#but alas… the executive dysfunction is too powerful

[misiahasahardname]

interrupted

inspired by this lovely post:

[anulithots]

dear creatures of mid-autumn goslings,

(idk it sounded nice)

They live in my head and they are so wonderous and nuanced and by the stars sometimes I have THOTS and I love such thoughts but...

... alas, to be cursed with executive dysfunction.

The way I see it, my brain is too powerful, to combat this, there must be limits and/or the feeble human brain cannot handle my collection of wonders, so it short-circuits.

Now the issue with having too much software and not the hardware to handle it is that... well the 'normal ones' get more done and more achievement and I'm the 'wasted potential'.

My dears, tis not 'wasted potential'. If I do not have the capacity to be 100% consistently, if I only have short bursts, then my goal is to not figure out a way to grasp onto the joyful bliss for longer (have tried, failed, strained, not recommended.) but rather to chill and love things in the cooldown period, and prepare to take over the world in the moonlit hours in which the hardware can handle the strength of the stars.

[daaziscoolbesties]

i yearn for one(1) thing only, and that is to have a nice, simplistic, cartoonish artstyle. an artstyle that doesnt rely on anatomy, but the "movement" of the drawing, if you get what i mean.

i dont want realistic proportions and traditional colors and basic poses and gradient shading, i want funky lil dudes in funky poses with funky styles littering my sketchbook :( but alas i havent figured out how to develop that kind of style yet, my brain wants anatomy to look nice but also i dont want to draw eyes. i dont want to take time out of my day to learn how to draw lips i want to draw a line that extends past the characters face. i dont want all my characters to have pointy chins with curved cheeks i want their heads to be round and friend-like or full of sharp edges depending on their personalities and styles. i want to give them all not-quite human ears, blob feet, simple faces, but at the same time i want enough detail to convey the story or emotion im trying to tell.

ive spent so much time recently agonizing over how to use 3d model websites, using real-life references and tracing over them for practice, color-picking from real images to try and do realism and failing miserably, but you know whats easier than that? funky little dudes. little dudes who do not care if their legs are too long or their hair is too bouncy. i dont want my characters to look human.

ive spent enough time on the artfight website to realize that most people who classify their characters as "human" have the most basic ass designs (no offense to people who like basic human designs its just not my thing) or its like dnd-medieval style outfits which i cant draw for the life of me (ive tried). again no offense to people who actively enjoy and draw characters like that. i just need my dudes to have that certain,,, off-ness to them. tails are cool. wings are swag (especially if they arent even like,, fully attached,, ), elf ears are so wonderful to me no matter how much theyre overused, horns are so much fun to draw, and colors!! i have no knowledge in the color theory department so this works great for me!! the only thing i really know is dont shade with black, other than that i just colorpick from references usually but i dont want to do that!! i want the colors to hurt people's eyes but in a satisfying way. like the character's design is so nice to look at that you dont mind your eyes hurting a bit. like how im enjoying writing this post even though its 2 am and the brightness on my computer wont go any lower.

and then another thing ive noticed from being on the artfight website is that a lot of people classify their characters that are anthro/have anthro features under humanoids/monsters. like i made a google form to find some people to attack and someone sent me in a character with some sort of animal (wolf? idk) arms and legs. like dude!! peak character design i love her. but me personally? i cant draw that shit, its so hard for me. i tried a while back and its just Not my thing. nothing against furries i just. cant. and i dont want to either.

and i got another submission that i accidentally deleted that was like full anthro/wolf-like like my comrade,,, i cannot draw animals what makes you think i can draw an animal who acts like a human lmao. i can do like. very basic tails, and also animal ears but i cant do the arms and legs and such i just dont know the anatomy, and i know i was talking about how i dont want to care about anatomy but i feel like for anthros you really do need to know at least basic animal anatomy so you know how the limbs look and shit and i dont have that knowledge and dont feel like gaining it.

and then there were some submissions that i absolutely adored. there was one that like, was vaguely human shaped but definitely was not a human. they had a dark-ish lavender colored skin and horns and tusks and like goat ears and a sorta fluffy tail with spikes on it and they had wings and such and they were such a pleasure to draw i love them. and they had a fairly simple outfit too, nothing too complicated. and then i also enjoy object head characters, theyre so neato to me. i got one of those and i really wish i had the motivation to work on it cause it looks so fun.

i want to make funky characters but id have nothing to do with them because the only book i ever tried writing (key word tried - never got past planning it out) had strictly human characters in it, and most of the books i read are humans/humans with powers in situations specific to them so id have no idea what lore to make with the dudes. assuming i have the motivation to make lore and backstory because honestly i just really enjoy character designing its super duper fun.

(side note a song about trucks doing the deed came on just now and its interrupted my flow, apologies).

i only have three actual characters right now. one is an original roleplay oc whos design is literally athletic shorts, an oversized long sleeved grey sweatshirt, long purple hair, and demon horns. the second one is my persona whos design some sorta medival knight outfit kinda thing? but not ugly it looks really cool (idk one of my friends designed it bc i won some contest from him but the drawing was on a super small scale so idrk the details,,,) with a plague doctor mask and crown, and shoulder length wavy brown hair, dyed bright pink at the end. and then my last one im not too comfortable using other places because theyre a character my friend is using in the story hes writing, and thats really the only place theyve been used. but theyre easily my favorite and im already writing a ton so ill talk about them too.

they're a sorta elf species thing from another planet, with pale green skin and pointed ears. they also have a tail, its like,, super thin, but with a feathery bit at the end. probably not the texture of a feather but i dont know how else to describe it. they have short, curly, almost-draco-malfoy-blonde hair that when it gets too long they can put in a man bun. their eyesight is kinda shitty so when they got to earth, they were exploring some supply closets around the airship. drop off area. thing. like airport but for rocketships and also fancier. yeah. they were exploring that area and found a nice big pair of round glasses with grey frames. and they also found a cowboy-style hat and a sharpie so they wrote their name on the underside of the brim of the hat and stole the hat and glasses (but left the sharpie in the supply closet).

yeah theyre my favorite, my absolute beloved, my child, so cool. i want more characters like them but with maybe a bit more snazzier designs. theyre super cool and all but they could have more pizzazz if they werent in a story where its too late to give them more pizzazz. i just want to be able to give my characters thigh-high boots with a bunch of buckles and fluffy hair with tons of accessories crammed in and abnormally large and long ears that can harbor many piercings and horns that can hold rings on them and special little details on their outfits like who knows what but i dont have any characters to do that too, so i have to make them from scratch, which is always hard especially when you have artblock.

and i also have like 17 characters i need to fully draw, line, and maybe color for artfight before august 1st. so i dont know. i have many things to do and plenty of time to do it but instead i spend my time halfway watching repetitive youtube videos that get boring or sleeping all damn day because i stay up too late doing things like this or i just do nothing at all and its tiring and frustrating but i also feel nothing about it like theres no consequence if i dont do it besides you know. not doing it, not gaining that experience, not making something i enjoy.

so i should do it but i dont for whatever reason, i think its called executive dysfunction but im not sure. this post started out very differently than it ended and i said somewhere up there that i was writing this at 2 am but now its almost 3. this is so many words why couldnt i have put this energy into something productive

[gibsonmusicart]

The Real Reason Major Record Companies Suck

By Peter Spellman

An artist who signs a major-label recording contract today is probably taking the biggest risk of his or her career. With a mortality rate of 1 out of 10 failures, it's clearly a crapshoot whether a new major label artist will "make it" or not. The list of "where are they nows" over the last ten years runs into the thousands. This sucks! When we try and figure out why this mortality rate prevails, a number of familiar reasons present themselves: * The major labels are putting out TOO MANY RECORDS...True, but I believe this is merely a symptom of a bigger problem. * The major labels are SIGNING ARTISTS TOO INDISCRIMINATELY...Yes, but this too is symptomatic of something deeper. * The major labels are peopled with DYSFUNCTIONAL, TURF-PROTECTING CLIMBERS...True sometimes, but this too is merely a symptom. * The major labels aim for A LEAST-COMMON-DENOMINATOR MUSICAL "SOUND" that will appeal to the masses...Yes, but a symptom again. We can go on and on with possible reasons and never arrive at the REAL one. The real reason major record labels suck is that they are "divisions" within larger multi-national corporations that are obligated, BY THEIR VERY NATURE, to behave in a certain art-destroying way. Let me explain. There are certain obligatory rules by which all corporations must operate. These rules are assumed, accepted, rarely articulated and color everything a corporation does. Now don't get me wrong. There ARE music people within corporate record labels - people who are truly turned on by music creation, recording, and promotion. I know some of them. But when push comes to shove, all their actions must reflect the policies and procedures handed down from "corporate". Too much independence on their part and they will be handed a pink slip and shown the door. There are seven primary rules corporations (including music corporations) must obey, and each rule has a profound effect on how music and artists are treated, regarded and disposed of. Here they are: #1.THE PROFIT IMPERATIVE: Monetary profit is the ultimate measure of all corporate decisions. Shareholders "own" corporations and they expect the value of their shares to increase, not decrease. Forget the little old lady that owns a few shares of stock. Most shares are owned by tremendously wealthy and thus politically influential individuals and most importantly by other corporations, many of which are investment banks. All are itchy for quarterly, measurable profits. "EBIDTA" (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) controls everything. Senior corporate officers are notorious for wearing "ninety-day glasses". Three months ahead is as far as most CEOs can see. This myopia often infects the entire organization, as relentless pressure to perform over the short term radiates from the top. A factory may be closed rather than modernized and an artist dropped rather than developed because the tax write-off makes the next period look better. #2.THE GROWTH IMPERATIVE: This goes hand-in-hand with the profit imperative. Profit means growth, expansion of the talent pool, expansion of the master catalog. Corporations live or die by whether they can sustain growth. Music corporations must keep on signing new artists in order to use their vast infrastructures and justify their overhead expenses. Sometimes company growth doesn't happen fast enough to suit the ambitions, however, and sometimes it doesn't happen at all. What to do then? The power-hungry CEO's typical solution is to expand by acquiring another company. Growth by acquisition has been the modus operandi of the corporate music business since the 1970s. EMI is a case in point. By acquiring such hot labels as Virgin and Chrysalis and bringing its antiquated operations up to snuff, EMI for a while seemed headed to the top. But chairman Sir Colin Southgate also pressured his executives to maintain double-digit growth, first in good times, then in the face of a rapidly deteriorating market. They responded by pumping out quick-buck anthologies and slashing costs willy-nilly when they could have been building talent for the long haul. Managed for short-term results, EMI has literally consumed itself in pursuit of its numbers. The profit and growth imperatives are the most fundamental corporate drives; together they represent the corporation's instinct "to live." #3.COMPETITION AND AGGRESSION: Corporations place every person in management in fierce competition with each other. Anyone interested in a corporate career must hone his or her ability to seize the moment. This applies to gain an edge over another company or over a colleague within the company. All divisions of the record company are attempting to represent themselves as an indispensable component of the recording industry. The day-to-day work of dealing predominantly with one specific medium, whether the music, the image in the video, radio media, or the press, tends to result in different staff assessing the potential of artists in different ways and developing their own agendas and goals rather than working towards a shared overall vision. As a label employee, you are expected to be part of a "team," but you also must be ready to climb over your own colleagues when an opportunity presents itself. Turf battles and other "family dysfunctions" are "normal" elements in the corporate game. #4.AMORALITY: Not being human, corporations do not have altruistic goals. In fact, corporate executives praise "nonemotional" as a basis for "objective" decision-making. So decisions that may be antithetical to aesthetic goals or artistic integrity are made without misgivings. Corporations, however, seek to hide their amorality and attempt to act as if they were altruistic. Lately, for example, there has been a concerted effort by the American industry to appear concerned with environmental cleanup, community arts or drug programs. Similarly, major labels are starting to once again toss around the phrase "long-term artist development" as an antidote to the perception they are short-sighted. But this can only be rhetorical in a corporate setting where quarterly results rule the environment. Product (and its creators) not bringing in the necessary numbers will continue to be dropped like a bad habit. Don't be deceived! It is a fair rule of thumb that corporations tend to advertise the very qualities they do not have in order to allay negative public perceptions. When corporations say "we care," it is almost always in response to the widespread perception that they do not have feelings or morals. #5.HIERARCHY: Corporate laws require that corporations be structured into classes of superiors and subordinates within a centralized pyramidal structure: chairman, directors, chief executive officer, VPs, division managers, and so on (based primarily on military models). Unlike the freedoms of an entrepreneurial business, large company decision-making must pass through layer upon layer of management. This makes the process of product development slow and ponderous. For example, from the time a band is signed, it can be a full year or longer before their first record is finally released owing in part to this dense hierarchical management structure. A lot can change in a year. Furthermore, high executive turnover and frequent management "purges" at large record companies can often delay or even derail a recording project indefinitely, leaving artists in the lurch. #6.QUANTIFICATION: Corporations require that subjective information be translated into objective form, i.e. numbers. The subjective or spiritual aspects of music, for example, cannot be translated, and so do not enter corporate equations. Music is evaluated only as a "product." Some in the industry would prefer to treat music like other industries treat cars and refrigerators. But music cannot be treated as such. As the creative extensions of the human spirit, music will always defy attempts at control. Indeed, just when the majors catch up with a "new" music trend they often find that the market has shifted and music lovers have moved on to something else. #7.HOMOGENIZATION: Corporations have a stake in all of us living our lives in a similar manner. The ultimate goal of corporate multinationals was expressed in a chilling statement by the president of Nabisco Corporation: "One world of homogeneous consumption. . . [I am] looking forward to the day when Arabs and Americans, Latinos and Scandinavians, will be munching Ritz crackers as enthusiastically as they already drink Coke or brush their teeth with Colgate." Corporations are structured and optimized for the "mass market" and so what they sell must appeal to the broadest audience possible. Their musical mainstay has been CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio or Top 40 Pop) - predictable, non-adventurous, formulaic. They have dominated the airwaves and circled the globe with this musical pablum. Incidentally, homogenization is one of the reasons the corporate music business (along with most other corporations) is in such a crisis today. It is facing a rapidly segmenting marketplace where consumers have become unpredictable. It always depended on "The Next Big Thing" to flush its corporate ledgers. But the very concept of one artist who can unite a large pop audience and help shape and define it (ala Elvis, The Beatles, Springsteen) seems about as dead as the 45-rpm spindle. Next Big Thing? More like "Next Modest Thing That Might Appeal to a Portion of the Demographic". But while bad news for the corporate giants, this is good news for their indie counterparts. A number of indie labels specializing in "niche" music markets (hip hop, ambient, folk, Celtic, etc.) are grabbing market share almost daily and breaking open a lot of champagne these days. So in conclusion, let us remember that the Musical Industrial Complex must, by necessity, bow to corporate imperatives that will inevitably clash with art. It's nobody's fault; it's the nature of corporate cultures, and any artist desiring to get into bed with this culture should proceed with eyes wide open. Your partner could be your nemesis.

Source: Music-Articles.com

[clonerightsagenda]

Another director's commentary, when you have time: john and davesprite and jadefrom the very start of tlc, including "is that yourarm?" And up to the accidental bucket death.

I realized the section you requested is like 150 pages so I’m gonna have to comment on the other bits later. But we’ll do the John, Jade, and Davesprite scene for now. It got REAL long, though, so it’s under a cut.

This scene witnessed the birth of OUR VERY FIRST MEME.So I hung out and watched Gill draw these panels, which soon became a bit of a tradition. On page 20 she was trying to recreate the battleship room from a different angle and was wrangling some sort of weird tchotchke in the corner until I said, “Hey, why don’t you just make Davesprite’s wings bigger and cover it up?” and from that point on, whenever Gill was struggling with a panel, no matter who was in it, I would scream “MAKE HIS WINGS BIGGER” from the other room.On page 22 the gif maker was being weird so we decided he’d just… vibrate faster when agitated. It’s fine. It’s all fine.

Man going through these pages is like whoah the style sure changed, hasn’t it? You don’t really notice until you look at the earlier stuff.

Now, a bit of this conversation was actually betad by skiba, who is going by who knows what username now. I haven’t chatted with him in years and he’s no longer affiliated with the project, but we still appreciate the help he lent. Thanks man! Couldn’t have made it through the dual Dave dysfunction junction without you.

Page 25 is the last arm sighting because would you want to keep hiding arms in panels? I think not.

The “I’m not a joke” thing was something I wanted to bring up, because I made a post a while ago saying that the stuff scattered around the kids’ houses sometimes seems to connect to their views of themselves, and while Dave is surrounded by puppets and feels like his hands are tied, John is surrounded by clowns, and I think he feels like he’s the “joke” of the friendgroup, since he tends to get told what to do or screw around and mess things up. You see this self-perception when he’s criticizing John Cusack on his 15th birthday. So this was a spot where he finally talks about it outright as he’s taking some initiative. He’s accomplished something, maybe by falling ass-backwards into a power, but then he used it. In canon he mostly does what he’s told with the retcon ability, but John does make some actual decisions about what to change and what actions to take here, because I thought it was important for him to counter that overly Breathy ‘getting pushed around by others’ routine he was chafing under. Page 26 y'all, and I’m setting the fucking precedent that Prospit kids get character development in this damn adventure.

Speaking of which, enter Jade. I remember making a tag comment that 'the most important character in Homestuck is here everyone’ which was a joke because Gamzee is in the fridge. But I was looking forward to this. Page 31 is fun because the massive :( is the standard initial response to Grimdark Jade. The characters and fandom both were like… horrified by her on day one but as soon as she opens her mouth she’s not really scary anymore, so John is already Done with this, and in about two pages Davesprite’s over it and is arguing with her over vocabulary. I’m sorry, Jade. You’re just not that good at being a villain.

I think I complained about this back when we were putting it up, but the lack of dialog tags means I have to lean on the dialog itself to convey how it’s said. Which, you know, is suggested in good writing in general, but sometimes it’s hard, guys. So I intended the “dont you like the new me?” to be less gloating and more have an edge of “you fuckers lived with me for 3 years and could never be damned to notice”. You may have noticed the following monologue is adapted off dark Willow’s little spiel. (I was raised on Buffy, I’m sorry. The whole ‘what do you want to do tomorrow’ comes from there too.) If she hadn’t been interrupted she would have just ranted at them for a while longer, she’s noticeably reluctant to draw blood herself.

Gill made the executive decision to make the sound effect of Jade being knocked out 'SASSACRUSHED’ but I was kinda hoping it would be 'SLAM’ so that you could have them arguing about the use of the word slammer and then smash cut into that being a sound effect. Alas. We can’t win everything.

I remember back then we checked out our new followers and I went “hey I think we just picked up a jade/davesprite person who is probably here because they actually spoke to each other and that’s the best they’re gonna get” and Gill went “well then I will have him HOLDING HER BODY as a reward to our like, third follower or whatever” and I went Gill I’ll fucking kill you so Jade goes smack down on the fucking carpet. That’s equality.

JOHN: i guess we should put her somewhere safe, or make sure that she doesn’t wake up any time soon.

A LEGEND

Ok first of all John’s war on compound words is actually meaningful here, since Jade + Roxy + Calliope + alt Calliope total up to a crowd and attract Lord English. They sure did wake up some time. But also, this is the famous spot where I hastily revised the line maybe five minutes before the page went up because it read “make sure she doesn’t wake up” and that was A Little Dark. Gill drew a draw the squad meme to commemorate it.

Aaaand then, past John shows up, sees that there’s no ring, vanishes into Caliborn’s story, fights him, shows up in the Game Over timeline, and comes back. It’s a stable loop where the reason the ring is gone simply changes, which is why there’s no other John we had to kill off in some convoluted way. Lucky him.

DAVESPRITE: were not stuffing your sister in the fridge DAVESPRITE: thats messed up

This was me staring directly at Andrew Hussie through my computer

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #84: “The SWORD and the SORCERESS!”

January, 1971

Good title.

Anyway, Arkon is back. It was only back in #76 we saw him. Geez.

We start off with Black Knight hanging around a nightmare landscape with his rad flying horse.

He’s looking for the Well at the Center of Time because he needs to find out whether he or the Ebony Sword is in charge.

But when he tries to dunk the sword in the well, it stops him. So the sword is in charge. Alas.

But before he can dwell on that, warriors on winged things attack him forcing Black Knight to defend himself. MELODRAMATICALLY.

But then Arkon shows up and kicks Black Knight’s ass with one thunderbolt.

BUT IT WAS ALL A DREAM!

No, not Dane’s. It was Wanda “Scarlet Witch” Maximoff’s dream. For some reason Wanda has dreams about what’s going on with the Black Knight.

Also, she screamed when she woke up, as ya do. So all the Avengers rush in to see if she’s okay, as ya do. What’s weird is that its the middle of the night. She was in pajamas in bed. But they’re all in costume.

Goliath “Clint” is convinced it was just a dream but the others think there might be something to it. So Quicksilver places a call to ENGLAND and speaks with the butler that Dane Whitman has apparently always had.

Although I thought that Dane had his castle moved to America. Did he move it back? How much money does he have??

Anyway, the butler doesn’t know where Dane is. So he might really be in danger!

So Black Panther goes out to pick up Thor.

ELSEWHERE ON ARKON WORLD.

We see that Arkon has teamed up with the Enchantress. So THAT’S where she went when she blew up last issue.

Arkon demands to know what Black Knight’s spy mission was but Dane insists it was just personal business and nunya business.

Arkon has ways of making you talk, though. Y’know, like the mind probe. 100% effective and with no apparent side-effects? But Enchantress insists that she has this one.

And her way of making him talk is to give him a big ol’ smooch and put him under her power. I guess she got over being over men from last issue.

Under the sway of kiss hypnosis, he reveals his deep, personal motives. Back in LONDON, Black Knight was tracking some jewel thieves in a helicopter. But the Ebony Blade briefly took over and made him smash the props so the helicopter started plummeting.

At the last possible moment, he saved the thieves from the copter. But that loss of control causes a crisis of faith and he goes to consult the brazier of ancestors to talk to the first Black Knight, the first wielder of the Ebony Blade.

The first Black Knight knows what troubles him because he had hoped that the millennia would dim the evil power of the blade. But since it hasn’t, HE NEEDS TO TAKE IT TO STONEHEDGE.

At Stonehedge, Dane meets a hooded crone who can send him to where he needs to go. THE WELL AT THE CENTER OF TIME.

And then she just teleports him without so much as a by your leave.

And that’s why he was on Polemachus.

Arkon doesn’t buy it. In fact, he think Enchantress’ kissnosis was a dud. Clearly, the Avengers are out to get him and he must strike first so that he will prevail.

Which he does by having the Enchantress just steal Avengers Mansion to bring to Polemachus. Just before Thor and Black Panther get back.

And when Vision, Goliath, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver pop out of the stolen mansion, they get attacked by Arkon’s legions. And swiftly get their asses kicked because Enchantress is sabotaging their powers.

They get captured and brought in front of Arkon, Enchantress, and Black Knight who is still under kissnosis. The Avengers briefly get umbraged about Black Knight turning against them until Wanda points out that he’s clearly bewitched.

Arkon wants Wanda to renounce the Avengers and become his queen but she declares she’ll die an Avenger.

So Arkon has the Avengers taken away to the tower.

And then Thor and Black Panther show up. Thor starts kicking ass while Black Panther goes looking for the Avengers. He finds them in the tower but there is some kind of will-corroding spell placed on them preventing them from escaping. Its like executive dysfunction, the debuff I guess.

Or I guess not because Black Panther theorizes that the spell makes it so they’ll obey any commands, even his. And he orders Vision to free himself.

And with that, the others are freed too because Vision is a trendsetter.

Meanwhile, Thor is in over his head fighting against both Arkon and Black Knight.

While the Avengers fight a troop, a regiment, a squadron, and a battalion, Scarlet Witch jumps in to help Thor by casting a hex sphere at Arkon.

Enchantress counterspells it but uses so much effort that she drops the kissnosis on Black Knight. And he helps Thor by blocking some of Arkon’s bolts.

And then Arkon and Enchantress flee off panel.

Black Knight chases Arkon and throws his sword to block a thunderbolt. After, the Ebony Blade falls into the Well at the Center of Time and vanishes with a THROOM!

For some reason this makes Arkon realize that Black Knight had been telling the truth and he wasn’t a spy and that the Enchantress had spurred him on. He calls a ceasefire and basically goes ‘my bad, guys.’

The Avengers are in no mood for his shit though. Thor especially has some harsh words.

“Nay -- we have no more stomach for thee! Come, Avengers! Perhaps another day we may speak of peace -- when tempers are cooled! And until that day, Arkon -- stand amidst the ruins of a land laid waste by needless war -- and gain wisdom!”

Or translated from Thor speak: “Go fuck yourself, Arkon.”

Kind of a filler story overall. I’m fairly certain that Black Knight gets the Ebony Blade again so that whole thing was a big nothing. We only saw Arkon a short time ago. And we could have gone more time without seeing Enchantress after she exploded.

Next time: the Squadron Sinister! Remember those guys? The Justice League knock-offs? The Avengers’ roster has changed since then so it will be interesting to see them again.

[romancatholicreflections]

22nd January >> Daily Reflection on Today's Mass Readings for Roman Catholics on Sunday of the Third Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Commentary on Isaiah 8:23-9:3; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13,17; Matthew 4:12-23 THERE ARE THREE DISTINCT PARTS in today’s Gospel reading: a. Jesus, the light of the nations and the fulfilment of Hebrew Testament prophecies. b. A call to total conversion, to live in that light c. Early responses to the call. After the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus moves up north to Galilee. It is his home province. It is where he will begin his public life. John’s “arrest” A note about John’s “arrest”. The verb in the original Greek is paradidomi (), which literally means to “hand over”. This is a theme word which goes right through the Gospel: John the Baptist was handed over – and executed (by King Herod) Jesus was handed over – and executed (by both Jews and Gentiles – he died for all) Many of Jesus’ disciples were handed over – and some were executed (mainly by Gentiles). And this “handing over” has been happening to disciples ever since and down to our own day. Paradoxically, persecution can always be the expected result of living the Gospel of truth and love. At the consecration during every Eucharist, the celebrant says: “Take this all of you and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you.” “Given up” is perhaps a less than ideal translation of the Latin tradetur which means “will be handed over” and is the Latin equivalent of the Greek verb paradidomi. So, in the Eucharist, the Body of Christ is also “handed over” to us. And we, in turn, collectively as the Body of Christ in the Christian community are expected to continue that handing over of ourselves in the service of the Gospel and the promotion of the Kingdom. Nazareth Matthew says that Jesus left his home town of Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, a town in Galilee, which, he tells us, is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee “in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali”. This reminds the evangelist of a prophecy from Isaiah which Matthew now sees being fulfilled. At this time Galilee did not seem an obvious choice for the Messiah’s mission. It was regarded as a ‘remote’ province. (“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”, Nathanael asked with some surprise and cynicism.) It was a rebellious region where even Jews were not noted for their observance of the Law. Yet the prophecy suggests that the Light of the World is to be found in Galilee. Galilee, of all places, is to be the light of the nations? Not for nothing do we speak of a “God of surprises”! But it is precisely in this Galilean town of Capernaum that Jesus, the Messiah, begins his mission. His preaching is summed up in one deceptively simple sentence: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” ‘Preaching’ would be better translated ‘proclaiming’, making an announcement of Good News. Good News What is this “good news”? The Greek eu-angelion (’), from which comes the Latin evangelium, is translated into modern English as “gospel”. This is a variant of the earlier ‘God-Spel’ or ‘good news’. And what is this good news? The Good News is that the “Kingdom of Heaven” is near. “Kingdom of Heaven” can be a very misleading term. To many, it may be identified with “heaven”, the “place up there” where we hope to go to after death, if we have behaved ourselves. In fact, it is important to be aware that the term in this context has far less to do with a future life than with our life here in this world. The other gospels speak more directly of the “kingdom of God” which, in fact, is what Matthew also means. However, Matthew’s gospel was written for a Christian community consisting primarily of converted Jews. In their tradition, they were very reluctant ever to use the name of God directly and so Matthew throughout his gospel speaks of God in indirect ways. One way is to use the term “heaven” or to use the passive voice of a verb, e.g. “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them.” He does not say by whom they are forgiven but God is clearly understood. Again, “kingdom” for us suggests the territory ruled over by a king. The Greek word the evangelists use is basileia () from the word basileus () which means a king. Basileia is better translated as ‘rule’, ‘reign’ or ‘kingship’. It indicates more the power of being a king than the place over which one is king. To be in the kingdom, then, is not to be in a particular place, either in this life or the next. Rather it is to be living one’s life – wherever we are – under the loving power of God. It is to be in a relationship of loving submission to one’s God and Lord and to be in an environment where values like truth, love, compassion, justice, freedom, commmunity, and peace prevail. ‘Repent!’ The way to enter that relationships is, in Jesus’ words, to “repent”. This is the response to Jesus’ call. ‘Repent’ usually means to be sorry for, to regret some wrong actions we have done in the past. Jesus, however, is asking for much more than that. It is a call, not to wipe out the past, which is really not possible, but for a change of direction from now on and into the future. The Greek word which is rendered by many translations as ‘repent’ is metanoia, (). This word implies a radical change in one’s thinking; it means looking at life in a completely new way, making what is now sometimes called a ‘paradigm shift’. This new way of seeing life is spelt out through the whole of the Christian Testament. It is only when we begin to make this radical change that we begin to become part of that Kingdom, that we begin effectively to come under the influence of God’s power in our lives. We begin to see things the way God sees them and our behaviour changes accordingly. The call is not just to be sorry for past sins and not to do them any more. There has to be a complete change of direction, a deep involvement in doing God’s work. That work involves working with others for an end to poverty and destitution, to hunger and joblessness, to communal and religious hatred, to rampant greed, ambition and shameless consumerism and to create a world of love and care – the special attributes of God. The kingdom has not yet arrived. There is still much to be done – right here where we live. And it is a message not just for Catholics or Christians but for people everywhere. The Kingdom goes far beyond the boundaries of the Church and the Kingdom is being realised in many ways in places where Christianity has yet to penetrate. About 80 percent of the world’s population does not know the Gospel of Jesus but that does not mean that the values of the Kingdom are absent. We must learn not to see Christianity or Catholicism in sectarian terms – ‘them’ and ‘us’. The message of Jesus is a vision of life for all humanity and should be communicated as such. First partners After his preaching, Jesus finds the first partners for his work. They are not Pharisees or Scribes, not scholars or influential members of the community but fishermen, who may have been quite illiterate. (In the sense that they could not read or write, although they may well have been steeped in the oral tradition of their Jewish faith – knowing their Hebrew Testament much better than most of us know our New Testament!) It is significant that the call takes place right in their working place. The initiative for the call comes from Jesus. “I chose you, you did not choose me.” For them it means a metanoia, a complete break in their lifestyle. There is a complete letting go. “Immediately they left their nets and followed Jesus.” They put their total trust in Jesus, leaving behind their only means of livelihood, not knowing where it would all lead. Jesus himself had already taken this step in leaving Nazareth, his family and his livelihood as a carpenter. From now on their life would consist not in worrying what they could get and keep but in service to their brothers and sisters, especially those in greatest need. At the same time there is no evidence that they lived in destitution or want. Leaving the tools of the only way of life they had known was to choose to lead a simple lifestyle, only having those things necessary for their sustenance and their work, the new work Jesus was calling them to do. Their security now came from the new lifestyle they were inaugurating, life in a mutually supporting community, where the needs of each one were taken care of. This, in effect, brought a life of greater material, emotional and social security than is found in our individualistic, competitive, rat-race style of survival. One great family They separated from their families not because they did not love them but because, as disciples of Jesus, they realised they belonged to a much larger family. They were learning not only to love their own but to love especially all who were in need of love, care and compassion. In the beginning, their first concern may be family members (early on, Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law) but later on they will give priority to those in greater need, non-family members, foreigners, total strangers, even enemies. To follow Jesus is to belong to a much bigger family. In the Second Reading, too, Paul warns against divisions in the Christian family. It seems that the Christians in Corinth were dividing into factions and identifying themselves with various community leaders: “I am for Paul”, “I am for Cephas (Peter)”; even “I am for Christ”. It is clear that such divisions are harmful. All can only be for one person, the One who suffered, died and rose for them, the One in whose name all of them were baptised – Jesus their Lord. We have, unfortunately, many such divisions among Christians today – “I am a Catholic”, “I am an Anglican… a Lutheran… a Methodist… a Presbyterian…” The list is, alas, endless. This is not the kind of family that Jesus intended. Such a dysfunctional family is not in a good position to give effective witness to the Good News of truth and love and fellowship which Jesus prayed for at the Last Supper (John 17). Today’s call is asking us not just to fit Jesus into our chosen way of living but to fit ourselves into his vision of life. In doing so, we are not making a sacrifice; we are on to a sure winner where we can only gain.

[archergabriella]

What Is The Best Exercise For Premature Ejaculation Surprising Cool Ideas

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Premature Ejaculation Paroxetine

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C247 Premature Ejaculation

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[realestate63141]

Bethesda's Nannies Brace For Government Shutdown

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U.S. embassies are promoting President Trump’s properties — though without a “Plenipotentiary For You and the Kids!” slogan, alas. A Republican Senate campaign confused Washington with Hangzhou, China, so if the campaign doesn’t work out, the candidate probably has a future in Trump’s diplomatic corps. And the president has completed only 30 percent of his 100-day promises, though if you don’t count California, the number is much higher. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, April 24th, 2017:

GOVERNMENT SET TO SHUT DOWN SATURDAY MORNING - As if this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner weren’t already strange enough. Julia Edwards Ainsley: “Should talks fail, the government would shut down on Saturday, Trump’s 100th day in office. Trump, whose national approval rating hovered around 43 percent in the latest Reuters/Ipsos polling, is seeking his first big legislative victory…. The White House says it has offered to include $7 billion in Obamacare subsidies that allow low-income people to pay for health insurance in exchange for Democratic backing for $1.5 billion in funding to start construction of the barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border…. A Republican congressional aide said Democrats may agree to some aspects of the border wall, including new surveillance equipment and access roads, estimated to cost around $380 million. ‘But Democrats want the narrative that they dealt him a loss on the wall,’ the aide said, adding it would be difficult to bring any Democrats on board with new construction on the southwest border.” [Reuters]

HONESTLY, WE THOUGHT IT’D BE LOWER - Congrats to the president! Jill Colvin and Calvin Woodward: “Of 38 specific promises Trump made in his 100-day ‘contract’ with voters — ‘This is my pledge to you’ — he’s accomplished 10, mostly through executive orders that don’t require legislation, such as withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. He’s abandoned several and failed to deliver quickly on others, stymied at times by a divided Republican Party and resistant federal judges. Of 10 promises that require Congress to act, none has been achieved and most have not been introduced. ‘I’ve done more than any other president in the first 100 days,’ the president bragged in a recent interview with AP, even as he criticized the marker as an ‘artificial barrier.’ In truth, his 100-day plan remains mostly a to-do list that will spill over well beyond Saturday, his 100th day.” [AP]

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U.S. EMBASSIES PROMOTE TRUMP PROPERTIES - This makes a certain amount of sense as the United Kingdom is the only country in the world with worse tourists than the United States. Darren Samuelsohn “President Donald Trump isn’t the only one promoting his private Mar-a-Lago club as the ‘winter White House.’ His foreign policy team is doing it too. The State Department and at least two U.S. embassies — the United Kingdom and Albania — earlier this month circulated a 400-word blog post detailing the long history of the president’s private South Florida club, which has been open to dues-paying members since the mid-1990s and is now used by Trump for frequent weekend getaways. He has hosted foreign leaders there twice…. Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) also slammed Trump’s administration, linking to an April 5 tweet from the State Department’s Economic & Business Affairs office that promoted the president’s club by asking: ‘Curious about the President’s winter White House also known as Mar-a-Lago?’” [Politico]

ADMINISTRATION LEVELS NEW SYRIA SANCTIONS - Julie Hirschfeld Davis: “The Trump administration on Monday said it was imposing sanctions on 271 employees of the Syrian government agency that produces chemical weapons and ballistic missiles, blacklisting them from travel and financial transactions in the wake of a sarin attack on civilians this month. The sanctions on members of President Bashar al-Assad’s Scientific Studies and Research Center more than doubles the number of Syrian individuals and entities whose property has been blocked by the United States and who are barred from financial transactions with American people or companies. It seeks to punish those behind this month’s chemical weapons attacks and previous ones carried out by Mr. Assad’s government, senior administration officials said, and to deter others who are contemplating similar actions.” [NYT]

Trump crapped on the United Nations today — and his own ambassador (sort of).

TRUMP FORCING ENTIRE SENATE TO COME TO HIS HOUSE - As power moves go, this one’s a little odd. David Nakamura and Ed O’Keefe: “The White House announced Monday it would host an unusual private briefing on North Korea for the entire U.S. Senate, prompting questions from lawmakers over whether the Trump administration intends to use the event as a photo op ahead of his 100-day mark…. [T]he location at the White House perplexed lawmakers who have grown accustomed to such briefings taking place in a secure location on Capitol Hill, where there is more room to handle such a large group. Past administrations have often held briefings for smaller groups of about two dozen or fewer lawmakers in the White House Situation Room. But they have traditionally sent high-level aides to Capitol Hill to hold discussions with larger groups in secure, underground locations. A senior Trump administration official said the meeting with senators will take place in the auditorium at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the building next to the White House.” [WaPo]

REPUBLICAN LAUNCHES SENATE BID, PROMISES TO REFORM OUR CHINESE CAPITAL - Real estate executive and Republican bundler Jeff Bartos announced today he’s running for Bob Casey’s Senate seat. “Bob Casey’s Washington is booming,” Bartos said in his announcement video, which features scenes of economic decline from Bartos’ hometown of Reading. However one of images that flashes on the screen as Bartos discusses “Bob Casey’s Washington” (at the 29 second mark) is actually a stock image of a construction site in Hangzhou, China, according to this Getty Images page. We welcome our new Chinese overlords and hope to see them at the next Communist Party meeting at Ryan Grim’s house.

SO GLAD WE’RE MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN - But thank God Ivanka and Jared are moderating influences. Michael McLaughlin: “Harassment, vandalism and other hostile acts against Jewish people and sites in the U.S. increased by 34 percent last year and are up 86 percent through the first three months of 2017, according to data released on Monday. A spate of bomb threats against Jewish community centers and schools, and vandalism at Jewish cemeteries in the U.S. this year have contributed to the surge, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s report. There have been more than 100 bomb threats against 75 Jewish community centers and eight Jewish day schools around the country this year through early March.” [HuffPost]

Congratulations to the anti-globalists: “Why Paul Wolfowitz Is Optimistic About Trump” [Politico]  

BEGUN, THE GREAT GOP FLOP SWEAT HAS - Alex Isenstadt: “Republicans say President Donald Trump needs to turn things around fast — or the GOP could pay dearly in 2018. With the party preparing to defend its congressional majorities in next year’s midterms, senior Republicans are expressing early concern about Trump’s lack of legislative accomplishments, his record-low approval ratings, and the overall dysfunction that’s gripped his administration. The stumbles have drawn the attention of everyone from GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson, who funneled tens of millions of dollars into Trump’s election and is relied on to help bankroll the party’s House and Senate campaigns, to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Adelson hasn’t contributed to pro-Trump outside groups since the inauguration, a move that’s drawn notice within the party, and McConnell is warning associates that Trump’s unpopularity could weigh down the GOP in the election.” [Politico]

LOBBYISTS PRETTY AMPED FOR YOU TO BREATHE SMOG - What’s the over/under on industry groups paying prominent fashion designers to include air masks in their next collection?  Alexander Kaufman: “A utility lobbyist called on regulators to do less work monitoring greenhouse gas emissions. An oil and gas lobbyist praised the Trump administration’s retreat from safeguards and urged federal rulemakers to limit regulations on carbon emissions and smog. A lobbyist for wood-product manufacturers complained about the ‘ever-tightening’ public health standards for ozone pollution and asked regulators to change the permitting process. Those were just some of the requests made by industry advocates during a conference call Monday, when the Environmental Protection Agency held the first of several sessions to ask the public which rules should be eliminated under President Donald Trump’s executive order instructing agencies to slash regulations. The three-hour call, held by the Office of Air and Radiation, focused on clean air and ozone pollution rules.” [HuffPost]

IMPORTANT LABOR DEVELOPMENT - Man, the unreleased alternative ending to “Norma Rae” sure got weird. Cora Lewis: “Back in October, 2011, Hernan Perez got chewed out by his boss. We’ve all been there. But Perez, whose workplace was in the midst of a tense unionization campaign, escalated things during his next break by publishing a Facebook post dedicated to his boss: ‘Bob is such a NASTY MOTHER FUCKER don’t know how to talk to people!!!!!! Fuck his mother and his entire fucking family!!!! What a LOSER!!!! Vote YES for the UNION!!!!!!!,’ the post read. Three days later, after the post came to management’s attention, Perez took it down. A little over a week later, following an investigation, he was fired. He’d worked at the company for 13 years. But on Friday, a federal appeals court ruled Perez, like all workers, has the right to call his boss a nasty motherfucker — at least when such speech is part of legally protected statements involving union activity.” [BuzzFeed]

WILL THERE BE HEARINGS NOW? - Lesley Wroughton and Yeganeh Torbati: “Former Fox News anchor and correspondent Heather Nauert will be the new U.S. State Department spokeswoman, the State Department said in a statement on Monday. Nauert was most recently an anchor for Fox News’ morning news show ‘Fox and Friends,’ and previously was a correspondent at ABC News. ‘Heather’s media experience and long interest in international affairs will be invaluable as she conveys the administration’s foreign policy priorities to the American people and the world,’ the statement said.” [Reuters]

OBAMA RETURNS, THANKS YOU FOR YOUR ‘STILL MY PRESIDENT’ FACEBOOK POST - No, he didn’t. He doesn’t care. Marina Fang: “Former President Barack Obama returned to the spotlight on Monday, moderating a civic engagement panel featuring Chicago-area high school and college students and young leaders. ‘So, uh, what’s been going on while I’ve been gone?’ he joked at the start of the event, held at the University of Chicago. The panel discussion was Obama’s first formal public appearance since leaving office in January. It was also a homecoming, as Obama began his political career in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the university for 12 years. He is building his presidential library just south of the campus, in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood, with the involvement of the university and community organizations.” [HuffPost]

BECAUSE YOU’VE READ THIS FAR - Here’s a baby elephant frolicking on the beach.

STUPID RESTAURANT HAS STUPID NAME - It’s a real shame that the cultural mecca of Friendship Heights — the Paris of neighborhoods that abut AU Park — is taking such a hit. Dan Steinberg: “From the moment Tony Kornheiser announced in January that his high-powered group of friends would buy classic Friendship Heights restaurant Chad’s, it was clear that the name would eventually be changed…. Kornheiser announced on his podcast last week that the former Chad’s (formerly Chadwick’s) has been renamed Chatter, effective immediately. The name is both a reference to the restaurant’s new podcasting studio — which he said should be open by May 1 — and to a famous quote about newspapers…. As it turns out, though, I work at a newspaper, and I had never heard of this precise line. So I Googled it to try to source the origins correctly, and I was unable to find the reference. Then I put the beginning of that phrase — ‘Cut the chatter, sweetheart’ — into Nexis. I found six references. All six were Washington Post columns by Tony Kornheiser.” [WaPo]

COMFORT FOOD

- We can’t stop reading the Flat Earth Society’s FAQ page.

- Bowling a perfect game in 90 seconds.

- Don’t mess with the Utah Jazz’s mascot.

TWITTERAMA

@AdamSerwer: What if Mark Halperin was replaced by a bowtied dog named Bark Halperin

@alanalevinson: Folks, can we all settle on one platform for posting our video “stories”? I am exhausted by watching your brunch boomerang three times

@pourmecoffee: @realDonaldTrump Maybe the Saturday rally will fill the hundred-day-hole in your heart.

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