#carlos is turning 2 next February

[riotinyellow]

I have a son, carlos he is a standard peanut cactus, and I was wondering, as a cacti parent, are there any laws that protect my sons rights, or do only the trees get their existence acknowledged by the law

#i call for equity #equity #tree law #but #no #cactus law #cactus #carlos is turning 2 next February #wga strikes #support the wga #wga solidarity #wga strong #wga strike #i stand with the wga #wga #sag solidarity #sag strike #sag aftra

[kudosmyhero]

Transformers: Infiltration #2

Read Date: January 29, 2023 Cover Date: February 2006 ● Writer: Simon Furman ● Art: E.J. Su ● Colorist: John Rauch ● Letterer: Tom B. Long ● Editor: Chris Ryall ◦ Dan Taylor ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● ok, let me test myself on who's who on the cover. the ambulance is definitely Ratchet. is the other one Starscream? I'm pretty sure it's one of the jets ● we return to a Decepticon demanding the palm computer. the human hologram of Ratchet holds up what looks like the computer, but when the other robot makes contact, it shocks the hell out of him ● (that Decepticon is Runabout) ● the shock burns out Ratchet's hologram generator ● (wait, do the little icons at the beginning show the characters in order of appearance? if so, that's handy!) ● Runamuck pulls a gun on Ratchet ● Ratchet switches to his robot form and uses his forearm blaster on Runamok ● Verity, Hunter, and Jimmy get their first look at Ratchet

● probably the best moment of unspoken "I told you so" in Hunter's life. or at least it will be when he's not actively trying to avoid being killed ● Ratchet switches to ambulance mode, and he and the 3 humans take off ● cut to the desert of Arizona. cops find the dead salesman. another cop radios it into some shady men in a shady conference room ● I think that's an "M" as the logo ● wait, the blue jet that makes hella loud sonic booms… Thundercracker? next in order of that list is Starscream though… ● Runabout is a black sportscar, Runamok is white. they're tearing through cars on the highway ● the situation is worse than Ratchet thought. he explains to his passengers: "Decepticons operate under a strict blanket of stealth. For them to have broken cover so overtly, so brazenly, the data on that computer must either be far more valuable than I realized, or they just don't care anymore. Or both!" ● nice panel of… uh… someone

● Ratchet gets Runabout and Runamok to crash; Verity yells for him to stop. she's in a panic and fumbles out the door when Ratchet opens up for her (there are no door handles) ● Jimmy goes to talk to her, while Hunter stays and talks to Ratchet ● before Hunter learns the term "Autobot," Jimmy and Verity return saying that they gotta go, now ● a jet comes and fires a missile. Ratchet holds his position as long as possible, then takes off really goddamned fast considering he's as aerodynamic as a cinderblock ● the faces of Hunter and Jimmy on page 17 made me lol ● there's a red van, a white car with a light bar, and a yellow sportscar. let me think… the white car is Prowl, the yellow is… Sunstreak? the red van, I can't even hazard a guess. let's see how wrong I am! ● they fire on the jet until he retreats ● oh feck. the three vehicles transform into their robot forms and have guns pulled on Ratchet. Prowl (I was right about that one!) says, "Ratchet. You face seven counts of misconduct, gross dereliction of duty, and disobeying a direct order from a senior officer, plus sundry violations of sections six, eleven, fifteen, and twenty-two of the Autobot Code of Interplanetary Conflict. Anything you'd like to say?" ● Ratchet replies: "Two words: Seige Mode," which shocks Prowl ● 👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: Confronted by two menacing robots demanding that she turn over her stolen palmtop computer, Verity Carlo and her companions Hunter O'Nion, and Jimmy Pink can only stand and gawk in horror at the spectacle. Their mysterious ambulance driver companion has other ideas, however: using a holographic decoy of the computer, he feigns surrender… and then disappears in a blaze of electricity when the two robots reach for the prize. The trick stuns one of the robots, who topples into the garage wall, sending collapsing rubble everywhere. Just in time, their ambulance transforms into a third giant robot, who uses his massive body to shield the humans from the debris!

As the white robot draws a weapon, their robotic rescuer deploys an ink spray to blind his attacker; with his opponents on the backfoot, the ambulance decides to get out while the going's good and, ordering his passengers to get inside, reassumes his alternate mode to ferry the three humans to safety. As the ambulance peels out, heading for the interstate, Jimmy can't help but lament the destruction of his garage. In Arizona, a police detachment finds the dead body of the businessman who had previously possessed the computer. The corpse has no ID of any kind, confusing the officers. One member of the forensics team, however, surreptitiously places a call to a faraway boardroom to report the death—a boardroom adorned with a massive letter "M".

The ambulance hightails it along the freeway, weaving in and out of the traffic as the three humans struggle to come to grips with the situation as the ambulance fills them in. His team had been tracking a coded Decepticon pulsewave, noting that a specific human, the former carrier of the palmtop, had been targeted by the Decepticons for elimination. But before their rescuer can tell them why he'd been selected, a massive sonic boom alerts them to the return of the blue jet fighter. The sonic boom causes a massive pileup, forcing the ambulance to swerve around one car after the next, and the chaos creates the perfect opening for the two sports cars, who identify themselves as Runamuck and Runabout, to catch up and deploy an arsenal of hidden weapons as they try to run the ambulance off the road. This is a bad sign, the humans learn: Decepticons never break cover, and this brazen aggression means that Verity's picked up something that they really need….

In Oregon, Starscream and Blitzwing marvel at the ore that they have discovered. Starscream is eager to refine more—even if means breaking protocol, the Decepticon leader is confident that he'll have enough time to prepare a response.

Pursued by the two Decepticons, the ambulance manages to shake its pursuers by swerving hard into an oncoming tanker-trailer. While the medical vehicle manages to get out of the way in time, the two Battlechargers aren't so lucky. The ensuing collision sends both Decepticons flying off the highway to crash in a fiery conflagration. It's all too much for Verity, and as the ambulance rounds a cliff, she screams for it to stop so that she can get some air. Jimmy follows to try and calm her down, while Hunter tries to pry more details out of their rescuer, who finally introduces himself as Ratchet. Before he can get any more information out of Ratchet, the jet comes back for another pass and fires a homing missile at the group.

As everyone scrambles aboard, Ratchet deliberately waits until the last second to escape, pouring on a burst of speed to outrun the explosion as the homing missile impacts against the cliff. As they zoom through the desert with the jet on their tail, unexpected help arrives in the shape of three more automobiles — a yellow sports car, a red minivan, and a police car — who deploy some concealed weapons of their own to blast the airborne Decepticon until he retreats.

Ratchet reveals to the grateful humans that they're his allies, who he'd covertly summoned while he was receiving maintenance in Jimmy's garage… but their jubilation is short lived when the three cars transform into more robots and draw their weapons. Their leader Prowl lays into Ratchet for dereliction of duty and violating statutes of the Code of Interplanetary Conflict. Having glimpsed the photos on Verity's computer, Ratchet has finally realized why the Decepticons were so intent on recovering the device, and so he offers two words in his defense: "siege mode"…

(https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Infiltration_issue_2)

Fan Art: Hunter, Verity and Jimmy by hde2009

Accompanying Podcasts: ● Swerve's Bar Podcast - Infiltration

#idw #my idw read #transformers #comics #fanart #comic books #fan art #podcast recommendation #Youtube

[vera-dauriac]

I posted 1,214 times in 2022

390 posts created (32%)

824 posts reblogged (68%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@automaticdreamlandkid

@xserpx

@vera-dauriac

@notyouraveragejulie

@verdiesque

I tagged 1,208 of my posts in 2022

#opera - 424 posts

#verdi - 182 posts

#the met - 117 posts

#the musketeers - 117 posts

#a great show that ran 2 seasons - 113 posts

#don carlo - 59 posts

#ask me stuff - 56 posts

#spotify - 52 posts

#mariusz kwiecien - 52 posts

#mozart - 47 posts

Longest Tag: 94 characters

#can you imagine being a tumblr user of 8 years and waking up to something that makes no sense?

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

OK my bitches (by which I mean the lovely operblr folks), Don Carlos at the Met has been seen. Here’s a bullet point list of my thoughts.

--Even if I don’t like Act 1, if you’re at the Met and those opening notes sound, it’s very exciting!

--If you ever asked yourself: “When Matthew Polenzani does that gorgeous pianissimi, can it possibly hit the back of the hall?” The answer is yes, yes, it does. *sobbing*

--Hubby: “I expected Sonya to be pretty good, but she’s even better than I expected.” Truth.

--The Met orchestra playing the Act 2 prelude…. Fuck. Me.

--The bro-love duet is everything you want it to be.

--If a mezzo doesn’t own the stage when she walks on as Eboli, can she really call herself a mezzo? Barton is A Mezzo ™.

--Carlos is so extra in the scene with Elizabeth. Matthew was perfectly ridiculous.

--Dupuis is so natural in the duet with Owens, I didn’t even think about the fact he was singing. It was just so good. The only criticism I have is most of the night, I wish I could have turned up the volume on Owens’s lovely voice.

--There are moments in DC when I am wont to drift. A mediocre garden trio will do it every time. This was not mediocre.

--The Met chorus was just crazy good in the Auto-da-fe.

--Owens best moment is the open of Act 4. Without anyone else to compete with but an orchestra at a volume he can work with, he’s great.

--The Grand Inquisitor scene is the only tempo issue I had with the evening—too fast. Let the bassoons of doom take their time.

--Relyea is everything you thought he would be.

--Let’s be blunt: this duet and the quartet that follow is one of the places I drift sometimes.

--If the audience had clapped any longer for Barton, the Met would have been forced to reconsider the encore policy.

--My poor Rodrigue! The singing could not have been better. And good lord, Matthew and Etienne were all up in each other’s stuff. One quibble about the staging, though. There are long stone benches/tombs (depending on the scene) and people sit on them all the time. Couldn’t Carlos have schlepped his boyfriend over to one rather than letting him stand until the very end? It barely registered the poor guy was dying.

--Did I cry literal tears during the lacrimosa? No one will ever know, because it was very dark.

--Sonya nailed her aria, unsurprisingly.

--Until it hits “Au revoir,” this is another duet where I sometimes drift, but once they hit that part, I was invested and it was lovely.

--So, those reviews were not exaggerating—Carlos gets stabbed, and Rodrigue comes back surrounded by a bright light to embrace him and they collapse on each other in the middle of the stage together.

Obviously, I loved it. It’s in cinemas next weekend. Go see it if you can!

22 notes - Posted March 19, 2022

#4

Trying to actually do a little writing tonight in the first time in forever. Wish me luck.

25 notes - Posted February 21, 2022

#3

I simply do not understand people who say they don't like to read history. Like, how do you not want to hear about all the crazy shit people did 600 years ago? It's absolutely fantastic.

26 notes - Posted September 2, 2022

#2

So, I just watched Becoming Traviata, an excellent documentary about the 2011 Aix-en-Provence Traviata with Dessay, Castronovo, and Tezier. Just in case anyone is looking to win my undying love, the person who gifs the rehearsal of Un di, felice, eterea will have it.

30 notes - Posted January 15, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Rewatching The Borgias, and fuck me sideways, but who the hell gave Francois Arnaud the right to be this sexy?

30 notes - Posted August 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #am i seriously my own 3 most often reblogged? #did not expect that #oh well #and how did i make 4 muskie's posts without the important additional tag? #i'll take a very pretty cesare as my top post #blast from the past for sure

[minervacasterly]

🏵️👑An overview of England's First Christian Queen Regnant: Mary (I) of the Tudor Dynasty, the "Unhappiest Lady in Christendom" 👑🏵️

On the 18th of February 1516, Princess Mary Tudor was born. Her parents were King Henry VIII and his first Consort, Queen Katherine of Aragon. The long awaited Prince turned out to be a girl. While this was a minor disappointment on her parents, they were nevertheless joyful and considered this as a sign of good will. After all, Henry had replied to the Venetian Ambassador “if it was a daughter this time, by the grace of God, sons will follow.”

Immediately after her birth, the child was cleaned and presented to her parents. Two days later she was christened at the Church of the Observant Friars. Following tradition, her parents were not present. Her godparents were Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (who was fast becoming a favorite of her father), the Duchess of Norfolk and her grand-aunt, Catherine of York, Countess of Devon. Present at the ceremony were an army of courtiers; gentlemen, ladies, earls and bishops who were in awe of their new Princess.

After she was blessed, she was given the name Mary, her paternal aunt who had risked royal wrath a few years back, but had worked things out with her brother. Henry had always felt closer to his younger sister than his older one, and now was honoring her even further by naming his only surviving child after her.

Afterwards, she was plunged three times into the basin of holy water, then anointed with holy oil, dried, swaddled and finally taken to the high alter where it was proclaimed:

“God send and give good life and long unto the right high, right noble and excellent Princess Mary, Princess of England and daughter of our most dread sovereign lord the King’s Highness.”

Mary’s life would not be without struggle. She was constantly under suspicion and despite her father’s actions -influenced by her last stepmother, Katherine Parr- to restore her and her half-sister to the line of succession, she still had many enemies and her troubles continued well into her brother’s reign. Following her half-brother’s death, she rallied the people to her cause after she found out the King had taken his sisters out of the line of succession in favor of their cousins, the Grey sisters.

Mary’s popular revolt was astounding because she reclaimed her birthright without the need for bloodshed. After Mary’s forces became too much for the new regime, the Council turned their backs on her cousin and her family, and sent her a letter, pledging their allegiance to her.

Mary was declared Queen and she entered the city of London triumphantly. Months later she was crowned Queen of England, becoming the country’s first female monarch.

Mary’s reign however wasn’t easy. Once more she faced a lot of disagreement and tragedy, as well as an inability to bring what her dynasty needed the most: a male heir. Mary’s phantom pregnancies became an embarrassment to her, and her contributions became forgotten and attributed to her sister (who also appropriated her motto on her coronation progress). To make matters worse, her wishes to be buried next to her mother (as well as having her mother’s body moved to Westminster) were never carried out. She was given a modest plaque. Her eulogy changed to fit the new rhetoric of Elizabeth’s reign being a godsend as opposed to Mary’s. And after her sister died, her successor James Stuart, created an elaborate monument and put the two sisters together. But only Elizabeth’s effigy was included, Mary was once again absent except in the plaque that read:

"Partners both in throne and grave. Here rest we, two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, in the hopes of the resurrection.”

David Loades lists Mary I’s achievements in a BBC History Magazine article he did in honor of England’s first Queen. These include:

- Preservation of the Tudor succession

- Strengthening of the position of Parliament by using it for her religious settlement.

- Establishment of the “gender free” authority of the crown

- Restoration and strengthening of the administrative structure of the church.

- Maintenance of the navy and reforming the militia.

In her book Mary Tudor. Princess, Bastard, Queen, Anna Whitelock adds more, saying that she refounded various universities. Linda Porter in her biography Myth of Bloody Mary also adds that she established a curriculum that brought an emphasis to Humanism, and forced every priest to serve their parish and had very little tolerance for those that didn’t bend their knee to royal authority.

Sources:

1. The Myth of Bloody Mary by Linda Porter

2. Mary Tudor by David Loades

3. Mary Tudor: Princess, Bastard, Queen by Anna Whitelock

4. The Myth of Bloody Mary by The Elizabeth Files

(http://www.elizabethfiles.com/the-myth-of-bloody-mary/3964/ )

Images: Sarah Bolger as Mary Tudor in The Tudors season 2, 3, and 4, Angela Cremonte as Queen Mary I of England and Ireland in Carlos, Rey Emperador and Daphne Slater in the BBC miniseries Elizabeth R.

#mary i of england #tudor history #dailytudors #english monarchy

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Faust (Vienna, 2021): Reactions, Part I

Two things before we start:

1. The first two acts are all I’ll watch for now because of a history club event at 7 PM, so stay tuned later tonight for the rest;

2. It has recently come to my attention that Kate Lindsey (subbing in for the originally announced Virginie Verrez) may or may not be a TERF; while I do not know either way for 100% sure, after some Internet Digging her husband is definitely a TERF, so...that’s both problematic and disappointing. *sigh*

okay, this aesthetic looks decent

JDF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hmmmmmmmmmm

this is gonna be SO GOOD (edit: to be clear, I was referring specifically to JDF’s performance, not to the production as a whole)

oh, a voodoo doll...

very clever Easter egg

“...did this just turn into the Met Vegas Rigoletto”

Mephisto is sensing a target

not a good move at all

yeah, Faust, why are you surprised

oh my god Faust you are SO DUMB

Nicole!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

put my cinnamon roll baby DOWN

“dude you just drank some of the poison HOW ARE YOU NOT DEAD”

“...because I’m Satan”

just a bit more than “presque rien”, dontcha think?

she’s so pretty also I simultaneously love and hate the idea that Méphistophélès just pointed to the nearest woman and was like “her. she’s gonna be the one whose life I fuck up because she just happens to be right there and it’s very convenient. like I don’t necessarily have anything against her, she just happens to be right there”

ew gross (he drew blood, which to be fair is correct but also...ew)

poof! look! a horny young tenor!

(the obligatory line)

this bops and everyone sounds good but this is starting to feel like some smoky fever dream

*cringe*

the soldiers keep trying to hang a French flag but the students keep tearing it down (given that the setting is apparently 1960s Paris...that tracks)

this is how they costumed Siébel??? *cringes in like six different ways*

“VIVE LA FRANCE”

on the increasingly-unlikely chance we get the Met’s new Don Carlos next February and March, this is the singer playing Rodrigue and he’s excellent

oh okay also as always, this BOPS

this constant use of continually moving video cameras/live feeds is going to make me lose it

I admire the bravado

“why isn’t my gun working”

he smashed up a crate and made a cross out of the pieces also I am absolutely cringing at this production’s take on Siébel like. what the fuck

I’ve also been annoyed with a lot of these subtitles

why are Faust and Marguerite dancing together???

YOU WERE LITERALLY DANCING WITH HER NINETY SECONDS AGO THIS PRODUCTION MAKES NO SENSE WHATSOEVER

they have tiny Coca-Cola flags

oh thank GOODNESS they had her change costume but also Siébel is a woman?????????????

oh you two

well this is awkward

Siébel and I have the same opinion about the cameras

so now she’s spying on them???

okay I’m sorry but even though this cast is good (although not as good as the recent Paris cast) this production is awful and there’s a big part of me that does not want to watch any more

but on the other hand, perhaps I should just to give you the full report

#opera #opera tag #Faust #opera liveblog #Gounod #Charles François Gounod #the opera is great the cast is good the production is thus far horrifically bad

[joachimnapoleon]

Meet the Bonapartes: Louis (1/4)

I’ve been horrible about keeping up with my projects this year, but I’ve had a flurry of motivation lately so I’m trying to take advantage of it. So here is Part 1 of my write-up on Louis Bonaparte!

[Here are links to Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 on Pauline] 

***

Louis Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, on 2 September 1778, the fifth surviving child of what would be eight surviving children born to Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino. His childhood name was Luigi, later changed to Louis after the Buonaparte family settled in France and "Frenchified" their names.

At the age of 12, Louis went with his older brother, Napoleon--at the time a lieutenant of artillery--to Auxonne, where Napoleon was stationed. Lieutenant Bonaparte's accommodations were spartan; Louis found himself "sleeping on the floor in a closet next to Napoleon's bed, with a single table and two chairs as their only furniture." Napoleon developed a paternal feeling for Louis, who was nine years his junior, and gave him additional tutoring in math, geography, and history while also paying for his schooling in Auxonne. "I can easily see that he will turn out a better fellow than any of the four of us," he wrote glowingly to Joseph that year. "But then none of us had so fine an education." The homesick Louis, meanwhile, wrote to Joseph, hinting that he'd be glad to return home, if Joseph would merely ask.

You have only to say the word, and I shall remain here. You have only to say the contrary, and I shall come home. You must know well that after Napolione it is you I love and cherish the most. 

But Joseph didn't ask, and so Louis continued his education with Napoleon, who secured him a place in the artillery school of Chalons. Napoleon continued to praise his younger brother's progress to Joseph, writing on 6 September 1795 that

I am pleased with Louis; he answers my expectations; he is good, and of my own making: ardour, talent, health, ability, punctuality, and kindness--he has everything.... there is no man more active, clever, and insinuating. He could do in Paris whatever he liked.

After Louis left Châlons, Napoleon added him to his ever-growing number of aides-de-camp. He distinguished himself during the Italian campaign, fighting in the vanguard alongside Lannes at Piacenza and taking part in the storming of Pizzhighettone. "This brave young man," wrote Napoleon to Carnot, " deserves all the consideration that you may be so good as to show him." Sent briefly to Paris at the end of July 1796, Louis was promoted by the Minister of War to captain, and given a gift of a set of pistols. Returning to Italy, he continued to serve bravely, delivering a message on horseback at Arcola under a hail of bullets as men fell all around him, and later helping Marmont to drag Napoleon back to safety after the general fell into a ditch.

From all indications, Louis seemed to have a bright future ahead of him. But unbeknownst at the time to either Louis or Napoleon, the Italian campaign would spell the beginning of what would end up being a permanent decline in the health of Louis. The reasons for this are uncertain, though most historians agree that Louis contracted some sort of venereal disease in Italy that ultimately shattered his health. Historian Frederic Masson writes:

Until the end of the first campaign of Year V, Louis showed a strong constitution: an amiable comrade and bon vivant, cheerful enough to be cited at game and table, he claimed his share of the entertainments of the staff; but, either in Milan he had sought pleasures dearly paid for by a terrible illness, which he treated 'with all possible levity' and in such a fashion that his health would have been ruined by it; or that he carried within him a principle of rheumatic gout which transformed, in a short time, his physical temperament and moral character, he fell ill at Forli on 16 Pluviôse (4 February 1797)... and was obliged to seek care in Bologna, then in Milan, without being able to follow his brother to the Styrian campaign. He emerged from this malady withered, morose, melancholic, constantly occupied with his health, and persuaded that it was damaged.

Seeing Louis at Mombello after the campaign, Joseph was struck by the changes in his brother, now riddled with anxiety and depression. At Mombello, Louis kept largely to himself, going for long walks alone, reading, and writing.  

At some point during this period, he fell in love with a niece of Josephine. Napoleon promptly nipped any potential marriage aspirations on his brother's part in the bud by having the girl removed from Madame Campan's school and married off his adjutant, Lavalette. This only caused Louis to plunge further into depression. Napoleon insisted that Louis accompany him to Egypt, in spite of his brother's protestations that his health would not be up to such a campaign. Aside from his recent illness, he was also still recovering from an accident, having been thrown from an overturned coach and injured his knee.

Louis found his brief time in Egypt miserable. "I suffered a great deal on our passage," he wrote Joseph on 6 July 1798, "this climate kills me." He was less than impressed with the desert tribesmen:

They are horrible savages, and yet they have some notion of gold and silver! a small quantity of it serves to excite their admiration. Yes, my dear brother, they love gold; and they pass their lives in extorting it from such Europeans as fall into their hands; and for what purpose!--for continuing the course of life which I have described, and for teaching it to their children. O, Jean Jacques! could he but see these men, whom he calls "men of nature," he would shudder with shame and surprise at having been able to admire them!... How many misanthropes would be converted if chance should conduct them into the midsts of the deserts of Arabia.

Napoleon sent Louis back to France in October of 1798. He was to deliver dispatches to the Directory, as well as some captured standards. Louis dragged the journey out for five months, ending spending three weeks visiting his mother in Ajaccio; he finally arrived in Paris on 11 March 1799. Among his first endeavours was to request a promotion which Napoleon had not mentioned to the Directory; the War Minister granted it anyway, and Louis was made a major on 30 July. He did not participate in the Brumaire coup, but Napoleon granted him another promotion in its aftermath anyway; he was now a chef de brigade of the 5th Dragoons. He sat out the ensuing campaign against Austria, taking the waters and writing poetry as Napoleon triumphed at Marengo.  

Napoleon still remained largely oblivious to Louis's character defects for the time being, and, in 1801, devised the idea for a marriage that would--he thought--bring the Bonaparte and Beauharnais families closer together: Louis would marry Hortense, the daughter of Josephine.

It would not be a happy marriage.

***

Sources:

Atteridge, A. Hillard. Napoleon’s Brothers, 1909.

Broers, Michael. Napoleon: Soldier of Destiny. 2014.

The Confidential Correspondence of Napoleon Bonaparte with his Brother Joseph, Vol I, 1856.

Copies of Original Letters from the Army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, Intercepted by the Fleet Under the Command of Admiral Lord Nelson, 1798

Masson, Frédéric. Napoleon et sa Famille, Vol I (1796-1802), 1907.

Roberts, Andrews. Napoleon: A Life. 2014.

#Meet the Bonapartes #Napoleon #Napoleon Bonaparte #Louis Bonaparte #Joseph Bonaparte #history #Napoleonic

[scapegrace74-blog]

Satellite Mind

A/N  I can’t stop myself.  I’m weak!  Weak!  The Saorsa-sequel is coming along, but the Metric universe just won’t leave me alone.  This story takes place just after Lost Kitten and Gimme Sympathy.  Previous fics are available on my AO3 page.

Oh, and mild warning for foul language, if that’s not your thing.

The song by Metric that inspired the title and a few lines is here.

January 14, 2017, Spittalfields, England

“I’m happy for you, Geillis, really.  I mean... Cartagena, wow.  You can, what?  Dabble in the emerald market?”

Her friend saw right through Claire’s glass face to her latent fear of abandonment.  Fiercely independent, a precious handful of friendships and habits anchored her in the world.  Without those tethers, she lived with a nameless dread that she might spin off into the void, lost in a great emptiness.

“Dinna lie tae me, Claire Beauchamp.  Ye havna left yer bed in the twenty-four hours since I told ye.  Ye’re jus’ starin’ up at the ceiling.  Ye ken I wouldna ever want tae leave ya were it no’ for someone truly special.  Juan Carlos, he’s...”

“Built like a stevedore and hung like a stallion, I believe were your exact words,” she interrupted, smiling despite herself at Geillis’ moonstruck infatuation.  The redhead had met the Columbian businessman at a New Year’s celebration and now, two weeks’ later, had dropped the bombshell that she was planning on following him back across the Atlantic in the spring, leaving Claire without a roommate just as her income was nearly halved by the commencement of her medical studies.

“Aye, he is that.  Everyone thinks I’m mad, but it’s the real thing between he and I.  I jus’ feel it.  Ye’ll ken the feeling yerself one day.  But I willna leave ye high an’ dry.  I’ll see ye settled, a’fore I go.”

Claire doubted that very much.  It was Geillis’ name on the lease, which meant that as soon as she gave notice their landlord was free to increase the rent.   Spittalfields was moving upmarket as one dilapidated industrial building after another was converted into lofts and chic office space for the urban gentry.  There was no way she’d be able to afford the new payment at their current flat, even if she could find another roommate she could stomach.  And moving out on her own was equally out of the question.   The ghost of her past mistakes haunted her most when she was alone.

***

February 2, 2017, Royal London Hospital, England

“Are you out of your fucking mind?”  A metal spoon clattered into the break-room sink and a few other nurses glanced over, trying to decide if bloodshed between the two was imminent.

“Tis is a matter of some debate,” Geillis replied, undaunted.  She’d expected this reaction, which was why she’d cornered Claire during the short overlap between their shifts when she couldn’t run away.  At least the British Army had left Afghanistan, although South Sudan was still a possibility.

“James Fraser.  You approached Jamie Fraser, without my permission I might add, to find out whether he still had a room to let.  I cannot fucking believe you, Geillis Duncan!   Where do you get off...”

“First,” Geillis interrupted the predicted tirade by holding up her index finger, “you yerself remarked on his lovely flat, and how fastidious he was.  Second, tis in the neighbourhood an’ right around the corner from tha’ chipstand ye love.  Third, ye’re both shift workers and will hardly see each other.  Fourth, if ye do bump inta the wee fox cub when he’s runnin’ about in his skivvies, weel, thas a hardship many a lass would be willing tae face in yer place.  And fifth,” here Geillis raised her palm and outstretched fingers right in front of Claire’s nose, “ye can afford it.”

Claire huffed, but was otherwise silent.  She couldn’t deny that Geillis’ points were mostly valid, but she hated the idea of accepting charity from Jamie, of being seen as a burden.  If she’d approached him herself, perhaps...

“Wait a second.  How did you even know Jamie still had a room to let?  Have you been in contact with him?”  Something toxic simmered in her belly.   Geillis and Jamie texting each other.   Talking about her behind her back.  Sharing intimacies from which she was excluded.   It was a flashback of a feeling that hit too close to home for comfort.

“Och, no.  Didna I tell ya?  I ken the lad’s uncle, Dougal Mackenzie.  Bald as a billiard cue, but tha’ man can fuck for hours.  I remember one time, we were...”

“Oh my god, Geillis, please tell me you didn’t cheat on Jamie with his uncle!”

“It canna be cheatin’ if ye were ne’er together tae begin wi’,” Geillis pronounced.  “Ye’re too ecclesiastical by half, Beauchamp.  T’anyway, I hadna met Dougal when yon lad and I had our... dalliance.  But imagine ma surprise when I showed up tae meet Dougal at Bethall Fire Station in a wee red dress tighter than a nun’s chuff, an’ standin’ right next tae him is the fox cub, face turning bright as a forge.  Twas an awkward moment tae be sure, even measurin’ by my very high standards.”

***

February 13, 2017, Spittalfields, England

“Ye’ll be wantin’ tae look about the kitchen, I reckon.  Twas the only room ye didna really see, when ye were here last.  An’ the storage locker, but there’s nought down there but sportin’ equipment tha’ reeks tae high heaven.  No’ that I dinna try tae wash out the stench, mind you.”  

Jamie resolved to limit himself to two word sentences for the rest of the tour.   Anything more was too great a risk to his dignity.

“It’s lovely, especially with the morning sunlight streaming through the windows.  How much is the monthly heating bill again?”

It was almost Valentine’s Day and Claire still didn’t know where she was going to live come March.  She’d flipped through free rental magazines and scrolled a few message boards, but hadn’t made any serious efforts to secure a new home.   She told herself she was too busy preparing for medical school and working full-time, but in the back closet of her mind she allowed the idea of moving in with Jamie to take root.   

Then, last night while drifting through the deep fog just before sleep she’d had a thought.   Living with Jamie would finally put an end to all of Geillis’ awkward match-making efforts.  If they were roommates, they couldn’t be anything else besides.  Rolling over and grabbing for her phone before she could second-guess herself, she fired off a quick text to the number Geillis had added to her Contacts under Wee Fox Cub.   Despite the late hour, two minutes later he texted back.   And now here she was, seriously contemplating the impossible.

They were sitting across from each other on the couch, negotiating terms.  Claire found herself making ridiculous demands, somehow hoping that Jamie would balk at the last minute and this perilous adventure would come to its natural end.

“I’ll be studying when I’m not on shift, so loud noise and music is a deal breaker for me,” she listed while eyeing the bowl of trail mix set out on the coffee table.

“I own a good pair o’ headphones, and my sister would tell ye there’s a reason I dinna sing outside o’ the shower.   Did ye want some?”  Jamie extended the bowl in her direction, but she shook her head.

“If I’m to live here, the flat will need to be ours equally.  I know you lived here first, but I’d be paying half the rent.  That means we share common elements down the middle.  Half the cabinet space, half of the refrigerator and freezer.”  She looked around the main room, where it was obvious Jamie did most of his living.  “I’d want to put my desk below the window there, where there’s lots of natural light.  I don’t want to always be hidden in my bedroom like some low-rent AirBnB guest.”

“O’ course,” Jamie quickly agreed.  “I can clear out some of my books and such from the shelves as weel.  And I was thinkin’ of movin’ the Xbox inta my room.  There’s ano’er TV in there, ye ken, so ye won’t be exposed tae my tears while I’m watchin’ Six Nations matches.”

“That won’t be necessary, Jamie.  I really don’t have many things.  Some holdover to my years living out of a suitcase with my uncle, I suppose.”

He was being altogether too agreeable.  It was time to break out the big guns.

“We need to talk about one last thing.  Some might think it usual for a young woman who is single, living with a young man who is single to feel a certain...”

“Wha’ makes ye think I’m single?” Jamie interrupted, and she snapped her mouth shut in surprise.

“Well, with your history with Geillis, and I’ve never seen you with someone, I just assumed...” she trailed off, fighting down the urge to bolt.

Jamie laughed.  “I’m teasin’ ye, Claire.  O’ course I’m single.  Do ye think I’d be contemplating inviting a bonnie lass tae share my flat if I were spoken for?”

“Well, that’s just the thing, isn’t it?  People might make assumptions.  One of us might do so as well.   Feelings would get hurt.  So I think it’s important to be very clear at the outset.  You seem like a lovely man, but there will never be anything between us.”

“Because of my history wi’ Geillis, y’mean?” Jamie asked.

“Well, that as well.  But also because I’ll be far too busy with work and my studies to sustain any kind of relationship, least of all with someone who, when things fall apart, would be in a position to leave me without a roof over my head.  I’ve been there before, and I don’t intend to ever go back.”

“Aye, I see.” Jamie nodded absently, obviously digesting this large morsel of information and not finding it entirely to his taste.

“So that’s my final stipulation.  I don’t mind if you have overnight visitors. You’re a grown man, and you can act as you please.  But we need to agree that any kind of romantic relationship between us is off-limits.”

Claire grabbed a handful of snacks and popped them into her mouth.  She observed Jamie as she chewed.  In retrospect, this was a brilliant move on her part.  If Jamie accepted, she would have solved for both her housing crisis and her ambivalent feelings towards the Scot.  And if he declined, well, that would tell her something too.

Squaring his shoulders, Jamie extended his hand.

“We’re agreed.”

And that was how Jamie and Claire became just roommates.

#my writing #outlander

[ms-rampage]

Eden's Gate: Left Behind Chapter 1 - Welcome to Hope County

A new series!!!. Take place 2 years before the events of Kidnapped.

I created "Hope County University" for this series, and a few other locations that aren't in the game. Because its all headcanon shit.

Warnings: None

Word count: 1.9k

John Seed slightly out of character. (That's what happens when you encounter a Winchester 😂😂)

*********************************

Hope County, Montana, February 2018

*Arizona by Hey Monday plays on the radio*

A black 1970 Monte Carlo with a small trailer attached to it drives down the road with an Arizona license plate on it "ARIZONA E34R90D". 

19 year old Kate Winchester, who just moved out of her aunt and uncle's house drove 7 hours from Jackson, Wyoming to Hope County, Montana. Drumming her fingers on the steering wheel to song. 

Starting her new life, leaving the hunter life behind her, she applied and got accepted at Hope County University. 

Hoping to get her Master of Science degree in Psychology, and then move on to get her Doctorate Degree. 

Luckily her aunt and uncle were able to cover her tuition for the whole year. She even told them that she was willing to pay her own rent, and which surprisingly is only $750 a month. Hell her rent is cheaper here, than Arizona and Wyoming put together, but of course they're willing to pay for it, even though she refused, so she saves some money there.

She’s been attending college since she was 15 years old. She lied about her age to get a head start, with the help of her aunt Laura, and her grandmother Eliza. She attended community college in Wyoming before wanting to get transferred out of state.

She was able to rent out a small 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom house with a decent size backyard that is owned by the University, which is why the rent is pretty cheap usually it costs a lot more, and she also got a job at the University's café & diner with starting pay at $14.50. To her that seems very unrealistic but she’ll take it, she ain’t complaining. 

She drives down the road with her dog Haley in the passenger seat with her head out the window trying to bite the wind as they drive down the road.

"Smell that fresh Montana air Hale" she says with a smile, Haley pulls her head back in and lets out a bark, her eyes widened and has that look like she's smiling. 

You know that look dogs do with their tongues hanging out making them look like they're smiling. 

Driving down the road, off on the side, a huge billboard sign with a photo of some man with the caption. 

“We Love You and We Will Take You”

"That's very welcoming" she jokes.

Kate turns onto a small side road that leads to her new home. 

She drives slowly, while looking at the GPS on her phone. 

After a few minutes she finds the house.

"Here it is" she says, pulling into the driveway. 

Shutting off the car, and getting out. 

"Come on Hale" she says, padding her thigh. 

She takes the house keys out of her pocket, and opens the door. 

It's a decent size house for someone who's living on their own, the house is slightly furnished. Her uncle Brent sent some of their old furniture to her new house.

A coffee table, a few chairs, few lamps, a night stand, and a full size bed with the frame, head, footboard, mattress and box spring.

The backyard is bigger than she thought. She opens the door, and lets Haley out to the back. 

"Go sniff around" she tells her.

The 2 1/2 year old German Shepherd sniffs the corners of the fence, looking for a spot to do her business. 

Kate goes back inside, leaving the backdoor open for Haley.

She checks out the rest of the house, the 2 bedrooms, the bathroom and washroom, luckily a washer and dryer comes with the place. So at least she wouldn't want to buy it.

She goes back to the living room, and sees that Haley came back inside. 

She goes to close the backdoor, locking it, she heads out to the front and unpacks her trailer. Boxes, boxes and boxes of her stuff, clothes, books, her WiFi router, personal hygiene products, small furniture, stuff for school, some groceries she has in her mini fridge, some of Haley's stuff, her toys and food. 

She finishes unpacking around 3:30pm, her room is all set up, her bed is fixed, all her clothes are put away in the closet and dresser, she has photos of her friends, family and posters of bands she likes hanging up on the walls. 

She set up her 60inch TV, the box and WiFi router in the living room, she put up curtains on all the windows, and put some plants out on the front porch. 

She has all of her hunter stuff in the 2nd bedroom, her angel blades, demon blades, holy water, bags of salt, her books, her dad’s journal. Bullets filled with rock salt, and all of her other hunting supplies.

She has everything set up, and all she needed now was a kitchen table, a couch and maybe some appliances like a microwave, toaster and a coffee maker. 

She sighs in relief, lays back on her bed, Haley jumps on, laying next to her. 

"You wanna go into town?!?" she asks the dog, she looks at her while tilting her head to the right. 

"You wanna go for a walk?!?" she asks again, she tilts her head to the left while still looking at her. She lets out a loud bark which catches Kate off guard, and jumps off the bed.

Running back and forth down the hall, jumping at her on the bed in excitement. 

She gets up from the bed. 

"Okay let me find your leash" she says, while going into the living room. 

She goes through some of her boxes. 

After a few minutes, she finds her leash and puts it on her collar. Debating whether or not to take her in the car, or walk into town. 

"It's only a 10-20 minute walk from here to town" she says out loud. 

After a couple of minutes, she decides to drive, just in case some stores don't allow animals in, she can leave Haley in the car with all the windows down of course, or maybe leave her outside.

They drive into town, and she parks her car next to a gas station store. 

"Come one Hale" she says. 

She jumps out of the car, Kate locks it up and they walk past the small shops. 

A grocery store, a pharmaceutical store, a gun shop, an autoshop, and  lastly a bar called "The Spread Eagle". 

She looks around, and sees an appliance store, she really does need those appliances. 

She walks closer, and sees a sign on the door saying "Sorry, no animals allowed inside". 

"Of course" she says to herself. 

She ties Haley's leash to a parking meter under a tree 

"I'll be right back" she says to her, petting her head. 

She goes inside the store and looks around. Right off the bat she finds a toaster with 4 slots, and it costs $30 in which to her is a steal. 

She finds a coffee maker and a microwave all that costs a decent amount, less than she thought it would be. 

She pays for her stuff, and goes back outside to untie Haley, they walk back to the car, and put the appliances in the backseat covering them with a blanket. 

They continue to walk around the small town of Falls End located in the Holland Valley region. They cross the street to go onto the opposite side. Up ahead Kate sees a small group of people walking into a church on the other side of the street. Thinking nothing of it.

While on the other side of the street at Falls End Church, John Seed is standing outside of it holding the Book of Joseph, preaching.

"Sin must be exposed so it may be absolved. We must wash away our past" while some of his men escort some locals into the church. 

"You will know the power of Yes, you will confess your sins" he continues.

As he looks around he sees Kate with Haley walking on the opposite side of the street. 

He stares at her as she walks by, a smirk appears on his face. Perhaps he is engrossed by her?. He gets a weird feeling in his stomach but he ignores it. 

He continues to watch her as she walks further down the street away from the church. 

He shakes his head, snapping out of that trance, and continues to preach to the sinners.

Kate walks down the street towards a different market. Once again they don't allow animals in the store. 

So she ties Haley to a small iron fence in the shade "I'll be back'" she tells her again. 

She shops for about 25 minutes, she doesn't like to keep her dog outside that long especially out in public, she grabs bread, eggs, orange juice, fruit, cereal, milk, breakfast sausages, bacon, dog treats, grounded coffee and butter. 

Typical stuff you would buy at a grocery store. 

She pays for her stuff, goes outside, unties Haley putting the leash around her wrist. 

"Here you can hold your treats" she says, as she gives Haley her bag of Beggin Strips. 

She carries it in her mouth making the bags less heavy for Kate, and they head back to the car. They cross the street, now walking on the church side. John steps out of it, and sees Kate walking towards the church. 

He gets a better look at her, she's really cute. Actually she’s more than cute, she’s beautiful. Black hair past her shoulders, brown eyes, looks like she could be 19-22 years old?. Could she be a college student?. He's about to say something to her, but it gets ruined when one of his men calls out for him. 

"John!!" they call out. 

Turning his head to look back at him. 

He quickly looks back at Kate who is too far for him to call out to her. 

He rolls his eyes in annoyance, and goes back inside the church to see what they want. 

Kate walks back to her car, and puts her groceries in the back seat. 

Haley jumps into the front seat, and they drive off. 

They get stopped at a red light in front of the church, John looks out the window, and sees a black 70 Monte Carlo with a German Shepard sticking its head out the window. 

He quickly recognizes the dog, and sees Kate in the driver seat. 

Quickly, he goes outside before the light turns green. He doesn’t know what to say to her, so he yells out "Nice car!!". 

Kate can't see who yelled it because Haley is blocking her view from the passenger side, and is barking at some of the peggies outside the church. 

So she yells back, "Thank you!!" followed with a honk of the horn. She in a way acknowledged John even if she didn't really see him. 

She continued to drive down the road heading back home. 

After a 10 minute drive, she makes it home, and puts all her groceries away, hooks up the appliances and sits back on one of her chairs for the rest of the day watching TV with Haley chilling at her feet. 

“What a day Hale” she says, resting her feet on the table.

*3 in half hours later*

That night John is baptizing, cleansing some sinners, making them a step closer to being a part of Eden’s Gate. He’s doing his usual thing, making sure they are cleansed, and washed away from their sins. 

He can’t seem to get Kate off his mind, he finds this very strange because these are some new feelings, that he has never felt before. 

After he finishes the baptism, Joseph notices something is off about his younger brother. 

He approaches him once he’s finished.

“John?!” he says, approaching him. “What is troubling you brother?”.

John doesn’t know what to say, he stumbles with his words “Nothing, Joseph”.

He places his hand on John's shoulder, their foreheads touching. 

“It’s about a girl, isn’t it?” he asks, sounding like he already knew what this was all about.

John looks down, and lets out a soft sigh.

“Go to her. She can be your other half, when we cross Eden’s Gate” he tells him, before walking away. 

John looks up at his older brother as he walks away, leaving him to contemplate with what he should do next. 

#far cry 5 #john seed #kate winchester #john seed x kate winchester #far cry 5 fanfiction #eden's gate: left behind #my writings #my ocs #my oc kate winchester #john seed x oc #far cry 5 fanfic #far cry 5 oc #joseph seed #power of yes #fc5 john seed #fc5 fanfic

[lukeskywaker4ever]

Amélia de Orleães, The Last Official Queen of Portugal (Wife of King Carlos I of Portugal)

Tenure: 19 October 1889 – 1 February 1908

Amélie of Orléans (28 September 1865 – 25 October 1951) was the last Queen consort of Portugal. The wife of Carlos I of Portugal, she was known to her husband's subjects as "Maria Amélia de Orleães". As the eldest daughter of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris, 

and his wife, Princess Marie Isabelle d'Orléans, 

she was a "Princess of Orléans" by birth.

Amélie's paternal grandparents were Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans, 

and Duchess Helena of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. 

Her maternal grandparents were Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier, 

and the Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain.

The Dukes of Orléans and Montpensier were siblings, both sons of Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, 

and Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies.

On 22 May 1886, Amélie married Carlos, Prince Royal of Portugal. He was the eldest son of King Luís I of Portugal and Maria Pia of Savoy. He was at the time the heir apparent to the throne. The bride was almost twenty-one years old and the groom about twenty-three. The marriage had been arranged by their families after several attempts to arrange a marriage for her with a member of the Austrian or Spanish dynasties. At first, the marriage was not popular and Queen Maria Pia was expecting to marry Carlos to the Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, 

Princess Mathilde of Saxony, 

Princess Viktoria of Prussia 

or Princess Victoria of Wales. 

However, Amélie and Carlos came to live quite harmoniously with each other.

They had three children:

Luís Filipe, Duke of Bragança (21 March 1887 – 1 February 1908).

Infanta Maria Anna of Portugal (born and deceased on 14 December 1887).

Manuel II of Portugal (15 November 1889 – 2 July 1932).

Amélie played an active role as a queen, and somewhat softened the growing criticism towards the monarchy with her personal popularity, though she did receive some criticism for her expenses. She was active in many social projects, such as the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis and the foundation of charity organisations, sanatoriums and drugstores. She was considered less formal than her mother-in-law Maria Pia, learned Portuguese well and was described as calm and mild. She was interested in literature, opera and theater, was a diarist and also painted. During the absence of her spouse in 1895, she acted as regent. In 1902, she made a cruise on the Mediterranean Sea that was much criticized for its luxury.

In 1892, Pope Leo XIII 

gave a Golden Rose to Amélie.

On 19 October 1889, her father-in-law died and Carlos succeeded him on the throne. Amélie became the new Queen consort of Portugal. However her husband became known for his extramarital affairs while the popularity of the Portuguese monarchy started to wane in the face of a bankrupt economy, industrial disturbances, socialist and republican antagonism and press criticism.

On 1 February 1908, the royal family returned from the palace of Vila Viçosa to Lisbon. They traveled in the royal train to Barreiro and from there took a boat to cross the Tagus River. They disembarked at Cais das Colunas in the principal square of downtown Lisbon, the Terreiro do Paço. On their way to the Palace of Necessidades, 

the carriage carrying Carlos and his family passed through the Rua do Arsenal. While crossing the square and turning to the street, several shots were fired from the crowd by at least two men (Alfredo Luís da Costa and Manuel Buiça), among others. The King died immediately, his heir Prince Dom Luís was mortally wounded and Infante Dom Manuel was hit in the arm, yet Queen Amélie was surprisingly unharmed after trying to defend her youngest son, the new king Manuel II, with the flower bouquet she kept in her hand.

The two assassins were shot on the spot by members of the royal bodyguard and later were recognized as members of the Portuguese Republican Party and of their masonic left-wing organisation Carbonária. About twenty minutes later, Prince Luis Filipe died and the next day Manuel was acclaimed King of Portugal, the last of the Bragança dynasty.

Manuel II of Portugal was deposed by a military coup, later known as the 5 October 1910 revolution, which resulted in the establishment of the Portuguese First Republic. Queen Amélie left Portugal with the rest of the royal family and went into exile. She lived most of her remaining life in France. During World War II the Portuguese government invited her to return to Portugal, but she declined the offer. She visited Portugal for the last time in 1945.

She was the last Queen consort of Portugal.

On October 25, 1951, Queen D. Amélia died at her residence in Versailles, at the age of eighty-six. She had been struck by a fatal attack of uremia, dying at 9:35 am. Among his last words was the phrase "I suffer so much! God is with me. Goodbye. Take me to Portugal!". The queen's body was then transferred by the frigate "Bartolomeu Dias" to her husband and children, in the Royal Pantheon of the Bragança Dynasty, in the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora. That was his last wish at the time of her death. The funeral had state honors and was seen by a large part of the people of Lisbon.

#queen amelia de orleães of portugal #queens of portugal #portugal history

[monotonous-minutia]

My super long autobiographical essay recounting the harrowing tale of my experience with my favorite opera

So I think it’s about time the world knows the story of my experience with Don Carlo, specifically, the Met 2010 production that will be streaming Thursday night. It’s a long story and some of it is ridiculous and half the time people don’t believe me when I tell them about it, but if you’re interested in my nerdy ramblings, read on.

On February 27th, 2010, my dad turned on the radio in the living room thinking noon would be a good time to hear the news. Instead of the NPR news anchors, however, we heard the sound of a tenor singing, a strong orchestral accompaniment, and the sounds of a live audience reacting.

“It’s an opera!” I said. (For curious parties, it was La Boheme.)

I was 14. I was a nerd. I was in love.

Up until that point I’d heard a few operas (Zauberflote, Barbiere, Carmen, Nozze) because my mom randomly brought them home from the library. From the moment I first heard the opening chords to the Zauberflote overture, I was madly, ridiculously, insufferably in love.

Tuning in at noon on Saturdays became my new favorite thing. “Live from the Met” broadcast a live performance each week of one of the Met’s shows. I loved not only hearing the operas, but the commentary as well. I learned so much about the genre, as well as history, music theory, literary criticism, acting, and the life of a singer. I dedicated an entire journal to writing notes on what I heard each week. Yes, I was that nerd.

I found out the hard way that operas have seasons. One sad day in May I tuned into NPR at noon and, tragically, the voices of news anchors met my ears.

I wasn’t always able to listen to the entire opera each week, because I had four cats and three annoying brothers to take care of. (Two of the brothers were older than me. Figure that.) I’d missed the announcement that the season was over.

So I waited all summer. I was still listening to operas, but I missed the hosts and the interviews. Plus, I didn’t have access to the Internet, so finding new operas on my own meant relying on my library’s tiny collection. Hearing them on the radio let me hear a new one every week.

After several boring months, I finally heard the news that the first opera of the broadcast season was going to be on December 18th. The opera? Don Carlo.

Two important facts to know right now. 1) There are many different versions of this opera. 2) The opera can be up to 4 hours long.

The one I heard on this day, December 18th, 2010, was the “five-act Italian version with the shortened first act.” About 3.5 hours long, it begins with an exhilarating fanfare that does a terrible job of telling us what the opera is going to be like. Listening to that music--the burst of horns and strings--I actually cried because I was so excited.

I told you. Nerd.

The story of Don Carlo is really complex, but if you’re taking the time to read this and have come this far you probably know at least a bit about it. Because I wasn’t able to sit and listen to the whole thing, just bits and pieces, the day ended with me knowing the following things.

1) Carlo is a prince who is in love with Elizabeth, who then gets betrothed to his father.

2) Carlo’s best friend (Rodrigo) is a baritone which automatically made him more interesting than the lead, and was also a revolutionary who was so firey he was in danger with someone called the Grand Inquisitor

3) Princess Eboli loves Carlo and is enraged when she finds out he’s in love with his mother and Rodrigo almost stabs her

4) Carlo tries to stop some Flemmish people from being burned at the stake but is stopped himself when Rodrigo takes his sword.

And that’s where I left off.

Again, no Internet access, so I wasn’t able to look up a summary and find the ending. So I waited around for days wondering what happened next. I was especially concerned about Carlo and Rodrigo’s relationship, which was (and still is) my favorite part of the opera.

On Christmas I got a book that was full of detailed summaries of famous operas. The good news: Don Carlo was considered famous. The bad news: I read that my favorite character died and spent the next hour or so locked in my room trying unsuccessfully not to cry.

I got a few operas for Christmas as well, so when I decided I had to see or hear Don Carlo in its entirety, it got put at the bottom of the list, because I’m borderline OCD (seriously, my diagnosis is literally “borderline OCD”) and couldn’t mess up the order of things. Since I was also listening to the Saturday operas, as well as taking a lot of time to process each on my list as it came along, it was almost spring before I finally got to Don Carlo.

In the meantime, I couldn’t get the opera out of my head. For one thing, as anyone who’s seen it knows, it’s the kind of opera that just grabs you and won’t let you go. For another, in a bizarre series of events, it literally popped up almost everywhere I looked. Open to a random page in my opera book? See a reference to Don Carlo. Tune into the  “Live from the Met” broadcasts? Somebody mentions Don Carlo. Grab the closest volume from a 7-book collection of Schiller plays? It’s the one that has Don Carlo. Find a random copy of the Met’s opera magazine on the free table at the library? It’s the issue that has the review for, and a dozen glorious pictures of, the Don Carlo performance I’d heard on the radio. I looked at those pictures a lot. Finally I had faces to match the voices of the singers I’d heard.

In a crazy coincidence, it was the first week in April of 2011 that the next event occurred. I engaged in some poor planning and finally checked out a CD recording of Don Carlo the day before our yearly family trip. I didn’t have any time to listen to it and I knew it was going to bother me the entire week.

We took the 13-hour drive to visit my grandparents, and at my mom’s parents’ house, somebody randomly turned on the TV. My grandparents watch a lot of PBS so that’s what was on. And what was on?

The Met’s 2010 production of Don Carlo.

I died about a million times.

It took me a while to figure out what it was; I hadn’t heard it all the way through yet, so the music wasn’t familiar to me. But after watching for a minute, I realized that the actors all looked familiar to me. I was watching Simon Keenlyside as Rodrigo hand Marina Poplavskaya’s Elizabetta a letter. When she opened it and read the name “Carlo,” my head exploded.

What are the odds that when someone randomly turned the TV on that the opera I’d been dying to see just happened to be on? And not only the same opera, but the exact same production I’d listened to live four months ago?

Of course I couldn’t watch the whole thing because we had family stuff to do, which was probably okay in the long run, because I can’t imagine people’s reactions if I started bawling watching Rodrigo die, which may very well (as in totally) would have happened.

Life goes on. I listened to the Don Carlo CD and cried, got a DVD of the Met’s 1986 Don Carlo and cried, looked at the pictures in my magazine and cried. The broadcast season of “Live from the Met” ended and I cried. I was a very emotional teen. (Keep in mind I was home-schooled by agoraphobic parents and literally had no friends. The radio was my friend.)

Two years later I was in college. Sophomore year I started spending breaks on campus to avoid my abusive family. I still didn’t have any friends, but I did finally have access to the Internet, in addition to listening to the Saturday operas whenever I didn’t have homework. I had also watched the Royal Opera House’s version of the same Don Carlo production, which someone had posted on YouTube. This was back when YouTube still had a time limit on videos that were posted, so the opera was broken into about forty pieces and none of them were listed in order. I probably spent more time piecing the thing together than actually watching it.

On a day during sophomore winter break, I was particularly bored. I decided to listen to the advice of the Met hosts and signed up for the 7-day free trial of Met Opera on Demand, their version of Netflix.

And of course the first opera that popped up on the screen was Don Carlo.

I died another million times.

I watched it twice in the span of 24 hours. I may have taken some screen shots. I felt like a criminal, but I also felt like I deserved it at this point. This whole thing was just bizarre and I couldn’t be happier that I was finally seeing the production of the opera that had been following me around for the past four years.

About a year later I took a study abroad trip to Germany. And because I was in Germany, I had to see an opera, of course. We had one free weekend during the month-long trip, and while my classmates were off getting high in Amsterdam, I took a train to Frankfurt to see the opera that just so happened to be playing at the house that Saturday.

Which opera, you ask?

I think you can guess by now.

[weirdsciencecomics]

Here are the February 2020 Marvel Comics Solicitations for all Spider-Man related comics!

VENOM #23

DONNY CATES • MARK BAGLEY (A/C)

VARIANT COVER BY SKOTTIE YOUNG

GWEN STACY VARIANT COVER BY HUMBERTO RAMOS

VENOM ISLAND COMES ALIVE!

They say there’s no rest for the wicked, and few creatures in the Marvel Universe are as wicked as CARNAGE. Face front, readers — the seeds of next year’s VENOM event are already beginning to grow…

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

RAVENCROFT #2 (OF 5)

FRANK TIERI • ANGEL UNZUETA (A) • Cover by KYLE HOTZ

VARIANT COVER BY SKAN

Ravencroft is open for business! But with the secrets revealed in RUINS OF RAVENCROFT in the open, the Institute is more dangerous than ever. Can John Jameson right the ship before it’s too late?

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN: ALIEN REALITY #3 (OF 5)

PETER DAVID • GREG LAND (A/C)

VARIANT COVER BY RON LIM

VARIANT COVER BY ALEX SAVIUK

GWEN STACY VARIANT COVER BY PHIL NOTO

VARIANT COVER BY GERARDO SANDOVAL

CONNECTING CHINESE NEW YEAR VARIANT COVER (2 of 3) BY JIE YUAN

PETER PARKER: THE SPIDER SUPREME?!

After reliving one of the most horrible moments of his life, Peter Parker turns to one of his oldest allies for a magical helping hand. Don’t miss the next history-shaking adventure of Peter David and Greg Land’s landmark SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN Series!

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #39

NICK SPENCER • IBAN COELLO (A) • COVER BY PATRICK GLEASON

GWEN STACY VARIANT COVER BY PEPE LARRAZ

CONNECTING CHINESE NEW YEAR VARIANT COVER (3 OF 3) BY JIE YUAN

There’s a new game in town, and the ante is QUITE HIGH! Welcome to The Palace, a super-villain casino run by the classic (and under-utilized) Spidey-villain CHANCE! It’s got everything a villain could want, including betting on whether your arch-enemy is going to make it through his or her latest super-battle! Not only will this not sit well with Spidey, but it may just CRUSH him.

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

  AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #40

NICK SPENCER • IBAN COELLO (A) • COVER BY PATRICK GLEASON

GWEN STACY VARIANT COVER BY ELIZABETH TORQUE

Jonah Jameson’s new gig has proven to be nothing but trouble for Spidey. As you are well aware, JJJ doesn’t take “no” for an answer, so even if Spidey is knee-deep in a world-saving situation, JJJ will always be there to “help” him. But while Spidey is dealing with JJJ and Chance, something is brewing with Kindred and it can’t bode well for Peter.

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

SPIDER-HAM #3 (OF 5) 

ZEB WELLS

WILL ROBSON (A/C)

VARIANT COVER BY DAVID NAKAYAMA

LET’S DO THE HAM WARP AGAIN!

What’s a Ham Warp? We don’t know, but this third issue of SPIDER-HAM is an interdimensional delight! Spider-Ham just can’t catch a break! First SPIDER-MAN crashes his solo adventure…and now they’re trapped in the past! Somebody’s gotta bring home the bacon!

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

SPIDER-MAN/VENOM: DOUBLE TROUBLE #4 (of 4)

MARIKO TAMAKI

GURIHIRU (A/C)

“VENOM IS A GREAT ROOMMATE AND FRIEND!” – Spider-Man

Spider-Man and Venom must finally work together to fix their situation…one that Venom TOTALLY didn’t get them into in the first place. YOU CAN’T PROVE IT WAS HIM!

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

AMAZING MARY JANE #5

Leah Williams • Carlos Gómez (A) • Cover by Humberto Ramos

VARIANT COVER BY TBA

GWEN STACY VARIANT COVER BY JAVIER RODRIGUEZ

CUT?!

All that stands between MJ and Mysterio’s ragtag crew and filming their climactic battle scene is…well, VULTURE, STEGRON, TARANTULA, KING COBRA, RHINO, and SCORPION! If this is Mary Jane’s last chance to realize her dreams, you can bet she’s going to fight like a tiger–or a spider! Will filming ever wrap? Will Mary Jane ever go home to the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN? And can Peter forgive her for her Hollywood team up?

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

GHOST-SPIDER #7  

SEANAN McGUIRE • IG GUARA (A)

Cover by PAUL POPE

Gwen has it all! Two worlds, two lives, living in harmony…nothing bad could happen! …something bad is definitely about to happen. Be there when Gwen’s worlds begin to collide!

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: THE DAILY BUGLE #2 (OF 5)

MAT JOHNSON • MACK CHATER (A)

COVER BY NIKO HENRICHON

VARIANT COVER BY PASQUAL FERRY

Professors missing from Empire State University: Abductees or recruits? Skeins of Spider-Man’s web drape Lower Manhattan: Charming local color, or Department of Sanitation headache? Does anything happen in Kingpin’s city without his knowledge? The reporters of the Daily Bugle are beating pavement to answer YOUR questions.

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #15

SALADIN AHMED • JAVIER GARRON (A/C)

GWEN STACY VARIANT COVER BY NICK BRADSHAW

INVASION AT BROOKLYN VISIONS!

Miles’ journal has gone missing–you know, the one where he wrote his private thoughts about BEING SPIDER-MAN!!! And it’s fallen into enemy hands! Does that have something to do with Miles’ high school under siege by the most monstrous goons he’s faced since CARNAGE? You’re about to see more of Brooklyn Visions than ever–but is it for the last time?

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

SPIDER-VERSE #5 (OF 6)

CHRISTOS GAGE – JUAN FERREYRA (A)

Cover by DAVE RAPOZA

SPIDER-MAN NOIR, DEAD NO MOIR?!

Miles continues his journey to save the web of life and comes face to face with Spider-Man Noir! But, wait…isn’t he dead?!

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

BLACK CAT #9

JED MACKAY • KRIS ANKA (A) • Cover by J. SCOTT CAMPBELL

GWEN STACY VARIANT COVER BY CARLOS GOMEZ

Felicia has gotten into some trouble in New York. Some may call it “inciting a war” but we aren’t here to mince words. What’s a girl to do? GO TO MADRIPOOR! That’s right, the Black Cat and her crew go to Madripoor to steal the next object on their list. No problem, just another artifact that is in the private collection of someone named… where’d I put that note… oh, here. Someone named “Patch.” Uh-oh. Patch is Wolverine. BLACK CAT IS STEALING FROM WOLVERINE?! All this and guest-artist KRIS ANKA (UNCANNY X-MEN, RUNAWAYS) is joining the book for two issues!

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

MORBIUS #4

VITA AYALA • MARCELO FERREIRA (A) • Cover by SKAN

CONNECTING VARIANT COVER BY JUAN JOSE RYP (4 OF 5)

THE MONSTER CALLED MORBIUS!

Michael Morbius has always been a man of science. But he’s also a man of pride, and when those two traits combine, the results have been catastrophic. This time is no different! Whatever Morbius has wrought havoc on his genetics – with his humanity inching closer to memory with every passing moment! This while a figure from his past returns, with Morbius dead in her sights.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

SCREAM: CURSE OF CARNAGE #4

CLAY McLEOD CHAPMAN • CHRISTOPHER MOONEYHAM (A) • Cover by RYAN STEGMAN

VARIANT COVER BY CLAYTON CRAIN

SPINNING OUT OF THE PAGES OF THE VENOM EVENT OF THE YEAR, ABSOLUTE CARNAGE!

SCREAM faces an ancient evil from the depths of the sea! Watch as the VENOM lore builds the history of the symbiotes into a twisted tale of horror and menace! You’ll never want to go back in the water again, True Believers!

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: THE BLACK CAT STRIKES #2 (OF 5)

DENNIS “HOPELESS” HALLUM • LUCA MARESCA (A) • Cover by SANA TAKEDA

Variant Cover by DAVID NAKAYAMA

BLACK CAT HEARTS SPIDER-MAN!

The BLACK CAT continues her mysterious crime spree in New York…but will her reappearance catch SPIDER-MAN in a tangled web between MARY JANE and his former flame?! An all-new look into Peter and Felicia’s fiery passion and the deadly consequences of a Super Hero romance. ME-OW!

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

GWEN STACY #1 (OF 5)

CHRISTOS GAGE • TODD NAUCK (A) • Cover by ADAM HUGHES

VARIANT COVER BY JEEHYUNG LEE

VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY JEEHYUNG LEE

FACES OF GWEN VARIANT COVER BY TODD NAUCK

CONNECTING CHINESE NEW YEAR VARIANT COVER (1 OF 3) BY JIE YUAN

HIDDEN GEM VARIANT COVER BY TBA

VARIANT COVER BY J. SCOTT CAMBPELL

VARIANT COVER BY TBA

The First of Gwen Stacy’s AMAZING Adventures!

Gwen and Peter may not have met until AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #31, but that doesn’t mean Gwen’s life began on that page. Learn the never-before told origin of Gwen Stacy, top of her class, daughter of the Police Captain and, as her friend Harry Osborn calls her, “The Beauty Queen of Standard High.”  But she’s way more that you even know! Gwen’s got a science brain, a nose for trouble and a no-quit attitude that always gets her in trouble. In the early Marvel Universe, that’s a recipe for disaster. Don’t miss Gwen, Captain Stacy, Harry and Norman Osborn, Crimemaster, Wilson Fisk, Jean DeWolff, Yuri Wantanabe and even Spider-Man!

40 PGS./Rated T …$4.99

      Spider-Man February 2020 Marvel Comics Solicits Here are the February 2020 Marvel Comics Solicitations for all Spider-Man related comics! VENOM #23 DONNY CATES • MARK BAGLEY (A/C)

#alien reality #amazing Mary Jane #Amazing Spider-Man #Black Cat #daily bugle #ghost spider #gwen stacy #marvel #marvel comics #marvel comics previews #Mary Jane #miles morales #Miles Morales: Spider-Man #Morbius #Peter Parker #Preview #Previews #Ravencroft #scream #Scream: Curse of Carnage #Spider-Ham #Spider-Man/Venom Double Trouble #Spider-Verse #symbiote spider-man #venom #venom island

[totallyvain]

Vanity Hour with Carlos Vara: Handling the Seasons of Life

Hometown: Lexington, South Carolina

Sounds like: Your next favorite pop bop

WORDS BY: THANIA GARCIA

In American culture, the search for independence comes at the age of 18. For Carlos Vara, this was exceptionally true. At 18, Vara moved to Nashville in search of a life separate from the emotional cuff to his father who had previously owned nightclubs but had abruptly found religion in the small town of Lexington in South Carolina. This along with the struggle of being closeted in a small town naturally pushed Vara to search for newness in a city rich of musical history.

At 21, Vara has somewhat of a grasp on his day to day life. Bouncing back from Nashville to Los Angeles, Vara has completed his anticipated October 4th release of “Have You Ever Seen a Boy Break Down” -  an EP meant to encapsulate his past few years bouncing from season to season in the versatile chapters of his life.

“When I was a teenager on X-Factor I thought I was going to be…well I loved songwriting and I loved singing, but I didn’t necessarily know who I was at the time. I was in the closet in the suburbs and I was growing up as a preacher’s kid so there was that phase. Then there was the phase of me moving to Nashville at 18 and coming out and discovering myself and exploring the boundaries of my mind and challenging myself and my ideas… I think that phase of my life lead to the music I made at that time and now I’m in a completely separate phase…what I create now are journal entries of specific eras of my life.”

In my interview with Vara, a clear conflict arises - a conflict found in the lyricism of his past couple releases. Vara shares, “I do have experiences where I’m like out and I’m like ‘Am I this person?’…because as I said I’ve gone through so many different stages in my life.”

Listen to “Confident,” Vara’s February 2019 release and you will fully understand this divide - a truly personal and internal divide.

Vara says, “The people who knew me at 18 would think I’m this quiet shy person. It’s like imposter syndrome for yourself it’s almost like you don’t think you have the right to be this brand new version of yourself. I feel it especially because I’ve been through so many extremes but I think now I’m in a stage where I’m like ‘why can’t I just embrace every single emotion?’ ‘why can’t I just live through these phases’ they are the best parts of life and it’s freeing to be what you want to be whenever you want to be.”

—————————————————————————————

Totally Vain: Your life has had clear chapters from your upbringing in North Carolina, to the X-Factor, to your time in Nashville and LA. When you look back at these past few years, how do you compare your artistic vision from then to now?

Carlos: “It’s interesting you say that because it is so true… I think …well actually I was talking about this yesterday when I was stoned with my friends that I feel like I’ve lived distinct phases of my life. I think through the process of growing up, my artistic vision and the way I think has changed. My music is always changing, depending on how my environment changes..because it stays so true to that. To me, my writing is based off my reality at the time, I will always be satisfied with it because I make music to be able to express myself and to be able to purge”

TV: Your environments have all had very distinct setbacks and advantages, how have they affected you in relation to the music industry?

Carlos: “I remember being a kid and watching TV and award shows and listening to music in the car…I knew I had a passion for music but being in South Carolina meant I didn’t have an uncle who was an executive, or any relation to the industry itself. I didn’t see anyone who had come out of South Carolina, all I saw was people coming from New York or Los Angeles so I just never had that hope. Senior year of high school I moved to Nashville by myself and finished graduating online. I was working restaurant jobs. I worked so many restaurants from 18 until last year before I got signed. I think that moving to Nashville was the first time in my life when I felt like I had some possibility to make it. Thank God for Instagram and Spotify and Apple music. I think that really became a way for me to connect to people who appreciate music the same way I do and connect to artists as far as co-writes. Especially in Nashville since it is a songwriting community, it definitely helped when it came to writing. Moving there was the first time I was able to discover who I am as an artist and figure myself out, retain my thoughts and grow up and figure out what I believe and have the opportunity to collaborate with people around me.”

TV: An overarching idea in your releases is confidence, both the reaction to confidence and personal self-confidence, from where do you think that idea stems from? And what kind of conflicts or internal struggles do you still have?

Carlos: “My friends know me as a very extreme person meaning I truly feel every emotion I have. I’m either going fucking crazy at a party or I’m like I want to go home. There is no in-between. I feel like for me since I am so emotional, I tend to feel it all at once and songwriting allowed me to be able to go home at 2 A.M. and smoke and just sit at the piano and play whatever is on my mind. I think it’s a way of me being able to work through any struggles I may have and for me to fully comprehend those emotions and see it as a full picture…for instance, I am extroverted but I’m sensitive and insecure so those feelings are both there at the same time. I mean it. I’ll be at a party being the loudest one there and thinking everyone hates me so it’s like I think that when I write, I want to be able to capture what that feels like. When I wrote “Confident,” I was in LA for the summer and it was my first time being out here for a super extended period of time and I had just turned 21 so I was able to get into all the gay clubs and it was exciting but it was stressful. I wanted to appear like I was cool and kept up with everyone but I just remember going to a club and being like shwasted and like going home and crying in the Uber. I’m just out here pretending to be confident and I was mad at myself and angry at myself for faking confidence and I went home and wrote a few lines for “Confident.” I think from an outside perspective people think I’m this super confident boisterous person and I guess I am but internally it’s rooted to a lot of sadness because I am freaking out inside.”

TV: Who were the artists who spoke to you the most growing up and what did you pull from in their work that you apply to your own?

Carlos: “I think of it in phases. My mom had me when she was 21 so at that time my mom only listened to pop radio and like Christina and Britney, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston all these pop vocals and also my parents owned nightclubs so I was always surrounded by an energetic musical atmosphere. Around age seven, my parents became more religious and my dad became a pastor we went to a church with a big African American community so they were soulful in their gospel and that’s when I allowed myself to become more emotional with my music and I wanted to create to provoke emotion. When I was 16/17, I went online and I discovered the things I wouldn’t normally have access to like the Beatles and the Beach Boys and Queen and Freddie. Those three eras, have all formed me today. I don’t know if I have one specific source of inspiration but it was a melting pot for sure.”

TV: As you’ve been coming to find an artistic persona, what have you found your overarching message to be?

Carlos: “I want to always be real to myself as an artist. Growing up I was always the weird kid and I never felt that I had someone I could relate to. Now I feel I’ve been blessed to have been able to reach out to kids that feel that same way I felt and I want to make music whether it be a fast fun bop or an emotional ballad, I want the music to be passionate and dramatic and I want to be a part of the world in that way, I want to create. It’s a spiritual thing, it comes out and I know how it makes me feel and I hope that when other people hear my EP, I want them to be able to feel that emotion and have a small escape or a meaningful feeling.”

TV: Can you give me a little breakdown on what kind of lyricism and sounds we can expect from your upcoming EP?

Carlos: “The cool thing about this EP is I was able to create both in Nashville and in Los Angeles. Living in Nashville, it is very much a lyric community and in Los Angeles, there is more of an emphasis on melodies, so it’s been cool and inspiring to have access to both. For me, this EP embodies real lyricism and dramatic melodies. It’s a real and vulnerable introduction to who I am and what these past 3 years of my life have been like.”

#carlos vara #music #musicblog #blogger #onedirection #pop #popmusic #musicnews #news #Music Journalism #new #Billie Eilish #look #upandcomingphotographer #upandcoming #indie #blog #bloglife #vanityhour

[miky91ftw]

The Stravaganza Series: An attempt at in-universe timeline (2/3)

See part 1 and the general premises here: [X]

hey everyone! It took me a while, but I was finally able to re-read and annotate both City of Flowers and City of Secrets, thus compiling the second part of the Stravaganza series timeline. Although the death bell tolls like crazy in these two chapters (especially in CoF), luckily the space-time continuum is pretty much stable, and time flows at the same speed on both end of the gate, allowing us to trace a perfect one on one correspondence between the events in Talia and what is going on in London.

This said, let’s get started with the analysis without further ado:

CITY OF FLOWERS

General timespan: from early March 2005/1579 to late April 2005/1579 (approx. 2 months). To commence, let’s fix some points to orient ourselves: Easter in 1579 falls on April 19. The day Sky stravagates for the first time coincides with the last day of Carnevale in Talia, Martedì Grasso (Shrove Tuesday), which happens exactly 40 days before Easter. Thus, we can pinpoint March 10 as the day when the story starts to move (despite the wedding being in the works supposedly for a couple of months at least). 

After Easter, we know that the weddings, the Nucci massacre and the flooding of the Argento rivers all happen on the following Tuesday (April 21). These are the most important dates for the overall plot, but, taking into account that (aside from the short Devon holiday) Sky stravagates almost daily, we can deduce most of the dates for all the other notable events in the book, such as:

Sky performs his epic coup de theatre, calling Nick Falco and revealing his status as Stravagante the day right after his first Stravagation, on March 10*, 2005 (England Time)

On March 11 (Talian Time) Sky and Suien visit Colle Vernale, while everyone else is freaking out about the weddings.

On March 12 (TT) Niccolò gets poisoned, and Carlo kills Davide Nucci in retaliation.

Between March 13 and April 6 (the day after Alice stravagates) the events can be placed with absolute precision - this is mainly due to the fact that, while we know that on Easter (March 27, 2005) most of the Barnsbury kids are in Devon for the school break, there are not exact indication of the dates they leave and return to London. Yet, we know that the day after Alice stravagates is less than two weeks away from the wedding, so it should be at least April 7 (TT). This sort of makes sense since we know that all the preparation for the wedding stravagation, the talisman exchange and Alice’s involvement in the operation takes at least a week, at the beginning of which Colin (aka Rainbow Warrior, Sky’s dad) celebrates his birthday (which is stated to be on April 1). Meanwhile, people in Giglia are still freaking out about the weddings.

the Holy Week in Talia starts on April 13 (Monday). On Thursday (16) Jacopo and his family arrive in Giglia, while Alfonso & co. arrives only on Friday (17). Finally, the pope arrives on the day before the wedding (Monday, 20) as he had to stay in Remora to perform the Easter Mass there. On Monday, after the celebrations are over, Niccolò proposes to Arianna (ew.) 

In England, meanwhile, Loretta discovers about Sky’s existence only on April 17, and Rainbow Warrior meets his son on the following day (April 18).

After the bloody events of the wedding, the following week has the Nucci surrendering on Wednesday (April 22, TT), and the fateful duel between Niccolò and Luciano on the Friday (April 24, TT). With the death of the Duca  and the Bellezzan delegation departure, the day after the duel is also the one where Silvia and Rodolfo get married (April 25), thus concluding the main plot of the book.

Concerning the age of the characters during the book, here’s what we can infer from previously known information:

Luciano and Arianna are both 17, turning 18 the next fall. Georgia is 16, and will soon turn 17 (as briefly mentioned in chapter 4). Falco is 15, and will turn 16 in November per my previous headcanon.

As for Sky, we know that he’s in the same year as Georgia, but it is hinted in chapter 17 that he already urned 17. This most likely puts his birthday in the first part of the year, probably between January and February (as Capricorn and Aquarius both fits his character, astrologically speaking XD)

Now, if you think that packing all the action of City of Flowers in a timespan of less than 50 days may seem too intense, get ready for the next entry, aka

CITY OF SECRETS 

General timespan: apparently, people in Padavia run on caffeine 24/7**, as all the main events take place in less than a month, specifically from October 11 2005 (ET) to the night of the Manoush execution, November 4 1579 (TT). Padua is a crazy city, no matter the timeline. 

We can pinpoint the starting date by the fact that Matt’s first Stravagation happens on the night of his 17th birthday, and he arrived in Padavia on the day of Arianna’s 18th birthday (October 12). Since we can infer from the text that, when you stravagate, you arrive in Talia on the day after the one you were back in England, this means that Matt’s birthday is on October 11. This means that Matt was born in the same year as Georgia and Sky, but, since his birthday is after August 31, he is in the year behind them (a search on the web informed me that the threshold for school admission in the Uk is August 31. Can anyone confirm this? FYI, in Italy we go by solar year, aka all children that turn 6 by December 31 are in the same year).

The final date, November 4, marks the Manoush execution, the solar eclipse*** and the  great Padavia fire. We know his as soon as chapter 22, when the date for the execution is fixed two days after the Manoush’s capture, which happens in the night between November 2 and 3. 

Similarly to what happened to CoF, Matt is seen stravagting almost every night, so we can keep count of the passing days to date the main events in the story, mainly:

Rinaldo arrives to Padavia around October 14, and the laws are passed in the following days (most likely on October 16 - a Saturday - which, as stated by Constantin, is considered a working week just like the others in Talia).

Deathridge arrives to Padavia on Friday 15, where he holds his first lesson at the University. We know that the third lesson is the following Friday (October 22), so the second lesson must have taken place between these two days (I’d say either on Tuesday 19)

The aforementioned assumption are strengthened by the fact that the Monday after Matt’s arrival is a holiday, more specifically St. Luke’s day, falls on October 18.

The day after the third lesson (thus, Saturday 23 October) we are introduced to our favourite red-haired bastard prince, the problematic fave™️ of the saga, Ludovico Vivoide. 

Given that the day of St. Raphael falls too on a Monday in Talia (October 25), we can place on the day before (Oct. 24, ET) Ayesha’s encounter with Jago, followed the day after by Matt cursing his “rival” with the Evil Eye. The situation gets solved on the 27, with Lucian returning briefly in England and meeting his parents. After he returns to Talia, on October 28 he manages to do well at his lecture, eventually sealing his fate as far as Filippo di Chimichi is concerned.

Also, sometimes around the 25, our favourite spy Enrico gets captured by Lucian, who forces him to take a bath, despite his protest. One of the highest moment of the saga, tbh.

The day after the lecture (Friday, October 29) we are introduced to Doc. Angeli and we know about the public dissections held at University. Luciano will be saved from Angeli’s unknowing tolls the following Thursday, on November 4.

To conclude, the final arc of the story takes place between Halloween (October 31, in England) and the three days of the Manoush festival. While Matt falls asleep in his room and the party at Chrissie’s goes on, the boy is kidnapped and beaten up in Padua (November 1, day of the Dead). Filippo accidentally stravagates, is scared by Ayesha, and finally everything gets solved before morning (November 2) arrives. 

As said before, the Manoush are captured on the night of November 2, the trial takes place the morning after (Nov. 3) and the execution is set for the 4th.

The events in the epilogue stretched between November 4 and January 1st 1580, the day where Bino is born in Giglia. Although he is “a little ahead of his time” we can infere that he was conceived right after the wedding, no later than April****. 

Aside from that, the epilogue informs us that Barbara and Marco get married, Matt gets his driving licence and we can only hope that Luciano finally manages to study for more than two days without being interrupted. As i said, CoSe is a wild ride. Go read it.

ADDENDUM 1: By the end of the fourth book, the character’s ages are: Luciano and Arianna > 18 Matt and Georgia > 17 Sky > 17, possibly already 18 Nick > 16

ADDENDUM 2: FOOTNOTES

*: the reason why I believe that the arrival day in Talia is the one right after the starting day in England, as explained, can be inferred mostly by looking at the CoSe timeline. 

**: it IS a university city, after all.

***: look, the moon phase seems to be pretty much on pair between worlds, but there is no records of a partial moon eclipse on November 4, 1579 (none that I’m aware of, at least). We can, however, headcanon it as Doctor’s Deathridge illusionary magic extravaganza, as A) they needed a distraction/something to cause a sensation among the crowd and solve the situation B) he’s actually a proficient astronomer, and knows how this kind of phenomena looks like, and the effect they have on people C) he’s Rodolfo’s master, and heaven knows what sort fo great magic he is actually capable of D) the fact that he used a mass illusion without telling the others but knowing that Luciano and co. would still be able to use it as a tool to free the Manoush is objectively cool as heck. 

****: or, it could have been conceived before the wedding, who knows 👀

IN CONCLUSION: THAT’S ALL FOLKS SEE YOU FOR PART 3 IN [redacted] MONTHS!

#stravaganza #stravaganza series #mary hoffman #city of flowers #city of secrets #ya literature #michele rambles

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 25 February 2019

Quick Bits:

Action Comics #1008 continues “Leviathan Rising” from Brian Michael Bendis, Steve Epting, Brad Anderson, and Josh Reed as the DEO is the next organization to be taken out. Great art from Epting and Anderson as the intrigue continues to unfold .

| Published by DC Comics

Amazing Spider-Man #16 gives us a prelude to “Hunted”. The mix of Nick Spencer’s humour with the subject matter of Kraven setting up an animal villain hunting network feels a little weird, but I want to see where he’s going with this.

| Published by Marvel

Avengers: No Road Home #3 adds new wrinkles to the tale as we find out that Nyx’s quest has affected Nightmare while another bunch of the Avengers search for a shard of her power. Love the narration and spotlight on Rocket Raccoon this issue. Great work all around from Al Ewing, Jim Zub, Mark Waid, Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco, Jesus Aburtov, and Cory Petit.

| Published by Marvel

Batgirl #32 concludes “Old Enemies” as Batgirl and Jason Bard reluctantly team-up to stop Cormorant. It doesn’t go as well as you’d hope, with Mairghread Scott leaving a lot of questions for future issues and setting up a continued rivalry. The levels of intrigue through the story are very compelling.

| Published by DC Comics

Betty & Veronica #3 continues the conflict between Betty and Veronica over a misunderstanding. It’s interesting as to how these things come about simply through a lack of communication and willingness to discuss the problems between two friends. Jamie Lee Rotante, Sandra Lanz, Kelly Fitzpatrick, and Jack Morelli capture the high school drama very well.

| Published by Archie

Black Hammer: Age of Doom #8 sees the return of Dean Ormston to begin a new arc on a strange new world. Like the revelation before of where the heroes were, this is another big change as we follow Lucy Weber in a relatively “normal” world. 

| Published by Dark Horse

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #2 sets another high water mark for this rebooted series, capturing the spirit and essence of the original, but updating it for current audiences. The reintroduction of Spike, Drucilla, and Cordelia are great, especially the characterization that Jordie Bellaire gives her. She’s not presented here as a catty mean girl and I think it will lead to a more nuanced, interesting conflict between her and the Scooby Gang in the beginning. Also, the art from Dan Mora and Raúl Angulo is perfect. Seriously perfect.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Captain America #8 continues this trend of Adam Kubert delivering some of the best art of his career. Kubert has always been a good to great artist, providing memorable work with Wolverine, Uncanny X-Men, and The Incredible Hulk, but in recent years he seems to have given a concerted effort to top his own already high bar of quality. The visual storytelling, panel compositions, layouts and transitions through this issue are phenomenal. Thoroughly gorgeous artwork from Kubert with colours by Frank Martin. 

| Published by Marvel

Crimson Lotus #4 twists the tale again with a bit of misdirection and a demon monkey with a revolver. I think more stories need demon monkeys with guns. John Arcudi, Mindy Lee, Michelle Madsen, and Clem Robins up the stakes heading into the conclusion.

| Published by Dark Horse

Daredevil #2 is incredible. Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, Sunny Gho, and Clayton Cowles seem to be shooting for a masterpiece with “Know Fear” and it’s shaping up very well so far. Gorgeous artwork, coupled with an intriguing mystery, this really isn’t something that should be missed.

| Published by Marvel

Detective Comics #999 concludes “Mythology” and it basically convinces me that Batman is completely batshit insane at this point. I’m not sure if that was supposed to be my takeaway or not, but it seems to be the most logical conclusion to “Bruce tries to kill himself every year”.

| Published by DC Comics

Fantastic Four #7 continues Doom vs. Galactus. The artwork from Aaron Kuder, John Lucas, Marte Gracia, and Rachelle Rosenberg is incredible. There’s a very nice epic scope to the action.

| Published by Marvel

Fight Club 3 #2 is incredibly inventive. There are quite a few moving pieces that aren’t exactly wholly explained, but it’s amazing as to just how much information is really in the art, with this issue giving more context to what was happening last issue pretty much right in front of us, and I suspect the following issue will likewise better inform this one. This kind of recursive storytelling really fits the fractured mindset of “Balthazar”. Also, the art is insanely good, with very unique application of mirrored concepts and a frame that acts as a portal to somewhere else. Chuck Palahniuk, Cameron Stewart, Dave McCaig, and Nate Piekos are really creating something special here.

| Published by Dark Horse

The Flash #65 concludes “The Price” crossover with Batman from Joshua Williamson, Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Tomeu Morey, and Steve Wands. Spinning out of Heroes in Crisis, it’s a dark conclusion, leaving the heroes kind of beaten down despite a “victory” and Flash’s world more or less in shambles. With an epilogue hinting at worse down the road with “Year of the Villain”, while this is interesting now, I’m not sure how much of a repeat of bleak futures where heroes distrust heroes and everyone loses I can handle. That said, “The Price” itself has been an entertaining arc with some heavy development between Flash and Batman and another important puzzle piece in what’s going on in regards to whoever’s working to bring Batman, and likely every superhero, down. With some phenomenal art from Sandoval, Tarragona, and Morey.

| Published by DC Comics

The Forgotten Queen #1 begins a mini-series focusing on the villain War-Monger, fleshing out her backstory as an unwitting marine archaeological salvage crew search for her, from Tini Howard, Amilcar Pinna, Ulises Arreola, and Jeff Powell. You needn’t know anything about War Monger’s, now Vexana, previous appearances before as this can pretty much be enjoyed on its own and seems to be acting as a way to really build her up into something greater. To that degree, this is a great start. Compelling stories both in the present and the past, showcasing Vexana seducing Temujin, with very nice art from Pinna and Arreola.

| Published by Valiant

Freedom Fighters #3 pushes hard the plot point that in order to truly help America rise again and fight back against the Nazi occupation is to give the people hope and have them believing in Uncle Sam again. It’s a quaint idea and I love that Robert Venditti tackles the approach from both angles amongst the Freedom Fighters in regards to application of their efforts. Also, again, the artwork from Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, and Adriano Lucas is stunning.

| Published by DC Comics

Hardcore #3 pushes the narrative further over a cliff to the point where Drake is now essentially falling, trying just to survive, as everything pretty much explodes. The action in this series is palpable as Andy Diggle, Alessandro Vitti, Adriano Lucas, and Thomas Mauer seem hellbent on making this as exciting a thrill ride as possible.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Hellboy and the BPRD: 1956 #4 is a bit of a turning point with Bruttenholm suffering a loss, the set-up for what happened to Varvara in the intervening years between her early days and the present, and what prompted Bruttenholm to drag back Hellboy. I really quite like Mike Norton’s take on Varvara.

| Published by Dark Horse

Ice Cream Man #10 is part two of “Hopscotch Mélange” and this strange reveal of the history of the Ice Cream Man and his brother the Cowboy. This one gives us a tragic love story, partially in Spanish.

| Published by Image

Invaders #2 deepens the mystery of Namor’s motivating factors and his apparent secret history with Professor Xavier. Carlos Magno handling present day scenes and Butch Guice the past works very well for the storytelling. It gives the flashbacks a dark, gritty feel that separates it from the current day.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League Odyssey #6 sees Dan Abnett take over writing duties, joining Carmine Di Giandomenico, Ivan Plascencia, and Andworld Design as the stakes in the Ghost Sector are raised a bit. Among the chaos of this area of space and the repercussions of Darkseid’s designs, there’s a nice character moment between Jessica and Cyborg.

| Published by DC Comics

Martian Manhunter #3 dives into J’onn’s arrival on Earth and how he became John Jones from Steve Orlando, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plascencia, and Deron Bennett. While I’m riveted by the overall story, the art from Rossmo and Plascencia continues to be thrilling. Amazing layouts, character designs, panel compositions, and an almost psychedelic approach to the colours elevate this story so much.

| Published by DC Comics

Marvel Comics Presents #2 is still an oddball little anthology, with the serial Wolverine lead and this time a Fantastic Four and a Gorilla-Man back-up. On the one hand, it deals with time and the past, which is a key theme in the Wolverine story and a byproduct of the nature of the Fantastic Four tale, which takes place in the ‘50s. It’s kind of weird seeing something like this taking place in the actual time that it would given the original release of Fantastic Four back in the ‘60s, but Mark Waid, Djibril Morissette-Phan, Dan Brown, and Joe Caramagna give us a decent Cold War story. And then there’s the Laphams’ (with Lee Loughridge and Caramagna) Gorilla-Man story, which is good with Ken dealing with his attitude toward his gorilla spirit, but doesn’t necessarily fit that time or out of time theme.

| Published by Marvel

Oliver #2 delves deeper into the social structure of this world and into Oliver’s nature. Gary Whitta, Darick Robertson, Diego Rodriguez, and Simon Bowland are giving us a very interesting reimagining of Oliver Twist, with drop dead gorgeous artwork.

| Published by Image

Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #2 is brilliant. Kieron Gillen, Caspar Wijngaard, Mary Safro, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou are creating a story here that acts as a de facto sequel to Watchmen on one hand, but is also a very clever deconstruction of that story, its structure, its characters, in order to present something unique. The little human elements of Peter and Tabu are sweet and the art is freaking awesome.

| Published by Dynamite

Punks Not Dead: London Calling #1 is the welcome return of Sid and Fergie in this second series from David Barnett, Martin Simmonds, Dee Cunniffe, and Aditya Bidikar. It picks up pretty much right where the first book left off, and continues the pair’s quest to find Fergie’s dad while the rest of the world deals with the paranormal fallout.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Quincredible #4 sees Glow help Quin rescue his parents, then launch into an investigation of the powers behind the escalating gang warfare. I’ve really been enjoying what Rodney Barnes, Selina Espiritu, Kelly Fitzpatrick, and Tom Napolitano have been doing on this book, with the coming-of-age tale and family drama, but this one really cinches things as it brings together the shared universe aspect of the Catalyst Prime world.

| Published by Lion Forge / Roar / Catalyst Prime

Redlands #11 is somewhat disquieting as we learn more about Z’s dead friend, Jake, who is currently inhabiting Nancy’s dead body. Jordie Bellaire, Vanesa Del Rey, and Clayton Cowles are doing a wonderful job of continuing the disturbing horror elements of this series, while broadening the characters and wider plot.

| Published by Image

Savage Sword of Conan #2 travels deep into Stygia as Conan and Suty search for the treasure from the map burned into Conan’s mind, while navigating through the terror unleashed by Koga Thun’s cult. While a bit more straightforward in its narrative, this tale from Gerry Duggan, Ron Garney, Richard Isanove, and Travis Lanham is holding its own against the equally excellent story unfolding in Conan the Barbarian. Like that one, this feels like Conan. It feels weighty, bloody, and dangerous with a compelling quest in front of him.

| Published by Marvel

The Silencer #14 starts a new arc from Dan Abnett, V. Ken Marion, Sandu Florea, Mike Spicer, and Tom Napolitano as Honor gets accustomed to her new old role as Leviathan’s cleaner. Great action sequences as always, plus the added benefit of Honor’s husband investigating her life since he can’t accept that she’s dead. That should add some interesting complications down the road.

| Published by DC Comics

Star Trek: The Q Conflict #2 divides up the crews amongst teams for the immortals and sets them off on their first challenge, to recover an Iconian gateway device. I think this is a very interesting way for a crossover between the different eras to occur and the art from David Messina, Elisabetta D’Amico, Alessandra Alexakis, and Carola Borelli is wonderful.

| Published by IDW

The Superior Spider-Man #3 concludes Ock’s battle with Terrax. This is really a wonderful showcase for the art from Mike Hawthorne, Wade von Grawbadger, and Jordie Bellaire. The action throughout the issue is very well done.

| Published by Marvel

West Coast Avengers #8 has Jeff, the land shark puppy, and that’s all you really need to know about whether or not you should buy this. Because you should. For Jeff. Do it for Jeff. Also, there’s an interesting plot regarding abductions that Noh-Varr thinks is Skrulls, but you mainly want this for Jeff. Kelly Thompson, Gang Hyuk Lim, and Joe Caramagna deliver a fun start to this next arc.

| Published by Marvel

Wonder Woman #65 concludes “The Grudge” as Wonder Woman confronts Nemesis again, gains a new understanding, and sets off on a new quest. Nice art from Jesus Merino, Andy Owens, and Romulo Fajardo Jr.

| Published by DC Comics

Wyrd #2 continues this entertaining madness from Curt Pires, Antonio Fuso, Stefano Simeone, and Micah Myers, with possibly and even more out there back up from Rockwell White, Pires, Martoz, and Myers. This go around, we get the British Prime Minister getting his kit off with a pig and gaining supernatural powers. It’s dark, it’s strange, but it’s also very good.

| Published by Dark Horse

Other Highlights: Atomic Robo: Dawn of a New Era #3, The Avant-Guards #2, Black Panther #9, Bone Parish #7, Books of Magic #5, Captain Marvel: Braver & Mightier #1, Cloak & Dagger: Negative Exposure #3, Corto Maltese: The Secret Rose, Die!Die!Die! #8, Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror #5, Firefly #4, Hack/Slash vs. Chaos #3, Hex Wives #5, Invader Zim #40, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Coronation #11, John Wick #5, KINO #14, Mage: The Hero Denied #15, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #36, Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur #40, Old Lady Harley #5, Outcast #39, Princeless: Find Yourself #5, The Realm #11, Rick & Morty #47, Rose #17, Spawn #294, Star Trek vs. Transformers #5, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #29, Summit #13, Wasted Space #7, The Wicked + The Divine #42

Recommended Collections: Barbarella - Volume 2: Hard Labor, BPRD: Vampire, Clankillers - Volume 1, Cold Spots, Cyber Force: Awakening - Volume 2, Euthanauts - Volume 1: Ground Control, Faith: Dreamside, Fire, Ninja-K - Volume 3: Fallout, Redneck - Volume 3: Longhorns, Spider-Geddon: Covert Ops, Typhoid Fever, The Unexpected: Call of the Unknown, The Weatherman - Volume 1

d. emerson eddy is running out of things to say in his end piece credit attribution. Tune in next time to find out if it’s finally done him in.

#This Week in Comics

[uclaradio]

On USSF’s Hiring Process // Sports

There’s Hardly a Reason to Criticize the Berhalter Hire, But Many to Question USSF’s Hiring Process 

article by Ben Hunter

After being rumored as the frontrunner for the vacant USMNT job for last 14 months, former USMNT defender and current Columbus Crew boss Gregg Berhalter was announced as head coach by USSF on December 2. Berhalter played collegiately at UNC and then had a lengthy playing career in Europe, featuring for the likes of Crystal Palace, 1860 Munich, Energie Cottbus, as well as three Dutch sides. He became the first American to manage in Europe when he took over Hammarby in 2011. He was fired in 2013 and took over the Crew, where he has been since.

There are several surface level reasons to criticize this hire; however, it is far more complex than the twitter warriors portray it to be. People say that he wasn’t that successful so far as a head coach and that his brother, Jay, is COO of US Soccer. It’s hard to determine the validity of this criticism for one simple reason: USSF’s hiring process had next to no transparency. It’s also hard to assign blame for this lack of transparency. Carlos Cordeiro wasn’t elected president until February, and Earnie Stewart didn’t begin his job as GM until August. This is the biggest issue from my perspective; Cordeiro and USSF needed to have a GM working sooner to finalize our head coach sooner. Bruce Arena resigned on October 13, 2017, and it made sense why we would wait to hire a head coach. Dave Sarachan could handle the job for a little while, and we could look to get a coach who may become available at the end of the club seasons or World Cup. This did not happen, and the top candidate from the list of American names was ultimately selected months later.

USSF really dropped the ball during this hiring process, leading loads of unnecessary pressure being put on Berhalter. There was a 33 person shortlist, which was trimmed down to 11, and it’s unknown how many interviewed. The only two who are confirmed to have interviewed were Berhalter and Oscar Pareja, who just moved on from FC Dallas for Tijuana. It is rumored that there was a third candidate interviewed, but no one knows for sure. By not interviewing more candidates, USSF implies that Berhalter is such an incredible candidate that it’s not worth interviewing the likes of Peter Vermes, Tab Ramos, Jesse Marsch, Juan Carlos Osorio, or Julen Lopetegui (who reached out to the federation). Another name that I wish the federation reached out to is Arsene Wenger, since I think his play style would be perfect for developing our young attacking talent, but that’s a debate for another day.

It is clear as day that Jay Berhalter’s presence impacted the decision to hire his brother, no matter how much USSF insists he was not involved in the process. It’s not possible to think that a coach who did respectably—but by no means incredibly—as an MLS head coach is such a good candidate that hardly any others need to be interviewed.

Additionally, USSF put even more unnecessary pressure on Berhalter by taking 14 months to find a new coach since the catastrophic failure to qualify. This is not his fault, but it adds even more scrutiny to his job. USSF makes it even more clear that he was the top candidate all along, as they waited for him to finish his MLS season. MLS shouldn’t take priority, period. There was a major wasted opportunity here because Berhalter should’ve been put in charge in August, so that he could prepare for the three fall international breaks. The USMNT had six friendlies, each of which was against a good team. It was good to see Sarachan playing the youngsters; however, it would’ve been even better if they were playing in the system that Berhalter wants to utilize in the foreseeable future. Also, veterans like Bradley and Altidore should’ve been re-integrated under the new coach, so that they could provide experience and mentorship to young guys, while they all adapted to a new coach and system. There are only about 10 international games per year, excluding summer tournaments, so I think the opportunity to have played 6 games against top-tier opposition would’ve been invaluable. From my perspective, the media is not talking about this opportunity that USSF wasted enough. It is especially confusing since the hiring process took so long, but its length doesn’t seem to be justified from what we know.

Despite all of these questions and criticisms of the process, Berhalter may turn out to be an excellent hire. Actually, I think he is the right man for the job. I would’ve liked to have seen Peter Vermes considered, as I think his achievements at Sporting KC are very solid, and I wish we knew more of any foreign candidates considered. Overall though, I think it is good we hired an American. With our identity severely damaged, we needed someone who understands the US Soccer system and what it means to represent your nation in a sport that may not be on top, but is rising and has the power to influence people. Additionally, Christian Pulisic said he just wants someone who has a tangible plan on how to turn around the program. Berhalter will have a plan in mind without any doubt. He served as both head coach and technical director in Columbus, and he worked with a below-average budget, so having a plan was critical. His record may not be incredible with a 74-69-50 MLS record, but when you consider the market he worked in and the fact he made four playoff and one MLS Cup appearance, it is impressive.

All things considered, Berhalter is a slightly lackluster but solid hire for USMNT head coach. Criticism has come from the media for the outlined reasons; some of it may be justified, but that doesn’t mean Berhalter doesn’t have what it takes to lead what will hopefully be a successful USMNT period. He will certainly be prepared to coach this team in the upcoming cycle with a new plan and identity. All he has to do to silence the critics is one thing: win.

#ussf #berhalter #us soccer #MLS #ucla radio #sports journalism #college radio #Sports

[newstfionline]

Jacksonville shooting: The high-pressure, big money world of competitive gaming

By Kyle Swenson, Antonia Noori Farzan, Washington Post, August 27, 2018

With the final seconds draining away on the game clock, “Bread” pulls off a big finish.

It’s a chilly February night in 2017 in Buffalo. The flat screens plastered across the walls of the 716 Food and Sport are all tuned to a live-stream of the game, including a massive 38-foot television in the bar’s main room. More than six hours of video game competition has built to this moment.

Carlos “Los” Yancy and David “Bread” Katz are knotted in a tie, 20-20, in Madden NFL 17, the blockbuster football video game franchise. Yancy, the expected favorite at this tournament, is fending off a final drive by Katz, a Maryland native just beginning to build a reputation among competitive gamers. The winner not only pockets $3,500 but advances to a later contest in Los Angeles.

With the pressure mounting, Katz’s thin face is clenched in a serious look, his grey-green eyes pinned to the screen. As the figures on the screen snap into action, Katz’s quarterback fires off a final Hail Mary pass, connecting with a receiver who blows into the end zone for a surprise win.

“Bread!” the live-stream announcer screams as Katz’s face splits into a joyful grin. “The seventh seed upsets the top seed!” the shocked announcer continues. “I cannot believe it. The gunslinger mentality to go for it!”

“A lot of pressure on these young men,” the announcer tells the audience as the live-cast closes down. “You have to give it up to Bread.”

EA Sports, the company behind the Madden franchise, called Katz’s win the “most exciting moment in all the 2017 NFL Club Series Championships.” The Buffalo Bills tweeted out congratulations to Katz.

But the promising competitive Madden career Katz launched with his 2017 victory in Buffalo took a drastic turn Sunday in Jacksonville, Fla.

Authorities have identified the 24-year-old as the suspected shooter, “pending confirmation,” after gunfire erupted at a live-streamed Madden NFL 19 qualifying tournament held at a busy mall restaurant. Two people were killed in the attack, Jacksonville County Sheriff Mike Williams told reporters Sunday night. Eleven others were taken to local hospitals, including nine gunshot victims and two people injured fleeing the scene, according to Williams. The gunman shot himself fatally, authorities said.

The investigation continues to zero in on Katz, who reportedly competed in Madden under the tag names “Bread” and “RavensChamp.” On Sunday, federal agents and local police raided a home near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Neighbors said they have seen Katz there in the past. Police have yet to detail a motive for the shooting, although Katz was registered to compete in the Jacksonville tournament, according to the event’s website. A witness told the Florida Times-Union that the man allegedly opened fire after he was eliminated from the contest.

The shooting has delivered a blow to the tightknit Madden community just as the game’s popularity as a spectator sport--and the stakes involved--rise in the esport universe.

Once thought of as a slacker hobby, esports have become a highly competitive--and highly lucrative--pursuit for gamers in recent years. Top-ranked players compete for prize money as well as endorsement deals, with some championships offering prizes in the millions. They spend countless hours training to perfect their hand-eye coordination and fine-tune their ability to focus under pressure.

Some esports tournaments feature players competing in games that replicate traditional sports played by live athletes, like Madden NFL and NBA 2K. Others allow them to face off in games like Counter-Strike and Fortnite, which are based on battle scenarios.

According to the esports research firm Newzoo, the worldwide audience for esports is expected to reach 380 million people in 2018. Newzoo predicts that esports sponsorships for North American teams will reach $162 million in 2018.

A Washington Post-University of Massachusetts Lowell poll released this spring found that almost three-quarters of Americans between the ages of 14 and 21 had either played or watched multiplayer online games or competitions in the previous year.

For some young players, esports can be a way of paying for college. In 2014, Illinois-based Robert Morris University became the first college with a varsity esports program that offers scholarships to players, according to Engadget. Some 60 schools have followed suit and established esports teams recognized by the National Association of Collegiate Esports, while many others have unofficial programs, the site reported.

A little over a week ago, the University of Akron announced that it would be opening a 5,200-foot esports facility for its varsity, club, and recreational teams in October, touting it as the largest esports space at any university in the world. That same day, the university announced plans to phase out 80 degree programs due to low enrollment numbers.

The potential financial upshot for esport competitors rivals some traditional athletics. The five-person team that won The International 2018, a Dota 2 online battle competition that concluded over the weekend, walked away with over $11 million in prize money. Additional prizes for runners-up put the total prize pool at over $25 million.

But esports also present their own unique form of overwhelming pressure.

“There is no other sport in the world in which one day you can be a teenager playing a game by yourself, and the next day, because someone scouted you from your online account, you’re thrown onto a stage for millions to criticize,” ESPN esports reporter Tyler Erzberger wrote in a piece on the pervasiveness of mental health issues in the esports community published Friday, before the shooting. “There’s little to no assimilation period. There’s no road map for how to deal with the criticism. There’s just you, on the stage with four teammates, facing down the biggest moment of your life with no lifeline.”

Named after John Madden, a longtime pro football coach and commentator who in 2006 was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Madden NFL allows players to build a fantasy roster for their favorite NFL team and compete in online matchups. Some 46,000 people belong to /r/Madden, a Reddit community dedicated to discussing the series.

The first game in the series, John Madden Football, was released in 1988. By 2014, sales had topped $4 billion in revenue.

As of August 13th, more than 130 million copies had been sold, the game’s maker, Electronics Arts Inc., said in a news release timed with the release of Madden NFL 19, the latest version.

Despite Madden’s long-standing popularity as a franchise, the game’s status as a competitive game is only a recent development thanks to the uptick in tournaments with prize money.

Sunday’s competition was a regional qualifier for an October final round in the Madden NFL 19 Championship Series, which offers a $25,000 prize to the first place winner.

Three million players competed in the Madden NFL 18 challenge last year, which was the top-rated esports broadcast in North America, Todd Sitrin, a senior vice president and general manager for the EA Competitive Gaming Division, said earlier this month in a news release.

The release also noted that this year’s competition will have a prize pool of $700,000, the largest in the game’s 30-year history.

“People don’t realize Madden is a growing game in terms of esports,” gamer Matthew Lee told The Post. “There are guys who are going to make over $100,000 playing this year. With streaming and partnerships on top of the prize money you can win in tournaments, it’s becoming a way to make a living.”

However, the circuit remains a tight group of competitors, Lee said. Everyone knows everyone else--in part due to the intimate nature of the game. Unlike other popular esports titles like “Call of Duty” where players compete in teams, in Madden NFL it’s just you working to outsmart an opponent.

“It’s a mental chess match,” Lee said. “I liken it to a lot of card games with the way you fundamentally have to think about it. You make educated guesses, have to quickly do the math, measure possibilities. You have to outplay your opponent based on probabilities.”

The high-stakes can supercharge the emotions on the field of play.

“The Madden community is one of the most passionate and competitive groups of people you’ll ever find,” Michael Aldrighetti, a Madden competitor, told The Post. “During the actual game, it gets emotional. Frustrations mount, occasional chirping at each other. We’re competitors going at each other. Madden may be ‘just a game’, but the people and the emotions are real.”

#Jacksonville shooting #David Katz #Madden #esports