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blueboxphenomenon · 8 years

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The Gatwick Incident, 1966

London. 20th July, 1966

On the morning of July 20th, 1966 flight 729 returned from Madrid to Gatwick airport, only to be forced to abort its attempted landing due to an obstruction on the intersections of runways five and two. The pilot reported the presence of a police box on the runway, prompting air traffic control to dispatch police. Police chased away four strangers, and the police box was collected from the runway. Control initially believed it to be the product of a practical joke. If only they knew what they were in for that day…

If you were a student in 1966 looking for a cheap gap year, Chameleon Tours were your best budget option. For just £28, Chameleon Tours offered people between the ages of 18-25 a package holiday to any one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe: Zurich, Rome, Athens, Dubrovnik, and Freiburg, Madrid, and Baden-Württemberg. It was a popular choice, with 50000 young people taking to Europe from Gatwick via Chameleon Tours, who operated four of their own planes from the airport.

Fifty-thousand young adults left Gatwick for various European flights, and not a single one returned. One of those people was Ryan Briggs, who took a Chameleon Tours flight to Rome. Everything seemed normal to his family at first. Ryan caught his flight, and sent back a hand-written postcard shortly after arriving. However, that was the last the Briggs family heard from Ryan for some time. His sister, Samantha Briggs, implored the authorities for help, but was unable to get anywhere with them. She contacted the hotel at which Ryan was supposed to be staying, only to find he had never checked in. Police in Rome found no trace of a Ryan Briggs, and neither did Rome's international airport. Inspector Gascoigne was the first to take Samantha's worries seriously and, on the 20th of July, arrived at Gatwick to investigate. While airport security was dealing with the matter of a police box and four trespassers, Gascoigne was investigating the private Chameleon Tours hangar. That is where his corpse was later found, his clothes singed as though he somehow died by electrocution.

A police box on a runway, a missing young man, and a murdered police officer. You would think things were already as strange as they were going to get, but you'd be wrong. Two people arrived at Immigration and Customs attempting to report a dead body. They arrived with no passports, despite coming from the arrivals gate. One was a scruffy-looking gentleman in a frock coat and the other a boy with a Scots accent wearing a kilt. When interviewed by journalist James Stevens, Samantha Briggs would describe the scruffy-looking man's accent as "blurred," and referred to him as "a short man with a mournful face and dishevelled clothing." He seemed to her to be "incredibly well informed." Everyone seemed to call the man "Doctor," as though it were more of a name than a title. The Scots boy wearing the kilt went by the more conventional name of Jamie. Curiously, a white-haired man also calling himself "Doctor" was present with Sir Charles Summer in South Kensington at the time, seemingly involved with the on-going War Machine threat caused by the activation of WOTAN.

The airport manager, Charles Gordon, was called to satisfy the Doctor's demands to see a figure of authority about the body, and escorted the mystery man and Jamie to the Chameleon Tours hanger, where they found nothing more than a crate of plastic cups. Unamused by the Doctor's claims, Gordon tried to have trespassers arrested, only for them to escape.

It was around this time that Samantha Briggs arrived at the Chameleon Tours kiosk to make enquiries about her missing brother Ryan Briggs. She found the representitive entirely unhelpful but ended up meeting with Jamie, who promised that he had a friend who might know how to help her, and mysteriously asked that they meet later. It was Samantha that made an important discovery in the case of the missing passengers - Chameleon Tours had their customers fill out postcards before leaving on their flight. The postcards were collected at the kiosk, sent out to Chameleon Tours facilities at the country the flights were supposed to go to, and then posted back by Chameleon Tours to the families in the UK as if from the passengers. Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Crossland arrived in search of his missing collegue: Detective Gasgoigne.

Inspector Crossland was able to convince Charles Gordon to humour the Doctor further, and it appears some members of Gatwick staff were starting to come around as it was the manager's assistant Jean Rock who made the next key discovery. Having called around the various international airports to which Chameleon Tours were chartering flights, she discovered that Chameleon Tours only ever picked up passengers but never dropped them off. It was as though the passengers disappeared mid-flight.

Gatwick usually only monitors flights for around fifty miles before they drop off the radar, otherwise they would have too much traffic to monitor. It was not unusual that Chameleon Tours flights disappeared from their radars after fifty miles, as they simply weren't looking that far. Manager Gordon could not have expected to see what he did when he requested the RAF to tail the 1530 to Rome, however. As the Chameleon Tours flight to Rome reached the edge of expanded radar range, the RAF jet was seen to go completely out of control and crash into the sea, disappearing from radar. The Chameleon Tours flight then appeared to stop moving, something that could only indicate that it was dropping straight down. The plane then disappeared off radar.

The initial assumption was that the two aircraft had collided, dropping into the ocean. When rescue services found the wreckage, however, there was only wreckage of the RAF fighter jet and no sign of the 1530 to Rome. The pilot was found electrocuted in his seat. So where did the Chameleon Tours flight go? Where do all the Chameleon Tours flights go? Perhaps the plane did not drop out of the sky, but instead shot directly upwards beyond the scope of radar, into space. Maybe that sounds farfetched, but how else do you explain an aeroplane hovering in the same spot on radar but without leaving wreckage in the sea below? Admittedly, many wrecks are lost at sea, but then how do you reconcile the fact that the RAF flight, which went down at the same time, was found while the Chameleon Tours flight was not?

Let's break down what was happening. Chameleon Tours planes would leave from Gatwick carrying a cabin filled with young people. They would fly fifty miles out of the UK and disappear. The flight would then return without passengers. Postcards from the passengers, filled out before the flight, would be sent to the plane's supposed destination and then posted back to the UK to make it appear as if the passengers arrived safely. But to what end?

The reports of DI Crossland simply refer to "holiday fraud," and while there are no police reports regarding the recovery of the fifty-thousand missing people, they started to turn up on delayed flights for the rest of the evening, trickling back into society as if they hadn't gone missing at all. Twenty-five members of staff at Gatwick airport recall waking up lying on the concrete in the carpark, missing hours of time with no recollection of how they got there.

Some theorise that Chameleon Tours were a cover for a human trafficking ring and even though they were busted the whole thing was covered up so London's second biggest international airport could save face. Others theorise that it was a money laundering front involving simply moving the same group of people around to make the company look busier than it really was. More outlandish theories include Chameleon Tours being a result of C-Day and the computer WOTAN trying to wipe out humanity, a system of alien abductions replacing people with shapeshifting duplicates, and a government test of international security where they abducted real people and wiped their memories before returning them later.

Whatever the truth was behind Chameleon Tours, there are plenty of witnesses to the presence of "the Doctor" and it features one of the most convincing blue box sightings in history as it comes from a pilot.

#bbp-blog #blue box phenomenon #blue box sighting #Chameleon Tours #the gatwick doctor #widw #who is doctor who?#other #featured

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lovesanmotion · 3 years

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Still Here - Wooyoung

Summary: But why did you have to go?

A/N: Hello! This is an advance gift fic from me to reaching 400 followers! And yes, this is the mystery fic I was talking about and at the same time the discussion I had with you a few weeks ago. The gif is also not mine, credits goes out to the rightful owner.

Two years after success found the boy group, ATEEZ, KQ decided to debut a girl group for a change. Originally, they wanted the girl group to debut in Seven Seasons - a subsidiary company of KQ - debut a seven member girl group called 7S or short for Seven Seasons. However, the plans fell apart and the casting and recruiting was given to KQ, what kept intact was to debut a seven member girl group, but with a different name.

KQ decided to name this girl group as Girls’ Paradise. It was an ambitious project brought to you by KQ, having used half a million just to bring in seven individuals into the company and laying down each girl a million won to train. The company’s best trainee? You.

You were a breath of fresh air to the company, a trainee they have never seen before. When the choreographers teach you all of you the basics of dance steps, you were quick to pick all of it up. The vocal and rap trainers were impressed at how clear your vocals and good your pronounciations are. Quick to master the english language, be able to compose lyrics overnight and quick to adapt to the hectic schedule given by the company. The company started to call you “the female hongjoong”. But you brushed that nickname of, saying that they are just too humble to give you that nickname.

You were excited to hear the news that Girls’ Paradise is finally set to debut. What shocked you more was that it was your senior idols ATEEZ Hongjoong and Mingi who majority produced the songs for your mini album. Hearing this news, you couldn’t help but thank them everytime you get the chance to meet them inside the company building. And on one particular day, Hongjoong and Mingi invited you to go on a dinner with them. Ecstatic to get close to your senior idols, you agreed. What you didn’t expect is to meet the whole members of ATEEZ at a restaurant their road manager pulled up at.

You were so shy to join in dinner with eight males in a private room at the second floor of the restaurant, but the boys made you feel welcome. It was safe to say that you had gotten close with Seonghwa, San and Mingi. What the fans were saying were true, Seonghwa is very motherfly and San and Mingi were childish yet mature. Jongho cracked a few jokes with you that helped you open to him, and it did. And beside you, Wooyoung has this look on your face that you couldn’t explain. But that was only the beginning.

You began to see Wooyoung around more often unlike before. If you say its because you both are from the same company, it doesn’t guarantee that you would always run into each other. You tried to brush it off at first, but then the unthinkable happened. Tensions arose between the two one night in the practice room, and from that night on, it continued to happen.

"Ms Y/N is ready for her makeup” You smiled upon hearing that voice, you opened your eyes and found Wooyoung standing behind you in the changing room. He picked up the hairbrush and gently brushed your hair gently.

“Relationship aside, you look pretty without make up on” He smiles at you through the mirror, you felt your inside tingling, Woo made sure not to brush your hair too hard.

“And I like your hair longer. It suits you.” You smiled, turning your head up to smile at him. Placing a hand under your chin before he leans down to capture your lips with his. Pushing his tongue inside your mouth while his other hand gripped on your waist. Tasting the wine being offered at the awards show from his mouth, a cold hand wrapping around your neck, shivering at the contact. As you two slightly pull away, eyes looking at each other intensely. There is a long pause, hearts pounding inside your chests were the only sounds visible to hear.

“My stylist doesn’t come back in fifteen minutes, if you’re wondering.” Biting your lower lip flirtatiously before standing up and teasingly removing the white robe around you. Wooyoung’s eyes darted around your body that he loves. The sight of your pink panties already has his cock erected, wanting to come out of his pants.

A smirk paints his lips he removes the robe and hoists you up the table, back leaning the vanity mirror. Brushing your hair back before he attaches his lips once more with yours, a hand holding the back of your neck to deepen the kiss while his other free hand wanders on your leg, hoisting it up and wrapping it around his waist.

That’s what you and Wooyoung are - nothing more than just friends with benefits. And it seemed that it was the best relationship for the two of you, neither wanting to be committed with someone and only to be wallet and emotionally drained after a few months or a few years. Apart from that, you both love performing on stage, no other person holding you back from what you both love doing.

The invigorating hands that touches between your legs sends a twinge of pleasure through you as he traces a hand over the fabric of your underwear. “Look at you, so beautiful and addicting” he whispers, taking in your view with his eyes.

“But you’ve always been beautiful - covered or bared” with that, Wooyoung attaches his lips on the crook of your neck that sends out a soft moan from your lips, his hand slipping inside the fabric of your underwear to palm your dampened pussy. You quickly arched your back and rubbed his erected clothed cock with your free hand, the harder you rub your hand through his clothed cock, the faster his lips slide up and down your neck. His lips were then fastened at the nape of your neck, not letting go as he gave a gentle bite on your neck, sending chills all over your body.

“We have to be quick, Y/N” he pauses “and I think you’re ready for me” he unbuckles his pants along with his boxers down, letting them slide down to his ankles and before grabbing your legs, teasingly poking the tip of his cock to your tight entrance.

“Stop teasing” you whined, slightly swinging your legs to which Wooyoung laughs softly, amused by your reaction.

“Even if your stylist walks in on us, do you think I would stop fucking you here? Not a chance. Let’s get caught in the act together” and with that, he plunges his cock inside your entrance. No matter how many times you and Woo have done it, it still surprises you how seeing him alone is already enough to make you this wet for him.

Wooyoung begins to pump fast and furiously, making his cock very happy to be inside you again and your pussy wanting to melt. Gently caressing your outer thighs and up to your hips, hearing his low moans in your ear,

“Faster...please...” you begged. Woo increased his pace, feeling his dick move and harden inside you had you a moaning mess. Your pussy pulsating and contracting all around his throbbing cock when all of a sudden, the door slightly opens and suddenly closes down, but the two of you were lost in the moment of pleasure.

“I’m gonna cum...” you mewled. Wooyoung bit down on your shoulder and you came over and over, rocking his hips against his.

“Fuck I’m gonna cum” Wooyoung said, sweat beading his brow. He gritted his teeth as he slammed into you hard.

“Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!” you shrieked as hot cum shots all over your pussy walls. Wooyoung came inside you, filling your pussy with his cum. As the two of you catched your breaths, the room smelling of sex and rose water.

“I love you” you confessed out of nowhere. You knew it was risky saying those three words to him, knowing too well what you two just are. But you were hoping that, despite this kind of relationship, he would, at least, just feel a small percentage of love for you.

“Y/N....you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Wooyoung said as he slowly pulls away from the hug. You suddenly felt a wash of shame run over you. Maybe it was best that you didn’t confess. You thought he would at least feel something for you, but apparently not.

Weeks turned into months, you and Wooyoung have not spoken or seen each other. It was awkward. Whenever you knew ATEEZ was in the building, you’d skip entering the company building and call in sick instead. Promising your managers and members that you would double your efforts in practising the following day. But there were days wherein you couldn’t help but cross paths together. For example, music show promotions. Whenever Girls’ Paradise is standing besides ATEEZ, you would always stand farthest, just to be able to be away from him. You hated seeing and mentioning his name. It tasted sour now in your mouth.

“Congratulations! The company has confirmed sixteen cities for your first European tour! After the European tour, you will be given a few days off before going to your North American tour which the company has also confirmed eight cities!”

The news of the tour sounded pleasing in your ears. You were happy to see the growth of your girl group right before your eyes. You couldn’t wait to leave the country next week.

Wooyoung hated to admit it, but he was scared of falling in love. He didn’t know if it was also right to say “i love you too” to someone whom he harbored feelings for but was scared to admit of falling. He hated it how he felt like he was at fault. But he was determined to talk to you.

He was about to march into the dance room you and your group often used to practice, but he was met with an empty and clean room.

“Uh....what are you doing?” Hongjoong asks, eyeing Wooyoung while he held a cup of coffee he picked up from the 7/11 downstairs.

“Are they not here?” He asks, tilting his head before slowly closing the door.

“Oh you didn’t heard?” Hongjoong sighs before taking a sip on his hot americano. “They’re on a tour and they’d be home two months from now.” Hongjoong takes another sip before entering the other dance room that ATEEZ often occupies, leaving Wooyoung standing alone outside.

#ateez imagines #ateez smut #ateez angst #ateez fluff #ateez scenarios #ateez oneshot #ateez wooyoung #jung wooyoung #wooyoung x reader #wooyoung x you #wooyoung x y/n #kpop imagines #kpop smut #kpop angst #kpop fluff #kpop scenarios #kpop oneshots

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carryonsimoncarryonbaz · 5 years

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Hi, I'm sorry to bother. I just finished the two books: Carry on and Wayward Son. I am totally in love. I would like to thank you for that. You inspired me to read them❤😘 Anyway, my question is if you know any other book, of Rainbow Rowell or another writer, which is just as interesting. I prefer books with main gay characters. Thank you. XO❤

I’m ecstatic that you let me know!! I can’t tell you how happy that makes me! I am THRILLED that my blog inspired you to read those books and that you enjoyed them so. They are brilliant. Life changing. A source of joy and comfort and thought provoking insights.

If you liked Carry On and Wayward Son you may like Fangirl, which is where Baz and Simon make their first, indirect appearance. It is the book that brought me to Rainbow Rowell and ultimately led me to Carry On. I am a fan of all of Rainbow Rowell’s books—you can’t go wrong with any of them in my opinion.

As far as books with LGBQT+ protagonists: I can give you a list!

Alex In Wonderland by Simon James Green. This is a laugh out loud book about a boy’s summer job and the new friends he meets working at a run-down amusement arcade.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. Two boys meet by chance at a pool over the summer and forge a friendship that bonds them, gives them a glimpse at greater truths and changes both of their lives.

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQusiton. What happens when the First Son of the United States and the Prince of England are forced into a sham friendship as media damage control? They end up learning more about themselves, each other, falling in love, and what it means to fight for what you truly want.

The Binding by Bridget Collins. A lush study of enchantment, the magic of books, memory and forbidden love.

Simon vs. the Homo sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. Not so openly gay Simon has a letter fall into the wrong hands and starts a clandestine email correspondence with someone who seems to understand him better than the people closest to him.

Leah on the Off-Beat by Becky Albertalli. Set in the same universe as Simon vs. the Homo sapiens Agenda this book follows the story of Leah, Simon’s friend, and her tumultuous senior year of high school.

The Music of What Happens by Ben Koningsberg. Max and Jordan spend a summer working together in a food truck. It’s hot, it’s summer, business is not so good and there is definitely an undeniable attraction between them.

What If It’s Us? by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera. A chance run-in brings Arthur and Ben together but is the universe conspiring to help them or hinder them?

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver. Ben comes out as non-binary to their family and their world is turned upside down when their family not only proves unaccepting but kicks them out of their home. Ben’s estranged sister provides a safe haven and Ben adjust to a new school and new friends, including Nathan Allan–who becomes a friend, a confidante and perhaps something more.

The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake. Violet and Sam have a famous relative who was the only survivor of a shipwreck off the Maine shore. FIdelia swam to shore, married and started a family and founded the town of Lyric. Violet and Sam may have shipwrecks in their own lives but so far they haven’t been the best at navigating them. Shipped off to the town of Lyric for the summer Violet makes new friends, new realizations, and new discoveries about famlly, the nature of friendship, siblings, and Fidelia’s true history.

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee. A Grand Tour of Europe turns out to be far from what Monty expected, when he, his sister Felicity, and his best friend Percy get involved in more than they bargained for on their European adventure. A quest for indolent pleasure leads to a manhunt, subterfuge, injury and generalized mayhem, as Monty learns more about himself and his true feelings for the boy he calls his best friend.

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner. Men live and die by the sword in Riverside but Richard St. Vier is no ordinary swordsman. And Alec, the poor student he encounters in a pub in the shady part of town, is anything but what he appears. Richard finds the line between hero and villain can change in the blink of an eye.

Weak Heart by Ban Gilmartin (our very own @basic-banshee). Things aren’t quite as they seem on the Isle of Mab. Thomas Madigan is living in a nightmare–reality and the visions that come to him blurring further and further each day. his best friend/ former friend Kit Macrae is missing and selkie Isla has made her way to land in an effort to find him. Mystery, magic, and the sea with characters who grab onto your hear and linger in your head long after you finish the book.

Ship It by Brita Lundin. Claire is a sixteen year old obsessed with Demon Heart. She gets the chance of lifetime when she meets her idols at a Comic-con but things don’t turn out as well as she expected. An unexpected road-trip, a new friend, insights into the reality of fandom and shipping, and a realization that she may have found something more than planned in her friendship with her new friend Tess.

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman. Charlie and Nick go to the same school but had never met until they end up sitting together in class. Charlie is falling hard for Nick and Nick surprises Charlie and himself. A study of friendship, loyalty, mental health, and love.

I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman. A book about the band The Ark and their fandom, in particular die-hard fan Angel Rahimiand, a most avid follower of the band. The Ark fandom has given her so much–friendships, dreams, her place in the world. When Angel finds herself face to face with her idols she learns reality is often far different than the slick images portrayed in the media and her loyalty to the Ark is tested and strengthened by their interactions.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. A unique and utterly heart-wrenching, lyrical retelling of the story of Achilles and Patroclus. The Iliad comes to life–with the action of the Trojan War, an epic love story, and the private moments of two of mythology’s most charismatic and intriguing characters.

#follower asks #book recommendations #lgbqt+ book recommendations #sorry this list got kind of long #I love these books #good books #book list #books recs #carry on #wayward son #rainbow Rowell

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tturkishcoffe · 5 years

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Standard Oil Company

There, on our extreme left and near the water, is the country estate of Khedive Ismail Pasha, father of the last Khedive of Egypt who was dethroned by England during the war because of his pro Turkish sentiments. Ismail Pasha’s estate is in Europe but the hills which seem next to it are on the other side, in Asia, and the funny looking buildings on top as well as the low buildings on the shore are the depots of the Standard Oil Company. They used to belong to an uncle of Madame Ismet Bey but now they belong to the Standard Oil.

No, her uncle has not sold his rights: it just happened that the Standard Oil stepped in before he had time to have them renewed. His house, or what used to be his house is the one just opposite us. He used to have the most beautiful caiks in the Bosporus, ten or fifteen years ago, and his wife and his daughters would go every Friday to the Sweet Waters of Asia in those long, slim racing barks, with tapering ends, rowed by three or sometimes four boatmen with flowing sleeves, a beautiful embroidered carpet covering the stern, its corners trailing in the sea. He used to have a passion for flowers and you can see even from here the roof of the hothouse where he grew the most exotic plants he could think of: rare varieties of chrysanthemums and poppies from the Far East private tours istanbul, tulips from Turkestan and Persia, mogra and lotus trees from India. Now he has sold his house and has barely enough to live on.

Side of Bosporus

The Sweet Waters of Asia are nearby, just between the ruins of the old mediaeval castle built by Sultan Mahomet the Conqueror before he laid siege to Byzance and the Imperial Kiosks of Chiok Soo, a real jewel. Further to the right that low, rambling white building is the yali of the family of Mahmoud Pasha. They entertain a great deal and have asked us to tea next Sunday. Now we pass again without realizing it to the European shores; the old castle on the hill is the Castle of Europe, the first stronghold of the Turks on this side of the Bosporus, and the big building next to it is the famous Robert College, the American College for Boys.

The view is so gorgeous that it cannot be described. I wish I had a canvas and the technique of Courbet, the talent of Turner and the daring of Whistler to paint in all its splendor the clear sky of the Bosporus, so clear and so blue that the eyes can almost see that it is endless the red and gold flakes of its dark green vegetation, so luxuriant that it speaks of centuries of loving care the peaceful atmosphere of its old houses, so restful that you can feel that generations of thinkers and philosophers have meditated behind their walls the harmonious outline of its hills, so smilingly round that only immemorial age can have so smoothly curved them the mystery of its always running currents, running so continuously that they should have long ago emptied the Black Sea into the Mediterranean.

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mostlysignssomeportents · 6 years

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#10yrsago Incognegro: graphic novel mystery about lynching and the jazz age

Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece's graphic novel Incognegro is an alternately comic and gruesome mystery comic about Zane Pinchback, a reporter for the jazz-age New York New Holland Herald. Pinchback uses his light skin as a disguise, travelling to the deep south to report on lynchings that the local media won't cover, publishing pseudonymously as "Incognegro" to avoid reprisals from the Klan and their allies.

But he's had one too many narrow escapes and now he wants to quit the beat, stay in Harlem and write under his own name again. His wily editor convinces him to take on one more assignment: the threatened lynching of his twin brother, who is dark-skinned and cannot pass.

The mystery of Pinchback's brother's supposed crime takes the action on a tour of the problems and beauty of the early 20th century south, and deftly weaves issues of race, identity, gender, authority, integrity and love into a pulpy, tense murder story that illuminates the grisly atrocity of lynching without exploiting it for cheap shocks.

Author Mat Johnson is himself a very light-skinned black man, and he writes in his introduction of facing the reverse of his character's problem when he was a boy, during the 1970s heyday of the black power movement, when he would face disdain from people who mistook him for white. When his own twin sons were born one dark-skinned and African in appearance and the other light and European in appearance, he was moved to write this very fine story that tied it all together. As with many works of art, the intensely personal feeling here shines through, making this a true standout. Incognegro

https://boingboing.net/2008/09/04/-mat-johnson-and-war.html

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jamescurcio · 6 years

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White Lines, Black Magic

This came up on various public groups when I was doing my research for Masks. I wanted to share it with you, because I think it’s an interesting, and generally good, take.

David's Dark Doings - And How He Escaped To Tell The Tale David Bowie's Station To Station and the "Berlin Trilogy". By Ian MacDonald

"I ran across a monster who was sleeping by a tree. And I looked and frowned and the monster was me" (David Bowie, "The Width Of A Circle", 1971)

EMI's latest batch of mid-price Bowie reissues, discs released at full price in 1990-1, consists of the 1976-8 sequence, Station To Station, Low, "Heroes", and Stage. It might have been truer to his career to have made a foursome of Low, "Heroes", Stage and Lodger - the "Berlin Trilogy" plus their complimentary live album - and to have corralled Station To Station with his other "American" albums, David Live and Young Americans. Never mind. As it happens, EMI's decision highlights a little-understood juncture in Bowie's development: the transition between the two The Man Who Fell To Earth albums, Station To Station and Low. Bowie's modus operandi during the Seventies was transformation, acting out the suburban dream of escape into glamorous "otherness" - hence his popularity among a very specific audience segment (and the total blank he registered with those for whom escape was not an issue). This method held good until Young Americans, even though that album's associated transformation - white boy on Soul Train - was less the usual Brechtian device than an identity-crisis on the part of the artist (or the Actor, as he then referred to himself). Uprooted from his native context in the cultural artifice of Europe, isolated in a largely unironic and cultureless alien land, Bowie was forced back on himself, a self he didn't much like. Weary of the artistic transformations which were now getting too close to home, he fended off self-examination with mental diversion, reading obsessively from a portable library and deadening his growing sense of emotional emptiness with cocaine and booze. David Live is, in effect, a station-stop in this journey on the old Oblivion Express, an evening's snapshot of Bowie's deepening malaise.

With Station To Station - its title partly suggested by Bowie's 1973-6 touring schedule which, due to his fear of flying, mostly consisted of travel by train-the Oblivion Express reached another halt. But, this time, Bowie, rarely one to repeat himself, refused another David Live stop-over. Instead, he got off the damned train. A sonic "dark night of the soul", Station to Station is to Bowie what On The Beach is to Neil Young's album, rooted in the folk-blues tradition of American "authenticity", remains too musically raw for wide appeal, whereas Station, if only superficially, is one of Bowie's most glamorous discs. However, the superficial view of Station to Station doesn't tell half the inner story of the album, a recherché work which, despite being recorded at Cherokee Studios in the hyper-American suburb of Hollywood, is essentially European.

The key to the transition between Station To Station and Low (whose covers both employ images from Nicolas Roeg's the Man Who Fell To Earth) is that it does not coincide with Bowie's usual sort of artistic transformation: the persona swap. Bowie's final mask, the Thin White Duke, travels no further than Station to Station. There's no mask, no persona in Low. Just a rather gaunt young man in a "styleless" dufflecoat, looking sideways to the viewer as if in a police mugshot. Some would say that this is merely because Bowie then ceased touring for a while (appearing live only as Iggy Pop's keyboard player), and consequently had no need to invent a new stage character. In truth, Bowie's temporary low profile, coded in the cover of Low itself, was forced on him at a time when an interlude of retreat for recuperation and regrouping was the only alternative to a full-scale crack-up during the recording of Station to Station, a period of which he claims to recall almost nothing. Mental breakdown still appeared to be impending in May, 1976 when, returning to Britain from his sojourn in America, a seemingly stoned Bowie acknowledged the British press corps at Victoria Station with what most of those present took to be a Nazi salute.

Britain was then witnessing the electoral rise of the neo-fascist National Front, and Bowie's proclaimed ambition to be the country's fascist dictator was naturally, those of us who were fans chose to read Bowie's stance as ironic. Neither was wholly correct. Like Neil Young's republicanism, Bowie's brand of fascism, while it embraced irony, was basically serious; or was taken seriously by a certain hermetic compartment of his mind, wherein it dwelt. The rest of him - what passed for the normal lad from Brixton - was deeply uneasy about it; so uneasy that he included on Station To Station a song open to God in case the demons evoked elsewhere in the album should get out of hand. Bowie's fascination with Nazism was never conventionally political. Rather, it was one aspect of a personal cosmology traceable in cryptic songs like "Cygnet Committee" (Space Oddity, 1969), "The Supermen" (The Man Who Sold The World, 1971), "Big Brother" (Diamond Dogs, 1974), but most explicitly in "Oh! You Pretty Things" and - particularly - "Quicksand" on Hunky Dory (1972): "I'm closer to the Golden Dawn/Immersed in Crowley's uniform/Of imager/I'm living in a silent film/Portraying Himmler's sacred realm/Of dream reality." Eagerly absorbed from the omnivorous reading with which the self-taught Bowie, insecure in his intellect, then shored up his self-esteem, this personal cosmology was rooted in the Gnostic myth of the Fall, viz: we human beings are born into this world from a higher dimension ("heaven") which we forget upon entering the sphere of material existence. Hence, homo sapiens is a half-finished thing living in a state of waking sleep he calls reality, but which is actually a kind of delusion. Only those "awake" on the physical plane, the "enlightened" ones, see reality as it truly is. As such, they are supermen. Now that "home sapiens have outgrown their use", such mental supermen are set to inherit the earth. As a young man, Bowie was impatiently obsessed with the inefficiency of our unenlightened minds ("We're today's scrambled creatures, looked in tomorrow's double feature"). As a result, he viewed the majority, unaware as they were of their plight, with a blend of tolerant irony and frank contempt ("the mice in their million hordes"). Elaborating on the Gnostic myth, he cross-bred Nietzsche's Superman - "The Wild-Eyed Boy From Freecloud" is a sort of pop Zarathustra - with esoteric motifs in the writing of Madame Blavatsky and the teaching of the American mystic, Gurdjeff. Both allude extensively to mysterious "Masters": enlightened super-beings who supposedly guide human affairs from mountain fastnesses in Tibet and the Hindou Kush ("the men who protect you and I"). Blavatsky's writing, along with those of Eliphas Levi, gave birth to the late 19th-century Occult Revival which in Britain produced the magical society called The Golden Dawn, whence Aleister Crowley emerged, and which in Germany created the occult basis of Nazism, epitomised in Himmler's vision of his SS as an Arthurian company of immortals, incarnated to bring order to the physical plane. Though he made plenty of pro-Hitler statements around 1975-6, Bowie ultimately remained sane enough to distinguish the ideal of an order-bringing élite from the Nazi reality. He was, he would occasionally claim, a Nietzschean, his "fascism" being conceptually benign (if nonetheless arrogant). He favoured a New Order not of domination, but of enlightenment: rule of the "asleep" by the "awake". The main snag was that he was doing too many drugs. Imbibed along with piles of prime Colombian, books like Pauwel and Bergier's The Morning Of The Magicians (1971) and Trevor Ravenscroft's The Spear Of Destiny (1973) had, by 1975, led Bowie into a remote headspace where even UFO's were part of the plot.

During the LA sessions for Station To Station, the Fuhrerling (as Bowie drolly refers to himself in a demo of "Candidate" on the 1990 reissue of Diamond Dogs) was archetypally "torn between the light and dark". At one point the journalist, Cameron Crowe, found him burning black tapers in the seeming aftermath of some ritual magic that had gone wrong. "Been having a little trouble with the neighbours," said Bowie, evidently not referring to the people in the apartment next door. Michael Lippman, a friend of Bowie's during this period, remembers him describing strange nightmares. Lippman gave him a gold cross. Bowie later asked him for a mezuzah (a parchment in a glass tube, inscribed with the divine name Shaddai, which Orthodox Jews keep nailed to their door to ward off evil). The title track of the album is packed with occult references and allusions to the Gnostic myth of the Fall. A mention of White Stains, Crowley's very obscure first book, shows how deeply Bowie delved into the golden Dawn background; indeed, the lyric suggests that he also studied The Tree Of Life by Crowley's pupil, Israel Regardie, a brilliant treatise on the magical use of the 13th century Jewish mystical system, Quabala. In Quabalistic language, the Gnostic myth of the Fall can be expressed as "one magical movement from kether to malkuth" (Kether being the sphere of the Godhead, or Crown of Creation, and Malkuth being the sphere of the physical world, aka the kingdom). These spheres (sephiroth) lie at opposite ends of the glyph known as the Tree of Life, which Bowie is seen drawing on the back of EMI's reissue of Station to Station. Seems he thought of the sephiroth as stations - "standing places", as in the Stations Of the Cross (which have their own occult interpretation). Sadly there are 14 Stations Of The Cross but only 10 sephiroth. (The Christian sign of the cross, though does "map" onto the Tree..) The song, "Station to Station", also has a Shakespearean resonance. Prospero the magician (and incognito duke) in Shakespeare's most mysterious play. the Tempest, surrounds himself with books, among which is his occult grimoire. At the end of the play, he abjures magic and "drowns" his book of spells. In "Station To Station", the Thin White Duke - Bowie as a cocaine-frozen Prospero lost in his (magic) circle, tall in his room overlooking the ocean (Prospero's Island "cell" transported to the coast by Los Angeles) - despairingly reviews his repertoire of illusions. "Such is the stuff from where dreams are woven," he muses, not quite quoting Prospero ("We are such stuff/As dreams are made on"). Clearly, illusion is no longer what he wants. Station to Station - like Plastic Ono Band, like Todd, like On the Beach - is an exorcism: an exorcism of self, of the mind, of the past. By 1976, Bowie had nearly had enough of his "magic" - the theatrical "grand illusion" by which he'd lived since 1972. Thus, he "flashes no colour" - another magical allusion, this time to the so-called Tattva symbols which use "flashing" complimentary colours to after consciousness, ushering the magical aspirant into the Astral Plane of heightened vision. Decoded: Bowie has travelled the Astral (or ascended the tree Of Life); now he wants to come down o earth, to love. (Hence the cover image of the soundproof chamber in The Man Who fell to Earth.) One could easily continue for another thousand words in this vein about "Station To Station". (Let alone the rest of the record. Bowie; "It's the nearest album to a magical treatise that I've written"). Yet none of this symbolism would matter if the artist were not in control of it; and if it didn't crack, via the desperate drunken grandiloquence of the song's bridge ("Once there were mountains on mountains"), into the naked-and-wired stamped of its epic, up-tempo release, driven by that magnificent late Seventies rhythm section of Carlos Alomar, Dennis Davis, and George Murray, and lit by the elemental fire-scream of Earl Slick's hysterical guitar. Those who accuse Bowie of lacking feeling should listen closely to this transition: the quavering, hopeless-to-hopeful vulnerability of the couplet, "It's not the side effects of the cocaine/I'm thinking that it must be love." This is a deeply unhappy human being, harried by his own incandescently gifted mind.

In fact, Bowie didn't cast his grimoire into the ocean after station To Station. He hedged his commercial bets by mixing the album "big", and made plans to tour it in Europe. He was still half in his mystic-fascist Thin White Duke persona when he "returned", like some parallel universe Duke of Windsor, to Britain in May, 1976 (and he would certainly have been aware that the Nazi salute is identical to the occult sign of the Zelator grade in the Golden Dawn system). Yet he went on, soon after this, to move to a roughhouse Turkish suburb of Berlin, there to kick the white powder, clean up his mind/body, and start a new career in a new town. The artistic transformation between Station to Station and Low was an inner one, not a career move, it happened to Bowie himself, not to Bowie the Actor. In Berlin, the sons of real SS men sorted his head out. In Berlin, he saw neo-nazis beat up Turkish immigrants. In Berlin, low in the aftermath of heavy drugs and Hollywood glamour, he forced himself to live like an everyday person, buying his own groceries. The nightmare of the Thin White Duke faded, chased away by hours of laughter with his new cohort, Eno, the first person Bowie worked with who could keep up with him. He finished Low (another album one could write thousands of words about) and mixed it, as he claims he intended to mix Station To Station, "dry": close, compressed, and with a gate on the snare so vicious that it became the first drum-sound people outside the studio-world actually noticed. What happened to the private cosmology, to the magical Nietzschean? Bowie has lately conceded "a need to vacillate between atheism or a kind of gnosticism". On his 1997 tour, he played, of all things "Quicksand". Think on, secret thinkers."

#bowie #david bowie

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fymonsta-x · 7 years

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[ARTICLE] K-EXCLUSIVE: Monsta X in Berlin – The Reason why fans lost their voices

You can lose your voice in many ways (for example by being tied to a roller-coaster, which is personally not my favorite freetime activity), but there is surely one way we would all pick over anything else – meeting our idol.

There were seven reasons for fans in Germany to lose their voices on 11th of August. The reasons were called Shownu (the father-like leader), Wonho (the overly sexy one), Minhyuk (the most talkative one on Earth), Kihyun (the most amazing voice), Jooheon (the cute rapper), Hyungwon (the sleepy handsome) and I.M (the forever mysterious one). And let´s be honest – MONBEBEs, the fans of Monsta X, were not the only one who enjoyed the day to the fullest. But let´s take it step by step.

Monsta X is a group born out of the survival program called ‘NO.MERCY‘. They officially debuted in May 2015 and swept all charts as well as fans´ hearts. Their fastly growing popularity resulted in a demand for a world tour and so the group launched their ‘First World Tour “Beautiful”‘. The immense love of European fans were recognized as well and the group announced the European leg of this tour. This tour has stops in six cities across Europe and we had the chance to see them LIVE in Berlin!

The concert was taking place at the Tempodrom venue in the heart of Berlin. The fans waited in the rain for hours before allowed to go inside and grab their seat or place in front of the stage. To wash away the fans´ tiredness and to make the time pass by quicker, Monsta X´s songs were played in the venue. And the fans were very enthusiastic about it. They cheared loudly, clapped their hands to the rhythm and did fanchants as if the boys were already on stage. Little did they know that this was only a little excercise for their lungs.

The hall went dark when everything was ready and an intro video begun. It was the beginning of the two-hour concert everyone was going to have the best memories of. The boys appeared on stage wearing black suit jackets over white shirts and black pants. The clothing had nice silver and shimmery details to it which made them shine on stage even more. The fans were swept by their precise dancing and beautiful voices and cheered so loudly the venue was shaking hard. The group performed three songs in a row – ‘Beautiful‘, ‘Incomparable‘ and ‘Hero‘.

“The First World Tour Beautiful in Berlin. Welcome! Welcome!” opened I.M the first talk break.

“Schön euch zu sehen” greeted the fans Wonho, saying “Nice to see you” in Deutch. Wonho was brilliant during the whole concert by showcasing what he learnt in German for the concert. And he got an amazing response from the fans by trying speaking their mother language, including some slang words. In general, at least one third of what the members said during the night was in German and they even put some short foreign words into the lyrics of their songs which gained even bigger response from the local fans.

The following songs were ‘Ex girl‘ and ‘White love‘. After these two beautiful songs the members moved backstage to change their clothing. While some members were changing, the rest remained on stage and talked about the tour and the stop in Germany. Kihyun said he is very happy about how the fans are doing a great job cheering so loudly. Jooheon sung their song ‘White love‘ acapella. Despite being afraid it might sound strange without the others helping him, he did a great job. Shownu was voted as the most romantic guy in Monsta X and sung a part of a romantic song. Hyungwon was voted to be the best at aegyo so he showed some overly-cute poses that made fans´ heart melt in an instant.

The concert continued with ‘Ready or Not‘, making the venue shake with not only loud music, but with, most importantly, the fans´ fanchants. The song ‘OI‘ also added the fire into their veins. After a short unit talk video the members took over the stage with solo performances. Wonho and Hyungwon performed ‘From Zero‘ which made fans crazy. Hyungwon returned to stage as DJ that changed the venue into a club. The fans were jumping and partied hard, at that time not knowing that Jooheon will be joining the stage soon with his energetic rap. Shownu, Minhyuk and I.M entered the stage under the beats of ‘24K Magic‘. Jooheon then returned to stage with Kihyun as they performed ‘Mirror‘.

After this ultra-superb dose of individual talents, all of the boys appeared on stage for a short talk session. They were wearing light blue and white clothing and joked with fans and with each other. The clothes in gentle colors hinted the following songs will be romantic and slow ones. And so they performed ‘Honestly‘, ‘Sweetheart‘ and ‘I´ll be there‘.

To have time for clothes change after these songs, a VCR video was shown. It had a nice story connecting all of their albums into one story line. After this VCR the members appeared on stage wearing red clothes and since then they went on a ride with the fans by performing their hit songs ‘Shine forever‘, ‘Be quiet‘, ‘Broken heart‘ and ‘Blind‘. During the song ‘Broken heart‘ the back screen showed light behind the member that was currently singing, using a different color of light for rap parts. The following set of songs were the most expected stages, being it from Monsta X´s last albums. The group performed ‘All in‘, ‘Trespass‘, ‘Rush‘ and ‘Fighter‘ with an amazing stage presence and under a loud lead by the fans´ cheers.

The hall went black suddenly and hourglass appeared on the screen, showing the time is up and that the concert is indeed on its end. Fans felt sad about it and did not want this incredible experience to end so quickly. So as the hourglass started to fill its bottom part, the fans started screaming loudly and stomping their feet as if it was in their power to stop the upcoming end. Before the last grain of sand fell down into the hourglass the picture was broken into pieces and Monsta X stepped on stage again with ‘No Exit‘.

During one of the last talk sessions of the night Jooheon promised the fans they will surely come back to Germany in the future. The fans were ecstatic to hear such news though it was hard to tell whether they are more happy to hear Jooheon´s promise or to see Wonho showing his abs, trying to distract fans from what Jooheon was saying.

“I think this city is beautiful and you improve that (image of the city). You make us shine! So let´s write the last page together,” said I.M announcing the very last song of the concert – ‘5:14 (lost page)‘.

With the last song the concert ended. The members thanked the fans over and over again by welcoming them in Germany with open arms. Fans were shouting thanks to the boys for a long time, showing their banners, crying in joy and wishing they could prolong the time spend with their idols. As for us we only have praise for the group and the whole staff team. The members did their best and had fun on stage. They prepared a lot of popular phrases and sentences in German which was very surprising and nice of them! Also, all of the VCR videos had German subtitles too. What we absolutely loved was the lightening of the stage which was on point during the whole concert and put more depth into the performances. We were very happy to be present on Monsta X´s concert and wish only the best for the members to the future. Maybe we will see them here in Europe again. And this time, we hope to see you there too!

A big thanks goes to MyMusicTaste for allowing us attending this concert and preparing such a wonderful experience filled with warm memories for European fans.

Source: KMusic

#monsta x #t: news #170814 #officially kmusic

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lifestur · 5 years

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