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avaritia-apotheosis · 3 years

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Phantom Children Ch. 7

Massive thanks to my awesome betas for this chapter!

In Which: A Story is Given to the Locked Room

AO3 | Prologue | 6 | [ 7 ] | 8

DICK DOESN’T REALLY KNOW WHAT TO FEEL. Surprised, maybe? Though he really isn’t all that shocked. Not that the revelation of another Wayne kid isn’t surprising, it’s just that—well…

Bruce has a tendency to attract foolhardy kids with a strong sense of justice and a willingness to harp on Batman until he gives them wings and teaches them how to fly. It’s the way of the world. The sky is blue, the sun sets in the west, and little Robin-hopefuls flock to Batman like ducklings to their big, brooding, mother duck. (That most of them are black haired and blue-eyed with some sort of traumatic backstory is a coincidence. Probably. The universe is just weird that way.)

And Bruce, bleeding heart that he is despite all the steel walls and nuclear spike fields he placed around it, always had a soft spot for children. It’s what people don’t get when they call Robins and Batgirls, former or current, child soldiers. They think that Batman picks these children up from gutter alleys and unfortunate homes, breaking and reshaping them into crusaders for his war against crime.

(What most don’t get is that the easiest way to gain ‘favorite child’ status in the Wayne household is to just stay home and live the most normal life possible. All of them—with the exception of Damian and Cass—chose this life. And even those two chose to stick with it, even when Bruce was more than happy to give them a way out.)

Dick was one of the first to stand at Batman’s side. The original. The ‘golden boy’ as Jason always put it. He’d been there so early in Batman’s career that, years later, it’s nearly inconceivable to imagine Batman without his Robin. He’s been there for Bruce’s soaring highs, his crushing lows, his mundane middles, just as Bruce has been there for him. Sure, they’ve had their fights, but Dick had always settled himself with the knowledge that he was one of the few people that knew everything about Bruce Wayne.

But this . This nursery—no, this memorial . This monument that spoke of a life that could have, should have, would have been, is something that predates Robin’s existence. A story, a memory that had hurt Bruce so badly that he would rather hide it away than breathe even a word of its existence.

Until now. Until Bruce had no choice but to rip the wound open once more.

“Bruce. I—what’s going on?”

“Perhaps,” Alfred interjected. “Perhaps it may be best to take this to the cave. Such a story should be told once.”

Bruce laughed, a broken, shuddering thing. “What is there to tell? I was naive with a heart too open and full of longing. I let myself hope, and I let myself get crushed . I picked myself up, moved on, end of story.”

Alfred raised an imperious brow. “As you are the one who always insisted on detailed reports, I do hope your summary to the boys downstairs would have a little more detail.” His face softened as he placed a comforting hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “What recent information that has been passed to us paints a worrisome picture, given what little you have shared, but know that this time you are not alone to deal with this matter. Regardless of what you do, the rest of the family is involved by proxy."

Bruce seemed to release some of the tension in his shoulders at that. “Yes. Of course. Dick, why don’t you see if Tim is back yet. I don’t want to explain this more than once, if possible. I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

“Yeah. Yeah, sure, I’ll get right on that.”

“And, Dick?”

“Yeah?”

Bruce’s gaze was intense. “How is Damian doing?”

He remembered the way Damian sunk deeper into the chair, hands clasping and unclasping at air. The white of his cast hanging limply as Damian’s legs could just barely brush against the cave floor. Dick swallowed a lump in his throat. “I don’t know. But I do know that he could really use his father right about now.”

Bruce gave a shaky nod and Dick left.

_______

Everyone has heard this tale before.

His boys have learned about the birth of Batman, of how a boy lost his parents in an alley at the age of eight. How at 14 he took to the study of criminology to an almost religious fervor. He took and aced every AP test, graduated high school at 16, headed off to get a college degree, then disappeared off the face of the earth.

Batman may have been born kneeling in the shadows of a dirty alley, but it was on the streets abroad where Batman grew up. Learning and studying and fighting until he knew what made the criminal underworld tick, how to escape almost every type of restraints, how to solve a murder with only the smallest of clues. He trained under a demon and met his daughter. When their ideas of justice clashed with each other, he tried to leave, they tried to stop him, and he set their base on ablaze.

He returned to Gotham the prodigal son, the favored prince, the charming socialite. Bruce Wayne took his place at the center of Gotham’s solar system, shining and bright and unbelievably foolish. Batman put on a cowl and learned the shadows of Gotham’s streets, and built himself up to be a symbol of fear and justice. Soon, he acquired a Robin to temper that darkness. To bring a light of hope, to instill a sense of peace— something more than vengeance and the night.

The rest is history.

Here is the part of the story that Bruce had omitted:

Early in his career as Batman, a man named Quayin had plans to steal a weather modifying US satellite. This, and certain other events, led to Bruce and Ra’s al Ghul crossing paths—and working on the same side. The details of that mission, in the long run. do not matter. Not anymore. What’s important is that accompanying him is his daughter, Talia al Ghul. She was as deadly as she was beautiful—and Talia was very, very beautiful.

It was a whirlwind romance. A storm of passion. Gotham’s Bruce Wayne and socialite Miranda Tate. * Batman and the Daughter of the Demon. The tempest reached its peak on that fateful day in the gardens of Wayne Manor. The hot summer sun and buzzing insects fading away as she pulled him aside and said “Beloved, I am with child. I am pregnant.” **

Bruce was caught unawares by the news. Stared dumbfounded at her until his brain caught up with his ears and he felt such unbridled joy bubbling in his chest. He laughed, clear and bright. He held her tight against him as if she held the world in her hands—because she did . Talia held his world within her and Bruce vowed to protect it with every fiber of his being. He called Alfred immediately to tell him the news and started arranging for discreet interior decorators and shipments for everything they needed for a nursery.

Thomas, for a boy. Martha for a girl. He swore that very day that it would be the happiest baby in the world. **

And then—

And then…

As Ra’s and Bruce planned their next move to stop Quayin from initiating a war between America and the USSR, Talia collapsed.

Talia collapsed and the baby was just…

Gone.

And suddenly Talia wanted nothing to do with him. Told Bruce to leave her alone, that their relationship would never be the same.

His child was gone .

By the time the rogue satellite was recovered, Quayin defeated, and all loose ends tied up, the nursery was fully furnished. Bruce took one look at it and then turned away. Locked the door and hid the key god-knows-where.

His child was gone.

Batman continued to work.

There was no use for an empty nursery.

--------

End Notes:

The story I'm using for the circumstances surrounding Danny's birth is basically a modified version of what happens in Batman: Son of the Demon. Modified so that people knew that Bruce Wayne and Miranda Tate were a couple and to give enough time for a nursery to be built along with the rest of the events of that comic.

*Miranda Tate is the name Tahlia al Ghul went by in 'The Dark Knight Rises'

**These lines are taken from Batman: Son of the Demon

#danny phantom #batman #danny phantom x batman crossover #dp fic #phantom children.txt

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officialwagnerrant · 3 years

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Wagnerrant Review #1: Double Parsifal

(Picture Source: here)

Work: Parsifal House: Vienna State Opera Date of performance: 11.04.2021

Team: Director: Kirill Serebrennikov Conductor: Philippe Jordan With: Jonas Kaufmann, Nikolai Sidorenko, Ludovic Tézier, Stefan Cerny, Georg Zeppenfeld, Wolfgang Koch, Elīna Garanča

Notes: This is not technically the first review posted on this blog. Still I decided to tag it as the No. 1, as it’s the first review ever since I (Admin Dichterfuerstin) decided to post reviews somewhat regularly. By that I mean that I plan on doing on or two per month, depending on my schedule and my mood. Most reviews will feature productions that have been around for longer, but I promise that I will watch and review every new production I can. I also take requests.

Trigger warning: The following review of the new Vienna Parsifal discusses self-harm as it’s a prevalent element in Serebrennikov’s production. I ask you to keep this in mind when reading my text or watching the production. Don’t do either of this if you know you currently cannot deal with the subject.

Review: @dichterfuerstin

In the matinee talk preceding the premiere of the Vienna State Opera’s new Parsifal, director Kirill Serebrennikov announced a production that rather caters to an audience that doesn’t find the idea of devoting one’s whole live to serving a grail particularly appealing and struggle with the heavy role religion plays in Wagner’s monumental final work: According to Serebrennikov, his Parsifal portrays physical salvation just as in Beethoven’s Fidelio rather than religious one and focus less on myths and religion than on the development of the titular character, which is achieved by featuring two versions of the character. It is a rather radical concept, turning away from Wagner’s idea and calling for Serebrennikov’s own characters and storytelling. The director delivers a strong set-up in act one, but can’t avoid plot-holes and flat arcs.

The opera begins with Jonas Kaufmann’s face on a video screen. He appears on stage shortly after, as the old Parsifal, that watches act one from the front of the stage, reacting to all of his younger self’s decisions, mockingly lip-syncing Gurnemanz’ lines and singing his owns. He is supposed to recollect the events from act one and two and is already remembering, even though his younger self only goes on quite late into act one. Until Parsifal’s entrance according to the libretto, the young Parsifal only is present on screens above the stage, where he is eventually shown killing another prisoner nicknamed “Swan”. Having Parsifal kill a human instead of an animal works. Not only because it fits Serebrennikov’s setting better. It also creates a bigger contrast between the young and the old Parsifal. However this is the only occasion where the projections on the three screens serve the plot. During the rest of the opera they show images underlining the cruelty of prison life, creating an atmosphere but having no impact on what happens on the stage whatsoever. By act three they’re even somewhat distracting.

Behind Kaufmann, under the screens, is the huge and elaborate set, a prison, in where the young Parsifal such as all the knights are inmates. The audience watches them working out, fighting, and bribing the guards for cigarettes. One prisoner sleeps on a bench, to give Gurnemanz a prompt for his wake up-call. Even though Gurnemanz’ position is lower than usually, when he’s not a prisoner but instead the factual leader of the grail’s knights, he’s the character changed least in this production. He may hide his cigarette’s from the guards, but he still commands over the knights and pages, and tells the story about Amfortas, while tattooing the other prisoners with mythical and religious symbols to remind the audience of Wagner’s plot and setting, and maybe to establish Gurnemanz as a somewhat religious character, as he proceeds to proclaim Parsifal the new king in a very holy service-like ceremony in act three, after singing at a random metal pole, since a spear isn’t needed in this production. Amfortas, some kind of a leader of the resistance, as we learned in the matinee talk, was never hurt by someone else but instead suffers from mental illness and self-harms. He needs to be saved from himself. Amfortas’ father, Titurel, is long dead, he seems to speak to his son from above. He is partly responsible for Amfortas’ illness The unveiling of the grail is substituted by a mental breakdown, in which the prisoners try to stop Amfortas from giving himself even more wounds and pain.

The last main character to appear in act one is Kundry, in this staging a journalist investigating the prison and smuggling medicine for Amfortas. She is sung by Elīna Garanča who delivers an impressive role debut. While some journalists who had the opportunity to see the opera live claim that she seemed to struggle with combining the staging and the score, both her singing and her acting came across amazing on the recording. She plays Kundry not like a singer but like a good actress.

It’s not Garanča’s fault that the character of Kundry eventually falls flat. According to Serebrennikov she was supposed to be a strong woman with a conflicting past, but not much of this is present throughout the opera. She starts out as the seemingly independent Journalist, who later turns out to be an employee at Klingsor’s magazine “Schloss.” He assaults her, she shoots him. This is also Klingsor’s entire role in this Parsifal. He doesn’t have any interaction with Parsifal and also seemingly no impact on him at all, a consequence of stripping the plot of Parsifal of important story elements such as the grail, god, and the celebacy of the grail’s knights. Kundry seems interested in Gurnemanz’ tales, collecting pictures of the prisoner’s tattoos, being clearly interested in the myths and the prisoners, but we never learn her motivations. Eventually her arc is completed by her walking off the stage, arm in arm with Amfortas, who freed himself from his father by throwing out his ashes and was then healed through Kundry’s kiss. This would be a satisfying ending for an action film, considering the source material and the set up from act one it’s a lazy, far to easy way to resolve both of their character arcs.

Unfortunately, the entire ending is dissatisfying. Parsifal returns to the prison as his old self, yet his young alter-ego appears later on and kisses Kundry, the old Parsifal doesn’t mind, no matter how determined to separate them he was back in act two. After that Serebrennikov makes a surprising return to the libretto: Kundry washes Parsifal’s feet, he is made the king and baptises her, before fulfilling the production’s premise as a salvation opera. All the prisoners can finally leave the prison and reconnect with freedom, this production’s holy grail. Gurnemanz even takes his time to wave Parsifal good bye, who remains inside the prison. It’s a symbolic ending, in the libretto Parsifal is now responsible for the grail, a prisoner of the grail if you will. However this third act end ending fail to connect with the preceding acts.

The production falls flat on more than just a few occasions, however the cast and music manage to make up for it. Most outstanding is Georg Zeppenfeld as Gurnemanz. Not only is his beautiful bass voice made for this characters, no other Wagner role is so incredibly fitting for him, he also manages to combine the prisoner and commanding Gurnemanz through his acting. Overall the acting is strong for a bunch of opera singers, who still have a reputation for being great singers but struggling with acting. There’s Elīna Garanča delivering her impressive role debut, as well as Ludovic Tézier as Amfortas, appearing perfectly hurt and pained as he drags himself over the stage. Parsifal Jonas Kaufmann is neither a debutant nor a born Wagner-Singer. His approach to Wagner’s music is rather italien, he values emotion and beauty over heroicness. It’s melancholic, well-fitting for this old Parsifal remembering his youth. Kaufmann and his alter-ego actor Nikolai Sidorenko work together to create a character and they do it well. The only downside of having two Parsifals, besides some confusion on who is the active parsifal especially during act three, is that next to the fantastic actor Nikolai Sidorenko it becomes obvious that acting isn’t Kaufmann’s strong suit. He often resorts to a preset set of gestures, other than most of his colleagues who are their characters throughout the whole four hours long performance. Last but not least, it’s the orchestra that is the center of nearly all of Wagner’s music. Philippe Jordan, the new musical director of the Vienna State Opera, leads his orchestra through this exhausting opera fluently, making every single Leitmotiv and their variations perfectly clear. But especially the solo parts stand out. But it’s also the unexcelled charm and emotionality of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra that makes this performance so fitting and so beautiful. Even on screen, through speakers, this orchestra feels live, and alive.

This Parsifal is mostly worth listeing to, but also worth watching. While Kirill Serebrennikov couldn’t quite do justice to the setup for a deep and thoughtful story he created in act one, he was able to create a captivating production, with an ending that is good for Parsifal nights, where you want to leave the theatre or laptop with the feeling of having watched a happy ending instead of having been confronted with four hours of Wagner’s music-religion.

#wagnerrant reviews #parsifal #richard wagner #opera #wagner opera #review #vienna state opera #not a rant #officialwagnerrant

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catclient44 · 3 years

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In the seek for the shiny, progressive dishes, nevertheless, don’t miss the thrill of fast-food comforts or the treasures of long-held favorites such because the cuisine of Russia’s southern neighbor Georgia. With Moscow’s newfound confidence in its culinary bounty and local components and a bewildering number of classic and bleeding-edge choices, it could be hard to know the place to start or end. Here’s a day’s price of eating through central Moscow that showcases the city’s exuberant variety, masking excessive, low, old, new, weird, nostalgic, fast, and cheap—but at all times good. Headed by Michelin star-winning chef Anatoly Komm and in-built veneration of the artwork of molecular gastronomy, Varvary truly presents a dining experience like no different. She recommends a crème brûlée cone, which does not disappoint. Red carnations — a historic image of the Russian proletariat — adorn every table beneath dramatic crimson chandeliers. Waitresses wearing freshly starched maids uniforms full with crochet-trimmed aprons and fairly white bonnets, put on thick smears of purple lipstick on stern expressions. Greatest Out Of Doors Actions In Moscow Take a have a glance at evaluations from former guests that can assist you determine whether the tour is for you -- and whether or not the tempo and tour type is appealing. Moscow is a good metropolis the place folks love to dine out, and there are countless options for scrumptious food. The flavors are as numerous as you’d expect from an enormous metropolis, with options of fantastic dining and little hipster eateries. Although this is a little outside the city centre, the sight from above is greater than value it, with the nearby fountains and park after which the whole of the town behind them. There are two ponds, and in the course of the summer season there are multiple activities out there. While Russia is infinitely safer than it was through the 90s, you must nonetheless remain vigilant. The best part about this lake is that even after hikers have explored this area for days, there's always something extra to find. If diving isn't something you enjoy, there are lots of other actions such as rowing, hiking or a walk through the caves. There is no special permission required to climb this mountain and you can do it by your self only in case you are a talented hiker. Alternatively, you'll be able to discover this place with a group of people to add to the fun and pleasure. We’ve put collectively some of the best destinations providing nice adventure actions. If you like being outdoor, you are positive to get pleasure from a few of these places listed beneath. When folks think of Russia they think of snow, however hearth is as plentiful as ice in Russia’s most remote jap area; Kamchatka. The austere monument was inbuilt 1970 to rejoice the anniversary of Lenin’s start. Towering greater than 25 feet over the principle city sq., the Lenin head weighs in at forty two tons. Russian And Worldwide Festival During this day, the Russians rejoice the New Year's entry on the date of the old Russian calendar, which was followed till 1918, at which time the Soviets changed the Julian calendar to the Gregorian. Since then, most of the country's festivals are celebrated twice, according to the present and the old calendar. The showcase takes place on Wednesday 20 October, Thursday 21 October and Friday 22 October. As a part of Pushkin House Book Prize 2021, we're delighted to welcome Archie Brown to discuss his shortlisted book The Human Factor. Archie will be in conversation with Sam Greene, professor in Russian politics and director of the Russia Institute at King’s College London. The discussion might be in entrance of a stay viewers at Pushkin House, in addition to to those who wish to join on-line. As a half of Pushkin House Book Prize 2021, we're delighted to welcome Catherine Belton to communicate about her shortlisted e-book Putin’s People. Victory Day (День Победы Den Pobedy) is by far one of the greatest Russian holidays. It commemorates those that died in World War II and pays tribute to survivors and veterans. Flowers and wreaths are laid on wartime graves and special parties and concert events are organized for veterans. A big floor and air navy parade, hosted by the President of the Russian Federation, is annually organized in Moscow on Red Square. Similar ground, air and marine parades are organized in several other Russian cities . The holiday was established in 1918 as it is linked to the decree printed that day by the Council of People's Commissars that formalized the official elevating of the Red Army. Christmas in Russia (Рождество Христово Rozhdestvo Khristovo) is celebrated on 25 December Julian calendar which falls on January seventh Gregorian calendar and commemorates the start of Jesus Christ. May 1-2, Spring and Labor Day – Coming near Easter, this holiday is commonly celebrated in church. January 1, New Year’s Day – This is often stated to be probably the most beloved vacation. Russians usually have fun it once more on January 14; this date corresponds to New Year’s on the Julian Calendar utilized in Russia prior to 1918. The gift-giving and merriment Americans associate with Christmas are often seen on New Years in Russia. At the end of per week of pancake munching and shapka throwing, Maslenitsa’s grand finale consists of burning down the Chuchilo in an try to symbolize lastly letting go of winter and working towards the idea of forgive and neglect. Soviet monuments and installations are a captivating take a glance at the goals and beliefs of a bygone nation. On the one hand, many of these monuments are in reminiscence of unimaginable achievements, like house exploration, or of tragic events, just like the Battle of Stalingrad. The Most Effective Nightclubs In Moscow The people out at the moment are either consuming or are going to depart early because they aren’t really out for partying. Bar Gipsy positioned at the premises of Krasny Oktyabr manufacturing unit used to be one of hottest night time clubs in Moscow throughout late 2000s. The club used to be co-owned by one of many creators of one other well-known Moscow night time membership referred to as Simachev bar. Chateau de Fantomas is located at the premises of Krasny Oktyabr manufacturing facility across the river from Kropotkinskaya subway station. The club is legendary for its summer season events that take place on the roof of the club’s constructing. As described in one of many magazines Chateau de Fantomas is a non-public night membership that's closed for the general public. One of the commonest travel ideas given to Russian-bound tourists is to not drink the tap water. It's worth remembering except you are thinking about spending a great deal of your journey within the bathroom of your lodge, and even worse, visiting an area hospital for therapy. If so, get away from bed and start planning your night time out with our insider’s information to St Petersburg nightlife. Coco Bar is likely considered one of the extra glamorous spots to party the night away. The place is thought for its pub meals and distinctive choice of local and international ales. Try out a pint of their native stout for 240RUB (USD 3.20) or play it secure with a bottle of Guinness for 550RUB (USD 7.30). Russian ladies may like it when you whisper them anything in Russian. No matter you utter incorrect or missing, you could get a giant smile in return. Making statements primarily based on opinion; again them up with references or private experience. If so, ask for our assist right here and keep away from any frustration or time loss. See our St Petersburg Car Rental service & tour across the city easily & swiftly. Russian Art Gallery In 2005, the query - Who had been the three most proficient twentieth century Russian artists? - was requested of senior members of the Academy of the Arts, the Director of the Surikov Institute, leaders of the Russian Artist Union and different outstanding Russian Realist artists. The idea was that those that were extremely educated in tutorial realism and were the practicing elite had one of the best eyes to know who of their era stood above the others. Recognized for his plein aire landscape paintings, Nikita Fedosov was number two. Today, the top Russian auction houses discuss with this acclaimed artist as "Russian's Legend". Garage is Russia’s first philanthropic establishment devoted to contemporary artwork, based in 2008 by Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova. Located in Gorky Park, the museum showcases creative actions from Russia and all over the world. Visitors can discover 10 innovative exhibitions per 12 months from established and up-and-coming artists; Garage offers funding and studio space to rising artists. Exhibitions are always accompanied by a program of workshops, shows and family events, opening up up to date art to all age teams. Once the tour is over, you may be allowed to stay and browse the museum at your leisure. The State Tretyakov Gallery is an art museum collecting Russian nice art. The massive gallery houses plenty of paintings by way of which you'll higher perceive Russian history and culture. The Lumiere Brothers Centre is called after the French brothers who have been pioneers in the early improvement of pictures and filmmaking. The assortment is devoted to artwork of the Soviet interval, starting from post-revolutionary paintings and graphic works, to the "Severe Style" that was official Soviet artwork of the Stalin-Brezhnev period. Last 12 months, this former flour storage building was transformed right into a museum by British architects, John McAslan + Partners. Hot Springs Around The World With Ker & Downey Bathhouse facilities embody a soaking pool, chilly plunge, sauna, and lounge with add-ons, together with therapeutic massage, yoga, and skincare products. Several packages are available, including monthly unlimited passes and a “Personal Day of Retreat,” which comes with juice, a yoga class, and use of the bathhouse. All purpose to promote self-care and good health by way of variations on soaks, steams, saunas, and community. And perhaps as a end result of the world of late has been, nicely, taxing, we’ve seen these oases spring up within the United States, with offerings as numerous as the nation itself. The 1.5 million gallons of water within the springs accommodates silica minerals in addition to sulfur. These minerals are what attract many individuals affected by psoriasis to hunt the healing properties of Blue Lagoon, as it purportedly reduces their symptoms. The factor to do at Blue Lagoon is to scoop up the silica mud and rub it on your face – prompt exfoliation. Guests can stay in a ryokan 旅館 or opt for a contemporary, Western-style spa resort. The hottest Japanese sizzling springs are usually located within the more mountainous areas of the country, such as Hakone, Gunma, and Hokkaido. The last stop on your Hot Springs Around the World tour is Chile, the place you will spend eight enjoyable nights. The heat comes from a geothermal energy plant, owned by a heating firm that created the lagoon to test heating strategies in the Seventies. When the onsen's water contains distinctive minerals or chemicals, the onsen establishments display what sort of onsen it's. The scorching spring is a spot of tranquility; whereas it's definitely okay to speak amongst yourselves, it isn't meant to be treated like a public pool. While you could be excited to point out off the speedo you got while vacationing within the south of France final summer season, bathing suits are forbidden in the Japanese hot spring. If this seems off-putting, understand that it is the norm right here and most people turn into used to it somewhat rapidly. With so much to offer visitors, it’s no marvel that Glenwood Springs is Colorado’s primary selection for warm springs and wellness. Slated to open this winter, Sōkuin Austin draws from both Japanese and European custom.

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Iran Classic Tour

Travel Hub Iran is an online journey agency offering Iran’s most inspiring selection of reasonably priced FIT or group tours, safaris and actions. Our journeys embrace authentic accommodation, unique delicacies and local transport to put vacationers on a first-name foundation with the planet’s people, cultures, landscapes. Tehran Urban Adventures provides day excursions with an area expert information in Tehran. On this present day, you will be pushed to the airport of Shiraz to fly back to your country. You can discover it in all restaurants in Shiraz, but when wish to eat the most effective one, I suggest you eat at Haftkhan restaurant. Haft khan restaurant is doubtless certainly one of the best restaurants in Shiraz that has seven flooring and also you can eat different kinds of food there. Haft khan restaurant can also be well-known due to serving scrumptious Shirazi Halva. Enjoy two full days exploring this stunning city, Iran’s capital from 1598 to 1722. Begin in the Maydan-e Shah, or Royal Square, stopping on the exquisitely tiled Lotfallah Mosque, the Ali Qapu Palace and the towering portal of the Shah Mosque. Visit three of the 5 bridges that cross the Zayendehrud River, together with the beautiful two-story Khaju Bridge. Celebrate the top of our extraordinary journey at a farewell dinner. Along the way stop at the website of Pasargad, near which Cyrrus the Great built the first Achaemenian capital. Upon arrival in Shiraz, stop at the tomb of the celebrated poet Hafez earlier than checking in to our hotel. Savor dinner at a delightful native restaurant this evening. The Exploration Of Sustainable Landscape In Iran Still, the separate palaces are scattered apparently based on no rule, so that it isn't an easy matter to reconstruct (as in a measure it was potential to do in the Egyptian temple at Deir-el-Bakhari) the good common garden-terraces. But in any case the terraces with massive backyard websites have been indubitably right here. The woodlands and gardens around their tombs had been very important to the traditional Persians. The tomb of Cyrus the Great was enclosed by four-gardens known as "Chaharbagh" and a grove, and his son Cambyses entrusted the care of it as a hereditary office to a household of Magi; when Alexander saw it, it had grown high however had been neglected. Pomegranate, almonds and persimmons are the fruit trees of this backyard that give a special character to this place. 家事服務 to the flowing of water inside it, Pahlavan Pour was a beautiful backyard from the late Qajar period. Most of the water in the garden is instantly offered by Hasaabad Qanat, and this water, except to the Pahlavan Pour, does not instantly go to any of the gardens in the space. A large pool, water circulation and the greenery of the trees are solely a half of the attraction of this backyard. The great thing about Isfahan is greatest described by the proverbial saying, Isafahan is ‘Half of the World’. Our full day tour includes visits of the Meidan Emam or Naghshe Jahan Square and go to Sheikh Lutfollah Mosque, Emam Mosque, Ali Qapou Palace and Qeisarieh Bazaar with hundreds of outlets displaying native arts and handicrafts. People’s fixed go to to particular areas on this backyard, has helped shape number of hangouts which in turn have created new identities for these areas. Large-scaled gardens nonetheless present their unique vegetation which makes it best for peace-and-quiet seekers who need to be away from the hustle and bustle of cities for just a while. You could say that gardens at present are considered a backyard for major cities; they could symbolize a green gateway to their lifestyle, social values, micro cultures, and the complex story of all those who have stepped in it. In the guts of Yazd desert, Abarqu County stands tall and proud one of Iran’s nationwide monuments generally identified as Sarv-e Abarqu . 6- The traditional Persian Garden design has also extensively influenced Persian carpet patterns. Why An Iran After land acquisition, shrine tasks are then totally funded by Iran – ostensibly from donations by devout Iranian Shi’ites and thru charities linked to Shi’ite shrine organisations, officials at the Hussein shrine mentioned. An Iranian worker of Kawthar, who declined to be named, said a lot of the money came from Iranian state coffers, however he didn’t know what quantity. A project costing in extra of $600 million “can’t simply come from donations, you want a state behind that,” he reasoned. The Iraqi state funds the initial shopping for up of personal and public land on the websites by way of price range allocations to Shi’ite religious authorities which make the acquisition, stated Rekani, the previous housing minister. It is considerably more frequent than the older atashkada, a Classical Persian language time period that together with its center Persian predecessors (𐭪𐭲𐭪 𐭠𐭲𐭧𐭱 ātaxš-kadag, -man and -xanag) literally means 'home of fireplace'. The older phrases have the advantage that they are readily understood even by non-Zoroastrian Iranians. Arab geographers referred to as this place the fire-temple of Marabin or Maras. Masudi in Meadows of Gold stated the temple was originally devoted to idol-worship and it was made into a fire-temple by King Vishtaspa, Zoroaster's authentic patron. Built between 1964 and 1970, its concrete exterior blends in with the gray of the encompassing cityscape, but the inside features colourful modern takes on traditional Armenian artwork. Iran’s strong contender for the title of world’s largest mosque, the Mosalla complex has been under building for the reason that Nineties. Architecturally somewhere between modernist and area age, with 230 meter excessive minarets and a site masking some 650,000 square meters, Mosalla is a striking manifestation of the Islamic Republic’s program of public works. It can additionally be notable as the house of the similarly enormous Tehran International Book Fair, which attracts tens of millions of holiday makers yearly. According to authors from the 1800s, between the time when the atash gah was abandoned by the Hindus in the and Modi's visit in 1925, that is, in the 1800s, the Surakhani atash gah was briefly beneath the care of Zoroastrians. Ryokan Vs Onsen Instead of bathing, white linen undies, soaking up toxins and smells, grew to become the solution of keeping the body clean. Soap was created from water poured over ash and boiled with mutton fat and herbs. 清潔公司 created a ball of scented soap lye that might be rubbed on linen and clothes. A flat paddle, called a washing bat or beetle, was used to hit the clothes in the course of the washing process – an old fashion of washing garments. It is believed that Tudor kids may have used these balls of soap and beetle bat in a sport, like cricket. Because bathing the physique was a rare event, it was frequent for people to carry pomades created from citrus fruits, spices and vinegar that might help mitigate physique odor. Located southeast of Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula is a well-liked vacationer attraction that is home to scenic views and ecological websites. Known regionally as “the peninsula,” most of the visitors are natives of Melbourne, so a visit right here is a chance to get an genuine Australian expertise. Sunny seashores (best in Australia’s summer), expansive golf programs, and a wildlife conservation park make for a profitable combination of unique and acquainted. The springs and surrounding areas are as wealthy in historical past as they are in minerals. A nearby attraction is a field of dolmen, prehistoric chamber tombs commonly found in Israel, Syria, and Jordan. Private mineral baths are additionally out there – try a skin soak in mud or lavender vanilla milk. All of the spring waters contain restorative minerals like sodium, potassium and magnesium that regenerate the mind and physique. Tabacón Grand Spa Thermal Resort was the primary facility to open the springs to the public in a luxurious setting, and stays the most popular. The hot springs that serve its clientele come primarily from rainwater that has dripped to the Earth’s core and been geothermally heated. The sizzling spring temperature ranges from seventy seven to 122 F in some spots so be sure to remember of the place you probably can enter. Most of the water is true in the a hundred to 104 F range, perfect for soothing achy muscle tissue and joints. Medical data of health and illness nonetheless was in an toddler stage of discovery. There were some that believed bathing to be the supply of disease, and others who believed that bathing could possibly be therapeutic. The Ten Greatest Museums You Will Need To Go To In Iran For 2021 With Pictures Finally, Siah Armajani, an activist who left Iran in 1960 and have become deeply engaged with democratic beliefs in America and produced sculpture stimulating communication and social interplay, represents one more direction political artwork took among Iranians. The two major artists of the movement have been Charles Hossein Zenderoudi and Parviz Tanavoli. While he was growing a new vocabulary for two-dimensional works, Tanavoli challenged himself to create, virtually from scratch, a sculpture for modern Iran, filling the vacuum created by Islam’s ban on idolatry. Other artists were resolutely international in style, reflecting the numerous affect in their work of their coaching in Europe and the United States. Behjat Sadr’s geometric abstractions reference the process of portray and fashionable industrial materials, such as Levelor blinds and aluminum, while Mohsen Vaziri-Moqaddam produced geometric sand work and monumental sculptures with movable components. A quick description of the exhibition project including a listing of potential artists and media. As seen in this part, the method towards abstraction by postwar Iranian artists was both personal and authentic. Massoud Arabshahi and Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian explored the abstract potential of Persian art through the appropriation of mystic themes and the stylization of historical artwork and of geometric mirror-work respectively. Espírito Santo is anxious with the tactile attributes of his chosen materials and with the sensuous contours of easy summary forms in area. Iran do Espírito Santo's cast concrete Playground is an interactive, monumental sculpture that was created in 2013, and was originally installed in Central Park. For Playground, this new location at The Fields Sculpture Park supplies an incredibly different environment for the viewer to expertise this work. Out Of Doors Activities In Iran, Things To Do Whether you imagine the reveals to be genuinely insightful or pure propaganda, you can’t deny the truth that this quirky museum is considered one of the extra unusual things to do in Tehran. Once you've admired Golestan Palace and got totally, utterly lost in the bazaar, you'll most likely be questioning what’s next? I was actually glad I ended up here and I actually enjoyed the beautiful architecture of this historical hammam. The seventeenth century Hasht Behesht pavillion is surrounded by stunning Persian gardens which may be free to go to. It is among the many finest issues to do in Isfahan for its lovely Persian gardens and the numerous frescoes, wall work and ceiling artworks inside. The palace was built by king Abbas to obtain friends and the gardens are actually registered as a world heritage web site. It’s something not many individuals get to experience, as a end result of most of the time Isfahans bazaar is a crowded and busy affair the place sight, sound and odor overwhelm your senses. If you have lengthy hair, tie it back in a ponytail or bun, relaxation your scarf on top of it, and wrap the 2 ends round your neck. Here is a useful listing of nine things you should know before you travel to Iran, starting from journey paperwork and what to pack to information on meals, drinks, and cultural traditions. At Wild Frontiers we do greater than pay lip companies to Responsible Tourism. Find out extra in regards to the Wild Frontiers Foundation and the way we design our adventures with the native folks, culture and eco-system in thoughts. Our assortment of travel guides offer inspiration in your subsequent adventure, in addition to sensible recommendation on tips on how to get the most out of visiting some of the world's most superb sites. I had an incredible time, now I want a few days to sort my head out! Events In Iran, Record Of All Events In Iran, Online Occasions In Iran Improvisation is an essential a half of any efficiency, and the musicians draw on their experience and mastery of technique to convey the feelings described by the music texts while adding their personal interpretations. We have different sort of arts festivals the essential one which is said to Iranian movies that is Fajr International Movie competition. All the non secular festivals are nationwide students Quran festivals, Quran Movie festivals, and Quran nationwide festivals. We have two female festivals which may be my countrywomen worldwide festivals and female invention and innovation. You may have the flexibility to go to the festivals on your own however you most likely shouldn’t. Well, almost all Iran festivals have a particular root in the tradition of the area. Iranians have fun the thirteenth and final day of Nowruz with a bang on sizdeh bedar. Parks turn into flooded with households enjoying video games, grilling kebabs, and, of course, consuming bottomless glasses of tea. In order to avoid unhealthy luck, keep outdoor all day lengthy and be a part of the festivities! If you’re alone, strike up a conversation with a family—they’ll be more than happy to take you in and feed you. It helps them to kind a deeper connection each to the people and the local culture. We need to be by your facet to dive deep into the unheard stories held inside this historic civilization referred to as Iran. From the extra recognized and nationwide ones to more unknown and regional Iran festivals. From celebrating Iranian New Year to strolling inside the alleys of Bushehr to share the joy of conventional native music. It’s all the totally different gatherings that make Iran a high vacation spot for pageant looking. The festive days in Iran have various roots such as historic beliefs of Zoroastrianism culture based mostly on Jalali Calendar or Islamic events primarily based on Lunar Calendar. Iran has an overwhelmingly Muslim inhabitants however the Christian Community has a visible presence. During Christmas times, Christmas Trees may be seen from Windows in Tehran and north-western provinces. Although Christmas has an official recognition in Iran, it is not a national vacation. In the Kurdistan region the city, which also as quickly as had a sizable Jewish population, is thought for the gorgeous bonfires that happen for this vacation. The pageant of Nowruz was celebrated across the area and the world on Saturday. Buying And Selling On The Market In A Memento Shop Tehran Iran Inventory Picture Since historic occasions, roses have been used medicinally, nutritionally, and as a supply of fragrance. Rose water, one of many nice and wonderful products of Iran, is a flavored water made by steeping rose petals in water. Additionally, it is the hydro-sol portion of the distillate of rose petals, a by-product of the manufacturing of rose oil for use in perfume. When you walk in the conventional bazaars of Iran, you will hear the sound of continuous beating in the bazaar corner. This is the sound of hammers and bars utilizing in steel engraving. Qottab, Baklava, and Lowz in several flavors like almonds, pistachios, and coconuts are some delicious selections. Hand knotted woolen carpets and rugs are other things you would contemplate a "should have" from Iran. Rich colors and workmanship make your alternative a tad too troublesome. If you desire to one thing smaller that's easy to carry then you could go for wall hangings in conventional and up to date designs. "Termeh House" in Tehran stocks one of the best "Termeh" fabric within the country however you will find retailers selling the material all over the place. Available in wealthy colours, interspersed with golden thread, this traditional Iranian woven material can be used to make nice upholstery, bed spreads and baggage. Toranj Traditional Café & Restaurant Gilaneh restaurant is a comfortable environment restaurant situated in Saba Boulevard, in Jordan street. The name of the restaurant comes from the Gilan province within the North of Iran. You can style the seafood, Northern native meals, and traditional Iranian dishes which all signifies nothing however genuine delicacies. Meaning I don’t eat that a lot however I crave unusual issues on a every day basis which my mums finds somewhat strange. I hate the waiting, specially with Iranian meals that takes ages to arrange. A blue pond, relaxing Iranian music, and the mouth-watering scent of Persian dishes. Here we’re going to list the most popular eating places in Iran. During Ramadan, the fasting month of Muslims, the restaurants offer a simple meal called Iftar along with the dinner. All the restaurants are full of people till midnight in Ramadan. Underneath the Hotel Naderi, this historic cafe has long been a favourite of intellectuals and artists. The cafe fare is limited to Turkish and French espresso and maybe a pastry or two, however the adjoining restaurant has a full menu and is identified by generations of Tehranis for its chateaubriand. Godo Yas café is the finest choice If you want to relish authentic Persian meals. The constructing used to be a Persian old house which was deserted for a while and nows turned to a wonderful café that reminds us of the old Persian grandmother’s homes. One of the qualities that makes this café a memorable place is the attractive pool in the middle of the yard that's designed with old Gol-sorkhi . Rasht Bazaar Between purchasing, strive some local road food on the primary Shahrdari Street. If you might be in Iran simply earlier than Nowruz, that is the place in Tehran to catch the hustle and bustle of recent year’s preparations. Due to its strategic location along the Silk Road, Tabriz has lengthy been an necessary center of commerce. Its historic bazaar, which was added to the UNESCO stock in 2010, is among the oldest in the Middle East. The maze of purple brick buildings with excessive ceilings and arches hyperlink different elements of the advanced, however essentially the most notable area is the rug bazaar. She had decided to not ask her potential recipient, whose husband was a low-paid bike courier, for cash on the facet. But six months after registering with the inspiration, she had no concept when she can be paid, and employees members mentioned they might not match her with one other affected person. They said that patrons and sellers undergo medical and psychological screening as nicely as vetting to prevent collusion or exchange of cash outside the official channel. He was jailed for bouncing a examine, borrowed money for bail, then was rearrested three months in the past for failing to pay again the mortgage. This time, his sister’s husband offered his own apartment as collateral to secure his launch. When lots of the flats didn't promote — due to shoddy construction and accelerating inflation — some builders fled Iran, leaving their subcontractors unpaid. But some worldwide transplant leaders level to the commercials as evidence that commercializing organ donations preys on the neediest individuals — the very thing that legal guidelines in the U.S. and elsewhere banning organ gross sales goal to prevent. U.S. sanctions on Iran’s energy sector have cost the nation more than $100 billion in lost revenues, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh stated in a statement on Sunday, according to the state-run Shana news company. U.S. and European firms shall be less likely to search longer-term time period contracts and work in Iran’s oil business since uncertainty will doubtless stay round sanctions. The new Iranian administration will doubtless favor continued oil gross sales to China in return for investment, Vakhshouri said. Rising demand and continued manufacturing restraints by OPEC+ and U.S. shale producers means that markets might be short by as a lot as 1.5 million barrels a day by the top of the 12 months, she said. Retail Industry in Iran unlike different emerging economic system is still very traditional in nature and is largely managed by Cooperatives and Independent retailers. Street markets play an important role within the retail industry of Iran as most of the inhabitants does their shopping right here. The Central Bank of Iran indicate that 70 p.c of the Iranians own properties with large quantities of idle money entering the housing market. However, if the stock market grows stronger, it's going to undoubtedly entice idle capital. In phrases of funding, the domestic rival markets of the bourse are the Iranian real estate market, vehicles and gold . According to Goldman Sachs, Iran is forecast to achieve the best financial progress between 2015 and 2025 and be part of the world's largest economies (world's 12th financial system by 2025). Since 2012, TSE has served as a safe haven against international sanctions and inflation. The progress of liquidity in the country and the starting of the devaluation of the Iranian rial led people to put their money into purchases of foreign currency exchange, gold, and real estate. Iran Household Visit Visa For U S Citizens I've identified my husband for a quarter of a century and we have been married 20 years; we've 2 kids aged 14 and 15 . I hope this info will assist you to prepare your travel plans. Hi Katie, some nationalities like Canadians, USA or UK do need to hire a information however this isn’t like North Korea, and the information doesn’t have to be with you always. L went to Balochistan province within the southeast of iran in 2019. In north and center of province, there are mountains and desserts, however within the south, tropical fruits are grown. The finest season for north and heart is spring, and for south is September or july. If you go there, visit maki mosque in zahedan, taftan volcano in khash, remin and beris and gowatr fishing ports in chabahar, kahir and tang gelfeshan in konarak and tropical gardens in sarbaz and zarabad. If you be sensible, you won’t have any security problem there. Hi Dre, probably there aren’t any flights because the country just isn't open for tourism yet. June and October supply barely higher offers so long as you are prepared to decorate for the heat or chill. Iran marks a selection of festivals nationwide which can disrupt journey. During the month of Ramadan , eating and ingesting in public is banned during the day and religious legal guidelines are more strictly enforced. Note that by law Americans do must have a private information with them throughout their Iran journey or e-book a gaggle tour. You can view some Intrepid Travel tour options right here as well as the company’s Women’s Expeditions right here, which are geared towards women and could also be interesting for feminine travelers. You will not be able to escape the government-sanctioned twin pricing system that applies to accommodation and a few tourist points of interest in Iran; foreigners usually pay as a lot as five occasions the price quoted to locals. Even if you’re solely going for a few days, that’s more than sufficient time to get smote by wrathful angels. Have fun in Iran, but take it from us, abroad medical care and canceled flights can be seriously expensive – insurance can, subsequently, be a life-saver. In reality, people might be super joyful to see you in their nation. They have the precise borders closed between Turkey and Iran. They have the Covid-19 ban that got here out final month. So this is a fourth barrier,” said Curtis Morrison, an lawyer representing the family within the federal case. An Introduction To Music In Iran The earliest works of Kurdish literature are these of the 16th-century poet Malaye Jaziri. Iran has one of the oldest, richest and most influential artwork heritages on the planet which encompasses many disciplines together with literature, music, dance, architecture, painting, weaving, pottery, calligraphy, metalworking and stonemasonry. Shifting one’s house base to a unique a half of the world with a special culture and/or set or mores can be an ordeal. That can count double when it happens at a very delicate stage of life. Now a longtime member of the international world music scene, the vocalist was a young 12-year-old when her father determined enough was sufficient and that issues had been becoming overly dicey in Iran. Since the brand new administration took office, the Ministry of Ershad adopted a unique policy, mainly to make it easier to observe the trade. The newly adopted policy included loosening restrictions for a small variety of artists, whereas tightening it for the rest. In the 1990s, officials of the new authorities determined to provide and promote a "first rate" pop music, in order to compete with the overseas and unofficial sources of Iranian music. It is unimaginable to talk about Iranian music in the Nineteen Seventies without mentioning Googoosh , who was essentially the most iconic feminine singer within the nation. Googoosh was on the peak of her career and was widely emulated by Iranian ladies. In addition to listening to her music, they copied her clothing and brief haircut (known because the ‘Googooshy’). After the revolution, Googoosh stayed in Iran, however she finally managed to go away the nation. After 20 years of silence, she began her profession once more in the West. She offers common live shows and continues to be very fashionable among Iranians and other Persian audio system around the world. Practicing Muslims and the so-called 'Muslim intellectuals' responded bitterly and at the finish violently to de-segregation and free and open relationships between the two sexes. Nightlife In Tehran Iranian Nights IRAN - Glowing Neon Sign on stonework wall - 3D rendered royalty free inventory illustration. Can be used for on-line banner ads and direct mailers.IRAN - Glowing Neon Sign on stonework wall - 3D rendered royalty free inventory illustration. Blurred background image of the Allahverdi Khan bridge or Si-o-se-pol at night time. Isfahan, Iran.Blurred background image of the Allahverdi Khan bridge or Si-o-se-pol at evening. “I am dealing with a new celebration of Iranian tourists, sorry,” he said before hanging up. “They are coming in waves” crowed Hurriyet in an article in regards to the newest Persian invasion of Van. “Free” is among the many final phrases used to explain Turkey nowadays. But freedom is what the nation provides to tens of 1000's of Iranian tourists who flock to their neighbor yearly. Chadors are solid off, whiskeys ordered and an orgy of unfettered enjoyable is uncorked for Iranian revelers who're formally denied such pleasures at house. The distinction between us and everyone else is our horrible documentation problem — along with our countless rewriting of our own history. Well, we've a chopped salad history of varied religions and traditions, wearing Arab, European, and more just lately American tradition. There had been 768 instances of hospitalization as a outcome of methanol poisoning in eight provinces in Iran over the course of 4 weeks in late 2018; ninety six of the sufferers died. Wine has played an important position in Persian culture and historical past ranging from administration of the earliest empires to faith and Persian literature. Downtown is pretty hard to seek out personal parties which implies you must have someone local to invite you or something as a result of it's publicly unlawful by all means. Recreation alongside the Persian Gulf Lake or Chitgar is not restricted to these actions. Other recreational services of this lake include a six-dimensional cinema, horror park safari, carousel, aerial skating, etc. The park has an amphitheater, hearth towers, water fountains, a lighthouse, steel curtains that narrate the lifetime of Ibrahim. It should be famous that if calm and silence is your reason for going to the roof of Tehran, it is better to decide on midweek nights.

#清潔公司

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salty-dracon · 3 years

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Some thoughts on The Caligula Effect 2

So I joke about this game getting a second remake to my friends online and the next moment I learn THIS was announced during the Japanese Nintendo Direct. Let me spill out my thoughts to spark discussion as well as provide a record to myself if this game actually does get localized.

Everything is under the cut!

My thoughts on Overdose were that it has a fantastic world... and that’s it. Out of the game’s cast, there were maybe four characters I liked, and the rest had moments that made me lose all sympathy for them. I recall it was common for some Let’s Players to like the villains better than the protagonists, and I’d agree on that front. I actually think the anime is the best iteration of this game’s story, changing up the formula enough to provide a really solid characterization arc to everyone. But Overdose suffers from poor writing issues (killing Eiji offscreen in the best ending was one of the worst decisions they made), rough handling of certain topics, boring and monotonous dungeons, and 500 social links you’re never going to do. I’m incredibly critical of this game, and I’d never recommend it to someone without a LOT of disclaimers, but somehow I still love it.

Already this game looks CRAZY good visually. It doesn’t look like a reskinned Vita game anymore, with something a little more reminiscent of say, the Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth games. That’s not to say that the game doesn’t still implement its fantastic character art, which still show up next to the speech bubbles. (At least the models have moving jaws. That’s important.)

Here’s to really hoping this game won’t be another Caligula 1 reskin, because uh... the game is about a protagonist who realizes that the world is a virtual one created by a Vocaloid who won’t let anyone out and joins up with a group of teenagers who also want to get out despite the fact that their real world lives were horrible so that they can set things right and they call themselves the Go-Home club (and also a Vocaloid gives them weapons made out of black stuff) but the people that are stopping them are basically the servants and guardians of the Vocaloid keeping them trapped in, who also happen to be humans who can’t return to the real world because their real world lives were so horrible, and so they have to fight because the Vocaloid won’t let them out otherwise. I mean, of course it won’t be a reskin, but I’m surprised at just how much of the original story they kept.

As for things they absolutely did NOT keep, DAMN this game looks dark! I was once remarking to a friend about how Caligula’s story would appeal better to me specifically if they’d gone with a religious pressure rather than idol stan theme, and they appear to have really pulled through with that religious pressure. I just realized, while writing this, that the image I showed off above actually has an image of an angel in the stained glass window being worshiped by fans with glow sticks. Furthermore, there’s a gothic cathedral-like altar, a halo behind Regret’s head, and this whole exchange looks like it takes place in a church. While I’m not religious myself, I can talk a lot about church architecture (see: my Fire Force livetweet) and I’m interested to see how this game handles it.

Not only that, most of the character designs seem darker and very different from the original game’s. Take a look at this game’s idol goddess:

Is μ going through an emo phase? I wouldn’t blame her lol. I think she still has a fantastic design that is in equal parts dreary and beautiful, while perfectly matching the color scheme of the new game.

And what a color scheme it is! The world of Caligula 1 had a gorgeous white, black, pink, brown, and gray color scheme framing bold pops of color in the form of flowers. Caligula 2 changes things up by making black the primary color framing everything else. The pops of color are so much bolder, too, from Noto’s bright yellow sweatshirt to basically everything χ is wearing. Do these changes reflect the story’s potential darker tone too? Or are they representative of something else?

We don’t know too much about the characters, but Caligula 2 looks like it’s giving them different weapons. It looks like the protagonists wield double knives instead of double shotguns. As for the other weapons, I see shortswords, katanas, chains, pistols (much smaller than Shogo’s), canes, and Qiyana’s ohmlatl from League of Legends. Definitely a shift from the original game’s weapons. I wonder if they’ll make a comeback? That giant gun was unique to say the least.

The Obbligato (I think?) are this game’s Ostinato Musicians. Italian for “obliged”, they are the ones who defend Regret from any threats. The one shown off most in the trailer is this guy who looks like the 1010 dudes from No Straight Roads. Man, he really looks like Shadow Knife in that image up there...

Also we get a, um, clown astronaut and a crazy high school yandere. Just to name a few. Definitely not the first time I’ve beat up a clown in a video game. Pretty unique as far as villains go, though. I hope this game has its own villain route, where you learn more about them. I’d really like that.

Social links! Looks like you rank up social links the same way you do in the original game. Do you want to make this character spill out all their trauma? Are you SURE about that, despite there being no negative consequences to you, the player? Awesome. Get ready to be sad.

The battle system is, from what I’ve read, similar, but not the same, as the battle system in Overdose. I’m not going to give too many details on that. They still seem to be time-based with combo chains, but they’re pretty vague. Looks like you still get to unleash crazy special attacks against your enemies. And they in turn can unleash crazy special attacks against you.

I absolutely want to see a. better characters and b. better overall writing. In my opinion these were the two weakest points of Caligula 1. Despite the protagonists’ tragedies, some of the little things they did made me sort of hate them. I did not like how everyone in the original Go-Home Club used Kotaro (who you learn is FOURTEEN!) as a verbal punching bag despite him being one of the kindest characters in the club. As for better overall writing, I stated before that I preferred the anime’s interpretation of events, because I thought they were in a better order overall. Besides killing Eiji offscreen, I hated how they wrote μ to be such a monumentally stupid character (I often point to Persona 5 Royal on how to write a villain like her well) and their, in my opinion, poor handling of certain topics like fatphobia. And though the character episodes sort of redeem them, it’s like... not really? The way I described it to a friend was that while the moral of Caligula 1′s story may have been “We live in a society and everyone’s dealing with their own hardships, but you can’t run away from them forever and you can at least be sympathetic to those facing them”, the character interactions end up dumbing it down to “We live in a society”.

Also an anime adaptation would be really sick. The anime just had so much better writing.

As for what I’m really curious about:

1. Who is Regret and how is she related to μ and Aria? We already know she’s a Virtuadoll like them, but if I recall correctly μ and Aria had some more concreteness to their backstories. Specifically, the human characters remember them existing as vocal synthesizer programs before they became the rules of Mobius. Regret’s backstory is that she just kind of showed up one day. Does she have different origins from μ and Aria? By the same merit, who is χ and how is she related to Regret, μ, and Aria? We know that χ opposes Regret and gives the Go-Home club the power to fight back against her, kind of like what Aria did in Caligula 1, but was she a co-creator of Redo like Aria was, or was her role completely different? The fact that she isn’t a little sparkle like Aria was (as a result of losing all of her power) indicates that their roles might be a little different.

2. What relationship does Redo have to Mobius? We know Mobius was created because Aria and μ wanted a place for humans to live without the sorrows they experienced in the real world. However, eventually μ was manipulated by everyone’s negative emotions and Thorn’s actions. This caused her to prevent anyone from leaving, and also the plot of the first game. Is Redo a second, improved iteration of Mobius, or a completely new virtual space? Were the goals behind its creation the same as in the first game? Or was there another force at work? Is Regret trying to copy μ or improve on her work? Or is she doing what μ did independently? I don’t think there’s enough information to predict the answer to this, but from what I’ve seen, there are a lot of similarities between the two worlds, from the high school to the end goal. However, there are some differences in tone. Mobius was a place to escape suffering, while Redo is being marketed as a place to escape regret. Redo also has a more religious bend than the idol theme of the first game.

3. What other links do the first and second games have to each other? People have been theorizing that Marie Mizuguchi/Wicked from the first game may return as Marie Amabuki (I think) in the second due to them having the same VA. There’s obviously the shared artstyle, symbolism, Catharsis Effect, glitchy NPC faces, and general setting. I also suspect that this game takes place after the events of Caligula 1. Not much I can say about this right now, but I wonder how everything joins up. Or if it even matters that they do. I haven’t seen too much on whether or not this game is being marketed as a standalone or a sequel, or if you even need to play Caligula 1 to enjoy Caligula 2.

Conclusion: While the Caligula series isn’t one I’d recommend to everyone, for the way it handles a number of sensitive topics, I will still be checking out Caligula 2 if it comes to the West. Though very little has been revealed thus far, so far I’m interested in the religious iconography used as well as the darker tone and colors presented in the game. As well as the characters, who have more varied and interesting designs including super unique weapons. I’m a bit disappointed that the plot, as it has been revealed, is an exact copy of Caligula 1′s plot, right down to the names of the protagonists’ faction. I was hoping for a bigger evolution to the story, but considering so little has been revealed in the first place, this may be a bit of a preemptive judgement.

That’s it. I hope you enjoyed my discussion of what I’ve learned so far.

#the caligula effect #caligula

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babylon-crashing · 4 years

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shamanic armenia

... from Michael Berman’s Shamanic Journeys Across the Caucasus (2009, pages 21-32)

If the Scriptures are rightly understood, it was in Armenia that Paradise was placed. – Armenia, which has paid as dearly as the descendants of Adam for that fleeting participation of its soil in the happiness of him who was created from its dust. It was in Armenia that the flood first abated, and the dove alighted. But with the disappearance of Paradise itself may be dated almost the unhappiness of the country ; for though long a powerful kingdom, it was scarcely ever an indipendent one, and the satraps of Persia and the pachas of Turkey have alike desolated the region where God created man in his own image (taken from Lord Byron, Letters and Journals, Leslie Marchand (cd.), London, 1976, vol. V, p.157).

What can we say about Armenia? “There is no other country like her. She has played a unique and perhaps indispensable role as a buffer between Asia and Europe, a mediator between two seemingly irreconcilable civilizations and ways of life. And her dark beauty is eternal” (Surmelian, 1968, pp.23-24).

Located in the southern Caucasus, Armenia is the smallest of the former Soviet republics, and is bounded by Georgia in the north, Azerbaijan in the east, Iran in the south, and Turkey in the west. Frequently referred to as one of the cradles of civilization, it is also considered by many to have been the first country in the world to officially embrace Christianity as its religion (c. 300).

Armenia, like neighboring Georgia, is in a region which is a crossroads between Asia and Europe, and has more often than not been conquered by the dominant regional power of the day, starting with the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians, through to the Ottomans and finally the Russians. As a result, an Armenian diaspora has thus existed more or less throughout the nation's history, with emigration having been particularly heavy since independence. So much so, that an estimated 60% of the total eight million Armenians worldwide now live outside the country. Nevertheless, once again like Georgia, the country has managed to hold onto a unique cultural and linguistic identity which is reflected in its folklore.

As a consequence of Soviet era policies, the number of active religious practitioners in the country is relatively low, but the link between Armenian ethnicity and the Armenian Church is strong. An estimated 90 percent of citizens nominally belong to the Armenian Church/ an independent Eastern Christian denomination with its spiritual center at the Etchmicidzin cathedral and monastery.

It is all too easy these days to paint a totally negative picture of life under Soviet communism, especially when it comes to the matter of religious freedom, but in the case of Armenia it would be an injustice to do so for:

Soviet communism protected the Armenian people from Turkism ... Moreover, despite its internationalist posture, communism built up a nation in Soviet Armenia from individuals and groups of widely differing geographic origins. The power to withstand, and the sense of nationhood, have to be balanced against the totalitarianism and Stalinism which were part of the state ideology, although less visible at the start (Walker, 1997, p.140).

As for the current status of religious freedom, although the Armenian Constitution as amended in December 2005 provides for freedom of religion, the reality of the situation is that the Armenia (Apostolic) Church, which has formal legal status as the national church, enjoys some privileges not available to other religious groups. Societal attitudes towards some minority religious groups appear to be somewhat ambivalent too, with reports of societal discrimination directed against members of these groups.

Only registered groups may publish newspapers or magazines, rent meeting places, broadcast programs on television or radio, or officially sponsor the visas of visitors, although there is no prohibition on individual members doing so. And to qualify for registration, religious organizations must, “be free from materialism and of a purely spiritual nature,” and must subscribe to a doctrine based on, “historically recognized holy scriptures.” In the case of religions based on ritual observance rather than “holy scriptures” though, were an application for registration made, it is unclear what scriptures could be presented to the Office of the State Registrar to satisfy such a requirement.

We find what is now Armenia referred to in the Old Testament, with the Book of Genesis relating how:

Noah's Ark, as the waters of the flood subsided, came to rest, not “on Mount Ararat” as is commonly misstated --- the Armenians call this Mount Masis, a name (Masios) used by Greek geographers to denote a range to the south-west --- but, “upon the mountains of (the land of) Ararat,” i.e. a country known to the ancient Assyrians as Urartu (Downing, 1972, p. ix).

The region of Ararat was then invaded by the Armenians after the Urartian kingdom, plagued by Assyrian and Cimmerian attacks, fell to the Medes in 612 B.C. The most momentous event in the national life of Armenia, however, and the event which was the chief determining factor in the early history of the country, was the change of religion made by the adoption of Christianity, which was finally established by Tiridates (A.D. 286-342).

By this the Armenians were entirely severed from the pagan Persians and brought into close contact with the Greeks, whose representative was then the Emperor of Byzantium. As a result of this religious agreement, a treaty was concluded in 319 between Tiridates and Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome, by which the two Christian monarchs bound themselves to defend each other against all pagans.

The adoption of Christianity meant, to the Armenians, a revolution in their whole view of life, a severance from their ancestral beliefs, though these beliefs have left traces in Armenian folklore which are visible even to this day. These beliefs and the folklore arising out of them were regarded by the Christian clergy as a poisonous flower grown up in the fields of paganism. The historians of the period have chronicled the efforts of the clergy to exterminate every relic of the old faith. Temples were pulled down and churches built in their stead; images and other monuments were broken in pieces; heathen books and records were destroyed; pagan festivals were turned into Christian ones. We learn from Faustus of Byzantium that laws were even made against the use and the singing of pagan songs (Boyajian, 1916, p. 151).

Nevertheless, despite the fact that the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian Churches took the place of the old religions in Europe and across western Eurasia, this applied mainly to the urban centers.

Beyond the borders of Rome's control, in the most northern and eastern fringes and on the western isles, and in the rural environments amongst the "country folk" or pagani, the old religions continued, pejoratively designated after them as Paganism. Even when officially Christianized, the religion of the Pagans remained an assimilation, merely an overlay of the newer cults, or it passed unnoticed under other names, with its myths and beliefs adapting and surviving primarily in less objt'ctionnble forms such as folktales and bizarre or quaint festival rites (Kuck, Staples, et al., 2007, p.3).

And this is very much what occurred in the case of Armenian paganism too. Not only can reminders be found in the traditional dances, songs, and rites still being performed, but also in the folktales still being told. Even after so many centuries of Christianity in Armenia, elements of paganism live on in the country to this day. Moreover, the origins of Armenian paganism could well date back even further into the distant past, when shamanism would have been practiced in the land.

Their concept of the soul, for example, would indicate that this was likely --- the belief that departed bad souls could pursue the living, resulting in their soul loss:

Since it was believed that the soul left the mouth in death, it lived on apart from the body and was invisible. It could assume physical shape somewhat smaller than the body, or an animal shape, the most important of which was a bird ... Even inanimate objects, such as trees, were associated with soul beliefs, and the poor health of a tree symbolized that the human owner was in danger, too.

Departed souls could appear as good or evil. Good ghosts were associated with angels and holy beings; bad ghosts were considered to be the souls of sinners ... In the shape of animals or men these unclean souls appeared before men and brought misfortune to them. Such departed bad souls constantly pursued the living and were eager to take them along. To prevent this, the living flattered the dead with attention and honored them with a Funeral. They provided a hokeh-hatz (funeral dinner) with abundant food for the mourners. If, however, flattery was ineffective, the evil force of the soul might be destroyed by eating part of the dead man's heart, which was, and still is, considered the seat of the soul.

... The belief that the soul of the departed needs special care exists even today. Special prayers for the peace of the departed are still said in church and until recently were chanted in individual homes on Saturday nights over the faint glow of incense. On the Monday after Easter the great celebration of Merelotz [Memorial Day] occurs. In Armenia whole families spent the afternoon at the cemeteries of their departed (Hoogasian-Villa, 1966, p.61).

As for the folktales, they can be divided “into wonder tales ... and realistic tales of everyday life ... although this is a rough distinction at best for there are wonder tales with realistic elements in them, and realistic tales not altogether devoid of the marvelous” (Surmelian, 1968, p.11). The tale presented here is of the former type.

Epithets are frequently used in the stories. In The Girl Who Changed Into A Boy, there are the examples of “the King's daughter” and “the old woman's daughter.” We never learn their names, only the name of the horse.

Another feature we find is that formulas are repeated, a popular one being “Whether they traveled a long or short time, only God knows.” Frequently, the following disclaimer appears too: “Whether it happened or not ...” or “there was and there wasn't...” As for the story endings, many are a variation on … “Three apples fell from heaven --- one apple for the storyteller, the second for the person listening to the story, and the third for the whole, wide world.” Another common ending formula is “They attained their happiness. May you attain your happiness, too” (Marshall, 2007, p.xxviii).

A comprehensive introduction by Aram Raffi to the religious beliefs and practices that prevailed in Armenia in pre-Christian times can be found in Armenian Legends and Poems and, as a starting point, it is presented below:

The principal god of Armenia was Aramazd, whom the Armenians called “the Architect of the Universe, Creator of Heaven and Earth.” He was also the father of the other gods. The Armenians annually celebrated the festival of this god on the 1st day of Navasard [which, according to the later calendar of pagan Armenia, was in August], when they sacrificed white animals of various kinds — goats, horses, mules, with whose blood they filled goblets of gold and silver. The most prominent sanctuaries of Aramazd were in the ancient city of Ani in Daranali, the burial-place of the Armenian kings, as well as in the village of Bagavan in Bagravand. Aramazd had an attendant incorporeal spirit, named Tir or Grogh (“writer”), whom he sent to earth to watch men and record in a book their good and evil deeds. After death, human souls were conducted by Tir to Aramazd, who opened the book at each soul's record, in accordance with which he assigned a reward or punishment. In a village near Vargharshapat there was a temple of this god, where the priests interpreted dreams after consulting his oracle. The influence of Tir was great in Armenia, for he was a personification of hope and fear. There are traces of the cult of this god in the Armenian language. It is still usual to hear, used as a curse, the expression, “May Grogh take you!” The son of Aramazd was Mikr, Fire. He guided the heroes in battle and conferred wreaths on the victors. The word nu'himi (“temple”) is derived from Mihr; also some Christian names. One of the months in the ancient Armenian calendar (Mehekan) was named after him. His commemoration-day was celebrated with ... great splendour at the beginning of spring. Fires were kindled in the open market-place in his honor, and a lantern lighted from one of these fires was kept burning in his temple throughout the year. This custom of kindling fires in the spring is still observed in some parts of Armenia.

Although the Persians and the Armenians were both worshipers of Mihr, the conceptions and observances of the two nations differed. The Armenian sacred fire was invisible, but the Persian was material and was kept up in all the temples. For this reason the Armenians called the Persians fire-worshipers. But the Armenians had also a visible fire-god, who, although material, was intangible --- the sun --- to which many temples were dedicated and after which one of the months (Areg) was named. Long after the introduction of Christianity, there was a sect of sun-worshipers existent in Armenia, who were called “Children of the Sun.” A small remnant of them is still supposed to be found, dwelling between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Traces of sun-worship are also evident in the Armenian language and in the Armenian literature of Christian times. Some sayings and phrases are still in use which contain references to sun-worship, such as the expression of endearment, “Let me die for your sun!” and the oath, “Let the sun of my son be witness.”

One of the most famous Armenian goddesses was Anahit, who answered to the Greek Artemis and the Roman Diana. As a daughter of Aramazd she was the benefactress of the whole human race; “through her the Armenian land exists, from her it draws its life; she is the glory of our nation and its protectress;” and for her the ancient Armenians felt intense love and adoration.

Many images and shrines were dedicated to her under the names of “the Golden Mother,” “the Being of Golden Birth,” etc. Every summer there was a festival in her honor. On that day, a dove and a rose were offered to her golden image, whence the day was called Vardavar, which means “the flaming of the Rose.” On the introduction of Christianity, the temple of Anahit was destroyed and her festival became the Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ; it falls in the last days of the year according to the ancient Armenian calendar; but the name “Vardavar” still remains and doves are still set flying on that day.

The sister of Anahit was Astghik (which means “little star” in Armenian), the goddess of beauty, a personification of the moon, corresponding to the Phoenician and Sidonian Astarte. Strange to say, the Persians had no goddess of beauty, but the bright sky of Armenia, its numerous valleys, the torrents running down from snow-capped mountains, the lakes, the cultivated fields and meadows tended to strengthen the sense of beauty, and, therefore, Armenia had a goddess of beauty, who was not to be found in the pantheon of the neighboring country.

The Armenians assigned Astghik a husband worthy of her. He was Vahagn, deified on account of his valor. In ancient songs, he is credited with a miraculous birth. The fires of heaven and earth, and the sea crimson in the light of dawn, travailed to bring him into being. ... Vahagn was called Vishapakagh (Uprooter of dragons), as he cleared the Armenian land of monsters and saved it from evil influences. His exploits were known not only in Armenia, but in the abode of the gods. Having stolen corn from the barns of King Barsham of Assyria, he ran away and tried to hide himself in heaven. From the ears he dropped arose the Milky Way, which is called in Armenia the Track of the Corn-stealer.

The third daughter of Aramazd was Nane or Noone. She was the goddess of contrivance. It was believed by the Armenians that contrivance was a necessary power for a woman, because, in the management of the household, she had to make big things out of small ones, and circumstances were already against her on account of the vicissitudes which Armenia was constantly undergoing.

Sandarnmet, the wife of Aramazd, was an invisible goddess and a personification of the earth. Aramazd sent rain upon her, which brought forth the vegetation on the earth. She came to be a synonym of Hades and was very frequently referred to as such in theological books and in the hymnary of the Christian Church.

Besides these gods of their own, the Armenians also adopted alien divinities. When Tigranes brought a number of Phoenicians to Armenia as prisoners they brought with them their god Ammon, from whose name [some say] comes the word Ammonor, “the day of Ammon” --- the New Year. Assyrian, Arab, and other emigrations also led to the introduction of foreign deities. An Armenian king, when he brought home captives, also introduced the gods of those captives, whose images were placed in the temples beside those of the native gods that they most closely resembled. Even Indian fugitives brought the brother-gods, Demetr and Gisanes, whose images were not like those of the other gods of Armenia, for the images of the gods of Armenia are, as a rule, small, whereas these were very tall, with long black hair and black faces. There was also a great immigration of Jews into Armenia, and this influenced the Armenians in the direction of monotheism. Besides the principal gods, there were also secondary ones. These were spirits, corresponding to angels, who acted as guardians to different classes of natural objects: --- Kadjk (which means “brave ones” in Armenian], who occupied the mountains; Parik, who presided over flocks; and many others.

Water was honored in Armenia as a masculine principle. According to Tacitus (Annals, vi. 37) the Armenians offered horses as sacrifices to the Euphrates, and divined by its waves and foam. Sacred cities were built around the river Araxes and its tributaries. Even now there are many sacred springs with healing powers, and the people always feel a certain veneration towards waters in motion.

There were gods who lived in the waters and destroyed harmful monsters of the deep. There was also a god who breathed out a mysterious atmosphere which destroyed malignant creatures. … All the gods of this class were friendly to agriculturists.

There were also “Haurot-Maurot,” the name of a flower (Hyacinthus raccmosus dodonei) first mentioned by Agathangelos. The Arabs incorporated them in the Quran (ii. 96) as two angels sent down to live in Babel in human circumstances.

Alk, who dwelt in the waters, was a very harmful devil. He used to live in the corners of houses and stables, and in damp places. He had eyes of fire, nails of copper, teeth of iron, and the jaws of a wild boar. He carried a sword of iron in his hand and was a bitter enemy to pregnant women, near whom he sat at the time their child was born.

There were nymphs, who were guardians of women. They wandered through gardens and amid streams, but were invisible. They attended weddings and frequented bathrooms and the women's quarters in general. These nymphs and spirits were innumerable. Every woman was supposed to have a guardian nymph. The nymphs were supposed by some to be immortal and endowed with perpetual youth; others described them as mortal though they never grew old. There was also a group of male spirits who were regarded by some as mortal, by others as immortal. They wandered with the nymphs through forests, gardens, and other open places. They were imagined as very tail, with features like those of men; some were half-man and half-animal. Some were called Parik, “dancers” others Hushkn parik, “dancers to a melody in a minor key.”

In some places, even now, a belief in these nymphs (or fairies) survives. Many stories are told of their beauty, their marvelous dancing, and their wondrous music. They are never called by the name of “nymphs,” but are spoken of by the people of the country as “our betters.” Still in some parts of Armenia, in May and October, a festival is held annually in honor of them, generally by the women in the Public Baths. They assemble early in the morning and remain till late at night, dancing, eating, and bathing. Before the people thought of building temples, they worshiped their gods in forests and on mountains. One of these forests was the Forest of Sos. According to tradition, the son of Ara the Beautiful, Anushavan, who devoted himself to the worship of this sacred place, was called, after the forest Sos. The priests derived oracles from the rustling of the leaves in this holy wood.

Besides temples, which were numerous in Armenia, there were, all over the country, altars and shrines, as well as images and pictures.

To sum up, the pre-Christian religion of Armenia was at first “a kind of nature-worship, which developed into polytheism (Boyajian, 1916, pp.l27-13'l). A great many curious ceremonies are observed by the Armenians in connection with such family events as births, marriages, and deaths. A wedding takes a whole week to celebrate, and when a wealthy farmer dies all the inhabitants of the village are publicly invited by the priest in church to the funeral feast. They have also retained a great many strange superstitious practices, and believe in the existence of a variety of supernatural beings possessing propensities and powers both benevolent and malevolent. In the long winter nights, when the snow lies thick in the streets and on the housetops, the women fancy they hear in the howling of the wind the shouts and laughter of these tricksy beings. And the young women and girls, when the day's tasks are done, gather round the grandmother, who relates strange creepy stories of the pranks of the djinns, or charming romances dealing with peris, magicians and enchanted palaces, while the grandfather, sitting cross-legged in his fur-lined pelisse in the corner of the divan, tells the boys tales of the Armenian heroes of old (Lucy Garnett, Turkish Life in Town and Country, London, 1904, pp.176-82).

#armenia #armenian shaman #Shamanic Journeys Across the Caucasus #michael berman #shamanism #caucasus #ararat #reblog

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aanhsirk · 4 years

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The land of temples -India is home to some of the most beautiful, historic, and architecturally fabulous temples in the world. Often a hot topic for researchers when it comes to building techniques and heights achieved in ancient times as compared to the technological progress achieved in building monuments today. The Tanjore Temple is an architectural marvel, which stumps historians even today.

While this temple is closed temporarily, just like all the others in India, we hope you have enough information around it to plan a trip to this wonder when its doors open.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Thanjavur Brihadeshwara Temple, symbolises heritage and culture of the Tamilnadu state. Locally known as the Thanjavur Periya Kovil, this temple is devoted to Lord Shiva and is one of the largest temples in India. King Raja Raja Cholan had this temple built between 984 A.D. and 1010 A.D. The temple shows the creative skills and affluence of the Chola kingdom

The Brihadeeswarar Temple was completed in around 1010 in the southeastern part of the new capital Thanjavur constructed in the basin of the Kaveri (Cauvery) River by the king of the Chola Dynasty, Rajaraja I (r. 985-1014). It has also been called Rajarajesvara Temple after the king’s name. It is one of the two greatest temples from the age of the Chola Dynasty together with the Rajendra -Cholisvara Temple built in the next new capital, Gangaikondacholapuram, which was constructed by his successor Rajendra I. Those constructions were prodigious national projects showing the Chola Empire’s hegemony in south India.

It is said that the Brihadeeswarar Temple was erected in only seven years. Its precincts are surrounded with cloisters covering an area of 120m by 240m and are also surrounded outside with heavy brick walls for an area of 350m square including a large tank (reservoir).

There is a Nandi Shrine, two continuous extensive Mandapas (worship rooms), an Antarala (antechamber), and a Vimana with a high tower, all in line on the east-west axis.

On the same axis stand Gopurams (temple gateways) of the early phase at the eastern center of the cloister and the brick wall. They are the sole entrance spots to the temple precincts.

Though they are embellished with sculptures, they look much lower than later Gopurams of huge temples in south India, as the height of the Vimana is great in contrast.

The second Gopura on the line of the cloisters is 24m in both width and height, lower than the first Gopura, but its sculptures are larger, with a pair of Dvarapalas (guardian figures) on both sides of the doorway.

In the cloisters surrounding the precincts is a line of Lingas (phalluses), symbol of Shiva, and wall paintings from the Nayaka period on the rear walls delight the eye of pilgrims. This Brihadeeswarar Temple made of granite and brick is the greatest work of the Dravidian (northern) style in its grand scale and high degree of perfection, alongside of the great temple in Gangaikondacholapuram. The development of stone temples in the southern Indian style, having started at the small temples at Mahabalipuram, reached their summit here. It became the model of the temples to be built in south India and Southeast Asia in the period of the Chola Dynasty.

However, after the end of the Chola Dynasty in the 13th century, temple style would change dramatically. Huge Vimanas would not be built anymore, rather temple precincts would be expanded, surrounding the temple in fold upon fold, and constructing only Gopurams in a colossal scale on the four sides. The outer Gopurams would be erected higher, and would eventually attain more than 60m. The relationship of height between the main shrine and its gates would be completely reversed. From this point too, the Brihadeeswarar Temple in Thanjavur is the best representative of orthodox south Indian temple architecture.

Thanjavur Periya Koil is the grandest creation of Cholas and it is visible from any area in Thanjavur, perhaps the only temple with such a characteristic.

This temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Great Living Chola Temples”. The temple became popular all over the country on its 1000th birthday in September 2010. In its commemoration, a rupees postage stamp, featuring the 216 feet tall Raja Gopuram (Vimana) was released by the India Post. A 5 rupee coin was released by the Reserve Bank of India. A 1000 Rupees Commemorative Coin with the same picture on the 5 rupees coin of Thanjavur Periya Kovil will be issued soon. This will be the first 1000 Rupees coin to be released in the Republic of India coinage, but it will not be for public circulation. In April 1954, the Reserve Bank of India had released a 1000 rupees currency note with panoramic view of the temple. Later, during the Indira Gandhi rule, all 1000 rupees notes were demonetized to curtail black money.

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Temple Timeline

The much celebrated ‘Ponnambalam’ (temple with golden roof) at Thillai (Chidambaram) was just a few hours of journey away.

Thiruvarur, the most important ‘Sapta Vitanka Sthalam’, which had the patronage of the Cholas right from the days of Manuneedhi Cholan and Musukuntha Cholan, was also nearby.

So were numerous temples referred to as ‘paadal Petra Sthalangals’ – temples where the Saivite saints Appar, Sundarar, Sambandhar and Manickavasagar had sung Thevaram hymns (religious hymns praising the deeds of Lord Shiva).

Then, what made Rajaraja Cholan build a massive temple in his capital city?

Few centuries back, the Pallavas had given a new dimension to art and architecture. Under their patronage rose the majestic Rathas, Shore Temple and Yali Caves at Mamallapuram. Rajasimha Pallavan built two splendid temples in Kanchipuram ‘Paramesvara Vinnagaram’ and ‘Kailasanathar Kovil’. The latter, dedicated to Lord Siva, held Rajaraja Cholan’s attention. He called it ‘kachchipettu Periya Thali’ (The Big Temple of Kanchipuram). Rajaraja Cholan’s dreams and aspirations were always huge. The visionary he was in all matters, there is no wonder that he envisaged a huge temple to celebrate the power of divinity.

Many a people, have wondered why he chose to build an imposing monument. Did he want to showcase the power and might of his empire by building something colossal? Did he want to stamp his authority and tell the world, ‘Look what I have accomplished?’ Did he want to get rid of sins wrought by years of warfare or get a magical cure to a disease of unknown origin, as some people claim? May be the reason was simple. He wanted to show the whole world the towering presence of God that is everlasting against human life that is highly evanescent.

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let-me-be-your-comet · 5 years

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Happy birthday, Wonderful Wonderful!

Ohhh Wonderful Wonderful, the most appropriately named Killers album, my most favorite...how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

This album just has such a ridiculous level of care and love put into it, it practically bleeds for you, and it really lays Brandon's soul out there for all to see as the lyric writer. It was written as a means of processing something that Brandon had kept secret for years - his wife's struggles with post-traumatic stress and depression, which had just culminated in suicidal ideation before the band reconvened to write this album. Every single song is so cohesive, lyrically and thematically - it is truly an absolute masterpiece of cohesion, a real work of art. Wonderful Wonderful tells a story from start to finish in a way that no other Killers album to date has achieved so successfully, and it's just absolutely gorgeous.

The order of the tracklisting is so very critical in Wonderful Wonderful. It begins with the title track, which sets the stage for the album and discloses its inspiration. It seems to be written from twin perspectives - that of Brandon, as a husband trying to guide and support his wife through struggles, and that of God doing the same.

It's perhaps the most overtly religiously evocative of their songs, which is quite interesting and perhaps indicative of how much they've both leaned on their faith in the last several years as they have struggled with mental health. There is a lot of clever word play couched between the purposeful, biblical language: "Stay on the path that leads to the well - there are many, take the one that leads to the well." Brandon used a drought to symbolize his wife's life throughout the album, continuing into the album art and the stage production. Water symbolizes hope, as it comes to wash out the bad and begin anew. This line, on the surface, calls back to that theme - you're in the midst of a drought, but there is water if you head to the well.

But it has a dual meaning and is also meant to speak to illness vs. health - she is ill, and there are many ways that her story could go, but he is asking her to take the one that leads to wellness. Towards the end, Brandon gets a little more assertive about it - "my arm is reached out, I am here. I'll crush every doubt and every fear, clothesline the shame and you will answer to the rain." He'll be there to support her, if she will confide in him and trust him - he'll help her through the shame and stigma of mental illness, crush the negative feelings and make room for hope instead. This song references that drought/water theme for the first time and tells his wife not to give up hope that things will get better ("Don't you listen to the never; keep praying for rain").

The second track is The Man, which Brandon has said is a kind of last hurrah with his younger, more naïve self. It pokes fun at his perception of what it meant to be a man when he was young and dumb - "Nothing can break me down, don't need no advice - I got a plan." He has said that in the process of writing the album, he realized that his idea of 'being a man' has changed, from a sort of macho, arrogant bread winner to realizing that it's really all about empathy and compassion and trying to be a good person - and the rest of the album puts his new perception of 'manliness' on full display.

Rut and Life to Come are the gatekeepers of this new, empathetic outlook - such a beautiful exercise in the empathy and compassion that he is so proud of cultivating. He wrote Rut from his wife's perspective, trying to get inside her head and understand what she was feeling - without knowing the problem, there can be no solution. He does a beautiful job of portraying the struggle of mental illness, and writes in a way that is not necessarily specific to PTSD - it is versatile enough for the listener to apply the message to any range of struggles or mental illnesses.

"Don't give up on me, 'cause I'm just in a rut - I'm climbing but the walls keep stacking up." The opening lines set the stage so perfectly for the concept of the song, which climaxes in a long, hopeful bridge of "I'll climb and I'll climb" - one that almost goes on too long and in doing so exemplifies the difficult, lengthy battle of recovery from illness.

Life to Come is the sibling of Rut; the very next track is a direct response to its predecessor and this time, we hear Brandon's immediate response to Tana's confession in Rut: "I didn't see this coming, I admit it, but if you think I'll buckle, forget it. I told you that I'd be the one, I'll be there in the life to come." It is a little more raw, less polished than the other tracks on the album. There are moments where his voice is shaky or slightly off-key, perhaps left in on purpose to show the depth of the emotion and conviction that went into this song. The entire track professes his support for her and his belief that she shouldn't feel ashamed of her illness; that he's going to help her get through it, because that's what marriage is for: "I know sometimes you think that I regret it, but I don't remember stumblin' when I said it: I told you that I'd be the one. I was talkin' 'bout the life to come."

The fourth track, Run For Cover, flips the script and tells the story of a man who does not believe that empathy and compassion are important, a politician who does not treat his wife as he should. Brandon speaks to the man's wife and tells her to leave him: "Run while you can, baby - don't look back. You gotta run for cover. Don't be afraid of the fear, that's a played out trap, man - you know you're not the only one." He then writes a verse from her perspective, once again putting his empathetic voice into practice: "It's hard to pack the car when all you do is shame us - it's even harder when the dirtbag's famous." Brandon returns once more as a third party narrator ("There was nothing she wouldn't give just to trust him with her nightmares and her dreams - she's running just to trust him. He's got a big smile, he's fake news, just run for cover - you've got nothing left to lose," and again pleading for the wife to leave her 'dirtbag' of a husband who lacks empathy and compassion.

The next track, Tyson vs. Douglas, is yet another exploration of empathy. This time, Brandon puts himself in the shoes of Mike Tyson as he gets knocked out by Buster Douglas during an iconic fight in 1990. "You're used to winning, how did it feel? Did you hear the screaming? It was unreal...you can hit the shower, fill the place up with steam, close the curtains - but when you woke up, man, it wasn't no dream." He then turns the pen on himself and reflects on his children, who view him as an invincible hero, and the inevitability that he himself will eventually 'go down' like his own hero, Mike Tyson, did.

Some Kind of Love was written in the depths of Brandon's writer's block, borne of his attempts to break through to his wife and connect with her. They were both in dark places: she in the midst of a depressive episode, and he was questioning his own ability to write, as his attempts to suppress his marital struggles in his work had resulted in the inability to create anything worth pursuing.

He did something he's never done before here: he wrote over an instrumental track by Brian Eno, desperate to create something and needing a fully realized musical landscape to work with. "You got the will of a wild bird, you got the faith of a child before the world gets in - you've got some kind of love." Here he pleads with his wife to recognize how strong she is - how he sees her, rather than how she saw herself at that time. It ends with a heartfelt call to her, trying to reach her through her depression and push away the suicidal ideation in the way he feels he communicates best - through music: "Can't do this alone, we need you at home. There's so much to see, we know that you're strong - can't do this alone."

The next song, Out of My Mind, is a sort of monument to his marriage and an ode to his wife, acknowledging their struggles but also celebrating their relationship: "We're building up a kingdom, we pray it never falls...but I can't get you out of my mind." He then lists all of his accomplishments trying to impress her, and reiterates how smitten he is with her throughout the song. It's his attempt to move on, past their struggles - it doesn't matter, her fears were unfounded and he still loves her.

The Calling is yet another piece of his quest to be a better person and inspire others to do the same. It's told through the story of a son, a clergyman, trying to lead his father to a better life: "Follow the son out of the night, brother, just lean into the light." Interestingly, Brandon draws on his own father's experience with gambling when representing the father's troubles: "His hands still shake when the ponies break out onto the track, his feet still quake when they say they want their money back."

The final song, Have All the Songs Been Written?, brings the whole album full circle. It brings back the macho figure from The Man, but now his bravado has been lost: The Man is on top of the world and brags about how he's got "gas in the tank, money in the bank," while this man has been brought low and laments "Has all the gas been siphoned? Do the banks still carry gold?"

It tells of Brandon's mindset at the beginning of the creation of this album, while he struggled with writer's block for the first time in his life: "Have all the songs been written? Has all the truth been told? Have all these years been worth it, or am I the great regret?" This song reiterates his desire to connect with his wife in the midst of her depression and his own struggles with communication, and calls back to his journey while writing Some Kind of Love: "Have all the songs been written? I just need one to get through to you...when the ship is back in the harbor, I will make you happy again - I can see it, I believe it."

From top to bottom, Wonderful Wonderful is just such an absolutely stunning piece of work, a real masterpiece of songwriting and a truly wonderful exercise in cohesive writing. Every song is connected and their meanings are subtly interwoven, creating a true album, not only a collection of songs.

Happy birthday to my very favorite Killers album.

#haters to the left please #the killers #brandon flowers #wonderful wonderful

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mthvn · 6 years

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Truth and simulacrum: whose timeline is it? — Maja Bogojević on Possessed

Factuality itself depends for its continued existence upon the existence of the nontotalitarian world (Hannah Arendt)

Possessed, the latest film made by Metahaven—the collective name of artists and designers Vinca Kruk and Daniel van der Velden—in collaboration with documentary filmmaker Rob Schröder, takes their radical aesthetics and progressive politics a step further from their previous film The Sprawl: Propaganda about Propaganda. Their new hybrid artwork revisits the themes of contradictions and paradoxes of multiple realities, geopolitical landscapes, new technologies, power discourse and ensuing alienation in the age of “post-truth.” Similarly to The Sprawl, this film is not easy to categorise, as it explores the notions of consumer discourse, privacy, secrecy, transparency, surveillance, veiling and unveiling, the impact of social media networks and anarchic utopianism of the internet architecture on our individual and collective lives. Through a documented collage, blending a series of drawings, photographs, animated graphics, documentary footage and fictional reconstruction, it refers to various socio-historical narratives and their processes of subordination, power and inequality, commented upon by a single but multi-fold voice-over in a non-linear narrative, which breaks and fragments in order to not only reflect the fragmentation of multi-layered realities we live in, but also to challenge them.

Possessed begins with the images of burning smart phones, war-devastated cities and landscapes, and a water spring flowing over large dark stones, overlapping with the opening narrated question:

“Would you believe?”

These first spoken words trigger a series of questions relating to the search not of the ultimate truth, but of potential truths amidst fakeness and a fixed set of beliefs regardless of the information overload diversity. The answer is, inevitably, “no”.

But the answer to the question “Would you believe in angels?” is, in the age of cynicism and hypocrisy, a surprising “yes”. This abruptly shifts the initial dystopian tone, foreshadowing the underlying final humanistic message of the film, although “there is no hope” (“what for?”) and there is no answer to the question “would you love?”, followed by the sound of a human breathing next to a smartphone. In this prologue, before the opening credits unfold, Possessed suggests in medias res that the centre of the human universe is a smartphone. The next image shows more clearly a girl lying on a bare mattressed bed, in a ruined house devoid of any furniture, with the presence of only one object—a smartphone. She greets the viewers with the words—both vocal and written—“welcome to the modern age”, followed by:

“You may think that this is a house. But there is no house. You may think that this is a girl. But there is no girl. Don’t ask me who I am.”

Examining the complex mutual relationship between the socio-political context and the work of art which documents the historic period it emerged in, the words are intercut with film negatives of houses, a helicopter, the ‘invisible’ humans (“you never noticed me, I wouldn’t be missed”), a footage of Pope Francis, all accompanied with smartphone selfies made with a raised arm in front of the masses of people and monuments.

“When I was young, I was quiet, I didn’t talk with the others, we never talk, we message… All tenderness is radical in a broken world”… “I want to know, what is a devil today? Do you want to hear the truth? Let the suffering speak. I am a breathing fragment of nothingness. Who lives or dies to care for me.”

This verbal segment is intercut with the images of the cross and a drawing of a hand collaged with the real human arm holding a smartphone, as the new disease to be cured of (by exorcism) seems to be—the reality. The raised arm holding a smartphone becomes the pervasive film symbol—it is present in Vatican, over the heads of a faceless mass, in restaurants, in shopping centres, in our empty homes, in the streets, it is everywhere—questioning the beliefs of people. Religion becomes a kind of superstition, because no matter what people ‘know’ in the information age, they still interpret the world and the reality according to their pre-existing fixed set of beliefs.

As Hannah Arendt puts it (in The origins of totalitarianism): “The true goal of totalitarian propaganda is not persuasion, but organization of the polity. ... What convinces masses are not facts, and not even invented facts, but only the consistency of the system of which they are presumably part of”.

Reconstructing artefacts of the recent and not-so-distant past, the film combines images, videos, TV, satellite/drone footage and an original narration into a seemingly incoherent and fragmented filmic reality, with many (meta)textual/discourse references, including videos of: Pope Francis in Rome, ruined Vukovar, Cologne, Aleppo, US soldiers’ flash mob dance in Afghanistan, Dubai fire and sandstorms, hurricane Katrina, migrant lines in Slovenia, queues of people in urban centres, glacier bridge collapse, statue of Liberty etc. Images of war-torn countries show demolished buildings, torn books, deserted homes with personal belongings left behind, posters hanging on the walls, newspapers, religious symbols etc.

The multiplication of simultaneously run narratives and realities and fragmentation of both the individual and the collective are reflected in the film along the axis of mainstream media/state/corporate structures vs. people/media users/consumers, conveying the notion that our agency in the information process is taking less and less responsibility. The more fake news we are served, the more the ‘truth’ becomes important: the mainstream media (and political leaders) have never been more obsessed with it, insisting in their marketing slots that they are all “telling the truth”, echoing Hannah Arendt’s visionary words: “Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow.”

And:

“The danger is not actual despotic control but fragmentation—that is, a people increasingly less capable of forming a common purpose and carrying it out. Fragmentation arises when people come to see themselves more and more atomistically, otherwise put, as less and less bound to their fellow citizens in common projects and allegiances.” (The origins of totalitarianism)

But because of the new media interface, there is a new level of complex fragmentation along the axes privacy/secrecy/transparency/surveillance and control/enslavement, causing a ‘mental implosion’, in Baudrillard’s terms—“simulacrum has been brought to perfection in the 21st century thanks to media interface.” The collaged images of face recognition software, smart phone pervasiveness, the statue of Liberty, war-devastated buildings, torn books, “god land” with a Vodafone tower in the background suggest that mainstream media and dominant consumer discourses tailor their surveillance methods according to the selling/consuming axis or what they perceive as fit for their consumers’ needs. What the overload of information has brought is the illusory display of capitalist consumers’ choices (various kinds of coffee, carrot cakes, brownies, smoothies), but there are no nuances in interpretation of cultural texts, and this precisely helps to sustain the capitalist order. As corporate profit dictates consumers’ privacy, Baudrillard’s “mental involution” (a phone is melting like a brain could be melting) is bound to materialise, leading to the loss of the autonomy of the agency, the collapse of subjectivity. The imaginary enemy is ‘identified’, the crisis is created, and innocents die as a result.

“The truth?”, the narrator asks and answers: “Let the suffering speak”.

Metahaven’s concept of black transparency is reminiscent of Baudrillard’s concept of simulacrum “Simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth, but the truth conceals that it’s not there. Simulacrum is true.” One fact can arise from many models simultaneously and this anticipation and confusion between the fact and its model leaves space for all possible interpretations, even the most contradictory ones. This is how the politically anomalous - what was regarded as political aberration – can become normalcy.

Hypocrisy, carnage of profile, masked identities, faceless multitudes…

“I grew up in a city of great wealth and beauty” – these words, as it is made clear by subsequent images, allude to the baroque town of Vukovar, destroyed in the Yugoslav war - the first majorly destroyed European town in a battle since World War 2. A sign reads “18. 11. 1991 - Vukovar, sjecate se?” (“do you remember?”), with a series of images of a ghost town, with decaying, deserted streets, demolished buildings and houses, dead bodies, streams of survivors fleeing… reminiscent of today’s devastated Syria. The authenticity of such footage images evokes the importance of the responsibility of the human race in the face of war crimes and atrocities committed by humans.

Possessed, therefore, wants to remind of and challenge human indifference. The shots show rooms empty of furniture but full of books and papers from the period of the existence of Yugoslavia (which was also the leader of the non-aligned movement of the so-called third-world countries): Marxism, Kumrovecki zapisi, Danas: Jugoslavija, samoupravljanje, svijet, Class struggle and socialist revolution etc. These and images of “red” books bargains, Mao posters, Russian symbols, accompanied by the sound of a Croatian traditional song (“Spavaj spavaj diticu”, to make a clear reference to the war in Croatia), are a testimony to the recent European past, as well as a statement against general amnesia that has marked both post-industrial and post-communist societies.

But, “the war is always somewhere else”. The photo of a passport is aligned next to the photos of war tanks, weapons and military airplanes. Footage shows US soldiers rejoicing and dancing to the sampled “music” of gunshot sounds in Afghanistan.

The ‘others’ imply that their bodies are more disposable and mortal, and the pain of ‘others; seems to be peripheral to the human masses, in spite of the power of photography and media. We have face recognition software, but what and how much of human suffering do we recognize in a photo/image? We get an easy automated response to our (consumer tailored) needs (Siri, hello?), but show no reactions to others. We appear to have google maps that locate everything, but there seem to be no ‘maps for human suffering’. “As one can become habituated to horror in real life, one can become habituated to the horror of certain images,” states Susan Sontag in Regarding the pain of others.

Statements such as “we obey a fictional eye” and “our faces were attuned to a watchful eye—to adjust to being seen and shared” question and interpellate the capacity of reason and observation, even ‘common sense’ of the uniform masses, as well as the authority of god.

Indifference ‘to the pain of others’ is underscored by the repeated images of selfies and posing smilingly for selfies with a stick – a prolonged arm for the phone, restaurant images of food and drinks and a supply of a crane for “the ultimate selfie” in order to share the ultimate happiness with the world. Thus, we have cranes for photos to be shared on social media and drones for more arrogant photos and bombs. In parallel realities, innocent people die and disappear in wars, but we insist on more of our presence around the globe, offering our joy to the world.

But is this happiness fake or real? If it is real, how real is it? Do we know we are happy or do we act by orders? “Smile, be happy.” The collapse of the subject in post-modern age of neo-totalitarianism, post-truth and post-Trump?

In The origins of totalitarianism, Arendt stated decades ago: “In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true. ... Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness”.

As the mutations of the image follow the shifts of historical narratives, so the collapse of the subject as well as networks seems to be imminent. A pamphlet-like verbal segment declares: “Delete your own self, the networks collapse… the screen is crushed, instagram and facebook collapse”, raising a new set of questions: have smartphones become more clever than our brains? Do we base our knowledge on networks? Will our subjectivity collapse with the collapse of networks? Will our arm break together with the stick for selfies?

“The arrogance of the camera. This helicopter won’t come to the rescue. It will patiently film my killing”.

These words echo Susan Sontag’s statement that “the shock can become familiar: the ultra-familiar, ultra-celebrated image—of an agony, of ruin—is an unavoidable feature of our camera-mediated knowledge of war”. By analogy, they also mirror Glauber Rocha’s famous words that “the camera is a lie” or Jean-Luc Godard’s that “film is a reflection of the reality or the reality of reflection?”

The irony and powerlessness of the proliferation of narratives and realities can be demonstrated further by another example (not shown in the film): the phenomenon of Ron Haviv’s photo taken during the Bosnian war in March 1992, and used by Jean-Luc Godard in his video masterpiece Je vous salue, Sarajevo (1993), which pictures the Serbian soldier Srdjan Golubovic treading over a Bosnian female victim’s head; Srdjan Golubovic later became a famous DJ Max performing in various night clubs in Serbia, until he was arrested in 2012 not as a war criminal, but for possession of drugs.

“Good citizen, happy citizen, legal citizen, undocumented person, see-through person… I travelled here from far… I tried to forget what happened to me before I fled. No one believes me. I have to be the evidence. I’m my own document”

This verbal narrative is intercut with the images of identity papers shown at borders, finger print scan check at airports, and “Ausländer” signs & grafitti, showing that, in spite of techno advances in industrial capitalism that might signal the arrival of a cyborg citizenship, the Western context, actually, reflects the return to hierarchy of white capitalist patriarchy, struggling with transculturality (which is one of the most significant influences of late post-modernity in Europe) and becoming more homogenous, closed and insecure at a time of increasing fascism and racism.

“You were quiet, you never talked”. “I” becomes “you” as an older “I” (the new generation) speaks to “you” in the future “that you never saw coming”.

“Will it be enough to love yourself?”

Contradictions and paradoxes of technology suggest that human bodies have become a source of maximum exploitation in the visual age: is it the end of the image, the end of knowledge, of imagination? Is the future foreseeable based on facebook, instagram and twitter? New forms of expression and representation are needed to reflect the changing and challenged subjectivity in the process of becoming autonomous agents of knowledge.

As the film title suggests, we are all ‘possessed’ by multiple master narratives: by technological advances, corporate structures, general amnesia, by the collapsed subject, beliefs that border on superstition, by our “shared” need to broadcast our lives to the world, selfies, fake smiles, illusory happiness (“the device did one thing really well – it made us always smile”), fake choices, fake needs created by fake consumerist capitalist discourse, by our own voyeurism and exhibitionism, by insanity and monstrosity of political leaders, powerful consumerist discourse, by our own powerlessness and indifference, failure to take responsibility, by the absence of empathy and love (“love yourself”), possessed by our own negligence to use our ‘cultural mirror’ in the midst of the collapse of the notions of self, knowledge and truth. We have timelines, but no time in the age of multiplication of signifiers and the collapse of the signifieds.

“If I had all faith, but have no love, I am nothing. Love is patient and kind, it doesn’t envy or boast, it’s not arrogant or rude… it rejoices with the truth.”

The acknowledgement of the ‘fact’ that we forgot how to love adds a new ontological dimension to Metahaven’s visual research, a more hopeful one than most current sci-fi dystopian narratives, as the present reality we live in, not the imaginary future, is already dystopian. In other words, the imaginary of the social and technological can be equally democratising and constraining, but if approached responsibly, it will rather be the former.

By analogy to Alain Badiou’s Eloge de l’amour (2009), this new neither/nor space, which is not free of imperfections, but is free of estranging social confines and prohibitions, can work as an “angel of love”, a new imaginary space for a human encounter that may never occur, but could create a new unrestrained space of love and empathy.

Such an ending, in spite of the detached, almost robotic youthful voice-over, may offer a much needed disalienating, humanistic message, simultaneously subversive and self-authenticating, as the technological and hyper-rational advancements don’t necessarily imply human progress - to paraphrase Hemingway’s words: the invention of an airplane doesn’t mean that we move faster than a horse. An alternative to this ending is the return to pre-social, pre-linguistic, pre-discursive and – pre-technological, as the final images show warehouses in ruins, desolate lands and several masked women, wearing scarves to hide faces (with emojis, stickers & comic strip captions, designed by Metahaven), whispering inarticulately with their black shadows and holding big stones instead of smartphones.

Finally, in a call to challenge the structure of subjectivity, socio-political relations and the social imaginary that supports it, Possessed transforms the current debate of the binary opposition truth/facts and lies into questions of interpretation and epistemology, contextualising them, further, to not only how something is interpreted but who it is interpreted by (are we ‘preaching’ only to the converted?), who are the agents of knowledge and how newly gained knowledge serves to justify the existing beliefs of the masses. In other words, whose timeline is it?

This is, of course, only one of possible interpretations of the multilayered filmic reality.•

Maja Bogojević (PhD) is a freelance film theorist/critic, founder and editor-in-chief of the first Montenegrin film magazine, Camera Lucida, founder and President of the Fipresci section of Montenegro, and a member of FEDEORA and UPF. She has been, until recently,_ _film theory professor and Dean of Faculty of Visual Arts at Mediteran University Podgorica, and, previously, the Dean of Faculty of Arts at the University of Donja Gorica.

#majabogojevic #possessed #metahaven #robschröder

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theadamantium · 6 years

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Harri’s Travel Blog - India 2018

Over the past decade, I’ve been quite fortunate to travel a decent chunk of this globe. But like anything so special, no matter how satisfying an experience, I am always hungry for more. I developed a fixation for culture. For every item I’ve crossed off the bucket list, I seem to add six others. But I will admit, India wasn’t on that list before.

India was my Mom’s dream. It was the top of her list and she wanted to experience it before she was “too old.” Meet my Mom for five minutes and you’ll see it’ll be a long time before she’s too old for anything. I knew she wanted to have this experience with me, her spoiled only child, before he was tied down with too many commitments. So I said, “let’s do it!” My Mom and I travel very well together. We have similar get-up-and-go styles and a do-it-all-while-you’re-here mentality. My Mom won’t shy away from long drives, elephant rides, local participation, live music, and exotic foods. As our guide would put it, “The heart of the mother becomes the soul of the child.” As I started doing research prior to our trip I began to see why India was such a priority for my Mom.

The Itinerary

As a quick outline of our plan, we set out to tackle The Golden Triangle – New Delhi, Agra & Jaipur – with a stop in Ranthambore National Park in the middle and a few extra days heading west to Jodhpur and Udaipur. Fun India fact, cities ending in ‘Pur’ were ruled by Hindu kings, while cities ending in ‘Bahd’ were ruled by Muslim kings.

On out first day in India we met with our guide, Raj, and our driver, Mr. Singh. We’d all be paired together for the next two weeks. Lucky for us, we made an excellent team. Mr. Singh was a quiet man and a traditional Sikh. He is a professional. He was never late and always available for us when we needed. He was shy so didn’t say much, but as he came to realize the easy going people my Mom and I are, he loosened up and became very honest with us.

Raj on the other hand, had the gift of the gab. He loved to share his wisdom and stories from his life and experiences. He enjoys his life’s work and looks at being a tour guide as his responsibility to show off his country and provide his guests with the best experience possible. We told Raj from the start we were excited for the sites, but we also wanted a real India experience and this thrilled him. He treated us as travelers and not as tourists and made special added arrangements to give us the India trip we wanted. More on this later.

Culture

Sightseeing is always special and an important part of travel. However, as I’ve become a more experienced traveler my trips have become less defined by these sights as it has about meeting the people and experiencing the life and culture. Not only is this the best way to expand your worldly knowledge, but I truly believe it is one of the best ways to get to know yourself and expel your own ignorance. Most of what I learned on this trip didn’t come from palaces or safaris but rather walking through local bazaars, attending religious rituals or just witnessing the local life that surrounded us as we passed through town to town.

Making our way through India was very humbling. I don’t need to explain how little many of the people own and the cleanliness of their conditions. But this is the life they know and they seem just as happy with it as I am with my own. Who are we to say this is a worse quality of life? The people of these small villages have a strong work ethic, sense of community, family pride and undying faith. Are these not life’s core values? One may not have this same outlook in the large cities as your experiences can certainly be clouded by the tip chasers and pushy salesmen. Often when we’d stop in one of these small towns or villages, the locals would crowd around us out of curiosity. We’d be the talk of the town and the young people would request a photo with us.

Of course, a trip to India would not be complete without its culture shocks. Sharing the roads with cows, donkeys, camels and elephants, straight men holding hands, curry for breakfast, recreational mathematics (including upwards of 15 channels on television dedicated to it), and the importance of cricket (I still don’t understand how this overcomplicated, slower and longer version of baseball works) are some of the traditions that would take me some time to adapt to. One of the most shocking sights to a Westerner or European is the number of swastikas painted or carved into important religious structures. This one requires explaining as this symbol does not mean the same thing as we are accustomed to. The swastika is a religious mark the Nazis adopted from Indian culture, alternating the direction in which it points.

Taj Mahal

Unlike the rest of the trip, I had an expectation for the Taj Mahal. It’s impossible not to. It was at the centre of our itinerary requirements and has been declared one of the manmade wonders of the world. So, in fact, expectations were pretty high. But I’m happy to report it did not disappoint.

Mahal which means palace, was built by the king, Shah Jahar, to monument his love for his wife, Mumzel Mahal. This work of perfect symmetry took 26 years to build and was originally supposed to have an identical twin in black marble. Meanwhile, I complain about spending $100 on an overpriced meal for two in Toronto. But if I had the means of a king, maybe I’d build a monument for Margot Robbie in hopes that she’d be my queen. But I digress.

Much like Margot, it’s impossible to take a bad photo of the Taj. We arrived at sunrise as the golden rays reflected off the dome and towers - A photographer’s fantasy. Additionally, Raj had called upon a friend, a young boy named Raja who knew all the best spots to get photos around the premises. I could have stayed there all day snapping Nat Geo worthy (please see contact page to all Nat Geo editors reading this) and potential profile pics with this mega babe, but I guess an extra hour would have to do. Within hours the photo I posted with the Taj became one of my most liked photos on my personal Instagram.

Inside the Taj is basically a large marble room with the tomb of Mumzel Mahal. Although beautiful, it was maybe the only underwhelming part of the Taj. What did I expect? An exotic bazaar, curry buffet, and a Bollywood production of Rocky Horror starring India’s best and most beautiful maybe?

The Taj is located in the city of Agra. A fascinating but poor place with rundown buildings, street vendors and roaming cows. How can a city which brings in so much tourism be so poor you ask? Most of the money earned by the Taj goes back into restoration of the masterpiece. As well as the landmarks, I enjoy experiencing and photographing local culture. I found Agra fascinating but after consulting with Raj, it wasn’t a safe place for me to explore on my own. So instead I found myself taking video clips with my iPhone from the vehicle window.

Driving

If you think driving downtown is stressful. Try driving anywherein India. Stop signs, traffic lights and speed limits only exist in major cities like New Delhi. “Rules are suggestions in India,” Raj explained to us and then joked, “This is a sign that we live in a democracy.” Seatbelts are optional. Signaling is optional. Braking is optional. Driving on the correct side of the road... optional. However, using your horn continuously is mandatory.

It’s not uncommon in India to see vehicles getting bumped, families of five with infants riding a single motorbike without helmets, a bus so crowded some passengers are riding on the roof, and cows casually strolling across the highway. On our second day, we saw a van making a right-hand turn, crash into two women on a motorbike, knocking them over. Something I have never seen in my life before. Luckily no one was hurt. The van did stop to check if they were alive. The two women stood up, dusted themselves off and were on their way again. No exchange of insurance necessary.

Horns aren’t so much used as a way to let someone know how pissed off you are but rather as a tool to let the person in front of you know they’re approaching or passing quickly. For you see it is quite possible the road is being held up by a camel tow, tractor with an overweight load of chaff, or a herd of goats.

Tipping

Ugh.

Call me a cheap bastard. But I dislike the custom of tipping. I’m used to tipping service people - waiters, drivers, barbers, etc. But in India you tip everyonefor everything, and they expect it. On our daily adventures and discoveries, we found the people of India to be very friendly and considerate. But when it comes to service it can become difficult to distinguish genuine kindness from wallet plunging. Some days I felt like a sultan in a strip club, leaving a trail of dollar bills behind me.

After an exchange of pleasantries with someone, I’d often find them awkwardly lingering until I realized they were waiting for a payout. As we’d come out of our hotel room, a cleaner would be standing in front of you already or appear out of nowhere like something out of a horror movie and repeatedly ask if everything is satisfactory with the room. To the point where I felt like I was paying to get rid of them.

Activities that we’d consider common courtesy (like holding the door open for someone) we’d be expected to tip for. I used the gym at one of the hotels and asked the receptionist if someone could turn on the music. A man came ten minutes later while I was on the treadmill and did so. He then stood behind the treadmill and asked more than once if the music was to my liking. Unfortunately for him, this effort would not be a profitable one. For one, I very much don’t like being interrupted in the middle of a workout. And secondly, who carries cash in their sweaty workout gear?

See, my issue isn’t to do with the money (mostly). The tented camp we stayed at in Ranthambore adjusted this tradition in the right way, in my opinion. Instead of tipping the service people individually, you left something in a tip box upon checkout which was equally distributed upon the service people. This removed the sense of false friendliness.

Maybe I should just move to Australia or Japan.

Safari

Going on safari in Kenya and Tanzania was one of the best experiences of my Mom and I’s lives. So, we decided we wanted to slightly detour to include a few game drives in Ranthambore in an attempt to spot some wild tigers. The state of Rajasthan is one of few territories remaining that is home to the tiger. We were well warned by booking agents, guides, and naturalists that due to the dwindling number of wild tigers (only 64 remaining in Ranthambore) there is no guarantee you will see one. Tigers are also solitary animals that don’t travel in packs, making them even more difficult to track and spot. But I won’t lie, our hopes were quite high to see one. Twenty minutes into our first game drive, “Hey, there’s three tigers!” A mama and two young.

Our second and third game drive weren’t quite as lucky. Ranthambore National Park is split into ten zones, but because we booked late we only had access to zones 6-10. Our afternoon drive was in zone 10 and was pretty much baron and completely dried up. I kept picturing a collection of wildlife having a disco in a lush jungle paradise in zone 1. Our naturalist received a call saying one of the male tigers was hanging out back at the entrance to the zone, with our permission the 4x4 driver hit the gas and drove like an Indian version of Schumacher, who drifted corners and cliffs like human Mario Kart. We rattled around the vehicle, jumping close to a foot off our seat at times. Imagine riding the ricketiest coaster at Canada’s Wonderland (definitely The Wild Beast) without a seatbelt... for 30 minutes! Of course, by the time we reached the entrance, buddy had peaced. But it was one helluva ride to remember and we had some enjoyable back pain as a souvenir. Poor Mom!

Highlights

Other than Adam’s quam with tipping, it sounds like our trip was all sunshine and rainbows (well it was a lotof sunshine, complete with 41-degree heat). But no trip is complete without a few bumps. A group of young over-privileged women who felt entitled to party in the hotel hallway at the expense of everyone else on the same floor cost us a night’s sleep in Jaipur. I also had a 24-hour battle with food poisoning, complete with six accounts of projectile vomiting. But no amount of curry spewing from my nose (spicy!) was going to hinder my experience!

As mentioned above, Raj went that extra mile to create great memories for us to take home. Two of these trip extras became highlights of our travels. On our second day in Delhi he took us to the biggest Sikh temple in the city at the time of ceremony. Not only was the white & gold temple breathtaking but it allowed us to spend some time with a group of people we knew very little about. To honor tradition, we entered without shoes and our heads covered with a bandana. We spent a few moments meditating in the temple over song before Raj took us to the “kitchen.” The Sikh people of this particular temple prepare food and feed 60,000 locals every day voluntarily. I used the word kitchen in quotes, because someone from Canadian Health and Safety would have an aneurism after one look at this room. Everything was prepared in giant vats and no one wore gloves or even socks. Mom and I helped make Chapatti, and weren’t even asked to wash out hands. But alas, the Indian iron stomach can withstand just about anything. We were so grateful for this experience as it broke so many barriers of ignorance and replaced them with a foundation of respect and appreciation. Fun India fact, all Sikhs change their name to Singh. So what happens at a Sikh gathering when there is a phone call asking for Mr. Singh?

After being so intrigued by many of the villages we drove through on our commutes, I said to Raj that I would like to stop in a local village. He was pleased I asked as he had a friend who ran a village between our drive from Jodhpur to Udaipur. Upon arrival, we were greeted with great pleasure by Raj’s friend and shown around. We got to meet the elders of the village, who offered us tea (and opium). But the most rewarding part, maybe of the entire trip, was visiting the local school. We went into two tiny classrooms to meet the children, about age 6-10. They were so ecstatic to see us. Their little faces glowing with excitement as they bounced around on their chair or floor and each one of them wanted to shake our hands. More than any heart could handle without melting on the spot. Even as we had to leave, the boys were poking their heads out the window and door to wave at us.

I can’t thank Raj & Mr. Singh enough for their enthusiasm, patience and hospitality. To say I enjoyed my time in India would be a vast understatement. Most important to me was that Mom got the experience she was hoping for. I was happy to come along for the ride (and family time). That mission was a success and I think Mom came back more satisfied than she even expected. I hadn’t set expectation for myself and was therefore overwhelmingly surprised with the experience and the richness of the culture. So much so that some of the (many) other parts of India that we weren’t able to reach on this trip have now made “the list.”

Note: More photos from my professional camera to be shared on the blog as I get around to editing them. All photos above are from my iPhone 8 Plus.

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geminitraveller · 4 years

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Art Encounter Through the Years: The First Encounters

It was in France and Spain that I got the so-called baptism of fire in the appreciation of arts. My first museum visit was in Paris at Musée d’Orsay, home of the largest collection of Impressionist paintings in the world. It was by accident that we got to the Orsay as we would have preferred to visit the Louvre instead. But the lines were long and we didn’t have time to wait that long. I never regretted the visit to the Orsay. It is a bit smaller and more manageable than the Louvre. Smaller is a relative word because the Musée d’Orsay is actually not small. You could easily spend the whole day exploring it. It’s just that the Louvre is humongous and needs several days to explore.

Since it was my first museum visit, overwhelmed is an understatement to describe it. I was mesmerized and dumbfounded to say the least. Never in my life have I imagined these many great artists and their beautiful artworks exist and that you can spend a whole day exploring them ad still you didn’t finish looking at all of them. And this was just a single museum. How many museums like this are there in the world?

Bal du Moulin de la Galette (1876) Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France

One of the few artworks that I remembered admiring then was Bal du Moulin de la Galette, one of Renoir’s most important works and one of Impressionism’s most highly revered masterpieces.

The Moulin de la Galette was an open-air dance hall in Paris in the 1870s. Open-air dance halls were very popular in 19th-century France and were a great source of entertainment for the people. Most people went there not to dance, but just to watch the dancers and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) is a French painter from Limoges in the middle of France. He is one of the founders of Impressionism, together with artists like Cézanne, Degas, Manet, and Monet. The Impressionists focused on the effects of light and often painted outside. Renoir’s opinion about art was that it should be pretty and he mostly painted very happy scenes.

The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1586) El Greco. Iglesia de Santo Tomé, Toledo, Spain

On my visit to Toledo, an ancient city an hour away from Madrid, I became a fan of Mannerist painter El Greco who calls Toledo his home. The above artwork was the first time an artwork was explained extensively by a local tour guide and so it was quite memorable. I listened intently, amazed at how much details an artist can reveal in his work.

The Burial of the Count of Orgas is widely considered one of El Greco’s masterpieces. The painting depicts a popular legend, regarding the Count of Orgas, who was a pious man, and who upon his death left a large sum of money to the church. The legend tells that Saint Stephen and Saint Augustine descended from heaven at his funeral and buried them with their own hands. Andres Nunes, the parish priest of Sao Tome, was the commissioner of the work, who intended it for a project to refurbish the Count’s burial chapel. According to the commission, the observers of the burial were to be portraits of the notable men of Toledo at the time. Included also are portraits of El Greco and his son, the only two people in the painting looking front at the viewer. The artist signed his name in the handkerchief of his son. All the small details pointed to us by the guide as we viewed this masterpiece.

Domenikos Theotokopoulos, other wise known as “El Greco” due to his Greek heritage, was a popular Greek painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. He was a master of post-Byzantine art by the age of 26, when he traveled to Venice, and later Rome, where he opened his first workshop. Unlike other artists, El Greco altered his style in order to distinguish himself from other artists of the time, inventing new and unusual interpretations of religious subject matter. He created agile, elongated figures, and included a vibrant atmospheric light. After the death of Raphael and Michelangelo, he was determined to leave his own artistic mark, and offered to paint over Michelangelo’s Last Supper to Pope Pius V. His unconventional artistic beliefs (his dislike of Michelangelo included), along with his strong personality, led to the development of many enemies in Rome, especially the hostilities of art critics.

Las Meninas (1656) Diego Velázquez. Baroque. Museo Nacional Del Prado, Madrid, Spain

Back to Madrid, on our last day, I chose to visit Museo Nacional del Prado, the main Spanish national art museum. This time I am prepared to face a multitude of artworks. But based on what I saw in Musée d’Orsay, I was not prepared to see a different kind of art - Spanish art and the prevalence of the Baroque style. From the many works of art at the Prado, Las Meninas has caught my eye. I lingered longer in front of this art piece than at any other works. Something in it is unique from my untrained but appreciative eye. You must remember that internet was still in its infancy in 1999. I was new in art and I didn’t know that this was one of the most important artworks in history. Only when I researched back home did I understand the importance of this work in art.

“One of the most famous and controversial artworks of all time, Las Meninas (The Maids of Honour) is regarded as a dialogue between artist and viewer, with its double mirror imagery and sketchy brushwork that brings every figure and object in the room to life" - from the book, 30,000 Years of Art. "Painters as diverse as Goya, Manet, Sargent and Picasso have been inspired to create copies and adaptations after Velázquez’s masterpiece.”

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV, and one of the most important painters of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners, culminating in the production of his masterpiece Las Meninas.

The Garden of Earthly Delights (1503-1515) Hieronymus Bosch. Northern Renaissance. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain

Another work of note which has impressed me at the Prado was The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. The intricacy of the work is amazing and a short glance was simply not enough. There is a story you have to look for and many small details to examine which made me remember the work.

By far the best known and most ambitious work, The Garden of Earthly Delights illustrates Bosch’s individual artistic style, containing the most vivid imagery and complexity of symbolic meaning. The triptych is generally thought to be a warning of the dangers of giving in to temptation, but has been subject to vast amounts of conjecture and scrutiny, and critics and historians are split in two directions. Whereas some believe that the middle panel, which depicts a fantastical world of nudes in sexual engagement, large fruits, and other suggestive elements, is simply an illustration of paradise lost, others believe that it is a moral warning, which will lead you to hell, as it is depicted in the third panel of the series. Although there are many contradictory explanations, it is generally thought to be a warning against lust, one of the seven deadly sins.

Hieronymus Bosch born Jheronimus van Aken c. 1450 – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work contains fantastic illustrations of religious concepts and narratives. Within his lifetime his work was collected in the Netherlands, Austria, and Spain, and widely copied, especially his macabre and nightmarish depictions of hell.

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Staue in bronze by Sabino de Medina . Plaza del Museo, Seville, Spain

During my first visit to the city of Seville, I chanced upon seeing this monument of Sevillian painter Murillo and the museum across it. It was located about a minute or two from the small hotel we booked. Since everyone was tired and wants to rest, I decided to pay a visit to this museum on my own. I got the surprise of my life when I went to explore this seemingly small museum. First, it was not small inside and the works on exhibit were by far the most extensive collection of Spanish works of art I’ve seen even to this day. And the grandeur of the architecture and interior of the sala was something I have never expected to find inside this local museum. Even the beautiful gardens and several courtyards are a nice addition to explore. The main gallery dedicated to the works of Murillo, together with its grand cupola is located in the former antigua iglesia and is one of the most magnificent exhibition halls I’ve been.

The Museo (Museum of Fine Arts), Sevilla, was established as a "Museum to display paintings", by Royal Decree on 16 September 1835, with objects from convents and monasteries seized by the liberal government presided by Mendizábal. It is located in the Plaza del Museo, in the place of the former Convento de la Merced Calzada founded on lands transferred by Ferdinand III after conquering Sevilla.

It has magnificent works of art by Murillo, Zurbarán, Valdés Leal and other representatives of the Seville school. True enough, due to the quality of the art, it is today considered as the second best gallery in Spain.

In 2017, I was back in Seville after 18 years and I didn’t pass on the chance to visit one of my favourite museums again. After visiting many museums through the years, Museo de Bellas Artes in Seville still leaves me in awe of the beautiful works of art. The fascination was still there. Only this time, I am more knowledgeable about arts and museums and I can better appreciate everything in this museum. Still, I loved this museum. I still haven’t met anyone who’s visited this museum. It’s somewhat off the beaten path where museums are concerned. I’m glad to have been there not once but twice. It’s my secret gem of a museum.

Visiting the grand main gallery of Museo de Bellas Artes. Paintings in the background are by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo including Inmaculada Concepcion “La Colosal” in the center.

Cristo Crucificado, a series of paintings on Jesus on the cross by Francisco de Zurbarán, a Spanish painter known primarily for his religious paintings depicting monks, nuns, and martyrs, and for his still-lifes. Zurbarán gained the nickname "Spanish Caravaggio," owing to the forceful use of chiaroscuro in which he excelled.

#artmuseum #art

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