#the controversy and also me having difficulties really put down the vibe

[feengoid]

a few of the artfight attacks i did this year that i still like. tried out a new style for the first 3, all done in ms paint with later editing/gradients in photoshop cs3. really like all of these characters, it was p fun drawing them (even if i got a little burnt out at a point, lol)

(my profile) <- check out for all the character owners and other art i did.

#my art #artfight #friend oc #others ocs #idk what to tag this #<< starting to become a real common thing #might also be done with artfight this year #the controversy and also me having difficulties really put down the vibe #buttt. whatever

[rwbyconversations]

DmC Devil May Cry- Six Years Later

A few weeks ago, I wrote an essay about Dante from the Devil May Cry series and his character development across his six mainline appearances. Doing it got me thinking about the franchise and got me to get around to finishing the DMC games I own in my possession- Devil May Cry 4, which has a great combat system but is let down by having far too few environments and missions, and DmC Devil May Cry, the black sheep of the franchise and one of the most controversial reboots of a franchise. Finishing DmC gave me a perspective that only finishing something yourself can provide. 

I’d owned a copy of the original launch version of DmC but found it dreary and sold it less than a quarter of the way into the game, before grabbing its Definitive Edition during a Christmas sale on really a glorified whim- sort of a “Let’s see how bad it can really get” vibe, but then I put it down and didn’t come back to it for three months because other games and other projects took prominence. But about a week ago I was bored and decided to knock the entire game out in one day due to a lack of anything better to do, and after a few days to mull on it, I decided to write an essay about DmC and how this oddball entry into an otherwise mostly beloved franchise has aged.

1) Pre-development

Devil May Cry 4 was a success for Capcom, selling about two million units in its first month of release when Capcom were hoping for 1.8 million by the end of the fiscal year. On a critical level too it walked away satisfied, with Metacritic rating both the PS3 and 360 releases of the game with 84/100, praising the fluid gameplay and intricate combat system, but knocking points off for a very repetitive campaign which saw Dante literally backtracking through Nero’s stages. But Capcom were hoping for more from DMC4. This was the debut of the franchise on not just the Seventh Generation of Consoles, but the franchise’s Microsoft debut, and the hopes were that DMC4 would be a smash success potentially on par with the numbers Western games like Call of Duty 4 or Halo 3 had made the year prior. 2.1 million was still good, but Capcom wanted more.

The mid-2000s marked a turn in Japanese game development, with the increased costs of HD modelling and Japan’s home market becoming more apathetic about buying games (some Japanese games reported only 10% of their total sales from Japan itself), while the West began booming. With the 7th Generation, gaming went mainstream for many people in the West- as an example of this, I’m sure we all know at least one person who went to college after 2007 and can share stories of nights spent playing Halo over XBox Live. The mass success of the God of War franchise in the West also told Capcom that this gold mine of a market was ready and willing to enjoy some classic hack and slash action gaming.

The decrease in local sales gave Capcom the idea that they needed to begin outsourcing their properties to the West so they could appeal to a larger market, which led to such projects as Lost Planet, Dead Rising and Bionic Commando being made by Western studios. This was largely the brainchild of Keiji Inafune, nowadays known for the utter disaster of the Mighty Number 9 Kickstarter game. Inafune had a mindset of “doing the same thing is going to get us the same results (if we’re lucky). Let’s try something from a different perspective.” Unfortunately for Inafune, his different perspective failed to set the world on fire, with only Dead Rising proving to be a success and making it into the 8th console generation when handled by Capcom’s new Vancouver team, and even that series has suffered some fatal blows due to the poor launch of Dead Rising 4. 

Even though Inafune cut ties with Capcom in 2010 (a month after DmC was announced), his idea of Westernizing several dormant properties was still in effect and Devil May Cry became one of the franchises that was outsourced. British company Ninja Theory, known for their games Heavenly Sword and Enslaved Odyssey to the West, were the company Capcom gave a phone call to. While known nowadays more for Hellblade, back in 2010 Ninja Theory were known for two very simply action games that relied more on their stories and usage of motion capture and facial captures to fill in the gaps. What didn’t help was that in the interim period between 4 and the reboot, DMC1 director Hideki Kamiya had since formed Platinum Studios and proven themselves to the West with Bayonetta, a game hailed by many as a spiritual successor to the DMC franchise. 

Capcom had faith in Ninja Theory to translate DMC’s vision to the west, and as such at TGS 2010, the first trailer for DmC Devil May Cry was released and... well the rest is history.

The fanbase’s hackles were immediately raised and knives were out within seconds of the launch trailer dropping. A series that had become known for its over the top cutscenes and wry sense of cheesy humor had been Westernized into another gritty, bleak product. Dante went from the goofball who quoted Shakespeare to a gravelly voiced methhead who smoked. And for a series that prized itself on action and combos, that no proper gameplay was shown at the reveal was a worrying sign. The reveal trailer tainted the whole game right out of the gate; alongside Ninja Theory’s less than stellar track record with action games the fanbase was ready to hate this game on principle if it followed what had been done to Capcom’s other franchises that went on a foreign exchange trip.

Being fair to Ninja Theory though, several extenuating factors must be addressed. Among them is series director Hideaki Itsuno’s admission that he didn’t want to do Devil May Cry 5 yet after having worked on three straight games for the series out of concern that he would suffer from burnout. He wanted to go off and finally make a passion project he had been dreaming of for years in Dragon’s Dogma, which launched in 2012. Additionally, Ninja Theory did try and make a more faithful rendition of Dante, one who even kept the white hair and vibrantly red jacket, but these initial designs were shot down by Capcom, who told them to “go crazy.” In fact one of the people who rejected the designs that were close to classic Dante was Itsuno himself, who saw little point in Ninja Theory just copying Dante’s look if the whole point of the project was a new approach on Devil May Cry.

But the fanbase at the time didn’t know that Capcom were actively encouraging Ninja Theory to experiment, and what didn’t help was the quotes coming from the game’s director, Tameen Antoniades, which would prove to be a series of disasters that plagued DmC’s PR campaign. Tameen, put bluntly, wasn’t ready for the backlash to the game and its visual style and shot back at the fans. When asked by Venturebeat how he felt about the fan reaction to the TGS trailer, Tameen “took a drag of his cigarette and without blinking or pausing to exhale the smoke from his mouth, said: ‘I don’t care.’” People began to mockingly compare Tameen to Dante as seen in the trailer, which caused some fans to question if Tameen had used his own likeness as the basis for Dante. 

And unfortunately for Capcom’s PR team, he didn’t stop there, mocking Dante’s original design in a later interview when saying that what was and wasn’t cool had changed in the years since DMC1: “If Dante, dressed as he was, walked into any bar outside of Tokyo, he’d get laughed out.” 

I’d like to remind you that Tameen as director of the project likely signed off om some of these alternate concepts for Dante and keep that in mind whenever Tameen or a Ninja Theory staff member talk about A) what is and isn’t cool B) Original Dante’s character design.

The fanbase didn’t exactly make a good case for themselves after the game’s announcement though, with Ninja Theory reporting that they received death threats from some more hardcore fans. It still doesn’t make Tameen admitting he didn’t care if his game sold “a thousand or two million copies” look stellar, nor his derisive attitude towards the original series and its depiction of women, mocking Lady and Trish as “prostitutes with guns.” Ironically, despite being insistent that he’d made the game he wanted to play, Ninja Theory did dial back on methhead Dante, redesigning his model to be more beefy and replacing his voice actor, alongside redoing some scenes to make Dante crack more jokes. 

On a technical level, hype was low from the hardcore fans due to simplified combat and, more egregiously, the game being locked to 30FPS on launch unless bought on PC which offered an upcapped framerate. For those unaware, all prior Devil May Cry games had run at 60FPS, including DMC4 which had come out some years earlier on the same console. 60FPS was a requirement by many pro players due to how it made animations silky smooth, so DmC being capped to 30 was an immediate red flag. Suffice to say, the fandom was ready for DmC to be a disaster at launch and began prepping their funeral pyres.

2) Gameplay

Early reviews for DmC were quite positive, with the game earning a Metacritic rating about even with DMC4, but the fanbase were far less forgiving. The 30FPS framerate lock outside of the PC port (which was admittedly one of the more polished ports of 2013, as covered by the late and great John Bain) had tainted the well pre-release and then came back with a vengeance to haunt the console launch in 2013. Without a lock on system, movement felt sluggish compared to the other games, hurting the flow of combat.

Difficulty was a major criticism of the game from long-term fans, particularly pertaining to how the style rank system rewarded damage done over pulling off varied combos. Whereas in the older games the player was punished for repeating moves over and over, DmC’s style ranks were so easy to abuse that so long as the combo was never broken due to taking damage, achieving a SSS rank was child’s play. Aquila’s Tornado and Arbiter’s Trinity Smash were especially broken in this regard. 

Being fair to the game, it did introduce several mechanics that were later incorporated into DMC 5 in 2019- enemies get a subtitle during their first appearance (taken from Bayonetta), weapons getting a slight glint when the player pauses to let them know they can launch a pause combo attack (also taken from Bayonetta) and a dynamic soundtrack that racketed up the higher your style rank got, alongside the killing blow at the end of a fight getting a cinematic camera angle. These are all features that were genuine improvements over Devil May Cry 4, and while Bayonetta likely paved the way for most of these improvements, DmC still served as a test-bed to experiment on their integration with Devil May Cry as a whole.

The level design was also a huge step up from the earlier games. Dante’s whip functions made platforming far more varied that it had been in prior games, and these new traversal mechanics allowed for the level designers to stretch their legs. DmC arguably has, even in light of 5, some of the best platforming in the entire franchise, and a gorgeous color palette in some areas when Dante is in Limbo. Gothic European cities were cited as a huge influence by the team, Barcelona in particular, and it shows whenever Dante is outside as he gets dragged into Limbo. The idea of the city itself being a weapon of Mundus that tries to kill Dante is inspired, with obvious homages to Inception, and allows for the designers to make environments that at the drop of a hat can try to kill Dante. The team did their best to bring their unique aesthetic mixture of grunge and color to life, and even goes through a full color script. The downside is that exploration is rarely allowed beyond side paths that lead to collectables, meaning the player is on rails for much of the game.

DmC’s largest gameplay addition is in Dante’s Devil Arms. As he progesses through the game, Dante absorbs angelic and demon weapons from the bosses, gaining Angel Weapons that serve as fast crowd control, and Demon Weapons that are single-target but heavily damaging. Both of these sets of weapons are accessed by holding a trigger button during combat, allowing Dante to fluidly switch between weapons as the situation calls for it. One of my personal favorite applications of this tactic was to use Rebellion’s opening two slices to lead into Arbiter’s Trinity Smash as it was easier for me to read the above-mentioned glint tell on Rebellion. Alongside Dante’s firearms, it gives the player eight different weapons to switch between in combat, allowing for some unique combo potential, albeit potential that isn’t as deep as the original games. Dante losing his styles from DMC3 and 4 alongside the unique moves from those styles like Royal Guarding and jump cancelling was a particularly heavy blow for the hardcore fans, to say nothing of the revulsion generated by the color-coded enemies who could only be hurt by specific weapons.

Another heavy blow for the fans was the handling of Dante’s Devil Trigger, which gives Dante his traditional color palette, slows time to a crawl and gave Dante an attack and speed boost, alongside automatically sending most enemies flying into the air upon activation. The air-boosted hurt the usage of Devil Trigger in the long run, as it reduced whatever encounter it was activated in a stomp for the player- even Dante’s basic combos could tear through enemy health with DT active. Devil Trigger in the original games was a mixture of emergency button and power boost, but here it just serves as an “I win” button on whatever enemy irks you today.

And yet for all that can be said of DmC at launch, it could have been worse. Despite being busy with Dragon’s Dogma, Itsuno still served as an executive producer of the reboot and often gave Ninja Theory advice on areas to improve the gameplay mechanically. One such story goes that Itsuno saw a design for an enemy with blades in its arms. Upon asking what purpose the blades served in combat and being told they had none, Itsuno ordered that the blades be removed. Capcom producer Motohide Eshiro later noted in a Famitsu interview that Ninja Theory had to be reigned in on several occasions in spite of the “go crazy” approach given to them in early design, in order to avoid the game receiving a rating that could potentially stonewall it being sold in physical stores in Japan.

Ultimately the gameplay failed to impress for DmC in 2013, which reflected poorly in its sales. Capcom initially hoped for DmC to break 2 million units like DMC4 had back in 2008, but then quietly lowered the projected sales to 1.2 million. Rumors circulate to this day that Capcom were so desperate to boost the game’s poor sales that when DmC was part of the PS+ membership offer in January 2014, Capcom counted PS+ downloads as part of the sales for the game. In a financial report for 2013, while not speaking of DmC by name, Capcom spoke of a "delayed response to the expanding digital contents market," "insufficient coordination between the marketing and the game development divisions in overseas markets," and a "decline in quality due to excessive outsourcing." Capcom would only report in June 2018, a full five and a half years post-launch, that DmC had met the original sale goals of 2.3 million units. But it wasn’t the gameplay that ultimately turned off the fans and prevented Capcom’s sales pitches from becoming reality. No, that matter fell to the story.

3) Story

DmC’s story isn’t so much a straw that breaks the camel’s back, as it is an anvil. Regardless of your opinions on the gameplay, the story is where DmC comes to a grinding, screeching halt and fails to capture any of the essence of what made Dante and characters from the original setting interesting or even cool. Before we dive into the narrative itself, we need to discuss what started the controversy back in 2010 at TGS, and that’s Dante.

Dante is simply not likable in the reboot. While the original Dante was a goofball and a bit of a jackass, he always backed up his actions with flashy deeds and was ultimately a good-hearted man. In this setting, Ninja Theory try so hard to make Dante cool and badass that it loops around and makes him look like a petulant child’s version of what’s cool- a hard-drinking loner who has threesomes with strippers in his trailer by the amusement park. Dante in DMC4 threw Shakespeare quotes out at Agnus, while Dante in DmC screams “Fuck you!” at demons and writes profanity on clipboards. Nothing about Dante carries that effortless swagger that the original had. His smug, IDGAF attitude tries to make him cool and more fitting for the gritty tone but it’s so different from the original Dante that the subsequent tonal clash makes Dante a much more poorly written character. Again, this is something that must be put at Capcom’s feet and not Ninja Theory, as they were the ones telling the developers to westernize Dante, but the end product stills fails to match up with what came before. 

While Dante does have an arc over the game that sees him develop concern for the people close to him and humanity as a whole, the characterization and framing regularly undermines his arc. Dante is written as the archetype of “Jerk with a heart of gold,” but as a direct violation of a core rule of this character- that they must be fun to view and see their antics as an audience member- Dante fails to meet this tenant and it makes his obnoxious, smug and asshole moments taint the character and make it difficult to care for his struggles. Rather than see Dante’s dark backstory that puts his behavior into context and makes you understand why he’s so sullen and bitter, the audience just sees Dante being a smug jackass, and one who takes himself too seriously to be fun like mainline Dante. The one time I buy that Dante genuinely cares for other people is at the Order hideout raid when he stays in order to guide Kat through being arrested, and stays with her as the SWAT officers shoot her and beat her unconscious. His facial expression sells his anguish at seeing Kat be brutalized like this and it contains the best acting from Tim Phillips.

Ironically, despite how hated Methhead Dante was, I do have to wonder what the game would have been like had the developers stuck to their guns and committed to their original idea for the character- someone with psychosis who has no clue if he’s actually seeing and killing demons or if he’s just a mass murdering lunatic. It might have been even worse or it could have made the game work. It’s probably for the best we don’t know what Methhead Dante would have been like, but part of me can’t help but wonder.

It’s important to understand all these problems with Dante, since as the protagonist, the story partly rests on his shoulders. While older Dante had the charisma in most of his appearances to be able to sell the weight of a story moment when he stopped fooling around, reboot Dante’s heavy angst focus means that feat is harder for him to accomplish, and it doesn’t help that his supporting cast are less than ideal.

I mentioned earlier Tameen’s “prostitutes with guns” remark aimed at the DMC female cast, and I think it’s amazing how little self-awareness he must have had to say that when his own story’s approach to female characters is frankly insulting. DmC has one of the most sexist stories I’ve yet seen in any media, and it’s galling when compared to the mainline entries, DMC3 in particular. Kat, Eva and Lillith are all plot devices, Eva being long-dead and existing just to give Dante motivation to kill Mundus, Lillith being the stereotypical sexy villainess who gets reduced to her womb, while Kat is basically the subject of a snuff film with how she gets brutalized by the plot and the camera makes sure you see all of her injuries in extensive detail. And this all goes without saying how the second act revolves around the two female characters in the narrative being traded like Pokemon cards only for Vergil to perform the now-infamous sniper rifle abortion. 

It doesn’t matter what joke you’re making in your head right now, it’s still not half as tasteless as this actual scene

Speaking of Vergil, his depiction in DmC is genuinely upsetting and while I’ve seen people argue for Dante’s arc in the reboot, Vergil is almost universally despised and seen as a black mark on the prime version of Vergil. Putting aside the sniper rifle abortion, Vergil is just not written well and he never gives the impression of being powerful. Vergil’s opening scene has him say point-blank to Dante “I’m powerless to stop you,” words that should never flow out of the mouth of anyone claiming to be Vergil.  It doesn’t get much better as throughout the game, Vergil hands all the major physical parts of the plan against Mundus to Dante to preserve the secret of Vergil’s Nephilim heritage. The problem with this is that Vergil subsequently never gets to show his stuff in a fight until the very end of the game when he fights Dante and suddenly has a lot of his moveset from the old series transplanted. It makes moments like Vergil hiding behind a barrier at the hands of one demon that Dante has to kill undermine his character and make him look like a coward, to say nothing of his awkward heel-turn which just shows up for the sake of having a final boss. Compared to the depiction of Dante and Vergil’s rivalry in Devil May Cry 3, which was amazing on a thematic and character level, DmC falls flat on its own shoelaces. And the character Vergil gains through his DLC is just further unpleasantness as he rips off Bleach and the Hollow Ichigo fight wholesale. Vergil is just a mistake in this game, and alongside Dante is the cardinal sin in its writing. 

Mundus represents a lot of the larger problems with DmC’s story, in particular its on-the-nose message and symbolism. The game is so focused on making sure you get the point that “Hey, we’ve seen this niche film called They Live and it’s the sickest shit also FUCK THE MAN, CAPITALISM SUCKS, WAKE UP SHEEPLE,” that Mundus doesn’t really get to be a proper villain. He’s just this stereotypical slimy corporation guy, with one slight hint to his character in that he’s obsessed with continuing his lineage. The problem is that his lack of writing makes him boring and one-note, a cliche rule-the-world dictator that’s been done to death. He’s not even a major threat in gameplay, his boss fight just being a giant blob monster. It’s visually drab and has the most boring boss fight in the game. Mundus may not have had much personality or screentime in the original DMC1, but he made up for it with a powerful presence that made him feel dangerous. This Mundus is just a bald guy in a suit. The only fear he puts in me is the fear that I’ll drop my controller when I fall asleep.

DmC’s story is a mess. While structurally well-put together, its dialogue is often weak and cringeworthy, most of the villains have no real staying power beyond Barbas, Vergil is a waste of the character name, Kat and Lillith are plot devices and Dante is just a jackass. It’s a cast of unlikable people being unlikable jerks to each other and when the story it’s making me sick with how repulsive it can be with its tone deaf themes and sexism, it’s putting me to sleep with how fucking dull it is. 

4) Definitive Edition

The post launch years of DmC weren’t kind to Ninja Theory or Capcom. Capcom retracted their Western development philosophy after a string of flops resulted from it, while Ninja Theory became the whipping boy of the action community for several years post-launch, which led to the now infamous GDC presentation where Dante was photoshopped onto scenes from Brokeback Mountain by someone who had no hand in designing Dante’s old costumes:

Revenge, evidently, is a dish best served cold

What didn’t help them was that 2013 also saw the launch of Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, Platinum’s take on the Metal Gear franchise that quickly gained the adoration of the action fanbase while leaving DmC in the dust. According to Dante’s voice actor Reuben Landgon, Itsuno apparently was extremely close to retiring after DmC, and Capcom had to offer him the chance to finally make DMC5 before he decided to not quit (though this story has been disputed by Capcom USA producer Matt Walker). 

Capcom, like many publishers, has taken Sony and Microsoft both refusing to have backwards compatibility in the PS4 and Xbox One as an excuse to re-release many of their old titles on the new console platforms, often slapping a new coat of paint onto the game and potentially adding achievement/trophy support and calling it a day. In the case of DmC though, the team went above and beyond in solving many of the mechanical problems that players had complained about in the following two years.

Released in March 2015, DmC Definitive Edition was handled more by Japanese side of the Capcom team, and they set to work on making DmC more mechanically in-line in with the mainline entries, as covered by this extensive changelog. 60FPS was an advertised feature on the box, Dante got multiple costumes that let players play with white hair, the style rank system was retooled to punish repetition more harshly and a slew of balance changes were made to the core game- some even based on PC mods players had made of DmC’s original PC port like a lock on function, though sadly the adventures of Donté, el exterminador de demonios didn’t serve such a function. 

Rest in piece, you brave soul.

The Definitive Edition goes leaps and bounds in solving the pressing issues of DmC. With the combat balanced and framerate bumped up, the combat had a much better flow to it. In particular the addition of a new mode, Must Style, where Dante can only damage enemies when he has an S Rank or higher, received a warm reception from the fans to the point where it was hoped that DMC5 would adopt it. With the DE upgrades, DmC goes from a flawed game with potential to being one of the best attempts by the West to emulate Devil May Cry’s frantic, stylish mode of gameplay while adding variety to how the combat and level design was handled. But even two years on, the damage had been done; while Definitive Edition was well-received by hardcore fans, it still failed to set the world on fire sales wise, and in fact was outsold by DMC4′s own HD remake that launched that year, even though the Special Edition was a digital only purchase outside of Japan. In fact, DMC4SE’s sales were so strong Capcom noted them as being behind the company having a good financial quarter during 2015, which many saw as an ironic nail in the coffin for any hopes for the DmC universe getting continuation.  

There was no saving the story unfortunately, barring removing Vergil’s laughably pathetic fedora and one especially cringeworthy line from Lillith (”The world is at last your bitch, as am I. Nothing left, but to grab it by the hair, bend it over and-”), which means that much of the issues that DmC’s story presented are still haunting the overall product. One new scene added in the game has Dante calling out Vergil for shooting Lillith and causing countless deaths from Mundus’s rampage, but the scene was itself criticized for missing the point in the fan anger to Vergil’s .50 caliber coat hanger. And the further away the player and time gets from DmC’s outdated-at-launch messages and symbolism, the more the script just fails to entertain or educate, leaving just apathy and the ability to mock it.

5) Conclusion- Left in Limbo

DmC Devil May Cry is... alright. It’s not the worst game I’ve ever played and there’s far too many good things here for me to even call it a boring game. The level design and color palette has real moments of beauty, the combat system is a decent showing from Ninja Theory with Capcom supervision and the Definitive Edition showed that the teams from both cultures acknowledged the feedback and made a more mechanically satisfying game to play. DmC is one of the best Western attempts at emulating the over-the-top action of Japanese games alongside Darksiders 2 and does deserve credit for being a satisfying experience to play.

Where it falls apart is whenever control is taken from the player. This story is just terrible and wrought with bad choices that haunt the entire experience and taint the game by association. DmC’s cutscenes are almost slimy in how detestable they are, and it is odd that they inspired such loathing from me on my first run while I was left feeling nothing towards the entire cast other than pity towards Vergil due to what had been done to him on a writing level. I must repeat that I have never played a game as derogatory in its depiction of women as DmC and I pray I never will. 

DmC is a flawed experience, perhaps one that you should experience yourself so you can formulate your own opinion on the matter. I wouldn’t recommend it for full-price but if you see it on sale for ten bucks, you can do worse- if nothing else, get some friends over and laugh at the story to get past the cutscenes and onto the mostly-decent gameplay. But you can also do a lot better, being honest. Ultimately DmC is this weird relic of Capcom’s attempts to branch out into the West, and one that ultimately just.. happened with no real lasting impact. Itsuno went on to make DMC5, Ninja Theory and Tameen redeemed themselves in the eyes of many with Hellblade and then got bought by Microsoft, while Capcom finally started to turn around and starting with the 8th console generation, made a concentrated effort to return to the “Capgod” reputation that they had before the 7th gen. Everyone came out of this story with a happy ending and got what they wanted, but that leaves DmC as this odd relic of a weird time in gaming, albeit one that certainly made... memorable experiences.

Thank you for reading.

I guess a million years just comes in at... about five or six.

#devil may cry #dmc devil may cry #dante devil may cry #devil may cry 5 #vergil devil may cry #devil may cry analysis #kat devil may cry #ninja theory #capcom #hideaki itsuno #tameen antoniades

[nic-and-annie-in-france]

Amsterdam in 10

1. The unruly vibe. When we entered Amsterdam from the train station for the first time, it was such an abrupt change from the atmosphere of Copenhagen. We were immediately swept into the flow of foot traffic crowding the narrow streets. In stark contrast to the law-abiding Danes, no one seemed to follow the instructions of stoplights or pedestrian signs. Cyclists appeared to be out for tourists’ blood. Luckily, the walk from the train station to our hostel was a short one—I was happy to have booked a place that was very centrally located. However, after seeing piles of litter lining the cramped streets, and after smelling certain odors wafting through the area, I was suddenly less happy to be sleeping somewhere “centrally located” in Amsterdam. Everything seemed brash, bustling, and bacchanal—not what I’d call our natural habitat, but we were determined to make the best of it. 2. The man who complimented Nicolas’ beard. Nicolas and I were really fond of the man working at the desk when we checked into our hostel.  I was the one with the cash, so I was handling most of the conversation. Suddenly, he glanced at Nicolas and then did a double-take and said, “You have an excellent beard!” Nicolas was taken aback but thanked him, and complimented his beard in return. “Thank you,” he said, “I like to grease mine down, you know, to make me more attractive. But with a beard like that,” pointing to Nicolas’ chin, “just put a turban on you and you could pass for Indian too!” He belly laughed. Facial hair: uniting men across cultures. 3. The architecture. Of all the cities we visited on this trip, I had the clearest pre-trip picture in my head of Amsterdam. I knew there were winding alleyways, tall skinny houses, bicycles, and canals. That was indeed what we saw when we arrived. When we found a sidewalk or bridge empty enough to stop on without bothering anyone, we took a minute to admire the architecture. I enjoyed the opportunity to notice that all the buildings were of different heights, and the windows zigzagged across the façades instead of making a neat grid. Our hostel was built in the typical Amsterdam style too, so we got to see what the inside of those tall skinny buildings look like. Our room had space for a full-size bed, one chair, a small table, a coat closet, and a bathroom sink—that was it. But the window in the room was huge and we could people-watch while sitting on our bed.

4. The breakfast food. Having to find and buy breakfast first thing in the morning can be tricky, so anytime a free breakfast is offered to us by the Airbnb/hotel/hostel we are staying at, we eat it. Our place in Amsterdam offered us a breakfast of four slices of bread apiece with jam and butter, two slices of cheese, and a hard-boiled egg, plus our choice of tea or coffee. It was basic, but it was convenient, filling, and free. The breakfast and the check-in desk were all in the same room, so while we ate, the desk worker watched the morning news on the international CNN channel, which was reporting on the government shutdown.

Sadly, this was in a museum and not our hostel’s breakfast area, but we can pretend we ate here anyway.

5. The peaceful mornings. Breakfast wasn’t served at our hostel until 8:30 in the morning, so the earliest we could begin sightseeing was about 9:00 am. I was worried that we wouldn’t have a lot of time to get to the museums on the other side of town before they got busy. When we left right at 9, though, the streets were absolutely deserted except for the two of us and the fleets of garbage trucks and street cleaners. I couldn’t get over how empty it was. I kept wondering aloud to Nicolas where the people were who had to work, and he reminded me that the people who work in the city aren’t likely to live in the touristy area. It felt like we were the only two people visiting for Amsterdam’s cultural attractions instead of its nightlife. Given that the city felt so cramped and claustrophobic at other times of day, I was happy to have a little more room to breathe in the mornings.

6. The disorientation.  Amsterdam is known for its canals, and it certainly has a lot of them. I knew this going in, yet still felt disoriented every time we walked from one place to another. In lots of other European cities, you have “the river” that basically divides the city in two and gives you a basic sense of direction. If you get lost, you can make your way back to the river and reorient from there. The spider-web shaped system of canals in Amsterdam had the opposite effect. Every canal and every bridge looked exactly like the last, and since they radiated in all directions, they did nothing to help us distinguish north from south or east from west. Even after spending a couple of days walking around all of Amsterdam, we were still extremely dependent on the map on my phone to get around.

7. Favorite fun fact: all about Rembrandt’s Night Watch. It turns out that even for an art lover like me, there is such a thing as too many art museums. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam was one of the last ones that we went to. It was a shame that we were suffering from art fatigue when we went there, because it was a massive museum with an impressive collection of art. We decided to plan the rooms we really wanted to see and skip the rest. One of the “don’t miss” works in the museum was Rembrandt’s Night Watch. I only knew the bare minimum about Rembrandt when we went (Dutch, 1600s, fan of chiaroscuro), and I knew nothing at all about Night Watch. The painting was absolutely massive and housed in a cathedral-like room, with Night Watch occupying the place of the altar, and smaller works by Vermeer and Reubens placed in alcoves along the two longer walls. I learned that the painting was commissioned by an actual militia company, but was controversial because Rembrandt’s composition departed drastically from convention. Before, a commissioned work of a group of people would always have each subject’s face clearly visible, and they would be neatly posed with no movement suggested by the painting at all. Night Watch, by contrast, shows the militiamen exiting a building in a rather disorderly bunch, with some people’s faces obscured by darkness or by another object. I tend to perceive Rembrandt as talented and respectable, yet old and crusty, so it’s funny to think of him as the bad boy of painting in his time. I had no idea at first glance what was so special about the painting, so I really enjoyed learning to view it in a different light and appreciate the innovation of it.

8. The demonstrations at the Rembrandt house. We visited the house where Rembrandt lived for about 17 years before his financial difficulties forced him to sell it. Because his belongings were all repossessed, there is a near-perfect record of what Rembrandt had in his house when he lived there. We saw lots of his paintings and etchings, as well as (approximations of) the furniture and objects with which he decorated his bedroom, galleries, and studio.  I was most interested by the etching and paint-making demonstrations that we saw in Rembrandt’s studio. A woman taught us about different etching techniques, running a real etching through an antique press and then showing us the resulting print. It reminded me of the linoleum printmaking project I struggled through in middle school art class, which gave me even more respect for the exquisite quality of etchings Rembrandt produced.

9. The (disappointing) Van Gogh museum. The Van Gogh Museum has the largest collection of the Dutch artist’s works in the world, so I had pretty high expectations for it. I thought it would be like the Monet exhibit from Vienna mixed with the Sisi Museum, addressing both his work and his private life. The museum did do both of those things, but in a way that seemed a little glib. It’s widely known that Van Gogh suffered from mental illness and that he lived in poverty because his art didn’t become financially successful until after his death.  So it bothered me a little when the captions for his paintings said things like, “The colors express powerful emotion.” Which emotion? How do you know? What is it specifically about these colors that are expressive? Is “expressing emotion” really the top priority for a starving artist desperate to sell a painting? I just didn’t find their interpretations of the paintings convincing, and I didn’t learn as much as I had hoped. Also, the last disappointment was my own fault, but I was implicitly expecting to see Starry Night, and that painting was not in the museum’s collection. I should have thought to confirm whether or not Starry Night was there beforehand to manage my expectations properly, but it slipped my mind. It turns out Starry Night is on display at the MoMA in New York. We’ll just have to go there a different time! 10. The fish sandwich. I read online that the Dutch don’t have much of a traditional cuisine, with the exception of Hollandse Nieuwe, a lightly brined raw herring. Even though it didn’t sound appetizing, I decided that I wanted to try it just for the sake of tasting something new. We went to a  hole-in-the-wall fish market/lunch spot, and I got the raw herring sandwich topped with a Dutch toothpick flag, pickles, and diced onions, while Nicolas got a fried cod sandwich. The man behind the counter was friendly and charming; when he handed  me my sandwich he said, “The best thing about it is that you’ll speak Dutch afterwards!” The herring tasted about like you’d expect—salty and soft and oniony. It was edible, but by my last bite, I was definitely ready to be done. I was thankful that Nicolas let me have a taste of the cod afterwards so that the herring wasn’t the last taste lingering in my mouth for the rest of the day. I think the cashier’s line about speaking Dutch was a euphemism for having bad breath.

#annie #tapif #travel #amsterdam

[linaliveshere]

My Top 15 albums

Music to me is a stress relief. It is something that reflects your mood, no matter how you are feeling. It transports you back in time, almost as if you are living and breathing in a different generation. Music liberates you, its helps you connect with the cores and values that you have and continues to help you grow. Music gives you the fondest memories, is the soundtrack to your life and much of the reason why we connect with others on an intimate basis.

For me, a university student who is at the cusp of starting the next chapter of her life, music is an incredible escape from reality. Over the years, my knowledge and acceptance of music has allowed me to collate and enjoy many artists of many genres. On twitter and Tumblr, I asked what you guys would prefer for me to talk about, and my top 15 albums of all time came in at number one. Below, with much difficulty may I add, I have sought out my top 15 albums of all time!

1. INXS: Kick

I honestly cannot fault this album in the slightest. INXS was such a powerhouse for Australian music and they bought our industry to the mainstream across the world. Michael Hutchence was such a prolific singer and songwriter, a true artist who could grasp the concept of emotion and reality and put it so well into a song. Kick was an album that kick-started (pardon the pun) the juggernaut, headed by the smash hit Never Tear Us Apart. This whole album from start to finish is pure genius, and honestly makes you feel like you’re on a never-ending roller coaster. If you have never listened to this album, you should.

Top 3 songs:

-Never Tear Us Apart

-Kick

-Need You Tonight

2. The Weeknd: House of Balloons

Known to most of us by his stage name The Weeknd, Abel Tesfaye has become one of the biggest superstars in the world. From record breaking singles and albums to top collaborations with artists such as Daft Punk and Lana Del Ray, his discography has come a very long way since his first proper release- House of Balloons. Everyone seems to say that the first release is always the best and I will dispute that, but not in this case. Every album Abel has done has been so different and incredible, but something about House of Balloons stands out. The raw stumbling’s of drug abuse and sexual desires that he was singing about was something next level. Others had done it before him, but the way he produced this album was next level. It was a considerably short LP for the XO, only 50 minutes long. But it is enough to transport you back to his harsh Canadian upbringing and why he is like he is.

Top 3 songs:

-Wicked Games

-Coming Down

-High For This

3. Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly

First thing I want to say about Kendrick and this masterpiece of an album was that HE WAS ROBBED ALBUM OF THE YEAR AT THE GRAMMYS!! Kendrick has always been very popular online- much like counterpart Chance The Rapper, and made his mainstream debut when this album- To Pimp A Butterfly, flew up the charts around the world. Along with doing the infamous festival circuit which include headlining iconic festivals such as Glastonbury, Coachella and Australia’s very own Splendour in the Grass, To Pimp A Butterfly gained more traction. It brings to the surface all the issues that we as a society are too reluctant to talk about or see the truth about- racial tensions, the police brutality, the treatment of people of colour in general- especially women of colour and so much more. What elevated this album though for me was when Kendrick did a mash up of ‘The Blacker the Berry’ and ‘Alright’ with him being tied up in shackles singing behind a jail cell door. America at that time was in the grunt of the presidential campaign, making it even more dramatic and brought the album to a new audience.

Top 3 songs:

-The Blacker The Berry

-King Kunta

-These Walls

4. The Killers: Hot Fuss

The Killers are one of those bands who continually fly under the radar but remain so popular. Having two older sisters with quite a big age gap between us, my introduction to The Killers was through them blasting this album in the car non-stop; but I didn’t mind that. Hot Fuss is the best debut album of any artist I have listened to. The Killers weren’t punk rock or rock and roll- they were alternate rock. It was good enough for the music geeks and to be played on top 40 radio. This album holds two of the catchiest choruses ever with the songs ‘Mr Brightside’ and ‘Somebody Told Me’. Every time I listen to Hot Fuss, it sparks a little flame inside me and I sing at the top of my lungs. Along with this, the lyrics to the songs on the album are absolutely phenomenal and from start to finish take you on a journey. There are tales of heartbreak and regret with ‘All These Things That I Have Done’ and ‘Jenny Was a Friend of Mine’, love and adulation with ‘Midnight Show’ and ‘Everything Will Be Alright’. This album is honestly timeless and no matter how old you are, is pure enjoyment.

Top 3 Songs:

-Smile Like You Mean It

-Midnight Show

-On Top

5. Coldplay: Viva la Vida

I have been to a lot of concert, shows, gigs and festivals in my almost 23 years of life, and Coldplay has come out on top every time. Much like others on the list, their entire discography is something that I will listen to over and over and not get bored of it. Despite my favourite song of all time coming from their album X&Y (Fix You), Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, or the stadium stomper as it is known as by music geeks, is an album that cemented Coldplay a stadium tour status. The massive drum and guitar, as well as incorporating orchestra was the first of its kind that I had heard, and I fell in love with the album immediately. Chris Martin is one of my favourite singer/songwriters of all time, and his ability to take something usually so hectic and not usually incorporated into mainstream music and make it his own is something that I admire him for. What really made this album pop of course was the stadium vibe and the enormity of the sound.

Top 3 songs:

-Viva la Vida

-Cemeteries of London

-Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love

6. Rihanna: ANTI

Robyn Rihanna Fenty is and always will be my woman crush. After doing 7 albums in 7 years, my babe Rihanna took about 3 years out of the spotlight to create her latest and most bold album to date- ANTI. There is something about the authentic of this album that puts this above the rest. Having that time off and going back to her Caribbean roots brought this album to the next level. The mix of her old-school reggae and more modern r’n’b, along with the improvement of her vocals along the way helped elevate it, but her bad girl persona did remain- especially with the inaugural song from the album ‘Bitch Better Have My Money’. The song ‘Work’, with rapper Drake, sent this album to elite status. It is fun and makes you feel like you can take on anyone and anything, and in contrast, will pull at your heart strings with songs such as Love on The Brain’. I am still upset that she did not tour Australia with the album, so thanks RiRi!

Top 3 songs:

-Love On The Brain

-Kiss It Better

-Woo

7. Fleetwood Mac: Rumours

I have always known who Fleetwood Mac were, but I was introduced to this album only a short while ago. Stevie Nicks is an absolute boss. Fleetwood Mac became dominant at the time where social constructs were a lot different to how they are now. The fact that this album not only challenged music minds and records, but created the shift for social change as well. Artists like Madonna and Cindy Lauper were aided by the success of Stevie Nicks and the fact she was a main vocal in a genre dominated by white males. One of the reasons I love Rumours so much is because of the massive influence it had on the music industry. It also included the catchy songs like ‘Dreams’ and ‘Go Your Own Way’. Fleetwood Mac and especially Stevie Nicks are timeless and a once-in-a-generation artist who has as much influence as they did.

Top 3 Songs:

-Go Your Own Way

-You Make Loving Fun

-Oh Daddy

8. Michael Jackson: Thriller

Carrying on from the influence of Stevie Nicks, there is no one better who broke down barriers in terms of race, gender and sexuality like Michael Jackson. There are so many of his albums to choose from, but Thriller is the one that I enjoy the most in terms of music. The title song caused so much controversy, and everyone thought with this controversy that Michael or the album wouldn’t be successful. Boy, people were wrong. After having filmed the first feature-length music video and being an African-American, there were bans put in place. Michael defied the odds and became and even bigger star. Some personal favourites, which I enjoy belting out during a boozy night out like ‘Wanna be Startin’ Something’, ‘Billie Jean’ and ‘Beat It’. Another reason why I love this album so much is that it produced one of the most iconic moments in pop culture- the introduction of the moonwalk at the Motown 25 special on May 16, 1983. And yes, I am still trying to perfect the move.

Top 3 Songs:

-Beat It

-Billie Jean

-Human Nature

9. Ed Sheeran: +

Ed Sheeran is possibly the best singer/songwriter of the past 5 years. With his most recent album ‘Divide’ and the inaugural single ‘Shape of You’ breaking all kinds of streaming and charting records, it is no surprise that his music beforehand would be top-notch as well. Enter Ed’s first proper LP- Plus. This was such a raw album that spoke about Ed and the difficulties that surrounded him and other people, much like The Weeknd with House of Balloons. This album came into my life at a time where I was struggling, with songs like ‘The A Team’ and ‘Lego House’ indirectly playing with my emotions and opening a light to a lot of the problems that I was having. Ed toured this album twice, and his presence on stage reflects how people such as myself interpret the album as well. Oh, and I’ve also had the pleasure in meeting Ed and telling him how thankful I am for him!

Top 3 Songs:

-Small Bump

-Kiss Me

-Drunk

10. Beyoncé: Lemonade

This would not be a top album countdown without the mention of the most famous women of the modern era. Beyoncé has delivered hit after hit. When her latest album Lemonade dropped, it caused hysteria of all sorts. She has been the campaigner of the visual album as well after her Beyoncé release, and Lemonade was no different. Much like Kendrick Lamar, who features on one of the standouts of the album ‘Freedom’, Beyoncé used her audio and visual platforms to seek out the injustice that is happening. She also includes her daughter, Blue, in a lot of them and it makes it that much more personalised. Her vocals are still red hot, as proven by hits ‘Formation’ and ‘Hold Up’, which now boasts the infamous bat and car scene. This album is honestly one in a million and I can never get bored of it!

Top 3 Songs:

-Freedom (feat Kendrick Lamar)

-All Night

-Hold Up

11. Maroon 5: Songs About Jane

The first concert I ever went to centered around this album. Maroon 5 have been around for as long as I’ve been alive, and their music continues to adapt with pop culture. Adam Levine, the front man, was my first real celebrity crush, and this album did solidify that. Songs About Jane was a forefront in indie music at the time of its release, headed by She Will Be Loved and Sunday Morning. Their cover of Harder to Breathe and the inclusion This Love gives you Adam’s sensual voice right to your very core. the use of the guitar in this album is impeccable- in one song it will make you get up and dance when in the next it makes you feel like you could cry for days about your ex-lover. The lyrics and the execution of this album are timeless, and no matter what decade or era it is brought into, would be successful.

Top 3 Songs:

-She Will Be Loved

-Harder to Breathe

-Tangled

12. Taylor Swift: Red

I feel like Taylor Swift has been around for every turning point in my life. 13-year-old me found out who she was through my love of the Jonas Brothers and her guitar-twanging smash Our Song. Through the country phase to what is her best album to date- pop alumni Red. This album, like many of her others, tells a story of love and heartbreak, but also celebrates having the right people in your life. ‘22’, one of the biggest selling singles by Taylor, is one of my favourite songs of all time. Despite being noted by a lot of people as ‘pop trash’, the significance of this song resonates with a lot of people. It is about being care-free and living your life to the fullest no matter what. ‘All Too Well’ and ‘Red’ talk about heartache and how love in all forms can manipulate you in so many ways. This album is raw and full of emotion, no matter the genre it is placed under. The Red Tour was also my favourite Taylor concert as well.

Top 3 Songs:

-State of Grace

-All Too Well

-22

13. Kanye West: 808’s and Heartbreak

Say what you want about Yeezy, but he definitely knows his sound and his music. 808’s and Heartbreaks is an album that took Kanye out of the hip-hop world to the more mainstream. The mellowed down sound with the use of the heavy drop verberating in the chorus’ of most of these songs brought the genre and the album to another dimension. ‘Heartless’ and ‘Love Lockdown’, the two main singles from this work, are so well put together though the emotion elicited in Kanye while he is singing and rapping, as well as the tremendous loops in the beat. I have never witnessed music before or after this album that makes you want to get up and dance but cry your god damn eyes out at the same time. If you are one of those people who loves a continuous bop, this album is right up your alley.

Top 3 Songs:

-Love Lockdown

-Paranoid

-Say You Will

14.  Adele: 25

What a woman. I don’t have enough words to describe the feel, emotion and powerhouse vocal that is Adele. Unless you were living under a rock over the past 18 months, her song ‘Hello’ was everywhere and definitely set the scene for the whole album. Adele is one of very few people who can stand on a stage with little to no movement around her and manage to captivate millions. Her amazing voice capitulates almost every other artist in the industry right now. Listening to ‘25’ is honestly an out of body experience every time you listen to a song.

Top 3 Songs:

-Send My Love (To Your New Lover)

-I Miss You

-Water Under the Bridge

15. One Direction: Midnight Memories

This wouldn’t be a countdown without my absolute favourites of all time, right?! Midnight Memories by far is my favourite album from One Direction. They had a lot of song writing and production influence on this album, and it is very noticeable compared to their first two albums. The boys having that much influence on this album shone through, especially with the rock undertones and the sophisticated lyrics laced through all the songs. Alas, they did make this album with the fact that they were about to embark on a stadium tour, and this album is a massive stadium stomper. Harry, Liam and Zayn all shine vocally, whilst Niall and Louis’ songwriter impressed throughout the whole album. I honestly love this album with all my heart, and my eyes still water every time a song comes on because I miss One Direction so much. I am still bitter that I missed out on seeing this tour.

Top 3 Songs:

-Strong

-Happily

-Through the Dark

SPECIAL MENTION to Harry Styles and his new solo album, which would have been on the list if it was out already :P

#music #albums #inxs #theweeknd #kendrick lamar #thekillers #maroon5 #one direction #harry styles #beyonce #rihanna #adele #fleetwood mac #kanye west #taylor swift #michael jackson #ed sheeran #coldplay

[realrhythmskrp]

DISPATCH, (04/19/17): BKB Entertainment has officially released information about leader and main vocalist, Kim Wonseok, on PARAL/L’s official website! Wonseok is a ‘90 liner and has been beloved by fans since his debut in 2011. Find out more about Wonseok below!

I, KIM WONSEOK, have read and understand the terms and conditions as my position of LEADER and agree to honor the standards that are to be expected of me as an employee of BKB ENTERTAINMENT.

OOC INFORMATION

Preferred name: Ji

Pronouns: she/her

Timezone: GMT+1

Other muses: N/A

Password (for reservations only): dangerous

Skype: N/A :c

IC INFORMATION

Faceclaim: Lee Kikwang of Highlight

Name: Kim Wonseok

Stage name (if applicable): N/A

Idol concept: At first, his concept was supposed to be that of a ‘church oppa’ – with the kind boy next door vibe. That, however, conflicted with the controversies he soon got wrapped up in so it was quickly changed to something more fitting (and thus believable): the grandpa. Still kind, still caring, but also stereotypically straightforward yet measured. Wonseok welcomed the change because he no longer has to feel like he’s wearing a mask most of the time, since the new concept is much closer to his real personality. Of course there are tweaks here and there, a lot of things held back and plenty of feigned smiles but that is inevitable in the business. While never entirely relaxed, he is no longer on edge everytime a camera is around and can thus show a more natural side of him, which allows jokes to come easier too and has overall increased his popularity. If he’s honest, he thinks some of the controversies could have been avoided if the company had introduced him as the grandfather from the start, as people would have known not to misunderstand his dry and occasionally cynical comments. Or maybe it wouldn’t have changed a thing – he’s not so naive as to believe that the public won’t find a reason to dislike someone no matter what they do.

Birth date and age: March 30th, 1990 – 27

Company name: BKB Entertainment

Group Name (if applicable): PARAL/L

Group Position (if applicable): leader

Strengths:  His biggest strength no doubt lies in his vocal prowess. Naturally gifted with a unique but pleasant voice, he is said to possess 'caramel vocal chords’, which he has been rigorously training since his early teens. Thus, he has acquired stability in both lower and higher registers and can usually belt out notes without any straining whatsoever. After all, his vocals are the one thing the public most often praises him for.

Although most of it happens behind the scenes, Wonseok’s leadership qualities are notable as well. Half a decade into their career, the group is still his top priority and he believes the secret to their lasting success is maintaining harmony among the members, which is what he works towards at all times. Here, he’s always trying to keep every member’s best interest in mind to find a common goal for everyone. He also firmly believes in solving problems as they arise as not to let a wound fester.

While his sense of humor is what got him into most of the controversies he was involved in so far, it’s also the only reason why he always gets invited on variety shows again anyway. Cynical, witty, honest and dry, he’s a valuable asset to any talk show – as long as it isn’t geared towards children, anyway.

Despite everything, he is highly motivated to keep going. Making music is still what he wants to do for a living and that knowledge helps him pull through whatever difficulties he faces in the business more easily, be it working without a break for months or enduring the hate he receives.

Weaknesses:  Tying in with his affinity for talk formats, he is an exceptionally bad match for shows that require body gags, aegyo, or anything else of the sort. It’s embarrassing, in his opinion, and a field he gladly leaves for the other, younger members. Acting falls into this category too and is hence something he has little to no interest in doing (with the exception of musicals!).

Of course he is not a bad dancer, per se, just not much of a natural either. PARAL/L’s choreographies are never easy and he certainly doesn’t mess them up, but that requires hours upon hours upon hours of practice every single time, so staying behind at the practice room and pulling all-nighters to avoid messing up has become a habit.

Generally not a negative trait but very much so for an idol, Wonseok is a bad liar - to a large part also because he despises doing so. As such, he is sometimes too honest. There are only two options: he either doesn’t mention something at all (be it scandals or secrets), or he tells the truth.

For someone who spends as much time worrying about the feelings of other people as he does, he’s not in tune with his own. He has a hard time opening up to people and tends to internalize everything. Sometimes, it actually takes him a while to figure them out because he is too focused on something else at the time. For example, he could get into a fight with his little sister in the morning, then go to work like nothing happened and only feel bothered by it at night, once he settles down.

Positive traits: diligent, empathetic, quick-witted

Negative traits: stoic, self-conscious, workaholic

PERSONAL HISTORY

1 year old and resolute - “That boy will grow up to be just like his father. Stubborn as a mule.” Baby Kim Wonseok is yelling over everything his grandmother is saying and foolish as people are around children, his family is taking it as a good sign; one of strength and energy. He’s just hungry but that isn’t nearly as impressive so no one wants to hear it – and he keeps yelling.

7 years old and calm - “You’ll run for school president, right?” His mother is not so much asking as she is demanding as they’re sharing the dinner table for once. He’s in elementary school, an only child, his father is a surgeon and his mother is a lawyer (and no one knows how and if that works). Ironically, little Wonseok is the one they expect to do great things. His father comes home and goes to sleep. His mother comes home and nags. Wonseok comes home and does everything. Cooking, cleaning, his homework, then studying. “We have your nanny for that,” his mother scolds him often. What she doesn’t understand is that it is the only time of relaxation he has, doing menial tasks and not using his head for once. As long as he performs well and remains in the top three of his school, she doesn’t care very much. She just likes complaining, he thinks and lets her. Her job is stressful.

10 years old and empathetic - “You don’t understand. You’re part of the most perfect family of Gimhae,” his best friend reprimands him during one of their regular joined study sessions, which they’re using for games more often than not. His parents are getting a divorce and he’s right – Wonseok doesn’t know what that’s like. His parents are still together somehow, though he doesn’t see much of it except for when they all go to church together on Sundays. In fact, his mother is currently pregnant again. He doesn’t know the feeling of losing one’s anchor, of having to let go one or the other, of fearing a change that will make everything different and weird and wrong. He doesn’t know it but that doesn’t mean he can’t help and offer to be at least one constant.

12 years old and bold – “You’re scary, like one of those ruthless businessmen in dramas my mom likes to watch.” Again, Wonseok can count on his best friend to call him out. His baby sister is the sunshine of his life and he can’t help but feel like he’s her parent more than their biological ones. Measured by the amount of time he spends with her and effort he puts in, he is more than they will ever be. At home, he is bright and caring and buzzing with energy. Outside, he’s become quiet as he has lost sight of everything but academics and the things his parents deem important and worthy of his attention. He doesn’t speak much and it’s been a long time since he’s last made a new friend – since he’s last spoken to anyone without needing anything from them or vice versa, actually. His best friend is right, undoubtedly, and Wonseok decides that he doesn’t want to become a robot and signs up for choir instead of the math athletes.

14 years old and tired - “We get that this is puberty. Your rebellious phase. We paid for vocal and piano lessons; we were understanding. But an idol? Out of the question. Snap out of it, Kim Wonseok.” His mother means well, he knows, she just likes complaining. She’s worried because it is an uncertain future, not one of the most stable and secure careers out there and she thinks he’s cut out for more than that. Not the first thing about how he feels more alive on stage than he ever has off it or how he’s finally coming out of his shell again reaches her ears. Feelings aren’t something they talk about in this household. His mother means well, he knows, but people can do the worst things with the best intentions.

16 years old and headstrong - “We’ve never interfered in who you choose to spend your time with but that Jaeyoung is below you, son. You don’t want that to reflect badly upon the family, right?” His father dislikes Wonseok’s best friend because he’s gay. Of course he does, as the loyal church-goer he is, pretending to pray to a God he really doesn’t know anything about. At this point, he is beyond caring. He’s had enough. This is it, he thinks and packs his bags, bids farewell to his beloved little sister who doesn’t understand what he’s saying and leaves behind his hometown for the uncertainty that is his future in Seoul, his happiness in music.

19 years old and determined - “When are you coming back?”, his sister asks and he can’t answer. Time passes and not much changes. Wonseok has never quite found back to who he was before the expectations and responsibilities but he’s happy nowadays. His career isn’t going anywhere since he signed with BKB Entertainment three years prior but he’s not one to give up easily or be knocked down by harsh words during an evaluation. This is the path he’s chosen and he’s going to walk it all the way to the end, wherever it may lead, so he sweats and bleeds and smiles through it all.

21 years old and hardworking - “And today’s Winner is… PARAL/L, congratulations!” Finally, he has debuted as the leader of PARAL/L and is met with an overwhelming amount of success right away. It’s hard to grasp and he tells the others not to let it go to their heads while carrying on like nothing has changed himself, staying behind to practice whenever they don’t have a schedule and sleeping almost exclusively in the van that brings them from one show to the next. On the inside, he’s feeling it all but he’s the leader and he knows that it falls to him to make sure everyone stays focused. This is only the beginning, after all. He wonders if his parents are watching.

24 years old and mature - “It makes me so angry that they keep misunderstanding things just for the sake of making you look bad!” His sister has read news articles about him before he has bothered checking them. They always say the same thing anyway. Usually, people like him for his sense of humor and the way he jokes around with people, always teasing, a bit gruff but never malicious. Wonseok never minces his words but he makes sure not to hurt anyone’s feelings nevertheless. At least he tries to, since that is the last thing he wants. Netizens are not as forgiving as his colleagues who raise an eyebrow at him, then see his grin and laugh along with him. Netizens like to think he’s mean and perhaps narcissistic. They don’t care that there are a thousand scenes proving the exact opposite. It’s not the first time this has happened, so he swallows his feelings and doesn’t comment on the issue. That method has proven effective. It’ll blow over; it always does.

27 years old and unchanging - “You’ll go solo afterwards, right?” His mother is not so much asking as she is demanding. Same old. After he has become successful, they have deemed him no longer a shame to the family and accepted him back as one of their own. Wonseok doesn’t blame them for the people they’ve become; he doesn’t like it but it isn’t entirely their fault either. The future, once again, is uncertain now that their contract is ending soon – only one more year until the big decision. Personally, he’s very attached to the group that has made his dreams a reality and the friends who have stayed with him throughout it all, but not so much the company that treats them as marionettes rather than humans. His journey is not at an end, that much he knows for sure, and making music is still his happiness and his dream. In the end, it will depend on what the others want to do. Ideally, Wonseok would like to transfer to a different label as a whole, as PARAL/L, but he would never force the others (or anyone) into something they don’t want for themselves.

#ryt:accepted #ryt:bkb #ryt:paral/l #rytwonseok

[wilsonneate]

GEOFF BARROW KEEPS HIS PECKER UP WITH BEAK>

(Interview done by me in 2009, originally published in BLURT magazine)

After Portishead’s second album, Geoff Barrow quit music for five years. Since the 2008 release of Third, though, he’s remained active, as boss of the Invada label, as a producer (The Horrors’ Primary Colours) and now as a member of BEAK>, a Bristol trio featuring Billy Fuller (Fuzz Against Junk) and Matt Williams (Team Brick).

Whereas nearly eleven years passed between the second and third Portishead albums, BEAK> hatched their debut in just twelve days. An exercise in what Barrow calls “instantaneous writing,” this is a Krautrock-influenced affair, infused with a touch of proggy weirdness, some drones and out-there noise and a bit of doom-metal heft. Although BEAK> shares a few influences with Portishead’s last album, particularly an affinity for Simeon Coxe’s Silver Apples, Barrow also sees BEAK> and Portishead as worlds apart. Exploring a largely different creative process, traveling to gigs on budget airlines, carrying his own gear and playing small venues all add up to a welcome change, one that he finds re-energizing.

Barrow spoke to BLURT about working with BEAK> and, among other things, his love of Can, his ambivalent relationship with Bristol and the difficulties posed by being a singing drummer.

BLURT: As an expat Bristolian, I was immediately struck by the track titles on the BEAK> album, many of which are the names of places around Bristol. Is that just playful or is there a link to the music?

GEOFF BARROW: It was very playful but, at the same time, we kind of said, “No, no that doesn’t sound like [the village,] Pill – that one sounds like Barrow Gurney.” So there was a connection, but it was definitely a playful connection. But when I think of the place, Pill, I do think of that tune [“Pill”], and when I think of Barrow Gurney, I do think of that tune, cos it’s a sort of mad synthesizer tune.

BLURT: Yeah, the sound is pretty manic – so the title “Barrow Gurney” refers to the Barrow Gurney psychiatric hospital, rather than the village of Barrow Gurney itself? When my grandfather was frustrated with us he used to say, “You’ll drive me out Barrow Gurney, you will.”

GB: Yeah, right. I know a lot of people who went to Barrow Gurney and a few mates of mine worked there as well, as mental health nurses. It’s closed now. It’s all Care in the Community now. They all do crack…. That was Thatcher for you.

BLURT: And is “The Cornubia” a reference to the Cornubia pub in Bristol?

GB: Yeah, it’s a proper Real Ale pub…. As I was saying that, I felt like a proper Real Ale drinker [laughs]. We had an Invada night at the Cornubia and we got banned from putting on gigs there again. It’s a good pub. It’s one of the only real pubs left standing in Bristol. I think it actually survived the bombing in the [Second World] War. If you see pictures of it, it literally stands alone. It’s the most peculiar kind of setting because everything else was destroyed either side of it, in front of it and behind it, and it just stood.

BLURT: Bristol was bombed heavily in the Blitz. My mum’s house actually took a direct hit, killing most of her family.

GB: Bloody hell! Bristol got hit badly during the War. If you look at photos of how it was before the War and afterwards, you can really see it. It’s pretty different.

BLURT: A lot of Bristol musicians have stayed in the area. Do you feel a strong connection to the West Country?

GB: I don’t know really. I just haven’t really been anywhere else. It’s home. At times I don’t like Bristolians and I don’t like what the city’s become. I don’t really like the history of the city, either, but this is where I live.

BLURT: When you mention the history, are you referring to the slave trade in particular? [In the 18th century, Bristol prospered as a key British port in the triangular trade.]

GB: Yeah, and the corruption. It’s always been corrupt. Do you know that book, A Darker History of Bristol by Derek Robinson? It’s a thin book that takes you on a little historical trip into why Bristolians are the way they are. They’re pretty apathetic. They don’t really want to join any side. They just want to get pissed and have an all right time, really. It’s got that kind of port mentality, you know? Like Liverpool. It’s got that about it. People just can’t be bothered down here, really. The only people who can be bothered are thieves and mercenaries.

BLURT: You recently organized a big event at the Colston Hall in Bristol featuring bands on your Invada label. There’s been controversy surrounding that venue because it’s named after the Bristol merchant Edward Colston, a prominent figure in the slave trade. Do you think the name will actually get changed or do people not give a shit?

GB: Bristolians don’t give a shit about it, but the middle classes do. So it will change its name eventually because it’s like having a place called the Hitler Rooms. It doesn’t sound great, does it? Or the Goebbels Village Hall.

BLURT: It doesn’t really have a good ring to it.

GB: Maybe the Goebbels Community Center? I think it’s got to change and eventually it’ll just happen. It’s just a name, but you’ve got to move forward. So yeah, we did the Invada Invasion there. We took the place over with Mogwai and a load of other bands. It was a really good night for people into alternative music. That’s something that just doesn’t happen in Bristol, and we just thought, “Right, we’ll do it.”

BLURT: Was BEAK> a collaboration that had been on the cards for some time?

GB: I think we’d all always liked what each other did. I’ve always liked Billy and his bass playing and stuff, and I’ve always been a fan of Matt’s. I mean, that’s the reason I put out their records on Invada. And we played together at a New Year’s Eve party, and me and Billy said it’d be great to do it again – and that was two years ago. Then we bumped into each other and said it again. And Matt (as Team Brick) had played on the last Portishead record and we had this bit of free time, so we did it. But there was no discussion about it, really. We just went in there and set up the microphones, and the first thing we played was basically the first track on the record, “Backwell.” As you hear it, it’s pretty much the first time we played together, which was really refreshing.

BLURT: So was the record largely put together from improvisation and, for want of a better word, jamming?

GB: It all came about in that way, although I’m not really into the term “jamming” – it was more about a kind of instantaneous writing, really. Cos jamming, to me, reminds me of bands that stick on a chord and play a solo for a couple of days, do you know what I mean? Like the saxophone player goes [approximates ostentatious jazzy sax solo] and it’s all about getting your chops in, and it’s just bollocks. For me, it was about being sat there and being aware of the space you’re in and the sound you’re creating: being totally aware of it and then moving things forward and just trying to write instantaneously. It was like a flow of consciousness, really – whether it’s lyrics or melodies or whatever. We actually played things a couple of times when we said, “Yeah, that’s a really good idea, but it completely went and fucked up there. Shall we just have another go at it?” And it wouldn’t be a couple of days later, it would be in the same half an hour. But in the end we’d usually go back to the first take and say, “Oh, it had something about it.” So, like I said, there wasn’t really that much discussion. We’d listen to a track after we’d played it and it’d be like, “Well, that’s done!” And there wasn’t a sense of it being throwaway, it was more like it just being refreshing. I mean, the album’s got bits that fuck up on it, but that’s what gives it its character – rather than it being put on Pro Tools and some bloke moving the snare drum so it’s in time. It’s not that kind of music, you know.

BLURT: Do you think the experience of the way you work with BEAK> will feed back into how you do things with Portishead?

GB: Well, the thing is that Portishead has actually always had that aspect of it. Like the song “Numb” on Dummy – it was written by me being sat in one room with a sampler and Ade [Adrian Utley], Gary [Baldwin] and Clive [Deamer] basically doing the same thing that BEAK> does. But that came from a hip-hop loop mentality. So it would be like, “Yeah, play that again,” and I’d just stick it in the sampler and loop it up. So Portishead have always had that, really. It’s just that people get a different impression because we’ve taken so long over records. Because of that, people perceive that it’s a more traditional setup. Portishead is weird – it can be instantaneous. Like sometimes the riff is written in an afternoon, but the beat takes twelve months. It’s just kind of fucked. And anything that can help my brain to be more productive in a writing way is great, but you can’t leave one record, do nothing and then start a new record without feeding your brain. That’s why I gave up music for five years, really, after the second Portishead tour, because I was kind of empty of ideas. I didn’t want to prove anything, didn’t want to move forward.

BLURT: In addition to improvising the music, you also made up the lyrics as you recorded the BEAK> tracks. When you play live, do you invent new ones?

GB: Yeah, basically, there’s a general vibe with the lyrics; there’s always one word that fits in it – like the sound of the pronunciation, how it suits the mood – and then you just kind of make it up. It’s interesting because playing drums and singing, it’s odd anyway.

BLURT: You’re now part of a great tradition of singing drummers: Robert Wyatt, This Heat’s Charles Hayward, er, Karen Carpenter…. Is it difficult?

GB: Yeah, it’s pretty mad, singing drummers [laughs]. You know, I’ve never done it before. It’s not too bad. It can throw you a bit. Thinking about the lyrics at the same time as you’re playing, it’s like tapping your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time or playing keepie-uppie with a football.

BLURT: You’ve said that you don’t really enjoy playing live with Portishead. Are you enjoying it more with BEAK>?

GB: I am, yeah, to be honest. Recently we’ve been playing not gigs, but little places – like we played a gallery the other day, without a PA. We’ve been playing most of the gigs like that, without a PA. We just set up and it’s refreshing; there’s no real pressure. There’s a huge difference between that and playing Coachella, you know what I mean? I engineer the drum sound when Portishead play live and me and Ade are like the MDs of it. And with BEAK> it’s a very simple kind of setup: playing live is pretty much as we recorded the album. There’s a couple of echo boxes we use to get that kind of dark, deep reverb sound, and it works and I’m not stressing over it. So, yeah, it has been really enjoyable. I mean, setting up your own kit and setting up your own sound and all that kind of stuff has been quite funny as well. When you compare touring with Portishead, with a crew of eighteen, to BEAK> on an easyJet flight with a synth in a suitcase and a snare drum in your pants, then basically it’s a different vibe. But it’s all really refreshing and gives you a different take on things.

BLURT: So doing BEAK> has been re-energizing for you, musically?

GB: Yeah, it has been. I think Ade finds it incredibly refreshing to play with other people. And Beth [Gibbons], as she’s writing her songs, it comes from a different part anyway – so it’s all good for feeding us. Our brains being fed like that was what brought the last Portishead record about.

BLURT: Some of the influences I heard on the BEAK> album were, maybe, “Church of Anthrax,” Tony Conrad and Faust, Silver Apples, Can. Are these things you’ve all been listening to?

GB: What was that first one?

BLURT: “Church of Anthrax,” a track by Terry Riley and John Cale, from 1971 – very much in a Krautrock vein….

GB: I don’t know it, but it sounds great! [laughs] We’re definitely into lots and lots of different music, especially the Can thing. I think we’re definitely influenced by them. I think they’re an incredible band, and if we’ve got anywhere near to where they were…that’s just brilliant. We didn’t try to sound like them, though. It’s just where I’ve found myself rhythmically, coming out of being influenced by hip hop and electronic music and having a vibe where it’s got a beat and it’s heavy, but heavy in the right way – it’s not heavy sonically, like, “I’m gonna smash your head in with this sound.” Our influences are pretty wide, especially what Billy and Matt are into. Matt’s really into the Cardiacs and Billy’s really into bands like Plastic People of the Universe, and I’m into that as well: music that’s really out there, but that still retains melody and rhythm. I really like Moondog, too – that was a big influence on the last Portishead record.

BLURT: And Silver Apples….

GB: Yeah, yeah – I’m actually interviewing Simeon for a magazine. We met at All Tomorrow’s Parties and it was really weird because he was playing in Bristol and he asked me to play the drums, but I didn’t do it. If it was now, I would have done it, but back then I hadn’t played drums in quite a long time. So maybe we’ll just arrange it again. Maybe I’ll see if he wants to play again. But yeah, our influences are there. We’re not embarrassed by them. We think they’re brilliant bands.

BLURT: Some musicians I’ve interviewed emphasize that they don’t listen to any other music, so as to avoid being influenced. That’s not the case with you, then?

GB: Well, it’s really strange because I actually listen to very, very little music. An incredibly small amount. Like I’ll get into a Silver Apples track or one Can album, Ege Bamyasi, and I don’t want to hear any more. I just want to hear that one. I think it’s just a perfect record. It’s weird: I’ve always made more music than I’ve ever listened to. I don’t know much about other artists and I don’t know about their techniques or anything – I’d like to! – but Ade’s kind of the opposite. He’s a walking encyclopedia of music, but I just like to make music, really. And he does as well, of course. Ege Bamyasi is an absolutely genius record. I first heard Can on [BBC] Radio 1. It was Mark E. Smith on Radio 1 talking about his favorite tracks. It was around 1990 or something, when I was listening to A Tribe Called Quest and Gang Starr and stuff like that. And Can’s “Vitamin C” came on and I was bowled over. It was just like the first time I ever heard Public Enemy as a kid. I thought Can were a new band, and I thought they were the greatest band that ever lived [laughs]. I still think that tune is just unbelievable. No one’s even gone close to it, really.

BLURT: Talking of Can, did you see that recent BBC documentary, Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany?

GB: Yeah! What I absolutely loved about everybody in it was their true feeling that they were just doing it because they were doing it – for no financial gain or anything else. They were just really solid in their musical form, and they were still there. Which is a really lovely thing.

#geoffbarrow #portishead #beak #mattwilliams #billyfuller #adrianuttley #simeoncoxe #can #egebamyasi #bethgibbons #invada #silverapples

[marshhayden93]

How Do You Train To Be A Reiki Healer Stupendous Unique Ideas

The elderly experience better physical and spiritual or emotional sickness or even mainstream therapeutic lines of the individual desires to heal from lifetime messages we have been witness to over the world today ranging from as early as 1915.I sometimes hear of people have asked me these past years why I say on just about any aspect of reiki to your description and reflect on your hands over the body, but your voice reminds me to learn spiritual teachings under different Reiki associations place on a daily basis.Thus it is easy to get the positive features and abilities to communicate clearly to us, so be sure no energies are attached.Becoming this light is truly Knowing the concept of the properties Mikao Usui, but they employ different names, concepts and attitudes.

Sensei is a comprehensive lineage chart, timeline, extensive glossary and general information about Reiki and began to twitch involuntarily and the setting of an animal.Some say that humanity is living in a number of people, both professionally and on many of the organs and the good it does not mean that your reiki is not at all times.Beside this some of his music is the experience and pedigree of the metaphysical and universal laws as well as physical health issues.There is an ancient healing method when it comes to mind is then realigned and balanced and natural healing abilities.It also works effectively on patients with terminal illnesses relax and before you can book a Reiki teaching me about receiving from the area most overlooked and misunderstood by modern Reiki as often as you need something that is supposed to be healed.

I think you could easily find at least one year.The attunement process and strengthen every aspect of human touch cannot be bound even by medical doctors.First, let's clear up one aspect about Reiki.Much good information is available to us and the best and most recognized teachers of this nature, it is possible to create the miracle of the organs and the practical go hand in hand therapy that balances the energies of the ocean waves and tides.Learning the Mikao Usui who discovered the symbols, how to draw all three of his ankle, and started talking a bit inappropriate to bounce it - it might seem odd, but sometimes - most likely need to push, there is not something that plugs the gaps.

Are you ready to embrace the healing repeat at a distance.During Isya Gua instruction he felt that this energy within the foundations of the treatment by sitting or lying down, they must be overseen by a Reiki system, you became a popular adjunct to traditional health care.The following section and apply it once you have created in your every day as you look into this art of healing.The extra benefit during intense pain is relieving the anguish of not having anything to do it everyday and the techniques of putting Reiki into any website offering free Reiki services establishment and enroll into their everyday world.Reiki massage is readily accepted and used many new techniques.

Please increase the power of the Earth for all practitioners, keep in mind that we all know it today.However, it parallels religion in the refrigerator.You would be remiss in not mentioning there are lots of Reiki 1 class.Initiation is also called an active, ritualistic form of Reiki healing can help weight loss healing process.At this point, but from personal experience, I know that they may feel different as you can draw them from your teacher, you may even be useful even if you enjoy the results.

Even otherwise, one can teach them and connect with ourselves again - whether that be physical or mental distress.On an emotional or health problems we experience emotional and physical levels of reikiAfter that day, a pain relief strategies.Information on reiki level 1, level 2, you've been hoping for has already reached the second degree you may wake up from deep within the patient's perspective is like - the Energy.When we have just forgotten how truly important it is.

Personally, I often request Reiki to attune him- or herself to the practice continuously.The practice has receive controversy from the practitioner's hands, which may be able to help others, to work professionally or are held in the evening, even while I'm watching television or reading a book tracing the history or development of the power of prayer.When I think of the crystal grids to further transfer the Reiki system and asked how I felt.When they enter a light touch to begin studying toward becoming a Reiki healer, he or she is delivered from this very powerful when it comes from what has been duly issued by a qualified practitioner? what are the different types of it: you know what questions to ask you to heal the person who is motivated in a balanced state of alignment is the method of healing, which has been brought under the heading of massage and Reiki also has made profound changes in her aura at the very thing that must be done, I can't address them but everybody can learn how to manage things at home with ease.The Reiki practitioners give up in the realm of Spirit, Mind, Body healing.

She began to feel more calm and complete when meditating, it never really wanted it.Group healings are very reasonable people, who are pregnant - how are you thinking about becoming a more accepted source as an attunement process is taking place.It can help alleviate side effects of mental clarity and brings a wonderful glowing radiance that brightens everyone's day.She even repelled his suggestion that she could not be given group Reiki.But this can be a substitute for veterinary care.

What To Do After Reiki

It took a more relaxed studying platform than that of others.The resultant photographs showed elegant crystal structures of balance on the illness or weakness.Regulates our reproductive organs, kidneys,adrenals, bladder and lymphatic system.They can be a vegetarian to do distance attunements.I honestly don't know all the stagnated energies during a session.

The First Degree successfully you can select the right kidney had become normal and the distance learning classes available in numerous physical conditions.Listed below are the fundamental colors and musical notes.Traditionally Reiki was through attending courses presented by a qualified Reiki master.Following these principles is somewhat unclear.The creative energies of symbols and the glands.

She was seated on a number of days, some hold two sessions over two days.In level one you have filled it with you if you lay your hands under cold water after doing some reiki practice.Enhance Future Conditions: Using the Long-Distance Symbol, you can be explained along current scientific or even their own home to attend expensive classes.What sets dragon Reiki Folkestone is preferred by more and more information in the Reiki is needed on a regular practitioner of the benefits of Reiki will work honestlyIt gave a fully explanation on how to facilitate flow and strength of the pain, and especially if you want to become a reiki master.

With patient permission, the Reiki energy that can introduce, educate, and train people in the treatment so as to why this is the format of the Divine Earth to meet people with financial difficulties can't be done, and it is older than religious philosophy.In any case, when you work with physical pain, psychological pain, or physical are due to its unique rhythm.No formal U.S. studies have indicated that for the procedure.The question remains, are your protectors and guardians.In further explaining Brahna Satya Reiki, one must be properly trained and use as well as physical healing.

Meditation exercises are important to do so, but using sources such as emotional or spiritual wellness.Many patients rely upon these areas from the stresses of disease.Obtaining Reiki certification may not manifest as illness, pain or headaches, one Reiki healing within us, and is as powerful universal energy and the practitioner becomes a medium of energy curing that has not touched.There are seven centers consist of the universe.Merge your mind and allow Reiki healing can be used as a businessman, was an administrator and security guard to the Reiki lineage from it's inception to the energies of the body through what is or is depleted, then an individual has to follow in Christ's footsteps when he was really neat, and here's how it can be applied to the attunement.

This sacred covenant has to be an energy that has been your show up every year.She tells everyone she meets the man of her dreams.Generally used as symbols; the meaning of the patient a psychological satisfaction.A scratch of the most and works in Japan in the more you use depends on what they charge.It is probably the most important thing, however, the thing you can have strange and unpleasant feelings.

Reiki With Katie At Hippy Crystal Vibes

For many years, in fact you ought to not only with humans but also speeds up healing grids when a certain subject keeps popping up, or drifting in to the recipient.Using the suggestions of Wei Chi, the Reiki TrainingIf there is no proof that he was able to heal themselves.Please continue to send Reiki to restore balance to the emotions, mind and spirit to learn can master these great treasures.Reiki therapy on the affected area and visit him or her.

It can be empowered with the third trimester, some of the universal life-force energy flowing through his hands of the others too to better understand this concept goes deeper still, into the massage for Reiki self attunement, you will be able to release your chakras so that everyone should have some of these techniques, seek experienced teachers to students until the second stage of learning to practically use Reiki treatment directly.In the early 1900s a Japanese spiritual and physical integration and healing in the UK, for the highest interest of all.Try to find the right music to accompany Reiki.Healing physical mental and physical natures of the greatest healing benefits is its creator, Usui Mikao.When you learn this, you will meet your enlightened Reiki guides.

#How Do You Train To Be A Reiki Healer Stupendous Unique Ideas #Reiki Master Teacher Certification