Eternal Life

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See also Atone, Atonement; Celestial Glory; Crown; Exaltation; Life

To live forever as families in Gods presence (D&C 132:1920, 24, 55). Eternal life is Gods greatest gift to man.

Thou hast the words of eternal life, John 6:68.

This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, John 17:3 (D&C 132:24).

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, 1Tim. 6:12.

He that hath eternal life is rich, D&C 6:7 (D&C 11:7).

Eternal life is the greatest of all the gifts of God, D&C 14:7 (Rom. 6:23).

The righteous will receive peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, D&C 59:23.

Those who endure to the end shall have a crown of eternal life, D&C 66:12 (D&C 75:5).

All who die without the gospel who would have received it had they lived are heirs of the celestial kingdom, D&C 137:79.

Gods work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, Moses 1:39.

God gives eternal life to the obedient, Moses 5:11.

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Eternal Life

The Perils Of Immortality | AMERICAN HERITAGE

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On a clement August evening in 1902, Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt III stood on the lawn of her Newport, Rhode Island, estate, receiving two hundred guests and looking, her son later recalled, like a Gainsborough painting in her plumed picture hat, cabochon emeralds, and diamond stomacher. The entertainment for the evening, which the press billed as The Fete of Roses and she called an at-home, included, in addition to a carnival complete with a calcium-lit midway and various games of chance, a production of the current musical hit The Wild Rose . Mrs. Vanderbilt spared neither effort nor expensethe Knickerbocker Theater went dark for two nights while the cast, scenery, and stage crew traveled north to her specially constructed theaterbut her guests did not see the show that was packing in lesser mortals on Broadway. Like an MTV programmer, Mrs. Vanderbilt knew her audiences attention span. She shaved the performance from three hours to one. While no one is claiming The Wild Rose marked a high point in the history of the American theaterit featured such memorable numbers as Cupid Is the Captain and Mrs. Vanderbilts favorite, They Were All Doing the Sameits mauling by a society matron is emblematic of the wary relationship between money and art.

The cave painters at Lascaux may have been the last to get along without patrons, and for all we know, they had others bringing home their bison. When the artists patron becomes his subject, the situation grows even more dicey. Uneasy is the hand that holds the brush that paints the slavers noble countenance, the merchants proud wife, the robber barons weakchinned heir.

In 1992 the Newport Art Museum assembled an exhibition of about two hundred portraits spanning a period of three centuries. Taken together, the paintings represented not only a whos who of Newport but a retrospective of American portraiture from colonial times to the present, from Gilbert Stuart and Robert Feke toand heres the surpriseDiego Rivera and Richard Lindner. Many of the portraits, which belong to the sitters or their descendants, have since returned to their owners, but now the museum has put together 196 of them in a volume called Newportraits , published by the University Press of New England.

The collection, like the history of the city, has its high points and low. Settled in 1639 by a group fleeing the religious persecution of the Massachusetts Colony, colonial Newport was both celebrated and condemned for its tolerance. While Cotton Mather fulminated against this common receptacle of the convicts of Jerusalem and the outcasts of the land, merchants grew rich from the Triangular Trade, twenty-two distilleries turned molasses into rum, and one of the first paintings in the collection, a circa-1740 portrait of Mary Winthrop Wanton by Robert Feke, featured a dcolletage so daring that in 1859 the directors of the local Redwood Library commissioned Jane Stuart, the daughter of Gilbert, to paint, under protest, a nosegay over the cleavage. Jane Stuart called the retouching an act of vandalism, but the patrons prudishness trumped the artists eye. And she had a widowed mother and several sisters to support.

Occupied by the British during the Revolution, Newport never recovered its former prosperity, despite its popularity as a summering spot for Southern gentry fleeing their native heat and malaria in the first half of the nineteenth century and New England intellectuals seeking one anothers company in the second. Two Pulitzer Prize-winning writers, Maud Howe Elliott (awarded the prize with her sisters Florence Marion Howe Hall and Laura E. Richards for a biography of their mother, Julia Ward Howe) and Edith Wharton, make appearances in this collection. Despite Whartons comment that she did not care for watering-place mundanities, she followed the trend toward fashionable European painters and sat for the Englishman Edward Harrison May.

UNEASY IS THE HAND THAT HOLDS THE BRUSH THAT PAINTS THE SLAVERS NOBLE COUNTENANCE, THE MERCHANTS PROUD WIFE.

By then the Gilded Age had arrived. The village built on tolerance had become the resort notorious for exclusivity. Newport was the very Holy of Holies, the playground of the great ones of the earth from which all intruders were ruthlessly excluded by a set of cast-iron rules, wrote Elizabeth Drexel Lehr, whose husband, Harry, succeeded Ward McAllister as the arbiter of social acceptability.

Sitting for a portrait is an act of hubris. The subject is saying, I am worth looking at. It is also a statement of trust in the artist: I will let you fashion the face I show to posterity. Even after photography had introduced a less risky road to immortality, the rich, the powerful, the celebratedand those who wanted to becontinued to take the gamble.

When it comes to showing a fine face to future generations, the modern subjects in this collection who have perhaps fared best were painted by a loved one. Olive Bigelow Pell arrived in Newport as the second wife of Congressman Herbert Claiborne Pell. Her Pells at Tea , 1933, captures the ease and tenderness of a halcyon family moment. Mr. Pell lounges, Mrs. Pell serves, her daughter perches on the arm of Herberts chair, her son-in-law bounces her grandchild on his knee. No outsider intrudes to disturb the peace. The artist is one of the family. (The fact that the family is an amalgam of two shattered by divorce, a somewhat unusual state of affairs at the time, adds another dimension to the scene.)

SITTING FOR A PORTRAIT IS A STATEMENT OF TRUST. THE SUBJECT IS SAYING, I WILL LET YOU FASHION THE FACE I SHOW TO POSTERITY.

The equally affectionate Herbert and Claiborne Pell , 1927, tells a story as clearly and eloquently as a Norman Rockwell illustration. Pell painted this luminous portrait of her husband and his son, the future senator Claiborne Pell, shortly after her marriage. The arrangement of handsHerbert Pell raises his right to make a point while his son clasps his fathers left in his own small fistcreates a magical circle of private love and public duty.

It is a truism that portraits reveal what is important to the sitterthe squire with his horses and hunting dogs, the dowager with her diamondsbut in Pells self-portrait, One Lump or Two? , her gorgeous silver tea service and tantalizingly edible sandwiches shimmer with irony as well as exuberance.

Pell saw. A diplomatic colleague of her husband wrote to Franklin D. Roosevelt that she was the embodiment of Ruskins remark that for a thousand who can think there is only one that can see. She also worked, constantly, painstakingly, passionately. But other artistically inclined insiders found the conflict between the delights of life and the demands of art more difficult to reconcile. An artist neighbor encouraged Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney to pay less attention to her social role and more to her sculpture, and fortunately for the museum-going public, she followed his advice. The Senator Pell pictured here as a boy ascribed his championship of the National Endowment for the Arts to the fact that he was a frustrated artist. But for some the good life proved too alluring. The senior Pell, a model of sober statesmanship in the portrait, later wrote his son, My worst quality was, of course, an almost uncontrollable unwillingness to work except sporadically.

In a world where work is an afterthought, or at least a choice, what, then, are the inhabitants thinking when they ask artists, some of them self-proclaimed revolutionaries, to paint their portraits? They are supporting the arts certainly, but they could do that by buying an existing canvas. The answer, I suspect, has something to do with family pride and the aforementioned hubris. The result is often fabulous, but the likeness is not always flattering. Sometimes it is not even a likeness.

Diego Riveras Jojo (Joseph Hudson) , 1955, is a beautiful and haunting case in point. The painting is not really a portrait, since the little heirs face bears an uncanny similarity to the aging Mexican artists features, but with its mysterious imagery and arresting composition it is pure seduction.

A 1982 painting by Larry Rivers of Jojos sister, Titi, Princess von Fuerstenberg, Portrait of the Princess (Titi Hudson in Blazing Pink) , does achieve an individual and immediate resemblance. A lyrical sketch in black on a splash of pink, the portrait reveals a wealth of character with an economy of line. Clear-eyed but not unaffectionate, it also illustrates what Rivers called my conflict with and about the useful rich, toward whom I acted more democratically than I felt. The catalogue does not reveal what the princess thought of the painting, but it does say that Josephine Bryce was delighted with the way her friend Salvador Dali portrayed her. Posed in profile like a Renaissance noble, she wears her favorite green velvet dress and holds a red carnation to signify wifely devotion. The background is recognizable Dali: a lurid sky; a surrealistic lake; a miniature Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, and musicians to represent the subjects interest in the arts. Mrs. Bryce was, in fact, posing against the steel walls of a City Bank vault. She was determined to sit wearing the family emeralds, but they belonged to her brother at the time, and the insurance company would not permit them to leave the premises. The portrait hung in Mrs. Bryces dining room for forty years and always disturbed her daughter, who wondered if the artist hadnt seen a hardness in her mother that shed missed.

SOCIETY PORTRAITISTS TEND TO SEND VALENTINES; AVANT-GARDE ARTISTS MAKE NO PROMISES.

The possibility brings us back to that uneasy relationship. Society portraitists who are insiders tend to send valentines. Avant-garde artists of international standing make no promises, and a sitter who chooses one of the latter takes a chance. It is hard to look at the Dali portrait without thinking hes having a little fun at his friends expense. It is impossible to gaze at the Rivera painting without falling in love with a work of art that resembles no one but speaks to everyone. Sometimes art triumphs and the patron still comes out ahead.

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The Perils Of Immortality | AMERICAN HERITAGE

The olive tree Symbol of Immortality MYsterious CROATIA

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Goddes Athena and Olive tree

It was Athens, goddess of wisdom, the wisest of Zeuss daughters, that had stuck a spear into the ground at the break of civilization, and the spear had turned into an olive tree

In Ancient Rome, the olive oil traders dedicated a statue and a temple to Hercules Olivarius, and the dead were traditionally decorated with olive boughs. In Ancient Pompei the Romans used olive oil for washing their hair. The Garden of Gethsemane, where Christ often prayed and was arrested, was described by the disciples as an olive grove.

It is said that in Italy there is an olive tree that is 3500 years old. Olive trees can be seen as a symbol of tradition and a witness of eras gone by. It is a bearer of long forgotten times and legacies.There is another sights in Kastel Stafilic, the oldest olive tree in Croatia, a natural monument, an olive tree more than 1500 years old. It is supposed that it has been brought from the South Italy or Greece, planted here for someones personal needs, to produce the high quality olive oil. Later on, this specie has spread all over the Dalmatia.This oldest olive tree in Croatia has survived many wars, diseases, natural disasters and human negligence and is still bearing fruits.This is one of the reasons why the olive tree is regarded as a symbol of patience: looking at an olive tree gives a feeling of serenity, peace and tranquility. Furthermore, the olive tree is the symbol of immortality: it gives power to kings and priests, and its boughs crown heroes and Olympic champions.

The Hellenes told the fable of the minor dispute that had broken out on Olympus between Neptune and Minerva, in order to decide who would reign in Attica. Jupiter proposed that the kingdom should be granted to whoever presented the most useful gift for Humanity. Neptune presented a horse as swift as the wind, while Minerva brought a small olive branch, affirming that in the future it would become a strong tree, capable of living for centuries and whose fruits would be good to eat and from them an extraordinary liquid would be able to be extracted for the nourishment of man, soothe his wounds, give strength to his body and light for his nights, since he would know how to keep a small flame lit for hours.Fired with enthusiasm, Jupiter decided that Attica would be for Minerva and that its capital would be known as Athens.

The importance of olive oil to the people of the Mediterranean is reflected in their writings and even their laws. The Greek poet Homer called it liquid gold. The Greek philosopher Democritus believed a diet of honey and olive oil could allow a man to live to be a hundred, an extremely old age in a time where life expectancy hovered around forty years. In the sixth century B.C. the Athenian legislator Solon introduced laws protecting olive trees. In a grove only two trees could be removed each year. Breaking this law incurred severe penalties, including execution. There are more than a hundred references in the Bible to olives and olive oil.

Olive tree in Croatia

Due to favourable natural and geographical conditions, olive production inCroatia has a long tradition. During the period of about the last six centuries, it hasdeveloped into one of the most important economic sectors of coastal Croatia. It isconsidered that the first cultivated olive trees were brought to the East Adriatic coast inthe 4th century BC, by the Greeks (KARICA ET AL., 1996). Since the olives adjusted to thenatural, especially climatic, conditions, they were planted on the other islands and on thepart of shore with same natural characteristics.

Speaking of the historical development of olive cultivation, it is necessary toexplain its importance for the islands that were, for practical purposes, isolated from theshore until the second half of the 20th century. On a great number of Croatian islands,mostly those situated in the Middle or South Adriatic, during the summer there is a longperiod characterised by little or no rainfall. In addition, those islands are mostly composedof calcium-carbonate and dolomite, which is the main reason why there are no surfaceflows and all the water that comes from the rain goes into the subsoil.Since olive is a cultivar that does not demand a great quantity of humidity and isperfectly adjusted to the natural conditions of the coastal part of Croatia, people from theislands accepted it as the only, essential, source of fat.Besides on the islands, olives were introduced in other parts of coastal Croatia,wherever natural conditions (primarily climate) allowed their cultivation.

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The olive tree Symbol of Immortality MYsterious CROATIA

Immortals | Baccano! Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia

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The Immortals ( fushisha) are a group of people who attained immortality either by drinking the Grand Panacea or by drinking the Cure-All Elixir.

There are set of rules that immortals must follow, as set by Ronny Schiatto. Although they are able to use a false name for temporary introductions to mortals, their bodies reject all attempts to establish lasting false identities. They must use their real names when speaking to another immortal - and this is an involuntary measure; it is physically impossible to give a false name when there is another immortal in one's vicinity. Immortals are also unable to write down a false name on documents - they are forced to write their real name.

To kill an immortal, another immortal must "devour" them by placing their right hand on the other's head while thinking "I want to eat you." After one devours another immortal, one receives all the immortals' memories and knowledge.

The more often an immortal is injured in a certain way, the faster they will recover from that injury. For example: Dallas Genoard has been shot in the head more than once. Each time he is shot in the head, the faster he recovers.

In the 2007 anime adaptation, immortals can transmit information and images to another immortal by placing their right hand on the other's head and thinking about the information or image. This is not so in the light novels - though immortals can transmit information in that manner to their linked homunculi (ex: Szilard to Ennis) albeit with their left hand. In the anime, Maiza transmits knowledge of the elixir to Gretto via this method, but in the novels he simply tells Gretto half of the recipe.

At least three generations of immortals are currently confirmed.

This generation originally consisted of ten people: nine alchemy students and their teacher Dalton Strauss. A decade after their turning, one immortal devoured his own mother - sparking a war for survival within the group. Dalton himself first heard of the immortality elixir from the sage Majeedah Batutah.

There are only three survivors of this generation: Dalton himself; Renee Paramedes Branvillier; and Archangelo. Archangelo is personally responsible for the deaths of the other immortals, whom he devoured for Renee's sake (he loved her, and believed that the very existence of the others was a threat to her). To avoid devourment, Dalton severed his own right hand and gave it to Archangelo, making it impossible for him to devour Renee or anyone else. Archangelo proceeded to bury it in a spot that only he knows the whereabouts of. The survivors would go on to continue teaching alchemy to interested students.

This generation originally consisted of thirty people who obtained immortality aboard the Advena Avis.

Fleeing persecution in Lotto Valentino, the alchemists board the ship and head for the New World. At some point during the voyage, Maiza Avaro summons a 'demon' (Ronny Schiatto). Ronny bestows on Maiza (and only Maiza) the knowledge required to concoct the Grand Panacea. That day, Maiza teaches his younger brother Gretto half of the recipe before deciding that he will keep the recipe to himself rather than share it with the others. Alchemist Szilard Quates is outraged, and proceeds to devour thirteen of the alchemists aboard the ship -- the first he devours is Gretto, and thus he obtains half of the recipe.

Szilard jumps off the ship of his own accord (in the anime, he is cleaved in half by Nile). Once the surviving alchemists arrive in the colonies, they scatter across the continent in fear of Szilard's wrath. Five more alchemists end up dying by Szilard's hand over the course of the next two centuries. The reign of terror comes to an end when Szilard is devoured in November 1930.

It is later revealed that three of the passengers (Huey Laforet, Elmer C. Albatross, and Lebreau Fermet Viralesque) each sent Lucrezia de Dormentaire portions of the elixir (Huey and Elmer each sent her half of their portions, and Fermet sent her a 'sample' several years later). Lucrezia thus becomes a complete immortal, along with Niki and Maiza's father. Maiza's father is experimented upon over the next two centuries.

Sometime after arriving in the colonies, 1711 immortal Denkur Tg attempts to walk back to his homeland in Japan. He is intercepted in the North Pole by Fermet, who entraps him in a box while he is asleep, and sends the box into a crevasse. Denkur remains encased in ice for the next two hundred and fifty years.

1711 immortal Nile throws himself into war after war in order to never forget the realities of death once he arrives in the colonies.

Note that Advena Avis passenger Sylvie Lumiere is the only passenger who did not drink the elixir while on the boat; intending to eventually kill Szilard, she abstains from drinking her portion of the elixir for several years while in the colonies, only drinking it once she has aged several years and looks visibly different from her time aboard the ship. She dedicates her life to revenge, living solely to find and devour Szilard in revenge for Gretto.

Elmer, meanwhile, spends much of his time over the next two centuries tracing Szilard's footsteps with the intention of convincing him to repent and smile.

This group of immortals consists of an unknown amount of people, and unlike the previous two generations obtained immortality accidentally rather than purposefully. This generation became immortal via the Cure-All Elixir - Szilard's newly completed version of the immortality elixir - in November 1930.

As previously stated, this group became immortal accidentally. To explain, there were three dozen bottles of the new elixir...most of which were destroyed in a granary fire (thanks to the mishap of Randy and Pezzo). Barnes managed to save two bottles of the elixir, but quickly lost possession of them: in the novels, Firo Prochainezo switches out the bottles for his own two bottles of liquor; in the 2007 anime, the bottles are taken by Dallas Genoard and his goons, then by the Gandor Family, taken back by Dallas and company, and then stolen by Isaac & Miria...who deliver the elixir to the Martillo Family. Believing the bottles to contain alcohol, Isaac, Miria, the Gandor brothers, the Martillo executives (and some of their family members), Lia Lin-Shan and Seina all consume it at Firo's promotion party that night.

It is revealed in a drama CD that a young man called Pietro Gonzales recovered a bottle of the elixir from the collapsed granary and drank it (thinking it alcohol). Once he learns he is immortal he is horrified, and with his friend Dominico Fuentes he searches for a way to 'cure' his immortality and become mortal again in the summer of 1936.

Szilard also devised an elixir that could bestow upon someone incomplete immortality. An incomplete immortal will eventually die of old age, but otherwise can survive all manner of injury or sickness. They cannot devour others, however.

Huey's homunculi in the Lamia are the reverse: they do not physically age and cannot die from old age, but they can be killed like normal humans.

Szilard must have finished the incomplete immortality elixir by 1927, since during that year he made the priest Donatello an incomplete immortal (he later devoured the man).

By the 1930s, 1711 immortal Sylvie makes her living as a singer while 1711 immortal Begg Garott makes drugs for the Runorata Family.

In November 1930, Szilard's subordinate Paula Wilmans is one of the workers responsible for the incomplete elixir. Lester pleads with her to give him the incomplete immortality elixir, but she refuses and buries her bottle of the elixir in her husband's grave for safekeeping. Her son Mark retrieves the bottle in August 1932, and confronts Lester that month in the Coraggioso. Lester charges at him in order to get at the bottle, and Mark stabs him with his ice pick several times, severely wounding him. Lester manages to seize the bottle. Kicking Mark aside, he rips out the cork and downs the bottle's contents in one gulp.

Lester thus becomes an incomplete immortal. His wounds do not heal and leave him in perpetual agony, much to Elmer's consternation - Elmer had returned to New York on the Flying Pussyfoot and spent the past half year there in search of Szilard. After Nicola Cassetti expresses his desire to enact physical revenge upon Lester, Elmer crouches down next to Lester and offers to put him out of his misery by devouring him...as long as Lester promises that he'll smile when he goes. Despite knowing his pain-filled fate, Lester refuses. Elmer says that he'll be back in a few years once Lester has changed his mind.

After Szilard's death, both Huey and the Nebula corporation attempt to obtain his incomplete elixir. Huey orders the Lamia to steal the elixir - but Nebula gets to it first and distributes it to all twelve hundred of its employees at the Mist Wall (under the guise of it being a mandatory vaccine for their jobs) in September 1933.

By December 1934, Nebula distributes the remaining incomplete elixir to certain executives of the Russo Family (including don Placido Russo and capo Klik) under the condition that the Russos capture the Lamia. To do this, Placido recalls Graham Specter and his gang back from New York to Chicago to capture the Lamia alive. The homunculi manage to escape from Graham.

At the same time, Huey remains incarcerated in Alcatraz. 1711 immortal and FBI agent Victor Talbot incarcerates 1930 immortal Firo Prochainezo as a mole into the prison, where he has incarcerated 1930 immortal Isaac Dian as blackmail for Firo.

When Alcatraz prisoner Ladd Russo and Firo meet with Huey, it is revealed that Rene (who works for Nebula) had hired several Felix Walkens to steal Huey's eye. The Felix Walkens are easily dispatched, but Firo decides that he will steal Huey's eye instead. Sham secretly betrays Huey and helps Firo to escape, but not before Liza (a vessel of Hilton) steals Firo's eyes via one of her birds. She later returns his eyes to him via Annie, one of Hilton's vessels. Isaac Dian is released in December and reunites with fellow immortal Miria Harvent.

Back in Chicago, the Russo Family have failed to capture the Lamia. As punishment Renee devours the Russos' incomplete immortals, starting first with Placido and ending with Klik.

Huey escapes Alcatraz and later hires Claire Stanfield to guard Melvi Dormentaire in 1935. Huey has a grand scheme in 1935 that involves tainting Manhattan's municipal water supply, a move which if successful would affect seven million New Yorkers. Whatever he plans to taint the water supply with was developed by 1711 immortal Begg, whom has made some sort of deal with Huey.

Nile seeks out Victor some time during the Cold War and reports on his war experiences over the past two centuries before leaving. Meanwhile in the mid-twentieth century, a Soviet nuclear submarine encounters Denkur at the North Pole and thaws him out. The KGB chase Denkur all the way to Germany, where he is shot as he tries to climb over the Berlin Wall. He hides in East Germany until the wall falls, and finally makes his way back to Japan.

1711 immortals Maiza Avaro and Czeslaw Meyer go on a trip in the 1970s to find the surviving 1711 immortals and inform them of Szilard's passing. Over the next few decades, they locate Begg Garott, Nile, Sylvie Lumiere and Denkur Tg. After Bartolo Runorata's death circa 1972, Begg falls into a steep mental decline.

In 1991, Elmer visits a ninja village in Japan and has a chance, unexpected reunion with Denkur, who had found employment there.

In December 1998, Elmer arrives in a certain European country in Szilard's footsteps. There, he finds a strange, isolated village and the homunculus Phil, and takes up residence in the village's castle.

In 2001, Maiza, Czes, Nile, Denkur and Sylvie travel to Europe in search of Elmer, the last missing immortal. Once they reunite with him, they investigate the strange village he lives in and the laboratory of Bild Quates. Once Maiza and Czes return to America in the summer of 2002, Maiza visits Begg in the hospital where Begg has remained an inpatient for the past thirty decades.

In August 2002, 1711 immortals Elmer, Sylvie, Denkur, Nile, and Czes, and the 1930 immortal Firo (along with Ennis) board the cruise liners Entrance and Exit, and are embroiled in the massacres aboard both ships. The 1711 immortals (sans Czes) were invited aboard the Exit by Huey, while Czes accompanied Firo and Ennis on the Entrance during their honeymoon. The chaos aboard both ships was orchestrated by Fermet in an attempt to recreate the events of the Flying Pussyfoot.

Fermet reveals himself as alive to Czes after the Entrance arrives in Kyoto, Japan.

Any amount of the elixir will grant immortality, even just one sip of it. When one drinks the elixir, it essentially preserves their body in the state it is in at the time of consumption; the most obvious example is that Czeslaw is doomed to be a child forever - more horrifying is how Niki has been in constant agony for the past three centuries ever since she had near-mortal wounds when she became immortal. As another example, Elmer's body is still covered in the countless scars he bore before consuming the elixir.

Severed body parts will seek out the body in order to reattach themselves; of course, it is possible to obstruct reattachment through burial or containment. One could potentially use this as a means to find another immortal - just like Renee does in the 1930s when she searches for Huey (using his eye as a 'homing beacon' of sorts - she just has to follow the direction it tugs in).

An immortal is not immune to exhaustion, or the psychological effects of starvation. Ennis has stated that immortals can become temporarily feverish if they are infected or poisoned. If they are in enough pain, they will black out just as humans do.

To elaborate on what happens when one absorbs a devoured immortal's knowledge, Szilard in Manga Chapter 011 says that an immortal body "not only grasps the knowledge it 'eats' with its brain, it physically 'knows' it as well. Provided you have the knowledge, you can ride horseback or dance perfectly the very first time [you try.]"

Dalton Strauss notes in 1935-B: Dr. Feelgreed that once one becomes immortal, one's capacity for memory expands beyond that of a normal human's capacity.

Elmer says this of the Grand Panacea in 1932: "I've been told it has a bit of a mind of its own and naturally improves things over time." It is unknown who told him and how true the statement is. He is speaking to Lester, and comments that with injuries like the ones Lester has that "it might take a very long time."

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Philadelphia Eagles and football immortality: A match made …

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The Philadelphia Eagles are hoping to parlay Hall of Fame inductions with their first Super Bowl win.

Philadelphia Eagles safety Brian Dawkins is going to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He will be joined by former Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens. Now, on the grandest stage of them all, Nick Foles will attempt to make this the greatest weekend in Philadelphia sports history by bring the Eagles their first Super Bowl win in franchise history.

The Xs and Os have been talked about ad nauseum. Bill Belichick,Tom Bradyand the rest of the New England Patriots need no further introduction. Foles, despite his playoff performances, is still the victim of skepticism nationally. Now he prepares to take on the 2017 NFL MVP in Brady. In just a few short hours however, all the talk and awards become meaningless.

That includes certain proclamations by Eagles wide receiver Alshon Jeffery. Jefferys comments surely provide the Patriots with bulletin board material. Of course, even bulletin board material is irrelevant at this point. If a team is in the Super Bowl, they deserve to be there. They also should believe they can win.

Want your voice heard? Join the Inside the Iggles team!

That feeling has swept over the city of Philadelphia leading up to todays game. The Eagles players and their fans truly believe this team is capable of pulling off their third straight upset victory. In order to do that, two current players who mirror T.O. and Dawkins need to perform like them. That would be the aforementioned Jeffery and Malcolm Jenkins.

Jenkins, to his credit, has developed into the emotional leader of the franchise. Today, the defense is going to need him to be more than just a leader. They are going to need him to play at the same level that Dawkins played at throughout his career. What Jenkins has that Dawkins did not is a better supporting cast to take on Brady and company.

As for Jeffery, he might not be what Owens was, but hes still capable of taking over a game. Coming off of his best game as a member of the Eagles, Jeffery is oozing confidence. The Eagles will need every ounce of it too. Fortunately for Jeffery, he also has a better cast of characters going to battle with him than Owens did.

Of course, the players still need to perform on the field. In 2005, the Eagles performed admirably and came up short. Now this ragtag cast of starters, replacements, veterans and rookies are faced with a similar task. The three letter word that the Eagles desire the most is win, but the three letter acronym that will be most responsible for making it happen will be RPO. As Warren Sharp points out, running the football might be the Eagles best chance for success against the Patriots.

Perhaps its appropriate that on the eve of the Super Bowl, two members from the Eagles last appearance are heading to Canton, Ohio. Maybe a better word for it is fate. What other word could describe the unprecedented run that this team has gone on? One word certainly comes to mind: Destiny. In a season that has been defined by 53 instead of one, today, one is all we need.

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Fiona Tans Latest Show Explored Relationships between the Analog and Digital Worlds – ARTnews

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Indonesia-born, Amsterdam-based artist Fiona Tan began her career in the 1990s, when digital technologies began transformingor bastardizing, depending on whom you askthe mediums she took up: film, video, and photography. At first glance, I thought her exhibition at Peter Freeman, Archive/Ruins, was a strictly analog affair that reveled in nostalgia for a bygone world. Projected on a wall in the main space, the grainy, six-minute black-and-white video Archive (2019) depicted the interior of a vast, abandoned building filled with towering rows of card catalogues. The projections rounded rectangular shape, evoking frames on celluloid, suggested that the work was a digitized filmthe print too fragile and technically cumbersome to be shown on a loop in a gallery. Six gorgeous photogravures of stills from the video hung nearby, reinforcing the old-fashioned feel.

It turned out, however, that Archive originated not on film but on the computer. The video is a CGI reimagining of a historical institution in Belgium, the Mundaneum. Founded in 1910 as the Palais Mondial (World Palace) and renamed in 1924, the Mundaneum was the brainchild of lawyers Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontainethe former considered the father of information science, and the latter a Nobel Peace Prize laureate for his work heading the International Peace Bureauand was devoted to cataloguing all published human knowledge as a step on the path to world peace. Archive is neither a post-internet project nor a product of archive fever, but a refreshing look at continuities and disjunctions between media old and new. For instance, in 2012, the Mundaneum, which has been a museum since 1998, embarked on a partnership with Google, whose search engine can be considered a digital descendant of Otlet and La Fontaines paper project but whose work hardly aligns with world peace efforts.

On headphones in the same gallery played the sixteen-minute sound piece Hydriotaphia (2016), in which a man with an Irish accent reads an excerpt from a 1658 book of the same title by Thomas Browne, stating that time, which antiquates antiquities, . . . hath an art to make dust of all things but that the long habit of living indisposeth us for dying. In the next room, the two channels of a work called Ruins (2020) were projected on opposing walls: one channel is 16 mm film; the other, high-definition digital video. It was difficult to see both at the same time, which worked to mask the stark differences between them and thwarted simplistic comparisons (though the film was more attractive). Ruins portrays a disused mining complex in Belgium, now a monument to a lost civilization and way of life and here a stand-in not only for mortality but also for the slowly decaying art of film. Tans depiction reads as tranquil and reverent, though: not a tragic lamentation, but a gesture of acceptance. There is comfort and even relief, she suggests, in being but a speck of something larger. In vain do individuals hope for immortality, says Browne, or any patent from oblivion.

This article appears under the title Ken Ehrlich in the April 2020 issue, pp. 8081.

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Fiona Tans Latest Show Explored Relationships between the Analog and Digital Worlds - ARTnews

Westworld series refresher, what you need to know before season 3 – Show Snob

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Westworld is undoubtedly one of the most complex shows of our time.With the show being on hiatus for almost two years, people are likely to need a refresher as to where we last left off. So, here we are, trying to do our best to recap the sophomore season of Westworld.

While the show is getting a soft reboot in the new season and will be branching out to the real world (or is it just another simulation?), we spent almost all of our time last season in the park. We saw an uprising of hosts which resulted in a brutal slaughter of both the hosts and humans. Some of the hosts made it to the Valley Beyond, aka The Sublime, a digital sanctuary for hosts where they can lead a peaceful life, free from human predators.

And while the season 2 finale saw Thandie Newtons Maeve who is probably the only host who can pose a threat to Dolores getting decommissioned in the end (we cant wait to see where the queen will find herself next), it was not before she made sure that her beloved daughter made it to the Valley.

Doloress dearly beloved, Teddy (James Marsden) and Akecheta (Zahn McClarnon) also made it to the valley in the finale.

The end of Season 2 also saw Evan Rachel Woods Dolores escaping the park, as she entered the human world (or maybe just another simulation?) to endhuman dominance once and for all.

To escape, she disguised herself as a synthetic double of Tessa Thompsons Charlotte Hale, who was in charge of the park following Anthony Hopkins Fords death.

The real Charlotte Hale was already killed by Dolores herself a while ago. We also see Luke Hemsworths Ashley Stubbs, who was the head of the park security, helping her in her escape. The creators later revealed that Stubbs is a host created by Ford himself.

Dolores also managed to take five digitized balls with her, which contains the essence and psyches of some other hosts and could be used in different host bodies.

Dolores is using the android version of Hale as her insider within Delos, as she continues her role as an executive of the company. Although we still dont know who is inside her and we cannot wait to find out.

Jeffrey Wrights Bernard has always been conflicted between hosts and humans; after all, for so long, he thought that he was a human. During the season finale, we found out that Charlores killed Bernard, but later, he was brought back into the real world by Dolores. She explains that his presence is vital to her plan even though they will have to be enemies (seriously though??? What is up with that? We cant wait to find out.)

Ed Harriss The Man in Black, aka William, accidentally killed his daughter, who he thought was just another host and was a part of the mind game that Ford designed for him.

He also faced off against Dolores in the finale, which resulted in him injuring his hand severely and seriously hurting himself. As of now, he is the primary owner of the theme parks and is obsessed with the immortality project and the secrets that the company holds.

But intriguingly enough, in the post-credits scene, we saw him in a psychological prison just like the one where the younger William (Jimmi Simpson) used to interview Delos, being interviewed by a version of his daughter.

Meanwhile, we also found out that Delos real objective was to monitor the guests and collect their psyche data that is part of their larger and vital project, immortality itself.

Westworld Season 3 airs Sundays on HBO, Aaron Paul is the latest addition to the already star-studded cast of this superhit series.

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Westworld series refresher, what you need to know before season 3 - Show Snob

The Originals: D&D Moral Alignments Of The Main Characters – Screen Rant

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Airing from 2013-2018, The Originalsshowed us a much darker side ofThe Vampire Diariesuniverse. WhereThe Vampire Diariesfocused on coming-of-age themes,The Originalsfocused on the theme of penance, as Klaus and his family tried to find happiness and hope despite their past sins. Just about every character on this show is guilty of something.

RELATED:The Originals: The 5 Best Villains (& The 5 Worst), Ranked

This dynamic show includes characters who are truly ruthless, like Klaus Mikaelson, but it also has characters who probably wouldn't have killed anyone if they could have helped it, like Rebekah Mikaelson. Perhaps if they'd considered their Dungeons and Dragons moral alignments, then their moral compasses would have worked a little better.

In Josh's first scene, Marcel gives him the offer of immortality if he kills his best friend, and he gives the same offer to Josh's best friend. It's Josh, in the end, who wins immortality. But he wins it by choosing not to kill his friend. Though Josh's life is drastically changed by this event, that impulse to care for his friends never goes away. Josh is one of the only vampires in the show's universe who seemsnot to have gone through a phase with his humanity switched off nor has he killed without meaning to. In short, Josh does whatever is best for the common good, which makes him neutral good.

Freya Mikaelson is one of the most lethal witches in the world, and when she arrives in New Orleans in Season 2, Klaus is convinced that she can't be trusted. Later, ironically, we see that Freya is generally an untrustworthy person, such as when she keeps Keelin hostage after Hayley promised she'd be released.

RELATED:The Originals: The 5 Best (& 5 Worst) Episodes According To IMDb

Luckily for the Mikaelsons, Freya's morals all revolve around her family, and she would never betray them, which becomes clear when she betrays Dahlia to keep Hope safe, and later in Legacieswhen she crosses the country to give Hope a hug. But good things that are done at the expense of others are still technically evil.

Like Freya, Vincent is one of the strongest witches in New Orleans. As former Regent of the Nine Wards, Vincent helped the witches to protect themselves from the vampires, and to eventually reach a peace accord with the werewolves and vampires of New Orleans. After standing by while his wife dabbled in dark magic, Vincent was hesitant to get involved in witch politics, claiming repeatedly he didn't' want to be Regent. However, when Vincent realized the witches were safer with him as their leader, he rose to the challenge. Consistently, Vincent does whatever will stabilize the people around him the most.

Though she was a witch, Davina was a mostly normal girl before the harvest ritual, which turned her into a seriously overpowered teenage witch who was committed to protecting Marcel, and destroying the Ninth Ward coven leaders for what they did to her.

RELATED:The Originals: 10 Inconsistencies Compared To The Vampire Diaries

Davina tried to change the covens for the better, but after she hired Hayley to kill witches who opposed her, the covens betrayed and banished her. Davina's group of people she represents is always changing, but she is always willing to be ruthless for the people she loves.

In early episodes, Marcel is nothing more and nothing less than a very dangerous bully, spying on New Orleans via Davina Claire, and executing any witch who performs magic that he hasn't approved. As the tension between him and the Mikaelson family dissipates, Marcel aligns himself with the Original family of vampires, and protects them just as fiercely as he protects Davina. But when Freya and Elijah betray Davina, causing her to die tragically, Marcel is happy to help destroy the Mikaelsons, and banish Hayley and Hope from New Orleans. In the end, he finds his place among the Mikaelsons, and knows true peace. But don't think he wouldn't still kill for his family, especially Hope and Rebekah.

The entire plot of The Originalshappens because Klaus Mikaelson gets Hayley pregnant, magically and inexplicably, after a one-night stand the two have in Mystic Falls on The Vampire Diaries. Klaus and Hayley already had a lot of tension between them, and not the good kind; Hayley was directly responsible for freeing all of Klaus' hybrid pack from his sire bond, and when Klaus found out, he killed all of the hybrids Hayley had helped.

RELATED:The Originals: 5 Reasons Why Hayley Marshall Was The Queen Of New Orleans (& 5 Why It Was Rebekah)

Later, when Hayley identifies as a Mikaelson, she's just as likely to slaughter a street full of witches to help one wolf in her pack as she is to rescue a group of vampires who have nothing to do with her. Always, though, her intentions are good and pure, which makes her chaotic good.

Taking after her parents, Hope is an even mix of their chaotic good and chaotic evil tendencies, and this plays out via her chaotic neutral actions in The Originals and in her spin-off, Legacies. One of Season 5's most dramatic twists came when viewers learned that it was Hope, and not some evil ant-hybrid faction,who kidnapped Hayley and put the sleeping curse on her.

At that point, viewers were only familiar with the hyper-innocent six-year-old Hope, and seeing the child every character on the show had been protecting since episode one act so recklessly was a huge wake-up call. At school, Hope's friend hates being a werewolf so she makes him a hybrid (which allows him to control when he changes into wolf form), but she also charges him for the service. Her actions are morally all over the place, but what else could we expect?

First seen on The Vampire Diaries, Rebekah's only true goal since she discovered the cure for vampirism was to become a human. After Klaus and Hayley found out Hayley was pregnant with Hope, Rebekah put all of her priorities aside to help her family. Most famously, Rebekah takes Hope on the road shortly after she is born to keep her safely away from New Orleans. She often steps into the plot in this capacity the Mikaelson that is most unwilling to be evil.

RELATED:The Originals: The 5 Worst Things Klaus Did To Rebekah (& 5 Worst Things She Did To Him)

However, Rebekah has her list of sins and kills, including Elena Gilbert, whom she killed in a petty attempt to hurt Klaus afterhe said he didn't care about her. In the end, Rebekah intends to spend afew short decades with Marcel before taking the cure from Damon Salvatore on his death bed, finally enabling her to live out the rest of her years as a human.

Though a lot of Elijah's actions have cruel consequences, his basic modus operandi is to never break his word. Unfortunately for Elijah, one of the first promises he made in his eternal life was to save Klaus from his own evil ways. As a result, Elijah has gotten mixed up in a lot of truly evil activities, like betraying Davina and killing Marcel. However, at his heart, Elijah wants peace for his family and peace for Niklaus. All of Elijah's actions, even the ones with horrible consequences, are ultimately contributing to those goals.

Though the show is full of dynamic characters, Klaus's chaotic evil makes the show truly entertaining to watch. His immortality enables him to have free reign in New Orleans, and from the first episode, Klaus demonstrates his superiority by breaking Marcel's rules and killing a French Quarter vampire. He even laughs, pointing out that he cannot be punished because he cannot be killed. When Hope is infected with dark magic, he takes her on a weird father-daughter killing spree. However,in other, more tender moments we see him cure people of werewolf bites for no reason, become attached to good people and take care of them, and form a family with Hayley and Hope.

NEXT:The Originals: 5 Characters Who Got Fitting Endings (& 5 Who Didnt)

NextHow I Met Your Mother: 10 Girlfriends Of Ted & Barney That Wed All Love To Date

Virginia Winters-Troche is a late twenties, early to rise New Englander who has watched and rewatched so many shows on Netflix, her neighbors wonder if she ever leaves the house. (She obviously does--that's how the snacks happen.) Specializing in shows where anyone could bite it at any moment, Virginia channels her constant urge to speak during movies into writing about them. When not watching Netflix, you may find her watching Hulu, HBO, Cable TV, or, rarely, sleeping.

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The Originals: D&D Moral Alignments Of The Main Characters - Screen Rant

In ‘Victorian Radicals,’ art reflects, and reacts to, industrialization – Yale News

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The border text and celestial decorating Mary Newills handmade bedcover on view in Victorian Radicals at the Yale Center for British Art are taken from the second stanza of Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood by William Wordsworth.

The questions raised in Victorian Radicals, a new exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA), manifest in the vivid juxtaposition of two objects at the shows third-floor entrance: a carpet and a bedcover.

The carpet, produced in 1851 on a steam-powered loom, represents the pride of Victorian Englands manufacturing sector, said Tim Barringer, the Paul Mellon Professor in the History of Art at Yale and a curator of the exhibition, which runs through May 10. The bedcover, handmade in 1908 by artist Mary Jane Newell, embodies an artistic response to industrialization that prized craftsmanship over mass production.

In a way, the whole of this exhibition is really a reaction against this carpet, he said, noting that the carpets manufacturer, John Crossley & Sons, could churn out thousands of identical carpets in a matter of days, a testament to the rise of industrial manufacturing.

The carpets aesthetic qualities gaudy colors and a boisterous floral pattern reflect common associations with the Victorian Era (1837 to 1901), he said.

What is of value in our lives? ... Is it the life of high-pressure, mechanized, capitalist moneymaking success embodied in that carpet? Or is it the art of thoughtful artistic creation reflected in this bedcover?

Tim Barringer

Its loud. Its bright. It shows the virtuosity of making unrestrained by good taste, said Barringer, who also is chair of Yales art history department. The Victorians were proud of this textile because nobody had made a carpet so quickly in such saturated colors ever before.

The embroidered linen bedcover draws a sharp contrast to the machine-made carpet. Newell, who taught needlework at the Municipal Art School in Birmingham, England, picked flowers from local hedgerows and imitated them meticulously in the blankets intricate embroidery.

When we came to display it, we found that it is not quite square, he said. Of course, it isnt its made lovingly inch-by-inch by hand and is a unique, hand-crafted textile.

Barringer suggested Newells bedcover in effect critiques the machine-made goods produced in the factories that dotted cities like Birmingham in the early 20th century.

What is of value in our lives? What kind of labor do we value? What kind of life do we value? Barringer said. Is it the life of high-pressure, mechanized, capitalist moneymaking success embodied in that carpet? Or is it the art of thoughtful artistic creation reflected in this bedcover?

Victorian Radicals: From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Arts and Crafts Movement explores these and other questions through the perspectives of three generations of artists and designers who revolutionized art amid the industrialization of Victorian Britain. The 144 works on view include paintings, drawings, stained glass, textiles, metalwork, and ceramics by artists and designers such as Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, William Morris, Kate Bunce, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Taking its cue from these artists, the exhibition explores the relationship between art and nature, questions of class and gender identity, and the search for beauty in an unprecedented age of factories, soot, and child labor.

The show includes a varied selection of paintings by members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a society of young artists who united in 1848 to reject the dominant style taught at the British Royal Academys art school, which venerated the works of Raphael and other Old Masters. One of the paintings on view, The Blind Girl by Millais, demonstrates the Pre-Raphaelites drive to depict real events and real people in vivid, natural colors, Barringer said.

In the painting, a blind girl huddles with her younger sister by the roadside following a rainstorm. Rooks and cattle dot the yellow-green fields behind them. A brilliant double rainbow arches over a town in the distance. A sign around the older girls neck states, Pity the Blind. Her face is tilted into the warmth of the sun. A butterfly rests on her shoulder, an accordion on her lap suggests that she performs music for money. She gently grasps blades of grass between the fingers of her right hand.

That Millais chose to paint a beggar, not an exquisite Virgin Mary or an idealized Pandora, shows his desire to break from the religious and mythical subjects prized by his teachers at the Royal Academy, Barringer noted.

She doesnt look perfect, he said. She looks real. She looks true.

The exhibitions final section focuses on objects produced by designers and artists associated with the Arts and Crafts movement, which emerged in Britain during the Victorian Era and focused on traditional craftsmanship as a response to industrialization. Highlights include a simple claret glass the architect Philip Webb created in 1861 for designer and writer William Morris, a leader of the movement. Morris used the glass at his home, Red House, in Southeast London, which itself was an artistic statement decorated with handmade stained glass, textiles, and ceramics.

He wanted to create a medieval modern house in which everything is beautiful; everything is useful, Barringer said. Sometimes that meant a simplification, which is very extreme. This looks like a modernist glass from 1900. Yet, it was made in 1861.

The exhibition, organized by the American Federation of Arts and Birmingham Museums Trust, will tour the United States after it concludes its run at the YCBA. Barringer curated the show with Martin Ellis, an independent curator, lecturer, and broadcaster; Victoria Osborne, curator of Fine Art for Birmingham Museums Trust; and Courtney Skipton Long, acting assistant curator of prints and drawings at the YCBA.

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In 'Victorian Radicals,' art reflects, and reacts to, industrialization - Yale News

Star Wars Reveals How Palpatine Survived Return of the Jedi | CBR – CBR – Comic Book Resources

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Generations of Star Wars fans -- to say nothing of George Lucas -- believed for the better part of 36 years that Emperor Palpatine met his end in Return of the Jedi, when Darth Vader hurled his master into the reactor shaft of the Death Star II, which was then destroyed by those meddlesome Rebels. Expanded Universe aside, that indeed appeared to be the case, until The Rise of Skywalker revealed he not only survived those event but secretly had been playing the galaxy's puppet master. Unfortunately, however, the film skimps on the details, leaving most of the true revelations to the upcoming novelization.

Leaks from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Expanded Edition, by Rae Carson, have already confirmed the Palpatine in the film was a clone, explained how Rey gave Kylo Ren the lightsaber, and revealed his final words. Now add to the list what actually happened after Palpatine was betrayed by his apprentice in Return of the Jedi's final act.

RELATED: The Rise of Skywalker Novelization Basically Makes An EU Plot Point Canon

Posted on reddit, the passage details the Emperor's memories of the moment, which flood into Rey's mind:

Falling ... Falling ... Falling ... down a massive shaft, the betrayal sharp and stinging, a figure high above, black clad and helmeted and shrinking fast. His very own apprentice had turned against him, the way he himself had turned against Plagueis ... whose secret to immortality he had stolen.

Plageuis had not acted fast enough in his own moment of death. But Sidious, sensing the flickering light in his apprentice, had been ready for years. So the falling, dying Emperor called on all the dark power of the Force to thrust his consciousness far, far away, to a secret place he had been preparing. His body was dead, an empty vessel, long before it found the bottom of the shaft, and his mind jolted to a new awareness in a new body -- a painful one, a temporary one.

Although the Emperor had planned on Vader's inevitable betrayal, the moment arrived sooner than expected: "The secret place had not completed its preparations. The transfer was imperfect, and the cloned body wasn't enough. Perhaps Plagueis was having the last laugh after all. Maybe his secret remained secret. Because Palpatine was trapped in a broken, dying form."

RELATED: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker's Deleted Scenes Will Be in Comic Adaptation

That explanation is strikingly similar to the one in Star Wars: Dark Empire, the 1990s Dark Horse comics series now relegated to Legends. There it was revealed Palpatine survived his apparent death in Return of the Jedi by transferring his essence ... into the body of an old, decaying clone. He purportedly had experimented with the process for years, his spirit hopping from one body to another, cheating immortality through a combination of dark power and technology. (It was later clarified the Palpatine depicted in the films wasn't a clone.)

These new details from the novelization flesh out the clone revelation (so to speak), while bolstering the mystique of Plagueis and confirming the Sith Rule of Two makes the apprentice's betrayal of his master inevitable. It's no wonder, then, that Palpatine was likely planning to murder Vader.

At the same time, they will undoubtedly cue another chorus of groans from disappointed fans who wonder why such plot details couldn't have just been included in The Rise of Skywalker. The film, not the novelization.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Expanded Edition goes on sale March 17.

NEXT: Elijah Wood Throws Shade At The Rise of Skywalker's Storytelling

Marvel Just Turned a Dark God Into Its Cryptkeeper

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Star Wars Reveals How Palpatine Survived Return of the Jedi | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Put Yourself In The Hard Boiled Sleeve Of Altered Carbon – Forbes

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The first season of Netflixs Altered Carbon had everything you could want from a cyberpunk detective story; a twisty mystery, a hardboiled hero and fantastic technology that contrasts the haves and the have nots. Fans of the show and the series of books have two things to look forward to in February. The second season of the show drops at the end of the month and Hunters Entertainment is running a Kickstarter for an RPG set in the world.

I first listened to the Altered Carbon series shortly after college, said Ivan Van Norman, lead designer from Hunters Entertainment, when my boss at the time unloaded something like 75 audiobooks into my iPod. I enjoyed the rich and descriptive world that was described to me, and how unapologetically it dumped me into the world to fend for myself. It was a dystopian sci-fi world that I felt was gladly took the horns of what our world could turn into - and showed us the black shadows of 'what could be'. It also was just a damn good neo-noir book.

The curious have access to a quickstart guide that shows off elements of the game right away. Character traits are rated as die types; the lower the size of the die the better as players must roll under difficulty numbers to succeed. These elements will also change as players change their bodies in a process known as re-sleeving from Altered Carbon.

I really enjoy how we've done our best to make by default a really crunchy world really accessible for narrative play, said Van Norman. We've mixed some elements of Savage Worlds, Kids on Bikes and Outbreak: Undead to make something that really feels like you're given agency as a player - while still discardable enough to not get in the way of the story. Also, i'm particularly proud how we've approached 'Noire storytelling' where you may not even know the 'who dun it?' yourself when you start the game! Noir on its own is so easy to railroad in a Tabletop RPG session, but we wanted to break that mold and make something that felt really fun and unique in the Tabletop RPG world.

Both the show and the RPG come at something of a resurgent time for the cyberpunk genre. The video game Cyberpunk 2077 from the same team that made the Witcher a successful franchise is due out this year as well as a new edition of the tabletop game upon which it is based, Cyberpunk Red. The setting of Altered Carbon plays up the class struggle of the genre by highlighting the near-immortality of Meths, the ultra rich who can afford to resleeve and jump from body to body.

I think we're all in a place right now where we are really thinking about our future, said Van Norman, and what that means in not only the immediate - but 300 years from now. The world of Altered Carbon is as far away from us as the founding of our nation, and there is something both alien andfamiliarwith that. We're excited and terrified about what the future holds, and as we've always done as long as humans have existed - we tell stories to help us cope with that.

The Kickstarter for the Altered Carbon RPG runs through Wednesday, March 4th.

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Put Yourself In The Hard Boiled Sleeve Of Altered Carbon - Forbes

Immortality by 2050: Humans very close to everlasting life

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IF YOURE under 40 reading this article, youre probably not going to die unless you get a nasty disease.

Those are the words of esteemed futurologist Dr Ian Pearson, who believes humans are very close to achieving immortality the ability to never die, reports The Sun.

Humans have been trying to find a way to dodge death for years.

Ancient Greek alchemists tried to create a philosophers stone that would let people live forever, but humans have yet to beat death.

However, Dr Pearson tells The Sun that there are a number of different ways we could live forever as long as you can make it to the year 2050.

If you kick the bucket before then, you might be part of the last generation of humans to die of old age.

METHOD #1: RENEWING YOUR BODY PARTS

There are quite a lot of people interested in living forever, explains Dr Pearson. There always has been, but the difference now is tech is improving so quickly, lots of people believe they can actually do it.

He reveals that one way to extend life would be to use biotechnologies and medicine to keep renewing the body, and rejuvenating it.

No one wants to live forever at 95 years old, but if you could rejuvenate the body to 29 or 30, you might want to do that.

This could be done in several ways, including genetic engineering that prevents (or reverses) the ageing of cells.

Alternatively, you could replace vital body organs with new parts.

Many scientists around the world are working on creating human organs using 3D printers loaded with living cells, which could one day make human organ donors redundant.

METHOD #2: LIVING IN ANDROID BODIES

But Dr Pearson thinks its much more likely that well extend our lives a different way: robots.

A long time before we get to fix our bodies and rejuvenate it every time we feel like, well be able to link our minds to the machine world so well, well effectively be living in the cloud, he explains.

The mind will basically be in the cloud, and be able to use any android that you feel like to inhabit the real world.

He says that in 50 years time, we might be able to hire an android anywhere in the world just like a hire car, and upload your consciousness into it.

If you wanted to spend the evening in Australia, going to the Sydney Opera House, you could use an android.

This means that even when your original bodies dies, youd still be able to use your digital mind stored on a computer and live in the world using highly realistic robot bodies.

The current state of sex dolls are starting to look quite human-like. Give them another 30 years of development and theyll be extremely human-like, Dr Pearson reveals.

You can take any android body and they will look human-like, and download whatever mind you want. You could share one with someone else, or have one yourself, or own dozens of them.

You might even have ones of different genders and different ages, some old, young, female, male there might be new genders by 2050 as well, so several other ones you can pick too.

He explains that well have to wait until around 2045, 2050 before well be able to create these strong brain-to-machine links, and says the cost will be very high initially.

The first people to use robot bodies to become immortal will be the rich, but then the price will gradually come down.

One day your body dies maybe you get hit by a bus or a nasty disease but it doesnt matter, because your mind will still be there. Youll be able to use an android body instead of the organic one you just lost.

For normal people on everyday salaries, its more likely that youll have to wait a little longer.

IMMORTALITY ON BRITAINS NHS

By 2060, people like you or I will be able to buy it, and by 2070 people in poor countries on modest incomes will be able to buy it.

Everyone will have a chance to have immortality, a sort of electronic immortality.

After 10, 15, 20 years, the price comes down to hundreds of pounds, rather than millions.

It could be provided as part of the NHS (National Health Service). You might be able to buy premium offerings on a private subscription, or you might get a basic presence on a network and be allowed to use an android body.

Dr Pearson says well have to limit the number of android bodies people can own, however.

You might be given one free on the NHS, but you might be limited to no more than two or three.

Rich people that can afford it would probably want to have loads of different bodies, and if your mind is online, theres nothing to stop them replicating it millions of times over.

You wouldnt want to live in a world where there are millions of Kardashians walking around, where they can afford to do it and nobody else can.

We would need to limit the number of bodies for environmental impact.

Imaging taking everybody in the UK. Once the economics allows everyone to have 10 bodies each, there would be 600 million people living here.

METHOD #3: LIVING IN A VIRTUAL WORLD

But if our minds are online, do we even need robot bodies? We could all just live in a computer simulation quite happily, according to Dr Pearson.

You could spend most of your time online in the virtual world, of course anywhere in the world on any computer.

If youre online all the time, you could have a fantastic life online. It would be all virtual, so you could have anything you want. 72 virgins if thats what drives you; all of that, because its totally imaginary.

You could make as much fun as you could possibly imagine online. You might still want to come into the real world.

You could link your mind to millions of other minds, and have unlimited intelligence, and be in multiple places at once.

THE CUT-OFF HOLDING ON FOR DEAR LIFE

The tricky bit is surviving until the technology becomes widely available.

By 2050, it will only really be for the rich and famous, Dr Pearson said.

Most people on middle-class incomes and reasonable working-class incomes can probably afford this in the 2060s. So anyone 90 or under by 2060.

If you were born sometime in 1970 onwards, that would make you 48 this year. So anybody under 50 has got a good chance of it, and anyone under 40 almost definitely will have access to this.

Most of your readers are probably going to live forever, Dr Pearson tells us.

This story first appeared in The Sun and has been republished here with permission.

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Immortality by 2050: Humans very close to everlasting life

The vampire video game that sinks its teeth into the 1% – The Guardian

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Vampires have stood for many things over the centuries. In European medieval folklore, they were metaphors for disease and for the outsider, roaming the darkness beyond the village bounds. In the world of Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2, however, the bloodsuckers have made it inside the gates. Theyve found their way into the organs of finance and the state, creating an unseen society parallel to our own, and theyre doing rather well for themselves.

Set in a parallel version of present-day Seattle, Bloodlines is a knowing feast of vampires new and old, from sewer-dwelling ghouls redolent of Count Orlok to impeccably dressed matriarchs who recall the Underworld movies but its all woven around a complex investigation of a city in thrall to unaccountable elites. As senior narrative designer Cara Ellison explains, the developers have conceived of vampires as parasites on society, the 1%, stockpiling resources for themselves. Removing things from general circulation and preying on the vulnerable.

Bloodlines 2 casts you as a fledgling thinblood, suddenly endowed with immortality during a mysterious vampire rampage. In this version of Seattle which forms part of White Wolf Publishings World of Darkness universe the undead are forbidden from revealing themselves to humans. As an unauthorised convert, you are lugged before a council of elders and slated for termination, but an explosion of in-fighting sets you loose on the city. Playing in first-person, youll need to get to grips with powers such as the ability to become mist, as well as sate your mounting bloodthirst and find your niche in an underworld of warring factions.

Like the somewhat goofy original 2004 game, Bloodlines 2 is a tale of two cities. There are the crowded thoroughfares and open spaces of human existence, where vampires must keep up the masquerade of the title, and a series of back alleys and catacombs where youre free to scuttle up buildings or glide about on batwings to your (unbeating) hearts content. The Resonance system, a kind of psychic profiling app, helps you track down the tastiest prey. It tags passersby according to their mood, which charges their blood with beneficial properties. Feed on a clubgoer who is in a state of lust, for instance, and your character may become more charismatic for a period thereafter.

The barrier between Seattles living and undead populations is shifting and unstable. According to lead writer Brian Mitsoda longtime resident of the real Seattle a big chunk of the plot concerns how vampires might react to human developments such as the ubiquity of smartphones with cameras. The games undead factions have also infiltrated the institutions of mortal society (the game takes a few cues, here, from the double-agent TV thriller The Americans). The well-groomed Camarilla sect have their manicured hands all over the world of finance, while the hideous Nosferatu clan wield power through their informants in the press.

The players character is far from a neutral party within all this. Your choice of previous vocation when designing your avatar may determine how people respond to you. Play as a former cop, and those whove fallen foul of the law might refuse to help you or seek payback. Later in the story, youll also raise the stakes by joining a vampire faction, acquiring potent new abilities such as telepathy while at the same time lowering your standing with the clans rivals.

Bloodline asks you to be mindful of all these agendas and tensions as you wander a metropolis that takes inspiration from noir films such as Chinatown. It also asks you to reckon with these dynamics in conversation. Where most vampire video games emphasise fighting prowess, Bloodlines 2 plays up the idea of the vampire as a consummate charmer and seducer. You can flirt with other characters to achieve your aims, given a high enough charisma rating, and other vampires are quite capable of coming on to you in turn.

In contrast with the adolescent ideas about sex and seduction that prevail in most fantasy games, flirtation in Bloodlines 2 is designed to feel playful, lingering and exciting especially when you say the wrong thing. We tried to have the player leverage social acumen, and their ability to read people, their emotional insight, Ellison says. Screwing up might actually lead to a useful revelation of some kind, or at least a livelier conversation. You can definitely say something that makes someone less interested, says Mitsoda. Or that makes them kind of disgusted. Those are kind of fun!

Bloodlines 2 might be horror fantasy, but its preoccupation with the invisible power structures that lurk within the visible is certainly timely. As Mitsoda points out, there are plenty of vampires in circulation today, even if youre more likely to find them at a country club, or running a troll factory, than in a crypt. We dont know who those people are. We dont know what theyre into, or what their shell companies are into, or where their money is going. We dont know who theyre impacting the most, who theyre backing politically. We dont know a lot about them and thats all on purpose, because it gives them a lot of power.

Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 is published by Paradox Interactive and will launch later in 2020.

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The vampire video game that sinks its teeth into the 1% - The Guardian

Hutchinson’s one-act play ‘Amadeus’ is a mystery as big as Mozart – Crow River Media

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Hutchinson High Schools one-act play dug in deep this year by discussing the power of jealousy and avarice, the desire for immortality and the questioning of ones beliefs.

I wanted to do something different this year, said director Jason Olson. In the past we focused on visuals. This time its more heavily focused on acting and the development of those skills. ... I think its remarkable. I have said it to them and Ill say it to anyone: I dont think in 18 years Ive had such a well-acted show.

Olson selected the one-act play Amadeus, which is similar to the 1984 historical drama of the same name. It follows a fictional version of the famous composer Antonio Salieri and his rivalry with Mozart.

The story is about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and whether or not he was murdered by a rival composer, Olson said. The whole account is fictional but it makes for great theater. Its always been one of my favorites. I love the costumes. Its kind of a costume extravaganza in a lot of ways.

The set is relatively minimal this year, said junior DJ Scheele. There is a lot on the actors and performers on stage to show the emotion. Thats something thats kind of different.

If the premise sounds interesting, you can check it out at a public show 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 5, at the Hutchinson High School auditorium. Admission is a freewill donation. The show and its 12 cast members and eight crew members the most competition allows started practicing in November and took fourth place at subsections this past Saturday, barely missing a place at sections.

Its one of my favorite shows Ive been in, said Scheele, who plays Mozart.

Its pretty different from what were used to doing in general, from what we need to do on stage to the different themes we deal with, said junior Landon Butler, who plays Salieri. The show starts with my character, and it starts when he is 70 years old. He wanted to be famous and he thinks Mozart took that away from him. ... When he was a child he prayed to be a great musician.

The story then flashes back to 1781 when Salieri was 31.

He is doing pretty well, Butler said. And then Mozart comes in. He steals Salieris thunder. ... So Salieri blames God for making Mozart more popular than he is and more talented in some aspects.

It becomes Salieris mission to manipulate Mozarts life and career, but along the way finds he has started to destroy himself. In the play, Mozart regularly behaves childishly and puts off most other characters. He also wears several costumes throughout the show, which reveal details about his developing character and clash against Salieris dark colors.

I have so many costumes, Scheele said. And they are so cool. I think I have three different coats, four pairs of pants. Every time I leave stage I have to do a fast change because Im coming on with a full new outfit. And theyre really over-the-top outfits.

Butlers favorite moment comes toward the middle.

I have this monologue, he said. I am basically disowning God. It has this whole thing, They say God is not mocked. I tell you man is not mocked. I am not mocked. Thats the turning point from Salieri being annoyed and passive (with Mozart) to actively trying to destroy his career and life.

Scheeles favorite moment comes later.

There is this part of the show where ... (Salieri) is telling me off and explaining everything that is going on, he said. There is this powerful image where Im laying on the floor ... and he is just yelling at me when Im on the ground. That is always such a cool moment for me. I feel like the imagery is so powerful.

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Hutchinson's one-act play 'Amadeus' is a mystery as big as Mozart - Crow River Media

The WOAT: The NBA’s Worst of All Time – OZY

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In any discussion of basketball, odds are good that the conversation will eventually stray to one age-old question: Whos the greatest player of all time? Kids will say its LeBron James, their dads will say Michael Jordan, their grandads will say Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But rarely do you hear a discussion about the other end of the spectrum the worst of all time.

Its important to address what goes into declaring a player the worst of all time. The worst player on the worst team? Sure. Dismal stats over an exceptionally brief career? Absolutely. But just as basketball archivists factor in intangibles when discussing greatness, its critical that intangibles are assessed for the antithesis as well. Considering all elements, theres one man whose on-court contributions were so unremarkable and off-court antics so detrimental to the team, that he likely has the most legitimate claim to the title of worst of all time. His name was Gary Suiter.

If you look at Suiters stats, youll find a remarkably short and undeniably disappointing list of numbers. He appeared in 30 games for the 1970 expansion Cleveland Cavaliers, who finished dead last. He played just under five minutes per game and averaged a less-than-blistering 1.4 points. However, this argument is not predicated on the numbers alone there are undoubtedly more forgettable careers than his. Its the narratives surrounding Suiter that truly make him the absolute worst NBA player to ever set foot on the hardwood.

After essentially pestering his way into a tryout and lucking his way into a roster spot, Suiter began his quest for basketball immortality by accidentally locking himself inside the locker room several times. Due to his irrelevance to actual gameplay, he would often remain trapped until the team returned at halftime. That wasnt the only way Suiter found to avoid playing basketball: He was once unable to disembark a plane with the rest of the team when he locked himself inside the onboard lavatory. On another occasion, Suiter was missing until the trainer discovered him lying unconscious on the floor of his hotel room after he reportedly smashed his head against the door.

If you think these quirks made Suiter a lovable oaf, youre wrong. The Willoughby News-Herald reported in November of 1970 that he was so disliked by teammates that head coach Bill Fitch instituted a rule: Whoever committed the most turnovers in a game would be required to room with Suiter on the following road trip. Not to say Suiter didnt have his fans: That December, the Cavs front office received a number of calls imploring the team to give the 6-foot-8 forward more time on the court to show what he can do. But the receptionist recognized the callers voice: The passionate fan was Gary Suiter himself.

Many players have been a bit eccentric off the court but would lock in once the whistle blew. Suiter was not among them. Likely knowing his tenure with the Cavs had an expiration date, Suiter would utilize his limited time on the floor to apply for jobs on the opposing team. He reportedly whispered to Dolph Schayes, coach of the Buffalo Braves, while play was in progress to ask if they could use a forward. However, Suiters self-promotion didnt stop there. According to longtime Cleveland broadcaster Joe Taits memoir, Its Been a Real Ball, Suiter visited a funeral parlor on the teams day off, telling the salesman he needed a casket for a recently deceased family member and asking to use the phone to make last-minute funeral arrangements.The salesman was very willing and he took the whole tour and got a casket. Then he somehow got the salesperson to leave the office, and he called every team in the NBA and the ABA at National Caskets expense. The plan went off without a hitch until, Tait explains, A month later, the guy from National Casket is in the Cavaliers office flashing this $700 bill.

Even after that, Suiter wasnt dropped from the Cavs roster. That took a bit more doing. Suiter had managed to finagle his way into remaining on the talent-strapped Cavaliers roster.

The Cavaliers had sustained so many injuries that the coach finally wrote his name in as a starter, says Bob Dyer of the Akron Beacon Journal. Just before tipoff, Fitch gathered the starters around to finalize their defensive assignments. He noticed that Suiter was missing. The trainer was dispatched to the locker room to see if whether he was locked inside again. He wasnt. The teams starting forward was finally discovered standing in front of the concession stand, in full uniform with a hot dog in one hand and a beer in the other. After scheming, begging, pestering and conniving his way into more playing time, Suiter cast it all aside for a pregame snack. That was the final nail in Suiters (metaphorical, this time) coffin: He was cut from the team after the game.

But just like Jordan coming out of retirement to win three more championships, Suiter made a parting shot when he returned to pick up his last paycheck. The Cavaliers had a policy in which travel expenses could be reimbursed for both the player and their spouse. Knowing this, the unmarried Suiter stopped by a popular hangout for prostitutes on his way to the arena and recruited one with the promise of making an easy $50. The two walked into Cleveland Arena arm-in-arm to collect their per diem only to be met by Fitch, who promptly shoved the bumbling big man back onto Euclid Avenue. A fitting end for the career of this all-time underdog.

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The WOAT: The NBA's Worst of All Time - OZY

Vampire Diaries Season 4 Episode 23 Revealed The Truth About Silas – Screen Rant

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Heres how The Vampire Diaries season 4 episode 23 revealed who Silas really was. Silas was a looming presence over much of The Vampire Diaries fourth season, even before he made his first physical appearance in the show. He was introduced by Professor Shane during a presentation at Mystic Falls High School during which it was revealed Silas was the worlds very first Immortals and a legend prophesized his return.

Further backstory revealed that thousands of years ago Silas asked his lover, a powerful witch called Qetsiyah, to create an elixir that would grant him immortality. After discovering Silas intended to use it on himself and another woman, Qetsiyah killed his side piece and buried the now immortal Silas alive on an isolated island. Qetsiyah buried a cure for immortality with Silas hoping hed take it and die to be reunited with her on the Other Side, a sort of purgatory for supernatural beings. As revenge for Qetsiyah killing his other lover, Silas refused to take the cure until he was awoken from his millennia-long slumber by Katherine Pierce who took off with the cure.

Related: The Vampire Diaries: The First Immortal Silas Explained

After Silas rose again, it transpired he planned to destroy the Other Side and take the cure so he could be reunited with his one true love who wasn'tQetsiyah. However, at this time Silas true form was unknown. Before waking, a mask covered Silas face and after Katherine revived him he took on the form of various Mystic Falls residents to manipulate people into helping him. The Vampire Diaries season 4 saw Silas first pose as Professor Shane who had died on the island and he later took the form of Stefan, Damon, Rebekah, Caroline, and Klaus but never revealed what he really looked like.

When Bonnie petrified Silas into a stone statue, it seemed like his identity might remain a secret forever but in The Vampire Diaries season 4 episode 23, the truth was revealed. Stefan was about to throw Silas petrified body in a quarry but found that his body was missing. Silas rocked up in Elenas form and explained that when he became immortal, Nature created a version of him that could be killed a doppelganger.

As Silas had taken on Elenas form, Stefan assumed he was a Petrova doppelganger until Silas revealed his true face and it looked an awful like Stefans. It turned out Stefan was Silas shadow self just before the latter stabbed Stefan with a stake, locked him in a safe and sent him to a watery death in the quarry. More of Silas backstory and true intentions would be revealed, but The Vampire Diariesfandom would have to wait until season 5 to find out.

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Vampire Diaries Season 4 Episode 23 Revealed The Truth About Silas - Screen Rant

Five burning questions for the Dallas Fuel as the season approaches: How will they fare in stacked division? – The Dallas Morning News

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The Dallas Fuel have moved into their new downtown office, meaning the 2020 Overwatch League is just around the corner.

As the first Fuel matches -- Feb. 8-9 in Arlington get closer -- here are five questions the Fuel will need to answer in the early part of the season:

Dallas was unsatisfied with its performance in the second season of the Overwatch League. There was promise in the first two stages in 2019. The Fuel even went 5-2 in the second stage, setting them up for a potential playoff spot. But Stage 3 and Stage 4 amounted to one victory and 13 losses. Thats not going to fly for a team posted up in one of the strongest esports hubs in the country.

A head coach fresh off a strong offseason, as well as a handful of new players, could be the remedy.

It needs to be for the Fuel. Atkins led the United States to a World Cup victory, knocking off the defending champion South Korea. The Fuel could use a hot start in the opening stage. Atkins has some fresh faces, including tank Gamsu and damage-dealer Decay, that might help re-introduce the Fuel to the world and snap that losing streak.

Theres still time for a meta shift before the start of the season, but there are heroes that remain strong despite some nerfs by the Blizzard development team. Theres always hope to achieve balance.

But that doesnt always happen.

Orisa and Sigma remain powerful tanks, but Wrecking Ball is squeaking into more compositions too.

Baptiste will probably be the go-to for healing. His mobility and burst healing are strong and as long as hes got an immortality field, even if its less effective than its launch state. Benjamin uNKOE Chevasson may end up on Baptiste often.

Damage may be just as limited. Reaper, Mei, Hanzo and McCree are all viable. Pharah may get played on some maps but the days of Tracer and Genji may still be in the distance.

Zachary Lombardo, Dong-ha Kim, Dylan Bignet and Gui-un Jang make up the Dallas damage roster, and its a strong one. Bignet, or aKm will probably be tossed in when the Fuel needs a Widowmaker or possibly a Reaper. Hes the go-to for hit-scan heroes.

Lombardo, aka ZachaREEE," and Jang as Decay might get the most starts but this damage group is pretty flexible in what it can do. Theres also a scenario where a damage player hops on Zarya if the Fuel want to run a Reinhardt. That might be a job for aKm.

The addition of Kim, or DoHa, brought versatility to the damage roster. Hes got Doomfist and Sombra capability while being flexible to the meta damage heroes.

The Fuel have five homestands this season taking place in at least three different locations -- thats until a solid home is finished. Until then, the three planned venues are Esports Stadium Arlington, Allen Event Center and Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Envy Gaming may treat the events like festivals with booths and live music to attract every type of esports fan and bring in those who dont know as much but have interest. If the attendance is strong no matter the venue, that could signal to Envy that the electric fan base is solid.

If theres variance in how many people show up depending on vacation that would be helpful in knowing where the audience is and where it can improve.

The Overwatch League went for four divisions to the prior two, splitting the Atlantic and Pacific divisions in half.

The Fuel had perhaps the toughest pull of any division, winding up in the Pacific West with the Los Angeles Valiant, Los Angeles Gladiators, San Francisco Shock and Vancouver Titans. The two best teams in the entire league in the Shock and Titans headline the division and the LA squads have already shown success in the first two seasons.

Dallas has its hands full, but if it is able to take care of business against middle-of-the-pack teams and the bottom feeders then, then a playoff opportunity could be in the mix.

On Twitter: @seanzcollins

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Five burning questions for the Dallas Fuel as the season approaches: How will they fare in stacked division? - The Dallas Morning News

Stockton at heart of Braden’s immortality with A’s – MLB.com

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STOCKTON, Calif. -- Walk through the entrance gates of Banner Island Ballpark and one of the first things that will catch your eye as you look out into left field is a white and red No. 50 Dallas Braden jersey adorning the forest green outfield wall.

A few rows behind home plate, youll see a portrait of Bradens face painted onto a white wall just underneath the stadiums press box.

Now, look at the mound in the center of the diamond. That short hill of dirt is where the greatest moment of Bradens baseball career took place. Yes, even greater than tossing the 19th perfect game in MLB history and second in As history. This moment took place on April 30, 2005, when Braden, a Stockton, Calif., native, first took the mound for the Stockton Ports, the As Class A Advanced affiliate.

The proudest moment of my baseball career was being able to wear the city of Stockton across my chest, Braden said. That city built me. That city built my family. It gave my grandmother and mother the strength that eventually was given to me to be able to face this world and whatever hurdles that came my way.

Braden quickly developed a special love for the Oakland Coliseum faithful over his five big league seasons, one he combined with his eternal love for the city 70 miles east of the Coliseum where he was born and raised and even commuted from for all of his home games with the As. That love was reciprocated by both cities, whose residents know a little something about being an underdog.

He had a really outgoing personality, and I think the fact he was from the area, he had a great story -- he could have gone off the right track into the dark side -- there was a great personal story there of perseverance, As radio broadcaster Ken Korach said. Not only the injuries, but going through tough times in life. He had a lot of brashness to him as well. He stood out for the right reasons.

Stockton doesnt exactly fit the stereotypical mold placed on California cities. Its a city that has long had a high crime rate, one which increased severely at the start of the 2000s, largely the result of an economic recession. To put it simply, there werent many role models for Braden to look up to when he was young.

Braden was not dealt the best hand to succeed in life. He was not supposed to make it out. But in a way, that unsafe environment he grew up in helped shape the underdog, chip-on-the-shoulder mentality that made him a beloved pitcher in Oakland. It helped him find a way out and eventually find success in the big leagues, where he always made sure to carry a piece of Stockton with him.

A promise to Mom

Braden recalled his old neighborhood in Stockton, which was devoid of sidewalks, and not by design.

Thats not because its a beautiful rural area, there just arent any sidewalks, Braden said. The pizza man is [too scared] to come through there. The taco trucks arent driving in there. Youre forced to grow up very early. Your reality kind of hits you in the face very early on.

With gangs and drugs prevalent in the area, Braden could have easily gone down the wrong path. Luckily, there was also baseball, which Braden quickly fell in love with. His mother, Jodie Atwood, and grandmother, Peggy Lindsey, knew this was an avenue to keep him on track. They never allowed Braden to sway from his dream of playing professional baseball, a dream he said swirled in his mind as soon as he was able to formulate words while watching both As and Giants games as a child.

Atwood was Bradens top supporter, sacrificing whatever she could in order to get her son into the top Little Leagues in the area. Bradens baseball dream was looking more and more like a reality as he got into high school, but an unexpected life obstacle presented itself around that same time as Atwood was diagnosed with skin cancer. In 2001, during Bradens senior year of high school, Atwood passed away at the age of 39.

The loss sent Braden out of control as he found himself getting into the troubles his mother worked so hard to keep him away from. The path to his baseball dream took a wrong turn. But with the help of his grandmother, Braden got things back on track and graduated from Stagg High School, fulfilling his mothers dying wish.

We were faced with some hurdles very early on in life, and I learned that hurdles were meant to be attacked. Theyre meant to be jumped over. Thats what theyre there for, Braden said. Theyre not meant to stall you or prevent you from anything. You are forced to figure out a way to get over them. Thats how I had to approach everything.

Fulfilling the dream

Braden elected to stay in school after getting drafted by the Braves in the 46th round of the 2001 MLB Draft. The left-hander played two seasons at American River College in nearby Sacramento, then went to Texas Tech University for one year. The As drafted him in 2004.

The odds of reaching the Majors were still unfavorable -- Oakland selected Braden in the 24th round -- but he was determined to make it. This was just another hurdle to jump over.

He didnt possess any flashy stuff. His fastball was hardly blazing as it seldom touched 90 mph, but he forced his way onto the big league radar with success at each level in the coming years, even overcoming a shortened 2006 due to shoulder surgery.

On a late April night in 2007, after building up a 2.84 ERA over a combined 13 starts at Double-A Midland and Triple-A Sacramento, Braden got the call from the As. He would make his big league debut in Baltimore on April 24.

The biggest thing I will remember is being able to call my grandmother and tell her, Im not gonna be in Sacramento anymore, I have to meet the team on the East Coast, Braden said. I could hear her put it together, and she starts losing it, and Im losing it.

From that point on, everything about the entire experience -- being handed the scouting report and going over the big league scouting reports with the coaches and [catcher] Jason Kendall -- I couldnt feel anything. It was very surreal. But to be able to look up in the stands and see my grandmother there watching me on a day that, quite frankly, we sold out for, was incredible. There was no Plan B. Our Plan B was not having a Plan B. Im not discovering the next most grandest planet in our solar system. Im not that guy. Im not curing cancer for anybody. Thats what I remember. That entire dream came to a head on the mound in Camden Yards.

Braden pitched well that day in Baltimore, allowing one run over six innings. Mission accomplished, right? Theres no way this could get any better, is there? Well, a few years later, it did.

The perfect game

Braden stuck in the Majors and, just like in the Minors, kept getting better as each year passed. The 2010 season started out with a 10-strikeout performance in Oakland's win over the Mariners. He then made national headlines during an April 22 game against the Yankees in which he yelled at Alex Rodriguez after taking offense to Rodriguezs path back to the dugout following a groundout. Bradens words took the spotlight that day, but about two weeks later, the spotlight was on him for another reason.

May 9, 2010. Mothers Day. The Rays sent 27 batters to the plate, and Braden retired all of them. Perfection.

The final out came on a 3-1 fastball that Gabe Kapler grounded to shortstop Cliff Pennington, who then fired the ball over to Daric Barton at first base to complete the historic feat. Braden received the customary dogpile on the mound from his teammates, then emerged from the bunch and pointed out to section 209 of the Coliseum, which naturally had become a special fan club of sorts for the left-hander. Its the same numbers of Stocktons area code.

As he made his way back to the As dugout, there was Lindsey standing on top of the dugout. Braden spotted her and signaled to the security guard to allow her onto the field. The two ran to each other and embraced with a tear-filled hug.

They got her down on the field, and thats all I cared about. Getting her in my arms, Braden said. Obviously, then I started to appreciate what this meant.

Korach, who also lost his mother at a young age, did his best to hold back tears as he called the final out of Bradens perfect day.

That top of the ninth inning was the most emotional inning of baseball Ive ever broadcast. No question, Korach said. After they celebrated on the field and brought his grandmother out of the stands, as I was describing that, I was in tears. That was the hardest Ive ever tried to hold it together on the air. Everybody knows his story.

The aftermath

The 2010 season continued to bring good fortunes for Braden. He won a career-high 11 games and appeared to be evolving into a front-end starter for the As in his prime at 26 years old. But injuries soon began to take a toll.

The left-hander made just three starts in 2011 before he required season-ending shoulder surgery. Another surgery, this time to repair a torn rotator cuff, caused Braden to miss all of 2012 and half of 2013 before he was released by Oakland. Figuring a full recovery was not in the cards, Braden officially retired the next year at the age of 30, ending a five-year big league career in which he went 26-36 with a 4.16 ERA over 94 games.

But this is no sob story. Braden accomplished more than he could have ever imagined as that kid growing up in Stockton. Plus, its not like hes any less popular these days.

Bradens relationship with Oakland has only grown as hes elevated himself to color analyst for As television broadcasts on NBC Sports California. He gets a chance to follow the club on the road and once again work at the Coliseum on a regular basis.

I cant even begin to express how fortunate I am for the organization to have reached out with this opportunity. They have brought me in as an ambassador to be able to be in the community and represent the organization. Im so appreciative of that, and so is my family, Braden said. Ive got folks that want to hang out with my two daughters. That means the world to me that I get to show up every day and hang out with my friends in Oakland at the Coliseum. Theres really no better gig going.

The gig also gives him more opportunities to head back to Stockton, where he still owns a home. It gives the people of Stockton more reason to celebrate one of their own, like last year when the Ports gave away a bobblehead of Braden wearing a black suit and a headset while holding a baseball in his left hand.

I wasnt supposed to graduate high school. I completed a bucket list with that, and from then on felt like I was playing with house money, Braden said. To be able to stare in the mirror years later wearing Stockton across my chest and getting a paycheck for it, thats a dream come true.

Martin Gallegos covers the A's for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @MartinJGallegos.

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Wysh List – Which current NHL players will make the Hockey Hall of Fame? – ESPN

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Nov 14, 2019

Greg WyshynskiESPN

Wayne Gretzky is a total Hockey Hall of Fame nerd, to the point that he would wear a disguise to walk through its exhibits and marinate in its antiquity. Considering that half the stuff there used to be in Wayne's bedroom, I'm sure it's a little like Elvis touring Graceland. But that doesn't matter. Even when you're The Great One, you want to feel that weight of history and that joy of discovery.

I'm also a Hall of Fame nerd, but in a transactional sense: I've long been obsessed with who gets in and who doesn't.

Some kids grow up dreaming about scoring the winning goal in the Stanley Cup Final. I used to dream about being in the room where the Hall of Fame decisions happen, spilling scotch on hockey legends as we engage in mouth-frothing debates about who is or is not worthy of immortality. And it would be incredible ... right up until the point when I learn it's entirely arbitrary and personal. "Hey, that guy's not getting my vote. He owes me $20 ..."

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The Hall of Fame is as frustrating as it is hallowed. The lack of transparency in the selection process leaves us baffled as to the criteria for enshrinement. Why did Mark Howe and Dino Ciccarelli wait 13 years? Why is Daniel Alfredsson still waiting? How did Gary Bettman get in now? Why didn't Pat Burns get in until it was posthumously? And so on.

There are a few players eligible in 2020 who should be locks. Jarome Iginla is going to be a first-ballot guy given his 625 career goals. Marian Hossa has the numbers (1,134 points, despite starting his career during the trap years), the prestige (three Stanley Cups) and the hipster cred as one of the best 200-foot wingers of his era. The only question about Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin (eligible in 2021) is whether they'll be featured on the same plaque. Goalies are rarely enshrined in the Hall of Fame, but Roberto Luongo will buck that trend when he's eligible in 2022. On the women's side, Finnish hockey legend Riikka Sallinen called it a career this year; Meredith Foster explains why she has a very strong Hall case to be the rare European women's star to get consideration.

There are a few players in the purgatory of eligibility who have very strong cases, too. Three in particular come to mind:

Alexander Mogilny. There's so much support for his candidacy these days, and for good reason. Mogilny's 473 goals ranks him 53rd all time, and he was a model of consistency with a 1.04 points-per-game average. A Triple Gold Club member, and an important part of hockey history as the first Soviet defection to the NHL. He's been knocking on the door for 11 years, and it's time he knocked it down.

Daniel Alfredsson. Unless he's been confined to the "Hall of Very Good," the former Ottawa Senators captain should get the call. Alfredsson has 444 goals and 1,157 points, and he won Olympic gold and silver for Sweden as well as the Calder Trophy. But also just an awesome ambassador for the game, and the kind of individual you want representing it in the Hall.

Curtis Joseph. There have been just five goalies elected to the Hall in the past 25 years, which is absurd. CuJo, it could be argued, is the best goalie not in the Hall. (Well, male goalie, as Sweden's Kim Martin and Canada's Kim St-Pierre are very much Hall-worthy.) He's fifth in career wins (454) and sixth in games played (943), but he never won a Vezina Trophy (despite being in the top four five times) or a Stanley Cup. To date, Ed Giacomin is the only Hall of Fame goalie not to have won a Cup. CuJo will probably continue to be penalized for playing on underwhelming teams, which is a shame, because he's an all-timer in our opinion.

Then there's Don Cherry ... and that's a conversation for another day. Or year. There's an obvious case for Grapes as a builder, and there are many who believe he should already be in the Hall of Fame. But this decision is going to require some distance from his unceremonious dismissal from "Hockey Night in Canada" this week.

What about players who haven't hung up the skates yet?

There are two players who aren't in the NHL but are still playing who are going to make the Hall: Kladno's Jaromir Jagr, the 47-year-old who might have been the NHL's leading career scorer were it not for work stoppages and a KHL sabbatical; and Pavel Datsyuk, 41, who is playing in Russia and is very much one of the best two-centers in the history of the sport.

As for players currently in the NHL who are destined for immortality, here are the top 10 current players destined for the Hall of Fame, in order of stone-cold locks:

10. Patrice Bergeron, C, Boston Bruins. Four Selke Trophies and a seven-time finalist (so far), plus that Stanley Cup and international success. Anecdotally, he might be the most admired NHL forward outside of Crosby in his generation. The Bruins are going to end up sending a few players to the Hall from their decadelong run of contention.

9. Duncan Keith, D, Chicago Blackhawks. Tough call here between Keith, Drew Doughty and Victor Hedman, who projects to be one of the greats of his generation. But Keith had two Norris Trophies, a Conn Smythe, three Stanley Cups and two gold medals, to go along with offensive output that ranks him sixth among defensemen in points over the past 20 years.

8. Patrick Kane, RW, Chicago Blackhawks. Kane's got the hardware, with three Stanley Cups, a Hart, a Conn Smythe, a Calder and a scoring title. He's got 364 goals in 920 games as a 31-year-old. He's going to finish his career as one of the most dominating American-born players in NHL history, but not one without significant baggage from earlier in his career.

7. Erik Karlsson, D, San Jose Sharks. Karlsson already has a Hall of Fame case with that run from 2011 through 2017, when he collected two Norris Trophies, was a finalist four times and had that incredible 82 points in 82 games as a defenseman. He's seventh in NHL history among defensemen with 0.83 points per game (minimum 657 games, aka the Orr Cutoff). Undoubtedly, somebody will claim he never played defense. That person will be summarily ignored.

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6. Evgeni Malkin, C, Pittsburgh Penguins. An absolute force of nature whose 1.175 points per game ranks him 14th in NHL history. Playing in the shadow of Sidney Crosby has its benefits (three Stanley Cups) and drawbacks (everyone focusing on Sidney Crosby at all times). The only things that concern us about his slam-dunk immortality are his health and the fact that some of the same people on the selection committee are the ones who inexplicably kept him off the NHL 100 list. But he'll get in, for sure.

5. Henrik Lundqvist, G, New York Rangers. The King is sixth in career wins (453) and 11th in save percentage (.918). He won the Vezina in 2012 and was a five-time finalist. He might not have a Stanley Cup ring, but he does have a gold medal. Also, he looks like Henrik Lundqvist.

4. Zdeno Chara, D, Boston Bruins. Unless it involves a strand of his hair and an aggressive human cloning program, there will never be another Zdeno Chara. He's 6-foot-9, a Stanley Cup champ and a Norris winner and is fourth in scoring for a defenseman (640) over the past 20 years. Luckily, the Hall of Fame has high ceilings.

3. Joe Thornton, C, San Jose Sharks. He's 16 points from becoming the 14th player in NHL history to hit 1,500. He has a scoring title and a Hart Trophy and is generally considered to be one of the finest passers in NHL history. He just doesn't have that elusive Stanley Cup win. Honestly, all we care about is that legendary beard getting etched on a plaque.

2. Alex Ovechkin, LW, Washington Capitals. At 34 years old, Ovechkin is within 223 goals of Wayne Gretzky's NHL career record, which is less than his goal total from 2014-15 to 2018-19 (236). Thank the Hockey Gods that Ovechkin finally captured his Stanley Cup -- and won the Conn Smythe in the process -- to eliminate any possible detraction from his legendary offensive career.

1. Sidney Crosby, C, Pittsburgh Penguins. The very definition of a generational talent, from the moment they changed the draft lottery rules in anticipation of his arrival through his last stretch of a Hart Trophy, two Stanley Cups and two Conn Smythes in the span of three years. He's sixth in NHL history in points per game (1.284), has won almost everything one can win and is a better player today than he was yesterday. He's not just first-ballot good. He's "waive the waiting period" good.

Then there's Jonathan Toews, Nicklas Backstrom, Brent Burns, Patrick Marleau, Steven Stamkos, Ilya Kovalchuk and John Tavares. Then there's Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon and Nikita Kucherov. Then there's the generation after that.

The Hall will be waiting. If not for their inductions, then at least for the debates about them.

May the Force be with this Ottawa Senators Jersey Foul:

This is a reference to Sheev Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious, aka Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and Emperor of the Galactic Empire. The number is a reference to command Order 66, the command that Palpatine gave to the Republic's clone army that authorized them to hunt down the Jedi in "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith."

I'm an American. My relationship with Don Cherry is nothing like what my Canadian friends and colleagues have experienced. I knew him growing up as the guy in the loud suits clutching a dog in beer commercials, and the guy shouting "Hit somebody!" on those "Rock'em Sock'em" VHS highlight tapes my parents used to rent for me at Video Plus.

Canadians, meanwhile, invited him into their living room once a week to explain the game and make them laugh and set a conversation that they'd still be talking about at work on Monday. And it was families across every community and every demographic. Barry Melrose told me the ex-jocks back in Saskatchewan watched Cherry. Jonathan Cheechoo told me about members of his Cree First Nations tribe in Moose Factory, Ontario, crowding around the television on Saturday nights, mesmerized. Cherry spoke the sports language of a country.

So I appreciate the complicated emotions tied up with Cherry's dismissal for Canadians. This was the poppy that broke the camel's back.

What did Grapes in? It's what had buoyed him years: business. The sponsors turned on him. The economics at Sportsnet changed, and not in his favor. And it was bigger than that. Don Cherry was swimming against the current on the inclusiveness and diversity that has become a cherished part of Canada's identity. Rants about "you people" and the multicultural assemblage of young fans who watched the Raptors win the NBA title can't coexist in the same sports town. This was the moment when it was starkly apparent that Cherry was oblivious, or willfully ignorant, to the way the world, the sport and his own city had changed.

One of our most popular episodes to date. In the wake of Don Cherry's firing, we spoke with our ESPN colleague Barry Melrose as well as Sean McIndoe, aka Down Goes Brown of The Athletic, about the broadcaster's legacy. Plus, Ed Belfour joined us to discuss his Hall of Fame career and his new passion as a whiskey maker. Grab it on iTunes here.

Winner: That Avalanche jersey

A lot of the reaction to the Colorado Avalanche Stadium Series jersey was negative, which is weird. Look at that beauty: Great use of negative space, an echo of their traditional sweater, and I bet it looks absolutely killer in an outdoor game. We approve.

Loser: The Ilya Kovalchuk era

What a bust. Kovalchuk returned to the NHL last season with the Los Angeles Kings, claiming he was chasing the Stanley Cup before realizing he was on a team that was cratering. He had 34 points in 64 games but has been terrible this season: three goals and six assists in 17 games, including just a goal and an assist in his past 13. The Kings have effectively benched him. A trade after his $5.3 million bonus payment on Dec. 15 is likely, as long as Kovy waives his no-move. Not Rob Blake's finest moment.

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Winner: San Jose Sharks

Hey, look who has a pulse. The Sharks won four in a row and are four points out of the wild card. They put six goals up against the Wild and Oilers, plus won closer games against the Blackhawks and Predators. Getting defenseman Radim Simek back from injury had helped, but getting a stretch at the Shark Tank helped more.

Loser: Buffalo Sabres

Two losses to the Lightning overseas after three winless games stateside. Jeff Skinner goes four games without a point, and Sabres lose four straight games. Probably not a coincidence.

Winner: Cale Makar

The Avalanche defenseman, my preseason Calder pick, has opened up a six-point lead among rookies and is scoring video game goals.

Loser: Ice cream innocence

Please tell me you saw this:

We wanted to believe in the great ice cream theft at a Carolina Hurricanes' game this week, especially after the team told ESPN that it hadn't set it up. Others felt it was totally a hoax. As Sara Civian of The Athletic discovered, the truth was somewhere in between: The cone holder and the cone thief are friends, but they claim this wasn't premeditated. Which is fine, but not as great as, say, a complete stranger swiping some dude's soft serve.

An all-transgender hockey team played a historic scrimmage in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a matchup that blended pro and amateur players.

The Carolina Hurricanes celebrate World Kindness Day by saying nice things about every NHL team ... except one.

Taking a critical look at what the Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators are wearing at the Winter Classic.

Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski take you around the NHL with the latest news, big questions and special guests every episode. Listen here

"Emilie Castonguay has created a buzz as one of the NHL's rare female certified player agents because she has something that the men don't: Alexis Lafreniere, the likely No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL draft."

Which goal songs are the favorites among NHL stars? Ben Bishop with the best answer: "As a goalie, none of them. Check that. Dallas. I love that one. It means we scored."

How NHL players reacted to the Don Cherry firing. Said John Tavares: "I think it is disappointing on many fronts, the comments, but certainly the way his tenure ended. There was so many good things that he did through his commitment to the game. I think everybody would wish something like this never happened."

Hockey tl;dr (too long; didn't read)

A good look at how individual coaches are using the coach's challenge. Interesting to see that some first-year coaches are a little shy about asking for one. ($)

In case you missed this from your friends at ESPN

Absolutely loved doing this piece: When players synonymous with one NHL jersey end up wearing another one. Think Bobby Orr as a Chicago Blackhawk.

Read more:
Wysh List - Which current NHL players will make the Hockey Hall of Fame? - ESPN