#still on a bigger level (not only canada but in general) it does make me wonder if the're some truth in this | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

botwstoriesandsuch · 3 years

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Big question. I need your opinion on something. If Mipha was never saved, and Vah Ruta was never calmed, what effect would it have on Hyrule. We know that it will flood, however I doubt the Shiekah would have the ability to create water from nothing (like to gods) so I just assume they are teleporting so the ocean won't rise. With this in mind, none of the major settlements would really be affected. Gerudo Town is far enough out of the path that the river would take through lake Hylia, Riti Village is also out of the way, and not only does it have a natural moat (if you could call it that) but also a canyon in the way. Korok Forest has magic and a moat and is also out of the way, Goron City is also to high up and out of the way, Tarrey Town is really highup and out of tge way, Zoras domain has pretty good drainage and it will probably go through the several other exits to not cause that muc damage, Kakariko Village is safe in the mountains, Hateno Town is safe and out of the way, and Lurelin Village is also out of the way and won't be damaged unless the ocean floods.

WOO LET’S FLOOD A CIVILIZATION AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS!

**Zelda meter is the meter system of objmap.zeldamods.org, but in accordance with previous posts I'm gonna convert it later to "actual" meters that I think is more realistic. You’ll see why later.

ALRIGHTY, SO LET’S START WITH MEASURING TIME!

So, East Reservoir Lake is 545 zelda meters long (light blue) and 340 zelda meters wide (blue)

Or if we want to see it as more of a circle, it has a radius of 239 zelda meters

Rutala Dam itself is 30 zelda meters wide and 140 zelda meters across. (see purple)

Taking a picture and using an online ruler, I found that the damn is roughly 123 zelda meters tall. (1 cm equal to 17.5 zelda meters by using the 140zm measurement)

Technically speaking, the dam's depth is infinite in the game, so we'll just use this damn's height as the depth.

And before you tell me that I should count the height of the rocks that the damn sits on top of as part of the depth, I'm gonna say not because dams typically block preexisting waterfalls, and given the rounded erosion of the rocks here, I would say that is also the case. Therefore, this was a waterfall that fed into the Rutala River and is not counted for the reservoir's depth.

So, in summary:

Reservoir Length: 545zm

Reservoir Width: 340zm

LW Reservoir Surface Area: 185,300zm (That is only 0.1 zelda kilometer. For comparison, the 45th largest reservoir in the world, Capivera Dam [last place on Wikipedia list] is still 515 square kilometers. The largest ones being in the 60k areas. I’ll come back to this point later.)

Reservoir Radius: 239zm

(pi)r^2 Reservoir Surface Area: 179,451zm2 (179zkm2) [Just got these numbers of surface areas to demonstrate they're practically the same whether you see it as circular or rectangular. I think the circle will be more accurate so going forward I will be using it as my basis for calculations]

Dam Length: 140zm

Dam Height: 123zm

Dam Width: 30zm

The Total Water Rutala Dam Holds Back: 22,072,473zm3 [Instead of just using the sphere volume formula or the LWH formula, I used my more accurate surface area made with the the radius and multiplied by the dam height(is that the,,,cylinder formula? I think so)]

Rutala Dam is supposed to be the largest reservoir in Hyrule, shown very prominently on the map. The largest reservoir(by surface area) in our world is Lake Winnipeg, with a surface area of 24,514 km2, (but only has a depth of 12 meters.)

But here it is on a map of Canada:

To reiterate, Lake Winnipeg has an area of 24,514km, and with zelda meters, East Reservoir Lake has an area of 179.

“BUT KIP! MAYBE EAST RESEVOIR LAKE IS JUST REALLY REALLY SMALL, HYRULE IS PRETTY SMALL ISN’T IT?”

Ok, so comparing the reservoir to one of the the largest, if not THE largest, settlements in the game, Zora’s Domain, we can see that the reservoir is several times it’s size.

But you’ll also note that Zora’s Domain has a diameter of 234zm. That, the entire city, the entire DOMAIN of Zora. 234 zelda meters. Manhattan is 21,100 meters long. Manhattan, by the way, is a fifth fraction of the New York County, which is the smallest county in the United States of America.

234 zelda meters, that’s an area of 43,005zm2. Do you know what else is aobut 40k meters squared in real life? Your nearest Walmart. Just a bit bigger than your local Tesco. Supposedly the entire Zora population, that has been untouched by the 100 year apocalypse and arguably had room to GROW over this time, is living in a Trader Joes.

So I hope this illustrates why I’m converting the zelda meters used on the website to something that I think would be more realistic in the realm of Hyrule. You can find my very loud and kinda embarrassing but factual! and old post about the conversion here, same link as at the top, but essentially just trust me on the conversation that 1zm is equal to 30 real-life meters.

New Realistic Measurements:

Reservoir Length: 16,350m or 16.35km

Reservoir Width: 10,200m or 10.2km

LW Reservoir Surface Area: 166,770km2

Reservoir Radius: 7170m or 7.17km

(pi)r^2 Reservoir Surface Area: 5,383,530m2 or 5382.53km2

Dam Length: 4200m

Dam Height: 3690m

Dam Width: 900m

The Total Water Rutala Dam Holds Back: 19,865,225,700m3 or 19.8 million cubic kilometers of water AKA 19.8 billion kiloliters AKA 5.2 trillion gallons o’ agua

Now THAT sounds more like the biggest dam in all of Hyrule. In fact, it adds up with the stats of the largest dam in our world(by gallons held), that is, the Three Gorges Dam.

The Three Gorges Dam, located in China, ALSO holds back 5 trillion gallons of water/19 billion cubic meters. Although it is a lot shorter than Rutala’s measurements--I think the amount of water that it holds back will be a perfect guide to see the devastation that Rutala’s potential breakage could cause on Hyrule.

There actually is a simulation online about what would happen if the Three Gorges Dam collapsed but I’m not gonna link it cause it might be a bit too distressing, but just know that I based this on that simulation.

Firstly, the biggest sigh of relief comes from the Samasa Plain.

The plain is very very low and slopes down into the Lanayru Bay, so a lot of the water would empty into there. However, the plain would then be totally submerged, so RIP to the shrines and ruins around there. Areas in red as submerged and areas in green would become islands or marshes.

And with that, the water level of Lanayru Bay would rise drastically. Blue is the new water level, dark green are islands, and light green are potential wetlandish areas that would form as time passed.

But basically, Rutala river would have a new branch that spills directly into the Lanayru Bay.

So now you may be thinking,

“HEY KIP THAT’S NOT SO BAD! MOST OF IT SPILLS OUT INTO THE BAY SO IT’S NOT A LOT OS DESTRUCTION! YAY!”

And you’d be half right.

Yes, a lot of the water is going to spill out over Samasa Plain and yes, Lanayru Bay will house a lot of it. But here’s the kicker.

It’s a bay.

Not an ocean.

It would take 1.25zkm or 30km for the water to make it’s way to the ocean, and the water will be traveling SUPER fast--about 100 kilometers per hour.

And that water wants to move, it wants to flow, and Lanayru Bay cannot help all that water flower because: It’s shallow as fuck.

This chest shows the deepest point in all of Lanayru Bay.

I dropped a windcleaver down in the water: and using a generous GENEROUS estimate of 2 feet per second given the conditions of the still water in the bay--It took 5 seconds for it to float to the bottom. 10 feet. 3 meters. That’s just barely deeper than the deep end of a backyard swimming pool.

But even being extra EXTRA generous and using a real world estimate: Bays would be around 14 feet deep, roughly 4 meter. And we can be even more generous and say the sounding mountains can accommodate 30 feet of height. 9 meters. 9 + 4 = 14 meter height times 30km by 10km(width) = That’s 4.2 cubic kilometers, or 4.2 billion kiloliters of the 19.8 billion kiloliters in total.

uh oh. wheres the other 15.6 billion kiloliters of water gonna go?

It’s like taking a firehose, and filling up a bathtub. Yeah, the tub’s gonna catch a lot of that water, but that firehose has way, way, way, more water than that tub can hold, and when the tub can have a leak or hole on it, but the rate that that hose is going is astronomically faster than the rate the tub can expel water, so it’s just gonna overflow and water will still spill everywhere

[And this isn’t even taking into the account that Rutala Dam is SIGNIFICANTLY higher that it’s surrounding landscape, and would pour into the river with such a force that it could cause a giant tidal wave and break through the rocky boundaries of the pre-existing Rutala River causing even more water to flow into the bay]

Lanayru Bay would be occupied with a lot of water, and since the other 15.6 billion kiloliters of water can’t immediately flow into it, it’s gonna take the scenic route through Rutala River. It’s high mountains on either side basically just make it a death funnel.

Here’s how that would look:

This is the new water level for the Lanayru Wetlands. MAn they weren’t lying, those lands do be wet.

so yeah everything is submerged in between 10 to 20 meters of water and you might be thinking

“WELL KIP, I THINK THAT’S NOT SO BAD AFTER ALL! AT LEAST NO MAJOR LANDMARKS WERE DESTROYED AND NO ONE WAS HURT!”

Well, bestie, here’s the thing. This length of land is 3 zelda kilometers long. AKA 90 kilometers long. And you might recall, I said, that this, 3000 meter tall wall of water was traveler at 100km per hour. Well the good news is, my calculations are a lot easier for this as this large stretch of flat Lanayru Wetlands land lines up perfectly with the flat areas of Yichange, (which was actually traveling at twice the speed compared to Rutala because it didn’t have Lanayru Bay to open up into)

But the bad news is, the video is five minutes long, and this is just the first 50 seconds. This water is destined to travel 400 kilometers. That’s about half of the country of Wales, by the way. The entire length of the state of Virginia.

Here’s the rough path of the total flooding that other 16 billion kiloliters from Rutala Dam

Oh, and what’s worse is that the rivers in central Hyrule? Yeah they’re like HALF the depth of Lanayru Bay so the flooding will be even WORSE :D

So here’s the new waterlevel map!

Overtime, a lot of the water is gonna spill onto the paths through Central Hyrule, new swamplands, creeks, etc. etc. The path to the Gerudo Desert will be fin initially, as the water as slowed to the point where it won’t put immediate damage since the bridge is so high. But that new water level plus the influx of water from the River of the Dead is definetly gonna erode that over time and maybe possibly will just collapse and prevent anyone from leaving or entering the desert.

Hyrule Castle will be even more of an island, as the two islands to the left and right of it will be moslty submerged. Also the entire path through Eldin is just fucking done. Everyone in Akkala and Eldin? You’re trapped there. It’s basically a new Lake Hylia but no bridge. Sorry Robbie.

Oh, and also these rapid waters are carrying the debris of it’s destruction, whether the corpses of travelers or giant rocks that it broke off from the side of mountains. So everything is a mess, and depending on the amount of debris, it could completly alter water paths to go even more in land. The rivers are shallow enough, so just pilling in more rocks and dam metal and dirt just makes things shallower

Lake Hylia will be fine, the mini islands are gone, but as a whole, the bridge and the height of the surrounding ridges will keep the water in there. Although a lot of Necluda is basically a goner, and the bridge on either end of Dueling Peaks is totally decimated.

So what did we learn?

All of Hyrule’s economy is fucked. Every major trading path--gone. It’s basically gonna breed even more ethnocentricism, and a bunch of wildlife and sources for food are gone. And not to mention the climate, that’s gonna be fucked too as years pass. Rito and Zora will probably be the most fine? Hylians are fucked though, we destroyed like five stables and basically every river setllement there is. Oh and that influx of water is gonna fuck with the fishes so Hateno and Lurelin aren’t totally out of it either!

Gerudo? Well good thing they’re all lesbians because they sure aren’t going out to woe anybody once those stone pillars holding the bridge give way to the new water levels. Gorons will actually not even know anything’s wrong if I’m being honest. Sheikah? Well that point by Eagus Bridge and Sarhasra slope is gonna connect into a river at some point so I guess they can be a fishing village now.

Oh an RAIN I didn’t even think about that, yeah people are totally gonna die. And if Ruta CONTINUES to pump water into Hyrule (because again, this is only from an INITIAL burst of the damn. Well...

Zora’s Domain will be gone within the year. Water levels will just continue to rise, probably take on Central Hyrule first, but then after that the Gerudo Canyon. Also if flooding in Zora’s Domain REALLY continue it would probably spill over and destroy Tarrey Town. So not good all around!

But I think the main takeaway that we can all settle with is that the Flower Lady and her garden are absolutely, positively, dead.

#botw #breath of the wild #legend of zelda botw #loz botw #botw theory #rutala dam #Zora's Domain

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chyuans · 3 years

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hello , hello ! first of all , i’m super excited to be here even if i’m like 10 hrs LATE ( gmt timezone things ) i’m noe , a gay they / them at the age of 19 , and this privileged lil disappointment of a jock boy is gonna be filling the position of kong_01 . despite the rumours ? yuanjun’s actually not nearly as bad as some of the people he’ll be meeting here >:) but you’ll get to know more about that below ! if you’d like to plot just light up that HEART , or add me on disc*rd which i’ll give out in im’s , where i’m infinitely faster . if i’m not gaming . no tw’s under the cut .

* backstory. > many people know of yuanjun, but few people truly know him. he's the famous kong families’ son, heir to the kong legacy, now forward position for south korea men’s national hockey team - which brought forth a ton of international fame from back home and amongst hockey lovers worldwide. while his talent is undeniable, he is long overshadowed by his families’ accomplishments, forever reminded that he’d never be the perfect son they’d hoped for, and no one ever lets him forget it.

> being the child of business tycoons who’s art business seemed to never be on the decline, tended to lend itself to an unconventional, pretty lonely childhood.

> although jun no longer wants to dabble in the stupid shit he probably did as a teen, and escape from their home in a childish fit of rage and make the lives of the various nannies that tended to him while his parents were off being great hell, he still wonders sometimes whether this profession is what he would’ve wanted if he’d just not wanted to spite his parents. he loves hockey - that fact is undeniable. he thanks the nanny who took him there once out of necessity to stop his whining, and he fell in love with it almost instantly. but he also questions whether he gravitated to it because it was something he could throw himself into wholeheartedly to fill a void.

> he's very open to different types of people, and after being scouted at 19 and having a massive shift both in culture and identity as he then begun to travel worldwide, he’s a tiny bit more wordly now than he was back then. he's much more concerned about who you are underneath than superficial appearances, which means developing relationships are few and far between, because a lot of people do approach him because of his fame/fortune. he's unjudgemental to the point where his friends worry about his naivety and how easily he trusts people, but he's absolutely not dumb, just very well versed on telling good people from the bad.

> jun may even come across as naïve, but he's very aware of that perception is nearly important as reality. he's not extroverted in a way that demands conversation, but he knows how to talk to anyone from any background even if its just to maintain pleasantries. after competing in various competitions and versing players from canada to japan, he's become much more sharp and ambitious, a guy who very rarely lets distractions take their course. perhaps it’s with this that his family loathe his choices all the more, with his appetite, he was born with the skills required to run a business - pity he never took to anything of the creative sort.

> working in a fast, stressful, highly coveted job such as pro-sports is a full time job and then some; jun doesn't spend much time not working on it. outside of his schedule, he likes bettering his stamina at the gym and eating healthy. he likes being surrounded by authentic people or nobody at all. he’s not one for trying new things and having new experiences due to time management, tending to stick to a schedule.

> he gets a lot of bad press though, which is beginning to weigh a little heavy on him. doubly now the murder has people talking. from being accused of performance-enhancing pills, various personality scandals, to being linked with ‘dating’ (see: ruining the image of) idols and chaebol’s alike. right now, he’s currently battling a lot of unwanted publicity because of a misunderstood interaction online against a wealthy sweetheart that went sour.

> while jun might be generally unsympathetic and analytical when it comes to developing relationships with people that’ll last long-term, he's a bleeding heart when it comes to kids who may have experienced the same lonely upbringing as he did, without the financial gains. right now he spends sunday’s teaching a bunch of local foster home kids how to skate, and is trying to fund a couple of sports scholarships for those who show promise under a fake name, just generally being a good ‘ole guy.

> his family do not approve of his job, ofc. in fact neither of his parents have ever attended any of his matches to this day, and are only on semi-decent terms with him because jun begrudgingly is still tied by name to the business and shows his face at events for all of 30 minutes until he physically can no longer maintain pleasantries. his celebrity image perhaps is one thing they can manipulate, and even then, jun could get into scandals galore and still be doing his job. good press, bad press, it has the kong’s family name at the forefront of peoples’ minds, which always brings forth revenue.

> pros: could be a lot worse considering his upbringing, collected, and level-headed most of the time. wicked good at sports, and keeps a cool head in a tough situation. ambitious, curious, a little reckless. eager to prove himself, rich? and very endeared to people/places he finds fascinating. which are many. knows where the good, authentic chinese cuisine is. hardworking and very interested in the idea of Progress.

> cons: the most private person alive, will not divulge any palatable information about himself or his feelings. devil's advocate always. will put himself and others at an arm’s length the second he feels (disgusted noises) e-emotions (love, namely). gets bored easily. paranoid, leads with the head more than the heart. friends > > > family. a little self-involved, never fucking sleeps - will be that neighbour you can hear padding around above your apartment at 3.05 am like it’s mid-day, aaaaand Loves Winning Above All Else

* personality & relationships.

> like many others, jun has his fair share of surface-level friends. he’s quick to be interested in people, to get to know them better, but it's difficult for him to get closer than that after a childhood of being picked up and dropped by those who looked over him - which kinda has left him with abandonment issues.

> he’s a curator of neat things that aren’t too overtly complex, and that includes friendships. so if you have something unusual about you, whether it's a talent or a way of thinking, he would be inclined to get to know you better. also, he has a lot of leverage with his job. being friends with a sports star slash million dollar trust fund baby who can get you free shit never hurts, just don’t befriend him for the perks, yanno?

> jun is very dedicated to his vision of things, and can sometimes be very obstinate in the way he a) wants them to be done b) doesn't accept other options, think steve jobs. he's very mercurial and can be nice one minute but isn't afraid to switch to hardass boss to get things done and did. > he is insanely competitive and his strive is drawn out by always wanting to be on top. truly first child material. that's the kind of guy he is, with standards that do not reflect his passive side too well, which sometimes can get him into some “personality” scandals. he is driven, motivated, always looking for ways to be winning.

> i'm sure someone is bound to hate him, he’s probably got a few accounts online dedicated to a steady stream of shit-talking, given his cutthroat status or holding many hockey cups.

> jun doesn’t think too much about his sexuality - he'd probably best be labelled as pan, but leans towards those who identify as women? because of his current placement in a workspace, and with a cultural identity, that both don’t often lend themselves to lgbtq+ rights, i doubt he’d ever make that public.

> he works amongst some of the fittest people in the world, he knows how to appreciate beautiful bodies, but he's not about to discriminate. he's tragically a committaphobe and isn't interested in anything long-term right now, although i think it'd be funny if someone tried. he's very open for flings and one-night stands and even a friends with benefits sort of set up.

* wc’s. > bring me his baby bro and sis. i command u. i have many thoughts > somebody who maybe gets in on his foster-kid situation? idk maybe they have a perception of jun being what he is in the articles they read of him, but they see him and are like <3_<3 he actually real Nice huh. i see this being romantic but it could bloom a really nice, wholesome friendship too. > enemies. not gonna lie, he doesn’t vibe with rich kids w / a stick up their ass, especially since a lot of the people he works with aren’t from exorbitant families. people who loathe him for declining to take over his families’ business? like the boy can’t even name more than 3 artists off of the top of his head? > fwb except neither of them know what “just friends” mean. > i would love if jun had a confidante. a best friend, a partner in crime, a total bromance 'cause i can never get enough of those. whatever label you ‘wanna put on it. wiping up each other’s messes. maybe a Betrayal in the works > again, gonna be a wc, but i would love a “rival” of jun's on a similar level (or bigger) that’s entirely fabricated based off of trashy articles or a misunderstood interaction online. bonus points if they’re an absolute sweetheart, well loved by most people, and generally the antithesis of jun with his multiple drug/personality rumours, which in contrast, make him seem like the bad guy.

> party buddy. this guy hasn’t touched alcohol/cigarettes/any other stimulants since he was underage and wanted to rebel. the word “relax” does not exist in his vocabulary. Help

#cheong.intro

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pynkhues · 4 years

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In a previous ask I asked if you thought the writers dumbed the ladies down, thanks for answering by the way, but what about Rio. Do you think they dumb Rio down so Beth’s ideas look good? Like this episode wouldn’t Rio know that about the car wash? It seems easy enough to figure out?

You’re welcome, anon! And I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long to get to this. The pandemic just sort of threw a grenade into my life in many respects, and I still feel like I’m scrambling to catch up on things – including my ask box – particularly for asks I have longer replies to like this one!

As for your question – it’s a really interesting one! I don’t disagree with the sentiment at all, and can completely understand where you’re coming from. It is obvious, and seems a bit of a convenient pivot for a character who’s generally been depicted to us as very intelligent, a step ahead, a kingpin, etc. etc.

Probably surprisingly, my answer as to whether or not they’ve dumbed Rio down in s3 to make Beth look good is actually no though. I mean - gosh - think of his re-introduction this season which was entirely about showcasing how well he was able to play Turner and ‘handle him’ in the way Beth had no capacity to. In fact, a lot of this season was about positioning Rio as competent, powerful, and aspirational overall for Beth, but actually in some ways Ruby and Annie too. He’s really their yardstick in how they measure themselves and their own success, and I think a lot of this season was trying to add dimension to that and him overall, both in the slightly softer ways (i.e. Rhea, Marcus, and even Mick) and the harder ways (Lucy, Turner and even Beth).

Which brings me to something I’ve actually thought since 2.04 but never really elaborated on here beyond brief mentions, haha.

I think the show is running a subtextual storyline with Rio. I think it’s been running that storyline actually since Turner’s introduction in 1.04, and that it’s been on-and-off successful on a textual narrative level – mostly because they don’t give us enough of it. I do think it’s there though, and pretty consistent if you’re keeping an eye on it, but it doesn’t really bleed through enough to sate audiences beyond that. (And hey look! I’m one of the people who doesn’t usually have too big of an issue about Rio’s lack of screen time!)

But yes, haha.

What I’m getting at is that I think there’s a parallel, very present storyline that is trying to tell us that Rio’s business and operation was already under the microscope by the feds before the show had even started, and that Beth and the girls getting him arrested in 1.10 has been a hurdle that’s had major ramifications.

So let’s break that down a bit.

I feel heat on, I shutdown.

The seed for this storyline is, in many ways, planted with Beth’s monologue in 1.02 where she tells Rio that if he kills her, Ruby and Annie, he’s ultimately playing himself (there are hashtags and movements after all, haha). The set-up here is that Beth is an outlier for Rio in more ways than one, but there’s also an inference that Rio’s used to pulling the trigger first, and dealing with the fallout later – something that’s reiterated through his handling of Eddie in this very season, and then later Lucy in s3.

But we’ll come back to that.

The point here is that Beth calls him out on not being as subtle as he thinks he is, which is a fact that the story doubles down on with Turner’s introduction two episodes later in 1.04. Turner’s FBI, and he’s in town specifically investigating Rio. It’s immediately clear that there are a lot of gaps in that investigation, and in a lot of ways Beth bridges those gaps for Turner, but still. Turner was always onto Rio before Beth was ever in the picture.

In this sense, Rio’s seeming position in the crime world is already splintering – he has the feds on his tail already. Something happens – we never find out the details – in 1.04 which has one of his boys shot badly (Eddie), and Rio deliberately drops him off with somebody who’s very much on the perimeters of his operation (Beth). That same boy is later pinned by the feds and blackmailed by Turner (1.07) and something happens that quickly leads to Rio not only shutting down business, but seizing all of his assets from everyone, including Beth and the girls (1.08).

He has Eddie killed, orchestrates a test in 1.09 to see how much information Eddie actually leaked to the feds – a test Beth took personally – before he tries to cut her out and Beth retaliated by having him arrested in 1.10.

I’m out, I’m done, time for something new.

Which means starting s2, Rio’s business hasn’t actually been up and running since 1.07, and he’s now got a very public arrest on his record too.

I don’t think it’s an accident that Rio’s shown as virtually alone in s2 outisde of Beth, Marcus and Gretchen, rather I think it’s a deliberate effort to show where his priorities have resettled – which is in business (which Beth is, which I’ll come back to shortly), his son, and his freedom respectively.

But yes.

Let’s talk about work.

Rio tries to get Beth to handle Boomer (2.01), the key witness in the case she’s just given a lot of weight to through the Fine & Frugal job in 1.10, but generally speaking, I think Rio’s still technically, professionally shutdown for the first half of the season. Not only that, but he seems to be trying to disentangle from fake cash generally to get into prescription pill distribution – a pretty distinct pivot for him.

This could be a bit of a controversial opinion, but I don’t think he printed any new cash in s2. I think everything he left for Beth was stuff he had before she’d gotten him arrested, and I think that that’s demonstrated with him giving it to her in the first place (Beth says it herself in the same episode – if they can’t wash it, it’s just paper) and with him flipping his game overall.

In other words, I think Rio was still shutdown and trying to figure out how to redistribute the work he could operate, while he handled the court case and no doubt tried to cover his losses.

And in that incredibly stressful set of circumstances, I think Rio threw a line out to Beth as someone who owed him and was unencumbered by other networks in the crime world, and she bit, she delivered, and then Rio took advantage.

Something that was only ever made more complicated by their relationship, of course, haha, but even after that, I think he justified her presence in his life as a useful and unexpected card in his deck, and someone to keep his bed warm. In that capacity too though, I actually don’t think Rio ever intended for Beth to find out about the pills. I think he was already building that operation, saw an opportunity in Boland Motors, and worked it.

The point is that things were fraying for Rio back in s1. I think that things were getting back on track for him at the start of s2, but then fell apart in a way that was bigger and worse towards the end of it.

Beth successfully wrangled half his business, sure, and he not only let her, but he made a bad choice in investing too much in Boland Motors because he thought he had a better handle on her overall. Boland Motors ended up not just being the front for him to wash the cash he’d made via the girls, but was now the key stop-point for the drugs he was bringing across the border.

I’m sure he did have other operations at this point, but Boland Motors was BIG, and it blew up for him twice over.

First when Beth dumped him in 2.09.

Then with the FBI raid in 2.10, which ultimately rendered their cash useless in 2.12.

Something I imagine was only made worse by Ruby dumping the pills that would ordinarily be delivered through the car airbags in 2.10 too.

So who made your money?

Which brings us to where we are in season 3, where actually a lot of this seems to come to a head off-screen. I think this season actually really quickly established three things that work together and with the information of previous seasons pretty effectively, just that it was hindered by it being too subtextual, and not quite textual enough in certain parts.

1. Rio’s operation is still kicking, albeit not without challenges. He’s able to set up other crews, while mobilising his own to assassinate Turner from what is essentially a lockdown situation. The first episode is devoted to telling us exactly how powerful Rio is, while also how much he isn’t. We get Rio playing puppeteer with Turner and the crime world, but we also get the disconnect from his child as symbolised through the model airplane, and the lack of connection he has to his family through Beth and Rhea’s relationship. It’s a really great character breakdown to parallel Rio’s control over his professional life, and lack of control over his personal one.

2. Rio’s lost professional networks and is struggling to re-make them. This is actually the point I think we needed more of in the show, because I do think it’s there, but I don’t think it’s as textual as it should be. I’ve said it on here before, but we know from 1.03 that Rio’s never designed his own money – it’s what he sent Beth, Ruby and Annie to go collect from Canada after all, and that design was cooked by 2.12.

We also know he was washing cash through a variety of local businesses prior to his arrest in 1.10 as per the news report in the same episode, and from the fallout in s2, it seemed like those networks had dried up, hence him giving Beth the money to wash in 2.04 and then jumping all in on Boland Motors.

Beth also latches onto this concept in 3.04 when she tries to negotiate with Rio for her life, telling him “no cars, no pills, no cash, it’s gotta hurt”, and he responds, pretty simply with “You don’t know my interests.”

Which she doesn’t, particularly as she latches onto the idea of Rio needing money, because I don’t think he does, and I think the introduction of the G Wagon this season was a significant symbol in teling us that as an audience.

I don’t think Rio needs money. I think he needs to be making other people money.

I think he needs the business.

It seems to be something underlined in Rio’s confrontation with Gil in the bar later in the episode. He’s holding Gil to get the name of the person designing his money, because Rio knows the value of the product, and he needs to rebuild professionally after the arrest, raids and his own disappearance, and it’s only re-emphasised by Rio taking over Beth’s operation when he finds out. She owes him enough, is on the backfoot enough, that he can own all of it, knowing she’ll let him.

3. Lastly is that Rio is, and always has been, a dangerous person with a ready and willing trigger finger. He handles his rotten eggs – for better and for worse.

Sophie, what are you going on about??

A good question, me, haha. I guess my point in all of this is the fact that I think Rio’s comfortable financially but is in deep in crime and as a result has a lot of people relying on him (both above him and below him) to build business. Since the shutdown in s1 and his arrest then disappearance, I think shit’s hit the fan, and a lot of his old professional avenues have been cut off, and that Beth presents to him as this sort of perfect in to a world he’s just been re-ostracised from.

The carwash was obvious, of course it was, but I think that was sort of the point? I think it was a narrative signpost of how many steps backwards Rio’s operation has had to walk, and how far Rio’s been boxed into a corner (something I actually do think would have re-emerged on a textual level this season given we know we were supposed to be meeting Rio’s crime bosses).

I think he wanted another Boland Motors sort of operation, and forcing Beth’s hand created Boland Bubbles, and I think the prospect of that was a relief to him in more ways than not (hence his tone shift in 3.11).

Beth is, after all, a logical person in many ways for Rio to invest in because she owes him, and because she has no other ties in the crime world. I’ve said this in multiple other posts, but I think Rio’s really deliberately kept it that way. I think he sees her potential, yes, and I actually do think a part of him wants to protect her (again, 2.07 being the clearest example of that), but I also think he sees her as an asset for himself. She’s quick on her feet, exists in a world he can’t – that world being middle class, white mama – and he can throw down a challenge to her, knows she’ll rise to meet it, and present a solution.

She did it unprompted in s1 with the secret shoppers, prompted when given the means in s2 with Boland Motors, and then prompted with a threat in s3 with Boland Bubbles.

For all his talk of not knowing how to incentivise her in 3.10, he really does know, and more than that, he knows how to prompt her to level up in a way he can then take advantage of.

Does this mean that Rio can’t or doesn’t come up with the ideas? Of course not! (Athough I do think he likes outsourcing them, haha) But I think he’s aware of where he stands and who he is and what he looks like, and I think that’s been compounded by a period of time that’s been dangerous for him both personally and professionally, and fuck - - exhausting too. I mean – he was shot! Three times! In the chest!

But I do think Rio’s a kingpin too. It’s just been a hard year, y’know?

(Because I think it mostly has just been a year? There’s something to be said here after all given we know there was only eight months between early-s1 and 2.12 given the timestamp, and now only two months apparently between 2.09 and 3.03, so it very well could’ve been only little over a year in canon? That said, requesting any sort of logical timeline on this show feels like a trap, haha).

I don’t know though! This is just my theory. What do you guys think?

#beth x rio #beth boland #rio #gg 3.11 #3..10 #gg 2.12 #missing scenes #rio the mvp #crime time #welcome to my ama

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hempactivegel · 4 years

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Hemp Joint And Muscle Active Relief Gel With Natural Ingredients

cannabis medicine and I've treated thousands of patients with medical cannabis in CBD over the years and this is where I share all of that knowledge with you so in this episode today we're going to be talking about CBD used for chronic pain so how can CBD help chronic pain conditions what kind of chronic pain conditions it helps with and which ones it may not be so helpful with and then we're going to talk about how to actually use CBD and the experiences I've had using high CBD types of hemp in medical cannabis with my patients with chronic pain so this is a question I get asked all of the time in facebook groups by email and of course with my patients is they really want to try to use CBD and usually in an oil forms of CBD oil for their chronic pain now there's some CBD oils that you can get over-the-counter in some countries that are from hemp and they don't have any THC in it or less than 0.2 percent THC so basically none and then there's the medical cannabis that really has high high high CBD low THC but does it a little bit of detectable THC in it let's say 1% THC so in my medical practice in Canada where medical cannabis is legal I use a lot of very high CBD very low THC oils to help patients with chronic pain now chronic pain it's a just a huge broad area of medicine because there's so many areas where pain can come from pain can come from the nervous system being injured and come from the nerves called neuropathic pain or nerve pain it can come from inflammation so if someone who has an autoimmune disease or they have arthritis from just wear and tear they can all get different types of pain and you have pain in the nerve endings and you have pain in the body and then you have pain that starts in the brain that's again something called central pain so with all of these different types of pain actually one of the most important systems in our body to manage pain is our own cannabis system in our body our endocannabinoids system so what this means is that when we are facing pain whether it's chronic pain or acute pain there's molecules in our body there's chemicals our body makes to help fight that pain and our body makes cannabis like compounds cannabis like molecules called endocannabinoids it helps to really regulate our pain perception how we kind of perceive pain and also how pain really changes the brain over time so a really common question I get is you know what should I do when I've already tried CBD from somewhere over the counter from a hemp store for example for my chronic pain and it didn't do anything does that mean that cannabis medicine in general and CBD in general it just can't help me the answer is usually no usually the answer is that it probably can be helpful somewhat but it really depends on the type of CBD the concentration of CBD it's different for every person in every pain condition and a lot of other factors like was it a full spectrum cannabis medicine product with lots of different chemicals in it besides the CBD or was a just CBD without anything else like a CBD islip what I find with a lot of chronic pain conditions is because CBD actually interacts with our own cannabis system in our own bodies called the endocannabinoid system it doesn't actually turn pain off directly like a painkiller for example what it does instead is it down regulates our perception of pain and the kind of tones our our nervous system so to speak so it can help with chronic pain over a period of time but often times it might take weeks or months to see in effect and it doesn't cure chronic pain so you have to keep taking it so what can happen with a lot of people is they start taking a very small amount of CS CBD oil and they don't really see much difference if anything oftentimes they have to use a different dose a different product or sometimes adding a tiny bit of THC so using in Canada for example where this is legal a strain of cannabis oil that has a tiny bit of THC and still very very high amount of CBD actually works better for chronic pain in many cases because it actually binds directly to some of the the pain receptors using the THC and then the CBD makes the THC work even better even at these tiny little doses so normally even at those tiny doses of THC people don't normally feel impaired or high so a lot of times people think that CBD oil is going to work directly for their chronic pain but again because CBD actually doesn't bind to either one of the cannabis like receptors in our body the cb1 or the CBT receptor like THC does it works in a more kind of overall toning capacity like a lot of herbal medicines it's all about really toning the nervous system and this is where CBD can be helpful over time there's also still so much we don't know about CBD and about the cannabis plant in general we're really only at the beginning of our scientific understanding and this is really I mean I mean when I say the beginning I mean I read the most up-to-date cutting-edge research every week on this topic and I'm still feeling like you know we're really at the beginning so that being said how can you actually use CBD if you have chronic pain well one way that you can use it is you can help use it to help decrease the anxiety that comes with chronic pain because what happens when you have chronic pain is in the back of your mind even though your brain gets used to having chronic pain it takes up so much bandwidth in your brain so much mental and brain energy to basically dampen the pain signals so you can just go about your life and not feel like you're in constant trauma that over time it can cause a lot of brain anxiety and it can cause a lot of fatigue so what I find seem to be helpful with when someone has chronic pain one of the ways there's many but one of the ways is helping to decrease the brain anxiety levels so basically it helps kind of calm their brain down which dampens the fight-or-flight response or you know the danger response system in the brain and that also dampens pain signals and it also dampens our pain perception because when you have chronic your nervous system is on edge all of the time it's like you're caught in this fight or flight running away from a saber-toothed tiger cycle all of the time and everything is heightened so your awareness of everything of sounds of smells of bright lights and of pain everything gets amplified so basically it just helps kind of calm everything down a notch and even in itself that's really helpful with chronic pain sufferers another way that can actually help chronic pain is if the chronic pain has an inflammation component so that's actually most types of chronic pain even indirectly if you have nerve pain sometimes there's an inflammation component as well so what CBD does in animal models we know and we think in humans although we need really bigger research studies to say exactly how this works but it's probably very similar to what we're seeing in animal models is that CBD actually works on inflammation through a number of different pathways in the body so it can shut down inflammation in some pathways so if pain is coming from inflammation CBD used daily over time may help reduce inflammation and that kind of pain as well another factor in many forms of chronic pain even if you didn't start out this way is the longer the pain goes on the nervous system tries to adapt to the pain and basically your own endocannabinoid system in your other pain control systems they get out of whack they just don't work as well and they kind of reach this new baseline this new kind of dysregulated baseline of I'm okay but actually the nervous system is really just regulated so this is where CBD may be able to help again because it may be able to help rebalance the endocannabinoids system when it's gotten out of whack so the last thing that I'm just gonna mention is okay what types of chronic pain do I see enjoy treat with medical cannabis and high CBD strains especially so I see quite a variety of chronic pain conditions one of the really interesting things that I've noticed in my clinical work with patients and this is not something that's really in the published literature yet is after someone's received chemotherapy for cancer in many cases they use different drugs that really affect numbness and tingling and burning sensations of burning pain the hands and the feet and this is kind of a neuropathic or nerve type of pain that specifically people get after a lot of chemo therapies especially the breast cancer chemotherapy regimens and what I've found is when patients use CBD oil after they finish their chemo and they keep using it their pain their burning pain in their hands and their tingling pain in their hands and their feet tend to tend to go away a lot quicker then I would say on average so it may be really a place specifically received II show some promise there's some animal studies on that type of pain specifically using CBD and we need more research to say exactly how it works in humans but it's really promising another type of pain that I treat is fibromyalgia I also treat arthritis pain and pain that's associated with a lot of other chronic diseases so I'm gonna talk about each of those in another video specifically but in general I think for chronic pain CBD holds a lot of promise especially when it's combined with other chemicals in the cannabis plant and potentially with other herbals and other medications so if you like this video please subscribe to our Channel and also please share this video with your friends and family who might benefit from it too and if you want more great free resources from me on CBD cannabis medicine and evidence-based natural medicine come over and join me on dr. Danny Gordon comm and sign up for our emails where you're going to get updates for me personally and exclusive content

#Hemp active gel #hemp gel

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ilovejevsjeans · 5 years

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Daniel Ricciardo: 'This season emphasised my love for Formula 1'

It has not been an easy year at Renault, but Daniel Ricciardo nevertheless says this season has "emphasised his love" for Formula 1.

The Australian seven-time winner left Red Bull to join Renault on a two-year contract for 2019 and 2020 worth more than $50m (£40.2m), and his new team started the season with the ambition of closing on the top three teams.

Instead, Renault have slipped backwards. But Ricciardo says he "still feels good" about the decision, has no regrets, and that he would like to continue with the team if they can show sufficient improvements next season.

"Do I want to stay? Yes, because ideally we do get this to the next level," Ricciardo tells BBC Sport in an exclusive interview.

"It was my massive intention to come here. My intention wasn't to have a two-year layover somewhere else. I know people might still think that, but I really want this to work. I feel like the hours I have put in this year have shown I have the drive to want to do so."

After comfortably finishing fourth in the constructors' championship last year, Renault are fifth with seven races left in 2019, one place behind McLaren, a customer of Renault's engines.

The regression - and the contrast with the startling progress at McLaren - has led to disappointment and significant internal pressure, but Ricciardo says he was expecting a difficult season all along.

"Definitely not to be negative, but regardless of even if we were coming sixth every weekend, I knew there were still bigger targets and that we were still not going to be where we want to be," he says.

"Yes, we're at times further back than we expected and hoped, but I knew there would be work to be done and a lot of hours to put in. I feel like I was prepared for that.

"Even though I feel like I have worked more hours and probably worked harder this year than in previous years, it has still been quite enjoyable because the environment is different - new people, new relationships.

"If anything, it has reiterated what I want in the sport."

'Get me back to the front'

There have been some dark moments along the way, though, and the nadir was a weekend in Austria at the end of June when Renault were uncompetitive.

"Austria, literally, I can tell you conversations going in my head during that race," Ricciardo says. "I am literally driving around - I don't want to say not present - but my thoughts were: 'I don't want to be here.'

"When I say that, I mean: 'I don't want to be in this position.' I was 14th or something and it was one of our worst weekends. But it wasn't a head-down defeat, it was: 'Get me back to the front - this is not where I should be. This is not where we should be.'

"So a really bad weekend emphasised my passion and love for the sport and how much I wanted to get everyone back up to the front, including myself."

There have been some strong weekends, too, especially Canada, where Ricciardo qualified a brilliant fourth, splitting the Ferraris and ahead of both Red Bulls.

"Through some of these struggles, it has been really quite positive for me this year, and it's really driven me to want more from it," he says. "That's been cool.

"And on an actual pure positive - Canada. We've had some lows but that high was for me like a pole position. There have been some moments that have lasted."

Reputation intact

In five years at Red Bull, the team were never consistent frontrunners, but Ricciardo took seven victories, and established a reputation as one of the sport's most exciting drivers, in addition to being possibly its most likeable and amusing character.

Most of his victories were outstanding, featuring drives through the field and audacious last-minute overtaking manoeuvres.

Ricciardo has inevitably faded slightly from the limelight this year, but the move to Renault has done nothing to damage his reputation as a driver.

He has comfortably out-paced his team-mate, German Nico Hulkenberg, who has out-qualified Ricciardo only four times in 14 races. This performance disparity will have made Renault's decision to release Hulkenberg and sign Frenchman Esteban Ocon for at least the next two years all the easier.

And while Ricciardo would obviously prefer to be further up, he says he is enjoying the intensity of the midfield fight.

"If anything, [qualifying] is tighter than last year," he says. "The battle a lot of the time was just me and Max [Verstappen], where this year it's all the midfield. So that's definitely getting the blood flow going. I am enjoying the driving."

Why have Renault gone backwards?

As for the car's performance, Renault think they know what has gone wrong this year.

Their strong performance at tracks such as Canada, and the past two races in Belgium and Italy, all 'power circuits', have emphasised that the French manufacturer has finally made a good step forward with its engine after years of underperformance. The issue now is the car.

Ricciardo says: "It seems when I speak to the team, the base of the car, the fundamentals, the base direction, has limited us. So we developed it a little bit but it's reached, I don't want to say its peak, but it can't really be developed that much more with this philosophy.

"So, as far as now looking at next year, it seems like they want to change the whole aerodynamic philosophy of the car. Instead of focusing on this part of the car, say the middle part, and trying to generate as much downforce in the middle, it's like, no, we need to focus on the front.

"It seems like it might be more difficult at first, but in the bigger picture we'd be getting more downforce 'points', as we call it, from that."

This sounds very much like Renault have done what Ferrari have done this year - pursued an aerodynamic philosophy that looks better initially, but which limits overall downforce; in contrast to Mercedes, whose car was harder to get working initially, but is better in the end.

For Ricciardo, then, a lot hangs on Renault getting that right. If they can make their new direction work, and take a big step forward, Ricciardo may well stay. If they can't, they fear he would leave.

This was emphasised by Renault Sport managing director Cyril Abiteboul, when he said recently that signing Ocon "wasn't just about 2020, but also 2021 and what's happening to his team-mate".

Does Ricciardo think Abiteboul suspects he might be looking for pastures new for 2021?

"I definitely haven't made any decisions yet," Ricciardo says. "I haven't had this discussion with Cyril. I don't want to speak for him, but he's frustrated with this year.

"I think part of him feels like - I don't want to say [he feels] he's let us down, but we did expect to do better.

"When we chatted last year, there were higher hopes for this year. We're confident next year is going to be a lot better, but he's thinking probably: 'If it doesn't go [better], why would Daniel want to stay?' That's probably where his head's at and that's probably where those comments come from.

"It's him just being brutally honest with himself and wanting to do better and wanting the team to do better - to basically keep me and any other assets."

The contracts of most top drivers come up for renewal at the end of 2020. Along with Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari, both Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen are all on the market next year.

"So next year, what would I need to see?" he asks rhetorically. "Obviously improvements - not just from one position to the next, but solid improvements that actually we could realistically fight for a podium at some point next year. That would be very encouraging and motivating for everyone.

"I know we're still a long way off that but I still believe it's in reach. I don't think we're dreamers; we just have to clean up a few things. I still look back at Canada - if we can qualify fourth at the seventh race of the season, I still believe anything's possible with these guys."

#daniel ricciardo #dan

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incarnateirony · 5 years

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I think the biggest lie about the united states that we’re told since birth as citizens is that... america is a country.

Okay, hear me out, two parts to this.

There’s the very obvious part of “The United States is a Country, America isn’t, it’s a continent.” EG North/South America. The United States of America.

But really in actual execution there’s another point -- to which the above shorthand even panders. Our states.

Our states are supposedly largely able to self-govern and set a bunch of laws free of actual national oversight. In fact, Republicans gong on about this and throw supposed fits while ironically pushing for bigger and bigger police state involvement America, but regardless of the actual effective application of it, that’s the idea.

Most states are huge. If you compared US States to countries in Europe in terms of size and diversity of geography and culture, you’d see next to no difference.

“United States.” That’s just it though, that’s the key word. What’s in a state, really. Because by definition, the word “country” can be applied variably to states, sovereign states, nations and nation-states. That’s right, some countries are states. Which seems like a really basic thing but again, hear me out.

The very idea of 50 united states, all small countries unto themselves, united together is pretty much just... I dunno, a UNION. Like the European Union. But the countries, that could even be called states, within the European Union don’t just pretend they’re all one big country.

So my weird point in all of this is that the nationalism of the united states is such a huge, falsely constructed phenomenon at our current junction. It’d be like europeans screaming back and forth at each other over the need to absolutely support any and all decisions by the biggest head in the EU or you’re Not Patriotic And A Sinner Or Whatever. Only in America’s case, that individual is making more and more martial decisions that are becoming outright catastrophic to surrounding nations.

EU countries do things like give their citizens EU health insurance cards. Which would be like, rather than (State) medicaid, it’s also (Federal) medicaid, as long as there’s some reciprocation involved and basic communication. The European Union is the ultimate foreign policy maker. And so on. Sound familiar? Most of the EU is now border free without border checks or hassles. Also sound familiar to over here?

“The United States of America”‘s nationalism to force adherence to absolute bullshit is ridiculous. It’s more like The Smiles For The Christmas Card Countries of America, above which the slightly more organized but never invited to christmas canada hat sits hoping we don’t go nuclear. Just like countries have their own parliaments/parallel, we have state senates and whatever else. America isn’t just one country, it’s 50 very crudely strapped together countries that DESPERATELY need to at least break into like 5 territories for general management before we all just die in a civil war that isn’t even really a civil war just a continental one.

If it ever feels like Alabama and Oregon are completely different countries, that’s because essentially, they are. They just happen to be in the same union. It’s like pretending Sweden and Latvia have related political issues and needs and that people in one should get to make very loud decisions that heavily impact people in the other. Shockingly, the EU has mostly worked out war policy and health care. Maybe not perfectly. But better than our discombobulated asses out here.

I’m sure someone’s going to come and try to hyperanalyze pinpoint-pick-apart something on completely unnecessary semantics but the general point is here -- we’re now at a point where we’re... IDK. The EU has a few kinds of presidents, right? The council, Commission, and president of Parliament but that’s kinda like the three branches of government. I guess it’d be like a large batch of Europeans like worshipping Donald Tusk’s decisions even if he started rolling tanks through town For Reasons. Given I’m approaching this part from an academic level of more reading about than living the EU experience so there may be a better parallel.

And no, Tusk is no Trump. AFAIK he’s been working against Russia meddling in Ukraine? And outright mailed that Trump is a huge threat to the EU? But like. Put Trump in Tusk’s position. Tusk in Trump. That’s it, that’s the difference, Europeans just aren’t brought to praise the ground the EU leader(s) walk(s) on.

Just random thoughts for people indoctrinated about US BS from the inside and people outside that are still sort of looking at the US and going WTF. There’s essentially 50 countries over here with different needs, and a large batch of them living in very, very old and dated times with heavy religious influence, but have used the union overhead to get themselves disproportionately represented among the union at large, in a way that’s dictating the entire union in favor of these smaller countries and barring this union from making basic fucking decisions that the better part of Europe is decades ahead of us on, even if struggling in some areas.

In fact, the better part of the states and areas that pull disproportionate advantage and representation just so happen to be the same areas that tried to leave the union during the civil war. And lost. Devastatingly. And have been trying to bend things to their old favor ever since. For all their "she lost, get over it" memes these same states sure haven't gotten over losing the civil war. Seriously. Cut slave states out of the union, run an election, see if a republican ever gets elected ever again. You know, to be the head of the American Union. Because that’s all it fucking is.

The Confederacy was Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia No, really. Please. Break away and do your own thing again, be a different country. California alone would outweigh about the sum of remaining red states, much less... literally everything else.

You wanna know why Texas threatens to leave the union constantly but never fucking DOES? Because republicans would never win again and it takes down most of the rest of the mason-dixon front with it. That’s it, that’s the only reason. PLEASE secede from the union and take the others with you. BUT THE USA HAS A FLAG

so does the EU

BUT MY STATE HAS A FLAG

so do countries in the EU.

fuck this false nationalism bullshit in general. White nationalism is of course a huge part of it but seriously fuck general american nationalism it’s one giant fucking lie. The entire union is fucking corrupted in the upper levels, as we all know and rant about but in such a rancorous way that even pulling out for the Right Reasons would end up being disasterous, it’s like a hostage situation of 50 basically-countries all slapping at each other with a megaphone given to the people who LOST the war of how to run the union to begin with.

Europeans should probably start asking Americans what state they’re from and hold that in the same way they hold discourse about countries of the EU. And Americans should probably identify by state to the outside world. “I’m from Europe” gives nowhere near the idea as “I’m from Spain.” Same goes for America. In example, I’m traveled! I was born in California! Raised at the border of Illinois and Wisconsin! Spent a huge chunk of life in Texas! Had my best success in Oregon! Am currently spinning my wheels trying to get out of Alabama! And you know what? Literally ALL of them had completely different culture. But seriously fuck anything in the mason-dixon line.

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bathunterofdevon · 4 years

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Update

So I might as well give some commentary on my cryptic last post. Basically, I have had to fly back to the UK immediately due to the coronavirus - cutting my Canada trip short. I have had a wonderful time living and working in Collingwood, Ontario, and I made plenty of good friends. But after getting laid off, due to the place closing down, and being unable to pay the rent, I was actually pretty lucky to get back here when I did. I have heard stories of family friends being stranded in many far away places unable to get back, due to airport closures. I am a little upset that I had to leave Canada - there was so much I wanted to do there. But in all honesty, working the minimum wage job I had, much though I enjoyed it, I never would have been in any position to do anything else beyond that point. It sure is expensive being an immigrant. When I came over to Canada, I have over £3,000 in life savings that I had stashed away. But in the very first month, I lost all of it; just by looking for a place to live. (This was when I was in Toronto). Toronto is a pretty expensive place to live. It's so expensive - I swear there is a tax on the oxygen you breathe over there. I worked a shitty job over there for the first three months, as a server... except, not quite. What I did was basically like serving food, except I only did menial tasks that that were beneath the main service staff, like cleaning tables, and the floor. I didn't even get to collect tip money. And three months later, I was suddenly fired for some minor indiscretion. I won't talk about it here, because I'm a little worried that if I tell you, you might not take my side. But basically, if you have a job in Canada (and I found this out the hard way) for the first three months, you are on a kind of probationary period. You can be terminated immediately during that time with no notice whatsoever. That devastated me more than a little, because I had never been fired before. It ate into my psyche and made me wonder if I would ever really amount to anything, and whether I would have to give up and fly back early. Fortunately, after that, it turned out that I had a contact, who was a friend of a friend of my mother, who worked further up north, in this little resort by the Blue Mountain Ski Range, in Collingwood, Ontario, who managed to get me a referral for working at the front desk over there. I did a FaceTime interview, and accepted the position. Working at the resort was wonderful. Not only did I get given accommodation, but I had staff lunches, and basically all of my immediate needs were seen to. Best of all, my staff accommodation was ten times better than the last place, where I lived. I had a room all to myself, with a desk and everything. I had the resources and time schedule I needed to work on my Youtube videos all the while I was having off time from working at the front desk. After 11 whole months, I finally finished Dirty Danganronpa, while out there and breathed a sigh of relief. That sure took a lot of energy out of me. I had some troublesome flatmates though. I say troublesome, because they were difficult and unreasonable at times. They could be really unreasonable when it came to cleaning the dishes... and I later discovered that they were not equally unreasonable when it was THEIR turn to clean up after themselves. While I was initially friendly towards them, in the months gone by, I was avoid them as much as possible, because it was tricky talking to them. It was for the best that we became isolated from each other. They were nice to me at times, and I was grateful for their company at times - but their moods were often unpredictable and transient, which made me feel unsafe and unsure as to whether I could trust them. The whole time, I reflected on my status as a foreigner, and how much more useful it would be if I had a skill of some kind, and if only I had finished my driving test before I came there. Thinking about my real life situation was enough to drive me into a deep despair and self-pitying fest that would leave me feeling too exhausted and miserable to produce anything. But it wasn't all bad. I still have some positive memories of that place. I did leave a good lasting impression with my employer. And while I did eventually lose my job, unlike last time this one was not my own fault. Everybody was getting laid off, left, right and centre. And the resort itself, incidentally has closed down indefinitely. It is astonishing how far-reaching the effects of the virus have proved. I never would have predicted this level of hysteria before - I'm old enough to remember the Bird Flu, the Swine Flu, the Zika Virus, and Ebola... all I remember of those, was nothing more than there being a huge media craze; even some Youtube stars talking about them, besides a couple hundred thousands of deaths too far away for any of us to know or care. But... this was different. To be honest, though it may sound heartless of me to say this, part of me is actually excited at all the chaos that's happening. The world is in full-blown panic mode. And now government and health ministers are advising everyone to self-isolate. I just want to let these government officials and everybody else know, that I had been self-isolating long before it was fashionable. Else I would not have found the time to make these. Anyway, the day finally came when we all heard the announcement - the owner of the resort was laying off virtually everyone in the housekeeping/maintenance/front desk department, and we were being faced with a choice - either I would have to work in a different (less glamorous) department, like maintenance, or cleaning, or I would choose voluntary redundancy, and claim unemployment benefits. For me, it was a no brainer. I don't have the brain, nor the mentality to do menial, repetitive tasks like painting, and cleaning. In spite of the fact that I have worked for years in MacDonalds, and in restaurants doing tasks like that. But considering everything that was going on, I had a chat with my Mum and Dad, and they insisted that I fly back home as quickly as possible. I was reluctant to do so at first. I didn't want to throw away everything for which I'd worked so hard to achieve. It was meaningful that I was living entirely by my own means, and providing for myself. I basically wasn't a kid anymore. And I didn't want to put an abrupt end to that. But then, everything changed. Dominic Raab (The UK Government's Foreign Secretary) basically told all Brits abroad to return home as soon as possible. By then, I figured I ought to get back as soon as possible, so that I didn't end up stranded with nowhere to live. Officially, the UK is under lockdown due to the virus. But honestly, based on what I've seen, it does not feel like we are under a lockdown at all. Most of the local shops down my road are still open. Even some of the restaurants are still open - except they only do takeouts instead. I have not seen any police roadblocks, nor checkpoints of any kind. In fact, I've seen quite a few people out cycling, walking their dogs, basically just life as normal. I have to wonder how they are going to enforce this lockdown, seeing as so many people are ignoring it? Not like I care either way. If we are officially under lockdown, then I have a better reason to stay indoors, and work more on my computer. :D Now, it is estimated that we will remain under lockdown for approximately 3 months - although I don't know the actual figure. Everybody fails at predicting the future. What am I going to do in that three months time? Well, the only thing I can do at this point. If there are things that my Canada trip have taught me, it's that I have a Creative disease. I have to find ways to satisfy my urges and channel my creative instincts effectively. One of those channels is through this - my Youtube Channel. But there are three others. Another one for me is voice acting. I've mentioned earlier that I have another account where I take part in voice acting, except I'm not sure if I'm ready to introduce you to my real voice and real self yet. The third one is music. Not a lot of you may know this, but I actually have a background in music. My grandmother on my mother's side was a concert pianist (Just like another girl we all know, hmmm?) I am also an alumnus of the Academy of Contemporary Music, in Guildford, Surrey, UK. There are three videos dated about 5-7 years ago on this channel which I had to make private, because they all feature me, singing and playing guitar in them. One of them is me playing a guitar cover of the Hollyoaks Theme Tune (God - what a loser I was. So desperate for validation I would actually cover the Hollyoaks Theme tune) I don't even like Hollyoaks. I hate it with a burning passion - like every other Godawful soap opera on British Television. In fact, TV in general is just so depression and despair inducing that I refuse to watch it. Anime/Video games and Music is my escape from all that. I despise pretty much anything that depicts the real world in a realistic life setting. But to give you an idea of what else I sometimes do in my time, there is an old video - 6 years old - of a remix I did of the Allegro Cross Examination theme tune for Ace Attorney, which I made on Garageband. I make quite a lot of music using Garageband. Music is actually an even bigger part of me, than Danganronpa is - well in any case, it goes back way further than my interest in Danganronpa, that's for certain. At some point, maybe when I reach a certain point in terms of how many subscribers I have, I would love to introduce you all to my real self. It would be a rewarding experience to have all of you get to know me, and all of my facets. ...Oh, and before we all forget:

Happy Kayay-day, everybody! Let's all give a show of appreciation to Best Girl, and wish her love and happiness in Heaven. Happy Birthday, Kaede Akamatsu. - Bat Hunter

#Kaede Akamatsu #Update #Bat Hunter #Happy Birthday #Covid-19 #UK #Canada #So I'm Back Home Now

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ield84014451626-blog · 4 years

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freecityradio · 5 years

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Brian Aboud on pandemic, risk society and impacts for refugees

Today got the opportunity to speak with Brian Aboud, a professor at Vanier College, for the Free City Radio interview series. Brian stresses here the importance of thinking about how this pandemic will impact vulnerable communities, particularly Syrian and Palestinian refugees, as many families in Montreal are directly connected to communities in the impacted region. Also a note to say that Médecins Sans Frontières / أطباء بلا حدود في لبنان is sending doctors to the front lines in Iran and does provide direct health support for impacted communities in Lebanon, Turkey and beyond, for people who don't have access to health systems. I personally know people in the Beirut office at MSF, who are excellent, dedicated and extremely hard working, if you can donate, please do.

Brian is a community activist and researcher, who has worked for many years on issues of migrant justice, both contemporary and historic, including the documentation of the living history of Montreal's Syrian community, dating back to the late 1800s. Brian is one of the co-founders of Tadamon!

Over the years, when crazy events happen, I have really valued speaking with Brian, who always has meaningful, kind and pointed insights. Documented this exchange for the Free City Radio series on the pandemic.

Brian stresses here the importance of thinking about how this pandemic will impact vulnerable communities, particularly Syrian and Palestinian refugees. Also Brian highlights the ways that modern capitalist practices, in relation to the environment, will lead to more and more extremely dangerous scenarios. In this context highlighting the work of Mining Watch Canada which has been consistently documenting the malpractices of Canadian mining companies around the world and within Canada's colonial borders in regards to indigenous lands, all mining practices that contribute to the destruction of the environment and natural areas.

Stefan : How you feeling about what has been happening ?

Brian : This is a product of the last century.

I have been very influenced, in regards to interpreting threats and hazards within the contemporary time, by a German sociologist named Ulrich Beck, who published a book in the 1980s called "Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity." It has become a much bigger influence than expected. It was published right before the Chernobyl disaster.

It is an account of how societies were changing as a result of the impacts of modernization and industrialization, during the period of increased industrialization in the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century of course.

This book looks at the unintended consequences of this industrialization. So looking at the risk society, which was emerging throughout this time, replacing the scarcity society that emerged in the industrial period and the class society. Not that class is disappearing, not at all, the circumstances of most individuals today is still most strongly determined by class, but the vulnerability, exposure to unwanted occurrences of danger are shifting all over, facing many. Of course class circumstances expose you, working class are exposed to more vulnerability, especially now.

With the welfare state, the vulnerabilities lessened a little in the second half of the 20th century, as compared to the early 20th century, although major vulnerabilities still exist, especially in the global south, the production zone of the western world.

Stefan : But due to reckless policies that are expanding, risk is becoming larger in scale, first for the working classes there was these threats, but now that threat is becoming more across the board ?

Brian: Yes.

What is emerging, in late modernity, is the mass exposure to industrial risks, all the ways we are exposed to toxins, pollution and pesticides, are among the new risks related to industrial life.

The quintessential example is radioactivity, this was even before Chernobyl. These are unprecedented risks that human beings at large have no clear strategy of fully protecting themselves from. Chernobyl was the greatest disaster from industrialization in the 20th century.

Now we are seeing something on the same level, but global, although the impacts of the nuclear disasters also continue to impact.

Stefan : Like in Fukushima, Japan ?

Brian : Yes. Fukushima was also so highly destructive and dangerous, it continues to be actually. Chernobyl was far greater in proportion, but both incidents were bad, both disasters.

Today, COVID 19 makes me think about the ways that Chernobyl was experienced, because people today and in 1986 are facing death from a source that you can't face, you can't see and that you can't exactly understand. In Chernobyl the proximate zones of radioactivity equaled mass exposure to radioactivity and many were in very serious danger.

I keep thinking about how people faced the threat, Chernobyl, and how people are facing the threat now.

Stefan : How are they similar for you ? Why is this reference important ?

Brian : People have a similar emotional reaction, in a way, because you can't see the threat, but you know there is something out there.

Stefan : Both COVID 19 and Chernobyl being products of modern society. Well, of course radioactivity is much more lethal immediately and in the long term, obviously. With this virus it seems most people will survive, but many will not, while it is also truly a global situation.

Brian : Emotionally there is a connection, in terms of the social impact of an invisible threat.

Stefan : Thankfully today information is shared more quickly and people are more aware.

Brian : Yes, people are more aware of the threat than in April 1986.

Stefan : Why is it important to think about COVID 19 in regards to industrial society ?

Brian : My query is how this might be the product of industrial society. Trying to figure this out. What is different today is that COVID 19 is different from the general types of risks that we are use to in industrial society.

Stefan : This risk presents a different framework ?

Brian. Yes. Industrial societies that we have built, that we have constructed, they are impacting nature so deeply, but we don't have the biological defences now to interact with animals in this way.

Stefan : Also we don't have the social and institutional tools to adequately address situations like this pandemic.

Relating to urban areas encroaching into the natural world more and more, with so many areas on earth also becoming scenes of massive industrial scale projects, mines, industrial corporate farming, these projects are often done without regard to the surrounding environments that balance life.

MiningWatch Canada tracks in solid detail the ways that these types of malpractices are carried out by Canadian mining companies.

Brian : The unbalanced relationship between human beings and the natural world is at the root of this. Even though, the use of animals and plants, is related to the human production of culture, generally speaking, these frameworks of human culture are totally different in the last decades, as compared to any other point in history.

Stefan : This has consequences ?

Brian : Yes.

Stefan : It make think about the changes that happened to laws in China around the consumption of wild animals, there were actual changes around the ways that wild animals would be consumed, legally in the 1970s due to mass poverty. Vox had a good video on this, but don't fully trust Vox, obviously.

So the framework of time has changed, first trains, and now then planes. Human conceptions of distance, place and time have all changed, and this shift has become global, across all societies, and it just fells like this shift, shaped by contemporary capitalism, can't be sustained.

Brian : Yes, there is that recklessness in this cultural framework that is now global, in human beings dealing with the natural world. A pretension about the human relationship with the natural world and how the needs and desires of humanity should take precedent over everything.

Stefan : Given you have worked so much on supporting human rights and social justice in Syria, in Palestine. How do you think that this virus will impact communities so deeply impacted by war, in Syria and in Palestine, people in the refugee camps on the border of Turkey and Greece.

Brian : Today, there is this sense of worry in the western world, people wanting products, they don't want to run out of, products that make any life a little easier, I get that.

Stefan : But to prop up this system in the west, many communities globally are disregarded ?

Brian : Yes. Many populations are disregarded. The response here is totally understandable, so when people here are faced with this unknown, there is a massive reaction.

But. I keep thinking of the Syrians who have faced so much peril and much of the world hasn't acted to stop the war that also threatened people.

Stefan : In a life and death way, right ?

Brian : Exactly.

In Africa, the threat of Ebola, only became an emergency when it seemed that it might touch western borders, less when it impacted people in Africa, Western Africa particularly.

All the suffering that people in Syria, in Palestine, have faced is something to consider now.

Stefan : That threat of death has been constant for many ?

Brain : Yes.

Stefan : There is an institutional challenge, I feel the left is facing, a crisis of action, in dealing with institutionally and power.

Feel that Democratic Socialists of America are attempting to explore this question, the campaigns of Bernie Sanders / Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. How to deal with power, especially in a time of crisis. Not sure the response that is best, but the state, in Canada, even now, continues to work to bail out the banks and oil companies.

Finding ways to shift the motions of powerful institutions in society, to deconstruct them (banks + corporations), seems very important now. Also the importance of expanding and developing public institutions, like health care facilities.

#covid19 #syria #refugees #endgame #aoc #bernie

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yumas3lo · 6 years

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Donovan Carrillo: "I need to worry more about skating and less about money"

New Interview by Proceso, published on August 19, 2018.

Presenting a program with the music by Juan Gabriel in an international skating competition was a double-edged sword for Donovan Carrillo: he became famous, but he was also attacked for it. Under the culture of effort, "always willing to suffer", this 18-year-old is the only opportunity that Mexico has to qualify to the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. However, the lack of support puts his goal at risk. While the Mexican sports authorities turn their backs (they didn't pay attention to him when he asked for a uniform) a Chinese company already has their eyes on him.

Donovan Carrillo was born with rhythm. As a child he could dance to any kind of music. Juan Gabriel and the Backstreet Boys inspired him to move his body. He could imitate the steps of any choreography. He would dance as well as he could do in gymnastics and diving, disciplines that he practiced from three years until the figure skating crossed his path.

On the ice rink in Guadalajara, a girl captivated him. In order to know her, he asked his parents to enroll him. The girl inspired him. Sliding on solid water made him fall in love forever.

It's been 26 years since the last time a Mexican skater qualified for the Winter Olympics Games. Ricardo Olavarrieta was in Albertville 1992 and in Calgary 1988. Carrillo is the only opportunity that Mexico has to have a representative in Beijing 2022. With 18 years old, the Jalisco skater finished in 22nd place in his first Senior World Championship that took place in Italy and in 2017 he finished in 7th place in the Australian Junior Grand Prix.

Carrillo's Olympic project is a familiar goal. His parents, a couple of P.E. teachers who work from dawn to dusk in public schools, carry debts that will soon be unpayable. His coach, Gregorio Núñez, with whom the skater has worked for almost 11 years, does not charge him for the training hours, which can cost between 150 and 450 MX pesos half an hour. He invests his time and money in the dream of someone who already looks like his own son.

"He is the breakthrough of Mexican figure skating. He is the best nationally speaking. He has achieved very important results, such as being the first Mexican to qualify for a World Championships based on points, which has lots of merit. If he didn't had the shortcomings that he lived, he would have achieved more. The Olympic Games will be the culmination of all the effort he has made", says Gregorio Núñez.

In Mexico there are only two ice rinks of 30m x 60m, which are the official measures of the International Skating Union (ISU): in Monterrey and in CDMX. Donovan Carrillo lives since he was 13 in León, Guanajuato, where Núñez moved when he was hired as a coach on the the Ice Sports Center's rink, which measures are 23m x 50m.

He trains there with a grant, without paying for the use of the facilities, but every time he goes out to an international competition he must adapt his programs to a bigger rink, which complicates his performance. There is no way to consider about training outside of Mexico and without Gregorio Núñez. The investment would be around 5,000 dollars a month.

Carrillo works helping to coach Núñez's group. Collecting every coin to pay for his preparation. At this stage it is vital for him to participate in the largest number of international competitions as possible.

"Every time we see things darker so we can't go out and compete. We organize raffles or breakfasts to pay everything. I started selling diaries with training tips. From there we could pay the flight for Worlds, otherwise I wouldn't have been there. I need support from other people to reach my goals. I have raised my level, but I know can give more. I am willing to work very hard. Not having the institutional support does not mean that I'm going to give up", explains Carrillo. Donovan Carrillo was seven years old the first time he had contact with figure skating. At the end of his gymnastics and diving training, he accompanied his parents to pick up his older sister, who was skating with Gregorio Núñez in a rink from Guadalajara.

He discovered that it was a perfect sport for his personality: it involves jumps with turns of high difficulty, like the ones he already did. It includes dance and corporal expression. He left gymnastics and for a year and he tried diving and skating. By that time, he was studying in the facilities of the Sports Institute of Jalisco.

When he decided to train skating on a full-time basis, he had to switch to a conventional school that was not as generous as the one where athletes study. Since his parents weren't enough to pay for training on ice, he also trained roller speed skating.

Núñez detected in Donovan the talent for this sport. Thin and with short stature, light but agile and very strong, with a natural charisma that allows him to perform with ease in crowded public spaces. He had and an extraordinary rhythm for dancing, which he polished over the years with ballet and jazz classes.

The first day on the ice rink Donovan faced the challenge of maintaining balance on the blades of his skates, which measure is less than half a centimeter wide. He learned the difficult task of standing up correctly with unsteady feet, then he started walking and then marching. He never was afraid to fall. He wasn't measuring the danger, he was encouraged to jump and spin. The many times he fell were when he got up smiling.

"The day I skated for the first time I felt that I found the place where I belong, where I can express myself and feel free", he recalls. In a matter of a month he learned all the basics: pushing, slide back and forth and make simple jumps. The spins in different positions were his biggest headache. At first he was dizzy. He would get lost in space, and although he felt he was spinning a lot, he actually would make less than two turns. With hours of training and perseverance he managed to master them. Later he began to learn the jumps that amaze the spectators: Salchow, Toe Loop, Loop, Flip, Lutz and Axel, three of them baptized in honor of the first skaters who executed them. Each jump can be done with two to four turns. He knew how enter the jumps with the blades, to break the rotation and then slide the whole sole of the foot at the exact moment to avoid falls. A jump in the air lasts less than half a second. There's no time to think. They are pure sensations.

"It's very easy to say. But you have to learn the jump to add another turn. To learn a jump, I can fall 200 or 300 times. But I thought that just as I learned to walk by falling, then I can learn to skate. I learned that it's okay to fall down several times to make it perfect. I stopped and kept going, always willing to go through the pain."

For almost four years, Donovan Carrillo used the skates his sister Dafne inherited to him. The first four pairs he had were white. His mom took them with a shoemaker so that, at least, he could paint them black. At home there was no place to buy his own pair of skates. They were so big that his foot could move inside the boot, which is based on layers of a hard skin, which could hurt him. The feet of the skaters themselves are not pretty. They tend to have calluses and fingers deformed by the narrowness of the skate. They are used to training and competing, involving pain. Donovan does not hide a "second ankle" that he has in the instep of both feet. It's the callus that was formed because his feet were in constant movement, because the skates were not his size. At first it hurt a lot.

His first skates were bought when his sister's skates were stolen. He was preparing for a national championship, so his parents had no choice but to disburse thousands of pesos on them. They are black and by the Canadian brand Jackson, and the blades were a Paramount. He keeps them as the most precious treasure he has ever had.

In April 2013 the Ice Land rink closed. Donovan was training with Gregorio Núñez for six years by that time, then Gregorio went to León, where he was offered a job as a coach.

"When I was 13 years old, I went to live with him. My parents supported me and let me go. My coach opened the doors of his house and I formed a father-son bond. He never charged me for the classes. He does it for the love of sports. I was lucky to meet someone who is willing to sacrifice his personal life to help me fulfill my dream", he says.

Coach Nunez not only loses his salary when he accompanies Carrillo to competitions, he has to leave his students in charge with someone else. In the 14 years that he has been a coach, the updating courses that he has to take each year in United States or Canada run on his own. He learns the best techniques there, and also the judging system, because this is a sport of appreciation.

With 9 years old, Donovan competed in a National Championship that was held in Metepec. There he made himself known in the Mexican figure skating community. The attendees came to congratulate him on the program he presented. In Mexico it is very complicated for skaters to stay competing for many years. As they arrive, they’d disappear.

Then he jumped into the category where skaters of all ages compete, from 12 y/o to veteran skaters. He faced his lack of experience. The world fell apart in his first international event in the Cuautitlán Izcalli rink (which also closed). At the ISU Junior Grand Prix, for the first time he saw Russians, Americans and Canadians, the biggest countries. Out of 18 participants he ended 13th.

"It was shocking. I was not used to it or mentally prepared to see quadruple or triple jumps. I just worked with doubles and tried some triples. I was in shock. My coach helped me get out of the mental block. I discovered that my path was still very long. I was already important in Mexico, but I was very far from the world level. I started to travel abroad to compete, to try out, and I have been reaching the affordable goals I set for myself."

The lack of money lacks as a problem in front of the bullying that Donovan Carrillo has faced. He is well aware about the harassment all the children who dared to practice a sport considered exclusive for women has experienced. Dozens of them who trained, competed in the nationals later disappeared from the sport.

"At school, some people, or our neighbors would ask me 'why figure skating? that's for girls'. My mom was asked if she wasn't afraid that I would become gay for skating. These the prejudices that people have towards men who practice an artistic discipline, such as ballet or gymnastics. Society prevents us from growing and developing in the environments where we truly like to be in. They will say we have stop. There are many who left because they could not stand with the harassment. Sometimes the parents themselves say: 'No. My son will turn out gay', and then they take them to practice football instead."

— Did it affected you enough, to the level of wanting to drop skating? My parents helped me to overcome it. Yes, it came to affect me. They told me: "As long as you like it and you are clear about who you are, it should not affect you. If you are gay, we support you. You don't have to feel different." And I'd tell told them: "Believe me, I'm not gay. I like skating and I like girls". In Europe, skaters do not suffer this, people assume that it is a sport that has nothing to do with sexual preferences. It is very Latin American, in general, to associate it with being gay.

"I suffered a lot at school. They said to me: 'Here comes the [girly] skater'. Nobody can change it, it depends on the education and in the formation of the values of the house of said person, about respect towards others. At first I tried to explain and make them think about it, but people are so cruel. They say it to hurt you. It's useless. You can't save yourself from the comments or doubts. There is a lot of talent and there could be more skaters representing Mexico."

In 2016, when Donovan Carrillo reach fame because he presented a program with music by Juan Gabriel, the harassment escalated to social networks. "You see, he's gay", "They're going to make him gay", they wrote. The athlete was outraged that they used the word homosexual to insult him and as a way to offend his work. He gave himself time to defend himself, but the disqualifications kept going.

The costumes he uses moves away those who wants to offend. Although it is a pair of trousers and a shirt, they wear decorations with Swarovski crystals or sequins and embroidered beads. They are very expensive costumes, between 10,000 and 15,000 MX pesos. You have to choose the best costumes, those that weigh less so that you feel light when you execute the jumps and turnstiles. The brand from Queretaro called Artistic has sponsored him. His mother spent hours embroidering and gluing crystals to lower the cost when his costumes were designed in Guadalajara. The new black & pink suit with that he'll use in his next competitions must be paid by his family, since his sponsor is not in a position to give the money to pay it.

The sportswear firm Li-Ning recently gave him 15 train clothes. He will shortly sign a contract for this Chinese brand to give him whatever he needs. When he asked for a uniform of Mexico to use it in a competition [Kiss&Cry], he never received a response from the sports authorities of our country. With whom he makes his costumes, he ordered to design jackets with the colors of Mexico, for him and his coach.

Between August 22-25, Carrillo will participate in the ISU Junior Grand Prix that will take place in Bratislava, Slovakia. There is another date for him at the end of the month in Linz, Austria, but he will not attend due to the lack of money. The most important competitions for 2019 are the Four Continents Championships and both the Junior and Senior World Championships. He is not sure how many of them he'll be able to participate in, because of the lacking of funds.

"My most important goal is to qualify for the Olympic Games and end in a good place, not just attend there, it's to make all the investment worthy. I'm at a point where it's important to attend as many international competitions as I can to generate a good ranking position and so the classification will be easier to reach, as well as improve my level. I'm very proud because my coach and I have fulfilled all the goals we have set for ourselves thanks to the effort, work and sacrifice we made. I need to stop worrying about my career expenses and just focus on skating."

#donovan carrillo #fstranslations #i still don't want to make a donovan fanblog #translation #other teams #boi #he really suffers a lot #mexico wyd

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bears-n-bottoms · 5 years

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Hello, friends~

As many of you know, I put Kim Jongin on blast a week or two ago, because this is the second (2nd) time he's uploaded a picture of himself in dreads to his IG, and I was Sick And Tired™. I've been riding for Jongin since he was masquerading as a dom top (if you don't know, you don't know), so that shit rly hurt my feelings.

Anyway, there's no real reason for me to be bringing this up, I just wanted to assert that Jongin wearing dreads is Wrong.

Moving on…

What I *actually* wanna talk about is what has been a v hot topic in EXO's fandom for years - how badly managed/promoted EXO is.

Now, before I begin, I will not entertain the idea that SM is somehow mistreating EXO because they aren't getting as much of a promotion push than their juniors. While it does suck that SM seems to just throw EXO albums at us and expects us to be content, you will not call that mistreatment.

NCT and Red Velvet getting a bigger promotional push than EXO is not mistreatment, it's just business.

Business that I'd like to explain to y'all, because I've been thinking about recently this, and it rly does go deeper than ~EXO doesn't rly need it anymore~.

So!! The year is 2012. Unbeknownst to my Black ass, SM is gearing up for the debut of their newest boy band, codename EXO, with a ridiculous ass teaser campaign.

No seriously, 18 teasers and you haven't even unveiled a debut song yet?!?!?! Flagrant.

I wasn't with EXO since The Beginning™, but close enough; I happened upon EXO-M's version of What Is Love while looking for sumn to watch on tv, and my wig was immediately blasted to space dust. What is Love wasn't the first K-Pop MV I saw that night (it was either B.A.P's Warrior or miss A's Touch), but it was the one that stuck with me.

See, I had no idea who or what a K-Pop was outside of vaguely knowing a few idol groups friends tried to put me on previously. It was *Jasmine voice* A Whole New World~ for me, and EXO was on the fast track to becoming my very first bias group. MAMA was an overdramatic mess that I absolutely fucking loved, and you couldn't tell me their debut EP wasn't The Shit™.

A heaux still Rolls Like A Buffalo™ to Two Moons, bitch!!

Fast forward one (1) year, and EXO are back (as twelve) with their first album (and K-Pop's first million seller in over a decade) XOXO. Girl, when I tell you replayed that album like it was the one thing holding me together… I was a whole MESS!! I'd become more of a full fledged K-Pop fan in EXO's absence (more on that later), but I was overjoyed to have my boys back.

Now, why am I going over this?!!? This is all fairly common knowledge among EXO L, but many of the current generation EXO L rolled up on EXO during their EXODUS/Love Me Right era. Which was 2015. So you have a bunch of EXO L who, first of all, are part of a whole new generation of K-Pop fans who consume K-Pop very differently than those of us who were fans back in 2012.

K-Pop standom these days is very social media focused, with many of our favorite idols having SNS accounts of their own where they interact with us. K-Pop fans these days are practically spoiled with content when idols aren't promoting/on tour. It rly feels like idols never truly ~go away~, because if they did, it'd leave an opening for someone else to take their place.

Something we saw when group B.A.P filed a joint lawsuit against their management agency and disappeared for a whole year.

This is where, I think, a lot of the "EXO Isn't Promoted" foolery comes from; EXO are not heavily on social media like many of their current generation contemporaries are. They don't do v lives like them, and have very few reality shows focused on them. Coupled with the fact that much of the content we do get from EXO is behind a pay wall, I definitely understand where the frustration comes from.

But let me add another layer to this, kids. It's my belief that SM doesn't feature EXO like that, because EXO were supposed to redeem SM in the public's eye for the JYJ/Hangeng lawsuits. But they, instead, embarrassed the absolute shit out of them.

Ooh, I bet y'all are all sat at attention now.

Level with me here, folks - EXO was SM's first debut since the Hangeng/JYJ cases blew up and rained doo doo flakes upon SM's reputation. SM had just renegotiated contracts with all their debuted acts to show that they aren't the monsters that JYJ and Hangeng were making them out to be. EXO was supposed to be SM's redemption arc, but there was one little problem - a 6ft stunner by the name of Kris Wu.

Fun fact - Suho, Jongin, and Kris were my original biases in EXO. Bet no one saw that coming.

Kris was always an oddball in EXO. Sure, he definitely fit the look of a K-Pop idol, but man's had far bigger aspirations. Ones that routinely got him in trouble with management. Remember that year long hiatus EXO took after their debut?!?! Rumor has it that it was caused by SM exiling Kris back to Canada, because of tensions between him and one of EXO's managers.

EXO returning as twelve was also, allegedly, because SM wanted to keep tabs on Kris, while also trying to bolster EXO K's popularity in Korea. Allegedly, tho.

Kris saw being in EXO as a way to jumpstart a career as a Chinese entertainer, but he ultimately decided that it wasn't worth it in the end. In May of 2014, he filed suit against SM to have his contract with the agency terminated.

Once again - why am I bringing this up?!! This is all common knowledge in EXO L circles. Well, it was extraordinarily shocking at the time.

As I've stated previously, EXO was SM's first boy band since the JYJ/Hangeng lawsuits. They had just finished renegotiating contracts with all of their active idols to comply with new rules and standards set in place by the government. For all intents and purposes, SM should have had no problems, like the Tinashe song.

But they did.

Kris, in many of the infamous press releases he released in reply to what SM was saying to the media, painted a very familiar story to many of us. He alleged that SM greatly limited his creative freedom, and treated him like a manufactured product. I remember him saying he felt like a box, at one point, and that hit me hard. He also alleged that SM worked him so hard that he developed myocarditis (a heart condition), and that there was rampant favoritism (claims that would also be backed up by a lawsuit launched by Luhan).

It was not a good look for SM, fam.

As a result of Kris' suit, the fandom was split. You had one camp that supported Kris, and another that supported SM/EXO. It didn't help that many of the EXO members spoke out against Kris, with Suho (the leader) saying he was being irresponsible and he needs to come back so they can work this out.

Messy™

Later that year, Luhan went onto launch his own suit against SM (which was more supported by the fandom *is totally not bitter anymore*), citing almost exactly the same complaints as Kris while also going so far as to allege that the Chinese members had different contracts than the Korean ones.

And if you thought that was bad enough, seemingly RoD member Tao decides he's done with the bullshit too, and files his own lawsuit against SM. DURING EXO'S CALL ME BABY COMEBACK PROMOTIONS!!

TALK ABOUT MESSINESS, SIS!!

Say what you want about Tao, but he rly does know how to cause a scene, and I admire that.

So yeah… Talk about a public relations nightmare.

Korean netizens were firmly on SM's side during this entire trial, but Kris, Luhan, and Tao managed to deal an even greater blow to SM's rep than JYJ/Hangeng did. Not that I think it's right, but it's plenty clear why SM doesn't rly feature EXO much anymore.

Not only are they getting older (Xiumin just enlisted a month ago), but SM is clearly trying to move past EXO, as a group. Which idk how they're gonna do that when they routinely refuse members who are not Baekhyun or Jongdae solo opportunities, but whatever. With NCT taking off (pun intended) everywhere except Korea, it's going to be quite a while before the EXO name gets retired.

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thebrierpatch · 6 years

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“I realize there is something I have known for some time but have never said, and, since I have just spent another 4 hours of my life in climate change academia I have to get this out of my system.

Please understand that many you reading this won't live to an old age... and likely will start scrolling after one or 2 more paragraphs... (edit...Ok I was wrong on this point. This is now my 2nd most shared post of all time..(edit)...make that my most shared)

The IPCC report and Paris accord are incredibly overly optimistic and that commits the world to a target that means the death of hundreds of millions if not more.

But it is worse than that.

Even the commitments made by countries in the Paris accord don't get us to a 2 degree world.

But it is worse than that.

The 2 degree target is now unattainable (unless the entire civilization of the world doesn't do a 180 today...) and is based on geo-engineering the climate of the earth as well as the sequestering of every molecule of carbon we produced over the last number of years and every molecule we are producing today and every molecule we produce tomorrow.... these technologies that don't exist wont exist and even if they did would likely cause as many if not more problems than they fix.

But it is worse than that.

The 2 degree target of the IPCC does not factor in the feedback loops that such as the increased albedo effect caused by the 70% loss of ice in the arctic, The release of methane from a thawing arctic. (there is more energy stored in the arctic methane than there is in coal in the world). This is called the methane dragon. If the process of the release of the methane, currently frozen in the soil and ocean beds of the arctic, which has already begun, spins out of control we are looking a an 8 degree rise in temperature. (this ignores the scientists that don't see this feedback stopping and ends up resulting in the world oceans boiling off and earth becomes Venus...but I digress.

But it is worse than that

The report which give us 12 years to get our head's out of our arses underestimated the amount of heat stored in the world's oceans by 40%... so no , we don't have 12 years.

But it is worse than that.

The IPCC report ignores the effects of humans messing up the Nitrogen cycle through agricultural fertilizers and more... Don't go down this rabbit hole if you want to sleep at night.

But it is worse than that.

Sea level rise will not be gradual. Even assuming that the billions of tons of water that is currently being dumped down to the ground level of Greenland isn't creating a lubricant which eventually will allow the ice to free-flow into the northern oceans as it is only the friction to the islands surface that is currently holding the ice back coupled with the same process is happening in Antarctica but is also coupled with the disappearance of the ice shelves which act as buttresses holding the glaciers from free flowing into the southern ocean we are not looking at maintaining the 3.4mm/yr increase in sea level rise (which incidentally is terrifying when you multiply it out over decades and centuries. We will be looking at major calving events that will result in much bigger yearly increases coupled with an exponential increase in glacial melting. FYI Alberta is going to need a pipeline... just not for oil. More likely for desalinated water from tidewater...

But it is worse than that... We can no longer save the society that we live in and many of us are going to be dead long before our life expectancy would suggest.

If your idea of hope is having some slightly modified Standard of living going forward and live to ripe old age... there is no hope. This civilization is over...

... but there is hope.. There is a way for some to come through this and have an enjoyable life on the other side. Every day we delay can be measured in human lives. There will come a day of inaction when that number includes someone you love, yourself or myself.

So we have 2 options. Wake the fuck up. If we do we will only have to experience the end of our society as we know it aka...the inevitable economic collapse which is now unavoidable, but be able to save and rebuild something new on the other side. This would require a deep adaptation. Words like sustainability would need to be seen as toxic and our focus needs be on regeneration. Regeneration of soil, forest ocean etc.... This is all possible.

Option 2 is the path we are on. Think we can slowly adapt to change. This not only ensures we experience collapse but also condemns humanity to not just economic and social collapse but in a 8 degree world... extinction.

I am sick of pipeline discussions. I am sick of any argument that is predicated on the defeatist assumption that we will continue to burn oil at an ever increasing rate. Fact is if we do we are not just fucked, we are dead. I am sick of people who don't understand how their food is produced, and its effect on the climate.(both carnivores who eat feed lot meat and vegans who eat industrially-produced-mono-cropped-veggies as they are equally guilty here as the consumption of either is devastating). I am sick of the argument that our oil is less poisonous than someone else's. Firstly, no it isn't and secondly, It doesn't fucking matter. I am sick of people that can't even handle the ridiculously-small-only-the-tip-of- the-iceberg of the changes we need to accept; the carbon tax. I am sick of my own hypocrisy that allows me to still use fossil fuels for transportation. I am sick of those who use hypocrisy as an argument against action. I am sick of the Leadership of my country that argues we can have economic growth and survivable environment... we can't. I am sickened by the normalizing of the leadership of our Southern neighbour who as the most polluting nation in the world officially ignores even the tragedy that is the Paris accord. I am sick of the politicians I worked to get elected being impotent on this subject. Naheed and Greg I'm looking at you. (BTW...Druh, you are an exception) I am sick that the next image I put up of my kids, cheese, pets or bread is going to garner immeasurably more attention than a post such as this which actually has meaning... I am sick about the fact that all the information I referenced here is easily discoverable in scientific journals but will be characterized by many as hyperbolic.

I am especially sick that my future and the future of my children is dependent on the dozens of people that saw this post, said there goes Marc off the deep end again and chose to remain ignorant of the basic facts about our near future.

There is a path forward. But every day we delay the path forward includes fewer of us. Build community, build resilience, work for food security, think regeneration, plant food producing trees, think perennial food production, eat food that does not mine the soil and is locally produced, eat meat that is grass fed that is used to provide nutrients to vegetation, get to know a farmer or become one yourself, park your car, do not vote for anyone who either ignores climate change or says we can have our cake and eat it too, quit your job if it is fossil fuel related, stop buying shit, Stop buying things that are designed to break and be disposed of, let go of this society slowly and by your own volition (its better than being forced to do it quickly), rip up your lawn and plant a garden with veggies, fruit bushes, fruit trees and nut trees, learn to compost your own poop, get a smaller house on a bigger lot and regenerate that land, plant a guerrilla garden on a city road allowance, return to the multi-generational house, realize that growth has only been a thing in human civilization for 250 years and it is about to end and make preparations for this change, teach this to your children, buy only the necessities, don't buy new clothes-go to the thrift store, don't use single use plastic or if you do re-purpose it, unplug your garberator and compost everything, don't let yourself get away with the argument that the plane is going there anyway when you book a holiday, understand that there is no such thing as the new normal because next year will be worse, understand before you make the argument that we need to reduce human population ... meaning the population elsewhere... that it is not overpopulation in China or India that is causing the current problem... It is us and our lifestyle, Understand that those that are currently arguing against refugees and climate change are both increasing the effects of climate change and causing millions on climate refugees... which will be arriving on Canada's doorstep because Canada will on the whole be one of the last countries affected, understand that the densification of cities is condemning those in that density to a food-less future. Stop tolerating the middle ground on climate change. there is no middle ground on gravity, the earth is round, and we are on the verge of collapse.”

Via Marc Doll

#words #thoughts #if you read one thing today make it this

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dustedmagazine · 6 years

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Voting with our ears: Dusted spends the rent on Bandcamp.com’s Voter Registration day

On September 25, Bandcamp.com held a fundraiser for the Voting Rights Project, seeking to raise both money and awareness around voter registration. For the day, all profits on everything you bought on Bandcamp.com went to this worthy cause. Dusted writers saw the opportunity to a) buy stuff and b) promote democracy and said, “Hell yes, we’re in.” Participating writers included Ian Mathers (who is Canadian!!), Justin Cober-Lake, Jennifer Kelly, Bill Meyer, Isaac Olson (who definitely wins) and Ethan Covey. Check out what we bought and then, for the love of god, vote. We’re depending on you.

Ian Mathers

IDLES

For various reasons I wasn’t able to shop quite as avidly as I did last time we got together for one of these, but I managed to make one impulse purchase of a record I hadn’t heard yet (but had transfixed me with its singles) and combine that with two long-awaited additions of old favorites to my Bandcamp collection (and my hard drive, after having lost track of the files in one move or another).

IDLES — Joy As an Act of Resistance

Joy as an Act of Resistance. by IDLES

As you might guess from the fact that it just came out at the end of this August, Bristol’s IDLES is the impulse buy of the three, one that so far has worked out just wonderfully. Having been recommended the mockingly anti-Brexit(/xenophobia) “Great” on YouTube and being drawn from the immediately bracing, invigorating likes of that to this album’s more openhearted ode to the greatness of not hating people you don’t already know, “Danny Nedelko,” and the more Protomartyr-ish opening track “Colossus” (the latter of which also probably has my favorite music video of 2018), I couldn’t imagine any band capable of those three songs would somehow whiff the rest of a reasonably-lengthed LP, and the often political, always heartfelt Joy As an Act of Resistance. proved me right. There are certainly places where it gets darker (particularly “June,” where singer Joe Talbot relates in heart-wrenching fashion his wife losing a child to a miscarriage), but the overall feel of the album can be summed up by Talbot barking repeatedly at the listener to “love yourself” over a careening, punkish anthem. The album title isn’t a piss take, which is a relief in itself.

The Silent League — But You've Always Been the Caretaker...

But You've Always Been The Caretaker... by The Silent League

Back in 2004 I first heard of the Silent League, as I think most people did, because frontman Justin Russo had been in Mercury Rev (for 2001’s All Is Dream, the last Rev record I can say I fully loved), and their debut, The Orchestra, Sadly, Has Refused was interesting, lysergic chamber pop with some proggy and/or post-rock elements. I lost track of them for a bit after that album and was surprised that when I heard about them again it was because of an entirely different musician I was a fan of. Shannon Fields, then of Stars Like Fleas and since of Family Dynamics and Leverage Models (the last of which made my favorite record of 2013 and which is, incidentally, about to return), maker of a ton of records I both love and think have been overlooked, let me know that he’d also been a contributor to the Silent League for quite a while and that with their then-current album, 2010’s But You’ve Always Been the Caretaker… he thought they’d made something that represented a bit of a leap forward for the band. Not only do I agree, but the Silent League’s swan song (to date) now represents one of the most frustratingly overlooked records I know of, 15 sprawling songs in any number of registers, styles and tones tightly packed into less than 49 minutes that, fitting the circular and slightly foreboding title, packs a bunch of richly interwoven thematic and sonic depth into what feels like a whole universe of popular music. There’s proggy/ELO overture “When Stars Attack!!!,” the sound of a glam rock band practicing a particular soulful jam down the hall and four walls away on “Sleeper,” at least one just perfect string-led “perfect pop” song in “Resignation Studies,” and literally a dozen other things here. And yet But You’ve Always… never feels scattered or showoff-y. It’s a whole world, dense and rich and worthy of being studied in detail for its brilliance. I was thrilled to see it on Bandcamp, not least because this is exactly the kind of record that could easily slip through the cracks.

Tamas Wells — A Plea en Vendredi

(PB024) Tamas Wells: A Plea En Vendredi by Popboomerang

It’s been over a decade, but when I was in university I am pretty sure I first heard Australian singer-songwriter Tamas Wells because I saw the song “I’m Sorry That the Kitchen Is on Fire” somewhere and thought the title was hilarious. To my surprise the song itself was gorgeous, a gently folky little waltz with Wells’ high, gentle voice, carefully picked acoustic guitar, a lightly hypnotic piano refrain, and sparing hand claps. I fell hard enough for it that even back when the internet wasn’t at all what it is now I tracked down Wells’ 2006 album A Plea en Vendredi and found a shimmering little suite of song, some as gnomic and vaguely unsettling in their implications as “I’m Sorry That the Kitchen is on Fire” (like “Valder Fields,” which is apparently a place where our narrator and others mysteriously regain consciousness, or whatever you can make of “Lichen & Bees”), some much more plainspoken (including the slight political bent running through “The Opportunity Fair,” “The Telemarketer Resignation,” and the gorgeous little instrumental “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Ruling Class”), all just as twee-ly beautiful and enrapturing as my initial exposure had been. At the time Wells was working in Burma on a community development project, and from what I’ve been able to find his moving around and focus on non-music work has occasionally kept his album on the back burner, although he’s found an audience at home and in Japan and China (and of course, sometimes as far as Canada where I ran into his work). He’s kept releasing records since, most recently 2017’s The Plantation on a small Japanese label, but even if A Plea en Vendredi was all I’d ever been able to find it’d still find a regular place in my rotation; even when things get a bit darker, on “Valour” and the closing “Open the Blinds” there’s something so soothing about Wells’ music and this particular set of gem-like miniatures has been a go-to album for me during difficult times ever since.

Justin Cober-Lake

David Ramirez

Ashley Walters — Sweet Anxiety (Populist)

Ashley Walters // Sweet Anxiety by Ashley Walters

I’d been wanting to hear this one for a while. I first noticed cellist Ashley Walters on Wadada Leo Smith's America's National Parks, a remarkable album that I spent considerable time with while writing a couple features on it and Smith (including interviewing Walters). I was even more impressed after understanding what went into the work and seeing that ensemble perform it live. Walters writes of this album, “I seek to challenge your perception of what the cello, a stereotypically gentle instrument, is capable of,” and it's fair to say she succeeds. It's a demanding listen, more aggressive than expected, but Walters and her composers blend technical challenges with theoretical ones. At times, Walters cuts loose, and at times she works with tonality, often using nonstandard tuning to odd effect. Smith composed one of the brightest numbers here, making a nice shift in sound without lowering the difficulty level. Luciano Berio's “Sequenza XIV” provides the most interesting piece, not only for the actual performance but for the reconstruction work on the score that Walters highlights in the liner notes. This one's well worth a focused listen, and I'll need to give it quite a few more to properly process it.

The Beths — Warm Blood (Carpark)

Warm Blood by The Beths

In August, the Beths released one of my favorite albums of the year, Future Me Hates Me, a blast of pop-rock easily good enough to warrant going back, more or less, to the beginning, with 2016's Warm Blood EP. Both lyrically and musically, the group hasn't quite found its footing, but that says more about the focused energy of the full-length than it does about these five songs (including “Whatever,” which reappears on the album). The hooks are there now; the guitar on “Idea/Intent” represents the band as well as anything. The vitriol of that track fits in less well with the attitude the band generally puts forward, one that's self-reflective and confident without claiming to know all the answers. Some of the joy of the music is in Elizabeth Stokes' searching, but that's turned around on a track like “Rush Hour 3,” a comedic bit of come-on (and the rare track not written by Stokes). Warm Blood works as a nice look back at a band, but it's not just a history lesson — it's an enjoyable set that adds to the playlist of a group with only one album out.

David Ramirez — The Rooster (Sweetworld)

The Rooster EP by David Ramirez

I've been working my way backwards with David Ramirez, too, starting with last year's We're Not Going Anywhere (which didn't adhere to his previous folk-ish sound but did make me wonder why I hadn't found my way to the songwriter earlier). After spending time with the fantastic Fables, there was the live show that utterly sold me on him, in part because he has a bigger voice than you might notice at first, even in his sparser productions. The Rooster EP, a fitting complement to that album, feels like an ascent. His vocals are assured, even as he searches for clarity, or at least anchor points amid turbulence. Tracks like “The Bad Days” and “Glory” offer unrequested hope, and “The Forgiven” provides a meditation on performance, art, and faith that's central to his work. The five cuts on this EP have the gravitas of something bigger and strengthen my sense that Ramirez should be a songwriter that everyone listens to.

Grand Banks – Live 8-25-2018

Grand Banks live 8-25-2018 by Grand Banks

Any sort of bonus shopping day provides a good excuse to support local music. This time I went with the latest release (such as it is) from Grand Banks, their live recording from August 25. The duo don't shy away from volume, but their focus on minimalist ideas and sonic experimentation makes for unusual experiences. Over this single 30-minute track, the pair builds with patience, even when developing a haunted-house sort of melody on the keys. The second half of the piece increases the challenge, with guitarist Davis Salisbury pulling an odd series of sounds out of his instrument (for the curious, you can try it at home with an electric guitar, a tuning fork, and a fuzz pedal, and probably some sort of sonic laboratory). The effects build on Tyler Magill's creepy keyboard work – maybe this one's an unintended seasonal release. The study in space and harmonics gives way to a chirpy conversation and surprisingly (in this context) guitar-like guitar moment before placidly drifting away, an apt conclusion for the performance.

Jennifer Kelly

The Scientists

I bought five different records this time, mostly, but not all, falling somewhere in the punk/garage continuum. I liked them all in different ways, but the one that absolutely killed me was…

IDLES—Joy as an Act of Resistance (Partisan)

Joy as an Act of Resistance. by IDLES

This is Ian’s fault, really. He talked me into it. Plus, it turned up on the Bandcamp recommendation engine. Which, by the way, is just so much better than Amazon’s recommendation engine. (I see you like the Pixies. Wanna buy every Pixies album ever?) But turns out, they’re both dead on. Idles is vitriolic and literate like the Sleaford Mods but backed by a ripped-to-the-teeth full band a la Protomartyr. Yes, two of my favorite current bands in one, plus a whole other thing of jagged, jitter-drunk percussion and wind tunnel howl. There is a song called “Never Fight a Man with a Perm.” So glad I got to hear this. Score one for voter registration.

The Sueves—R.I.P. Clearance Event (Hozac)

R.I.P. Clearance Event by The Sueves

Butt-simple garage rock from Chicago, punctuated by weird little intervals of found sounds. Beautifully unhinged and uncomplicated, it reminds me the most of Demon’s Claw and after that maybe the Hunches and then the Monks. I bought it partly because I wanted to get those “we have a new record” notices from Hozac, but they know what I like.

The Scientists—Blood Red River 1982-1984 (Numero)

Blood Red River 1982 - 1984 by Scientists

Guess who got to see the Scientists last week? They were awesome. They played “Frantic Romantic” in the encore (which is not on this disc, by the way). I knew some of the early stuff from the Do the Pop compilation of Australian punk, but immersing myself in these clanking, droning, post-punk juggernauts was the best and most enjoyable concert prep ever. “Solid Gold Hell” and “Swampland” were my two faves, and they played them both.

Mike Pace and the Child Actors—Smooth Sailing (Self Starter Foundation)

Smooth Sailing by Mike Pace and the Child Actors

This one, from the former Oxford Collapse frontman, was a little more Raspberry-ish power pop than I was expecting, but it’s growing on me. “Escape the Noize” is my go-to track, a lush jangle of melancholy, a tetchy bristle of palm-muting, then a sweeping swooning chorus. It’s about leaving the music behind, which Pace clearly hasn’t, and good thing.

Onoto—Dead Ghost (Taiyo)

DEAD GHOST by ONOTO

Let me the first to admit that I haven’t gotten to the bottom of this one, a swirling, enveloping miasma of guitar tone, wrapped around confoundingly weird vocal samples. “Shake Well for the Eye,” is droned-out chaos that parts like fog for bits of mid-20th century menstrual advice (avoid vigorous exercise, horse-riding, skating, cold showers, hah!). Other cuts eschew narrative for slow moving landscapes of instrumental tone. The title track lets guitar notes hang for unmovable eons, with only sharp shards of harmonics to break up the endless vistas. As a straight through listen, the disc makes more sense as you go along, meaning, you have to adapt to its oddity and it changes you.

Bill Meyer

Canary records

Kemany Minas and Garabet Merjanian — When I See You: From the November 1917 Recordings, NYC (Canary)

When I See You: From the November 1917 Recordings, NYC by Kemany Minas & Garabet Merjanian

Various Artists — And Two Partridges II: From the Earliest Turkish-, Arabic- Armenian-& Kurdish-Language Recordings in America, Feb-Aug, 1916 (Canary)

And Two Partridges II: From the Earliest Turkish-, Arabic- Armenian-& Kurdish-Language Recordings in America, Feb-Aug, 1916 by Canary Records

Various Artists — Oh My Soul: Armenian-American Independent Releases, vol. 1: ca. 1920-25 (Canary)

Oh My Soul: Armenian-American Independent Releases, vol. 1: ca. 1920-25 by Canary Records

Various Artists — Why I Came to America: More Folk Music of the Ottoman-American Diaspora, ca. 1917-47 (Canary)

Why I Came to America: More Folk Music of the Ottoman-American Diaspora, ca. 1917-47 by Canary Records

I buy stuff via Bandcamp fairly often, and my purchases are nearly always hard copies. Downloads may be convenient, but a record you can’t hold in your hands seems to me to be one of those bad 21st century ideas like a Trump presidency or an unrepentant frat-creep on the supreme court. But when Bandcamp puts its income behind a cause, I relent, and when I do, I buy downloads from Canary Records. These albums are all compiled from recordings made by Anatolian exiles who fled genocide, war and poverty to take their chances in the USA. Many of these recordings predate the first blues records, and collectively they make a case that our notions of what constitutes American music are needlessly exclusive. After all, why should the music of people who came here from the Ottoman Empire be any less American than people who came here from the British Empire?

Billy Gomberg — Live Sets 2016-18

live sets 2016-18 by Billy Gomberg

Well, there go the rules. This DL-only compilation of concert performances by one of my favorite ambient recording artists of recent years shows that the carefully wrought, ultra-deep atmosphere of his recent cassettes is no fluke.

Various Artists — Two Niles To Sing A Melody: The Violins & Synths Of Sudan (Ostinato)

Two Niles to Sing a Melody: The Violins & Synths of Sudan by Various Artists

Back on solid ground at last! This hardcover book + 2 CDs (there are also vinyl and DL versions) shows how sounds blur from one culture to the next when people live along the same rivers and coasts. These recordings from the Sudan blend the nimble rhythms and ardent longing of Arabic pop with just a hint of the sinuous melodic quality of Ethiopian popular music.

Tashi Wada with Yoshi Wada and Friends — FRKWYS Vol. 14—Nue (RVNG)

FRKWYS Vol. 14 - Nue by Tashi Wada with Yoshi Wada and Friends

If you’ve caught Tashi and Yoshi Wada in concert, you know that there’s no louder or more mind-melting drone that a drone that incorporates multiple bagpipes and alarm bells. This record puts Wada fils in the composer / arranger’s seat, and while it uses the same materials as those live performances, the music is much gentler. Sometimes you want to boil your blood, sometimes you just want to kick back and zone out. A portion of the proceeds from this record will go to the National Immigration Law Center.

Isaac Olson

Ustad Abdul Karim Khan

Toshiya Tsunoda/Taku Unami — Wovenland (Erstwhile)

Wovenland by Toshiya Tsunoda/Taku Unami

I bought this collection of chopped and screwed field recordings on the strength of Marc Medwin’s review and the fact that Erstwhile dedicated their profits for the day to the Voting Rights Project. Pieces like “Park cleaning / Crickets chirping,” “In The Park”, “From the rooftop, railway terminal station” are both ear-tickling and intellectually stimulating. The rest are more stimulating intellectually than auditorially.

The Weather Station—S/T (Paradise of Bachelors)

The Weather Station by The Weather Station

I slept on The Weather Station in 2017 because the music didn’t grab me enough I wasn’t interested enough in the music to tune into the lyrics. I’m not sure what compelled me to give it another try, but I’m glad I did. Songwriter Tamara Lindeman has crafted a compelling take on early adulthood in an anxious age, one that, once I started paying attention, resonated with me in a highly personal manner I haven’t felt or sought in years. The b-side is almost too subtle, but Lindeman is a sharp enough writer to bring it off.

Red River Dialect—Broken Stay Open Sky (Paradise of Bachelors)

Broken Stay Open Sky by Red River Dialect

This is another record where the words carry the music, which means, like The Weather Station, I initially passed it over only to connect with it in unexpectedly personal ways after honing in on the lyrics. While I loved the fiddling from the jump, it took time for the rest of Broken Stay Open Sky to grow on me, but grow it did. (Check out Eric McDowell’s review here).

Ustad Abdul Karim Khan—Ustad Abdul Karim Khan (Canary Records)

Ustad Abdul Karim Khan: 1934-1935 by Abdul Karim Khan

Classical Indian vocal music is a complex, highly systematized artform that I can’t pretend to understand, so rather than take my recommendation that you should listen to these recordings, take LaMonte Young’s: “When I first heard the recordings of Abdul Karim Khan I thought that perhaps it would be best if I gave up singing, got a cabin up in the mountains, stocked it with a record player and recordings of Abdul Karim Khan, and just listened for the rest of my life”.

VA—100 Moons: Hindustani Vocal Art, 1930-55 (Canary Records)

100 Moons: Hindustani Vocal Art, 1930-55 by Canary Records

A traditional performance of a raga can last hours. A 78 can hold about three minutes of music.

As such, the performances on this collection lack the the breadth and depth of a traditional raga performance, but they more than make up for it in intensity.

Ross Hammond and Jon Balfus— Masonic Lawn (Self Released)

Masonic Lawn by Ross Hammond and Jon Bafus

Sacramento guitarist and improviser Ross Hammond (whose record with Hindustani vocalist Jay Nair is also worth your time) teams up with percussionist Jon Balfus for a set of blues and folk inspired improvisations that manage to feel spacious despite the dense polyrhythmic approach. Masonic Lawn’s improvisations are optimistic, wide-eyed meditations on Americana.

Melvin Wine—Cold Frosty Morning (Roane Records)

Cold Frosty Morning by Melvin Wine

Old-time music, like most folk traditions that arose in relative isolation and pre-date the record industry, isn’t particularly well suited for album-length listening. That said, if you’re in the mood for scratchy, crooked, dance and trance tunes, West Virginia fiddler Melvin Wine is a great introduction to the distinctly non-bluegrassy mysteries of this music.

Note: This recording features a minstrel tune titled “Jump Jim Crow”. How we’re to deal with this in the modern, right-wing nightmare age we inhabit is a complicated question, so if you’re digging this music but that title bothers you (and it should), check out these articles by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Mechanic.

V/A—Usiende Ukalale: Omutibo From Rural Kenya (Olvido Records)

Usiende Ukalale: Omutibo From Rural Kenya by Various Artists

Like the Melvin Wine recording above, Usiende Ukalale exhibits a local folk style that evolved in relative isolation and is, for the non-local and non-expert, enchanting in small doses and merely pleasant over the course of a full album.

VA—I’m Not Here to Hunt Rabbits: Guitar and Folk Styles from Botswana (Piranha Records)

I'm Not Here To Hunt Rabbits by Various Artists

I reviewed this one back in May and I’ve listened to it so many times since that it was high time to buy it. Highest recommendation.

Jess Sah Bi & Peter One—Our Garden Needs Its Flowers (Awesome Tapes from Africa)

Our Garden Needs Its Flowers by Jess Sah Bi & Peter One

This unusual gem combines the loping rhythms, slide guitar and harmonica of American country music with traditional Ivory Coast village songs. Its breezy Bakersfield meets Yamoussoukro vibe belies its anti-apartheid lyrics. Mp3s of this one have been floating around the internet for a few years, so it’s great to see it get an official re-release.

Ola Belle Reed—FRC 203 - Ola Belle Reed: Recordings from the collection of Ray Alden and the Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music

FRC 203 - Ola Belle Reed: Recordings from the collection of Ray Alden and the Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music by Ola Belle Reed

From the indispensable Field Recorders Collective, this release documents a 1973 performance by Ola Belle Reed. Reed’s music exists at the nexus of old-time, bluegrass, early country, and gospel, but it feels wrong to box in the wisdom, humor, and generosity of spirit that shines through this release with anachronistic genre tags. Best of all is the Reed original, “Tear Down the Fences”: “Then we could tear down the fences that fence us all in/Fences created by such evil men/Oh we could tear down the fences that fence us all in /Then we could walk together again.” Amen.

Ragana— You Take Nothing

YOU TAKE NOTHING by RAGANA

I don’t listen to as much metal as I used to, but while this fundraiser was happening, Brett Kavanaugh — case study in patriarchal resentment and mediocrity — got one step closer to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court. Ragana’s raw, sludgy, anarcha-feminist take on black metal really hit the spot that day.

Ethan Covey

Weak Signal

Omit — Enclosures 2011-2016 (Pica Disk/End of the Alphabet)

Enclosures 2011-2016 by Omit

Clinton Williams, the New Zealander known as Omit, has been quietly releasing nocturnal electronic compositions of uncompromising quality for the past couple of decades. Enclosures 2011-2016, released jointly by Lasse Marhaug’s Pica Disk and Noel Meek’s End of the Alphabet labels, provides an overview of five years of Williams’ output in a 30-track, six-hour package, available digitally and as a limited 5-CD set. Omit has previously been anthologized on two compilations courtesy of the Helen Scarsdale label, Tracer and Interceptor. And past releases have popped up via Corpus Hermeticum and PseudoArcana, as well as — most prominently — Williams’ own Deepskin Conceptual Mindmusic imprint. Great listening, all, if you can find ‘em. For those curious to dive in without too much digging, Enclosures is ideal. Much of Williams’ genius lies in composing tracks that are edgy, yet beautiful, creepy and experimental, yet profoundly listenable. It’s forward-thinking electronic composition that checks a lot of avant-garde boxes without feeling like a task. There’s a subtle, krautrock propulsion to the best tracks — the opening “Turner,” the “Echo Dot” pieces — where the listener gets locked into the rhythm and time slows to an elegant crawl — like a soundtrack for night driving on an Autobahn upended.

Weak Signal — LP1 (self-released)

LP1 by WEAK SIGNAL

Weak Signal are NYC’s Sasha Vine, Tran Huynh and Mike Bones. Bones has previously released a pair of strong albums of indie songwriting courtesy of The Social Registry. As a guitarist, he’s done time with Endless Boogie, Matt Sweeney’s Soldiers of Fortune and Prison. This album was a tip from Danny Arakaki of Garcia Peoples, and it’s a swell one, 30-minutes of slack fuzz pop bashed out with energy and swagger. The majority of the tracks strut by on solid riffs, backed by boy/girl vox that slide into chant-along choruses. Like new wave bled dry, leaving a beautiful bummer. The eight-minute “Miami/Miami Part 2” stretches out into a haze of increasingly rapturous guitar soloing, string screeches and a spoken word coda. Lotta promise here, for sure. Here’s hoping they stick around for an LP2.

Raising Holy Sparks — Search For The Vanished Heaven (Eiderdown Records)

Search For The Vanished Heaven by Raising Holy Sparks

Seattle’s Eiderdown Records has been releasing some of the best contemporary psychedelia around, and the latest by Raising Holy Sparks is no exception. The project is the work of uber-prolific Irishman David Colohan, and is offered in double and triple cassette, as well as digital, versions. The “short” cut of the album is an hour and a half long, and the triple cassette and download versions stretch that to well over two hours. Per the credits, the album was recorded in somewhere around 40 different locations over four years. Colohan is credited with over 30 instruments and is joined by baker’s dozen of likeminded collaborators. What they deliver is, like most of Colohan’s music, long, slow and often eerily beautiful. “I Am In The Mountains While You Are In My Dreams” passes in its 23-minutes through Popol Vuh-style ambience, spoken word incantations that sound like Coil if they’d truly embraced the countryside and a whole lot of birdsong. It’s a good overview of the general proceedings — accented occasionally by louder blasts of synths, random percussion that sounds like drum machine presets and banjo-plucking krautrock. On paper, that sounds like a head-scratching combo, but it works. One gets the impression Colohan’s dedication and attention to detail is such that the grab bag of sounds weaves together into a surprisingly fascinating whole. Listen with attention and you’ll want to follow along as each stretch and segue unfolds. Oh, and as is typical with Eiderdown, bonus points for exceptional artwork, this time courtesy of Aubrey Nehring.

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frederator-studios · 6 years

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Kate Leth: The Frederator Interview

One of our top-most frequently asked Qs is: “Do I need to study art or animation to become a creator”? Our long-winded answer could really be replaced with: “Look up Kate Leth”. For many of you, this intro itself will be redundant. Since she began posting her personal Kate or Die! comics in 2011, the growth of Kate’s now-ginormous online following - as well as heaps of talent and hard work - opened doors for her to become one of the most exciting comic book creators and animation writers working today. It was awesome talking with Kate about her adoration for Plum, the rising tide of female and non-binary voices in animation, and witches - lots ‘n lots of witches.

Kate: So now, where are these being posted?

Cooper: On our Tumblr! We have a long-running Studios blog. Do you know the Frederator // Tumblr origin story?

K: Maybe??

C: David Karp launched Tumblr from his desk at Frederator when he was an intern! Fred Seibert was one of its first bloggers and investors.

K: Oh that’s funny! I still use Tumblr sometimes, as like a less stressful platform than Twitter. Which it used to be much more so?

Yeah, Twitter’s really taken over, huh? Do you like Twitter or does it feel like a chore?

Half and half! I like the fun side of Twitter but it is also pretty depressing. I’m starting to use Instagram more, cause it’s just happier. It’s like a nice break, scrolling through pictures of my cute friends!

Has social media been very important to your career?

Oh yeah - all of the work I’ve ever gotten has pretty much been through social media. I come from a super small town in Canada, which makes it harder to network and connect with people. It used to be you’d meet people at Cons, but now you meet everybody online. So many of the connections I’ve made and so many of the jobs I’ve gotten have been through Twitter and Tumblr. I don’t know where my career would be without those platforms!

That’s amazing. Did you know those opportunities were out there when you started posting?

I got into Tumblr just to follow people. I worked at a comic book store at the time, and my boss knew that I was drawing and encouraged me to put my stuff online. So I did, and slowly started to amass a small following. It got bigger, and that was how I got discovered by BOOM!, which is how I did my first published comics—including the Bravest Warriors comics, which is kinda funny!

Whoa, cool! From comic book store employee to comic book writer - how was that transition?

I started working there in like... 2009 or 2010? It was part time; I was also working at a dress shop. But I got fired from the dress shop (laughs) so I became full time at the comic book store. My boss, Calum Johnston, was a really engaged member of the arts community. He pushed people to make comics and share them, and that’s how I got started.

He must be so stoked to see where your career is now.

It’s really wild to look back on. When I wanted to self-publish my first zine, I had no money. I was a super broke art student. Cal sold his original art of the cover of the first volume of Scott Pilgrim and used the money to help me and a bunch of other people self-publish our comics. He’s a really good dude.

That’s so generous! Do you stay in touch with people there?

Yeah, I try to! His daughter is in animation school now. I’ve known her since she was like 14. It’s cool cause now I can promote her work and help her get a foot in the industry, so it comes full circle!

When you got the job at the store, were you just a fan? Or did you know you wanted to be a creator?

Just a fan! I was really big into autobio and self-published comics. Kate Beaton, Lucy Knisley, Erica Moen, and Jess Fink were all creators I was following at the time. Kate Beaton is from Nova Scotia like me, and I watched her get successful on LiveJournal and things as a comic artist—and yet she had studied history! She had no formal arts training; she’d just started making comics for fun. I had always thought that if you didn’t go to art school, that wasn’t an avenue for you. Seeing what she was doing made me realize, “Oh, people can do that!? Maybe I could too!” I’d been reading web comics since junior high, but it was never something that I thought I could do, until I started doing it. Being on Tumblr was also really encouraging; seeing so many other people just starting out and at a similar skill level with their art.

How did the path from self-publishing to BOOM! go?

It was sort of accidental. An editor came across Kate or Die!, and I was offered a backup strip in one of the Adventure Time comics. Only like 2 pages - super short. And then they came back with an offer to write a whole graphic novel? I’d never written anything longer than 4 pages in my life. But I was like, “Sure, I can do that!”. So I wrote Seeing Red, my first Adventure Time comic. And it did well, so they asked me to write another one. And all of a sudden that was my job! I was like, “Oh, okay, I better get good at this.”

Wow, so you taught yourself how to write comics? And to screenwrite?

Oh yeah, I didn’t go to school for any of this. I went to school for makeup and photography. I was a professional makeup artist for a couple years. Then I studied photography for two years. Then I dropped out. A college dropout made good! At first, I didn’t feel like I knew what I was doing. I’ve been writing comics for 6 or 7 years, and I only now feel like I’m good at them (laughing) I know people will disagree! I’m very self-deprecating. But I definitely feel like I understand what you need to craft a story now. When I started, I didn’t think about stories as a whole: knowing where you’re going, how you’ll get there, the themes you’ll touch along the way. I did a lot of improv in high school, so I felt fine sitting down and just starting! I'd make stuff up as I went. But that doesn’t make for as good of stories. So over time I’ve learned to sit down and really figure out the world, the arcs, the timing for big moments. I fill books with outlines!

Do you have a favorite project you’ve worked on?

Spell on Wheels, which just came out from Dark Horse last year, is something I’m really proud of. It’s about witches on a road trip. Megan Levens and Marissa Louise, the artist and colorist I’m working with are so awesome; I’m really happy that we’re gonna do more of it. And it’s nice to have an original series out there, because I’ve worked on so many other people’s properties.

What are the biggest differences there?

It’s very freeing to write an original. You’re not beholden to any corporate standards or licensers, so it’s easier to tell the kind of stories that you want to tell. Especially in terms of things like diversity and queerness, there’s nobody saying, “Oh, we can’t do that because it’s not in the TV show”. It’s nice to not have to worry about things like that. Dark Horse has been very supportive of it, which is cool.

Is Spell on Wheels your main project right now, or what else is goin’ on?

I work in animation primarily now, so I’m working for Hasbro and some other places that I can’t talk about yet, as is always the way. But I’ve been with Hasbro for about a year and a half, as a sort of jack of all trades writer. I’ve worked on My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, Littlest Pet Shop, and a bunch of other things that haven’t been announced yet. As for comics, I’m currently working on the Mysticons graphic novels - the first one comes out in August.

What do you like best about being a writer?

I love it. I think it’s amazing to create worlds and characters and stories and see them brought to life by so many different kinds of people, with so many different artistic styles and talents and specialties. It’s just like magic. Animation is so exciting. You write a script and then you wait... like a year... and then it’s animated! And there are voices saying your jokes! I feel like the thrill of that might wear off at some point, but it definitely hasn’t yet.

What are your favorite cartoons?

Sailor Moon is top of the list. And Cardcaptor Sakura - any magical girl anime I would just eat up as a kid. I watched Disney’s One Saturday Morning religiously, Doug and all of those shows. And now Steven Universe is a big favorite. I got to write an episode for Craig of the Creek, which is great, and I’m really excited about that. And I’m a huge fan of Bob’s Burgers!

What is your episode of Craig of the Creek about?

Witches. I’m very into witches! I grew up on Buffy, Charmed - every YA book I could get my hands on. Practical Magic is my favorite movie. I feel like there were so many movies and TV shows about witches in the 90s. I’m ready for that genre to loop back, in a BIG way. And for the episode of Craig of the Creek, I created characters that ended up becoming part of the recurring cast! So it was neat to contribute to that world a little bit.

What is your favorite thing about Bravest Warriors?

Plum. Just Plum, in general. She’s my favorite character to write - she’s just so fun. She’s silly and weird, and once you get her voice right, she’s such a laugh. She's so blunt and harsh, but in this innocent, unintentional way.

Your episode “Chained to Your Side” has the Scaley Williams Dance - what inspired your play on Sadie Hawkins?

We don’t actually have Sadie Hawkins dances in Canada, which is funny. But I’ve always been kind of fascinated by the concept: “Oooh it’s so rebellious cause the girls ask the boys.” Which is so outdated! So I thought, what’s the futuristic version of that… and got: ‘the girls ‘dart’ the boys’. And we had this conversation, like, “Okay, they dart the boys - but it has to be consensual! They have to say yes!” That was very important (laughing) I could only take that joke to a certain point. But I knew the dance idea would let me do a lot with Beth and Plum. And I love beating up Danny. Like that’s my favorite thing to do in the comics. Just let terrible things happen to Danny. He’s such a goofball.

What are the themes that recur in your characters and stories the most?

Surface level, the obvious: witches and gay stuff. In a deeper sense, things I come back to a lot… there are a lot of characters I’ve written that work retail or minimum wage jobs. Because that’s what I grew up with—I moved out when I was 17 and started working, and did that up until 4 or 5 years ago. So that’s a huge part of my experience. Definitely characters who aren’t borne of privilege and are struggling to prove themselves. Like Hellcat especially, is very much about someone in their 20s just trying to get by. And I talk about self-acceptance a lot. I like genuine moments between people. Amid the comedy, I like there to be something real - especially if it’s something difficult to talk about. Hellcat is this really upbeat superhero, Saturday Morning Cartoon vibe—but I did an entire arc about how people misinterpret and mistreat men who are bisexual, and how that’s different from how bisexual women are treated. So it’s this funny comic, but still touching on real topics. I like to try to say something. But not, you know, hit people over the head with it.

Do you have a cartoon project that’s your favorite?

Yeah, but I’m not allowed to talk about it yet! I have had a lot of fun working on Equestria Girls. It’s so exciting to write stuff for kids. Since I started in animation I’ve actually tried to shoehorn myself: I want to write action-adventure for girls. That’s what I want to do. I’ve managed to get to a place where that’s everything I’m working on now, and that’s really exciting. A lot of people don’t want to be pegged like that, but I’m like, “Oh, you want me to write girls punching and having feelings? Good, I’m here for it!”

It’s funny to pigeon-hole yourself! Most writers seem to want the opposite.

I doubt I’ll want to do the same thing forever! But I definitely don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to tell stories for girls. For a long time I think there was an onus to make sure your show could appeal to boys, and that led to a lot of female characters getting side-lined, because executives would say, “Boys need someone to relate to!” And I agree with that—but I really don’t believe there’s any reason boys can’t relate to or look up to girls. And I think perpetuating the idea that they can’t is pretty harmful.

In your time in the industry, have you noticed animation becoming more inclusive and diverse?

I’m lucky in what I’ve worked on. Hasbro has a huge female staff and a lot of the executives are women, so they’re very supportive of that. There’s always room for more diversity, but it’s been good. I know there are parts of the industry that are still very much a boys club, but I’ve stayed pretty far away from those, and would prefer to keep it that way. There are so many women coming into animation now. I know so many women and non-binary folks working in the field that are just going to keep rising. It’s definitely a rising tide.

That’s awesome.

Well, I have to believe that, or else I get depressed! (laughing). My boyfriend and I play a game where at the end of movies, we count how many title cards we get through before seeing a woman’s name. (I groan) Yeah, it’s wild. Usually it ends up being a producer, or the casting director, or a costume designer. It’s rarely someone on the creative end. And when you start looking for it, you really start noticing it. But it’s heartening when you see a movie that defies that. Like at the end of Black Panther, there were a ton of women’s names early on in those credits! That’s my goal, is to like (laughing), be the early in the credits female name. And then fill the rest of those credits with people I know.

Oh cool, so you would want to make a feature film?

Yeah. I have lofty goals. We’ll see what happens, but I don’t want to close myself off to any opportunities.

Do you know what that movie would be about?

Probably witches. But I guess we’ll see! ❀

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Follow Kate on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr: @kateordie

Thank you so much for the interview Kate! I’m excited for your upcoming projects, especially the ones about Girl Magic. Soo... all of them :D

- Cooper

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