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The sad story of Emma Gough, the 22 year-old Jehovah's Witness mother-to-be who died after giving birth to healthy twins because she refused to accept a blood transfusion, hit the headlines recently. She lived in Telford, 45 minutes from Wolverhampton and her death has affected many local people, including a sister of someone in our congregation, because the JWs are thriving in Wolverhampton with around 13 congregations. It must be so hard for Emma's husband and family to be left with infant twins and no mother, especially when a simple blood transfusion would have saved her life. It must also be hard for those who adhere to the strict blood transfusion law of the Watchtower. I've decided to post this blog to help anyone who is affected by this teaching to ask; does the bible prohibit blood transfusions? If you are a Jehovah's Witness, I have used the New World Translation in this work in the hope that you will read this post and think prayerfully about what the bible teaches.
I understand that this is a sensitive and controversial subject for Jehovah's Witnesses. The Watchtower has changed its position on the use of blood products but maintains a policy of automatic self-disfellowshipping for any transgressors of this "law".
I also understand that the "law" on the use of blood products stems from the letter to the Gentiles recorded in Acts chapter 15, which asks Gentile believers to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat strangled animals and from sexual immorality.
The historical and wider biblical context and reason for the Jerusalem council edict must be understood before we can answer the question "does the bible prohibited blood transfusions?" Three questions apply to Acts 15 before the issue can be properly understood:
- What it is the context in which the Jerusalem council made it's decision?
- Why were the Gentiles asked to abstain from these four areas and not from stealing, lying, coveting and other such biblical laws?
- How are we to read Acts 15 in light of 1 Corinthians 8:7-8, where Paul is legally indifferent to the eating of meat sacrificed to idols? "7 But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do."
In Luke's account in Acts, James said to the council, most especially the circumcision party, that they must recognize and embrace Gentile believers as brothers and sisters in Christ, and not burden them or put stumbling blocks in the way of the salvation of other Gentiles by asking them to add to their faith in Jesus either circumcision or the whole code of Jewish practices (v13-18). At the same time, having established the principle that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, without works (v8-11), it was necessary to appeal to these Gentile believers to respect the consciences of their Jewish fellow-believers by abstaining from a few practices which caused offence to them and which put stumbling blocks in the way of fellow Jews coming to faith in Christ. For, James went on to explain, Moses had been preached in every city from the earliest times and is still being read in the synagogues on every Sabbath (v21). In such contexts, where the teachings of Moses were well known and highly respected, Jewish scruples were sensitive and out of charity should not have been violated by Gentile believers. This is the same argument applied by Paul in 1 Corinthians 8. As knowledge puffs up and love builds up, so believers must do the loving thing for those who's conscience is weak by abstaining from meat sacrificed to idols. Paul knew that food was not defiled by being sacrificed to idols and so it could be eaten by followers of Christ. Some immature Christians, however, were uneasy when they saw other Christians eat idol-food. Paul was, therefore, willing to stop eating meat for the sake of his weaker brother.
In the case of the four abstentions listed in Acts 15, the "weaker brother" appears to be the Jewish believers whose ceremonial customs, all matters of external purity, were being violated by the Gentile believers and this made the Jewish brothers uneasy, their conscience was defiled. So by eating meat sacrificed to idols, eating or drinking 'blood' and 'eating the meat of strangled animals' Gentile believers broke the ceremonial food laws recorded in Leviticus (Lev. 17:6-15). Sexual immorality was also a matter of Jewish purity, outlawed in Leviticus (Lev 15:16-33). For Gentile believers who came from a background of temple prostitution and general promiscuity the issue needed addressing. This sexual immortality was associated with cultic practice and so it overlapped with both the ceremonial and moral aspects of God's law.
In essence, the Jerusalem council agreed that all believers in Christ are saved by God's grace though faith. They are justified and made righteous by hating their moral sin and loving Christ for dying in their place on the cross. As for the law, it is divided into moral and ceremonial and whilst the moral law still stands today the ceremonial law is swallowed up in the cross as Christ fulfills the requirements of the sacrificial system. All believers are held to the moral law of God but not the ceremonial. Whilst the Jews who had come to trust in Christ is their Messiah knew that he had fulfilled the ceremonial laws and so abolished them, it still pricked their conscience when they saw their Gentile brothers breaking those ceremonial laws. God had already revealed through Peter's visions in Acts 10 and 11 that the food laws were abolished under Christ. All things were now "clean" to eat because the ceremonial law was fulfilled in Christ. Jewish believers could now eat all sorts of meat and blood products, yet it left them feeling uneasy, so Gentiles were asked to abstain for the love of their Jewish brethren.
Carrying this principle forward to today's ethical dilemma created by the Watchtower, it is clear that blood transfusions do not fit the category of Jewish ceremonial law as no sacrifice for sin or guilt is performed in the donation of blood. Blood donors may believe that they are making a small sacrifice to make them right with God but the bible teaches that only one sacrifice is acceptable to God, the death of Jesus on the cross (1 Peter 3:18). Blood given for transfusion and the blood of animals used in sacrifice are not in the same ceremonial category.
So, do blood transfusions fall into the category of something believers should abstain from because of the uneasy conscience of some? It might be true that Jehovah's witnesses feel uncomfortable with the idea of having the blood of another person pumped into their veins. The question remains, does the Bible ask people to abstain from the practice of blood transfusion for this reason?
I believe the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 12 sheds some light on the situation. The disciples go into a grain field, pluck heads of grain and eat them on the Sabbath. The Pharisees are angry because Jesus' disciples are breaking the Sabbath law "do no work".
Jesus' reply takes the following line of argument:
- The priests "worked" every Sabbath in the temple and so "broke" the law yet remained innocent because their temple work took precedent over the law not to work on the Sabbath. The authority of God's law allowed them to work (v5).
- Jesus himself is greater than the temple system, he fulfills the law for people and has authority to allow them to do acts of mercy on the Sabbath (v7)
- Mercy takes precedent over sacrifice (v7)
To prove his point, Jesus then healed a man with a withered hand, on the Sabbath in the synagogue (v9-13) and the strict law keepers wanted to kill him, not for showing mercy but for breaking the law which said "do not work on the Sabbath" (v14). Yet, the same Pharisees would work on Sabbath by rescuing a sheep from a ditch! And Jesus said that a man's life is worth more than a sheep's. So, as healing people is a work of re-creation, Jesus himself taught and demonstrated that mercy takes president over sacrifice.
Presuming that someone still argued that the laws of Leviticus 17 stand today, that they were not swallowed up in the sacrificial death of Christ, and that blood transfusions break those laws, Jesus teaches and demonstrates that healing someone is more important than keeping such laws. Jesus "went through the land doing good and healing all those oppressed by the Devil; because God was with him" (Acts 10:38). Saving the lives of people and healing them falls into the category of mercy. Jesus said "I want mercy, not sacrifice". It is, therefore, necessary for believers to show and receive mercy, to heal people, before adhering to any ceremonial laws on blood.
If you are a Jehovah's Witness I hope this gives you the courage to accept a blood transfusion as an act of mercy and not to be concerned about breaking ceremonial laws concerning blood.


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I am doing pretty shitty lately. Hopefully it's okay. Maybe it's not. But I haven't blogged in over a month, and I thought maybe I would feel better if I blogged it out.
I feel like if you're reading my blog you're trying to be an ally and that's great. Here are some ways to be more of an ally, if that is what you care to do. This is by no means an exclusive list, and these are just my thoughts. I may be full of shit. You may disagree with me. If you do, please be gentle and use a low voice because I am bad at handling criticism. Also is me using the term "woke bae" appropriating from the black community or is it okay? I'm not sure.
Anyway t0 liven it up I have inter-spliced pictures of goats. Goats are great. Nobody disagrees with a photo of a goat.
Validate their feelings. That's not the same thing as saying, "You're right–you're a piece of shit." But it does mean that when someone comes to you and they say, "Everything makes me unhappy and I don't know what to do with my life," saying "I'm sorry you're feeling that way. That must be tough," and not "You have no reason to feel that way. Look at how great your life is," or "You need to stop feeling that way because it will only bring you down." Just accepting that they are feeling feelings and those feelings are real is huge.
Don't try to fix it. "Have you tried x?", "What's your plan in case y?" may be helpful to you personally, but if someone is dealing with a mental health crisis, it may be the only thing they're worried about is how to get out of bed in the morning without crying. The best thing you can do is just listen and try to understand. You can help them work on a plan when they're feeling more together, but don't tell them what to do. Chances are if you start listing off ideas they're going to shoot them all down, not because they're not good ideas, but because it's difficult to think about that right now.
Reach out. I work really hard to let people know when I'm having a bad day/week/month because I know those relationships are what keeps me going. But a lot of times, I feel like if I let people peek behind the curtain too much, they're going to stop talking to me whatsoever. Also sometimes, I feel so awful, the energy it takes to reach out to someone when it's not okay is too much. If you are feeling like someone is not okay, gently ask them how they're doing. Don't be like, "Omg you seem like a fucking trainwreck lately–what's your damage?" Be like, "Hey, how's it going? Everything okay?" Knowing people care about me is literally what keeps me going. Nothing means more to me then when people check in.
Jokingly referring to mental illness as slang is not cute. "I made a list because I'm OCD." "The weather in this city is so schizophrenic." PLEASE STAHP. That is not even what those disorders mean. Did you make a list because you were counting every crack on the sidewalk to stop your family from dying? Does the weather in your city hear auditory hallucinations? It may feel edgy and hip to use those words as slang, but it painful for those who have been affected by it to hear. So stop. This is my least favorite thing people do.
Disclosing someone else's mental health issues to another person is a no-no. If I tell you what I'm going through, great, but that doesn't mean it's okay to share with the class. I try to be really up front and blog about it and let everyone know, so I'm a slightly different case, but still even I don't want other people I haven't told knowing about my shit. Assume what was told to you was told in confidence.
Referring to suicide as cowardly and selfish makes the problem worse. I get it! That's how you see it! Sure! But when someone is thinking about suicide, their self-esteem is already pretty low. Name calling will only make them want to kill themselves more. Also, I challenge you to see this differently. It's an imbalance in the brain. It's a sign that the brain isn't functioning correctly. That is all. Viewing it as cowardly and selfish negates the illness.
You are already doing great. Just by reading this blog post, you are trying to be a woke bae, and therefore an awesome person in my book. You are trying. It is hard. Good for you.

subset: commoncrawl


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QUESTIONS about the Knick point guards generally have been more penetrating than the guards themselves. Jeff Van Gundy's idea of a drive is in his Honda to go look at more film. And he gets his kick from Diet Coke.
"Since I've been here, our point guards have had the ability to score, but their job foremost is to distribute and defend," he said.
You coach what you got. Since Doc Rivers broke down and Derek Harper became old, the consensus is the Knicks haven't had much at the No. 1, even if Van Gundy has always argued that's a bunch of No. 2. It would be unfair to define his offensive philosophy as: the lower the number of turnovers, the lower the turnover in coaching positions. But Van Gundy wants one guards who primarily guard, including the ball, with their life.
"We have never had them rely on creating for other people," said assistant coach Don Chaney. "Ours provide half-court execution. We like them to play a simple game.
"We are not a tremendous fastbreaking team, so the role is limited there. We get in trouble when we try to split double teams and drive in traffic. We want them to probe, but under control. Their job is to protect the ball, defend, and hit the open shot when other players are doubled."
When you have two point guards who, as starters have both proven to be good backups, dissatisfaction gets doubled, too. For years, we've wondered what a creative point guard could do to make options beyond Patrick Ewing viable. Great guards make other players better.
The Knicks have evolved in the opposite direction, however. Their other players have made their point guards better, or at least seem that way. Because Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell do more, Chris Childs and Charlie Ward are needed for less. This allows them to play to their strengths, as Childs did with good defense and six wide-open, well-timed, field goals in three close victories over Toronto.
No grounds were left for complaint, at least until the Knicks lose their first playoff game. Asked yesterday if the point guard's responsibilities had changed even subtlety, Childs said, "I'll tell you what hasn't changed. You guys looking to blame us."
Touchy, touchy. Like any good club that has defined roles, the Knicks feel like they all will hang together or be hung separately. But it hardly improves their chances when Childs hangs too long in the lane, his options dwindling like support from the patrons. Against the Raptors, he earned 30 more minutes of playing time over three games than the starter, Ward, by staying almost completely under control.
"You are not going to be criticized as much if you take care of the ball," said Chaney. "Chris has had a good year. His turnover-to-assist-ratio (105 to 285) was much better than it was the last couple of years."
Childs had as many turnovers (five) as assists against Toronto, but helped wilt Toronto's Doug Christie. Muggsy Bogues had some moments, but it wasn't really a point guard's series. And the good news is the next one might not be, either.
"The only way Tim Hardaway misses this is if somebody ties him up," said Childs.
Indeed, with Hardaway on a sprained foot that kept him out of the Detroit series, perhaps this can be easily arranged. Anthony Carter is one year out of the CBA and don't tell an old CBAer like Childs that's meant in any disparaging way. But this time could the Knicks actually have an advantage at point guard over the Heat? Take us now, Lord, we've seen it all.
"[Carter's] very quick, not a knockdown shooter like Tim, but when he gets in the paint he makes things happen," said Childs. "The last time we played him he had seven assists in 14 minutes. I don't think we focused on him enough, gave him the respect he deserves."
If that sounds familiar, the voice from the broken record is Van Gundy talking about Ward, who struggled against Toronto, or Childs.
"I thought Chris was terrific [versus Toronto]," said the coach. "He always plays hard in the regular season but I think in the playoffs he's less distracted.
"Usually, Chris' years are broken up by injuries. But he has great pride in his defense. We like him in the position of guarding a preeminent scorer."
Childs has been good at it. And will be again if Hardaway is able to play at least as well as a year ago, when he had a bad knee.
"I'm not a doctor," Child shrugged, when asked how much Hardaway's movement was limited. "I think we played well and you give credit where credit is due."
For some of us, that's hard to do when the subject is the Knick point guards. But if you don't always like Childs' decisions, you can't knock his mentality.


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I just wanted to thank everyone that has viewed my blog so far! After exactly one year, I have gotten views from 6 different countries! This really means a lot to me and hopefully in the future, my blog will get view from 10 different countries! So when I achieve this goal I'll make sure to let all of you know!
Here is a picture of my blog's views since 1 year:
~ Purple Pansy


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Back in Cio-Cio-San's kimono: A chat with Anne Sophie Duprels
Ahead of Puccini's Madama Butterfly opening in just two weeks' time, we caught up with our own Butterfly – soprano Anne Sophie Duprels.
Anne Sophie returns to the title role after huge successes here in our 2007/8 and 2011/12 seasons, but what is it like coming back to Cio-Cio-San, and what is special about THIS production?
Tell us a little bit about the character of Cio-Cio-San.
"Cio-Cio-San is a young Japanese girl – just 15 years old when the curtain goes up, and 18 when it comes down. She comes from a disgraced family and is sold to Lieutenant Pinkerton for 100 yen. That's the background!
She is a very sincere, passionate character, and she's fascinated by the exotic Pinkerton (as he is by her exoticism). She shows strength and faith even when her world falls apart. In my view, she's not a fragile flower but a very strong and determined woman."
What is is like returning to the role of Cio-Cio-San? Will you do anything differently?
"In returning to this role, I always try to go deeper in the understanding of what Puccini wanted for his character. I will certainly do things differently as I am different now to how I was 10 years ago, when I first stepped into Cio-Cio-San's kimono!
One must always be challenged and try to improve one's interpretation. Opera is a living art form and very much alive – every night we get on stage we create a brand new show."
Do you have a favourite moment in the piece?
"A favourite moment would be the letter scene with Sharpless in Act II (where the Consul tries to read aloud Pinkerton's letter, asking him to break the news to Butterfly). The details in the music and the way Puccini writes this pivotal exchange is stunning. Every second counts, and the orchestra paints with incredible precision and painful accuracy every heartbeat, every breath of hope or despair. It's an amazing moment of theatre."
Why do you think Madama Butterfly has had such enduring audience appeal over the years?
"I think Puccini is an incredible storyteller. Butterfly is a heartbreaking story and the audience embarks on Cio-Cio-San's journey as her fate unfolds with passion and realism. It's simply gripping."
Is there anything that helps you get into character?
"To get into character we have the entire rehearsal period, where we build all the details of the relationships between the characters. Then on the day of a performance, putting on the costume, wig and make-up is the final touch of the transformation into someone else."
Is there anything that you think is special about this particular production of Madama Butterfly?
"I've been very privileged to sing Cio-Cio-San in quite a few different productions, and each one has brought different colours, views, and angles to the story and how to tell it. This production is very close to my heart not only because of its visual beauty but because of director Tim Albery's attention to detail – details matching Puccini's intricate score and highlighting every word, intention and emotion."
Are there any specific challenges to performing the role of Cio-Cio-San?
"The challenges of performing Cio-Cio-San are of several different natures. The obvious one is stamina, as Cio-Cio-San is on stage for almost the entire evening! Another one would be emotional – it's a rollercoaster and you have to keep your head clear when your heart is ripped apart. As a performer, you can't go through her emotions yourself, you have to transmit those emotions to the audience for them to experience."
What can the audience expect when they come to see Madama Butterfly?
"The audience can expect an intense emotional journey and also the visual delights of ravishing costumes and of a beautiful set transformed throughout the evening by fabulous lighting."
To book tickets or to find out more, visit the Madama Butterfly webpage.
Anne Sophie Duprels as Cio-Cio-San © Robert Workman 2011
Peter Savidge as Sharpless and Anne Sophie Duprels as Cio-Cio-San © Richard H Smith 2018
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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-170003422018-05-29T08:56:33.854+01:00John Soanes (Archived Blog)This Is My Old Blog - I Now Blog At http://www.johnsoanes.co.uk/blog.html, Please Come And Visit!John Soaneshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-47479124921913538212012-06-06T18:59:00.000+01:002012-06-06T18:59:09.444+01:00Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
Well, what better way to round off things on this blog than to post a picture which I don't have the real right to post, but which is, y'know, of me? Seems about right somehow.

Anyway, this blog is not dying, it's moving - or, to be more accurate, I'll be moving my attentions to my 'new blog' and so I doubt I'll be posting here again (techical issues permitting) for the foreseeable future.

The reason for the move is pretty simple, really - for some time, I've been looking into trying to 'streamline' the number of places and locations I occupy online, and so I've revamped and reshaped my website so that it now includes automatic updates on my Twitter messages, and so it only seems logical that I shift the blog updates over there too.

I speak with utter confidence about this move, but of course if the server crashes or my technical ability reaches its limits, I may well be here again, so I won't be deleting this blog. Many of the links which you can see in the right-hand column are on the new site, so you don't have to feel lost and disoriented if you just use his blog as a stepping-stone to other people's pages. I don't mind being the guardian of the crossroads, even if Robert Johnson had his misgivings...

Anyway, I hope you'll come and visit the new blog, and maybe you'll even be so kind as to add John Soanes to your list of bookmarks? Thanks in advance.

Finally, if this is your last time of visiting, many thanks for your time and eyeballs over the last few years. It's much appreciated, and as intermittent as my updates may have been in the last year or so, it's always been reassuring to know that you fine folks were out there reading my nonsense. Seriously, you've been fantastic.

And you know what? So was I.John Soaneshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-85871309822880749122012-05-08T20:14:00.003+01:002012-05-08T20:45:16.636+01:00If I Name This Post 'Sextuple Mumbo Jumbo', That'll Increase Traffic To The Blog, Right?I think it was the late (and in my estimation rather great) Blake Snyder, author of the screenwriting book Save The Cat who came up with the concept of 'Double Mumbo Jumbo', and it's something I've been thinking about a bit recently.

Double Mumbo Jumbo, put simply, is the idea that "as an audience we can only buy one piece of magic per movie" (or, I'd say, book or play or other medium). Where Blake says 'magic', I like to think this equally means coincidence - for my money, Spider-Man 3 suffers from Double Mumbo Jumbo in the plotlines relating to the Venom symbiote (to non-comic geeks, that's the black costume-thing which bonds first with Peter Parker and then with his rival) when it happens to land first near Peter Parker's moped (if memory serves; I've only seen the film once, and don't plan to watch it again, even if it means verifying details for a blog post) and then it's roaming ownerless again when Peter Parker's workplace rival is out and about in the area.

I think the second story in Pulp Fiction suffers from this sort of coincidence problem as well, though I know a lot of people hold that film in much higher regard than I do.

It's not just a problem which you see in films, either (though the example I'm about to give was, I think, adapted to film): the novel Perfume by Patrick Suskind is very well-respected and was given to me with strong recommendations by a friend, but when I read it I couldn't get past the fact that the main character had no personal scent (which struck me as being biologically unlikely) and also had an extrememly sensitive ability to detect odours.

This felt like a cheat to me, as if the author realised that someone with a truly super-powered nose would be unable to smell anything beyond the scent of their own sweat and clothing. I didn't buy it, and as a result the rest of the book felt hard to swallow, built as it was on a foundation that I didn't find particularly sturdy.

This has been on my mind a bit recently, because in the novel I'm currently writing (due for completion about half an hour before the heat-death of the universe, longtime readers might suspect) I have various 'secret' government agencies and bodies, and I don't want to have too much stuff that looks like a fudge - whilst I'm confident that most readers will accept that there are bodies within government and the military which don't appear in annual reports and budget publications, I don't want to make it look as if I've made them 'secret' just so I haven't got to do the research on Home Office heirarchies and departmental responsibilities and the like.

In a strange - though hopefully understandable - tangent, thinking about the concept of Double Mumbo Jumbo has partly explained to me why I find the following advert irks me more than it probably should:

The advert doesn't really make sense to me on any level - and yes, I know it's meant to be a bit out there and surreal, but consider the things that we're supposed to accept:

He's so fond of sausage rolls he's cloned a miniature dog to say what he can't

He carries the miniature dog in a jewellery box in his pocket

He had it in his pocket, but initially wasn't intending to hand it to her (note how he turns away at first)

The 'garage lady' accepts what appears to be a gift of jewellery from a customer

The miniature dog speaks english (with, I think, the voice of Mathew Horne)

The dog knows which button to press on its (also miniaturised) keyboard to start the music (which is either drum and bass or garage, I think - I'm not bothered about either of those choices really, though I hope it's the latter as it would be appropriate given the setting of the advert)

It just feels like the advert-makers have hit the 'random' button in an almost cynical way, as if throwing diverse stuff together like that immediately equates to something surreal and/or clever. The main problem I think I have with it is that for someone who's "just a bloke", and apparently incapable of expressing himself, he's gone to a lot of trouble (and a weird kind of trouble) to express his gratitude.

In fact, within this universe where we can create speaking miniature animals to perform tasks we humans can't, I'm surprised that there are petrol stations at all, as the normal rules don't seem to apply; surely the pumps dispense some kind of liquid boulders, and the 'garage lady' is in fact the reincarnation of Alexander the Great, wearing a human outfit to disguise the fact that he's come back as an oversized moth (I'm aware that many insects' tracheas don't function once they get above a certain size, so this is an inherently unrealistic proposition, but given that the shruken dog apparently suffers no difficulty breathing despite his size and being enclosed in a small box, it seems all bets are off). Actually, it's strange that this bizarre world they inhabit has sausage rolls and money in it at all really. What are the odds of that?

I can live with the odd quirk or wrinkle to things - and as I understand it, much of the 'magic realism' school of writing is based on the world as we know it reacting to strange and unusual things happening - but it needs to be balanced, I think. The Queen in Alice in Wonderland boasts "sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast", but that advert seems, to me, to be a case of Multiple Mumbo Jumbo, and so I can't swallow it (then again, as a vegetarian, I was probably unlikely to swallow anything related to sausage rolls).

Come to think of it, no wonder the chap in the advert accepts the strange world he lives in: it's clearly the early hours, and maybe he needs to believe the six impossible things I list above before he can have the sausage roll - that is, his breakfast.John Soaneshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-87746661770657592062012-05-03T15:59:00.000+01:002012-05-03T15:59:53.440+01:00Short Film: 'Revealing Diary' By The Guerrier BrothersVideos on Thursday appear to be turning into a habit round here, don't they?

Anyway, this is a cracking short film made by writer Simon Guerrier and his director brother Thomas, and I think it is very classsy - good and unsettling, with a very strong ending.

I heartily recommend you invent the 5mins or so in watching it - seriously, check this out:

Told you it was good. Simon's posted an interesting write-up on the production process here, which provides insight into how it all came together.

Impressive stuff, and very good work, I feel.John Soaneshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-12344112370479756492012-04-19T09:54:00.000+01:002012-04-19T09:55:14.336+01:00It's A Kind Of Magic"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" - Arthur C. Clarke

"Any sufficiently advanced special effect is indistinguishable from reality" - Me

A little bit of magic to start your Thursday. Have a smashing day, eh?
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 </object>John Soaneshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-37503791781579403092012-04-17T18:41:00.000+01:002012-04-17T21:53:15.265+01:00One Of The Perils Of Getting Older Is That Many Things End Up Reminding You Of Other Things, Which Leads To This Sort Of Post

Over the weekend, I was on a train, and saw two young-ish chaps talking quite excitedly. They were twenty years old at most, and they were chatting as they passed what looked like a glossy magazine back and forth.

If you're thinking it might have been a ... let's say 'gentlemen's leisure interest periodical', then I'm sorry to disappoint you; it was, as I saw when they sat quite close to me, a glossy rulebook or other supplement for a role-playing (or tabletop miniature combat) game, and their excitement and interest seemed to stem from the implications of this on their chosen game - I could hear them saying things like 'magic attacks' and 'stats', which rather reminded me of my teen years.

It probably won't surprise longtime blog readers to know that I was what is now known as 'a nerd', though back in those days you were more likely to be labelled a 'square' or 'boffin'. But we all know what that means - probably wearing glasses, not physically confident, not very good at talking to girls, and so likely to have solitary (or at least indoor) hobbies such as playing Dungeons & Dragons or computer games, or reading books or comics. And of course there were quite a few of us at school, as well as all the others who weren't like that.

Strangely enough - on a mathematical basis if nothing else - my school's equivalent of the cheerleaders and jocks so often shown in American films seems to have been known as 'the popular kids'. I say 'strangely' because the school year I was in had so many 'factions' in it (why, even the secretary in Ferris Bueller's Day Off refers to "the sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies, dickheads" at Bueller's school), that if you took out my group of friends, the other groups such as the gothic kids and the very studious kids, and the various loners, there were probably only about fifteen of the so-called 'popular kids', and none of us really gave a monkey's about them and what they did, so I have no idea where the presumed 'popularity' came from.

It's not like we ever took a vote on it or anything... though maybe it was an early example of the kind of 'implied consensus' or 'silent majority' that you often come across in later life. Returning to a film that was out at the time (and whilst it may seem lazy to refer to 1980s films, they were the cultural backdrop of the time, and I think we tend to try to find something that mirrors our own experiences in films and other stories), there's a nice exchange in The Breakfast Club which may touch on the truth of this:

THE PRINCESS

Your friends [...] look up to us.

THE GEEK (LAUGHING)

You're so conceited, Claire. You're so conceited.

... I never actually heard the 'school dynamic' verbalised like this, but I hope I would have responded in this fashion, as my circle of friend didn't look up to the 'popular kids'. We were too busy worrying that playing Daley Thompson's Decathlon on our ZX Spectrum computers would, as legend had it, kill the keyboard before its natural expiry date.

Anyway, when I saw the two chaps on the train at the weekend, I looked at them with a mixture of recognition and almost-pity; I say 'almost' because I was genuinely happy with my life in my teen years, even if the things that made me happy were incomprehensible - or risible - to other people: I was more concerned about whether I'd get my D&D character to Level 5 than whether I'd get to home base (no, not the shop) with a girl (and one of those events certainly seemed much more probable than the other during that era of my life). So I can't honestly look back on that period, and the way I led my life, in such a way that I pity those who seem to be treading the same path.

Yes, I could have shouted to the chaps on the train, "for the love of God, shave off the wispy beards and get some contact lenses and spend more money on cool clothes than 20-sided dice, and maybe you'll get to touch a boob this year", but they seemed pleasant and happy enough, and besides it's possible that they were both total hits with the ladies (or gents, I don't want to presuppose too much), and that I'm just projecting.

But after I'd thought about this sort of thing a bit, and both wallowed in nostalgia and cringed at the recollection of the clothes and large aviator-style glasses I wore, it occurred to me that there are often articles in papers and magazines nowadays with headings such as 'The Geeks Inherit The Earth', talking about how the rise of the internet, and the information age, has meant that many of my pasty cohorts have become very successful in their chosen fields, with the financial rewards attached to that. The heads of IT firms, founders of websites, creators of best-selling computer games and apps, and even the directors of films, are shown to have had classically nerdy formative years - and whilst some of them have made their way in the world by appealing to nerds alone, many of them work in fields with wider audiences.

It's intellectually amusing to see large crowds of people getting excited about seeing films like Watchmen and Avengers Assemble, when I was reading the source comics twenty-odd years ago, and whilst there's a slight frisson of 'Hah! I was right all along!', I can't get too triumphant about it - possibly because having that kind of teenagehood doesn't necessarily prepare you for being the victor, and maybe because of that sense of loving something niche that gets a little soured when it breaks through to a larger market (which of us hasn't either been or known someone who talks up a band, but the minute they get big, starts talking about them 'selling out'?). More than anything else, though, I think it's because the stuff I was into back then, like the stuff I'm into now, was a genuine interest, and wasn't on my list of 'Likes' to impress other people: it was stuff I was actually into.

Which, it strikes me, is probably why there are fewer bold claims of triumph from the swots and nerds and squares; whilst the people who were concerned about looking cool as teenagers are keen to claim they were right all along, when offered the chance to write a book, Bill Gates writes about future technology and the like. Whilst the 'popular kids' at school spent a lot of time (and, I'll wager, their parents' money) on their outfits for the '5th year social' (aka what would now probably be called a Prom), I was reading and re-reading Batman Year One, and not bothering about what anyone might think about this.

I think that's why the articles you see about the Rise Of The Nerds will tend to be written in the third person plural - that is, not written by the geeks in question; because they're still out there, doing their thing - coding, writing, rolling dice or whatever. But the chances are it's indoors.

They say the best revenge is living well, but I suspect many of those who were made to feel somehow 'geeky' will be living well albeit unseen by those who may have ostracised them in the past. Except for those of us who decide to post about it on the internet, of course.John Soaneshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-9692128077896688862012-04-15T15:30:00.000+01:002012-04-15T15:30:00.448+01:00It's Just A Cycle Of Disagreement...

 Boys, boys, boys.

 Instead of confusing the nice bookshop customers, can't you just agree to disagree?

 Tch.John Soaneshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-1922649631869211962012-04-13T14:31:00.000+01:002012-04-13T14:34:41.480+01:00Video: An Invocation for BeginningsDoesn't matter if you apply it to writing or to anything else, I think this video has something to say to all of us who hesitate to begin a project, or procrastinate on continuing, or in any other fashion getting on with it:

John Soaneshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-24368241782774400012012-03-27T17:08:00.000+01:002012-03-27T17:08:00.657+01:00Persona Season 3 Starts This Week (And I've Written For It)The third season of smartphone drama Persona launches this week (the first episode was yesterday, but don't worry, you can catch up), and I'm the writer on one of the stories in it - specifically, this one:

It looks like the cast and crew have done a great job, so I'll be watching eagerly - can I ask you to do the same? Persona is absolutely free of charge for iPhone/iPad and Android users, and you get a new episode every day for no charge too.

Interested? Good-o, here are the relevant links:

On iTunes you can download it here

On Android, you can get it here

Please do give it a look, and let me know what you think. Thanks!John Soaneshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-67948824613158920522012-03-25T21:58:00.000+01:002012-03-25T21:58:25.692+01:00It Doesn't Last That Long, But It Made Me Happy
I'm pleased to be able to report that I've had another joke included in Newsjack, the topical radio comedy on Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC7). I'm included in the credits which you can see here, and if you'd like to hear the jape itself, the show can be listened to or downloaded as a podcast here, and it's probably available via iTunes too (must admit I haven't checked yet).

It's the gag in the opening monologue, at 0'56" to be precise, about the passing of the NHS Bill. I think the show'll be there to listen to or download for another week or so, which is probably about right as the joke itself'll probably make less sense as time passes.

Anyway, this blog post is a shameless brag really, as I'm pretty chuffed to have a second BBC broadcast credit, even if it has been a couple of years since the first. I shall see if I can narrow down the intervening period between the second and third...John Soaneshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-6925798981204848552012-03-14T08:10:00.005+00:002012-03-14T08:10:00.738+00:00Ah, Remember When Columnists Used To Talk About The Wire All The Time? Those Crazy Bygone DaysI've come to appreciate that there's a lot of hype and nonsense around many TV shows - particularly ones which a lot of journalists are watching but in which yer general public show less interest (The Wire, Mad Men and the like), but the quote on the front of this forthcoming novelisation of the TV show The Killing may set some new hyperbolic record:

Seriously, Radio Times? Sarah Lund, who's been in 30 episodes of a TV series in the past five years (and only shown in the UK in the past 15 months) is the top female detective in the world? That seems rather short-sighted, almost as if the person claiming it has a very short memory indeed, or at best is a bit caught up in Killingmania. Has the source of that quote never heard of Jane Marple? Or even Jessica Fletcher?

Now, it's possible that the publishers of that book are being rather selective with the quote, so I went looking, and found this: The Radio Times Rundown Of The Top TV Women Police Officers, November 2011.

Sarah Lund above Jane Tennison? Oh, Radio Times, you disappoint me.John Soaneshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-51929167977251551962012-03-13T17:48:00.001+00:002012-03-13T17:48:00.081+00:00Get The Car Running, I'll Meet You At The State LineI received this very scary e-mail this morning:

Obviously, I'm deeply troubled by it.

But more amused by the fact that the above shows the subject line; the e-mail had no content whatsoever.

I'm beginning to wonder if the phishy-spamsters are losing their mojo.John Soaneshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-6627654121862463302012-03-07T17:43:00.000+00:002012-03-07T17:43:00.104+00:00The Better Devil, You Know
As long-term readers will know, I'm currently working on a novel - but enough about me, let's talk about M'colleague, who's has finished his book, and guess what? E's only gone and made it available to buy on the Kindle Store, innee? Ee as! Ee really as!

Ahem.

Anyway, I was lucky enough to read a draft of the book, and it was a cracking read, and the author assures me that he's done further polishing on it since, so it's probably even sharper now.

So, get thee to Amazon, and for less than the price of a large coffee (ie: £3.08), you can get yourself a slice of fiction*. What's not to like?

The cover's pictured here, and this is the link to click on: Designer Devil - Stuart Peel

Go on, give yourself a present. You know you want to.

*You don't need a Kindle to be able to read it, there are Kindle 'apps' for mobile phones and PCs and the like. I know, this 'living in the 21st century' lark, it's nifty, isn't it?John Soaneshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-59107075730425089292012-03-01T20:59:00.001+00:002012-03-01T21:00:14.970+00:00The Maturity Level Of The Blog Maintains Its High Standard... but don't tell me you wouldn't have giggled like a fool when you saw this item on the shelf of a French-themed grocery store:

John Soaneshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-70666157480976750492012-02-19T10:09:00.001+00:002012-02-19T10:09:00.657+00:00Video: Great Gag, Well ExecutedI really like this - at heart it's one of those jokes which is so blindingly obvious that it should have been done to death over the years, but I can't recall ever having seen it before (and I'm decades old, I remember the first time people used to connect their computers to their TVs).

Anyway, here it be - nicely done and very well played, I think you'll agree...

John Soaneshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-4189534334668122452012-02-17T17:57:00.001+00:002012-02-17T17:57:00.911+00:00Snap. Snap, I say.It's been a while since I've posted 'booktwins' here on the blog, but this pairing strikes me as pretty blatant.

They're presented in what I believe to be chronological order, if you know what I'm saying...

Hmm.John Soaneshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-39501648273236759022012-02-12T21:45:00.001+00:002012-02-12T21:46:28.851+00:00Bubbles In The Cold London AirSpotted on the rather literally-named Hilly Fields Park in South London yesterday afternoon, this splendid chap was making enormous swathes of bubbles for the delight of passing children (and adults):

Mystery bubble-maker, I salute you. Especially as you didn't mind that the crowds of children were taking such fun in popping your handiwork.
John Soaneshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-55040455909839373152012-02-11T19:02:00.000+00:002012-02-11T19:02:20.175+00:00I Just Saw These On Sale In A Shop

It was a pet shop, obviously.

But because I am immature beyond belief, it made me laugh.

I know, I know: this is how I choose to mark my return to blogging?

Tch.John Soaneshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-54333258197571713192012-01-29T14:22:00.003+00:002012-02-11T09:18:26.570+00:00... Or Is It Just Another Post Trying To Avoid The Appearance Of What I Believe Is Known As 'Blogfading'? Hmm...Hello.

I know, I know, it's been ages. How have you been? Good, I hope.

Anyway, just dropping by to mention that I do genuinely absolutely positively intend to be blogging a lot more regularly - as ever, I'm brimful of opinions (mainly ill-informed) about various forms of media and news events and whatever else skitters across my eyeline and makes me feel the urge to comment.

If you're dying for some insight into the current contents of my head, I'm fairly active on Twitter here, and of course if you need to contact me directly, my info's in the column to the right.

So: back soon, but in the meantime, I recommend tea.John Soaneshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-23814082203063698832011-08-01T20:01:00.001+01:002011-08-01T20:01:00.277+01:00Oh, It'll Take A Photo To Separate Those Two DriversTwo recent films about motor racing, but sharing, it seems, one design:

John Soaneshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-83673424796900488722011-07-01T01:59:00.002+01:002011-07-01T09:14:23.574+01:00Oh, That Is Pretty

The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.
Dunno about you, but I like a good mountain.
And, of course, a correspondingly good sky above it.John Soaneshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-17381752715553704662011-05-18T07:47:00.001+01:002011-05-18T07:47:00.403+01:00In Which I Refer To My Gag, And Those Put In Place By Others (Who Shall Remain Nameless, At Least For Now)As the writer of a radio gag about superinjunctions back in 2010, you're probably thinking I've got an opinion on this currently rather hot topic. And you'd be right.

For those of you who are a bit unclear on how they work, a superinjunction is an injunction which stops someone saying something, or even reporting that they've been ordered not to say it. And regardless of what you think about the issues of privacy or press freedom or Judges making law or the Human Rights Act or whatever, lurking behind most of these cases seems to be one common factor: someone did something they'd rather you didn't know about.

Most of the instances which the press have become very excited about have involved men putting their winkle somewhere they shouldn't have, though in the Trafigura case it was more a question of alleged business naughtiness; but it's still a case of people doing stuff which they know would reflect badly on them in PR terms. Whether it's sleeping with someone you're not married to, or paying someone to place items up your bot, these are things which are likely to make people tut and buy papers and think less of you. Which is why people who have a public image to protect, and sufficient money to afford it, seek a superinjunction.

And it's from this that the more tangled debates stem, and I think this pretty simple thing is easily overlooked in the more messy and interesting-seeming debates which are currently taking place - which is a pity, because all of us have to take responsibility for our actions, and if we do something we're not proud of, it's not the place of the law to hide that. If you're in the public eye, the media will be very interested in everything you do - this is not new, we've seen it since the times of Marilyn Monroe or Elvis, and if you have a propensity for behaviour (sexual or otherwise) which might not do your career any good, you probably have a choice to make about which to pursue.

But if you're going to do something which you'd rather people didn't know about, and someone does know about it, using a legal mechanism to try and pretend it never happened strikes me as both disingenuous and a little bit childish; it did happen - and it's interesting how this is rarely at issue in these cases, it's more a question of damage limitation - and if you thought it was a good idea at the time, maybe you should be adult enough to admit it, rather than trying to gag people who know about your indiscretion? It sounds like the worst kind of denial, like the Dead Parrot sketch or something, shutting your ears to the reality of the situation and hoping that the world will reshape itself to match your delusion.

And this bugs me because I like to remember things which often seem to get removed from the history books: like when the Chinese authorities opened fire on hundreds of students in Tianenmen Square, or Cheryl Tweedy (as was) assaulted a woman in a nightclub toilet, or the way the newspapers criticised Diana, Princess of Wales in the months before her death. All these things often seem to be forgotten or overlooked, but they happened, and it feels like 1984-style Doublethink to act as if one thing's the case (it didn't happen) when you know the opposite is true (well, yeah, it did happen).

In psychological terms, holding two opinions that clash that way is seen as a likely cause of 'cognitive dissonance', that awkward feeling we have when two ideas in our head don't quite sit together; most galling when we realise that our opinion on something doesn't actually square with the facts, but, well, doing stuff and knowing at the time it's not so bright, or realising that after the event, is part of being a grown-up and taking responsibility for your actions.

A prospect which some people in the public eye appear to have a bit of trouble accepting, so I can only hope that the adulation and money helps take the edge off. The poor dears.John Soaneshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-45748440238436554502011-05-17T08:53:00.001+01:002011-05-17T08:53:00.770+01:00This Looks ClassyWriter and all-round decent chap Jason Arnopp done wrote a film called Stormhouse, and here be the trailer:

Looks good 'n' spooksome, yes?

Do tell your friends about it.

In fact, tell your enemies. Especially if they're 'fraidy cats.John Soaneshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-71828360852821272312011-05-16T21:23:00.001+01:002011-05-16T21:23:00.326+01:00Whereof One Does Not Know, One Should Talk Louder, And Perhaps Intersperse It With Swearing Or Colourful MetaphorsWords people say without knowing their true meaning - an incomplete list:

"Infer"
"Metatarsal"
"Draconian"
"H1N1"
"[Whitehall] Mandarins"
"Machiavellian"
"Svengali"

Your contributions are, of course, welcomed; the Comments section eagerly awaits your input.John Soaneshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-50021470365934046352011-05-06T23:42:00.000+01:002011-05-06T23:42:00.193+01:00Blogging About Blogging Is One Of The Worst Writing Sins There Is...... the first is, of course, writing a book where the main character is a writer (extra sin points if they're wrestling with writer's block).

However: I'd be remiss (which is rhyming slang for 'taking the...') to just start posting again without acknowledging that it's been an appalling long time, and to apologies and to thank you for sticking around.

Back here now, and I have things to share; not necessarily insightful or adding to the sum of human knowledge, but perhaps mildly diverting or entertaining. At least I hope so.

Okay, self-referential, and believe it or not sincerely apologetic, bit over - I shall get on with writing some posts.John Soaneshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-17000342.post-80392208735512476852011-02-11T21:30:00.003+00:002011-02-11T21:39:50.904+00:00Persona Launches Tomorrow!I'm very excited to be able to announce that Persona goes live tomorrow.

As you may well remember from my recent posts, Persona is the world's first continuing drama created exclusively for smartphones, giving the viewer a daily 2-3 minute drama series, with new episodes every day of the week.

You can buy the Persona App in the iTunes store (search for 'Persona App Media UK') for £1.19, or you can text PERSONA to 87474, which costs £1.50. A year's worth of episodes for less than a Starbucks coffee.

As I've mentioned before, I'm one of the writers for the first season (starting tomorrow, and running for a month), so if you're interested to see what kind of writing I do when I'm not blogging (and it's part of the reason why my blog entries have been so sporadic recently), I'd really appreciate your support - and of course, I'd be interested to hear what you think of the series (and the work I did on Jane's storyline).

By way of a taster, here's the trailer for Persona, which I hope will intrigue you enough to make you want to see more:

Any questions, please don't hesitate to get in contact (unless you're asking about what happens in the storylines; I'm either sworn to secrecy about the stuff I've been involved in, or appropriately ignorant about the other storylines). Thanks!John Soaneshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Leaders from the state's community colleges pledged Friday to substantially increase the number of students earning associate's degrees across the state by 2025 following a federal directive to ramp up the number of college graduates nationwide.
The Maryland Association of Community Colleges, made up of college presidents from the state's 16 community colleges, signed the pledge to increase the annual number of students earning degrees from two-year colleges by 7,300 students statewide. About 12,000 students currently earn an associate's degree or program certificate each year.
The college officials announced their efforts at a gathering to examine how to increase the number of community college students who earn degrees or certificates, at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold.


text:
October 19-21, 2017 | 7:30 p.m.
Broadcast from New York's Mercury Theatre in 1938, this infamous radio play, based on the novel by H. G. Wells, had many terrified listeners convinced that an actual alien invasion of Earth was taking place. Join us as we revive this original script detailing the frightening tale of an extraterrestrial takeover. Seating for these performances will be limited as you will be in the studio with the performers on the Grand Oshkosh stage.
Tickets $ 18 (General admission)
Event Calendar
- This event has passed.
Oshkosh Community Players presents War of the Worlds
Oct. 19, 2017 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
| $18
|This is a Recurring Event [see all in the series]
Every day until October 21, 2017
Event Navigation
October 19-21, 2017 | 7:30 p.m.


text:
NANTUCKET –When the Maria Mitchell Association opens its Aquarium, Natural Science Museum, Historic Mitchell House, Vestal Street Observatory, and the Loines Observatory for the season on June 8, there will be plenty of new exhibits and programs to quench everyone's thirst for science education and research.
The Maria Mitchell Association Aquarium will feature an exhibit dedicated to jellyfish.
With a new tank, designed specifically for jellyfish, visitors will have the opportunity to examine these gelatinous creatures up close and learn more about their lifecycle and the role they play in the ocean ecosystem.
At the Natural Science Museum at Hinchman House, a new exhibit called "The Teabag Experiment" will entice visitors to become citizen scientists and be part of a worldwide research project to collect data on decomposition rates and global warming.
Visitors to the exhibit will receive a research kit to take home containing fast and slow decomposing tea bags with known starting weights.
The teabags are buried in the ground and allowed to decompose for a period of three months at which time they will be dug up and weighted again.
The summer season will also bring new educational programs for adults and children alike.
For a complete listing of programs, speakers and workshops, visit mariamitchell.org or call for a complete program catalog.


text:
FlyinDumpling wrote:
omg why would you do that?? LOL
haikinka wrote:
When I was little I was really proud of my Japanese heritage and boasted it constantly, pretended to not understand English words for attention etc yada yada yada. Kinda embarrassing.
I no speak engrish-shi plesuuhh speakuu asianuuu LOL
I remember doing this one time for laughs in secondary school (middle school) I constantly said "no english" when people wanted to talk to me and said I came from Vietnam just weeks before I entered the school looking back at it I could've made it funnier.
I have japanese blood but its really deep into my family tree and i mostly comprise of 60% Viet, 30% Chinese and some of the 10% is Japanese i guess
(Oh yeah, I did calculate this )
The only time I pretended not to know English was when strangers tried talking to me. It worked until it started attracting all the wrong kinds of people
tridragon1 wrote:
I remember doing this one time for laughs in secondary school (middle school) I constantly said "no english" when people wanted to talk to me and said I came from Vietnam just weeks before I entered the school looking back at it I could've made it funnier.
I have japanese blood but its really deep into my family tree and i mostly comprise of 60% Viet, 30% Chinese and some of the 10% is Japanese i guess
(Oh yeah, I did calculate this )
get em teddy ◟ʕ╬ᴥ╬ ◟ʔ
When I was in middle school, hell I thought Japan was like anime paradise
As much as I enjoy anime and Japanese culture, I've never gone to that extreme. When I went to Japan last year, I came as a tourist who wanted to see the amazing sites the country has to offer, not to mention its natural beauty. Yes, I did some pop culture stuff like the seeing the show at the Robot Restaurant and looking into every anime, electronic, and hobby shop in Akihabara, but that doesn't mean I want to pretend to be Japanese.
I used to sometimes say "yataah" whenever I beat a boss in a video game if that counts...Now I facetiously use honorifics sometimes when referring to anime characters that I like. But I don't delude myself into thinking that I understand any of the nuances in the Japanese language.
Bᴜsʏ - Rᴏᴀᴍɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛʀᴇᴇᴛs ᴏғ Tᴏᴋʏᴏ!
tridragon1 wrote:
Have you ever went past the weeaboo phase earlier in your life? Like you would start using Japanese words in your sentences and started to think that you were Japanese? Loads of people seemingly go past this phase when they were younger and then later grow out of it but I never found myself in this phase, (watching anime and reading manga doesn't make you a weeaboo automatically) But have you found yourself or your friends in this phase?
I only knew what a weeaboo was through post like this on crunchyroll. I've always loved anime, but never wanted to be Japanese in any way.
nope not really?? Unless you count wearing Japanese cloths weeaboo?? I"m a little surprised that I havent when I was younger. I started watching anime in eighth grade and surprisingly I didnt go through that phase. Summer of 8th grade (going into freshman year) I went to japan and I really liked their fashion and all their cute stuff (rilakkuma, hello kitty) you can find there. I started wearing cloths from japan, I dont really think it made me a 'weeaboo' because i see it as just fashion. I never really acted like a japanese person after that, i've been intrerested in japan though. However I never acted like a 'weeaboo' irl. I dont uses any japanese words when I talk and I dont usually talk about anything related to japan unless someone asks me about it. Nor do I speak about anime.
Not really, but I got dangerously close to it in 7th grade. I kinda thought I knew everything about Japan and would correct anyone and everyone on their facts. I was a bit of an a-hole about it. I also was obsessed with anime and manga and it was all that I did. I didn't really use Japanese words in my sentences then. I do now, but I usually pronounce them right or as a joke between me and my friends I pronounce it so badly it's cringe-worthy.
Yep. I was twelve. Nuff said.
Nope. Everyone needs to appreciate their own culture; there's more to it than you realise.
Saying desu all the time was about as bad as it got for me.
I will do my best to make myself useless today.
No, this has never happened to me. Though I didn't start watching a lot of anime until 2 years ago. I watched a few when I was little, but not nearly as much now. When I talk to other people like coworkers and friends, I don't mention anime/manga to them because it's irrelevant to the conversations anyway.
Nope. I know people who actually speak like weabos but that's not my problem.


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Yesterday was a strange day. I found myself with time to relax. So I decided to relax and watch a television program I had heard about (and recorded) called Big History. The theory postulated in the show was that there were 8 massive inflection points from the beginning of the universe to now that correlate directly to the culture we have and the technology we use.
I found the show simply amazing. It presents two topics that I found intriguing. The first the law of entropy (all things move towards decay over time). The second was the 8th point of inflection that they called collective knowledge. One of the interesting things was an examination of where collective knowledge actually begins. More than 10,000 years ago in fact was the theory presented by the show. That the difference in humans started once knowledge was shared.
They examined in the show the physical geography of the world in showing why some cultures flourished and how information spread. Interesting points were made about the Horse and Gunpowder. Both were competitive advantages for any one group that was effective in using them. They talked about the split between agricultural and nomadic groups due to climate and the ability to grow crops. With gunpowder they talked about the rapid spread of gunpowder. In fact it was competitive advantage and would naturally spread very quickly.
The most interesting thing in the end was their examination of potential 9th points of change. They showed the 8 previous points and presented a well-reasoned argument. They then of course ended the show with the points of speculation or Hypothesis. The one future view that I found interesting is the one that has been the theme of science fiction since before I was born.
What if technology over takes humans. Our creations become more than us. First off I find this to be as much the immortality argument as anything. Alchemists sought a way to turn lead into gold. Based on some combination of things creating gold. You can do that by the way, simply bombard the lead with enough energy and you will produce gold. It is a byproduct of a nuclear explosion. Thank goodness alchemists didn't figure that out.
The concept however of our creation overtaking us is one fraught with fear, uncertainty and ultimately doubt. It is the arrogance of humanity that we are in the end the finished product. Perhaps as the many books religions are based on talk about – there is something beyond humanity. In creating an artificial intelligence and imbibing that with the gift of motion and sentience would we not have created something that extends us? Something that encompasses the best of us?
It has bothered for years. The AI always heading towards removing humanity. I think the AI, given great processing power and the ability to look across the ages would in fact preserve humanity as long as possible. As a child looking at his or her parents and thinking I hope they live forever. I think that AI would view its parents that way. Wanting humanity forever.
Instead of replacing us insulating us from ourselves. Asimov's three laws keeping all of us in symbiosis rather than competition. I wonder however, how many people could tolerate being second fiddle? That no matter what we do or learn we are second best. That those teaching us, are doing so at a slower pace than they themselves operate at. We being the country side road with a speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour. They operating on the superhighways of Europe and traveling at 200 KPH or more.
Perhaps they will build special machines to connect with humans. Keeping us in what amounts to the zoos we have today for animals we wish to walk by. Bears and Tigers, fierce predators that humans are not in a cage, controlled and viewed. Humans replaced by our own creations, behind glass doors protected from ourselves and from hurting others. New Robots walking by the cages of the human's told at the speed of light what and why the humans are there. "They are the creators. From their imperfection rose the perfect world."
I don't think an AI would in the end remove humans. But I wonder in the end if our arrogance prevents us from seeing the reality of a better world. What if everyone was equal because we were all in a zoo?
Scott Andersen
IASA Fellow.


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The Real Definition Of Organic SEO
No Internet user probably hasn't heard about search engine optimization and why its techniques are crucial for the success of every website. Organic search engine optimization is, however, is not as commonly recognized. SEO is a broad subject that is categorized into two independent but related divisions ? non-organic or paid search optimization and organic or free search optimization. In understanding the concept of SEO in general, it is important to evidently differentiate the two classifications.
Organic optimization is a technique that uses paid search advertising. This is dependent on search keywords or sets of these in order to pull visitors or traffic to a site. Pay-per-click ads are a classic example of this type of site optimization.
A site owner places ads on different other sites and each click on these ads, which leads to the actual site being promoted, are counted by a specific type of software and used in computing the advertiser's ROI or return on investment. If you're looking for fast and computable results, PPC ads are a favored mode of site promotion and so are the rest of non-organic techniques.
On the other hand, organic optimization involves simply making websites more attractive to search engines so that they actually achieve high search rankings. This, of course, translates to higher traffic driven to the sites.
While non – organic optimization enables a site owner to get fast and calculable results, organic optimization works by slowly building a site's credibility to visitors through high quality content and search engine sensitivity through efficient keyword use.
Organic campaigns no rx acomplia end up with content that people find reason to keep coming back to because of technical quality and search relevance. With sensible use of search engine-friendly words and phrases, the site is further optimized.
Any triumphant organic optimization campaign is rooted in an effective balance between technical, verbal and marketing expertise. For the reason that this approach allows a site to be improved on every aspect from title to purpose, it has the ability to strengthen the site so people will actually visit it and be glad for the experience rather than visit and click away for not finding anything worth a read. A non-organic buy clomid campaign also works for the short-term while an organic is on the job for the long haul.


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I grew up with Pillsbury Biscuits. My mom, a fabulous cook, was never much of a baker and considering she worked full time, Pillsbury was the way to go. But now, thanks to my Southern roommate, I have gotten used to eating delicious homemade biscuits, and since we happened to have buttermilk in the fridge, we decided to whip up a batch of buttermilk biscuits on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
They weren't super fluffy (the recipe we used we modified ourselves), but they were buttery and flaky and absolutely delicious. Nothing beats a delicious biscuit topped with jam, butter, or to make an egg and cheese on.
Check out the recipe after the jump!
- 2 cups flour
- 1 TBSP baking powder
- 1 TSP. sugar
- 1 TSP. salt
- 7 TBSP. cold unsalted butter (sliced) + additional melted butter for glaze
- 3/4 cup buttermilk + 1 TBSP buttermilk for glaze
Preheat oven to 450˚ and place rack in the middle. Line a baking sheet with two layers of parchment, or spray down with non-stick spray.
Whisk flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar together. Begin to add the cold, sliced butter a bit at a time into the flour mixture into it's in even pieces about the size of a pea (I think using fingers is the best way to do this!). Gently stir in milk to create a loose dough.
Dust clean work surface with flour and pour dough onto surface. Roll dough out into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle. Fold dough into thirds like a business letter, roll dough out again, and refold. Cut biscuits out to preferred size (using a cup, or jar, or biscuit cutter), and place onto baking sheet.
Cook for about 10 minutes, while you prepare glaze.
To prepare glaze: Mix cream and melted butter together and brush onto biscuits. Cook an additional five minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on rack for 5 minutes, makes about 8 biscuits.


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I made the choice to come to Columbia because I wanted to be immersed in a school where I could focus on radio. Learning radio. Getting better at radio. Eat, sleep, breathe, create great radio. I figured there'd be a lot of steps along the way; going out and exploring the city, trying new things, eating new foods, seeing shows of all sorts, etc. I had expectations of what my life at Columbia would be like.
As I'm sure you've figured out, I'm in a Reviewing the Arts: Honors class this semester. Our teacher usually starts the once-a-week Monday morning class with one question: "Who absorbed some good art this weekend?"
The first time he asked this, I was caught off guard. What did I do this weekend? Right, I had just finished working all week, didn't get much done, and spent the better part of the weekend holed up in my apartment getting all of my schoolwork done. I probably went for a run or two. Got the grocery shopping done for the week, meal prep. Pretty sure it was my weekend to clean the apartment, probably? Basic human things.
One problem. I wasn't living up to the expectations that I had put on myself when I moved here over a year ago, or when I moved back about six months prior. I spent too much of the weekend holed up, doing absolutely nothing that I had dreamed of doing.
Ever since then, I've made it a mission to do — er, excuse me, absorb — at least one thing every weekend that I offer to say in class come Monday morning. Since then, I've listened to a handful of new Broadway musicals on Spotify; taking in more Netflix-documentaries and trying to expand on my movie knowledge; checked out "Whiplash" in theaters; worked for a weekend on the Great Northern Radio Show set, where we had some really talented musicians that I'm still listening to; ate at some pretty spectacular restaurants, (okay… two restaurants…), and saw The Book of Mormon this past weekend.
I can't explain enough how wonderful it is to have taken in these things, and I look forward to being able to absorb even more as time goes on. Plus, it's kind of nice to get out of your own head for a little bit during the bustling, busy weekends. (Yes. Weekends are busy, too. You try working full time and taking 19 credits.)
Just thought I'd drop a couple lines to let y'all know I'm still here. I'm still kicking. Almost. I've made it through my 4th Half Marathon (go Get Lucky!), and I'm still eagerly awaiting move-ins/spring training for Spirit, and I could really use anything you could donate to my tour fees. Find out more here.
Stay with us, if you can.


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Probably the only benefit to being sick & losing my voice is that it allowed me to call in sick for a few days & finally stop procrastinating on finishing Devil May Cry HD. Truthfully, I'm really loving all of this HD re-releases, even if they're not considered that great by the fans of the originals. It gives me a chance to play games that I missed the first time around. The Devil May Cry series has been one such series. And unlike the Silent Hill HD Collection, aside from some broad facts, I have no idea what to expect with these games. So what did I think of the first entry?
Ignoring the 4th & the Reboot, the main character in the Devil May Cry series is Dante, the half-devil offspring of a great demonic knight who turned against his own kind to help humanity. Having inherited his father's supernatural abilities, Dante works as a sort of demon-hunter-for-hire in the hopes that one day he'll find the devil who killed his mother. The game starts when the answer literally breaks down his door as a woman who looks exactly like Dante's deceased mother hires him to stop the resurrection of Mundus, ruler of the Underworld, ancient foe of Sparda & murderer of Dante's family. Dante travels to an island with Trish to stop the resurrection, battling various demons along the way.
Devil May Cry is an action game heavy on combat, but it's not exactly a hack-&-slash. Style counts in combat, with the game ranking your ability to string combos & mix things up as you dispatch enemies. Dante collects several melee & ranged weapons along the way. As you defeat enemies, you collect red orbs which are a sort of currency that you can use to purchase or upgrade new moves. Exploration is a large part of the game as well. The castle you spend the entire game in is huge, but some areas are locked until you find mystical items to unlock them, so the straightforward path may not always be possible. The game also includes some platforming. There are also secret missions you can find which grant you health upgrades.
Story: Personally, I found the story rather… threadbare. Pretty much all of the plot development is done in the very first cutscene before you have any control of Dante. It's sort of like: "Here's the character. Here's why he's cool. Here's why he does it. This is the bad guy & why you should care. Now find him." Most of the game is just trying to figure out how to get to Mundus. The game's also a bit strange in the way it tries to show the relationships between the characters. The first oddity is the whole Nelo Angelo/Vergil thing. While I can't really fault the game for it because I know it gets majorly expanded on in the 3rd game, the fact that it ends up being Dante's brother just seems like a footnote. It's given & then forgotten. Honestly, I didn't even realize Nelo Angelo was Vergil until Mundus said so, & then I thought, "Oh, that's why that was important." Not a good reaction. I also thought it was funny that they tried to play Trish's betrayal off as a big thing when she really wasn't that involved in the game. After taking Dante to the island, she just leaves him behind & we only get a few glimpses of her watching Dante most of the rest of the game. Those issues aside, I do think the game did a good job of characterizing their personalities without a lot of dialogue. Just from what they do we can learn a lot about them. With just a few lines of dialogue in the opening, Dante's personality is pretty solidified. And the same goe for the others. So overall, average story but memorable characters. Score: 4
Gameplay: I have mixed feelings about the mechanics of Devil May Cry. First of all, the combat is pretty good. While not super fast & fluid by today's standards, there's a nice variety to it & I liked that you can easily switch between melee & guns. Enemies require different strategies, so you have to have a bit more skill than just randomly hitting buttons. I also liked that the skills you can buy never really lose their usefulness. Even the earliest techniques you can buy can be useful up until the very end. That being said, the game's reputation for being hard is well-earned. I got through okay, but some enemies made me want to scream. Stupid Shadows… Seriously, I had more trouble with those then the final boss. Anyway, I also enjoyed the exploration aspect of the game to some extent. Finding secrets & hidden treasures was fun. Speaking of secrets, I also thought it was nice that the secret missions had a lot of variety to them & weren't just "kill everything" objectives. But with those positives, there's also some things that didn't work. Foremost, the fixed camera angles. I really wished they'd fixed this for the re-release. I know it was the thing to do back then, but it just doesn't work well with an action-heavy game like this. It makes the platforming sections a major pain. If I can't move the camera I can't judge the jump. I also didn't like how enemies respawn when you leave & re-enter a room. Given how big a piece exploration plays, it's not uncommon to get lost or have to backtrack, so fighting the same waves of enemies get annoying when you just want to progress. Yeah, you can just ignore them most of the time, but it's annoying to lose health on a fight you'd rather avoid. It would've been better if enemies only respawned between missions or if only set rooms had infinitely spawning enemies for players who want to grind. And developers, please, for the love of all that is holy, stop putting the lock-on as the right shoulder button! Do you know how awkward that is? I can't hold that down & have fast thumb reflexes. Put it on the left side, or at the very least the right trigger. Score: 3
Visuals & Audio: Despite the dated models, the game looks pretty good. The environments are suitably dark & gothic. I particularly liked the final area that's all fleshy. The moving corridors resembling the pumping of a heart… it looked really cool. There's a decent variety of enemies. The in-game cutscenes are also pretty impressive. Obviously the models aren't as detailed as current-gen stuff, but the animations are very fluid. Strangely, they look better than the pre-rendered cutscenes. These have a sort of roughness & blurring when the camera moves. Fortunately, there cutscenes are rare, so it's not a big issue. As for the sound, I enjoyed the music. It has a techno-rock vibe to it that I really like. The ambient music for the stages fits well. The only complaint I have for the music is that the combat music is the same track, which gets old after a while. The voice acting is decent as well. I did have to turn the subtitles on, however (something I never do) because the devils' voices were too rumbly to understand. Score: 4
Replayability: Decent. Not only are there harder difficulties you can unlock, but after you beat the game you can replay it with all of your new toys & moves. So fights or missions that may have been too hard for you will be more manageable the second time around. That being said, there are no new modes & the story doesn't change the more you play it. Score: 3
Overall Score: 4
Final Word: While not perfect & a bit unforgiving at times, most action fans should enjoy Devil May Cry HD. If you missed it the first time around, I definitely recommend checking it out now.
– GamerDame
Title: Devil May Cry HD Console: 360 & PS3 Rating: M Developers: Capcom (Team Little Devils) Publisher: Capcom Release Date: March 29, 2012


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Check out my latest column on AND Magazine!
Here is an excerpt:
I am sure that I'm not the only person in America finding himself deeply disturbed by this cycle of events that is becoming a bizarrely common happening in American society:
- Step 1:
- A deeply disturbed individual, likely with a history of mental illness, and possibly on some sort of psychotropic drugs, acquires one or more firearms, through legal or extra-legal means. This person is likely also an aficionado of violent video games, and is known to spend much of his time playing those games.
- Step 2:
- This disturbed individual chooses a target for his violence. He likely has some kind of personal connection to his target, and knows that it is a "gun free zone," meaning the people he is targeting will not be armed.
- Step 3:
- The disturbed individual shows up at his target location and begins shooting & killing as many people as he can.
- Step 4:
- The national media picks up the story, reporting every fact, rumor, and lie they come across, in their desperate attempt to get the latest news out seconds before the other networks. This may or may not include talking about the killer using weapons he did not use, incorrectly blaming the National Rifle Association and/or the Tea Party, and accusing innocent people who happen to have names similar to the suspected killer – oftentimes showing the innocent person's picture, if they can find their Facebook page.
- Step 5:
- The killer himself is likely killed, either by law enforcement officers, or by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. In a minority of cases, the killer is captured and taken into custody.
- Step 6:
- Gun control advocates come out in force, talking about the dangers of "assault weapons" and calling for the banning of AR-15s.
- Step 7:
- The national media gloms onto any fact, rumor, or lie that makes it easier for gun control advocates to make their argument against hateful, violent assault weapons.
- Step 8:
- The facts come out about how the killer was a deeply disturbed individual with mental health issues and an unhealthy addiction to violent media. These facts are ignored by much of the national media and virtually all gun control advocates, who continue their useless tirade against firearms.
Continue reading here.
Categories: AND Magazine, assault weapons ban, gun control, guns, mass shootings


text: She said that she had a rough night......was sick to her stomach. Today they let her sit in a chair to eat her lunch. Said that she would be in the ICU for several more days. She sounds alot better ans said to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers.


text:
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Date published: 2017-03-08
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Date published: 2016-10-12


text:
Christina is offering to critique the first three chapters of your manuscript and a synopsis. Christina Banach is a former head teacher who lives in Scotland with her husband and two rescue dogs. Her young adult novel, Minty, was published by Three Hares Publishing and has been described as The Lovely Bones meets Ghost. It was a Scottish Book Trust Teens' Book of the Month, has been nominated for a CYBILS award and shortlisted for the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award.
Twitter – @ChristinaBanach
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/christina.banach.9


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See on Scoop.it – Custom Integration
15th August, 2012We have added a new category for next year's CEDIA Awards to ensure the scheme continues to celebrate technical excellence whilst also reflecting trends in the residential custom installation industry. A new Special Recognition Award will be presented to an individual who has made considerable contribution to the custom installation industry.
To make sure you can start preparing your entries now, here's the category list in full:
Best media room under £15,000 (18,000 Euros)
Best media room over £15,000 (18,000 Euros)
Best home cinema under £40,000 (48,000 Euros)
Best home cinema from £40,000-£100,000 (48,000-120,000 Euros)
Best home cinema over £100,000 (120,000 Euros)
Best integrated home under £30,000 (36,000 Euros)
Best integrated home £30,000-100,000 (36,000-120,000 Euros)
Best integrated home from £100,000-£250,000(120,000-290,000 Euros)
Best integrated home over £250,000 (290,000 Euros)
Best multiple scheme for a property developer
Best dressed rack
Best innovative solution – residential
Best marine
Best trade supplier
Best training Initiative by a trade supplier
NEW: Special Recognition Award
The closing date for entries will be Friday 15th February 2013.
The CEDIA Awards are open only to CEDIA member companies. More information about the Awards can be found on the dedicated CEDIA Awards website which gives a unique insight into the scheme, its entry requirements and its past winners and finalists. Here you can also watch the 'How to win a CEDIA Award' webinar, which will provide you with a number of useful tips to make your entry a winning submission. Visit www.cedia.co.uk/awards to find out more.
See on cedia.co.uk


text: Google Will Actually Make Us Smarter: Experts 65% of 'Internet experts' say search will improve reading and writing By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff Posted Feb 19, 2010 2:38 PM CST 19 comments Comments The Google logo. (Google) View 1 more image (Newser) – Though Nicholas Carr may have famously concluded that Google will make us stupid, most Internet experts think he's totally wrong: the easy access to information provided by search engines will actually make us smarter. In a Pew Survey of technology leaders from the academic, government, and corporate sectors, 65% agreed with the statement: "by 2020 it will be clear that the Internet has enhanced and improved reading, writing, and the rendering of knowledge." On top of that, 76% agreed with the statement, "By 2020, people's use of the Internet has enhanced human intelligence; as people are allowed unprecedented access to more information they become smarter and make better choices," reports LiveScience. And sorry, Carr: The second half of that statement? "Nicholas Carr was wrong: Google does not make us stupid." View 1 more image My Take on This Story Report a story error Show results without voting | 8% Annoying 3% Hilarious 20% Intriguing 3% Depressing 63% Brilliant 2% Scary


text:
The Hunger Games saga continues in this sequel that finds a revolution brewing as Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) take a "Victor's Tour" of the districts, and President Snow (Donald Sutherland) plots their downfall during preparations for The Quarter Quell, which only occurs every 25 years in celebration of the Capitol's victory over the districts.
If you are fan of the Suzanne Collins Books Hunger Games you will definitely enjoy watching this film as it maintained the quality of the film same from the first part. The intensity, suspense and good screenplay adaptation is still in the film. The quality of the story and the message was still capture and well conveyed in the film. Personally I like the message of the film and I am excited to see the two part finale of the film on how will the director envision the last book. Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a quality Hollywood flick to watch this year
My Verdict: 4/5


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June 10, 2010, 5:30 p.m.
And then…the violinist broke into Here Comes the Bride. We all turned towards the steps that led up from the lower deck, watching with smiles and glistening eyes as Tony, in a dark suit, led his daughter by the arm past the now silent swimming pool and down the rose petal-strewn "aisle."
In a long, bejeweled strapless mermaid gown, Nichole was truly breathtaking. Tony tenderly handed off his girl to her new husband, who took her hand and prepared anew to repeat solemn vows in this more elegant and traditional ceremony.
The officiant spoke a few of his own words, then read the vows that Kris and Nichole had prepared. The violinist played softly. Anna hung towards the back, making sure all went as planned, but, I noticed, wiping a few tears of her own.
And then it was over. We clapped as the bridal couple swept down the aisle, then around a column, reappearing to laughter and renewed applause.


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Thanks to The Craven Family for making this mini-session so easy and fun! Such a loving family!
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Interview with TrannyPet Barmy
In this interview we speak with TrannyPet Barmy, the gifted scripter and alleged griefer who made the Hand of Satan push gun and the DBomber notecard spamming weapon in addition to an advertising broadcasting system during his first incarnation on Second Life. (read here secondlifeheral, January 29, 2006)
TrannyPet Barmy – the creator of the "Hand of Satan", "DBomber", and other potentialy TOS violating weaponry has been permabanned. The ban is suspected to be placed due to the "DBomber" object which falls under the "unsolicited spam" and "interfering with a users ability to enjoy the world" sections of the TOS (section 5.1 – (vii), (viii), and (x)) and CS (2 and 3) (The object would send an extroadinary ammount of notecards and/or dialog windows to a targeted user).