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rachelbethhines · 4 years

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Tangled Salt Marathon - Under Raps

My feelings on this episode are pretty neutral. It’s not anything amazing, but it’s not the worst thing ever either. It’s just there, I guess.

Summary: During a love festival, Corona displays a book full of signatures of lovers in honor of an old ruler's falling in love with the leader of a rival kingdom. Cassandra suddenly turns very secretive; Rapunzel learns it's because she's been seeing a guy named Andrew. Cassandra doesn't want Rapunzel's meddling, but the princess suggests a double date and they all go off in a hot air balloon. However, Andrew turns out to be part of an old faction that didn't like the unification of Corona and wants to steal the book.

This Backstory Doesn’t Add Up

So we open up with Big Nose narrating about the history of a war between Corona and a group of people called the Saporians. This is important for two reasons. First, because the Saporians are reoccurring villains in the show, and secondly, because it reveals where the underground tunnels running between Old Corona and the Island Capital come from. These tunnels are a reoccurring plot device in the show, along with the book that maps them.

The problem is that what the story tells us doesn’t match the other information we are given. If it was only the Saporians who invaded then why does an Old Corona, with its own castle, exist to begin with? Why do the tunnels extend from both if King Herz Der Sonne made them? What purpose did they serve if he was only defending the island? Why are the Saporians led by a general and not a ruler? Why would marrying only a general unite the two kings and where was the Saporian kingdom to begin with? Why did they invade? Why are there still Saporians who haven’t accepted the merger centuries later and why do they live on the go outside the kingdom? If Herz Der Sonne is such a good guy then why did he curse his grave with a zombie apocalypse? Ect.

We keep getting hints throughout the show that Herz Der Sonne isn’t all he was cracked up to be, and you keep expecting a reveal that it was the Coronaians who started the war and oppressed the Saporians and then rewrote history, but it never comes. The show wants us to accept this very black and white conflict at face value even as it constantly undermines itself and muddies the waters.

Pointing Out That Something is Stupid in the Show Itself Doesn’t Make it Any Less Stupid

As I stated back during Rapunzel’s Enemy, the show has a real problem with tone. Constantly showing us festival and holiday after festival and holiday only undermines the more serious elements in the ongoing story and creates mood whiplash. Also anything that reminds me of Cinderella 2 is not a good thing.

Ahh Friedborg, You’re Such a Wasted Opportunity

So she actually first appeared in Cassandra V. Eugene but I forgot to bring her up there. My bad. Friedborg is something of a fan favorite in the TTS fandom, and I like her too, but she adds nothing. She’s a joke character in a tv show already oversaturated by joke characters. More over the joke is actually offensive on some level since it all hinges on her being less conventionally attractive then the other female characters and the mains finding her weird because she never talks.

The show tries to justify her existence by making her Big Nose’s girlfriend, but she’s not who he ended up with in the movie. And once again it’s kind of offensive to imply that only people who don’t match society’s contrived beauty standards can only find love with those that look like them. Thereby completely missing the point of Big Nose’s character arc.

I’ll say it right now, Friedborg should have been Zan Tiri, or Demantius. Take your pick. I think ZT makes more sense, but etheir way she should have been a setup for something more important to the plot rather then just be being a vauge oddity that just pops up from time to time.

I Miss This Version of Eugene

Throughout the first two seasons, Eugene and Cassandra were willing to point out Rapunzel’s BS. Forcing her to confront her flaws and re-examine her positions.I would argue that the show could have pushed this even further but at least it was there. By the final season no one was doing this. Rapunzel is allowed to be as awful as she wants to be without consequence. Meaning she never learns anything and stops growing as a character and the show acts like this a positive thing. It is not. In fact, it is the biggest flaw of the whole show as it fails to achieve the one thing it originally set out to do; which is to tell a coming of age story with Rapunzel.

It also has the added effect of making Eugene a doormat to Rapunzel’s bulling, thereby regressing his character as well and presenting an unhealthy relationship as a goal to be achieved to younger viewers. I can not stress enough to young girls and young men in particular, that Rapunzel and Eugene are not ‘relationship goals’ in this show. Not after season 3.

Xavier Doesn’t Get a Proper Introduction

So Xavier is actually pretty important to the ongoing plot. He’s more or less the exposition fairy for the show, but he’s not really established. He just suddenly appears here with no prior meeting and he just so happens to know what the main characters need to know with no explanation as to how he knows.

His part here is so forgettable that I legit forgot who he was when he reappeared in the mid-season finale. I had thought that the writers just threw in a random character for plot purposes. And to be fair they did. Just they did it here instead of in Queen for a Day.

If the showrunners wanted Xavier to be historian who knows everything and tells stories, then he should have been introduced as the narrator of the history of Hearts Day instead of Big Nose.

Another Lesson Not Learned

We get this big heart to heart moment of Raps and Cass coming to an understanding, with Rapunzel promising not to intrude and Cass promising to being more honest about her feelings. This is walked back on several times and made part of the core conflict of the last two seasons.

Once again, any problem that can be solved in less then five minutes of talking isn’t a strong enough conflict to drive multiple seasons. If this had been a show without an ongoing narrative, like say The Rescue Rangers or even Batman the Animated Series, then the repeated lessons wouldn’t be a problem. We expect characters to be static and to reset after each episode since they’re not shows that you watch in order.

But if you do go the overarching arc route for a story, then people expect lasting character development. Even in shows like Gravity Falls or Steven Universe, where the change is more gradual and the characters do repeat mistakes occasionally, there’s still a marketed change by the end. One that indicates improvement by the characters, and the inter conflicts are never exactly the same each time with exactly the same lesson over and over again.

Oh Look, Cassandra Once Again Achieving her Goal of Validation

Cass is awarded a medal by her father for stopping Andrew. Don’t expect her or the show to remember this.

Also more Cass and Cap interaction that we don’t get to see.

Can We Not Imply That Cassandra Still has a Crush on the Guy Who Lied to Her and Then Almost Killed Her, and Can We Not Act Like This is a Good Thing?

So this flower was given to Cassandra by Andrew and her keeping it makes zero sense.

First off lets not have one of our few strong independent female characters crushing on the show’s stereotypical ‘nice guy’, okay? That’s all kinds of gross. Secondly, if the intention was to show that Cass was now more willing to open up about her feelings, then wouldn’t her keeping one of the gifts Raps made her earlier in the episode make more sense? After all, that’s the relationship that actually matters to Cassandra and is the basis of the whole show.

But this all boils down to the fact that the creator sees Cassandra as straight, always has, and thinks her crushing on the guy who manipulated her is somehow better than ‘no-homo’. Now you can headcanon Cass as whatever you want and ship her with whomever you want, as canon doesn’t matter. But I find it hilarious that most of the head showrunner’s biggest supporters are mainly Casspunzel fans and yet he’s the one who made them ‘sisters’ and sees them as such.

Like I hate to break it to you guys, but a Cass led spin-off headed by Chris won't be the lesbian rep that you’ve always dreamed of. You’re better off just watching the She-Ra reboot.

But things gets even worse when Rapunzel approves of this stupid ‘crush’ ...

Don’t Ever Tell Someone That You’re Proud of Them For Going On a Date

Dating is just something some people choose to do together and some people choose not to engage in that. It’s not an accomplishment and it shouldn’t be treated as such. This is insulting to both people who don’t date, for whatever reason, and to women who hate being being defined by their relationships, which is most of us.

Even if you’re being charitable and try to make this about Cassandra self esteem and her learning she’s worth ‘loving’, which is the reason some people have offered up for this scene, it still falls apart when it’s not established that Cassandra ever had such self esteem issues to begin with and was not looking for romance anyways. And if that is what the show is going for then it’s still problematic to suggest that being found as attractive by someone else is need for self esteem. In fact, that’s kind of the opposite of what self esteem is.

Conclusion

Overall this episode was ‘meh’. Like most season one episodes the problems stem from the ongoing narrative and lack of follow though in later seasons. However there’s enough stuff in here on it’s own to rub me just the wrong way that I can’t actually call it good either.

It doesn’t help that I don’t see the appeal of Andrew at all. Watching the character is just a cringefest for me. He’s too similar to real life men I’ve unfortunately met and therefore sends alarm bells ringing in my head. And I agree with Eugene; he’s not all that handsome.

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #anti-rapunzel #anti-tangled #rapunzel #cassandra #andrew #anti-andrew #eugene

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tessatechaitea · 4 years

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Justice League International #7 (1987)

Kevin Maguire not really trying looks an awful lot like John Romita Jr at his best.

Ah! It feels good to be back! Taking a crack at John Romita Jr while he's just sitting there not doing anything particularly wrong. Just going about his business pretending to be a comic book artist! I don't know what John Romita's politics are but I bet he now agrees with Donald Trump on one thing: naming your kid after you is a huge fucking mistake. Was all that previous nonsense poisonous, vile, and toxic? I suppose one could argue the point. But I'd also guess that somebody arguing that point has never seen John Romita Jr's art. Or perhaps they have seen it and like it because they have a terribly underdeveloped sense of aesthetics. Otherwise nobody would argue with me at all! They'd just read the previous poisonous, vile, toxic nonsense and nod their heads in agreement while pausing for a second to snort a line of Adderall. Fine, I'm sorry, JRJR! Obviously you're an artist! Drawing squinty people with block heads and weird noses holding geometric guns without a single curve on them absolutely falls under the definition of art! Although I draw the line at accepting that Rob Liefeld is an artist. That's a bridge too far! What the fuck does that even mean, "a bridge too far"? It must be a term bombers in WWII used, right? "What the fuck do you mean, carpet bomb Dresden?! If we fly past the Geralthauskopfplatz Bridge, we're definitely getting scrawked by anti-aircraft flak, you bingehart!" Did that sound like an authentic American bomber pilot from the 40s? It's not like Catch-22 is my favorite book or something. Wait. Catch-22 is my favorite book. I guess I'm just no good at written impressions. I assure you it sounds exactly what you'd expect from an American pilot in the Forties if you heard me do the impression live. Also, this is probably the last month of my life where I'll be able to say, "Catch-22 is my favorite book." Because I'm over 500 pages into Gravity's Rainbow and it's just as fucking amazing as everybody who has pretended to read it says it is. This issue begins with Guy Gardner regaining consciousness after having been violently assaulted by his employer.

Why was the mouse glowing green?!

In my memory, Guy Gardner's change from dickhole to sweetest guy on the team came after Batman punched his lights out. But apparently that isn't the case. It's possible this new whack on the head is the cause or maybe it's something a bit later. I bet an editorial mandate came down which said they couldn't have Guy suffer serious head trauma from Batman punching him. So they had to add this new scene where Guy basically gives himself the head trauma that results in a catastrophic change in personality. The Justice League didn't quite finish destroying The Gray Man last issue so that story gets resolved pretty quickly this issue. Doctor Fate transported him to the Realms of Order where a big blob of Order disintegrates him. Which is what he ultimately wanted. It's what we all ultimately want. It's just you don't know that you want it until you've lived long enough for all the wonder to be bled out of life. That's why he's the Gray Man! Some people think life's too short but at 49, I'm beginning to suspect that it's way too fucking long.

This comic book passes the Reverse Bechdel Test: "Any story that has only one woman in it and every scene she's in, she's treated like a sexual object."

With The Gray Man out of the way, it's time to get to the important part of the story: turning the Justice League of America into Justice League International! I wonder how many people this change pissed off in the 80s? Fucking globalist woke elite bubble bullshit! People talk in derogatory terms about the coastal bubbles but they absolutely shouldn't. I won't disagree that I grew up in a totally different environment in the San Francisco Bay Area than people who grew up in the Midwest. A bubble? Sure. But it was a fucking good thing. I was recently showing the Non-Certified Spouse some of the station breaks from local stations in the late 70s and early 80s out of San Francisco and she was amazed at the representative shorts these stations presented, especially KTVU's "Bits and Pieces." Sure, there were the ones about ethics and morality humorously presented with a horse and bulldog puppet. But there were also the ones that showed different ethnicities and their lives, often ending with "I'm proud to be a Chinese American!" or "I'm proud to be a Black American!" The one about Japanese Americans even mentioned how Japanese families were put in interment camps during World War II. One was about Italian Americans and instead of Italian history, it just showed Italian art and various activities of people in the Italian community. One of the Japanese American shorts just had a Japanese American kid having to explain how he was tired of answering questions about being Japanese in America because he was fourth generation and just American as anybody else. But I guess that kind of commie pinko hogwash is why I'm a big fat America hating socialist! As I was saying before my politics politely interrupted (my politics interrupting impolitely would look like this: Trump voters should be forced to shit in their own mouths for all eternity), the main thrust of this story is to set up Justice League International. Judging by the cover, that means hiring some guy with a bucket on his head from Russia and Captain Atom, another white American male.

Ah yes! The introduction of the best character of the series: Big Barda!

Big Barda might not be on the team but at least there's another female character. Sure, Doctor Light was sort of on the team for three pages. And pretty soon, Fire and Ice will join. But it's mostly just been poor Black Canary having to put up with Booster and Blue Beetle's jokes about banging her. Max and J'onn discuss the United Nations possibly backing the Justice League while Superman talks respectfully with President Reagan. What a mistake! The biggest do-gooder on the planet normalizing fucking Ronald Reagan! He should be scolding him with a liberal smattering of Kryptonian tsk-tsks! That's when a Kryptonian gives you a little burst of heat vision every time you deny the AIDS crisis or invoke the spectre of Welfare Queens or destroy the economy by lowering the top marginal tax rates pretending that the money saved will trickle down to everyone instead of fat corporate cats simply keeping all the extra for bonuses and investors. Fuck that guy. I'm so mad now!

Of all the digs they could have taken with Reagan, they poke fun of his dementia?! Christ, Giffen and DeMatteis.

Hal Jordan drops by headquarters to give Guy a good talking-to but Guy doesn't need it because he's suffered a traumatic head injury on top of his brain damage alongside Batman's sucker punch to the face and now he's Mister Sweetbeans. And because he's acting so nice, nobody gives a shit that this is actually a medical emergency. Backing Maxwell Lord is a computer satellite in space. Is it Brother Eye already?! Are they already working together in 1987?! Or is it just some alien gizmo from the Millennium bullshit coming up? I don't remember! Heck, this Maxwell Lord might even be a Manhunter! Anyway, the satellite begins destroying shit on Earth with a giant heat beam. The Justice League, having nearly nobody who can do anything about it, doesn't call Superman to fix the problem. Instead, they decide to spend precious hours borrowing a space shuttle from STAR Labs to launch them into space to battle the space station. Also, they leave Guy Gardner back at headquarters on monitor duty. Because who needs the guy with experience battling in space with a ring that can protect every other member of the League while in space? Also the ring is the greatest weapon in the universe. So, you know, sideline that guy, right?

It's possible this was in the era where Superman couldn't survive in space either, really. But then that's even more incentive to get fucking Guy Gardner up there with them!

The Justice League manages to stop the satellite's destruction but mostly only because it was a huge set-up so every nation could see them save the world. Everybody wants them defending the planet now so the United Nations agrees to back them with one condition: two new members, one to pacify the U.S. and one to pacify the U.S.S.R.

I've read a lot of ridiculous things in comic books but Rocket Red's power levels being nearly equal to Captain Atom's might be the most ridiculous.

I love how Captain Atom's power level is 9+ but Rocket Red's power level is 8.43 instead of 8+. I guess the accuracy of whatever system they're using breaks down over 9. Captain Marvel quits the team and Batman steps down as leader so J'onn can lead. And that's about it, I guess! The issue ends with some kind of flim-flam about how its the 80s and we've become a global world and boundaries just don't work anymore and superheroes are cool as shit. I guess it's inspirational or something. There's still just one woman on the team though. Justice League International #7 Rating: B. Seven issues in and the Justice League has defeated two villains who weren't actual threats to anybody. They were just scams to get the Justice League some press. They also beat up and killed an old guy who was just frustrated with the boredom that came with the immortality the Lords of Order forced on him. So all in all, they're nearly as terrible as the New Titans who practically only ever battled relatives while putting the residents of New York City in danger every time.

#Justice League International #Justice League #DC Comics #DC #Kevin Maguire #J.M. DeMatteis #Keith Giffen

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voltron-s7-8-rewrite · 4 years

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Galran info and history

I wrote this for part of my Voltron season 7/8 rewrite, but you don’t have to know anything about that to understand this. I just wanted to make sure that you understand I’m not saying any of this is canon.

I love world building and hearing other’s world building ideas, so I thought I would share this separately from my rewrite for anyone who might find it interesting.

Before i get into the actual history, I want to bring up a concept about the Galra and their emotions.

This idea on how their emotions work came from a Voltron Con panel I could have sworn I once saw; though I haven't been able to find it again, so I fully admit that it could just be something my brain made up.

But what I remember during Q&A time, was someone asking if Keith's anger issues stemmed from his Galran genes; Lauren Montgomery responded saying that she's sure that was the case, and that the Galra have extreme emotions, and felt deeply.

That idea, that the Galra race was actually an extremely emotional race, was something that intrigued me, and I started building ideas off of it on how that would have affected them through what we knew about them in the series.

Some of this might contradict things Dayak said about the Galra’s history in "Omega Shield", but I don't hold her words as absolute truth, as the history of the Galra's origins could have been warped to fit Zarkon's twisted empire.

(Really though, that's just the excuse I'm going with if any of this history I made up doesn't really fit with show canon.)

That said, here's my version of Galran history:

The Galra, much like the ancient Vulcans in the main Star Trek canon, were an extremely emotional species. This was as much as a blessing as a curse; their emotions could lead to great empathy and peace as easily as it could lead to great anger and conflict. One small action from one tribe or person towards another could be taken wrong and set everyone off in long wars.

Through the years there were times of great upheavals and conflicts. Finally, in the last "War of the Tribes" the "Vrepit Sa" -as Dayak told- was made.

In the aftermath, the tribes realized their race would not survive if they continued this way and they decided to make a drastic change. Rather than continuing on as separate tribes, the survivors pulled together and united as one tribe, implementing a structured system, and a single Emperor to lead the species. They were still an emotional race, but now with a firm system in place, they could work through their issues using a universal law system.

With that, the race grew, prospered, and eventually became space faring. However, reaching the stars created problems, as coming into contact with races that did not follow the Galra's law started causing conflict once more.

Some species saw how the Galra's emotions were easily stirred, and took advantage of them. When the Galra realized this, war broke out for the first time in centuries, though this time it was the united Galra race against species that used and harmed them.

During one of these wars, the final battle happened on a planet called Feyiv.

In this battle, the Galra's current Emperor was killed, but instead of fleeing, another Galra stepped up and took charge. They ended up leading the Galra to victory as the other races retreated.

The Galra who had stepped up during the time of crisis was made the new Emperor, and the mountainside where they refused to retreat became a sacred site. A temple was built, and all future Emperors would go there to partake in the Kral Zera and ascend the Steps of Destiny in order to have the right to rule.

It was also during these wars that the term "Palen-bol" came into existence, as the Galra learned that through hardships and pain, they could be made strong.

Centuries went by, and over time Diabazaal became unstable from all the galactic wars.

A new and young Emperor, Zarkon, saw Daibazaal was going down a path of destruction, and decided he wanted to stabilize it. He sought out means to doing this, which eventually led him to meeting another young ruler of a peaceful race, Alfor of Altea.

Though the Galra were untrusting of other races due to the past, Zarkon came to see the genuine nature of Alfor and his people, and he and the Galra eventually embraced them as allies and friends.

This led Daibazaal to opening up to the idea of working with other races, rather than just opposing those who didn't live the same way they did. When Alfor introduced Zarkon to Blaytz, Gyrgan, and Trigel, the Galra flourished even further with all the new allies.

Eventually, when Zarkon and Honerva married, everything turned around for the Galran race, and they saw that they could peacefully exist with other races.

That's when the rift opened and everything came crashing down.

After Zarkon and Honerva were killed, Alfor was the one who took the responsibility to tell the Galra of their leader's passing. He led them in evacuating Diabazaal, and he and the other Paladins opened their own worlds to the Galra, embracing them as their own people.

Then Zarkon returned.

After having first lost their beloved rulers, then their home world, the Galra were in a state of devastation and their emotions pushed to the breaking point.

Now, here was Zarkon -who Alfor said had died- telling them that not only was that a lie, but that the one who spoke those lies was responsible for the destruction of their world.

At this point there already tattered emotions snapped, and seeing proof of Alfor's 'lies' in the form of Zarkon ‘alive and well’, the Galra turned on their allies, and attacked without mercy.

Hurt by the universe for the last time, the Galra rose up and united once more, this time deciding that the only way they could have peace would be to do what they did on Daibazaal, take control of everything and have it set under one ruling Emperor. Thus their conquest for the universe began.

It's at this point that Zarkon, now corrupted, began to twist the Galra's way of thinking.

Using their feelings of hurt and betrayal, he drove empathy out of his people, as it was their empathy that allowed them to open themselves up to other races and lose everything. In order to survive, they had to become strong, had to become powerful, had to conquer.

It was victory or death.

However, as the Galran mindset began to change, some resisted. A Galra named Marmora saw what Zarkon had become, and what he was pushing their people to be, and decided to do something about it. They united others who felt the same and began working against the Empire in order to save their people.

However, the one thing Marmora did agreed with Zarkon on, was that their race's emotions were the cause of many of their problems.

Though, Marmora thought the answer was to take a different route then Zarkon, and convinced their followers to temper and control their emotions. Their focus became seeking the truth to free the universe, and their own race from Zarkon.

For them it was knowledge or death.

When Marmora died, those who followed them took up their name and worked as the blade that would strike at the heart of Zarkon's Empire.

As the war went on, and the Galran Empire conquered more and more worlds, the Galra who remained on the worlds to set up colonies began intermixing with the different species.

When the mass inter species mixing was discovered by the empire, it was immediately discouraged and looked down upon, and great emphasis was put on the concept of being “pure blooded”. The majority of the Galra immediately stopped inter mixing, but it was too late.

Though the years the bloodlines became so intermingled that it caused the Galran race to go from looking like this:

To becoming as diverse as this:

Those who were of a mixed race did what they could to hide any evidence. Because of that, over the 10,000 years they forgot what their species originally looked like, and most modern day Galra have no idea of their mixed heritage.

Nowadays Galra only know another is 'half breed’ when the non-Galra parent is widely known of from the get go.

Which is why these four are specifically targeted as 'half breeds’ despite looking no less Galra then some of the others shown above:

Anyhow, that’s my idea for the Galran history in my version of season 7/8. Which, if you are interested in reading, can be found HERE Hope you all enjoyed.

Have a nice day!

#galra #galra empire #voltron #VLD #voltron legendary defender #mywritings

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hymn2000 · 5 years

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Chiquitita - MCU AU fanfic - C11

Story summary: Something strange is happening. Someone from space has made their way to Earth, armed with a strange weapon. Targeting teenagers, their ray gun, when fired, turns the victim into a toddler. The Avengers set out to stop this, and find a way to reverse the effects. However, they don’t all come out of the battle unscathed.

Previous chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Part of my Frostiron and Spiderson series.

Warnings/themes: de-aging, family stuff, corporal punishment (early chapters only), mental health stuff, hurt/comfort

Chapter 11 - If You Need Me Let Me Know

Peter put his baby in its buggy and spent a long time pushing it around the living rooms and hallways. He was still busy pushing his baby round the landing when the front door opened. Peter stopped for a moment, listening, and soon Loki appeared on the landing.

“Daddy!”

“Hello, little boy!” Loki smiled, kneeling down and giving him a cuddle. “Aww, my little darling. I’ve missed you today!”

“Missed you too!”

Loki kissed him on the cheek and stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to get a drink and find daddy” Loki said.

He started off towards the kitchen. Peter stopped for a moment, and then grabbed his toy buggy and ran after him.

“WAIT!”

Peter ran into the kitchen and careered straight into the breakfast bar. The toy buggy stopped him from hitting the wood directly, but the force of the impact still knocked him off his feet. He stayed where he landed in quiet shock for a moment, and then jumped to his feet and threw his arms up in the air.

“DADDIES!”

Tony laughed, closing the oven door and throwing the oven gloves over his shoulder.

“Hey kiddo. Try not to make a habit of crashing your babies buggy into the kitchen units, ok?”

Peter giggled, turning back and moving the buggy away from the unit.

“Baby’s ok!” he announced.

“Good” Tony chuckled.

“Anyway” Loki said, winding his arms round Tony and giving him a kiss. “Good evening”

“How was work?” Tony asked, stroking Loki’s hair back behind his ear.

“It was fine, if a little dull. GP surgeries are so different to the ward. I was mainly doing ECG’s and blood tests all day. At least the other staff were nice. Most of the girls just wanted to ask questions about you, though”

“Oh, I see. Well, who could blame them? I am an incredibly interesting person”

“You keep telling yourself that” Loki said, kissing him again.

“Cheeky... I love you”

Loki kissed him again. “Love you too. What are you cooking?”

“I thought I’d do something a bit different. Remember when you were in Scotland, on your sabbatical? What’s one thing that you said you got really into while you were there?”

“Deep fried mars bars?”

“Well yeah, but I mean something savoury”

Loki thought for a moment. “Macaroni cheese pies”

Tony grinned.

“You haven’t... Really?”

“Yeah! I even made the pastry from scratch, because I am actually the new Gordon Ramsay. My timing has also been impeccable, of course” Tony said.

“Well, I’m thrilled. It’s exactly what I need after today. It seems to have really dragged” Loki said, letting go of Tony and putting the kettle on. “So, what did the dentist say?”

“Hm? Oh, nothing much. Just that he didn’t see any problems and he was happy with the condition of the kids teeth”

“Well, that’s a relief. I’ve really been dreading these appointments, just in case there was something wrong with him”

“You worry too much. He worries too much, doesn’t he, kid?”

Peter just giggled. He was sat on the floor, cradling his baby in his arms.

“So, what else did you get up to today?” Loki asked, getting his mug down from his cupboard.

“Well, we had some lunch after we’d been to the dentist, and then we went to the park”

“Oh, nice” Loki said. “What did you have for lunch?”

“Well, we decided to be healthy, so I made a-”

“We went to McDonald’s!” Peter shouted, thwarting Tony’s plan of making up something healthy.

Tony resisted the urge to physically face-palm. “You’ve landed me right in it, kid”

Loki sighed, but he chose not to make a fuss. He finished making his cup of tea.

“Shall I set the table?”

Tony nodded. “Sure. Hey, there’s some Powerade in the fridge if you want it”

“Nice” Loki said, breathing in. “Bloody hell, my stomach isn’t half growling. I’m absolutely starving”

Peter didn’t want to put his baby down when dinner was ready. Loki managed to convince him to tuck the doll up in its wooden cot in the second sitting room, and once his baby was ‘asleep’, Peter decided it was ok to have dinner.

“I think I’ve started to get the hang of all this” Tony said, a little while into the meal.

“I’m relieved to hear you say that” Loki said. “You’ve really stepped up this week. I’m proud of you”

“I’m proud of you, too” Tony said. “And I’m sorry for taking so long to get involved”

“I know” Loki looked at Peter. “He has to be our priority. I think we need to sit and talk about what we’re going to say to Li on Friday”

“I’d rather just answer her questions on the day” Tony said. “Is she gonna ask the kid stuff?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. If she does, it won’t be anything too heavy, since he’s only tiny now”

“I’m not tiny!” Peter said. “I’m big!”

“You keep telling yourself that, sweetheart” Tony said.

Loki stared at him. Tony felt him looking.

“What?”

“You called him sweetheart” Loki said. “You’ve only ever called him kid or kiddo. You just called him sweetheart!”

“...So I did” Tony smiled. “Well, he is a sweetheart. He’s my sweetheart. My little boy”

Li Allen arrived at exactly eleven o’ clock on Friday morning, punctual as ever. Tony took her upstairs to the second living room, where Loki was keeping an eye on Peter. The toddler had tired of his train set and was busy walking his baby round in its buggy, with his rocket balanced between the handles. He looked up when Tony and Li Allen came into the room. He listened to them talking, but he was too busy to pay too much attention. He continued his round of the room, but stopped when he reached the sofa that Li Allen was sat on. He looked up at her.

“It’s you!” he said.

“Hello, Peter” Li smiled. “How are you?”

“I had pancakes for lunch!”

“Did you now? How lovely. What did you have on your pancakes?”

“Sugar” Peter said. “Lots of sugar! But then daddy made me brush my teeth”

“Well, I think that was sensible, don’t you?”

Peter shook his head, and then grabbed the toy buggy and started another lap of the room. Li looked at Tony and Loki.

“He remembers me”

“Yes, he remembers a lot of people. Or more, he knows them” Tony said.

“I’ve read about it all” Li said. “But I’m not here to talk about case studies. Tell me how you’ve been getting on”

Tony laughed awkwardly, sitting down with Loki on the other sofa.

“Well” he said. “Loki’s been better than me”

“Is that so?”

“What he means is, he didn’t step up at all until a week after it happened” Loki said. “He stayed in the lab and he blanked Peter and he was utterly useless and rubbish. We barely spoke and he was too into his own feelings to think about the rest of the family”

“Ouch” Tony winced. “That’s a bit harsh”

“It’s true though, isn’t it?”

“...Yeah, it is” Tony admitted. He looked at Li. “He forced me to look after him for a night, and I stepped up after that. I’m getting the hang of it now. We’re getting the hang of it now”

“Tony, we’ve known each other a considerable amount of time now, and if I can be blunt, you’re always the one to flap the most in times of crisis. So I must say I’m not surprised with how you reacted. But I’m also not surprised that you stepped up” Li said. “You say you’re getting the hang of it now, which is good. I know toddlers and teenagers can be worlds apart”

“Yeah, it’s a whole different ball game” Tony said. “It’s still weird thinking about what actually happened, so I try not to. I still love the toddler while missing proper Peter. Teenage Peter”

“You finally called him by a pet name yesterday” Loki said.

“I’m still adjusting”

“Your own struggles aside, how is Peter doing?” Li asked. “He looks happy enough here. I can see you’ve equipt him well with toys”

“We did a big shop on Monday” Tony said. “We bought way more than I thought I would”

“We let him choose” Loki said. “He’s been much happier now that he’s got something to play with. He’d started to get bored”

“I know your Peter has his cuddly toys, and you’ve got plenty of teddies around, but I know toddlers can get bored quite quickly”

“He had those, and some bath toys, and a colouring book. Tony and I weren’t talking though, and I can’t drive his cars - legally anyway - so I couldn’t do much about it until we started talking again” Loki said. “He’s been better now that he’s got lots to play with”

“We’ve been taking him out a little bit too” Tony said. “Maybe we should do it more?”

“It’s good to take them out” Li said. “They like the change of scene, and it’s good for their development too”

“He’s not gonna be a toddler forever; only until we’ve got the reversal gun”

“It’s still a good idea to treat him like you would any other toddler. He still needs the same stimulation”

“Took the words right out of my mouth” Loki said. “I’m still trying to think about where else to take him”

Peter parked his baby buggy. He listened to the grown-ups talking. They talked for a long time, and Peter didn’t really understand a lot of what they were saying. After a while, he took his rocket and went over to Loki. He didn’t say anything, and Loki didn’t really look at him, but he picked him up and put him on his lap anyway. Peter sat with his rocket on his lap, leaning against Loki’s chest.

“-If the doctor said there’s nothing to worry about, I’d trust his judgement” Li said. “You seem to be doing fine, but there’s always further support available for you if you want it. We’ve offering everyone who came under fire from Kindsprengen the opportunity to meet the other - shall we say, victims. Sharing common experiences can be helpful. Is that something you’d be interested in?”

Loki and Tony looked at each other.

“I’m not sure” Tony said.

“Well, I am, and I’m not interested” Loki said. “I wouldn’t mind meeting them, but not in controlled circumstances. I won’t go out of my way to meet them”

“It would be good for Peter to play with some other toddlers” Li said. “Do let me know if you change your mind”

“Maybe we could consider toddler groups or play centres then”

Peter looked up at Loki. Loki looked down at him.

“What?”

Peter looked away without saying anything. Loki sighed.

“Is he feeling a little shy?”

“I don’t think so. He’s just not a chatterbox like teenage Peter”

“Oh, I see” Li said. “I did notice he was quiet. I just assumed he was shy”

“He’s so quiet compared to big Peter. But he does sing to himself sometimes. Teenage Peter never does that”

“But he’s happy” Tony said. “He’s... happier than normal Peter”

“Poor Peter has been through such a lot. I still remember the look in his eyes when I first met him. He was so scared. He’s been much better recently, though. If this toddler hasn’t got memories of being a teenager, he doesn’t have the memories of everything he’s been through. Of course he’s happier. Or, happy in a different way”

Loki looked down at the toddler cuddled against his chest. “That’s exactly what I thought... He’s happier this way”

Tony looked at him. “It’s only temporary, darling”

“I know” Loki said. “But he’s happy now. That’s all that matters to me”

Peter wriggled off Loki’s lap and climbed off the sofa. He went over to the other sofa and climbed up beside Li.

“Hello, Peter” Li said. “What have you got there?”

“This is my rocket” Peter said.

“Well, that’s very lovely. It’s very colourful. Is this your favourite toy?”

Peter nodded. “Yep. I’ve got lots of toys. Daddy said I could have anything I wanted when we went to the shop”

“Really now? What did you get?”

“I got lots! I’ll show you!” Peter jumped down from the sofa, taking Li’s hand.

Li glanced at Loki and Tony, and then stood up and let Peter guide her over to his toy boxes. Peter took the lids off and started showing her all of his play sets. He showed her his building bricks and trains. He showed her his Noah’s ark and farm set. He couldn’t show her his new soft toys, because they were in his bedroom, but he could show her his baby. He spent a long time showing her his babies buggy and cot and high chair, and all of the little outfits and accessories.

“You’re a very lucky little boy, aren’t you? What a lot of lovely toys you’ve got”

Peter nodded.

“You can feed my baby” he said, passing the baby doll and a plastic bottle over to her.

“Why, thank you” Li said, holding it like a real baby.

Peter clutched his rocket in his fist, and held his arms up to her. Li picked him up and sat back down on the sofa with the boy on his lap.

“He seems happy” Li said, ‘feeding’ the baby doll with one hand. “He’s small, but he doesn’t feel too thin or anything like that - he’s just little. He’s lovely, and you’ve done a good job so far. I can see he’s well supported and looked after. I know this is difficult for you, but you’ve done really well. I’m really happy with both of you”

“We’ll be ok” Tony said, taking Loki’s hand. “We’ve got each other. We’ve got our friends. It’s only for a little while, right? Just until Thor and all his people up in space have found a way to reverse it”

Li stroked Peter’s hair gently. She watched him turning his rocket over in his hands and rubbing his nose against the soft fabric.

“You’re ok, aren’t you, sweetheart?”

Peter nodded. “Daddy said... Daddy said we’re going to the park today”

“I said maybe” Tony said. “We might try somewhere different”

“Oh!”

Tony smiled at him. “You’re so easily surprised, chick. We’ll think of something to do”

“He likes swimming” Loki said.

“He’s too little for our pool” Tony said. “He’d hurt himself on the fun bit”

“Yes, but there’s public pools. They tend to have baby pools alongside the normal pool” Loki said. “We could look into it. Indoor swimming pools will be good, especially if the weather isn’t great”

“Ok, well, we’d need to get him a swim suit and some arm bands. Maybe some goggles?”

“Daddies are being boring again” Peter mumbled.

Li laughed. “They’re just planning, sweetheart”

“I’m hungry”

Loki stood up and held a hand out to Peter. “Let’s go and get you fed”

Li set the baby doll aside and talked with Tony more while Loki and Peter were out of the room.

“You’re allowed to ask for help. I know you’ve got a solid support system, but me and everyone else I’ve referred you to before will always be here if needed”

“Thanks. I’m doing ok. A part of me still feels like I’ve lost my son. Peter’s a bit of a baby, but toddler Peter really is a baby. It’s still weird thinking of what happened. It still hurts” Tony said. “But I’ve started getting to know the toddler this week, and I love him. He’s my son. I’m getting used to it. This week seems to have gone on for years”

“I bet it’s been a learning curve for you” Li said. “You and Peter have always had a very special bond. That shouldn’t change because of what’s happened. He needs you to take care of him. Sure, you just avoided everything and pretended it wasn’t happening, but now you’ve got involved and started being a father again. That’s good. You’ve had to deal with worse situations than this with Peter. You’ll be able to do this”

“I still feel lost about it. It feels like much longer than two weeks. I didn’t really think about what I was doing, just thought that I needed to stay out of it. When I finally realised what I was doing to Loki, as well as the kid... Me and Loki have never fallen out like that before. I missed him. I’m so used to holding him and kissing him and talking to him every day, and it was hard not having that. I was used to being a unit. I think we’ve got that back now. It’s still gonna be tricky, but I think now we’ve got a routine and stuff, we can do it... Bloody hell, imagine if the public knew we were struggling. The press would have a field day”

“They won’t find out unless you tell them. You fed a false version of event to the press, and you were well within your rights to do so. You’re allowed to put yourself and your family first”

“Bruce did the press release for us. He’s good at that kind of thing”

“Have your friends been visiting?”

Tony shook his head. “I think Loki said Clint wanted to visit. I think mostly they’re trying to give us space...”

“You don’t sound very happy about that”

“I’m not. I want to see them. Usually I don’t mind not seeing people for a long time, but I do now. I feel kinda isolated. Maybe I should invite them over”

“It’s good to make use of your support system, even if you’re just hanging about watching films or having a takeaway. Something other than Avenging, perhaps?”

Tony laughed slightly. “Yeah, I think Loki would kill me if I tried to get the Iron Man suit on now. Kid’d probably love it though”

“I’m a big fan of it, but I think I’d advise against it right now too. At least until you’re settled with toddler parenthood”

Tony nodded. “...I bet that night at the hospital when you were called down to A&E for Peter’s case, you never expected half of the nightmares and weird things we’ve been through”

“You’ve definitely thrown up some surprises” Li smiled. “You’ve kept me on my feet, made me fill out a lot of paperwork. But between the two of us, you’re far from being the worst family on my list”

Tony laughed slightly. “What makes you say that? We’re definitely a total nightmare at times”

“Maybe your situations are” Li said carefully. “But even when you’re going through horrible, horrible things, you’re always looking after each other as best you can. There’s always lots of love between the three of you. Unlike a lot of people I see, I’ve never felt like Peter wasn’t safe and well looked after where he is. You’re a very different kind of ‘nightmare’ than a lot of my clients”

“I miss my baby. I miss my teenage son. I really, really miss him”

“I know.. I know”

“I want him back. I miss everything about him. I want him so much... It’s just a waiting game though, right? I want Thor to come back and brandish that reversal gun he’s up there to sort. Until then... I just have to get on with it. Look after the toddler”

“Have you talked to Loki about how you’re feeling?”

“Yeah, we’ve talked quite a lot...”

“Do you feel like you need to talk about this with someone else, professionally?”

“...Maybe. I don’t know. I’d need to find the time, between work and the kid and anything that comes up with the Avengers, it might be a bit hard”

“I’m sure Loki would understand if you needed to take a couple of hours out. You need to look after yourself as well as Peter”

“I’ll think about it” Tony said. “Thanks for this. I don’t know how you’re always so understanding when things are always so weird”

“It keeps things interesting for me” Li said. “I’ll be on the other end of the phone whenever you need me. You’ve known me long enough to know that by now”

Tony moved to sit next to her, and hugged her tight. She’d been a reassuring presence in their lives every since the day May had died. It was nice talking to someone familiar, someone who knew them. Someone who understood.

#my writing #fanfiction #mcu fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #frostiron #irondad and spiderson

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THE BOOK OF JUDITH* - From The Douay-Rheims Bible - Latin Vulgate

Chapter 6

INTRODUCTION.

The sacred writer of this Book is generally believed to be the high priest Eliachim, (called also Joachim.) The transactions herein related, most probably happened in his days, and in the reign of Manasses, after his repentance and return from captivity. It takes its name from that illustrious woman, by whose virtue and fortitude, armed with prayer, the children of Israel were preserved from the destruction threatened them by Holofernes and his great army. It finishes with her canticle of thanksgiving to God. Ch. --- He was a chief officer at court, under Ezechias, (4 K. xviii. 18. H.) before he was high priest, assuming his father Helchias's name. Many suppose that he was the author of this Book, as Josephus informs us that the priests recorded the most remarkable transactions. But this would prove that they wrote all the histories of the Bible. S. Jerom (in Agg. i. 6.) seems to believe that Judith left these memoirs. Yet we have no certain proof of the author. Josephus passes over this history, as he professed to exhibit only the Heb. books. Ant. x. 11. Prol. &c. S. Jerom doubts not but this was written in Chaldee, from which language he translated it; unless he caused it to be first explained to him in Heb. as he did the Book of Tobias. C. --- He might, however, have attained sufficient knowledge of the former language, which is so like the Hebrew, before he undertook this work. H. --- He professes to give "the sense," rather than a verbal translation. The Greek must have been taken from another copy, and is followed by the Syriac, in which we find some passages more exact than in the present Greek copies. The original is entirely lost. It might have removed many difficulties. Those however which are started by our adversaries, are not unanswerable. Grotius would suppose that this work is only a parable, representing the state of the Jewish church under the persecution of Epiphanes. But this singular notion has no foundation; and if it had, the authenticity of the Book would not be endangered, as the parable both of the Old and New Testament are certainly true, and written by inspiration. C. --- Luther styles it a poetical comedy; (Pref. et Sympos. 29.) but both Jews and Christians have esteemed it as a true history: (W.) and this innovator (H.) allows, that "the Book is beautiful, and written by an inspired prophet." C. --- The Fathers have looked upon it with the utmost veneration; and S. Jerom, though he was at one time under some doubts, placed it on a level with the Books of Ruth, and Esther, &c. Ep. ad Principiam. --- It is admitted by Origen, Tertullian, S. Chrys. S. Hilary, V. Bede, &c. as the history of a most valiant matron, delivering God's people from a cruel tyrant. W. --- Some place this event under Cambyses, son of Cyrus; (Euseb. S. Aug.) others under Xerxex, (Torniel) or Darius Hystaspes, (E.) or Ochus: (Sulp. Severus) but the opinion which has been given above is more accurate; (C.) or rather Bethulia was saved, while Manasses was in captivity, (in the 10th year of his reign) and the high priest administered affairs in his absence. At this point, Judith might be thirty-five years old. She lived seventy years afterwards; and many days (perhaps eight years more) passed before the country was invaded by Pharao Nechao. C. xvi. 30. Thus Manasses survived 45 years, Amon 2, Josias 31; total 78. This chronology removes every difficulty. Houbig. Pref. --- If true, it seems probable that the work would be originally in Heb. as the Chaldee was used only after the captivity, (H.) which may be farther proved from C. i. 15. Greek. Houbigant. --- Protestants prefer to translate this and the other apocrypha from the Greek. M.

* One of the seven Deutero-Canonical books, missing from most non-Catholic Bibles.

The additional Notes in this Edition of the New Testament will be marked with the letter A. Such as are taken from various Interpreters and Commentators, will be marked as in the Old Testament. B. Bristow, C. Calmet, Ch. Challoner, D. Du Hamel, E. Estius, J. Jansenius, M. Menochius, Po. Polus, P. Pastorini, T. Tirinus, V. Bible de Vence, W. Worthington, Wi. Witham. — The names of other authors, who may be occasionally consulted, will be given at full length.

Verses are in English and Latin. HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY

This Catholic commentary on the Old Testament, following the Douay-Rheims Bible text, was originally compiled by Catholic priest and biblical scholar Rev. George Leo Haydock (1774-1849). This transcription is based on Haydock's notes as they appear in the 1859 edition of Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary printed by Edward Dunigan and Brother, New York, New York.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

Changes made to the original text for this transcription include the following:

Greek letters. The original text sometimes includes Greek expressions spelled out in Greek letters. In this transcription, those expressions have been transliterated from Greek letters to English letters, put in italics, and underlined. The following substitution scheme has been used: A for Alpha; B for Beta; G for Gamma; D for Delta; E for Epsilon; Z for Zeta; E for Eta; Th for Theta; I for Iota; K for Kappa; L for Lamda; M for Mu; N for Nu; X for Xi; O for Omicron; P for Pi; R for Rho; S for Sigma; T for Tau; U for Upsilon; Ph for Phi; Ch for Chi; Ps for Psi; O for Omega. For example, where the name, Jesus, is spelled out in the original text in Greek letters, Iota-eta-sigma-omicron-upsilon-sigma, it is transliterated in this transcription as, Iesous. Greek diacritical marks have not been represented in this transcription.

Footnotes. The original text indicates footnotes with special characters, including the astrisk (*) and printers' marks, such as the dagger mark, the double dagger mark, the section mark, the parallels mark, and the paragraph mark. In this transcription all these special characters have been replaced by numbers in square brackets, such as [1], [2], [3], etc.

Accent marks. The original text contains some English letters represented with accent marks. In this transcription, those letters have been rendered in this transcription without their accent marks.

Other special characters.

Solid horizontal lines of various lengths that appear in the original text have been represented as a series of consecutive hyphens of approximately the same length, such as ---.

Ligatures, single characters containing two letters united, in the original text in some Latin expressions have been represented in this transcription as separate letters. The ligature formed by uniting A and E is represented as Ae, that of a and e as ae, that of O and E as Oe, and that of o and e as oe.

Monetary sums in the original text represented with a preceding British pound sterling symbol (a stylized L, transected by a short horizontal line) are represented in this transcription with a following pound symbol, l.

The half symbol (1/2) and three-quarters symbol (3/4) in the original text have been represented in this transcription with their decimal equivalent, (.5) and (.75) respectively.

Unreadable text. Places where the transcriber's copy of the original text is unreadable have been indicated in this transcription by an empty set of square brackets, [].

Chapter 6

Holofernes in great rage sendeth Achior to Bethulia, there to be slain with the Israelites.

[1] And it came to pass when they had left off speaking, that Holofernes being in a violent passion, said to Achior:

Factum est autem cum cessassent loqui, indignatus Holofernes vehementer, dixit ad Achior :

[2] Because thou hast prophesied unto us, saying: That the nation of Israel is defended by their God, to shew thee that there is no God, but Nabuchodonosor:

Quoniam prophetasti nobis, dicens quod gens Israel defendatur a Deo suo, ut ostendam tibi quoniam non est deus nisi Nabuchodonosor :

[3] When we shall slay them all as one man, then thou also shalt die with them by the sword of the Assyrians, and all Israel shall perish with thee:

cum percusserimus eos omnes, sicut hominem unum, tunc et ipse cum illis Assyriorum gladio interibis, et omnis Israel tecum perditione disperiet :

[4] And thou shalt find that Nabuchodonosor is lord of the whole earth: and then the sword of my soldiers shall pass through thy sides, and thou shalt be stabbed and fall among the wounded of Israel, and thou shalt breathe no more till thou be destroyed with them.

et probabis quoniam Nabuchodonosor dominus sit universae terrae : tuncque gladius militiae meae transiet per latera tua, et confixus cades inter vulneratos Israel, et non respirabis ultra, donec extermineris cum illis.

[5] But if thou think thy prophecy true, let not thy countenance sink, and let the paleness that is in thy face, depart from thee, if thou imaginest these my words cannot be accomplished.

Porro autem si prophetiam tuam veram existimas, non concidat vultus tuus, et pallor, qui faciem tuam obtinet, abscedat a te, si verba mea haec putas impleri non posse.

[6] And that thou mayst know that thou shalt experience these things together with them, behold from this hour thou shalt be associated to their people, that when they shall receive the punishment they deserve from my sword, thou mayst fall under the same vengeance.

Ut autem noveris quia simul cum illis haec experieris, ecce ex hac hora illorum populo sociaberis, ut, dum dignas mei gladii poenas exceperint, ipse simul ultioni subjaceas.

[7] Then Holofernes commanded his servants to take Achior, and to lead him to Bethulia, and to deliver him into the hands of the children of Israel.

Tunc Holofernes praecepit servis suis ut comprehenderent Achior, et perducerent eum in Bethuliam, et traderent eum in manus filiorum Israel.

[8] And the servants of Holofernes taking him, went through the plains: but when they came near the mountains, the slingers came out against them.

Et accipientes eum servi Holofernis, profecti sunt per campestria : sed cum appropinquassent ad montana, exierunt contra eos fundibularii.

[9] Then turning out of the way by the side of the mountain, they tied Achior to a tree hand and foot, and so left him bound with ropes, and returned to their master.

Illi autem divertentes a latere montis, ligaverunt Achior ad arborem manibus et pedibus, et sic vinctum restibus dimiserunt eum, et reversi sunt ad dominum suum.

[10] And the children of Israel coming down from Bethulia, came to him, and loosing him they brought him to Bethulia, and setting him in the midst of the people, asked him what was the matter, that the Assyrians had left him bound.

Porro filii Israel descendentes de Bethulia, venerunt ad eum : quem solventes, duxerunt ad Bethuliam, atque in medium populi illum statuentes, percunctati sunt quid rerum esset quod illum vinctum Assyrii reliquissent.

[11] In those days the rulers there, were Ozias the son of Micha of the tribe of Simeon, and Charmi, called also Gothoniel.

In diebus illis erant illic principes, Ozias filius Micha de tribu Simeon, et Charmi, qui et Gothoniel.

[12] And Achior related in the midst of the ancients, and in the presence of all the people, all that he had said being asked by Holofernes: and how the people of Holofernes would have killed him for this word,

In medio itaque seniorum, et in conspectu omnium, Achior dixit omnia quae locutus ipse fuerat ab Holoferne interrogatus : et qualiter populus Holofernis voluisset propter hoc verbum interficere eum,

[13] And how Holofernes himself being angry had commanded him to be delivered for this cause to the Israelites: that when he should overcome the children of Israel, then he might command Achior also himself to be put to death by diverse torments, for having said: The God of heaven is their defender.

et quemadmodum ipse Holofernes iratus jusserit eum Israelitis hac de causa tradi : ut, dum vicerit filios Israel, tunc et ipsum Achior diversis jubeat interire suppliciis, propter hoc quod dixisset : Deus caeli defensor eorum est.

[14] And when Achior had declared all these things, all the people fell upon their faces, adoring the Lord, and all of them together mourning and weeping poured out their prayers with one accord to the Lord,

Cumque Achior universa haec exposuisset, omnis populus cecidit in faciem, adorantes Dominum, et communi lamentatione et fletu unanimes preces suas Domino effuderunt,

[15] Saying: O Lord God of heaven and earth, behold their pride, and look on our low condition, and have regard to the face of thy saints, and shew that thou forsakes not them that trust on thee, and that thou humblest them that presume of themselves, and glory in their own strength.

dicentes : Domine Deus caeli et terrae, intuere superbiam eorum, et respice ad nostram humilitatem, et faciem sanctorum tuorum attende, et ostende quoniam non derelinquis praesumentes de te : et praesumentes de se, et de sua virtute gloriantes, humilias.

[16] So when their weeping was ended, and the peoples prayer, in which they continued all the day, was concluded, they comforted Achior,

Finito itaque fletu, et per totam diem oratione populorum completa, consolati sunt Achior,

[17] Saying: the God of our fathers, whose power thou hast set forth, will make this return to thee, that thou rather shalt see their destruction.

dicentes : Deus patrum nostrorum, cujus tu virtutem praedicasti, ipse tibi hanc dabit vicissitudinem, ut eorum magis tu interitum videas.

[18] And when the Lord our God shall give this liberty to his servants, let God be with thee also in the midst of us: that as it shall please thee, so thou with all thine mayst converse with us.

Cum vero Dominus Deus noster dederit hanc libertatem servis suis, sit et tecum Deus in medio nostri : ut sicut placuerit tibi, ita cum tuis omnibus converseris nobiscum.

[19] Then Ozias, after the assembly was broken up, received him into his house, and made him a great supper.

Tunc Ozias, finito consilio, suscepit eum in domum suam, et fecit ei coenam magnam.

[20] And all the ancients were invited, and they refreshed themselves together after their fast was over.

Et vocatis omnibus presbyteris, simul expleto jejunio refecerunt.

[21] And afterwards all the people were called together, and they prayed all the night long within the church, desiring help of the God of Israel.

Postea vero convocatus est omnis populus, et per totam noctem intra ecclesiam oraverunt, petentes auxilium a Deo Israel.

Commentary:

Ver. 1. Achior. Gr. adds, "before all the populace of the strangers." And who art thou, Achior, before all this company of foreigners, and the sons of Moab? and what are the mercenaries of Ephraim, that thou? v. 2.

Ver. 2. To shew. Gr. "and who is God but Nabuchodonosor? He will," &c. H. --- They allow the title to none but their king. Neither will God admit of any rival. W. --- The generous advice of Achior was highly resented. Charidemus, who spoke with the like boldness to Darius, when Alexander approached, was even put to death, though the king repented when it was too late. Curt. iii. Diod. xiv.

Ver. 6. People. Gr. "my slaves shall station thee on the mountainous country, and in one of the cities on the ascents, (of which thou hast so much spoken) and thou shalt not perish till thou perish with them. But if thou believest in thy heart that they will not be taken, let not thy countenance fall. I have spoken, and nothing that I have said shall be without effect."

Ver. 7. Bethulia. Travellers, depending on the uncertain traditions of the country, generally place this fortress in the tribe of Zebulon, about three miles west of Tiberias. See Brochard. &c. But S. Jerom places it near Egypt; (Vita Hil.) and the Scripture speaks of Bethul, in the tribe of Simeon, (Jos. xix. 4.) to which Judith and the ancients belonged. Holofernes left his camp near Scythopolis, (C. vii. 1.) when he proceeded (C.) to attack the southern countries. H.

Ver. 11. And. Gr. adds, "Chabris, the son of Othoniel, and Charmis, the son of Melchiel." M. --- The former is, in effect, mentioned C. viii. 9. C.

Ver. 15. Pride. God will not fail to reward those who trust in him, (H.) and to humble the presumptuous. W. --- Saints. Syr. "sanctuary." This version and the Greek have only, "Look upon the face of the persons (or things) sanctified unto thee on this day. And they consoled Achior, and praised him greatly. And Ozias took him from the assembly to his own house, and made a feast (lit. drinking) for the ancients, and they invoked the God of Israel to assist them during all that night." H.

Ver. 18. With us, observing the true religion. M.

Ver. 20. Over. The Jews eat nothing before night, and then no abstinence is prescribed, (C.) as the fast is at an end. H.

Ver. 21. The church. That is, the synagogue or place where they met in prayer. Ch. - For such places were established, particularly after the captivity, though some have denied that there were any synagogues, even in the days of the Machabees. See Mat. iv. 23. Est. iv. 16. C.

#book of judith

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firstumcschenectady · 3 years

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If I'm honest, I'm not a fan of my own weaknesses. (I pause now to await the ones who know me well to stop laughing at my understatement.) I would really like to be strong, capable, and impressive in all ways.

I'm not.

I'm a normal human mix of capable and incapable, strong and weak, impressive and profoundly not impressive. It is truly annoying.

From conversation, I'm under the impression that some of you are more at peace with this than I am, and that is such good news. You are all living proof that wisdom, maturity, and the grace of God are profoundly powerful. I'm also aware that some of you are with me, in being frustrated in your own imperfection, and always pushing yourself for more. May God's grace transform us too.

Anyway, my own sense of self, and my own impatience, are quite a lens to bring to our Epistle reading today. Paul talks about a “thorn in his side,” one that he has asked God to remove repeatedly, and one that he has come to believe is USEFUL in his ministry. The use of the thorn in the side? Keeping him humble, and reminding him that "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness."

Paul, who in this whole passage is modeling a different kind of leadership is refusing to play the games asked of him. Others have come to the church in Corinth bragging about who they are, what visions they've seen, and what authority it gives them. Paul has been asked to justify himself and his authority.

The passage we read today is part of him refusing to play along.

It opens with a weird piece about “someone” having a vision, which ends up being Paul, but he refuses to give any details or use it to gain any power over anyone else. Furthermore, he refuses to engage in even arguing about what form the vision took. Paul is NOT PLAYING by the rules.

He is facing people who boast, but he refuses to boast, OTHER than about God, so instead of bragging about himself, he talks about his WEAKNESSES. He talks about the thorn in his side. (No, no one knows what it is. Options in likeliness order include physical ailment, mental illness, outside persecution, or spiritual torment.) And then he talks about God.

I found a wonderful passage from a commentary I was tempted to share, but it was so dense I didn't think it would help anything. So, instead, I'm going to summarize it for you, and put it in the footnotes.1 2

Paul is being told that the thorn in his side, that weakness in him, is a place that God's grace can work. For Paul, this connects to Jesus being “crucified in weakness” but raised to life by the power of God. If Jesus' life was defined by his weakness and God's strength, then sharing the Good News of Jesus is also about letting God shine through our weaknesses. So Paul doesn't try to overcome his weaknesses, nor dismiss them (like the Cynics and Stoics of his day). He also doesn't try to be self-sufficient, which would involve limiting his own needs to limit his dependence on others. Instead, he accepts his “thorn in the side” and other weaknesses, and lets them guide him to dependence – on God.

So, to those bragging about what they've experienced of God, Paul refuses to boast, except about his WEAKNESS. To those seeking self-sufficiency, Paul responds with his dependence. This is definitely one of those cases where I can see why Paul was such an effective messenger of the story and love of Jesus.

This humble Paul, who only brags about his weakness, who acknowledges his dependence, who speaks highly of others but not himself, and who names the work of God in anything others might praise in his own life – THIS is the faith I grew up with. This is what I saw in my own church, and at church camp, and in the Annual Conference leaders when I started attending as a young teenager. I watched this being modeled, and I internalized it. The faith of bragging about the accomplishments of others, but not of ones self. The faith of seeing remarkable transformation happening, and thanking God. The faith of humility. This all feels like first language faith to me, the way that things are without even having to think about them.

From where I stand today, I don't know if that's good. Or, at least, I don't know if it is equally good for everyone, or for every time. And I wonder if another person had been with me in those faith-forming experiences if they would have heard it and internalized it in the same ways.

This is funny, because there is a HUGE part of me that says “OF COURSE THIS IS GOOD, this is WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE, this is what being GODLY looks like.” But I've learned, over the years, to question everything, especially things that refuse to be questioned.

I wonder if “be humble, only speak of the accomplishments of others, praise God for anything praise worthy in yourself” ends up taking especially strong hold in women, in people of color, and in others who are marginalized, which ends up supporting the status quo in ignoring the wonders and accomplishments of many of God's beloveds. And, I think about the quiet ways women and people of color are shamed for appearing to be insufficiently humble. I wonder if there are ways that those who are not marginalized are immune to the message of humility, and end up being the only ones comfortable with touting their accomplishments. And then, since others are also touting theirs, they seem the most capable.

I wonder if my first language, faith of my childhood ends up doing more harm than good by reinforcing exactly the ways that society wants to ignore the giftedness of many of God's children.

Rev. Dr. Eric Law in The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb says, “Our vision of the Peaceable Realm is not based on fear. Instead it is based on lack of fear....This lack of fear is created by the even distribution of power.”3 When humility is used by some, but not others, we end up protecting those in power, instead of moving towards power sharing. Law's book discusses a cycle of Christian living between death and resurrection: 1. Giving up power, choosing the cross 2. Cross, death, powerless 3. empowerment, endurance, faithfulness 4. Empty Tomb, Resurrection, Powerful. He emphasizes that we need to hold things in balance, not staying in one part of the story, but living the cycle over and over again. In fact, he talks about those with power giving power away, and that is if this is a way of life, power gets shared.

I think that maybe the faith I grew up with is one with GREAT value, especially in any situation where I have power. It is good to brag on others, lift others up, focus on inter-dependence, be aware of one's weaknesses, and take it as an invitation to invite another's strengths.

However, I think it is, maybe, only part of a fuller story. It is also important to see how God has gifted us, and think about how we want to use those gifts for the kindom. It is important to hear how what we have to offer blesses others. It is important to receive power, particularly when we are in a situation where we don't have much. I think the full cycle is bigger than the one I'd internalized.

So, I don't know what message you need today. (I don't know what one I need today.) Maybe the reminder to look for God at work in our weaknesses, maybe to brag on each other, maybe to give up on self-sufficiency – and maybe to get REALLY REALLY clear on your own strengths and gifts and not let anyone take that away from you.

But I do know that Paul in 2 Corinthians and Jesus in his own hometown know a thing or two about being human, being limited, and finding God in the midst of it. And whatever else the message is in these passages today, I appreciate the reminder that God can bring good out of my weaknesses, and that makes them rather wonderful just as they are. Finally, I appreciate the struggle, to reach for a fuller faith, and acknowledge the complicatedness of trying to live as a follower of Christ. Thanks be to God. Amen

1“The apostle is directed to understand his affliction as part of that weakness in and through which God's powerful grace is operated. It is clear that, from Paul's point of view, the decisive demonstration of this oracular pronouncement is Christ himself, 'crucified in weakness,' but alive 'by the power of God.' This is why weakness is the hallmark of his apostleship, because he has been commissioned to the service of the gospel through the grace of this Christ – a grace whose power is made present in the cross. Paul therefore does not, like the Cynic and Stoic philosophers of his day, strive to transcend his weaknesses by dismissing them as trifling. Nor does he, like them, hold to the ideal of self-sufficiency, striving to limit his own needs and therefore his dependency on others. Rather, precisely by accepting his tribulations as real weaknesses he is led by them to acknowledge his ultimate dependence on God.” Victor Paul Furnish II Corinthians in The Anchor Bible Series (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company Inc, 1984), 550.

2 Funish, 550.

3 Eric H. F. Law The Worf Shall Dwell with the Lamb: A Spirituality for Leadership in a Multicultural Community (St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press, 1993) 14.

Rev. Sara E. Baron

First United Methodist Church of Schenectady

603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305

Pronouns: she/her/hers

http://fumcschenectady.org/

https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

July 4, 2021

Photo Credit to Barb Armstrong.

#Thinking Church #Progressive Christianity #question everything #First UMC Schenectady #UMC #Schenectady #Sorry about the UMC #Rev Sara E Baron #Eric H F Law #What is God up to #Humility

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casualarsonist · 6 years

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Dune (novel) review and analysis

In commemoration to Frank Herbert’s epic novel, I’ve decided to make this review 10,000 words long.

Frank Herbert’s Dune has long stood as one of science fiction’s towering giants - a monolithic feat of imagination and a landmark science fiction novel. And as a work of fiction, this it true. Over the greater part of a thousand pages lay stories of sprawling civilisations, with dozens of unique characters engaging in complex power-plays whilst battling the brutality of the ecology of the sand-planet Arrakis. Following it’s release in 1965, it was (and still is) regarded as a masterwork in world-building - a milestone for the genre, and the Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones of its time. As a work of fiction, it’s a triumph. As a piece of literature…well…

Frank Herbert was great at many things in his life. Writing was not one of them. And while Dune is a standout novel that, all things considered, has aged better than many novels (particularly of the sci-fi genre) of a similar time, it is, at least in my humble opinion, a spectacularly average work of prose. But I say this with the works of Cormac McCarthy, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Kurt Vonnegut, and others in mind, so I am probably doing him a disservice in comparing his work to what I believe to be the cream of the crop. But if you’re going to tout a novel as ‘one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time’, I think you have to allow it to undergo rigourous scrutiny from all angles. So with that in mind, let’s scrutinise this motherfucker.

Spoilers abound, including a spoiler for Metro 2033.

It is thousands of years in the future, and mankind has conquered the stars. Dune centres around the Atreides family - one of a number of Great Houses united under the pseudo-feudal collective ‘Lansraad’, owing allegiance to the Emperor Shaddam IV. Duke Leto Atreides - a hard but compassionate man and a competent leader - has been given charge over the desert planet Arrakis, displacing House Harkonnen - the Atreides’ mortal enemies. Leto senses correctly that this dangerous exchange of power is an intentional move by the Emperor to set his family up on the losing side of an inter-House rivalry, and with the help of the traitorous Yueh - the Atreides doctor - and the armies of the Emperor, the Harkonnen’s capture and kill Leto, whilst his son Paul and pregnant concubine Jessica disappear into the desert. There they encounter Arrakis’ indigenous inhabitants - the Fremen - and are accepted amongst them after proving their worth through combat and their uncanny abilities of deduction and prescience, abilities taught to Jessica and Paul by the Bene Gesserit, a powerful sisterhood who wield abilities of superhuman physical and mental conditioning to influence and manipulate society.

Paul, for his part, has been prophesied to be the ‘Kwisatz Haderach’ - the name for a messianic male Bene Gesserit, a child born of generations of genetic manipulation with the power to see through time and space. And when I say he is ‘prophesied’ to be the Kwisatz Haderach, I mean that he is the Kwisatz Haderach, and this, like most questions and mysteries the novel establishes, are answered immediately and conclusively without exception.

But anyway, after their escape the book jumps a number of years ahead, and Paul has had a son with a Fremen woman, while Jessica has given birth to Paul’s sister, Alia, a child imbued with all of Jessica’s Bene Gesserit powers in the womb, who speaks and acts like a grown adult despite looking and sounding like an infant.

Under Paul’s command, the Fremen tribes have been performing successful raids against the Harkonnen forces and reducing the flow of the addictive spice Melange - the galaxy’s most valuable trade commodity, and one that occurs only on Arrakis. This brings the Emperor to the planet, followed by the armies of every house in the Lansraad, and with the Fremen tribes at his back, Paul drives over them like a steamroller, taking back control of Arrakis with little to no complications because he’s the Kwisatz fucking Haderach, as we were told in the first chapter. His infant sister knifes the Baron Harkonnen to death, and Paul forces the daughter of the Emperor - Princess Irulan - to marry him while promising that he will never love her or otherwise show her affection. Jessica celebrates this. The end. So, I hope you could keep up with all the terms; my spellcheck was going absolutely mental as I was writing that.

But where to begin? Firstly, despite some of the criticisms I’ve read (as well as some of the criticisms I will make), I should note that I didn’t find Dune to be a particularly laborious read. Its length is obscene, yes, but my Tube rides would pass by in a flash when I was buried in the text. And although I personally don’t understand the decades-long literary trend of putting fake songs into a text (I’m looking at you, Lord of the Rings), I never found the numerous pages of songs in Dune to be as big an impediment to my interest as I did in, say, Lord of the fucking Rings (and skipping over reading them sped the whole process up considerably). I understand that saying that Dune ‘isn’t unreadable’ isn’t exactly high praise, but I think it’s worth at least outlining the extent of my criticisms of the text, because I’m going to tear into Herbert’s writing as we go on, but I don’t want you to think that sub-par prose necessarily translates into an odious reading experience. And in any case, Dune didn’t become one of the biggest selling sci-fi novels entirely without reason. The one thing that it does unquestionably well is exercise Herbert’s imagination.

Rarely has a imagined universe been so clearly realised before or since Frank Herbert’s seminal series, and this can be ascribed chiefly to one particular detail: his research and preparation. In reading George Arr-Arr Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series, for example, one can detect in the convoluted and meandering text the fact that he doesn’t actually know where his novels are going when he starts writing them. The swelling word count of each successive entry in the series also bears testament to an increasingly relaxed editorial oversight, and this has resulted in each book becoming more bloated and complicated than the last. And while Dune itself is bloated terms of its length and complicated in terms of the language it introduces to the reader, there is a specific and unerring clarity in Herbert’s vision of the Dune universe that one would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere, and this is because the world itself was layed out by Herbert in detail, and years in advance, of the final writing and publishing of the novel. One can get a taste of this preparation and backstory in the supplementary appendices in the back of the book, as well as the accompanying glossary, which offers a definition of every single alien term that appears in the course of the preceding nine-hundred pages, and whilst not every creature or machine is described in minute detail, all the pieces of this puzzle fit together in the greater context of the novel.

There is also a sense of uncanny timelessness in the world of Dune, and Herbert has achieved this via a number of paths - the first being that he drew from real-world sciences as a foundation upon which the ecology and engineering of his universe is built. Rooting his fantasy work in a bed of modern fact (and remaining restrained enough in his vision to avoid sending his characters to absurd destinations such as planets made of cheese, or inhabited by talking animals, for instance) bestows a tangibility in one’s mind’s eye to the people, places, and things, and interestingly leaves Dune feeling relevant even to an audience for whom the technologies of the Sixties seem archaic and obsolete. The second factor that gives the novel life is its appropriation of Middle Eastern cultures as inspiration for that of the Fremen. This is obviously an accidental boon, but as with the surge of Middle Eastern cultural influences spreading throughout the Western world in the Sixties, so too has the region, its people, and its customs come to the forefront of Western attention in the last few decades. People are far more common with the word ‘jihad’ now than they would likely have been at the turn of the millenium, and this coincidental familiarity left me feeling a greater understanding of the desert-dwelling Fremen than I might otherwise have had, had I read the book as a teenager, for instance.

So before I launch into a diatribe, it’s worth pointing out that Dune IS a genuine landmark work, and with good reason, but it has its limits. And now that I’ve got that disclaimer out of the way, I can begin the fun part: talking about all the reasons Dune shits me off.

1: It starts each chapter with a spoiler for the rest of the novel.

Now I don’t know how you feel, but if I had to guess, I’d say that one of the main things that keeps an audience engaged in the plot of a piece of fiction is the fact that they don’t know what’s going to come next. Hell - this is why we engage in fictional stories at all, and why every series of Game of Thrones is preceded by an onslaught of social media statuses proclaiming that someone is going to get their eyes gouged out if they reveal whether the Immodium cures Daeneryus’ chronic diarrhea at the end of S03E05.

Frank Herbert has other things in mind, though, for every chapter in the novel begins with an excerpt from a piece of in-universe fiction - usually written by the Emperor’s daughter, and almost always regarding Paul’s actions in the future. Through these excerpts we get a glimpse into the world beyond the novel, specifically, into a world in which Paul is both a god, and not dead. This didn’t seem to perturb Herbert though, and he soldiers on admirably in his endeavor to supply multitudes of cliffhangers, the outcome of which have either already been revealed to us, or are revealed in the paragraph following the incident itself. Tracts of text are rendered wasted and pointless by Herbert’s own premature narrative ejaculation, and the trials that Paul undergoes on his journey towards godliness hold no weight because we know the outcome of his character from the opening of the very first chapter. In the most egregious instance, one chapter ends with Paul near death after poisoning himself. 'Will he survive?' I asked myself, 'Maybe the prophecy is wrong! Maybe something, anything, that hasn't already been revealed to us is about to happen!' In the very first sentence of the next chapter, an excerpt written far in the future that tells us specifically that Paul lives and gains the powers of the Kwisatz Haderach, like a time-travelling dickhead who has come back to the past to spoil your good time. Herbert then decides that blowing his load is no impediment to making the reader sit through six pages in the eyes of a character that doesn’t know of Paul’s situation, and we watch them trip clumsily over their own emotions and agonise over a question of his survival that was answered for us literally as soon as it was posed.This moment is so utterly confounding in its dramatic ineptitude that I was agape, staring at the page in disbelief. It’s as if The Usual Suspects began with a Kevin Spacey monologue directly to the camera talking about how he is Kaiser Soze, and then the rest of the film conducted itself as if it were still a mystery. It’s as if the opening crawl of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ told the audience that Darth Vader was Luke’s father, and then still tried to pull off the reveal. And this pattern is repeated from start to finish - every time you reach a point in which you wonder ‘will they make it out of this?’ Herbert comes back from the dead, strips the book from your hand, smacks you in the face with it, and emphatically replies ‘YES’.

2: Its inner monologues are prolific, and terrible.

No-one thinks to themselves like the characters in Dune think to themselves. If you are at McDonalds and you want to buy a burger, you don’t stand in line thinking to yourself ‘I am at McDonalds, and I am hungry. I wish to buy a burger, and I can see the burger menu in front of me, but I don’t know which to choose. I must hurry because I am almost at the front of the line - if I cannot choose in time, I will end up at the front of the line having not made a choice, and everyone around me will be inconvenienced!’

But Frank Herbert thinks people think like that.

He uses the character’s inner monologues as a medium for clumsy exposition, and eradicates any sense of realism or immersion they may hold. Now that’s not to say that one can’t use an inner monologue for that purpose, but the characters of Dune project a constant and unfiltered analysis of even the most basic social interactions, redundantly vocalising things made obvious in the text. Paul will do a thing, and Jessica will think that ‘Paul is doing that thing!’, and it will all be presented so dramatically that it makes you want to hurl the book into traffic. Herbert takes swathes of description that most writers would simply frame from a third person perspective about the characters and the world, and presents them instead as unedited, actual thoughts that the characters think in real time. In the midst of action and a threat to his mother’s life, Paul stops and takes a minute to recite this in his head: ‘They will concentrate on my mother and that Stilgar fellow. She can handle them. I must get to a safe vantage point where I can threaten them and give her time to escape.’ No-one alive has ever had a thought that forms itself like that, and this actually ends up having a tangible discriminatory effect on the reader, for whom all of the characters whose thoughts we don’t hear seem like pretty normal people, and all the central characters end up coming across as fucking weirdos, and one finds oneself subconsciously disliking them. Which brings me to my next point…

3: The Atreides are fools, assholes, or both, and the writing doesn’t help.

Now to be fair, it’s important to note that one of the key themes of Dune, according to Frank Herbert, is the danger of the ‘superhero’ myth. Through his genetic talents, his lifetime of training, and the legends and prophecies sewn into the Fremen culture, Paul takes a straight-line trajectory towards becoming the foretold Kwisatz Haderach, but despite his triumph over every challenge and his ultimate and all-encompassing victory over his enemies, he is not a character to be envied - he seemingly loses his attachment to the people around him and is consumed by his own myth, becoming more of a dictator than anything else. However, there are two problems with the portrayal of Paul et al. that confuses the intended message. The first is that a large proportion of the Atreides’ characterisation goes into establishing their constant control over their emotions, reactions, and decision-making processes; the effect being that from the very beginning of the novel the Atreides’ all seem to exist in their own little bubble, separated from the world at large as well as those around them by their own singular brilliance - Leto is a ‘great’ commander bearing the burden of the his people on his shoulders; Jessica is a Bene Gesserit and a concubine, viewed with suspicion by many around her due to her powers and her unofficial place within the family; and Paul is a demi-god in training. And since the tone of Herbert’s prose is so lacking in emotional nuance and resonance, it becomes difficult to discern whether he is intending to convey that, in any given situation, a character is displaying an intentional control over his or her reactions, or whether they are actually supposed to be displaying an unhealthy emotional disconnect. Within the text both instances appear the same, and it is only whether the control or the disconnect are explicitly stated that I, for one, could decipher the points in which it was intentional. Such as it is, the off-screen death of Paul’s son reads like a footnote for all the pause it gives him, and I still can’t figure out whether that’s because Herbert is trying to indicate the depth of Paul’s depravity, or whether he’s just a shitty writer who failed to properly demonstrate his character’s emotions, because honestly, it could be either.

And this brings me to the second problem, which is that the prose itself is complicit in the confusion. As stated, Herbert’s grasp of dramatic tension is so feeble, his demonstrated understanding of interpersonal emotions so poor, and his writing so matter-of-fact and lacking in colour, that it buries whatever philosophical subtext it may have and confuses speculation on its themes by virtue of the simple fact that any supposed ‘mystique’ could just as easily be chalked up to the author’s failed hold over his own material. The way Herbert fumbles with the tension he tries to invoke and the clumsiness of his writing when he gets inside his characters heads leaves it equally possible in my mind that his characters are complex as it is that they are simple - a situation I’ve never witnessed before - and in any other circumstance I’d admit that there was a kind of brilliance to this, if it wasn’t for the fact that the general tone of his writing clearly conveys the infancy of his talents as an author. My inclination, then, was simply to take everything at face value because the novel is written so explicitly. Which finally brings me to my actual point here:

If the novel is to be taken as it is written, then all of the main characters are giant idiot dickheads.

Let’s begin with Duke Leto. It’s kind of strange that everyone in Leto’s shadow exhibits an explicit and almost unfathomable loyalty to someone who’s temperament is almost exclusively characterised by flushes of anger, harsh words, and a deep belief in the feudal hierarchy - the idea of ‘right by birth’ being an absurd inflation of self-importance that Paul himself adopts as an awful character trait later on. Most of Leto’s subordinates seem to display symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome, seeing brief moments of kindness following a rebuke or an outburst as a sign of his famed benevolence and compassion. ‘Show, don’t tell’ is an adage that comes to mind when pondering the writing of this character, and for all the tales of a 'great leader' that surround him, we see little of this in the timeline of the novel itself. A man whose idea of ‘strong leadership’ is a calm word after an outburst isn’t a figure of worship, he’s a cunt. And I can see the typing fingers of fans a-flurry as they rush to point out that Leto is supposedly uncharacteristically stressed by the danger his family has been put in - an excuse that would hold far more weight if Herbert had found time to actually demonstrate this somewhere within his novel’s nine-hundred pages, but he didn’t. Instead, we’re simply told that he’s not usually like that, which has as much meaning to a reader as being told your neighbour’s shithead Chihuahua ‘isn’t usually like that’, right after it bites the tip of your dick (true story, don’t ask). And after all this - after all his bluster and bullshit, and after spending a good deal of his story ostracizing the mother of his child in an effort to supposedly fake out the true traitor in his family’s midst - he succeeds in exactly none of his efforts, and the Harkonnen plot plays out without a hitch. To make matters worse, his final living act is to activate a poison gas capsule hidden in his tooth in an attempt to kill the Baron Harkonnen, and he even fucks this up, killing only himself and one of the Baron’s disposable offsiders. His capabilities as a leader are nil, and his compassion limited, at best.

Meanwhile, for her part, Jessica spends the majority of Dune pinballing between disgust and fear of her son because he is turning into the very thing she has been training him to be for the entirety of his existence, and vengeful joy as he rains destruction down upon their mutual enemies. In what you’ll come to see is a pattern amongst the Atreides, any sense of genuineness one may garner from her faint echoes of self-awareness is reversed and erased by the fact that she continually makes the same decisions she spends so much time regretting, and then comes to regret those decisions as well - simply put, she's written to be self-aware, but not written to learn. For instance, as the focus on her dwindling attachment to Paul begins to grow as he gets more powerful, she willingly undergoes a ritual whilst pregnant that bestows all her powers upon her unborn daughter, resulting in the birth of what the Bene Gesserit call an ‘Abomination’ - a child that she once again finds disconcerting. Typically the Bene Gesserit kill these children as they risk being dangerously possessed by the spirits of dead Bene Gesserit, but Jessica doesn’t care about that because she is the mother of Paul Atreides and she can do whatever the fuck she wants. And far be it from me to say that a mother shouldn’t be able to keep her child if she wants to, but there’s a distinct difference between wanting to keep your unborn daughter; and forcing upon her powers that she cannot refuse, making her a target for a powerful order, and then having the audacity to look down upon her as something unnatural simply because she is what you made her to be. The point I’m making is that whilst the character of Jessica constantly reminds the reader that she is disenfranchised or a passive observer amongst the events that take place around her, such claims are a hard pill to swallow coming from a character for whom a core motivation of their order is the pursuit of power, and particularly the desire to manipulate it from behind the scenes. Jessica is demonstrably one of the most influential and powerful people in the universe - she is a master of wits and observation, outsmarting even Leto’s security expert (who, it should be mentioned, is a human computer), and a master of combat, easily besting the chieftan of the first Freman tribe they encounter. She even has the power to force others into doing her bidding by the use of ‘The Voice’ - an ability she uses at least half a dozen times. And yet what is the one thing that gives her solace? The fact that her son plans to marry an innocent girl for political reasons, and then torture her for the rest of her life by withholding any kind of affection in favour of his concubine. These are the last words of Dune:

“Do you know so little of my son?” Jessica whispered. “See that princess standing there, so haughty and confident. They say she has pretensions of a literary nature. Let us hope she finds solace; she’ll have little else.” A bitter laugh escaped Jessica. “Think on it, Chani: that princess will have the name, yet she’ll live as less than a concubine - never to know a moment of tenderness from the man to whom she’s bound. While we, Chani, we who carry the name of concubine - history will call us wives.”

After everything that has happened, to the end, Jessica’s one gripe is that she was never treated with the respect of a Queen all those years ago when Leto was alive. Great. What a wonderful person. And make no mistake - she is talking about the innocent daughter of their enemy here; a girl who only wants to be a writer and scholar and will spend the rest of her life recording the history of this woman’s fucking son. And for some incomprehensible reason, Herbert decided that this, a petty display of spite that boils the most powerful female character in the novel down to the desire to be 'a wife', that this would be the perfect way to end his epic science fiction novel.

So what about Paul? We’ve already discussed in brief his descent into war mongering and self-absorption that makes him one of the most singularly unlikable characters in the book, but what makes it worse is that, once again, every single decision he makes leads him directly to the one point that he swears he never wants to go. His one steadfast moral handhold is his understanding of the fact that encouraging the Fremen to worship him and playing into the prophecy of the Kwisatz Haderach runs the risk of drawing these people to the edge of waging a religious war. But he also knows that their military might united under his leadership is his one way of winning back his seat as the ruler of Arrakis. So what does he decide to do?

We already know the answer to that.

Time and again Paul fans the flames of religious fervour and further asserts his singular command over everyone, ultimately leading his army to the brink of jihad. At various points he sets out to demonstrate that he fulfills the requirements of the prophecy, at others he demands fealty based on his birthright as son of the former Leto Atreides. By the end of the novel he literally says that he lives by two separate moral codes - that of a noble family, and that of the Fremen - and that a course of action illegal for an Atreides (i.e. the murder of the fucking Emperor) is not illegal for a Freman. You understand what this means, right? Paul is making the argument of a crazy person - he genuinely ascribes the blame for an illegal murder at the feet of a different version of himself. And while it’s true that Frank Herbert came out a decade after the release of the novel and talked about how it’s supposed to be a cautionary tale about the dangers of hero worship, it’s also true that Tommy Wiseau asserted that The Room was a drama, right up until he realised that everyone was laughing at it.

Dimitri Glukhovsky’s ‘Metro 2033’, for instance, ends with the protagonist realising at the last moment that the assumption upon which his last mission rests is incorrect, and that the race of beings that he is about to destroy are actually intelligent and benevolent, rather than the violent demons they are thought to be. This climax is a crescendo of swelling emotion and tragedy that leaves the main character broken and disillusioned, and it is one of the few times I’ve cried whilst reading a novel. Glukhovsky devotes the entire final section of the book to the failure of his protagonist, and of humanity at large, to realise what they have done until it’s too late, and the emotional repercussions of this.

Frank Herbert devotes a couple of lines to Paul's awareness of his ultimate failure.

And much like the death of the Paul’s son, this too reads like a footnote. So how are we supposed to understand the intentions of a novel that presents itself so dispassionately? One that portrays enormous and important events in such an off-hand manner? I’m not entirely sure to be honest. For certain, I could delve into a debate about the possible meaning of this and that and dive into the encyclopaedia of interpretations, and again, perhaps a certain amount of merit should be given to Dune for opening itself up to that kind of discussion. But I could also just take it for what it is, rather than what it accidentally might be, and that is a very imaginative but flatly-written tome, with passionless two-dimensional characters, and a storytelling style that constantly undermines its own drama. I bought the sequel - Dune Messiah - because it’s about one fifth of the length, and I was keen to see exactly how Herbert expands on the foundation he has laid here. Perhaps it has all the answers? Perhaps it will confirm that every assertion I have made in this turgid article is incorrect? If so, I’ll be sure to let you know. But for now, I only know what I know, and that is that Dune is a phenomenal work of imagination, a great fiction, and a poor, poor text.

6/10

Just Okay

#dune #novel #frank herbert #literature #review #sci fi #science fiction #fantasty #paul atreides #duke leto #jessica #bene gesserit #arrakis #spice #melange

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gadgetsrevv · 5 years

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Arsenal and Tottenham entertain but aren’t a threat. PLUS — Juve and Napoli dazzle in Serie A title preview

Gab Marcotti is here to recap another busy, dramatic weekend in soccer. Welcome to Monday Musings.

Derby lessons: Arsenal, Spurs miles off the pace

What struck you most about the North London Derby was how ragged and stretched these two teams became in the second half. When the distance between the back line and the attackers expands like it did on Sunday, it’s usually the result of a tactical breakdown. You could chalk some of it up to fatigue, I guess, but it’s not what you expect from coaches like Mauricio Pochettino and Unai Emery. The former has had plenty of time to build a side with a distinct tactical identity, while the latter is in his second season and has a reputation as a tactical savant.

The result was a 2-2 draw that left little doubt that these two teams aren’t where their managers want them to be. Tottenham in particular look a shadow of themselves not just tactically, but physically as well: maybe it’s the result of the summer training regimen, which is notoriously taxing under Pochettino but yields dividends later. At least Jan Vertonghen and Christian Eriksen seem to be off the naughty step, Dele Alli is close to full fitness and, when Tanguy Ndombele returns, there will be more options.

Pochettino put a rather more positive spin on it — “I am so optimistic that we have the quality to build again” he said, adding that “the good feelings” had returned — but you wonder how much of that was “managerspeak.” It’s going to take more to convince most that Spurs have turned the corner.

Arsenal and Tottenham let it all hang out on Sunday, but the 2-2 draw just showed how far behind the top two they are.

As for Emery, he praised his team’s hard work to get a point after being 2-0 down at home, while also complaining about their tactical foibles in the first half. You wonder, though, what his game plan was to begin with. Going with a 4-3-3 formation while leaving out Dani Ceballos at home is a statement that screams: “we’re going to sit and counter,” which is fine even if a bit humdrum. But if you’re going to do that, at least do it well.

– Ogden: Fightback will buy Emery more time – Spurs ratings: Son stands out – Arsenal ratings: Aubameyang, Lacazette 8/10

The biggest concern, though, has to be down the spine. In midfield, for the bright spot that was Matteo Guendouzi, there was the nasty blot that was Granit Xhaka. And at the back, David Luiz had one of those “switch-off” games, while Sokratis Papastathopoulos was at fault for the first goal.

Was it a one-off? Do we expect these two thirty-somethings to markedly improve at the season wears on? And if they don’t, are we comfortable with Rob Holding (who hasn’t played since 2018), Calum Chambers (who mostly played midfield last year) and Shkodran Mustafi (who is, well, Shkodran Mustafi) to step up?

Nope, me neither.

This was the season many hoped the North London clubs would close the gap on Liverpool and Manchester City. Instead, the chasm still looks huge.

Juventus, Napoli flaws exposed in seven-goal thriller

For a minute, Carlo Ancelotti must have been thinking he was living his own personal Istanbul, only in reverse. His side were 3-0 down away to Juventus and stormed back to equalize. (OK, nitpickers: I know the difference as I was there. Liverpool’s turnaround took six minutes, this one took 15, but still …) And then, deep in injury time, Kalidou Koulibaly sliced a clearance into the back of the net in the cruelest twist to give Juve a 4-3 win.

For the neutral, it was captivating. For the two clubs, a sign that there is still work to do.

Ancelotti questioned the defensive mistakes — not so much Koulibaly’s own goal, but what came before — and why his team “only started playing in the second half.” He has a point, although sending on Hirving “Chucky” Lozano and Mario Rui at half-time undoubtedly rattled Juve and illustrates the range of attacking options at his disposal: it’s up to him to find the right mix in the right game.

– Horncastle: Juve, Napoli show Serie A is wide open

Juventus didn’t look much like a Maurizio Sarri team — possibly because his illness means he hasn’t taken training in several weeks and watched from a luxury box — but rather, for more than an hour, like a version of last season’s. They were stout defensively and devastating on the break, with plenty individual quality. Then came the collapse, and while fingers will be pointed at Matthijs De Ligt, it’s worth remembering the obvious. He only turned 20 last month — at his age Leo Bonucci had played a single minute of league football and Giorgio Chiellini had yet to make his debut in Serie A and both turned out OK — and he’s dealing with massive changes like a new league, a new language and a new culture.

Plus, with all due respect to the Eredivisie, you can probably count on two hands the number of opponents of Napoli’s quality that he has faced, and that includes Champions League and internationals. That said, De Ligt is a very different player from the injured Chiellini: for all his skills, he lacks the freakish athleticism that can help a young player paper over tactical cracks. Juventus will need to make adjustments while he develops.

Beyond that, there were plenty of positives for both managers to focus on. Gonzalo Higuain may not last 90 minutes, but he looked sharp and motivated and poised for a comeback season. The formation switch — 4-3-3 when attacking, 4-4-2, with Douglas Costa sliding into midfield and Blaise Matuidi going wide — also worked relatively well and might be the answer to carrying Cristiano Ronaldo and Higuain in a Sarri system. Napoli showed tons of personality and Fabian Ruiz, again, showed his quality and leadership, while Alex Meret made some key saves.

There’s plenty more to work on — Juve could use more width, Napoli’s center-backs need to get back to where we expect them to be — but the foundations are there.

Barcelona drop points amid Neymar drama

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez will supposedly return after the international break. When they do, they’ll find a Barcelona side five points off the pace in La Liga after the weekend’s 1-1 draw with Osasuna. Not much to cheer then, apart from the contributions of homegrown youngsters Carles Perez and, in particular, 16-year-old Ansu Fati, who came on and became the third-youngest goal scorer in the history of La Liga.

Much of the past week has been marked by Barcelona’s pursuit of Neymar. As I said before, this never felt like a football move (they already have Messi, Suarez and Antoine Griezmann up front) or, indeed, a rational one (Barca aren’t a bottomless pit of cash, and Neymar breaks the bank wherever he goes). Now, I’m wondering if it was ever real.

The rumour going around Monaco at the Champions League draw was that it more a case of Barca wanting to appear to be doing something in order to appease somebody. (Who? Fans? Media? Messi? Who the heck knows?)

The fact that PSG say they only received the first written offer on August 27 and that the only way this deal would ever get done was as a player-plus-cash swap, which is always complicated and time-consuming and suggests this was never the cards. And maybe both clubs knew it all along.

Cagliari, Italy must step up against racial abuse

It happened again at Cagliari. You’d rather talk about Inter’s 2-1, victory but the actions of the few imbeciles who racially abused Romelu Lukaku make it tough to do, especially since a whole string of players of color have been abused there, most recently Moise Kean and Blaise Matuidi.

Lukaku, to his credit, called for unity on Monday among players against this issue and there will be, rightly, calls for the authorities to act. But this illustrates neatly what the problem is and what Cagliari — both club and fans — can and must do right now. It’s not just about apologising and condemning; it’s about identifying (name and shame, let’s see what their families/employers think about this) those responsible and making it clear they’re not welcome at their ground. That applies to the supporters in the Curva Nord who heard the abuse and the stewards in that area of the ground.

The former ought to be encouraged to step forward (yes, there are cameras and microphones, but eyewitness accounts — even relayed anonymously — go a whole lot further in getting things done), the latter ought to be told to do their jobs.

Expect a long, difficult season for Man United

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer felt Manchester United “should have won” instead of drawing 1-1 with Southampton, blaming the fact they did not on “finishing” and “final passes.” To each his own. I’d be more concerned about how extraordinarily one-dimensional they look. It’s true that you can have success by doing the same thing over and over if you do it extraordinarily well; it’s just that much harder.

With Alexis Sanchez, Matteo Darmian and Chris Smalling leaving this past week, the first team is down to 25 outfield players. It sounds like a lot until you consider that six of them are relatively untested youngsters, another two (Marcos Rojo and Eric Bailly are long-term injury absentees) and another is Phil Jones.

It’s obvious that this will be a long transition season with more players leaving by attrition: Juan Mata, Nemanja Matic and Ashley Young aren’t getting any younger. The question is: transition to what? And should worse come to worse — say, a mid-table finish — will they stick with it or embark on their umpteenth change of direction?

Is Bale a key player again for Real?

Right now, it feels as if Zinedine Zidane is simply throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks. The 2-2 draw at Villarreal saw him again switch systems and personnel (4-4-2, with Gareth Bale and Lucas Vazquez out wide) and we caught our first glimpse of the Karim Benzema–Luka Jovic partnership. But while they had plenty of possession, there were also jitters — and downright howlers, like Sergio Ramos‘ blunder — at the back and often chaos up front.

Bale’s two goals were his first in the league since March, although he rather put a dampener on his night by picking up two yellows in injury time. Does it mean he cares and isn’t actually just interested in playing golf? I’ll let others psychoanalyse him, since it seems to be a favorite leisure pursuit in and around Madrid.

Meanwhile though, you wonder how clear Zidane’s thinking is, particularly vis-a-vis Bale, given he spent the summer pushing him out the door only to then start him in every game this season. You hope things will come into focus after the break, when Eden Hazard finally returns.

Dortmund aren’t winning titles like this

Let Borussia Dortmund’s 3-1 bloody nose away to Union Berlin serve as a wake-up call. This was a horrid performance that can’t be explained away by the enthusiasm of playing away to a newly promoted club.

The summer spending, coupled with Bayern’s rebuild, had many thinking it could be Dortmund’s season. But that’s not going to happen with performances like this.

No worry about Mane, Salah drama

I like the fact that even winning 3-0 away to Burnley, Sadio Mane got angry that Mohamed Salah didn’t pass him the ball, despite that you’d imagine he’d be used to the Egyptian’s foibles after two years together. You want to see players holding teammates to account and putting the team first.

I’m not sure it’s greed on Salah’s part as much as it is tunnel vision in the final third. It’s something he’s had his entire career — and, possibly, what hurt his finishing early on — and it has long frustrated managers and teammates. Klopp has done a bang-up job of papering over it, but the reality may be very simple: with Salah you just have to take the good with the bad.

And as long as the former far outweighs the latter, you’ll put up with it.

Simeone’s magic working on new Atletico

The only perfect side in La Liga are Atletico Madrid. And while they had to huff and puff to come back from two goals down to win 3-2 against Eibar, they’re not just getting results, they’ve evolved and are more multifaceted (read: less “Cholistas“) than before.

I said on the FC TV show and I’ll say it again. When you consider the upheaval this summer with the departures of Griezmann, Rodri and, of course, Diego Godin, if they do win La Liga, they might as well rename their ground “Cholo” Metropolitano.

Whether it’s the reinvention of Thomas Lemar, the faith in Joao Felix, the fact that Mario Hermoso looks like he’s been there for five years or the belief in Renan Lodi‘s front-foot style, there is little question that Diego Simeone is earning his bacon this year.

Rome derby a real thrill ride

So much for the old trope whereby derbies are hard-fought, tight, fingernail-chewing affairs. Lazio and Roma finished 1-1, hitting the woodwork no fewer than six times between them and putting on a pulsating show.

Lazio look more like a team right now, which is what you expect given that this is Simone Inzaghi’s fourth season and they made very few changes over the summer. Paulo Fonseca’s side is a work in progress and they are going right down to the wire in the transfer market: Nikola Kalinic and Smalling arrived last week and Henrikh Mkhitaryan is his way. There’s more to come from both.

Lampard’s trust in youth leads to Chelsea draw

I’m all for giving youngsters a chance, but there’s a time and a place. On Saturday, Chelsea were 2-0 up at half-time and flying at home to Sheffield United. They conceded a goal immediately after the break and suffered through most of the second half. With six minutes to go, Frank Lampard replaced Mateo Kovacic with Billy Gilmour, an 18-year-old midfielder making his debut.

Gilmour wasn’t great, but he wasn’t the reason Chelsea gave up the equalizer (you can blame successive mistakes from veterans for that) but those are far from ideal conditions in which to make your debut. You assume Lampard knows him best and that the kid has the personality and guts to bounce back, but what Lampard’s choice shows most of all is that he feels zero pressure to do things according to conventional wisdom. This may or may not be a good thing.

A big statement by Bayern

Bayern got just what they wanted in their 6-1 walloping of Mainz. Ivan Perisic and Philippe Coutinho made their debuts in the starting XI, Robert Lewandowski scored again (what’s new?) and even the much-maligned Alphonso Davies got on the score sheet.

You can’t read too much into it because Mainz are awful and Robert Kovac was clearly shuffling his deck. But six different goal scorers feels good …

And finally…

Bas Dost came on at half-time and scored on his debut for Eintracht Frankfurt in their 2-1 home win over Fortuna Dusseldorf, leaving them fifth in the table. With one goal every 45 minutes, he’s on pace to score 63 goals this season.

This concludes the latest instalment of #BasDostWatch.

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ryanmeft · 7 years

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Where Should Assassin’s Creed go in the Future? Some Ideas.

The Assassin's Creed series has been to some amazing locations and times throughout history, from the Crusades to the American Revolution to the Golden Age of Piracy, but with the announcement of Assassin's Creed: Origins, we're going somewhere far less familiar to modern minds: Egypt at the turn of the millennium. Although spin off titles have gone to Imperial India, The French and Indian War, and Colonial New Orleans, major entries have mostly stuck to recognizable times and places. If Egypt in the 40's BC is a harbinger of things to come, could the team at Ubisoft Montreal be thinking of going more off the beaten path? If so, here are four locations in the past Assassin's Creed could go in the future that might be less familiar in historical lore.

Tudor Conquest of Ireland Sure, it's another Euro-centric location, but considering the Assassins stand for total freedom for all mankind, it's pretty astounding their games haven't yet visited the homeland of the people with perhaps the greatest reputation in the world for picking fights over freedom. The mid-1500's is the perfect time to do it, too. The Tudor Dynasty under Henry VIII was trying to retake control over the autonomous island, the uber-famous Grace O'Malley was in charge of shipping and trade AKA piracy, and there was plenty of juicy inter-clan warfare going on. Given much of modern Irish history was formed during this period, it'd be the perfect setting to drop Assassins and Templars into. Take a page from O'Malley and make the lead a fiery red-headed woman, while using Irish piracy to bring back the high seas action that was so popular in the America-based games. Bonus: Ezio would be dead decades before O'Malley ever went to sea, but who's to say his kids didn't visit Ireland at some point? You could even use those time vortex things to visit other important events for the Irish, like immigration to the New World.

Penal Colony Australia This one is a little off the beaten path for AC. Modern Australia's founding in the late 1700's as a place to dump Britain's excess criminals, from petty thieves to murderers, is one of the most fascinating stories history has to offer. Left on the coast of a new continent with beasts they'd never imagined and a whole new culture of aboriginals, the convicts were barely monitored and essentially formed a new society; after all, where were they going to go? This sense of injustice would be a breeding ground for Assassin ideology, particularly when you factor in the famous outlaws known as Bushrangers. I picture the story beginning on one of the rotting prison ships on the Thames in London, with our hero about to be transported, like the famous song Jim Jones, for a minor crime. The loose nature of the colony could give the locations a Black Flag-esque feel, while the Australian outback would offer different opportunities for gameplay than what is seen in the urban settings of most AC games. With a bit of creative license, the varied wilderness of the outback could make locations for the parkour action; the famous Ayers Rock would be a great tie-in with the series' meta-story. The period also intersected with notable historical figures, with one in particular being an actual governor of the colony: William Bligh. Bonus: The entire reason Britain needed somewhere new to put prisoners is that they had a little trouble in the Colonies, who afterward no longer wished to take Britain's dregs. Given we last saw Connor at the formation of the United States and transportation to Australia began the previous year, it would be neat to work him into the story a bit and discover what became of him.

The Warring States Period China's story stretches far back into pre-history, but China as a unified empire came about after this series of wars between her then-disparate regions between 475-221 BC. The period has a huge number of advantages for an Assassin's Creed game: a ready-made conflict, multiple grinding political axes of opposed leaders, a rich civilization with plenty of cities, and it's far enough in the past that the writers can get a little fancy with the historical accuracy (not that they don't do that already). Since China at this point is not a country so much as a bunch of bees fighting to control a sock, you could have multiple viewpoints on the story ALA the overlooked Suikoden III, where one character sees a certain ruler as a tyrant, but possibly someone who works for that ruler has a completely different perspective. Since the upcoming Origins establishes this period as being nearly two centuries before the formal founding of the Assassins, the story could give us an Assassin-Templar conflict from before the days when they even had names for each other, possibly adding context to Bayek's story. The big advantage, though, is bringing Asia as most think of it into the series proper. China invented paper, gunpowder, fireworks and a whole host of other things and has driven world civilization for eons, but so far it has been relegated to a poorly received 2D spinoff and a couple extended media mentions. If it is true that Ubi's developers have ruled out a Feudal Japanese setting, China seems like the next logical place to go. Bonus: You almost certainly don't remember it, but Revelations establishes that not only did Altair at one point travel to Asia to assassinate a rather major figure, but the short film Embers reveals Assassin's are well established there. How did they first get there, and why are they so cut off from their western brethren that one of them apparently had a lot of trouble getting the famous Ezio's attention? That's a tie-in theme that could be explored.

Heart of Darkness Though the events around the claiming of, and atrocities in, the Congo Free State of 1885-1908 could not drive a game by themselves due to the lack of built up urban areas, this infamous black hole of slavery, degradation, murder and greed, which inspired Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, would be a perfect setting for the justice minded Assassins to battle the machinations of a Templar-backed King Leopold II. The game could begin in the 1870's, allowing for the inclusion of famous explorer and world class asshole Henry Morton Stanley as a direct antagonist, and follow through the early years of the terrible kingdom he helped create, where slaves had their hands cut off of they failed to produce enough rubber. African Colonialism would be a rough subject, as no major power was free of guilt, but then, that's exactly the kind of morally corrupt and ambiguous situation in which the Assassin-Templar conflict thrives. And although South Africa's Johannesburg wouldn't be a metropolis in time to be worked into the narrative, other cities, particularly in the Islamic regions of Africa, had been thriving for centuries already. Bonus: these events would be taking place shortly after the end of the Civil War in America, which would make another good starting point...and possibly provide a protagonist in the form of a freed slave. Does anyone have any favorite time periods they’d like me to consider for a second column? Comment away!

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virtuosinovel · 7 years

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Afterword: Revolution Article

The following article appeared in the May, 2030 issue of Revolution Magazine. Dudley wrote the article and sent it to Xavier Pratt as an olive branch, hoping to give the public a deeper look into Virtuosi. A couple weeks later, he hopped the Virtuosi jet to Greenland to start his assignment as Security Chief of the new territory.

What I Didn’t Find on Christmas Island

By Sid Snodgrass

First of all, let’s clear the air of false pretensions. Despite what you see in the by-line, this article was not written by Sid Snodgrass. That person doesn’t exist. It was a cover identity that I, former special agent Benjamin Dudley, used to infiltrate Virtuosi and Christmas Island. The cover was created by my former employer, the Freedom Keepers, an off-the-books intelligence and special ops unit of the United States Government. This magazine was forced to corroborate my story based on stolen e-mails used to blackmail the Editor-in-Chief, Xavier Pratt. I would like to take a moment to offer my sincerest apologies to Mr. Pratt. I would also like to apologize to Natalie Chen, who had the unenviable task of being my contact person despite her friendship with many Virtuosi members.

It turned out the blackmail material was a series of e-mails between Mr. Pratt and his psychiatrist revealing Mr. Pratt was suffering from, and seeking help for, bipolar disorder, chronic paranoia, and possible schizophrenia. I’m happy to report now that this information is public, Mr. Pratt continues to both get the help he needs and run this publication. It turns out he underestimated his readership. Business is booming. Evidently, his readers are fine with a paranoid schizophrenic running the show. It makes sense, if you think about the content and reputation of this magazine. Full speed ahead Mr. Pratt.

Now that we have done some housekeeping, let’s move on to my visit to the island. Many of you read the memos my superiors and I exchanged while I was on the island. If you haven’t read them yet, come out from under your rock, get on this new thing called the inter-web, and go to a website. Any site will do. These memos lay out the basics of the situation, but formal correspondence between agent and agency does not an exposé make.

I’m not here to rehash the memos. I’m here to give a more unfiltered version of my time with this remarkable organization. It turns out public opinion is like a battleship; once it gets going in one direction, it’s a very long and gradual process to turn it around. We all now know the Next World/Tea Party scheme was planned from the beginning by the CABAL and their elected co-conspirators. Yet there are still many out there who feel apprehension, fear, or even disdain when the word Virtuosi is uttered. It has been ingrained in us that they are potential enemies and one botched frame job isn’t enough to get them off the hook in the eyes of many. Allow me to take my turn at guiding this ship in a new direction.

###

After coordinating with my office and Revolution headquarters, I hopped a plane to Jakarta and then to Christmas Island. They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression, but even if Virtuosi had a second chance they wouldn’t need to exercise the option. Their Manager of First Impressions, Julian “Dodger” Wells, was just what this weary traveler needed after two days on the go. Dodger is an ex-Chicago gang member and getaway driver who went clean years ago when he went to work for his childhood friend, Victor Freeman. Despite his admittedly checkered past, I have never felt more comfortable with anyone I just met. He was the perfect mix of hospitality, excitement, and knowledge, giving me a couple of island tidbits without totally overwhelming me.

When I arrived at, well, I don’t really know how to describe it. They call it the Hive, so let’s just go with Hive. If I call it their headquarters, their governor’s mansion, their playground, or simply Victor’s house, it would paint an incomplete picture. It is all of these things and more. When I arrived, the Hive House Manager, Winston, was a perfect English gentleman, making me feel at home immediately and throughout my stay.

To the Christmas Island novice, it appears I just recounted my interactions with the chauffeur and the butler of a bunch of rich elitists. Nothing could be further from the truth. They don’t have these fancy titles, Manager of First Impressions and House Manager, in a tongue-in-cheek way, like dishwashers are sometimes called hydro-engineers. They earn these titles and are highly valued for their skill sets and contributions to the group. Winston is a Master Sommelier and an experienced gourmet kitchen manager. Dodger can drive everything from dune buggies to jet skis to ostriches. Yes, ostriches. I saw the trophy he won to prove it.

The next person I met was Victor Freeman. Read the last sentence again and try to put it in perspective. I met Dodger, then Winston, and then the Head of State, which they call the Facilitator. This would not happen anywhere else on Earth. If it sounds ridiculous, it won’t once you understand Victor’s personality. He’s a dreamer of the highest order. Some of his schemes make Willy Wonka’s golden ticket master plan look like something scrawled on the back of a drunkard’s napkin. Einstein couldn’t be bothered to learn how to drive or catch the bus. Victor can’t be bothered with layers of security, a shielding entourage, or a bunch of pomp and circumstance. He was bird-watching in his garden when I met him. The next morning, he was meditating alone in his backyard when I walked out to the deck for our interview. Take everything you think you know about how a national leader should think or act. Got it? Good, throw it out the window. Now we can proceed.

Not only was I given unprecedented access to the leader of a country, but I was given carte blanche to talk to anyone I damned-well pleased while I was there. Victor did not keep me close by, monitoring what I saw or did and trying to sway my opinion. He didn’t assign any babysitters either. I was as free as Mowgli in Jungle Book and indeed could have run through the rain forest naked had I so desired. Now I’m really going to blow your mind. Are you sitting down? He didn’t do this for a journalist. HE ALREADY KNEW I WAS A SPY! AND HE DIDN’T TELL ANYONE ELSE!

Oh, you’re here to spy on me? You work for the country I was chased out of? Okay, as you were.

If that doesn’t prove they have nothing to hide here, I don’t know what does.

Now, maybe you’re thinking Victor must just be the lunatic fringe, front man for Virtuosi. What about everyone else? Let’s move on down the line to the Chief of Staff Megan Myers. Victor might get upset when he reads this, but sorry pal. I call them like I see them. Out of all the people I met, Megan is the most impressive overall. There, I said it.

Seriously, they had a fountain of Minerva in front of the Hive. You could remove Minerva, put up a statue of Megan, and you would have the same amount of courage, wisdom, and beauty emanating through the front yard. This chick is a bad-ass. She manages major projects and operations as easily as if she is rearranging doilies on a coffee table. She counterbalances Victor’s flightiness and then some. And she isn’t afraid to strap on a stun gun and play shockerball with the boys. No big deal for someone who grew up dodging gang crossfire walking to school.

Still not impressed? Secretary of State Greta Mills spreads more global goodwill than the Harlem Globetrotters. Secretary of Defense Wilbur Carson, his wife Eve, and the Hive Protection Network make the Swiss Guard look unorganized and inefficient. The collection of talent in the ExComm (legislative branch) would give the 1927 New York Yankees a fight for the title of “greatest team ever assembled.”

In fact, even the “support” staff I spent time with could be C-suite execs anywhere else. Emily Conrad and Celeste Johnston could guess your death date, within one standard deviation, if you weren’t afraid to ask them for it. Victor’s personal assistant Katalin knew my schedule, as well as every name, phone number, and address I needed, off the top of her head. Oh yeah, she is also training for the Olympics.

What about Victor’s family? His twin nieces, Jordan and Payton, are perfectly normal and well-adapted teenagers, except for the fact they have about a dozen black belts between the two of them. While on my mission, I was given the orders to eliminate Victor. When I tried, the twins descended on me like a pair of honey badgers. They had me poisoned (not fatally thank God) with a knife to my throat before I could say “botched job.” But they only attacked me because I came into their house and threatened their “Shushu.” Until then, they treated me with genuine hospitality. Now I have some work to do to gain some of their trust back.

###

I won’t keep boring you and/or making you jealous. There is a point to all this gushing. These are not America’s rejects who couldn’t hack it in the big leagues so bought their own island with the hopes of one day striking back at their oppressors. They are world class in everything they do and deliberately left, not to cause America harm, but to prove to everyone there’s a better way. They’re even proving it to themselves. Most people here refer to this new society as an experiment. But it is an experiment they are confident will yield the results they expect.

Trust me when I tell you, they are extremely busy for all the right reasons. They’re working on local projects which if successful, will have positive global implications; things like curing world hunger and saving the planet, nothing major. To think Christmas Island would divert their attention, for even a short time, to try to do America or anyone else harm is frankly egotistical on the part of the would-be victim.

So, if you’re one of those people who is still skeptical of Virtuosi, know that I was sent here to uncover ill intention and was unable to do so. As far as I saw, there was none to uncover. They have too much going on right now. In fact, I’ve gotta run. As a new Christmas Island citizen, I have some major pressing projects of my own about to get underway. Stay tuned.

Yours truly,

Benjamin Dudley

#blook #blog to book #libertarian #libertarianism #spy novel #conspiracy fiction #virtuosi #revolution #book content #afterword

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Colin Baker on the Spiritualism of Doctor Who

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It’s February and I’m at Capital Sci Fi Con in Edinburgh, sitting next to Colin Baker. The day before, I’d brought my young sons to his table for an autograph, where he’d entertained them with all the bluster, bombast and larger-than-life loquaciousness we’d all come to expect from the Sixth Doctor, even if the man in whose gaze they were held transfixed was wearing a slightly older face, and a significantly less colourful jacket than they were accustomed to seeing.

For today’s interview, Baker is thoroughly shorn of his Sixth-ness, and seems more like the lawyer he once trained to be. He’s engaging, generous and attentive, and clearly has a mind like a steel trap. I wouldn’t have liked to have found myself opposite him in court.

We find ourselves reflecting on Baker’s deep connection to Doctor Who, and the legacy of the show itself.

‘The reason Doctor Who endures, it’s about an eternal theme, which is the angel who comes down from heaven, and saves you, or the cowboy who rides into town. What’s his name? We don’t know. And he rides out again, having solved all your problems. And that’s who the Doctor is. He’s this… dream figure who solves all your problems. Without wishing in any way to offend people of a religious bent, that’s what a lot of religion is about.’

I look around us. Just a glance, but it’s enough to detect the bustling, ritualistic fervour, the ceremonial dress, and wide-eyed reverence in evidence all around us. I suggest to him that you could look upon this convention as a temple of worship.

‘You could,’ he says, ‘But I don’t want to go too far down that route, because I don’t want to offend. It is a bit like a religious experience, though. People gathering together, who all believe in the same thing, living their lives – largely – in a way that supports it. That’s what this convention is all about.’

The Doctor’s similarities with a holy figure or prophet are legion: they are one but many; eternal, but ever-changing; sworn to protect and sacrifice for the sake of humanity; omniscient and omnipresent. And that’s before you even factor in Number Six and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

Credit: Jamie Andrew

Baker has nothing but praise for the Doctor’s latest reincarnation, Jodie Whittaker as the millionteenth version of Gallifrey’s most famous alien. ‘I’m loving the current doctor. I think she’s magnificent. And she has brought a quality to the show which is – it has been around, but not to that extent – which is the joy; the joy of being the Doctor.’

I want to ask Baker about the stern words he directed at Peter Davison following the latter’s comments on Whittaker’s casting, and the ensuing Twitter-storm that saw Peter retreating from cyberspace. In this context though – a charity convention to which Baker has donated his time to raise money for children’s hospices – it doesn’t feel like the time or place for controversy or upset. Instead, I ask if the inter-Doctor camaraderie is strong; and whether it’s typical for outgoing Doctors to take new recruits under their wings to offer advice.

‘I remember when I took over from Peter [Davison], and I said, “Do you have any advice?” and he said… “No.” I gather that’s par for the course. You’re cast to do it your way. I mean we’re friendly with each other, but it’s always a slightly guarded friendship. I’ve been all over the world with Peter and Sylvester. And, when he was around, with Jon Pertwee.’

In 1989, Baker took over from Jon Pertwee in ‘The Ultimate Adventure’, a touring Doctor Who stage-show that featured such villains as the Daleks, the Cybermen and Margaret Thatcher (I think we all know what is the most terrifying of that evil triumvirate).

Baker seems less guarded about his relationship with the Third Doctor: ‘I loved Jon Pertwee. He was a showman. He had charisma. You would walk into a room with people who didn’t know he was an actor, and everyone would stop and look at him, with that tall bearing and hair.’

Culture

When geek families meet fan conventions

By Jamie Andrew

Doctor Who: a celebration of Colin Baker

By Andrew Blair

Keeping on the classic Doctor theme, I ask if he anticipates being involved in any of the 60th anniversary celebrations in a few years’ time. ‘I have no illusions that what they call the classic doctors are accepted as part of Doctor Who, but we are not indispensable,’ he says with a grave narrowing of the eyes.

What about a possible sequel to ‘The Five-ish Doctors‘, the delightful, incredibly funny anniversary spin-off show that featured Doctors five to eight playing exaggerated versions of themselves alongside a galaxy of cameos?

‘That was lovely doing that,’ smiles Colin. ‘Everyone did it for nothing. So a sequel – going back to the same well, all those camera people, make-up people, the locations for free – we would have to do it on a more commercial basis and the BBC probably wouldn’t let us do that. But, in theory, I’ve spoken to Peter, Paul and Sylvester about it, and they’re all up for it. If it happened, we’d do it.’

Would he consider a return to the current series in another form? What if, say, the Master were to take the face of one of the previous doctors? ‘Well of course I would. But it’s not going to happen.’

‘To be honest, I thought that Tom’s appearance in the anniversary show was…’

Beautiful? I suggest.

He reels back, first his shoulders, then his neck.

‘Was it though?’ he asks, his eyes scrunched tight. ‘If you weren’t a Doctor Who fan, what was it about? For me, it was a good story, then all of a sudden they put Tom in, because it was Tom, and we could all go, “Ahhhh, Tom.” You stop believing in the story. You could put us [the classic Doctors] in it, but it has to make sense.

‘And also, we were all a little bit miffed – yes, Tom did it longer than anybody else, but do you have to rub our faces in that all of the time? So all you people who were a bit… Den of Geekish went, “Ah, it’s Tom, how brilliant.” What was he? What was he doing there?’

‘You’ve got to have believability. The best things on television, however far-fetched they are, have a certain internal logic. You tell me the internal logic of having Tom there?’

‘Gratuitous fan service?’

‘Correct! He’d aged, he wasn’t the Doctor, what was he, like…?’

‘The Curator.’

Colin nods. ‘It was – frankly – naff.’

Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Peter Davison in The Five(ish) Doctors

At the panel talk later in the day – at which Baker mischievously quipped that they should start without the slightly late David Bradley because ‘he wasn’t a real Doctor anyway’ – I ask whether anyone on the panel had ever experienced the darker, or more worrying, side of Doctor Who fandom. Baker takes the question and runs with it.

‘It was in the 1980s, a convention in America, attended by thousands, when the show was at the peak of its passion in America. I opened up my door where I was staying while I was there, and there was a girl lying across my doorway dressed as a member of UNIT, and I said, ‘Excuse me,’ and she said ‘SIR!’ You know, standing to attention.

‘I said, ‘What are you doing?’ She said, ‘I’m guarding you, sir.’ I said, ‘Well, I can see you’re in UNIT. That gun looks so real.’ ‘THE GUN IS REAL, SIR!’ ‘Are you allowed to carry it?’ ‘YES, SIR!’ And I said, ‘Well, are there any bullets in it?’ ‘YES, SIR!’ So I made it clear to the organisers of the convention that I’d feel safer if a madwoman with a loaded gun wasn’t lying on the floor outside my bedroom.’

An insight there, into that small subsection of people shared by both conventions and religions alike: the fanatics.

Find out more about Children’s Hospices Across Scotland and donate here.

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torentialtribute · 5 years

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Transfer news: Inter Milan ‘say no’ to Manchester United’s £75m Romelu Lukaku demands

Inter Milan & # 39; says no & # 39; against the £ 75m Romelu Lukaku price tag from Manchester United while watching Edinburgh Dzeko and Lille starlet Rafael Leao

Inter Milan will stop negotiations to sign Romelu Lukaku this summer

They find the asking price of £ 75m set by Manchester United too expensive

Inter considers movements for Edin Dzeko and Lille starlet Rafael Leao instead

Antonio Conte is furious with the owners of the club after not buying Lukaku

By Max [Winters] Before Mailonline

Published: 09:43 BST, July 23, 2019 | Updated: 09:46 BST, July 23, 2019

Inter Milan reportedly withdrew from negotiations to sign Romelu Lukaku after refusing to pay £ 75 million in transfer costs demanded by Manchester United

The Italian giants had rejected an opening bid of £ 54 million on Saturday a few hours before the two clubs met another in the International Champions Cup in Singapore .

Antonio Conte Desperate to replace the outgoing Mauro Icardi this summer and has identified Lukaku as his primary target.

Italian press says Inter Milan is negotiating must stop signing Lukaku Romelu this summer

The Italian giants had e and opening bid of £ 54m rejected by Manchester United on Saturday

United quickly rejected Inter's opening offer, which it was thought would contain add-ons, because Sportsmail understands that they have full compensation for £ 90 million that they agreed with Everton two years ago.

However, It is now claimed in Italy Who are forced to consider alternative strikers after being deterred by the financial investment of signing Lukaku.

One of the names being considered is Edin Dzeko. The former attacker of Manchester City has been a regular source of goals for Roma in the Serie A since he moved to the Italian capital in 2015.

He managed to score 14 goals in 40 games in all competitions last season

The other target is the Rafael Leao of Lille, the highly regarded 20-year-old Portuguese striker.

Antonio Tell us how we can replace the Mauro Icardi outgoing striker this summer

One of the considered alternatives is Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko

Leao joined Lille last summer when he forced a free transfer from n Sporting Lisbon after fans had invaded their traini ng ground and abused players.

Manchester City followed the Portugal Under 21 international after breaking into the first Sporting team, but Leao recorded an offer of regular football from Lille, where he impressed last season with eight goals.

Count was a Chelsea coach when she lost to United in the 2017 Lukaku race, and is said to be furious that Inter did not sign him this summer.

The fiery Italian is furious because he believes that promises made by President Giuseppe Marotta have not been kept. The arrival of Dzeko is appreciated, but Count thinks he will not reach the levels he wants from his new talisman.

Inter-president Zhang Jindong did not appreciate the way Count Icardi, Raja Nainggolan and Ivan Perisic pushed aside because he believes the decision has only reduced the transfer value.

The other target is Lille & # 39; s Rafael Leao, the highly regarded-year-old Portuguese striker

After spending a lot of money on midfielder Nicolo Barella and Stefano Sensi, Zhang believes there is more to manage and see the club's budget Lukaku if too expensive.

Tell, who is touring without recognized strikers after telling Icardi that he is no longer part of his plans, said last week: & I think frustrated is a big word.

& # 39; Lukaku is the player of United and this is the reality. You know very well that I like this player, also in the past when I was the Chelsea coach and tried to bring him to Chelsea.

& # 39; I think if you're talking about a player from another club right now it's good not to talk about Lukaku because we have a lot of respect for United. Like I said before, I love this player and consider him an important player for us to have a good improvement, but at the same time there is a transfer market.

& # 39; It is not easy to play against teams like Juventus and Manchester United without striker, but the market is open, so there is still a process for players to get in and out. & # 39;

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mayramoss-blog1 · 6 years

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Mourinho calls on 29-year-old Premier League striker to add firepower to Man Utd attack – Manchester United Season

Manchester United are preparing themselves for new summer additions, and they’re looking to bring in several top players to help them take their Premier League trophy back.

Jose Mourinho considering strengthening Manchester United attack with Marko Arnautovic. #MUFC #WHUFC #AUThttps://t.co/jLsUlncb2U pic.twitter.com/1dxWHSEKGa

— Duncan Castles (@DuncanCastles) 24 May 2018

Talks for Fred don’t appear as advanced as suggested on Thursday with close Mourinho source Duncan Castles noting there’s been no agreement yet, as per Arab News, whilst noting the Reds are also considering a move for West Ham star Marko Arnautovic, who the boss worked with at Inter Milan.

Arnautovic would certainly provide more firepower up top and some much-needed aggression, but fans are likely to demand a bigger name than the former Stoke City attacker.

Mourinho knows he needs to win a major trophy next season, but after going a year without a trophy, things are far from disastrous.

With Chelsea winning the FA Cup, Manchester City crowned Premier League champions and Liverpool playing in the Champions League final on Saturday night, this may well be a season from hell.

Juventus set to sign £10m Darmian and keep Man Utd target Alex Sandro

The Bianconeri will look to complete a deal for the Italy international in the next seven days while also offering the Brazilian a new contract.

Juventus are set to complete a deal for Manchester United’s Matteo Darmian as early as next week and remain hopeful of signing Alex Sandro up to a new long-term contract, Goal understands.

The Italian champions are likely to wrap up a transfer worth around £10 million (€11m/$13m) for Darmian, ending the Italy international’s three-year spell at Old Trafford by signing him to a five-year contract at the Allianz Stadium.

But the deal will not include Alex Sandro, who has been targeted by United, with the Bianconeri insisting he remains a part of their future plans.

Darmian arrived at United from Torino in 2015 for around £13m (€15m/$17m) but, after making 32 starts in his first season under Louis van Gaal, he has rarely been considered a first choice by current manager Jose Mourinho.

He has also spent much of his time under Mourinho playing on the left flank rather than his favoured right, and the vast majority of his involvement in 2017-18 came in minor cup ties or dead-rubber league fixtures.

Mourinho recently insisted that Darmian and fellow exile Daley Blind were still in his plans going into next season but added that the club would listen to offers if it was in the players’ benefit.

“When a player wants to go, if that’s the case, when the right offers arrive in the club we study that because we always try to have the players happy,” he said.

“If happiness means for them to leave, then let’s see what happens. But they are in my plans. I don’t want to sell, I want to keep .”

Juventus have been monitoring Darmian’s situation over multiple seasons, and the seven-time reigning champions of Serie A now feel the time is right to make their move.

The 28-year-old spent four years with Juve’s city rivals Torino between 2011 and 2015, having previously taken in spells with AC Milan and Palermo.

Meanwhile, United have been known admirers of Alex Sandro for some time as they look to find a long-term solution to their issues at left-back, where Ashley Young has leapt ahead of Luke Shaw in the pecking order in recent times.

But Juve CEO Beppe Marotta insisted on Thursday at the launch of a new book on the club that they will approach the Brazilian’s agent regarding a new contract in the next seven days.

“We will meet next week with his representative and I think there’s a desire to extend the contract,” said Marotta.

Juve are thought to be ready to offer the 27-year-old a deal worth £5m a year until 2022, and are looking to wrap something up before he represents Brazil at this summer’s World Cup in Russia.

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#29yearold #add #attack #calls #firepower #league #man #manchester #mourinho #premier #season #striker #united #utd #mainposts

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gadgetsrevv · 5 years

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Juventus are favourite to win Serie A again but there are reasons to doubt them

The mind games began at the end of May. Not from a pretender to the Juventus throne, but from Maurizio Sarri’s predecessor.

Sarri had yet to be announced as the Old Lady’s new coach back then but Massimiliano Allegri seemed to have a very good idea of who the club were lining up as his replacement. In his goodbye press conference, he once again stoked up the debate that had raged throughout the final two years of his tenure.

Does how you win matter? Last time he checked Juve’s motto, he didn’t think so. It claims “winning is the only thing that counts” and Allegri is a born winner. In coaching, guys like him are few and far between. As he sees it, you either got it or you don’t. Winning is not something you learn.

“I could give you an example,” he said, “but if I do, I’d bring the house down.” Some in the room thought Allegri meant Sarri who, at the time, had lifted only one trophy his whole career: the Serie D Coppa Italia.

– Williams: What to watch in Serie A this season – Serie Awesome podcast: 2019-20 season preview

In his final TV interview before heading off on his holidays, Allegri did what he often does, downplaying his own role in Juventus’ success while championing the work of the club and its players. He dismissed the idea that his successor has a big job on his hands to maintain the standards he set. “It’s a winning team,” Allegri said. “It’s a team that has got what it takes to keep winning. It’s a team that’s way better than the rest and has a 90 percent chance of winning [the league] again.”

Innocent and nonchalant in his delivery, Allegri would never have said such a thing in the event he were staying. It was, perhaps, a subtle way of applying some pressure on his successor.

While many still make Juventus favourites for the Scudetto, which would be their ninth straight if successful, they do seem less of a sure thing than usual.

For a start, Sarri’s appointment is the most left-field since that of Gigi Maifredi in 1990. Sure, the circumstances are different. Sarri is undoubtedly better prepared and more experienced than Maifredi was then. Juventus, as a club, are united behind him and he’s taking over a winning team. Make no mistake: if Sarri can get his ideas across and make a group of players this talented play in the style he implemented so successfully at Napoli, then we could be about to see the best Juventus of all-time.

But doubts remain.

Are the goalkeepers as comfortable on the ball as he needs them to be? Is a defence used to defending man-to-man, backing off and defending its own penalty area prepared to go zonal and step up, playing with wide open spaces behind it? And what of the attack?

Juventus are undoubtedly fancied to win Serie A for a ninth straight time but this season might be their toughest campaign yet in terms of competition.

One of the challenges Sarri faced when attempting to impose his style at Chelsea in England was the tentativeness or unwillingness to play quick combinations. Midfielders needed too many touches. Wingers held onto the ball too long, stopping and starting, allowing opposition defences to regroup and re-organise.

On Juve’s preseason tour, Sarri spoke about the re-education process for his new squad and how he needs time to change the habits of players who’ve worked under different coaches with different ideas for such a long time. His biggest challenge might be the players’ muscle memory. Sarri must convince Giorgio Chiellini, 35, and Cristiano Ronaldo, 34, to play another way. In fact, during the Asia leg of Juve’s preseason, he described his job as organising 10 players around CR7.

Sarri is the one who will have to adapt to the winner of multiple Ballons d’Or, and to Juventus. It’s not going to be the other way round. And so, a coach used to relying on a contingent of 13-14 players now has to keep a squad of superstars happy, something Allegri made look easy, and the club hasn’t helped Sarri in this regard.

For a start, Juventus have tried to offload a number of big names without success. Gonzalo Higuain has been returned to sender, to say nothing of forgotten man, Marko Pjaca. The Bianconeri tried to sell Paulo Dybala not once, but twice, and the Argentine is still bizarrely up for sale. Mario Mandzukic and Sami Khedira, who signed new deals last season, know they are on the market. As it stands, Juventus are going to have some very tough decisions to make when it comes to deciding who doesn’t make the cut for their 23-man Champions League squad.

We will have to see whether the club’s efforts to ease the strain on the payroll and recalibrate the wage-to-turnover ratio — the European transfer window closes on September 2 — have in turn caused friction elsewhere. Juve’s no drama togetherness has underpinned their success over the past nine years. A happy camp could potentially be compromised although saying that, one might counter that Higuain and Dybala aren’t the ones inconvenienced; the club is. Unfortunately for the balance sheet, they don’t want to be anywhere else.

Juventus’ appeal is higher than it’s ever been this century. Testament to that is Matthijs de Ligt‘s decision to join from Ajax when he pretty much had his pick of Europe’s elite and in that context, the scepticism and reservations surrounding Juventus are hard to square. Projection plays a part here. After eight consecutive league titles, there is an element of “Juve fatigue” among neutrals and fans of other Italian clubs. But it’s also a reflection of the increased competitiveness of the league and the indications this year are that Juventus have less margin for error, not that they make many mistakes.

Conte and Lukaku are new arrivals at Inter Milan this summer and should be integral to a much stronger title push in 2019-20.

In my opinion, three teams have a realistic shot at winning the title.

Inter have to be taken seriously not just because they have strengthened across the board, but, to follow Allegri’s logic, on the basis that they have a born winner at the helm in Antonio Conte. Much more is expected of Napoli in Carlo Ancelotti’s second year, too, and rightly so now that Kostas Manolas is partnering Kalidou Koulibaly in defence.

Standards are rising across the league, too. Roma have appointed the impressive Paulo Fonseca to managed a flawed, but fixable, squad. Milan have tailor-made their team for Marco Giampaolo, while Atalanta and Torino have retained what made them great last year. Lazio look capable of making it rain goals like they did two years ago.

Tax breaks have enabled Brescia to bring Mario Balotelli home and Fiorentina to give Franck Ribery a swansong. Cagliari have assembled an ambitious team, including the returning Radja Nainggolan, for their centenary season. Bologna have invested roughly €60m in players like successful loanees Riccardo Orsolini and Nicola Sansone, hoping to pick up where they left off under Sinisa Mihajlovic, who is continuing to coach the team while undergoing treatment for leukaemia. Genoa look like they could be very exciting with Aurelio Andreazzoli in charge.

The number of clubs hiring coaches who set out to dominate opponents and win games rather than sit back and aim not to get beat is encouraging as Serie A continues along a progressive, expansive path.

For Juventus, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be another procession this year. Still, with Sarri the hope is that its the beginning of a process to something bigger and better than what went before. Allegri isn’t the only one curious to see whether that’s possible or not.

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