Category Archives: Immortality

Corofins quest for club football immortality will be decided on Sunday in the All Ireland Senior Club Football Championship final.

Throw in at Croke Park is at 4pm when they will face a Kilcoo side managed by Mickey Moran, who has previously faced Corofin in Croke Park with Slaughtneil.

Corofin are chasing an historic three-in-a-row All-Ireland football club titles which has never been achieved. Crossmaglen Rangers and UCD are the only other two sides to previously have retained the Andy Merrigan Cup - Crossmaglen achieved that feat twice (2011 and 2012 and 1999 and 2000 ), while UCD did so in 1974 and 1975.

Corofin manager Kevin OBrien will have no doubt shut down any talk of three-in-a-row within the Corofin camp, but he will be acutely aware of this chat outside the group. It would be an incredible achievement and would be put alongside Dublins five-in-a-row achievement, considering there is little or no break given for the club champions in the calendar season.

Now, however, Corofin are facing a team that will pose questions which have never previously been asked. The intensity and speed the Down champions will bring is on a different level to anything they have seen. They have runners from all angles and are relentless, and to last the full 60 minutes at this intensity is outstanding.

OBrien will have a full hand from which to select. Dylan Wall is expected to be back to full fitness following an illness which ruled him out of the start of the semi-final versus Nemo Rangers. It will be interesting to see if OBrien opts to use him from the bench or play him from the start, and if so, which of the half back line will drop to the bench. Walls pace and power going forward is a vital weapon to the Corofin juggernaut.

A key player for Kilcoo is wing back Daryl Branagan, one of five Branagan brothers in their starting line-up. He has impressed many in this year's campaign with his dogged determination and his ability to pop up in the right place at the right time to find a goal for his team. He is likely to be tagged by either Michel Lundy or Jason Leonard, both of whom spoke ahead of next Sundays final.

Leonard, whose free-taking has been a key component of scores for Corofin this year, says the buzz among the players and even among students in the primary school is electric.

"Any day you get to Croke Park is a special day and All-Ireland club final day is no different. Weve no heroes on our team. Were all just there to do our unique job.

Captain Michel Lundy, goalscorer in the semi-final, says Corofin is full of leaders.

Theres no extra pressure being captain, but its a great honour. Im delighted to just be playing on the team. There are no guarantees youre going to make the starting 15, theres such competition within the squad. There are great leaders within the group, people who stand up and are counted. The team is full of leaders.

It is sure to be a titanic battle in Croke Park this coming Sunday and both teams will be well primed. However, Galway will be backing Corofin to come out on top and carry the Andy Merrigan across the Shannon for an historic third successive year.

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Corofin primed for All Ireland in bid to create history - Galway Advertiser

In this post, we are going to talk about Blade of the Immortal episode 15 release date, streaming details, and preview. The show has premiered its first season, and is supposed to drop another episode this week. So, we will be talking more about it, although it will involve spoilers which we would like you to warn about. If you do not like spoilers, read only release date and streaming details.

The show is now 14 episodes deep into the first season, and the 15th episode is due this week. Blade of the Immortal episode 15 is all set to release on 16 January 2020, while the last episode was released on 2 January 2020. The previous episode was titled Act Fourteen Amendments, and the next episode title is Act Fifteen Acquisition of Guts. The show has an average episode length of 25 minutes.

There is no preview clip available for the next episode.

The show releases new episodes only on Amazon Prime Video, and no other streaming services. The new episodes are released at midnight in the US, and are only scheduled on Thursdays. We would also like to recommend the viewers to watch the show only using the official sources, and avoid all the illegal means of streaming and downloading options.

Here is the official synopsis to brief you about the show: Manji, a ronin warrior of feudal Japan, has been cursed with immortality. To rid himself of this curse and end his life of misery, he must slay one thousand evil men! His quest begins when a young girl seeks his help in taking revenge on her parents killers.

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Blade of the Immortal Episode 15 Release Date, Streaming, and Preview - Otakukart News

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Superheroes and their superpowers are fictional. Originally coming from comics, there have been numerous superheroic characters who portrayed themselves so well. And their love story adds a different light to their stories, be it in comics or Marvel world. Similar was for Dark Phoenix and Wolverine too. Both shared a loving connection.

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Jean Grey was the Phoenix whom we saw in comics first. Remarkable superpowers of telepathy, empathy, psychokinesis is what defines the Phoenix. And with immortality, Phoenix is nothing because thats what brings Phoenix back into life every time.

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Wolverine is a super male fictional superhero who is blessed with his regenerative ability and healing powers that helps him stay uninjured. Not to miss is his chemistry with Phoenix that we have found in comics often.

Phoenix has been known as a character who already had its partner, but despite that, there was something that made Wolverine and Phoenix fall for each other. But, that was all that we have seen so far. And now we think if Marvel will again show their love story or not and here we tell you about that.

Well, if Marvel plans any such project where both Phoenix and Wolverine will cross each others way then, surely we can have them in a scene where once again their love story will come alive. But, thats just speculation we have.

As of now, we have to wait to see if Marvel plans anything like that or not. But fans would love to have them back as lovers.

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Will Marvel Again Show Love Story Of Dark Phoenix And Wolverine? - Pop Culture Times

FRISCO History wouldnt be within Marvin Mims grasp if he hadnt already had a taste of it.

To get to this point, earshot from the states record for most receiving yards in a high school career, Mims had to have an unprecedented senior year. No one in the country had ever broken the 2,500-yard receiving mark in one season until the Frisco Lone Star senior did it last week.

His historic season has brought him here, 66 yards away from breaking the career record, an honor that former Burnet and Texas receiver Jordan Shipley has held for the last 16 years, according to Dave Campbells Texas Footballs record book.

Mims is right on Shipleys tail, but someone else is closer.

Rockwall senior Jaxon Smith-Njigba has an eight-yard lead on Mims as both receivers get set to play this weekend in the state semifinals. Their games will start 30 minutes apart from each other on Saturday, meaning both might pass Shipley before simultaneously racing each other for a spot at the top of Texas high school football history.

This didnt happen by accident. Its not a coincidence that these two childhood friends are both on the verge of breaking a record thats withstood the influx of pass-happy offenses and 7on7 until now. It took a perfect storm of circumstance to create this scenario, and two special players in the eye of it for it to become an imminent reality.

It doesnt even seem real, does it? asked Rockwall head coach Rodney Webb. Its too good to be true, this whole story.

You could start this story on the basketball court. Thats where these two met.

At first, Mims didnt like Smith-Njigba. Mims has always been competitive, so when he and his AAU teammates kept running into Smith-Njigba at the championship game of tournaments back in about fifth grade it stoked his competitive fire.

I had to see him every weekend, Mims said. I mean, we always battled it out.

Soon after, the battle between the two stopped. Smith-Njigba joined Mims AAU team for the next couple of years. Being teammates instead of opponents didnt change how they played, though. They both brought a fearless football player mentality to the court, said Southlake Carroll tight end Blake Smith, a Texas A&M pledge who played AAU basketball with them.

Its a competitive drive they have in each of themselves, Smith said. Especially those two.

Thats something they have in common. Theyre both confident players, who take single-man coverage not as an insult, but as an opportunity to showcase their abilities. They both also felt the need to after this offseason.

Mims noticed this offseason when he dropped in the national recruiting rankings, going from four stars to three, according to 247Sports composite rankings. He also wasnt invited to The Opening, a combine and national showcase for the top recruits in the country, an event that happened in his backyard at The Ford Center in Frisco. Smith-Njigba arguably had the best showing at The Opening, but he was only invited because someone else dropped out and they needed to fill the space. Its cliche for athletes to say they have doubters, but both point to those examples as proof and motivation.

To a certain extent I didnt really care about it, because it was a personal shot at me, said Mims, an Oklahoma pledge who has since become a four-star recruit, once again. But at the same time I was focused on this team.

Thats because Mims knew his team had the potential to be this good. And the truth is both Mims and Smith-Njigba probably wouldnt be on the precipice of history without their teammates.

Webb, the president of the Texas high school coaches association, said a lot has to go into breaking a career receiving record, especially here. A player has to stay healthy, has to have a good quarterback and an offensive line protecting that quarterback, has to play in an offense conducive to passing success and has to be on a team thats good enough to go deep in the playoffs. Special receivers have come through Texas in the last 16 years, but theres a reason Shipleys record has held.

It looks like a very individual he-did-it type of award, Smith-Njigba, an Ohio State pledge, said, but it's really not without the help of others.

So many things could have derailed their pursuits, but nearly-perfect circumstance has led them to the doorstep of state immortality, something that was unimaginable to both until it was within their grasp. On Saturday, nearly simultaneously, both will have the chance to catch history. So let the race begin.

Heres where Mims and Smith-Njigba stack up in the states history for receiving statistics, according to Dave Campbells Texas Footballs record book.

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How childhood friends and star WRs Marvin Mims and Jaxon Smith-Njigba wound up on the doorstep of Texas football immortality - The Dallas Morning News

There is an entire day dedicated to humbugs in December (Scanned from "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz")

Readers will, in all probability, not remember Wilhelm Kroll, the German scientist, denouncing Gideon Morgenstern, an amateur anthropologist, as a humbug in one of Professor Shonkus adventures. Yet, Bah! Humbug, Ebenezer Scrooge had uttered these words to dismiss Christmas, has helped the Dickensian character attain a degree of literary immortality.

Ironically, Kroll and Scrooge were accusing their adversaries of a similar transgression deceit, the attribute that unites the humbugs of the world, real and imagined. During the Continental Wars, the falsification of bulletins from Germany led to the coining of the expression, This is from Hamburg, which was subsequently shortened to humbug, much to the consternation of Hamburgians. Even our very own Khushwant Singh had dreamt up an India sans humbugs, in the hope that the nation would then be able to rid itself of their chicaneries.

But humbuggery, in spite of its critics, is, evidently, winning this war. This years UN human development index report states that thousands of people have been able to haul themselves up from grinding poverty in liberalized economies. Yet, the real cause of their distress global inequality remains entrenched in the capitalist order. In India, the Union home minister thought nothing of pinning the blame of Partition on the BJPs principal rival during discussions on a contentious, unconstitutional legislation, even though it is a recorded fact that the blood of the sectarian Two Nation theory smears the hands of V.D. Savarkar, whom the BJP idolizes. But then history, in the BJPs hands, is humbug.

There is isnt this apt? an entire day dedicated to humbugs in December. But the purported goal of National Humbug Day is to encourage people to vent their frustrations in a controlled manner during the festive season. Maybe the miserly Scrooge did have a point about excesses that taint modern religions.

Yet, the humbugs complicity can be far from simple. How can I help being a humbug when all these people make me do things that everybody knows cant be done? observed the Wizard of Oz, who, the Scarecrow said, is nothing but a humbug. The Wizard seems to be hinting that the desire to be deceived by the improbable, the illusory, and the spectacular could well be an innate, entirely human, urge. P.T. Barnum, the American impresario and showman, who gained fame and notoriety in equal measure by blurring the line between ethics and incredulity, had called himself the Prince of Humbugs.

The Wizard has proved to be prescient. Humbugs reign only because we serve them as supplicants.

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The humming bug that has bitten one and all - Telegraph India

With the 2010s coming to an end, now's a great time for a retrospective examination of the decade that was. There has been plenty to take in across the hockey world over the past 10 years -- including a dynasty, another lockout and some generational talents achieving greatness. And, of course, there was plenty of immortality etched on the Stanley Cup.

Before we turn the page on the 2010s, we thought it'd be a fun exercise to take a look back at the 10 teams that won the Stanley Cup this decade and rank them. Those rankings take into account the team's regulation season success as well as their playoff run, while also considering in a certain memorability factor. Who are the championship teams and what are the championship moments you'll most remember from the last 10 years? It's fun to think about.

It's important to remember that every team on this list was great -- one needs to be hoist the most difficult trophy to win in sports -- but not all greatness is created equal. It's also important to remember that lists like these are subjective and the only thing that truly matters is whether you're on the list to begin with.

Record: 40-27-15 (95 points, 3rd in Pacific)Goal Differential: +15Playoff record: 16-4

It's not every day you see a team rank 29th out of 30 teams in goal scoring and they still qualify for playoffs. Not only did the 2011-2012 Kings accomplish that feat, they also went on to win the whole damn thing. Relying on their great defense and the strong goaltending of 26-year-old Jonathan Quick, the Kings entered the playoffs as an eight-seed and lost just two games through the first three rounds of the playoffs before meeting the Devils in the Cup Final. Six games later they sealed the deal and the Cup belonged to the Kings for the first time in franchise history.

The Kings weren't a fluke champion, as they proved a few years later, but they weren't exactly a sexy champion, either. They were simply great at suffocating teams into submission, allowing just 1.50 goals per game over the course of their whole playoff run. That's the only way you win a Cup with an offense that average.

Record: 45-28-9 (99 points, 3rd in Central)Goal Differential: +24Playoff record: 16-10

The Blues may not be the most outright impressive championship team of the decade but they are undoubtedly the most improbable. St. Louis got off to a dreadful start to the season and fired their coach in November. Things didn't turn around immediately and the team was dead-last in the standings come early January.

But then the switch clicked and they found an insane second-half run aided largely by the emergence of rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington. They got into the playoffs as a three-seed in the Metro before outlasting some quality opposition in the Jets and Stars. The Dallas series needed double-OT in Game 7 to declare a victor. The hometown kid Pat Maroon came through.

The Blues were considered significant underdogs against the Sharks and Bruins in the conference and Cup finals, respectively. They weren't the most skilled or star-studded team but they were tough -- both mentally and physically -- and they played smashmouth hockey to wear down teams that were perceived as superior. For their final test, they went into Boston for a winner-take-all Game 7 of the Cup Final and shut down the Bruins to secure the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Nails.

Record: 46-28-8 (100 points, 3rd in Pacific)Goal Differential: +32Playoff record: 16-10

Much like the 2012 Kings, the 2014 team made its name off defense and goaltending. The offense was slightly better this time around, with the Kings ranked 26th in goal scoring during the regular season. And while they still didn't play the most exciting brand of hockey, this Cup run had more fireworks and fortitude than the previous one.

Los Angeles fell into a 3-0 hole against one of their biggest rivals, the San Jose Sharks. Miraculously, the Kings rallied to win four straight -- including Game 7 on the road -- to deliver pure, stunning heartbreak to the Sharks. After winning two more seven-game series against the Ducks and Blackhawks, the Kings made quick work of the Rangers in the Cup Final. Los Angeles clinched the Cup with a dramatic Game 5 double OT-winner from Alec Martinez.

Record: 48-28-6 (106 points, 3rd in Central)Goal Differential: +40Playoff record: 16-7

The final championship from the 2010s Blackhawks dynasty came in 2015 and was the least impressive of the three, though it was still a damn good team. They may have lost a step offensively (finished 17th in the league in goal scoring during the regular season) but the 'Hawks still had a tremendous back end that carried them when needed.

After getting through the Predators, Wild and Ducks, the Blackhawks' defense (ranked second in the league during the regular season) faced their toughest test in the Stanley Cup Final when they were tasked with slowing down a Tampa Bay Lightning team that finished with the top-ranked offense that season. Chicago responded by holding Tampa to three total goals over Chicago's four wins in the six-game series. That'll work.

Record: 50-21-11 (111 points, 2nd in Metro)Goal Differential: +48Playoff record: 16-9

It was more of the same for the Penguins the following year, though they were a tighter ship with a little more stability during the regular season this time around. Pittsburgh finished with the league's top-ranked offense. The biggest difference came in the playoffs, when it was Marc-Andre Fleury's turn to admirably man the net -- at least for the first two-and-a-half rounds. Fleury helped the Penguins get past the Blue Jackets and Presidents' Trophy-winning Capitals but eventually lost the job to Murray in the third round. However, the Penguins carrying two quality goaltenders had major significance in both of their title runs.

The Penguins just managed to squeak by the Ottawa Senators with a double-OT victory in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals before going on to beat the Nashville Predators in six games to clinch back-to-back Cups.

Record: 48-26-8 (104 points, 2nd in Metro)Goal Differential: +42Playoff record: 16-8

It was very clear that the Penguins were intent on making a deep playoff run in 2016 when they went out and traded forPhil Kesselbefore the season, then fired head coach Mike Johnston after a lackluster but not downright awful 15-10-3 start. Mike Sullivan took over behind the bench and the Pens took off. Their offense was explosive and dangerous with Kessel added to the likes ofSidney CrosbyandEvgeni Malkinand they stormed into the playoffs with a purpose.

The emergence of the HBK Line -- the Penguins' lethal third line featuringCarl Hagelin,Nick Boninoand Kessel -- helped put Pittsburgh over the top. That line presented major headaches for opposing teams as they continuously outmatched their bottom-six counterparts.

That playoff run was aided greatly by the goaltending of not-even-offiically-yet-a-rookieMatt Murray, who was forced to step in as the starter for an injuredMarc-Andre Fleuryat the start of the postseason. The 21-year-old Murray seized the opportunity and held onto the job, helping lead the Penguins past the Rangers (who had eliminated the Pens in each of the prior to seasons), theCapitalsand the Lightning en route to the Cup Final.

In a battle of two elite offenses, the Pens took on the Sharks in a series that had star power and a little bit of nasty. Ultimately, the Pens prevailed in six games and the addition of Kessel proved to make a world of difference for Pittsburgh. He finished as the team's leading scorer in the playoffs, tallying 10 goals and 12 assists in 24 games.

Record: 49-26-7 (105 points, 1st in Metro)Goal Differential: +20Playoff record: 16-8

When the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs got underway, the Capitals were considered perennial postseason choke artists. They were coming off back-to-back seasons in which they were eliminated by the Penguins in the second round of the playoffs despite winning the Presidents' Trophy as regular season champs. They had never made it past the second round in the Alex Ovechkinera.

As a result, Washington's expectations were lowered a bit in 2018. The Caps lost a couple of key names in free agency and took a minor step back during the regular season, finally relinquishing the Presidents' Trophy. They opened their postseason run with two straight losses to the Columbus Blue Jackets on home ice and it looked like another massive disappointment might be in store.

But then the Capitals gave the starting goaltending job back to Braden Holtby, showed resolve and didn't look back. Faced with another second-round matchup against the Penguins, Washington finally expelled their demons and got past Pittsburgh in six games. After surviving a seven-game Eastern Conference Final against the Lightning, the Caps stared down a Vegas Golden Knights team that somehow rode black magic all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season. Not even that black magic could stop Ovechkin and the Capitals as they cruised to a five-game SCF win -- the first in franchise history.

Washington's win resulted in one of the most cathartic and satisfying Cup raises in the history of the league as an emotional Ovechkin, the Conn Smythe winner, shed years of criticism and anguish off his shoulders with the hoist.

Record: 46-25-11 (103 points, 1st in Northeast)Goal Differential: +51Playoff record: 16-9

The Bruins had a top-five offense in 2010-2011 but their identity was largely shaped by their tough, physical and effective defensive style of play that was aided by incredible goaltending from Tim Thomas. Not only did the 36-year-old Thomas win the Vezina that season with a .938 save percentage over 57 games, but he went on to have an incredibly dominant postseason run that earned him the Conn Smythe as playoffs MVP. The Bruins don't win the Cup if it weren't for Thomas' insane play.

Boston had no shortage of dramatic moments during that run, either. It's easy to forget that they were a goal away from being ousted in the first round but found a Game 7 overtime winner off the stick of Nathan Horton to beat the Canadiens. They survived two more Game 7s as well, including a nearly perfect 1-0 win over the Lightning in the ECF. The Bruins then pounded the Canucks in Game 7 of the Cup Final in Vancouver.

Record: 52-22-8 (112 points, 1st in Central)Goal Differential: +62Playoff record: 16-6

This Blackhawks team was our first introduction to the Chicago dynasty that won three Stanley Cups during the decade. Led by a pair of 21-year-olds named Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, the Blackhawks finished the regular season ranked third in offense and fifth in defense. They finished second in the Western Conference standings, just one point behind the San Jose Sharks.

They left no doubt that they were the league's best team when they cruised through their competition in the playoffs, never taking a series beyond six games. They swept the Sharks in the West Final before moving on to face the Flyers in the Cup Final, where they won in six games and had one of the most bizarre clinching goals you'll ever see.

Record: 36-7-5 (77 points, 1st in Central)Goal Differential: +53Playoff record: 16-7

In a lockout-shortened season, the Blackhawks were a thoroughly dominant team. They had a great mix of skill and toughness in their lineup and finished the regular season ranked second in scoring and first in defense. They won the Presidents' Trophy and were the only team to give up less than 100 goals (97) over the course of the 48-game regular season.

Just three years removed from a championship season with a largely similar roster, nobody was taking the Blackhawks lightly during the playoffs and the 'Hawks proved once again that they were a force to be reckoned with. They lost just five games through the first three rounds and clinched another Stanley Cup Final appearance, meeting a Bruins team that also possessed championship pedigree and had lost just four games through the first three rounds.

The Cup Final lived up to the hype, with three of the first four games going to overtime. With Chicago holding a 3-2 series lead but trailing with just over a minute left of Game 6 in Boston, the Blackhawks scored two goals in 17 seconds to stun the Bruins and clinch the Cup on enemy ice.

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Ranking the 10 Stanley Cup championship teams of the 2010s: Blackhawks dynasty, Ovechkin's Caps and more - CBS Sports

Photography by Chris Filippini.

Following the release of Sleeveless, author Natasha Stagg joins Kate Durbin to discuss the Kardashians quest for immortality, it girls, and maintaining identity in the content economy.

During the Victorian fin de sicle, the closing of an era inspired a literary and artistic climate of decadence, malaise, and fashionable despair. This phenomenon took another form in the Y2K scare at the turn of the millennium, when panic at the prospect of a calendar glitch escalated to the point of apocalyptic mania. Natasha Stagg captures a similar state of anticipatory ennui with her second book Sleeveless, a series of essays and stories on fashion, art, and culture in the New York of the 2010s recently released with Semiotext(e). Staggs image of the city is rife with conflicting desires: the self-commodification of the attention economy and the hunger for authenticity, the autonomy provided by new media coupled with the neurosis of increased surveillance, and extreme material wealth and the spiritual emptiness of late capitalism.

In dispatches spanning the anthropological history of thong underwear to the mechanics of the Kardashians identity marketing to the role of synthetic influencers, Stagg deftly chronicles the intersection of capital and identity. Divided into categories (Public Relations, Fashion, Celebrity, and Engagement), the main thrust of her critical analysis focuses on the cultural impact and social mechanics of new media such as Instagram and Twitter, where concepts of selfhood have become increasingly conflated with late capitalist values of improvement and production. Her frank analysis of New York media is made possible by an intimate knowledge of its strategies: having worked as both a writer and copywriter, she is both participant and critic, creator and consumer, the influencer and influenced. With a voice that is in turns cynical, witty, and tremendously personal, Stagg renders the image of a future that appears as both an apocalyptic prophecy and the indelible product of its past.

Following the recent release of Sleeveless, author Natasha Stagg joins writer and digital artist Kate Durbin in conversation for Document.

Kate Durbin: Sleeveless spans nearly a decade of your time in New York City working as a magazine editor and consultant. Over that time, media changed drastically, print magazines devolved, and we all became complicit in and self-aware of our own branded online identities. When you were putting the book together, what organizational strategies guided you? What discoveries did you make when putting all these pieces in an order?

Natasha Stagg: Its hard not to get really meta or stuck in a loop of questioning when youre trying to write about language and media, as Im sure you know. That Im adding to the discourse which Im ostensibly critiquing definitely have me pause me a few times, which is why I end up pivoting back to my own experiences so often. While talking with other people about my first novel Surveys and now Sleeveless, Ive learned something we all know to an extent: that everyone is seeing the world through a tailored feed of ads, and therefore our worlds have become very distinct from one another. I was surprised to find out just how different these worlds are, even between myself and other 30-something writers living in New York.

Kate: Can you talk about the relationship between this book and your first book, Surveys? While reading Sleeveless, I sometimes felt that the narrator in Surveys was the same person reporting to me in the essays and autofictions, as if this was her inevitable future. It also fits somehow with the meta-moment we live in, on and between platforms.

Natasha: Even when Im writing so-called non-fiction, I always put on this semi-sarcastic voice, which might be a defense mechanism, but I see it more as an appropriate tone for the times. I was sort of developing it when I wrote for DIS magazine (some of the essays in Sleeveless started as articles commissioned by them). I had an advice column there, and it was premised on finding a language for the art they were producing, so it was a little facetious, reaching for academic and also fashion-savvy, but landing on sort of intentionally clueless. We were discussing topics that were so new, in their developmental stages, and so a self-serious all-knowing voice would make no sense. I would include too-long quotes from whatever text I happened to be reading at the time and force an answer out of them. I found out later that my sense of humor was maybe not coming through and that the column was being read as sincere advice, which I loved.

Kate: I loved your essay on the Kardashians and found it very beautiful. You end your essay talking about how Kims legacy will be her entire life, which I think speaks to the Kardashian project as a quest for immortality. You also talk about Kims goal as being one of omnipresence. In this way they are something like gods of our new media age. Can you talk a little bit about the Kardashians? What do you find most interesting about them, and what do they exemplify about our cultural moment? About all of us?

There are so many versions of this in our individual lives now: if you are not participating in the mediado you even exist? Natasha Stagg

Natasha: Thank you so much, it means a lot coming from you. This piece came from a publication requesting I write about Kim and my reaction being, Why? Shes never not relevant, so far, but shes been written about so much, Kardashian think pieces have sort of become their own genre. So I was trying to figure out why that is, why shes so transfixing to culture writers in particular (which has also been done). I have watched every episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, and I dont even think its a good show, really. But my interest is in the show more than it is in the real lives: the narrative of a famous family who is now living at the mercy of their audience. To rise to fame in such a contemporary and unpopular way, and then to become more talked about than anyone else, suffering through scandal and heartbreak so publicly: in some cases the suffering being caused by the public-ness of their personas: maybe they are the first living proof that not all publicity is good publicity.

Kate: Im curious to hear you talk about Kylie Jenner, a millennial who is the latest kind of influencer, one who claims to crave privacy and has agoraphobia as a result of growing up on social media with its surveillance. (She also grew up in a famous family.) You talk about how Kylies identity is branded as shy or resisting of fame, and how that this is part of her appeal: that she supposedly wants to be left alone even as she is constantly online, and this is something her young fans relate to as they also grew up online with its attendant anxieties. You also talk about other influencers, other young women who barely leave their houses and how this might relate to the trauma that comes with constant attention. Can you talk a bit about the relationship between this youngest generation of influencers and the Internet? It seems very fraught, even as the fraught-ness is still something to be performed.

Natasha: I love the examples that the Kardashian family provides us. Kylie is the shy one, and yet, Rob is so shy he has opted out of the show. There are so many versions of this in our individual lives now: if you are not participating in the media (social media, etc), do you even exist? How do you leverage a certain trait to be more entertaining or monetizable, if all brands are personal and all personalities are brands? Is it better to be coy in your selfies, or would it be more coy to not post any selfies at all?

Kate: You write about how Influencers have become more basic: this interesting distinction you draw between the It Girl of the 90s, who like Chloe Sevigny was a kind of muse and counterculture icon and party girl, and todays influencer, who is, as you say, the popular vanilla girl from high school who is now on The Bachelor, a blonde with a toned body and a perfect, bland, successful life. Im still thinking of Kylie, too, who posts these very brief videos that are almost nothing: like, just her turning around or dropping the camera: the more brief, the more enticing somehow. It feels like influencing is heading into the voidinto nothingness. Is this just the eventual demise of capitalism or this form of advertising? Is it something else? I hate asking future prediction questions, but I am curious where you feel influencing is heading.

Natasha: I really dont know where its heading, but there have been a lot of signs that consumers can easily see through influencer marketing and therefore arent as convinced by it lately. On my last flight, there was an option to watch some thrown-together educational series about the influencer, so you know its kind of over already, and yet it was always around, in its general concept, since the first celebrity endorsements. Influencers are really just celebrities who are only popular with a certain crowd, which is every celebrity, I guess.

It feels like influencing is heading into the voidinto nothingness. Kate Durbin

Kate: I loved the Fashion section. It seems in fashion you locate a site to explore your anthropological impulse, a physical article of clothing to circle around. Your scope expands, for example, in your essay on the thong: where you look as far back as the history of the loincloth, tracing it to 90s Thong Song. You call it a hidden object, both decorative and invisible, that is misunderstood. What interests you most in writing about fashion? Are there things you feel it reveals that are unique to it, since we wear fashion on the body?

Natasha: Fashion is a game, and I feel like I understand it, so I cant stop being fascinated by it. I dont understand sports or money or politics but I understand fashion. Its a type of art that is aware of its industry. It responds to the states of corporations and consumers instead of attempting to work against them. Im also usually at a loss with art, since it so often seems anti-capitalist and working within a capitalist system, or blatantly acting out some other hypocrisy.

Kate: You write about an artist, Ally, whose artwork consisted of her body, primarily exhibited on Instagram. Ally made me think of other Instagram and Tumblr artists, people like Molly Soda, Leah Shrager, and Amalia Ulman, whose Excellences and Perfections Instagram bait-and-switch performance of a fake sugar baby is now a museum-held artwork. In its early days, social media seemed such an interesting site for young women to explore and perform the body, sex, and narcissism: all these very human things. But I wonder if you feel that that time has passed for Instagram as an interesting platform for art? Especially now that so many have done it?

Natasha: I think well see who the more rigorous artists are once a few of them prove they cant make anything outside of social media, since social media will have to become irrelevant eventually. But the It Girl phenomenon will continue, maybe, and at least well always have an interest in who was interacting with the media in the most avant-garde or effective ways at certain times throughout history.

Kate: How would like to see our current media culture change, or would you?

Natasha: It seems fine the way it is, in that it is always changing.

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'Influencing is heading into the void': Natasha Stagg and Kate Durbin on the future of social media - Document Journal

Gaming studio CD Projekt Red has announced the artists on the official in-game soundtrack for its much-anticipated game Cyberpunk 2077, and the roster is packed with star power.

As revealed via a behind-the-scenes video, Grimes, A$AP Rocky and Run The Jewels are set to light up Cyberpunk 2077s fictional world of Night City, along with Refused, Nina Kraviz, Gazelle Twin, Ilan Rubin, Richard Devine, Deadly Hunta, Rat Boy and Tina Guo. Each act on the soundtrack has created a song specifically for the game, and each will have a fictional name in the game, such as Refuseds Samurai, for whom one of Cyberpunks main characters, Johnny Silverhand (voiced by Keanu Reeves), is the lead singer.

Grimes, who also has an anticipated project forthcoming in her fifth studio album, Miss Anthropocene, will also voice an in-game character, a pop star named Lizzy Wizzy. Yesterday (Dec. 12), she performed her song on the soundtrack, 4M, at The Game Awards. Watch the performance below.

Cyberpunk 2077, according to a synopsis on the games official website, is described as an open-world, action-adventure story set in Night City, a megalopolis obsessed with power, glamour and body modification. Gamers will play as V, a mercenary outlaw going after a one-of-a-kind implant that is the key to immortality. It is scheduled for release on April 16, 2020.

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Grimes, A$AP Rocky & More Included on 'Cyberpunk 2077' Soundtrack - Billboard

Guest columnist Published 2:34 p.m. CT Dec. 11, 2019

Marc Sundstrum, lead pastor with Linwood Wesleyan Church in Sioux Falls.(Photo: Submitted)

The last few years, it seems that each Christmas has come to me with its own unique understanding or insight into the heart of the Father in the sending of His Son. As I have reflected upon the Christmas Story this year, the contrast between the ordinary and the extraordinary has stood out to me in a powerful way.

Theres something special about the entirely unique joining with the perfectly commonthe truly exceptional merging with the totally routineespecially as we see these juxtapositions in the familiarities of the Christmas story. Consider the extraordinary events leading up to the coming of Christ: angelic announcements in dreams and visions, with centuries old prophecies being fulfilled, all culminating in a virgin conceiving and giving birth to the King of kings and Lord of lordsthe Only Begotten of God.

Then contrast those extraordinary events with the utterly ordinary elements of that same miraculous birth: a humble man and his unpretentious wife, alone in a strange town, far from home and family; a modest manger in an unassuming stable; simple swaddling cloths and dusty straw. Now consider the common shepherds who made up the Son of Gods first visitors and compare them to the Magi from the east who would follow after them.

In the Christmas Story, we see an extraordinary beginning to an extraordinary life that ended in a horrifying death but led to an extraordinary resurrection! While there was nothing ordinary at all about Jesus Himself: His birth, His life, His death or His resurrection, all of these aspects of His time on earth were marked by a frequent inter-mingling with the common elements, events and people of everyday life.

The birth of our savior brings with it an invitation for each of us to be reborn; for the ordinary to be transformed into the extraordinary; for the temporary to become eternal; for the mortal to take on immortality. Its an invitation to exchange death for life, darkness for light, defeat for victory and shame for grace; to trade fear for faith, sorrow for joy, dread for expectation, and slavery for freedom.

Christmas means that He is here! He is with us! He is for us, and He is inviting us to live with Him and for Him. This Christmas may we accept the invitation, may we also integrate the ordinary and mundane with the extraordinary and miraculous.

Marc Sundstrom is Lead Pastor at Linwood Wesleyan Church.

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From the Pulpit: Christmas: The Extraordinary and The Ordinary - Argus Leader

Sidelines loves halls of fame.

Over the past few months the number of DuPage County folks slated for immortality has stacked up. We'll try to give them a bit of justice here.

On Tuesday in Maryland, Doug Smith, former athletic director at Naperville North, Woodstock and Monmouth, will be inducted into the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Hall of Fame.

Smith, who retired from Naperville North in 2011 and was inducted into the Illinois Athletic Directors Association four years later, has done a ton of stuff -- on top of his athletic programs winning eight state championships and 80 conference titles.

He may be proudest of the Hoops for Healing boys basketball tournament. A cancer survivor, Smith created it at Woodstock and brought it to Naperville North. The event has donated more than $500,000 to Camp Hope to help cancer patients and their families.

When Lake Park's Zach Frye won boys Class 3A pole vault last May he became the seventh state champion and 24th all-state vaulter under Lancers vault and high jump coach Doug Juraska, set to join the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Jan. 11. Another champ was Zach Ziemek, seventh in decathlon at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Glenbard South varsity girls track coach Mark Tacchi.- Daily Herald File Photo

The ITCCCA ceremony also will salute Glenbard South's Mark Tacchi. This will be the first year since 1989 that Tacchi is not the Raiders' girls coach. He hosted more than 30 conference and sectional meets, won seven sectionals and coached 33 all-state athletes or relays.

SFHS Softball head coach TOP Ralph Remus watches from the 3rd base coaching box as his daughter Emily as she bats. leephoto- Daily Herald File Photo

Moving on, St. Francis softball coach Ralph Remus is a 2020 Illinois Coaches Association Softball Hall of Fame inductee. Averaging more than 22 wins in 21 seasons, his Spartans have won 10 straight regional titles and two sectionals. His 2017 club went 33-5 but from a state perspective 2019 was his finest season, second in Class 3A at 26-4.

NNHS head coach Jerry Kedziora give some encouragement to @#22 Liz Marshall as she gets set to bat. NNHS Vs NVHS girls Softball at NVHS in Naperville. lee photo- Daily Herald File Photo

Naperville North's Jerry Kedziora will join Remus at the Feb. 9 induction in Bloomington. The Huskies' 17-year softball coach owns the program record of 259 victories with regional titles in 2011 and 2012 and a program-high 24 wins in 2012. Like Smith, Kedziora may be most proud of a charity effort. In the past decade DVC Cares games have raised more than $25,000 in cash and supplies for the Mutual Ground women's and children's shelter in Aurora.

Starting in 1973, the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association annually inducts current and retired coaches, former players, teams, media members, "friends of basketball" and officials -- like Bensenville official Joe Fritsch.

The 2020 class, honored May 2 in Normal, includes 49 players including York boys basketball coach Vince Doran, who set Driscoll's standards for scoring, assists and steals among a slew of records.

York's head coach Vince Doran during the regional semifinal boys basketball against Benet.- Daily Herald File Photo

Samantha (Arnold) French set Lake Park's girls basketball season and all-time scoring records. She was the 2008 girls All-Area captain before becoming a three-time Academic All-Big Ten pick at Michigan. At Glenbard West, where she's back as coach, Kristi Faulkner graduated as DuPage County's top girls scorer with 2,417 points. Also an All-Area captain and a three-time all-academic pick at Iowa, Faulkner averaged more than 24 points to lead the Hilltoppers to a third-place Class AA finish in 1999.

Kristi Faulkner

One would think Montini girls basketball coach Jason Nichols still has plenty of coaching in him, but his resume screams hall of fame now. In his 20th season Nichols is 567-89 overall and at Montini has produced a whopping nine state trophies, including four state titles.

Glenbard East boys basketball coach Scott Miller unfortunately has less than a season left. He's retiring after this, his 21st year with the Rams and 24th season overall.

Sitting on 299 wins at Glenbard East entering Friday's home game with Fenton, Miller will make the IBCA Hall his third following inductions by Plano and Waubonsee Community College. Miller took Plano to fourth place in Class A in 1999, and led Glenbard East to third in Class 4A in 2011 with his son, Zach, at point guard.

Retiring Waubonsie Valley football coach Paul Murphy, a member of the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame, said selections are being made this weekend for the IHSFCA 2020 class. The beat goes on.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

Twitter: @doberhelman1

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Catching up on all the hall of famers - Chicago Daily Herald