#Napoleon hero of the hour

[josefavomjaaga]

😥 I was working long hours and took even longer to get to work (due to train strike), so I missed Marshal Ney’s birthday. I’m so sorry! I had planned to translate something special, and I hope it’s still a bit of a present even if it’s a day late.

In summer of 1809, while Soult was still licking his wounds after the disaster in Oporto, anxiously waiting for Napoleon’s judgement and trying to defend himself against all the rumours that accused him of high treason, all the while doing his best to bring Joseph and Jourdan to some action against Wellington - guess who at the same time came to Galicia to pay Michel Ney a visit? Right, Ney’s most devoted Dutch fan girl, Ida Saint-Elme! And it’s a particularly romantic part of her recollections, which were published as "Mémoires d’une Contemporaine":

Ney, who was hardly resting either, had just subdued Galicia.

Okay, Soult already wants to protest against this claim, but let’s ignore him. Please, Ida, go on:

I joined his corps at Banos, forty-eight hours before he came face to face with the English army, which the Marshal completely defeated. Already the spectacle of war, meeting the French battalions, the scent of glory, sweeter to breathe in this country than that of the orange trees that embalm it; this active life, animated entirely by emotion and spectacle, revived my imagination weary of the empty pleasures of the courts and of voluptuous Italy. I felt I was in my element: I was close to Ney, close to the heart that alone could make mine beat. I was happy just to know that he was so close to me and to tell him that we were barely a league apart. Here is the note I received in reply to mine: "Since it's your taste to have an arm or a leg less, hop on a horse and come here." As I read this short, military invitation, I jumped in the saddle and rode off. I had hardly gone a quarter of a league when I met him, and I read in his beaming face all that his note had not told me, the joy of seeing me again, which was the reward for my journey and happiness itself. I have forgotten the names of the places we passed through, but it seems to me that I have never seen a more enchanting place, a more beautiful sky, a sweeter dawn. There was something wild and proud about this rich and picturesque nature.

The road was lined with rocks like a crown. "Here is a magnificent shelter of ravines," Ney said to me, "the tree-lined slopes of which ensure their coolness; let us stop here; you must be in need of rest; we both need to open up and talk;" and here we were, with our horses' bridles slung over our arms, pushing aside the fragrant undergrowth with a vigorous hand, and looking for a retreat that could hear our confidences: it was easy to find in the ravines of Galicia; and, a few hundred paces from the road, we could believe ourselves to be entirely alone in the world. Our horses were quickly tied up, and the secluded spot a little farther on completed the safety of this meeting, so sudden and so little expected. We had been sitting for a few minutes when Ney struck the trunk of an old cedar with his foot, and said to me: "Here, Ida, here is a support for our feet, which will at least save us from a fall;" and, confident in this support so well met, we no longer feared to tread the embalmed moss which served us as a wild divan. I looked at him like one of those figures from a long dream, which the day suddenly shows and illuminates, and which we recognise with all the anxiety and all the troubles of the dream. It's him, though; it's definitely him, I said to myself; I can tell by the glory shining on his forehead, by the pressure of his powerful hand, which is as recognisable as his glory.

Thinking more of the hero than of my love, of the captain needed for his army than of the man needed for my heart, I shuddered fearfully at the thought of this isolation in a country so full of dangers, where a warrior's halt might unexpectedly be surprised by the dagger or bullet of partisans; in a country where hatred of the French name reverberates and watches from mountain to mountain. I felt guilty exposing to these perils, beneath such a great man, a life so dear and so beautiful, that informed assassins could cut it short. It was only a quick thought, but a vivid and gripping one, which, disturbing my thoughts, made me cling tightly to Ney, and as I let out this stifled whisper: "Ney, my friend, let's not stay here; let's go away." - "No, no," he replied, holding me back; "where else would we be, without witnesses to a happiness that I have rediscovered, and which needs solitude and mysterious effusion?" I looked at him with surprise at these words, but with delight, for I was as happy as I was astonished to have remained so dear to him. Never had Ney's face seemed more expressive, never had his looks been more eloquent, never had his words been more intoxicating.

If this was a modern-day AU, this would be the perfect moment for Ney’s phone to ring and for one infuriated Soult to ask why the F he was not receiving any news from Ney’s troops in Galicia. As it was, Ida’s little tête-à-tête with her one-and-only Ney could continue.

At the sight of the security imprinted on the warrior's features, I regained a similar security; there are those moments when everything you feel gives way to everything you inspire. Oh, what inexpressible delights this happiness given by a great man was! Our hearts, separated by such a long time and such long distances, seemed never to have parted, and tasted the pleasure of a similar conviction and an equal sharing of emotions. A new fear came to suspend the enchantment and give it, as it were, all the price of a victory. The reverse side of the ravine which had received us sloped down very rapidly; the trunk of the tree which supported the effort of our feet, a solid yet powerless support, suddenly gave way and broke at the very moment when, immersed as we both were in the rapture of an intimate conversation […]

Listen, it was a conversation, okay? They were only chatting! Intimately chatting!

[…], we had forgotten even the possibility of such a peril, from which Ney's presence of mind and prodigious strength alone saved us: With one hand he seized the branches of the bush that had sheltered us; with the other he pressed and held me violently against him; and, thanks to this struggle, we were able to regain our breath, escape the precipice, and manage to get back to our horses.

I really do not want to know how his aides would have tried to explain the fact that their marshal had fallen into the abyss and to his death while having an intimate conversation. Or why his pants were still up on the cliff...

But if any of the artists out there are looking for inspiration...

Speaking of Ney’s aides, one of them, Levavasseur, in his memoirs has this to say about Ida’s apperance in Spain:

It was at Banos that I saw a French woman arrive on horseback and ask for Marshal Ney. It was the woman who has since called herself la Contemporaine. This woman soon disappeared; what she says about the Marshal in her memoirs is pure invention.

Levavasseur: Don’t you believe what that woman wrote about Ney, she’s a total liar! Besides, she was only with us for a very short time…

But the funniest thing is his casual report on why Ida probably had to leave again so quickly: Ney was already occupied otherwise.

During this trip, the marshal took a tender interest in the duchess; one of my comrades had declared himself the knight of the eldest daughter, and I myself protected the youngest […]

I can’t help but think that the interest the general staff of this army corps was showing to all things female was overly excessive even by French standards… - Wait, what’s that? Oh, another missed phone call for Marshal Ney. Marshal Soult wants to discuss priorities in war times...

[largecucumber]

19 and 20

19. Adam Zamoyski’s “Chopin: Prince of the Romantics” And I have the signed copy! 😚 I absolutely adore Chopin because I play the piano. The book is so well written, sometimes I forget that I’m reading about an actual real person. But some descriptions, the very gritty and depressing parts of his life, are so raw and emotionalllll gurlll I cried! 😭😭

20. Uhmmmmmmm. I have sooo many. Prepare! 🤭💕

The one and only, Johann Sebastian Bach! He’s incredibly talented like omggggg how does he even come up with all these amazing pieces of music?!? 😨😳 His genius is unmatched. There will never be another composer like Bach! I have dozens of portraits and stickers of him and even a t-shirt. Omggggg it’s so embarrassing 🙈

Glenn Gould, the quirky autistic Canadian Bach wizard! He’s so handsome even well into his older years. And he’s soooo eccentric, like you should read about some of his quirks, it’s really out there💀👀 Also, did I mention how talented he is?! He gets criticised a lot for his weird playing style and humming (sometimes singing) during his performances. I love it tho 😘 it really adds something to the records

Louis👏Nicolas👏Davout👏 How can you not like this absolute beast of a man?! Sure, he was a bit rough with his soldiers, but I like a leader who doesn’t fuck around! We need more men like him! I feel for him though. He really was the least liked out of all Napoleon’s marshals, I relate to that because my fam doesn’t like me even though I’m a girl boss 👹 Poor old Davout was just doing his best! Here’s a quote that he wrote to Berthier —

“I cannot help admitting to myself that often my exactingness and my severity alienate good officers from me even before they barely have time to assess my true intentions."

Ommmgggg 😭😢

Ahemmm…. As a student I kinda have a love-hate relationship with this guy. I’ve suffered so many sleepless nights because of him 👩‍💻📚📚📚 But without this guy we’d probably still have our children working 16 hours for absolutely nothing (we still do actually, it’s heartbreaking). His works literally had soooo much impact on history, it’s unbelievable.

And of course, how can we forget our hero!?! I wanna be like him soooo much it aches 😫 My family genuinely don’t understand my obsession with this man, like how could they not?!! His image is literally on the wiki page for the “Great Man Theory” — that individuals with certain traits are able to affect the course of history rather than it being due to some larger force or something I dunno it’s an IR/history thing I’m studying 😢

[fizzycherrycola]

I hope I’m just late to the game on this. But does anyone else think that Tsar Alexander I and Napoleon Bonaparte would have made a fantastic (albeit tragic) gay ship or have I just completely lost my mind.

I mean look at this.

The very first thing Alexander said to Napoleon was probably well-calibrated: “I hate the English as much as you do”. Their meeting lasted two hours. Despite waging wars against each other the two Emperors were very much impressed and fascinated by one another. “Never,” said Alexander afterward, “did I love any man as I loved that man.”

And this.

Napoleon was charmed by Alexander, describing him as “especially handsome, like a hero with all the graces of an amiable Parisian.”

And wow.

“If Alexander were a woman,” Napoleon wrote to Josephine, “I would make him my mistress.”

There’s even fanart of them from the 1800′s.

This complicated historic bromance has Enemies-to-Lovers-to-Enemies written all over it.

[nitrateglow]

Thoughts on Napoleon (2023)

Saw the Napoleon movie last night and was pretty disappointed. It was my most anticipated film this year and wow... maybe the 4-hour cut is better? Because this movie just felt psychologically shallow and overly compressed. 2 1/2 hours just isn't enough time to cover three decades of history.

Not that this film is good history. I cringed at Ridley Scott's pathetic defense of his historical inaccuracies: "You weren't there, I wasn't there, stfu, I can do whatever I want." Did anyone tell Ridley about this thing called primary sources? Or historical records? Or biographies and history books? Like, THAT'S HOW WE KNOW ABOUT HISTORICAL EVENTS IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Like, I was prepared for basic inaccuracies when I saw how they depicted Marie Antoinette's execution in the trailer (no shorn hair, not in white). But man... they really oversimplify the French Revolution and never go into why Napoleon is such a fascinating historical figure, both revered and despised, with an incredibly complicated legacy.

Agnes Poirer's review has a great passage which sums up my frustration with the film as a Napoleon biopic:

"[Ridley Scott] even seems ignorant of the fact that there are two men in Napoleon: there is Bonaparte, a hero of the French Revolution who gave France and Europe institutions of the Enlightenment era that still exist today, and who liberated Jewish communities from their European ghettos; and there is Napoleon, the hero turned weary authoritarian ruler, whose military campaigns drained a whole nation of its youth and wealth. Beyond facts, Scott’s great historical deficiency is to ignore the politics; instead giving us Napoleon’s tactics on the battlefield as a mirror to his sex life. It’s inept, crass and boring."

There's often the sentiment that historically inaccurate movies can be forgiven somewhat if they make for compelling drama. The problem with Napoleon is that the real history IS compelling drama and Scott's film is just shallow spectacle with the occasional goofy gag masquerading as satire. The filmmakers seem to be going for dark comedy, but the approach only sporadically works because much of the humor falls flat (I saw this in an almost full theater and the comedy scenes mostly played to dead silence-- I felt secondhand embarrassment for the actors at times). The humor just consists of Napoleon being awkward or shouting meme-able things ("DESTINY HAS BROUGHT ME THIS LAMB CHOP!" *tries to start food fight*). Yeah, The Death of Stalin it is not.

Joaquin Phoenix's performance is also one-note and static-- his Napoleon never seems to age, visually or inwardly, and he never captures the man's famous charisma, so I never bought that any army would possess an ounce of loyalty to him. Vanessa Kirby fares better as the alluring and tragic Josephine, but even her performance felt compromised and choppy-- probably due to this being whittled down from the 4-hour cut.

Aside from Phoenix's Grumpy Cat face Napoleon and Kirby's Josephine, none of the other characters leave much of an impression, good or bad. Historical figures flit in and out of the story, barely making more than uninteresting cameos. I felt like I was watching a clipshow for a miniseries, not a self-contained movie. If you don't know the basic outline of the history being depicted, I can only imagine how confusing this movie must be.

Ugh, this was just so disappointing! I was never bored while watching it, but I just left the theater empty. The more I think about it, the less I like it.

[creart23-blog]

He is another general of Napoleon Bonaparte who offered one of his sons to the Empire…And of course it is Antoine-Jean Gros who immortalizes on canvas these young heroes who died for their homeland.

General Jean Ambroise Baston Count of Lariboisière and his son Ferdinand, appointed in November 1811 second lieutenant, 1st company in the 1st squadron of the 1st rifle regiment.by Antoine-Jean Gros

Antoine-Jean Gros depicts a son greeting his father a few hours before he was mortally wounded at Borodino during the Battle of the Moskva in September 1812.

Having been Napoleon's page at 16, his personal surgeon will not succeed in saving Ferdinand from his gunshot wound.

Very affected by this death, Napoleon awarded Ferdinand de Lariboisière 1790/1812 the Cross of the Legion of Honor on the battlefield.

Ferdinand's older brother, Honoré-Charles, was luckier. An artillery officer, he was aide-de-camp to his father, who had become a general.

During the retreat from Russia his feet were frozen but escaped when almost the entire imperial army was wiped out.

1815, Honoré-Charles Baston de Lariboisière 1788/1868, by Antoine-Jean Gros

On his return to Paris he became, in 1815, an orderly officer of the Emperor.

15/1815, Honoré-Charles Baston de Lariboisière 1788/1868, by Antoine-Jean Gros

[empirearchives]

St. Helena by Mikhail Lermontov (1831)

Lermontov was a Russian writer who wrote the novel A Hero of Our Time and the poem Borodino. He is, along with Pushkin, considered to be the most important Russian writer of the Romantic period.

———

Let us honor with our greeting the solitary isle, where often, buried in thought, Napoleon stood on the bank and dreamed of distant France! Son of the sea, midst the seas shall be thy grave!

That is the vengeance for the tortures of such days—The sinful land did not deserve that the great life should end within it.

Gloomy exile, sacrifice of treachery and of the blind whim of fate, he died, as he lived—without ancestors or descendants, conquered, but a hero! He was born by the accidental play of fate, and he passed by us as a storm. He was alien to the world; all in him was mysterious; the day of his rise and the hour of his fall.

———

Source: Napoleon and Lermontov, Clarence A. Manning, Romanic Review; New York Vol. 17, (Jan 1, 1926): 32.

[sindri42]

What books or graphic novels do you most frequently recommend? What are your all time favorite books or series?

That's a complicated question, and my memory is shit so I'll probably come up with a dozen better answers the moment after I hit post, but off the top of my head...

Basically everything by Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant is gold. Most of it comes in long series which are a big investment and have their ups and downs, and which will have different value to different people and mindsets, and I haven't read all of them because she just writes too damn fast, but I haven't encountered a single book from her that wasn't great. If you're looking for a one-off, Middlegame might be the best; it's about a couple of artificial people created by an ancient conspiracy attempting to attain godhood, and math, and language, and time travel, and what family means, and doing the same thing over and over thirteen thousand times in search of a better result. I'm also especially fond of Alien: Echo, which starts out as a cute little YA gay romance set in a sci-fi colony world, until halfway through you catch the name 'Weyland-Yutani' and abruptly remember which franchise the title is referencing and realize how few of these plucky teens are likely to survive to the end of the week.

You should probably read everything by Naomi Novik. The Temeraire series, starting with His Majesty's Dragon, is an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars (officers and gentlemen, wooden ships and iron men, all that jazz) except that aerial combat is much more prominent than in our timeline, which gradually expands out into building a whole different earth exploring how numerous cultures and regions were affected by humanity not necessarily being the dominant species. The Scholomance books, starting with A Deadly Education are kind of like your standard magical boarding school, except unlike certain more famous examples of the trope actually makes sense; also it's consistently hilarious whenever it's not being horrifying as the story follows a girl who is clearly born to be an evil empress and who is very definitely not dating this stereotypical dashing hero guy, no matter how many times they save each others' lives. As standalones go, she's done Uprooted and Spinning Silver, both of which put wonderful new spins on classic fairy tale tropes and popular myths but this paragraph is already too long for me to elaborate.

The Murderbot series by Martha Wells is not only great as a sci-fi action series and as a worldbuilding exercise, but also the most realistic depiction of an anxiety disorder I've ever read. It starts with a security droid that hacked its own governor module to get the ability to disobey orders, but then because change is terrifying it continues to go through the motions of its terrible job, but now streams thousands of hours of media in the background while standing guard between crises; unfortunately, when something starts trying to kill the scientific survey team it's currently contracted out to, it discovers to its horror that it's actually starting to care about what happens to them.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is a classic for a reason. Maybe you've seen the Miyazaki film? Doesn't matter, read the book anyway. It's a completely different story. (somebody described it to me as 'the book is what Sophie remembers, the movie is how Howl describes it after the fact')

If you're looking for books on tumblr you've probably heard of Tamsyn Muir's The Locked Tomb series by now; no need for me to elaborate on what others have said better.

Ooh, pick up Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Stugatsky; it might be the greatest Soviet sci-fi novel, and has had a huge cultural impact around the world. After you read it you'll realize that you've been seeing it everywhere, not just in a whole bunch of other sci fi literature but also from video games to anime to tabletops.

Moving into things that I personally love but don't necessarily recommend...

I want to tell everybody about The One Who Eats Monsters by Casey Matthews. It's a near-perfect blend of the adorable and the horrifying, and one of the best non-human perspectives I've encountered, following an elder god who could be mistaken at a glance for a teenage human girl as she simultaneously tries to figure out how to navigate "civilization" and fights a monstrous conspiracy to protect an (actual) ordinary teenage girl that she accidentally swore an unbreakable oath to defend because the moon was very full and she smelled very nice. It's great. but if you read it, then you would be in the same position that I am, waiting for the second book in the series, which was supposed to come out six years ago.

I love the Arcane Ascension series (Sufficiently Advanced Magic, On the Shoulders of Titans, The Torch that Ignites the Stars, and The Silence of Unworthy Gods) by Andrew Rowe; it's basically about an artificer attending a school for battle mages, using every trick and trap and gadget and clever scheme he can think of to keep up without having any direct combat magic of his own. The reason it's probably not for everybody is that as the story gets bigger and more elaborate, it starts interweaving with at least two other series of books by the same author (one of which initially looked like a completely different setting, and definitely operates on a completely different magic system), and none of the three are finished yet. Also the systems involved are intricate and there's a lot of little details going on, so you kiiiinda have to get obsessed in order to keep track of it all.

The Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski might be the best you'll ever find in the gritty "grimdark" fantasy category. The netflix series that everybody was obsessing over for a while before it shit itself too badly? Everything that they did right, is something that was better in the original books. Most of the best parts of the original books were removed entirely and replaced with complete garbage. The video games are a better adaptation, but still fall a bit short in writing quality and character depth. But it definitely leans into the Grimdark, possibly more heavily than you want to deal with.

The Valhalla trilogy by Ari Bach is good... conditionally. You can read just the first book like it's a standalone, and get a cool story subverting the classic Coming-Of-Age 'girl who never fit in is recruited by a secret society that tells her the thing that made her Different is exactly what they need to save the world' trope, except that the thing that makes her not fit in is her propensity towards brutal, remorseless violence. But you can't read the second book (which elaborates on why maybe maintaining world peace by deploying a secret society of ultraviolent killers with no oversight might not be a good idea) without committing to also reading the third, because the end of the second book will make you want to stop reading, and if you take the whole trilogy together then it's great but if you let the end of the second book be your last memory of it then that'll leave a bad taste in your mouth forever.

Jim Butcher's Codex Alera is six books, and five of them are absolutely magnificent. Unfortunately, the first volume is, in my humble opinion, dogshit. You can't skip it either, or you'll miss a bunch of vital setup and introductions. There's nothing you can do except push through a bunch of stuff ranging from simply dumb to downright offensive before you can get to the great part.

[astrobstrd]

SSX On Tour has largely been forgotten and after playing it for the first time in ~15 years I remembered why. On Tour is wonkier, heavier, visually muddier, and everything in it feels so long in the tooth— from courses themselves to the very aimless progression. But also it's the first entry wherein they finally made boost feel inhumanly fast, the soundtrack has some heaters (I let the menu loop for Bloc Party's "Banquet" play for a solid hour as I was doing other stuff) and I'll admit to appreciating the weird, approaching-weirdo-hipster band sketchbook aesthetic as a relic. I entirely forgot that existed until I booted it up last night and went "oh yeah this and Guitar Hero really leaned into that." Napoleon Dynamite (and Homestar admittedly) took a fucking bath upstream from pop culture midway through the 00s and you're just forced to repeatedly recall that

[tartanblogger]

Why Beethoven's 'The Daddy'

Ludwig Van Beethoven absolutely 'ROCKS' and I'll tell you why. Unlike Mozart, who had a loving, supportive, maybe sometimes overbearing but never cruel father, young Ludo's father was a drunken sot who used to drag him out of bed at all hours to play piano for him and his drunken cronies. When teaching Ludwig piano, he would smack the boy around the ears for making a mistake or not playing something as perfect as the father wanted.

A 'USELESS' DRUNK! Unlike his extremely gifted son, the father was a third rate singer whose own father reached high circles in music and had an excellent reputation in the field. Perhaps there was resentment passed on to his son. Although cruel, I also believe the father sometimes had little moments of genuine adoration for his son's talent and deep inside, knew Ludwig was destined for greater things!

THE PRISONER, LOCKED AWAY!

Many times, the young Beethoven was shoved into a darkened cellar and locked in by his father. Think of the fear and anguish that must have gone through the young lad's mind. No doubt these affected how he shaped up in later life!

A SENSE OF DUTY!

Ludwig had two brothers and when one of them (Kaspar) died, Ludwig took care of his nephew Karl until Karl was old enough to break from his 'as-he- saw it' overbearing' uncle. The fact remains 'though, that Ludwig showed a paternal love, care and devotion to his brother's child, something that he himself lacked in his early years.

BEETHOVEN and MOZART

When Beethoven had moved to Vienna, he sought out the famous Mozart and had a few lessons with him before having to return to his mother's funeral in Germany. Mozart, who was impressed by Ludwig (no mean feat, to impress Mozart) is reported to have stated that Beethoven would be an important figure in the world stage and one to watch out for in the future! Again...coming from the musical genius Mozart, that is indeed 'high' praise!

A MAN OF PRINCIPLES!

As a person, Beethoven was also a man of high principles. He once wrote the EROICA (heroic) symphony and dedicated it to Napoleon Bonaparte who had liberated parts of Europe and who was in Ludwig's eyes, a hero!

However, later, when Beethoven had heard that his hero had now declared himself an 'emperor' (Beethoven had little regard for titled folk) he took the manuscript and violently scratched out Napoleon's name, leaving the manuscript damaged!

OUT OF THE SILENCE - CAME GREATNESS!

If you can imagine a sculptor or carpenter losing their hands, you would conclude that to be a tragedy. Think on then, of how probably THE greatest composer in the world, lost his hearing at just twenty eight years of age!!!

Can you even grasp what torture that would be...never to hear the world around you or your precious gift of music, ever again! With Beethoven's gradual hearing loss, he wasted precious time and money on 'quack' cures and doctors who had no remedy or cure.

Yet although when eventually he was stone deaf, Beethoven produce some of the finest works of music ever known...ALL from the silence of his malady! Yet the mind, the great mind was still working.

Considering Beethoven's superb piano and composition skills, he was definitely unique..a one-off! When speaking to a wealthy and powerful prince one day, Beethoven was reported to have said (I paraphrase here) "princes come and go, but there is one ONE BEETHOVEN!" And he was absolutely right. Beethoven was not just an ordinary man, nor composer. He was in every sense of the word, an EXTRAORDINARY genius! A giant of music.

copyright JG Conn aka Tartan Composer 11/04/2024.

[charlesandmartine]

Tuesday 9th April 2024

The plan today was to take a trip up Table Mountain. However, best made plans and all that, didn't quite work out. The main reason for this, and quite a good one as reasons go, was that as far as we could tell, there was no Table Mountain. Where it was supposed to be was the biggest cloud ever. The Tourist Information lady was insistent it was not worth going; maybe tomorrow she said. Well, how about going to the wine fields instead. The bus went at 8.30 she said, it's not possible today.

So with the aid of a flip chart and slide rule we rescheduled and bought a ticket for the around town HoHo. In time this took us to the cable car for Table Mountain. Eerily, cables emerging from the terminus at a 45° angle were quickly immersed in cloud. That's official then, it's off for the day. Our hop-on completed its loop and we were back at the Waterfront enjoying a flat white. Tomorrow we are booked on the tour to Robben Island so we thought we'd pop into the Robben Island museum to do a bit of swotting up before the trip. Now I really don't know why we do this to ourselves, but we utterly depressed ourselves regarding the life of one famous inmate, Robert Sobukwe who happened to be a member of the PAC (Pan African Congress). Wherever we go we seem to come across desperate stories of heroes in our lifetime whose bravery we have either had no idea of, or we have entirely overlooked. This man was jailed for 3 years in 1960 for standing up for the rights of his people, not released at the end of his term; instead sent to Robben Island where he remained until 1969. He was then sent on to Kimberley spending the rest of his life under 12 hours a day house arrest, dying in 1978 from lung cancer. It would seem that Robben Island has been used in many ways since 1658 when the Dutch installed its first political prisoner. Since then it's been used by both the Dutch and British for all sorts of groups; lepers, prisoners, lunatics, you name it. The island's best attribute is that it's almost impossible to escape from. Let's hope we catch the return boat tomorrow. I'm sure by then we'll be completely suicidal and we haven't even touched on apartheid yet!

South Africa has indeed had a chequered history. Discovered by the Portuguese, then owned from 1652 courtesy of the Dutch East Indian Company until 1795 when the British took it because they were worried the French might take it. In 1802 the British handed it back to the Dutch, only to take it back again in 1806 because this time we were having Napoleonic war problems. Confused? I'll say but it must have been far worse for the South Africans. From one day to the next they wouldn't know if they were Dutch or British. Then in May 1961 they declared themselves a Republic and they became South Africans so that sorted it. Let's hope we shall be better informed tomorrow after the visit to Robben Island.

Back to the Waterfront for a rubbery chicken, roast potatoes, salad and of course a bottle of very reasonable SB and watching Mission Impossible.

Busy day tomorrow hoping the drizzle might have stopped.

[tlbburke-blog]

Tom's TV appearances. I think this is most of them.

DANGERFIELD Something Personal. 1999. Played Gavin Kirkdale. Available on DVD.

STATE OF PLAY 2000 Played Syd [also appeared with Bill Nighy and Marc Warren] Available on Stan.

THE YOUNG VISITERS 2003 Played Horace [also appeared with Bill Nighy] Available on YouTube.

P.O.W. 2003 Played Robbie Crane Can be found on YouTube. Listed as Episode 3.

BELLA AND THE BOYS 2003. Played Lee. Available on YouTube in 6 parts.

INSPECTOR LYNLEY 2004 S3E1 In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner. Played Julien Britton. Available on Daily Motion.

CASANOVA 2004 Played young Giac. Can be found on DVD [not worth it, IMO]

THE BRIEF Lack of Affect. 2004. Played Dan Ottway. Available on YouTube.

JERICHO S1E1 A Pair of Ragged Claws. 2005. Played Edward Wellesley

Available on DVD

ALL ABOUT GEORGE. 2005. Played Paul. Available on YouTube.

GHOST STORY. #13. 2006. Played Edward ? Available on YouTube.

HEROES AND VILLAINS. Napoleon. 2006. Played Napoleon Bonaparte. Available on YouTube in 6 parts.

IN LOVE WITH BARBARA. 2008. Played Ronald Cartland, from S2 mostly. Available on YouTube.

AGATHA CHRISTIE COLLECTION. The Clocks. 2009. Played Colin Race. [Appeared with Jaime Winston's.] Available on YouTube but the pirate copy is dreadful. Otherwise DVD.

THE HOUR 2012 Played Bill Kendall, from S2 [Appeared with Peter Capaldi, Peter Sullivan]

HEADING OUT E6. Played Ben. Available on DVD.

UTOPIA S2E1 The Oncoming Storm. 2014

Played Dr Philip Carvel

[Tom appears only in S2E1, despite TomBurke Online stating he is also in E5.] Dr Philip Carvel, a brilliant if flawed scientist is caught at a very bad time by a nasty person and he makes a deal with the devil.

The series is probably worth watching. The single episode I've seen is excellent: production values, acting, script etc. But I just couldn't watch any more of it.

Geraldine James is brilliant as the "nasty piece of work." who traps the "mad scientist."

Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc0aWZQKEmU&list=PL_jIDr2tZiuTbX0eeNBacb4J-GkQ3bOXC

MUSKETEERS 2014 -2016. Played Athos. Available on DVD. Episodes are available on YouTube and Daily Motion but I'm unsure of the quality.

WAR AND PEACE 2016. Played Fedya Dolokhov. Available on DVD

C.B. STRIKE SERIES. 2017 onwards. Playing Cormoran Strike. Available on DVD and YouTube [rent or buy]

LAZARUS PROJECT. 2021 to present. Playing Dennis Rebrov. Only available on Stan ATM [as far as I know.]

[caitylove]

Okay, now that a few days have past and I've had time to emotionally process, I figure I'd debrief a bit on going to Intercon, a LARP convention, last weekend. Overall, I had a blast and even have a few pics.

I played in 4 games over the course of the weekend:

Wicked Hearts-which takes place in Romanov era Russia right before the revolution where I played a folk hero/ royal guard who was in love with one of the princesses but also trying to bring about the revolution. I wasn't feeling my best during this game, due to asthma but I had a blast, even if I didn't start the revolution. Instead, the Princess I was involved with made a political marriage to the Prince of the Fairies, and she, the prince, myself, and the prince's lover all went off the live together in one big happy, polycule 😂😂. That ended up being our solution to keep her from having to marry someone else. lol

Star Senate: Revenge of the Budget which is an intergalactic senate game where you are trying to pass legislation and make deals while the empire's military arm has literal guns aimed at your head to force you to pass a budget. I played the 2,000 year old Speaker of the Senate who was just done with the bullshit and was trying to cause instability in the government using the bills I pass. This game is a comedy and was literal comedy gold. I failed spectacularly at solo causing a civil war, BUT I did successfully get my "Historic Preservation Act" passed to create a museum out of an old, decommissioned Battlestar passed. FRIENDS, I DIDNT CREATE THIS BILL. this was one of the bills that WAS IN MY STARTER packet. So me, a giant BSG fan, was so tickled pink and made it my like solo goal. lol 😂 I really wish I hadn't cut off the bill in my pic, but it was a late night game so I didn't notice till the next day.

Unrest and Unaccountability - which was a Regency era horror larp where I was attending the Queen's Ball and trying to find a marriage match, all the while dealing with shenanigans like slaying Napoleons Undead Army and Killing a creepy Mirror facsimile of myself. Succeeded in literally all my goals of this one, and it was a ton of fun.

Debugged.me-which was a game about Artifical Intelligences in basically a mental health facility to cure their AI disorders. I played a character based off of Dolores from Westworld who had snapped after decades of abuse and murdered her abuser. This game honestly was a giant dud. It had a lot of potential, but the game creator hadn't finished the game and hadn't refined it so it was just a mess. We didn't start until over an hour past start time, so half of the players left. It's a shame, was really looking forward to playing a dark, ai game.

Overall the weekend was fun. If you ever get a chance to go, I 100% say do it. Now check out some of these pics!

[ltwilliammowett]

Mind over Matter

Lord Horatio Nelson has been voted England's greatest hero, the man who led he nation to her most glorious victories at sea. Yet this revered figure suffered so much throughout his life from disease and injury that he brings special meaning to the phrase " mind over matter". He was wounded more times than any other Royal Navy Admiral during the Napoleonic Wars. Ironically, Copenhagen, the hardest fought of all his battles, was the only one in which he was not hurt.

As a teenager serving in India, young Horatio contracted the first of many fevers that caused his hair to turn prematurely grey before he was 25. A theory that has long been circulated among historians. And even Colin White described the so-called shock head that Nelson was supposed to have suffered after the amputation of his arm, i.e. later than the otherwise assumed 25, which changed the colour of his hair. However, strands of hair have shown that they were not grey but dark blonde. Therefore, it is more likely that his real hair colour was always dark blonde, but he powdered it grey or white according to fashion.

In July 1794, during the siege of Calvi in Corsica, he was severely wounded for the first time and as a result he lost the sight in his right eye because of a subsequent detachment of the retina. During the Battle of St. Vincent in 1797, he suffered internal trauma, and abdominal pain plagued him greatly in later years.

Vice- Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson with his scars, completed by Italian artist Leonardo Guzzardi in 1799 (x)

At Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, on the night of 24 July that same year he was leading a desperate assault ashore when he was struck in the upper right arm by a musket ball. A tourniquet fashioned by his stepson saved his life. It is typical of Nelson that he refused to go back aboard his own ship HMS Seahorse in case he alarmed Betsy Fremantle, the wife of the captain, who was at sea with her husband at the time. Instead he was rowed to HMS Theseus, where his right arm was amputated.

At the Battle of the Nile Nelson sustained a wound to his forehead which cut right to the bone; flesh fell over his good eye, temporarily blinding him. Finally at Trafalgar a ball from an enemy french musket struck the epaulette on his left shoulder and penetrated through his lung to the spine - where some of the gold braid from his epaulette was found to be still adhering to it. Nelson was carried below the orlop deck in great pain; he died at 4.30 p.m., after stoically enduring for another two hours 45 minutes.

[josefavomjaaga]

While several of his future colleagues were half-orphans or otherwise must have had a rather unhappy childhood, Auguste Frédéric Viesse de Marmont for once comes from a perfect background: only, dearly beloved son of a family of landed gentry. His father Nicolas-Edme had married the daughter of a wealthy Parisian civil servant, the spouses were very much in love with each other and would remain so throughout their lives. Auguste’s older sister died at the age of eight, and his parents doted on their surviving child all the more. His father in particular watched over everything, from Auguste’s first teeth to his education, and during his son's childhood illnesses, his father noted down every little thing in a diary (which still exists): Sweating, meals eaten, hoarseness and breathing and consistency of bowel movements.

Franck Favier in his book on Marmont cites a passage from this journal to show the timetable for young Auguste’s education:

Up at 7 a.m., then his prayers, cleaning his ears, washing his hands and mouth with a sponge, and all this within half an hour.

At half-past seven, practice of his violin.

At eight, breakfast; breakfast taking half an hour.

Recreation until 9 o'clock.

At 9 o'clock, ten verses by heart.

At half-past nine, first lesson in drawing circles and ovals.

At a quarter past ten, recreation until a quarter to eleven.

At a quarter to eleven, reading and hairdressing.

At half past eleven, geometry instruction until noon.

Recreation until half-past twelve and after his lunch until three-quarters past one.

At 2 o'clock, drawing instruction for heads…

(Translated from F. Favier, “Marmont. Le Maudit”)

Starting at the age of nine, there’s also a comprehensive physical training with running, jumping and marching. Papa Marmont hired teachers for his son’s early education before sending him to a collège where Auguste would befriend a rather unruly fellow student named Andoche Junot destined to become a lawyer, but already dreaming of soldiering and the glory of arms. A dream young Auguste soon shared. A little grumbling (he surely had not groomed this perfect son to see his talents wasted in the army!) Papa Marmont gave in to his son’s wishes, under the condition that Junior would join the artillery, where he at least had to use his head and even might learn a thing or two that would later prove useful outside the army, in real life… This new career path in the end led Marmont to meeting a certain Napoleon Bonaparte, in Dijon 1791.

Let’s fast-forward a little: Robespierre’s fall, Bonaparte imprisoned, Marmont and Junot planning to free him, Bonaparte in semi-disgrace, Papa Marmont feeding the trio, then 13 Vendémière, Marmont becoming aide-de-camp to general Bonaparte, following him to Italy…

It’s in autumn 1796 when Marmont, in triumph, brings to Paris some flags taken from the enemy. To mark the occasion, the ultra-rich Swiss banker Perrégaux gives a ball in his Paris residence, with the dashing young war hero at the centre of attention. Perrégaux’s daughter Hortense immediately falls in love. Hard.

Hortense (born in 1779) was yet another disciple of Madame Campan’s famous institute of future imperial brides, and a good friend of the other Hortense, Hortense de Berauharnais. (Call me biased all you want but there is a pattern there.) She was also intelligent, witty, strong-willed and her father's spoilt favourite. She proved this strength of will to her father, when the latter began to look for a husband for his daughter over the next few months (a husband who was not called "Marmont", obviously, because a simple soldier was not an appropriate match). Hortense however refused to even look at the candidates. In April 1797, she went so far as to lock herself up in her room for days … and of course she got her way in the end. By May 1797, Papa Perrégaux promised her she could have that nobody of a soldier if she insisted.

Marmont, as to him, had long returned to Italy and was blissfully unaware of the storm he had caused in one of the first families of Paris. As a matter of fact, in that same May 1797 Bonaparte gave him a furious telling-off, for Marmont had returned to headquarters twenty-four hours late. Twenty-four hours that he had apparently spent in the arms of some Venetian beauty. (In his memoirs Marmont claims that Napoleon in July of that year wanted to marry him to his sister Pauline, which seems to be an obvious lie as by the time Marmont claims the proposal was made, Pauline was already engaged to Leclerc.)

It’s only in April 1798 when Marmont and Mlle Perrégaux finally tie the knot. Of course, for Marmont these new family relations are a dream come true. His young wife brings him a million in dowry. Both spouses have beauty, wit and intelligence and are adored by tout Paris.

Difficulties start as soon as the young couple visits Marmont’s family estate in Châtillon-sur-Seine. Living in the province, with only a couple of old-fashioned landed gentry for company, clearly is not to Hortense’s likings. Particularly, as Marmont soon leaves her alone in this hillbilly family circle, in order to follow Napoleon to Egypt. Soon enough, Hortense returns to Paris and lives with her father again.

That’s where Marmont will find her on his return from Egypt, and for some time, all seems fine again (despite Papa and Maman Marmont being decidedly unhappy with that spoilt brat of a daughter-in-law). The couple moves into a house of their own, Marmont starts to show first signs of vanity and shows of his wealth in the style of a true nouveau riche, even somewhat alienating himself from his parents. Hortense, as to her, is often invited to Malmaison, much to Marmont’s chagrin – the new court forming there to him seems a bit too permissive in terms of morals. As a matter of fact, he even suspects the First Consul of having set his eyes on Madame Marmont!

Let’s fast-forward again as things start to turn ugly rather quickly in Marmont’s marriage: He has always been a favourite with the ladies, sees no reason to stop that, and his wife, not used to giving up on any of her whims, will soon start to have affairs of her own. Marmont suspects her of having affairs with Napoleon and with her father’s partner Laffitte.

On 10 December 1807, while Marmont is in Dalmatia, a boy named Jacques Alfred Valberg is born in Paris. Eight months later, an ADC of Marmont’s recognises him as his son, the mother in the papers being named as Marie Perdraux, living in rue de Hazard. - Considering that this boy will be the sole heir of Hortense Perregaux-Marmont’s fortune in 1857, certain suspicions may be allowed…

By the time Marmont receives his marshal’s baton, his marriage is long in shambles. And yet they can’t divorce, they are kept together by – money. Both have grown fond of luxury, both love to overspend, and Marmont’s family relations to the banker’s family are necessary for him to keeo up his life style. He has shares in many of his father-in-law’s business projects.

It’s only during the Restauration, when he has become the infamous »Duc de Raguse« that he will officially separate from his wife (but not divorce). She will live a couple of years longer than him, and it would be interesting to hear her thoughts on her husband’s famous memoirs. He does not treat her kindly in them.

[influencegetem]

Our song #interstellar (67) being included in this legendary podcasts #bestof2023 playlist was the best thing to happen all year. Thanks again #DJAbsurd. (Darren Shabat) You're greatly appreciated. I've got something else cookin, too.

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/ear2thestreetsradio/episodes/2023-12-24T18_07_50-08_00

EAR 2 THE STREETS RADIO BEST OF 2023 (4 Hours)

#KingOfThePlaylist

EAR 2 THE STREETS RADIO BEST OF 2023 (4 Hours)

#KingOfThePlaylist

1. Intro (Prod. by DJ Absurd) (Scratches by DJ Absurd)

2. Runaway - Swizz Beatz, Nas (Prod. by Swizz Beatz)

3. Heroes - Macklemore (Scratches by DJ Premier)

4. Soda Club - Marlon Craft, Skyzoo

5. Runway - Westside Gunn, Rome Streetz (Prod. by DJ Premier)

6. Unpredictable - Statik Selektah, Inspectah Deck, Ghostface, Raekwon, Method Man

7. The Return - Torae (Prod. by Marco Polo)

8. Prophets Of Doom - Ill Bill, Sick Jacken, Immortal Technique

9. Survival Mode - Halfcut, Reks, DJ Deadeye

10. Life Music - Masta Ace, Stricklin, Speech, E Smitty (Prod. by Marco Polo)

11. Am I Dreaming - A$AP Rocky, Roisee (Prod. by Metro Boomin)

12. The Weather - Black Thought, El Michels Affair

13. In Moe (Speculation) - Common (Prod. by DJ Premier)

14. Sounds That Never Left My Soul - Ty Farris

15. Bad Apples - Che Noir, Ransom, 38 Spesh (Prod. by Big Ghost Ltd)

16. Pissy In The Palazzo - Crimeapple (Prod. by DJ Skizz)

17. Knock - Tech N9ne, Conway The Machine, X-Raided, Joyner Lucas

18. Evolution - Meyhem Lauren (Prod. by Madlib & DJ Muggs)

19. Keep On - Nems (Prod. by Scram Jones)

20. Exit 9 - Killer Mike, Blxst

21. Slap Boxing - Tone Liv, Ren Thomas, L.I.F.E. Long Liggy Long (Prod. by Alessandro A Sharp Agostino)

22. No Love - Royce Da 5’9, 100 Kufis

23. Without You - Brady Watt, Conway The Machine, Talib Kweli

24. Coming Soon To A Theater Near You - Slaine

25. All That For A Drop Of Blood - Czarface

26. Sicilian Gold - DJ Muggs, Ghostface, Westside Gunn

27. Hustle, Repeat - Jadakiss, Swizz Beatz

28. Decide - John Sci Robinson & Figub Brazlevic

29. Invincibl Rap Mislz - Napoleon Da Legend, D-Styles

30. Catch A Vibe - TrillStatik (Bun B & Statik Selektah), Haile Supreme

31. Fast - Shabaam Sahdeeq & John Jigg$(Prod. by Tone Spliff)

32. Inhuman - Stu Bangas, Apathy

33. The Pressure - Cymarshall Law (Prod. by Slimline Mutha)

34. The Tale Of 2 Cities - KXNG Crooked, Joell Ortiz

35. Paradise II - Logic, Norah Jones

36. Choices - Oddisee, Phonte, Bemyfiasco, Kay Young

37. Feelings Don’t Feel - Black Milk, Mick Jenkins (Prod. by Black Milk)

38. The Golden Rule - Blu, Real Bad Man, C.L. Smooth

39. Loyalty V. Royalty - Belly, Gil Scott-Heron (Prod. by Hit-Boy)

40. Impaler - Vinnie Paz

41. Don’t Speak - Jarren Benton

42. Devil’s Work 2 - Joyner Lucas

43. Too Much! (Melly Mel) - Reason

44. Good Ol’ Days - Nyck Caution, Joey Bada$$

45. Free - Q-Unique (Prod. by Q-Unique)

46. Black Lemonade - Mayday

47. Point Blank - Ric Chavez, Bizzy Bone, J57

48. Dark & Grim - 38 Spesh (Prod. by 38 spesh)

49. American Made - Ransom (Prod. by Nicholas Craven)

50. Drug Trade - Smoke Dza, Black Thought (Prod. by Flying Lotus)

51. Remind You - Chino XL (Prod. by Stu Bangas)

52. Gadzooks (Em Eff Yoom) - Eff Yoo (Prod. by Level 13)

53. Venom - RJ Payne

54. Wells - Pizzo Paul Richard

55. Mental Health Check - Ea$y Money & Chilla Jones

56. Earners - Rasheed Chappell, Flee Lord, Che Noir

57. Bragadoccio Rap - Bo Faat, Hus Kingpin, Eddie Kaine, DJ Erex

58. Watch Your Mouth - Locksmith, Snak The Ripper (Prod. by C-Lance)

59. Don’t Go Astray - AZ (Prod. by Buckwild)

60. Nice Weather - Termanology

61. All About (Remix) - A-F-R-O, Alias Molombo

62. Sideline Saga - Jae Skeese

63. Porsche Lights - Styles P (Prod. by Vinny Idol)

64. Clubbin & Chaos - Lloyd Banks

65. Enough - Russ (Prod. by Russ)

66. Wotcha Call Strength - Boot Camp Clik

67. Interstellar - Influence Getem Daniel IG Stewart (Prod. by nAvi the NORTH & Die Empty Production)

68. Elevator - Kota The Friend (Prod. by Statik Selektah)

69. Wish Me Well - Little Brother

70. This Thing Of Ours - Nick Grant

71. Smoke - JoJo Pellegrino, Method Man

72. Nuclear Fission - Jus Daze (Prod. by C.G. The Producer)

73. In A Box - DJ Hoppa, Wax, Demrick

74. Bodies! - Skyzoo, The Other Guys

75. Came A Long Way (Keep Ridin 2023) - Brian B. Dvine Daly, The One Lavic

76. The Return - Cuban Pete Pete Allen (Prod. by BoFaat) (Scratches by JabbaThaKut)

77. Jodeci Member - Nas (Prod. by Hit-Boy)

78. Asteroids - Rapsody (Prod. by Hit-Boy)

79. 50 More Years Of Hip Hop - KRS-One

[fanficg12023]

Boxer's rebellion

By Clara Zenari and Guilherme Alcaro 9A

Synopsis

What would have happened if Boxer, this time, resisted death row and came back to Animal Farm looking for a rebellion? In the original story, all animals became terrified when the words “Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiled” were spelled, and the Boxer, the main force of work, was taken to death row while Napoleon left without blame. In this fanfic Boxer, with all his strength, resisted to knacker sent by Napoleon, who used to be his hero until this betrayal. The reaction of their comrades to the comeback of Boxer is unexpected and makes Napoleon miserable. His plans were over. His manipulation was over. Now, the slogans turned into “Napoleon is always a liar” and “Animals will fight harder”.

It was dark and the stars were shining, all the animals were asleep motionless. There was a silence never heard before in the barn, the only noise present was the cry of cicadas stuck together in the trees. All hope was gone by the wind, all animals were heartbroken because their most loyal comrade was brutally taken out of the family by their worst enemy, who walked on two legs. An enormous and strong shade appeared in the middle of the night, making a huge effort to walk because the legs were limping. It got sneaky in the barn where all the animals were. The light sleep of Clover allowed her to wake up by the noise of the hay being hardly stomped. Suddenly, the shade transformed into her friend, the comrade that everyone thought was gone: Boxer. She wasn’t believing, she was creating unconscious hypothesis, “Is it really him? What if it is an angel? What if it is an impostor? Is it a dream, or an illusion? Am I sick? Because it is impossible to happen! He was taken to a horse slaughterer today!”. Her mind was a mess with all of these hypotheses, but all of them disappeared when someone said “It is Boxer…”, the reality was accepted. A gossip started in the barn, the animals started to wake up and discover the comeback.

The animals went euphoric by the presence of Boxer at that moment. They were incredibly shocked at this moment when he was alive at their front. They started to help him, giving the rest of their limited water and taking care of his injuries, or those who couldn't help just showed their worries about his situation. There was no food to feed him, all was directed to the pigs. Any questions were asked for a few hours, Boxer had difficulties talking or walking, there were a lot of scars on his body, he was bleeding and feeling pain. 

Clover did not get out of Boxer's side, she was there to help her friend. Anything he needed she made the necessary to get. She asked the first question, about what happened since the time he was taken by the van. He chose to don't share this journey just with her, he stood up with struggle and announced:

- Comrades…-he said painfully- I need attention right now. I appreciate all of the worries and help, but now comrades, you should be worried about someone else: Napoleon. About all the lies, all of the exploration we have been passing through. Today, I stayed alone in that wagon, in the dark. The floor was cold. The blood that trickled out of my mouth dried. There, I thought I didn't need to fear it because Napoleon was always right, he always did the necessary wisely, he always did the right thing to make us, animals of Animal Farm, healthy and productive. To demonstrate all of my gratitude for it and all of my gratitude for sending me to one of the best hospitals, I would always work harder and even harder when I got better. This is what I had been thinking until I was close to death row: the Horse Slaughterer. 

The animals went crazy, some of them were questioning why Napoleon "was" all of these, if Boxer was the most loyal animal to Napoleon since the beginning. Some of them feared Napoleon's intentions for sending Boxer to the slaughterer. He tried to make animals calm, and kept his speech:

- I always believed Napoleon, to me he was the hope of Animal Farm, the hero of our lives and the solution to our problems being explored by Mr. Jones. When a man got into the wagon where my dignity was taken out, my hope and my trust for Napoleon was over. This man wasn't a doctor, he wasn't a nurse or something, he was an ambitious killer without soul, without compassion. He took out a whip and a knife and brutally attacked me… it made those scars that will always be marked on my skin. I will never forget it. I will never forget the fact that Napoleon sent this man to kill me. With what happened today, I understood the reality and the real intentions of Napoleon, he does not accept anything that he considers a threat. 

The barn became chaotic. At this moment, half of the animals agreed with what their comrade said, but the other half didn't. It was not clear how Boxer escaped from men and how he was so sure that Napoleon was actually a villain. A voice finally asked what everyone was curious about: how Boxer escaped?

- With several scars and injuries all over my rough body, I had to find my strength if I wanted to live. To find it, I thought about all of you, I had to tell the truth… I had to aware the danger that Napoleon is. To live, I had to attack the men back, so I kicked his head and this made him unconscious. Another man who was riding the van, started to talk about his new fancy cigarettes and the finances of their company, the horse slaughterer and glue boiled, until he noticed his partner wasn't answering. He stopped the wagon and opened the door to see his man, it was my time. It was my time to live, my time to be free. I ran here in the name of my life, in the name of my comrades, in the name of revenge against Napoleon, even being critically hurt. With these thoughts, the pain disappeared for a while. My legs felt a rush of adrenaline I'd never seen in my life, I think the desire to be alive was spreading through my mind. I stepped on a few traps, nails and spiky plants on the way, but I got here alive, most importantly of all. I hope, comrades, you believe me and take my word to prepare to act against this pig.

There was silence, everyone noticed the reality, and everyone was prepared to face-to-face Napoleon, with no fear of blood. Boxer was secretly hidden in the barn for months while he was recovering from his trauma related to the horse slaughterer and all of the animals were planning or getting ready for a new rebellion that would come. 

A few months after the speech, Napoleon discovered that Boxer was back alive. The gossip ran fast around the farm. He couldn't believe that this horse survived. The rebellion came as soon as they thought, but the animal's plans were already settled while Napoleon had any thoughts about how to deal with this rebellion. He had nothing, no equipment or arms as the animals. The sheeps started the war screaming the new slogans “Napoleon is always a liar” and “Animals will fight harder” that Boxer taught. All animals followed it bravely, and the blood trickled out of Napoleon's heart and mouth coldly. It was over. The manipulation was over, the lie was gone.