explorer team with tod and terrie mop - everyone knows mop. the star of the show

synth - evil roach lady. came from the giant's lair and tried to start snakemouth lab 2: electric boogaloo. she's like if soul master was a girl kind of bernie - most divorced poor little meow meow bee man ever. got kicked out of the hive because cosmic horrors happened to him. vi's dad but that's not really relevant they don't know each other ilon & lilly - butterfly and beetle on an explorer team. kind of side characters in future bug fables iris - cute and trustworthy mantis lady who runs a diner and definitely doesn't cook people checkers - zombee who is two different bees sewn together. former nurse in one life. unwillingly pulled into synth's schemes mint - zombeetle who escaped the lab to try and find his former explorer partner. not going well for him latte - baby zombiant. just a little guy sammy - zombie fly with a different kind of fungus than the cordyceps ones. got sent to bee kingdom zombie jail until the doctor who made it like that let it escape penny - the doctor who did that to sammy. it was an accident she swears marshmallow - peacock spider who started mimicking bugs and living in society just for a laugh

and our hollows knights

caprice - nosk who disguises herself as a traveling musician. reads minds to find familiar tunes and plays them for her victims. our personal favorite to draw ollie - ant that got splashed with the death pheromone and kicked out of his colony for it. traveled with caprice before getting infected and dying for real

celadon - mantis who left the tribe to pursue a more peaceful lifestyle. is just vibing in greenpath now flower pot - vessel that celadon adopted. likes being painted on capt. geo-eye - earwig pirate captain. quite literally has a piece of geo where his eye should be. currently plundering the abandoned kingdom of hallownest treasure chest - vessel that geo-eye adopted. a little ruffian that attacks ankles

and our rains worlds

uncrossed finish line - senior of their local group. thought sliver of straw was onto something. worked so hard to replicate her that they overheated and collapsed deep impression of a fang - junior of the same group. looked up to finish line and was devastated when they died. tried to purpose an organism strong enough to kill him after that happened flightless birds - second youngest of the group. bit of a silly goose. spends more time talking in group chats and having fun than doing work. in her lane. unbothered. flourishing monday morning sunrise - second oldest of the group. eepy. spends 100 cycles to do anything empire of ants - firm Middle Child. ascribes to the same thinking of a benefactor monk. never talks to anyone ever three glowing scales - no local group because they're in the middle of the ocean. makes a lot of purposed creatures to send messages across the sea ever-flowing rapids - purposed slugcat made by 3gs. true aquatic scug that can breathe underwater and move at speed. rivulet's ancestor the crusader - purposed slugcat made by dioaf. the thing that was intended to kill him. gets stronger the higher its karma is the trickster - purposed slugcat made by nsh. exists to send memes. can change colors to mimic predators the sleepwalker - normal slugcat that got hit on the head and can't sleep now. always gets shelter failures and special night creatures attack them the symbiosis - used to be our scugsona but now they're just vibing. full of fungus. kills bugs instantly but gets hurt by sunlight two splinters of wood under tropical leaves - benefactor that lived on mms. ran a shelter for purposed organisms that outlived their usefulness. number one enjoyer of weird little critters muddy water running through steel canals - benefactor that lived on looks to the moon. mechanic that dabbles in bioengineering. invented miros birds so you can all get mad at aer for that shrill ringing noise, a broken spear - benefactor that used to live on dioaf. got banished to the surface for assassinating a council member. living the creature life now

#this got so long sorry this took us a while to answer

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nevermindirah · 4 years

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I've been drafting and redrafting this meta post for weeks now. It's about to be 5781 and my country that was founded on settler colonial genocide and slavery and a deeply flawed but fierce attachment to democracy might go full dictatorship in about 6 weeks and it's time for me to post this thing.

All our immortals are warriors, all have been traumatized by war. But only three of them died their first deaths as soldiers in imperial armies. This fandom has already produced gallons of meta on Nicky dealing with his shit, because Joe would not fuck with an unapologetic Crusader. But there's very rich stuff in Booker and Nile's experiences and the parallels and distinctions between them.

Nile was 11 when her dad was killed in action - that was 2005, meaning she and her dad both died in the same war that George W Bush started in very tenuous response to 9/11. Sure, Nile's dad could have died in either Iraq or Afghanistan, or in a training accident or in an off-the-books mission we won't know about for a hundred more years, but he died in the War on Terror all the same. I had to look it up to be sure because Obama "drew down" the Afghanistan war in his second term, but nope, we're still in this fucking thing that never should've happened in the first place. The US war in Afghanistan just turned 19 years old. A lot of real-life Americans have experiences like the Freemans, parents and children both dying in the same war we shouldn't be in.

I know a lot of people like Nile who join the US military not just because it's the only realistic way for them to pay for college or afford decent healthcare, but also because they have a family history of military service that's a genuine source of pride. Military service has been a way for Americans of color to be accepted by white Americans as "true Americans" - from today's Dreamers who Obama promised would earn protection from deportation by enlisting, to Filipino veterans of WW2 earning US citizenship that Congress then denied them for several decades, to slaves "earning" their freedom through service in the Union Army and in the Continental Army before it. As if freedom is a thing one should have to earn. Lots of Black Americans have the last name Freeman for lots of different escaping-slavery reasons, but it's possible that this specific reason is how Nile got her last name.

Dying in a war you know your country chose to instigate unnecessarily and that maybe you believe it shouldn't be waging is a very particular kind of trauma. It is a much deeper trauma when your military service, and your father's, and maybe generations of your ancestors', is a source of pride and access to resources for you but your sacrifice is nearly meaningless to the white supremacist system that deploys you. That kind of cognitive dissonance encourages a person to ignore their own feelings just so they can function. How do you wake up in the morning, how do you risk your life every day, how do you *kill other people* in a war that shouldn't be happening and that you shouldn't have to serve in just so that your country sees you as human?

We see Nile do her best to be a kind and well-mannered invader. Depending on your experience with US imperialism, Nile giving candy to kids and reminding her squad to be respectful is either heartwarming or very disturbing propaganda. We also see Nile clutching her cross necklace and praying. From the second Christianity arrived on this land it's been a tool of white supremacist assimilation and control, but like military service, it's a fucked-up but genuine source of pride and access to resources for many Americans whose pre-Columbian ancestors were not Christian, and it's a powerful source of comfort and resilience. This Jew who's had a lot of Spanish Inquisition nightmares would like to say for the record that it's not Jesus's fault that his big name fans are such shitty people.

Nile is a good person trying to do her best in a fucked-up world. "Her best" just radically changed. Her access to information on just how fucked up the world is has also just radically changed, because everything's so fucked up a person needs a lot of time to learn about it all and not only does she have centuries but she won't have to spend that time worrying about rent and healthcare and taxes, and because she now has Joe and Nicky and Andy's stories, and because she now has Copley's inside scoop on just what the fuck the CIA has been up to. Like, I want a fic where Copley tells Nile what was really behind the brass's decisions that led to her experiences on the ground in Afghanistan, that led to her father's death, but also I Do Not Want That.

Nile was 19 when Alicia Garza posted on Facebook that Black Lives Matter. She grew up in Chicago well before white people on Twitter were saying maybe police violence against Black people is a problem. She knows this is a deeply fucked up country, and she put on her Marine uniform and deployed with her team of mostly fellow women of color, and maybe she and Dizzy and Jay marched in the streets between deployments, maybe they texted each other when a white manarchist at a protest sneered at one of them for being a Marine. Nile's been busy surviving, and she knows some shit and she's seen some shit but she hasn't had much time to think about what it all means. Now she's got time. And Joe, Nicky, and Andy are willing to listen. (Is Copley willing to listen? I could see that going either way.)

Booker might also be willing to listen. The brilliant idea of cleaning up the rat Frenchman so that Nile can have millennia of emotional support and orgasms sent me down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, and holy shit do Booker and Nile have a lot of shared life experience as pawns of imperial wars. Obviously Booker is white and a man and that makes a very big difference. (Though G-d help me, Booker could be Jewish and France was knocking its Jews around like ping-pong balls in the 18th-19th centuries. Jewish Booker wouldn't make him any less white but it does add a shit ton of depth of common experience: military service as a way for your country to see you as a full member of society who matters, because who you are means that's not guaranteed.)

Booker was hanged for desertion from the army Napoleon sent to invade Russia as part of his quest to control all of Europe. We learn in the comics / this YouTube video that Booker was on his way to prison for forgery when he was offered military service instead of jail time. While we don't know how he felt about the choice beyond that he did choose soldier over inmate, it's unlikely he thought invading Russia was a great idea, given he tried to desert because Napoleon like a true imperialist dumbass didn't plan for how he was going to feed his army or keep them from freezing to death in fucking Russian winter.

I find it very interesting that the French Empire was at its largest right before invading Russia and fell apart completely within a few years. My country has been falling the fuck apart for a while now - see aforementioned War on Terror, growing extremes of economic stratification in the richest country in the world, abject refusal to meaningfully deal with climate change that US-based corporations hold the lion's share of blame for - but between Trump's abject refusal to meaningfully deal with the coronavirus and strong likelihood that he'll refuse to leave office even if a certain pathetic moderate I will hold my nose and vote for does manage to earn a majority of votes, ~y~i~k~e~s.

Our only immortals who have never known a world before modernity and nationalism happen to have been born of wars that were the beginning of the end for the imperialist democracies that raised them, and I think in the centuries to come that's going to give them some very interesting shit to talk about.

Nile's a Young Millennial, a digital native born in the United States after the collapse of the USSR left her country as the world's only superpower. She's used to a pace of technological change that human brains are not evolved to handle.

Napoleon trying to make all of Europe into the French Empire was a leading cause of the growth of European nationalism and the establishment of liberal democracies both in Europe and in many places that Europeans had colonized. Booker's first war produced the only geopolitical world order Nile has ever known and I just have so many feelings ok. Nile the art history nerd is probably not aware of this, and why would she be? This humble meta author is, like Nile, a product of US public schools, and all they taught me about world history was Ancient Greece/Rome/Egypt/Mesopotamia and then World War 2. Being raised in The World's Only Superpower is WEIRD.

Nile the Young Millennial is used to the devastating volume of bad news the internet makes possible. But she has absolutely no concept of a world where the United States of America is not The World's Only Superpower. In order to get up in the morning and put on her gear and point guns at civilians in Afghanistan, she can only let herself think so much about whether that American exceptionalism thing is a good idea.

She's about to spend many, many years where the only people who she can truly trust are people who are older than not only her country but the IDEA of countries.

She's got time, and she's got a lot of new information at her disposal. But there comes a point where my obsession with her friendship and eventual very hot sex life with Booker just isn't about sex at all. Nile needs someone to talk to about the United States who Gets It. Booker the rat Frenchman coerced into Napoleon's army, and Copley the Black dual citizen of the US and UK who's retired from a CIA career that he half understands as deeply problematic but half still believes in hence his mind-bogglingly stupid partnership with Merrick, are the only people on the planet Nile can talk to honestly about, and really be understood in, all the thoughts and feelings and fears and hopes of her experience as a US Marine.

And one more thing before I go get ready for Rosh Hashanah: Orientalism was a defining element of the Crusades and that legacy is painfully clear in current US-led Western military activity in Afghanistan, Syria, Israel/Palestine, you name it. Turns out memoirs by French veterans of the Napoleonic Wars are full of Orientalist language about Russia as well. I am maybe/definitely writing a fic where Booker spends his exile reading critical race theory and decolonial feminism and trauma studies monographs because he can't be honest with a therapist but maybe he can heal this way and become the team therapist his own damn self. I just really need him to read Edward Said and Gloria Anzaldúa and then go down on Nile, ok?

#nile freeman #tog meta #book of nile #sebastien le livre #the old guard #mine #us imperialism #european imperialism #jewish things #antiblackness #police violence #orientalism

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ready-bek · 5 years

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A letter to the UK from Italy: this is what we know about your future

The acclaimed Italian novelist Francesca Melandri, who has been under lockdown in Rome for almost three weeks due to the Covid-19 outbreak, has written a letter to fellow Europeans “from your future”, laying out the range of emotions people are likely to go through over the coming weeks.

I am writing to you from Italy, which means I am writing from your future. We are now where you will be in a few days. The epidemic’s charts show us all entwined in a parallel dance.

We are but a few steps ahead of you in the path of time, just like Wuhan was a few weeks ahead of us. We watch you as you behave just as we did. You hold the same arguments we did until a short time ago, between those who still say “it’s only a flu, why all the fuss?” and those who have already understood.

As we watch you from here, from your future, we know that many of you, as you were told to lock yourselves up into your homes, quoted Orwell, some even Hobbes. But soon you’ll be too busy for that.

First of all, you’ll eat. Not just because it will be one of the few last things that you can still do.

You’ll find dozens of social networking groups with tutorials on how to spend your free time in fruitful ways. You will join them all, then ignore them completely after a few days.

You’ll pull apocalyptic literature out of your bookshelves, but will soon find you don’t really feel like reading any of it.

You’ll eat again. You will not sleep well. You will ask yourselves what is happening to democracy.

You’ll have an unstoppable online social life – on Messenger, WhatsApp, Skype, Zoom…

You will miss your adult children like you never have before; the realisation that you have no idea when you will ever see them again will hit you like a punch in the chest.

Old resentments and falling-outs will seem irrelevant. You will call people you had sworn never to talk to ever again, so as to ask them: “How are you doing?” Many women will be beaten in their homes.

You will wonder what is happening to all those who can’t stay home because they don’t have one. You will feel vulnerable when going out shopping in the deserted streets, especially if you are a woman. You will ask yourselves if this is how societies collapse. Does it really happen so fast? You’ll block out these thoughts and when you get back home you’ll eat again.

You will put on weight. You’ll look for online fitness training.

You’ll laugh. You’ll laugh a lot. You’ll flaunt a gallows humour you never had before. Even people who’ve always taken everything dead seriously will contemplate the absurdity of life, of the universe and of it all.

You will make appointments in the supermarket queues with your friends and lovers, so as to briefly see them in person, all the while abiding by the social distancing rules.

You will count all the things you do not need.

The true nature of the people around you will be revealed with total clarity. You will have confirmations and surprises.

Literati who had been omnipresent in the news will disappear, their opinions suddenly irrelevant; some will take refuge in rationalisations which will be so totally lacking in empathy that people will stop listening to them. People whom you had overlooked, instead, will turn out to be reassuring, generous, reliable, pragmatic and clairvoyant.

Those who invite you to see all this mess as an opportunity for planetary renewal will help you to put things in a larger perspective. You will also find them terribly annoying: nice, the planet is breathing better because of the halved CO2 emissions, but how will you pay your bills next month?

You will not understand if witnessing the birth of a new world is more a grandiose or a miserable affair.

You will play music from your windows and lawns. When you saw us singing opera from our balconies, you thought “ah, those Italians”. But we know you will sing uplifting songs to each other too. And when you blast I Will Survive from your windows, we’ll watch you and nod just like the people of Wuhan, who sung from their windows in February, nodded while watching us.

Many of you will fall asleep vowing that the very first thing you’ll do as soon as lockdown is over is file for divorce.

Many children will be conceived.

Your children will be schooled online. They’ll be horrible nuisances; they’ll give you joy.

Elderly people will disobey you like rowdy teenagers: you’ll have to fight with them in order to forbid them from going out, to get infected and die.

You will try not to think about the lonely deaths inside the ICU.

You’ll want to cover with rose petals all medical workers’ steps.

You will be told that society is united in a communal effort, that you are all in the same boat. It will be true. This experience will change for good how you perceive yourself as an individual part of a larger whole.

Class, however, will make all the difference. Being locked up in a house with a pretty garden or in an overcrowded housing project will not be the same. Nor is being able to keep on working from home or seeing your job disappear. That boat in which you’ll be sailing in order to defeat the epidemic will not look the same to everyone nor is it actually the same for everyone: it never was.

At some point, you will realise it’s tough. You will be afraid. You will share your fear with your dear ones, or you will keep it to yourselves so as not to burden them with it too.

You will eat again.

We’re in Italy, and this is what we know about your future. But it’s just small-scale fortune-telling. We are very low-key seers.

If we turn our gaze to the more distant future, the future which is unknown both to you and to us too, we can only tell you this: when all of this is over, the world won’t be the same.

~ via The Guardian

#italy #francesca melandri #a letter from italy #quarantine #covid19 #corona #self isolation #the guardian #news #article

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plotbnuy · 4 years

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KarpReviews - The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Back when The Hunger Games became a huge phenomenon, I have to admit that it didn’t quite grab me like it did for many. The original film came out on March 23rd, 2012, followed by Catching Fire late next year. These films started a trend of dystopian novel movie adaptations, with Divergent coming out on March 21st 2014, and Maze Runner coming out on September 19th that same year. By the time Mockingjay: Part One released on November 21′s, right after Maze Runner, I’d become a little burnt out on these tales of children fighting for survival against an oppressive system meant to keep society under control. Despite reading the first two books in the series, I didn’t return for Mockingjay.

That is, until a few months ago. I decided to give the books another try, and to my delight I grew to really love and appreciate them. Katniss is a wonderful protagonist, surrounded by a surprisingly colorful and interesting cast of characters (even though it still features the classic love triangle trope.) While the first two books were rereads, going in blind into Mockingjay was a treat, and I felt the series had a wonderfully satisfying ending.

Imagine my delight, however, when I realized that there was a prequel to the series! The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes features a much different entry in the story, taking place long before the events of the main series to highlight the tenth Hunger Games. In order to spice up what is comparatively an archaic and unpolished annual event, The Capitol has enlisted a large selection of students from an elite secondary school - simply referred to as “The Academy” - to mentor the children forced to fight in the arena! Who else should be chosen to be a mentor but a young Coriolanus Snow, hoping to become recognized and attain a university scholarship on his path to becoming President of Panem.

Yes, this entry puts us in the perspective of the infamous Coriolanus Snow, allowing us to see a little bit into what led to the events of the original Hunger Games novel. Not only does it flesh out Snow himself, but also how the titular event became the lavish, intricate, and audacious spectacle depicted during Katniss’s run in the arena. This allows this entry to differentiate itself immensely from the others, allowing it to feel fresh and new while it gives us a better look into the universe we’ve become a part of after three other novels and four films. With that being said, I want to dive deeper into what makes this particular entry so engaging.

While other entries in the series have a bit of a fluid structure, our story this time is split into very neat thirds: The events leading up to the games, the games themselves, and the aftermath. This time, we get to see the perspective of the games from the capitol’s eyes, as opposed to the districts. However, while the event is massively celebrated, with banquets, parties, tours, and intricate broadcasts during the 74th and 75th Hunger Games, the 10th is much different. It’s much bleaker and more depressing, as tributes are treated like livestock, with no access to good food or proper shelter. Many citizens, District or Capitol, would rather ignore the barbaric event, only bothering to attend The Reaping before returning to daily life. There’s no reward for victory, beyond the singular tribute avoiding death, only to return to the poverty-stricken districts. Tributes die before even entering the arena, leading the games themselves to be swift and merciless.

Ultimately, this raw and bleak depiction of the games, combined with Capitol citizens not yet disillusioned by the grandeur of future games, still recovering from the war, is a perfect choice for this Capitol-centric prequel. It keeps the citizens of The Capitol that we spend most of our time with from being completely unsympathetic, and it allows for a much more engaging story. Even before the games themselves, many things happen that impact the story, allowing for a lot of tension as things lead up to the main event.

Speaking of the Hunger Games, this is the first time we get to enjoy them from outside of the arena itself. As the story follows our mentors, we get to watch from their perspective as spectators as the games commence in the arena. This event also happens to be the first where sponsors are allowed to affect the games, sending gifts for the tributes to possibly keep them alive. Since the mentors themselves have agency over the games, they never feel boring as you hope for the survival of our main character’s tribute. The aftermath of the games left me absolutely shocked, leading into a finale that felt unlike anything the series has had to offer before.

Even though Coriolanus Snow is designated as our main character, this story is truly given life by the people who surround him. Closest to him is Sejanus Plinth, a childhood friend who joins Snow in the tribute mentorship program as his classmate. At first, Sejanus is telegraphed as an old rival and a clear foil to Snow, and you suspect he’ll be something of an antagonist given the disdain Coriolanus seems to have for him. However, I was pleasantly surprised as the story paints a much more intricate picture of our main character’s best friend. Their relationship is one of the many highlights of this story, as even when Snow tries to distance himself, or otherwise shows dislike for Sejanus, their paths become forcibly intertwined, and it becomes unclear whether they will become bitter rivals or loyal comrades.

The real star of the show for me is Coriolanus’s tribute, a District 12 girl named Lucy Grey Baird. A member of the Covey, she’s a performer and singer who prides herself in her skill for entertainment. With both Panem and the reader as her audience, her personality and charm is utterly captivating, with an even sharper wit than Katniss. Despite the circumstances, she becomes fond of Coriolanus early on, a fact attributed to Snow being one of the few mentors that goes out of his way to forge a bond with his tribute. She leaves an impression from her very first scene, and every moment with her going forward is captivating and wonderful. Truly, if I had to give a single reason to read this book, it would be for Lucy Grey specifically. Even though her situation seems completely impossible, you can’t help but hope for her victory in the games.

Of course, there’s always room for a good antagonist, even in a story starring Coriolanus Snow. Casca Highbottom, dean of The Academy, is one of the main obstacles making Snow’s future so uneasy. The story says little about him at first, only that he isn’t Coriolanus’s biggest fan, and that he created the Hunger Games themselves. He’s hard to read as a threat, given his addiction to painkillers and somewhat contradictory dialogue. Truthfully, he’s not much of a villain.

Enter Doctor Volumnia Gaul. Serving as the head Gamemaker, as well as an instructor at the Capitol University, she spends a large amount of time with both Coriolanus and the other mentors. Specializing in the “muttations” that her labs create for the Capitol, she serves as something of a mentor herself for Snow, challenging his morals and shaping his ideals. She starts off as seeming like an ally, only for her to show just how dangerous she is. She has a blatant disregard for life itself, only just barely being grounded enough to not be entirely absurd. Her presence gives the story a lot of much-needed tension, and I found her to be absolutely riveting.

What impresses me the most about Songbirds and Snakes is how it expertly avoids delivering what could have easily come off as a tragic backstory intended to garner sympathy for Panem’s ruthless dictator. Instead, it cleverly highlights Coriolanus’s personality, nature, aspirations, and faults, adding to his character without ever trying to suggest that he’s misunderstood or redeemable. His downfall, while accelerated by his environment, can be attributed entirely to the choices he makes himself. Even when surrounded by good people who genuinely love and care for him, miles away from the capitol, he makes the choice to become who he is: a vile, treacherous, untrusting snake. Yet, despite knowing his fate, there was a part of me that hoped he would make the right choice anyway, making the end of his arc even more effective.

Suzanne Collins is a truly talented writer. Not only is the original trilogy a fantastic read, but she managed to craft a prequel that both builds the lore of the series and has a major impact on the story as a whole. The connecting tissue between this prequel and the rest of the series is solid, not only fleshing out the world explicitly, but leaving breadcrumbs for attentive fans to enjoy. Upon reading the final chapters, there was a particular scene I couldn’t get out of my head. It wasn’t one within the book itself, but one that harkened forward to Mockingjay. I can picture Coriolanus Snow, eyes focused on the television as the rebels broadcast another one of Katniss’s propaganda videos. He can tell she’s in District 12, walking amongst the rubble of the decimated mining town. He thinks to turn away from the image of the collapsed Justice building and broken town square... until he hears Katniss begin to sing. His blood runs ice cold, every hair on his body stands on end, and in a hoarse, mangled voice, he begins to wail. Every one of his past sins comes rushing back as Katniss Everdeen unwittingly deals the most devastating blow she could ever give to Coriolanus Snow. It’s a scene that remains completely theoretical, and yet it’s perhaps one of the most powerful images in the entire Hunger Games saga. If you’ve enjoyed the rest of the series, then I urge you to read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

#the hunger games #hunger games #katniss everdeen #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #suzanne collins #coriolanus snow #lucy gray baird #book review

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aeondeug · 4 years

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Saw a post that made me realize a thing I really like about Bleach but haven’t thought too much about or like taken the time to appreciate. Which is that like...I am used to MAINTAINING BALANCE being like. A good thing. When I think about that concept I think of things like Avatar or Star Wars where we spend a lot of time talking about MAINTAINING BALANCE. These are fallible people and they can fuck up, but the system itself is not really the problem here. Even in the case of the Jedi we just kind of form our own new Jedi Order instead. Since that religion is not the problem apparently because this is apparently a Good and Evil balance. Which is dumb. In Bleach though we have a system in place to maintain universal balance and that system is tied to a culture which is fundamentally unjust. Large portions of the cast are absolute fucking assholes due to being crushed under and traumatized by said system. And they’re just the ones lucky enough to be able to be skilled enough at combat or whatever else their dumb jobs arrive that they can have the positions they do in a military that is respected like it is. What about the people who aren’t in those positions? Or who get kicked out? Life kind of seems to suck for them! And the actual balance maintaining led to a genocide. This is never forgiven. This is never excused. We get a reason for why it happened, but the narrative at no point goes “And the Soul Reapers were 100% super justified in doing this”. One of the first questions we see asked in Thousand Year Blood War is whether or not the Soul Reapers can ever truly be forgiven for what they’ve done. The person being asked, a teacher, stumbles over his words. He is then killed. By a Quincy no less. And at the end of this all we prevent the end of the world and balance is maintained and the Soul Reapers are never forgiven for what they did. People do not stop hating them. We are told by Rukia in the arc previous that changes are happening in everyone who has met Ichigo and in Soul Society at large but like...Those changes are slow. This is a societal level change that needs to go down. We do have our enlightened boy who has found that which is not found who is inspiring and changing the world around him just by existing as he does. But that is not a magical cure all. Ichigo does not and cannot just FIX things. Though he has laid the groundwork for continued change over time. There’s also the nature of the fraud of Soul Society. Soul Society’s social problems are just that. Social problems. They are not order and they are not necessary. People just treat them like they are and however much it may irritate the boomers, Yoruichi shirking tradition is not leading to a universal collapse. At best she is upsetting people and hurting feelings. This is part of the fraud. There is also the nature of how the Three Worlds system is even a thing that like was artificially constructed. That is true. It was Designed to work a particular way and the designing process was also Deeply Fucked. There was another world before it that worked differently. There could be conceivably entirely different ways of the world working. We could have a world without life and death. But in terms of how the balance of souls is necessary to maintaining universal order as it currently exists? That’s correct. As is true that the methods being used to maintain that work. The Soul Reapers are not incorrect on this front and their work is, functionally, necessary to keep reality existing in its current state. We are now just stuck with a samsaric hell cycle. It sucks but it’s what we’re working with. And that’s kind of nice actually? To have a group whose practices are vital to reality functioning and whose balance thing does actually DO something. But to have that group not necessarily be Good. To have their philosophies, histories, etc actually be kind of Shit And Terrible In Many Ways. For all of that to be, in many ways, socially constructed fluff which could conceivably be changed or abandoned as needed. And the most we get is we get told that changes are happening and we see it in the behavior of a few people. We do not get to magically fix things by the end because you cannot magically fix this degree of fucked in an instant. It’s not nice because I think that the Soul Society is great. It’s not. It just isn’t. But it is nice because like...It’s really nice to see balance being maintained as important but also like...something deeply fraught with problems. And that some of those problems aren’t even things that are fundamentally necessary to preventing universal collapse. It’s kind of like Zen that way I guess? Wherein the important thing in Buddhism wasn’t the texts or the sitting or the lecture style or the logical tradition. It was the thing laying beneath all of that which people were trying and failing to point to. The texts, the sitting, the lecture style, the logical tradition...Those are all just. Fluff. There isn’t any real substance to them. There is to what lays behind them but theoretically we could get to what lays behind them in other ways. You don’t need sutras to understand Buddhism and you don’t need a cripplingly cruel aristocracy system to prevent the world from collapsing in on itself. You can set both on fire.

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yume-tsuki · 3 years

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Bleach Recuerdos Mundo part 5 The Orb

Day Zero It wasn’t the first time I saw the black orb like thing floating around. But It happened that It vanished for some years. Today after school then, first, I thought someone called out my name and when I felt this spiritual pressure I saw the flouting orb again. Why it happened on the parks playground I don’t know. At last it was near my home and I used to come here often in the past. Of course I was curious, to curious, if you would ask my friend Hiyo, he is the same age as me a few months younger but not much. He is the son of Captain Hirako and Hiyouri. We are on the same school in this world. We both are Shinigami in training, but less at the academy , we get training at Kisuke’s place or at some of the Gotei 13. Hiyoshin, that’s his full name, is a talented Kido user and gets much training by his fathers lieutenant Hinamori Momo. He often says one day he will be as good as she is. He isn’t able to build a Shikai jet, it drives him mad what makes me laugh a lot. He is mostly so stiff. for my sake I’m training with my father or his friends, I’m a good sword fighter but not as good as my childhood friend Ichika. I also was able to form a Shikai lately, but not for long. I’m good at healing but not as good as mum. I love to listen to mothers tales of dad and the others, even when it sounds like a fairytale a lot. But at some point I’m jealous why can’t I have such an incredible story? The last of us three is Ichika, the daughter of Rukia and Renji Abarai. She is the most talented swords fighter I knew. She also mastered her Shikai. The most time she spends at the Soul Society but then she comes over living here like she lives always lived here. However this works… Sometimes when Hiyo is such a good Kido master and Ichika is such an fine swords master what will I become? Let’s finish this chattering, you know what happened after I touched the orb… …but what happened to us?... Not long after our Spiritual Pressure was gone our Parents were alarmed and tried to find us but the only thing what was left was our soulless bodys laying on the playground. To protect us from harm they used Kisuke Urahara’s Mod Souls so it wouldn’t to strange for our class mates when we are lost. Days and Days went over but we three were not to be found, not here, not at the Soul Society and also not at Hueco Mundo. They had countless of sleepless nights full of fear and tears... I feel sorry for them... No one knew we went to a place of rotten Memories. Called Recuerdos Mundo the Anderswelt More than a month had passed since we ended up here, but what is this world now? The time to see the truth is now to come! -Kurosaki Kazui

part1 Recuerdos Mundo Day ??.??.???? So much days had past since we arrived in this ‘other world’. We thought about a name and after realising what it was and a lot of talks we decidet to call it Recuerdos Mundo, the world of Memories. A world full of Reiryoku, it’s mostly made of it. We still don’t know why but, the ground, the trees even the air is filled up with it. The Hollow like creatures consume it, sadly we can’t use our powers becouse they would swollow it right away. Ichika got the idea to collect the light of Reiryoku who floats through the sky. She noticed that they stuck often on branches of this death looking stone like trees , even we can consume them in this place and this is a nice way to eat or trick the creatures. First when she tried her Zanbakuto this giant bird, together with other creatures appeared. But instead of the others who wanted to eat us it protected us and now travels with us. It’s still fascinating that we can see our world through the camera of our mobile phones. It was such a surprise what Kazui made when we tried to call for help. Sadly we still havn’t found a clue to contact one of our parents. They must be full of sorrows about us, when they can’t even feel we are on earth... But the most fascinating thing and the true reason we called it Recuerdos Mundo was when we found buildings with things in it. When we send out some little energy pictues of the past appeared and showed us who this thing belonged to and themselfs story...Maybe we can find a way out of this world when we find the right item! Now it’s time to end for today, we rest at a old hotel, next day we saw a white shimmering reflection on the horizont, well this our next goal.

jornal end -Hiyoshin Hirako

Recuerdos Mundo The Salt lake After a full day walk we arrived on the edge of an Salt lake, behind it we could see trees and hoping to find more informations about this world. But for today we rested on the edge, Hiyoshin build himself a flute made of an antler he found. Somehow it was creepy but his music is great. It always calms me down when I’m listening to him. Also our spirit hollow bird seems to enjoy his music. We noticed that the Spirit Hollows mostly change into an easy ball form . Only to fight they change into a form who needs more energy. The best part is still that we don’t need food in this world! We just catch this flying energy orbs and swallow them. So more time to listen to the music. But we weren’t the only one making music on the salt lake. There was this strange surring noise like when you stamp on this special white beach sand of this Japanese city we went with our parents ones. It sounded like music and something in me wanted to find out who is making this music! Kazui and Hiyo where pretty worried and said I shouldn’t go…. Scaredy cats! Now I woke birdy up and we flew through the night sky. The night is so clear on this place, so much stars we never saw back in the city. There wasn’t a single soul out there till we saw a long track and followed it. Also the sound came nearer and we saw a long red thing. Birdy hated it but we landed, he hissed the whole way to the head of that giant snake, what it was. When it turns it’s purple head I saw this crazy eyes and wondered if fathers Zabimaru would have such strange eyes if it wasn’t a bone snake. Somehow she was so calm and there wasn’t single moment I was afraid she could eat me. Then we finally traveled back on the head of the snake, oh man you should have seen this boys worried faces. They argue the whole snaky ride to the jungle with me about disappearing in the middle of the night in a strange world where whatever could have happened. I just laughed, not even my parents try to lecture me only uncle B. tries it sometimes but gave up on me. Both stubborn souls created an even more stubborn soul. He says and turns away. Now then that’s enough jornal for now -Abbarai Ichika

Recuerdos mundo part 3 Day 33 I guess We crossed the desert and thought we arrived at a jungle but it wasn’t just a jungle and it wasn’t just on a giant turtle like thing. We were standing o a rock when Ichika noticed a building on it’s back nnd for the first time we saw that it wasn’t just the human world who collapsed , infront of us where the whole Seireitei on the back of that damn turtle! We decided to jump on it and searching through it. The most parts were destroyed and everywhere trees , flowers and spirits. Soon I lost track of the others, they were so quick and there was something else what came to my mind. A voice calling for me… yes, it sounds strange but it was for me not for Ichika, not for Hiyoshin. Just me! I followed it till I arrived at a place I havn’t seen before. Maybe because the time I was at the soul society with dad wasn’t that often and only at aunty Rukia’s place. Dark walls changed into white or what was white one day. “It looks like a research lab!” I heared the voice of Hiyo . What scared me to death. Somehow it made me damn angry that they found me this fast. At last we entered a room, I was still hearing that voice >Come to me! I waited for you so long my young friend!< Yes, I know it could be dangerous but I was so curious… Then we saw it a bright flower floated in the sky, on it’s roots was a strange seat surrounded by light. >Finally you are here!< the voice came from that blooming thing but Hiyoshin and Ichika weren’t hearing it. “I wonder what this is?” Hyio was curious too but his attention soon was on the rest of the room. Screens on the walls and a lot of buttons at a panel. Ichika’s attention was the less, I wonder what she was thinking right now? She just looks around and seems like she already wanted to leave this place. Suddenly one of the screens start to work, but it wasn’t much to see just to listen… >>…What happened….<<…>>…what is that?....<<>>..the other world?...no wait it’s H……<< …>>they collapsing..<<…>Help!!<< ..Only a few pictures were to see, first the Seireitei , then in the sky a city suddenly white snow or sand. We were scared,yes, it still could happen, it could happen right now. “We have to find a way back, telling father and the others of this. Maybe we can stop it before it happens.” Hiyoshin said. “Maybe you two find something else in the other rooms!” I said, I wanted them to go so badly. Why?.... I wondered why does I wanted to be alone with this voice so desperately? … Then I was alone. >>Kazui I waited for so long<< “How can you know my name?” >> I know you since the moment I looked at your fathers eyes.<< “You know my father? Are you a Shinigami?” >> No<< “Who are you then?” >>Sadly I forgot my name << “I see. But you know mine. Why?” >>I’m here to give you something<< “Really?” >>Yes!<< >>Do you want it?<< “Y-yes.” I was so excited that I totally forgot that this situation could be dangerous… man I was only 12 how should I ever had known what could have happen? >>Then eat me!<< Does I was hypnoticed? Maybe… does I wanted to gain power? Maybe… I only I knew I did it… When the flower was gone I was still feeling normal but the others wondered where I went and came back. Of course they wondered where the flower went but I said I touched it and it became dust….they believed me and told me about the stuff they found...

Recuerdos Mundo part 4 Day??.??.????? I thought I would never ever meet another soul again in this death world. Since the day I arrived here day after day past and it wasn’t important where I was or when. There was no one to be found till this day. Who ever made me come here to this place where I always have to cry and I wished to leave when I just think about visiting. Here I found this three. When I showed myself first they were surprised but not for long. They brought me to their place made a fire and told me who they are. I never thought that Ichi or Ruki would ever have a child. I was so surprised that it caused me to tears. Of course they asked who I was and so I told them a little I could remember. I remembered that I was always on Kenpachi Zaraki’s side and I remembered that I was the 11th Division Lieutenant. I remember a fight against an opponent who was even hard von Ken-chan but I barely remember the persons face even how I ended up here. I just remember the strong feelings I had that day. To protect the person I deeply loved to be with. Then one day I woke up, covered in injuries, it was somewhere in this world. Somehow I healed, later I know that it was this air filled up with spiritual energy. I started wandering around, finding ruins and this soul-hollow spirits. Days became months and years and on one point I ended up to believe to see one human being ones more. I even lost the interest in the secrets of this world covered in ruins. The only thing what I knew was that my world, the world of the living and Hueco Mundo collapsed in the past for some reason. At least it was a calm time, there was no war, no fight anymore, just souls without a soul… The children were surprised and couldn’t believe that I lived here alone for so long. Then of course I asked the one question. Do you know a way back home? Sadly they didn’t but they remembered that Kasui used a black hole to came here in the first place. I asked him if he could do it again. He said he tried but he didn’t know how to activate it, then he stopped for a moment. It was like someone talked to him and then he told that he maybe know how to return. For a single moment I was scared to hell, there was a feeling I hadn’t in years, like a long lost memory but then he opened a black hole and everything I had in mind was vanished. There was only one desire: Maybe I can go home now finally.

-???????

Then Ichika asked me something they totally forgot to ask. What’s your name? I looked at her face, puzzled from that question.

My name?... what was my name? I can’t remember…

They then told me something, something about Ken-chan who she likes to visit from time to time. He isn’t very talkative but one day he told her a name Yachiru… Yachiru? Wasn’t this my name? It sounds so unfamiliar familiar…. But the tears that run over my cheeks told me it was true.

How could I even forgot who I was? When did it start that I even lost my name?

What a cruel peaceful world this could be.

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gstqaobc · 4 years

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CBC THE ROYAL FASCINATOR

Friday, October 23, 2020

Hello, royal watchers and all those intrigued by what’s going on inside the House of Windsor. This is your biweekly dose of royal news and analysis. Reading this online? Sign up here to get this delivered to your inbox.

Janet DavisonRoyal Expert

The lessons of becoming Diana in The Crown

(Ollie Upton/Netflix)

For Emma Corrin, preparing to take on the role of Diana, Princess of Wales, in The Crown was something of a psychology lesson. The 24-year-old actor assumed the part knowing full well those watching her arrival next month in Season 4 of the Netflix drama will already have well-established impressions of a member of the Royal Family who grew from "Shy Di" to one of the most photographed celebrities and fashion icons of recent times. Those existing impressions made assuming the role “incredibly daunting,” Corrin said in an interview from London. It helped once she got the script and saw the story. But there was also considerable work with a coach on “understanding the psychology behind a lot of what was happening.” And a lot of what was happening to Diana was “incredibly unnatural and quite intense,” Corrin said. At the age of 19, Diana Spencer moved from an apartment she shared with friends in West London into Buckingham Palace after her engagement to Prince Charles, the heir to the throne and a man 13 years her senior. Diana thought “it was going to be the best event of her life and that they were going to live happily ever after, but then [she discovered] he was with another woman,” Corrin said. Along with that, there was the pressure that comes from being a royal in the public eye. “All of these are very extraordinary circumstances, really, for someone to be operating in,” said Corrin. “These things that she was exposed to come with a whole lot of pressures that affect someone’s mentality, and that was really interesting.” Even so, there are still all those impressions viewers will have before they catch their first glimpse of Diana when the new season of The Crown starts streaming on Nov. 15. And what if Corrin’s portrayal doesn’t match those impressions? Does that matter in trying to create a successful portrayal of such a well-known person? Not necessarily. “If you talk to actors who have to play a real person ... especially somebody that is so world famous and familiar as Diana — [the challenge comes] because audiences are expecting that actress to look and sound just like the real thing,” said Bill Brioux, a longtime television columnist and commentator. He looks no further than the actor holding the central role on The Crown for Seasons 3 and 4 as an example of overcoming that challenge. “I think Olivia Colman [as Queen Elizabeth] has shown that you don’t have to be a carbon copy, that you might capture a nuance or an essence of someone,” Brioux said. “Certainly, Colman spent a lot of The Crown looking surprised and perplexed, you know, aghast at times.” And we certainly aren’t used to seeing the Queen looking that way in public. “So I think it will be interesting to see how Diana is received,” Brioux said. As she prepared for the role, Corrin said she became overwhelmed “by the amount of factual information out there about her and also … the thought that I would be portraying someone so well-known." Corrin said she “started work on her mannerisms and her behaviour and figuring out why she did the things she did or what she would feel about certain situations that I was going to be acting. “ Corrin also spoke to Patrick Jephson, Diana’s private secretary. “He knew her very well and was able to provide a lot of insight, which was wonderful.” With Diana, Brioux suggested, there may be more pressure on an actor than if the portrayal was of a person not so well-known. “People all have their own expectations of Diana in their minds,” he said. “You’re going to disappoint a lot of people no matter what you do, so hat’s off to this actress for taking it on. “I think that there’s potential, though, if you come close, to get a lot of rave reviews because everyone knows the subject and that’s how they’ll judge it."

For more on Corrin’s experiences preparing for the role, click here.

A rare day out for the Queen — and no mask

(Ben Stansall/Reuters)

Royal visits can typically give the royal guest the opportunity to see some cutting-edge technology or to meet individuals being recognized for their work or volunteer efforts in helping others in their community. But Queen Elizabeth’s first major public engagement since the coronavirus pandemic struck in March offered more than a chance for her to visit a new defence research centre west of London and check out the latest in explosives detection. The visit to Porton Down, where scientists are also helping in the response to the pandemic, seemed designed to offer a larger symbolism. “I think it was a really important message for her to send that even though … we’ve been in lockdown and we’re facing new restrictions, the Queen was still able to meet people involved in the COVID response,” Roya Nikkhah, a royal correspondent for the Sunday Times newspaper, told the CBC’s Renee Filippone. Still, the visit, which the 94-year-old carried out alongside her grandson, Prince William, sparked questions — and criticism — because neither of them was wearing a mask at a time when Britons must wear face coverings in stores and other indoor spaces. Those involved in the visit were physically distanced, and Buckingham Palace said safety protocols were followed. Reuters reported that staff at the research centre had been tested for COVID-19 before the visit. “Every precaution that could be taken was taken,” said Nikkhah. “That’s why the Queen didn’t have to wear a mask.” Royal author Robert Jobson told the Daily Mail that Elizabeth was sending a “message of confidence to the people.” “She’s going back to work, she'll go about her business in the usual way, but without taking chances. She is reassuring the public that things must go on as normal, wherever it is safe to do so.” The Queen has spent much of the time since the pandemic struck in isolation at Windsor Castle, considered to be her favourite residence. She has returned there recently after spending a few weeks with Prince Philip at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and a shorter period on her Sandringham estate northeast of London. Throughout the pandemic, Elizabeth has conducted official duties via video or over the phone, and made two appearances within the walls of Windsor Castle — one for a considerably scaled-down recognition of her official birthday in June, and one to bestow a knighthood on Capt. Tom Moore, a 100-year-old honoured for his charity fundraising. Still, it’s unlikely there will be many other outings like her trip to Porton Down anytime soon. “I think [it] was probably a bit of a one-off,” Nikkhah said. “I don’t think we’ll be seeing a lot more of her on public engagements.”

A new portrait for Canada

(Chris Jackson/Getty Images/Government of Canada)

There is also considerable symbolism on display in Queen Elizabeth’s new official Canadian portrait. While the portrait is new to the public, the photo itself was taken more than a year ago, in March 2019 at Windsor Castle, by royal photographer Chris Jackson. He shared it on social media late last week. In the portrait, the Queen is wearing her Canadian insignia as sovereign of the Order of Canada, Jackson said, along with the Order of Military Merit. The diamond and blue sapphire necklace and earrings she is wearing were a wedding day gift from her father, King George VI, in November 1947, and were worn during her five-day trip to Canada in 1990. Jackson said on Instagram that it was an “incredible honour” to have the opportunity to photograph the Queen for the portrait. “I’ve been lucky enough to have visited Canada many times now with members of the Royal Family and have the fondest memories of the people I’ve met.”

Royally quotable

"My family and I knew nothing about it and were at a loss to know how we could help alleviate the terrible pain she suffered."

— Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall,

reflects on her mother’s death from osteoporosis

26 years ago, and went on this week to note the “huge strides” made since then in treatment and research into the disease.

Royals in Canada

(Hans Deryk/The Canadian Press)

When Charles and Diana came to Canada in late October 1991, it was the last trip they made to the country together. And in ways it was two visits in one for the couple, whose collapsing marriage was under intense media scrutiny at the time, as they went their separate ways for much of the seven-day sojourn.

One stop for Diana in Toronto took her to Casey House, a hospice for people who have AIDS.

“Diana had just begun to venture into the issue of AIDS, then repellent to much of society, but it was still surprising that she chose to see a hospice full of very ill people rather than some less harrowing AIDS setting,” Casey House founder June Callwood

wrote in Maclean’s magazine

after Diana’s death in 1997.

Callwood had a mixed view of Diana, but that visit to Casey House, where she sat and visited with hospice residents, left a lasting impression.

Diana “wanted nothing less than to change the world for the better,” Callwood wrote. “And perhaps she did. On that lovely afternoon … she made everyone at a small AIDS hospice in Toronto feel worthwhile. That’s quite a gift.”

Our friends at CBC Archives have taken a closer look at the 1991 visit, which was also the first time both William and Harry went with their parents on a foreign trip.

Royal reads

1. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, says she

avoids speaking about controversial topics

in an attempt to ensure she doesn’t put her family at risk. She also says she’s been told that in 2019, she was the

“most trolled person in the entire world.”

[BBC, The Guardian]

2. More than 60 years after Queen Elizabeth gave a pair of swans to a city in Florida,

it has sold off three dozen of their descendants

in a bid to ease a crisis in overpopulation of the birds. [The Independent]

3. Thirty years after Diana laid a ceremonial foundation stone for a cancer hospital, her son William

did the same

. [The Daily Mail]

4. Dutch King Willem-Alexander says he

regrets going to Greece for a holiday

after he and his family were criticized for taking a trip during the pandemic. [BBC]

Cheers!

I’m always happy to hear from you. Send your ideas, comments, feedback and notes to

[email protected]

. Problems with the newsletter? Please let me know about any typos, errors or glitches.

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vaguely-gestures-to-the-void · 3 years

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Hindsight: My thoughts on Loki (2021)

As always, thanks for being here my friends. There’s definitely more nuanced discussion of this show, but I’m here for the vibes. Anyways, here’s my thoughts on Episode 3 of Loki. Bear in mind I hadn’t watched episode 4 before I wrote the review for 3. No hate on anyone/thing, it’s all my opinion.

Episode 3: LAMENTIS

Pre-title scene

I rioted when I heard Hayley’s voice. It’s a win for all of us.

C-20! Sylvie!

C-20’s lil dance was adorable. I love her.

I want Sylvie’s tie dye.

Is that Ralph Bohner?

The same place, but at night. Coincidence? I think not.

Sylvie’s powers have limits. She can’t search someone’s mind and take information, she needs them to willingly tell her though she can use her powers to do that.

TVA

Sylvie’s experienced. Always tie your hair into a bun before a fight.

Her music is nothing like what we’ve heard previously. It’s the Sylvie show folks.

The mural on the left side of the hall is the one from the credits scene.

The plaque above the elevators says ‘FOR ALL TIME ALWAYS’.

Even in the mural on the right side, the Time Keepers aren’t equal, the middle one takes up the most space.

Ravonna!

I love how their movements are similar. The head-snap-hair-flip combo is nearly identical, reflecting how they are the same person to some extent.

2077 Lamentis - 1

“Get off my leg!” SiblingTM energy.

“Goodbye, variant.” She sure has the Loki drama.

I finally remembered it’s called a TemPad. Rip.

“Don’t ever call me that.”

“Tech savvy?”

That’s so Ragnarok.

I love the music as we pan up to the planet. It’s the familiar, anxiety-inducing ticking for me lads.

“You idiot! This is Lamentis - 1.”

“I don’t know what that means!”

My siblings when I can’t restart the router (every country has an AT&T).

I like that it’s a moon that’s inhabited. It’s nearly always the planet, still not great for the people on it.

That slide to get under the dump truck was so smooth.

“So we’re a team now?” Jesus Loki needs friends. Probably a good therapist too.

“Didn’t need your help!”

“You’re so weird!”

I like the way Tom runs. Don’t know why. Just do.

Sidenote, my favourite running form is Chris Evans’.

Sylvie’s magic flickered so I genuinely think the enchantment didn’t work.

“Well then I’ll cut it out.” I like the way she says that. I am questioning so many things rn.

“Just because I have to work with you doesn’t mean I wanna hear your voice.” It’s ironic since they spend so much time talking about themselves.

“Alright, well, slow down… Variant.” They really play off each other’s egos to find weaknesses.

“You don’t know what you want.” Sylvie’s more straightforward in everything she does. She efficiently points out Loki’s flaws but when it comes to a goal, she’s meticulous.

“...just walk away.” Loki stops walking, but Sylvie does walk away. There is distance between them (for now).

I’ve had experience with mining towns like this one and whilst they weren’t so out-of-this-world (ya know) there is a tendency for rural and isolated communities to struggle with old/not maintained infrastructure. This is not everywhere, but it’s not uncommon from what I know. Even though these towns are a source of wealth, there isn’t distribution of the money and it’s a grim reality that’s being shown. I appreciate it.

The shot of them walking past a slab of that planet towards the hut is incredible. Wow.

The person in there is just waiting for their death. I’m going to be addressing a lot of the harsh realities in this episode folks so it won’t be so cheerful.

I understand that people weren’t so happy with this being a filler episode, but I think they got it right. It’s strange that a literal planet-moon collision doesn’t bring the tension that the hurricane did in the last ep, but by having an atmosphere that wasn't so omnius, they conveyed (to me at least) that hope was already lost. In the Roxxcart Disaster, the people believed that it wasn’t going to be the end. There’s desperation on Lamentis - 1 but as Sylvie said, the collapse of society occurs. That’s a large group of people realising that class divides will cause slaughter. It’s greed portrayed in two different ways, one being the integration of excessive capitalism into society, the other being social structure based on oppression. Not everyone’s reading into Loki like this but it’s a change from how Marvel usually approaches conflict.

We learnt about the characters and whilst I’m not a fan of when a plot line is moot (my bet is that Loki and Sylvie will be rescued next ep, making all the attempts to get off Lamentis - 1 pointless), it’s necessary for the characters to develop. The way Loki and Sylvie end up on Lamentis - 1 makes sense and the plot doesn’t feel forced.

“It’s remarkable that you made it as far as you did.”

Devils is recurring in this episode. Maybe this has implications on future episodes?

“Which one was that, diplomacy?” Why are their interactions so funny?

I don’t think I need to comment on the significance of the train station scene.

I would like to acknowledge that though this is good writing that’s relevant in the time it was released, we shouldn’t forget it’s coming from large corporations who aren’t perfect.

How do they just walk past the line?

The people who snitched were right in front of them.

Did the cat get Loki’s silvertongue? That was the most graceless lying I’ve ever seen.

Sylvie not sitting with her back to a door makes sense, but why won’t Loki go backwards on a train? They both have little quirks.

“That’s not a plan. That’s just doing a thing.” Loki went to the Thor school of planning, it’s Get Help all over again.

Loki’s exaggerated nods at the other guards lol.

Sylvie growls whenever she’s mad, it’s hilarious.

The close ups of their faces when the conversation gets personal and isn’t just trading jabs is great for conveying the authenticity of their answers.

Loki not pressing Sylvie when she clearly didn’t want to talk about what happened to her mother is something I appreciated.

Here’s to Tom for having to do magic for more than 10 years now. He’s so serious, I can only imagine how funny it is without the effects.

“Well she did.” Yeesh, has Loki gotten time to grieve?

Sylvie is genuinely impressive.

“Pity the old woman chose to die.”

“She was in love.”

I don’t quite understand what they were talking about then, I guess we’ll find out later?

Loki, why are you so unnecessarily dramatic?

I laughed. Who am I kidding, they’re dorks and I love them.

Loki is trying to find out anything, anyone who could be used against Sylvie.

Here’s to the postman, they’re probably dead but we appreciate Sylvie’s happiness anyways.

“A bit of both. I suspect the same as you.” AND THAT’S HOW YOU WRITE IN REPRESENTATION FOLKS!

Let’s just take our scraps and be happy, eh? It made my week.

They both need real relationships of any kind, guys.

“Love is… uh, something I might have to have another drink to think about.” Me whenever anyone asks me about my love life.

“You do realise… ...a civilisation’s only hope?” I think this was Sylvie’s way of making sure Loki’s (albeit grey) morals and drinking habits don’t interrupt her plan.

The train sure gives me Snowpiercer vibes.

Do I have to talk about Drunk Loki?

Tom’s singing voice is lovely.

Sylvie’s eyes shift nervously to the door and then back to Loki. She’s initially tense but she relaxes slightly though she knows she’s gonna have to clean up the mess.

“Nobody cares. It’s the end of the world.” Again, Loki’s headspace is one where existence is futile.

The green walls contrast the purple lighting nicely.

You can see plants (?) from the outside if you look out the windows. Talk about attention to detail.

Bruh what is the dagger about? Drunk Loki’s a comedic genius.

The descending notes in the background of Loki’s fireworks.

Sylvie’s smile when she goes to attack is animalistic. I’d like to see her character explored more in terms of how she views violence.

YEET.

“You’re right. I’m a god.” Loki’s defense mechanism is to state that his motives are above the understanding of others.

“You’re a clown.” Sylvie tells it as it is.

Loki and Sylvie’s reactions to the TVA contrast the most here. Sylvie is potentially motivated by vengeance or a need for revenge whilst Loki has resigned to numbing the pain (for now at least) as he comes to terms with his reality. The question of what drives you is so important for these characters, I’m excited to see whether they’ll find a common ground and wreak havoc on the sacred timeline.

Loki and Sylvie both struggle with communicating in a healthy way. Sylvie calls him out on his directionlessness and Loki tells her what may be the harsh reality of her plan. Neither of them are willing to accept it, but there’s potential for a strong bond if they do.

Sylvie’s scream lmao.

I love the colour of Loki’s pants.

Problem? Solution! Do thing! Is Sylvie’s method of thinking when all is lost.

Gosh I love the shots in this episode.

“That’s a pretty good life.” Sylvie’s definitely not lived as a royal, or not from what she remembers.

“I just need to know if I can trust you.” Sylvie giving up how she enchants people is an olive branch because as useful as the things that Loki told her may have been for manipulation, they both know the importance of her upper hand. But she only relents once Loki doesn’t have the TemPad. Later, when she asks whether she can trust Loki, it’s more of a reassurance because he’s already been vulnerable around her.

The actor’s body language and facial expressions are incredible. Loki’s eyebrow’s furrow slightly when Sylvie mentions C-20’s mind but Tom takes a second for the information to be processed rather than instantly reacting to Sophia’s next line. She does the same when Loki talks about the TVA workers being created. What skilled people they are.

The city is a wonderful piece of set design.

“We do, and you can.” They step into the light, neither of them have tunnel vision and are able to see a bigger picture.

“They’re gonna let these people die.” This show explores a side of Loki we haven’t seen before, his morality and compassion. He has grey areas that could be explored in the next season. It also points back to how Sylvie and Loki differ in their view of others. I think this is partially because of their childhoods. Loki was raised as a prince and cared about his people, but Sylvie doesn’t share that perspective (“...they usually survive”), maybe because of her past. Hopefully in the upcoming episodes we’ll get a bit more of her backstory.

That sequence is beyond words. The constantly rotating and revolving camera really hammers home that it’s a disorienting fight for their lives at the end of the world. I’m speechless, just watch it.

The music in that blue-purple-pink club was banging tho.

Loki and Sylvie’s posture, facial expression and general body movement is similar. The variant point is hammered home here.

It’s interesting how Loki is in shock/denial of the Ark being destroyed whereas Sylvie immediately leaves.

The end music of this episode is beautiful. I love how it all builds to leave us on the soft tones of Dark Moon.

No one’s interested, but my mum and I bonded over the Jim Reeves version of this song and the Bonnie Guitar one.

Ep 3 review

Short episode with not much going on other than character development. However, if the first two were anything to go by, this episode will have greater implications on the plot. The pacing of this show is a bit strange, but we may see this change in the next season.

I mentioned previously that it would be a shame if the entire plot of this episode was made irrelevant by how they get off Lamentis - 1 next ep. This show has been really good at keeping us on our toes with the writing so they probably won’t take turns that have been speculated.

Happy mid-season guys! The following two episodes were apparently Tom’s favourites so we can expect some mayhem up ahead. See you next time!

Here's the link to my Ep 2 review

#loki #loki review #loki (2021)#i've stayed inconsistent in all these tags and i'm not about to change #my opinion #opinion #loki spoilers #spoilers #spoiler

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giftofshewbread · 4 years

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Days of Prophecy

By Daymond Duck Published on: March 28, 2021

Jesus compared the end of the age to the days of Noah and the days of Lot.

So much Bible prophecy is being fulfilled, these days could also be called the days of prophecy.

Here are some recent events that caught my attention.

One, in early Mar. 2021, Israel announced plans to build the “Peace Railway” to connect Israel with the Gulf nations, China, the EU and others.

This could take a few years, but it is prophetically significant because China has already spent hundreds of billions of dollars building the “silk railroad” to the Middle East, and the Bible teaches that the Kings of the East (probably China and others) will invade the Middle East during the Tribulation Period.

Two, concerning peace in the Middle East: on Mar. 16, 2021, Israeli Prime Min. Netanyahu said there are 4 more normalization agreements (peace treaties) on the way.

Netanyahu did not name the 4 nations, but it is believed that 3 of them are Indonesia, Mauritania and Saudi Arabia.

If 4 more agreements are signed, that would up the “Abraham Accords” to 8 nations.

Israel is moving closer to the covenant with death (Isa. 28:14-15; Dan. 9:27).

Three, concerning the Battle of Gog and Magog: on Mar. 19, 2021, Middle East expert Joel Rosenberg said “the threat of war between Israel, Iran and Hezbollah is rising.”

He noted that three Israeli leaders took emergency trips to Europe and Russia to relay Israel’s concern that war is coming.

Israel’s Pres. Rivlin and IDF Chief of Staff Kochavi visited Germany, Austria and France.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Ashkenazi visited Russia.

Rivlin has also secured an invitation to visit the U.S. to address a joint session of Congress (the time of this depends on when Congress can meet because of Covid).

Four, also concerning the Battle of Gog and Magog: on Mar. 21, 2021, it was reported that there is a growing alliance between Russia, Iran and Turkey and a growing dislike by these three nations for the U.S.

Russia, Iran, and Turkey are working together to divide up Syria and gain more influence in the Middle East.

Five, concerning the U.S. being a blessing or a curse to Israel: on Mar. 18, 2021, it was reported that the Biden administration will reset America’s relationship with Israel in four areas: 1) The U.S. will re-establish diplomatic ties with the Palestinians; 2) The U.S. will return to the Two-State Solution (division of Israel); 3) The U.S. will oppose putting the “Made in Israel” label on products from the West Bank; and 4) The U.S. will return to giving the Palestinians millions of U.S. tax dollars each year.

Six, concerning world government: in a video that has reportedly gone viral on social media, a doctor from Ireland, Anne McCloskey, warned that “The Great Reset” is being pushed by globalist elite individuals and groups that want to drastically reduce the population of the earth.

McCloskey believes the Coronavirus crisis is a created event that people are using to establish a totalitarian world government.

McCloskey warned that these people are coming for you and everything you have, including all of your property, savings, and freedom.

It is important to understand that the Antichrist and False Prophet will use the economy (buying and selling) to control people and silence or eliminate those who disagree with their godless world government.

Seven, concerning the cashless society: it is being reported that one goal of “The Great Reset” is to completely transform the global money system into a cashless society.

Central Banks in several nations, including the U.S., are already discussing the creation of digital currencies that can be tracked.

These digital currencies will eventually make paper money worthless.

People will not be allowed to buy and sell without them.

For your information, the Republican Gazette recently reported that the cryptocurrency market has passed one trillion dollars in value.

This is fact, not a conspiracy theory that could be several years in the future.

Something like this could be a precursor to the Mark of the Beast.

Eight, concerning the coming economic collapse:

On Mar. 17, 2021, it was reported that Biden has asked Congress to reform the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, so he can raise corporate taxes to cover some of his spending, and the Tax Foundation has estimated that it will destroy 159,000 jobs (be aware that this is at a time when many businesses are locked down and facing bankruptcy).

On Mar. 17, 2021, it was reported that Biden signed an executive order on the day he was inaugurated that canceled the sale of oil and gas leases on 80 million acres of land in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association estimates that will endanger an industry that employs about 250,000 people (experts are warning that everyone’s utility bills will skyrocket).

On Mar. 22, 2021, it was reported that Biden regularly consults with former Pres. Obama on a number of issues (recall that Obama promised to transform America, spied on Trump, his people were involved in the Russian Collusion Hoax, etc.).

On Mar. 22, 2021, it was reported that Biden plans to spend more than $100 million on bus and airline tickets, hotel rooms, detention facilities, Covid treatment, etc., for illegal immigrants.

On Mar. 23, 2021, it was reported that Biden is preparing a $3 trillion stimulus package to deal with Climate Change, rebuild America’s infrastructure, etc. (Know that many U.S. citizens didn’t receive a stimulus check from the last stimulus package.)

Nine, concerning mandatory vaccinations and tracking people, on Mar. 17, 2021, the Israeli Knesset approved a bill to require certain people to wear an electronic bracelet that will monitor whether they are obeying Israel’s quarantine laws or not.

These bracelets, called “Freedom Bracelets,” won’t track a person’s movements, but if that person leaves the area that they have been quarantined to, the authorities will be notified.

Officials are using Covid as an excuse to race toward many kinds of tracking systems to locate and keep up with the movement of people.

Ten, concerning the Coronavirus, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that 85.01 million doses of vaccine were given in the U.S. between Dec. 14, 2020, and Mar. 5, 2021.

1,524 people died in the first 48 hours, there were 31,079 adverse incidents (5,507 serious), and 85 reports of miscarriage or premature birth.

The short-term risk of death or serious affliction is small, but it is there, and there has not been enough time to determine unknown long-term risks.

In addition to the above, on Mar. 16, 2021, the Office of Attending Physicians reported that only 75% of the members in the U.S. House of Representatives have been vaccinated.

Even though 25% have not been vaccinated, all House members are allowed to use the House gym showers, locker room and swimming pool.

So, why are gyms, etc., locked down in several cities and states when House members are using the House gym, etc.?

Eleven, I want to share an e-mail from a reader that doesn’t want to be vaccinated.

Much of it is over my head, but it is well-stated and, in my opinion, very important.

Knowingly putting the name of Lucifer into your body is literally identifying yourself with him (The enzyme that activates the quantum dots in Gates’ vaccine is called Luciferase. Lucifer was Satan’s name when he fell; Isa. 14:12).

Knowingly taking aborted human fetal tissue into your body is not much different than cannibalism (When you can’t eat by mouth, you get nourishment through an IV into your body, so what’s the real difference?).

Satan is behind this whole thing, because it is unnatural for a person to want to exterminate their own species; even animals have respect for their own kind!

He (Satan) started his attack on the human genome (DNA) in Genesis 6, and nearly accomplished his agenda, BUT GOD intervened and protected the human race through Noah and his family because they were the only people on earth who had clean genetics (the pure human genome).

Jesus came as a human with a pure, uncorrupted human double helix of DNA; therefore, His sacrifice was done as a human and is for human beings only, not for animals, or synthetics, or ‘transhumans’ because none of them are ‘in the image of God.’

This current vaccine will begin the process of altering the human genome, but it does not splice into the double helix and completely change the DNA; however, the ‘mark of the beast’ (the Quantum Dot Tattoo) will totally corrupt the human genome, splicing itself into the double helix, so that the person who takes it will no longer be ‘in the image of God’ but will be ‘in the image of Lucifer’ with an alien form of DNA, one that was not created by God but is an abomination just like the Nephilim.

I never thought I would see Hosea 4:6 so clearly as I do today: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” I wonder if the believers who take it will pay a price in eternity? If they are born again, they cannot lose their salvation, but God says they will not be ‘priests,’ and He will ‘forget their children,’ so does this mean that they will lose rewards? I think so! It’s up to each of us to be responsible for our actions, as God says in Romans 1:20 that ‘they are without excuse.’

Twelve, here is another interesting e-mail from a reader in MO.

No one is date-setting, but this is amazing, if true, and I pray that it will brighten your day.

The reader’s pastor asked his congregation at their Wednesday night Bible study to open their Bible to the last two verses in the Bible (Rev. 22:20-21).

The verses are 20 and 21 (as in the year 2021), and they read, “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

Some would love for Jesus to come quickly for His Church in 2021.

Finally, if you want to go to heaven, you must be born again (John 3:3). God loves you, and if you have not done so, sincerely admit that you are a sinner; believe that Jesus is the virgin-born, sinless Son of God who died for the sins of the world, was buried, and raised from the dead; ask Him to forgive your sins, cleanse you, come into your heart and be your Saviour; then tell someone that you have done this.

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adapembroke · 4 years

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Astrology of 2020 and Beyond

There was a conversation recently on the Diviners Anonymous Discord Server about what makes the astrology of 2020 different than other years. It made me realize that I’ve written about the astrology of 2020 quite a lot for Patreon but not a lot for the wider community. Even though it is now September, I think it’s still worth looking at the astrological weather for this year. The Pluto/Saturn/Jupiter drama is coming to a close, but a couple of the plot arcs are just gearing up.

In Austin Coppock's conversation with Gordon White about the astrology of the second half of 2020, he said that we've reached the point where we pretty much know how global events are going to impact us for the next little while. We have already started to experience all of the big influences that will be in play over the next few years, so we have a good view of the overall lay of the land. The game is in play, and we've seen our opponent's cards.

The game isn't over. At the individual level, people may be in for some personal surprises, but we’re unlikely to be surprised by anything that happens on the global stage.

It's time to focus on how current events are impacting us personally.

Go on a news fast. Get some sleep. Think about how this is impacting you and focus on what you need to do to get through this.

How Astrological Prediction Works

For as long as the concept of history has existed, people have studied the cycles of history and tried to predict it. Historians in the 19th and 20th centuries looked to Rome to understand the rise and fall of modern industrial empires. Karl Marx tried to use cycles to understand the rise and fall of economies.

In ancient times, the wise used the cycles of the planets to talk about the cycles of history. Modern astrologers still look to the stars for guidance. Influenced by the work of CG Jung, they have learned that events do not repeat literally, but important events in planetary cycles tend to have common (archetypal) themes.

The basic techniques astrologers use have changed very little in over 2,000 years. As planets go around the sun, they make the same patterns over and over again. They appear to come together. They separate until they appear to be on opposite sides of the sky, and then they come together again.

Through observation, ancient astrologers discovered that some planetary configurations correspond to special events on earth. When two or more planets come together (conjunction), it is the beginning of a new cycle. When they appear to be as far apart as they can be (opposition), events that were foreshadowed at the beginning of the cycle reach their greatest intensity. When the planets come together again, the cycle ends, and a new one begins.

One complete planetary cycle has the same structure as a story with a beginning (astrological conjunction), rising action (astrological square), climax (astrological opposition), and conclusion (astrological conjunction) which also serves as the new beginning.

Major Astrological Events

Saturn/Pluto/Jupiter Conjunctions

Exact on January 12, 2020.

Saturn is the planet of structure, institutions, boundaries, borders, limits, old age, and conservatism. During Saturn times, conservative forces are in the spotlight. We deal with issues involving containment, the protection/creation of borders, and the life-cycle of institutions.

Pluto is named after the Roman god of the underworld. It is the planet of death, destruction, and transformation. Pluto times correspond to times of extreme pruning. Things that are dysfunctional collapse, often causing death and destruction.

When Saturn and Pluto come together, the world tends to experience disease, totalitarianism, lockdowns, and economic failure.

This is the end of an old Saturn/Pluto cycle and the beginning of a new one. The last cycle began in 1982 and reached its climax in the fall of 2001. The new cycle will reach its climax in 2035 and end in 2053.

Adding Jupiter to the picture is a mixed blessing. Jupiter is a benefic planet that tries to improve whatever it touches. It is not at its best in Capricorn, however, so it isn’t able to help as much as it otherwise would. At the same time, Jupiter is an amplifier expanding whatever it touches, which adds to the drama.

Saturn/Pluto Through History

1776 - American Revolution (square)

1914 - The Outbreak of World War I (conjunction)

1931, 1940 - The Great Depression, the rise of fascism in Europe, the beginning of World War II (opposition and square)

1982 - Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, the Iran-Iraq War, the Soviet war in Afghanistan that lead to the jihadist movement, AIDS epidemic (conjunction)

2001 - 9/11, the Israel-Palestine crisis (opposition)

Saturn square Uranus

Gearing up in 2020, exact in 2022-2023.

Saturn is containment, conservatism, structure, boundaries, and authority.

Uranus is explosive, progressive, and revolutionary. Uranus times are marked by shocking, sudden events. Some of these events are experienced as subjectively good. Some are experienced as subjectively bad.

When Saturn and Uranus meet, they create tension between revolutionary forces and authoritarian structures. This can manifest as social unrest/protests and lockdowns, erratic authorities, repressive revolutions, and sudden breakdowns/breakthroughs.

The current cycle began in 1988, reached its climax in 2008-2010, and is in its falling action now (square). The cycle will end in 2032.

Saturn/Uranus Through History

1861 - American Civil War (square)

1918-1919 - End of World War I, Spanish Flu Epidemic (opposition)

1930 - Great Depression (square)

1988 - Lockerbie terrorist attack, troubles in Ireland (conjunction)

2008-2010 - Arab Spring (opposition)

Mars in Aries

Enters Aries on June 27, retrograde (15-28 degrees Aries) September 9-November 13

Mars is named after the god of war. It is an extremely hot, dry planet astrologically. Mars times are inflammatory--aggressive, angry, and conflict-prone. Fevers, fires, separations--things that burn and cut are Mars things. Mars corresponds to physical inflammation. It gets things started, and it causes friction in relationships.

Mars rules Aries, which means the planet is very powerful there and doesn't need anyone's permission to do what it wants.

Mars usually spends six weeks in Aries. Because it is going retrograde in Aries this year, it will be going much more slowly than usual, spending six months in this sign. It is as if the Mars in Aries chapter is extra long in the story of 2020. Mars has more time to cause a big impact.

During Mars retrograde season, Mars is asking: What is worth fighting over? We had until mid-August to get a feel for how this is going to show up for us. Pay attention to how you're dealing with anger and conflict. Are you a person who could use motivation and energy to start things? Do you tend to get angry? Is inflammation a problem for you? Don't overcommit or get too busy or get over-optimistic while Mars is retrograde.

This transit is more personal than the other transits. It is especially not a time to focus on world events. Focus on how it is hitting you personally. (What houses/planets are in the second half of Aries for you? What houses does Mars rule?)

US Pluto Return

Exact in 2022.

When a planet returns to the same place in its orbit that it was in when a birth/event occurred, it is said to be going through a “planetary return.” Pluto’s orbit is approximately 250 years long, and it is approaching the place where it was in 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Pluto is named after the god of the underworld. During Pluto times, we confront the collective shadow. Structures that are no longer sustainable are torn down.

During a Pluto return, problems (such as racial injustice, balance of power between branches of government, tensions between states, electoral college in the United States) that have been in place since the beginning come into serious review. Pluto is the great leveler.

In Capricorn, Pluto’s focus is on highlighting structural issues in society. This has been a theme worldwide since the economic collapse in 2008 when Pluto entered Capricorn, but 2020-2024 (when Pluto leaves Capricorn) is a particularly intense period for the US.

Sources

Angela Slezak, "Capricorn Evolution in the United States," Mountain Astrologer, 6 February 2017

Richard Tarnas, Cosmos and Psyche

Gordon White, "H2 2020 Astrological Forecast with Austin Coppock" (YouTube)

This post was originally published on adapembroke.com.

#astrology #witchblr

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dk-thrive · 4 years

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Being locked up in a house...will not be the same