he Book of Revelation was given as a mysterious, closed and sealed book. It was sealed with seven seals. It is similar to the book of Daniel, which God told Daniel was sealed until the time of the end.
But if God wanted to hide this knowledge completely, He never would have revealed it in the first place. He meant for those seals to be opened. In fact, God intended this important prophetic book to be understood in our time today!
The question is, when would those seals be opened, and what would the book reveal?
Revelation tells us that Jesus Christ would be able to open those seals. “And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof” (Revelation 5:4-5).
Christ is the one who can show us all this revelation that has been sealed. He alone can do so. But what does it mean that He “prevailed to open the book”? It shows that loosing these mighty seals was not a simple matter. In order to reveal this prophecy, Christ had a titanic battle with Satan the devil, and He won. He qualified to replace Satan on his throne, and now He—and only He—is qualified to open those seals.
Christ has loosed those seals—but He didn’t do so in the book of Revelation itself.
I want to show you something Christ said that most people do not understand. We will look at one chapter of the Bible to see how that chapter alone unseals those seven seals.
Jesus delivered a pivotal prophecy—one of the longest single prophecies in the Bible and the most important prophecy Christ revealed when He was on this Earth. He spoke this prophecy after He had prevailed in that battle with Satan and qualified to reveal it. It is called the Olivet prophecy. It is recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. I will just focus on the account in Matthew 24, and show how it looses the seals on the prophecies of Revelation. All prophecy, in a sense, revolves around Matthew 24.
In this chapter, Christ prophesied about a volcanic eruption of crises on Earth that has never been experienced—and about the birth of a new age that will come from it. Jesus Christ has prevailed and has revealed this, and we are now seeing these prophecies being fulfilled.
The seven seals form the story flow of the book of Revelation. Here is the overview: The first seal reveals false prophets; the second, war; the third, famine; the fourth, pestilence; the fifth, tribulation; the sixth, heavenly signs; and the seventh, seven trumpets.
If you understand those seals, they lead you step by step to the return of Jesus Christ: He returns at the last of those seven final trumpet blasts. So the Second Coming concludes those seven seals.
That makes this prophecy—even though it has a lot of bad news—the most exciting, wonderful news imaginable!

The First Seal

The first seal Christ opens reveals the first horseman of the apocalypse. The first four seals reveal a total of four horsemen.
“And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer” (Revelation 6:1-2).
Christians usually assume this horseman is Jesus Christ because Christ also comes on a white horse. But Christ comes with a sword, not with a bow (Revelation 19:11-15). And when you see what this white horseman actually does, you realize that even though he looks like Christ, it isn’t Christ at all! This is a false Christ who has deceived the world—the Christian world and the non-religious—about the prophecies of Revelation!
Christ unseals and explains this to us in Matthew 24. “And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world [or age]?” (verse 3). If you read through the chapter, you see that the main sign is the gospel being preached around the world (verse 14). Christ was saying that His true gospel message would not be preached—but then, right before the end, it would be. That commission being completed would mark the world’s entering into the very last end.
That was the main sign Christ gave, but there are others here. The very first thing Christ said was this: “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (verses 4-5).
Here, then, is the meaning of the first seal in Revelation, the first horseman of the apocalypse. This is what Christ revealed: It is the white horseman of religious deception. This horseman proclaims a lying message about Christ. This false religion proclaims that Christ was the Messiah, but it is deceiving people about what He said!
This horseman comes first because he causes the most suffering by far. He is a false teacher of Christ’s message, one who “went forth conquering, and to conquer.” This deceitful ministry conquers by deceiving, and it has deceived the whole world (Revelation 12:9). This is the deadliest of all the horsemen.

Second, Third and Fourth Seals

Here is what Revelation says about the second seal: “And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword” (Revelation 6:4). The second seal reveals the horseman of war.
What did Christ say about this in the Olivet prophecy? “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6). There will be all kinds of wars from the first coming of Christ to the Second Coming—but those right at the very end before His Second Coming will be about 100 times worse than any ever on this planet! That is what Christ is telling us.
This is the same period that the Prophet Daniel called “the time of the end”—or as the Moffatt Bible translates it, “the crisis at the close.” It is the worst crisis ever on this Earth! We ought to take note because it is already beginning to unfold before our eyes. Look at all the countries that have nuclear bombs and are ready to detonate them. Once you start a nuclear war, you can’t really stop it.
The third seal is described in verses 5-6: “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” Seal number three reveals the horseman of famine.
“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell,” or the grave, “followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth” (verse 7). The fourth of these seven seals is the horseman of death.
Christ’s prophecy in Matthew 24 goes on to explain these next two seals. “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” (Matthew 24:7). There are the third and fourth seals: famine and pestilence, and all the death that will result worldwide.
“All these are the beginning of sorrows,” Christ warned (verse 8).
These are the conditions and events Jesus Christ said to look for right before His return!

The Fifth Seal

Verses 9-11 of Revelation 6 describe the next of these seven seals. This passage begins, “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them, that were slain for the word of God …” (Revelation 6:9). This is discussing God’s own people—people who knew God and the true gospel—being killed.
Notice how Christ describes this same prophetic event in Matthew 24:9: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.” Christ aimed this directly at “you”—His own disciples. This is a world-shaking event!
This seal is describing the Great Tribulation, a 2½-year period of Satan’s great wrath (Revelation 12:12). This isn’t the time of the wrath of God—that one-year “Day of the Lord” comes right after the Tribulation, making a total of 3½ years of unprecedented suffering before Jesus Christ returns (Revelation 11:2-3; 13:5; Daniel 12:7).
Why were these saints killed during the Tribulation? Several times in Scripture God promises to protect His people during that period (e.g. Revelation 12:6). Why didn’t these saints receive God’s protection?
Other scriptures reveal the answer. The last era of God’s Church before Christ returns is described in Revelation 3:14-22. Christ chastens it for being lukewarm and spiritually wretched. The large majority of God’s people today have fallen into that condition. That is a shameful truth. These people who have known God but turned away are not going to be protected by Him! God will allow them to experience the nightmares of the Tribulation because they were lukewarm and not excited about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to stop all these crises forever! God says that this is what it will take for them to turn back to Him so that He can get them into the Kingdom of God, into His Family. You can read more about this in our free book Malachi’s Message.
Those lukewarm saints are going to be killed during the Great Tribulation. But those who have known God and clung to Him—the very elect—will be protected.
“And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many” (verses 10-11). The Greek word translated many means that most of God’s own people will be deceived! That is what Christ prophesied—and that is exactly what has happened in this end time. Ninety-five percent of God’s Church has been deceived. That proves we have to work very hard not to be deceived. We can be deceived so easily.
“And because iniquity [lawlessness] shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (verse 12). This “love” is the agape love of God, which comes from His Holy Spirit (e.g. Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22). Only the people of God, who possess the Holy Spirit, have that love, and here Christ prophesied that this love would “wax cold” in many of these people! They had it but they are losing it. Why? Because of lawlessness. This is still in that fifth seal, the Great Tribulation.

The Main Sign

Now we come to the main sign Christ gave of His Second Coming. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (verse 14). The true gospel, which has not been preached, will finally be preached, Christ said; then comes “the end.”
This prophecy has been fulfilled! Do you know that the true gospel of God, after being suppressed for centuries, was in fact preached around the world for a witness to all nations? Do you know who did that job? These questions are also answered in Malachi’s Message.
But which “end” comes after that commission is finished? It is different from the “end of the world” in verse 3, from the Greek synteleia. This is the Greek word telos. Thayer’s Lexicon explains that the context has to tell you what “end” it is. This is speaking of the end of the gospel being preached around the world—after which we will enter into the time when all of these terrible events of Matthew 24 will unfold. This is the “last end” spoken of in Daniel 8:19.
Christ has unsealed this for us. We should understand it!
What did He say would happen next? “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)” (Matthew 24:15). What is this? Luke 21:20 describes this “abomination” as “Jerusalem compassed with armies.” Other prophecies show that these armies belong to a reconstituted Holy Roman Empire in Europe! They also reveal that this “abomination that maketh desolate” (Daniel 12:11) will rise up just before the modern-day nations of Israel—which include the United States and Britain—collapse!
That might have seemed far off when Herbert W. Armstrong first prophesied about Matthew 24, but now we can see it happening!
The verses that follow are about the faithful people of God fleeing destruction—fleeing to a place of protection that God will provide. This is more proof that God will in fact protect some.
And here is what He will protect them from: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:21-22).
This is Christ’s prophecy of horrors unprecedented in human history—besieging the world right at the end. He said that unless He intervened, mankind would wipe itself completely off the face of the Earth!
After World War i, Winston Churchill said, “Mankind has never been in this position before. … Without having improved appreciably in virtue or enjoying wiser guidance, it has got into its hands for the first time the tools by which it can unfailingly accomplish its own extermination.”
Since that time, we have developed chemical and biological weapons. We can exterminate ourselves many times over! The number one problem we face is human extermination! That has never been possible in history until very recent times.
We are now in exactly the position Jesus Christ prophesied about in Revelation and Matthew 24! This is the crisis at the close! More people should see that. More ministers should be talking about that. There is no excuse: There are prophecies throughout the Bible that tell us that—over a hundred of them!
The end of all things is “at the doors” (verses 32-33).
In verse 41 we again see God’s Church divided between those who cling to Him and do His work, and those who are lukewarm. Both churches are in the field, working away, but only one of them is going to be taken and protected—and the other is going to be left. Ninety-five percent of God’s people are not going to be protected. But because they don’t look to Christ’s prophecies, they won’t realize it. All these horrors are going to spring on them like a steel trap!
In Luke 21:34-36, Jesus warned that you had better watch for these prophecies. Watch world news, but also watch your own spiritual life so you don’t fail to see what is happening.

The Sixth and Seventh Seals

The sixth seal reveals mighty heavenly signs: “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind” (Revelation 6:12-13). These signs are an indication of the fearsome things about to come next.
Christ explains this sixth seal in Matthew 24:29: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days [which was the fifth seal] shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” Those are the same heavenly signs. You can also read them prophesied in Joel 2:31: “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.” This confirms that these signs mark the end of the Tribulation—the 2½ years of Satan’s wrath—and signal the beginning of the Day of the Lord—the year of God’s wrath.
These are world-shaking events. And just as Jesus’s other prophecies have come to pass, so too will these!
Revelation 6:17 introduces the seventh seal: “For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” That seventh seal is spoken of in Revelation 8 and 9. It consists of those seven trumpets.
Here is where Christ explained the seventh seal: “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31). That seventh seal includes seven trumpet plagues that God pours out on mankind.
There are only a handful of scriptures about the Great Tribulation in Matthew 24 and Revelation, but there are over 30 about the Day of the Lord, which is the day of God’s wrath on this Earth. Joel says the Day of the Lord is at hand, as destruction from the Almighty. God is sick of mankind’s sin and lawlessness, which plunges us into the greatest crisis ever. The world has never seen anything like the wrath of God that it is about to see!
Yet sadly, throughout these plagues, mankind will refuse to repent.
How does all this end? At the last trumpet, Jesus Christ Himself is going to return to this Earth! “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord …” (Revelation 11:15). Jesus Christ is about to take over this world in crisis, rule it with a rod of iron and bring peace, joy, happiness and success to everybody on Earth. That is the kind of prosperity mankind really wants, but has never been able to achieve.
If you are willing to look into God’s Word with an open mind, you will see that all Christ talked about 2,000 years ago is coming to pass—the bad news and the good! ▪

 

 

I'm looking outside of my window
The view that I see is a child and mama
And the child is begging for money
Tell me why, tell me why
The woman is blind
Is she so broke the kid's dealing crime

It's such a beautiful city
But the world is burning it down
It's such a beautiful city
But the world is burning it down

I go to my room to turn on the TV
I sit myself down and I start laughing hard
'Cause this man he's asking for money
He says if you send me lots of cash
I'll send you stuff to make you rich fast

It's such a wonderful country
But the man he's burning it down
It's such a wonderful country
But the man he's burning it down
And it's burning down
And it's called the US of A

One day I'm going to have lots of money
But I'll have to give up for this rich society
Oh please Mr. President will you lend me a future
'Cause you'll just get it back
From the little blind woman with the kid on the corner
And the people all over, doin' crack

It's such a wonderful country
But the man he's burning it down
Sing it
And it's burning down
And it's called the US of A

I'm walking outside on a sunny day
With no one around and I wonder what's wrong
The I hear this loud piercing siren
Oh my God the bomb has just dropped
And everybody climbed right on top

Screaming, what a wonderful country
But the man he's burning it down, he's burning it down
It's such a wonderful country
But the man he's burning it down, he's burning it down
And it's burning down
And it's called the US of A

From December 25^th to January 3^rd:
- PokeStops will give out a single-use Incubator every day, once a day.
- You will now find new eggs that have a greater chance of hatching the Gen 2 Pokémon that Niantic introduced into the game earlier this month, Togepi, Pichu, etc.
- Santa Hat Pikachu will stay around longer than the 29^th, when he was supposed to disappear initially. He will also appear more often.
December 30^th to January 8^th
- The original starters, Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Charmadner, and their evolutions will appear more frequently throughout the world.

They want 1950s life again.
You know, women cook.
Black people aren't around.
And we all just wait till Jesus comes back to rapture.

 I honestly think we are doomed. We have elected a man who's an idiot, but the people who actually govern want the end of the world as it fits their beliefs.

The worse things get, the more suffering, the better

my spiritual  desires are affected and distorted by sin.   my intellect is distorted by and affected by sin. and most importantly, my body has been affected and distorted by sin.

"This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch [...] We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals. [...] Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity."

Here is just a bit of lore for those wondering who Unicron might be and who the creators really are. Before time itself, there was a being called 'The One' who represented order and chaos in harmony. 'The One' wanted to explore more of the universe and thus split into two beings, Unicron and Primus. Unicron representing chaos, and Primus representing order. Primus found out that Unicron was destroying (eating) planets and thus made the 'Thirteen Primes' (not going to name them all) to help him destroy Unicron. After Unicron's defeat, his body drifted into space and eventually formed the Earth's core. Primus then became one with the core of Cybertron where he gives his life to future transformers through the Allspark in the 'Well of All Sparks'. A bit of conflict started between the 'Thirteen Primes' and Liege Maximo manipulated Megatronus into killing Solus Prime. Her body unexpectedly melted to the core of Cybertron which formed the 'Well of All Sparks'. Onyx Prime, Micronus Prime, and the Thirteenth Prime willingly enter the 'Well of All Sparks' and sacrifice their lives in order to jump-start its creative processes, with the intent of creating a new race to inhabit Cybertron. Meanwhile, Quintus Prime travels into deep space with an Emberstone to create a race that would ally with future Cybertronian civilizations and thus creates the Quintessons. The 'Thirteenth Prime' comes out of the 'Well of All Sparks' reincarnated as Orion Pax who as you know becomes Optimus Prime. Cut a long story short the Quintessons made the transformers their slaves and took over Cybertron by creating their own government and laws. The transformers then rebel against the Quintessons and force them off the planet. The transformers then lived in peace. Then overtime, some transformers believed that chaos was the best way to live, whilst others thought that order was the best way to live (Autobots and Decepticons). Then the great war starts between them

We’ll do anything to get a little extra battery life out of our beloved iPhones, especially since they seem to drain so darn fast when we need them most. One of the most common battery-saving legends that has been circulating for years is that closing apps on your iPhone will preserve its battery power. There may be something satisfying about double-tapping the home button on your phone and going to town swiping away days’ worth of open apps, but if battery preservation is your goal, closing apps is not the answer.
Apple has confirmed that quitting your apps in multitasking is not going to save you a second of battery life. Nada. In fact, most of the apps that you’re swiping away, including social media apps, are either frozen in RAM or not even running — think of them as pretty pictures and (yet another) reminder you don’t need that you’re spending too much time on Facebook.
There are a few apps that do drain your iPhone battery — the ones that affect background operations. Apps like GPS navigation and background music playback should be turned off as soon as you’re finished using them. Otherwise, the only reason Apple CEO Tim Cook says you’ll need to force quit apps is if they become frozen or stuck.

Globalization is under attack. The electoral victory of Donald Trump, the Brexit vote and the rise of an aggressive nationalism in mainland Europe and around the world are all part of a backlash to globalization.
In each instance, citizens have upset the political order by voting to roll back economic, political and cultural globalization. Support for Brexit came in large part from those worried about their jobs and the entry of immigrants. Similarly, the Midwest of the U.S. – the industrial heartland hurt by global competition – was the linchpin of Donald Trump’s victory.
But what exactly are these globalizations and why the discontent? A deeper examination of global integration sheds some light on how we got here and where we should go next.

The rise of the globalization agenda

The roots of today’s global economic order were established just as World War II was coming to end. In 1944 delegates from the Allied countries met in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to establish a new system around open markets and free trade.
New institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and a precursor to the World Trade Organization were established to tie national economies into an international system. There was a belief that greater global integration was more conducive to peace and prosperity than economic nationalism.


Initially, it was more a promise than reality. Communism still controlled large swaths of territory. And there were fiscal tensions as the new trade system relied on fixed exchange rates, with currencies pegged to the U.S. dollar, which was tied to gold at the time. It was only with the collapse of fixed exchange rates and the unmooring of the dollar from the gold standard in the late 1960s that capital could be moved easily around the world.
And it worked: Dollars generated in Europe by U.S. multinationals could be invested through London in suburban housing projects in Asia, mines in Australia and factories in the Philippines. With China’s entry onto the world trading system in 1978 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the world of global capital mobility widened further.

Global transfer of wealth

While capital could now survey the world to ensure the best returns, labor was fixed in place. This meant there was a profound change in the relative bargaining power between the two – away from organized labor and toward a footloose capital. When a company such as General Motors moved a factory from Michigan to Mexico or China, it made economic sense for the corporation and its shareholders, but it did not help workers in the U.S.
Freeing up trade restrictions also led to a global shift in manufacturing. The industrial base shifted from the high-wage areas of North America and Western Europe to the cheaper-wage areas of East Asia: first Japan, then South Korea, and more recently China and Vietnam.


As a result, there was a global redistribution of wealth. In the West as factories shuttered, mechanized or moved overseas, the living standards of the working class declined. Meanwhile, in China prosperity grew, with the poverty rate falling from 84 percent in 1981 to only 12 percent by 2010.
Political and economic elites in the West argued that free trade, global markets and production chains that snaked across national borders would eventually raise all living standards. But as no alternative vision was offered, a chasm grew between these elites and the mass of blue-collar workers who saw little improvement from economic globalization.
The backlash against economic globalization is most marked in those countries such as the U.S. where economic dislocation unfolds with weak safety nets and limited government investment in job retraining or continuing and lifetime education.

Expanding free markets

Over the decades, politicians enabled globalization through trade organizations and pacts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, passed in 1994. The most prominent, though, was the European Union, an economic and political alliance of most European countries and a good example of an unfolding political globalization.
It started with a small, tight core of Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany. They signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957 to tie former combatants into an alliance that would preclude further conflicts – and form a common market to compete against the U.S.
Over the years, more countries joined, and in 1993 the European Union (EU) was created as a single market with the free movement of goods, people and capital and common policies for agriculture, transport and trade. Access to this large common market attracted former Communist bloc and Soviet countries, to the point where the EU now extends as far east as Cyprus and Bulgaria, Malta in the south and Finland in the north.


With this expansion has come the movement of people – hundreds of thousands of Poles have moved to the U.K. for instance – and some challenges.
The EU is now at a point of inflexion where the previous decades of continual growth are coming up against popular resistance to EU enlargement into poorer and more peripheral countries. Newer entrants often have weaker economies and lower social welfare payments, prompting immigration to the richer members such as France and the U.K.

Cultural backlash

The flattening of the world allowed for a more diverse ensemble of cultural forms in cuisine, movies, values and lifestyles. Cosmopolitanism was embraced by many of the elites but feared by others. In Europe, the foreign other became an object of fear and resentment, whether in the form of immigrants or in imported culture and new ways.


But evidence of this backlash to cultural globalization also exists around the world. The ruling BJP party in India, for example, combines religious fundamentalism and political nationalism. There is a rise of religious fundamentalism around the world in religions as varied as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.
Old-time religion, it seems, has become a refuge from the ache of modernity. Religious fundamentalism held out the promise of eternal verities in the rapidly changing world of cultural globalization.
There is also a rising nationalism, as native purity is cast as contrast to the profane foreign. Across Europe from Bulgaria to Poland and the U.K., new nationalisms have a distinct xenophobia. Politicians such as Marine Le Pen in France recall an idealized past as a cure for the cultural chaos of modernity. Politicians can often gain political traction by describing national cultural traditions as under attack from the outside.
Indeed, the fear of immigration has resulted in the most dramatic backlash against the effects of globalization, heightening national and racial identities. In the U.S. white native-born American moved from being the default category to a source of identity clearly mobilized by the Trump campaign.

Reclaiming globalization

Globalization has now become the catchword to encompass the rapid and often disquieting and disruptive social and economic change of the past 25 years. No wonder there is a significant backlash to the constant change – much of it destabilizing economically and socially disruptive. When traditional categories of identity evaporate quickly, there is a profound political and cultural unease.
The globalization project contains much that was desirable: improvements in living conditions through global trade, reducing conflict and threat of war through political globalization and encouraging cultural diversity in a widening cultural globalization.

The question now, in my view, is not whether we should accept or reject globalization but how we shape and guide it to these more progressive goals. We need to point the project toward creating more just and fair outcomes, open to difference but sensitive to cultural connections and social traditions.
A globalization project of creating a more connected, sustainable, just and peaceful world is too important to be left to the bankers and the political elites.

So when these people, whether they be rural Canadians or rust belt Americans start telling me about how hard their lives are and how I am the smug elite who doesn't get them - fuck right off, guys. Because you didn't see death first hand as a child, because your economic situation growing up was roughly a thousand times better than mine. I could be very smug now and look at you and conclude that maybe if YOUR ass pulled itself up by the bootstraps like you like to preach at the "welfare queens" maybe you'd have put 2 and 2 together and realized that you're living in a dying town with a dying industry and done something about it. Maybe you wouldn't be waiting for the government to save you like some sort of lazy socialist. But no, instead I keep voting and behaving in ways to assist you and frankly I'm kind of getting tired of it. So maybe it's really time you go out there and fend for yourselves and I throw off the shackles of noblesse oblige and go off hand in hand with those elites that you despise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm jealous of the rain
That falls upon your skin
It's closer than my hands have been
I'm jealous of the rain
I'm jealous of the wind
That ripples through your clothes
It's closer than your shadow
Oh, I'm jealous of the wind, 'cause

I wished you the best of
All this world could give
And I told you when you left me
There's nothing to forgive
But I always thought you'd come back, tell me
All you found was heartbreak and misery
It's hard for me to say,
I'm jealous of the way
You're happy without me

I'm jealous of the nights
That I don't spend with you
I'm wondering who you lay next to
Oh, I'm jealous of the nights
I'm jealous of the love
Love that wasn't here
Gone for someone else to share
Oh, I'm jealous of the love, 'cause

I wished you the best of
All this world could give
And I told you when you left me
There's nothing to forgive
But I always thought you'd come back, tell me
All you found was heartbreak and misery
It's hard for me to say,
I'm jealous of the way
You're happy without me

As I sink in the sand
Watch you slip through my hands
Oh, as I die here another day
'Cause all I do is cry behind this smile

I wished you the best of all this world could give
And I told you when you left me
There's nothing to forgive
But I always thought you'd come back, tell me
All you found was heartbreak and misery
It's hard for me to say,
I'm jealous of the way
You're happy without me

It's hard for me to say,
I'm jealous of the way
You're happy without me

 

 

 

Skyshale033
Subject: Candle Cove local kid's show?

Does anyone remember this kid's show? It was called Candle Cove and I must have been 6 or 7. I never found reference to it anywhere so I think it was on a local station around 1971 or 1972. I lived in Ironton at the time. I don't remember which station, but I do remember it was on at a weird time, like 4:00 PM.

mike_painter65
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

it seems really familiar to me…..i grew up outside of ashland and was 9 yrs old in 72. candle cove…was it about pirates? i remember a pirate marionete at the mouth of a cave talking to a little girl

Skyshale033
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

YES! Okay I'm not crazy! I remember Pirate Percy. I was always kind of scared of him. He looked like he was built from parts of other dolls, real low-budget. His head was an old porcelain baby doll, looked like an antique that didn't belong on the body. I don't remember what station this was! I don't think it was WTSF though.

Jaren_2005
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

Sorry to ressurect this old thread but I know exactly what show you mean, Skyshale. I think Candle Cove ran for only a couple months in '71, not '72. I was 12 and I watched it a few times with my brother. It was channel 58, whatever station that was. My mom would let me switch to it after the news. Let me see what I remember.

It took place in Candle cove, and it was about a little girl who imagined herself to be friends with pirates. The pirate ship was called the Laughingstock, and Pirate Percy wasn't a very good pirate because he got scared too easily. And there was calliope music constantly playing. Don't remember the girl's name. Janice or Jade or something. Think it was Janice.

Skyshale033
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

Thank you Jaren!!! Memories flooded back when you mentioned the Laughingstock and channel 58. I remember the bow of the ship was a wooden smiling face, with the lower jaw submerged. It looked like it was swallowing the sea and it had that awful Ed Wynn voice and laugh. I especially remember how jarring it was when they switched from the wooden/plastic model, to the foam puppet version of the head that talked.

mike_painter65
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

ha ha i remember now too. ;) do you remember this part skyshale: "you have…to go…INSIDE."

Skyshale033
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

Ugh mike, I got a chill reading that. Yes I remember. That's what the ship always told Percy when there was a spooky place he had to go in, like a cave or a dark room where the treasure was. And the camera would push in on Laughingstock's face with each pause. YOU HAVE... TO GO... INSIDE. With his two eyes askew and that flopping foam jaw and the fishing line that opened and closed it. Ugh. It just looked so cheap and awful.

You guys remember the villain? He had a face that was just a handlebar mustache above really tall, narrow teeth.

kevin_hart
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

i honestly, honestly thought the villain was pirate percy. i was about 5 when this show was on. nightmare fuel.

Jaren_2005
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

That wasn't the villain, the puppet with the mustache. That was the villain's sidekick, Horace Horrible. He had a monocle too, but it was on top of the mustache. I used to think that meant he had only one eye.

But yeah, the villain was another marionette. The Skin-Taker. I can't believe what they let us watch back then.

kevin_hart
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

jesus h. christ, the skin taker. what kind of a kids show were we watching? i seriously could not look at the screen when the skin taker showed up. he just descended out of nowhere on his strings, just a dirty skeleton wearing that brown top hat and cape. and his glass eyes that were too big for his skull. christ almighty.

Skyshale033
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

Wasn't his top hat and cloak all sewn up crazily? Was that supposed to be children's skin??

mike_painter65
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

yeah i think so. rememer his mouth didn't open and close, his jaw just slid back and foth. i remember the little girl said "why does your mouth move like that" and the skin-taker didn't look at the girl but at the camera and said "TO GRIND YOUR SKIN"

Skyshale033
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

I'm so relieved that other people remember this terrible show!

I used to have this awful memory, a bad dream I had where the opening jingle ended, the show faded in from black, and all the characters were there, but the camera was just cutting to each of their faces, and they were just screaming, and the puppets and marionettes were flailing spastically, and just all screaming, screaming. The girl was just moaning and crying like she had been through hours of this. I woke up many times from that nightmare. I used to wet the bed when I had it.

kevin_hart
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

i don't think that was a dream. i remember that. i remember that was an episode.

Skyshale033
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

No no no, not possible. There was no plot or anything, I mean literally just standing in place crying and screaming for the whole show.

kevin_hart
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

maybe i'm manufacturing the memory because you said that, but i swear to god i remember seeing what you described. they just screamed.

Jaren_2005
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

Oh God. Yes. The little girl, Janice, I remember seeing her shake. And the Skin-Taker screaming through his gnashing teeth, his jaw careening so wildly I thought it would come off its wire hinges. I turned it off and it was the last time I watched. I ran to tell my brother and we didn't have the courage to turn it back on.

mike_painter65
Subject: Re: Candle Cove local kid's show?

i visited my mom today at the nursing home. i asked her about when i was littel in the early 70s, when i was 8 or 9 and if she remebered a kid's show, candle cove. she said she was suprised i could remember that and i asked why, and she said "because i used to think it was so strange that you said 'i’m gona go watch candle cove now mom' and then you would tune the tv to static and juts watch dead air for 30 minutes. you had a big imagination with your little pirate show."

Darth Vader. 

We only needed to write those two words and you know exactly to whom they belong to.

The fallen Jedi and one of the great Sith Lords, Darth Vader is one of the most famous movie villains of all time. His imposing presence, magical powers which include the infamous ability to force choke a man just by thinking about and ultimately tragic personal story have inspired all kinds of acclaim and a place in most Star Wars fans hearts.

But enough of this chit chat, here’s 11 crazy stories, facts and myths about Darth Vader that any Star Wars fan would be keen to know!






1. While Lucas had said post release of A New Hope that he had 9 Star Wars movies all mapped out, he didn't really. It was only on when developing the second draft of Empire Strikes Back with Leigh Bracket that Darth Vader became Luke's father. Indeed, in original drafts of A New Hope, Vader and Anakin Skywalker were different characters.

2. The famous reveal of the father and son relationship between Vader and Luke is often misquoted as "Luke, I am your father". The line is actually "No, I am your father".

Sebastian Shaw as Vader in Jedi

3. The character of Vader has been played by several actors. In the original trilogy David Prowse is famous as wearing the suit and Sebastian Shaw as the 'face' in Jedi. 

The prequels saw an idealistic Jake Lloyd tackle Anakin in The Phantom Menace and Hayden Christensen covered the next two movies as well. Bob Anderson also stepped in for sword fighting scenes and C.Andre Nelson helped out a bit with the redux versions of the original trilogy.

4. Hayden also appeared as the costumed Vader in Revenge of the Sith. He apparently begged Lucas to let him play him. The suit had to be designed to accommodate his smaller stature than Prowse's.

5. While Return of the Jedi saw Luke return the favour to Vader and cut his arm off, the idea for it actually came from the expanded universe novel, ‘Splinter of the Mind's Eye’. This book was intended to be turned into a sequel to Star Wars but when that movie became so popular, the idea was abandoned.

6. Vader was actually the only Star Wars film character to lose an arm three times! And both his legs as well. Obi Wan Kenobi got 3 of his limbs in Revenge of the Sith! (he had the higher ground...).

7. Darth Vader was referenced in the film Back to the Future by Marty McFly as being from the planet Vulcan. No one was sure who was more upset - Star Wars fans or Trekkies!

8. Vader has his own theme song written by John Williams. Known as the Imperial March it was introduced in the Empire movie and used in Jedi and in the prequels to show when Anakin was turning to the dark side of the Force.

9. James Earl Jones is famed for providing the voice for Vader however he didn't do the famous breathing effect. This was done by Ben Burt placing a microphone inside the mouth piece of a breathing apparatus and recording it being used.

10. George Lucas at one stage considered using the great Orsen Welles as the voice actor.

11. Anakin Skywalker really is the ‘Chosen one’. While Yoda and Obi Wan may have thought a mistake had been made in the reading of the prophecy, Anakin was the one who actually killed Sith Lord Palpatine by throwing him down the Death Star’s reactor shaft in Jedi and thus restored balance to the Force.

DTC No.	Condition	Malfunction Indicator Lamp
P0031	Front HO2S heater circuit low input	ON
P0032	Front HO2S heater circuit high input	ON
P0037	Rear HO2S heater circuit low input	ON
P0038	Rear HO2S heater circuit high input	ON
P0101	MAF sensor circuit range/performance problem	ON
P0102	MAF sensor circuit low input	ON
P0103	MAF sensor circuit high input	ON
P0107	MAP sensor circuit low input	ON
P0108	MAP sensor circuit high input	ON
P0111	IAT sensor circuit range/performance problem	ON
P0112	IAT sensor circuit low input	ON
P0113	IAT sensor circuit high input	ON
P0117	ECT sensor circuit low input	ON
P0118	ECT sensor circuit high input	ON
P0121	TP sensor stuck closed	ON
P0122	TP sensor circuit low input	ON
P0123	TP sensor circuit high input	ON
P0125	Excessive time to enter closed loop fuel control	ON
P0132	Front HO2S circuit high input	ON
P0133	Front HO2S circuit problem	ON
P0134	Front HO2S no activity detected	ON
P0138	Rear HO2S circuit high input	ON
P0140	Rear HO2S no activity detected	ON
P0300	Random misfire detected	Flash/ON
P0301	Cylinder No.1 misfire detected	Flash/ON
P0302	Cylinder No.2 misfire detected	Flash/ON
P0303	Cylinder No.3 misfire detected	Flash/ON
P0304	Cylinder No.4 misfire detected	Flash/ON
P0327	KS circuit low input	ON
P0328	KS circuit high input	ON
P0335	CKP sensor circuit problem	ON
P0340	CMP sensor circuit problem	ON
P0403	EGR valve (stepper motor) circuit problem	ON
P0420	Catalyst system efficiency below threshold	ON
P0443	Purge solenoid valve circuit problem	ON
P0480	Cooling fan control circuit problem	OFF
P0500	VSS circuit problem	ON
P0505	IAC system problem	OFF
P0506	Idle control system RPM lower than expected	ON
P0507	Idle control system RPM higher than expected	ON
P0511	IAC valve circuit problem	ON
P0602	PCM programming error	ON
P0610	PCM vehicle options error	ON
P0661	Variable intake-air solenoid valve circuit low input	OFF
P0662	Variable intake-air solenoid valve circuit high input	OFF
P0703	Brake switch input circuit problem	ON
P0704	CPP switch input circuit problem	ON
P0706	Transaxle range (TR) switch circuit range/performance
P0707	Transaxle range (TR) switch circuit low input
P0708	Transaxle range (TR) switch circuit high input
P0711	Transaxle fluid temperature (TFT) sensor circuit range/performance (stuck)
P0712	Transaxle fluid temperature (TFT) sensor circuit malfunction (short to ground)
P0713	Transaxle fluid temperature (TFT) sensor circuit malfunction (open circuit)
P0715	Input/turbine speed sensor circuit malfunction
P0731	Gear 1 incorrect (incorrect gear ratio detected)
P0732	Gear 2 incorrect (incorrect gear ratio detected)
P0733	Gear 3 incorrect (incorrect gear ratio detected)
P0734	Gear 4 incorrect (incorrect gear ratio detected)
P0741	Torque converter clutch (TCC) (stuck off)
P0742	Torque converter clutch (TCC) (stuck on)
P0745	Pressure control solenoid malfunction
P0751	Shift solenoid A stuck off
P0752	Shift solenoid A stuck on
P0753	Shift solenoid A malfunction (electrical)
P0756	Shift solenoid B stuck off
P0757	Shift solenoid B stuck on
P0758	Shift solenoid B malfunction (electrical)
P0761	Shift solenoid C stuck off
P0762	Shift solenoid C stuck on
P0763	Shift solenoid C malfunction (electrical)
P0766	Shift solenoid D stuck off
P0767	Shift solenoid D stuck on
P0768	Shift solenoid D malfunction (electrical)
P0771	Shift solenoid E stuck off
P0772	Shift solenoid E stuck on
P0773	Shift solenoid E malfunction (electrical)
P0850	Neutral switch input circuit problem	ON
P0894	Forward clutch torque transmission
P1260	Immobilizer system problem	OFF
P2006	Variable tumble shutter valve stuck closed	ON
P2009	Variable tumble solenoid valve circuit low input	ON
P2010	Variable tumble solenoid valve circuit high input	ON
P2096	Target A/F feedback system too lean	ON
P2097	Target A/F feedback system too rich	ON
P2177	Fuel system too lean at off idle	ON
P2178	Fuel system too rich at off idle	ON
P2187	Fuel system too lean at idle	ON
P2188	Fuel system too rich at idle	ON
P2195	Front HO2S signal stuck lean	ON
P2196	Front HO2S signal stuck rich	ON
P2228	BARO sensor circuit low input	ON
P2229	BARO sensor circuit high input	ON
P2502	Charging system voltage problem	OFF
P2503	Charging system voltage low	OFF
P2504	Charging system voltage high	OFF
P2507	PCM B+ voltage low	ON
U0073	CAN system communication error
U0121	Communication error to ABS HU/CM
U0155	Communication error to instrument cluster

"Because I myself, and my own presence, has its beginnings in my mother": Utada Hikaru releases her much anticipated new album "Fantome"

--

Music listeners all over Japan have been waiting. It’s fair to say that this is not simply hyperbole. Finally ending her hiatus, her 6th original Japanese album and first in 8.5 years, “Fantome” will be released on September 28th. A French word meaning “ghost” or “shadow,” the album is a dedication to her mother who passed away in 2013. It’s her first step forward into a new chapter, and we talk with her and her feelings.

--

— This is you resuming activities after roughly 6 years…

When I announced my break, a lot of people were asking “Why?,” and I didn’t really know how to answer. I wouldn’t really say inertia, but once something starts moving it’s hard to stop, and when something’s stopped it’s hard to move. There was such an immediate commotion around my debut, and from there this identity of “Utada Hikaru” grew so much. The bigger it got, like a big truck it got hard to steer, and I found myself unable to choose my own direction. I thought, “This isn’t good,” so I decided to take a break.

— And now after 8.5 years, this new album. Why the title “Fantome”?

I knew that I wanted this album to be a dedication to my deceased mother, so I was thinking about this idea of Samsara (Buddhist idea of the cycle of death and rebirth) and the word “shadow.” There was a point where anything I laid my eyes on made me see my mother, and even seeing my son’s smile made me sad. But through the process of making this album, these jumbled feelings I was having became a bit more sorted. This feeling of, “Well if I’m feeling my mother’s presence as a shadow, that’s ok. Because I myself, and my own presence, has its beginnings in my mother.” And so as I was thinking about the title, I didn’t like the idea of using English like before, and the Japanese words that came to mind were just way too heavy, so this thought of “French seems to fit” came about. I began searching for French words, and I came across the word “Fantome,” which means ghost or shadow, and I thought “This is it!”

— I heard that the reaction from listeners to the songs “Hanataba wo Kimini” and “Manatsu no Tooriame” which were released digitally in April, had a big impact on the final album?

There were a lot of listeners who heard these 2 songs and realized, “I wonder if these are about her mother?” And it wasn’t sympathy, but more empathy or this sense of the importation of feelings. I had never really encountered with my own songs, where the reaction was so different from my expectation. And both in a good and bad sense, I’d never allowed that sort of reaction to influence my next material. But the reaction to these 2 songs in particular felt so positive to me, that unlike any other albums, I Iet the reactions influence the outcome. During the final half of the recording process, it felt like I received the courage to finish writing the remaining lyrics. The majority of the lyrics from the album were written in the roughly 3 months after that. Definitely the shortest recording up until now. With that being said, the theme for “Hanataba wo Kimini” and “Manatsu no Tooriame” was very delicate so it took a while, and 8.5 years is obviously a long time (lol). And, because everyone knew this was “about my mother,” I had this strong sense of responsibility to not make an album that would paint my mother’s face in mud.

— “Hanataba wo Kimini” was a song that was written specifically for NHK’s Asadora “Toto-Neechan,” correct?

Because it’s such a national program, more than usual I wanted to make the lyrical entry point as wide as possible. Like the (Japanese groups) OFF COURSE and TULIP, and also Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer,” I imagined something light and open, and that’s what I was aiming for. Something that a lot of different listeners could apply to a lot of different situations.

— On the other hand, “Manatsu no Tooriame” has very strong, literary lyrics. I was really taken aback by the beauty of the Japanese language.

For this song, before I even got started, I had made the decision to write the lyrics only in Japanese. I wanted to pursue the significance of singing in Japanese, and the idea of singing a true Japanese “song.” It didn’t seem like a song that had room for English, and it also felt that for me at this moment, using English would just be an easy “escape.” I didn’t want to feel the buzz of the Roman, but rather the natural stain of the Japanese language. I wanted something that could feel beautiful, now and ever.

— The album as a whole, other than a few words in English and French, are completely written in Japanese.

From the very early stages of production, I very consciously wanted to go to battle with this album as “Japanese language Pop music.” The English phrases in my lyrics up until were really used when I didn’t want to directly sing about something, or I just wanted to add some color. But this time, I only wanted to line up the most crucial Japanese words, and only sing lyrics that I felt were beautiful.

— The album jacket, shot by French photographer Julien Mignot, is also very beautiful and artistic.

Thank you so much. I had actually known him before. When I had met him he was just a fledgling photographer, but when I recently went to his website, I saw he was so popular and his photos had gotten so good (lol). With all of my album jackets up until now, one of my directors would suggest photographers, but this was the first time that I personally said, “I think this person is great, what do you think?” I personally contacted him, and all of the scheduling and location scouting was decided by the two of us, and we shot it in Paris. It was the first time where I didn’t feel this sense of work or roles, but just as a normal girl, meeting someone and having them take my photos. It felt very natural, very human, and very freeing. That also ended up tying into my confidence with this album.

— The album opens with the danceable track “Michi.” After going through your mother’s death, your marriage, the birth of your son, the oath like lyrics to the song feel like a frank condensation of all of your current feelings.

Yes. Like, “I’m alright! Let’s go!” (lol). Through the process of writing the lyrics to this song, I felt like I was able to grasp the true subject of this album. I felt relieved being able to say what I wanted to say.

— It’s been 8.5 years, and compared to your previous albums, your voice and lyrics sound even stronger, gentler, and I get the sense that you’ve really grown up.

Besides “Michi,” I made the arrangements of the tracks very minimal, to make sure that my voice and words could be clearly heard. It was to the point of saying, “If you can’t hear the words then there’s no point,” and so my singing too is a bit more gentle and polite.

— I’d agree. The 2nd track, “Ore no Kanojo” is much more adult than anything you’ve done.

This is a song that I’d been messing around with since before my hiatus began. At the demo stage, half of the lyrics were kind of a joke, but I decided I wanted to keep the “Ore no Kanojo” line (lol). I think because I debuted at such a young age, before my hiatus, the thought of directly talking about sex felt taboo. When I would ever hint at something erotic, I avoided expressing it in a direct way. But this time, it kinda felt like going from PG13 to R (lol). I think I imposed on myself a type of censorship, so this time I just really freely picked words. Even simple words like “Dakiau (to embrace)” I felt free to use, and coming to terms with “death” and “life,” I finally felt able to utilize this idea of “sex,” which is such an integral part of “life.”

— On this track, similar to the album title, you use French.

Without any previous experience or any clear calculation, the French words just kinda came to me and I was a little shocked. I think I maybe wanted something very cool and also just very sensual sounding. Moreso than English, French requires a very evocative vocalization method. And also, right when I finished writing the lyrics to this song, I started thinking through the album title.

— Well let me ask some questions about some other tracks. “Ningyo” is very unusual for your songs in that it has a very rustic, acoustic sound.

After my mother had passed away, at a point where I felt like “I don’t know if I can make music anymore,” I picked up a guitar and this song kinda just happened. This was another song that I really felt this urge to write a “beautiful Japanese language song,” hence I struggled a lot with the lyrics. I hemmed and hawed for about a year, and at a point where I just didn’t think I’d be able to reach my goal and was about to give up, all of a sudden these words started pouring out of me. I think due to this sense of accomplishment, this is the song I’m most proud of. Actually, in the original paper-cut MV for “Hanataba wo Kimini,” there’s a scene where this woman who’s been living in this village as a human, suddenly goes to the sea and jumps in and returns to her original form as a mermaid, and when I saw the original storyboards, I felt as if the artist was comforting me, warmly supporting me, and more than anything, just truly understood and accepted “Hanataba wo Kimini,” and I just couldn’t stop crying. And that’s where this mermaid motif took over.

— On “Kayou no Ookami” my ears were really taken by the sighing sounds.

During the final stage of production, when I had run out of ideas, just through sheer momentum this was quickly created (lol). When I was having tea with a friend, we were discussing how we both liked Hermann Hesse, and from there I remembered his novel “Steppenwolf,” and that’s where it tied into the lyrics. I undertook it after the main vocals had been all recorded, and the entire album recording session was ended with these sighs (lol). With “Hanataba wo Kimini” as well, I felt something was missing so I added in the sighs. Actually, using these “breaths” as expression is a mini theme of the album.

— The album comes to a close with “Sakura Nagashi”

There really wasn’t anywhere but the end that this song could be placed. Up until now, I’d take a tracklist proposal from the album production team and we’d all work through it together, but this time I did it on my own. So in that sense as well, with this album, in a lot of ways, as a project leader I had to really take control. Due to my mother’s death and also coming into my own as a mother, I had to suddenly become a proper adult. Knowing that no one else could show me what road to follow, and experiencing this frantic need to keep moving forward, allowed me to grasp a sense of confidence that I’ve never had.

— The lyrics, whether direct or indirect, use the motif of your “mother.” And yet, even though these songs are so personal, the quality of these songs is so high that everyone is able to share in that music. I just have so much admiration for that.

But don’t you think this theme of a “mother” is actually one of the most “pop” motifs? I’d say that for most people, your mother or some kind of presence similar to that, becomes the basis for your own nucleus, and your world sort of forms around that. I’d say that is very very “pop.”

— Yeah when you put it that way it makes sense.

I actually think that’s why the reception to “Hanataba wo Kimini” was so strong. And I think that’s why right now, more than anytime before, I have a strong sense of trust with the listeners.

— Then finally, for you, what sort of album did “Fantome” turn out to be?

It’s an album that I was able to “accept,” and have “accepted.” I wouldn’t call it self-therapy, but listening back to “Michi,” I’ve begun to think “I’m not sad. I’m gonna be alright.” It also might be the first time that I’ve felt this sense of, “listen to this!” so strongly (lol). It’s an album that I really want people to hear. If some kind of feeling can reach the listener, and be accepted, I’d be happy. I plan on continuing to make music after this, but I really don’t think I’ll be able to make an album like this again.

Original interview in Japanese: http://trendnews.yahoo.co.jp/archives/450841/

Star-Spangled Bigotry: The Hidden Racist History of the National Anthem

Most people don’t know there’s more than one verse to the national anthem, and it’s the third that’s a doozy.

 

 

 

Americans generally get a failing grade when it comes to knowing our “patriotic songs.” I know more people who can recite “America, F–k Yeah” from Team America than “America the Beautiful.” “Yankee Doodle”? No one older than a fifth-grader in chorus class remembers the full song. “God Bless America”? More people know the Rev. Jeremiah Wright remix than the actual full lyrics of the song. Most black folks don’t even know “the black national anthem.” (There’s a great story about Bill Clinton being at an NAACP meeting where he was the only one who knew it past the first line. Bill Clinton: Woke in the ’90s.)

In the case of our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” perhaps not knowing the full lyrics is a good thing. It is one of the most racist, pro-slavery, anti-black songs in the American lexicon, and you would be wise to cut it from your Fourth of July playlist.
“The Star-Spangled Banner,” as most Americans know it, is only a couple of lines. In fact, if you look up the song on Google, only the most famous lyrics pop up on Page 1:

Oh say can you see,
By the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed,
At the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars,
Through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched,
Were so gallantly streaming.
And thy rocket’s red glare,
Thy bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through thee night,
That our flag was still there.
Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

The story, as most of us are told, is that Francis Scott Key was a prisoner on a British ship during the War of 1812 and wrote this poem while watching the American troops battle back the invading British in Baltimore. That—as is the case with 99 percent of history that is taught in public schools and regurgitated by the mainstream press—is less than half the story.
To understand the full “Star-Spangled Banner” story, you have to understand the author. Key was an aristocrat and city prosecutor in Washington, D.C. He was, like most enlightened men at the time, not against slavery; he just thought that since blacks were mentally inferior, masters should treat them with more Christian kindness. He supported sending free blacks (not slaves) back to Africa and, with a few exceptions, was about as pro-slavery, anti-black and anti-abolitionist as you could get at the time.
Of particular note was Key’s opposition to the idea of the Colonial Marines. The Marines were a battalion of runaway slaves who joined with the British Royal Army in exchange for their freedom. The Marines were not only a terrifying example of what slaves would do if given the chance, but also a repudiation of the white superiority that men like Key were so invested in.
All of these ideas and concepts came together around Aug. 24, 1815, at the Battle of Bladensburg, where Key, who was serving as a lieutenant at the time, ran into a battalion of Colonial Marines. His troops were taken to the woodshed by the very black folks he disdained, and he fled back to his home in Georgetown to lick his wounds. The British troops, emboldened by their victory in Bladensburg, then marched into Washington, D.C., burning the Library of Congress, the Capitol Building and the White House. You can imagine that Key was very much in his feelings seeing black soldiers trampling on the city he so desperately loved.
A few weeks later, in September of 1815, far from being a captive, Key was on a British boat begging for the release of one of his friends, a doctor named William Beanes. Key was on the boat waiting to see if the British would release his friend when he observed the bloody battle of Fort McHenry in Baltimore on Sept. 13, 1815. America lost the battle but managed to inflict heavy casualties on the British in the process. This inspired Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner” right then and there, but no one remembers that he wrote a full third stanza decrying the former slaves who were now working for the British army:

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

In other words, Key was saying that the blood of all the former slaves and “hirelings” on the battlefield will wash away the pollution of the British invaders. With Key still bitter that some black soldiers got the best of him a few weeks earlier, “The Star-Spangled Banner” is as much a patriotic song as it is a diss track to black people who had the audacity to fight for their freedom. Perhaps that’s why it took almost 100 years for the song to become the national anthem.

“I support people having a gun in public full stop, not just in your home. We don’t have the right to bear arms because of burglars; we have the right to bear arms to resist the supreme power of a corrupt and abusive government. It’s not about duck hunting; it’s about the ability of the individual. It’s the same reason we have freedom of speech. It’s well known that the greatest defense against an intruder is the sound of a gun hammer being pulled back. All these gun shootings that have gone down in America since 1950, only one or maybe two have happened in non-gun-free zones. Take mass shootings. They’ve only happened in places that don’t allow guns. These people are sick in the head and are going to kill innocent people. They are looking to slaughter defenceless human beings. They do not want confrontation. In all of our schools it is illegal to have guns on campus, so again and again these guys go and shoot up these f***ing schools because they know there are no guns there. They are monsters killing six-year-olds.” (source)

“The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al-Qaeda, and any informed intelligence officer knows this. But, there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an intensified entity representing the ‘devil’ only in order to drive TV watchers to accept a unified international leadership for a war against terrorism. The country behind this propaganda is the United States.” – Former British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook

Edward Snowden is a hero. I like what he did. My idea of treason is that you sell secrets to the enemy. He gave information to the American people. Snowden didn’t take information for money or dogmas. Governments claim to write endless laws to protect us, a law for this, a law for that, but are they working? I don’t think so. The consequences are that there is a staggering loss of freedom for the individual. I look at the drug wars and they are absolutely f***ing ridiculous. There is a black market and the prisons are overcrowded and it’s not preventing drug use. There’s a corruption that goes all the way to the top.

will guide us through bad and good times

Praise to the Most High, Jah Rastafarai

O Most High Heavenly Jah, please bless those who are still blind

Those on the verge of knowing you and those who want to know you more  Thank you for your Word which comes in many different forms to us earthly people

I thank you Jah for my everyday life

Blessed be my family, enemies and friends

May all the souls of the good departed Rest In Peace

 Jah Bless

Our Father who is in the highest mountain of Zion

The bread that we need everyday bring it to us today

For you are the father of peace love and harmony

Bring unity among Jah people

Prevent any evil men from controlling Our destiny

Praise in the name of Jah Ras Tafari

When one is frustrated, when their hopes are dashed, when they are greatly disappointed.

That is a great trial on our rational mind. 

Whenever you feel disappointment, that is the time you must reach for The Creator to give you balance, because at that moment of insanity you may hurt yourself, and others as well.

Can we end the thumb pandemic? 

Truth is, no one can get your information from your License Plate unless you're an upstanding member of our community. (DMV, Cop, Lawyer, etc) 

It's called the Drivers Privacy Protection Act and it was signed on September 13th, 1994 by President Bill Clinton. 

If you're still worried someone can get your information.. 

Think about this: 

Your license plate is on display EVERYWHERE you drive.

Yes, every time you drive your vehicle on a public street someone sees it, and guess what? 

You're still alive, you still have your vehicle. 

 No one will get your address, social security number, phone number, senior yearbook photo, or any other information from it. 

So let's save the thumbs.  

Please feel free to share this post on all buy/sell and car pages.

--
Email baby!

Let's imagine... if you glimpsed the future, you were frightened by what you saw, what would you do with that information?

You would go to... the politicians, captains of industry?

And how would you convince them? Data? Facts? Good luck!

The only facts they won't challenge are the ones that keep the wheels greased and the dollars rolling in.

But what if... what if there was a way of skipping the middle man and putting the critical news directly into everyone's head?

The probability of wide-spread annihilation kept going up.

The only way to stop it was to show it. To scare people straight.

Because, what reasonable human being wouldn't be galvanized by the potential destruction of everything they've ever known or loved?

To save civilization, I would show its collapse.

But, how do you think this vision was received?

How do you think people responded to the prospect of imminent doom?

They gobbled it up like a chocolate eclair! They didn't fear their demise, they re-packaged it.

It could be enjoyed as video-games, as TV shows, books, movies, the entire world wholeheartedly embraced the apocalypse

You know, I remember when I was a kid growing up, people would say, ' if you learn a skill, work hard, and keep your nose clean, eventually you're gonna get your reward'; you know, you think like that today, they call you a 'chump', a 'loser'...

cut orange wire

               “Where must we go, we who wander this wasteland, in search of our better selves.”

I see it as a (back then) youngster's reaction to the prejudices of the big city people who were at the cutting edge in fashion, culture, music (almost to the point where even rotten punks, in London, were looking better than them) towards four miserably looking boys wandering for the purpose of a record deal - "I'm more than you see, more than you let me be"; they were still holding hope they would have broken into that world - "You don't see me, but you will" / "I'm leaving the invisible world" - by means of music as expression of a vivid soul as opposed to the surface that everyone was looking at. I see "I won't be my father's son" as "I won't be Paul anymore, I will be Bono". Eventually, that contrast is broken with "There is no them", which can sound as a plain "Who fuckin' cares" or, in a wiser, adult point of view, as if that contrast is ultimately solved as the music is able to reach the most "different" dude.

Violence doesn’t end violence. It extends it.

The sound of Entreat Plus has nothing to do with digital vs analog or anything like that. It is just piss-poor mixing and mastering. Period. The original Entreat was mixed to be wide open and airy... there was lots of space between the instruments, and even each individual drum. You could easily identify any sound of any single instrument at any point in any song. The new mix is completely devoid of this. All of the sound is almost dead center in the mix... it's almost completely mono and it's missing any sense of dynamic range.

I believe that the packaging stated something to the effect of "Mixed @ Home by R. Smith". Well, there is no doubt of this at all, it sounds exactly like something that was created in the bedroom studio of a beginner recordist.... or by somebody with ears blasted to hell by over 30 years of performing loud rock music.

                           it's currently a choice of which dumpster fire will hurt the least to jump into.

Now you say you're lonely
You cry the long night through
Well, you can cry me a river
Cry me a river
I cried a river over you
Now you say you're sorry
For being so untrue
Well, you can cry me a river
Cry me a river
I cried a river over you
 

You drove me, nearly drove me, out of my head
While you never shed a tear
Remember, I remember, all that you said?
You told me love was too plebeian
Told me you were through with me and

Now you say you love me
Well, just to prove that you do
Come on and cry me a river
Cry me a river
I cried a river over you
I cried a river over you
I cried a river, over you

You drove me, nearly drove me, out of my head
While you never shed a tear
Remember, I remember, all that you said?
You told me love was too plebeian
Told me you were through with me and

Now you say you love me
Well, just to prove that you do
Come on and cry, cry, cry me a river
Cry me a river
I cried, I cried, I cried a river over you
 

If my pillow talk, imagine what it would have said
Could it be a river of tears I cried instead?
Well you can cry me a river
Go ahead and cry me a river
'Cause I cried, I cried a river over you
How I cried a river over you

"Is that what God does? He helps?
Tell me, why didn't God help my innocent friend who died for no reason while the guilty ran free?
Okay. Fine. Forget the one offs. How about the countless wars declared in his name?
Okay. Fine. Let's skip the random, meaningless murder for a second, shall we?
How about the racist, sexist, phobia soup we've all been drowning in because of him?
And I'm not just talking about Jesus. I'm talking about all organized religion. Exclusive groups created to manage control.
A dealer getting people hooked on the drug of hope. His followers, nothing but addicts who want their hit of bullshit to keep their dopamine of ignorance.
Addicts.
Afraid to believe the truth. That there's no order. There's no power. That all religions are just metastasizing mind worms, meant to divide us so it's easier to rule us by the charlatans that wanna run us.
All we are to them are paying fanboys of their poorly-written sci-fi franchise.
If I don't listen to my imaginary friend, why the fuck should I listen to yours?
People think their worship's some key to happiness. That's just how he owns you.
Even I'm not crazy enough to believe that distortion of reality.
So fuck God. He's not a good enough scapegoat for me."

Is any of it real? I mean, look at this. Look at it! A world built on fantasy. Synthetic emotions in the form of pills. Psychological warfare in the form of advertising. Mind-altering chemicals in the form of... food! Brainwashing seminars in the form of media. Controlled isolated bubbles in the form of social networks. Real? You want to talk about reality? We haven't lived in anything remotely close to it since the turn of the century. We turned it off, took out the batteries, snacked on a bag of GMOs while we tossed the remnants in the ever-expanding Dumpster of the human condition. We live in branded houses trademarked by corporations built on bipolar numbers jumping up and down on digital displays, hypnotizing us into the biggest slumber mankind has ever seen. You have to dig pretty deep, kiddo, before you can find anything real. We live in a kingdom of bullshit. A kingdom you've lived in for far too long. So don't tell me about not being real. I'm no less real than the fucking beef patty in your Big Mac.

any government that relies on violence to answer it's problems must be removed.

i'm afraid that one day the darkness surrounding my soul will win
my heart and mind is drowning in despair and sorrow