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#2020 was hell for this industry and being back is so precious
lumoshyperion · 3 years
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Hey I'm new to your blog! How do you know this much bout cursed child Aus? Do you work in it?
Hi there! Thanks for your message and welcome! I don't work on Cursed Child, but I do talk to a few people who work on the production, and I also work in the same industry? So I just hear a lot from them and from my coworkers within the industry. I was standing in a dressing room months ago listening to the cast on my show talk about the role of Albus being recast, for instance. Anything I don't hear from my colleagues or from the production team/cast themselves, I can also usually just guess based on past experience? I’ve also been lucky enough to see the show across each cast change, right from the very first dress rehearsal, so I’m just... really familiar with the show itself and how it works, I guess?
And the thing about the Australian theatre community is that it's so small. I was at the friends and family dress rehearsal for Year Three and ran into the director and a cast member from one of my previous shows. And later on I found out that a cast member from my current show was there. And so was a producer, director, set designer, and stage manager from a show I'm doing in August. Even just walking through the foyer or standing outside, I saw so many people I knew. Everyone knows everyone who knows everyone.
But even before I got involved in the industry, I was already moving in a lot of the same circles. Even just as an audience member, I was already getting to know people in the industry and putting myself out there. Because the thing about theatre people is that they're so lovely and welcoming? I used to feel really nervous about talking to them after a show, but I quickly realised how much they love talking about their work. If you ever see something and wish you could tell the team behind it how much you loved their work/performances, don't be afraid to message them on Instagram! In my experience, it always means so much to them. And now that stage door isn't a thing and probably won't return for a while, I think your messages of support and questions about their work will mean more than ever before ❤️
ask me questions about year two, year three, and other things!
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robertreich · 4 years
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7 Ways 2020 Has Exposed America
If we learn nothing else from these dark times, here are 7 lessons we should take away from 2020: 1. Workers keep America going, not billionaires. American workers are forced to put their lives on the line to provide essential services, even as their employers fail to provide them with adequate protective gear. Meanwhile, America’s billionaires have retreated to their mansions, yachts and estates.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos returned to his 165,000-acre West Texas ranch while Amazon’s warehouse workers toil in close proximity to each other, often without masks, gloves, or  sanitizer. The company has already scrapped the measly $2 an hour hazard pay increase it gave warehouse workers, even as Bezos’ wealth has jumped by a staggering $23.6 billion since the start of the pandemic. 2. Systemic racism is literally killing black and brown Americans. African Americans account for 42 percent of coronavirus deaths so far, despite representing only 21 percent of the population. As they bear the brunt of this pandemic, African Americans are forced to fight for their humanity in another regard — taking to the streets across the country to protest decades of unjust police killings of their community members, only to be met with more police violence. 
And among Native American communities, the coronavirus figures are even more horrifying. The Navajo Nation has a higher per-capita infection rate than any state but can’t adequately care for the sick, thanks to years of federal underfunding and neglect of its healthcare system. 
Decades of segregated housing, pollution, lack of access to medical care, and poverty have left communities of color vulnerable to the worst of this virus, and the worst of America.
3. If we can afford to bail out corporations and Wall Street, we sure as hell can afford to invest in the American people. I’m sick and tired of hearing we can’t afford Medicare for All, or a Green New Deal or eliminating student debt -- in the same breath that Congress hands out billions to big banks, corporations, and the wealthy. 
At the insistence of Senate Republicans and the Trump administration, coronavirus relief legislation has doled out at least $243 million to big corporations, including $72 million to oil and gas companies and $25 million to the airline industry. Millionaires have received $82 billion in tax cuts. The GOP couldn’t care less about “fiscal responsibility” even during a national crisis. It’s a question of priorities, not what we can afford. 4. Governors and mayors are running the country, not Trump. While Trump spews lies and attacks the media, local and state leaders have had no choice but to step up and tackle the pandemic on their own. They have struck deals with foreign nations to obtain tests and medical equipment, and developed inter-state pacts to coordinate purchases and regional guidelines for when and how to reopen. 
The Trump administration hasn’t just sat on the sidelines and left it up to the states — it’s actively thrown obstacles in their way. Trump and his lackeys have refused to help states secure ventilators, ordered FEMA to seize states’ shipments of personal protective equipment, threatened to sue states that maintain lockdown orders, and even suggested holding states hostage to federal aid until they end sanctuary cities. Meanwhile, Trump says he plans to send our precious supply of ventilators to his dear friend, Vladimir Putin. Funny how that works. 5. Health care must be made a right in America. In the wealthiest country on earth, it is a moral outrage that Americans can’t even receive the care they need during a pandemic. 
Even before this crisis struck, an estimated 27 million Americans didn’t have health insurance. And according to a recent report, an additional 43 million could soon lose employer-provided coverage because they’ve lost their job. Without insurance, a hospital stay to treat COVID-19 could cost as much as $73,000. Remember this the next time you hear pundits saying Medicare for All is too radical.
6. Our social safety nets are woefully broken. No other advanced nation was as unprepared for the pandemic as was the United States. We don’t provide universal health care. We’re one of the few countries in the world that doesn’t provide all workers some form of paid sick leave. 
Other industrialized nations kept their unemployment rates low by guaranteeing paychecks during the pandemic. Here, as of mid-May, 36.5 million Americans have filed for unemployment and received just a one-time $1,200 check to hold them over. And this number is probably underestimated -- unemployment offices have been so overwhelmed that many claims can’t even be filed. 7. Government matters. For decades, conservatives have told us that government is the problem and that we should let the free market run its course. Rubbish. The coronavirus pandemic has shown, yet again, that the unfettered free market won’t save us. After 40 years of Reaganism, it's never been clearer: Government is in fact necessary to protect the public. It’s tragic that it took record unemployment, graphic videos of Black Americans being murdered, and millions of people taking to the streets for many of us to grasp how broken, backwards, and racist our system really is. 
We cannot cling to the idea of “going back to normal” because “normal” is what got us here. We can no longer accept piecemeal reforms of our broken systems. We need to reimagine a political and economic system that values humanity and builds prosperity for every American. Let’s get to work.
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therappundit · 4 years
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Best of the 1st Half: 2020′s Best Rap Projects (*so far*)...
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“I’ve had, the halftime of my life...!”
*record scratch*
2020, WHAT THE F**K. 😳
Ohhh what a first half it has been. If 2020 ended today, it would still be one of the most historic years in a century...and NOT in a pleasant way. Years from now 2020 will be studied for the long-term damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the potential breaking point (hopefully??) of this country’s ignorance to systematic racism and the need for a complete overhaul of our police departments, and of course, whatever the hell comes from the November Presidential election....and, not to mention whatever additional ‘tbd’ chaos rings in the second half of ‘20 that we haven’t even heard about yet!? These are trying times, folks.
My whole life, I have tried to use humor and entertainment to help me with processing high levels of stress and anxiety. This year, that process has felt more daunting than usual. I am writing less and less, and often find Twitter to be too dark of a place for me to navigate. It’s anything but a fulfilling “escape”. Still, I am constantly inspired by all of the new music that fills my headspace during life’s precious little moments, and it really keeps me grounded in the day to day. 
At the end of 2019, I wrote the below in one of my posts. It took me back to a special feeling that I had, at a moment when the future seemed more like an opportunity, rather than a worrisome question mark. I’m going to work towards finding that place again, and I wanted to re-share this because it speaks to how the love of any art can be a healthy reminder of what we have to be thankful for in our daily lives:
“Regardless of how you feel about this list, I hope that you visit (or re-visit) any one of these pieces of strong work and find the same level of enjoyment that I did. I loved so much rap music this year and I could not be more excited about what the future holds. On a personal note, in 2019 I found myself even more in love with my wife, feeling luckier than I have in a long time, more satisfied with my hobbies and passions, and above all else, more in awe of my child (and anyone that ever raised a child) than ever before. I became a father for the first time in 2019, so as my baby daughter continues to fill my heart, I am beginning to wonder what she will think of her father’s love for this art form that has brought him so much joy over the years…I suppose time will tell.”
This list is long, because I think the talent that went into these projects is worth your time (and I put a lot of thought into creating this list as well...I do not work in the industry or know anyone that does, and I do not have any real platform - I just do this because I love the music).
If you are an artist on this list, I want to thank you, because you helped me stay positive and focused on a brighter future that I hope will soon come to us all...because everyone has been through something this year, and we deserve better.  So salute to you and many, many others. 🙏🙏🙏
- THE Rap Pundit
The “Rules” for my list of the Best Projects of Q1-Q2 2020:
- the album/mixtape/EP/project/whatever you want to call it had to be released this year, by June 26, 2020
- the project must have at least 6 songs 
- these rankings are a combination of my own personal preference, my take on overall quality of the project (whether it speaks deeply to my sensibilities or not), and how the final product compares to other work from the artists’ peers that occupy the same lane/‘sub-genre’ of rap music
So here we go 👀...
1. The Price of Tea in China by Boldy James and The Alchemist
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Sometimes the greatest albums are not the most ambitious or flashy, they are remembered based off the strength of artistic chemistry and execution. Basketball fans know the beauty of a perfectly timed chest pass to a teammate streaking towards the basket can be more impressive than a behind the back pass that’s simply done for the sake of showing everyone that you can do a fancy pass. Staying with that theme, The Price of Tea in China is The Alchemist doing his best John Stockton impression, serving to Boldy James’ Karl Malone, and by album’s end you realize that Boldy scored a quiet 40 points while making this rap shit look like an easy lay-up.
TPOTIC finds Boldy sprinkling every ounce of his Detroit seasoning into Al’s pot to yield one of the most Mobb Deep-esque collaboration albums since Mobb Deep was dropping albums. In turn, this project is not only Boldy’s greatest work, but it serves as a re-introduction of a veteran MC that is suddenly more relevant than ever.  Much like what Freddie Gibbs and Madlib did with 2019′s Bandana, this project is a great lesson on what MC and Producer chemistry can sound like when both parties are 100% on the same page when it comes to message, tone, and aesthetic goals. 
It would make sense that Boldy James would fall into the Griselda fold, because much like Westside Gunn, Conway The Machine and Benny The Butcher, he comes from a city with a rich rap music scene that still struggles to reach the level of exposure that the NYCs, L.A.’s, Chicago's and Atlanta’s have basked in for so long. He writes from a place of “been there, done that”, showing a rich attention to detail that separates his street tales from that of his peers in the same way someone telling a story second or third hand can’t match the level of detail that an eye witness has saved in the memory bank. Boldy has survived both real world and music business challenges to rise from the ashes of “hey whatever happened to so & so, he was about to blow” conversations to reach a new peak in his mid-30′s. He deserved this suite of incredible Alchemist soundscapes (Al is deep in his bag here, delivering some of his most low-key impressive instrumentals in years), and like his super-producer buddy, Boldy is looking down at us from atop an already prolific 2020 at its’ midpoint.  
I’m not sure anyone can match the chemistry that Prodigy and Mobb Deep had with The Alchemist, but in 2020, The Price of Tea in China delivers some of the most brutally subdued, occasionally humorous, stripped down rap records since P was throwing TV’s at us like he had nothing left to lose. If The Price of Tea in China isn’t holding the championship at year’s end, it still deserves to be mentioned as an impressive work by one of the strongest title-worthy unions running the pick and roll in the genre today.
2. Àdá Irin by Navy Blue 
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Okay let’s be honest: the “sub-genre” that is often referred to as lo-fi rap music (whether you consider it an actual lane or not, I know you know what I’m talking about...which I suppose proves its’ existence, right?), is beginning to suffer from the same affliction that all other sub-genres tend to suffer from once the word is out that this is “the thing” that the kids find trendy right now. A lot of folks in this lane sound *exactly* the same to the average listener. I’m not even the average listener, and I often feel that way. The irony that comes with being part of the sound that’s supposed to be bucking the mainstream clone machine turning into a mini-clone machine itself, means that the window is in danger of closing to avoid over-saturation of the artists that are already thriving between the gravelly, whisper-welcoming walls of Soundcloud URLs and Bandcamp EPs being slid to their heady fanbase with zero promotion. So with that all being said...why give Navy Blue a chance?
Navy Blue lacks the name recognition of many of his peers (for now), but he has now been thriving in the lo-fi pocket for some time as both a MC and producer, a young artist that’s closely connected to the lane’s most famous figureheads (Earl Sweatshirt, and to some extent, Mach-Hommy), as well as less heralded trailblazers like MIKE and the whole sLUms collective. Sure you can check out Navy’s Soundcloud page to get a taste of his work, but with this Àdá Irin album, we don’t just hear raw snippets of a freshly discovered unsigned talent. With this album we hear Navy as a self-assured solo artist, capable of sharing an inspirational song with the likes of Ka and sounding like every bit of the veteran next to the iconic soft-spoken lyricist. This is a very, very impressive debut full length album that showcases the best that the (sub)genre has to offer: some experimentation, jazzy loops, the diary-like intimacy of words that sit like dust on an old basement book shelf, and the raw emotions that come from working through love, pain and loss in real time. In 2020 there may be nothing completely new under the sun, but it’s the aesthetic choices that Navy Blue makes with every verse and every instrumental that make Àdá Irin feel like a perfect balance of beauty and sadness. If you want to dip a toe in this water but you’re not sure you can get into the mumblecore-ish world of MIKE, MAVI, Medhane or Earl’s work from the past two years, this Navy Blue album might actually be the perfect intro.
3. A Written Testimony by Jay Electronica (featuring JAY-Z)
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Not a lot of positive breaking news in 2020...but when Jay Electronica surprised Twitter with a few cryptic Tweets back in February, implying that he was dropping an album (and Jay-Z would likely be involved), the rap game was set ablaze with excitement, skepticism, disbelief, and hope (albeit with some measured caution there as well). 
This is something that fans, and arguably the entire rap world, had been clamoring for for a decade, many long since moving on believing that Jay Elec’s debut album had gone the way of Detox, sharing “1a & 1b” status as the most eagerly anticipated projects none of us seriously expected to hear. 
Then it dropped....and then it went. In a Twitter-run rap world, quality is too often measured by how long a piece of art stays within the “trending” mix, as opposed to...well, whether or not it’s actually good! The truth is, A Written Testimony is not just good, it’s very, very good, and while it’s not the “Illmatic 2″ that some may have been expecting, realistically it’s superior to what I imagined a new project from such a reclusive artist would sound like in 2020. If you at least try to table the expectations laid out when “Exhibit C” came out in 2009...I think you will find a project (it’s up to you whether or not you want to count this a “solo debut” or not, but at this point, it’s new Jay Electronica - can we just leave it at that??) stacked with memorable moments, quotable gems throughout, stellar production (this is one of the best produced projects of 2020 by far, not sure how/why this piece of the puzzle would receive anything less than acclaim), and some moments of questionable preaching made more palatable by a strong overall voice and package.
Jay Electronica raps with conviction throughout, and while the project feels brief, it lasts long enough to be more than a quick feeling, even if many feel that it’s not long enough to feel like a full album. If "Exhibit C" was the teaser then this is the redband trailer, flashing enough skill and details to resonate for far longer than its’ duration. Much has been said about the heavy hand of JAY-Z on most of the project’s 7 tracks, but let’s be clear, this is not Watch The Throne 2 (even though at points, it may feel like something along those lines). Yes, in impressive fashion, Hov comes through riding shotgun to show a deeper shade of one of his more complex dimensions, with many of his rhymes begging for dissection with every bar. However, AWT features a JAY-Z that’s rapping through Jay Electronica’s lens, not by any means where 4:44 or Everything Is Love left off. This is definitely a Jay Electronica album. AWT dives in and out of Jay Electronica’s beliefs in broad strokes that appear and disappear rather quickly, but even when certain verses raise more questions than provide answers, every song still has at least a handful of the gripping words that remind us of what made Jay Elec-Hanukkah sound like the chosen one in the first place (his tussle with writer’s block and hesitation to put out any art make for some of the projects most engaging moments).
If A Written Testimony is the last Jay Electronica album we ever here - which I truly hope it is not the case - it is still a memorable piece of work. So if you were one of the folks that moved on from it after the “surprise” of Jay finally dropping a project subsided, I hope you change that stance and revisit it once again.
4. Descendants of Cain by Ka
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“Quiet and frigid disposition, growin' up in the cold /  Surprised I ain't get high from what I was low enough to behold /  Like when Pops shot at the neighbor's shop, put one in his head /  He knew how he grew me, threw me the gun, a hundred, and fled /  Didn't play, 'fore po' arose dispose of exhibit A / I was raised to age a few years in a day /  If not elite, didn't eat if you didn't pray /  As much as I heal, had to deal, all my scars are here to stay /  Our senseis spent days peddling /  Our heroes sold heroin.” - Ka, “Patron Saints”
He makes it seem almost too easy. If the writing wasn't so gripping, you might not even revisit it. Ka’s Descendants of Cain arrived with little fanfare, except for the collective awe of his humble but religiously devoted fan-base. The religious devotion is an important piece here, as Cain adds to Ka’s quietly impressive discography another strong album that leans on classic scribes as inspiration to spin poignant metaphors on Brooklyn street philosophy. 
This time, the classic work is the Christian Bible, and Ka being the brilliant MC/poet that he is, seems to have little trouble working with the medium to preach without sounding preachy, and wax familiar-sounding nostalgia over wax that sounds as dusty as it feels fresh, rich, and urgent. Producing much of the album himself, along with a few trusted collaborators, the album’s strength is in its’ density, as each song feels like it requires a pause to unpack every bar...and to be honest, that’s exactly the type of attention this work deserves. If you missed this one in the first half of 2020′s feverish dump of new releases, you need to remedy that immediately.
5. Pray for Paris by Westside Gunn 
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If The Alchemist is the overall rap music MVP for his many contributions to 2020 thus far,  Westside Gunn may deserve at least a few honorable mentions. From becoming the ambassador of Buffalo New York to stepping up as an ambassador of the underground rap resurgence, I don’t think any other rap artist has done more to run with the torch that Roc Marciano has been waving for a damn decade than the Griselda mastermind. If you happened to hear Gunn name-dropping to Peter Rosenberg on Rosenberg’s long-standing Real Late show on Hot 97, you know exactly what I mean. Shouting-out close allies and lesser known peers alike, Gunn’s presence proudly announced the underground movement’s invasion of the highly known New York City radio station. It felt like ECW invading WWE’s Monday Night Raw all over again. Of course Gunn’s voice was met with more ears than usual during that interview, since that appearance came hot off the heels of the release of his much discussed side project turned full-blown album, Pray for Paris.
By now most fervent rap fans know the story behind the album (a project that miraculously arrived to completion while Gunn was suffering from the affects of coronavirus), but for many Pray for Paris is the introduction to the story of Griselda Records and the world that they revel in. If Conway the Machine and Benny the Butcher are responsible for the Griselda team’s grittiest street tales, Westside Gunn’s success leans on his ability to blur the line between all-too-real violence and cartoon violence, splattered with elite luxury references and shout-outs for his fellow wrestling addicts. The song titles are merely scattered trains of thoughts that may or may not have anything directly to do with a song’s actual meaning, it’s like naming your child ‘brunch in Williamsburg’ just because it was the last meal you happened to have that day. An audience brought up on Lil Wayne as the God MC may be completely lost at the appeal, but audiences brought up on Wu, DOOM and Sean Price know exactly what vibe Westisde Gunn is going for.
At times Gunn can come across as more of a talent curator than a stand alone MC, so if this is the album that takes Gunn to the next level as a rap star, it would make him the most unselfish rap star to come along in some time. A rapper doesn’t jump on an Alchemist produced track with the likes of Freddie Gibbs and Roc Marciano and expect to leave with anything but the Bronze medal. The same can be said for his chopped and screwed contribution to “Claiborne Kick”, which clearly belongs to Boldy James. That’s not to say that Gunn’s verse is a weak moment on any of the joints on Paris, but the fact that he consistently surrounds himself with high caliber writers confirms that he is well aware that the quality of the final product will be determined by the team involved, not just the artists’ name on the album cover.
For someone that considers himself more of an artist than a rapper, he continues to paint intriguing collages with every album, featuring him at the center of an ever-expanding portrait of MCs, producers, singers, designers, and dancers. Pray for Paris is a typical Griselda project that also happens to sport the potential of something larger than most of their fanbase ever imagined. Yes we get the dark backdrops, elite underground production, and quotables throughout, but we also get a few additional shades, as Gunn dabbles with a “beauty and the beast” dynamic that cleanly pairs his violent imagery with fashionista pomp and circumstance (which no doubt helped draw the likes of Wale and Tyler, the Creator to this project). But t’s all less of a solo album to push a mainstream solo career forward, and much more of a cannonball through the mainstream wall, just to allow some sunlight to shine on his people...and his city, for that matter - because best believe, Paris may be the inspiration behind the project but Buffalo, New York is still with him every step of the way. 
6. Alfredo by Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist
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A highly enjoyable surprise drop from two-thirds of the potent combination that gave us the fan favorite project that was Fetti (shout-out to Curren$y, though), Alfredo feels like the perfect treat to hold us over during these trying times. It feels rushed, but simultaneously sharp and activated. It has the feeling of a controlled experiment that was slapped together in separate rooms, rather than carefully curated by multiple artists hunched over the same mixer for days on end. Alfredo is more of a display of two power hitters putting on an impressive showing at a Home Run Derby, rather than the collaboration that has been slowly simmering for years...but that’s also part of the fun, because it feels like Al & Fredo (eh?) were just as excited to release it as we all were to hear it.
Neither party is reinventing the wheel here, but if you are going to have a rapper and a producer connect for an album of great rapping over great beats, you would be hard pressed to find a more natural pairing than these two. The Alchemist delivers with samples that channel the speakeasy jazz of an old piano, and Freddie is simply the king of hard-rap soul right now, so he excels on every song. There are moments of darkness, moments of hope, and moments of self reflection (Gibbs is a logical choice to swing haymakers back at cops abusing their power), all delivered by Freddie at a break-neck speed over Al's significantly less urgent production....as if Gibbs frantically spilled his guts to his buddy over the phone while Al was kickin’ back with a joint saying “uh-huh...yup, I hear ya man.” The final result is an effective one, if not a quick teaser of what a lengthier amount of collaboration time between the two might sound like. It should also be said that the guest verses on this album (especially those from Tyler, The Creator and Conway) took this album up a few spots on this ‘best of’ list. Alfredo is easily one of the strongest surprises of 2020.
7. Reasonable Drought by Stove God Cook$ and Roc Marciano
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There is a tradition in the rap music biz that newer/younger artists are often shepherded along by more seasoned artists in order to insure that the less experienced artist is blessed with the built-in audience that comes with a co-sign. It doesn’t always work, but typically the initiation comes with a solid musical foundation on a debut project accompanied by a greener MC still finding his/her way. Not the case with Stove God Cook$, he is perhaps the most unexpectedly fresh MC to be cut from classic rap cloth since Griselda & Mach-Hommy began to build cult-like followings.
While Reasonable Drought (and seriously, how bold of a title is that for a debut!?) is blessed by the impressive production and mentorship of underground rap icon Roc Marciano, it truly is the lesser known MC himself that captures the imagination right from the get-go. When I say that in my life time, I cannot recall such a strong debut performance by a MC that I have heard virtually no work from prior to his 2019 emergence, with the help of minimal publicity/ad budget (if any? Cook$ was barely on social media until *after* his album had already been released) on his way to dropping an album with zero features...then you should take my recommendation very seriously. Fresh style, some of the most rewind-worthy quotables in recent memory (an Uncle Buck reference!? Bow down, people), and a new following built exclusively on the word of mouth of equal-minded folks that were blown away by a project many copped on a passing whim... it’s clear that this moment could be the beginning of an amazing, fascinating career. 
Similar to Roc Marciano before him, Cook$ possesses a rare flare with his wordplay and delivery that makes even the ugliest tales of coke dealing and disrespectful criminal activity sound like the colorful exploits of a post-Blaxploitation hero. He delivers every bar with the uber-specific word choice of Roc, but the outgoing swag of a Max B. The man that has people that never touched cocaine in their life singing that they’re “smelling like a brick right now”, is smelling like a winner in 2020 and beyond.
8. Battle Scar Decorated by Monday Night & Henny L.O.
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Last call to board the Mutant Academy bandwagon! 
I have been saying that this deep underground collective of MCs & producers has been low key having a banner year all year long, and scrolling through this list you can see exactly what I mean. Henny L.O. is too good to be slotted as just a battle rapper, while Monday Night is far too strong of a presence to be considered a mere associate of the core Mutant team. When you think of Mutant Academy and their respective affiliated acts, think of them as a gathering of solo artists that happen to make dope rap music together, but all parties involved are capable of standing on their own two. I think that’s what consistently impresses me about their projects...hat, and the lack of filler material.
Along with a deep Rolodex of mostly under-the-radar talent, the hunger and confidence of a thriving Richmond, Viriginia rap scene is present on every track of Battle Scar Decorated. Much like many of my favorite albums of 2020, there is no reinventing of the wheel here, the triumph is in the execution. Monday & Henny tag in and out, each with the confidence that they have spit the best verse on the song before they have even finished. It’s that level of ability combined with a shocking amount of production talent that makes Battle Scar Decorated essential listening to anyone that wants to be reminded of a vibe that hasn’t been in abundance in the underground rap scene since L.A. in the late 90′s. It wouldn’t be fair to talk about how much I enjoyed this project without including the great producers involved, so a big s/o to: Sycho Sid, C.R.I.S.T.E.N, James Couch, Savvy, Heather Grey, and Ewonne.
9. Eastern Medicine, Western Illness by Preservation
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Accompanied by a who’s who of underground hip-hop’s finest (Roc Marciano, Mach-Hommy, Your Old Droog, Quelle Chris, Nickelus F, Tree, Navy Blue, Billy Woods, Ka *and more* - I mean seriously!?), Preservation has assembled an impressively cohesive compilation album both sonically and thematically. 
Incorporating record samples from his travels in China, Eastern Medicine, Western Illness feels born in simplicity even though it is anything but a casual collection of dope verses over tightly wound production. A quietly gifted producer, Preservation knows how to squeeze the best out of his guests without shouting the results through the speakers, the choices are more subtle but yield a high impact and replay value. Listening to the project feels more like listening to a secret, unreleased project, because it’s hard to believe that this much talent would gift this much high caliber writing to a compilation of songs...although that was not uncommon in the 90′s and early 00′s (ah, I’m showing my old age again). Perhaps that’s a testament to Preservation’s vision, a DJ/producer with a relatively small catalog built on curated quality (see his fantastic 2015 collaboration with Ka on Days With Dr. Yen Lo). Eastern Medicine has enough talent involved that it could have been a worthy listen even if it was just as a hodgepodge of donated loosies, so the fact that the final product is so much more than that makes it an album that warrants a great deal of more attention.
10. The Allegory by Royce Da 5′9″
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No accomplished lyricist makes life harder on himself than Royce Da 5′9″. Be it his tendency to cram personal observations and disclosures in and around his punchlines, or experimenting production wise, the Detroit veteran is intent on finding new ways to approach fine wine music, tossing more complex offerings into his catalog over the past few years. Things are no different with The Allegory. 
Not only did Royce once again pen an album that speaks to his ability to cope with his own past and present, he inserts himself in the producer chair as well, addressing the trials and tribulations of the increasingly problematic world around him, over backdrops crafted by only his hand a a few trusted peers. The effect is mostly successful, with the production exceeding the expectations of many (myself included), while the writing is at times both thought-provoking and in need of further exploration on Royce’s part. The guest features range from effective to scene stealing (not because Royce ‘s verse is outshined, but there are moments where it seems as if the guest is better suited over Royce’s own production than he is). If you’re Royce Da 5′9″ and you release an album titled The Allegory, no one should expect a simple quick fix of bars over easily digestible instrumentals. The highs come in abundance, and while the lows come in small trip-ups and the occasional skit that the listener probably could have done without, you get the sense that with some editing and further focus of his lofty goals, his sermons could have been sharpened into a more effective analysis of many of his topics (the music business, being black in America, history, conspiracy theories), resulting in an incredible album instead of a very good one. Nevertheless, it is all worth the ride to hear the latest work from one of rap music’s most gifted MC’s from the past decade. If The Allegory isn’t a home-run, it’s at the very least a strong base hit.
Top 50 (all belong in the Top 10-25, but...there’s only 25 spots in the Top 25, soooo):
11. Cold Water by Medhane
12. Shrines by Armand Hammer
13. Bag Talk by yungmorpheus & Pink Siifu
14. Try Again by ovrkast.
15. RTJ4 by Run The Jewels
16. Noise Kandy 4 by Rome Streetz
17. Innocent Country 2 by Quelle Chris
18. Weight of the World by MIKE
19. Sages by Henny L.O. & Ohbliv
20. Milestones by Skyzoo
21. Carpe Noctem by Big Ghost Ltd
22. Lake Water by SeKwence
23. At the End of the Day. by Fly Anakin
24. Sole Food by Deniro Farrar
25. The Oracle 3 by Grafh
26. The Blue Tape by Tree
27. lo&behold by lojii
28. Infinite Wisdom by Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon
29. FULL CIRCLE by Medhane
30. UNLOCKED by Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats
31. The Throwaways by The Opioid Era
32. Anyways by Young Nudy
33. PTSD (Deluxe) by G Herbo
34. Holly Favored by Monday Night & Foisey
35. THE GOAT by Polo G
36. Demon & Mufasa by Yhung T.O. & DaBoii 
37. The Face of Jason by ANKHLEJOHN
38. My Turn by Lil Baby 
39. No One Mourns the Wicked by Conway & Big Ghost Ltd.
40. Two4one by Jay Worthy 
41. Free Drakeo by Drakeo
42. Alone Time by YL
43. Assata by CV$ a.k.a. Con$piracy & Teller Bank$
44. Thug Tear by Big Kashuna O.G. & Monday Night
45. Ways and Means by Rasheed Chappell & 38 Spesh
46. IMMORTALKOMBAT by Al Divino & Estee Nack
47. Young & Turnt 2 by 42 Dugg
48. Sleeper Effect by Sleep Sinatra
49. Juno by Che Noir & 38 Spesh
50. LULU by Conway & The Alchemist
THE REST OF THE BEST (all belong in the Top 50 releases of 2020, but..what can I say, blame 2020 for being such a stacked year for music/events I guess):
Black Schemata by yungmorpheus,  The Smartest by Tee Grizzley,  Polly by the Powder Keg by Chuck Chan & Pad Scientist,  High Off Life by Future,  Gotham City Album by Plex Diamonds,  Memphis Massacre 2 by Duke Deuce, Poetic Substance by RIM & Vinyl Villain,  Styles David: Ghost Your Enthusiasm by Styles P,  MF Bloo by Bloo & Spanish Ran,  LSD by The Leonard Simpson Duo & Guilty Simpson,  Funeral by Lil Wayne,  RAW UNKNOWN by Spectacular Diagnostics,  Nezzie’s Star by Eddie Kaine,  ShrapKnel (self-titled),  The Bluest Note by Skyzoo & Dumbo Station,  WUNNA by Gunna,  Get Money Teach Babies by Heist Life & Spanish Ran,  Open Casket by Killer Kane,  6 Rings by Yung Mal,  The Beauty of It by Eto,  Meet The Woo 2 by Pop Smoke,  Fresh Air by UFO Fev & Statik Selektah,  Vito by Vince Ash,  GRIMM & EViL by GRiMM Doza,  RUDEBWOY by CJ Fly,  Rocket to Nebula by Killah Priest,  EVERYTHING by Kota the Friend,  NO Blade of Grass by V Don,  Eternal Atake by Lil Uzi Vert,  I’m My Brother’s Keeper by Yella Beezy & Trapboy Freddy,  Carhartt Champions by Tree Mason,  Viral Viral! by Dunbar,  Rowhouse Whispers by Ray West & Zilla Rocca,  Magneto Was Right #4 by Raz Fresco,  DUMP LIFE by Tha God Fahim, Jay NiCE & Left Lane Didon,  Burn One, Tap In, Zone Out by Dot Demo,  FNTG: From Niggaz to Godz by Squeegie O,   PANAGNL4E, Vol. 2 by Los and Nutty,  Death 2 All Haterz 2 by Rigz & Symph,  Thank You For Using GTL by Drakeo & JoogSzn,  Adjust to the Game by Larry June,  Martyr’s Prayer by Elcamino & 38 Spesh,  BETTER by Deante’ Hitchcock,  Attack of the Future Shocked, Flesh Covered, Meatbags of the 85 by $ilkMoney,  No Cosign Just Cocaine 3 by Ty Farris,  Hear No Equal by Chuuwee,  MSYKM by Tsu Surf,  Your Birthday’s Cancelled by Iron Wigs,  Spring Clean by Curren$y & Fuse,  Arctic Plus Degrees (The Sun Don’t Chill Allah) by Planet Asia & DirtyDiggs,  Psychological Cheat Sheet by Vic Spencer, Glass 2.0 by Meyhem Lauren & Harry Fraud,  Trust the Chain by Planet Asia & 38 Spesh, Director’s Cut (Scene Two) by Ransom & Nicholas Craven, and Son Of A Gun by Key Glock.
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shemakesmusic-uk · 3 years
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After releasing their album Play With Fire last year via Suicide Squeeze Records, Californian punk trio L.A. Witch are sharing a new video for their standout track 'Motorcycle Boy'. Speaking about the video, L.A. Witch singer and guitarist Sade Sanchez said "The song is inspired by Moto Boys like Mickey Rourke, Marlon Brando, and Steve McQueen, so of course we took a lot of inspiration from our favorite biker movies like The Wild One, Rumble Fish, On any Sunday, Easy Rider, Hells Angeles '69 and The Girl on a Motorcycle. I had worked with (director) Ambar Navarro and Max on another project and loved their other work, so we wanted to work with them on this. They definitely did their homework and came up with a cool story line. I got to feature my bike that I'd been rebuilding during the pandemic. It was nice to shoot a video where you get to do two of your favorite things, riding motorcycles and play guitar."
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Margo Price has shared a new music video for 'Hey Child', said to be the heart and “centerpiece” of her acclaimed 2020 album That’s How Rumors Get Started. It’s directed by Kimberly Stuckwisch. In the moving visual, the country star confronts the demons of her past. There are scenes referencing the time she spent in jail for substance abuse, as well as others depicting her struggles with addiction and depression. Price’s vulnerability is on full display here, and she ultimately uses it to heal and find strength again. Watch it down below. According to Price, 'Hey Child' was originally written back in 2012 “not long after my husband Jeremy and I lost our son Ezra.” She continued, noting how fellow country star and album producer Sturgill Simpson helped encourage her to release it: “'Hey Child' was a song that was written back in 2012 not long after my husband Jeremy and I lost our son Ezra. We were playing shows with our rock and roll band Buffalo Clover and occupying most of the bars in East Nashville. We had begun hanging with a rowdy group of degenerate musician friends and partying harder than The Rolling Stones…The song was about how many of our talented friends were drinking and partying their talents away but after a few years had passed, we realized it was just as much about us as our friends. I had retired it when the band broke up but Sturgill Simpson resurrected it when he asked me if I would re-record it for That’s How Rumors Get Started.” [via Consequence of Sound]
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NYC collective MICHELLE has today unveiled their first new single of 2021. Titled 'FYO,' the track powerfully recounts the four lead singers’ experiences growing up with mixed race identities. The track arrives alongside a music video directed by the band’s own Layla Ku and Emma Lee. Speaking on the message behind the song, Jamee Lockard from the band shares: “'FYO' is about belonging to different worlds but feeling rejected by both. Growing up as a mixed-race minority in the US, my self concept was warped by other people telling me what I am and am not, pushing and pulling me between identities. Although my feelings of cultural dissonance still ebb and flow, now I have the vocabulary, support system, and perspective to unpack that inner conflict on my own terms. We should never give others the authority to define who we are."
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With her new album Homecoming set for release on April 2 via Daemon T.V., Du Blonde is sharing the video for ‘Medicated’. Featuring Garbage’s Shirley Manson, Du Blonde says of the song, “‘Medicated’ is a letter to my 27 year old self who didn’t want to live anymore, from my now medicated, functioning and content self. It might sound depressing or concerning, but really it’s quite joyful. Like ‘look at how things can be if you hang around’. Shirley and I had talked about her adding vocals to a track and when I wrote Medicated it seemed like the perfect fit. She’s been a voice of reason for me many times when i’ve been struggling and it felt really appropriate to have her. I shot the video in my childhood bedroom using a green screen Girl Ray gave me at the start of lockdown,” she continues. “The spiders are a reference to a hallucination I had in my early teens where I pulled back my bed covers to see thousands of spiders writhing around in my bed, which now I see as a result of extreme anxiety. A lot of the scenarios in the video are a celebration of the things about me that I feel people might feel shame about. There’s so much stigma around taking medication in order to ease mental health conditions, so I wanted to express my feelings on the subject which is basically ‘I take medication and i’m stoked about it because thanks to that i’m still alive’.” [via DIY]
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Back with her powerful Y2K sound, Spain's Rakky Ripper channels PC Music and Rina Sawayama on brightly catchy new single 'Whatever'. The new EP Xtra Cost is released  February 19. If you are over the age of 25, odds are that you can recall a very specific kind of pop that graced our launch into the new millennium. Since coined as "Y2K", chart music of that short era was flush with R&B beats, synthetic arrangements and sickly sweet hooks. Britney was the industry’s honey-highlighted princess whilst Christina made it dirrty. It’s something that Rina Sawayama has made 2020-relevant again with the release of her debut album Sawayama, whilst PC Music and Charli XCX took it to another extreme with the redefinition of what it means to be pop. Meanwhile, over in Spain, the alt-pop scene is flourishing courtesy of artists such as Rakky Ripper and her own unique blend of Y2K-meets-hyper-pop. Already gaining Charli XCX approval when the Mercury Award nominee asked Rakky to join her onstage at her Madrid show, the Granada talent shows crossover potential with her new single 'Whatever'. Punchy beats and playful synths capture the sticky heat of pop done well whilst its fuzzy guitar gives it an alternative edge, however it’s its hook-riddled chorus and Rakky’s Spanglish lyrical mix that make 'Whatever' a standout moment. “‘Whatever’ is the pop girl in my new EP Xtra Cost,” shares Rakky of her new release. “It’s my 2021 version of Britney, *NSYNC and the Spice Girls. The new video tells the story about two people who are in love but one of them pretends not to care, so the other person is always chasing.” [via Line Of Best Fit]
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Things are afoot in the FKA twigs camp. In October, the R&B star revealed that her third album had been completed during quarantine. Now, she’s back with a new song called 'Don’t Judge Me'. It's her first since dropping the masterful album MAGDALENE in 2019. In addition to a stunning performance from FKA twigs, the track features UK rapper Headie One and producer Fred again…, who’s worked with the likes of Ed Sheeran and Brian Eno. 'Don’t Judge Me' appears to be something of a companion release or sequel to 'Don’t Judge Me (Interlude)', an early 2020 collaboration that also featured all three artists. Unlike the intentional vagueness of that song, the themes on this version are a lot more direct. During her verse and the hook, twigs begs her lover to hold her and appreciate the “precious love” she sends their way with a devastating urgency. Headie One takes a different approach in his verse and goes off about racial injustice and police brutality. “Know more about my people from the streets than from my teachers/ I done a million speeches/ No justice, no peace, ’cause we in pieces/ Officer, am I allowed to breathe here?,” he raps with a conversational directness. It’s a really powerful pairing from two different yet complementary artists with voices that demand the listener’s full attention. Check it out above via a dazzling video co-directed by FKA twigs and Emmanuel Adjei, who was heavily involved in Beyonce’s Black Is King visual album. Like all of FKA twigs’ clips, this one is truly something to behold. [via Consequence of Sound]
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Girl Friday have delivered a surrealistic visual for 'Earthquake,' the powerhouse lead single from Androgynous Mary, their acclaimed album of 2020 out now on Hardly Art. 'Earthquake' is one of the band's most gloriously raging moments and sees the group power through three and a half minutes of unadulterated catharsis. Girl Friday’s Vera Ellen, who directed the new video, offers this, “The greatest love story is between a song and a video. I wanted to deconstruct the creative process. How do ideas find each other? What happens when the artist lets outside forces get in the way of an idea? How is an idea affected by us, the audience and our expectations? What does an idea have to do to become it’s complete, purest, self. Beyond anything, it’s a story of fighting for true liberation. This will look different for everyone but I hope people can project their own struggle onto the story, and relish in the freedom experienced by the characters (if only for a moment)."
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J-Pop girl-group, FAKY has released their first single of 2021, 'The Light' with an accompanying music video. This song was selected as a campaign song for the horror film Jukaimura (Suicide Forest Village), the most recent work by the master horror director, Takashi Shimizu, who also directed The Ju-on (The Grudge) and Inunakimura (Howling Village). This up-tempo and cheerful track was created to add another layer of eerieness and uncertainty to the hair-raising storyline and themes of the movie. 2020 was a successful year for the girl group. FAKY hopes to further their success in 2021 starting with the release of 'The Light'. “Our new single ‘The Light’ is an uplifting song with its pop melody, powerful live band sound, and motivating message to move forward towards the light” - FAKY. The music was composed by up-and-coming music producer, Maeshima Soshi (Hypnosis Mic, Hey! Say! JUMP, Rinne and Sorane). 'The Light' expresses that moment when your heart quivers, just when you are about to change, with the theme being about overcoming conflict and having “power to strike out into the world.”
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Kinlaw's dark-pop quest has seen her shatter boundaries. Snapped up by Bayonet Records, her piercing, roving eye deconstructs her personal feelings, illuminating electronic structures in their stead. New album The Tipping Scale is out this month, and it expertly reflects the vagaries of winter, the spartan landscapes and the self-examination. Taken from the record, new single 'Haircut' deals with shifts in her life, with the urge to propel herself into something fresh. "I cut my hair to confuse myself," she comments. "It started as a mission to change who I was, to make a new and better version, but ended with my feeling like I no longer knew what I was mourning." A song about leaving trauma behind and embracing the possibilities of the present, 'Haircut' carries some inspired connotations for these troubled times. Kinlaw says the single offers "a question of personal power, and even speaking on this song today has been challenging because it was written when I was unsure if I had any power left. I think 'Haircut' can be a lot of things to many different people, particularly those who identify with the juxtaposition of in-depth, internal dialogue paired with everyday coping strategies. There is a sweetness to it, but also such substantial, unwavering difficulty. Today, I prefer to think of 'Haircut' as an anthem of resilience and an ode to the ways we keep going, we shapeshift, and we reinstall that there is a way to find what it is we are hoping to find." The visual leans on the intimate, opening up a window into Kinlaw's life, and her true feelings. [via Clash]
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The Rhode Island born,  Los Angeles based singer, songwriter, musician and actress Emeline is known for her work with Thievery Corporation's Rob Garza as well as her solo music full of biting lyrics and catchy hooks. Her new music video for '6 Foot Deep' was filmed at the infamous Westerfeld Mansion a.k.a “House of Legends.” Icons like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin have lived there, as well as the founder of the Church of Satan. Covered in satanic etchings and scratches from his pet lions, the energy within the house added to the feel of the music video. Also previously used for the Russian Embassy, the house has featured on "Ghost Hunters" for it's haunted happenings.
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The Charli XCX-crafted Nasty Cherry have returned with their first single of the year, 'Lucky'. The new track follows last year's Season 2 EP, and arrives as first taster of a new EP landing this spring. The band say of their new single, "'Lucky' is a song we wrote for each other during the pandemic where the six weeks we got to spend together felt incredibly precious and introspective. It's a reflective, sweet and spiky little song." [via Line Of Best Fit]
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Griff has premiered the video for her incredible new single ‘Black Hole’. Launched as Annie Mac’s Hottest Record in the World last week, the striking new visual sees Griff examine a past relationship through a surreal, Alice in Wonderland’-esque journey from the sewing room into self-discovery (directed by duo SOB). [via With Guitars]
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Poppy Ajudha has shared her new single 'Weakness' in full. The London based artist blends together jazz, soul, R&B, and a whole lot more besides, resulting in a sound that is truly her own. 'Weakness' is a song about love, and it finds Poppy capturing that nuanced dichotomy between the rush of pleasure and an innate fear of being out of control. In a note, Poppy explains that her new single is "about feeling out of control and at the mercy of someone else because of how crazy they make you feel, but also feeling bittersweet about it, because you’re a bad b*tch and you don’t have time for that ish." The songwriter steered the video, too, a self-admitted "control freak" who oversaw the neat mixture of animation and a superbly styled set. "Self-directing was really fun," she comments. "I’m a control freak so it was great to get stuck into all the facets of making a music video. Choosing the team, the makeup looks, directing the styling ideas, writing the narrative, working out how to build the set. It definitely felt like a challenge to direct, star-in and perform choreographed moves for the first time but I love to push myself and am really glad I did." [via Clash]
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GG McG’s latest single, ‘Good Morning’, is her first release this year and second overall, following ‘Boom’ in 2019. The song was written on GarageBand during lockdown and was produced by Japanese Wallpaper’s Gab Strum, mixed by Konstantin Kersting and mastered by Andrei Eremin. “‘Good Morning’ is about the total, complete chaos of the past year and the feeling of waking up every morning, reading the news and being blown away by just how much worse things were than the day before,” McGauran said in a statement. [via the Music Network]
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Singer HyunA dropped her seventh mini album I’m Not Cool on Thursday, singing of the ups and downs of being the “cool girl” on stage. The album’s title song 'I’m Not Cool' sings about the nice things she tells herself. “It’s really about my originality. I try to compliment myself before going onto the stage. I tell myself it’s not bad to be myself. I’ve long dreamed of this moment right now, and I feel like I’m a bird flying freely in the sky or a flower blooming in the field. I know I cannot be loved by everyone, but I become perfect with just one person’s love. The song is about these kind of every day thoughts.” Donned in exotic outfits and flashy makeup, HyunA said she “became a snake” in the song that sings “No one’s as intense as I am, like salmosa. I tried to show as much of myself as I could in the music video. I wanted to show how intense the ‘not cool’ HyunA could become when fully set,” she added. The creativity behind the title track comes from the unique minds of herself, singer and the founder of her agency P Nation Psy, and her best colleague and boyfriend Dawn. “We worked on the song while just chatting about it endlessly with each other,” HyunA said. “When Psy threw in a big catchy chunk, Dawn would creatively unfold this, adding fun elements to make it fit my style and state of mind. I personally like writing those rebellious lines. Mingling these three minds together, every day, was just so much fun.” [via The Korea Herald]
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THYLA are sharing their first new music of 2021, with new single 'Breathe', a track that the band confirm will appear on their long-awaited debut album, set for release later this year. Putting 2020 firmly in the rear-view mirror, the Thyla ethos of putting one foot in front of the other serves them well as they look toward what a long-awaited debut album might sound like. As self-confessed underdogs they've developed an attitude that aims at turning the possible into the inevitable, and with the hypnotic 'Breathe' they reach for reflective, melancholy sounds to accompany what is a time of intense loneliness for many. It is a theme that has been creeping into Thyla's music for some time, and 'Breathe' sees them further explore the idea that, in a world more connected than ever, we are paradoxically more shut off as individuals. 'Breathe' shows yet again that even at their subtlest, Thyla are capable of carving out an impassioned pop world full of the intricacies of our much-missed IRL interactions. Lead singer Millie Duthie offers these thoughts on the track: "'Breathe' was written in the early hours of the morning. Eventually we chanced upon this really vibey atmospheric lick that you hear in the intro, and the whole song grew from there. The song blossomed into a slightly melancholic dream-pop bop, it’s bittersweet and has a slightly inconclusive feeling to it; imagine a film where the main character never actually gets the happy ending you’ve been so long yearning for. The result of how the instrumental sounded no doubt manifested lyrics that held the same sentiment. The song is about loneliness, estrangement from family and close friends, yet despite this, feeling a sense of inner strength about the situation. It’s like recovering from a breakup and realising you’ve come out stronger, but a reflection of the scar tissue that resulted from the trauma."
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paubari · 4 years
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the HALO: INFINITE gameplay preview was AMAZING!
*Disclaimer: This blog post is my opinion on the matter. If you have a different opinion on it, I respect it all the same. A large chunk of the screenshots used were from the Halo Infinite Gameplay Trailer*
MABUHAY everyone and welcome to my corner of the internet!
It finally dropped. After a year of waiting in baited breath. Microsoft dropped their Halo: Infinite gameplay. They did it during their XboxGamesShowcase which aired live on 24th July 2020. It wasn’t a surprise that the first thing they featured was Halo. Besides it being a console exclusive. Halo is one of the few games that dropped a trailer that revived my love for the game. If you’re not familiar with the announcement trailer, you can find it here.  
So before I fully geek out on this game, I’ll explain why the announcement trailer was a huge deal. You see after Bungie passed the torch onto 343 Industries, Halo was at it’s peak. (except for the failed MCC launch but we won’t go into that). For the longest time, Bungie was the sole proprietor of Halo and they called the shots. So it was a fond farewell when they announced that they were leaving, making Halo: Reach a heartfelt goodbye. Bungie pulled the cord by leaving us with a masterpiece. A game that goes full circle, a prologue to the entire series. Having played Halo CE (Combat Evolved), 2, and 3, it gave me such chills. I don’t care what people say with the gun design choices, Halo: Reach strikes a chord in my heart like no other game.
This is the reason why a lot of fans were skeptical about 343 industries touching such a precious project. Everyone felt like it was a fitting end but I guess money comes first for Microsoft. A majority of fans were disappointed with Halo 4. They revamped everything, EVERYTHING. From the armor choice to enemy design. It was like they tarnished the IP that Bungie curated so hard to perfect. You can argue that they were trying to make the game theirs but that’s moot. The game already has an established fanbase. If you suddenly change everything just to make it seem like the idea was yours, that’s disrespectful. I don’t even want to talk about Halo 5: Guardians. The lore was just thrown outta the window. Imagine putting the Arbiter in the game AND NOT HAVING HIM MEET CHIEF? Such a wasted opportunity.
If it wasn’t obvious yet, I no longer followed Halo after that abysmal display. I’m sure other people chose to not follow the timeline anymore which in turn would cause for sales to dip. That’s why I’m glad that when they released the Announcement Trailer, they managed to blend their design choices with Bungie’s. What came out was a “Old meets New” type of design and honestly, it brought a tear to my. Especially when the piano chords struck of the Halo CE theme. Plus, seeing that halo ring? CHILLS. I played the Original version of Halo CE so the callback was simply wicked. That’s why I’ll be comparing a lot of the released Halo Infinite gameplay to Halo CE. You’ll understand why soon enough.
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“As Chief drops in, he immediately has his trusty Assault Rifle with him”
The Assault Rifle which has the same design as the Halo Reach one. That was a +1 in my book. Oh and this takes place on a Halo Ring so another 1000+ points in my book. 
The gun sounds were okay, they sound pretty standard and I’m fine with them.
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“Chief opens a Map showing important locations, upgrades, and database.”
So I was a bit surprised when a map was pulled up. Idk about Halo 5 but the other Halo games had NO maps available. Mostly because the level design previous games had were more of a linear type of story telling. EXCEPT Halo Combat Evolved. I remember playing the first level of Halo CE and I was confused as hell. I mean, I almost kept running around in circles just trying to find where the next objective might be. By the looks of this map, it seems Halo Infinite might be going the same route as it’s ancestor (Halo CE and Halo 3: ODST). A semi-open world map where you can carry out objectives the way as you please. Keep in mind this is speculation my part but if it turns out to be like that then...
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“Chief has a grappling apparatus and pulls himself towards an armored Brute.”
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“Chief uses his grappling apparatus to reach high places and scale past obstacles like a steep mountain side”
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“Chief uses his grappling apparatus to pull an explosive barrel towards himself and proceeds to toss it at a mounted plasma machine gun.”
This grappling apparatus is such a HUGE addition to Chief’s mobility. In partner with armor abilities, this can seriously open up wondrous new avenues at how you can tackle each objective. Not to mention it pushes you to think more outside the box and use the environment as your advantage. Of course, if something like this is added, there’s a possibility for the combat to be more stressful. It doesn’t matter tbh as long as it’s fun!
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“Chief equipped with what seems to be a shotgun/bruteshot looking gun while activating an objective ping that alerts the location of objectives onto his HUD.”
The Shotgun/Bruteshot gun looks like a cool gun to play with! From my observation, it fires slugs rather than scatter shots. Making it more precise more precise than the standard UNSC shotgun. Also observed are small marks on the HUD that points where an objective might be accomplished.
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“From this shot it seems that Chief activates a modified Z-4190 Temporal Protective Enfolder/Stationary Shield originally found in Halo 3.”
The reason why I speculate it’s a modified “bubble” shield is because of the shape of the device tossed onto the ground. Plus the main enemy of the game are called the “Banished”. Which are basically a covenant group that were shunned from the original crusade. A large portion of their ranks are allegedly Brutes and Brutes were the ones carrying the “bubble” shield in the third game.
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“Chief melees a Brute”
I obviously won’t end the blog post without talking about this particular shot. A lot of people were egging on 343 Industries because of this scene right here. They kept talking about how the game is lacking in textures. There are multiple reasons why the insults aren’t justified and here’s some of them:
This gameplay trailer might be a demo reel from an earlier build. That means that 343 is currently developing the game and this is the left over content that they could show at the time. I’m half expecting them to suddenly wow us so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. 
This game needs to run with backwards compatibility and cross-platform AT THE SAME TIME. Aka, it wants to be three things at once; Be available for an older gen of consoles, run on the new gen, and perform well on PC. So I can excuse if the game doesn’t have groundbreaking graphics like TLOU2, RDR2, and Uncharted 4. It needs to be a decent shooter game and that’s what it’s trying to achieve.
As a Halo fan who lost faith in the franchise, I can honestly say Job Well Done to 343 Industries. They’ve managed to bring a spark back into my heart and I will surely play this one. I look forward to see what more they have to offer and I’m genuinely excited for when they release the game.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post! If you like what I do here, feel free to give me a follow to stay up to date with my other blogs.
Always remember to make something amazing~
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daesungindistress · 4 years
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You do know artists “retire” all the time and come back whenever? You do know you’re still pushing a false narrative of seungri just because you personally feel so betrayed from believing false media? Can you stop twisting words/purposefully misinterpreting for one sec and see it’s obvious the other 4 still support him?Where do you get off? Honestly you suffer from narcissism(google it please) and should probably get it looked at.
Oh, someone’s feisty! Alright, let’s go. *cracks knuckles*
False narrative? Please tell me what’s false about Seungri publicly announcing his retirement “because the issues I caused a societal disturbance with are too great.” About YG terminating his contract. About BB continuing on and making their comeback as four starting with Coachella next month. About their official promo materials portraying four members for the first time in their history. Not just on the Coachella website, on the YG website too. What part of this is false to you? All of this is real, all of this is true. But you, unable to adapt to changing circumstances, have barricaded yourself inside a world of your own making in which nothing has changed, not really, and everything will soon go back to the way it was. Newsflash: everything has changed and nothing will ever be the same. He did not “retire”, in quotations like he didn’t mean it, he retired. Actually, genuinely retired. Seungri bailed on BB and the industry, that really happened, and BB are going on without him, that’s really happening. To anyone with their head on straight it’s quite clear that he’s gone and the members are moving on. But yours seems to be duct-taped on backwards. No wonder all you can see is what we’re leaving behind.
It’s funny. You act like Seungri isn’t a competent, grown man who can make his own decisions about his career – and has! He made the decision to end it. Choosing not to believe the finality of it, which you are doing, doesn’t make it any less real or any less permanent. What you need to understand is that he did more than say goodbye to BB, he took it a step further – a big step further – and quit the industry. If he had any thoughts or hopes of coming back he would not have announced his retirement from entertainment, he would have pulled a Hanbin and left the group and left it at that – although even then, let me remind you no one in kpop has ever returned to their group after leaving. I think it’s safe to say Hanbin’s heart is still in music and we’ll be seeing him again someday, even if it’s not as a member of iKON. Seungri though… that’s a hard no.
Of course, it’s difficult to make this comparison due to the severity of their scandals being vastly unequal, which directly correlates to their chances of a successful return. I know you OT5/Seungri fans are stuck inside your own asses where I’m sure it’s all very warm and cozy and your precious trash panda isn’t regarded as one of the worst criminals in the history of kpop, but fact is… he’s regarded as one of the worst criminals in the history of kpop. And as if that wasn’t enough, his involvement in that chat, though he isn’t facing charges for it, is enough on its own to put his music career six feet under, which it did. It’s no coincidence that he retired the day that chat log went public. It’s time to face the music: Seungri can’t come back and he knows it.
But you poor thing, you’ve convinced yourself he wasn’t being serious when he made such a serious announcement. You think – oh, I see now. You think he was bullshitting when he broke everyone’s hearts and said he was out. You want that to be the case. How on earth is that any better? Wait, does that mean you’re cool with lies and manipulation? You must be if you’re still a fan of Seungri. Sorry, can’t relate.
Let me explain something to you. If you truly believe Seungri will come crawling back to the group after the immense amount of damage he’s single-handedly responsible for, the shame he’s brought to all of BB, the distrust he’s instilled in fans and non-fans alike re: the remaining members, the complete and utter disregard he’s shown for his hyungs’ well-meaning warnings, and the appalling lack of moral character he demonstrated the moment the mask came off… you haven’t been paying attention. You are not only turning a blind eye to the shitstorm he was at the center of last year (and still hasn’t found his way out of, in case you weren’t aware), you are also disregarding everything the BB members have been making sure we knew about him since late 2015. Which is that they expected him to leave – and they’d come to terms with it. It may even be that they wanted him to. Seungri’s days as a singer have been coming to a close for years as his interest in business gradually eclipsed his waning interest in music and his reasons for staying with BB for as long as he did became a source of tension. He was moving in a new and separate direction, one that was taking him away from them. BB knew this and they weren’t quiet about it. They made sure we knew it too. But you weren’t listening, were you. Now all their warnings to him have come true and you’re still not listening. What to do?
What’s more, please don’t tell me you actually think he’s going to stick his neck out there again and claw his way back up from the very bottom against the raging fires of hatred and disapproval and distrust, not just from the public but from BB’s own fanbase, to fight tooth and nail for a career he’d lost his passion for long before Burning Sun became an issue. He said in an interview that he had no plans to make a solo album, he was essentially pressured into it by fans. And in case you’ve forgotten, though his solo tour went well at first, it began falling apart shortly before he was swept up in Burning Sun. Cracks were forming, he was stressed and venting his frustrations in ways he shouldn’t have been, inciting unrest, turning fans against his boss and sparking inflammatory headlines and just generally making waves in a bad way. He bit off more than he could chew with that tour, and still greedy fans like you pulled on him for more, more, more. Burning Sun followed by the prostitution chats followed by the molka chats collectively became the straw that broke the camel’s back. Everything he touched crumbled and turned to dust. What makes you think he wants to try again? If it was hard then, it would be impossible now.
And it doesn’t end there. After almost a year of investigations (and probably another year of court proceedings to come) you really think he’s going to thrust himself back into the public eye? Live life under the microscope? He’ll be hounded endlessly, his every move scrutinized like never before. He would have to be on his absolute best behavior, never stepping out of line again… which he won’t do. In all his interviews last year it was clear that all he wanted was out. Out of the tight spot he’d found himself in, off the hook. He isn’t interested in changing his ways or the company he keeps off the clock. After seeing how he conducted himself when his and his friends’ crimes came to light (shameless, self-absorbed, too busy shielding himself and his criminal friends to breathe even a word of sympathy to their victims), returning to life as a public figure means he’ll probably end up in trouble again. You think he’s willing to risk that? I don’t. Better for him to live the life he likes out of the public eye where he and his buddies can enjoy that “shit Korean law” they bragged about without the media breathing down their necks.
Let’s talk about BB. By some miracle they made it through 2019 in one piece. Well… four banged up pieces that are working together to make a new whole. You think Seungri is going to subject them to more of his personal hell? After he’s put them and their legacy through the wringer already? He may have a big head and an ego to match, but he has always struck me as someone who is sharply aware of his standing among the other four. Obsessively so. He screwed up big time and he must know the members won’t stand for it, won’t stand for him, not with what everyone knows now. Are you forgetting how harshly they censured him when he had his first sex scandal? That was peanuts compared to this, yet the members took it so seriously that they moved in with him and babysat him. Alive!Seungri might have tolerated that, but the (ex)CEO Lee of 2020 would never endure that kind of micromanaging. Not a second time. He is too proud, too headstrong, in too deep with friends who stroke his ego and call him Boss. He is going his own way now, and so are the members of BB. His time with them is well and truly over. If you still don’t see this then you are only fooling yourself and setting yourself up for years of waiting that will culminate in nothing. Your fave is gone. Do like the rest of us and move on.
As for the members, sorry to burst your bubble but nothing they’ve done suggests that they’re taking him back or that they support him in the way you’re hoping. Any perceived “support” you think you’ve seen is merely a product of your own imagination driven by desperation and a paralyzing inability to cope with loss. It’s led you to make false connections and read coded messages that don’t exist. I suffer from narcissism? That’s a funny way of saying I’m well-adjusted enough to accept what’s happened and embrace what we still have, which is four accomplished artists with tremendous potential for more slowly recovering and resuming their careers in music after being dealt a crippling blow by one of their own. You, however, seem to be suffering from delusions stemming from your extreme and unhealthy emotional ties to a man you’ve never met and can’t bring yourself to let go of at any cost – even to the detriment of the group he left behind.
Seungri said it himself: BIGBANG will be BIGBANG without him. Though he said it years ago, this statement indicates that he felt he wouldn’t be with them forever, and he was confident that in his absence they would carry on as four. You’ll see soon enough that he was right.
PS. I promised I would make another OT4 edit for every OT5 ask I received, and I intend to keep that promise, so here you go, this is for you:
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gumnut-logic · 4 years
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WIP lines
@tracybirds tagged me ::hugs you::  to do recent lines from my works in progress.
I have so, so many works in progress, so I’m only going to pick on the mess I created since I stopped writing The Hero in order to try to get my Secret Santa fic done on time back on the 8 Dec 2019. Yes, that is where the mess all started. There are five ::headdesk::
The Hero
I do not have anything new for this one. What is published is where it is at. So I will have to give you a little that you may have already read.
“He wanted to end this.” Virgil’s parched voice broke the sudden silence. “He tried to shove that down my throat so he could end it. He wanted to blow himself up as much as he was being driven to do the same to us. If he had a bomb in his head, don’t you think he would have found a way to set that off rather than kill all of us?”
We’ll Be Home For Christmas
Gordon pulled up the feed from the Raoul sea buoy network ring. A hologram appeared of the mother and calf with just enough detail for Gordon to point out the healing net injuries on the little one.
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, she was caught nasty.”
“Bastards.”
“Don’t worry, we got them. Hell, IR has identified the money responsible and we have our legal team in motion.” A polite way to say his beautiful girlfriend was wreaking havoc in a calm but final way only she knew how. He had no doubts there would be very little left of the Polominka guy by the time she finished with him.
And what was left would probably be swept up by Parker and deposited in the nearest trash can.
Gotta love a girl who knew how to get a job done.
“Gords, you with us?”
“Huh?” A blink. Sam was grinning at him as if he knew exactly what Gordon was thinking about. He glared at him.
It didn’t faze the man. “Penny for your thoughts?” That was followed by an outright snigger.
“Shut it, Samwise.” So he flushed scarlet, big deal. Idiot.
Thunderbird XL
The ride back was nothing like he remembered eight years ago.
The whole ship vibrated, the harmonic sinking into his bones and curdling his stomach.
Yeah, that’s all I’ve got.
Need
Which sprouted from Thunderbird XL. My muse would not sit still at the end of the season!
Time passed as it always does. Jeff Tracy showed no further signs of mental instability. In fact, he grew stronger. Scott introduced him to the Board of Tracy Industries and he slowly picked up duties in the business, lowering the demand on Scott’s time.
Their father was all the better for it to have a purpose outside of family, and Scott was better to have less work on his plate and actually get to bed at a reasonable time every now and again.
Virgil continued to hover like a worried hen. Scott watched him. Even Gordon sought out Scott on a couple of occasions, concerned for his engineer brother.
Their Dad was regaining his strength, yet Virgil didn’t seem to see it.
When the World Goes Boom
And here we have the current monstrosity awaiting attention ::sigh:: Not all of it is up on the archives as I’ve been slack, but it is up to Part 8 on Tumblr and a good 26,400 words long so far.
“John, there are discrepancies in the records of all fourteen remaining waste harvesting facilities.”
John looked up at her camera. “Exactly like the first?”
“In the majority, variations on a theme. It appears there is methodical thievery in progress.” A hologram appeared in front of him, numbers scrolling through.
John eyed them, rubbing his chin with one blue-gloved hand. Could it be that simple? Theft? “That is a lot of missing material.” He frowned. “Too much to hide easily.”
“I have searched for any suspicious transactions world wide. There are no indications of strain on any of the markets for these materials. If they are being sold, it must be in extremely small increments.”
She threw up another range of numbers.
“They must be storing it. That is far too much to sweep under the rug.” He pulled up a scan of the nearest waste recycling facility. It was in the middle of snaring the remains of a multistage rocket booster. It’s grapples were dragging the huge chunk of metal into a maw of a retrieval bay. Lights flickered on the operating bots darting around the capture.
John eyed it with a frown. Radioactive materials and precious metals. Alan had seen a single person in a space suit carrying something with a radioactive symbol on it. He did a few distance calculations.
“Eos, could you please do a scan of all the space junk within EVA distance of this facility. Look for radioactivity.”
“Yes, John.”
The next question was ‘how did that man not get blown up with Alan?’ Quickly followed by ‘how did Thunderbird Five not detect him in the first place?’
Oops, I was wrong...there is six. There is a fic that I have not archived. It doesn’t even have a title, but is 5,400 words long.
Untitled
“Thank you, Chief McCready. I will be in touch.”
“I look forward to it.”
She stared after the woman as she left the room, thoughts swirling in her head. She had no doubt, Lady Penelope wouldn’t tell her a thing.
But there were other ways,
Cass grabbed her comm and contacted an old friend.
I don’t have any new text for this as I had to freeze it there - last written 7 Feb 2020 after which I went down with an infected foot, decided I had too many WIPs and left it there. But I can say that the old friend that Cass was going to contact was Ned Cook.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed these quick snapshots into where these fics might be going. My priorites at the moment are Boom, Christmas, Hero and then the others if I can wrestle the muse.
Who knows what else will get started in the meantime :D
Nutty
(who goes back to work tomorrow, so my time goes back to minimal)
Tagging: I think lots of peeps have already done this and my memory is atrocious, so have at it if you will :D ::hugs you all::
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aminmelall · 4 years
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Nostalgia vs Instagram Culture
Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately... Is Instagram. 
More specifically, the type of culture that seems to have bubbled up around it in the past few years. It is so very big. When I was younger, Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse and spidery eyelashes were the trend, but it was mainly concentrated to secondary schools in the UK, not the entire globe. And not with the same ferocity and consequence that Instagram trends now seem to have.
The Kardashians, “fierce” brows, harsh contouring, and lip injections are now commonplace. Showing off your organic avocado on toast brunch that cost you £15 (not including your iced latte). posing in expensive gym clothes, big fake acrylic nails, makeup tutorials that make you look completely and utterly transformed from your natural look. Phones that cost over two months’ rent. As much as I see the appeal of all these things, to me, they just feel too far removed from the organic and authentic self. The totally stripped down to the basics, self. It almost makes you forget that there is an organic form of you.
When I am nostalgic, I remember washing my face with a bar of soap and a flannel, not having an entire skin care routine with over five different steps. (I still have no idea what toner is for). I remember going outside to the park, and having to go to your friends house and ask if they were coming out, rather than messaging or even texting, back when I was 11 and didn’t even have a phone. When I was younger, there was no social media. I had no concept of fashion, the only things I knew about makeup came from watching my mum put hers on before she went to work and ultimately, the only people I was exposed to were the people i went to school with, not the majority of the population of the planet. If I wanted to impress anyone, it was the kids in my class at school, not literally the entire Instagram-using world. And they were the only people I had to compare myself to.
 I know that to most people, thinking about what life used to be like is something to be snorted at. “Thank God times have changed and I learned how to do my eyebrows!”.
And sure, the beauty and fashion industry has been around for hundreds of years. Obviously before Instagram there were movies, TV shows, TV advertisements and countless magazines that were along the same vein. “These people are desirable, and you should want to be like these people, because if you are, you’ll be desirable too, and that means you’ll be happy!” But that’s not what I’m talking about right now, and is a little outdated.
 It’s 2020, and now with one billion users worldwide, Instagram is the main platform of “This is what you should want. This is what you should be.”
So many people get carried away with Instagram to the point where they dedicate almost all aspects of their lives to fitting this image of perfection that has been dictated by the culture of social media. Your makeup, your body type, the food you eat and everything you do- if you are so constantly exposed to these trends, you’ll start to believe that this is what you need to be. Everyone else has the latest iPhone, so you need one too. People are pumping their faces full of silicone and crayoning on their eyebrows and gluing plastic spikes to their fingertips, so... that’s what you should be doing too, right? These people have thousands or millions of followers. Evidently, they are what is desirable. And everybody wants to be desirable, so what do we do? 
We follow suit, and take pictures along the way, and let the world know; “Me too!! Look, I have everything I need to be attractive and acceptable to the world! Look at me!!”
 And ultimately, does it make any of us any happier? Does it further our careers, contribute to our real-life friendships and relationships in any way? Our real life is all we have. Our family, our friends and every single day we get to be alive, where we are, the city we’re in and the job we work, all of that is happening to us right now. And there are so many people wasting so much time gormlessly staring at their phones, ogling profiles of people who have the lives they wish they had, but they would have never have even known about if they just put their phones down and really looked at everything around them and saw the beauty in the here and now.
As a disclaimer, I’m not shaming anybody for liking iPhones or dip brow pomade or acrylic nails. I am not angry with the people that use these things or engage in social media. 
My main criticism is not about people indulging in these things they may enjoy, but the total disregard and complete amnesia to what it is to be a well-rounded person without those things. The notion that it’s okay to not want all of that stuff. You don’t need them. You don’t need to be anything other than what you are.
You can be a functional, desirable, and hell, even just a happy person if you decide to not wear any makeup. If you don’t want to spend a thousand pounds on a phone. You’re allowed to not want to go to the gym, ever. It’s okay to completely despise avocado on toast. It’s okay to have had the same cracked phone for the past three years, and have no intention of buying a new one because hey, if it works, it works! It’s okay to be flat chested, or chubby, or fat. It’s okay to be ugly. It’s okay to be spotty or have spot scars or be happy in the job you have right now, and to enjoy doing nothing in your spare time. You don’t need to “constantly be striving to be a better you.” You can just be you. You are enough. 
 There is nothing wrong with you for being you, just the way you are. 
Without the makeup, without the fancy clothes, without a phone, or a gym membership, or pictures of fancy food. Without your perfectly sculpted eyebrows, without your acrylic nails, or without a “themed” Instagram profile. It’s alright to just be a person that washes their face with a bar of soap. 
I’ve come to the point where I’ve reassessed the things that bring me true joy, in the here and now. I like cooking, spending time with my loved ones, reading, having a hot water bottle. If I go to the pub, I make a point to not look at my phone, and instead enjoy my drink, or food, and enjoy the buzzing ambience around me. 
It is so much easier, eventually, to enjoy your life when you’re not constantly trying to prove how fantastic your life is to a billion strangers. When you’re not trying to find something aesthetic to post, or when you’re trawling through these perfectly curated profiles and wondering why you don’t have that life.  
Spoiler alert, barely anybody actually has that life. Your life is normal, and wonderful, and has all the possibility to be filled with joy and happiness, that has nothing to do with your social media presence. 
And I really really wish more people would take that to heart, because I’m worried about the world. I’m worried about people and about the decline in communities that look after one another, I’m worried about all the people out there who base their self worth purely on what other people think of them, whether all they can think about is posting the perfect selfie, or whether they’re being cyber-bullied and it’s affecting their whole lives.
 I’m worried about the people that are missing out on their family life, their relationships, because they’re busy scrolling on their phones. One day, there will come a day where I can’t quite remember what my mum’s laugh sounds like. One day, my grandparent’s will be gone. Something terrible could happen to any of my loved ones at any moment, and I don’t want myself or anybody else to have missed out on precious interactions with their family and friends because they are so obsessed with whatever is on their phones at that time, or just in some other way preoccupied with the culture of social media.
And while I am aware that social media can be a great platform to start your own business, meet your soulmate, make friends and discover new places to go, interests, food, and you name it, I can’t help but worry that the cons outweigh the pros, and the amount we would all have to gain if we weren’t so obsessed with social media. 
Thanks for reading x
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bilobasblogs · 4 years
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What I’ve Accomplished and Learned in 2019
My fear of making this post and, in turn, solidifying my entire year’s-worth of lessons has brought a slight feel of malaise into the back of my mind; something I’d think of for a moment then try to forget about because of how exposing and ‘final’ it may feel. It made me feel a bit sick thinking about. Maybe because I felt like.. I had something to live up to? A certain criteria to meet? Maybe so.
All that being said, I’ve somehow, by the grace of God, motivated myself enough to write this in full. As the title implies, this is a (somewhat) cohesive list of what I’ve both accomplished and learned in this last year, 2019. I’m not sure if I will do this every year or not, but eventually I did realize it’s something I have to do for myself, and for my journey of self-evaluation. That's why I gave in. So without further ado, let’s move on to the first on my list. :’)
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
1. Removing myself from a toxic situation: A storytime.
Let me elaborate on that a little, so you’re not so lost.. Anyways! Back in 2017, I struggled a lot with depression and thoughts of self-hatred, even suicide. My home life has never been great, but at that point I had lost all my IRL friends and was alone. To make a long story short, I turned to Instagram as a home for my friendless self. I joined fandoms and posted regularly, but it led to me making friends with very manipulative and toxic people. And it wasn’t healthy. I would talk to them everyday, all the time. Eventually, everything came to a grand finale when my closest friend accused me of hacking/stealing his account that I apparently ‘had the password to’. (I had an old password. It was changed so I could no longer use the old one) He blasted me all over his account with a decent following, calling me names, and getting his friends to DM me messages of physical-appearance shaming. Top it all off with a “Go rot in hell or whateva” message from him, and I basically lost everything I thought I loved. I made a vow to myself that I wouldn’t end up in that situation ever again. I promised to focus on me, myself, and my mental health ONLY, in 2019. And I’d say I accomplished that. I’m proud of myself for that.
I was originally going to put this in the “things I’ve learned” category, but because of how big a deal this was, it had to be delved into a little deeper. And it ends with a big accomplishment; the restoration of my sense of self-worth and ability to appreciate myself. I’d call that a win!
2. Finally getting that new computer I needed.
Okay, not much of an accomplishment.. But I added it on this list because of how long I’ve actually had my previous computer. Probably for more than 5 years, if I’m being honest. It was an old, rusty, 32-bit disaster running Windows 7. The main motivation for me getting a computer was not actually how slow or glitchy it was, but it was because I bought Sonic Adventure 2 on Steam and couldn’t play it on my PC. I was pissed so convinced my parents to help me get a new one. Now I bask in all my Chao World Extended mod glory!
3. Concert tickets get!
Shortly after getting my new computer at the beginning of the year, my favorite artist and songwriter, Marina, returned to the music industry after a 3-4 year hiatus. As soon as a supporting tour was announced, I knew I had to get those damn tickets. It had been too long since the last tour, there was no way I was passing this one up! So after months of begging my dad, he FINALLY ordered them and we attended, not just any concert, but my FIRST live show ever. Forever grateful for that experience... for the most part. Eh, I’ll get back to that story later. On to the next!
4. Not one, but TWO dental surgeries!
Yes, it’s true. I actually got my braces on this year (my teeth were abysmal, to say the least...) and had to get two separate dental surgeries to remove my teeth. One for wisdom teeth, one for my back molars. This was to make room for my teeth separating and straightening out. It was hell. But not because of the recovery process, but because of how anxious I was while I was getting put out for the surgery. They kept trying to get me to fall asleep and I kept on talking! I was actually scared as the world went black, but before I knew it, I was lying in my bed at home in severe pain. Ahh, good times.
5. Self-expression and my venture into deviantART..
I’ve saved this one for last, as I feel it’s the thing that benefited me the most this year. I’ve taken the time to figure out what makes me feel creatively realized as a person. What makes me happy? What makes me feel good after I’m completely finished? I’ve learned that two things check those boxes: Drawing and writing. Even more specifically, songwriting.
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I always had known from my earliest years that I wanted to be an artist. I clearly had the passion and was willing to always learn and grow. I never cried over ‘failing’ as a child, I always just wanted to do better. I think that quality pays off for me in the long run, because in January this year, I created my deviantART account. I was in need of something to fulfill me after the loss of my friends, and it seemed that making a DA was the the right thing. It combined social and artistic aspects, which was perfect for me. Now I have a fantastic, small little following on a profile where I just draw fun NiGHTS, Sonic, and Crash Bandicoot doodles. I’m really happy now.
LESSONS I’VE LEARNED:
1. Never let somebody tell me my character, unless I know them extremely well and vice versa. I know myself well enough, and shouldn’t think differently of myself just because somebody else does.
2. Along those same lines, always listen to my gut. Never let a whisper here or a quip there influence me when I have a deep gut feeling about something.
3. An error and a mistake are not the same things. An error is when I fall down, which all humans do because we’re imperfect creatures. A mistake is when I choose not to get up and learn from the error as a lesson. A lesson will also be repeated again and again until it is learned and I decide to pull myself off the ground and continue going.
4. True forgiveness does not mean “I accept what you caused to occur”, it is saying “I accept that it has happened, and I’m letting go of the past I thought I wanted. And I am willing to move and do something with what I learned.”
5. There are two different ways to say sorry. First, is when you say sorry but actually mean “please forget whatever I just did”. The second is genuine and is when you say sorry and mean “I apologize for the wrong that I did, and am willing to learn and move on from it.”
6. I cannot shut myself down in front of people. I can’t shut people out. If I do that, I lose out on a precious time that could be spent with other amazing people. Sometimes it can seem like investing will lead to heartbreak, but it won’t always be like that. I have to invest, but I won’t invest in more than I can afford to lose.
7. Sometimes it’s better to let myself be wrong and learn than to try to be correct and refuse to grow.
Alrighty! That’s all I could think of for this very long, personal post. I know I don’t talk about my personal life too much on social media, so I wanted to make this end-of-year recap for myself so I don’t forget the lessons I’ve learned along my journey. If you got something out of this.. yay! I’ve sorta accomplished my goal! I also understand if this was boring as hell to read. But it’s special to me and I don’t want to forget 2019. David of the future will thank me later.
Anyway.. here’s to an even better and more fantastic 2020! Goodbye 2010s, I forever love you. The majority of my life has happened in the 2010s, and I’ve made so many memories in this decade. From the growth and blooming of the internet and memes, to more real/raw things like personal self-growth. I’ve gained a lot and lost a lot, but in the end I’m thankful for it all. I hope everyone’s holiday season was amazing and I wish you a great upcoming New Years into the next decade! Talk to you next time, loves.
much love, bilobasideya 💜
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imaginationlane · 6 years
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The Assistant [Part 4 of ? // Bill Skarsgard x Reader Imagine]
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Warnings: Adult Language, Adult Themes, Sexual Situations / Smut
Need to catch up on previous chapters? Click here.
[As always, please ignore any typos, errors and so forth as I generally catch any that I miss -- after publication. Therefore I’ll fix them as time progresses.]
Musical Inspiration: Delicate by: T. Swift [I’m trying to avoid getting this site flagged because she is way too serious about streaming sites right now lol.]
Another song that ended up becoming a good inspiration for this chapter is Lonely Together (Acoustic Version) by: Avicil & Rita Ora.
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Original Chapter Posted On: December 10, 2017 Newly Edited & Revised Chapter Posted On: September 10, 2020
Summary:
A night out on the town for a few drinks, was all I had signed up for. But in reality… I got way more than I had ever bargained for when my boss and close personal friend, Bill Skarsgard, asked me to join him during a wrap party that the crew was hosting that night. In hindsight, I should have seen this coming. After all, we were both having issues in our own respective relationships and for some reason, we had found it easier to just confide in each other – rather than in our own significant others. Yet in the end, do the reasons ever truly matter when you begin an affair with your friend who also happens to be your boss? I often ask myself just how selfish could we be; he and I? The answer is: we’re completely selfish and neither of us really cares if this secret burns us alive – because it’s within each other, that we have finally found the things we had been looking for the whole time…
September 15, 2013 --
Champagne flowed freely and classical piano music played in the background as people happily mingled amongst one another. Well, everyone except for me that is. Instead, I sat at the bar and continued to play with my drinking glass. My father was proudly hosting a party for one of our models, Olivia Moore, who had just gotten signed to walk in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show this year.
When I considered the astounding implications of my surroundings, I was forced to admit that I was in vastly strange and unforgiving territory. I had went to school for four years to earn my degree in Communications, while this chick had nothing more than a high school diploma and was excelling further in life than I could ever hope to. The thought alone was depressing as hell.
Upon graduating earlier this year from NYU, my folks had gifted me with a 1.8 million dollar condo in the city in hopes that I would be the sibling that stayed behind and came into the family business. After all, when your parents run one of the most sought-after modeling and talent agencies on the east coast of the United States, The Frankford Talent Institute, they clearly had high hopes that I would eventually want to join in the family business at some point. It was only natural really. However, I wanted to build a life for myself and find my own success, which was why I informed them that I had dreams and aspirations of being able to take my degree into the media industry. Or perhaps even work my way up as a Director of Communications for a well-known company that was doing some good in the world. Of course, I could tell they were slightly let down by the revelation, but they decided to support me regardless.
After three months of endless application processes, I was soon faced with the reality that not one single office in the city I had applied to had even called me back for an interview. With the economy trying to recover, I quickly discovered that trying to get in with one of these companies was going to be next to impossible unless I knew someone who worked in any of these places. As my savings started to dwindle into the red, I came to grips with the fact that I had to shelve that dream and ultimately take my parents up on their employment offer. They were ecstatic with my change of heart while I, on the other hand, had to gently remind them that me coming on-board was only temporary, as I did want to build my own life and career at some point.
Now here I was, sipping on pink champagne at the bar and watching my new boss, Olivia, mingle around and put herself out there with other talent scouts that had been invited to the party. Upon arriving within the company, my dad immediately placed me as Olivia's assistant. My job? Keep her on time for all of her appointments, handle her scheduling needs, and most importantly of all, keep her happy. I soon found out, however, that Olivia was almost next to impossible to please. In fact, I was sitting here feeling like a cheap prostitute, thanks to her insisting that I wear this incredibly short black dress, because in her words, "my assistant has to look at least halfway decent if she's going to appear with me in public."
Fuck my life.
This dress was so short, I texted my father prior to us arriving tonight simply to apologize for how I would look and inform him that Olivia was making me wear it. Luckily, my dad was a patient person who understood that sometimes the talent we acquired had outlandish requests for us once in a while.
It was enough to make me feel like jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge, to be honest. 
"You look ready to throw yourself off the balcony and give everyone the finger while you do it," a voice suddenly spoke out from behind me, startling me out of my daze.
I swiveled my seat around in hopes of figuring out who had exposed my master plan so carelessly in public. Yet when I finally looked up and into his eyes, I wasn't exactly prepared for how insanely gorgeous this stranger was.
Oh, holy shit... Hello, handsome.
"How rude. Don't you know it's terrible manners to expose people's plans so publicly? Now I have to come up with a new idea. I smiled back at him, watching as a smirk lit up the features on his handsome face.
His hand extended outwards, waiting for me to take it. After a brief moment, I set my glass back down on the bar and grasped his larger hand within my own.
“I’m Bill, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Y/N, and it’s nice to meet you too.”
Bill's head tilted towards the side slightly, almost as if he were trying to put a puzzle together inside of his mind. "Y/N? You wouldn't happen to be related to the guy whose company is throwing this get together, would you?"
Momentarily, I closed my eyes and bit my lip nervously as I allowed my hand to slip away from his.
"Mister Julius Y/L/N happens to be my father, and our new Victoria's Secret model, Miss Olivia Moore, just so happens to be my boss. I'm her assistant, I explained whilst slowly reaching for my glass on top of the bar.
After I finished taking a sip of the bubbly liquid, I set my glass back down once again before I refocused my attention back to him.
"If you're looking to network with someone truly important, you might want to try my dad. Otherwise, you're barking up the wrong tree as I can't help you with much of anything else," I warned him playfully, hoping he would get the hint that I wasn't anyone he should waste his time with.
A chuckle escaped his lips, and his delightfully green eyes landed solely upon mine. "It's a good thing I wasn't looking to mingle with anyone truly important then," he replied with a wink.
My laughter bubbled to the surface, as I shook my head at his poor attempt at possible flirting.
“That was terrible!” 
His smile grew into larger than life proportions as he took in my reaction.
“Was it?”
“Absolutely.”
August 25, 2016 -- Present:
My eyelids fluttered open, bringing me back to reality. It had been a while since I had dreamt about that fateful meeting between Bill and I. It also left me wondering how the hell I had missed some of the most obvious signs from our past.
Gray clouds rolled in, darkening the morning sky. Thunder rolled in the distance, and the last thing I wanted to do was crawl out of this bed, especially since Bill was snuggling against my back and I could feel his soft breathing gently ghosting across my neck and shoulder. It was our last official day here and he hadn't left my side all night, refusing to leave me to my own devices after what had previously transpired between us. Instead, after we had collected ourselves off the floor, he ran a bath for me and insisted that I get in it and relax, while he stayed behind in the kitchen and cleaned up the remnants of our ruined dinner. I guess after what had happened between us, he wanted to handle me more tenderly, almost delicately. I didn't think I would even need that kind of affectionate attention, but it felt nice to receive it nevertheless.
My eyes slipped shut, as the events of last night flashed through my mind: his fire and passion, all-consuming and never-ending.
What an intricate web we weave.
Surprisingly, I had always thought that if a man were to treat me as roughly as I had been treated last night during sex, that I wouldn't enjoy it. But the truth was... I highly enjoyed it. And I think it was because it was with him. For some reason, it was just easy with Bill. Perhaps it was because I knew him better than most others did, and therefore I was more comfortable to fall back and allow him to take the lead. Ultimately, I had deduced that it was solely because I trusted him to lead the way.
It's a rare and fickle thing, trust. It's not easily attainable and can be shattered with just the tiniest infraction. Yet, given our remarkable circumstances, I trusted Bill immeasurably. He had seen me through several high and low points over the few precious years we had known each other, and never once had he judged me. I could say the same for my interactions with him as well, because of working so closely together. He had sometimes just needed a friend to vent to and be there with him, and that’s what I provided without fail. He did a lot of growing up alone over the years, basically only seeing friends and family back home whenever the opportunities had managed to present themselves outside of his work schedules. But underneath it all, I knew how difficult it was to live and grow on your own, and he did it all in a different country because his goals and aspirations in his life had demanded it from him. Underneath the growing affection I so obviously began developing for him, was a deep layer of profound respect for him as well.
Before we had met each other, we were simply a couple of young adults just stumbling through life. In a lot of ways, we still were even today. Bill has had a few discrete liaisons over the years before getting with his current girlfriend, while I was just a city girl with a dream of a bigger life who normally played things safe in the romance department. I didn't sleep around, particularly in my past, nor did I just jump into everything with my now ex-boyfriend John either. The fact of the matter was, this illicit little affair is probably the most risque thing I've ever done in my entire life. Alas, here we were, and I was enjoying what little time we had left together before reality was due to set back in tomorrow.
My ever-increasing thoughts were interrupted as I felt his arm tighten around my midsection and a pair of pillow-soft lips land perfectly in the crook of my neck.
“Good morning,” I whispered with a smile. 
Damn, I could get used to this.
He simply hummed against my neck, allowing his hands to begin gently wandering up towards my breasts. Upon giving my left breast a tender squeeze, I breathed out an airy giggle, hoping he would continue his subtly sweet exploration of my body.
"God, you have no idea how long I've wanted to do this," he grumbled quietly. His lips started drifting towards my exposed ear while he licked and nipped at my exposed skin.
He says that to me a lot now, but deep down I'm still wondering how long it's been like this for him. Has it truly been from the very beginning, since our very first meeting? It couldn't be. Yet, with the way this is currently playing out, I can't automatically discredit that possibility either.
"You should have just told me, you know. We could have possibly been doing this a hell of a lot sooner," I mused softly, taking in his tender affections and closing my eyes. I wanted to fall into the moment and submerge myself in his touch.
He halted his task at hand and sat up, pulling me back so I could turn and face him, causing the sheet that was covering me to slip down my body and expose my chest to him.
At that moment, it didn't matter that I probably had an insane case of bedhead or that I felt like I needed to get up and make myself look more presentable. None of those trivial things mattered presently. All that mattered right now was that we had each other all to ourselves, and the only thing I could do was burn this moment into my memory, praying that it never fades away.
How is this even my life right now? What the hell did I manage to do right?
Bill's eyes locked me in under his intense gaze and all I could do was bite my lip as I watched him observe me.
"You're right, I should have done this a hell of a lot sooner," he whispered to me before his lips came to rest on top of my own in a delicately tender kiss.
It never ceased to amaze me just how much his kisses always seemed to make me halt in my tracks and have me come to a complete mental standstill. With him, it felt as if time stopped and it was only just the two of us. The world outside of these four walls ceased to exist, and the only thing that made any sense anymore was his skin pressed so close to mine.
"I need you," I pleaded quietly whilst he pulled back and peered into my eyes.
“I know, I need you too.”
I could hear the thunder coming closer while a flash of lightning briefly illuminated the room for a second, and the rain started to gently tap against the window behind my bed.
I pressed my lips to his, drinking in his intoxicating kiss as his hands began to drift down the side of my body, bringing me even closer to him. Wrapping my leg around his hip, he shifted his body atop of my own and settled deep between my thighs. My hands wandered aimlessly across his body As his left hand cupped my face, he pulled back and closed his eyes, resting his forehead against my own. His breath fanned across my face effortlessly, while my hands drifted into his feathery brown hair.
“Are you okay?” I asked him, suddenly worried that he may be second-guessing this whole thing after all. 
“With you, I’m perfect.” 
Pulling his head back up, he stared down at me once more, almost as if he were committing this moment into his memory too. I began to feel slightly exposed and shy under his intense scrutiny. Bill's piercing gaze made my breath catch in my throat, which caused me to momentarily avert my eyes away from his. His eyes were so intense that it suddenly made me feel bashful.
"Please... Please don't do that. Look at me," he paused, causing me to shift my attention back to him. "You're so beautiful."
There’s my head, my heart, and I’m so caught in the middle.
As I pulled his lips back down to my own, I poured my feelings into the kiss, hoping that whatever I couldn't articulately verbalize to him, he would possibly understand through my actions instead. I knew better than to hope that he would be just mine, but that didn't mean that I didn't wish for it either. And if I could only have him during these few fleeting moments, then so be it. I would selfishly take it all.
Our bodies molded together in a perfect rhythm of forbidden ecstasy as I felt him slip inside of me with ease. His thrusts were tortuously slow, burning me alive with want and need. Bill temporarily broke our kiss, causing our eyes to lock as his right hand drifted outwards, splaying itself across my arm and interlocking with my left one. His gentle thrusts never stopped as I kept my eyes solely upon his. The intimacy of this act wasn't lost upon me. If anything, I openly welcomed this unique change of pace.
Leaning his head towards mine, he leisurely kissed me once again. His tongue darted against my lips, silently begging for entrance, which I readily granted him. Deliberately, his tongue slowly intertwined with mine. This kiss felt lazy and beautiful all at the same time. I could feel myself getting even wetter as he sensuously thrust himself inside of me. Bill was stimulating me not just on a physical level, but perhaps even more so on an emotional one as well -- and I wasn’t entirely prepared for it.
Maybe that was why my orgasm snuck up on me and blindsided me, causing me to pull back from our kiss and gasp. My brows furrowed as I felt myself free-fall over the edge and my blood caught fire within my veins. Bill realized what was transpiring the second it happened, as my muscles had clamped down onto him.
"Eyes on me, darling, keep them on me," he reminded me breathlessly, all while he continued to watch me in sheer amazement, tortuously grinding himself further into my body and working himself through my orgasm.
The second I came back down from my high, his head came to rest against my own while I finally allowed my eyes to slip closed for a moment. The sound of thunder, along with our heavy breathing filled the room while he continued pushing himself further inside. My hands came to rest on his scalp, threading themselves within his luscious chocolate-colored locks as he dipped his head to take my nipple into his fiery hot mouth. Sparks ignited within me once again the second his wet tongue swirled around the perky bud, and I felt myself losing grip once more.
It was maddening, just how easily he could make me come undone. It was almost as if my body spoke a certain language that only he knew fluently. I felt the passion, desire, and heat building between us whilst he gingerly thrust his hips against my own. I had never experienced something as tender or as sensual as this before, not with anyone. Not even John. It felt as if time was suspended and reality no longer existed. I had completely forgotten where Bill ended and I began. It was beautiful, all-encompassing, and was only eclipsed by the fact that I felt my fortified walls beginning to crumble down around me.
It was only then that it finally dawned on me about what was truly transpiring here: we weren't just having sex. He was making love to me.
A moan fell from my lips as I tossed my head back against the soft pillows. My vision began to blur and I felt another wave of release rip straight out of me -- causing me to feel as if I were going to explode. Bill's lips sought mine while his thrusts grew slightly more erratic. His hand clasped mine as he pulled back so he could watch me free-fall into the abyss all over again. His heavy breath fanned against my face as lightning flashed across the room once again. The thunder rolled overhead in the dark and foreboding skies outside, but inside -- we had never felt safer, cocooned, or more alive.
Our interlocked hands gripped each other tightly, neither one of us willing to stop the undeniable inevitability of what was happening. The rain pounded relentlessly against the glass, letting us know that the storm had picked up momentum outside, just as we did right here in this bed. It was a beautiful symphony of emotion and physicality that never ceased to amaze me every time we came together.
"Oh God," he moaned aloud, gripping my hand even tighter than before, allowing his release to pull him into a world of sheer euphoria. Bill's green eyes stared hard into mine as he let go of my hand, cupped the side of my face, and brought my lips to his for a searing kiss that almost left me completely breathless. I could feel him twitching and spasming deep within my body, while I just stared up at him in wonder-filled amazement.
After he finished, he breathlessly collapsed atop of me, unable to move while he caught his breath. I laid there silently, softly running my fingers through his partially sweaty hair and kissed the side of his head, giving him the few moments he so desperately needed to collect himself.
“What have you done to me?” He groaned weakly from beside me.
The truth was, I didn't have an answer to that question, because I was wondering just what the hell he had done to me as well.
August 26, 2016 -- 6:24 A.M. 
The storm from yesterday refused to yield while the rain continued to pour down endlessly, as I stood behind the glass storm door, waiting for our taxi to arrive. Bill and I had decided several days ago to catch a car to the airport together. We would both catch a flight to New York's JFK International Airport and from there, he would catch his next flight into Sweden. I should be happy to be heading home, but the truth was... I wasn't. I was feeling slightly depressed knowing that tomorrow morning, I wouldn't be waking up by his side.
He has clearly spoiled me...
My heart began to race, as I felt a pair of lean muscular arms slip around my waist and pull me closer towards his body.
"Are you trying to get seen by the neighbors?" I kept my tone light, as I humorously tried to point out the obvious to him.
"Fuck 'em," he mumbled, placing his lips against the crook of my neck. I was beginning to wonder if that was his favorite spot to kiss on my body. Not that I was complaining though.
His response caused me to laugh and finally relax into his embrace. This vacation house had turned into our own private little sanctuary over the past few days. Leaving it all behind to return to our normal lives seemed like a very depressing idea indeed.
"This really sucks," I whispered on bated breath, hoping I hadn't just fucked up and made him think I couldn't handle this.
“I know,” he nudged me gently, working his way towards my ear. 
"Time away should do us both a world of good, to be honest. We're not sure of what this is, so maybe we both need time to figure it out, and for you to decide what you want." My suggestion came out as a pleading whisper, hopeful that he would understand that both of us needed time to think about where we stood.
At the moment, he and I were dancing around something. What though, I couldn't be sure. But he needed to get things on his end together. The truth was, I didn't know if I felt comfortable continuing this if he decided to keep his current relationship going. I felt bad enough already, I knew my conscience wouldn’t be able to handle carrying this on for much longer.
Bill pulled back slightly, releasing his hold on me enough to simply turn me around to face him. 
“I know that I like who I am when I'm with you, and I know I can trust you more than anyone else in my life. I also know that I can't get enough of you, and you drive me fucking insane with need." He paused as he growled out that last part and pecked my lips once again. "I just need some time to get things straightened out on my end, but I swear... I will. And when I do, you’ll know."
A small and meek smile graced my lips as I glanced away from his intense gaze.
Only time would tell if he still felt this way in a few weeks, especially after seeing her again.
"I like who I am when I'm with you too," I answered back quietly. Bill lifted my chin towards him and laid a gentle kiss upon my lips.
It never failed to amaze me just how much his lips could hypnotize me. His kisses were intoxicating, and all I wanted in that second was to shut the door and miss our flights.
"Why did you have to book our flights so early?" He whined as he pulled back from our kiss. It felt nice to know that I wasn't the only one who had similar thoughts racing through their mind.
I gave him a small giggle, turning my attention back to him. "I would think after practically all day yesterday, you would be good to go and begging for a break by now," I surmised breathlessly, my hand gently brushing against his right cheek.
"I can never get enough of you, and I don't want to," he told me, capturing my lips with his own once more.
I'm an actual idiot for this, I know I am, but I'm a willing idiot because right now, I don't care how badly this will hurt me when this whole thing crashes and burns.
Gathering a fist full of his black leather jacket in my hands, I sunk deeper into his kiss without a care in the world.
It was only when a car horn blared outside that we were brought back into the real world, and faced with the grim reality that once we stepped outside of this door, we could no longer be this affectionate with one another.
As I pulled back from his grasp, I released my hold on him and leaned down to grab the handle on my rolling suitcase.
"Are you ready?" I asked him sadly, while I prepared myself to make the best of this time apart.
"Unfortunately, I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Let's go," he suggested as he opened the door and popped open the umbrella so we could make our way out towards the cab.
There you go, Part 4 is done! 
Tagging: @kikilikes, @readsalot73, @diianawonka, @goswedish, @rougxlips @ffixation, @shadowpriestess6, @vladsgirl, @mrsbillskarsgard, @billgardskars, @adoresfandoms, @mightbelindsey, @we-are-like-a-timebomb, @fandomimcurrentlyobsessedabout, @negan5589, @decayingdeathh, @unicorn-glitter-princess, @voidpaintings, @the-fandom-phantom-fanfics, @mishdennise
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N17, N16
(SX 742760) 28/11/ 2020
I am slow to write about this walk. For days after, whenever I close my eyes, visions arise, vivid and intense. Spooling and searing under lids, I need time to process what feels like a profound experience. Hallowed and spiritual, time distorted, surreal and dreamlike, we are moving through a white space, still without a whisper of wind. Silence magnified. The sighting of a magnificent raven perched on a boundary wall, silhouetted against the gloom, statuesque and blacker then coal. Its eerie caw, rasping, cuts through the stillness. We watch, still and wordless, spellbound by its presence, reluctant to peel away to continue on our journey. The sighting feels totemic. This is the ravens space, not ours. 
Jennie points out a tiny plant no more than finger height amongst the moor grass, dew drops suspended, crystal cut on delicate limbs—it radiates amongst earthly hues, no seasonal decoration able to match its completeness. Stripped back to the elements, away from noise and distraction, the high moor often feels otherworldly, now swathed in thick fog, visibility reduced to less than a few metres, the landscape is positively alien. Spatial perspective has dissolved and we are suspended in a colourless void. A place where there is no middle or far distance, no front, back or sideways, no horizon or sky. Only the here and now. Just us, breathing in whiteness, the sound of boots trudging. For all we know we might have slipped through a megalith portal, crossed over a time and space threshold and be walking in a different dimension and reality. 
My eldest daughter Libby joined us on this walk. All three of us seeking relief and respite on the moor and in each other’s company; vital therapy for shaking out the suffocating insularity caused by the lockdown restrictions. As with Jennie’s children and my own, Libby grew up with parts of Dartmoor as her extended playground. Now, as an avid climber, she regularly searches out the moor’s rocky outcrops to boulder and climb with her partner Harry. No doubt under normal circumstances—not being pregnant and having clear visibility—she would have confidently strode out and led the way. Today however, engulfed by a swirling nothingness, unable to correlate the symbols on the map with the surrounding terrain, the compass becomes our only reliable guide. 
Navigating through murky liquid water requires an act of faith. Follow the flickering red arrow, trust the magnets and the unseen. Our belief rewarded by staying on course. Landmarks marked on the map: Rippon Tor, Logan Stone, Buckland Beacon, Pil Tor and Top Tor, loom out from the grey miasma, yawning great slabs of granite, alien rock sculptures, moulded and defiant. It felt miraculous. All this despite my erroneous route planing. X may mark the spot but as we found out, almost to our peril, the links between the X’s do not necessarily follow a neatly drawn line on the map. 
The walk was designed primarily around visiting Buckland Beacon, a Tor which stands 1,253ft (382m) above sea level and which Jennie had discovered hosts two slabs of stone carved with the 10 commandment’s from the Christian bible. Given our religious upbringing, exposed to the spiritual fervour of Pentecostalism, we wondered how we had not heard about the stones before.
A quick scan of the internet reveals a family who had made money through the Greenall Whitely brewery established in the 18th century in the North of England. An enterprise enabled by the seismic cultural and economic fallout from the industrial revolution. Flicking from page to page I quickly spiral into a story about commercial enterprise, the expansion of capital, wealth, political influence and private education, the tentacles of which reach Devon through the brothers William and Herbert Whitely, who moved to the county in the early 20th Century. William Whitely became lord of Buckland Manor, buying up land and a number of surrounding farms with the help of his younger brother, Herbert. As a staunch protestant and traditionalist, William commissioned local stone mason W. A. Clement to engrave the ten commandments on two slabs of granite on the south face of the Beacon in 1928. The inscription was a celebration of the Parliamentary ruling that rejected proposals to revise the Book of Common Prayer, and included the dates when the bill was passed and an eleventh commandment for good measure.
Meanwhile, the younger brother, Herbert had been busy building a menagerie on his private estate near Paignton, acquiring all manner of exotic plants and animals. In 1923 he opened his collection to the public as Torbay Zoological Gardens, a venue that later became known as Paignton Zoo. I read with interest that Herbert had a particular penchant for blue, collecting and breeding blue animals and plants. The most precious hue in nature, not really a pigment but an interplay of light on feathers, wings, skin, scales and exoskeletons. Blue is not an earthly colour, it has to be extracted from stone or made synthetically and as such has been much prized in history. The deep blue pigment 'Ultramarine' favoured by the great Italian renaissance painters, Raphael, Botticelli and Titian, was ground from the semi-precious mineral ‘Lapis lazuli’, which translates from its Middle Eastern roots as literally ‘blue stone’. Mixing and blending, accruing and containing. Blue became the colour of royalty and divinity. Peacock feather, delphinium, cerulean and the deepest indigo. A slick of blue eyeshadow drawn across Cleopatra’s brow to seduce an empire. Virgin blue, alchemy and sorcery. Blue blood and blue beard. The rich and powerful scoring words into stone and hoarding natures treasure.
Reading the inscription on the stones unearthed long forgotten memories from childhood. Stories flooded back about the wrath and vengeance of the Christian old God ‘Thou shalt have none other gods but me … I the Lord thy God am a jealous God’. Seduced and softened by modern liberalism, a new religion where, on the surface at least, we are expected to cast no judgement, the language felt controlling and finite, limited and at odds with the fecundity of the moor, which even in the deepest winter is alive. You can feel and smell the aliveness, folding and churning, a living entity. Leaf mould and dung, symbiosis, copulation and predation; the parasitic and endophytic, plant and animal and the in-between. Everywhere sprouting and spewing fungi, mulching and mashing. Names that weave story and folklore into identification of plant and fauna, marking out the deadly and the vision inducing: Witches butter, Yellow brain, Ink cap and Velvet shank. The moor speaks to an earthly spirituality, synthesising and composing, living and dying, a life renewing continuum. I take heed of myth that reflects the biological life cycle as found in the ancient trinity of the Hindu deities: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva—forever creating, maintaining and destroying. Alive and dead, my skin catches on the shards of granite, grains of quartz and feldspar, mingling with micro-biological lifeforms, bacteria and my own spiralling blue-print contained in DNA. 
The commandment stones are no match for the elements or the passing of time. Eaten away by lichen and eroded by the onslaught of weather, the words have to be regularly chiseled to stop them disappearing altogether. A hundred years passing, not even a heartbeat in geological time. Rooted in pre-history and borne out of fire and fusion, the stones represent forces far bigger than the scratchings and scrubbings of men. Standing on the stones, taking the obligatory 'we were here' selfies, it is easy to dismiss the monument as archaic, the monomania of a rich and powerful man. But we arrive at the stones with our own set of beliefs, contained by ideological structures—some of which are invisible to even ourselves—that colour how we see our place in the world. We talk comfortably about the effect of nature on the body as evidenced through scientific measurement and analysis, the language of endorphins, lowered blood pressure and raised serotonin levels—but we are not so fluid in the language of the spiritual. 
Sipping hot tea, I garble about monotheism and the cultural separation of the divine from earthly realms to an abstract other place. But I am unable to grasp the right words to explain the contradiction of the stones with the surroundings. I want to say how the arrival of the three mono religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam elevated the divine to a non-earthly domain, somewhere over the rainbow, beyond the clouds and out of reach. The earlier gods and goddesses; the spirits and deities of rivers, trees, forests and stones were all but chased out, surviving only through folklore and myth. Whilst the life renewing vitality of the deep earth became associated with devilment and hell; a place to bury the carnal and hide our earthly appetites. Out too, went the animal spirits, the totems from which to learn and draw strength from: the sharp eyed raven, the stealth of the wild cat, the strong ox and cunning snake. In separating the divine from the corporeal we created a hierarchy and dominion that placed man atop of the pile so we might touch the divine and in doing so we cut off our roots. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Bones and dirt, dirty old bones. Godliness became whiteness and purity, and heaven the only place where we might be free from earthly weights; the sweat and the tears, pain and sickness, shame and folly. You can see the attraction—the body weighs heavy, it breaks and is fallible. Our appetites always biting back. Too much and we get sick, too little and we get sick. How to to lighten the load? Psychedelic drugs, serotonin, diazepam, liquid ecstacy, shamanic rituals, prayer, hallucination, meditation, visions and dreams; a story to make it all go away.
The crown slips. The spires reach high up to the skies but bring us no closer to heaven. We are no more divine or kingly, as we ever were. Heaven was always here.
The spool keeps spinning and I can’t rewind. Each moment evaporates into nothingness. Gone. White space. Dense twisted oak and hardy hawthorn giving way to larger trees as we descend into the valley. Mosses, liverworts, fern and lichen. Leaf litter turning to thick mulch. Branches snag and catch loose hair as we duck beneath trees. Bulbous fruiting fungi wet to touch, animal. Three women: mothers and daughters and friends, traipsing down a winding road in the deepest winter. Smiling and laughing, savouring the moment. An old church, cool and still invites us in. Before we enter we study the lettering on the ornate clock face on the church tower, we think it spells ‘Dear Earth’. Later I find out Mr William Whitely has been at it again, replacing the numbers in 1931 with the letters ‘My Dear Mother’. I figure it means the same as our first interpretation. We enter the church and stay awhile. My girl waits outside, sitting on an old lichen covered bench amongst the granite gravestones, her trusted dog by her side. The old bones of Mr Whitely not far away feed the earth while she grows new bones deep within her belly.
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ratherhavetheblues · 3 years
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INGMAR BERGMAN’S ‘TO JOY’ “I’d like to bury myself so deep that nothing got to me…”
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© 2020 by James Clark
The genesis of Ingmar Bergman’s thrilling final film, namely, Saraband (2003), consists of a film few have seen and few will ever see, namely, To Joy (1950). Fifty-three years is a long span; but the matters in that long-ago gem include sensibility in such a way as to expose an obligation untouched by Saraband, and any of the other films in that chain of pearls.
Before getting down to the reason why this hidden treasure is particularly important, let’s enumerate what Saraband did so wonderfully on the recommendation of that lost classic. There we find that the effete couple in the film, Scenes from a Marriage (1973), are even far more tedious in Saraband, in their craving for advantage, than when they were younger. The protagonist, Karin, therein, soldiers on to introduce an overtaking of advantage in the music industry while aiming for a career of a classical orchestra player finding gold in the form of sharing with other players attentive to the infrastructures of intention, not the pedantry of being perfect, supreme in that discipline, and mowing down one’s inferiors. Moreover, To Joy, not explicitly but readily understood, moves apace—53 years before, in one Henrik, becoming a practicing incest opportunist until Karin brings equilibrium to her métier—presents a 30-year-old siren sporting a wedding ring pretending to be the wife of a 60-year-old when in fact his daughter, and doing tricks at the homestead.
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All of this drama, as we’ve said, is not new. But it is the unopened treasure of our film today which will occupy our strivings. Right from the outset (with its credits seriously and deliberately ugly as to design), we see a stage crammed to the last inches of classical symphonic agency, a horde of choristers and four vocal soloists. Details of the composition can wait. As they present themselves there, they are not only an occasional unity, but an overriding culture. It is that aspect which Bergman attends to, as never before and never again. The melodrama unfolding before our eyes, for all its mayhem, is not particularly interesting per se. What we’ve been gifted to, is the reflection of Bergman, a remarkable artist, taking a harsh bead upon his own ilk. In one light, we have an instance of the very familiar concern (for Bergman) consisting of relations who “speak the same language.” This concern, however, tends to happily savage bourgeois gluttons (crammed also with the religious and the scientific, with their gluttony). Now, though, it’s the sanctity of a supposed independent, incorruptible, clear sightedness, being questioned as opening a window upon the cosmos. Yes; and no. Here we’re about to present what it means when the arts crowd produces a form of blindness, a form of gluttony mooting nothing so much as a solitary player. Karin, in Saraband, with her high hopes, will be on a firing line—however small-town—(perhaps even smaller than the small-town depicted in our film today, the Helsingborg Swedish Orchestra).
With the exception of a rush to ascertain how his wife had died in the explosion of a kerosene stove (and the aftermath of being left with his twin toddlers), the action is a flashback of their marriage—scenes from their marriage, remarkably unlike the 1973 film—having, however, some similar form, though, in the reverie of Face to Face (1976). That the husband during the initial shock saw fit to smash his head into a table, could be an ironic bid to strike a match, a match unable to catch benign fire. Cut to a symphonic orchestra in rehearsal, by way of the pizzazz of a pair of hands, in close-up, touching the strings of a harp. (Such a flourish seeming a point of anything goes.) The aged conductor strikes a chord of hopefulness. “We’re beginning a new season. I think it’ll be good.” Then he extends a welcome to the two new and young members of a group nearly all being long in the tooth. “This is Stig Ericsson… Then we have a woman in the orchestra. It’s sort of silly and totally against nature but she’s reasonably talented. She’s right there, if you haven’t noticed. Not only does this welcome dispense with her name; but it ushers in a spate of communication, verbal and nonverbal, startling in its aggressiveness. (This is not about an ancient crudity; Marta, the unmentionable, is perfectly cheery in being spoken as a nonentity. The music is deadly serious. The rest of their life is something else.)
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Of course women artists have had to face such contempt until very recently; but the overtness of the patter coming to bear here suggests toleration of violence as a special intuition of a cadre of the select. The conductor adds his baton as if a sword, when pointing her out. (Not to forget that the thrust packed some validity, but of a weak volume.) As the rehearsal gets into gear, there are close-ups and pan shots along the various sections (the newcomers being violinists, Stig being part of the first section, Marta in the second fiddles), revealing the mechanisms of the forces. And, therewith, we are apprised of the deep background able to muster at a flash. Clever, athletic and emotionally sensitive, without a doubt. But there is a vast bridge to cross between the effective and the wise. “Give it all you’ve got!” the conductor shouts. That being more a question than an order. And so, it comes to, “Well, you sounded awful today, but that’s to be expected…” (Expected because it was the first rehearsal? Or expected because the players are second-rate? He goes on, “Cortot [a touring soloist] is coming on Thursday. Then we’ll have some music!” He rushes past them as if they were carrying a plague. And yet the insult doesn’t stick. Superstar or the boonies—they have all they really want, the drug of the notes, like angels. Our helmsman, despite so brilliantly embarrassing, in his ironical dramas, those unable to control the drugs of pedantry and advantage, was far from immune from that failing in himself. This film being, a true one-off.)
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   A spine running through this narrative might clarify that common and yet complex problem. “Just what did you do over the Christmas break? In this blasted town where people just drink and eat… You blobs…” One of the cello players replies, “This is a difficult part.” (Rather than extend the work, those blessed already tend to rest on their laurels.) The conductor ripostes, “Not for someone with talent. But some people are lazy bones and blockheads.” The Leader has settled like his herd, except demanding more of the same. Here, though, the whole discipline is in question. On to, “I can’t listen to any more of this frightful screeching…” At a slightly different point of view, the conductor, happy to accompany Marta and Stig to their wedding at City Hall, as their witness (but having forgotten the date), shows us the lack of attention of this, and myriad other endeavors. “I should probably apply for my pension and retire… We’ll just have to call the mayor and postpone it.” Stig’s position is, “It sometimes seems like a concentration camp.” (Flinging around insults that fail to attain any cogency, because the forces of sensibility are perpetually numb, beyond their musical playground.) The retiree lobs back, “What impudence! We’ll rehearse all day!”/ “Without Marta and me.”/ “Then you can leave my orchestra.”/ To which, the forever boy, declares, “We make your orchestra!” (Marta responds in shock from the boy’s stupidity. Were she not numb herself, the wedding would never happen.) The conductor finds this register to be apt: “You weren’t given the strap as a child. And you’re turning into a child again. Go to hell!” The boy settles for, “No, I don’t want to be where you are…” On and on, the skimpy example adds, “You’re ungrateful and inconsiderate. I could have a heart attack and die.”/ “Good riddance,” the effete junkyard dog yells. The so-called mentor rounds out this powwow, with, “This is what comes from letting women into orchestras.” And a cut finds the three, on another day, the picture of wedding hopes. Needing a soloist due to a no-show from an abrupt retirement, the one supposedly making the orchestra valid, bulls his way to taking over, and then being exposed as incapable with the topspin rigors of major intensity. (In the run-up to this supposed coup he tells Marta, “The sky’s the limit now… Maybe I’ll go all the way to Stockholm.” His humiliation—an early form of significant crisis in the Bergman surgery—pertains to that singularity about overinvolved artists. Not surprisingly, he reaches into his vast cheapness there, blaming the conductor for the fiasco. “Goddamned bastard! Now he’s happy, of course!” One of the few other artists not old, mocks, “That was better than I expected!” In another explosion, he yells, “Goddamn bastard! I’m simply mediocre!” As the shattering timbre flares futilely, bombing Stig, matters swing over to the embarrassing morning paper. (“You must be happy now, you and Sonderby. Just think how everyone will laugh?”). But there is Marta, counselling, “Shall I console you and say it’ll be better next time?” Or, that default move, instilled long ago, in her and his training: “I can go to rehearsal at 10:00, sit in my usual place and do my job…” (His response: “That shows how little you understand.” Only if Stig vaguely attempts to crash the precious ceiling, does he avoid being road kill.) On a day, some years later, when the couple and the conductor are at a farm house Stig and Marta own, Sonderby reiterates to Stig, “Give up the idea of being a soloist. Settle for being a good orchestral player. [Otherwise it’s] pride, pure and simple…” He’s met with, “Just because you’re an old failure, doesn’t mean I have to be.” Then that horrific tolerance clicks in, and somehow the “friend” quietly replies, “The world needs second-raters too. No worker bees, no honey.” Stig concludes with, “It’s awful hearing you talk. Like listening to the already deceased.”
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Moving within that other area of workaday deceased, there are not only faux pas but massacre. The two new recruits at that first rehearsal are well-known to each other from their academy days (not from a conservatory). A perky Marta tells him that that past summer she was “abroad” with her brother, “and heard lots of music.” A morose Stig, looking to the floor, refers to a pop review, way below his skills. She bribes him, with a healthy amount of money, to come to her birthday party that night. (And the reference of gaining maturity anticipates her not shabby effort. In Stig, of course, we have the dangers of thinking that being a passable violinist is all that the cosmos could possibly throw at you. Ill at ease, he quickly gets drunk and begins to tell us what else he does. Marta had demanded a gift from out of her munificence. His baby polar bear doll is a hit. During the visit coinciding with Marta’s death, the bear has turned his back on Stig.) He yells out, “I’m magnificent when I’m onstage. Have you heard me play the violin? The big-name players are all charlatans. I’ll show you bastards what a violin is all about! I’ll tell you the secret of real art. It’s created when you’re unhappy. I prefer being unhappy. God knows it’s the state I usually find myself in.” The “state” is such that he turns upon his own chosen hobbyhorse of pedantic advantage. “And I say take it all away! It’s worth nothing. I’ll die and come back to life, and then you’ll hear real violin playing! Because it all comes down to humility!” (He smashes a glass to emphasize… He falls over…) Marta asks, “Are you OK?” And he tells her, “Go to hell!” She calmly tells him, “You’re making a fool of yourself.” She’s calm, because she has a history, from the academy, where his radical disarray made some sense to her. “I can’t figure out who I am… Why can’t I act like a respectable person, with my talent… A person might act crazy and stupid at times. What’s important is that he aspires to be a real person and artist.” But as these performers know, there is an obligation to deliver. Stig presses her to agree. “Yes, I do,” she eventually concurs, knowing, though, that there is much more to it. Bergman, right as rain, places the toy baby polar bear into the mix as an instance of aspiration—exactly childish, soft and so wrong.
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Marta, already having been a quick wife and a quick divorcee, sets her sights on what the academy doesn’t know. An afternoon by the sea and its imposing flat rocks (flat), seems apt to be the site of her next incursion of escape from the lovely wrong. “Sonderby is nice. He’s done good things.” Stig is in a mood for only what increases his career. “I’d like to start a brilliant string quartet and tour the world. I’d be the best.” Her wry response, “Of course…”/ “I don’t like this odd grin on your face,” he challenges./ “Just being friendly,” is her argument, an argument aimed toward matrimony. He asks, “What about you? What do you want?”/ “Nothing… I’d like to bury myself so deep that nothing got to me.” The preamble here has allowed us to understand that her focus is disinterestedness. Out of a supposed ordinary outlook, she can’t conceal a force possibly upsetting all the advantages having been placed by an affluent family. That moves Stig to wonder that she sets her objectives to be so meagre. “But you’re not unhappy.” Her response—“Some people have an unnaturally happy air”—constitutes for her more a frightening conundrum than a haven. (“A happy air,” being a glimpse of forces transcending arts-smarts and all the nicety our planet presents as an acme.) He maintains that, “I know nothing about you;” and she maintains, “Perhaps that’s best for both of us.” Before mentioning that reckless marriage, she has declared, “What better than reckless could be? You’ve wanted to sleep with me, but I haven’t let you. If I did, would you care for me a little then? Be honest.” He tells her, “I have to think about it,” which for someone like her, having thought deeply—in lonely contemplation—would mean, “No, no, no, no!” (The era is the fifties; it’s also the lair of the Millennials.) But his molten self-esteem and freezing distemper imagine for Marta a study worth studying. Stig typically gets around to, “I know exactly what you’re asking. You want some assurance that I love you. Otherwise, you’ll have moral pangs.” There was difficulty reaching Stig about Marta’s death because he was with his mistress during Marta and the children’s summer vacation. The outpouring, of good-will, seen at a rehearsal in the aftermath of the tragedy and Stig’s having a shot at appearing to be a model dad, question what kind of life (air) there could be without Marta’s latter-days-tolerance. Would he have adjusted, somewhat, in his being an insensate coward, even before the death, with its flattening bourgeois dullness? This would not be about a calamity, but the appetite for looking afield for discovery while within amplified selves our adventure belongs.
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Stig and Marta, like so many others, have very early in life burned their bridges. Of course ranges of  understanding can be developed while clinging to a lodestone. But free discovery, tracing beyond a trusty rationality, might still benefit from the tribulations of Stig and Marta. During that heart-to-heart on the shore, which produces their onset of living together, she tells him, “But we can promise to be honest. That’s absolutely necessary.” Sometime later, Marta announces that she’s pregnant. “You don’t seem too enthusiastic. Well you don’t have to be.”/ “How did it happen?” the supposed deliverer of love, questions./ “In the usual way” [screwball Hollywood, and its “charm]./ “Don’t be funny,” he glares./ “Dumb questions get dumb answers.”/ “Have you known long?”/ “Almost three months. Hit me if you want.”/ “Why didn’t you say anything?”/ “Because I want this child. Understood?” The understanding welling out, exposing that passion for “honesty”—is so like the elected and their play of notes given by a composer. Marta can cut corners with impunity. Stig doesn’t even recognize a constituency of coherence, beyond the writings of his repertoire. “Children come, want them or not,” Marta now embraces. His position is, “If you’ve had one abortion, you can have another.” (Anticipating the progress in Bergman’s Brink of Life [1958].) “How do I know it’s mine?” comes next, and garners a slap in his face. “Besides, there’s no room… All the crying and chaos. Where will I rehearse? Thanks so much…” Although, after lacerating distemper on Stig’s part, the baby is a go, it’s with a go with only one parent involved. (One of Marta’s only remarks within the war, is, “I’d like you to act like a man for once.”) Whereas Marta had begun to practice “burying herself so deep,” while recognizing a sense of disinterestedness (coinciding within her retirement from the orchestra, and madly going through with the once-postponed wedding—the mayor pronouncing, “May harmony and happiness reign;” and also pronouncing, “Never forget the promise of fidelity you have made)—Stig, in the aftermath of his fiasco onstage, enters the precinct of that flimsily hidden father and daughter incestuous prostitute business. Cut to a frozen window and Marta’s having few delusions about affectionate warmth. (At that first thrust about “honesty,” she also declares, “I’ve faked my way through almost everything in my life.” Meaning that her aesthetic skills carry an ironic disease.)
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Three years later, of life with twins, Sonderby is visiting Marta and Stig at the farm house which she has found to be best for her bid to transcend the dubiousness of “serious art” and “serious artists.”  Resting in the grass and sun, the confirmed harmonizer, perhaps with concerns he’d never admit, speaks quietly to us, as the children play and the parents rest. “I’m glad I’m not a writer. If I were to take it upon myself to portray Stig and Marta, from when we first met four years ago, what a dishonest and incomplete picture I would paint. For example, I’ll never forget the episode last winter when I stopped by to drop off a score for Stig. The doorbell was broken so I walked in and peered into the living room. He saw Stig keeling on the floor being supported by Marta. How can I describe the way they held each other? So boundlessly tender, but with a profound, exotic sensitivity. But why was there so much loneliness and childish fear in their stillness. Holding her. I went out again and knocked on the door. When Marta came to the door, it was all still there in her eyes… Yes, she’s a remarkable little woman… Citing another moment, so devoid of vigor, they’d quarreled. I picked up on it right away. It hung in the air. Marta was a little quiet. She had huddled on the sofa and looked at Stig. He talked to me the whole time, but it was just nervous chatter. He got up for the cognac, but on the way back he passed Marta. He clung to the sofa, they looked at one other, and Stig suddenly said, ‘Hey, little girl.’ Formulaic smiles to each other. That seemed to break the spell, because the strained atmosphere vanished like a puff of wind over the open sea. I didn’t know why. I can’t tell you. Imagine trying to decipher a complicated secret language.” (There is, of course, a long trail in Bergman films, concerning, “sharing the same language.” But the dilemma here puts to shame the standard conformity and its mischief. That the two lovers developed and spoke unhidden, to conceal their most secret and fragile emotions…) “Depicting a single day in their lives would fill many shelves with large volumes… Thank God that’s not my job. I have only to reproduce what the great composers created in truth and spirit… That’s my pleasure and no one can take it from me.” At this stage of Marta’s being preoccupied with the twins, she is almost satisfied with no longer being “burying myself so deep;” but instead declaring, “I’m a very rich woman. I have you and the kids and old Sonderby snoring over there… Nothing to sweep me off my feet. But I deserve a spanking for such a horrible thought, don’t I?” Then there was Stig, maintaining, “I think it’s to your credit. Nowhere is it written that a person should be content, much less happy.” (This gushing, on the part of the man and his pleasure that no one can take from him [grossly overrating the miasma of the poisonously educated protagonists], constitutes a pivot of major import, whereby to reveal the casual physical viciousness bringing along with inept art and inept courage.)
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Stig’s candid misery has a night when Nelly, the baby doll, polishes his fingernails. After the loss of Marta, he finds more subtle currents to hate himself. Expanding on that faux dignity on the day when Marta’s death was announced, we’ll touch the staging and its powerfully ironical moment. The sentimental conductor is on the podium. An army of choristers and the full orchestra are shooting for the skies with Beethoven’s “To Joy.” (Sonderby tries to rally the troops with this explication: “It’s about joy, you see. Not the joy expressed in laughter… or the joy that says, I’m happy. What I mean is a joy so special that it lies beyond pain and boundless despair. It’s a joy beyond all understanding. I can’t explain it any better.” [Here the preceding admission that writing’s range surpasses that of music, might have a role to play.])  Stig, having intoned, “It’s better to keep working ,” is at his post and the heavens seem to be focused upon his pathos, leaning to bathos. (At a much earlier rehearsal for another composition, Nelly had showed up, and Stig complained, “I said not to come here. Our relationship is nothing to advertise.” He had said, “I wish I could leave you, but I just can’t seem to.”) Now, it’s the little boy, having been off limits when the explosion happened, who sits at the same first-row seat that Nelly had occupied, long before. Here the dad smiles often to the boy, during the current rehearsal, as befits a silent martyr. Is he? His history says no, emphatically. The creation of Marta’s bid to break away from the academy was mediocre, but handicapped by a crazed Stig, even more mediocre. (The blazing last moments of bathos in the work stands as a secretive injury. Similarly, the predations of Stig and the countering of Marta are close to soap opera.  But the frequent topspins of Marta’s nightmare and very infrequent topspins of Stig’s nightmare, count for [ragged, tone deaf] actions of modernity.) (“Nelly’s better at nurturing your misunderstood genius. Can’t be easy for the poor girl.” With that, he smashes her face in a frenzy of blood and dead end. “The last part was my fault,” she says. “I’m to blame. But I won’t forget the rest.”)
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Even more shocking than those plunges, are their sense of accomplishment. He tells her and us, “I know what the problem is. We both think life has passed us by. We’ve both been struck by a moment of clarity, and with clarity comes disgust. It’s a natural consequence.” In response, Marta finds recovery just around the corner. “We’ve argued and been nasty to each other, but we just had to reach out, and it was fine again. It was a great sense of security.” (“Security” will soon loom, in the form of Bergman films about Anna, an instance of butchery.) Stig argues, “Now we’ve discovered there’s no such thing as security.” Marta maintains, “Remember what you said here our first night together. The main thing is to become a real person.” He scowls, “We said a lot of things back then.” She insists, “It was the truth.”/ “It was all lies,” is his understanding. He then resuscitates his pedantic mania about becoming a soloist supreme. “That morning I came home [after visiting Nelly] with my hand cut, that’s where my clarity began. It was so unbearable that I put my hand through a window so I’d  give up my dream of being a soloist. I stood there with a bloody hand and thought how stupid I was. Why doesn’t someone laugh at this second-rate musician who won’t accept his mediocrity…” [who can’t discern a field of effort beyond showing off, beyond advantage]. She has a valid come-back—”Me, me, me. Can’t you hear how pitiful you sound?” (Compare the view of Mikael, the Sugar Daddy (he, of “I know it myself… The great silence,”), who follows the lead of a philosopher. “Everything is part of what is called, ‘spiritual science.’ This may include the self, society, state, morals or religion. It’s all just an intellectual game.” (In Bergman’s Saraband, Johan, the cynic, reads the philosopher, Kierkegaard.) Nelly will revel in Michael’s having a deadly stroke. He pens a last statement of apology, but he avoids the blockbuster, left to us to see the writing on the wall.
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There is a moment, in Nelly and Stig’s not very impressive kick at the can, when first they meet, being symbolic to the point of much clever ardor and no perseverance. He tells her, “I hoped to catch the moon in a net; but just as I was going to pull it up, it sank deep below me.”
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phaseinked · 4 years
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Bob Moriarty: From Coronavirus to Gold to Goats on the Roof
Source: Maurice Jackson for Streetwise Reports   08/05/2020
Bob Moriarty of 321gold and Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable discuss the effects of pandemic fears on markets, government and society, as well as the status of a number of gold and precious metals juniors, including one whose stock Moriarty expects will take off like a “rocket ship.”
Maurice Jackson: Joining us for a conversation is Bob Moriarty, a world-renowned best-selling author and Founder of 321gold and 321energy.com.
Bob Moriarty: Thank you. It’s good to be back, Maurice.
Maurice Jackson: Always an honor to have you join us on the program. We have several items to discuss, so let’s get started. Beginning in the United States, what are your thoughts on the prospect of postponing the election because of the coronavirus?
Bob Moriarty: Oh boy. When you went through training, did they ever teach you how to throw a hand grenade?
Maurice Jackson: No, sir.
Bob Moriarty: Okay. Are you familiar with the basics?
Maurice Jackson: Yes, sir. You pull the pin and throw it as soon as you can in the right direction.
Bob Moriarty: Okay. Now, you got it in exactly the right order, but what happens if you pull the pin and you don’t let go?
Maurice Jackson: Oh, that’s not a favorable outcome.
Bob Moriarty: That’s an unfavorable outcome. The protests in U.S. scare the hell out of me. Let me give you some numbers. Fifty-three million Americans have lost their jobs and applied for unemployment compensation. A lot of them were getting an extra $600 a week; that stops today. They were getting paid not to work, so they didn’t work. Now, many of those 53 million Americans are not going back to work, and that includes the travel industry, it includes the airlines, it includes hotels, it includes restaurants. When the dust finally settles, Americans are going to be shocked to see how much of a change has happened since March.
Now, then, when you have a country with 53 million people out of work and the government stops giving them free money and there are 395 million guns in the country and the deep state has been running a three-year coup against the President, what happens if the President says, “Well, we don’t need to vote, we got a President.”?
Maurice Jackson: Again, it’s not a favorable outcome. I believe that the losing party from the election is going to be a sore loser. What are your thoughts there?
Bob Moriarty: I don’t think there’s going to be an election.
Maurice Jackson: I’m shaking my head in disbelief. That’s something I never thought I’d hear coming from the United States.
Bob Moriarty: Well, yeah, but you can look around. I mean, the strange thing is, you’ve been interviewing me for years and nothing that is happening is a surprise to me. It’s something that I said was coming years ago. I was writing books four years ago saying we were going to have a worldwide revolution. None of this is a surprise.
However, the speed at which the country is decaying is shocking to me.
Now, let’s talk about Trump. I don’t like Trump. I think the man’s a narcissist. I think he’s a total jackass. However, we’ve had fools as Presidents before and we survived. The idea of the FBI and the DOJ (U.S. Department of Justice) selecting who the President should be, that is scary.
Now, somebody is paying for these rioters. I hear all kinds of rumors about George Soros and a good chance that it’s true. What’s going on is not an accident. It’s deliberate and it’s extremely dangerous. It’s something that Barbara and I saw coming 15 years ago and that’s why we left. I have been in riots before. They are not nearly as much fun as people suggest. I’ve seen some crazy things and Trump is feeding the fire. The Democrats are feeding the fire. Schiff is really funny. Schiff just came out and said the rumors of Antifa being behind the riots were total fiction. How stupid do these people think the American public is? You’ve got a lot of very angry people.
The whole COVID-19 thing is a total fraud. I sent you a document that we’re going to be posting tomorrow that’s bizarre and it shows that HCQ, the medicine, is not a cure but it’s something that relieves symptoms of COVID-19. It’s so bizarre. A group of a hundred doctors got together, made a video, said, “Hey, the HCQ thing is absolute nonsense. It’s political and is a cure for COVID-19.” They fired the woman doctor spokesman, and Facebook and Twitter and Netscape all banned them. Now, that’s scary. We’re into book burning. Wow, that’s scary.
Hugo Salinas Price, who I have a lot of time for, came out with a piece and the question was, “Is HCQ effective against coronavirus?” He didn’t come in and say, “Here’s my opinion;” what he did is he listed all of the countries who are reporting deaths by the percentage use of HCQ. The countries that used the drug had the lowest percentage of death and the countries that didn’t use the drugs had the highest percentage of death. That’s pretty scary. When you have so totally politicized everything in the system, the system’s going to break.
Now, you had sent me some stuff about that book, Common Sense 2.0, which is an amazing book. That where I got the number: 395 million guns in America. Our system is so corrupt that Judge Sullivan in the Mike Flynn case has decided he not only should be the judge, but he’s such a good judge he should be the prosecutor, the jury and the executioner. Now, I don’t care if you like Sullivan or not, I don’t care whether you like Flynn or not; when that happens to the society, the society is irretrievably broken and you need to fix it. The strange thing is, Common Sense 2.0 says there’s a simple solution.
Now, I’m going to ask you an interesting question. If you could do one thing to eliminate 99% of the crime in the United States, would you do it, first of all? Second of all, how would you do it?
Maurice Jackson: Well, the answer is yes. I think everyone would answer yes. Now, how would you do it? Well, that’s an answer no one seems to have, but I believe you have the solution for us.
Bob Moriarty: People have got a solution for it. What is 99% of the crime in the U.S.?
Maurice Jackson: What is it based on? Is that the question?
Bob Moriarty: What is the crime? Is it burglary? Is it rape? Is it murder? Is it cheating on your taxes? Is it cheating on your wife? If that’s true, Trump’s in trouble.
Maurice Jackson: Well, I don’t know what it is, but I would say that there’s a common tie and it’s financial.
Bob Moriarty: No.
Maurice Jackson: No?
Bob Moriarty: The answer is, drugs. You smoke a joint most states in the U.S., you just broke the law. Most crime in the United States, 99% of it, is drug-related.
Now, there’s a country in the world that does not have any drug crime. Got any idea who that is? Portugal! Here, it’s really funny. Most of the crime in the United States is drug-related—even the burglaries are drug-related, so to get the money to buy drugs. You can eliminate the whole thing overnight by decriminalizing drugs.
Now, then, which is worse, the crime or the solution? Law enforcement would say, “Oh my God, we can’t give people drugs.” Well, that’s bull. They get drugs already. Let me give you a number. Do you remember what year the 18th Amendment was overturned? When was Prohibition ended?
Maurice Jackson: The 1920s–30s. Am I way off here?
Bob Moriarty: Yeah, it’s 1933, after Roosevelt’s election.
Now, the interesting thing was when they eliminated Prohibition, violent crime dropped by 69% between 1933 and 1934. Therefore, was violent crime a function of alcohol use? Or was it a function of the Prohibition laws?
Maurice Jackson: The function of the Prohibition laws.
Bob Moriarty: Of course. All you had to do was change Prohibition laws. We need to wake up in the United States. We need to stop letting the government, letting [Dr. Anthony] Fauci, letting Bill Gates, letting all of these idiots rule us, put us into absolute slavery, treat us like idiots. Let’s go to Fauci for a minute. You remember when Fauci was talking about HCQ and he said, “Nobody’s done a clinical study on it and we need a clinical study if it’s going to be used against COVID-19”? Do you remember that?
Maurice Jackson: I recall that, yes.
Bob Moriarty: Okay, do you recall how long he said it would to take to test a drug that’s been around for 65 years, that costs $0.35 a pill—how long would it take to do a proper clinical study? Fifteen months. He said this back in March. It’s going to take 15 months to do a proper clinical study. Now, that solid drug that’s been around for 65 years, we know what [its] side effects are. We know everything negative about it. We know what the cost is. We know what the availability is.
Now, then, what [are] Bill Gates and Fauci pushing? He wants to vaccinate everybody, and Bill Gates has now come out and says, “Oh, by the way, since its RNA it’s going to take multiple vaccinations.” Somehow, it takes 15 months to study a drug that’s been around for 65 years and costs $0.35 a pill, but you’re going to be able to approve and test a drug that permanently alters the DNA of every cell in the body and you’re going to be able to do this in two or three months.
Now, there is a clinical word for that. You got any idea what it is?
Maurice Jackson: My clinical word for it is retardated.
Bob Moriarty: No. It’s bovine feces; that is absolute, candid bovine feces. There is no way, and anybody who takes multiple vaccinations that have only been tested for two or three months that permanently alters their DNA is an absolute idiot. [Alan] Dershowitz says, “You don’t have the right to refuse it.”
Really? I thought that’s what they made guns for.
Maurice Jackson: A lot of what you’re sharing, it kind of ties into, and you alluded to it earlier, it’s a book, Common Sense 2.0. I had the pleasure of interviewing David Smith from The Morgan Report, and we discussed this very time-sensitive book. Again, the title is Common Sense 2.0, in which the author goes by the pen name Thomas Paine, who, by the way, was the original author of Common Sense, written in 1776. It addresses the aforementioned with sound, practical solutions. Why should every American read Common Sense 2.0?
Bob Moriarty: It’s the only book that I’ve seen that lists not only what the problems are, but what the solutions are. Now, nobody loves a prophet. They want a savior.
Maurice Jackson: That kind of ties into our last discussion, where we talked about Cassandra. In my view, if you go back and look at any, or listen to any, of our interviews over the years—and I look back at the commentary, where people attempted to refute what you were sharing was going to happen—and when you look at today, I just wish they’d come back and say, “Hey, you know what? I was wrong and Bob was right.” But. . .
Bob Moriarty: Oh, they never do that.
Maurice Jackson: No, they never.
Bob Moriarty: In 2011, when I called the top in silver to the day, I got like hundreds of e-mails telling me how stupid I was. I sent them all the same response. I said, “You know, you might be right. I could be a hundred percent wrong, but here’s what you should do. Rather than tell me today that I said something wrong yesterday, why don’t you write to me in a month and point out how stupid I am?” Of course, none of them ever did. I’m still waiting to hear from these guys.
Maurice Jackson: Speaking of the call in 2011, you kind of made a similar one here recently, so let’s switch topics here and discuss gold and silver. Gold recently hit an all-time high, and Bob, you sent a warning shot to the market last week on a perfectly timed article entitled Never Confuse Brains with a Bull Market. That got the attention of a mutual friend that we have in Jayant Bhandari, and he wanted to find out, what compelled you to write this article?
Bob Moriarty: Oh, here’s the deal. Have you ever been to an ice hockey game?
Maurice Jackson: I never have.
Bob Moriarty: They’re kind of interesting. They’re fun. I go not because I understand ice hockey, because I don’t and I never will. I’m not a Canadian. You’ve gotta be a Canadian to understand it. I go to see fights, and unfortunately, the fights used to be a lot better than they are now. They’re not very good now. One of the long-time great hockey players said, “You don’t skate to the puck, you skate to where the puck is going.” I am not skating to the puck, I’m kind of figuring out where the puck’s going. I’ll give you a perfect example.
We’re doing this interview on Friday, and the U.S. dollar has been down 11 days in a row. Now, given that the odds on any particular day are 50-50 of it going up or going down, that’s like 2 to the 10th power. The odds are really against that, so the dollar’s going up today. It’s very predictable, and likewise, when silver spikes, it’s saying there’s got to be a correction. The strange thing is that I could give you the top 50 gurus in the silver market and they would rather commit adultery than use the word “correction.” They think that a correction is somehow spelled with four letters. I don’t think it is. I think it’s longer than that. It’s like six or eight or something like that. They just cannot admit or say there’s going to be a correction.
I wrote another piece—it’ll be out later today—and I said the price action in both gold and silver is schizophrenic. It doesn’t know which way to go. Now, I believe we’re going to go into hyperinflation. I believe gold and silver are going to go a lot higher, but I also understand that humans are imperfect. They get a little bullish sometimes, and you need to correct that bullishness. I think there’ll be a correction. I think we’re seeing signs. We’re certainly seeing signs of it in the gold and silver shares, but it’s a good thing. When it’s over, gold and silver and gold/silver shares are going far higher than anybody can imagine today.
Maurice Jackson: You know, not to contradict what you’re saying because I think we’re all in agreement that the gold price will be going higher, but your investment thesis has made your fortunes, and that’s why I love having you on the program. Share with us: If gold is at an all-time high, and we believe that it’s going to go higher, why aren’t you buying gold? What metals have your attention and why?
Bob Moriarty: Well, I listen to myself. You know, it is not a sign of insanity to talk to yourself. It is a sign of insanity to listen to yourself, but it’s not a sign of insanity to talk to yourself. I have the most interesting conversations and I’ve been saying for years, “You think things are getting bad? Well, you need to own some gold and silver, platinum and palladium.”
Back in March when everybody was panicking and, “Oh my God, the world is ending! Silver is below $12 an ounce!” I was thinking, “Oh, thank you, God. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I want to buy some more.” I bought a lot of silver—and you couldn’t buy physical silver because the premiums were too high, but you could buy a silver ETF [exchange-traded fund], which for all practical purposes was the same. I was pleased with that.
Maurice Jackson: How about platinum?
Bob Moriarty: I don’t know anything about platinum. Never mentioned platinum in my entire life and the mere fact that the ratio between platinum and gold is the worst it’s ever been in history. . .just kidding.
Platinum is cheap. Someday platinum’s going to go up, to the surprise of everybody, including me.
Maurice Jackson: I know everybody is asking this, so I’m going to go ahead and ask the question. Between the two, is there one that you favor a little bit more right now than the other?
Bob Moriarty: After silver corrects. Now, I’ve got somebody, and you would be a really good guy to help your customers, you have your thumb on the scale. You know exactly the times to buy and sell.
When everybody’s beating the doors down to buy, you don’t want to buy. That’s when you want to sell, and when the same guys who bought the metal at $25 or $26 an ounce are beating the doors down saying, “I need to get rid of this crap,” that’s when I look for them. There are some guys that I am very close to that store metal and I tell them, “Look, when guys call up and they want to sell stuff and you need to move it, I’m a buyer.” I think at $16—I can’t tell you exactly what the sequence was, but silver went below $12. It went up to about $16. It went down to $14.
This guy called me up and said, “Hey, somebody’s got a thousand-ounce bar of silver and he wants to sell for a .60 premium.” I said, “Damn. I’ll go for that. I bought it and the crazy thing is it’s not because I’m smart, it’s because you have access to better information than I do.
Maurice Jackson: Well, I share the investment thesis that you’ve shared with me over the years, using the ratios to your advantage and having that discipline, because that’s the keyword here that you haven’t referenced. I think we can read between the lines. It takes a lot of discipline to do what you’re doing, and having courage and conviction, because everyone seems to want to be a part of the crowd. As you’ve referenced in your books, you have to be an individual when it comes to investing, and that’s how you’ve made these spectacular gains. Again, thank you for sharing that investment thesis with us.
Bob Moriarty: Well, you don’t have to be an individual. You can be one of the guys giving money away. If you’re a bird or if you’re a lion or if you’re a water buffalo or if you’re a fish, you want to be with the rest of the school or the rest of the flock to be safe. But if you want to make money, you have to learn to think for yourself, first of all.
Strangely enough, if you could figure out what the mob’s doing, do the opposite. That sounds difficult but it’s so damn easy. I was looking at silver with a DSI [daily sentiment index] of 93 a week, 10 days ago, and said, “Hey, that’s getting frothy.” Sure enough, it was getting frothy.
Silver is an interesting metal because when it tops, it always does. It spikes up like a couple of dollars in a day, and it comes right back down. I’ll give you another thing that’s just as effective. With the metals market, the shares are either very liquid or they’re very illiquid. When you’re near a top, they’re very liquid. When you’re near a bottom, they’re very illiquid. I put in stupid orders way below the market, and I wait for the market to come down to me, and the market’s telling me, “Okay, it’s near the bottom.” Likewise, when you’ve got an extremely liquid market, that’s the time to take some money off the table.
Now, I don’t believe for a minute that I’m some kind of investing genius. I’ve done very well, but I’ve got access to a lot of information that the average investors don’t have. I am in touch with guys like Keith Barron and Quinton Hennigh constantly, and you can’t talk to them without learning a lot, so it’s not how smart I am, it’s how smart they are.
Quite bluntly, the last week or two, it’s been a great opportunity to take some money off the table. I’ve got three or four stocks that are up 400%, 500%, 600%! The one thing that I’ll say is, that’s going to be across the board fairly soon. I’m not talking about next week or next month. We’re going to have a bull market like nobody listening to this has ever seen before and that will make 1979 and 1980 look like a bunch of pussycats.
Maurice Jackson: Well, speaking of the junior mining companies, let’s start with companies that are affiliated with a very prominent and successful name, and that is none other than Dr. Quinton Hennigh.
Beginning with Novo Resources Corp. (NVO:TSX.V; NSRPF:OTCQX), and their expansive property bank, what can you share with us?
Bob Moriarty: Novo wants to do a deal on the Millennium Mill. Quinton has wanted to be in production for 10 years and one day it’s going to happen. I don’t know when. It will be an absolute game-changer. It is really difficult to do business in Australia and it takes a lot longer than it should do, but he’s on track. Novo is going to be the biggest gold company in the world 50 years from now.
Maurice Jackson: That’s a tall statement to make, but you’ve got the credentials to back you up.
Bob Moriarty: In the first article that I ever wrote, I said that Novo was going to be the game-changer that was going to wake up the market, and that stock was going to go up between ten- and a hundred-fold. I’m going to tell you, I nailed that and things have changed a lot since then, but I’ve been to the Pilbara, I don’t know, six times, seven times, and the gold’s there.
Maurice Jackson: Yeah, I’ve been there myself and the gold is there. And another place that you and I have been to is Irving Resources Inc. (IRV:CSE; IRVRF:OTCMKTS) in Japan. How about Irving Resources and the Omu Gold Project?
Bob Moriarty: Same thing. Keith Barron did a piece recently and he was talking about the 23-meter intercept. The pictures are on their website from the last press release. He said it’s the best-looking intercept he’s ever seen. You don’t have to believe Quinton Hennigh, you don’t have to believe me, and you don’t have to believe you, but it certainly would be worth listening to Keith Barron. He likes it and, again, because of the virus, things are a lot slower than they should be. But I think they’re going to come out with results soon, and I think they’ll be excellent.
Maurice Jackson: Akiko Levinson, the strategic moves she’s been making, they’ve been remarkable. I still think the market has not recognized the contributions that she’s made. It’s just been spectacular, so kudos to Akiko on her successes.
Bob Moriarty: The market does recognize it and there is something about the shares that everybody is missing. Keep in mind that 90% of the shares are in the hands of the top 10 shareholders. That is the tightest stock that I have ever seen. It’s a little tiny float and you talk about this company that’s got this $150–200 million market cap, and it trades 30,000 shares a day? Are you kidding me? When they hit big-time, that stock’s going to look like a rocket ship.
Maurice Jackson: It certainly is, and we’re proud shareholders of Irving Resources. How about let’s go to Fiji? Let’s talk about Lion One Metals Ltd. (LIO:TSX.V; LOMLF:OTCQX) and the Tavatu Gold Project. They’ve had some exciting news recently as well.
Bob Moriarty: Well, they hit exactly what Quinton Hennigh said. Here is what’s funny about Quinton, and virtually nobody understands this. You don’t need Quinton to come in and run your entire program for you. Lion One has some great geologists. Irving has some great geologists. Novo has some great geologists. You need somebody who understands the difference between you know what and shinola. Shinola is boot polish. It’s dark, but that’s what you use to shine shoes with. Quinton comes in and makes a tiny change in the direction that has an incredible impact.
Now, when I first talked to Lion One, they were talking about the project as being an epithermal alkaline system. That’s like talking about a Ford Chevrolet. Have you ever seen a Ford Chevrolet?
Maurice Jackson: I’ve never seen a Ford Chevrolet.
Bob Moriarty: Yep.
Maurice Jackson: Yeah, the two don’t go hand in hand.
Bob Moriarty: Well, it could, but you know why you’ve never seen one?
Maurice Jackson: Well, I guess in simple terms, it’s never been assembled as one.
Bob Moriarty: Well, because they don’t exist, okay?
Maurice Jackson: Yeah.
Bob Moriarty: An epithermal system is a hot spring. It has a very limited vertical dimension. Might be a hundred meters, might be 150 meters. Now, if you get into something like a mesothermal system, which is a hotter fluid system, it’s usually much deeper; they can be eight times as deep, say, as long. A epithermal thermal system has characteristics and mesothermal systems have characteristics and alkaline systems have characteristics, but Fords are Fords and Chevys are Chevys. You can’t have a Ford Chevy because there is no such thing. So the main key thing is they’ve over at Fiji. There is a mine like 20 miles away in a caldera where they’ve mined 7 million ounces. They’re down to 6,500 feet in the mine and they were talking about it being an epithermal alkaline system.
Well, you can’t have an epithermal system at 6,500 feet deep. There is no such thing. Quinton went in and he talked to Wally, who’s been banging his head keeping that thing going, moving it forward year after year after year after year. Quinton said, “Look, all you can do is drill deep. You’re just approaching this thing like it’s epithermal. Do not use the word ‘epithermal.’ It is not an epithermal system. It’s an alkaline system. Drill deep.” He drilled deep. He comes up with this incredible 0.3 meters of 1,310 gram gold, over one foot. Holy cow! You can take a blowtorch to that and make belt buckles.
Maurice Jackson: It’s astounding, You made some great analogies. LIO’s most recent published results, specifically just what that grade means for investors: Lion One Intercepts $80,078 Au.
Bob Moriarty: Well, it means $30,000 gold. If you had one cubic foot of that, it’s $30,000 a ton. Holy cow, you can’t lift the damn thing, but if you could lift it you’d be rich.
Maurice Jackson: How about NuLegacy Gold Corporation (NUG:TSX.V; NULGF:OTCQB) and the Red Hill Project?
Bob Moriarty: Funny thing is, the same story. Now, I didn’t know this but Albert Matter was one of our first customers. This is going back 19 years. He had that little tiny gold company called Alamos in Mexico. He came, pitched me, told me a story. I met him, said it sounds good. He advertised for a year or two and he ended up selling it out and making a ton of money. He’s a very sharp guy. He has some brilliant geologists out in Nevada.
Now, at the same time they started working in Nevada, he was actually in touch with Quinton, too, and Quinton said, “You know, you guys are focused on the east. You should go across the fault and you should focus on the west.”
Albert’s guys didn’t agree and they didn’t, so they’ve been tapping holes there for years and they’re getting lots and lots and lots of sniffs and they finally started drilling to the west, just like Quinton’s been saying for years, and they get the far better intercepts.
I believe they have the next major Carlin Trend deposit. I think the next six months is going to make a giant change. I think they’re waiting for some permits. I don’t think they can drill until September, but that’s been another situation that Quinton talking to them for a few hours has changed their thinking, and I believe it will be in a very positive way.
Maurice Jackson: Sticking with Nevada, one more company that is in the Dr. Quinton Hennigh portfolio, and that is NV Gold Corp. (NVX:TSX.V; NVGLF:OTC) with newly acquired Exodus Gold Project, which has Peter Ball as the CEO.
Bob Moriarty: Well, you ought to be talking about British Columbia. NV Gold—the NV stood for Nevada, and NV Gold had all of these Nevada projects and they’ve been tapping into these things for years. I cannot tell you how much money I have lost on NV Gold. I’ve participated in placement after placement after placement and it just never went anywhere. Peter came in a year or so back and he started looking at things differently. He’s moved the company forward and they’ve gone from like $0.10/share to $0.40-something in the last six weeks or two months. They not only are in Nevada. They got some good projects in Nevada, but they’ve picked up a project in British Columbia and I think they’ll do very well.
Maurice Jackson: How about another proven name and that is Greg Johnson? Of course, that name is synonymous with the Metallic Group of Companies.
Beginning with Metallic Minerals Corp. (MMG:TSX.V; MMNGF:OTCMKTS) and the Kino Silver Project, what can you share with us?
Bob Moriarty: Well, here’s what’s funny. Do you know how long I’ve known Greg Johnson?
Maurice Jackson: I think that goes back to the late ’90s, does it not, at Nova?
Bob Moriarty: Correct. NOVAGOLD Resources Inc. (NG:TSX; NG:NYSE.MKT) was the first company that I wrote about. Jay Taylor was the guy who discovered them and he was writing about them when they were $0.30 a share. The stock went down to $0.13 a share. I looked at it because they were generating $0.13 a share in earnings and the stock was $0.13 a share. I thought, “Well, that seems pretty damn cheap to me.” I wrote about them when they were a dollar a share and they doubled, and then I wrote about them six weeks later and they doubled again.
I’ve known Greg for the longest time. Greg has done something interesting. He hasn’t got any credit for it yet, but he supervises three different companies. Metallic Minerals is their silver company and it’s up in the Yukon. It’s going to be a silver play. I think it will be very effective.
Maurice Jackson: The Keno Silver Project is a brownfields adjacent to Alexco Resource Corp. (AXU:NYSE.MKT; AXR:TSX).
Bob Moriarty: How can you go wrong? You’re in a district that took out a billion ounces of silver. You ought to be able to find something.
Maurice Jackson: Well, with someone that’s proven. Then you go to Montana with Group Ten Metals Inc. (PGE:TSX.V; PGEZF:OTCQB; 5D32:FSE), what do you like about Group Ten and the Stillwater West Project?
Bob Moriarty: Group Ten has not gotten the appreciation that it should, which is insane. Palladium has been so much more valuable than I think it’s worth compared to platinum, and they’re right next to the Stillwater complex and they’ve got half of the deposit. I am shocked that that stock isn’t three or four times what it is now, but it’ll get there.
Maurice Jackson: To add to the opportunity, Group Ten Metals is finding rhodium. You’re referring to the Stillwater West, and Sibanye Gold Ltd. (SBGL:NYSE) purchased the Stillwater a couple of years ago for 2.2 billion. Again, they’re adjacent to the Stillwater, with the Stillwater West 25 kilometers and they’re finding rhodium as well, seven grams. Look at the price of rhodium. My goodness, it’s just quite remarkable.
Bob Moriarty: Let me tell you something. You want to get a nosebleed? Look at the difference between the bid and ask. I think I was looking at a week ago and it was $6,000 bid and $9,000 ask. I went, “Holy cow!”
Maurice Jackson: Well, there’s one more company in the Metallic Company, and that is Granite Creek Copper Ltd. (GCX:TSX.V), and they’re in the Minto Copper District there. What do you like about GCX and the Stu Copper Project?
Bob Moriarty: Copper.
Maurice Jackson: You got it. The interesting aspect of that is I think that we’re looking at oxide versus sulfide there, and that increases the value proposition. I think it was you that brought it to my attention. It must have been a year or so ago. You said, “Maurice, the world is going to consume more copper in the next 25 years than all of recorded history, so this is a company you got to take a look at.” I just want to step back for a second here. Granite Creek was $0.03/share back in May; they’re $0.10, $0.12, somewhere in there.
Going back to Metallic Minerals, they were $0.15 back in October of 2018, and they’re approaching $0.60 here.
Bob Moriarty: Yeah. There are some spectacular gains. I would highly suggest if people want to make money as opposed to indulging their fantasies, go to Amazon, spend a few bucks, buy my books. You don’t have to buy them because I say they’re good, read the damn reviews. Some people who read that book say they are the best financial books they have ever read. The books are excellent, they’re cheap, they will help you make money. All I did was take things that nobody else says, which shocks me, but they’re good books. If you read the books, you will make money.
Maurice Jackson: If I may, I would disagree. I don’t think they’re good books. I think they’re exceptional books. I don’t benefit financially from it, but ladies and gentlemen, I have benefited financially by reading and applying, and that is it. It has been life-changing. Hands down the best books on finance and I’m readaholic about finance. I can find none better than Bob’s books, and that’s why we always reference them. There is no financial gain for me by you purchasing—none—but if you read it and you apply, you’ll be smiling just like both of us are.
All right, we got one more name here and that’s another proven name. That is Tim Termeunde, and he has two companies that have your attention. How about Taiga Gold Corp. (TGC:CSE; TGGDF:OTCBB), which is a spinout of Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (EPL:TSX.V)?
Bob Moriarty: Tim Termeunde is one of my favorite people. Barbara just loved him. She would have dumped me in a heartbeat if he was available. Tim’s a great guy. Eagle Plains is a prospect generator. It has never got the respect that it is due. They got a ton of good projects and they spun one of the best ones off into the gold project and I can’t pronounce it, either, but I own some and I’m a happy camper.
Maurice Jackson: The Fisher Project in Saskatchewan, that’s an interesting one.
We encourage readers to take a look at these names that we’ve referenced here today. They are truly unique value propositions. Yes, some of them have moved up tremendously, but in my view, you’ve got to have the discipline like Bob shared as know when to sell if you’ve taken action in the past, and then look for an opportunity to continue to add.
All right, in closing, sir, what keeps you up at night that we don’t know about?
Bob Moriarty: I’m not certain, but there is some kind of creature that climbs in trees and it climbs onto my roof. Since we don’t have lions and tigers here, I’m not particularly worried about it. I would love to know what it is, because I wish it would let me sleep. I wake up at 2 in the morning. I hear the damn scratching on the roof and I think, “I wish I had a gun.”
Maurice Jackson: Well, you know what? Could it be a goat? Don’t goats go into trees? I think goats climb trees, don’t they?
Bob Moriarty: No, I think you made that up.
Maurice Jackson: No, I didn’t think goats were able to climb trees because they don’t have claws, but they actually can (laughter).
Bob Moriarty: These are pretty tall trees. They would have to be damn parachutists to get on those.
Maurice Jackson: All right, last question, sir, and that is, what did I forget to ask?
Bob Moriarty: I don’t know. We’ll figure it out next time.
Maurice Jackson: Sounds good. Bob, for someone listening that wants to get more information about your books and your work, please share the website addresses.
Bob Moriarty: 321gold, 321energy, and amazon.com, and all they got to do is look up my name. They’re good books. People seem to like them.
Maurice Jackson: Well, I certainly do. All right. Well, till next time, sir, wishing you the absolute best.
Bob Moriarty: Okay. It’s good talking to you.
Maurice Jackson: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us today on Proven and Probable. As a reminder, I’m your licensed representative from Miles Franklin Precious Metals Investments, but we have several options to expand your precious metals portfolio, from physical delivery to offshore depositories and precious metal IRAs. Give me a call at (855) 505-1900, or you may e-mail [email protected].
Finally, please subscribe to Proven and Probable for mining insights and bullion sales. Subscription is free.
Maurice Jackson is the founder of Proven and Probable, a site that aims to enrich its subscribers through education in precious metals and junior mining companies that will enrich the world.
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Disclosure: 1) Maurice Jackson: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources are sponsors of Proven and Probable. Proven and Probable disclosures are listed below. 2) Bob Moriarty: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources. 3) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: Lion One Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Irving Resources. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. 4) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy. 5) This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports’ terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports. 6) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own shares of Metallic Minerals, Group Ten and Granite Creek Copper, companies mentioned in this article.
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( Companies Mentioned: EPL:TSX.V, GCX:TSX.V, PGE:TSX.V; PGEZF:OTCQB; 5D32:FSE, IRV:CSE; IRVRF:OTCMKTS, LIO:TSX.V; LOMLF:OTCQX,
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Bob Moriarty: From Coronavirus to Gold to Goats on the Roof
Source: Maurice Jackson for Streetwise Reports   08/05/2020
Bob Moriarty of 321gold and Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable discuss the effects of pandemic fears on markets, government and society, as well as the status of a number of gold and precious metals juniors, including one whose stock Moriarty expects will take off like a "rocket ship."
Maurice Jackson: Joining us for a conversation is Bob Moriarty, a world-renowned best-selling author and Founder of 321gold and 321energy.com.
Bob Moriarty: Thank you. It's good to be back, Maurice.
Maurice Jackson: Always an honor to have you join us on the program. We have several items to discuss, so let's get started. Beginning in the United States, what are your thoughts on the prospect of postponing the election because of the coronavirus?
Bob Moriarty: Oh boy. When you went through training, did they ever teach you how to throw a hand grenade?
Maurice Jackson: No, sir.
Bob Moriarty: Okay. Are you familiar with the basics?
Maurice Jackson: Yes, sir. You pull the pin and throw it as soon as you can in the right direction.
Bob Moriarty: Okay. Now, you got it in exactly the right order, but what happens if you pull the pin and you don't let go?
Maurice Jackson: Oh, that's not a favorable outcome.
Bob Moriarty: That's an unfavorable outcome. The protests in U.S. scare the hell out of me. Let me give you some numbers. Fifty-three million Americans have lost their jobs and applied for unemployment compensation. A lot of them were getting an extra $600 a week; that stops today. They were getting paid not to work, so they didn't work. Now, many of those 53 million Americans are not going back to work, and that includes the travel industry, it includes the airlines, it includes hotels, it includes restaurants. When the dust finally settles, Americans are going to be shocked to see how much of a change has happened since March.
Now, then, when you have a country with 53 million people out of work and the government stops giving them free money and there are 395 million guns in the country and the deep state has been running a three-year coup against the President, what happens if the President says, "Well, we don't need to vote, we got a President."?
Maurice Jackson: Again, it's not a favorable outcome. I believe that the losing party from the election is going to be a sore loser. What are your thoughts there?
Bob Moriarty: I don't think there's going to be an election.
Maurice Jackson: I'm shaking my head in disbelief. That's something I never thought I'd hear coming from the United States.
Bob Moriarty: Well, yeah, but you can look around. I mean, the strange thing is, you've been interviewing me for years and nothing that is happening is a surprise to me. It's something that I said was coming years ago. I was writing books four years ago saying we were going to have a worldwide revolution. None of this is a surprise.
However, the speed at which the country is decaying is shocking to me.
Now, let's talk about Trump. I don't like Trump. I think the man's a narcissist. I think he's a total jackass. However, we've had fools as Presidents before and we survived. The idea of the FBI and the DOJ (U.S. Department of Justice) selecting who the President should be, that is scary.
Now, somebody is paying for these rioters. I hear all kinds of rumors about George Soros and a good chance that it's true. What's going on is not an accident. It's deliberate and it's extremely dangerous. It's something that Barbara and I saw coming 15 years ago and that's why we left. I have been in riots before. They are not nearly as much fun as people suggest. I've seen some crazy things and Trump is feeding the fire. The Democrats are feeding the fire. Schiff is really funny. Schiff just came out and said the rumors of Antifa being behind the riots were total fiction. How stupid do these people think the American public is? You've got a lot of very angry people.
The whole COVID-19 thing is a total fraud. I sent you a document that we're going to be posting tomorrow that's bizarre and it shows that HCQ, the medicine, is not a cure but it's something that relieves symptoms of COVID-19. It's so bizarre. A group of a hundred doctors got together, made a video, said, "Hey, the HCQ thing is absolute nonsense. It's political and is a cure for COVID-19." They fired the woman doctor spokesman, and Facebook and Twitter and Netscape all banned them. Now, that's scary. We're into book burning. Wow, that's scary.
Hugo Salinas Price, who I have a lot of time for, came out with a piece and the question was, "Is HCQ effective against coronavirus?" He didn't come in and say, "Here's my opinion;" what he did is he listed all of the countries who are reporting deaths by the percentage use of HCQ. The countries that used the drug had the lowest percentage of death and the countries that didn't use the drugs had the highest percentage of death. That's pretty scary. When you have so totally politicized everything in the system, the system's going to break.
Now, you had sent me some stuff about that book, Common Sense 2.0, which is an amazing book. That where I got the number: 395 million guns in America. Our system is so corrupt that Judge Sullivan in the Mike Flynn case has decided he not only should be the judge, but he's such a good judge he should be the prosecutor, the jury and the executioner. Now, I don't care if you like Sullivan or not, I don't care whether you like Flynn or not; when that happens to the society, the society is irretrievably broken and you need to fix it. The strange thing is, Common Sense 2.0 says there's a simple solution.
Now, I'm going to ask you an interesting question. If you could do one thing to eliminate 99% of the crime in the United States, would you do it, first of all? Second of all, how would you do it?
Maurice Jackson: Well, the answer is yes. I think everyone would answer yes. Now, how would you do it? Well, that's an answer no one seems to have, but I believe you have the solution for us.
Bob Moriarty: People have got a solution for it. What is 99% of the crime in the U.S.?
Maurice Jackson: What is it based on? Is that the question?
Bob Moriarty: What is the crime? Is it burglary? Is it rape? Is it murder? Is it cheating on your taxes? Is it cheating on your wife? If that's true, Trump's in trouble.
Maurice Jackson: Well, I don't know what it is, but I would say that there's a common tie and it's financial.
Bob Moriarty: No.
Maurice Jackson: No?
Bob Moriarty: The answer is, drugs. You smoke a joint most states in the U.S., you just broke the law. Most crime in the United States, 99% of it, is drug-related.
Now, there's a country in the world that does not have any drug crime. Got any idea who that is? Portugal! Here, it's really funny. Most of the crime in the United States is drug-related—even the burglaries are drug-related, so to get the money to buy drugs. You can eliminate the whole thing overnight by decriminalizing drugs.
Now, then, which is worse, the crime or the solution? Law enforcement would say, "Oh my God, we can't give people drugs." Well, that's bull. They get drugs already. Let me give you a number. Do you remember what year the 18th Amendment was overturned? When was Prohibition ended?
Maurice Jackson: The 1920s–30s. Am I way off here?
Bob Moriarty: Yeah, it's 1933, after Roosevelt's election.
Now, the interesting thing was when they eliminated Prohibition, violent crime dropped by 69% between 1933 and 1934. Therefore, was violent crime a function of alcohol use? Or was it a function of the Prohibition laws?
Maurice Jackson: The function of the Prohibition laws.
Bob Moriarty: Of course. All you had to do was change Prohibition laws. We need to wake up in the United States. We need to stop letting the government, letting [Dr. Anthony] Fauci, letting Bill Gates, letting all of these idiots rule us, put us into absolute slavery, treat us like idiots. Let's go to Fauci for a minute. You remember when Fauci was talking about HCQ and he said, "Nobody's done a clinical study on it and we need a clinical study if it's going to be used against COVID-19"? Do you remember that?
Maurice Jackson: I recall that, yes.
Bob Moriarty: Okay, do you recall how long he said it would to take to test a drug that's been around for 65 years, that costs $0.35 a pill—how long would it take to do a proper clinical study? Fifteen months. He said this back in March. It's going to take 15 months to do a proper clinical study. Now, that solid drug that's been around for 65 years, we know what [its] side effects are. We know everything negative about it. We know what the cost is. We know what the availability is.
Now, then, what [are] Bill Gates and Fauci pushing? He wants to vaccinate everybody, and Bill Gates has now come out and says, "Oh, by the way, since its RNA it's going to take multiple vaccinations." Somehow, it takes 15 months to study a drug that's been around for 65 years and costs $0.35 a pill, but you're going to be able to approve and test a drug that permanently alters the DNA of every cell in the body and you're going to be able to do this in two or three months.
Now, there is a clinical word for that. You got any idea what it is?
Maurice Jackson: My clinical word for it is retardated.
Bob Moriarty: No. It's bovine feces; that is absolute, candid bovine feces. There is no way, and anybody who takes multiple vaccinations that have only been tested for two or three months that permanently alters their DNA is an absolute idiot. [Alan] Dershowitz says, "You don't have the right to refuse it."
Really? I thought that's what they made guns for.
Maurice Jackson: A lot of what you're sharing, it kind of ties into, and you alluded to it earlier, it's a book, Common Sense 2.0. I had the pleasure of interviewing David Smith from The Morgan Report, and we discussed this very time-sensitive book. Again, the title is Common Sense 2.0, in which the author goes by the pen name Thomas Paine, who, by the way, was the original author of Common Sense, written in 1776. It addresses the aforementioned with sound, practical solutions. Why should every American read Common Sense 2.0?
Bob Moriarty: It's the only book that I've seen that lists not only what the problems are, but what the solutions are. Now, nobody loves a prophet. They want a savior.
Maurice Jackson: That kind of ties into our last discussion, where we talked about Cassandra. In my view, if you go back and look at any, or listen to any, of our interviews over the years—and I look back at the commentary, where people attempted to refute what you were sharing was going to happen—and when you look at today, I just wish they'd come back and say, "Hey, you know what? I was wrong and Bob was right." But. . .
Bob Moriarty: Oh, they never do that.
Maurice Jackson: No, they never.
Bob Moriarty: In 2011, when I called the top in silver to the day, I got like hundreds of e-mails telling me how stupid I was. I sent them all the same response. I said, "You know, you might be right. I could be a hundred percent wrong, but here's what you should do. Rather than tell me today that I said something wrong yesterday, why don't you write to me in a month and point out how stupid I am?" Of course, none of them ever did. I'm still waiting to hear from these guys.
Maurice Jackson: Speaking of the call in 2011, you kind of made a similar one here recently, so let's switch topics here and discuss gold and silver. Gold recently hit an all-time high, and Bob, you sent a warning shot to the market last week on a perfectly timed article entitled Never Confuse Brains with a Bull Market. That got the attention of a mutual friend that we have in Jayant Bhandari, and he wanted to find out, what compelled you to write this article?
Bob Moriarty: Oh, here's the deal. Have you ever been to an ice hockey game?
Maurice Jackson: I never have.
Bob Moriarty: They're kind of interesting. They're fun. I go not because I understand ice hockey, because I don't and I never will. I'm not a Canadian. You've gotta be a Canadian to understand it. I go to see fights, and unfortunately, the fights used to be a lot better than they are now. They're not very good now. One of the long-time great hockey players said, "You don't skate to the puck, you skate to where the puck is going." I am not skating to the puck, I'm kind of figuring out where the puck's going. I'll give you a perfect example.
We're doing this interview on Friday, and the U.S. dollar has been down 11 days in a row. Now, given that the odds on any particular day are 50-50 of it going up or going down, that's like 2 to the 10th power. The odds are really against that, so the dollar's going up today. It's very predictable, and likewise, when silver spikes, it's saying there's got to be a correction. The strange thing is that I could give you the top 50 gurus in the silver market and they would rather commit adultery than use the word "correction." They think that a correction is somehow spelled with four letters. I don't think it is. I think it's longer than that. It's like six or eight or something like that. They just cannot admit or say there's going to be a correction.
I wrote another piece—it'll be out later today—and I said the price action in both gold and silver is schizophrenic. It doesn't know which way to go. Now, I believe we're going to go into hyperinflation. I believe gold and silver are going to go a lot higher, but I also understand that humans are imperfect. They get a little bullish sometimes, and you need to correct that bullishness. I think there'll be a correction. I think we're seeing signs. We're certainly seeing signs of it in the gold and silver shares, but it's a good thing. When it's over, gold and silver and gold/silver shares are going far higher than anybody can imagine today.
Maurice Jackson: You know, not to contradict what you're saying because I think we're all in agreement that the gold price will be going higher, but your investment thesis has made your fortunes, and that's why I love having you on the program. Share with us: If gold is at an all-time high, and we believe that it's going to go higher, why aren't you buying gold? What metals have your attention and why?
Bob Moriarty: Well, I listen to myself. You know, it is not a sign of insanity to talk to yourself. It is a sign of insanity to listen to yourself, but it's not a sign of insanity to talk to yourself. I have the most interesting conversations and I've been saying for years, "You think things are getting bad? Well, you need to own some gold and silver, platinum and palladium."
Back in March when everybody was panicking and, "Oh my God, the world is ending! Silver is below $12 an ounce!" I was thinking, "Oh, thank you, God. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I want to buy some more." I bought a lot of silver—and you couldn't buy physical silver because the premiums were too high, but you could buy a silver ETF [exchange-traded fund], which for all practical purposes was the same. I was pleased with that.
Maurice Jackson: How about platinum?
Bob Moriarty: I don't know anything about platinum. Never mentioned platinum in my entire life and the mere fact that the ratio between platinum and gold is the worst it's ever been in history. . .just kidding.
Platinum is cheap. Someday platinum's going to go up, to the surprise of everybody, including me.
Maurice Jackson: I know everybody is asking this, so I'm going to go ahead and ask the question. Between the two, is there one that you favor a little bit more right now than the other?
Bob Moriarty: After silver corrects. Now, I've got somebody, and you would be a really good guy to help your customers, you have your thumb on the scale. You know exactly the times to buy and sell.
When everybody's beating the doors down to buy, you don't want to buy. That's when you want to sell, and when the same guys who bought the metal at $25 or $26 an ounce are beating the doors down saying, "I need to get rid of this crap," that's when I look for them. There are some guys that I am very close to that store metal and I tell them, "Look, when guys call up and they want to sell stuff and you need to move it, I'm a buyer." I think at $16—I can't tell you exactly what the sequence was, but silver went below $12. It went up to about $16. It went down to $14.
This guy called me up and said, "Hey, somebody's got a thousand-ounce bar of silver and he wants to sell for a .60 premium." I said, "Damn. I'll go for that. I bought it and the crazy thing is it's not because I'm smart, it's because you have access to better information than I do.
Maurice Jackson: Well, I share the investment thesis that you've shared with me over the years, using the ratios to your advantage and having that discipline, because that's the keyword here that you haven't referenced. I think we can read between the lines. It takes a lot of discipline to do what you're doing, and having courage and conviction, because everyone seems to want to be a part of the crowd. As you've referenced in your books, you have to be an individual when it comes to investing, and that's how you've made these spectacular gains. Again, thank you for sharing that investment thesis with us.
Bob Moriarty: Well, you don't have to be an individual. You can be one of the guys giving money away. If you're a bird or if you're a lion or if you're a water buffalo or if you're a fish, you want to be with the rest of the school or the rest of the flock to be safe. But if you want to make money, you have to learn to think for yourself, first of all.
Strangely enough, if you could figure out what the mob's doing, do the opposite. That sounds difficult but it's so damn easy. I was looking at silver with a DSI [daily sentiment index] of 93 a week, 10 days ago, and said, "Hey, that's getting frothy." Sure enough, it was getting frothy.
Silver is an interesting metal because when it tops, it always does. It spikes up like a couple of dollars in a day, and it comes right back down. I'll give you another thing that's just as effective. With the metals market, the shares are either very liquid or they're very illiquid. When you're near a top, they're very liquid. When you're near a bottom, they're very illiquid. I put in stupid orders way below the market, and I wait for the market to come down to me, and the market's telling me, "Okay, it's near the bottom." Likewise, when you've got an extremely liquid market, that's the time to take some money off the table.
Now, I don't believe for a minute that I'm some kind of investing genius. I've done very well, but I've got access to a lot of information that the average investors don't have. I am in touch with guys like Keith Barron and Quinton Hennigh constantly, and you can't talk to them without learning a lot, so it's not how smart I am, it's how smart they are.
Quite bluntly, the last week or two, it's been a great opportunity to take some money off the table. I've got three or four stocks that are up 400%, 500%, 600%! The one thing that I'll say is, that's going to be across the board fairly soon. I'm not talking about next week or next month. We're going to have a bull market like nobody listening to this has ever seen before and that will make 1979 and 1980 look like a bunch of pussycats.
Maurice Jackson: Well, speaking of the junior mining companies, let's start with companies that are affiliated with a very prominent and successful name, and that is none other than Dr. Quinton Hennigh.
Beginning with Novo Resources Corp. (NVO:TSX.V; NSRPF:OTCQX), and their expansive property bank, what can you share with us?
Bob Moriarty: Novo wants to do a deal on the Millennium Mill. Quinton has wanted to be in production for 10 years and one day it's going to happen. I don't know when. It will be an absolute game-changer. It is really difficult to do business in Australia and it takes a lot longer than it should do, but he's on track. Novo is going to be the biggest gold company in the world 50 years from now.
Maurice Jackson: That's a tall statement to make, but you've got the credentials to back you up.
Bob Moriarty: In the first article that I ever wrote, I said that Novo was going to be the game-changer that was going to wake up the market, and that stock was going to go up between ten- and a hundred-fold. I'm going to tell you, I nailed that and things have changed a lot since then, but I've been to the Pilbara, I don't know, six times, seven times, and the gold's there.
Maurice Jackson: Yeah, I've been there myself and the gold is there. And another place that you and I have been to is Irving Resources Inc. (IRV:CSE; IRVRF:OTCMKTS) in Japan. How about Irving Resources and the Omu Gold Project?
Bob Moriarty: Same thing. Keith Barron did a piece recently and he was talking about the 23-meter intercept. The pictures are on their website from the last press release. He said it's the best-looking intercept he's ever seen. You don't have to believe Quinton Hennigh, you don't have to believe me, and you don't have to believe you, but it certainly would be worth listening to Keith Barron. He likes it and, again, because of the virus, things are a lot slower than they should be. But I think they're going to come out with results soon, and I think they'll be excellent.
Maurice Jackson: Akiko Levinson, the strategic moves she's been making, they've been remarkable. I still think the market has not recognized the contributions that she's made. It's just been spectacular, so kudos to Akiko on her successes.
Bob Moriarty: The market does recognize it and there is something about the shares that everybody is missing. Keep in mind that 90% of the shares are in the hands of the top 10 shareholders. That is the tightest stock that I have ever seen. It's a little tiny float and you talk about this company that's got this $150–200 million market cap, and it trades 30,000 shares a day? Are you kidding me? When they hit big-time, that stock's going to look like a rocket ship.
Maurice Jackson: It certainly is, and we're proud shareholders of Irving Resources. How about let's go to Fiji? Let's talk about Lion One Metals Ltd. (LIO:TSX.V; LOMLF:OTCQX) and the Tavatu Gold Project. They've had some exciting news recently as well.
Bob Moriarty: Well, they hit exactly what Quinton Hennigh said. Here is what's funny about Quinton, and virtually nobody understands this. You don't need Quinton to come in and run your entire program for you. Lion One has some great geologists. Irving has some great geologists. Novo has some great geologists. You need somebody who understands the difference between you know what and shinola. Shinola is boot polish. It's dark, but that's what you use to shine shoes with. Quinton comes in and makes a tiny change in the direction that has an incredible impact.
Now, when I first talked to Lion One, they were talking about the project as being an epithermal alkaline system. That's like talking about a Ford Chevrolet. Have you ever seen a Ford Chevrolet?
Maurice Jackson: I've never seen a Ford Chevrolet.
Bob Moriarty: Yep.
Maurice Jackson: Yeah, the two don't go hand in hand.
Bob Moriarty: Well, it could, but you know why you've never seen one?
Maurice Jackson: Well, I guess in simple terms, it's never been assembled as one.
Bob Moriarty: Well, because they don't exist, okay?
Maurice Jackson: Yeah.
Bob Moriarty: An epithermal system is a hot spring. It has a very limited vertical dimension. Might be a hundred meters, might be 150 meters. Now, if you get into something like a mesothermal system, which is a hotter fluid system, it's usually much deeper; they can be eight times as deep, say, as long. A epithermal thermal system has characteristics and mesothermal systems have characteristics and alkaline systems have characteristics, but Fords are Fords and Chevys are Chevys. You can't have a Ford Chevy because there is no such thing. So the main key thing is they've over at Fiji. There is a mine like 20 miles away in a caldera where they've mined 7 million ounces. They're down to 6,500 feet in the mine and they were talking about it being an epithermal alkaline system.
Well, you can't have an epithermal system at 6,500 feet deep. There is no such thing. Quinton went in and he talked to Wally, who's been banging his head keeping that thing going, moving it forward year after year after year after year. Quinton said, "Look, all you can do is drill deep. You're just approaching this thing like it's epithermal. Do not use the word 'epithermal.' It is not an epithermal system. It's an alkaline system. Drill deep." He drilled deep. He comes up with this incredible 0.3 meters of 1,310 gram gold, over one foot. Holy cow! You can take a blowtorch to that and make belt buckles.
Maurice Jackson: It's astounding, You made some great analogies. LIO's most recent published results, specifically just what that grade means for investors: Lion One Intercepts $80,078 Au.
Bob Moriarty: Well, it means $30,000 gold. If you had one cubic foot of that, it's $30,000 a ton. Holy cow, you can't lift the damn thing, but if you could lift it you'd be rich.
Maurice Jackson: How about NuLegacy Gold Corporation (NUG:TSX.V; NULGF:OTCQB) and the Red Hill Project?
Bob Moriarty: Funny thing is, the same story. Now, I didn't know this but Albert Matter was one of our first customers. This is going back 19 years. He had that little tiny gold company called Alamos in Mexico. He came, pitched me, told me a story. I met him, said it sounds good. He advertised for a year or two and he ended up selling it out and making a ton of money. He's a very sharp guy. He has some brilliant geologists out in Nevada.
Now, at the same time they started working in Nevada, he was actually in touch with Quinton, too, and Quinton said, "You know, you guys are focused on the east. You should go across the fault and you should focus on the west."
Albert's guys didn't agree and they didn't, so they've been tapping holes there for years and they're getting lots and lots and lots of sniffs and they finally started drilling to the west, just like Quinton's been saying for years, and they get the far better intercepts.
I believe they have the next major Carlin Trend deposit. I think the next six months is going to make a giant change. I think they're waiting for some permits. I don't think they can drill until September, but that's been another situation that Quinton talking to them for a few hours has changed their thinking, and I believe it will be in a very positive way.
Maurice Jackson: Sticking with Nevada, one more company that is in the Dr. Quinton Hennigh portfolio, and that is NV Gold Corp. (NVX:TSX.V; NVGLF:OTC) with newly acquired Exodus Gold Project, which has Peter Ball as the CEO.
Bob Moriarty: Well, you ought to be talking about British Columbia. NV Gold—the NV stood for Nevada, and NV Gold had all of these Nevada projects and they've been tapping into these things for years. I cannot tell you how much money I have lost on NV Gold. I've participated in placement after placement after placement and it just never went anywhere. Peter came in a year or so back and he started looking at things differently. He's moved the company forward and they've gone from like $0.10/share to $0.40-something in the last six weeks or two months. They not only are in Nevada. They got some good projects in Nevada, but they've picked up a project in British Columbia and I think they'll do very well.
Maurice Jackson: How about another proven name and that is Greg Johnson? Of course, that name is synonymous with the Metallic Group of Companies.
Beginning with Metallic Minerals Corp. (MMG:TSX.V; MMNGF:OTCMKTS) and the Kino Silver Project, what can you share with us?
Bob Moriarty: Well, here's what's funny. Do you know how long I've known Greg Johnson?
Maurice Jackson: I think that goes back to the late '90s, does it not, at Nova?
Bob Moriarty: Correct. NOVAGOLD Resources Inc. (NG:TSX; NG:NYSE.MKT) was the first company that I wrote about. Jay Taylor was the guy who discovered them and he was writing about them when they were $0.30 a share. The stock went down to $0.13 a share. I looked at it because they were generating $0.13 a share in earnings and the stock was $0.13 a share. I thought, "Well, that seems pretty damn cheap to me." I wrote about them when they were a dollar a share and they doubled, and then I wrote about them six weeks later and they doubled again.
I've known Greg for the longest time. Greg has done something interesting. He hasn't got any credit for it yet, but he supervises three different companies. Metallic Minerals is their silver company and it's up in the Yukon. It's going to be a silver play. I think it will be very effective.
Maurice Jackson: The Keno Silver Project is a brownfields adjacent to Alexco Resource Corp. (AXU:NYSE.MKT; AXR:TSX).
Bob Moriarty: How can you go wrong? You're in a district that took out a billion ounces of silver. You ought to be able to find something.
Maurice Jackson: Well, with someone that's proven. Then you go to Montana with Group Ten Metals Inc. (PGE:TSX.V; PGEZF:OTCQB; 5D32:FSE), what do you like about Group Ten and the Stillwater West Project?
Bob Moriarty: Group Ten has not gotten the appreciation that it should, which is insane. Palladium has been so much more valuable than I think it's worth compared to platinum, and they're right next to the Stillwater complex and they've got half of the deposit. I am shocked that that stock isn't three or four times what it is now, but it'll get there.
Maurice Jackson: To add to the opportunity, Group Ten Metals is finding rhodium. You're referring to the Stillwater West, and Sibanye Gold Ltd. (SBGL:NYSE) purchased the Stillwater a couple of years ago for 2.2 billion. Again, they're adjacent to the Stillwater, with the Stillwater West 25 kilometers and they're finding rhodium as well, seven grams. Look at the price of rhodium. My goodness, it's just quite remarkable.
Bob Moriarty: Let me tell you something. You want to get a nosebleed? Look at the difference between the bid and ask. I think I was looking at a week ago and it was $6,000 bid and $9,000 ask. I went, "Holy cow!"
Maurice Jackson: Well, there's one more company in the Metallic Company, and that is Granite Creek Copper Ltd. (GCX:TSX.V), and they're in the Minto Copper District there. What do you like about GCX and the Stu Copper Project?
Bob Moriarty: Copper.
Maurice Jackson: You got it. The interesting aspect of that is I think that we're looking at oxide versus sulfide there, and that increases the value proposition. I think it was you that brought it to my attention. It must have been a year or so ago. You said, "Maurice, the world is going to consume more copper in the next 25 years than all of recorded history, so this is a company you got to take a look at." I just want to step back for a second here. Granite Creek was $0.03/share back in May; they're $0.10, $0.12, somewhere in there.
Going back to Metallic Minerals, they were $0.15 back in October of 2018, and they're approaching $0.60 here.
Bob Moriarty: Yeah. There are some spectacular gains. I would highly suggest if people want to make money as opposed to indulging their fantasies, go to Amazon, spend a few bucks, buy my books. You don't have to buy them because I say they're good, read the damn reviews. Some people who read that book say they are the best financial books they have ever read. The books are excellent, they're cheap, they will help you make money. All I did was take things that nobody else says, which shocks me, but they're good books. If you read the books, you will make money.
Maurice Jackson: If I may, I would disagree. I don't think they're good books. I think they're exceptional books. I don't benefit financially from it, but ladies and gentlemen, I have benefited financially by reading and applying, and that is it. It has been life-changing. Hands down the best books on finance and I'm readaholic about finance. I can find none better than Bob's books, and that's why we always reference them. There is no financial gain for me by you purchasing—none—but if you read it and you apply, you'll be smiling just like both of us are.
All right, we got one more name here and that's another proven name. That is Tim Termeunde, and he has two companies that have your attention. How about Taiga Gold Corp. (TGC:CSE; TGGDF:OTCBB), which is a spinout of Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (EPL:TSX.V)?
Bob Moriarty: Tim Termeunde is one of my favorite people. Barbara just loved him. She would have dumped me in a heartbeat if he was available. Tim's a great guy. Eagle Plains is a prospect generator. It has never got the respect that it is due. They got a ton of good projects and they spun one of the best ones off into the gold project and I can't pronounce it, either, but I own some and I'm a happy camper.
Maurice Jackson: The Fisher Project in Saskatchewan, that's an interesting one.
We encourage readers to take a look at these names that we've referenced here today. They are truly unique value propositions. Yes, some of them have moved up tremendously, but in my view, you've got to have the discipline like Bob shared as know when to sell if you've taken action in the past, and then look for an opportunity to continue to add.
All right, in closing, sir, what keeps you up at night that we don't know about?
Bob Moriarty: I'm not certain, but there is some kind of creature that climbs in trees and it climbs onto my roof. Since we don't have lions and tigers here, I'm not particularly worried about it. I would love to know what it is, because I wish it would let me sleep. I wake up at 2 in the morning. I hear the damn scratching on the roof and I think, "I wish I had a gun."
Maurice Jackson: Well, you know what? Could it be a goat? Don't goats go into trees? I think goats climb trees, don't they?
Bob Moriarty: No, I think you made that up.
Maurice Jackson: No, I didn't think goats were able to climb trees because they don't have claws, but they actually can (laughter).
Bob Moriarty: These are pretty tall trees. They would have to be damn parachutists to get on those.
Maurice Jackson: All right, last question, sir, and that is, what did I forget to ask?
Bob Moriarty: I don't know. We'll figure it out next time.
Maurice Jackson: Sounds good. Bob, for someone listening that wants to get more information about your books and your work, please share the website addresses.
Bob Moriarty: 321gold, 321energy, and amazon.com, and all they got to do is look up my name. They're good books. People seem to like them.
Maurice Jackson: Well, I certainly do. All right. Well, till next time, sir, wishing you the absolute best.
Bob Moriarty: Okay. It's good talking to you.
Maurice Jackson: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us today on Proven and Probable. As a reminder, I'm your licensed representative from Miles Franklin Precious Metals Investments, but we have several options to expand your precious metals portfolio, from physical delivery to offshore depositories and precious metal IRAs. Give me a call at (855) 505-1900, or you may e-mail [email protected].
Finally, please subscribe to Proven and Probable for mining insights and bullion sales. Subscription is free.
Maurice Jackson is the founder of Proven and Probable, a site that aims to enrich its subscribers through education in precious metals and junior mining companies that will enrich the world.
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Disclosure: 1) Maurice Jackson: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources are sponsors of Proven and Probable. Proven and Probable disclosures are listed below. 2) Bob Moriarty: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources. 3) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: Lion One Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Irving Resources. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. 4) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy. 5) This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports. 6) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own shares of Metallic Minerals, Group Ten and Granite Creek Copper, companies mentioned in this article.
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( Companies Mentioned: EPL:TSX.V, GCX:TSX.V, PGE:TSX.V; PGEZF:OTCQB; 5D32:FSE, IRV:CSE; IRVRF:OTCMKTS, LIO:TSX.V; LOMLF:OTCQX, MMG:TSX.V; MMNGF:OTCMKTS, NG:TSX; NG:NYSE.MKT, NVO:TSX.V; NSRPF:OTCQX, NUG:TSX.V; NULGF:OTCQB, NVX:TSX.V; NVGLF:OTC, TGC:CSE; TGGDF:OTCBB, )
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Bob Moriarty: From Coronavirus to Gold to Goats on the Roof
Source: Maurice Jackson for Streetwise Reports   08/05/2020
Bob Moriarty of 321gold and Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable discuss the effects of pandemic fears on markets, government and society, as well as the status of a number of gold and precious metals juniors, including one whose stock Moriarty expects will take off like a "rocket ship."
Maurice Jackson: Joining us for a conversation is Bob Moriarty, a world-renowned best-selling author and Founder of 321gold and 321energy.com.
Bob Moriarty: Thank you. It's good to be back, Maurice.
Maurice Jackson: Always an honor to have you join us on the program. We have several items to discuss, so let's get started. Beginning in the United States, what are your thoughts on the prospect of postponing the election because of the coronavirus?
Bob Moriarty: Oh boy. When you went through training, did they ever teach you how to throw a hand grenade?
Maurice Jackson: No, sir.
Bob Moriarty: Okay. Are you familiar with the basics?
Maurice Jackson: Yes, sir. You pull the pin and throw it as soon as you can in the right direction.
Bob Moriarty: Okay. Now, you got it in exactly the right order, but what happens if you pull the pin and you don't let go?
Maurice Jackson: Oh, that's not a favorable outcome.
Bob Moriarty: That's an unfavorable outcome. The protests in U.S. scare the hell out of me. Let me give you some numbers. Fifty-three million Americans have lost their jobs and applied for unemployment compensation. A lot of them were getting an extra $600 a week; that stops today. They were getting paid not to work, so they didn't work. Now, many of those 53 million Americans are not going back to work, and that includes the travel industry, it includes the airlines, it includes hotels, it includes restaurants. When the dust finally settles, Americans are going to be shocked to see how much of a change has happened since March.
Now, then, when you have a country with 53 million people out of work and the government stops giving them free money and there are 395 million guns in the country and the deep state has been running a three-year coup against the President, what happens if the President says, "Well, we don't need to vote, we got a President."?
Maurice Jackson: Again, it's not a favorable outcome. I believe that the losing party from the election is going to be a sore loser. What are your thoughts there?
Bob Moriarty: I don't think there's going to be an election.
Maurice Jackson: I'm shaking my head in disbelief. That's something I never thought I'd hear coming from the United States.
Bob Moriarty: Well, yeah, but you can look around. I mean, the strange thing is, you've been interviewing me for years and nothing that is happening is a surprise to me. It's something that I said was coming years ago. I was writing books four years ago saying we were going to have a worldwide revolution. None of this is a surprise.
However, the speed at which the country is decaying is shocking to me.
Now, let's talk about Trump. I don't like Trump. I think the man's a narcissist. I think he's a total jackass. However, we've had fools as Presidents before and we survived. The idea of the FBI and the DOJ (U.S. Department of Justice) selecting who the President should be, that is scary.
Now, somebody is paying for these rioters. I hear all kinds of rumors about George Soros and a good chance that it's true. What's going on is not an accident. It's deliberate and it's extremely dangerous. It's something that Barbara and I saw coming 15 years ago and that's why we left. I have been in riots before. They are not nearly as much fun as people suggest. I've seen some crazy things and Trump is feeding the fire. The Democrats are feeding the fire. Schiff is really funny. Schiff just came out and said the rumors of Antifa being behind the riots were total fiction. How stupid do these people think the American public is? You've got a lot of very angry people.
The whole COVID-19 thing is a total fraud. I sent you a document that we're going to be posting tomorrow that's bizarre and it shows that HCQ, the medicine, is not a cure but it's something that relieves symptoms of COVID-19. It's so bizarre. A group of a hundred doctors got together, made a video, said, "Hey, the HCQ thing is absolute nonsense. It's political and is a cure for COVID-19." They fired the woman doctor spokesman, and Facebook and Twitter and Netscape all banned them. Now, that's scary. We're into book burning. Wow, that's scary.
Hugo Salinas Price, who I have a lot of time for, came out with a piece and the question was, "Is HCQ effective against coronavirus?" He didn't come in and say, "Here's my opinion;" what he did is he listed all of the countries who are reporting deaths by the percentage use of HCQ. The countries that used the drug had the lowest percentage of death and the countries that didn't use the drugs had the highest percentage of death. That's pretty scary. When you have so totally politicized everything in the system, the system's going to break.
Now, you had sent me some stuff about that book, Common Sense 2.0, which is an amazing book. That where I got the number: 395 million guns in America. Our system is so corrupt that Judge Sullivan in the Mike Flynn case has decided he not only should be the judge, but he's such a good judge he should be the prosecutor, the jury and the executioner. Now, I don't care if you like Sullivan or not, I don't care whether you like Flynn or not; when that happens to the society, the society is irretrievably broken and you need to fix it. The strange thing is, Common Sense 2.0 says there's a simple solution.
Now, I'm going to ask you an interesting question. If you could do one thing to eliminate 99% of the crime in the United States, would you do it, first of all? Second of all, how would you do it?
Maurice Jackson: Well, the answer is yes. I think everyone would answer yes. Now, how would you do it? Well, that's an answer no one seems to have, but I believe you have the solution for us.
Bob Moriarty: People have got a solution for it. What is 99% of the crime in the U.S.?
Maurice Jackson: What is it based on? Is that the question?
Bob Moriarty: What is the crime? Is it burglary? Is it rape? Is it murder? Is it cheating on your taxes? Is it cheating on your wife? If that's true, Trump's in trouble.
Maurice Jackson: Well, I don't know what it is, but I would say that there's a common tie and it's financial.
Bob Moriarty: No.
Maurice Jackson: No?
Bob Moriarty: The answer is, drugs. You smoke a joint most states in the U.S., you just broke the law. Most crime in the United States, 99% of it, is drug-related.
Now, there's a country in the world that does not have any drug crime. Got any idea who that is? Portugal! Here, it's really funny. Most of the crime in the United States is drug-related—even the burglaries are drug-related, so to get the money to buy drugs. You can eliminate the whole thing overnight by decriminalizing drugs.
Now, then, which is worse, the crime or the solution? Law enforcement would say, "Oh my God, we can't give people drugs." Well, that's bull. They get drugs already. Let me give you a number. Do you remember what year the 18th Amendment was overturned? When was Prohibition ended?
Maurice Jackson: The 1920s–30s. Am I way off here?
Bob Moriarty: Yeah, it's 1933, after Roosevelt's election.
Now, the interesting thing was when they eliminated Prohibition, violent crime dropped by 69% between 1933 and 1934. Therefore, was violent crime a function of alcohol use? Or was it a function of the Prohibition laws?
Maurice Jackson: The function of the Prohibition laws.
Bob Moriarty: Of course. All you had to do was change Prohibition laws. We need to wake up in the United States. We need to stop letting the government, letting [Dr. Anthony] Fauci, letting Bill Gates, letting all of these idiots rule us, put us into absolute slavery, treat us like idiots. Let's go to Fauci for a minute. You remember when Fauci was talking about HCQ and he said, "Nobody's done a clinical study on it and we need a clinical study if it's going to be used against COVID-19"? Do you remember that?
Maurice Jackson: I recall that, yes.
Bob Moriarty: Okay, do you recall how long he said it would to take to test a drug that's been around for 65 years, that costs $0.35 a pill—how long would it take to do a proper clinical study? Fifteen months. He said this back in March. It's going to take 15 months to do a proper clinical study. Now, that solid drug that's been around for 65 years, we know what [its] side effects are. We know everything negative about it. We know what the cost is. We know what the availability is.
Now, then, what [are] Bill Gates and Fauci pushing? He wants to vaccinate everybody, and Bill Gates has now come out and says, "Oh, by the way, since its RNA it's going to take multiple vaccinations." Somehow, it takes 15 months to study a drug that's been around for 65 years and costs $0.35 a pill, but you're going to be able to approve and test a drug that permanently alters the DNA of every cell in the body and you're going to be able to do this in two or three months.
Now, there is a clinical word for that. You got any idea what it is?
Maurice Jackson: My clinical word for it is retardated.
Bob Moriarty: No. It's bovine feces; that is absolute, candid bovine feces. There is no way, and anybody who takes multiple vaccinations that have only been tested for two or three months that permanently alters their DNA is an absolute idiot. [Alan] Dershowitz says, "You don't have the right to refuse it."
Really? I thought that's what they made guns for.
Maurice Jackson: A lot of what you're sharing, it kind of ties into, and you alluded to it earlier, it's a book, Common Sense 2.0. I had the pleasure of interviewing David Smith from The Morgan Report, and we discussed this very time-sensitive book. Again, the title is Common Sense 2.0, in which the author goes by the pen name Thomas Paine, who, by the way, was the original author of Common Sense, written in 1776. It addresses the aforementioned with sound, practical solutions. Why should every American read Common Sense 2.0?
Bob Moriarty: It's the only book that I've seen that lists not only what the problems are, but what the solutions are. Now, nobody loves a prophet. They want a savior.
Maurice Jackson: That kind of ties into our last discussion, where we talked about Cassandra. In my view, if you go back and look at any, or listen to any, of our interviews over the years—and I look back at the commentary, where people attempted to refute what you were sharing was going to happen—and when you look at today, I just wish they'd come back and say, "Hey, you know what? I was wrong and Bob was right." But. . .
Bob Moriarty: Oh, they never do that.
Maurice Jackson: No, they never.
Bob Moriarty: In 2011, when I called the top in silver to the day, I got like hundreds of e-mails telling me how stupid I was. I sent them all the same response. I said, "You know, you might be right. I could be a hundred percent wrong, but here's what you should do. Rather than tell me today that I said something wrong yesterday, why don't you write to me in a month and point out how stupid I am?" Of course, none of them ever did. I'm still waiting to hear from these guys.
Maurice Jackson: Speaking of the call in 2011, you kind of made a similar one here recently, so let's switch topics here and discuss gold and silver. Gold recently hit an all-time high, and Bob, you sent a warning shot to the market last week on a perfectly timed article entitled Never Confuse Brains with a Bull Market. That got the attention of a mutual friend that we have in Jayant Bhandari, and he wanted to find out, what compelled you to write this article?
Bob Moriarty: Oh, here's the deal. Have you ever been to an ice hockey game?
Maurice Jackson: I never have.
Bob Moriarty: They're kind of interesting. They're fun. I go not because I understand ice hockey, because I don't and I never will. I'm not a Canadian. You've gotta be a Canadian to understand it. I go to see fights, and unfortunately, the fights used to be a lot better than they are now. They're not very good now. One of the long-time great hockey players said, "You don't skate to the puck, you skate to where the puck is going." I am not skating to the puck, I'm kind of figuring out where the puck's going. I'll give you a perfect example.
We're doing this interview on Friday, and the U.S. dollar has been down 11 days in a row. Now, given that the odds on any particular day are 50-50 of it going up or going down, that's like 2 to the 10th power. The odds are really against that, so the dollar's going up today. It's very predictable, and likewise, when silver spikes, it's saying there's got to be a correction. The strange thing is that I could give you the top 50 gurus in the silver market and they would rather commit adultery than use the word "correction." They think that a correction is somehow spelled with four letters. I don't think it is. I think it's longer than that. It's like six or eight or something like that. They just cannot admit or say there's going to be a correction.
I wrote another piece—it'll be out later today—and I said the price action in both gold and silver is schizophrenic. It doesn't know which way to go. Now, I believe we're going to go into hyperinflation. I believe gold and silver are going to go a lot higher, but I also understand that humans are imperfect. They get a little bullish sometimes, and you need to correct that bullishness. I think there'll be a correction. I think we're seeing signs. We're certainly seeing signs of it in the gold and silver shares, but it's a good thing. When it's over, gold and silver and gold/silver shares are going far higher than anybody can imagine today.
Maurice Jackson: You know, not to contradict what you're saying because I think we're all in agreement that the gold price will be going higher, but your investment thesis has made your fortunes, and that's why I love having you on the program. Share with us: If gold is at an all-time high, and we believe that it's going to go higher, why aren't you buying gold? What metals have your attention and why?
Bob Moriarty: Well, I listen to myself. You know, it is not a sign of insanity to talk to yourself. It is a sign of insanity to listen to yourself, but it's not a sign of insanity to talk to yourself. I have the most interesting conversations and I've been saying for years, "You think things are getting bad? Well, you need to own some gold and silver, platinum and palladium."
Back in March when everybody was panicking and, "Oh my God, the world is ending! Silver is below $12 an ounce!" I was thinking, "Oh, thank you, God. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I want to buy some more." I bought a lot of silver—and you couldn't buy physical silver because the premiums were too high, but you could buy a silver ETF [exchange-traded fund], which for all practical purposes was the same. I was pleased with that.
Maurice Jackson: How about platinum?
Bob Moriarty: I don't know anything about platinum. Never mentioned platinum in my entire life and the mere fact that the ratio between platinum and gold is the worst it's ever been in history. . .just kidding.
Platinum is cheap. Someday platinum's going to go up, to the surprise of everybody, including me.
Maurice Jackson: I know everybody is asking this, so I'm going to go ahead and ask the question. Between the two, is there one that you favor a little bit more right now than the other?
Bob Moriarty: After silver corrects. Now, I've got somebody, and you would be a really good guy to help your customers, you have your thumb on the scale. You know exactly the times to buy and sell.
When everybody's beating the doors down to buy, you don't want to buy. That's when you want to sell, and when the same guys who bought the metal at $25 or $26 an ounce are beating the doors down saying, "I need to get rid of this crap," that's when I look for them. There are some guys that I am very close to that store metal and I tell them, "Look, when guys call up and they want to sell stuff and you need to move it, I'm a buyer." I think at $16—I can't tell you exactly what the sequence was, but silver went below $12. It went up to about $16. It went down to $14.
This guy called me up and said, "Hey, somebody's got a thousand-ounce bar of silver and he wants to sell for a .60 premium." I said, "Damn. I'll go for that. I bought it and the crazy thing is it's not because I'm smart, it's because you have access to better information than I do.
Maurice Jackson: Well, I share the investment thesis that you've shared with me over the years, using the ratios to your advantage and having that discipline, because that's the keyword here that you haven't referenced. I think we can read between the lines. It takes a lot of discipline to do what you're doing, and having courage and conviction, because everyone seems to want to be a part of the crowd. As you've referenced in your books, you have to be an individual when it comes to investing, and that's how you've made these spectacular gains. Again, thank you for sharing that investment thesis with us.
Bob Moriarty: Well, you don't have to be an individual. You can be one of the guys giving money away. If you're a bird or if you're a lion or if you're a water buffalo or if you're a fish, you want to be with the rest of the school or the rest of the flock to be safe. But if you want to make money, you have to learn to think for yourself, first of all.
Strangely enough, if you could figure out what the mob's doing, do the opposite. That sounds difficult but it's so damn easy. I was looking at silver with a DSI [daily sentiment index] of 93 a week, 10 days ago, and said, "Hey, that's getting frothy." Sure enough, it was getting frothy.
Silver is an interesting metal because when it tops, it always does. It spikes up like a couple of dollars in a day, and it comes right back down. I'll give you another thing that's just as effective. With the metals market, the shares are either very liquid or they're very illiquid. When you're near a top, they're very liquid. When you're near a bottom, they're very illiquid. I put in stupid orders way below the market, and I wait for the market to come down to me, and the market's telling me, "Okay, it's near the bottom." Likewise, when you've got an extremely liquid market, that's the time to take some money off the table.
Now, I don't believe for a minute that I'm some kind of investing genius. I've done very well, but I've got access to a lot of information that the average investors don't have. I am in touch with guys like Keith Barron and Quinton Hennigh constantly, and you can't talk to them without learning a lot, so it's not how smart I am, it's how smart they are.
Quite bluntly, the last week or two, it's been a great opportunity to take some money off the table. I've got three or four stocks that are up 400%, 500%, 600%! The one thing that I'll say is, that's going to be across the board fairly soon. I'm not talking about next week or next month. We're going to have a bull market like nobody listening to this has ever seen before and that will make 1979 and 1980 look like a bunch of pussycats.
Maurice Jackson: Well, speaking of the junior mining companies, let's start with companies that are affiliated with a very prominent and successful name, and that is none other than Dr. Quinton Hennigh.
Beginning with Novo Resources Corp. (NVO:TSX.V; NSRPF:OTCQX), and their expansive property bank, what can you share with us?
Bob Moriarty: Novo wants to do a deal on the Millennium Mill. Quinton has wanted to be in production for 10 years and one day it's going to happen. I don't know when. It will be an absolute game-changer. It is really difficult to do business in Australia and it takes a lot longer than it should do, but he's on track. Novo is going to be the biggest gold company in the world 50 years from now.
Maurice Jackson: That's a tall statement to make, but you've got the credentials to back you up.
Bob Moriarty: In the first article that I ever wrote, I said that Novo was going to be the game-changer that was going to wake up the market, and that stock was going to go up between ten- and a hundred-fold. I'm going to tell you, I nailed that and things have changed a lot since then, but I've been to the Pilbara, I don't know, six times, seven times, and the gold's there.
Maurice Jackson: Yeah, I've been there myself and the gold is there. And another place that you and I have been to is Irving Resources Inc. (IRV:CSE; IRVRF:OTCMKTS) in Japan. How about Irving Resources and the Omu Gold Project?
Bob Moriarty: Same thing. Keith Barron did a piece recently and he was talking about the 23-meter intercept. The pictures are on their website from the last press release. He said it's the best-looking intercept he's ever seen. You don't have to believe Quinton Hennigh, you don't have to believe me, and you don't have to believe you, but it certainly would be worth listening to Keith Barron. He likes it and, again, because of the virus, things are a lot slower than they should be. But I think they're going to come out with results soon, and I think they'll be excellent.
Maurice Jackson: Akiko Levinson, the strategic moves she's been making, they've been remarkable. I still think the market has not recognized the contributions that she's made. It's just been spectacular, so kudos to Akiko on her successes.
Bob Moriarty: The market does recognize it and there is something about the shares that everybody is missing. Keep in mind that 90% of the shares are in the hands of the top 10 shareholders. That is the tightest stock that I have ever seen. It's a little tiny float and you talk about this company that's got this $150–200 million market cap, and it trades 30,000 shares a day? Are you kidding me? When they hit big-time, that stock's going to look like a rocket ship.
Maurice Jackson: It certainly is, and we're proud shareholders of Irving Resources. How about let's go to Fiji? Let's talk about Lion One Metals Ltd. (LIO:TSX.V; LOMLF:OTCQX) and the Tavatu Gold Project. They've had some exciting news recently as well.
Bob Moriarty: Well, they hit exactly what Quinton Hennigh said. Here is what's funny about Quinton, and virtually nobody understands this. You don't need Quinton to come in and run your entire program for you. Lion One has some great geologists. Irving has some great geologists. Novo has some great geologists. You need somebody who understands the difference between you know what and shinola. Shinola is boot polish. It's dark, but that's what you use to shine shoes with. Quinton comes in and makes a tiny change in the direction that has an incredible impact.
Now, when I first talked to Lion One, they were talking about the project as being an epithermal alkaline system. That's like talking about a Ford Chevrolet. Have you ever seen a Ford Chevrolet?
Maurice Jackson: I've never seen a Ford Chevrolet.
Bob Moriarty: Yep.
Maurice Jackson: Yeah, the two don't go hand in hand.
Bob Moriarty: Well, it could, but you know why you've never seen one?
Maurice Jackson: Well, I guess in simple terms, it's never been assembled as one.
Bob Moriarty: Well, because they don't exist, okay?
Maurice Jackson: Yeah.
Bob Moriarty: An epithermal system is a hot spring. It has a very limited vertical dimension. Might be a hundred meters, might be 150 meters. Now, if you get into something like a mesothermal system, which is a hotter fluid system, it's usually much deeper; they can be eight times as deep, say, as long. A epithermal thermal system has characteristics and mesothermal systems have characteristics and alkaline systems have characteristics, but Fords are Fords and Chevys are Chevys. You can't have a Ford Chevy because there is no such thing. So the main key thing is they've over at Fiji. There is a mine like 20 miles away in a caldera where they've mined 7 million ounces. They're down to 6,500 feet in the mine and they were talking about it being an epithermal alkaline system.
Well, you can't have an epithermal system at 6,500 feet deep. There is no such thing. Quinton went in and he talked to Wally, who's been banging his head keeping that thing going, moving it forward year after year after year after year. Quinton said, "Look, all you can do is drill deep. You're just approaching this thing like it's epithermal. Do not use the word 'epithermal.' It is not an epithermal system. It's an alkaline system. Drill deep." He drilled deep. He comes up with this incredible 0.3 meters of 1,310 gram gold, over one foot. Holy cow! You can take a blowtorch to that and make belt buckles.
Maurice Jackson: It's astounding, You made some great analogies. LIO's most recent published results, specifically just what that grade means for investors: Lion One Intercepts $80,078 Au.
Bob Moriarty: Well, it means $30,000 gold. If you had one cubic foot of that, it's $30,000 a ton. Holy cow, you can't lift the damn thing, but if you could lift it you'd be rich.
Maurice Jackson: How about NuLegacy Gold Corporation (NUG:TSX.V; NULGF:OTCQB) and the Red Hill Project?
Bob Moriarty: Funny thing is, the same story. Now, I didn't know this but Albert Matter was one of our first customers. This is going back 19 years. He had that little tiny gold company called Alamos in Mexico. He came, pitched me, told me a story. I met him, said it sounds good. He advertised for a year or two and he ended up selling it out and making a ton of money. He's a very sharp guy. He has some brilliant geologists out in Nevada.
Now, at the same time they started working in Nevada, he was actually in touch with Quinton, too, and Quinton said, "You know, you guys are focused on the east. You should go across the fault and you should focus on the west."
Albert's guys didn't agree and they didn't, so they've been tapping holes there for years and they're getting lots and lots and lots of sniffs and they finally started drilling to the west, just like Quinton's been saying for years, and they get the far better intercepts.
I believe they have the next major Carlin Trend deposit. I think the next six months is going to make a giant change. I think they're waiting for some permits. I don't think they can drill until September, but that's been another situation that Quinton talking to them for a few hours has changed their thinking, and I believe it will be in a very positive way.
Maurice Jackson: Sticking with Nevada, one more company that is in the Dr. Quinton Hennigh portfolio, and that is NV Gold Corp. (NVX:TSX.V; NVGLF:OTC) with newly acquired Exodus Gold Project, which has Peter Ball as the CEO.
Bob Moriarty: Well, you ought to be talking about British Columbia. NV Gold—the NV stood for Nevada, and NV Gold had all of these Nevada projects and they've been tapping into these things for years. I cannot tell you how much money I have lost on NV Gold. I've participated in placement after placement after placement and it just never went anywhere. Peter came in a year or so back and he started looking at things differently. He's moved the company forward and they've gone from like $0.10/share to $0.40-something in the last six weeks or two months. They not only are in Nevada. They got some good projects in Nevada, but they've picked up a project in British Columbia and I think they'll do very well.
Maurice Jackson: How about another proven name and that is Greg Johnson? Of course, that name is synonymous with the Metallic Group of Companies.
Beginning with Metallic Minerals Corp. (MMG:TSX.V; MMNGF:OTCMKTS) and the Kino Silver Project, what can you share with us?
Bob Moriarty: Well, here's what's funny. Do you know how long I've known Greg Johnson?
Maurice Jackson: I think that goes back to the late '90s, does it not, at Nova?
Bob Moriarty: Correct. NOVAGOLD Resources Inc. (NG:TSX; NG:NYSE.MKT) was the first company that I wrote about. Jay Taylor was the guy who discovered them and he was writing about them when they were $0.30 a share. The stock went down to $0.13 a share. I looked at it because they were generating $0.13 a share in earnings and the stock was $0.13 a share. I thought, "Well, that seems pretty damn cheap to me." I wrote about them when they were a dollar a share and they doubled, and then I wrote about them six weeks later and they doubled again.
I've known Greg for the longest time. Greg has done something interesting. He hasn't got any credit for it yet, but he supervises three different companies. Metallic Minerals is their silver company and it's up in the Yukon. It's going to be a silver play. I think it will be very effective.
Maurice Jackson: The Keno Silver Project is a brownfields adjacent to Alexco Resource Corp. (AXU:NYSE.MKT; AXR:TSX).
Bob Moriarty: How can you go wrong? You're in a district that took out a billion ounces of silver. You ought to be able to find something.
Maurice Jackson: Well, with someone that's proven. Then you go to Montana with Group Ten Metals Inc. (PGE:TSX.V; PGEZF:OTCQB; 5D32:FSE), what do you like about Group Ten and the Stillwater West Project?
Bob Moriarty: Group Ten has not gotten the appreciation that it should, which is insane. Palladium has been so much more valuable than I think it's worth compared to platinum, and they're right next to the Stillwater complex and they've got half of the deposit. I am shocked that that stock isn't three or four times what it is now, but it'll get there.
Maurice Jackson: To add to the opportunity, Group Ten Metals is finding rhodium. You're referring to the Stillwater West, and Sibanye Gold Ltd. (SBGL:NYSE) purchased the Stillwater a couple of years ago for 2.2 billion. Again, they're adjacent to the Stillwater, with the Stillwater West 25 kilometers and they're finding rhodium as well, seven grams. Look at the price of rhodium. My goodness, it's just quite remarkable.
Bob Moriarty: Let me tell you something. You want to get a nosebleed? Look at the difference between the bid and ask. I think I was looking at a week ago and it was $6,000 bid and $9,000 ask. I went, "Holy cow!"
Maurice Jackson: Well, there's one more company in the Metallic Company, and that is Granite Creek Copper Ltd. (GCX:TSX.V), and they're in the Minto Copper District there. What do you like about GCX and the Stu Copper Project?
Bob Moriarty: Copper.
Maurice Jackson: You got it. The interesting aspect of that is I think that we're looking at oxide versus sulfide there, and that increases the value proposition. I think it was you that brought it to my attention. It must have been a year or so ago. You said, "Maurice, the world is going to consume more copper in the next 25 years than all of recorded history, so this is a company you got to take a look at." I just want to step back for a second here. Granite Creek was $0.03/share back in May; they're $0.10, $0.12, somewhere in there.
Going back to Metallic Minerals, they were $0.15 back in October of 2018, and they're approaching $0.60 here.
Bob Moriarty: Yeah. There are some spectacular gains. I would highly suggest if people want to make money as opposed to indulging their fantasies, go to Amazon, spend a few bucks, buy my books. You don't have to buy them because I say they're good, read the damn reviews. Some people who read that book say they are the best financial books they have ever read. The books are excellent, they're cheap, they will help you make money. All I did was take things that nobody else says, which shocks me, but they're good books. If you read the books, you will make money.
Maurice Jackson: If I may, I would disagree. I don't think they're good books. I think they're exceptional books. I don't benefit financially from it, but ladies and gentlemen, I have benefited financially by reading and applying, and that is it. It has been life-changing. Hands down the best books on finance and I'm readaholic about finance. I can find none better than Bob's books, and that's why we always reference them. There is no financial gain for me by you purchasing—none—but if you read it and you apply, you'll be smiling just like both of us are.
All right, we got one more name here and that's another proven name. That is Tim Termeunde, and he has two companies that have your attention. How about Taiga Gold Corp. (TGC:CSE; TGGDF:OTCBB), which is a spinout of Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (EPL:TSX.V)?
Bob Moriarty: Tim Termeunde is one of my favorite people. Barbara just loved him. She would have dumped me in a heartbeat if he was available. Tim's a great guy. Eagle Plains is a prospect generator. It has never got the respect that it is due. They got a ton of good projects and they spun one of the best ones off into the gold project and I can't pronounce it, either, but I own some and I'm a happy camper.
Maurice Jackson: The Fisher Project in Saskatchewan, that's an interesting one.
We encourage readers to take a look at these names that we've referenced here today. They are truly unique value propositions. Yes, some of them have moved up tremendously, but in my view, you've got to have the discipline like Bob shared as know when to sell if you've taken action in the past, and then look for an opportunity to continue to add.
All right, in closing, sir, what keeps you up at night that we don't know about?
Bob Moriarty: I'm not certain, but there is some kind of creature that climbs in trees and it climbs onto my roof. Since we don't have lions and tigers here, I'm not particularly worried about it. I would love to know what it is, because I wish it would let me sleep. I wake up at 2 in the morning. I hear the damn scratching on the roof and I think, "I wish I had a gun."
Maurice Jackson: Well, you know what? Could it be a goat? Don't goats go into trees? I think goats climb trees, don't they?
Bob Moriarty: No, I think you made that up.
Maurice Jackson: No, I didn't think goats were able to climb trees because they don't have claws, but they actually can (laughter).
Bob Moriarty: These are pretty tall trees. They would have to be damn parachutists to get on those.
Maurice Jackson: All right, last question, sir, and that is, what did I forget to ask?
Bob Moriarty: I don't know. We'll figure it out next time.
Maurice Jackson: Sounds good. Bob, for someone listening that wants to get more information about your books and your work, please share the website addresses.
Bob Moriarty: 321gold, 321energy, and amazon.com, and all they got to do is look up my name. They're good books. People seem to like them.
Maurice Jackson: Well, I certainly do. All right. Well, till next time, sir, wishing you the absolute best.
Bob Moriarty: Okay. It's good talking to you.
Maurice Jackson: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us today on Proven and Probable. As a reminder, I'm your licensed representative from Miles Franklin Precious Metals Investments, but we have several options to expand your precious metals portfolio, from physical delivery to offshore depositories and precious metal IRAs. Give me a call at (855) 505-1900, or you may e-mail [email protected].
Finally, please subscribe to Proven and Probable for mining insights and bullion sales. Subscription is free.
Maurice Jackson is the founder of Proven and Probable, a site that aims to enrich its subscribers through education in precious metals and junior mining companies that will enrich the world.
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Disclosure: 1) Maurice Jackson: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources are sponsors of Proven and Probable. Proven and Probable disclosures are listed below. 2) Bob Moriarty: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources. 3) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: Lion One Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Irving Resources. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. 4) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy. 5) This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports. 6) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own shares of Metallic Minerals, Group Ten and Granite Creek Copper, companies mentioned in this article.
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( Companies Mentioned: EPL:TSX.V, GCX:TSX.V, PGE:TSX.V; PGEZF:OTCQB; 5D32:FSE, IRV:CSE; IRVRF:OTCMKTS, LIO:TSX.V; LOMLF:OTCQX, MMG:TSX.V; MMNGF:OTCMKTS, NG:TSX; NG:NYSE.MKT, NVO:TSX.V; NSRPF:OTCQX, NUG:TSX.V; NULGF:OTCQB, NVX:TSX.V; NVGLF:OTC, TGC:CSE; TGGDF:OTCBB, )
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Bob Moriarty: From Coronavirus to Gold to Goats on the Roof
Source: Maurice Jackson for Streetwise Reports   08/05/2020
Bob Moriarty of 321gold and Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable discuss the effects of pandemic fears on markets, government and society, as well as the status of a number of gold and precious metals juniors, including one whose stock Moriarty expects will take off like a "rocket ship."
Maurice Jackson: Joining us for a conversation is Bob Moriarty, a world-renowned best-selling author and Founder of 321gold and 321energy.com.
Bob Moriarty: Thank you. It's good to be back, Maurice.
Maurice Jackson: Always an honor to have you join us on the program. We have several items to discuss, so let's get started. Beginning in the United States, what are your thoughts on the prospect of postponing the election because of the coronavirus?
Bob Moriarty: Oh boy. When you went through training, did they ever teach you how to throw a hand grenade?
Maurice Jackson: No, sir.
Bob Moriarty: Okay. Are you familiar with the basics?
Maurice Jackson: Yes, sir. You pull the pin and throw it as soon as you can in the right direction.
Bob Moriarty: Okay. Now, you got it in exactly the right order, but what happens if you pull the pin and you don't let go?
Maurice Jackson: Oh, that's not a favorable outcome.
Bob Moriarty: That's an unfavorable outcome. The protests in U.S. scare the hell out of me. Let me give you some numbers. Fifty-three million Americans have lost their jobs and applied for unemployment compensation. A lot of them were getting an extra $600 a week; that stops today. They were getting paid not to work, so they didn't work. Now, many of those 53 million Americans are not going back to work, and that includes the travel industry, it includes the airlines, it includes hotels, it includes restaurants. When the dust finally settles, Americans are going to be shocked to see how much of a change has happened since March.
Now, then, when you have a country with 53 million people out of work and the government stops giving them free money and there are 395 million guns in the country and the deep state has been running a three-year coup against the President, what happens if the President says, "Well, we don't need to vote, we got a President."?
Maurice Jackson: Again, it's not a favorable outcome. I believe that the losing party from the election is going to be a sore loser. What are your thoughts there?
Bob Moriarty: I don't think there's going to be an election.
Maurice Jackson: I'm shaking my head in disbelief. That's something I never thought I'd hear coming from the United States.
Bob Moriarty: Well, yeah, but you can look around. I mean, the strange thing is, you've been interviewing me for years and nothing that is happening is a surprise to me. It's something that I said was coming years ago. I was writing books four years ago saying we were going to have a worldwide revolution. None of this is a surprise.
However, the speed at which the country is decaying is shocking to me.
Now, let's talk about Trump. I don't like Trump. I think the man's a narcissist. I think he's a total jackass. However, we've had fools as Presidents before and we survived. The idea of the FBI and the DOJ (U.S. Department of Justice) selecting who the President should be, that is scary.
Now, somebody is paying for these rioters. I hear all kinds of rumors about George Soros and a good chance that it's true. What's going on is not an accident. It's deliberate and it's extremely dangerous. It's something that Barbara and I saw coming 15 years ago and that's why we left. I have been in riots before. They are not nearly as much fun as people suggest. I've seen some crazy things and Trump is feeding the fire. The Democrats are feeding the fire. Schiff is really funny. Schiff just came out and said the rumors of Antifa being behind the riots were total fiction. How stupid do these people think the American public is? You've got a lot of very angry people.
The whole COVID-19 thing is a total fraud. I sent you a document that we're going to be posting tomorrow that's bizarre and it shows that HCQ, the medicine, is not a cure but it's something that relieves symptoms of COVID-19. It's so bizarre. A group of a hundred doctors got together, made a video, said, "Hey, the HCQ thing is absolute nonsense. It's political and is a cure for COVID-19." They fired the woman doctor spokesman, and Facebook and Twitter and Netscape all banned them. Now, that's scary. We're into book burning. Wow, that's scary.
Hugo Salinas Price, who I have a lot of time for, came out with a piece and the question was, "Is HCQ effective against coronavirus?" He didn't come in and say, "Here's my opinion;" what he did is he listed all of the countries who are reporting deaths by the percentage use of HCQ. The countries that used the drug had the lowest percentage of death and the countries that didn't use the drugs had the highest percentage of death. That's pretty scary. When you have so totally politicized everything in the system, the system's going to break.
Now, you had sent me some stuff about that book, Common Sense 2.0, which is an amazing book. That where I got the number: 395 million guns in America. Our system is so corrupt that Judge Sullivan in the Mike Flynn case has decided he not only should be the judge, but he's such a good judge he should be the prosecutor, the jury and the executioner. Now, I don't care if you like Sullivan or not, I don't care whether you like Flynn or not; when that happens to the society, the society is irretrievably broken and you need to fix it. The strange thing is, Common Sense 2.0 says there's a simple solution.
Now, I'm going to ask you an interesting question. If you could do one thing to eliminate 99% of the crime in the United States, would you do it, first of all? Second of all, how would you do it?
Maurice Jackson: Well, the answer is yes. I think everyone would answer yes. Now, how would you do it? Well, that's an answer no one seems to have, but I believe you have the solution for us.
Bob Moriarty: People have got a solution for it. What is 99% of the crime in the U.S.?
Maurice Jackson: What is it based on? Is that the question?
Bob Moriarty: What is the crime? Is it burglary? Is it rape? Is it murder? Is it cheating on your taxes? Is it cheating on your wife? If that's true, Trump's in trouble.
Maurice Jackson: Well, I don't know what it is, but I would say that there's a common tie and it's financial.
Bob Moriarty: No.
Maurice Jackson: No?
Bob Moriarty: The answer is, drugs. You smoke a joint most states in the U.S., you just broke the law. Most crime in the United States, 99% of it, is drug-related.
Now, there's a country in the world that does not have any drug crime. Got any idea who that is? Portugal! Here, it's really funny. Most of the crime in the United States is drug-related—even the burglaries are drug-related, so to get the money to buy drugs. You can eliminate the whole thing overnight by decriminalizing drugs.
Now, then, which is worse, the crime or the solution? Law enforcement would say, "Oh my God, we can't give people drugs." Well, that's bull. They get drugs already. Let me give you a number. Do you remember what year the 18th Amendment was overturned? When was Prohibition ended?
Maurice Jackson: The 1920s–30s. Am I way off here?
Bob Moriarty: Yeah, it's 1933, after Roosevelt's election.
Now, the interesting thing was when they eliminated Prohibition, violent crime dropped by 69% between 1933 and 1934. Therefore, was violent crime a function of alcohol use? Or was it a function of the Prohibition laws?
Maurice Jackson: The function of the Prohibition laws.
Bob Moriarty: Of course. All you had to do was change Prohibition laws. We need to wake up in the United States. We need to stop letting the government, letting [Dr. Anthony] Fauci, letting Bill Gates, letting all of these idiots rule us, put us into absolute slavery, treat us like idiots. Let's go to Fauci for a minute. You remember when Fauci was talking about HCQ and he said, "Nobody's done a clinical study on it and we need a clinical study if it's going to be used against COVID-19"? Do you remember that?
Maurice Jackson: I recall that, yes.
Bob Moriarty: Okay, do you recall how long he said it would to take to test a drug that's been around for 65 years, that costs $0.35 a pill—how long would it take to do a proper clinical study? Fifteen months. He said this back in March. It's going to take 15 months to do a proper clinical study. Now, that solid drug that's been around for 65 years, we know what [its] side effects are. We know everything negative about it. We know what the cost is. We know what the availability is.
Now, then, what [are] Bill Gates and Fauci pushing? He wants to vaccinate everybody, and Bill Gates has now come out and says, "Oh, by the way, since its RNA it's going to take multiple vaccinations." Somehow, it takes 15 months to study a drug that's been around for 65 years and costs $0.35 a pill, but you're going to be able to approve and test a drug that permanently alters the DNA of every cell in the body and you're going to be able to do this in two or three months.
Now, there is a clinical word for that. You got any idea what it is?
Maurice Jackson: My clinical word for it is retardated.
Bob Moriarty: No. It's bovine feces; that is absolute, candid bovine feces. There is no way, and anybody who takes multiple vaccinations that have only been tested for two or three months that permanently alters their DNA is an absolute idiot. [Alan] Dershowitz says, "You don't have the right to refuse it."
Really? I thought that's what they made guns for.
Maurice Jackson: A lot of what you're sharing, it kind of ties into, and you alluded to it earlier, it's a book, Common Sense 2.0. I had the pleasure of interviewing David Smith from The Morgan Report, and we discussed this very time-sensitive book. Again, the title is Common Sense 2.0, in which the author goes by the pen name Thomas Paine, who, by the way, was the original author of Common Sense, written in 1776. It addresses the aforementioned with sound, practical solutions. Why should every American read Common Sense 2.0?
Bob Moriarty: It's the only book that I've seen that lists not only what the problems are, but what the solutions are. Now, nobody loves a prophet. They want a savior.
Maurice Jackson: That kind of ties into our last discussion, where we talked about Cassandra. In my view, if you go back and look at any, or listen to any, of our interviews over the years—and I look back at the commentary, where people attempted to refute what you were sharing was going to happen—and when you look at today, I just wish they'd come back and say, "Hey, you know what? I was wrong and Bob was right." But. . .
Bob Moriarty: Oh, they never do that.
Maurice Jackson: No, they never.
Bob Moriarty: In 2011, when I called the top in silver to the day, I got like hundreds of e-mails telling me how stupid I was. I sent them all the same response. I said, "You know, you might be right. I could be a hundred percent wrong, but here's what you should do. Rather than tell me today that I said something wrong yesterday, why don't you write to me in a month and point out how stupid I am?" Of course, none of them ever did. I'm still waiting to hear from these guys.
Maurice Jackson: Speaking of the call in 2011, you kind of made a similar one here recently, so let's switch topics here and discuss gold and silver. Gold recently hit an all-time high, and Bob, you sent a warning shot to the market last week on a perfectly timed article entitled Never Confuse Brains with a Bull Market. That got the attention of a mutual friend that we have in Jayant Bhandari, and he wanted to find out, what compelled you to write this article?
Bob Moriarty: Oh, here's the deal. Have you ever been to an ice hockey game?
Maurice Jackson: I never have.
Bob Moriarty: They're kind of interesting. They're fun. I go not because I understand ice hockey, because I don't and I never will. I'm not a Canadian. You've gotta be a Canadian to understand it. I go to see fights, and unfortunately, the fights used to be a lot better than they are now. They're not very good now. One of the long-time great hockey players said, "You don't skate to the puck, you skate to where the puck is going." I am not skating to the puck, I'm kind of figuring out where the puck's going. I'll give you a perfect example.
We're doing this interview on Friday, and the U.S. dollar has been down 11 days in a row. Now, given that the odds on any particular day are 50-50 of it going up or going down, that's like 2 to the 10th power. The odds are really against that, so the dollar's going up today. It's very predictable, and likewise, when silver spikes, it's saying there's got to be a correction. The strange thing is that I could give you the top 50 gurus in the silver market and they would rather commit adultery than use the word "correction." They think that a correction is somehow spelled with four letters. I don't think it is. I think it's longer than that. It's like six or eight or something like that. They just cannot admit or say there's going to be a correction.
I wrote another piece—it'll be out later today—and I said the price action in both gold and silver is schizophrenic. It doesn't know which way to go. Now, I believe we're going to go into hyperinflation. I believe gold and silver are going to go a lot higher, but I also understand that humans are imperfect. They get a little bullish sometimes, and you need to correct that bullishness. I think there'll be a correction. I think we're seeing signs. We're certainly seeing signs of it in the gold and silver shares, but it's a good thing. When it's over, gold and silver and gold/silver shares are going far higher than anybody can imagine today.
Maurice Jackson: You know, not to contradict what you're saying because I think we're all in agreement that the gold price will be going higher, but your investment thesis has made your fortunes, and that's why I love having you on the program. Share with us: If gold is at an all-time high, and we believe that it's going to go higher, why aren't you buying gold? What metals have your attention and why?
Bob Moriarty: Well, I listen to myself. You know, it is not a sign of insanity to talk to yourself. It is a sign of insanity to listen to yourself, but it's not a sign of insanity to talk to yourself. I have the most interesting conversations and I've been saying for years, "You think things are getting bad? Well, you need to own some gold and silver, platinum and palladium."
Back in March when everybody was panicking and, "Oh my God, the world is ending! Silver is below $12 an ounce!" I was thinking, "Oh, thank you, God. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I want to buy some more." I bought a lot of silver—and you couldn't buy physical silver because the premiums were too high, but you could buy a silver ETF [exchange-traded fund], which for all practical purposes was the same. I was pleased with that.
Maurice Jackson: How about platinum?
Bob Moriarty: I don't know anything about platinum. Never mentioned platinum in my entire life and the mere fact that the ratio between platinum and gold is the worst it's ever been in history. . .just kidding.
Platinum is cheap. Someday platinum's going to go up, to the surprise of everybody, including me.
Maurice Jackson: I know everybody is asking this, so I'm going to go ahead and ask the question. Between the two, is there one that you favor a little bit more right now than the other?
Bob Moriarty: After silver corrects. Now, I've got somebody, and you would be a really good guy to help your customers, you have your thumb on the scale. You know exactly the times to buy and sell.
When everybody's beating the doors down to buy, you don't want to buy. That's when you want to sell, and when the same guys who bought the metal at $25 or $26 an ounce are beating the doors down saying, "I need to get rid of this crap," that's when I look for them. There are some guys that I am very close to that store metal and I tell them, "Look, when guys call up and they want to sell stuff and you need to move it, I'm a buyer." I think at $16—I can't tell you exactly what the sequence was, but silver went below $12. It went up to about $16. It went down to $14.
This guy called me up and said, "Hey, somebody's got a thousand-ounce bar of silver and he wants to sell for a .60 premium." I said, "Damn. I'll go for that. I bought it and the crazy thing is it's not because I'm smart, it's because you have access to better information than I do.
Maurice Jackson: Well, I share the investment thesis that you've shared with me over the years, using the ratios to your advantage and having that discipline, because that's the keyword here that you haven't referenced. I think we can read between the lines. It takes a lot of discipline to do what you're doing, and having courage and conviction, because everyone seems to want to be a part of the crowd. As you've referenced in your books, you have to be an individual when it comes to investing, and that's how you've made these spectacular gains. Again, thank you for sharing that investment thesis with us.
Bob Moriarty: Well, you don't have to be an individual. You can be one of the guys giving money away. If you're a bird or if you're a lion or if you're a water buffalo or if you're a fish, you want to be with the rest of the school or the rest of the flock to be safe. But if you want to make money, you have to learn to think for yourself, first of all.
Strangely enough, if you could figure out what the mob's doing, do the opposite. That sounds difficult but it's so damn easy. I was looking at silver with a DSI [daily sentiment index] of 93 a week, 10 days ago, and said, "Hey, that's getting frothy." Sure enough, it was getting frothy.
Silver is an interesting metal because when it tops, it always does. It spikes up like a couple of dollars in a day, and it comes right back down. I'll give you another thing that's just as effective. With the metals market, the shares are either very liquid or they're very illiquid. When you're near a top, they're very liquid. When you're near a bottom, they're very illiquid. I put in stupid orders way below the market, and I wait for the market to come down to me, and the market's telling me, "Okay, it's near the bottom." Likewise, when you've got an extremely liquid market, that's the time to take some money off the table.
Now, I don't believe for a minute that I'm some kind of investing genius. I've done very well, but I've got access to a lot of information that the average investors don't have. I am in touch with guys like Keith Barron and Quinton Hennigh constantly, and you can't talk to them without learning a lot, so it's not how smart I am, it's how smart they are.
Quite bluntly, the last week or two, it's been a great opportunity to take some money off the table. I've got three or four stocks that are up 400%, 500%, 600%! The one thing that I'll say is, that's going to be across the board fairly soon. I'm not talking about next week or next month. We're going to have a bull market like nobody listening to this has ever seen before and that will make 1979 and 1980 look like a bunch of pussycats.
Maurice Jackson: Well, speaking of the junior mining companies, let's start with companies that are affiliated with a very prominent and successful name, and that is none other than Dr. Quinton Hennigh.
Beginning with Novo Resources Corp. (NVO:TSX.V; NSRPF:OTCQX), and their expansive property bank, what can you share with us?
Bob Moriarty: Novo wants to do a deal on the Millennium Mill. Quinton has wanted to be in production for 10 years and one day it's going to happen. I don't know when. It will be an absolute game-changer. It is really difficult to do business in Australia and it takes a lot longer than it should do, but he's on track. Novo is going to be the biggest gold company in the world 50 years from now.
Maurice Jackson: That's a tall statement to make, but you've got the credentials to back you up.
Bob Moriarty: In the first article that I ever wrote, I said that Novo was going to be the game-changer that was going to wake up the market, and that stock was going to go up between ten- and a hundred-fold. I'm going to tell you, I nailed that and things have changed a lot since then, but I've been to the Pilbara, I don't know, six times, seven times, and the gold's there.
Maurice Jackson: Yeah, I've been there myself and the gold is there. And another place that you and I have been to is Irving Resources Inc. (IRV:CSE; IRVRF:OTCMKTS) in Japan. How about Irving Resources and the Omu Gold Project?
Bob Moriarty: Same thing. Keith Barron did a piece recently and he was talking about the 23-meter intercept. The pictures are on their website from the last press release. He said it's the best-looking intercept he's ever seen. You don't have to believe Quinton Hennigh, you don't have to believe me, and you don't have to believe you, but it certainly would be worth listening to Keith Barron. He likes it and, again, because of the virus, things are a lot slower than they should be. But I think they're going to come out with results soon, and I think they'll be excellent.
Maurice Jackson: Akiko Levinson, the strategic moves she's been making, they've been remarkable. I still think the market has not recognized the contributions that she's made. It's just been spectacular, so kudos to Akiko on her successes.
Bob Moriarty: The market does recognize it and there is something about the shares that everybody is missing. Keep in mind that 90% of the shares are in the hands of the top 10 shareholders. That is the tightest stock that I have ever seen. It's a little tiny float and you talk about this company that's got this $150–200 million market cap, and it trades 30,000 shares a day? Are you kidding me? When they hit big-time, that stock's going to look like a rocket ship.
Maurice Jackson: It certainly is, and we're proud shareholders of Irving Resources. How about let's go to Fiji? Let's talk about Lion One Metals Ltd. (LIO:TSX.V; LOMLF:OTCQX) and the Tavatu Gold Project. They've had some exciting news recently as well.
Bob Moriarty: Well, they hit exactly what Quinton Hennigh said. Here is what's funny about Quinton, and virtually nobody understands this. You don't need Quinton to come in and run your entire program for you. Lion One has some great geologists. Irving has some great geologists. Novo has some great geologists. You need somebody who understands the difference between you know what and shinola. Shinola is boot polish. It's dark, but that's what you use to shine shoes with. Quinton comes in and makes a tiny change in the direction that has an incredible impact.
Now, when I first talked to Lion One, they were talking about the project as being an epithermal alkaline system. That's like talking about a Ford Chevrolet. Have you ever seen a Ford Chevrolet?
Maurice Jackson: I've never seen a Ford Chevrolet.
Bob Moriarty: Yep.
Maurice Jackson: Yeah, the two don't go hand in hand.
Bob Moriarty: Well, it could, but you know why you've never seen one?
Maurice Jackson: Well, I guess in simple terms, it's never been assembled as one.
Bob Moriarty: Well, because they don't exist, okay?
Maurice Jackson: Yeah.
Bob Moriarty: An epithermal system is a hot spring. It has a very limited vertical dimension. Might be a hundred meters, might be 150 meters. Now, if you get into something like a mesothermal system, which is a hotter fluid system, it's usually much deeper; they can be eight times as deep, say, as long. A epithermal thermal system has characteristics and mesothermal systems have characteristics and alkaline systems have characteristics, but Fords are Fords and Chevys are Chevys. You can't have a Ford Chevy because there is no such thing. So the main key thing is they've over at Fiji. There is a mine like 20 miles away in a caldera where they've mined 7 million ounces. They're down to 6,500 feet in the mine and they were talking about it being an epithermal alkaline system.
Well, you can't have an epithermal system at 6,500 feet deep. There is no such thing. Quinton went in and he talked to Wally, who's been banging his head keeping that thing going, moving it forward year after year after year after year. Quinton said, "Look, all you can do is drill deep. You're just approaching this thing like it's epithermal. Do not use the word 'epithermal.' It is not an epithermal system. It's an alkaline system. Drill deep." He drilled deep. He comes up with this incredible 0.3 meters of 1,310 gram gold, over one foot. Holy cow! You can take a blowtorch to that and make belt buckles.
Maurice Jackson: It's astounding, You made some great analogies. LIO's most recent published results, specifically just what that grade means for investors: Lion One Intercepts $80,078 Au.
Bob Moriarty: Well, it means $30,000 gold. If you had one cubic foot of that, it's $30,000 a ton. Holy cow, you can't lift the damn thing, but if you could lift it you'd be rich.
Maurice Jackson: How about NuLegacy Gold Corporation (NUG:TSX.V; NULGF:OTCQB) and the Red Hill Project?
Bob Moriarty: Funny thing is, the same story. Now, I didn't know this but Albert Matter was one of our first customers. This is going back 19 years. He had that little tiny gold company called Alamos in Mexico. He came, pitched me, told me a story. I met him, said it sounds good. He advertised for a year or two and he ended up selling it out and making a ton of money. He's a very sharp guy. He has some brilliant geologists out in Nevada.
Now, at the same time they started working in Nevada, he was actually in touch with Quinton, too, and Quinton said, "You know, you guys are focused on the east. You should go across the fault and you should focus on the west."
Albert's guys didn't agree and they didn't, so they've been tapping holes there for years and they're getting lots and lots and lots of sniffs and they finally started drilling to the west, just like Quinton's been saying for years, and they get the far better intercepts.
I believe they have the next major Carlin Trend deposit. I think the next six months is going to make a giant change. I think they're waiting for some permits. I don't think they can drill until September, but that's been another situation that Quinton talking to them for a few hours has changed their thinking, and I believe it will be in a very positive way.
Maurice Jackson: Sticking with Nevada, one more company that is in the Dr. Quinton Hennigh portfolio, and that is NV Gold Corp. (NVX:TSX.V; NVGLF:OTC) with newly acquired Exodus Gold Project, which has Peter Ball as the CEO.
Bob Moriarty: Well, you ought to be talking about British Columbia. NV Gold—the NV stood for Nevada, and NV Gold had all of these Nevada projects and they've been tapping into these things for years. I cannot tell you how much money I have lost on NV Gold. I've participated in placement after placement after placement and it just never went anywhere. Peter came in a year or so back and he started looking at things differently. He's moved the company forward and they've gone from like $0.10/share to $0.40-something in the last six weeks or two months. They not only are in Nevada. They got some good projects in Nevada, but they've picked up a project in British Columbia and I think they'll do very well.
Maurice Jackson: How about another proven name and that is Greg Johnson? Of course, that name is synonymous with the Metallic Group of Companies.
Beginning with Metallic Minerals Corp. (MMG:TSX.V; MMNGF:OTCMKTS) and the Kino Silver Project, what can you share with us?
Bob Moriarty: Well, here's what's funny. Do you know how long I've known Greg Johnson?
Maurice Jackson: I think that goes back to the late '90s, does it not, at Nova?
Bob Moriarty: Correct. NOVAGOLD Resources Inc. (NG:TSX; NG:NYSE.MKT) was the first company that I wrote about. Jay Taylor was the guy who discovered them and he was writing about them when they were $0.30 a share. The stock went down to $0.13 a share. I looked at it because they were generating $0.13 a share in earnings and the stock was $0.13 a share. I thought, "Well, that seems pretty damn cheap to me." I wrote about them when they were a dollar a share and they doubled, and then I wrote about them six weeks later and they doubled again.
I've known Greg for the longest time. Greg has done something interesting. He hasn't got any credit for it yet, but he supervises three different companies. Metallic Minerals is their silver company and it's up in the Yukon. It's going to be a silver play. I think it will be very effective.
Maurice Jackson: The Keno Silver Project is a brownfields adjacent to Alexco Resource Corp. (AXU:NYSE.MKT; AXR:TSX).
Bob Moriarty: How can you go wrong? You're in a district that took out a billion ounces of silver. You ought to be able to find something.
Maurice Jackson: Well, with someone that's proven. Then you go to Montana with Group Ten Metals Inc. (PGE:TSX.V; PGEZF:OTCQB; 5D32:FSE), what do you like about Group Ten and the Stillwater West Project?
Bob Moriarty: Group Ten has not gotten the appreciation that it should, which is insane. Palladium has been so much more valuable than I think it's worth compared to platinum, and they're right next to the Stillwater complex and they've got half of the deposit. I am shocked that that stock isn't three or four times what it is now, but it'll get there.
Maurice Jackson: To add to the opportunity, Group Ten Metals is finding rhodium. You're referring to the Stillwater West, and Sibanye Gold Ltd. (SBGL:NYSE) purchased the Stillwater a couple of years ago for 2.2 billion. Again, they're adjacent to the Stillwater, with the Stillwater West 25 kilometers and they're finding rhodium as well, seven grams. Look at the price of rhodium. My goodness, it's just quite remarkable.
Bob Moriarty: Let me tell you something. You want to get a nosebleed? Look at the difference between the bid and ask. I think I was looking at a week ago and it was $6,000 bid and $9,000 ask. I went, "Holy cow!"
Maurice Jackson: Well, there's one more company in the Metallic Company, and that is Granite Creek Copper Ltd. (GCX:TSX.V), and they're in the Minto Copper District there. What do you like about GCX and the Stu Copper Project?
Bob Moriarty: Copper.
Maurice Jackson: You got it. The interesting aspect of that is I think that we're looking at oxide versus sulfide there, and that increases the value proposition. I think it was you that brought it to my attention. It must have been a year or so ago. You said, "Maurice, the world is going to consume more copper in the next 25 years than all of recorded history, so this is a company you got to take a look at." I just want to step back for a second here. Granite Creek was $0.03/share back in May; they're $0.10, $0.12, somewhere in there.
Going back to Metallic Minerals, they were $0.15 back in October of 2018, and they're approaching $0.60 here.
Bob Moriarty: Yeah. There are some spectacular gains. I would highly suggest if people want to make money as opposed to indulging their fantasies, go to Amazon, spend a few bucks, buy my books. You don't have to buy them because I say they're good, read the damn reviews. Some people who read that book say they are the best financial books they have ever read. The books are excellent, they're cheap, they will help you make money. All I did was take things that nobody else says, which shocks me, but they're good books. If you read the books, you will make money.
Maurice Jackson: If I may, I would disagree. I don't think they're good books. I think they're exceptional books. I don't benefit financially from it, but ladies and gentlemen, I have benefited financially by reading and applying, and that is it. It has been life-changing. Hands down the best books on finance and I'm readaholic about finance. I can find none better than Bob's books, and that's why we always reference them. There is no financial gain for me by you purchasing—none—but if you read it and you apply, you'll be smiling just like both of us are.
All right, we got one more name here and that's another proven name. That is Tim Termeunde, and he has two companies that have your attention. How about Taiga Gold Corp. (TGC:CSE; TGGDF:OTCBB), which is a spinout of Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (EPL:TSX.V)?
Bob Moriarty: Tim Termeunde is one of my favorite people. Barbara just loved him. She would have dumped me in a heartbeat if he was available. Tim's a great guy. Eagle Plains is a prospect generator. It has never got the respect that it is due. They got a ton of good projects and they spun one of the best ones off into the gold project and I can't pronounce it, either, but I own some and I'm a happy camper.
Maurice Jackson: The Fisher Project in Saskatchewan, that's an interesting one.
We encourage readers to take a look at these names that we've referenced here today. They are truly unique value propositions. Yes, some of them have moved up tremendously, but in my view, you've got to have the discipline like Bob shared as know when to sell if you've taken action in the past, and then look for an opportunity to continue to add.
All right, in closing, sir, what keeps you up at night that we don't know about?
Bob Moriarty: I'm not certain, but there is some kind of creature that climbs in trees and it climbs onto my roof. Since we don't have lions and tigers here, I'm not particularly worried about it. I would love to know what it is, because I wish it would let me sleep. I wake up at 2 in the morning. I hear the damn scratching on the roof and I think, "I wish I had a gun."
Maurice Jackson: Well, you know what? Could it be a goat? Don't goats go into trees? I think goats climb trees, don't they?
Bob Moriarty: No, I think you made that up.
Maurice Jackson: No, I didn't think goats were able to climb trees because they don't have claws, but they actually can (laughter).
Bob Moriarty: These are pretty tall trees. They would have to be damn parachutists to get on those.
Maurice Jackson: All right, last question, sir, and that is, what did I forget to ask?
Bob Moriarty: I don't know. We'll figure it out next time.
Maurice Jackson: Sounds good. Bob, for someone listening that wants to get more information about your books and your work, please share the website addresses.
Bob Moriarty: 321gold, 321energy, and amazon.com, and all they got to do is look up my name. They're good books. People seem to like them.
Maurice Jackson: Well, I certainly do. All right. Well, till next time, sir, wishing you the absolute best.
Bob Moriarty: Okay. It's good talking to you.
Maurice Jackson: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us today on Proven and Probable. As a reminder, I'm your licensed representative from Miles Franklin Precious Metals Investments, but we have several options to expand your precious metals portfolio, from physical delivery to offshore depositories and precious metal IRAs. Give me a call at (855) 505-1900, or you may e-mail [email protected].
Finally, please subscribe to Proven and Probable for mining insights and bullion sales. Subscription is free.
Maurice Jackson is the founder of Proven and Probable, a site that aims to enrich its subscribers through education in precious metals and junior mining companies that will enrich the world.
Read what other experts are saying about:
Irving Resources Inc.
Lion One Metals Ltd.
Metallic Group of Companies
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Disclosure: 1) Maurice Jackson: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources are sponsors of Proven and Probable. Proven and Probable disclosures are listed below. 2) Bob Moriarty: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Eagle Plains, Taiga Gold, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, NuLegacy Gold, NV Gold and Irving Resources. 3) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: Lion One Metals, Metallic Group of Companies, Metallic Minerals, Granite Creek Copper, Group Ten Metals, Irving Resources. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. 4) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy. 5) This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports. 6) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own shares of Metallic Minerals, Group Ten and Granite Creek Copper, companies mentioned in this article.
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( Companies Mentioned: EPL:TSX.V, GCX:TSX.V, PGE:TSX.V; PGEZF:OTCQB; 5D32:FSE, IRV:CSE; IRVRF:OTCMKTS, LIO:TSX.V; LOMLF:OTCQX, MMG:TSX.V; MMNGF:OTCMKTS, NG:TSX; NG:NYSE.MKT, NVO:TSX.V; NSRPF:OTCQX, NUG:TSX.V; NULGF:OTCQB, NVX:TSX.V; NVGLF:OTC, TGC:CSE; TGGDF:OTCBB, )
from https://www.streetwisereports.com/article/2020/08/05/bob-moriarty-from-coronavirus-to-gold-to-goats-on-the-roof.html
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