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kalibloodbones · 1 year ago

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Kali and the patriarchal fears Via Medium

The goddess of death and what she represnts for the patriarchal society

She’s naked, covered with ashes, her hair matted with snakes in them, a garland of skulls and freshly cut heads around her neck. She laughs like madness herself, dancing to the chaotic rhythm of death, dragging a corpse behind her which she licks with her blood-red tongue from time to time.

Now imagine meeting her in the middle of the night on a dark lonely path. Here’s an old description — a dhyana mantra of Guhya Kali, one of the forms of Kali. The tantric text is called Tantrasaara and is written by Krishnananda Aagamavgisa.

“She is dark as a great cloud, clad in dark clothes. Her tongue is poised as if to lick. She has fearful teeth, sunken eyes and is smiling. She wears a necklace of snakes, the half-moon rests on her forehead, she has matted hair, and is engaged in licking a corpse. her sacred thread is a snake, and she lies on a bed of snakes. She holds a garland of fifty heads. She has a large belly, and on her head is Ananta with a thousand heads. On all sides she is surrounded by snakes….She has a snake-girdle and an anklet of jewels. On her left is to be imagined Shiva in the form of a boy. She has two hands and has corpses for ear ornaments. Her face, decked with bright new jewels, shows she is pleased and calm.”

🔻 She’s not likeable. Hell, she’s scary. In Hindu mythology, she’s nature— something that causes death and destruction, something that’s wild and raging, something that’s unpredictable and uncontrollable. Her hair are wild and open (mark of undomesticated woman or someone who doesn’t belong to a husband-ry), she dances naked outside. Both being naked and being outside is something that is forbidden to the female gender in our society.

You wouldn’t invite her into your homes (unlike the more demure Lakshmi, goddess of wealth or Saraswati, goddess of knowledge). She’s wild, frantic, out of control. She’s nature in its more fearful, horrific form, an earthquake, a hurricane, a tsunami. Her world is the one where a dog butchers another and all of them perish.

No wonder the patriarchal society, the cultured society, the rule based, control-based society, you and me, tremble at the very thought of her. You see, the patriarchal society is all about control — through rules, rituals, and routines. Do this, and you will get this. Do this and this and you can prevent death and disease from happening to you. If there’s a death in a neighbour’s house, don’t go there, for you might catch that disease.

If there’s a garbage-collector coming near you, step away, even though he takes your own garbage. Don’t touch him as he touches something filthy and you will become filthy too. Oh, your left hand is by default filthy. It wipes your bum after all!

Both genders are mired in rules, rituals and routines in this society — all in an effort to control life, prosper and save oneself from death. A man should control his estate and his woman, a woman should control her body and keep herself inside the house, under her husband. Both should stick to the codified laws of dharma created by some rishis a few thousand years ago. People most probably too stuck up to let their hair down.

Since she’s uncontrollable and fearful, like everything else, she’s associated with tantrics, who all mainstream Hindus see as charlatans, black magicians or simply people who are evil or threaten the codes of the patriarchal society. Like Bhairava (Both Kali and Bhairava feature in one of the most beautiful stories I have written in my upcoming graphic novel The Skull Rosary) she’s a goddess who belongs to the fringes of the society. She and her worshippers are associated with blood sacrifice, sometimes even human sacrifice. S

he’s the patron of thugs and witches—both of whom threaten the society’s status quo. Patriarchal society intellectuals have alternatively looked at her ugly form (by societal standards) as filthy, fearful or downright disgusting. That’s the reason you would not see rich merchants in Calcutta or Gujarat worshipping her. She’s of the night, meant for those who roam about the shamshaan in the night. She’s death itself.

If you worship her, you are either crazy or inconceivably evil. You are definitely not a well-wisher of the society. You are an outsider. Her image is the opposite to the mainstream, civilized society. She distrupts society. Personally, she inspires me and pushes me to write. She is the destruction and inspiration of creative energies itself and my heart beats in tandava with every step she takes. And so she inspires me to create destructive stuff. I am scared but I also bow down to her creative juices, sometimes leaking blood.

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mostlysignssomeportents · 3 years ago

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As stocks tumble, wealthy speculators bid up house prices

The Obama administration’s most consequential decision was to address the Great Financial Crisis by bailing out the finance sector, rather than borrowers. It was an unforced error, directed by Goldman-Sachs bankers elevated to the ranks of finance regulators, and we are still living with its consequences.

The choice to enact quantitative easing (rather than debt relief, direct transfers to consumers, or regulation of mortgage-backed securities) triggered the foreclosure crisis, wiped out family wealth (especially Black wealth, which declined more under Obama than any other president), and produced a still-inflating asset bubble.

It also set a precedent, shifting the Overton window in a way that made the trillions that Trump pumped into the capital markets (first through massive tax-cuts, then through covid programs) seem bipartisan.

Today, the capital markets are utterly uncoupled from the real economy. The stock market’s unprecedented bull run coincided with a decline in the fortunes of real businesses and real workers, and the overslosh produced bubbles in other asset classes, including some absolutely absurd ones (cryptos/NFTs, wine, art, supercars, sports collectibles, etc).

The rich have too much money, and nowhere to put it and so the economy is in metastatic, stage-four ponzi-ism.

Many asset bubbles are indirectly harmful — e.g. the climate consequences of crypto, or the way easy capital has spurred even more mergers and monopolization, with the attendant layoffs and worsening labor conditions. Asset inflation has also spurred investment in predatory enterprises like Uber and Doordash, who use investor cash to subsidize a money-losing operation that strangles real, locally owned businesses.

But there’s one asset bubble that has an immediate and direct harmful effect: the housing bubble. Since the Great Financial Crisis, Wall Street has been hell-bent on acquiring single-family homes, converting them to rental property, gouging on rent, skimping on maintenance, and evicting on the flimsiest pretense.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-housing-invitation/

By every metric, Wall Street investors are the worst landlords, and they’re the fastest-growing class of landlord. These two facts are related. Big firms are able to buy up so much housing because they are able to borrow cheaply, issuing bonds that “securitize” the rent payments from tenants. Access to this capital is dependent on the ability to raise rents and scare tenants into silence over dangerous living conditions. In other words, Wall Street firms can only corner the market on housing if they promise their investors that they’ll brutalize and beggar their tenants.

https://gen.medium.com/the-rents-too-damned-high-520f958d5ec5

Wall Street’s plan to financialize the roof over your head is a deeply corrupting project, one that involves pumping hundreds of millions in dark money into defeating tenant’s rights and rent controls:

https://newrepublic.com/article/151783/deceptive-shameful-lucratively-funded-war-rent-control

Stein’s Law predicts that “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” Bubbles can’t go on forever. The stock market has been swinging like a drunkard around a lamppost for the past week. Cryptos are tumbling. Rugpulls are dominating the NFT market. I don’t know about sports memorabilia, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that was in trouble, too.

But the rich still have too much money, and that money is fleeing stocks and collectibles and cryptos. Where’s it going? Housing.

In this interview with Saker, Michael Hudson discusses the coming tsunami of real-estate inflation, in which the suckers who lost everything to the other bubbles go bankrupt and lose their homes to “investors” who plan to securitize a stream of rents from immiserated tenants.

http://thesaker.is/the-saker-interviews-michael-hudson-4/

“Inflation” is the topic du jour, wielded primarily as a whip to drive us to austerity. Most of the time, “inflation” is code for “regular people have too much money and we need to take some of it away” — by reducing benefits and suppressing wages.

It’s 100% true that asset inflation is being driven by too much money chasing too few goods — the money in this case is the capital gains of the investor class and the “goods” are productive businesses with growth potential. Thus we see investors flocking to pyramid schemes and destructive strip-miners whose “growth” comes from looting good businesses and discarding their husks.

But do regular people really have too much money? Are we all just trying to buy too many vegetables from farmers, too much paper from pulp mills, too many carbon-steel bike-frames from Chinese factories?

That proposition is a lot muddier. Sure, there are supply shocks due to covid’s impact on the over-optimized, brittle supply chains the finance sector has demanded of real businesses. But there’s also obvious monopolies and oligopolies, whose CEOs are openly touting their ability to raise prices under cover of the pandemic.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/11/20/quiet-part-out-loud/#profiteering

The more we tell the story of “too many working people’s dollars chasing not enough goods,” the more we empower monopolists to increase their margins and jack up prices. As Hudson says, “For meat, eggs and other farm produce, the farmers are not receiving higher prices for their crops and produce. The middlemen are gouging out more fees for themselves, thanks to the monopoly position of Cargill et al.”

Not all price-gouging is created equal. Wealthy, empowered consumers are able to shop more widely, and when they catch monopolists at their profiteering, they have the ears of policy-makers. If you are a monopolist looking to really ratchet up prices, your safest bet is to pick on poor people, who have fewer retail options and less political cachet.

That’s something that Jack Munroe has made clear with her new “Vimes Boot Index” (inspired by Terry Pratchett’s character Sam Vimes, who ruminates on how replacing cheap boots costs more than buying one long-lasting but expensive pair, creating a tax on poverty).

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jan/26/terry-pratchett-jack-monroe-vimes-boots-poverty-index

Monroe’s project started with a viral tweet complaining that the official UK inflation figures pegged inflation at 5%, but that this did not reflect the massive price-hikes on the very cheapest food at the supermarket.

https://twitter.com/BootstrapCook/status/1483778776697909252

Monroe cites triple-digit inflation on goods like pasta, rice, baked beans, peanut butter, etc. This week on the BBC’s More or Less podcast, Tim Harford and Monroe take a closer look at the index:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0bk8lmz

Neither offers a theory of why price inflation is hitting the cheapest goods so much harder than the most expensive, but I think the answer lies in political economy: it’s safer to abuse poor people than rich people, and monopolists know it.

Image: Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/item/2017758811/

#pluralistic

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livingstonegordo · 4 years ago

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Operation Idiots in Love

Bobby

"Okay, that's it." Hen sighed as she watched Buck run up the stairs and out the front door. "I can't take it anymore. We have gotta get them together."

"Get who together?" Bobby asked, sipping a ginger ale.

"Those two idiots who are so far up each other's asses they can't see how in love with each other they are!" she exclaimed, gesturing to where Buck disappeared too.

Chimney was nodding enthusiastically as he listened to Hen. "He's literally abandoning us because Eddie called and said he broke up with the teacher!" He threw his arms up in the air, dangerously sloshing his own drink.

"Maybe we shouldn't meddle in their personal lives, guys," Bobby admonished lightly. "If Buck and Eddie are going to actually take the leap they need to do it on their own."

"Bobby, this is a family, and family meddles in each other's personal lives." Athena gently smacked his arm for emphasis. "Not to mention they're both so oblivious it could take 20 more years before they get it together." There were laughs and murmurs of agreement from their group.

Bobby and Athena had planned a small baby shower for Maddie and Chimney, not wanting to host too many people during a pandemic, but wanting to celebrate with their chosen family. It was just them, Hen and Karen, Buck and Albert, and of course Chimney and Maddie. Eddie had been invited but had back to back appointments for Christopher and was supposed to have lunch with Ms. Flores. They'd gotten through presents, cake, and some games and were mostly just hanging around and chatting in groups when Eddie called Buck to report that, for whatever reason, he and Ana had decided to call it quits. Buck had been sprinting up the stairs before Eddie had even stopped to take a breath.

"Whose personal life are we meddling in?" Maddie asked as she made her way over to them, leaving Karen looking bewildered with a very enthusiastically gesturing Albert.

"Buck and Eddie's," Chimney said, leaning over to kiss Maddie on the cheek when she gracelessly plopped next to him on the couch. "We can't take it anymore. They obviously need a push, just to get the ball rolling."

"I wholly agree," Maddie said. "They're never gonna get there on their own." She was slowly rubbing a circle on her stomach.

"We'll need to plan it out carefully," Hen said. "Maybe we should schedule something where we can get together and brainstorm."

"I'll make a group chat now." Athena set her drink down on a coaster on the coffee table and pulled out her phone.

"We should come up with a code name," Maddie said. "We don't want them knowing we're talking about them."

Grinning, Chim said, "Operation Just Admit It Already."

Hen snickered. "Operation No Homo."

"Excuse me?" Karen said walking up.

"Operation We Can't Stand the Sexual Tension Any Longer." At that Maddie shook her head then lightly pushed Chim.

Hen quietly explained what they were up to to her wife (who looked more and more gleeful with every word) while they all got a text from Athena who had finished creating their group chat. Bobby looked at his phone, a little dismayed to be included in it, but he smiled when he saw the name of the group chat.

"That's perfect, Athena." Maddie smiled. "It's not exactly discreet but they're so oblivious they would never think it's about them."

"Bobby called them that the other night, I thought it was fitting."

"We should include Carla! She'll be so angry if we don't. She likes to gossip about them with Maddie!" Chimney said.

"We do not gossip about my brother. We simply vent about how dumb they are." Hen and Karen laughed while Chimney rolled his eyes.

Bobby sighed, sure all future down time was going to be spent on this.

Operation Idiots in Love.

---

Maddie

The next day Maddie had some time, so she called Carla to explain what they were up to and she asked immediately to be added to the group chat.

"I've been watching those two dance around each other for years. It is high time they get it together."

"Oh I know!" Maddie exclaimed. She was sitting at the table with a cup of tea, wishing it was a second cup of coffee. "I met Eddie and Chimney at the same time and I said to Buck that day ‘he's cute’ meaning Chim, but Buck immediately responded with ‘he gets that a lot, you should see his son’ cause, you know, Eddie is always on his mind. Even back then." She shook her head even though Carla wouldn't be able to see it.

"They've both been through so much, before they met and after. I just want to see my two boys happy."

"And Christopher will be okay with it, right?" Maddie, who was always on the verge of tears these days, fought to keep herself from crying.

"Honey, Christopher has told me at least 4 times that he wants his dad to marry Buck, so that Buck can be around all the time!"

"He has?" Maddie asked, losing the battle with her tear ducts.

"That boy loves our Buckaroo so much,” Carla said, and Maddie could hear the smile in her voice.

"Buck loves him so much, too," she said, sniffling. "Okay I will add you to the group chat. But I am warning you now you might want to keep it muted. Chim and Hen have been blowing it up all morning."

After hanging up with Carla, Maddie had a stern talk with her tears ducts -we cannot cry over everything for the rest of this pregnancy!- downed her tea and quickly got ready for work. She'd downgraded to only working part time as her pregnancy progressed. Since this was a geriatric pregnancy (God, did Maddie hate that word) she knew she and the baby were at a higher risk and wanted to make sure she wasn't over exerting herself- not to mention the fact that she cried a lot easier these days. And when you're a 911 operator crying is not beneficial to the people who really need her help. When she got to the call center she saw May and Linda already on the phones and Josh standing with another operator named Cheryl. She quickly made her way to the locker room to stow her bag, stopped for more tea from the break room and settled in at her desk. It was an hour later when she got some inspiration from a call. The caller was a young woman, Daisy, who was on a first date at a small vegan restaurant, and her date, Cara, had been hit by a car while crossing the street after lunch- nothing serious just a broken leg, though, from the sounds of the scene, the driver was under the influence. She dispatched a squad car and EMS to the scene and waited with Daisy who was on the verge of a panic attack. Maddie was able to keep her calm by giving her clear directions on how to help her date, and reminding her to breath. Daisy had the phone on speakerphone, laying on the pavement next to Cara’s head and when the paramedics arrived Daisy let out a sob. “They’re here! Maddie, the paramedics are here!”

“Good. I may be a little biased, but the 118 is the best firehouse in the city and they will take excellent care of Cara.”

“Playing favorites, Mads?” she heard Chimney say followed by the smack of his chewing gum. “Guess I can’t really blame you. Alright, Miss, can you tell me your name?”

“Cara,” she said weakly. Daisy must have picked up her phone and turned off speaker phone because Chimney’s voice became quieter as he continued to assess Cara’s injuries.

“They know you?” Daisy asked.

“They do.” Maddie smiled. “We’re family.”

When Daisy disconnected the call, Maddie quickly wrote down the name of the vegan restaurant knowing that her brother would love it.

---

Hen

In the week since they started this group chat Hen and Chimney had been tossing out plenty of outlandish and silly plots to get the boys together, but she knew none of them would actually work. Maddie was working on something involving a restaurant but so far nothing had happened. They needed something so rational and normal that Buck and Eddie wouldn’t even question it. They needed a new tactic so she opened up Operation Idiots In Love and sent off a message.

When did you first realize? >Hen

Chimney< When Buck completely lost it when Eddie was trapped underground

Chimney< dude was clawing at the mud with his bare hands WAILING

Karen< Christmas 2019 he organized that whole dinner so Christopher could spend Christmas with his dad!

Carla< Xmas 2019 for me as well

Athena< When Bobby called Eddie after he stole Chimney’s phone and was nearly arrested.

Karen< Does that mean Bobby knew before then?

Karen< The first time Hen mentioned it to me was when Buck arranged for Christopher to spend the day at the firehouse. Is that when you knew, babe?

Chimney< 🤮 babe

That was the day I called it. The way that Eddie looked at Buck that day nearly knocked me over >Hen

👊🏾👀⚠️>Hen

Maddie< I think I knew for sure after the tsunami. Buck called me, completely wrecked because he didn’t know how to tell Eddie they were there.

Chimney< 🪓💪😙

Chimney< What about you cap?

Bobby< The tsunami was when I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

Bobby< No one else saw them after they took that live round out of the guy’s leg in the back of the ambulance. My gut knew then.

Maddie< Wasn’t that Eddie’s first week at the 118????

Chimney< IT WAS!

Bobby< I don’t think they were in love then. But I knew they would end up here.

Bobby< Buck was actually flustered when Eddie complimented him.

“Flustered!” Karen exclaimed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Buck flustered.” Hen gazed down at her wife who was laying across the couch with her head in Hen’s lap. Hen had been absentmindedly playing with Karen’s hair (which Karen loved) and had a few strands wrapped around her knuckles.

Chimney< You know that Eddie got under Buck’s skin that very first day

Chimney< If Buck hadnt been so wrapped up in Abby back then things would be so much easier now

Athena< I hate to say our Buck needed his heart broken, but the heartbreak from Abby certainly helped him get to where he is today.

Athena< We got front row seats to Buck maturing these past few years.

Buck 3.0 🙈🤣🙄 >Hen

Carla< He really has come so far ❤🙌🏼

Maddie, how is your plan coming along? 👀 >Hen

Maddie< So I'm thinking of asking him to meet me at this new trendy vegan restaurant, but I can’t think of a good reason for standing him up and suggesting he go with Eddie 🤔

Karen< He would jump at the chance to try a new vegan restaurant! 🌱🤤

Carla< Oh he would love that, not so sure about Eddie though 🥩

Maddie< Exactly

Chimney< Hes so pretentious

Maddie< Honestly, I figured Eddie would go because Buck asked. But even if he refused Buck would probably pick just another restaurant

Maddie< I just can’t think of a plausible excuse for bailing

Maddie< Buck is too good at telling when I am lying 🤥😔

Chimney< Tell him you’re having contractions! 🤰👶

He would just rush off to the hospital, Chim > Hen

Bobby< He would just want to be at Maddie’s side

Karen< No, he would just want to be there for Maddie

Chimney< Alright, alright, hes too good of a brother for that 🙏

Chimney< 🙄🙄

Hen looked at the time and sighed. “You okay with making dinner, while I do some homework?” she asked.

“Of course, babe,” Karen said, smiling up at her. “Just give me 5 more minutes on the couch with you.”

“Anything for you,” Hen said, leaning down to kiss her wife’s forehead.

---

Chimney

Maddie was at a doctor’s appointment and Chimney, upset at not being able to go and bored at home on his own, invited Buck and Albert to go on a short hike. It was a small trail that had only just opened up after the mudslide, and while Albert was a little disappointed it wasn’t a more difficult trail he at least understood that Buck and Chimney both were hesitant to embark on a long trail with Maddie so close to her due date. The trail was fairly empty so they had taken their masks off, though Chimney was a bit weirded out by how naked he felt without it while in public. With Albert running ahead and out of earshot, Chimney decided it was a good time to ask Buck about his love life.

And naturally- he was incredibly awkward about it.

“So, Buck 3.0?”

“Yeah?”

“Is he gonna dip his toe in the dating pool anytime soon?”

Buck let out a huff of breath, looking down at his feet. “Buck 3.0 is about letting go of the past, but honestly? I still don’t think that I’m really in the right headspace to be dating now. Therapy is helping, but it’s not an overnight process. It’s a lot of work letting go of nearly 30 years of low self esteem and abandonment issues.”

“You’ll get there,” Chim said, clapping Buck on the back. “You’re honestly one of the best people ever, Buck.” Buck looked over at him with a single raised eyebrow. “I will deny it if you tell anyone.” He pointed a finger a Buck for emphasis. “But you are my favorite brother.”

Buck’s face cracked into a brilliant smile and he put his hands over his heart. “Oh, Chim, do you mean it? Really and truly??”

Chimney laughed and gave Buck a shove. “I hope it echoes in your ears for the rest of your life because I’m never repeating it.”

“It’s okay. I’m Albert’s favorite brother too.”

“You are not!”

“And Albert has no problems telling me every time I wash his clothes.”

“You wash his clothes for him! Buck, never, ever give Albert anything he will never be able to take care of himself!”

“I don’t mind the laundry, so I don’t make a big deal about it. I do Eddie’s laundry sometimes too.”

“You do Eddie’s laundry?” Chimney asked, eyebrows raised high above his aviator sunglasses.

“Eddie hates doing laundry, and I mean hates. I’ve been over there while he was switching loads and he was grumbling under his breath the entire time. So sometimes if Eddie lets it pile up for too long I’ll do a couple loads while I’m there.”

“You do Eddie’s laundry?” Chim asked again, eyebrows still raised high. It was actually getting a little painful, so he let them relax and come back down. He couldn’t believe this. How domestic. He was definitely telling that to the group chat.

“Yeah, man, it’s not a big deal. Laundry helps my brain calm down. I focus on the clothes and not on all the negative shit running around up here.” He tapped his temple with his first finger, looking down at his feet again.

There was a couple jogging towards them so the conversation stalled while Chimney and Buck pulled out their masks and put them on.

They were quiet as the couple passed them, nodding in greeting and continuing on their way. When Chimney pulled his mask back off he asked, “So what happened with Eddie and the teacher?”

Buck looked over at him, eyebrows raised again as he tucked his mask into his pocket. “He didn’t really say,” Buck answered.

“He didn’t?” Chim asked. “Doesn’t he, like, tell you everything?”

“Usually. But you know Eddie. He processes things on his own time, and when he’s ready he talks about it. All he would say was that she is the one who ended it and that he wasn’t really that bothered because it was just casual and now he doesn’t have to talk to Christopher about him dating.”

“Christopher would be okay with him dating, though, right?”

“I think he would,” Buck answered. “He is legitimately the best kid I have ever met, and he wants his dad to be happy.” Buck looked at his feet here and Chimney noticed his cheeks were a little more red than before. “Chris told me once he wants his dad to date me.” He chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck.

Chimney knew this already, because Maddie had told him what Carla said. He was very interested in how red Buck was turning though, another thing to report to the group chat. “Christopher wants you to date his dad?”

"If I date his dad then we can hang out all the time."

"You would love that." Chimney gave Buck a little shove. "Well all know Christopher is your favorite person in the entire world."

"He is," Buck agreed. He shoved Chimney back a little harder so that Chimney veered off the trail briefly. "He's better than you lot by miles."

They were quiet for a moment and Chimney debated whether or not he should ask. In the end his mouth won and he asked, "Would you?" Buck glanced over at Chimney but didn't say anything. "Date Eddie?" he clarified.

Buck turned an alarming shade of red and opened his mouth to respond when they heard Albert call to them.

"What are you two doing?" He was running towards them, sweaty and grinning. "I made it to the end of the trail and halfway back! Pick up your pace!!"

Buck grinned and took off running. Chimney took out his phone and started texting.

---

Athena

May was working, Bobby had run out to the store, and Harry was still staying with Michael so Athena found herself with a rare, quiet evening. She poured herself a glass of wine and headed to the table on the back patio. The Operation Idiots in Love chat she had started had been pretty active that day but Athena hadn’t had the chance to look through it until now. When she was all caught up with Chimney’s discussion with Buck and everyone’s reactions she sent off a “Sounds like they’re already dating…” and placed her phone face down on the table.

Over the years she had come to think of Buck as her step son of sorts and after seeing his heart break so many times, she just wanted him to finally be happy. Athena wasn’t one to believe that a person needed to be in a relationship in order to be happy, but the only time she had seen Buck looking genuinely content and happy was when he was around Eddie.

Plus she had been a cop for 30 years. She was an expert on picking up on the things left unsaid. She had no doubt that both of them wanted something more, but they were both too terrified of being rejected by the person they depend on the most.

Maddie’s plan was half cooked, at least, and Athena didn’t think that it would really work the way that they wanted it to - and not just because Eddie refused to eat vegan.

She was contemplating possible plans when Bobby returned. He dropped the groceries in the kitchen and came outside, hands falling on Athena’s shoulders and dropping a kiss to the top of her head.

“You’re radiating your Sergeant Grant energy,” he said as he pulled out the chair next to her. She just raised her patented Athena Eyebrow at him. “Lay it on me.” Bobby waved a hand between them. “What are you planning?”

“Nothing yet. Just thinking about what could work.”

“For Buck and Eddie?” “Mhmm.” Athena sipped her wine.

“You don’t think they need to get together in their own time? What if whatever ‘Operation’ we all come up with backfires and ruins their relationship?” The air quotes around ‘operation’ were very clear in his tone.

“I think that their relationship, as it is, is strong enough to withstand any sort of awkwardness that we may create if it backfires.” Bobby still looked skeptical. “Look, Buck and Eddie have both been burned in the past. And now they have essentially built their entire lives on top of each other. Co-dependant is how most people would think of it. They’re both terrified of losing each other so neither one of them will ever make the first move. They just need a little nudge. Something to get them both open their damn eyes and look at each other.”

“Okay,” Bobby said, nodding. “We need to keep Chimney and Hen reined in though. They seem to be a little too invested in this.”

“Agreed.”

“How about we have them over for dinner? Just the two of them and the two of us.”

“Mmm a double date?” Athena gave a second, totally different, patented Athena Eyebrow.

“That’s the goal isn’t it?” Bobby stood up pulling out his phone. “I’ll text them.”

“Have it be next Friday,” Athena called. “May will be working late that day.”

“Alright.” Bobby disappeared inside the house and Athena turned back to her wine. She picked up her own phone to text Hen and Michael about the three boys - Harry, Denny, and Christopher - having a much needed sleepover. Harry had been missing his friends since the pandemic started, and if it was just a small group Athena didn’t think they would have to worry too much.

Twenty minutes later Michael was added to Operation Idiots in Love and Athena was texting Eddie to see if Christopher could sleepover Michael’s next Friday.

#911 fox #fic #operation idiots in love #buddie #captain bobby nash #maddie buckley #hen wilson #chimney han #athena grant #buck buckley #eddie diaz #firefam is going to get them together if it's the last thing they do #firefam #118

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nwbeerguide · 3 years ago

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The next in their Stone Fan Favorites series, Stone Brewing Company re-releases Baird / Ishii / Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA.

image courtesy Stone Brewing Company

Press Release

ESCONDIDO, CA (March 7, 2022) – Stone Brewing announces the release of the second beer in its series of Stone Fan Favorites, Baird / Ishii / Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA. For discerning beer drinkers, this is their cup of tea! In the whole wide world of things-that-go-together, tea and beer haven’t often been among them. In fact, Stone Brewing was one of the first US craft breweries to try such a feat. Blending the assertive flavors of hops and the delicate characteristics of tea takes profound expertise. On the nose, Baird / Ishii / Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA imparts green tea aroma alongside peach, apricot and mango from the hops. Tropical fruit flavors – mainly mango and pineapple are followed by hints of mineral and tea. The tea flavor lingers, contributing a dryness to the finish. However elegant the artistry, this is no delicate cup of tea. The beer itself, in classic old school Stone style, is big and bold at 10.1% ABV. The Stone Fan Favorites Series is a lineup of limited release throwback beers voted on by loyal fans of the brewery’s prolific 25-year history. Baird / Ishii / Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA was first brewed in 2011 to support relief efforts from the tsunami in Japan. Good friends Bryan Baird and Toshi Ishii invited Stone to collaborate on this Japanese-inspired IPA that’s been requested by fans ever since. Bryan Baird founded Baird’s Brewing in Japan and Toshi Ishii, who got his start at Stone (1998-2001) founded Ishii Brewing in Guam, soon to open in Japan. Stone’s Senior Manager of Brewing, Jeremy Moynier, shared, “Brewing with tea is a great challenge. It’s important to get the right tea and have it integrated and balanced with the other ingredients. This beer definitely strikes that balance, even at 10.1% ABV! This is a special beer, and I fondly remember that day, over 10 years ago brewing with Toshi and Bryan. This is an internal favorite and we are stoked our fans agreed and voted for us to brew it again.” Baird / Ishii / Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA is now available nationwide in 12oz six-pack cans, 22oz bottles and draft. Visit Shop.StoneBrewing.com for shipping direct to addresses in CA, OH and Washington D.C. or locate the beer by zip code at Find.StoneBrewing.com.

…

TASTING NOTES

Appearance: Pours a deep gold with a cream-colored head.

Aroma: A complex blend of herbal tea and hops: elements from both ingredients are there. The up-front aroma is mostly green tea, and there are also strong elements of peach, apricot and mango from the hops.

Taste: There is a massive hop presence in both the flavor and bitterness. The hops start off as tropical fruits like mango and pineapple, and then are followed by hints of mineral from the Sorachi Ace. The tea flavors assert themselves mid-palate and linger nicely with a dry character.

Palate: Medium-body, dry and bitter finish.

FOOD PAIRINGS

Appetizers: Pork Shanghai Lumpia*, Coconut Shrimp, Chicken Satay, Fried Gyoza, Wasabi Deviled Eggs

Soups & Salads: Fruity Goat Salad (w/ berries & fillo-wrapped goat cheese)*/**, Socal Superfood Salad*/**, Katsu Chicken Salad*/**, Green Papaya Salad

Entrees: Lemon-Oregano Charred Chicken*, Cedar Plank Salmon, Japanese Beef Curry with Rice, Chicken Pot Pie

Desserts: Pistachio Ice Cream, Lemon Macarons, Macadamia White Chocolate Cookie

…

ABOUT STONE BREWING

The San Diego-based Stone Brewing is the 9th largest craft brewer in the United States and an industry leader in environmental sustainability. Stone operates breweries in Escondido, CA and Richmond, VA, plus seven tap room and bistro locations and one of the nation’s largest craft-centric beverage distributors, Stone Distributing Co. The company’s long list of environmental efforts includes a LEED Silver Certification, world-class water reclamation, solar panels, creative uses of spent grain, and even live goats for ecological vegetation management. Stone has been called the “All-time Top Brewery on Planet Earth” by BeerAdvocate magazine twice. To find Stone beers, visit find.stonebrewing.com. For more information on Stone Brewing visit stonebrewing.com, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

from Northwest Beer Guide - News - The Northwest Beer Guide https://bit.ly/3tGe2L0

#Beer #News #Brewery

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ladyherenya · 4 years ago

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As the month went on, my choices became more and more obviously comfort-reading-ish.

Reread: Pretty Face by Lucy Parker.

Total: thirteen novels (includes four audiobooks and one reread).

Cover thoughts: Unintentional colour scheme – blue to orange to purple. The Grandest Bookshop in the World is lovely (and would have caught my attention even if the artist hadn’t posted about it on Tumblr) and This Side of Murder made me want to read the book. A Song Unheard sets off my “unconvincing violinist” radar (I don’t know why), and I’m disappointed the cover for One True Pairing doesn’t match Level Up.

Still reading: The Rose Code by Kate Quinn and Castle Charming by Tansy Raynor Roberts.

Next up: Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley.

My full reviews are on Dreamwidth and LibraryThing.

The Verity Kent mysteries by Anna Lee Huber: Historical murder mysteries, set in 1919.

This Side of Murder: Verity Kent, a young war widow, is invited to a houseparty on an island off the coast of England. It would be exactly the sort of romantic mystery I like, except I expect more from such stories: stronger prose, a more vivid sense of place and/or more nuanced characterisation. But this was was arguably successful on its own terms – likeable and entertaining. I don’t really think I should blame it for not delivering exactly what I wanted. 3 ★

Treacherous is the Night: I knew this wasn’t going to be what I wanted but I was curious about how something in Verity’s personal life developed in the aftermath of the previous book. I can’t say I paid much attention to the actual mystery. I’d read the sequels if there weren’t so many other books I wanted to read more. 2½ ★

The Grandest Bookshop in the World by Amelia Mellor: Children’s historical fantasy, set in Melbourne in 1893.

This is a mix of things I love – Melbourne! a bookshop! eccentric family! sibling dynamics! teamwork! riddles! – and of things I find disquieting. Creepiness is not a deal-breaker for me, and I can’t pinpoint why the sinister figure making deals with children, memory loss and destruction of beloved spaces made me feel so uneasy here. 3 ★

The Somerset Tsunami by Emma Carroll (narrated by Katherine Press): Children’s historical, set in Somerset in the early 1600s.

I think Carroll is an excellent storyteller and this story is no exception. However, it involves two things I don’t particularly enjoy reading about in historical fiction: a natural disaster and a witch trial! 3 ★

Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas: Historical murder mystery, set in Victorian London. Fifth in the Lady Sherlock series, following on from The Art of Theft.

After Inspector Treadles is accused of murder, Charlotte Holmes sets out to uncover the truth. This mystery was very satisfying – tense, atmospheric and intelligent, and the investigation feels both urgent and personal. Thomas is insightful about the issues and constraints faced by a variety of women in Victorian London, and I enjoyed piecing together an increasing understanding of the characters connected to the murder, especially Treadles’ wife Alice, who has recently inherited a business. 3½ ★ *

The Shadows Over England trilogy by Roseanna M. White (narrated by Liz Pearce): Romantic historical mysteries set in 1914 during WWI. Christian fiction. Standalone sequels to A Name Unknown.

A Song Unheard: Willa is sent to Wales to steal a cipher from the Belgium violinist. I rolled my eyes at a few things, but once I decided to just accept that Willa is a musical genius, I loved Willa’s and Lukas’ passion for music and enjoyed their banter and flirting, and I liked the chapters about Lukas’ teenage sister, Margot, who is back in Brussels. 3½ ★

An Hour Unspent: Barclay, ordered to discover if a clockmaker’s latest development is relevant to the war effort, befriends the clockmaker’s suffragette daughter. One of my favourite things about this trilogy has been Barclay’s large and loving found-family; I enjoyed spending more time with them. The romance was sweet, too. 3 ★

Nomad by R.J. Anderson: YA-ish fantasy, faeries and shapeshifters. Sequel to Swift.

When I read Swift in 2013, I was left feeling unsatisfied because this hadn’t been published yet and I wanted more of Ivy’s story. Well, here is more, but I really should have reread Swift first. Reading this was like picking up a book halfway through – and that’s just not the way to properly appreciate a story. 3 ★

Fandom Hearts by Cathy Yardley: Contemporary fandom-y romance, set near Seattle.

Level Up: Tessa needs help from her roommate Adam and colleagues to build a successful computer game in time for a fan contest. Initially the mid-2010s fandom references struck me as dated (not quite old enough to be ‘vintage’!) but then I settled into the story. More cute romances with fandom references, please.

One True Pairing: Mystics actor Jake hides from a mob of fangirls in the cafe where Hailey works. Jake’s in town for a fan convention, and Hailey soon concludes they would both benefit from a different sort of con: fake dating! A different side of fandom to Level Up, but enjoyable in its own way.

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin (narrated by Lara Sawalha): Contemporary Pride and Prejudice retelling about Muslims in Canada.

Yet another retelling, but it definitely – and deftly – justifies its existence. I thought it was lovely. Because it just draws on bits and pieces of Pride and Prejudice, I couldn’t predict how lots of things would unfold, and there was room in the story to explore Ayesha’s poetry and her relationship with her grandparents, and Khalid’s dealings with his Islamaphobic boss. 4 ★

Love at First by Kate Clayborn: Contemporary romance, set in Chicago.

Nora and Will have both inherited apartments in the same building, and Nora enlists help from neighbours to convince Will that he can’t turn his apartment into a short-term rental. I love Clayborn’s writing and I enjoyed reading this, but I didn’t like it as much as her other books. I’m not sure why… Personal preference? 3 ★

#Herenya reviews books

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deadbilly · 6 years ago

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Remember, everything the mainstream media tells you at the behest of the liberal elite is a lie and a scam designed to increase their power and wealth by diminishing your power and wealth. Global warming? It’s such a crisis that they need to fly their private jets to fabulous resorts to discuss how you must trade in your Ford Expedition for a Schwinn and how millions of people like you who support their families in the petroleum industry better learn to code. And now the crisis of two left-friendly mutants out of 335 million people means you need to be disarmed. Oh, and you’re also racists so you should be disenfranchised too.

One of their tactics is exhaustion - to exhaust the weak among us and get them to say, “Gosh, if we just give in we can put this unpleasantness behind us.” But you can’t put anything behind you with these people, because there is nothing to put behind you. It’s all a lie. You are not a racist. Your guns won’t hurt anyone but criminals and aspiring tyrants. And the leftists know it. They know they are spewing skeevy slanders, and if you give in on this one - handing over your AR-15 and hanging your head over prejudices you don’t possess - the libs and their newsprint lackeys will just club you with another set of grievances that you can only atone for through further submission.

It will never end. They will always hate you. Always. Nothing you can do will change that. Nothing. So get used to it and invite them to pound sand.

...

They are always going to hate you, so get any idea out of your head that if you just surrender then this endless tsunami of lies will finally be over. It won’t, because it has nothing to do with what you actually think or have actually done. Nothing. It’s a means of oppression, a tactic to stop you from exercising your right to be a citizen instead of a serf.

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smartguyreviewed · 5 years ago

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1x5 - Don’t Do That Thing You Do

Original air date: April 16, 1997

Alright, Disney. We need to have a little talk.

I take a lot of shit from you in the name of nostalgia. You repay me by selling all of your DCOMs on iTunes but since they are DRM protected, you then make me have to buy third party software to remove said DRM just so I can watch these movies for my own personal viewing. If you’re worried about me selling and distributing copies of your movies to people who also wanna relive them good ‘ole days, stop. People will find a way to pirate your shit regardless and actually have more than what you release. Really, just stop.

You then removed all of the Smart Guy episodes from YouTube so that the only dregs of the show left are sped up, slowed down, or only take up a third of the video player due to copyright shit. You gave me considerable hope when I saw you’d be putting all the original shows and movies (minus In a Heartbeat. Minus The Jersey. Minus The Famous Jett Jackson. Minus Model Behavior. Minus My Date With the President’s Daughter.) on this shiny new channel of yours.

I know you have a problem with misordering episodes, making certain episodes season finales when they shouldn’t be and just not having any general sense of continuity. I am still baffled as to why this episode, episode number 5 is not included in the first season, which is already hella short at just 8 episodes. Disney, do you enjoy making me wonder why I even fuck with you? Once I get a .mp4 file of Johnny Tsunami and maaaaybe Can of Worms, I’m through with you forever.

This one is gonna be long because TJ really pissed me off in this episode. But if you actually read the above, I love you because I’m literally just whining.

In this episode, I will actually feel bad for Marcus. Yes, Marcus, teenage horndog, sexist Marcus will tug on my heartstrings and make me relate to him. I know I give him a lot of shit, but at the end of the day, he’s still a teenage boy. A dark-skinned teenage boy in a family full of gifted and/or capable light skinned people, at that. In this family, guess who is the odd one out, the black sheep? Marcus. Coincidence? I just couldn’t help but notice some things Yvette does (like pursue dance at one point) are encouraged while Marcus’s hobby (music, another art) is constantly shit on by Floyd who wants Marcus to be more book smart. Or how Yvette didn’t get into any trouble for not trying to stop TJ’s party just because Marcus, who is younger than her, was in charge? Just two examples, but you get the point.

We begin the episode with TJ bothering the big kids while they’re trying to rehearse for the upcoming Battle of the Bands gig. The gang needs cash to continue banding, especially since Mo’s strings are caca. Marcus is certain they will win and as soon as he manifests positivity about his future, something bad happens. Their guitarist breaks his finger.

Marcus is whining to pops about this little roadbloack when we see Yvette has invited Gabrielle Union back to her place to study in the kitchen. None of that learning crap will be happening right now though, because Floyd has made Gabs wet. She tells Yvette who delivers the most visceral reaction. But Yvette...your dad is hot. And it’s perfectly normal for friends to have crushes on your parents. And you also date older men! Yvette has her moments where I hate her and this is one of them. Instead of just dropping it and continuing to study, she actually throws her friend out! You would have thought Yvette was Floyd’s damn girlfriend, the way she was acting.

Because every show needs a montage here and there, we are now jettisoned to the garage, where Marcus is auditioning for a new piano player. Spoiler alert: they all reek, except for one guy who clearly must have been on some type of psychedelic drug to audition for a high school R&B band during a federal pursuit. The others were straight duds, including the most aggressive polka musician ever who thought his accordion counted as a keyboard.

Marcus is fucked. His goose is cooked. His dream is deferred. How the hell is he going to pull a new piano player out of his ass in time for BotB? He suddenly hears someone tickling the ivories and is beyond impressed...and then disappointed once he sees its TJ. Turns out the little guy knows all their songs and then proceeds to explain music in math terms and I pretty much feel the way Marcus does here.

I mean, really, it’s annoying to know that your freakishly intelligent brother is pretty much good at everything, including the thing that you love more than anything. You share a room with this person, you see this person every day at school and you now have to let him in your band because of circumstances. I do like that Marcus includes the rest of the group in his decision making, even though they really don’t seem to care about its direction as long as they can have sex with all the groupies.

So now its Mackadocious +TJ and Marcus is doling out the “kicks” to everyone except TJ. But TJ, homie, you just entered the band and your role is to just play the piano, since nobody else is around. This is not the time for you to be trying to get your Regina Spektor on. Play your part! TJ gets upset at this, but once Marcus threatens violence, he immediately goes back to his role.

B plot land is just Yvette pissed off that her friend finds her father attractive. They go to the BotB thing and she even cuts in front of them. Jeez Yvette, chill.

When her bestie leaves a voicemail directed more towards Floyd, although flattered, he has to let her down gently. Yadda yadda, Floyd is about to have that uncomfortable conversation but it’s fine because Gabby met some dude in a black trench coat and needs Yvette to style her hair like Halle Berry’s in the last month’s Essence. Yvette is happy that things are back to normal, at the expense of her lonely father who most likely reveled in that small amount of validation as quickly as it was snatched away from him. Poor Flody.

Anyways, back to the main arc of the episode. It’s time for the BotB and TJ is still vying for that piano solo but Marcus isn’t budging. This will end well. Once they get far enough into the song, Marcus is about to do his solo. He’s probably thinking that finally, the spotlight will be on him for a change and he can feel like he’s doing something worthy of praise. But this is TJ we’re talking about, and he is a petty little asshole, so he immediately hijacks the show and begins with his piano solo. Marcus looks straight dumb trying to hop back into his own set. So now instead of being a dick and doing the solo he wasn’t supposed to do, he has now embarassed Marcus. His feelings about the situation can best be summed up here.

The next day at school, we see that TJ is still hogging all of the band’s attention. Marcus’s insane level of togetherness right now is commendable, seeing as TJ clearly has no remorse for what he’s done and is now rubbing it in their faces. Just Marcus, though. TJ is a little babe magnet and is now basically getting girls for Mo and Goose to have sex with. Everyone is getting what they want right now. Except Marcus.

During a rehearsal, TJ moves on to insulting Marcus’s compositions and telling the band that they need something “else.” Marcus has had it and decides it’s time for TJ to go. TJ tries to save his ass by apologizing for something he’s clearly not sorry for after the fact, but the damage is done. Now we all know that TJ is totally one to accept defeat and move on so I’m sure nothing else will come of a rather amicable split.

Later, Kid from Kid n’ Play shows up and offers Mackadocious some moolah if they play again, but with TJ, seeing as Mackadocious has been unwillingly changed to The Band With the Cute Little Kid. Marcus, putting his dream over his desire to teach his little narcissist brother a lesson (just kidding, he wants the money) asks TJ back, but he’s strangely okay with staying out of it. Marcus then grabs TJ and threatens him, calling him a little twerp. This is still funny to me.

Floyd comes in and breaks up the fight and forces the siblings to hash out their differences in a healthy way. TJ says he wishes he could sing like Marcus. Marcus hates that TJ is good at everything. They both apologize to each other and Marcus even asks if TJ wants to rejoin the band and TJ is about to ruin this totally fine moment between them by revealing his evil plan.

After being kicked out of the band, TJ wanted to get even. Instead of just taking the L and moving on, he reached out to Kid and offered some tax code write offs in exchange for promising Mackadocious a lot of money to perform a bogus gig where nobody would show up. Yes, you read that right. TJ wanted to destroy Marcus’s life and possibly crush his spirit to the point where he’d never want to pursue music at all. All because he did something shitty and got punished accordingly. TJ is a petty little asshole. Floyd hears this and allows the beating to continue. Did I mention how much I love Floyd?

Stuff I noticed:

- TJ’s shirt. Where can I find this shirt? Seriously, it’s amazing.

- Oh hi, Christina Milian.

- When TJ is mentioning the name of the band’s fan site, he just says it’s ww.cutekid.com which makes no sense because that’s too general to refer to a band and also sounds like pedo bait.

#smart guy #tj henderson #marcus henderson #90s #nineties #tahj mowry #christina milian #christopher reid #kid n play #yvette henderson #essence atkins #jason weaver #john marshall jones #mo tibbs #omar gooding

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kinichval · 7 months ago

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game's over, you exist now, to my doom

level two.

✦ just wanna make it clear that a label isn't a requirement for you to grieve a lost relationship. words were given and pinkies were crossed, if one side betrays such then it is enough to mourn what was supposed to be.

✦ ALTHO pls do not settle for a relationship like that on the long run. taking it slow is one thing, but whatever k*ito pulled up is bullshit and doesn't deserve a pinch of attention.

✦ literally 'please, please, please' by sabrina carpenter and 'focus' by niki D:<

previous | home | level up

when yn's gaming hobby fluctuated after (stupidly) getting disappointed with a gamer she fell in love with, she's out there on valorant rage-gaming her heartbreak and ranting out to strangers who try to mock her d-level aiming skills; and kinich, who was just trying a newly released agent, got wired up in her incessant rambling and the unwanted responsibility to teach her how to play.

⚡︎ @animelover100 @fandomfan-102 @bvtterflyyy @viannasthings @mang0515 @aries-afk @xiaomainlmao @usagiarchive @marivaudages @lalalaloveallmydays @jiminscarmex @aetherialcrafter @rattyrattyratty @kiokiee @hanmastattoos @anqelkoz (bold can not be tagged)

#kval — deathmatch.#invite code: tsunami #genshin impact #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact drabbles #genshin x reader #genshin impact fanfic #genshin smau #genshin impact kinich #kinich #kinich x reader #kinich x you #kinich imagines #kinich fanfic #kinich smau

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kalibloodbones · 1 year ago

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Kali and the patriarchal fears via Medium

The goddess of death and what she represnts for the patriarchal society by Shweta Taneja

Her hair are wild and open (mark of undomesticated woman or someone who doesn’t belong to a husband-ry), she dances naked outside. Both being naked and being outside is something that is forbidden to the female gender in our society.

🔻 You wouldn’t invite her into your homes (unlike the more demure Lakshmi, goddess of wealth or Saraswati, goddess of knowledge). She’s wild, frantic, out of control. She’s nature in its more fearful, horrific form, an earthquake, a hurricane, a tsunami. Her world is the one where a dog butchers another and all of them perish.

She’s the patron of thugs and witches—both of whom threaten the society’s status quo. Patriarchal society intellectuals have alternatively looked at her ugly form (by societal standards) as filthy, fearful or downright disgusting. That’s the reason you would not see rich merchants in Calcutta or Gujarat worshipping her. She’s of the night, meant for those who roam about the shamshaan in the night. She’s death itself.

She is the destruction and inspiration of creative energies itself and my heart beats in tandava with every step she takes. And so she inspires me to create destructive stuff. I am scared but I also bow down to her creative juices, sometimes leaking blood.

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neverwatchedonepiece · 7 years ago

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One Piece Movie: Strong World

The only thing I knew about this before wading in was Strong World was written by Oda himself. This was a good sign. After all, Toriyama wrote Battle of Gods, one of the recent Dragonball movies and I liked it a lot. Mainly because it was funny, but it also expanded the universe and opened up a ton of new potential plot directions. (Granted, I haven’t watched the latest DB series, so I have no idea if this was a good idea or not.)

The first thing I noticed about Strong World was, of course...

Hello, Movie Budget!

It is beautiful.

Seriously, look at those floating islands. The scope. The detail. Tiny Luffy in the right hand corner. If this was a video game, I’d be thrilled to play it.

Everything in this movie was that little bit lovelier than usual. There are a couple of scenes that stick out in particular. When Robin, Franky and Brook escape from the armed ants near the beginning (the swirling blossoms, the vibrant colour scheme). When the Strawhats look up at Shiki, stood on a stonehenge-like trilithon with the setting sun behind him (nice silhouette of the Strawhats) and, in general, those amazing shots of the Strawhats lined up, ready to fight.

Everyone looked great, too. All the Strawhats had new outfits (Robin suited the glasses and casual jumper dress, and Franky was perfect for that leather jacket).

Plus that Nami fan service...

But I suppose the important question is this: why was Luffy tearing about on those floating islands, running away from a hilarious conveyor belt of murderous animals that culminated in a giant preying mantis being suplexed by a huge sloth bear?

The answer is this guy.

This Is What You Get For Being Nice, I Guess...

Shiki was a good movie villain. Threatening enough to cause trouble for the Strawhats but not over-powered to the point it disrupts the main canon plot (I hate it when that happens in movie specials). I like how he was integrated into the main plot (at least in the anime). There was that teaser back in Marineford when Sengoku mentioned Shiki in the same vein as Roger (and I thought it was something noteworthy, haha).

Well, it was a bit.

Post-Marineford, Shiki, who had been defeated by Gol D. Roger twenty years prior, had returned. After destroying a few innocent towns in East Blue, he flew his vast, floating island of a ship through the airspace of Marineford, its oars cutting through the clouds and left Garp and Sengoku a little message to remember him by. (That scene was good, if a bit CGI-tastic.)

On his way, he encountered the Straw Hats, who were just hanging out on the Sunny. The Coo News dropped and they discovered the grim situation in East Blue. Then, a vast ship passed overhead. Amazing, right? But it was headed straight into the path of a dangerous storm that Nami had spotted. Luffy, being decent, gave the order to alert the floating ship.

Shiki, being a villain, reacted somewhat badly to this news. He shot every single Navigator on his ship. What did he pay them for? Honestly! But look through yonder telescope. There was a sexy, young Navigator on the Sunny. The one who was sharp enough to spot the coming cyclone. And there was a vacancy. Several, in fact.

Aided by the power of his Float Float Fruit, he descended onto the Sunny’s deck. His design is cool. Those sword legs are awesome. It did not take him long to “invite” the Strawhats to his place: the floating islands of Merveille.

I say, “invite”. Kidnap is much more accurate.

Shiki’s Diabolical Fanservice-Filled Plan

And that was how the Strawhats ended up on Merveille.

And Nami in a swimming pool in a bikini, of course. (Don’t think I didn’t notice that scene when Nami pulled up those impossibly tiny shorts. But hey, it’s a tropical island. It’s hot, right?)

Mid-swim, Shiki and his goons showed up. For some reason, they performed a dance number. One of his goons was also one of the most annoying characters I’ve ever seen in a movie. His shoes made a dumb fart sound. His name was Dr Indigo, but I’ll call him Fart Clown.

Fart Clown rushed in with a new test subject: a duck that generates electricity. Shiki has been engineering fighting animals using a drug they developed from a local plant: the IQ plant. Nami did not approve and asked him what the hell he was doing. Shiki refused to reveal his goal, but dropped a few Significant Lines. “I’ll tell you once you join my crew. There are certain favours I’ll only do for crew members.”

Of course, Nami wasn’t planning to stay long. As soon as she found an escape route, she was off, with Electric Duck Billy in tow. Flying around with Billy, she spotted Luffy because he had amassed an increasing stampede of roid-raged creatures after his blood.

Tear-Filled Reunions?

(Best joke in the movie. Why do you pretend to hate each other? You are fooling no one, guys.)

Meanwhile, the other Strawhats had been finding out interesting things.

Sanji and Usopp dodged sabre-toothed tigers and sharp-shooting buffalo and found themselves at a village filled with malnourished older residents and young children. They found out about how Shiki controls the village, takes away working-age residents to work at his palace, how the rest can only scrape by and that DDMs patrol the streets, recording everything anyone says or does. These people also had feathers. Why? No one knew.

Zoro and Chopper rescued a small girl (there is always a filler kid in movies) who had strayed from her village in search of a plant to help her grandmother. The grandmother was laid low by an airborne malady that originated in the Daft Green trees that surrounded the village. A double-edged sword: the trees kept them safe from the marauding animals but were also poisonous. There is a cure, but it’s derived from the IQ plant, and Shiki takes them all for his mutant animal projects. Chopper, by the way, did not have a good time around the trees.

Robin, Franky and Brook (well, not Brook, ahaha) avoided being stripped of their flesh by a crowd of angry, armed ants, then Franky improvised a Crawley Davidson (ahaha) to travel across the island in search of the others. There, they came across Shiki’s Palace. Elite pirates had gathered. There was a dress code. A random pirate told them Shiki had plans to demo his world-domination plans by destroying the village where all the feathered people lived, just like he’d destroyed the other towns in East Blue. (I liked how quick Robin was to play along. She’s such a good intel-gatherer.)

Unfortunately, they were too far away from the village to warn the other Strawhats.

Nami figured it out, but it was too late.

Vanguard Nami

This was the part of the movie when the protagonists suffer a defeat. It had to happen.

Shiki appeared to recapture Nami. He was delusional, saying Nami really wanted to be part of his crew, honest. Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and Chopper tag-teamed Shiki, but the villain had an iron plot shield. His power was cool, though. You can tell Oda was behind it. The uses of it were very creative. Shiki made the earth float, engulf the Strawhats like a tsunami and them in a twisted spiral of dirt.

Then he forced Nami into a corner. She agreed to join his crew. Usopp tried to stop her, but Shiki still had his iron plot shield. Shiki decided to be nice and let her leave a Tone Dial message for her old crewmates.

Of course, when Robin, Franky and Brook finally found them an dug them out, Luffy listened to 80% of the message and got the wrong idea. How could she say Shiki was stronger than them, that he’d never measure up to a guy like that?

I knew there had to be more to that message. Nami would never say something like that, would she? (Interesting that Sanji was the one who asked to hear the message again.)

Luffy’s anger fuelled his epic rescue mission!

Which was just as well, as Shiki had executed his plan to tear down the protective trees. Murderous animals swarmed the village. The downtrodden people had to flee for their lives. Nami had been caught trying to betray Shiki (I still don’t get why she wanted to blow up the trees with dynamite) and he imprisoned her, leaving her to succumb to the Green Disease.

As Shiki headed towards East Blue, the Strawhats rocketed towards his palace on the Sunny.

Robin Must Have Mentioned the Dress Code

The big fight scene was great.

The explosions, the smokey silhouettes, the sharp tailoring and the badass walk in were a joy to watch. Even the guns and the Kill Bill style brawl (you think you can take on the Crazy 88?) were fun. I liked how the first words out of Luffy’s mouth were: “Is Nami okay?”

Then, when Shiki lied about her doing just fine, Luffy respected Nami by saying, “Nami didn’t sacrifice herself. She came here to fight as our vanguard. Prepare yourself. We are the main force!”

Luffy acted like the captain. Gave Usopp and Chopper orders to find Nami, while the rest of them cleaned up. Franky fought the scrubs. Brook stealing the limelight when Sanji fought the gorilla for Robin was hilarious (”I WILL SHEAR THE FLESH FROM YOUR BONES!” “I have no flesh.”)

Luffy ran after Shiki and Zoro was elevated to angel status in my eyes for offing that IRRITATING FART CLOWN.

And a word of advice: don’t say anything bad about being born in East Blue to Zoro.

“Don’t Bother Our Captain.”

I agree, Chopper. He is cool.

Hasta la Vista, Fart Clown The only good thing about you is that you had some pre-made Green Disease cure about your person that Chopper and Usopp looted from your unconscious body.

They found Nami just as she exacted her Revenge Plan. Billy the Duck lit the dynamite fuses and the Daft Green trees surrounding Shiki’s palace were obliterated. The enraged fighting animals stampeded in and smashed Shiki’s palace. It was wild. Fun to watch.

Enraged, Shiki tracked Nami, Usopp and Chopper. But guess who followed him and was, at that point, literally steaming with rage.

Monty Python’s Grand Finale

“NAMI, I’M GONNA BEAT THE CRAP OUTTA HIM AND WE’RE GONNA GO HOME!”

When Luffy makes a promise. He delivers.

And this is where the movie budget came into its own. That Gear 3rd animation was glorious.

I liked how the Strawhats took down Shinki. It reminded me of when they teamed up to take down Oars. They have come a long way and are now a well-oiled machine of efficient teamwork.

While Luffy used Billy the Electric Duck to counteract his lack of reach (I mean, Luffy’s reach is great, but Shiki can fly. What can you do?) Nami used an approaching storm to their advantage. Usopp and Chopper menaced the navigation team to turn the islands directly into the path of the storm. Robin helped Usopp and Chopper blow the palace to Kingdom Come. Franky prepared the Sunny for a quick getaway.

Shiki was caught mid-gloat (always the villain’s Achilles’ Heel). Merveille sailed right into the coming storm. Nami, of course, revealed her Clima Tact and called him out. Usopp sent a lightning attack deliberately into the rumbling clouds. Brook called everyone else back to the Sunny, leaving Luffy to clean up.

As Luffy’s lightning-charged, giant foot screamed towards Shiki, I thought: yes. This is exactly the kind of spectacular, over-the-top finale a bigger budget movie needs. GET HIM, LUFFY! (It also had shades of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. You ever seen that giant grey foot in the opening? The theme song was stuck in my head for ages afterwards.)

So it was that the Strawhats saved East Blue and the feathery Sky Angel People! Two birds with one stone. How about that? Let it never be said that the Strawhats cannot multi-task! (The feathery Sky Angel People bit didn’t make much sense. How could you forget you were a race of Sky Angel People? But whatever, I just went with it.)

At first I was confused as to why the Marines were arresting Shiki’s goons. How did they know where to find them? Then I realised Garp and Sengoku had probably been chasing them since the stunt Shiki pulled at Marineford.

And the heart-warming (ship fuelling) scene at the end with Nami’s real message played at the end?

“Promise me you’ll come rescue me.”

Awesome. Good movie. Glad you guys recommended it.

Shiki has clearly never watched One Piece.

#one piece #neverwatchedonepiece #nwop #never watched one piece #strong world #monkey d. luffy #roronoa zoro #sanji #usopp #nami #tony tony chopper #nico robin #franky #shiki the golden lion #monkey d. garp #sengoku #fart clown

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marine-gicquel · 3 years ago

Photo

Akira se classe dans la catégorie du genre science fiction post- apocalyptique, un genre qui est beaucoup moins développé dans d’autres régions du globe. C’est la crainte de devoir un jour faire face à la guerre nucléaire qui a donné naissance à ce genre catastrophiste qui n’existait pratiquement pas avant la défaite de 1945. Le Japon en a été le précurseur, Hollywood s’en est réapproprié les codes [1] , jusqu’à produire des versions « américanisées » du monstre japonais « Gojira » [Godzilla [2] ] conçu par le réalisateur Ishirô Honda en 1954. Tout comme Godzilla, Akira constitue une allégorie cathartique de l’archipel défait par les éléments et détruit par la guerre.

Je trouve qu’il est important de ne pas négliger une sorte de culte apocalyptique prédomine dans l’imaginaire japonais. Il se manifester par des images et des représentations de diverses catastrophes. Le nuage champignon associé aux explosions* atomiques, est une image souvent utilisée dans le roman graphique japonais. Il est devenu symbole de l’histoire du Japon à partir de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle. Dans Akira la catastrophe prend la forme d’une implosion en dôme. Elle s’accompagne d’un déchaînement des forces de la nature : marées, tsunamis, typhons, tremblements de terre, orages, etc. Elle traduit une fascination pour cette forme de destruction mi-humaine mi-divine.

Les divers protagonistes de l’histoire font face à une crise qui n’est pas sans rappeler l’effondrement environnemental supposément en cours. On observe que tout les personnages sont interdépendants, que ce soit la révolutionnaire, le scientifique, le militaire, on assiste à une permutation constante des points de vus sur cette situation apocalyptique qui a pour conséquence des inversions et retournement des rôle que chacun à y jouer. Cette manière d’interconnecter les subjectivités, celle des personnages et du lecteur, nous invite à imaginer une possible sortie collective de crise.

[1] Par exemple avec le film d’invasion extraterrestre comme Independance Day réalisé par Roland Emmerich en 1996, où un vaisseau détruit la ville de Washington ; le film Armageddon réalisé par Michael Bay et sorti en 1998 dans lequel une comète menace de s’écraser et détruire la planète.

[2] Quelques versions américaines de Gojira : Godzilla réalisé par Roland Emmerich en 1998, dont la composition graphique de l’affiche reprend celle de Independance Day ; Godzilla par Gareth Edwards sorti en 2014 qui reprend l’histoire aux origines de la série de films japonais.

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cswilhite · 5 years ago

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Technology revolution in the history of occupational therapy: Past, present, future

An invited convocation address to the University of New Mexico graduating class of 2019:

Welcome family, friends, graduates, faculty & staff of the Occupational Therapy Graduate Program Class of 2019. Families and loved ones: Thank you for entrusting the education of these brilliant young minds to the University of New Mexico where we are Lobos for Life.

Note to the audience: The graduates have requested a talk that makes them laugh and cry, is sobering, and also inspires them. I will endeavor to deliver!

First, let’s get the crying part over with. Many of our graduates will be making their new car payments to the federal government student loan repayment system for many, many years. So that is something to cry about.

Class of 2019, thank you for asking this speaker to address those assembled at your convocation. I don’t think it is a secret how much I admire you and am inspired by you to be a better teacher and occupational therapist. We caught lightning in a bottle.

Your group made learning together fun, even when tackling difficult concepts in neuro-rehabilitation. Your care and consideration about the topics, peer to peer teaching, generous sharing of resources, and willingness to explore and take risks was inspiring. You are very likely among the few in our profession at this moment who have learned about 3-D scanning and printing, virtual reality rehabilitation, engaged in prototyping and designing mobile apps, participating in Hackathons, and more. Let’s dig deeper.

You are entering the field of occupational therapy at a time like no other, influenced by a revolution in technology. I am talking specifically about the technology of information, communication, and the age of making things. All of these contemporary influences on technology are ripe for delivering occupational therapy in new and unprecedented ways. You are exactly the right group to harness this potent and powerful wave. I want to assure you that the manner in which you will use technology will not create the alienation and de-personalization that often accompanies technology tsunamis.

In fact, it is interesting to note our profession was born in such a turbulent period: the period known as industrialization: the industrial age enabled the rapid deployment of mechanical machines to perform work and resulted in the displacement of millions of master craftspeople from owning the products of their labor, the quality of their work, the knowledge of building an artful product from start to finish, and it especially severed them from the direct profit of their labor.

Industrialization herded craftspeople along with countless numbers of workers: immigrants, men, women, and children- into factories and piecework production on assembly lines. Their labor transformed continents, commerce, and politics. But the conditions of labor were quite intolerable and dehumanizing. Suddenly, Captains of industry had to deal with the collectivity of Union Labor. Strife and stress were headlines of the age. We fought two world wars with ever immense catacombs of weapons, chemicals, and the resulting millions of graves of combatants and innocent alike.

Occupational therapy was created as an antidote to the anonymizing effect industrialization had on people. We were born of a maker movement well before the current maker age happening now. We encouraged meaning and purposeful activity, occupation, as a means for health and wellness through the usefulness of one’s hands. During the time of war, our knowledge of activity and occupation became instrumental in rehabilitating injured and disabled soldiers and returning them to useful life in the community, while others were sent back to the theater of war.

Our professional ambition led us to practice within the medical model where we became experts in using adaptations and assistive devices to compensate for lost function; and we were experts in rehabilitative techniques to promote physical recovery. With legislative and policy successes we branched into outpatient, schools, long term care, and home care…and we were fortunate to lobby successfully to be an insurance reimbursable service. Our current policy asks involve increasing our direct access to home care patients, creating specific occupation-based reimbursement codes that are distinct from physical therapy codes, and gaining provider status in mental health care settings.

But will these hoped for victories be enough to secure our future as a profession? I think not. In this country, healthcare is a business. Business is competitive. Business is an evolutionary zero sum game where there are winners and losers. Prey and predator. Them and us. Collaborations and alliances evolve and others dissipate depending on the forces at play in the marketplace. But because we belong in healthcare systems, because this where the majority of people currently receive the value of our services, some of us must compete and be adept at the game. To be sure, we need occupational therapy professionals who are able to savvy the vagaries of the market sphere in pursuit of our goal of ensuring people undergoing episodes of medical care receive the benefit of occupational therapy services; the services that are proven to restore participation in life activities. We especially need people in the system who are able to hold the core of our ethos, our philosophy, and our practice…and not dumb it or dilute it down into a meaningless set of rote procedures.

Unfortunately, the business scenario is not a sustainable one. Resources for health care as usual are evaporating. While the business of health care remains lucrative, the cost of healthcare to society is overwhelming, taking up the largest percentage of our gross domestic product. We can’t afford the current model. Something’s got to give.

The delivery system of care must be rebuilt and redesigned: a sustainable system designed for high quality of care and where all people have equitable access to health care, quality of life, and quality of community life. It is a HUGE ask, and it is at the center of every health profession’s concern. We need to be at that drawing board where high level policy decisions are being made. We need to deliver best evidence, best bang for the buck. Some of you will be well suited to get to that workspace.

And as archaic as it may seem, it is time to become a master craftsperson, maker of things. For example, the modalities of the near future involve revolutionary technologies in 3-D printing, robotics, and virtual reality. Occupational therapists working with people to recover from strokes, burns, and amputations will need advanced knowledge of rehabilitation strategies for working with people embedded with 3-D printed living tissue and who are recipients of 3-D printed organs. We also will be called upon for assisting our clients navigate occupations, with concurrent physical and emotional challenges, of using and accepting alterations to their bodies from implanted devices, robotic limbs, and brain transplants; and we will have to exercise good judgment in determining when to use virtuality to bring context to the bedside when pushing the principles of brain plasticity at human scale.

The entire human interface with technology is growing nearer, in real proximity to our “selves” and we must wonder if it will fundamentally change who we think we are as occupational beings. And so, the occupational therapist…the master craftsperson of occupation, must inform those who design and fabricate this new world. We must be on the top teams in healthcare, but also architecture, urban and regional planning, and engineering. We should, we must, deeply understand the technology AND the user experience of those depending on technology to perform occupations. There will also be ethical conundrums that are sure to follow in the wake of so much change. This age we are entering is both exciting and sobering. After all, we are fundamentally the same, albeit a tad more sophisticated version of our cave dweller selves.

So, understandably, you are probably feeling a bit overwhelmed by my forecast. I get it. You have been trained and educated in a 20th century model for the current systems in which you find your services reimbursed. We haven’t prepared you for this raucous new age. YOU must be at the forefront of inventing the 21st century model through trial and error, bootstrapping your way, and navigating through uncertainty until you reap your 21st century education.

Fortunately, there are a growing number of leaders in the profession of occupational therapy who have already foreseen the need to innovate a 21st century profession. In her 2018 Presidential Address, AOTA President Amy Lamb said “Occupational therapy practitioners are in the perfect position to [innovate] because we touch people in real time”.

I dig that. The need for healthful occupation is universal and the need is growing across our complex world. That will not change as long as our species exists. What is new is the use of occupation as a means for preventing occupational deprivation and for ensuring occupational justice. It’s like working without a net, but we have the tools.

Dr. Lamb goes on to provide the rubric for 21st century practice. The rubric of why, what, and how? She says: “From the inception of our profession, we have been grappling with and indeed mastering the why, what, and how. We have seen practitioners transform empty spaces into centers for healing, and we have used common materials to create adaptations that foster independence and enhance quality of life”.

The why occurs when you encounter untenable problems of occupational deprivation that harm people. You ask, why is this situation occurring? You set off, often with other disciplines on board, as well as the people affected by the problem, and together you circumnavigate the complexity of the problem until you see it in high definition.

Then you ask, what if? You work with your team to begin a brainstorming process, and then a winnowing, until you achieve a set of possible solutions.

Finally, you are ready to say how? What are the action steps that can be taken in implementing the solutions?

It is likely some actions taken will be at the level of law and policy, while others happen at the grassroots and in the contexts where the occupations are performed.

And you will be adept at implementing useful technologies, have a hand in their design and fabrication, and work to ensure technology is beneficial and distributed equitably and ethically.

In conclusion, hopefully, what we have given you as a Faculty, are lessons in persevering through challenge, the love of lifetime learning, and the limitlessness of your imagination. That you have the belief that you can create structure where there is none.

Honestly, speaking for the Faculty, we NEVER could have taught you enough. So you will benefit if you adopt responsibility for your 21st century education early. In turn, the world will benefit from your wisdom, your solutions, and your innovations.

Thankfully, there are many professions and health professions in the same boat as you find yourselves, and they too will need to pursue readiness for the challenges and opportunities ahead. Encourage them to join you in the work.

I know you are the right people, at the right time, in the right place. I have seen the results of your work, your tenacity, and your imaginations whether in the classroom or the pop up labs. I see what you can accomplish, and I know you are ready to move into the world.

And lastly I promise this: if you hold occupation as your core belief, as both the means and ends of the therapy process, and hold it dearly, you cannot help but create authentic solutions for future occupational concerns.

#creative innovation occupational therapy technology of healing

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un-enfant-immature · 5 years ago

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Google Meet shows up in Gmail inboxes, a few years too late

Google Meet — the video call service formerly known as Hangouts Meet, which itself was an offshoot from Hangouts, not to be confused with Google Chat, Duo, Allo, or any of the company’s other communications products — is finally making its debut on Gmail accounts, where it probably should have been since 2010.

Everyone with a Google account has access to Meet as of a few days ago, when Google removed most of the restrictions that made the product a go-to for many business customers but a non-starter for everyone else.

As they announced then, anyone with a Google account can make calls with up to 100 people, for up to an hour. The option to do so will appear on the sidebar, where one will can start a meeting and invite participants in a pop-up browser window — it’s quite fast and a dial-in and PIN are provided immediately — or join an existing meeting using a code.

It’s a welcome improvement, to be sure. But it’s also something that on reflection one wonders why Google hasn’t had there for years.

Despite running one of the world’s largest communications platforms and owning its most popular operating system, person to person communication has always been something of a puzzler for Google. Every couple years the company debuts a new and ill-advised app or service that’s confusingly branded, competes with its existing offerings, and isn’t even available for most people to use. Sometimes they even do two at once!

This experimental approach (unsuccessfully aping the old, weird Google) wasn’t a problem when there was the only pressure was the usual trickle of enterprise and startup innovations that Google could easily bat down from its high seat. But the coronavirus pandemic produced a tsunami of demand for video calling that suddenly threw the competition into gear.

As we have seen, Zoom emerged as the dark horse winner, despite serious security issues and other general murkiness.

Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

The secret was, of course, simplicity: one or two clicks and it “just works.” While Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and other major tech companies have seen huge gains, and startup efforts like Houseparty and Discord have also spiked, Zoom’s ubiquity is such that people speak of “doing a Zoom call on Google” or “we can do a Zoom meeting on Skype.” It’s the ultimate insult.

As a strategy by Google to acquire users, this expansion of Meet is months too late, and as an attempt to salvage its dignity, years too late. After the execution of Reader and the utter boondoggle that was Google+, the company will forever be considered as having a gun in each hand, one pointed at users and one at its own foot. Sorry, do I seem bitter?

At the same time, it’s quite clear that Google has the capability to create a simple, cross-platform, universal video calling service. After all, it offered one for years: GChat.

It’s not really clear what happened to this popular, practical service, which unsurprisingly lived exactly where Meets now lives, and provided a similar (if simpler) service. Now is not the time to reopen the case of GChat or the dozens of other beloved products Google has sent to the big datacenter in the sky, but it’s worth considering what might have been the case had the company simply, as it said it wanted to, “put more wood behind fewer arrows” and made that service the one, developing and adding to it as it has with Maps and Search.

GChat would be open in every browser (in the omnipresent Gmail tab), able to launch personal or business meetings instantly (as Meet can now), and it would be on every phone as well, the way Google’s most popular apps, like Maps, are. As a (mostly) trusted, presumably encrypted chat and occasional multimedia app, it could have taken the wind out of WhatsApp and Messenger’s sails, rivaled iMessage, and perhaps even given rise to the more decentralized social network the company seemed to want to build some years back.

Ah well. “Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’ ”

Enjoy Meet, if you can, and while it lasts.

#TechCrunch

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