T.R.A.C.S at Timothy Plaza on River Island
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Evil Fictional Characters
Evil can
come in all forms: man, woman, child, adult, real, perceived, clown, doctor…you
get it. There is much evidence on this
earth to back up its existence, and has been throughout history, but some of
the best depictions of evil have appeared as fiction–which is much better than
having it in actuality. Some inspired by
actual evil individuals, others are purely abstract and fantastical- here is
the top ten embodiments of pure evil in fiction:
Top 10 Pure
Evil Fictional Characters
10. Cruella
Deville
Is the main
antagonist of Dodie Smith's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, Disney's
1961 animated film adaptation One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and Disney's
live-action film adaptations 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians. As far as any
animal rights advocate is concerned, Cruella might as well be Hitler. She
desires nothing more than to see upwards of 101 puppies slaughtered in the name
of pompous, polka-dotted fashion. Just hear her piercing banshee scream and
observe that menacing look in her eyes, and you’ll soon realize she was born
without a heart, but with a huge taste for dog fur.
9. Dr. No
Dr. No is
the quintessential Bond villain: secret
underground lair, giant laser beam, member of an elite terrorist organization
called S.P.E.C.T.R.E. He is the
archetype on which every Bond villain parody is based. While his laser beam is designed to little
more than hinder the U.S. ’s efforts in the Space Race, it
does seem that this individual has nothing but the most evil intentions- he is
after more than just a hefty ransom. Of
course he wouldn’t be the last villain whose defeat–as guaranteed by Sean
Connery–would be celebrated with martinis and sex.
8. Sauron
Sauron is
the titular character of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
If Mordor
is Hell on Middle-Earth, then Sauron is the devil, with his pervasive and
all-seeing eye. Under his dominion is an
army full of brutish orcs and other hell beasts who wage war on neighboring
races, meanwhile the all-powerful and much-sought-after ‘ring’ he originally
forged has the power to entice and corrupt men, rendering them junkie-like
slaves to its power. And as we know, too
much of a good thing can be horrendous.
7. Hannibal Lecter
suspense novels by Thomas
Harris.
This
cannibal has a literal appetite for evil.
He is a man with refined taste in every way; he even considers human
flesh a rare delicacy–one that he’ll make the effort to track down. This is where his true complexity of
character comes in; Lecter will attend an opera in tuxedo but then proceed to
barbarously and remorselessly slaughter a man to see what his insides taste
like with some fava beans and a bottle of chianti. He also–while captive inside the most secure
holding cell imaginable–helps detectives (i.e. Clarice Starling in Silence of
the Lambs and Will Graham in Red Dragon) track other serial killers, seemingly
just for the sport in it, equipped with a brain that treats life like one giant
chess game. He also thrives on how much
said detectives rely on his insight, delighting to no end in watching them
squirm for it.
6. The
Joker
Adorned with twisted clown makeup, the Joker
thrives on chaos and mayhem. He has been
characterized a few different ways depending on which comic series you
subscribe to; more often than not, however, he is a homicidal maniac who takes
joy in his own sadistically warped sense of humor. His calling card is an unnatural grin left
on the faces of his victims. Only Gotham ’s greatest Samaritan could possibly
keep his appetite for destruction in check.
5.
Voldemort
Lord
Voldemort (born Tom Marvolo Riddle) is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's
Harry Potter series. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is spoken about with the same
abstractly-repulsive fear as Evangelical Christians would Satan himself. The
wizard community, similarly, thinks the very mention of him is enough to summon
him, as powerful as he is in his Dark Arts.
He cannot truly be killed, it seems, as his serpentine face always seems
to resurrect with the aid of his evil underlings. Voldemort kills without regret and is a
veritable bigot, despising impure blood in spite of his own mixed quantum. Also, there is no more classic symbol of evil
than a snake, which is the emblem of everything he is connected to (e.g.
Slytherin, that snake-language Harry can somehow speak, the basilisk from the
Chamber of Secrets, etc.).
4. Emperor
Palpatine
Palpatine is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the Star Wars franchise.
Palpatine is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the Star Wars franchise.
What we
have here is the hyperbolic quintessence of a corrupt politician. Starting out (humbly?) as a senator, he soon
acquired a greediness for power, and a Macbethian willingness to let all suffer
who stand in his way. One part of a
larger embodiment of evil, Palpatine figureheads the Sith–a.k.a the ‘dark
side’–which holds itself diametrically opposed to all things good, just, and
pure (i.e. what a Jedi knight is supposed to be). Affiliations aside, the evil is immediately
visible by the smile on his decrepit old face–and subsequent evil laughter–as
he tortures his enemies with his finger-lightning.
3. Iago
Iago is a
fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello (c. 1601–04). The play's main
antagonist, Iago is the 'Ancient' (standard bearer) of General Othello as well
as being husband of Emilia, who is in turn the attendant of Othello's wife
Desdemona. Iago hates Othello (who is also known as "The Moor") and
devises a plan to destroy him by making him believe that his wife is having an
affair with his lieutenant, Michael Cassio.
Biblically-speaking,
deception is supposed to be the greatest form of evil, harkening back to the
Garden of Eden, where the devil convinced Eve to eat the apple of wisdom, and
man gained the capacity for dishonesty.
That, then, makes Iago from Othello one of the most evil characters in
the Shakespearean canon. (Lady Macbeth is up there too, self-described as the
‘snake lying beneath the flowers.’) He
is a man who’ll do anything for power and promotion, which means lying,
killing, conniving and feigning sincerity.
He sets a number of traps to have fellow soldier Cassio–who received a
promotion Iago felt he deserved–ousted. [spoiler alert ] Ultimately, he
convinces Othello that his wife Desdemona is being unfaithful, to the point of
murderous jealousy (he smothers her to death and then proceeds to kill himself
out of guilt). All this waste lain, and
Iago feels no contrition (he killed his own wife after she ratted him out).
2. Damien
Damien
is–at least in the 1976 film the Omen– the anti-christ, the devil’s jackal-born
son. With the family’s name on his
head–literally, it’s etched there– Damien is expected to raise a lot of hell. And he does at every attempt, riding his big
wheels around the house, in a pre-meditated attempt to kill his adoptive mother
and her unborn child. All the while,
Damien’s adoptive father, a U.S. ambassador for England , makes it his mission to rid the
world of this ‘evil incarnate.’
1. Count
Dracula
Bram Stoker’s
pale face of evil may be incredibly horrible in fictional terms, but much more
so is the actual person Dracula is based on: Vlad the Impaler, whose family
name–as it turned out–was Dracula. Vlad,
as a ruler and prince of Wallachia , was wickedly enthusiastic about unspeakably cruel acts of torture in
high volumes, ranging from blinding to genital mutilation to (his favorite act)
impalement–a slow, graphic death. His
M.O. was fear, effectively-achieved through the agonizing visuals evoked by him
feasting undisturbed while an executioner dismembered corpses beside him, or
20,000 impaled bodies rotting outside of his capital. This legendary lack of sympathy is made more
sinister by Stoker’s imagination, where Dracula has a literal bloodthirst and
kills and fornicates with equal and undivided pleasure.
Source: Ryan Thomas
on Character structure
A character structure is a system of
relatively permanent traits that are manifested in the specific ways that an
individual relates and reacts to others, to various kinds of stimuli, and to
the environment. A child whose nurture and/or education are not ideal, living
in a treacherous environment and interacting with adults who do not take the
long-term interests of the child to heart will be more likely to form a pattern
of behavior that suits the child to avoid the challenges put forth by a malign
social environment. The means that the child invents to make the best of a
hostile environment. Although this may serve the child well while in that bad
environment, it may also cause the child to react in inappropriate ways, ways
damaging to his or her own interests, when interacting with people in a more
ideal social context. Major trauma that occurs later in life, even in
adulthood, can sometimes have a profound effect. See post-traumatic stress
disorder. However, character may also develop in a positive way according to
how the individual meets the psychosocial challenges of the life cycle
(Erikson).
Theories
Freud
Sigmund Freud's first
paper on character described the anal character consisting of stubbornness,
stinginess and extreme neatness. He saw this as a reaction formation to the
child's having to give up pleasure in anal eroticism.The positive version of this
character is the conscientious, inner directed obsessive. Freud also described
the erotic character as both loving and dependent. And the narcissistic
character as the natural leader, aggressive and independent because of not
internalizing a strong super-ego.
Fromm
For Erich Fromm
character develops as the way in which an individual structures modes of
assimilation and relatedness.The character types are almost identical to
Freud's but Fromm gives them different names: receptive, hoarding, and
exploitative. Fromm adds the marketing type to describe individuals who
continually adapt the self to succeed in the new service economy. For Fromm,
character types can be productive or unproductive. Fromm notes that character
structures develop in each individual to enable him or her to interact
successfully within a given society and adapt to its mode of production and
social norms, (see social character) and may be very counter-productive when
used in a different society.
Fromm got his
ideas about character structure from two associates/students of Freud, Sándor
Ferenczi and Wilhelm Reich. It is Reich who really developed the concept from
Ferenczi, and added to it an exploration of character structure as it applies
to body structure and development as well mental life.
Reich
For Wilhelm
Reich, character structures are based upon blocks—chronic, unconsciously held
muscular contractions—against awareness of feelings. The blocks result from
trauma: the child learns to limit their awareness of strong feelings as their
needs are thwarted by parents who meet cries for fulfillment with neglect or
punishment. Reich argued for five basic character structures, each with its own
body type developed as a result of the particular blocks created due to
deprivation or frustration of the child's stage-specific needs:
- The schizoid structure, which could result in full blown schizophrenia: this is the result of not feeling wanted by hostile parents, even in the womb. There is a fragmentation of both body and mind with this structure.
- The oral structure: from deprivation of warmth and milk from the mother, around age 1. The oral structure adopts an attitude of "you do it for me, because you didn't nurture me when I was young." Shoulders are usually hunched, head bent forward, wrists and ankles weak, as if to say, "I can't get it for myself."
- The psychopath or upwardly displaced structure: this wound, around the age of 3, is around the parent manipulating, emotionally molesting the child, seducing them into feeling "special," for the parent's own narcisstic needs. The child resolves to never again permit themselves to be vulnerable, and so decides to instead manipulate and overpower others with their will. The body is well developed above, weak below, as the psychopath pulls away from the ground and attempts to overpower from above. This structure has variations, depending on the admixture with prior wounds: the overbearing is the pure type, the submissive is mixed with oral, the withdrawing, with schizoid.
- The masochist structure: this wound occurs when the parent refuses to allow the child to say "no," the first step in setting boundaries. The child seeks relief from the rage that builds up underneath bounded muscle and fat, by provoking punishment from others.
- The rigid: this wound occurs around the time of the first puberty, the age of 4. The child's sexuality is not affirmed by the parent, but instead shamed or denied. This structure seeks to prove to the parents and others that the child is worthy of love. The rigid structure is often beautifully harmonious, but there is a physical split around the diaphragm between heart and pelvis: love and sex. This person has trouble with being aware of their emotions, which are strong, yet buried. The rigid structure has many substructures, depending on the exact nature of the wound, the admixture with other pre-rigid (oedipal) structures, and the gender: in women, the masculine aggressive, hysterical, and the alternating; in men, the phallic narcissist, the compulsive, and the passive feminine.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
BAD
BAD (word)
adj. worse , worst
1. Not achieving an adequate standard;
poor: a bad concert.
bad grammar |
2. Evil; sinful.
3. Vulgar or obscene: bad language.
4. Informal Disobedient or naughty: bad
children.
5. Disagreeable, unpleasant, or disturbing:
a bad piece of news.
6. Unfavorable: bad reviews for the play.
7. Not fresh; rotten or spoiled: bad meat.
8. Injurious in effect; detrimental: bad
habits.
9. Not working properly; defective: a bad
telephone connection.
10. Full of or exhibiting faults or errors:
bad grammar.
11. Having no validity; void: passed bad
checks.
12. Being so far behind in repayment as to
be considered a loss: bad loans.
13. Severe; intense: a bad cold.
14. a. Being in poor health or in pain: I
feel bad today.
b. Being in poor condition; diseased: bad
lungs.
15. Sorry; regretful: She feels bad about
how she treated you.
16. bad·der, bad·dest Slang Very good;
great.
Usage Note: Bad is often used as an adverb
in sentences such as The house was shaken up pretty bad or We need water bad.
This usage is common in informal speech but is widely regarded as unacceptable
in formal writing. In an earlier survey, the sentence His tooth ached so bad he
could not sleep was unacceptable to 92 percent of the Usage Panel. · The use of
badly with want was once considered incorrect but is now entirely acceptable:
We wanted badly to go to the beach. · The adverb badly is often used after
verbs such as feel, as in I felt badly about the whole affair. This usage bears
analogy to the use of other adverbs with feel, such as strongly in We feel
strongly about this issue. Some people prefer to maintain a distinction between
feel badly and feel bad, restricting the former to emotional distress and using
the latter to cover physical ailments; however, this distinction is not
universally observed, so feel badly should be used in a context that makes its
meaning clear. · Badly is used in some regions to mean "unwell," as
in He was looking badly after the accident. Poorly is also used in this way. In
an earlier survey, however, the usage was found unacceptable in formal writing
by 75 percent of the Usage Panel.
Our Living Language Most people might think
that the slang usage of bad to mean its opposite, "excellent," is a
recent innovation of Black English. While it is of Black English origin, this
usage has been recorded for over a century; the first known example dates from
1897. Even earlier, beginning in the 1850s, the word appears in the sense
"formidable, very tough," as applied to persons. Whether or not the
two usages are related, they both illustrate a favorite creative device of informal
and slang languageusing a word to mean the opposite of what it
"really" means. This is by no means uncommon; people use words
sarcastically to mean the opposite of their actual meanings on a daily basis.
What is more unusual is for such a usage to be generally accepted within a
larger community. Perhaps when the concepts are as basic as "good"
and "bad" this general acceptance is made easier. A similar instance
is the word uptight, which in the 1960s enjoyed usage in the sense "excellent"
alongside its now-current, negative meaning of "stiff." Reasonably
good.
BAD (U2 song)
"Bad" is a song by rock band U2
and the seventh track from their 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire. A song
about heroin addiction, it is considered a fan favourite, and is one of U2's
most frequently performed songs in concert. A performance of the song at 1985's Live
Aid was a career breakthrough for the band.
The live version included as the opening
track of the Wide Awake in America EP is frequently chosen for airplay by radio
DJs ahead of the studio version. The song is featured on the
trailer of Brothers and in the opening sequence of Taking Lives.
History
"Bad" began with an improvised
guitar riff during a jam session at Slane Castle where U2 were recording The
Unforgettable Fire. The basic track was completed in three takes. Of its
immediate and live nature, U2 guitarist The Edge said "There's one moment
where Larry puts down brushes and takes up the sticks and it creates this pause
which has an incredibly dramatic effect." Producer Brian Eno added the
sequencer arpeggios that accompany the song.
The early 1980s recession had led to high
number of heroin addicts in inner city Dublin. In concert, lead vocalist Bono
frequently introduced the song as a song about Dublin. The Edge and the
album's producers, Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, were focused on the music and
less interested in the lyrics. Bono left the song unfinished.
During a July 26, 2011 concert in
Pittsburgh, Bono explained before a performance of "Bad" that the
song was written for "very special man, who is here in your city, who grew
up on Cedarwood Road. We wrote this song about him and we play it for him
tonight." He was referring to Andy Rowen, whom the song was originally
written about in 1984 and who was present at the show. Rowen is brother of
Bono's Lypton Village friend Guggi and Peter Rowen, who is featured on the
sleeve artwork for the band's albums Boy and War.
Monday, July 28, 2014
ZZ TOP PARTY @ T.R.A.C.S
Thursday, July 24, 2014
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in
1969 in Houston , Texas . The band comprises guitarist and lead vocalist Billy Gibbons,
bassist and co-lead vocalist Dusty Hill, and drummer Frank Beard. One of the
few major label recording groups to have held the same lineup for more than
forty years, ZZ Top has been praised by critics and fellow musicians alike for
their technical mastery. Of the group, music writer Cub Koda said "As
genuine roots musicians, they have few peers; Gibbons is one of America 's
finest blues guitarists working in the arena rock idiom ... while Hill and
Beard provide the ultimate rhythm section support."
Since the release of the band's debut album
in January 1971, ZZ Top has become known for its strong blues roots and
humorous lyrical motifs, relying heavily on double entendres and innuendo. ZZ
Top's musical style has changed over the years, beginning with blues-inspired
rock on their early albums, then incorporating new wave, punk rock and
dance-rock, with heavy use of synthesizers.
ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in 2004. As a group, ZZ Top possesses 11 gold records and 7
platinum (13 multi-platinum) records; their 1983 album, Eliminator, remains the
group's most commercially successful record, selling over 10 million units. ZZ
Top also ranks 80th in U.S. album sales, with 25 million units. ZZ Top has sold over 50 million
albums worldwide.
Gimme All Your Lovin'
"Gimme All
Your Lovin'" is a song by ZZ Top from their 1983 album Eliminator. The
song was released as the album's first single in 1983.
Initially unsuccessful
in the UK upon its early 1984 release, in the wake of the band's American
success (the single reached no. 37 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart), it was
promptly re-released, and reached no. 10 on the UK Singles Chart. It ties with
the band's 1992 cover of Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas" as their
highest-charting single in the UK. The song was produced by band manager Bill
Ham, and recorded and mixed by Terry Manning.
Music video
The video
features ZZ Top playing at a gas station, and introduces classic ZZ elements
such as the red "ZZ Eliminator Car," the "ZZ
Keychain" and the "Three ZZ Girls" as heroines. It is the first
of a ZZ Top music video series. It was directed by Tim Newman.
Gimme All Your Lovin' Lyrics
I got to have a shot
Of what you got it's oh, so sweet
You
got to make it hot
Like a boomerang I need a repeat
Gimme all your lovin'
All your hugs and kisses too
Gimme all your lovin'
Don't let up until we're through
You got to whip it up
And hit me like a ton of lead
If I blow my top
Will you let it go to your head?
Gimme all your lovin'
All your hugs and kisses too
Gimme all your lovin'
Don't let up until we're through
[Incomprehensible]
You got to move it up
And use it like a screwball would
You
got to pack it up
And work it like a new boy should
Gimme all your lovin'
All your hugs and kisses too
Gimme all your lovin'
Don't let up until we're through
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
The Netherlands mourns
Flags on government and private buildings are at half mast in the Netherlands on Wednesday at the start of an official day of mourning to remember those who died on flight MH17. It is the first time the Netherlands has declared a day of public mourning since the death of queen Wilhelmina in 1962.
In total, 193 Dutch nationals died when the Boeing 777 travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was brought down in rebel-held Ukraine, close to the Russian border a week ago. Many were families leaving for their summer holiday. The dead include 80 teenagers, children and babies.
The first planes brought back the bodies of 40 victims and they arrive at Eindhoven air base at 16.00 hours today.
In total, 193 Dutch nationals died when the Boeing 777 travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was brought down in rebel-held Ukraine, close to the Russian border a week ago. Many were families leaving for their summer holiday. The dead include 80 teenagers, children and babies.
The first planes brought back the bodies of 40 victims and they arrive at Eindhoven air base at 16.00 hours today.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
FROM OUTER SPACE PARTY at T.R.A.C.S
had our FROM OUTER SPACE party at T.R.A.C.S.
It was DJ Zee's first occurrence as deejay in
our club.
DJ Zee had made a great set and Tim and I
loved his performance, so we will see him more often as deejay
at T.R.A.C.S.
at T.R.A.C.S.
Here are the snap shots I made.
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