#founder of the world's best book club

[khruschevshoe]

Luis Diaz

Baby, I am America

You been begging for the truth

Truth is I love you even when you get offended

Truth is I love you so come on and split the difference

Baby, I am America

Let me make it crystal clear

We're here

-Shea Diamond, I Am America

Lucy is a function of my queerness. The closest I have ever come to baring my truest self to the world. She has been since my teen years spent trying to find myself in Miami, exploring what queer scene existed in the oceanside city.

Being an artist is about making yourself vulnerable before an audience. It is about exposing yourself. It is about baring your soul.

And the country needed to see mine.

-Kenna Jenkins, Burn the House Down

[mckitterick]

Seek Wonder, Not Happiness

We have so many types of initiatives – self-help books, programs, and even careers – centered around achieving happiness. This is a problem, as it forces us to interpret our experiences through a single – often overrated – emotional lens.

In this video (full transcript at link), Monica Parker argues that we should instead should pursue wonder, which is neither wholly positive nor wholly negative.

Parker likens the feeling of wonder to watching a butterfly emerge from a chrysalis – it is beautiful, complex, and even a little scary. This profound mix of awe, curiosity, and fear, is something that, when achieved, can expand our resilience and deepen our interpretation of the world around us.

The key to wonder? Slowing down. She argues that tuning into our three types of “wonderbringers” – natural, social, and cognitive – and incorporating “slow thought” activities into our lives, can help us be more receptive to wonder and the benefits it provides.

Rather than single-mindedly pursuing happiness, we ought to instead fill our days with things that spark wonder and fuel our curiosity and passions, which can help us overcome emotional barriers and live truly fulfilling, wonder-full lives.

The foundation of speculative fiction (to my mind) is what has long been called "Sensawunda," the opening of doors in the reader's mind they didn't even know were there. Fiction that evokes this sense puts the reader in a position from which they can see humankind from a new perspective.

In fiction, the sense of wonder can lead to conceptual breakthroughs inspired through paradigm shifts or shifts in perspective - time, distance, fantastic worlds, vast or microscopic scales, the Other, and so forth - that lead the audience to see things and even themselves in a fresh light.

In life, this kind of perspective shift can open our minds to the wonders of the cosmos, from its most minute building blocks that shape matter itself to the hidden structure of the universe and beyond into the multiverse. Shifts in perspective are necessary to understanding the natural world as well - science rises from the foundation of sensawunda. Personally, this feeling reveals aspects of the human condition inaccessible to the self-centeredness that can be difficult to see beyond in our mundane lives.

As a child, this is what drew me to watching ant hives do their thing, to reading books about dinosaurs and astronomy, to buying my first telescope to explore the universe first-hand, and to forming a high school science club. Once I discovered it was a thing, seeking the sense of wonder drew me to reading science fiction, then writing it, and eventually teaching it.

Even if I wasn't aware of it, I think seeking the sense of wonder shaped my whole life - it's what brought me to Lawrence, Kansas, in 1992 to begin studying with SF Grand Master James Gunn, then to helping him run his SF Center for decades, and recently to forming the nonprofit Ad Astra Institute for Science Fiction & the Speculative Imagination (@adastra-sf here on Tumblr) to better focus on sharing the sensawunda with others, including helping writers do the same, creating as big a wave of sharing this sense with more people through the fiction my students write.

I hadn't thought of it as an alternative life-path to seeking happiness until reading Parker's piece, but she's onto something important. Happiness is elusive and fleeting, while sensawunda opens the mind and grows our individual universe.

If happiness is what you seek - or at least the absence of unhappiness or freeing yourself from the kind of emptiness that comes with depression or existential dread - seeking the sense of wonder is possibly your best path in life. And far more reliable than directly seeking nebulous "happiness."

Watch those bugs and imagine their lives. Watch birds fly and imagine how the air feels to them as they use it to control their world. Watch meteor showers and picture the billions of years those grains of comets have been orbiting the Sun. Study the layers of sediment laid down over millions of years and touch the fossilized remains of beings who lived long before humans walked this planet. Explore the human world to see new places and meet new people unlike those in your prior world. And, yes, read fiction that shifts your perspective like this wrapped in exciting and compelling narratives.

Open your world to new perspectives, open your mind, open your heart, and feel your soul soar on wings you didn't know you have. Seek the sense of wonder, not because it'll make you happy (though it might), but because you have no idea what you'll find.

And what you discover could be the most wonderful treasure in the universe.

[homomenhommes]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … January 5

1773 – Richard Heber (d.1833) was an English book-collector.

A taste for book collecting was developed in him in childhood. As an undergraduate, he began to collect a purely classical library, but his taste broadening, he became interested in early English drama and literature, and began his wonderful collection of rare books in these departments. Succeeding on the death of his father in 1804 to large estates in Yorkshire and Shropshire, which he considerably augmented, he forthwith devoted himself to the purchase of rare books. Heber was one of the 18 founders in 1812 of the Roxburghe Club of bibliophiles.

He possessed extensive landed property in Shropshire and Yorkshire, and was High Sheriff of the former county in 1821, was Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford University from 1821 to 1826, and in 1822 was made a D.C.L. of that University. He was one of the founders of the Athenaeum Club, London.After ransacking England for books, Heber travelled extensively on the Continent, purchasing everywhere, and leaving large depots of books in Paris, Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, and elsewhere in the Netherlands and Germany. At booksales he sometimes purchased single volumes, sometimes whole libraries. Sir Walter Scott classed Heber's library as "superior to all others in the world." He did not confine himself to the purchase of a single copy of a work which took his fancy. "No gentleman," he remarked, "can be without three copies of a book, one for show, one for use, and one for borrowers." To such a size did his library grow that it overran eight houses, some in England, some on the Continent.

In 1826 he and Charles Henry Hartshorne, a friend he had made through the Roxburghe Club, encountered gossip and innuendo over the nature of their relationship. John Bull magazine hinted in two of its issues that it was homosexual. Heber abruptly left the country; Hartshorne sued John Bull successfully in the courts.

At his death his collection in England was estimated by at 105,000 volumes, exclusive of many thousands on the Continent, the whole having cost more than £180,000. This immense library was disposed of by auction after the owner's death, the sale lasting 216 days and realizing more than £60,000.

After he died the well-founded gossip that he had been homosexual resurfaced.

1907 – Rod Riffler, born Rudolf Ungar, (d.1941) was a Croatian modern dance teacher, choreographer and owner of a dance school in Zagreb, who was killed during the Holocaust.

Riffler was born in Osijek to a Jewish parents, Makso and Ilka (née Lang) Ungar. His father was a merchant born in Osijek. Riffler was raised with two siters, Marie Louise and Marija, and younger brother, Rafael. When he moved from Osijek to Zagreb, Riffler opened a dance school and was one of the best teachers of modern dance at the time.

Riffler was mentor and teacher of Lea Deutsch, the well-known Croatian Jewish child actress. He was also a close friend of Deutsch's mother, Ivka.

Riffler was homosexual. In 1941, when the Ustaše (Croatian Fascists) found out that he was a Jew and homosexual, Riffler was arrested and deported to Jasenovac concentration camp. Riffler died from hunger in the Jasenovac concentration camp. He was 34 years old.

In 2010 Croatian director Branko Ivanda made a film "Lea i Darija - Dječje carstvo" (Lea and Darija - Children's Empire), about the tragic destiny of Lea Deutsch, who died while being shipped to Auscwitz. Rod Riffler was portrayed in the movie by Croatian actor Radovan Ruždjak.

1931 – Alvin Ailey, Jr. (d.1989) was an American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York. Ailey is credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th century concert dance. His company gained the nickname "Cultural Ambassador to the World" because of its extensive international touring. Ailey's choreographic masterpiece Revelations is believed to be the best-known and most often seen modern dance performance.

Ailey was born to his 17-year-old mother, Lula Elizabeth Ailey, in Rogers, Texas. His father abandoned the family when Alvin was only 6 months old. Like many African-Americans living in Texas during the Great Depression, Ailey and his mother moved very often and she had a hard time finding work. Ailey grew up during a time of racial segregation and rumors of violence and lynchings against African-Americans. When Ailey was five, his 22-year-old mother was raped by a group of white men, leaving him afraid of whites. Early experiences in the Southern Baptist church and jook joints instilled in him a fierce sense of black pride that would later figure prominently in Ailey's signature works.

In the fall of 1942, Ailey's mother, like many African Americans, migrated to Los Angeles, California where she had heard there was lucrative work supporting the war effort. Ailey joined his mother later by train, having stayed behind in Texas to finish out the school year. Ailey's first junior high school in California was located in a primarily white school district. As one of the only black students, Ailey felt out of place because of his fear of whites, so the Aileys moved to a predominantly black school district.

Ailey did not become serious about dance until in 1949 his school friend Carmen De Lavallade introduced him to the Hollywood studio of Lester Horton. Horton would prove to be Ailey's major influence, becoming a mentor and giving him both a technique and a foundation with which to grow artistically.

When Horton died in November 1953 the tragedy left the company without an artistic director. The company had outstanding contracts that required and desired new works. When no one else stepped forward, Ailey assumed the role of artistic director. Despite his youth and lack of experience (Ailey was only twenty-two and had choreographed only one dance in a workshop) he began choreographing, directing scene and costume designs, and running rehearsal. Not finding another mentor, he began creating works of his own.

Ailey formed his own group, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, in 1958. The group presented its inaugural concert on March 30, 1958. Notable early work included Blues Suite, a piece deriving from blues songs. Ailey's choreography was a dynamic and vibrant mix growing out of his previous training in ballet, modern dance, jazz, and African dance techniques. Ailey insisted upon a complete theatrical experience, including costumes, lighting, and make-up. A work of intense emotional appeal expressing the pain and anger of African Americans, Blues Suite was an instant success and defined Ailey's style.

For his signature work, Revelations, Ailey drew upon his "blood memories" of Texas, the blues, spirituals, and gospel. These forces resulted in the creation of his most popular and critically acclaimed work. Ailey originally intended the dance to be the second part of a larger, evening-length survey of African-American music which he began with Blues Suite.

Ailey was openly gay and is one of the most prominent gay Black men in American history. According to Black gay activist Keith Boykin, this is rarely acknowledged in the Black community due to the stigma surrounding homosexuality. For a time during the 1950s, Ailey was romantically linked with political activist David McReynolds. Ailey died in 1989 at the age of 58. To spare his mother the social stigma of his death from AIDS, he asked his doctor to announce that he had died of terminal blood dyscrasia

1942 – The Spanish novelist Terenci Moix had a fascination for the ordinary combined with beautifully wrought language, and a love of good living, honed by lonely hours struggling for literary perfection. His Onades sobre una roca deserta, (Waves On A Desolate Rock) won the 1968 Pla prize.

The following year, he published El dia que va morir Marilyn (The Day That Marilyn Died), which became the talisman-book of his generation. This famous novel follows two Barcelona families from before the Spanish civil war to the new freedoms of the 1960s.

Moix was born to a lower middle-class family in Barcelona's old city, and christened Ramon. In the bitter years after the civil war, he grew up in the Plaza del Peso de la Paja (straw-weighing square). El peso de la paja also means the "weight of wanking" – the sort of double entendre that Moix adored – and, in the 1990s, became the title of his three-volume autobiography.

He left school at 14, and fled from his parents' rows to live for several years in Paris, London and Rome. Abroad, he met 1960s pop culture, which reaffirmed the value of the world of films he had escaped into as a child. He became, too, a man of formidable knowledge and culture – a linguist, an opera-lover and an Egyptologist.

Moix chose early to live his life as freely as possible. He returned to Barcelona in the mid-1960s to become openly (and illegally) homosexual, irreverently exhibitionist, scandalous and obscenely witty. Some say he named himself Terenci after the young Terence Stamp.

In 1986, he won the Planeta prize with No digas que fue un sueño (Don't Say It Was A Dream), a reworking of the story of Antony and Cleopatra. This sold more than a million copies, and brought him mass popularity. It is a book of lyrical, rich language, peppered with mordant darts of irony and laughing vulgarity.

Four more novels on ancient Egypt followed, culminating in El arpista ciego (The Blind Harpist, 2002). He was wont to say, with a rich camp chuckle, that he had been left by seven lovers, so took refuge in frequent visits to Egypt – first in the 1960s – and a vast collection of videos. Egypt and films were the loves that never betrayed him.

Moix lived life on his own terms. Transgressing society's norms, he found that masses of people ended up loving him for his freedom and integrity. His best books are landmarks in modern Spanish literature.

He died in 2003 aged 61 from emphysema.

1943 – On this date the famed Dutch soccer referee Ignace Van Swieten was born (d. 2005), He was born in a Japanese POW camp near Semarang in Indonesia, a Dutch colony at the time.

Van Swieten was openly Gay at a time when it was not accepted in professional sports. Hell it's still tough. According to a 2009 poll conducted by the Dutch football magazine, Magazine Voetbal International, 33% of professional football players in the Dutch league expressed the notion that if a footballer came out of the closet, he wouldn't have a life anymore. Twenty-five percent believe that homosexuality will always be a taboo. Sixty percent feel that there is no place for homosexuals in Dutch football. Only eleven players said that they do not consider it a taboo anymore.

Van Swieten received a lot of hatred from players and fans alike, including an attack with a hammer, but is now considered a great figure in Dutch Football and a valued teacher to other players. He was also a teacher at the KNVB Academy, the Educational Department of the Royal Netherlands Football Association. He died of lung disease in 2005.

1965 – Robert Beachy, born in Aibonito, Puerto Rico, is associate professor of history at Underwood International College at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. He formerly taught at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1998. Beachy specializes in the intellectual and cultural history of Germany and Europe, and is known for his work on the history of sexuality in the Weimar Republic, under the Nazis, and in Germany after the Second World War.

In 2009, Beachy was named a fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for his research on homosexuality in Nazi Germany. Beachy's work also has received support from the Huntington Library, the National Humanities Center, the Max Planck Institute for History, the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the American Philosophical Society.

In 2015, his work "Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity" was named a Stonewall Honor Book in Non-Fiction by the American Library Association.

1984 – Ryan O'Meara, born in Houston, Texas, is an American ice dancer. With partner Jamie Silverstein, he is a 2006 Olympian. Following his retirement from competitive skating, he began working full-time as a coach and an interior designer.

O'Meara competed on the novice and junior levels with Melissa Ralph and Lia Nitake, having some success with them both. He won four straight medals at the U.S. Championships on the novice and junior levels between 1999 and 2002, two with Ralph and two with Nitake. He competed with Lydia Manon from 2003 to 2005. With Manon, he won the bronze medal at the 2005 U.S. Championships and at the 2005 Four Continents, following which Manon decided to end the partnership.

He began training with Jamie Silverstein, a former World Junior Champion with Justin Pekarek, in April 2005. They were coached by Igor Shpilband and Marina Zueva in Canton, Michigan. Silverstein and O'Meara had sudden success. They were sent as a host entry to the 2005 Skate America, their first international competition together as a team, and placed 5th.

They won the bronze medal at the 2006 U.S. Championships, which qualified them for the 2006 Winter Olympics and the 2006 Four Continents Championships. They competed at the Four Continents and placed 6th.

At the Olympics, they placed 18th in the compulsory dance, 16th in the original dance, and 18th in the free dance, placing 16th overall out of 23 teams. They chose not to compete at the 2006 World Championships. U.S. pewter medalists Morgan Matthews and Maxim Zavozin were sent in their place.

In the spring of 2006, Silverstein and O'Meara announced they would be taking time off from competitive skating. Their partnership ended soon after and O'Meara retired from competitive skating.

O'Meara works as a coach. He owns an interior design business called "Palavela Home", which is named after the Palavela, the venue for the figure skating competition at the Olympics. O'Meara is openly gay

1988 – Raleigh, North Carolina enacts a gay rights ordinance. Raleigh is the hometown of the famous homophobe Jesse Helms.

[therainbowfishy]

Small Press Roundup!

As I was making my silly little 2022 book gift guide, I thought I’d round up some (teeny tiny, small, and medium) indie presses to go support this season and beyond. Small press books make especially great gifts since your book-loving friends and family are less likely to already have read them.

Enchanted Lion Books - Beautiful, unique, and translated picture books for kids and adults with more experimental sensibilities. I recommend the Chirri & Chirra books and Sato the Rabbit, A Sea of Tea.

Candlewick Press - If you’re a fan of Jon Klassen and the hat books (or Mac Barnett or Carson Ellis--the group behind the Picture Book Manifesto), you’ve already heard of this publisher, but they do make outstanding children’s books.

Small Beer Press - Speculative fiction fans, run over to Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant’s incredible, weird, magic book factory. I recommend In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan for the fantasy fans or anything by Elizabeth Hand.

Two Dollar Radio - Their books are cute in trim size and weird in content--the ideal combination. You can also join their tattoo club and get 10 free books. Their lobby/HQ/bookshop/cafe seems like a dream.

Hub City Press - Poetry, fiction, and nonfiction with a focus on promoting diverse stories and underrepresented voices in the South. Novels are more conventional and historical. Good, bleak poetry and thoughtful, specific nonfiction.

Night Boat Books - A bit more on the esoteric side. Their books would be great for academics and poets and anyone interested in queer studies or works in translation.

Wave Books - A poetry press with gorgeous books and lit crit. I recommend Bluets by Maggie Nelson (her other books are published by Graywolf, keep scrolling).

Dorothy - A tiny feminist publisher of fiction or about fiction founded by author Danielle Dutton (check out Wild Milk by Sabrina Orah Mark or The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington for some surreal, dreamlike times).

Feminist Press - Books with a focus on gender, sexuality, and marginalized voices. (Margot Atwell, publisher/editor, has a newletter On the Books, for publishing nerds out there who want to hear a fresh perspective on what’s up with this convoluted industry.)

Tin House - Eclectic--both literary and commercial. I recommend Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett.

Milkweed Editions - Nature lovers, these books are for you. Milkweed is also Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s publisher. I recommend Bright Dead Things and her newest collection, The Hurting Kind.

Graywolf Press - Want more Maggie Nelson? Or Carmen Maria Machado? Or experimental printing like Telephone by Percival Everett with its 3 versions? It’s all happening in the Minnesota literary world (I’m serious).

Coffee House Press - Also part of the Minnesota book group. Their books are on the experimental and readable side.

Catapult/Counterpoint/Soft Skull - These presses are sisters. You’ve definitely seen these books around--they do hit the bestseller list and are stacked in neat piles at all the best indie bookshops. Danielle Dutton’s (founder of Dorothy, mentioned above) book Margaret the First is published by Catapult.

50 Watts Books - Surreal reprints of older books in stunning colors; the curation of their bookshop is also impeccable and unique.

McSweeney’s - If you have a lowbrow/highbrow sense of humor and enjoy satire, these books are for you. They also publish the creative magazine for creative kids, Illustoria.

Nobrow Press/Flying Eye Books - UK based press for comic and bright color lovers of all ages. I recommend the Hilda series by Luke Pearson and Hicotea by Lorena Alvarez. Katie Harnett’s and Simona Ciraolo’s picture books are also wonderful.

Pioneer Works - This is the book intersection for art, tech, design, music, and science. I recommend Notes on My Dunce Cap by Jesse Ball for (arts) teachers or anyone interested in pedagogy.

[saintvitusdancexd]

Christian borle quotes

“Why does every leading man have to be barrel chested and have a chin, isnt there room for the chinless men”

“Oh. He’s praying”

“Ai ai! Oompa-loompa-loo ca ca cao cao oompa-loompa want it now now now Ai ai ai ai! oompa-loompa wanna chew chew chew”

“Towards the boobs”

“Bobby canavale and I hugged in a way which suggested that we both dated Sutton foster”

Interviewer: what’s a sweet treat that you cannot resist? “Kristin Chenoweth?”

“I have been using it in real life and let me tell you the bend and snap works very well”

“Drinking :)”

“You weren’t just rude to these nice people you were rude to me”

“I saw the elephant man too early in my life”

“I was president and co-founder of the Ed grimley club”

“She was really discovering a whole new world in her bonnet”

“The rock star of 1595”

*talking about a conversation he had with the casting person for legally blonde* “she told me Your emmet isn’t handsome, to which I thought oh that’s great :(, and he said, and I told her, that’s the point🙄”

“That’s not water”

“She was that wicky wacky hula hula honka wonka Honolulu
Hawaiian honey of mine
When I saw her in the hut
She was cracking coconuts
With a crazy kind of rhythm double-time
I'm gonna build a little wicky wacky ticky tacky
Sugar shacky love nest out of pine
For that wicky wacky hula hula honka wonka Honolulu
wicky wacky hula hula honka wonka Honolulu
Hawaiian honey of mine”

“God how the young- your smoking pot now aren’t you”

“Just basically thrust everything that has been given to me by nature in their faces for like three minutes straight”

Interviewer: how do you not fall in love with Andrew Rannels? “You just do, that’s the easy part, that’s the best part”

“I vote we use the cock sock to keep the white wine cold”

“BOOK NOOK”

Interviewer: what’s your spirit animal? “This is a two part answer, first is, it would be a toad. The second is, a rabid coyote”

“Half of my work is just turning around and shaking what the good lord gave me”

“He was a Tony nominee which I was before I won a tony”

“ I almost liked you in that last scene way to go”

“ im going to start with a slight loofa, im going to Segway maybe have myself a glass of champagne, I’ll do a very light foundation that you won’t be able to see the whole point is that it doesn’t look like im wearing makeup, I’ll probably drag a flat iron through my hair, i think im going to wear two different undershirts, one for luck and one for sweat, I’ll then get into my suit, then get out of my suit so that I can eat, i don’t wanna spill anything on it, pick a tie, then double think the tie, then triple think the tie then go with my original tie, put on my shoes and walk out the door, simple”

Interviewer: maybe the leather pants “no I pretty much enjoy them too”

“@naightyjack-a-nape it dost confound to think such a knavish iron-witted dog-ape like Christian borle is popular with anyone but the whores and groundlings”

“Booze”

“I don’t find it awkward changing pants I do it every day”

Interviewer: I thought you shaved your head for this role “ I sure did” so then why do you have hair there? “Just shut up”

“Seriously I just urinated all over my pants and this couch”

“I’m learning how his hips move”

Interviewer: what does it look like when your trying to resist it “well that’s how I lost my hair”

“You couldn’t hate me, I’m, im too lovable”

“Whizzer a supposed to always be here, making dinner, set to screw, that’s what pretty boys should do”

“Shalom from hell”

“Those two tigers who ended up eating Siegfried and Roy were talented too”

“Or I could just gouge my own eyes out”

“The world is better with you in it, just not my world”

“And for your information, homophobe, that critic wasnt in your pocket, he was having sex with your father”

“I felt like a little boy, in an arena of men and women”

“I love you, as much as I am able, considering wealthy, considering your poor”

“IS MY GIRL GORGEOUS”

“Then he caught a chicken disease, called cockodoodleitis”

“Green eggs and ham, green eggs and fuckin ham”

“I like to look at tall men in mesh shorts”

“You wake up one morning with hair on your balls, and suddenly you think I don’t exist”

“I haven’t worn deodorant in a decade”

“It’s just a bit of windy”

“Other shin”

“Cock sock talk with jack Davenport”

Who’s dick is in the microwave, is that what we’re playing already?”

“Less Karen’s parents, more gay sex”

“I bet your milkshake brings all the boys to the yard but I’m not interested”

“It helps that in real life I am just a raging narcissist”

[dreamings-free]

Pollstar Staff | 11/1/24

Following a massively successful year with record-setting box office tallies and Taylor Swift’s highest-grossing tour of all time  — what’s next for the live biz in 2024? Pollstar’s editorial staff offers predictions.

Live Growth Spurt May Slow The live industry saw unprecedented growth in 2023 with a massive 46% growth YoY for the Top 100 Tours, according to Pollstar Boxoffice reports. 2024 should be another strong year — but perhaps not a great one. Though the U.S. economy showed promising signs with GDP increasing 4.9% in Q3, the total household debt spiked to $17.29 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve, though inflation continues to outpace salaries. Consumers may think twice before clicking the checkout box and adding another credit card charge, which may decrease ticket sales following live’s record-setting year.  – Oscar Aréliz

Reunions, Farewells & Mega-Fests It’s hard to put the genie back in the bottle, so the industry as a whole will get creative to continue the upward momentum of recent years. Expect more seemingly unlikely reunions, farewells that may not actually be final (cough, cough), and additional legs of tours that seemed like one-time affairs. Also, don’t be surprised if the mega-festival trend (When We Were Young, Power Trip, etc), continues to gather steam to the point of becoming a whole new category of yearly event.  – Ryan Borba

Ticketing: Same As It Ever Was With mounting public pressure, grandstanding politicians and supreme supernova demigoddess Taylor Swift aligning for the cause of ticketing reform, in the coming year one can expect little to change. That’s because tickets are money, whether artists, their teams, promoters, venues or ticketers keep prices low, outsmart bots, include all-in pricing, shut out the secondary or sell on the side, capitalists always gonna capitalize. – Andy Gensler

Sphere’s Innovations Break Out Many of the innovations that make Sphere so groundbreaking are likely to start trickling out to the world. Don’t expect to see 16K LED screens that stretch around concertgoers at your local arena any time soon, but it’s not a stretch that the beamforming sound system Holoplot created for Sphere becomes scalable enough for broader expansions and artists who already embrace innovation are likely to make bids at recreating Sphere’s already legendary immersive experience at other venues (as best they can). – J.R. Lind

More Protest Songs More artists will pen anti-war songs, including showing support for innocent civilians in various conflicts. We’ll also hear other politically-minded songs, such as tunes concerning women’s rights — along with more live events booked to benefit those in need and support causes near and dear to artists’ hearts, like 2022’s Love Rising Nashville organized in support of the LGBTQ+ community. Plus, it’s an election year. – Sarah Pittman

Indies Go Back To The Future Independent operators may remain fiercely competitive but, with the establishment of trade groups NIVA and NITO, a greater spirit of collaboration has emerged in the wake of COVID. In some cases, onetime rivals – including clubs and promoters – are teaming to share resources to lift all boats, while Brian Becker’s LiveCo brought together five indie promoters to expand existing partnerships with entertainment platforms to create new, innovative projects. Expect this trend to continue.  – Deborah Speer

Cloning Technology Arrives Insomniac Events founder/CEO Pasquale Rotella manages to find a scientific breakthrough getting one step closer to cloning himself by 2030. This opens doors for agents and promoters to attend all their events at once, and for artists to play multiple shows at the same time. – Ariel King

[daimonclub]

English culture guide map

English culture guide map English culture guide map, a quick reference navigation guide of this blog, the world of English, to give the visitors a rapid view of the different contents. English Culture blog summary pages | The World of English (english-culture.com) -- Advertising & Media -- Anecdotes & Quotes -- Arts and Crafts -- Blogs and bloggers -- Carl William Brown -- Celebrities & Gossip -- Copyright & Privacy -- Daimon Club -- E-books Promotion -- Education first -- Entertainment -- Essays with Quotes -- Facebook & Twitter -- Finance & Trading -- Fashion & Life Style -- Fort Attack Project -- Gastronomy & Food -- Grammar and Tests -- Health & Wellness -- Humor & Jokes -- Information News -- Knowledge & Culture -- Language & Grammar -- Literature & Life -- Marketing & SEO -- Music & Dancing -- News & Events -- Philosophy -- Photo Galleries -- Poetry & Poets -- Proverbs & Sayings -- Quotes by Authors -- Quotes by Arguments -- Reading & Writing -- Science World -- Sponsors & Partners -- Stupidity Struggle -- Technology -- Tourism & Travel -- Thoughts & Opinions -- Video Galleries -- Visual Quotes -- World of English https://www.english-culture.com/the-world-of-english/ The World of English is a website dedicated to exploring the language, culture, varieties, and future of English. It provides information on the history of English, its influence on other languages, its use in different fields, and its status as an international language. It also provides resources for learning, practicing, and improving English, as well as advice on using the internet and marketing strategies. https://www.english-culture.com/entertainment/ Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousands of years specifically for the purpose of keeping an audience’s attention. "What masque? What music? How shall we beguile the lazy time, if not with some delight?" William Shakespeare https://www.english-culture.com/web-software-guide/ Web software guide links. This page contains a complete collection of links to the most useful software online, both old, new and future, with many AI applications and tools for every purpose, use and enjoyment.

Video shorts quotes https://www.english-culture.com/photo-galleries/ Great photo links to the most famous and useful website that offer free images. Photo Galleries by English-culture on Instagram, pictures, photographs, images and quotes by the Daimon Club Crew, Fort Attack and Carl William Brown founder of The world of English and Aforismi Celebri. The image of life is but the negative of that photograph that will only be developed by death. Carl William Brown https://www.english-culture.com/video-shorts-quotes/ Video shorts quotes, a post where you can find video shorts of various character also created with AI reciting various quotes and aphorisms by Carl William Brown. The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. Thomas Stearns Eliot ~ We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid. Benjamin Franklin ~ The most intelligent recedes. The world domination of stupidity is based on this sad truth. https://www.english-culture.com/quotes-world/ Quotes World is a website that provides quotes and aphorisms from famous authors, philosophers, and other influential people. It also provides information on the history and meaning of aphorisms, as well as advice on how to choose the best quotes and aphorisms. Quotes World also offers a variety of topics, such as freedom of speech, happiness, life, love, and more. From this page you can reach other sections, such as quotes by authors, quotes by arguments, and quotes by Carl William Brown

Daimon Club Organization https://www.english-culture.com/100-best-quotes/ 100 best quotes and aphorisms by great and famous authors and writers edited for the World of English blog by Carl William Brown. Quotes include: "In tristitia hilaris, in hilaritate tristis" by Giordano Bruno, "The path to paradise begins in hell" by Dante, "We fight against three giants, my dear Sancho: “injustice, fear, and ignorance”" by Miguel de Cervantes, "Never accept an inferior position to anyone" by Miyamoto Musashi, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life" by Zig Ziglar, "We learn from history that we do not learn from history" by Friedrich Hegel, "All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal" by John Steinbeck, "Everywhere I go I find that a poet has been there before me" by Sigmund Freud, and "Smart people learn from everything and everyone, but stupid people already have all the answers" by Socrates. https://www.english-culture.com/ai-guide-to-web-resources/ A guide to the many AI resources available on the internet, including databases, general resources, texts, chats, software, books, services, voice and music, images, graphics, videos, online tools, and games. It includes links to websites such as The World of English, There's An AI For That, Andi Search, Perplexity Open Search, Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, Ahrefs, QuillBot, Books.Google.com, InstaText, DoNotPay, Notion, AISEO, Natural Readers, Eleven Labs, Descript, Riffusion, Stable Diffusion, D-ID, Brandmark, MyCharacter, Beautiful.ai, Zoomscape, Waymark, Tome, AITWO, Durable, ToWords, Sloyd, AI Dungeon, and AWS. https://www.english-culture.com/daimon-club-organization/ Daimon Club is a cultural association founded in 1997 by Carl William Brown to promote his literary works. It is a virtual meeting place made up of more than seven hundred pages, concerning almost every sort of subject. The name “Daimon” has a Greek origin and means “genius” or “spirit”. The main goal of the association is to improve communication abilities and to promote surrealism. The organization offers various services such as cultural research, free exchange of promotional links, translations, and consultations. It also sponsors campaigns against HIV virus and AIDS, and encourages dialogue between the two cultures, humanities and science. The Daimon Club also has a project to create an international operating center for the organization.

The Royal Society https://www.english-culture.com/proverbs-and-sayings/ Proverbs and sayings are wise words of wisdom that have been passed down through generations. They are often short and simple, and express a truth based on the practical experience of humankind. These great quotes can be used to express both the wisdom and the stupidity of different cultures and peoples. They are often used to give advice and guidance, and can be found in literature, poetry, and everyday speech. https://www.english-culture.com/origin-of-proverbs/ Proverbs are ancient words of wisdom that have been passed down through generations in many cultures. They are typically short, pithy sayings that express a general truth or moral lesson. They are often found in the Bible, Aesop's Fables, and other works of literature. They can be used to teach moral lessons, provide inspiration, and serve as a practical guide to living a better life. https://www.english-culture.com/autonomous-learning/ Successful language learning entails learner motivation, cooperation and empathy. This approach places emphasis on learner development. Autonomous learning is the process of learning without relying on formal education systems. It involves self-motivation, self-monitoring, and self-assessment. It can be done through reading books, exploring the world, and engaging in activities that promote self-learning. This process can be enhanced through peer-checking, producing materials, and reflecting on usage. It is important to provide learners with tips and assistance when needed, and to avoid “denouncing” them for making mistakes.

Finance and Trading https://www.english-culture.com/english-grammar-summaries/ English grammar is a complex and confusing set of rules based on Latin, with many variations in dialects and regional differences. It is important to understand the rules of grammar and to treat the English language with respect as an intricate tool. Quotes from various authors are provided to illustrate the importance of grammar and the complexity of the English language. A list of resources is provided to help with learning English grammar, vocabulary, and usage. From this page you can reach a lot of others posts and links about the English language, its grammar with lots of tests. https://www.english-culture.com/anecdotes-quotes/ Anecdotes and quotes are a great way to learn about English culture and the world. Famous writers and characters have told and narrated a lot of great works of art using this literary form. Some famous anecdotes of this page include the conversation between a mother and daughter, the story of Picasso, the story of the Michigan Grayling. Isaac D'Israeli's book A Dissertation On Anecdotes is a great resource for learning more about anecdotes and quotes. https://www.english-culture.com/literature-life/ Literature and life are closely intertwined. Literature can be used to teach, move, and entertain. It can also be used to transcend reality and provide insight into the human experience. There are many resources available to explore literature, such as Anna's Archive, PDF Drive, and WORLD BOOKS IN THE NET. Additionally, there are many quotes and aphorisms on books, poetry, and literature available to explore.

Britannica Online https://www.english-culture.com/thoughts-and-opinions/ Thoughts and opinions, ideas, reflections, intellectual speculations and considerations on different literary and social cultural topics by various and famous authors shaped on their cultural experiences. Quotations from influential people can be used to create valuable speech and writing. Quotations can help to express ideas better, evoke emotions, and show knowledge. Quotations can be used to discuss topics such as religion, philosophy, language, history, anthropology, astronomy, literature, poetry, and love. https://www.english-culture.com/great-philosophy-quotes/ Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language. Ludwig Wittgenstein. If you don’t like my principles, I ‘ve got others. Groucho Marx. To be is to be perceived. (Esse est percipi). Bishop George Berkeley. The aim of philosophy is to show the fly the way out of the bottle. Great philosophy quotes include: "The secret to happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible," by Bertrand Russell; "We feel that even if all possible scientific questions be answered, the problems of life have still not been touched at all," by Ludwig Wittgenstein; "The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing," by Socrates; "The aim of philosophy is to show the fly the way out of the bottle," by Ludwig Wittgenstein; "The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once," by Albert Einstein; and "The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy," by Steven Weinberg. https://www.english-culture.com/poetry-and-poems/ Poetry is an ancient and widespread art form that has its origins in the communal expression of the religious spirit. It is a form of imaginative literary expression that makes its effect by the sound and imagery of its language. It is characterized by compression, extensive use of imagery, and a strong emotional component. It covers a wide range of topics, from hymns and lullabies to love songs and political satires. It is often used as a form of communication or instruction, but it is also an art form in its own right. It has been adapted to many different cultures and times, and technological advances have made it possible to preserve any poem.

Autonomous learning https://www.english-culture.com/essays-with-quotes/ Essays with quotes. This article provides a list of classic essays and speeches from some of the world's greatest authors, including Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf, George Ade, Susan B. Anthony, Robert Benchley, Joseph Conrad, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ben Hecht, Ernest Hemingway, Martin Luther King Jr., Jack London, H.L. Mencken, Christopher Morley, George Orwell, Dorothy Parker, Bertrand Russell, Margaret Sanger, George Bernard Shaw, Henry David Thoreau, James Thurber, Anthony Trollope, Mark Twain, H.G. Wells, and Walt Whitman. https://www.english-culture.com/latin-influence-in-the-english-language/ Latin influence in the English Language and vocabulary through the centuries. Latin has had a significant influence on the English language, with estimates of native words (derived from Old English) ranging from 20%–33%, and the true percent of native words used in everyday spoken and written English actually ranging from 75%–90%. A computerized survey of about 80,000 words in the old Shorter Oxford Dictionary (3rd ed.) estimated the origin of English words as follows: Langue d'oïl, including French and Old Norman: 28.3%; Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%; Germanic languages: 25%; Greek: 5.32%; No etymology given: 4.03%; Derived from proper names: 3.28%; All other languages: less than 1%. English has borrowed extensively from Latin, with loanwords dating from the period before the Germanic tribes invaded England, and continuing throughout the Old and Middle English periods. Read the full article

[satoshi-mochida]

Dungeon Travelers: To Heart 2 in Another World for PC launches February 14, 2024

Gematsu Source

Dungeon RPG Dungeon Travelers: To Heart 2 in Another World will launch for PC via Steam and Johren on February 14, 2024 for $19.99, publishers Shiravune and DMM Games, and developer AQUAPLUS announced. It will support English, Japanese, and Traditional Chinese language support.

Here is an overview of the game, via Shiravune:

About

Recruit a huge cast of friends from four different base classes that branch into over a dozen variations, and always build the best party for the job! Explore one long, twisting dungeon that only gets more perilous the further you go, with plenty of optional quests and side areas to unlock! The original Dungeon Travelers game takes place in a separate world from the others, drawing characters instead from the fan-beloved world of the PlayStation 2 anime classic To Heart 2.

Prepare at the Guild – Whenever you stop for a respite from exploring, you can identify your new gear, reequip and restructure your team, or even upgrade your characters’ classes along branching paths!

Explore the Dungeon – The Auto-Map function will fill in the grid with each step, letting you know where you are and where you’ve been. Be careful, though! Don’t try to go too far at once…

Battle and Collect Monsters – The deeper you delve into the dungeon, the more dangerous the monsters will become. You’ll need tactics to counter each new threat—and what better way to get to know your foes than by weakening them and sealing them into your book for study?

Strategize and Win – With every battle you’ll amass more gold, EXP, and items. It’s up to you whether to press on, or to head back outside to power up for later!

Story

When I awoke, there was fantasy stuff everywhere… What kind of adventure could be in store? And will there be any way home when it’s all said and done?! It all started after class in the student council room. Takaaki and all his friends had been gathered to test some unquestionably suspicious if not downright dangerous game—or “full-body immersive RPG experience,” in the words of its inimitable creator Ma-ryan. The play-test was only questionably voluntary. The game started to launch. A bright flash filled the room… When Takaaki opened his eyes, he was somewhere he didn’t recognize. His friends Konomi and Tamaki were kitted out in full fantasy gear, and when he looked more closely, he realized he was too. Were they in the game? Forget that—how would they get out? Only one lead presented itself. “In the depths of the dungeon located nearby, there lives the god who created this world…” But who could it be? In search of more clues and hopefully some answers, the party set out into the dungeon…

Characters

Konomi Yuzuhara (voiced by Yurina Hase) – Takaaki’s childhood friend, one year younger, who lives next door. She’s fond of fortune-telling and food and has a dog named Genjimaru. Likes to look after people but isn’t much good at it.

Tamaki Kousaka (voiced by Shizuka Ito) – One year older than Takaaki and Konomi, she was always the boss of their motley crew. The heiress of an old family, skilled at cooking, cleaning, martial arts, and academia. Her hobbies include antiques collecting and historical dramas. Very bad with dogs.

Manaka Komaki (voiced by Noriko Rikimaru) – Takaaki’s classmate and class president. Formerly the class vice president. As a big snacker, she’s turned a certain storage area into a secret tea room. She isn’t very assertive, but has been friends with Yuma since middle school.

Karin Sasamori (voiced by Saki Nakajima) – A girl who loves paranormal phenomena… and also egg sandwiches. Blessed with boundless curiosity and energy, but doesn’t look before she leaps. The founder and fearless leader of the Mystery Club. Join today!

Sango Himeyuri (voiced by Sayori Ishizuka) – Ruri Himeyuri’s older twin sister. One year under Takaaki. A genius at computers and a major fan of red bean butter bread. Lives at her own pace, doing what she wants, when she wants.

Ruri Himeyuri (voiced by Konami Yoshida) – Sango Himeyuri’s younger twin sister. One year under Takaaki. Emotional and unacademic, she practices jealousy and stubbornness as art forms. On the other hand, she’s good at housework, and loves Sango more than anyone.

Yuma Tonami (voiced by Hitomi Nabatame) – A girl who sees everything as a contest: You can win or lose, and she wants to win. She’s constantly challenging Takaaki, but almost never comes out on top. She must have been born under an unlucky star. Most things she does backfire.

Lucy Maria Misora (voiced by Rio Natsuki) – A space alien from Planet Luu, the third planet orbiting 47 Ursae Majoris… or is she? She’s certainly an odd girl, with her own language and the power to get drunk on soda. Attends classes only when she feels like it, but no one seems to mind.

Yuki Kusakabe (voiced by Rina Sato) – An old classmate of Takaaki’s who thinks everything “seems like fate.” Never seen without the fancy notebook that she seems to carry everywhere. Likes black tea, though it burns her tongue. Seems to be primarily nocturnal?

Sasara Kusugawa (voiced by Ryoko Ono) – The student council president, formerly the vice president under Ma-ryan. Afflicted by a strange condition that causes her body to reject food made with love. An unabashed aficionado of soft and slimy animals.

Ma-ryan (voiced by Ema Kogure) – Real name: Unknown. Age: 14 forever in her heart. Moonlights as a voice actress. Even post-graduation, she comes and goes in the student council office like she owns the place. The definition of a troublemaker. Full of mischief and mysteries.

Harumi Kouno (voiced by Kotomi Yamakawa) – A girl who transferred in one day and started calling Takaaki “Darling.” Her true name is HMX-17b Milfa, and she was previously in the body of a teddy bear. She’s always arguing with her little sister Silfa.

HMX-17c Silfa (voiced by Harumi Sakurai) – The youngest of the three maid sisters has a distinctive speech impediment. With a phobia of human interaction, she hides in a cardboard box when she’s upset. The maid uniform she always wears comes courtesy of Yuji.

Chie Yoshioka (voiced by Kaori Ota) – Konomi’s close friend, nicknamed Yocchi. She’s known Konomi since middle school and Michiru Yamada since kindergarten. Bright and cheerful—and also weird and kind of nosy, but a good person at heart.

Michiru Yamada (voiced by Akira Kasahara) – Konomi’s close friend, nicknamed Charu. She’s known Konomi since middle school and Chie Yoshioka since kindergarten. Normally collected and wryly witty, but her family’s work is weighing on her lately.

Ikuno Komaki (voiced by Chiro Kanzaki) – Manaka Komaki’s little sister. She normally uses a wheelchair. Always worried about her sister’s trusting nature, she’s keeping a close eye on Takaaki, whom her sister is fond of. Cynical and often bitingly sarcastic.

Nanako (voiced by Kayo Sakata) – An innocent girl who loves Takaaki, or “Takky,” like a big brother. She’s also more of a go-getter than you might expect: in the past, she’s roped Takaaki and others into a quest to find a magic user.

Haruka Yuzuhara (voiced by Chieko Honda) – Konomi’s mother, and a sort of second mother-figure to Takaaki. She looks and acts considerably younger than she is and has a wealth of hobbies. Specialties: Killer Curry, thorough discipline, and loving her husband.

HMX-17a Ilfa (voiced by Emiko Hagiwara) – A maid robot whom Milfa and Silfa can call their big sister. Specially equipped by Sango with software that gives her a people-loving heart. Normally she seems sweet and demure, but don’t make her angry!

[usafphantom2]

WATCH THIS CLIP AND LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT THE SR-71 BLACKBIRD, THE WORLD’s FASTEST PLANE

By Gabriele Barison

Jul 15 2017

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The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” was a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft

The interesting clip in this post gives you the chance to learn something about the superfast SR-71 Blackbird strategic reconnaissance aircraft.

According to the footage in fact in the 1960’s, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) developed a plane that could travel more than 3 times as fast as the sound produced by its own engines.

This print is available in multiple sizes from AircraftProfilePrints.com – CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS. SR-71A Blackbird 61-7972 “Skunkworks”

The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” was a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft. The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966.

As we have already explained, throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft.

Actually its incredible speed enabled it to gather intelligence in a matter of a few seconds while streaking across unfriendly skies. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour. And in the off chance an enemy tried to shoot it down with a missile, all the Blackbird had to do was speed up and outrun it.

Thanks to its astonishing flight characteristics, the aircraft has set numerous speed and altitude records during its career, like those established on Jul. 28, 1976 by an SR-71 that set two world records for its class – an absolute speed record of 2,193.167 mph and an absolute altitude record of 85,068.997 feet.

The U.S. Air Force retired its fleet of SR-71s on Jan. 26, 1990, because of a decreasing defense budget and high costs of operation.

Tap arrow Button to View👆

Photo credit: Edwards History Office file photo

Artwork courtesy of AircraftProfilePrints.com

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Gabriele Barison

Gabriele Barison is an aviation, defense and military writer. He is the Co-Founder and Editor of “The Aviation Geek Club” one of the world’s most read military aviation blogs. He has flown Super Puma and Cougar helicopters with the Swiss Air Force.

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[artemiseamoon]

Preview: Dancer Between worlds

Chapter zero: 1 Pine Road

An arte original for Moon in May 2023

Fic starts now thru June.

✨Fic masterlist✨

Words: 2,199

Warnings: missing persons

Preview below | Read in full only on A03

Please consider a reblog if you’ve enjoyed my work 💕

A single home sat at the end of 1 Pine Road. An enchanting four-story Victorian with red brick and a high tower in the center. Upon first glance, it seemed like any other home, but it wasn’t. This was the birthplace of the Alliance of Shifters, also known as the A.O.S.

An antiquated building atop a spawning property, hugged by an assortment of trees, with a lake running behind it. And to the left, the dark green lawns led to a dense patch of forest just before the mountains.

The A.O.S. started as a research center and library, a passion project by founder, Emi Graham and her lifelong best friend, Hudson Delmar. The idea was born out of Emi’s desire for community and being able to teach younger wolves about their history. Education and sharing resources have always been some of her driving forces.

It was small-scale and under the radar for many years. Emi purchased the lonely house on 1 Pine Road, renovated it, then opened it as a club house. At first, it was just Emi and Hudson, then their friends, then soon wolves of other packs, and lone wolves showed interest. It was sort of a secret club for many years. Always a book and history collector, Emi build the impressive library that stands today.

Over the years, general community support extended to educational tools and occasional workshops. Once a second branch opened with Emi’s blessing, she got the idea to expand the Alliance. Though Emi and Hudson were both very proud and involved in their wolf community, they had shifter friends of all kinds. They never limited themselves to in-species only. Though many groups were rigid about that whole thing.

With some nervousness, Emi expanded the Alliance. Though some wolves were unhappy, it was a success and the A.O.S continued to grow from there. Now, what started as a simple low-key passion project was something much larger.

The A.O.S. wasn’t military, government, or police, it didn’t play that role. The community roots never lessened in importance. Now the A.O.S, and all its locations, offered community, research, education, networking, and assistance in issues that needed outside help.

If something couldn’t be handled within a pack or community, the A.O.S. could send one of their Agents to intervene and assist. The Agent division consisted of scouts, negotiators, and emissaries. The A.O.S. could help with missing persons, territory disputes, petty crime, relocation assistance, and mediation. Since they weren't equipped for high crimes or serious offenses, they left that to the packs and communities to handle on their own. Their agents could only investigate and act to an extent before they hit a wall.

Aside from the founders and agents, the A.O.S consisted of the founders, the Elder (also known as the board) who were hands-off with the day-to-day, the hands-on council members, and guardians also known as the educators.

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✨✨ Chapter one preview ✨✨

[abimee]

people always tell me my art style remindse them of childrens book illustrations and i rarely make kid friendly stories anymore but you know what i need to make some so here

Aria Wewason is a freshly indoctrinated middle schooler of the Island Cities Elementary School in the disastrous and opportunistic year of 2008; smartboards and chunky computers have just been rolled into the classrooms, and on-line video-hosting websites have just taken off in the public conscious, and Aria has one dream set in her mind above all else --- to start a media production club in her final years at her school, and become the host of her own web series!

However, she lives in a secluded and slow-to-the times town tucked in the farthest reaches of Wisconsin; where iPhones are still coveted between the rich kids, and most kids her age still lived off of their parent's landlines and slow-running computers and have little to no access to the world wide web. Aria herself has little knowledge of technology herself, but is determined to become the most tech-savvy kid in her school and show the world her creativity and imagination through video!

Luckily, she's got a team behind her set to help her out;

her best friend since they were in preschool, Bell Mabel, who has access to the latest home computer through her parent's at-home jobs, and even owns her own Nikon handheld

the most popular --- and richest --- girl in school [name here], who after a rocky start in elementary school spent picking on Aria came to consider Aria her best and only friend, with an obsession for trading card games and with one finger on the pulse of all things gaming

a strange and energetic 4th grade who asks everyone to call her ''Tock'', who has a school-renown habit of causing trouble and gaining the ire of the teachers around her, yet is unmatched in her artistic and roleplay skills, and her through place in special education has a curious and strange level of knowledge of the inner workings of the school.... including where their budget goes?!

two IT techs crammed into a small closet the school calls their ''server room''; highschool dropout Ryder MacNamara, the second in command and often the one running around from classroom to classroom helping with the daily disruptions and presentations. Also known to moonlight as the Friday Popcorn maker, and routinely known to interrupt gym class to ''borrow'' the use of the gym teacher's microwave stashed in their room, which usually brings no less than five minutes of her picking on the teacher in front of the kids and making them laugh.

Ruyan Wozniak, a married woman and the showrunner behind everything plugged into the walls of the school. Often only found crammed into the small closet with her army of cables and screens, and known for her unending amount of kindness and patience for the students of the school when seemingly nobody else would listen to them, she has grown to become the kids' favorite ''teacher'' of them all, but when asked if it's true that she's married to the gym teacher she will often lie and tell them that theyre siblings, and she's actually married to a famous football quarterback for some reason

Seth Wewason, Aria's younger brother and classmate of Tock, whos always following around Aria and talking about wanting to be a weather forecaster on their local channel some day.

With the support of her friends and two IT nerds behind her, Aria is dedicated to seeing her goal achieved, and to leave the lasting legacy of the founder of the media productions club at her school! But when the Charter School section of her school --- a hallway blocked off from the rest of them, and spoken to in hushed whispers as ''holy curriculum'' full of classrooms with bean bag chairs and no homework --- begin to talk about forming their own media productions club, will Aria and co be able to defy their odds and be the ones to first the school's first-ever video-based morning announcements, or will Aria's only shot be taken away by the prestigious elites of the school?

[ebp-brain]

chapter 10 on ao3

1985, London. The wizarding queer art scene revolves around a gallery called the Bent, where conceptual artist Remus Lupin and photographer Sirius Black exhibit their works, and a club called the Bush, where they spend time with Jane and Lily Potter, who work at a nearby heath clinic. Although war with Voldemort was averted, the wizarding world is still simmering with tension. In the face of increasing intolerance and calls for censorship, Remus’ art takes a riskier, more political turn, and he must figure out how to balance self-expression and safety. Also, he might be falling in love with his best friend.

Author's notes on ch. 10:

Part of this chapter deals with legal action being taken against Benjy Fenwick’s porn shop. This was something that really happened in the period, not just with porn shops but queer bookstores more generally. Perhaps the most famous instance of this in Britain was “Operation Tiger.” In 1984, Customs raided Gay’s the Word, a queer bookshop in Bloomsbury founded in 1979. They seized a substantial amount of stock and charged them with importing indecent materials. Graham McKerrow, the co-founder of the London newspaper Capital Gay and a coordinator of the shop’s defense fund, describes what happened next:

“Over the two years following Operation Tiger, Customs detained thousands of volumes of hundreds of queer titles – newspapers, magazines, history, biography, autobiography, politics, sociology, humour, books for young people, health guides, sex guides, counselling guides, books about Aids, contemporary fiction, erotic fiction, drama and poetry – imported mostly from the US and destined for queer, radical and left-wing bookshops, mail order businesses, the Gay Christian Movement and the London International Feminist Book Fair. Customs staff were seizing books and newspapers from the port of Dover on the south coast to Prestwick airport in Scotland. Essentially Gay, a mail order service, was put out of business by Customs’ seizure of its books. None of the other businesses went to court to challenge the seizure notices because they couldn’t afford to, or they had no faith that the courts would give them a fair hearing. Only Gay’s the Word decided it would launch a campaign and ask for donations so it could fight for the right to import books. […]

"When the bookshop declared it would raise the money, go to court and campaign to have Customs’ extensive powers of search and seizure brought into line with police powers, which are supervised by the courts, Customs responded by bringing exactly 100 charges against the nine staff and volunteer directors alleging that they had conspired to import indecent or obscene material, and carrying a penalty of up to life in prison and fines. […]

"The defence campaign hired two co-ordinators, of which I was one, to intensify and expand the campaign but suddenly in June, following a judgment by the European court about the importation of sex dolls and a change of the minister responsible for Customs and Excise, the charges were dropped and 123 titles were returned to Gay’s the Word, and 19 titles that Customs claimed were obscene were sent back to the supplier in the US. Copies of The Joy of Gay Sex were returned to the Gay Christian Movement. None of the books seized from Gay’s the Word was destroyed, no-one was fined or jailed, but there was no compensation either and Customs retains to this day the right to enter any building by force and search and seize any goods liable to forfeiture.”

Here's some more reading on Gay’s the Word:

25th anniversary of the raid on Gay's the Word

Gay's the Word: The little LGBTQ bookstore that refused to be beaten

"Saving Gay’s the Word: the campaign to protect a bookshop and the right to import queer literature" from Queer Between the Covers: Histories of Queer Publishing and Publishing Queer Voices

[bopinion]

2023 / 03

Aperçu of the Week:

"A regime that murders its own youth to intimidate its population has no future."

(Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who again summoned the Iranian ambassador to the Foreign Office after the execution of two more protesters in Iran)

Bad News of the Week:

In the 1980s, we took to the streets with the slogan "Make peace without weapons!" Nowadays, it's "We need more guns to keep the peace." Swords to plowshares was yesterday. A beautiful dream from which we wake up startled because a few despots on this planet apparently had a too small shovel in their sandbox. Or a too small penis in their pants. "Geostrategic interests" is the name of the game. The laughter gets stuck in your throat there.

Welcome to a new age of the arms race. Current lowlight: President Emanuel Macron announces that he will invest almost 700 billion in France's military by the end of this decade. Among other things, in aircraft carriers and - watch out! - nuclear weapons. Because "nuclear deterrence (is) an element that distinguishes France from other countries in Europe." So do baguettes and croissants. But they are much more digestible. And, "We see again, in analyzing the war in Ukraine, their high importance." Ooph...

Good News of the Week:

The global community faces a series of interlinked crises. As this year's Global Risks Report explained, a polycrisis. As the summary of the 53rd World Economic Forum in Davos puts it: "The scale of the challenge, the sense of urgency, and the importance of collaboration was a thread that linked all the discussions this week, whether on Ukraine, the climate crises, supply chains, technology and innovation, health, the economy and so much more." In his closing statement, WEF President Børge Brende therefore also says that "in an uncertain and challenging time, one thing is clear: We can shape a more resilient, sustainable and equitable future, but the only way to do so is together."

For years, the Swiss event has been as a gathering of global elites who, far removed from the everyday lives of ordinary citizens of the world, worshipped the capitalist El Dorado of globalization. That is increasingly changing, even if not everyone has realized it yet. For example, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who used his appearance there as an advertisement for Germany as a business location instead of showing internationally long-awaited leadership in crisis management. This year's motto was "Cooperation in a fragmented World", which explicitly does not only mean economic cooperation.

WEF founder Klaus Schwab published the book "The Great Reset" a good two years ago. Conspiracy theorists (mis)understand the positions in it as evidence that a non-transparent neoliberal club is reaching for authoritarian world domination. In fact, it is exactly the opposite: in a disruptive age, the only viable perspective for the global community is to reorient the economy and society. Toward sustainability and social balance instead of profit maximization regardless its downsides.

Once again, it is UN Secretary-General António Guterres who puts it in a nutshell: "There are no perfect solutions in a perfect storm. But we can work to control the damage and seize opportunities. Now more than ever, it's time to forge the pathways to cooperation." Guterres apparently not only has better speechwriters, but also a clearer compass than Scholz. If the physical meeting of global decision-makers in appropriately placarded venues can also be understood as rallying behind the idea in terms of economic policy and aligning their future decisions and actions with it, the world can not only weather the polycrisis, but perhaps even emerge stronger. I hope I'm not being too naive here.

Personal happy moment of the week:

Winter has come after all. Which we enjoyed yesterday on a hike with friends around the Eibsee at the foot of the Zugspitze. As well as with the best pasta I've eaten in a long time. That's how a weekend has to be.

I couldn't care less...

...that French people see it as state overreach that the retirement age is to be raised moderately to 64. In Germany, we are already at 67, and even that will not be affordable in view of the baby boomers who will soon reach that age. To put it another way: the more years you work in the future, the fewer years you will spend in old-age poverty.

As I write this...

...I hope for the better: Today, according to the Chinese calendar, the Year of the Water Bunny begins. A year of hope, as it is called. We can all certainly use that.

Post Scriptum

"The (...) danger assumed on the basis of subjective perception is neither concrete nor present. Whether there will be climate changes is not scientifically proven, causal links between individual human impacts on the environment and climate phenomena are open." What sounds like Joe Manchin is an official pronouncement with which the energy company RWE - that's right: which is currently demolishing Lützerath - has defended itself in court against accepting responsibility for climate change. In 2006!

RWE is the largest producer of carbon dioxide in Europe. And in the next few years, it will earn about half a billion euros a year from coal alone, according to estimates by analysts such as Guido Hoymann, an expert on energy suppliers from Bankhaus Metzler. So money should be there when, hopefully, large-scale lawsuits are finally filed because fossil fuel companies have not only ruined the climate, but also lied about the consequences against their better judgment. The tobacco and fast food producers can sing a song about this.

[follyglass]

Follyglass : Midnight

The witches at Guilford University thought I was one of them. After all, they said I had been the clear delineation between what was a social club with a garden-clippings-stuffed-cauldron and what became true magic.

Before, they had the books and intention, and some like my roommate George Cabot even claimed lineage. But they had never really considered midnight. Who does? Like, real, true midnight, not the time on everyone’s clock.

It was all kind of an accident, to be honest. I had noticed George was stuffing candles into his pack for a hike up Whetstone, and when I asked what he was up to he said that they were doing a spell at midnight. So, I offhandedly asked “which one? which midnight?” Because when you think about it, there’s a whole stretch of the globe that shares the exact same time and that can’t be right if you’re trying to be precise; it can’t possibly be true midnight in Guilford, Maine and New York city at the same time. You’re either at the fine line that is solar midnight or you’re not.

George narrowed his eyes at me and said “Is there a way to figure it? The exact time?”

In only a few minutes, I had two things: solar midnight time for Whetstone hill, and an invitation to join the Guilford witches that evening.

In the dark and silence of the hilltop, I told them when to start. While I sat on a cold rock with my feet tucked up under to keep warm, they danced and sang. They brewed and lit and eventually quieted in doubt whether it had worked. Nobody would know until the morning. So I followed them as they shrugged on down the hill, cautiously eager to see if it worked.

It did. All of the books in the library had become filled with the truths of Guilford University’s founders. Everyone knew now. And I guess it was then that I became part of the coven. Not that I gathered the yarrow or pretty latin or had to wear a diaphonous dress (I did, though, many times, simply because I liked it, but that’s beside the point). I was the midnight teller. “One of our most important witches,” George said.

Our next magics involved turning bourbon to water, and rearranging the paths of Guilford University to make it easier for some to get to their classes on time. After about a dozen spells, there was as much bickering as there was dried sage, and it was all over what direction the Guilford coven’s magic should take.

There were so many possibilities.

The coven divided.

Both sides wanted me.

Two days ago, half of the coven asked me to accompany them for a secret spell not to be revealed to the other half. The missing half. George told me not to tell them, “It’s a surprise, Ellis,” he said with a flinty glint in his eye. Witches are sometimes odd, and I didn’t think much of it, but he was my roommate.

I had accidentally seen the notes on George’s desk. The secret spell.

I had shown my watch to him, and he grinned when it read only three minutes to midnight.

I didn’t tell him that I my watch was off by one minute. The spell was exceedingly petty and a titch cruel, and so I saw no reason to support George’s ambitions. If this magic didn’t work, I was ready to blame the yarrow or the latin or the eggshells, and others would probably join me.

Most importantly, the other half of the coven would be ok.

I thought that the difference between a coven and a social club was precise midnight, and I was partly right. I didn’t think anything would happen when the spell was off by a minute, when the world was a shade askew. Please believe me when I say that what happened was unintentional, but now you know why I have seven chickadees in my room. I do my best to care for them. The biggest one’s name is George.

He chirps at me at midnight.

[historicalfightingguide]

Training goals, how to approach them, how to think about them, and how that relates to the rest of what you generally do. How some drills work tactically and how to best use them and how to understand them and talk about them. And of course some talk of the sources and principles of KDF and fighting in general

“ Alan Watts:  "We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between an all-powerfully causative past and an absorbingly important future.  We have no present.  Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation.  We do not realize that there never was, is, nor will be any other experience than present experience.  We are therefore out of touch with reality.  We confuse the world as talked about, described, and measured with the world which actually is.  We are sick with a fascination for the useful tools of names and numbers, of symbols, signs, conceptions and ideas." 

 ------ A desire line is formed from many people over time choosing not to walk the paved paths, but instead go the way that seems most expedient to them.  they are typically formed when planners don't account for real human behavior. 

—— About us! James is the founder and principal instructor of the Goliath Historical Fencing Academy. He began fencing in 2009, after being inspired by the film Reclaiming The Blade. At Goliath, he instructs several weapons systems including longsword, rapier, dagger, unarmed combat, quarterstaff and halberd. He has taught at private seminars at major fencing events in Europe and Canada as well as across the US. —- Jess Finley has had a sword in her hand for the past twenty years. Her initial interest was in stage combat, but not too long after beginning that pursuit began to ask “… but how did they really fight?” From that question, she branched out to German Medieval Martial Arts after being accepted as a student by Christian Tobler, who remains her mentor to this day.   She is the head instructor at Ritterkunst Turnhalle in Lawrence, Kansas. She has taught and competed internationally as well as private intensives at her home.  

She also has a background studying Judo under the tutelage of Arden Cowherd of Topeka Judo Club. She is a published author, having written a book entitled “Medieval Wrestling” on the fifteenth century Master Ott’s wrestling treatise of German wrestling techniques..  She also researches medieval clothing construction and fabric armor, and has presented her findings at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo and published an article in Medieval Clothing and Textiles (Boydell and Brewer) on her study of a 15th century quilted armor.

Jess’s Patreon is http://www.patreon.com/jessfinley “

For anyone who hasn’t yet seen the following links:

Some advice on how to start studying the sources generally can be found in these older posts

Remember to check out  A Guide to Starting a Liberation Martial Arts Gym as it may help with your own club/gym/dojo/school culture and approach.

Check out their curriculum too.

Fear is the Mind Killer: How to Build a Training Culture that Fosters Strength and Resilience by Kaja Sadowski may be relevant as well.

Another useful book to check out is  The Theory and Practice of Historical European Martial Arts (while about HEMA, a lot of it is applicable to other historical martial arts clubs dealing with research and recreation of old fighting systems).

Worth checking out are this blogs tags on pedagogy and teaching for other related useful posts.

Consider getting some patches of this sort or these cool rashguards to show support for good causes or a t-shirt like to send a good message while at training.

And stay safe

[daphnemontagu]

Daphne Montagu - A New World AU Bio

- After many years of pretending to be ‘just friends’ Daphne and Calista form a romantic relationship and fall in love. The 10 years of the treaty sharing a home with Calista are the happiest of Daphne’s life.

- Daphne continues her work with the Sisters of the Night. She also works harmoniously with the humans and continues her work with numerous charities to help those in need. She helps the education system adapt to this new human/supernatural schooling and suggests ways to make the transition easier for the children. She views this as taking care of the children she never got the chance to have and runs many after school clubs and activities to help the children bond with one another. Daphne helps to stock the libraries with resourceful books for the human children, as well as offer guidance for all. She writes a book on blended supernatural / human relationships. She later becomes Head Mistress for Vievecor Elementary School. Daphne yearns for a child of their own, but knows it would not be fair to adopt a human child given their supernatural lineage.

- As tensions arise, her happiness ended when one day Calista was attacked by humans after being accused of using her powers to further her art gallery. After her partners horrific torture and the removal of her wings, Daphne refuses to leave her and cares for her night and day in her weakened state. It is at this time that her sire, Zuri, dies after being accused of attacking a human. Daphne begins to pull back from the humans she had once supported, unable to bear what they had done and continued to do to her kind. Daphne was heartbroken to pull back from the children, but thought it best to take a leave of absence. In part, she blames herself for Calista’s attack.

- After Calista is healed, Daphne organises meetings with the founders of a charity organisation she had once supported for many years with the intent of peacefully breaking off contact in order to spend more time at home. It was during this meeting that the founders told her that she was considered a danger to them and that she couldn’t be trusted. She was taken by the group— who told the public they had detained the socialite because she had behaved in an aggressive and hostile manner—before they sent her to the laboratories in secret, to be subjected to experiments to further human technology. Both Calista and her fledglings attempted to find her, but to no avail.

- Here, she met fellow subject Luke and the pair formed a close bond. Daphne was kept there for fifteen years before the humans decided she was no longer useful for further experiments. She was de powered and released to wander the streets. Not knowing where to turn and hungry, Daphne wandered the streets in search of sustenance until Calista’s informants — someone who owed their soul to the now fallen deity, and had been tasked with searching for Daphne— found her and brought the pair together.

- She finds out her lover is now a fallen deity that has been trying to avenge Daphne’s capture and her own torture for all these years. However sad she is for Calista, Daphne is just in disbelief to be with her love again after thinking of her night and day for fifteen years held prisoner. The pair — once so set on helping humanity—resign themselves to live alone. Daphne’s spirit has been crushed and her only want is to live in peace with Calista, away from the world. It takes her a while to adjust to life outside of captivity.

- Present day, the pair live in one of Calista’s properties in The Shipyard, where they had a close witch friend of theirs protect the small residence with a spell. Daphne changed her appearance to a short auburn bob haircut with a fringe. She feeds occasionally from Calista, but the pair attempt to keep stocks of human blood up when they can, which brings its own dangers. Daphne hopes to soon leave the city for good.