A Tweet Shows How Scared Gun-Control Activists are of Women and Minorities Enjoying Their Freedom – America’s 1st Freedom

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Photo credit: Courtesy of the National Shooting Sports Foundation

When Igor Volsky, the co-founder and executive director of Guns Down America, a gun-control group dedicated to building a future with fewer guns, saw an article in The New York Times claiming that gun manufacturers are suddenly (more on that in a moment) marketing to women and minorities, he showcased his ignorance about America and our freedom in a series of tweets:

1/ Gun makers are softening their image to put a better face in front of people & ramp up its appeal to women, children and members of minority groups, wrote Volsky.Thats right: Gun makers are increasingly advertising to WOMEN, CHILDREN & MINORITY COMMUNITIES.

Volsky then tweeted: 2/ Firearm industry realizes that to survive into the future it must broaden its reach beyond the aging white men who have been its core customers -- and so theyre now trying to sell their products to other demographics. This is incredibly dangerous.

Reading the reaction on Twitter is amusing, as a lot of people called Volsky out on his views.

i am a minority woman and i want to buy a gun because i am unsafe living alone in my neighborhood. i also hunt goat, deer and pig so i might want my own gun one day instead of just compound bow. why is it wrong for me to have a gun? said someone with the username Eat ule.

One of the most exciting things to watch in the firearms community for the last 20 years is how much more inclusive it's become. If you are on the fence about buying a gun or learning how to use one, dont delay any longer! No matter who you are, gun people will welcome you, tweeted Nathan Lewis.

The demographics of gun ownership are changing in America (see, The Rise of the Woman Gun Owner), as more people embrace their freedom. Still, it isnt truthful to say that firearms manufacturers have only recently begun marketing to women. Companies, such as Colt, Savage Arms and Remington, have long run ads designed to specifically appeal to women.

An ad for the Savage Model 1907, a semi-automatic pistol made from 1907-1920, for example, showed a photo of a woman in a nightgown firing this Savage pistol. Under the photo was the ad copy: Her propertyher little onesher own lifeshe knows are safely protected when she has a Savage Automatic in her home. She knows its ten sure shots are at her commandquick or slow, as she choosesone to each trigger pull.

This articleshowcases just a few of the ads gun manufacturers ran over the last century and moreas they marketed guns to women.

But Volsky didnt just get this history wrong, he also said selling guns to women and minorities is incredibly dangerous. This sounds like both sexism and racism, as Volsky seems to be saying he doesnt think women and minorities are capable of handling their Second Amendment freedom.

A lot of female and minority gun-rights advocates did call Volsky out on his views. Maj Toure, head ofBlack Guns Matter, said, Imagine being either so uninformed on the racist roots of gun control or so full of yourself that you would not only think but also believe that melinated Americans owning guns would be incredibly dangerous. I wonder what he thinks of the thousands of melinated law-enforcement officers and military personnel that carry firearms to protect life as well?

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A Tweet Shows How Scared Gun-Control Activists are of Women and Minorities Enjoying Their Freedom - America's 1st Freedom

Sophie and Hans Scholl died resisting the Nazis. Let’s not take freedom for granted – TheArticle

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The death of Elisabeth Scholl at the age of 100 is a reminder of her brave siblings, Sophie and Hans, who were prominent among the small number of Germans who actively resisted the Nazis and paid for it with their lives. Their story shows that resistance to the Nazis was possible, although extremely dangerous, and that freedom of speech cannot be taken for granted.

In 1943, these two young students and their friends formed the White Rose movement, based in Munich. Sophies fianc Fritz Hartnagel, a soldier on the Eastern front, had informed them of the mass shooting of Jews and other horrors that he witnessed. They wrote six leaflets, describing Nazi war crimes in Russia, of which some 15,000 copies were distributed across several cities.

In February 1943, after the German defeat at Stalingrad, there was a crackdown on such dissident activities. The Scholls were denounced by the Munich university caretaker, whereupon the Gestapo arrested them and anybody else involved. Under interrogation they confessed their own role but refused to incriminate any of the other White Rose members. Sophie managed to protect her fianc, who survived the war; their correspondence was later published by her sister Elisabeth.

Hans and Sophie were tried before the Nazi Volksgericht (Peoples Court), presided over by the notorious judge Roland Freisler. He acted as prosecutor, recorder, judge and jury, in a courtroom bedecked with swastika flags and overshadowed by a huge bust of Hitler. Freisler subjected the two young students and their friend Christopher Probst to his tirades, but Sophie courageously stood up to him: You know as well as we do that the war is lost, she told the court. Why are you so cowardly that you wont admit it?

Freisler imposed death sentences on the Scholls and Probst. They were executed by guillotine the same day at Stadelheim Prison. Just before his beheading, Hans Scholl reportedly cried out: Es lebe die Freiheit! (Long live freedom!).

Later another White Rose activist, Alexander Schmorell, was executed and subsequently canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church. The same fate befell their teacher, the psychologist and musicologist Professor Karl Huber. The latters friend Carl Orff, the composer of Carmina Burana, refused to intercede on Hubers behalf, telling his wife that he would be ruined by any association with the White Rose. Huber, too, endured a show trial in the Peoples Court. Two years later Freisler was killed when a bomb fell on his court in Berlin, bringing the entire building down on top of him.

The Scholls parents and two sisters, including Elisabeth, were also taken into protective custody this was the iniquitous Nazi practice of Sippenhaft, whereby entire families could be punished for political crimes committed by an individual. Their father, who had been mayor of Ulm, was given two years for listening to enemy radio broadcasts. Elisabeth, who lived in Ulm and had been unaware of her siblings campaign, later recalled that she spent six months in solitary confinement and was only released when she became seriously ill. Afterwards, the Scholl family was ostracised and impoverished; nonetheless they survived the war. Elisabeth live long enough to see her brother and sister commemorated in many ways for their act of symbolic resistance, including a film, The White Rose. A modest woman, she insisted that she had not been in the resistance and could not take credit for their courage. She recalled walking with her sister beside the Danube on the day before war began in 1939. Sophie told her: Hopefully someone will stand up to Hitler. At that point she had no idea that she herself would be that person.

The story of Sophie and Hans Scholl still resonates today. They, like their contemporaries, had grown up as members of the Hitler Youth an experience vividly depicted in the satirical movie JoJo Rabbit. Yet they found the inner resources to resist the Nazi machine. Devout Catholics, their determination to bear witness for their faith played a part, but so too did the fact that they had a teacher who showed them the meaning of intellectual freedom and integrity. This was the lesson that Sophie and Hans learned from Kurt Huber. Integrity is the ability to face up to the truth and make whatever sacrifices are necessary to uphold it. The Scholls were true to themselves. Not only young Germans, but students everywhere could do worse than to follow their example.

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Sophie and Hans Scholl died resisting the Nazis. Let's not take freedom for granted - TheArticle

These Are the 10 ‘Most Urgent’ Threats to Press Freedom in March 2020 – TIME

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When Chinese authorities announced a lockdown on the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late January in an attempt to halt the spread of a deadly virus, millions of people fled the city, eager to escape before the enforced quarantine began.

But Chen Qiushi, a self-described citizen journalist, boarded a train to Wuhan on Jan. 24 to document the unfolding epidemic.

In around two weeks, the 34-year-old vlogger posted more than 100 videos from Wuhanwhere the virus now known as COVID-19, which has now infected more than 83,000 people in more than 50 countries, is believed to have originated. His posts, which garnered hundreds of thousands of views on Twitter and YouTube, showed sick people languishing in crowded hospital lobbies, detailed shortages in medical supplies and described exhausted hospital staff.

Why am I here? I have stated that its my duty to be a citizen-journalist, he said in one video, filming himself with a selfie stick outside a train station. What sort of a journalist are you if you dont dare rush to the front line in a disaster?

His posts also drew the attention of the authorities. In an anguished video post near the end of his first week in Wuhan, he said police had called him, wanting to know his whereabouts.

I am scared, he said. I have the virus in front of me, and on my back, I have the legal and administrative power of China. But he vowed to continue as long as I am alive in this city.

On Feb. 6, Chen told his family that he planned to report on a temporary hospital. He hasnt been seen since.

This month, Chen is on One Free Press Coalitions list which highlights the 10 most urgent cases of threats to press freedom across the world.

Read about all 10 journalists under attack on the March list here:

1. Chen Qiushi (China): Journalist missing as Chinese authorities stifle reporting on coronavirus outbreak.

Freelance video journalist Chen Qiushi has not been seen since February 6, when he told family he planned to report on a temporary hospital. On January 24, he traveled to the city of Wuhan in Hubei province from Beijing and began filming and reporting on the coronavirus health crisis, according to his posts on YouTube, noting local hospitals were short of resources and struggling to handle the number of patients who needed treatment. Later, China expelled three accredited Wall Street Journal journalists over an opinion headline relating to the crisis.

2. Daler Sharifov (Tajikistan): Tajikistan silences independent media ahead of March 1 elections.

Daler Sharifov is ordered two months of pretrial detention since Tajik police raided the independent reporters home on January 28, confiscating a computer and books, and days later issuing a statement announcing charges of inciting ethnic, racial and religious hatred. The statement refers to more than 200 articles and commentaries containing extremist content he published between 2013 and 2019. CPJ calls this a clear attempt to silence ahead of elections one of the few media critics that remain. A guilty verdict could mean up to five years in prison.

3. Patrcia Campos Mello (Brazil): Politicians join in online sexual harassment to undermine journalists integrity.

A reporter for Brazils largest daily newspaper, Folha de S.Paulo, Patrcia Campos Mello experiences ongoing harassment online in retaliation for her reporting. During a congressional hearing in Braslia last month, an individual falsely accused Campos Mello of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for a scoop. Hundreds of Facebook and Twitter users, including the son of President Jair Bolsonaro, shared the allegations, many using sexual language. The allegations were later referenced by the president himself, whose 2018 presidential campaign backers distributed misinformation through WhatsApp to millions of Brazilians, Campos Mello reported.

4. Roohollah Zam (Iran): Trial underway for anti-government journalist held in undisclosed location.

Intelligence agents of the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guards Corps arrested Iranian journalist Roohollah Zam in October. Founder of anti-government Amad News, Zam had been living in France and, following his arrest in Baghdad, was extradited to Iran. He is accused of working with French, Israeli and U.S. intelligence agencies, amounting to 17 charges, including espionage and spreading false news, although the government has made his platforms almost completely inaccessible for more than two years. In February, at least three trial sessions were held in his case.

5. Agns Ndirubusa and the team at Iwacu (Burundi): Court delivers prison sentence and fines for Burundis only imprisoned journalists.

Following their October arrest, a Burundi court convicted four journalists on January 30 of attempting to undermine state security, fined them each $530, and sentenced them to two years and six months in prison. The four, who had been covering clashes in the countrys Bubanza Province and submitted their appeal on February 21, include Agns Ndirubusa, head of the political desk at Iwacu, one of Burundis last independent outlets, and three colleagues: broadcast reporter Christine Kamikazi, English-language reporter Egide Harerimana and photojournalist Trence Mpozenzi.

6. Azimjon Askarov (Kyrgyzstan): Kyrgyz court hears final appeal of journalists life sentence.

After nearly ten years in prison and his life sentence twice upheld, award-winning journalist Azimjon Askarov, 68, pursued a final appeal at the Supreme Court. The February 26 hearing was quickly adjourned until April 7. The ethnic Uzbeks reporting on corruption, abuse and human rights elicited trumped-up charges that included incitement to ethnic hatred and complicity in the murder of a police officer. Kyrgyzstans one imprisoned journalist experiences deteriorating health amid harsh conditions and limited access to medication.

7. Jamal Khashoggi (Saudi Arabia): U.S. executive branch idles while calls persist for Khashoggis justice.

February 14 marked 500 days since Jamal Khashoggis murder inside Istanbuls Saudi consulate. The Washington Posts columnists fianc, Hadice, observed the date with an op-ed calling for justice. The Trump administration has so far ignored a law passed by Congress, and signed by the president, that mandated the release of an intelligence report about Khashoggis murder by January 19. Thats in addition to ignoring a deadline to reply to Congress regarding the killing, as required under the U.S. Global Magnitsky Act.

8. Pham Doan Trang (Vietnam): Journalist in hiding to evade arrest continues reporting.

Phan Doan Trang has been in hiding since August 2018, after Ho Chi Minh City police brutally beat her and confiscated her national ID card, on top of silencing measures including interrogation, monitoring and shutting off her internet and electricity. A colleague reports that Trang, cofounder of The Vietnamese and Luat Khoa news publications, has not fully recuperated from the assault and her health has deteriorated. While moving between safe houses, she has continued critical reporting on the environment, freedom of religion and online civil society.

9. Mahmoud Hussein (Egypt): Journalist held in extended pretrial detention for unspecified charges.

Mahmoud Hussein, a journalist working with Al Jazeera, has spent more than 1,000 days in pretrial detention in Cairo. Last May, an Egyptian court ordered his release, but authorities opened a new investigation with unspecified charges and returned him to prison. Husseins initial arrest dates to December 2016, and his detention has been repeatedly renewed every 45 days, with anti-state and false news charges stemming from a 2016 documentary about conscription in Egypt which the government claims uses fake footage and aims to incite chaos.

10. Aasif Sultan (India): Communications blackout further delays imprisoned journalists trial.

Kashmir Narrator reporter Aasif Sultan has spent more than a year and half behind bars, since his 2018 arrest and charges months later of complicity in harboring known terrorists. He has been repeatedly interrogated and asked to reveal his sources for a cover story on a slain Kashmiri militant, whose killing by Indian security forces set off a wave of anti-government demonstrations in Kashmir in July 2016. A number of hearings have been postponedand other journalists harassed and detained the past year.

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These Are the 10 'Most Urgent' Threats to Press Freedom in March 2020 - TIME

Tacky’s Revolt review: Britain, Jamaica, slavery and an early fight for freedom – The Guardian

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By 1690, Jamaica was the jewel of Britains American possessions. An economy largely based on the production of sugar brought wealth and led to the beginnings of an imperial system.

But that system was built on the almost unimaginably brutal reality of slavery, enforced by almost equally unimaginable cruelties and daily punishments and control.

The system was ruthless and relentless. In the mid-18th century one plantation in Westmoreland Parish, site of the most serious slave revolt in 1760, recorded twice as many deaths as births, many from pure overwork. Importation of fresh slaves, often from the Gold Coast of Africa, filled the gap and reinforced the system yet contained the seeds of the systems eventual destruction.

Vincent Browns Tackys Revolt: The Story of An Atlantic Slave War, places the Jamaican revolts of 1760 firmly within the broader history of the time, notably the Seven Years War, for which Brown comments that historians have barely noticed that the Jamaican insurrection was one of its major battles. The judgment is correct when one remembers that the Caribbean, not just Quebec, was key to British strategy.

This is not popular history, perhaps in either sense of the word. But it is important history

War suffuses this book: wars among African polities, wars between the European powers such as the War of Jenkins Ear and the Seven Years War, war and violence on the daily life of the plantation between master and enslaved. These wars within wars, Brown writes, ensured that slaverys violent conflicts integrated Europe, Africa, America, and the Atlantic ocean.

Brown endorses the phrase of freed slave and soldier Olaudah Equiano: that slavery was itself a state of war. Overseer and diarist Thomas Thistlewood chronicled the inhumanity of slavery, including his own brutalities. The daily violence of plantation life was a war for control no less than the broader contest in the Caribbean between Britain, France and Spain.

It is thus a small step for Brown to conclude that recognizing slave revolt as a species of warfare is the first step toward a new cartography of Atlantic slavery.

African commanders including Tacky, who had probably held a royal office or lineage in one of the Gold Coasts eastern kingdoms, and Apongo, a leader among the Akan-speaking peoples in both Africa and Jamaica, brought knowledge of military strategy and tactics.

Brown studies the movements of the insurrection closely and draws conclusions about its military and political aims. With experience of African political and economic life, the slaves sought something more than freedom alone. As Brown writes, their pattern of warfare indicates an attempt at territorial and political control, a strategy of maneuver rather than of retreat, evasion, or escape.

The revolt of the title was put down suddenly and fiercely. It began on 7 April 1760 in St Marys Parish but was possibly premature. A larger conflict, which the British called the Coromantee war, was timed for the Whitsun holidays and for when the merchant fleet sailed to Britain, leaving the island less defended. It continued for months.

After initial success in Westmoreland Parish and retreat into the mountains and forests from which they conducted skirmishes and other tactics largely derived from African warfare, the Coromantee rebels succumbed to overwhelming British power.

The Navy brought the full resources of transatlantic empire to bear against the rebels, Brown writes, articulating the local conflict to the wider war.

Dense, closely argued and meticulously researched, this is not popular history, perhaps in either sense of the word. But it is important history. Historians have long recognized the Seven Years War as a global conflict but this book brings the role of Africa and Africans fully into the struggle.

As Brown writes in conclusion: The Coromantee war was at once an extension of the African conflicts that fed the slave trade, a race war among black slaves and white slaveholders, an imperial conquest, and an internal struggle between black people for control of territory and the establishment of a political legacy.

The economic, political and cultural consequences of this war within wars reverberated out from Jamaica to other colonies, across the ocean to Great Britain and back again to the island, where the revolt reshaped public life and lodged deeply in collective memory.

The Jamaican revolts influenced, sometimes in subtle ways, the movement for abolition of the slave trade, and eventually slavery itself, on both sides of the Atlantic. To correct a victors perspective and recover lost history and the dignity of the enslaved, Brown has written a 21st-century military history one which takes full account of all the combatants and those for whom they fought.

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Tacky's Revolt review: Britain, Jamaica, slavery and an early fight for freedom - The Guardian

Submariners from HMS Vengeance and Bury sea cadets exercise Freedom of Bury St Edmunds with parade in town centre | Latest Suffolk and Essex News -…

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PUBLISHED: 14:56 04 March 2020 | UPDATED: 15:03 04 March 2020

Mark Langford

HMS Vengeance exercises its Freedom of Bury St Edmunds with a parade through the town centre. Picture: CHARLOTTE BOND

Charlotte Bond

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Crew from HMS Vengeance, a nuclear powered submarine which is affiliated to Bury, exercised their right to parade through the town centre and were joined by Bury St Edmunds sea cadets today (Wednesday March 4).

They formed up at the war memorial in Angel Hill where the Reverend Simon Harvey, the vicar of St Mary's church in Bury, conducted a short service.

The parade, led by the cadets marching band, then set off along Abbeygate Street, Cornhill, the Buttermarket, Central Walk, and across St Andrews Street to Charter Square, before returning to Angel Hill.

Shoppers and market traders, with stalls bedecked in Union flags, lent support as the parade made its way through the town.

The Freedom of a town or city is an ancient sign of trust given to military organisations, allowing them to march through with drums beating, flags flying and bayonets fixed.

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You can’t have both religious freedom and religious dominance – Patheos

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A Friendly Atheist headline directed me to a righteous rant on religious freedom.AOC: The GOP Only EverInvokes Religious Freedom When It Wants to Justify Hate, the headline read. It seems that during a hearing in the U.S. House last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the following:

There is nothing holy about rejecting medical care of people, no matter who they are, on the grounds of what their identity is. There is nothing holy about turning someone away from a hospital. Theres nothing holy about rejecting a child from a family. Theres nothing holy about writing discrimination into the law, and I am tired of communities of faith being weaponized and being mischaracterized, because the only time religious freedom is invoked, its in the name of bigotry and discrimination. Im tired of it.

Huh, I thought. Huh.

Ive long been tired of the way the Right talks about religious freedom, but Ive rarely seen the problems with the Rights religious freedom framework stated so simply and directly. The only time religious freedom is invoked, its in the name of bigotry and discrimination,AOC said. And you know what? Its true.

Here, Ill make a list of evangelicals religious freedom claims.

Are you sensing a pattern? I sure am.

I grew up in a conservative evangelical home in the 1990s and early 2000s, and I dont remember hearing a lot about religious freedom. My impression, based on my own experience, is that religious freedom took off as a catchphrase on the Right at the same time that LGBTQ rights became increasingly accepted by the mainstream. From where Im standing, calls for religious freedom look more like a claim developed specifically to discriminate against LGBTQ people than anything else.

It also makes a handy argument for denying people health insurance that covers contraceptives, of course. Still, overall, religious freedom claims primary target seems to be LGBTQ individuals.

See, Im not sure the Right is actually as full-throated in its support for religious freedom as it claims. After all, what does the Right not include in its catalogue of religious freedom? Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Recall that those evangelicalsthe conservative ones Im talking aboutstill want to put Christian prayer back in school, because were a Christian nation, dammit. That is not a religious freedom argument. Its a religious dominance argument. This wing of evangelicals doesnt believe in religious freedom for anyone but Christians.

Remember, these are the same people who argue that our founding fathers established our country as an explicitly Christian nation and call openly for Christian preference. These are the same people who want school board meetings and city council meetings to open in Christian prayers. They dont want religious freedom. Thats just a smokescreen they use to justify their bigotry. What they want is religious dominance.

AOCs comments remind us that this issue isnt all that complicated. Its actually really, really simple.

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You can't have both religious freedom and religious dominance - Patheos

Psychiatrists not amused by Trance misinformation – The New Indian Express

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Express News Service

KOCHI:Fahad Fazil-starrer Trance is running successfully garnering rave reviews. From the heros acting to the directors bravery to approach such a bold subject, movie aficionados have been quite gung-ho about the film. However, the movie has drawn flak from psychiatrists for labelling certain psychotropic drugs as killers. Irked by movie-makers mindless branding, doctors say that such labelling of bonafide medicines is blunder.

At a crucial point in the movie, a doctor tells viewers that psychotropic medications like Risperidone and Xanax (that the protagonist takes for him mental disorders) will lead to brain damage and eventually will kill him inch by inch. This is total blunder, wrote psychiatrist Dr Thomas Mathai Kayyanickal in a Facebook post.

Mental disorders like depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are medical conditions like diabetes, hypertension and asthma. For a Parkinsons disease patient, when dopamine gets reduced in brain, tablets are prescribed as a supplement. Similarly, chemical intervention are done in case of mental illness treatments too. Visit the OP of a psychiatry department to see how people lead a normal life with the help of these medicines, wrote Thomas, who works at the Centre Institute of Psychiatry in Ranchi, Jharkhand.Movies influence society and alter the mindset. Therefore, such misinformation spread by popular films has the potential to ruin the lives of persons with mental illnesses, said Kochi-based psychiatrist Dr Monu Varghese.

Dr Thomas describes a disturbing incident in his post. A patient with anxiety disorder, treated by my friend in Kochi, was reluctant to take medicines. He reasoned that has stopped taking it because it would cause brain damage. Who will be responsible if a person with psychotic depression goes off medicine and commits suicide?

Dr Arun B Nair, associate professor, Department of Psychiatry, Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, said Risperidone and Xanax have commonly prescribed medicines for psychiatric patients and they do not have any adverse effects as mentioned in Trance.There are thousands of people with psychotic disorders doing very well on Risperidone. Misguided by films, if they discontinue the medication, it would definitely worsen their illness, and cause brain damage, said Dr Arun.

Some patients with psychotic disorders may also have suicidal thoughts, which could be secondary to their delusions and hallucinations. Antipsychotics like Risperidone prevent suicide. If such people stop medicines without advice from the doctor, chances of them attempting suicide is also high, he said.

MedicationsIn the movie the lead actor undergoes through a sort of a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is a mental health condition triggered by a past terrifying event. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Risperidone is used for the treatment of psychotic disorders like schizophrenia. Risperidone modulates the level of dopamine of the brain, thereby reducing delusions and hallucinations It also prevents suicide tendencies in patients Xanax is an anxiolytic. It reduces anxiety and helps promote sleep

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Psychiatrists not amused by Trance misinformation - The New Indian Express

I am a believer, but I am against corporatisation of spirituality, says Vincent Vadakkan, scenarist of Trance – The Hindu

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The struggle to get here was real. I felt overwhelmed when it finally happened. Thats how Vincent Vadakkan looks at his foray into cinema as a scenarist with Anwar Rasheeds Trance, leaving behind his career in the advertisement industry. There was a dream team on board my debut project Anwar sir, Fahadh Faasil, Nazriya Nazim, Amal Neerad, Resul Pookkutty, Gautham Menon.... The canvas turned out to be much bigger than I had imagined, says Vincent.

Trance is a bold take on merchants of faith who build empires using religion as a foundation; it is about faith healers and miracle workers. Vincent says he is a believer but he is against corporatisation of spirituality.

He also views that there is more to the film than just talking about people being exploited in the name of their faith. It is also about family and relationships. The protagonist, although a motivational speaker, goes into depression because of the turmoils in his personal life and its in that situation that he takes up the offer to become a god man, says Vincent.

So what gave him the confidence to switch over to cinema? I could tell a story in 30 seconds for a commercial and that made me think about the big picture. I believe in persistence. Even if you are talented, if you are not persistent, you can never get what you want, observes Vincent, currently based in Bengaluru.

The Kochi-native says he has been a film buff from childhood. He did theatre as well until he got busy with his corporate job. I have associated with playwright and theatre director Abhishek Majumdar and I had shared with him my desire to write. He told me, You write. So my first synopsis ran into four pages, he says.

It was cinematographer Littil Swayamp who introduced him to Anwar. I was meant to work with Anwar sir in the 5 Sundarikal anthology. But that portion had to be dropped because we didnt get the perfect cast, says Vincent.

Calling himself a self-taught scriptwriter, Vincent points out that he learnt about screenplays and the format from YouTube videos. One work that fascinated me was Fargo, he adds.

The thread of Trance was with him for many years and the narrative underwent some changes later on. The inspiration came from several quarters. I have had some personal experiences. Some family members and friends also shared instances with me. In order to understand the psyche of these pastors, I watched a lot of videos as well. The investigative documentary, A Question of Miracles, which deals with televangelism and faith healing, was another reference point, he says.

Fahadh was the only actor he had in mind for the role of Viju Prasad, who turns into Pastor Joshua Carlton. It is not based on any real-life character, says Vincent, adding that they had pastors on location to guide the team in various scenes. We were careful because it is a sensitive subject and we were expecting backlash. One of the pastors helped Fahadh to understand the body language and voice modulation when he makes his first speech as a pastor, Vincent says.

The writer avers that not all pastors are fake. I know many who consider it a service to help people. They pray, dont claim to do miracles and never stop people from consulting a doctor, he explains.

With bouquets and brickbats coming in for the film, Vincent has taken everything in his stride. Some said that it was brave of us to have taken the theme whereas others are unhappy about how the story progressed towards the climax. There are even theories doing the rounds that Esther (Nazriyas character) was just a hallucination. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, says Vincent.

A huge fan of the works of scenarist Aaron Sorkin, Vincent, a graduate in applied art from Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath in Bengaluru, is now writing dialogues for a bilingual thriller.

Any plans of directing a movie? No, I want to act. My stint in theatre had to be cut short because of my job, he signs off.

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I am a believer, but I am against corporatisation of spirituality, says Vincent Vadakkan, scenarist of Trance - The Hindu

Trance: A courageous observation of malpractices in the name of religion – The Indian Express

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Written by Manoj Kumar R | Bengaluru | Published: March 4, 2020 7:18:56 pm Director Anwar Rasheed has turned Vincents bold script into a trippy visual and audio experience with high-production value.

Director Anwar Rasheed has turned Vincents bold script into a trippy visual and audio experience with high-production value. Trance is so good that it could have been the opening film at any of the prestigious international film festivals. It is criminal when talented filmmakers sell themselves short, and director Anwar Rasheed and debutant screenwriter Vincent Vadakkan are guilty of the same. It is really puzzling why these filmmakers didnt give Trance a wide launch that it deserved.

A wealthy businessman Solomon (Gautham Menon) wants to run a mass opium den under the guise of a non-profit spiritual entity that claims to be doing the work of Jesus. All Solomon and his partner Issac Thomas (Chemban Vinod Jose) want is to feed off the weakness of people by exploiting their fear of poverty and illness, drive them to edges of dispair and provide false hope in exchange of cash. Solomons business model involves creating a euphoric environment with the help of images and sounds, and push the participants into a deep trance where they no longer want to go back to their realities, which are harsh and unkind. Solomon turns faith into a go-to drug with sermons that thousands of people consume to escape hard truths of their lives. And to dispense the drug to the masses at a large scale, Solomon needs a showman and the showman is Viju Prasad (a magnificent Fahadh Faasil).

Viju is a certified motivational trainer in Kanyakumari. He comes from a family with a history of mental illness. Vijus brother Kunjan (a wonderful Sreenath Bhasi) is chronically ill, and his actions even push Viju into depression. Trance also shows Viju negotiating through various stages of depression as he begins to process his terrible grief. He is desperate for a miracle and then meets Solomon, who offers him a ticket to success.

Viju is mentored to become a pastor by Avarachan (an in-form Dileesh Pothan). A non-believer is ordained as Pastor Joshua Carlton, shortly JC (which can also be interpreted as Jesus Christ). JC is forced to master the holy text and deceive people with sermons. Avarachan shares a love-hate relationship with JC. Despite Avarachans hard feelings towards him, he cant help but admire and cheer on when JC puts up a good show as a miracle worker.

Fahadh Faasils performance as the pastor intensifies scene after scene and it hits a crescendo in the climax. He is sharp, energetic and determined and also seamlessly switches over to a grieving man with suicidal thoughts. He is simply a genius. So is director Anwar Rasheed. He has turned Vincents bold script into a trippy visual and audio experience with high-production value.

Trance is a courageous observation of malpractices in the name of religion in polarising times, where rationality has been overpowered by blind-faith.

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Trance: A courageous observation of malpractices in the name of religion - The Indian Express

Nazriya: Im now clear on what kind of films I want to be part of – Times of India

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Cute, bubbly, girl next door. No longer. Thats probably what Nazriya Nazim proved with her latest outing as the alcohol-swilling, weed-smoking Esther Lopez in Anwar Rasheed's Trance. It was a breakaway from the roles that she is best known for in films such as Ohm Shanti Oshana and Bangalore Days. In a candid chat, the actress talks to us about her biggest worry playing Esther, working with husband Fahadh and if she misses the process of doing back-to-back films. Esther Lopez is one of the bravest characters that you have played. What about the role appealed to you?Everything that you see onscreen. I think thats what appealed to me to do this. And I havent played such a character before. So, there was that curiosity on how the role would turn out if I play it. I think thats also one of the reasons why Anbukka (Anwar Rasheed) wanted me to do the role. Anbukka took the risk and it wasnt easy for him. Frankly, its also the first time that someone has approached me to do a character like this. Its not like I took a decision that I wont play such roles. When you started out and especially when you were busy in 2013 and 2014, did you at any point wish that the audiences perception of you would change, because the type of roles that you were doing were similar?The time I was mostly active was during those two years, and back then I was really busy to entertain such thoughts. And there was so much love from the audience for my roles, and I didnt go through that phase where I had to think about that.

What preparations helped you play Esther better?More than the character, it was her habits that I was more worried about. I wanted to get those right before we started shoot be it smoking or drinking. I didnt want to look like an actor who had no idea about these when she was playing a chain-smoker and an alcoholic. We had already decided on Esthers look, so I had to get that right too. But apart from these, there werent any other preparations. Everything else was done on the set.

The makers of Trance have been lauded for bravely attempting such a subject. As Fahadh was an integral part of the movie, did you two discuss the characters and the content before the shoot?Yes, at different points. Fahadh was involved in the film, much before I was approached to do a role. So, I was in the loop about the discussions and the story before I became part of the film. I always knew that feel of the movie and what they were trying to do with Trance, because obviously we live in the same house.

Everyone has been praising Fahadhs role as Viju Prasad/Joshua Carlton for the intensity he brought to the role. Is he involved with his characters even when he is not shooting?I think he is. He is totally with the film till it is over. He works on his character every day even after coming home. Trance, especially, had a lot of dialogues including Bible verses and he was completely involved in it.

How supportive has Fahadh been to your life and career?Being an actor, its kind of an inspiration to be around him. His dedication and hard work for each and every film pushes me too. He has always been supportive. There has never been a discussion on whether I should or shouldnt do films. There was a time after our wedding when I had lazy days and he would say, You should listen to scripts. Entha madiyaayo?

A lot of directors were part of Trance Anwar Rasheed, Amal Neerad, Gautham Vasudev Menon and Dileesh Pothan. What was your major takeaway being part of a movie like this?Being there and seeing the process. It was unlike any other film I did. To be part of a movie with such great names, irrespective of the length of the character, was a big deal.

Do you seek out roles now, or do you wait for good characters to find you?I have been waiting for roles, thats how I have worked.

But do you miss that process of doing back-to-back films and to prepare for roles?I do, sometimes. But I am very clear on what kind of films I want to do and what characters I want to play. I have that clarity now.

Though there has been gaps between your acting assignments, you have been in the thick of things as a producer and singer. Compared to when you were at your busiest, how would you say that industry has changed?The biggest change would be social media. It has become crazy now. There are so many ways to put out your film and promote it. It has become easier and better, but at the same time you must be careful. Anything happening behind the scenes comes out instantly. We are also at a good space and amazing content is being made.

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Nazriya: Im now clear on what kind of films I want to be part of - Times of India

Montgomery Ballet takes Mardi Gras party to The Waters on Saturday – Montgomery Advertiser

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Story Highlights

"The Masks We Wear" is one of three dance performances from Montgomery Ballet on Saturday at The Chapel at The Waters in Pike Road.(Photo: Shannon Heupel/Advertiser)

Join the Montgomery Ballet on Saturday for a Mardi Gras celebration in Pike Road - with three dance performances and an after party.

Theyve found a special venue for the occasion, The Chapel at The Waters, 1 Chapel Hill St.

Its a beautiful space, said Danny Mitsios, Montgomery Ballets executive and artistic director. High ceilings. Its a great spot. Absolutely gorgeous.

Tickets are $50, and include the after party with food, drinks and dancing with DJ Chasing of Gravity.

Doors open at 6 p.m., and performances being at 7 p.m.

Dance performances open with a piece from A Folk Tale, by August Bournonville.

Its a beautiful piece, said Mitsios. Its absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful music. Uplifting. We staged it to its original choreography.

Next is The Sins, a contemporary piece originally choreographed by Mitsios when he was in college. He created the music for it as well.

Its a piece I did at Columbia City Ballet (South Carolina) when I was a dancer there, Mitsios said. This will be his fourth time presenting it. That ones about how everyone has their seven sins.

The Montgomery Ballet presents The Masks We Wear on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019, at Greenville High School in Greenville, Ala.(Photo: Shannon Heupel)

The nights performances are capped off with the return of another original piece by Mitsios, The Masts We Wear. Set to electronic techno-trance music by Jake Pugh of Gravity, this piece is about who people are without the masks they wear in public.

Its been a good experience in the studio, and were excited to get it on stage, Mitsios said.

Mitsios said the performances last for an hour. From there until about 10 p.m. the party will run, he said.

Food for the night is being provided by Little Donkey and Chris Hot Dogs. There will also be wine, and beer from Common Bond Brewers.

Last year, the party was held in the courtyard outside of Montgomery Ballets studio. Mitsios said the move to Pike Road and The Waters makes it more accessible to a new audience.

One thing we love about The Waters, besides its location and beauty is that rain is not a factor, Mitsios said. Last year, I was a little nervous because we almost got rained out, and I grew several gray hairs in the process.

Tickets are available online at montgomeryballet.org.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel at sheupel@gannett.com.

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Montgomery Ballet takes Mardi Gras party to The Waters on Saturday - Montgomery Advertiser

You Heard It Here First: Ferry Corsten and Purple Haze Team Up on "Flanging" – EDM.com

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There is much buzz about the legendary trance producer Ferry Corsten as of late. Fresh off of announcing his soon-to-be iconic What The Ftour run (which will feature a Ferry Corsten set as well as sets under his other aliases, Gouryellaand System F), Corsten has now released a collaborative single with Sander van Doorn'salter-ego,Purple Haze. Buckle up, because this one's wild.

Boasting an old school feel, Corsten and Van Doorn's new collaboration, "Flanging," calls to mind classic arena trance anthems. The rolling bass lines in the intro lead nicely into the main synth section, which continually slows in tempo during the breakdown, before powering back up into the main hook's flanging (hence the name) melody.

That melody is reminiscent of Veracocha's 1999 trance classic, "Carte Blanche," but make no mistake - "Flanging" is forward-thinking enough to become an instant classic in 2020. Corsten and Van Doorn's ability to evoke the nostalgic feel of early trance while staying relevant to the modern sound is impeccable, which is why those two names have remained a mainstay in the world of trance music and electronic dance music as a whole.

"Flanging" is out now and can be found at this link.

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A Beyonc-Focused Church Service Is Coming to the Kennedy Center – Washingtonian

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God appears to us in mysterious ways. For the Rev. Yolanda Norton, God is present in Destiny Childs Bootylicious.

The San Francisco Theological Seminary professor has incorporated the 2000s classic as part of her Beyonc Massa religious service that uses Beyoncs discography to explore the struggle, survival, and spirituality of black women. Born out of a project she assigned her doctoral students, the first Beyonc Mass was celebrated at San Franciscos Grace Cathedral in 2018. 70 people were expected for the midweek service. More than 900 showed up.

Since then, the service has been held across the United States and parts of Europe for standing-room-only crowds. A service at a small church in Portugal was so well-attended it ended up breaking fire codes. I didnt know how it would translate globally, and we ended up having people sitting on the floor, Norton says.

But back to Bootylicious. With lyrics like Lead with hips, slap my thighs, and When I whip from my hips you slip into a trance, the early aughts chart-topper doesnt exactly scream religious. Thats precisely the kind of reaction Norton wants to dismantle.

The whole worship service was about embodiment, and the ways that we have rejected certain kinds of bodies, Norton says. [Bootylicious] was an assertion that God loves your curves. If you are tall, short, thick, thin, God loves you. Its an assertion of learning to live in your body and accept who you are, because thats what God created.

Theres an authenticity to Beyoncs music, Norton says, that allows it to resonate with people on a deeper level. The stars openness about her personal experiences and struggles (see: Lemonade) comprises emotions from pride to lament. We are all feeling people, Norton says, and Beyoncs ability to speak to the core of human nature makes her a perfect spiritual conduit.

Though the focus of the mass is to uplift black women and give them a unique, safe space to explore their spirituality, Norton says the service is accessible to anyone who identifies with Beyonc.

Normally, when I preach in a black church, its mostly black people. And when I preach in a predominately white church, Im usually the only black person in the room, Norton says. When Im looking out over the congregants at a Beyonc Mass, Im seeing every race, every gender, every age group represented.

Service music rotates through Beyoncs catalog (including Single Ladies and Save the Hero) but it always uses Flaws and All as the communion hymn. As congregants step forward to receive the elements, the singer croons: I dont know why you love me / And thats why I love you / You catch me when I fall / Accept me flaws and all / And thats why I love you.

Engaging that as a conversation with God, that represents so much of my theological presuppositions, Norton says. Im not quite sure why God loves us, and God accepts us flaws and all! That is the basic root of why we are people of faith. Both in spite of and because of who we are, God loves us, flaws and all.

The Beyonc Mass will be at the Kennedy Center at 6 PM on March 8. Information about tickets can be found here.

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Jane is a Chicago transplant who now calls Cleveland Park her home. Before joining Washingtonian, she wrote for Smithsonian Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she studied journalism and opera.

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A Beyonc-Focused Church Service Is Coming to the Kennedy Center - Washingtonian

Review: of Montreal brings their maximalist music to the 9:30 Club – The Diamondback

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Kevin Barnes, the singer and songwriter for the indie rock band of Montreal, plays his guitar at the groups concert at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on March 2, 2020. (Julia Nikhinson/The Diamondback)

I showed up to the 9:30 Club at 9 p.m. after a day filled with work, classes and extensive stress about my upcoming schedule. If my brain wasnt fried before then, of Montreal certainly fried it for me.

Formed in Athens, Georgia, by Kevin Barnes the frontman and only consistent member of Montreal quickly became associated with the Elephant 6 collective, which churned out whimsical, sonically dense rock music for the better part of the late 90s and early 2000s.

Much like fellow Elephant 6 bands Apples in Stereo and Neutral Milk Hotel, of Montreal creates their own world; albeit, one far trippier than their counterparts. Considering that NMHs most famous album is a lo-fi folk-punk fever dream about Anne Frank that drove creator Jeff Mangum completely out of the music industry, thats saying something.

Wikipedia wants me to believe the band belongs in the genre of indie pop, but their sound, especially in a live setting, is way too intense for the twee sensibilities of indie pop. Of Montreals music part alt rock, part electronic and very psychedelic is an audio onslaught. More is always better for Barnes and company, with different melodies, rhythms and textures wildly careening in their songs. The minute you feel like youve got a grasp on the current song, a new instrument or key change flies in to keep you on your toes.

A number of cuts from the bands most recent release, UR FUN, found prominent places in the setlist. Among them were opener Peace to All Freaks and Dont Let Me Die in America, in which Barnes wonders, Have I lost my country / because I have no love for piggy-piggy fascists?

Most of UR FUN is more conventional in terms of instrumentation and production than previous of Montreal releases. Does that mean Barnes has mellowed with age? Not if their live show has anything to say about it.

[Read more: Review: Post Malone owned Capital One with nothing but himself and his music]

With strobe lights, projections, large skeleton props and dancers that changed costumes with every song, of Montreal took their maximalist aesthetic to the people Monday night. More often resembling a rave than a rock show, sparkling sequin and day-glo outfits were a common sight throughout the crowd and onstage. Barnes strutted out at the start of the set with a light-up feather boa, dancing maniacally throughout the night as flashing lights and pounding rhythms brought the audience into a trance.

The energy only seemed to grow as the concert went on, culminating in a four-song encore featuring a cover of Nirvanas Breed as balloons bounced around the venue. Mosh pits and glitter both found a home in the 9:30 Club with this group.

This band is the kind whose bones are made by their live show. Of Montreal has put out 16 studio albums since 1997, but none of their songs ever broke through to a wider cultural status. Instead, the band brings their music to the people by playing shows almost nonstop, having done so for the past 20 years.

Their show at the 9:30 Club was their fifth show in five days, and the band wont have a day off for almost two weeks. That kind of workload is difficult to maintain but if last nights show was any indication, of Montreal should be up to the task. The songs were electric, the crowd was eclectic and Barnes was eccentric as ever.

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Review: of Montreal brings their maximalist music to the 9:30 Club - The Diamondback

The Stars Of Altered Carbon Season 2 Discuss The Dark Side of Immortality – BET

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Written by Jerry L. Barrow

In Altered Carbon, mankind has found a way to cheat death, making life 300 years in the future very different. Thanks to technology, the human consciousness can be downloaded digitally to stacks which can then be transferred to a humanoid sleeve, or body, granting perpetual life. If a sleeve is damaged or destroyed, the consciousness is simply spun-up or revived in a new sleeveif they have the means to obtain one.

Of course, there are tiers to this experience and the higher classes and government officials enjoy the spoils of this infinite existence, being spun-up repeatedly. But even in a world where death is delayed indefinitely, there is a human cost that is both physical and spiritual.

Anthony Mackie (Avengers: Endgame, Striking Vypers) stars in season two as Takeshi Kovacs, the lone surviving soldier of a group of elite interstellar warriors, continuing his centuries old quest to find his lost love Quellcrist Falconer, played by Renee Elise Goldsberry (Waves, Hamilton). After decades of planet-hopping and searching the galaxy, Kovacs finds himself recruited back to his home planet of Harlans World with the promise of finding Quell.

During his journey Takeshi is assisted by a bounty hunter named Trepp, played by Simone Missick (All Rise, Luke Cage) who is trying to secure a future for her family in a world that doesnt care about them.

While living forever seems like a dream for most, in a conversation with BET, the cast shared what they felt was the downside to potentially living forever.

Anthony Mackie:

The pros of [immortality] is if you find that person, find that thing, you find true happiness, you can indulge in it until its no more. The cons [are] you have to live with your faults forever. Every shortcoming you have and every mistake youve made is with you for your entire life.

Simone Missick:

As a person who wants to live to be 106thats my goalI look at the people who do live that long, they lose so many people around them. Its a lonely place, its a lonely thing if the people around you arent also immortal, there to share your memories and remind you of who you are and where you came from. I think that with immortality, if all things are equal and everyone lives forever, you lose the feeling, I think, of passion to achieve, to love fiercely. To cherish each moment. To not know that theyre infinite. You dont have forever. I think [that] is the way that we live our lives and we so greatly want to hold on to those close to us and believe and pray and walk with a certain purpose knowing that were here for a short amount of time. I think that if you dont have that and you have nowhere else greater or better to go, once its all said and done, you create a future where nothing is valued. Life is not precious. And I could look at you and say I like that, give it to me. And take your sleeve. And I think that is a disgusting devaluation of humanity.

Renee Elise Goldsberry:

This is one part of the journey, right? To think that our journey is about what our body is doing is really just because we are so small. Were down here, we cant get higher and see. Our soul is the span of a lifetime. And the idea that we would make this experience in one bodyor many bodiesdefine who we are, probably cheats of the greatest things we will come to know as a spirit when we let this one go.

Season 2 of Altered Carbon premiers on February 28.

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In ‘Weather,’ A Journey Of Unease, Change, And Hope | Arts – Harvard Crimson

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Turn on the television and watch reports on todays newsworthy stories. Open Twitter and see how people react to them. Go to work and hear about them some more. Come home and, well, theres family. Laugh with them, rant to them, celebrate with them, comfort them, worry about them. Every day brings something new.

This cycle likely sounds familiar to many people today. It is also the orbit of Lizzie, the narrator in Jenny Offills charming new novel, Weather. Shes a university librarian whose unusual side job is to answer letters sent to an apocalypse podcast. But theres nothing unusual about Lizzies emotional life. For Lizzie is beset with worry about the ups and downs of her marriage, her struggling brother Henry, her country (circa 2016), her planet. Despite these anxieties, she tries to avoid the fretful and immobilizing trepidation to which she responds everyday. While Lizzies unease is plentiful, she never allows herself to lose hope entirely.

In a novel that emphasizes this emotional journey more than the storyline itself, Offill finds an ideal space where her unique style is most effective. The books pages are alight with Offills simple prose, short sentences, and equally concise paragraphs. Indeed, Offill organizes her novel almost entirely in vignettes, at most a couple of pages and at least a couple of lines. Some vignettes offer glimpses of the day-to-day journeys of Lizzies life and her interaction with the world around her. Lizzie discusses the increase of automation with Mr. Jimmy, a car-service driver. Shes annoyed with Mrs. Kovinski, her politically opposite neighbor. Shes disappointed by the able-bodied teenagers with earbuds who occupy the priority seats on a full bus. While these little moments may seem like fragmented references to the times, they certainly do not come off that way. Flowing one into the other, each vignette cleverly discusses an experience familiar to many and envisions another persons reaction to it.

Added to these kinds of vignettes are longer ones that deal with Lizzies less fleeting interactions with her family. At the emotional root of the novel lie Lizzies dual and sometimes conflicting commitments. On the one hand, theres her husband Ben and son Eli; on the other, her troubled brother Henry. Offill provides a powerful sense of loves magnetic pull, and of the forceful strain that ensues when the all-consuming duty of love spreads one too thin. The reader gets a sense of Lizzies worry when her intense focus on Henry seems to push her classics-loving husband, Ben, away. Youre weary of me, arent you? Lizzie asks at one point. As her marriage lies in a kind of cold stagnation, Lizzies resolute devotion to Henry is palpable in a particularly vivid passage: But how can I leave him alone? Already, Im hiding my sleeping pills in a sock under my bed.

The emotional journey of family, while beautifully rendered, is not without its shortcomings. Perhaps the lone weakness of the novel is that the reader does not get as much of an insight into Ben or Eli as they do Henry. With Henry, Offill paints a vivid image of his relationship with Lizzie. She shows the reader his struggles and concerns and vulnerabilities along with Lizzies reactions and responses to them. This is effective because what Lizzie sees in addition to what she thinks rises to the surface of the page, creating a fuller understanding of her relationship with Henry. Only occasionally does the reader feel similarly with Ben, and even more scarcely with Eli. To be sure, their relationships with Lizzie are well-conceived, but they do not reach the intensity with which one experiences Lizzies relationship with Henry.

Weather would not succeed without the countless aphorisms and other witty, sometimes satirical, statements interspersed between these vignettes. In some ways, these are some of the most delightful and original elements of the novel they evoke the sayings that one could find in tiny pocketbooks and capture Offills literary voice and expressive prose. Offill quotes from a diverse cast, from Virginia Woolf to Sri Ramakrishna, and also adds many maxims of her own. There is a period after every disaster in which people wander around trying to figure out if it is truly a disaster, Lizzie observes at one point. In a more lighthearted one, a friend caricatures Silicon Valley: These people long for immortality but cant wait ten minutes for a cup of coffee. These observations enhance Offills novel by serving as her most diverse literary tool: They add levity, drive home a point, and inject Offills voice and commentary.

What happened to the flying dreams? Lizzie asks early on. In a way, this is very much the question Offill poses and explores in her novel, too. Travelling from the mundane to the philosophical, the serious to the whimsical, Weather reflects on the times and its effect on those who live in it. Offill discusses the most basic source of joy or pain family and the most recent culture, politics, a changing world. Her sharp prose and structured storytelling shape this commentary on unease, change, and hope into a refreshing literary work.

Staff writer Alexander W. Tam can be reached at alexander.tam@thecrimson.com.

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In 'Weather,' A Journey Of Unease, Change, And Hope | Arts - Harvard Crimson

Netflix Gutted the Radical Politics of Altered Carbon – VICE

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I want to like Altered Carbon, Netflixs cyberpunk epic which just premiered its second season. But I cant. Every moment watching the show is torture for me. Anthony Mackies performance as Takeshi Kovacsthe so-called last Envoy and hero of the showis good. The AI hotel Poe is a welcome change from the books. The fight scenes are well choreographed, the production values high, and the street life of Harlans World is spectacularly high tech and low-life. If you want to get lost in a cool and expensive-looking cyberpunk yarn, Altered Carbon is the best show in townonly if you haven't read the books.

Yes, I know. "The book was better than the movie/show" is something we could say about almost any adaptation, but I truly cant enjoy Altered Carbon because I read the books theyre based on and it feels like Netflix gutted the story of everything that made it interesting. The three Takeshi Kovacs novels are weird books about eldritch alien horrors and revolutionary politics in a world where no one dies. Altered Carbon took that raw material and stripped out anything complicated. The books are stories about power and revolutionary politics. The show is an action adventure love story with some light class critique.

Adaptation is hard. Television is a different medium than books and things are going to change, I understand that. Game of Thrones did a mostly great job of adapting George RR Martins books. I think the Lord of the Rings films are better than the novels. So too with The Princess Bride. Sometimes adaptations make large changes from the source material for the better. The novel Jaws is based on has an entire subplot about the local Mafia that landed on the cutting room floor for the film.

But Netflixs Altered Carbon feels like it butchered its source material. This started in the first season with Takesh Kovacs, the main character. In the show, Kovacs is the last Envoy, the lone remaining member of a revolutionary group that wants to overthrow the ruling elites and eliminate the technology that keeps everyone alive forever. In the novels, Kovacs is still an Envoy, but Envoy's are the Special Operations Forces of the U.N. Protectoratethe Earth based government that keeps order in the galaxy. He leaves the service after witnessing a genocide he blames on the U.N. He saw his fellow soldiers die horrifically and he blamed leadership, but not necessarily the power structure. Kovacs is cynical, hes not a revolutionary.

In the novels, Kovacs never met Quellcrist Falconer. Shes a historical figure he admires, akin to Mao Zedonga political theorist who led a revolutionary movement. Shes a model to be emulated, the foundation for the revolutionary politics of Kovacs world, not his love interest. In the books, hes in love with the idea of her. In the show, hes quite literally in love with her and that drives the plot of the first and second season. That change forces the show to pursue Kovacs as a personal but not political figure. Kovacs seeks her out because hes in love, not necessarily because he believes in her crusade against the entrenched power structure.

The politics of the Envoys in the show are reactionary and anti-technology. Falconer invented the cortical stacks that allow humans to live forever. She regrets her decision and wants to destroy the technology and allow people to die. She feels that shes only enabled a system that allows the rich to accumulate power as they deepen their immortality.

The problem is that that system already exists. It exists in our world and the idea that removing a technology that enables immortality would change that is naive. Immortality is a banal given in the novels, its a hard fact. It is the accumulation of wealth and power that makes the rich immortals into monsters, not the technology itself.

In the novels, the Methsrich, powerful, and long-lived humansare barely seen. Theyre as alien to normal people as the birdlike Martians. There is a sense that theyre gods, so powerful and old that they cant be fought let alone seen. In the show theyre an indulgent ruling class driving the plot forward at every turn. Theyre decadent, immortal, amoral, and boring.

The books ask the question: how do you fight these gods and build something better? Every previous revolutionary movement in human history had made the same basic mistake, Falconer says in Woken Furies, the third novel. Theyve all seen power as a static apparatus, as a structure. Its not. Its a dynamic, a flow system with two possible tendencies. Power either accumulates or it diffuses through the system...a genuine revolution has to reverse the flow. And no one ever does that, because theyre all too scared of losing their conning tower moment in the historical process.

Theres lots of these conversations in the novelmoments where a cynical soldier who once upheld the power structure struggles to understand how anything could ever be different. In the books, Falconers answers are complicated. Shes there to build something better, not just destroy everything.

In the show, Falconer is mostly good at stabbing people in the throat. It looks cool, but it feels hollow.

This article originally appeared on VICE US.

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Netflix Gutted the Radical Politics of Altered Carbon - VICE

Review: ‘The Hidden Girl And Other Stories,’ By Ken Liu – NPR

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Ken Liu does a lot of things as a writer. He creates big, doorstopper novels of his own (the Dandelion Dynasty series), and translates works from some of the best Chinese genre writers working in that language (Liu Cixin, Hao Jingfang, others). He writes books about Luke Skywalker and does travel pieces on Shanghai, wrote an essay that became a ballet, writes articles poetry. He is busy.

And when he's not doing any of that, Liu writes short stories. Lots of short stories. He has won just about every award there is to win for short speculative fiction, and the namesake story that beat as the heart of his 2016 collection, The Paper Menagerie, took home the sci-fi triple crown, winning the Hugo, the Nebula and the World Fantasy Award in 2012.

So yeah, I was excited when I got my hands on his second collection, The Hidden Girl, and cracked it open. I was expecting the same kind of deep, emotional connection. The same wild flights of imagination. The same spark of compressed magic that animates the best short fiction the ability to conceive a universe writ in miniature, to tease out only those moments of it that matter most fiercely.

But The Hidden Girl ... is not that. It isn't even really a book of discreet short stories so much as a series of tightly interlinked, self-referential chapters of a distributed novel, broken up by diversions, digressions, thought experiments and a couple pieces that read like intellectual exercises in imaginary brand PR.

There's a three-story arc about artificial intelligence and the singularity ("The Gods Will Not Be Chained," "The Gods Will Not Be Slain" and "The Gods Have Not Died In Vain") that starts as a simple exploration about a daughter mourning her father and ends with an AI war, a scorched earth and a meditation on digitally native intelligences that have never known what it is like to live in the flesh.

"Staying Behind" treads the same ground, only jumped forward in time to a point along the historical arc where a single company, Everlasting Inc., has developed the technology to upload human consciousness. It has the best opening line ("After the Singularity, most people chose to die."), the most rich and developed present, an argument/counterargument structure that Liu returns to again and again in this collection (with varying levels of success) but which, here, feels organic and rounded. The world it presents is slower, simpler, and largely de-populated of living humans, which provides an ideal setting for the friction that develops between parents and children who have radically different ideas of what of the old world is worth hanging on to and what "living" actually means when digital immortality becomes a viable option.

"Altogether Elsewhere, Vast Herds of Reindeer" goes even further, experimenting with clock cycles as time travel, the reality of forever contained within the promise of immortality, and the possibilities it presents when a mother one of the "Ancients" who actually lived for some years as a person before uploading chooses to send her consciousness into space to explore another planet, but only after spending a last 45-year-long "day" with her digitally-engineered daughter, trying to pass on to her what it felt like to once upon a time live in the real world and not a virtual one.

These linked stories are broken up by unattached tales that fall like partial non-sequiturs in Liu's larger conversation about family, memory and immortality. "Real Artists" is about algorithmic intelligence usurping the creative arts and, ironically, plays out in an incredibly predictable fashion, right down to the stinger at the end. "Byzantine Empathy" is a stilted, manipulative argument between two friends on the nature of charitable giving that reads like an extended infomercial for blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

There are beautiful moments in these stand-alone tales, to be sure. "Seven Birthdays" is like an exploded haiku, bookended by images of kites and flight, the reach of its vision and the broken hearts inside its messy utopian/dystopian future as full and real as its imagination is stunning. "Thoughts and Prayers" is an absolutely haunting vision of trolling and the gun control debate set 20 minutes in our broken future. And there is a way to read The Hidden Girl as a kind of academic exercise performed in public Liu working out his own partially-formed ideas about humanity's potential future on the page, mixing and re-mixing elements, bundling them up with his favorite emotional arcs (aliens and immigrants, family and memory and history), banging notions together just to see what sticks.

'The Hidden Girl' just doesn't hang together as a complete collection. It meanders and repeats itself. It can't commit to a single tone, but can't arrange disparate ones into a sensible flow.

In that way, the collection's titular story, "The Hidden Girl," reads almost like the first chapter of an abandoned novel about Chinese myth and multi-dimensional assassins (and one of the other pieces, "A Chase Beyond the Storms," actually is an orphan chapter of something longer a sneak preview of Liu's upcoming third Dandelion Dynasty novel). "Maxwell's Demon" becomes a (largely failed, clumsy, paradoxically cold) attempt at giving a narrative structure to mathematician James Clerk Maxwell's thought experiment about violating the second law of thermodynamics, and "Memories of My Mother" just a (largely successful) experiment in formatting, structure and the laws of relativity.

But as fun as such dissembling can be for those more interested in the way a writer's brain works than settling down with a good yarn, The Hidden Girl just doesn't hang together as a complete collection. It meanders and repeats itself. It can't commit to a single tone, but can't arrange disparate ones into a sensible flow. There are too many places where process overshadows character, or where Liu presents an argument clothed in threadbare narrative rather than a story that proceeds along the natural path of an argument. Like the rogue intelligences that skulk in its pages, The Hidden Girl is smart, sure. How could it not be?

But something about it feels not altogether human.

Jason Sheehan knows stuff about food, video games, books and Starblazers. He is currently the restaurant critic at Philadelphia magazine, but when no one is looking, he spends his time writing books about giant robots and ray guns. Tales From the Radiation Age is his latest book.

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Review: 'The Hidden Girl And Other Stories,' By Ken Liu - NPR

BTS’s ‘7’ is a Tender Exploration of Identity and Celebrity – The Emory Wheel

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The saying people come into your path for a reason, a season or a lifetime is seldom truer than with family members. Occupying an intimate and inviting set, two brothers recall their childhood, sweeping the viewers along with them on their personal journeys inspired by the memory of their eccentric uncle. Through storytelling and comedy, Wooden Nickels presents to the audience a tale of friendship, self-discovery and legacy. The play, presented by Theater Emory and directed by Emory Professor of Theater Studies Tim McDonough, debuted at the Mary Gray Munroe Theater on Feb. 26. Although the play was originally written as prose by writer and Professor of English Joseph Skibell, he adapted Wooden Nickels for the stage.

Wooden Nickels takes advantage of the small theater to create a charming and warm atmosphere. Bathed in yellow-orange light, the stage remained clear, featuring only three chairs, a coat rack and a wall covered in photos and posters. This environment made it feel as though the two characters, brothers Joseph (Hugh Adams) named after the playwright himself and Ethan (Michael Strauss), appear as if they were speaking directly to the viewers. The play follows the two as they rehearse the story of Jack Tiger, their fathers cousin. Joseph claims that he and Ethan will tell stories from their childhood, in which Tiger plays a large role. Joseph begins with an explanation of the plays origins, explaining that a family friend asked if he would be willing to clean out a barn full of Tigers possessions. This launches him into a series of side-stories that reveal details about the brothers father, Tiger and their hometown. Ultimately, Joseph and Ethan end up completing their journey to the farm before detailing the last few years of Tigers life.

While initially confusing in its meta-approach, it becomes clear that Joseph and Ethan are walking the audience through Josephs play script, which he wrote about Jack Tiger. Because there are only two characters, though several others are mentioned in the story, Joseph and Ethan pretend to voice them as they are mentioned. The brothers act out what they remember about their father Irwin, Jack Tiger and their other friends. Occasionally, Joseph and Ethan break character from their reenactments to exchange jokes between themselves or the audience. To aid in the audiences understanding that this is a play about a play, Joseph frequently shifts through his papers and jots notes down as if he were editing his original script.

Despite the abnormal life of the plays central subject, Jack Tiger, Wooden Nickels is relatable. Joseph and Ethan share a good deal of light-hearted banter that conjured memories of my own. Similarly, Irwin and Tiger share a friendship rooted in love and loyalty despite striking differences in personality. Likewise, one understands Ethan and Josephs struggle for recognition and achievement in their fields (acting and writing, respectively), a characteristic that they come to realize unites them.

Wooden Nickels thematically explores self-discovery and immortality. Both brothers and Tiger are striving to find purpose and leave their legacy. Tiger aims to live his life to the fullest while Joseph and Ethan discover aspects of themselves. While Tiger is eccentric and ambitious at his best, he is shady and irresponsible at his worst. Despite his questionable morality, Tiger clearly wishes to leave this mark on the world through the production of movies and goes to great lengths in an attempt to fund this dream. Similarly, Joseph, the author of the play, wishes to find meaning through writing while Ethan hopes to do the same by acting. Joseph and Ethan see themselves in Tigers failures; all three wish to be immortalized in their arts yet have not quite made it as big as they would have hoped.

The plays small cast gave Adams and Strauss ample time in the spotlight. Both actors displayed tactful skill; in particular, Strausss ability to quickly switch between the reserved Ethan and the over-the-top Tiger without skipping a beat was impressive. Furthermore, the actors delivery of one-liners and anecdotes throughout the play contributed to an intimate atmosphere.

Wooden Nickels, wonderfully produced and delightful in mood, took the audience along on an expedition of self-discovery during its weeklong run. Even though the personality of Jack Tiger himself is not relatable for most, viewers can see themselves in his quest to fulfillment, his reliance on his family and the generational friendships between the characters. Ultimately, the audience travels with the brothers, coming to reflect on their own lives just like Joseph and Ethan.

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BTS's '7' is a Tender Exploration of Identity and Celebrity - The Emory Wheel

Northern Ireland litter’s threat to ecosystem revealed – Newry Times

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Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, an environmental charity dedicated to creating a healthy environment, resilient communities and thriving places, has released a report funded by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), that demonstrates that litter remains at concerning levels in NI damaging our forests, parks, beaches and streets.

The Litter Composition Report estimates 1,294,164 items are littered on our streets at any one time, weighing approximately 28 tonnes and costing the public purse 45 million annually in Northern Ireland.

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According to the report, a significant amount of the litter found contained plastic 71% is made up of cigarette butts, plastic bottles, confectionary and crisp wrappers.

Plastic never breaks down and forms harmful micro-plastics which enter our ecosystem.

The second most common category was metals at 14.5%, which was mostly made up of non-alcoholic drinks packaging at 9.7%.

Agriculture and Environment Minister Edwin Poots stated, My Department is actively engaged in protecting and valuing our precious landscape, so it can be enjoyed by everyone.

Those who engage in littering are not valuing our landscape and these actions have a negative impact that is felt across Northern Ireland.

This Litter Composition Report shows that the amount of litter in our environment and entering the eco-system is still a real issue, and the findings will help to identify ways to address this.

My Department, in partnership with Councils and NGOs, such as Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, is using a combined approach of legislation, education, awareness and enforcement to tackle and improve the litter issue in Northern Ireland.

He added, We are also working towards Northern Irelands first Environment Strategy which will play a key role in setting Northern Irelands environmental priorities for coming decades.

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and DAERA commissioned the independent litter compositional analysis to alert both the general public and the business community to the seriousness of the situation no similar study has been conducted in Northern Ireland to date.

Taking place between January March 2019, the report, delivered by RPS Consulting Engineers, found 10,626 items across 1,108 various transects.

The charity, which works with government, organisations and individuals to prevent costly littering and the resulting environmental pollution, believes that the threat from litter has never been higher.

Dr Ian Humphreys, Chief Executive at Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful commented, This is the first ever NI Litter Composition Report and the root problems are clear.

We need to tackle the fact that one in three people openly admit to littering. We must also share the responsibility for litter that is being created through increased convenience packaging, he added.

With the forthcoming European Union (EU) Directives on litter, and UK legislation anticipated to follow close behind, it is predicted a greater responsibility for litter will be put on producers to cover the clean-up costs of their littered products.

To find out more contact Single-Use Plastic Coordinator Claire Hudson at Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful on 07785 663 604 or visit http://www.liveherelovehere.org

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Northern Ireland litter's threat to ecosystem revealed - Newry Times