#parliament of decay

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

the fact that shakespeare was a playwright is sometimes so funny to me. just the concept of the "greatest writer of the English language" being a random 450-year-old entertainer, a 16th cent pop cultural sensation (thanks in large part to puns & dirty jokes & verbiage & a long-running appeal to commoners). and his work was made to be watched not read, but in the classroom teachers just hand us his scripts and say "that's literature"

just...imagine it's 2450 A.D. and English Lit students are regularly going into 100k debt writing postdoc theses on The Simpsons screenplays. the original animation hasn't even been preserved, it's literally just scripts and the occasional SDH subtitles.txt. they've been republished more times than the Bible

[overthinkinglotr]

One thing I feel people miss about lord of the rings is that it’s sort of..........post-apocalyptic?

Like-- the world already ended, a long time ago, and the characters are surrounded by the ruins of dead countries. They spend most of their time journeying through places that are either abandoned (Moria) soon to be abandoned (Rivendell/Lorien) or half-destroyed and falling into decay (Rohan/Gondor.) The villains are creatures that Used to be Human; I feel like Lotr’s orcs/ringwraiths have more in common with zombies than they do with DnD-style orcs, because they’re a state that “normal” people enter when they’re corrupted by a supernatural force.

Even the Shire is surrounded by ruins-- the ruins of watchtowers, the ruins of the old Northern Kingdom, the ruined city near the Grey Havens. The people around there have an idiom “when the king comes back” that means the same thing as an idiom like “when pigs fly”--  “when a completely ridiculous improbable thing happens.” They’re so used to the disintegrated state of the world that the idea of a central government is fairy-tale-like and bizarre. They have their little mayors and thains; they don’t need anything else.

So yeah! I see people try to “modern-real-world- au” versions of Hobbiton by making it “a peaceful suburb” but to me, a modern au version of Hobbiton would be more like.......

You are a hobbit.

You don’t know much history, but you understand that there were Wars a long time ago that destroyed a great amount of life on earth.

You live in a little hole in the ground. You don’t know that long ago these holes used to be called “bunkers;” you decorate them with flowers.

When you want to say that something won’t happen, you’ll sarcastically say things “lol yeah SURE that will happen! And tomorrow pigs will fly, Parliament will come back into session, there will be a president in the White House, there will be a prime minister making speeches, and diplomats will intercede between all of them! ha! XD”

If you journey even a little outside of your home, you’ll find the ruins of old cities and skyscrapers. There are messages in the ruins that are written in languages you don’t speak. Human beings used to live here; they don’t anymore.

And you’re not supposed to leave the Shire because sometimes you’ll meet the things that used to be human, but aren’t anymore.

[shiro-luvs-victor]

Gilbert von Obsidian, the main reason why I started playing Ikemen Prince. The main reason I started playing Ikemen games at all. Your route was so much fun, I can't explain.

Gilbert's route is not a route. It's basically a chessboard that we watch Gilbert play from both sides. Yes, it's a one-sided chess game and it's fun to watch. Really fun to watch! I was getting so hooked-up with the story and ended up falling in love with it.

👇👇👇Spoilers 👇👇👇

I think the fun part of Gilbert's route is uncovering his secrets slowly. For example, What is he hiding? Why did he change into....a beast? How does he know so much about Emma? What is his main goal here? All these questions get's answered in a well-crafted way in his story.

Gilbert is one of those characters who on the outside has all the characteristics as a villain but in reality he's a pure-hearted man who sacrificing everything for the better future of his country. Everyone just judges Gilbert based on rumors and what the previous Emperor of Obsidian did (I'm talking about the Bloodstained Rose Day). They all call him names like the 'Conqueror of Beasts' and 'Worldwide disaster' just because he's from Obsidian, a country known for corruption. But once you actually find out Gilbert's ambitions and what he's doing for his country, I just think he's a pretty cool guy. He's an anti-villain disguised as a villain.

His ambition to make sure everyone is being treated equally whether its royalty or a commoner and everyone should be punished for the crimes that they have committed and no one could gain favorable advantages because of their status, is truly remarkable. On top of that, he's not all fighting and conquering every nations he sees. He also works hard to make sure his country is doing better for his people. I'm talking about their food supply and technology upgrades. It does hurts me that Gilbert is only known as a 'Worldwide disaster' around the other nations especially in Rhodolite, instead of getting praised for developing his country and helping his people. People really like to look at only the bad side of a person, don't you think?

Gilbert also in his own way is trying to eradicate as much corruption and decay from his country. Starting with killing his own father, the Emperor because if the Emperor ain't doing anything for his people, he should either step down as an Emperor and let someone else more competent take the throne or just die. Neither happened, so Gilbert killed him to eliminate that threat. Then his killed of any corrupted nobles and that's why Obsidian is called the Country of Soldiers, because everyone inside the palace is a soldier (Including the maids, I guess)

Also, maybe it's only me, but I prefer the design of the Obsidian palace over the Rhodolite one. The Rhodolite palace is prettier-looking, covered with roses from head to toe every where both inside and outside. The Obsidian palace on the outside looks like a Haunted Castle that might eat you up, but in the inside, the ambience suites me perfectly. I don't really like too much light pouring inside my room.

Another thing I like about Obsidian palace is how Gilbert made sure everyone inside the palace who works for him is talented in their field of job. He recognizes talent over any kind of nepotism or status. Although Gilbert's ambition is to make sure that all people are to be treated equally, he's still feared by many ministers in the parliament. I think that's a good thing because it's good to be feared and having people do what you're asking for instead of letting them trample over you. Gilbert used to be like Emma, where he loved everyone and was kind to everyone. But since humans are the worst kinds of beasts, they will surely trample on kindness of people like Emma or former Gilbert. I'm not saying being kind is foolish but one should never let anyone trample over them for any reason. For example, we see Emma getting wrongfully bullied by some nobles just because she hangs out with Gilbert. Emma, for being a commoner gets bullied and other nobles or princes who talks with Gilbert, never. What frustrates me even more is that Emma just never stand up to her bullies and always let them have their way. I don't see any of the Rhodolite princes help her (except for one time when Yves caught that one noblewoman). When Gilbert clearly asks her, she calls him a beast and doesn't tell him. Honestly, I felt like Gilbert was the only one protecting her at that point, Emma was just being clouded by rumors about Gilbert where he's treated as the Voldemort of this world. He who-should-not-be-named!

I'm happy that later she does realize that she shouldn't be blinded by these rumors and must look at Gilbert objectively. Looking him as a human rather than a beast, but it's good thing that she admits her mistake. For her, she was like "I can fix him. I will bring him to my world which is filled with kindness and warmth and I can fix him and turn him into a human." and what does Gilbert do? He enters her world and paints it all black. Great job👍

Speaking of Emma, I love that Gilbert keeps giving her a reality check. Emma's whole ideals about fixing problems by talking things through is not a bad thing, but it's not effective in the current situation because of the tragedy known as the Bloodstained Rose Day. She never knew how much of tragedy that was and it was also partly the Rhodolite Princes' fault too. All this time, she was living in her own dream world like a main character of novel, that she mentions time to time, who never changes herself no matter how much hell she is put through. I think Emma is character who likes to dream a lot and she lives in a fantasy world which is all rainbows and sunshine. Once she is chosen as Belle, everything she thought about 'royalty' and 'nobles' which she read from books proved to be false. She starts learning about the cruel place she lives in, that is the royal palace, how the princes are not just some good-looking rich men but also very smart and strong, how the royalty can get a away with many things because of their status and even how much of piece of shit the previous Rhodolite emperor was. She learns these things and clearly realizes that despite living in Rhodolite for her entire life, she never actually knew everything about her country.

After being send as a hostage in Obsidian, it is only then she gets to see how truly developing Obsidian is, maybe even more than Rhodolite. People are all treating her well. The country wasn't like what she was expecting. To me it looked like she was having much better time in Obsidian than in Rhodolite, because at least there are no childish nobles that bully her just because they can.

Now coming to the meat of the story, Gilbert's illness. I was kinda surprised but also rolled my eyes at first when I heard that Gilbert had some kind of illness and he's going to die soon. I have seen this trope in other movies and dramas and it's usually a last minute thing that the story writers pulls it out of their ass to bait the viewers into keep investing in their characters. I always like to believe that they use these 'I'm dying from cancer' trope when they have no idea left. So when I saw Gilbert coughing blood I was praying so hard that the writers don't disappoint me. But thankfully it was not like that. I really did feel sad when I was reading the ending chapters. I admit that I was crying like a baby because Gilbert is just too sweet that I want to shower him with kisses. Every time. ALL THE TIME!

I think all in all Gilbert's route is really well written that I enjoyed most of it but it's not perfect. The issue is not that concerning, but I really wish they didn't emphasize it too much. I don't like cringy dialogues! Dialogues that make me physically cringy to the point that I roll my eyes. Dialogues like:

"What can I do to make you turn into a human?"

"If you shut down your feelings, you will eventually become a beast like me."

And my least favorite "He's the Conqueror of the Beast, the worldwide disaster...."

Emma just really loves that line to the point that she uses it every time Gilbert does something normal.

Sees Gilbert reading a book.

Emma: *gasps* "The Conqueror of the Beast, the worldwide disaster is reading a book!?!?!?"*shocked 101*

Sees Gilbert eating cookies.

Emma: *gasps* "The Conqueror of the Beast, the worldwide disaster eats cookies and not children!?!?!?"*shocked 102*

Yeah, and it's not just Emma, but some of the princes' and ministers except for Chevalier and Luke, who treats him like a normal human being. Maybe they have a past together. Probably the other other kid at the start of chapter 1 is Chevalier. They must be childhood friends. Luke and Gilbert also seems to know each other well, Luke was the only person that proudly claimed that Emma is doing very well in Obsidian so it seems like Luke must have been to Obsidian before.

Another thing. See the general rule of story-telling is 'Show than tell'. I want the writers to 'show' me how much of a pure-hearted character Emma is rather than the princes keep 'telling' the audience that Emma is kind and pure-hearted. If Emma is kind-hearted, I want them to show me her kindness in any way possible. For example, when they went to the orphanage, they could've have shown Emma mingling with the kids and helping them with whatever they need or maybe something like Emma doing a research about the Bloodstained Rose Day (actually she does, she goes around asking the princes but no one told her that the princes' were also at fault) learning both sides of the story. Show me things that would make me like her personality even more. Show me instances where she's actually a kind-hearted soul. If you don't show me, all I'm left with is a girl who forces her ideals onto others without thinking how much it's hurting the other person. I don't think Emma is terrible but I wish they could add more scenes for her where she truly gets to show her potential as a kind-hearted Belle.

Gilbert's route is a very neat political drama with a little bit of romance infused into it. Like I mentioned beforehand, the whole story is a chess game and Gilbert is the only one winning.

Both Gilbert and Emma's ideals are different. Gilbert, now, thinks that violence is the only means to get justice and Emma thinks talking is the only means to get justice. I don't think both are wrong. In cases like the Bloodstained Rose Day, the family of the victims needed justice because the royalty was not punished for their actions. That's why the anti-monarchy faction was developed. If Gilbert's ideals are followed, there would be Bloodstained Rose Day 2.0. If we go by Emma's ideals, it would be hard to get them to talk things through because of the gravity of the situation. It would still lead to the Bloodstained Rose Day 2.0. It was a straight up slaughter. It's a very complicated situation.

Anyways, I think Gilbert's route is truly amazing. A perfect 9.5/10. (I'm taking 0.5 points because of the cringy lines. NEVER COME SEE ME AGAIN!!)

[naturalrights-retard]

Ana Mihalcea is an internal medicine physician, with a PhD in pathology, and is the founder of AM Medical LLC.

All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose permits something not to be poisonous.

What is going on with this vaccinated blood?

Zandre Botha talked to me in 2021 about strange things happening in blood that has been vaccinated. I recommend listening to that conversation too.

Electromagetic radiation

Fatigue, weakness, and effects on the immune system are some side effects of electromagnetic frequencies’ direct contact with the human body.

Specific targets include the endocrine system, blood coagulation, and glucose metabolism.

We know how electromagnetic radiation affects humans, and 5G networks definitely pose health risks, argues Ana. Former telecoms specialist, Dafna Tachover, said much the same thing to me back in 2021.

Radio waves, microwaves, and X-rays are all types of electromagnetic radiation that can hurt people in various ways.

However, radio waves, microwaves, and other low-level energies don’t damage cells directly, but can heat up body tissues.

Hormesis

As an aside, I recommend listening to my conversation about nuclear power.

Hormesis is the idea that a small amount of something that most people think of as bad can actually be good. To put it another way, a little radiation is not dangerous to our health. But large amounts can be. Every day, we come into contact with radiation, and paradoxically, it makes us healthier.

For example, we experience the following every day:

Radon gas from ground and cosmic radiation

Potassium-40 in foods

Carbon-14 in all living things and atmosphere

Radiation and decay products in soil and building materials

Uranium and thorium in soil and rocks

Smoke detectors containing small amounts of americium-241

Medical x-rays and scans

Cigarette smoke containing lead-210 and polonium-210

Coal ash from coal power plants containing trace radioactive elements

But it can go bad

Meanwhile, molecular bonds can be broken by high-energy radiation like X-rays and gamma rays, which damage cells directly. X-rays can make you more likely to get cancer by damaging DNA and messing up normal functions.

Microwaves and radio waves have long been known to interact with human biology; although, the precise effects are still somewhat unknown.

Consider 5G.

A study submitted to the European Parliament found evidence that it has biological effects on plants and animals. https://jermwarfare.docdroid.com/YT1jUI1/environmental-impacts-of-5g-pdf

Transhumanism

Ana discussed, with me, the transhumanist agenda and the presence of self-assembling nanotechnology in blood (from the jab).

She highlighted the connection between the World Economic Forum and the United Nations in promoting nanotechnology as part of their Sustainable Development goals.

Their goals are neither sustainable nor about development.

What is nanotech?

Nanotechnology is the study and control of matter on the nanoscale.

To put this in perspective, a single nanometer is one billionth of a meter. At this tiny scale, ordinary materials can demonstrate extraordinary properties.

A single sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick.

Nanomaterials are used in nanoelectronics to make computers, phones, and circuits faster and stronger. Nanomaterials are also being made for energy, transportation, and building.

Nanobots can assemble themselves.

It’s very creepy.

The COVID-19 mRNA ‘vaccines’ made by Pfizer and Moderna use lipid nanoparticles to deliver the mRNA that – they tell us – codes for the SARS-CoV-2 virus’s spike protein. (Christine Massey, however, showed that SARS-CoV-2 does not exist.)

She presented evidence of very weird metals in vaccines and their potential use in building biosensors, which is why you need to watch (not listen) to our conversation.

Ana suggests that hydrogels and blood clots are influenced by electromagnetic fields (EMFs), and includes the role of 5G as a culprit.

She emphasises the importance of clean food and water, something with which I wholeheartedly agree. In fact, I follow a generally low-carbohydrate lifestyle.

Here’s my conversation with her.

[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 … December 21

1804 – Benjamin Disraeli (d.1881) was a British Conservative politician, writer and aristocrat who twice served as Prime Minister. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal leader William Gladstone, and his one nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the glory and power of the British Empire. He is, as of 2015, the only British Prime Minister of Jewish birth. Disraeli was born in London. His father left Judaism after a dispute at his synagogue; young Benjamin became an Anglican at age 12.

Together with his sister's fiancé, William Meredith, Disraeli travelled widely in southern Europe and beyond in 1830–31. The trip was financed partly by a novel, The Young Duke, written by Disraeli in 1829–30. The tour was cut short suddenly by Meredith's death from smallpox in Cairo in July 1831. Despite this tragedy, and the need for treatment for a sexually transmitted disease on his return, Disraeli felt enriched by his experiences. He became aware of values that seemed denied to his insular countrymen. The journey encouraged his self-consciousness, his moral relativism, and his interest in Eastern racial and religious attitudes.

After several unsuccessful attempts in which his opposition accused Disraeli of practicing "Eastern love", i.e. homosexuality, Disraeli entered the House of Commons in 1837. When the Conservatives gained power in 1841, Disraeli was given no office by the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel. In 1846, Peel split the party over his proposal to repeal the Corn Laws, which imposed a tariff on imported grain. Disraeli clashed with Peel in the Commons. The Conservatives who split from Peel had few who were adept in Parliament, and Disraeli became a major figure in the party, though many in it did not favor him. When Lord Derby, the party leader, thrice formed governments in the 1850s and 1860s, Disraeli served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. He also forged a bitter rivalry with the Liberal Party’s William Gladstone.

Upon Derby's retirement in 1868, Disraeli became Prime Minister briefly before losing that year's election. He returned to opposition, before leading the party to a majority in the 1874 election. He maintained a close friendship with Queen Victoria, who in 1876 created him Earl of Beaconsfield. Disraeli's second term was dominated by the Eastern Question—the slow decay of the Ottoman Empire and the desire of other European powers, such as Russia, to gain at its expense. Disraeli arranged for the British to purchase a major interest in the Suez Canal Company (in Ottoman-controlled Egypt). In 1878, faced with Russian victories against the Ottomans, he worked at the Congress of Berlin to obtain peace in the Balkans at terms favourable to Britain and unfavourable to Russia, its longstanding enemy. This diplomatic victory over Russia established Disraeli as one of Europe's leading statesmen.

World events thereafter moved against the Conservatives. Controversial wars in Afghanistan and South Africa undermined his public support. He angered British farmers by refusing to reinstitute the Corn Laws in response to poor harvests and cheap imported grain. With Gladstone conducting a massive speaking campaign, his Liberals bested Disraeli's Conservatives in the 1880 election. In his final months, Disraeli led the Conservatives in opposition. He had throughout his career written novels, beginning in 1826, and he published his last completed novel, Endymion, shortly before he died at the age of 76.

1917 – In Russia, the Bolsheviks nullified many laws including the one making sex between men a criminal act. Seventeen years later Article 121 would re-criminalize it, carrying a sentence up to five years "deprivation of freedom."

1944 – Michael Tilson Thomas, the American conductor, was born today. A conductor, pianist, composer and director of the San Francisco Symphony, Thomas has become in a relatively short time one of the most prominent American conductors of his generation. Perhaps most significantly, he is the first Gay conductor to achieve such prominence without masking or hiding his sexuality.

Tilson Thomas does not discuss his sexuality or his personal life with the public, but his dedication to creating and presenting music that explores the Gay experience confirms his importance as a Gay conductor.

Not only has he impressed audiences with his musical vision, talented conducting, and prolific number of recordings, but he has also used his position to commission works by Gay composers that use the medium of classical music to represent Gay life and Gay history.

To this end, he organized the American Mavericks music festival in San Francisco in June 2000. The festival highlighted the works of such composers as Lou Harrison, Lukas Foss, Earle Brown, Steve Reich, David Del Tredici, and Meredith Monk. Tilson Thomas has similarly pushed audiences to rethink the relationship between classical music and homosexuality by celebrating openly Gay composers such as Harrison and by commissioning works from Del Tredici and others that explicitly explore the experiences of Gay men and Lesbians. Although Gay men and Lesbians have long been present in the world of classical music, both as performers and as audience members, they have often remained invisible. Tilson Thomas has taken bold steps to change this.

In May 2001, Tilson Thomas conducted the premiere of Del Tredici's Gay Life, a series of pieces he commissioned that are based on poems by Allen Ginsberg, Thom Gunn, and Paul Monette. The work both explores the experiences of Gay men in America and also delves into the challenges that Gay men have faced in their struggle to survive the AIDS epidemic.

In addition, two of Tilson Thomas' own compositions have added to the small but growing classical music repertoire focused on Gay subjects. Three Poems by Walt Whitman, written for baritone and orchestra, and We Two Boys Together Clinging, for baritone and pian

o, use Whitman's poetry to explore intimacy between men.

1947 – Dr. Steven Watson, born on this date, is a cultural historian who is particularly interested in the dynamics of the twentieth century American avant-garde.

His 1991 book Strange Bedfellows: The First American Avant-Garde was called "a chapter in our national biography" by Stefan Kanfer for the Los Angeles Times and "a marvelous group portrait of a band of cultural renegades" by Publishers Weekly. Watson has written five books about 20th century American avant-garde and counterculture movements, curated two exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery ("Group Portrait, The First American Avant-Garde" and "Rebels: Painters and Poets of the 1950's"), and served as consultant curator for the Whitney Museum exhibition "Beat Culture and the New America".

Watson grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota and graduated from Mound High School. He majored in English at Stanford University and participated in anti-Vietnam War protests, including a guerrilla theater piece called Alice in ROTC-Land, co-starring with Sigourney Weaver.

After graduation, he founded an alternative elementary school called KNOW School in Auburn, California. He studied psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he received his Ph.D. in 1976, and he worked for nineteen years as the staff psychologist of the Putnam County Community Mental Health Clinic.

In 1976, Watson also began writing articles for the Village Voice, New York Newsday, Soho Weekly News, and Gaysweek. His work on gay culture included the first major article about Marsha P. Johnson, an early extended interview with Sylvia Rivera, and a book about the transgender figure, Minette. At the same time, he began writing books about key circles of the twentieth century.

He currently lives in New York City.

1969 – Jack Noseworthy Jr.  is an American actor, whose most visible movie roles were in Event Horizon, U-571, Barb Wire and Killing Kennedy.

He was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, and graduated from Lynn English High School in 1982 and attended Boston Conservatory, where he earned a BFA.

 He appeared in Bon Jovi's music video "Always", with Carla Gugino and Keri Russell. He co-starred with Meryl Streep in the Public Theater's 2006 production of Mother Courage and Her Children.

He starred in a short-lived MTV drama series, Dead at 21. In December 2005, he originated the role of Armand in the musical Lestat during its pre-Broadway run at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, but left the production during its first week of previews. He is also the only male actor to play Peter Pan on Broadway, in the revue Jerome Robbins' Broadway.

Noseworthy made his debut as a nightclub performer in September 2006 at the Metropolitan Room in New York City in "You Don't Know Jack!".

In 2013, Noseworthy played Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in Killing Kennedy, a made-for-television movie aired on National Geographic Channel.

In 2018, Noseworthy joined the Canadian production of Come from Away, in the role of Kevin T. and others.

Noseworthy has been in a relationship with Tony-winning choreographer Sergio Trujillo since 1990. They married in 2011. Noseworthy and Trujillo have a son born in 2018.

1969 – Gay Liberation Front members Jim Owles and Marty Robinson and about twelve people met in Arthur Bell’s Manhattan apartment and founded The Gay Activists Alliance (GAA). Author Arthur Evans wrote the group’s statement of purpose and much of its constitution. Acting on the principle that the personal is the political, GAA held homophobes who were in positions of authority personally accountable for the consequences of their public policies.

Accordingly, Robinson, Evans, and Owles developed the tactic of “zaps.” These were militant (but non-violent) face-to-face confrontations with outspoken homophobes in government, business, and the media. Evans was often arrested in such actions, participating in disruptions of local business offices, political headquarters, local TV shows, and the Metropolitan Opera.

In effect, GAA created a new model of gay activism, highly theatrical while also eminently practical and focused. It forced the media and the political establishment to take Gay concerns seriously as a struggle for justice. Previously the media treated Gay life as a peripheral freak show. The new Gay activism inspired Gay people to act unapologetically from a position of Gay Pride. This new model inspired other Gay groups across the county, eventually triggering revolutionary improvements in Gay life that continue to this day.

In November 1970, Robinson and Evans, along with Dick Leitsch of the Mattachine Society, appeared on the Dick Cavett Show. They were among the first openly Gay activists to be prominently featured as guests on a national TV program.

1988 – The Oregon Court of Appeals reverses two public indecency convictions of men looking for sex in restrooms, finding a right to sexual privacy even outside of enclosed stalls.

2007 – Nepal Supreme Court orders the end of anti-LGBTQ laws and creates new laws that safeguard LGBTQ people.

2009 – Mexico City legalises same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples (effective March 2010)

[wondrouswendy]

For the Ask game: Send me a Ship and a Number and I will Write a Kiss.

32 and Alan x Alice

Wide Awake - A kiss to wake up for Alan/Alice.

Parliament Tower. 

The gold plated, art deco building towered above me, casting a foreboding shadow. 

How many times had I gone through this loop? Writing a scene with Casey’s reluctant help to pay the Dark Place its pound of flesh. Too many times. 

“Maybe this time it will be different, Wake,” Casey reassured. “Maybe this time, you’ll wake up.” 

I flashed him a solemn half-smile. Every time we followed this well-treaded path, I ended up here. Sometimes Casey would be at my side, sometimes the Dark Place took him from me as the price for my mistakes.

“I’ll try my best,” I told him, trying to convince myself as much as the universe.  

Rain began to fall in the square, hitting the concrete in soft pitter-patters. Casey grabbed my arm before letting me face my routine destiny. 

“Do more than try, Wake. Don’t let him get to her.” 

Scratch. The monster haunting Alice on the other side of the divide, pushing her further and further into despair. 

He pulled me closer, pressing a kiss for good luck to my forehead, and then he let me go. As I entered the building, I felt his eyes on the back of my head. I didn’t dare turn and look. I hardened my resolve and entered the elevator to ascend to our floor to reach our apartment. 

The numbers on the readout rose higher and higher. No matter how many times I had progressed through this ritual, I couldn’t wrap my head around what was happening—the mechanics of manifesting the building boggled my mind. Was Parliament Tower a place caught between two worlds? Was the veil more tenuous between the Dark Place and reality? 

The elevator door slid open. I crossed the threshold and immediately felt lighter. This time was different. Not a last chance to escape, but something… something different. My instinct told me I had just stumbled upon a rare opportunity. 

The entry to our apartment was well lit, even at night, and this time, there were no blinding flashes from countless cameras. 

I never fully understood what I was looking for as I padded silently through the apartment. Was I looking for some magical item which would transport me to reality? Or, my mind sometimes considered, was this stage of my journey meant to serve as punishment? 

Yet Alice’s apartment—it was hers alone now—did not show signs of decay and distress like previous times in my memory. The space felt more akin to a home. Warmer, bathed in lights. It reminded me of the well-lit room within the Bright Falls dam. There were no dishes piled in the sink, no clothes haphazardly strewn over the couch, nor empty takeout boxes. 

There was a slide projector, and it turned on as I entered the living area. A mixture of familiar places began to cycle—pictures of beautiful, picturesque landscapes, portraits of neighbors and new people, inanimate objects, and then… my breath caught in my throat. Pictures of Alice and I before Bright Falls. 

Photos of me in college. A rare handful of photos of Alice, taken by a clumsier, though no less admiring, hand—me. Then pictures of us, together. My proposal to Alice, when I had recruited Barry to snap a picture of us in the moment. Our wedding, with Alice in a white, lace dress. Photos from our honeymoon where we laughed and smiled and never considered how difficult our lives would become. The photo reel remained positive, serving as a reminder of our best moments. 

Standing in the beam of light, I realized the purpose of this loop. I would not be escaping, not this time. This venture served as a reminder of what I was writing for. This loop would lead to a different manner of salvation. 

Something pulled me away from the projector, an invisible hand leading me on. I let myself follow this silent heading and quickly understood where it led: our old bedroom. 

Light peaked through the bottom of the door. My hand hesitated on the knob. I knew I would find her on the other side. I knew I would see her at last, for however long I had left. There wouldn’t be time for much more than a stolen glance filled with my longing for her. 

I couldn’t waste another second. I turned the knob and stepped inside. 

Alice was asleep in our bed, the covers pulled around her. She was clutching a pillow, mine it seemed for there was one missing from the empty space beside her. She slept peacefully despite the heavy rings under her eyes, despite the grief and sorrow I had put her through. 

I sat on the edge of the bed beside her. Carefully, I reached out and pushed a stray strand of blonde hair out of her face, curling it behind her ear. She was as beautiful as the day I met her, somehow even more now. She still wore her wedding ring. She carried her love for me as a cross to bear, and as much as I wished she would free herself from this burden… I was also so grateful. She was reaching out for me as much as I was reaching for her. She had heard me call her name. 

I loved her. I could have spent this moment torturing myself with guilt and shame. I could have dropped to my knees and prayed at her altar for forgiveness, but I stayed at her side and watched her sleep. I would memorize her features, I would pin them to the board in my mind, I would think of her in my lowest moments. I would recall her strength, her tenacity, her diligence. 

If I could free myself from the Dark Place, I would never leave her side again. 

I could feel the Dark Presence tug at my mind. If an invisible, guiding light had brought me here, a darker, more insidious force now reminded me my visiting hours were over. Even as forlorn longing washed over me, I knew I would not be alone on the other side. I would do the steps again, I would return to her. 

I bent down and softly kissed her lips. A goodbye, a good morning. I’m sorry. I miss you so, so much. I love you. 

The darkness pressed on my mind, and as my eyes fell closed, hers opened. 

“Alan?” 

[gemsofgreece]

https://www.pentapostagma.gr/politismos/7183978_bretaniko-moyseio-katahoniasmena-sto-ypogeio-ta-marmara-toy-parthenona

It's a Greek article but it's frustrating reading about the mistreatment of the Parthenon marbles being on the British museum basement there to decay. Not only that the museum will hold a ceremony reading the a 200 year old poem about the abduction of the marbles by Eglin.

Not only they are telling us in plain sight they don't care about the marbles but want to increase their agenda by siding with the man that stole them. But of course why not right? Because thanks to him the museum profits for that :/

I believe you misunderstood the article, Anon. The ceremony was an initiative of the British Committee for the Repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles. They recited the poem "The Curse of Athena", written in 1811 by Lord Byron, which condemns Elgin's looting of the marbles. I guess as a state museum, the British Museum had no choice but to allow the ceremony?

The committee also gathered 35,000 pounds, the equivalent of the amount the British parliament paid to buy the marbles from Elgin in 1816, and offered it to the Greek Ministry of Culture as a symbolic recompensation of sorts. The Greek ministry refused this money. A committee member of Greek descent commented that this refusal was disappointing as the committee wanted to acknowledge the (it implies the unselfish? lol) UK's protection of the marbles all this time while they also advocate for the repatriation, and I get it, they are being diplomatic, however I agree with the stance of the Greek ministry. We don't need refunds, even more so when they are symbolic. Neither should we partake in anything that minimizes the entitlement of this centuries old hold, even if it's done to appease to the anti-repatriation-ists. I mean, it was nice of the committee but I think eventually the Greek ministry did the right thing to refuse this money.

But of course your frustration isn't unfounded.

Το Βρετανικό Μουσείο διαθέτει 108.184 ελληνικά αντικείμενα Μόνο 6.493 από αυτά τα αντικείμενα εκτίθενται

According to the Committee's report, the British Museum holds 108.184 Greek artifacts and displays only 6.493 of them.

This is also the case with many of the largest museums such as the Louvre. Can you imagine wilder audacity than that?

[wonder-worker]

Late medieval and early modern people were increasingly more creative in their reactions to official and elite discourse; hence the crown had to adjust to this new reality to show concern with dialogue. Although the surviving proclamations about wars, truces, and peace treaties do not show special appropriations, the very fact that they were widely distributed shows a willingness to engage in an interaction. In the Yorkist period they were ordered at least four times between the 1460s and 1470s, and in 1471 the truce with Scotland was alleged to be ‘for the weal’ of both realms. More successfully, the old popular title to the crown of France was frequently used to secure taxation, despite the occasional failures. In parliament, the government argued in 1474 that the problem of a great number of ‘disbanded soldiers’ after the late civil wars could only be solved by an expedition to France—which had been the key to success of past monarchs, even Henry VI who was a notable example of failure in that regard. This rhetoric ensured the initial granting of funds by parliament and became a central part of William Worcester’s Boke of Noblesse in 1475—a mirror of the commendable English past in France since Edward III. Henry VII attempted the same strategy between 1489 and 1492, with relatively limited success. Similar vocabulary was repeated in 1502, when Henry was urging his people to take action against the Turks, and in 1514–15 when peace was agreed with France. Even proclamations about the intercourse of merchandise in the 1490s made clear the shared concerns between commons, merchants, and the government. The increased resistance to war levies should not necessarily imply that the title to the crown of France became unpopular but that the dialogue also increased in that respect, and the ‘negotiation’ occasionally proved fruitful to the commons—such as in 1525. All these measures, therefore, might well have sounded quite responsive and self-explanatory as they offered news that justified the extraction of taxation, lengthy negotiations, the mustering of troops, and both failed and successful military expeditions.

The crown also echoed various public concerns about economic and social issues which were likely to cause murmuring among the people. In 1464, Edward IV decided to solve the scarcity of coins in the kingdom, stating that although seditious language was being raised, anyone who had reasons to think the measure was not ‘for the common weal but rather a loss and hurt, [should] come before him and his council and show them’. Such readiness to engage in dialogue is again evident in his skilful claims that he would ‘live upon [his] own resources’ in the parliament of 1467— an echo of the manifestoes of Jack Cade’s rebellion in 1450 and the Kentish men in 1460. In July 1483 Richard III allegedly responded to the ‘clamor, grugge, and complaints’ that people in England were raising against the difference in the value of the Irish coins—an issue which would be raised another three times in the 1490s. Another great concern was with the availability, or more importantly the scarcity, of grain. The enforcement of statutes against illegal trading of grain was particularly addressed in 1491 as being a policy aimed at the ‘common weal’ of the subjects, then similarly several times in Henry VIII’s reign. Mendicancy was treated similarly, as it was commonly believed that beggars carried the seeds of revolt, spread rumours, robbed and murdered the people, and meant the decay and ruin of the commonwealth. The enforcement of local jurisdiction, especially in suppressing extortion, was likewise propagated as part of the ‘advancement of the commonwealth’. Consequently, by responding to such popular concerns, the crown was not only echoing the voices of the people but also legitimising them.

-Wesley Corrêa, "Political Dialogue, Exchange, and Propaganda: Or, How Yorkist and Early Tudor Governments Managed Public Opinion, c. 1461–1537", "Loyalty to the Monarchy in Late Medieval and Early Modern Britain, c.1400–1688"

[val-velociraptor]

Thinking abt foundations of decay with the joan of arc costume stimming isnt enough im blowing up parliament

[whispered-into-the-void]

You know what I want to see?

A series based on an Earth 2 Green Lantern Corps

(or a "Green Lantern Corps" styled after Earth 2's Green Lantern)

My expanded reasoning:

DC's Earth 2 combines several different concepts from several different DC Continuities; one of the more interesting ones it leans into are the Parliaments of the Green, the Red, even touching on a couple of the others iirc. Typically, the Green is the embodiment of all Plant life on Earth - it's champions include Alec Holland's Swamp Thing, Floronic Man, and I believe Poison Ivy has been. (Other Parliaments include The Red, the embodiment of all Animal Life; the Black/the Grey/the Rot, the embodiment of decay; and The Metal, the embodiment of mechanical life)

Earth 2 also uses the concept of Alan Scott's Green Lantern. Before the alien super-cops with Hal Jordan and Jon Stewart in their ranks, Earth saw the human called Alan Scott forge an emerald ring using the energies of a mystical artefact called the Starheart. He's not a member of any intergalactic peacekeeping organisation; the closest he comes is his membership to the Justice Society.

Earth 2 combines these concepts, and makes Alan Scott their world's Avatar of the Green. They create a new Avatar of the Red, and make Solomon Grundy an Avatar of the Grey. I honestly think this is a neat bit of connectivity, and making Grundy an Avatar for decay and rot makes him slightly more connected to the wider world - it also makes him a neat counter to Alec Holland, since both were killed and left to their respective swamps - Gotham's Slaughter Swamp and the Florida Bayou, respectively - and both have a tendency to hang around Gotham.

I think it would be fun to see the Green take a leaf (pardon the pun) out of the Guardians' book. Rather than a single Avatar, give a fraction of its power to several Champions, to spread their efforts out across the planet. It would be an opportunity to introduce several new characters and explore existing, under-utilised characters, as well as dive deeper into the Green and other forces. Obviously, the story would likely turn into one or more of the Champions trying to steal the power from the others, and it would probably see the other Parliaments try to create their own Champions.

[apotheoseity]

please give me more info on Bartholomew or The Parliment their designs itch my brain in a good way. Also! I always wonder this abt werewolf characters- does Jess prefer werewolf form or human form.

Bartholomew and The Parliament are both gods (of course), but are also the ONLY remaining gods from a large pantheon that originally watched over Veilwood. Bartholomew is the god of death and decay, while The Parliament is the god of family and connection. Bartholomew is unaware of The Parliament still being there, as he is under the impression he either successfully killed it or that he got it to flee when he killed the other gods.

The werewolf question is somewhat related to that, actually. Since the gods that controlled time and weather have been dead for as long as anyone can remember, Veilwood is in a permanent state of foggy dusk, leaving werewolves in a permanent state between human and animal. So they don't know one way or another, given they're not actually able to change.

[catenaaurea]

No other institution is left standing which carries the mind back to the times when the smoke of sacrifice rose from the Pantheon, and when camelopards and tigers bounded in the Flavian amphitheater. The proudest royal houses are but of yesterday, when compared with the line of the Supreme Pontiffs. That line we trace back in an unbroken series from the pope who crowned Napoleon in the nineteenth century to the pope who crowned Pepin in the eighth; and far beyond the time of Pepin the august dynasty extends, till it is lost in the twilight of fable. The republic of Venice came next in antiquity. But the republic of Venice was modern when compared with the Papacy; and the republic of Venice is gone, and the Papacy remains. The Papacy remains, not in decay, not a mere antique, but full of life and useful vigor...

Nor do we see any sign which indicates that the term of her long dominion is approaching. She saw the commencement of all the governments and of all the ecclesiastical establishments that now exist in the world; and we feel no assurance that she is not destined to see the end of them all. She was great and respected before the Saxon had set foot on Britain, before the Frank had passed the Rhine, when Grecian eloquence still flourished in Antioch, when idols were still worshiped in the temple of Mecca. And she may still exist in undiminished vigor when some traveler from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul’s...

The Arabs have a fable that the Great Pyramid was built by antediluvian kings, and alone of all the works of men bore the weight of the flood. Such as this was the fate of the Papacy. It had been buried under the great inundation, but its deep foundations had remained unshaken, and, when the waters abated, it appeared alone amidst the ruins of a world which had passed away. The republic of Holland was gone, and the empire of Germany, and the Great Council of Venice, and the old Helvetian League, and the House of Bourbon, and the parliaments and aristocracy of France...But the unchangeable Church was still there.

Thomas Babington Macaulay, The Church of Rome

[naturalrights-retard]

You will not find any drag queen story hour events at Russian libraries or "gender-affirming care" curriculum being pushed on children in Russian public schools because, unlike the United States and the West, Russia is vehemently opposed to allowing LGBT perversion to spread within its borders.

Yet another new piece of legislation has been introduced in Russia to ban so-called "sex change" operations, as well as prohibit changing genders on identity cards, as part of a nationwide effort to maintain "traditional values" in Russian society.

The bill has already received initial approval in the lower house of parliament last month and is now slated for a second reading of three. If passed, the new law will only allow sex-related surgical operations to treat actual intersex "congenital physiological anomalies" in children, and only with approval from a special medical commission or public health care institution.

"We are preserving Russia for posterity, with its cultural and family values, traditional foundations, and putting up a barrier to the penetration of Western anti-family ideology," said deputy chairman of the lower house Pyotr Tolstoy, following the approval after the first reading.

(Related: The suicide rate among transgenders is sky-high because these people are seriously mentally ill, but the media refuses to admit this while it blames everything else under the sun for their fate.)

The West is in rapid moral decay while Russia is rising to embrace morality and traditional family values

[scotianostra]

On 17th May 1741 George Watson's Hospital School was opened in Edinburgh with 11 pupils.

The school was established according to the instructions of George Watson who bequeathed the bulk of his fortune of £12,000 - a vast sum in 1723 — to found a hospital school for the provision of post-primary boarding education to the "children and grandchildren of decayed Merchants of Edinburgh, and of the Ministers of the Old Church thereof". He further expressed a preference for those by the surname of Davidson or Watson.

Watson was never a member of the Merchant Company of Edinburgh, but he was impressed by their running of the Merchant Maiden Hospital and so he chose them to implement the terms of his will. After some years, the Governors finally bought land known as Heriot's Croft, located off Lauriston Place in Edinburgh, close to the Meadows and opposite George Heriot's School. The foundation stone was laid on 22 May 1738, and the building was completed early in 1741.

At the time, there was concern that this site was too far from the city a point I explain to many visitors I have shown around Edinburgh to show how small the city once was.

In accordance with Watson's will, the Governors were responsible for former pupils up to the age of 25; they were helped to find apprenticeships and paid an allowance.

Watson's stated preference was for allowing the Hospital's charges to become skilled workers, though the Governors also allowed boys who showed an ability to pursue medicine or academia

By the 1860s, the hospital school system had fallen into general public disrepute, while the Merchant Company was fearful both of government intervention in the schooling system and of its own decline. The solution was to re-found Watson's, and the three other hospitals under its governorship, as day schools. In July 1868 the Company applied to Parliament for powers to reorganise their schools and make different use of their endowments to as to make education more widely available.

"Watsons was thus completely transformed, reopening on 26 September 1870 as a fee-paying day school with a roll of 800 boys, initially called George Watson's College Schools for Boys"'.

More change was to come quickly. In 1869, the original Hospital building was sold to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. When the infirmary sought to expand in 1871, the school moved a short distance west to the former Merchant Maiden Hospital building in Archibald Place. The original Hospital building was incorporated into the infirmary, and the chapel remained in use as the hospital chapel until the infirmary was itself moved away. The remains of the building were demolished in 2004 during the redevelopment of the infirmary site by the Quartermile consortium, which also redeveloped the site of the Archibald Place buildings, which had in turn been demolished in the 1930s after the school moved to its present site in Colinton.

Sport has always played a major part of the school, Watsonians FP RFC is affiliated to it, the FP stands for former pupils and one pf our all time great players, Gavin Hastings was educated at Watsons and played for the rugby team.

The pics show the old building at Archibald Place and the current building at Colinton.

[peace-and-light-poetry]

Blinky

He came before the Parliament Seventy-five percent of his body Was skeletal

The other percent was recognizable Except singed and decaying

He was screaming A low pitched smoky cry To the skies above

She couldn't tell if he was angry or sorrowful But she knew the wails were sounds of Sounds of agony

The situation seemed like something Out of a horror film That was the point

The image of a zombified koala screaming in agony Is a distressing one

He came before Parliament for a reason He came with a message, a reminder, The incarnation of the billions of animals lost

To the bushfires And the habitat so ravaged by flames

A warning of what's to come If things don't change.

[mariacallous]

Fico is back in Slovakia, and that's not good news for anyone but Russia and Putin.

A party headed by a pro-Kremlin figure came out top after securing more votes than expected in an election in Slovakia, preliminary results show, in what could pose a challenge to NATO and EU unity on Ukraine.

According to preliminary results released by Slovakia’s Statistical Office at 9 a.m. local time, Robert Fico’s populist SMER party won 22.9% of the vote.

Progressive Slovakia (PS), a liberal and pro-Ukrainian party won 17.9%.

Fico, a two-time former prime minister, now has a chance to regain the job but must first seek coalition partners as his party did not secure a big enough share of the vote to govern on its own.

Speaking after his victory, Fico said he “will do everything” in his power to kickstart Russia-Ukraine peace talks.

“More killing is not going to help anyone,” Fico said.

Negotiations are unlikely to be welcomed in Ukraine, as for now they would likely involve proposals in which territory is ceded to Russia – a non-starter for Kyiv.

The moderate-left Hlas party, led by a former SMER member and formed as an offshoot of SMER following internal disputes, came third with 14.7% of the vote,andcould play kingmaker.

With seven political parties reaching the 5% threshold needed to enter the parliament, coalition negotiations will almost certainly include multiple players and could be long and messy.

While not a landslide, SMER’s result is better than expected – last opinion polls published earlier this week showed SMER and PS neck and neck.

Fico has pledged an immediate end to Slovak military support for Ukraine and promised to block Ukraine’s NATO ambitions in what would upend Slovakia’s staunch support for Ukraine.

Michal Šimečka, the leader of PS, said the result was “bad news for the country.”

“The fact of the matter is that SMER is the winner. And we of course respect that although we think it’s bad news for the country. And it will be even worse news if Mr Fico forms the government,” he said at a news conference early on Sunday.

Slovakia’s President Zuzana Čaputová said before the election that she would ask the leader of the strongest party to form the government, meaning Fico will get the first stab at forming a government.

Fico and SMER have not yet commented on the results.

Šimečka said his party will do “everything it could” to prevent Fico from governing.

“I will be in touch with other political leaders of parties that were elected to parliament — on an informal basis — to discuss ways of preventing that,” he said. “We think it will be really bad news for the country, for our democracy, for our rule of law, and for our international standing and for our finances and for our economy if Mr Fico forms the government.”

Peter Pellegrini, the leader of Hlas, said his party was “very pleased with the result.”

“The results so far show that Hlas will be a party without which it will be impossible to form any kind of normal, functioning coalition government,” he said, adding that the party will “make the right decision” to become part of a government that will lead Slovakia out of the “decay and crisis that (the country’s previous leaders) got us into.”

Hlas has been vague about its position on Ukraine in the election campaign. Pellegrini has previously suggested Slovakia “had nothing left to donate” to Kyiv, but also said that the country should continue to manufacture ammunition that is shipped to Ukraine.

Serious consequences for the region

Slovakia, an eastern European nation of about 5.5 million people, was going to the polls to choose its fifth prime minister in four years after seeing a series of shaky coalition governments.

A SMER-led government could have serious consequences for the region. Slovakia is a member of both NATO and the European Union, was among the handful of European countries pushing for tough EU sanctions against Russia and has donated a large amount of military equipment to Ukraine.

But this will likely change under Fico, who has blamed “Ukrainian Nazis and fascists” for provoking Russia’s President Vladimir Putin into launching the invasion, repeating the false narrative Putin has used to justify his invasion.

While in opposition, Fico became a close ally of Hungary’s Prime Minister Victor Orban, especially when it came to criticism of the European Union. There is speculation that, if he returns to power, Fico and Orban could gang up together and create obstacles for Brussels. If Poland’s governing Law and Justice party manages to win a third term in Polish parliamentary elections next month, this bloc of EU troublemakers could become even stronger.

Meanwhile, the liberal PS party had been pushing for a completely different future for Slovakia – including a continued strong support for Kyiv and strong links with the West.

Fico previously served as Slovakia’s prime minister for more than a decade, first between 2006 and 2010 and then again from 2012 to 2018.

He was forced to resign in March 2018 after weeks of mass protests over the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová. Kuciak reported on corruption among the country’s elite, including people directly connected to Fico and his party SMER.

The campaign was marked by concerns over disinformation, with Věra Jourová, the European Commission’s top digital affairs official, saying in advance the vote would be a “test case” of how effective social media companies have been in countering Russian propaganda in Slovakia.

Polls suggest Fico’s pro-Russia sentiments are shared by many Slovaks.

According to a survey by GlobSec, a Bratislava-based security think tank, only 40% of Slovaks believed Russia was responsible for the war in Ukraine, the lowest proportion among the eight central and eastern European and Baltic states GlobSec focused on. In the Czech Republic, which used to form one country with Slovakia, 71% of people blame Russia for the war.

The same research found that 50% of Slovaks perceive the United States – the country’s long-term ally – as a security threat.