Archive for the ‘Civilisation/ History’ Category
Childish Gambino
Thursday, May 31st, 2018
10 Symbols You Missed in Childish Gambino’s ‘This is America’, Explained
Donald Glover a.k.a. Childish Gambino’s newest single “This Is America” is a catchy track, but what has people really talking is its music video.
The best videos are always the ones where viewers are enticed to go back for multiple views, and look a little harder for something they might have missed the first time around. “This Is America” is exactly that.
The video expertly tackles not just the warped landscape of the United States, but touches on cultural points from the past that have led us to where we are now. Gambino and the video’s director, Hiro Murai, are both subtle and incredibly blunt about getting the message across.
The video which takes place entirely in a warehouse is shot single-camera style, and touches heavily on gun culture and its ties to the African-American experience. Gambino’s dancing and smirking grin might give an illusion of joy at first, but even in that there lies a darker message.
Here’s the meaning behind the powerful references of the video:
1. Jim Crow pose.
Fifty seconds into the video, Gambino executes a hooded man who seconds earlier was strumming a guitar to the song.. As the man falls to the ground and is quickly dragged away, the gun is delicately handed off to a man who cradles it in a cloth. T
2. Minstrel show face.
One of the more subtle references that might be difficult for even the most “woke” viewer is Glover’s smirk at the camera. As writer Blue Telusma points out, this isn’t just Glover casually making a goofy face, but a nod at racism from the minstrel show era. “It appears Glover is also keenly aware of the dehumanizing, grotesque and cartoonish way Black people used to be portrayed to white audiences,”
3. The gunned down choir.
There’s no missing the message when Gambino pulls out an assault rifle and guns down the choir that is singing behind him. It’s a direct and in-your-face reference to the 2015 Charleston, South Carolina massacre in which white supremacist Dylann Roof opened fire in a black church. “Childish Gambino really made a reference to the Charleston church shooting that happened in 2015,” “He shows how mass shootings are normalized in America, even if you’re shooting up a place of worship.”
4. Death gets a police escort.
Throwing a white horse in your music video isn’t at first a groundbreaking move. The symbolism here isn’t meant to showcase the beautiful animal though, but rather a Biblical reference to the end times. Revelation 6:8 mentions Death riding a pale horse; in this case, we see a dark cloaked figure galloping on a white horse along with a police escort.
5. Viral violence.
It’s quick, but at 2:28 the camera pans past a group of teens casually watching the chaos and filming it all with their phones. the white bandanas over their mouths could be seen as a symbolism of a white supremacist system attempting to muzzle police brutality.
6. All the empty cars.
Older model empty cars populate the video. Sometimes they’re on fire, other times a door is merely left hanging open with the hazard lights flashing. the empty cars represent the news stories of black men killed by police during traffic stops. the empty and abandoned cars could represent the stalled economic mobility of many black Americans.
7. The warehouse itself.
Yes, even the warehouse is believed to have a meaning. After all, Gambino and the director could have chosen any location to shoot the video, so why a warehouse? Some on social media believe that the greyish white warehouse could represent the structure that America is built on, one of white supremacy.
8. 17 seconds of silence.
At 2:44 the music cuts and Gambino mimics firing a gun before lighting a joint with the music coming back in at 3:01. That’s 17 seconds of silence, with some believing it is yet one of the video’s many ways of denouncing gun violence. Only in this instance, the 17 seconds of silence is done in reference to the 17 people who lost their lives in the Parkland, Florida school shooting.
9. The sunken place.
The video’s final scene has Gambino desperately running while being chased down by a mob of strangers is believed to reference the 2017 film Get Out. The “sunken place” that is portrayed in the movie is a concept described by the film’s writer/director Jordan Peele, as a marginalization of black people in the United States. “No matter how hard we scream, the system silences us,”
10. The dancing kids.
If you had a hard time concentrating on Gambino’s lyrical message because of the dancing, well, that was exactly the point. If Gambino isn’t dancing himself, he has a group of kids dancing behind him at almost all times, even in the middle of a riot.
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Royal wedding
Thursday, May 31st, 2018
The date
Harry and Meghan’s wedding will take place on Saturday 19 May 2018 – which breaks royal protocol due to being at the weekend. While there’s no official rule, royal weddings have always traditionally taken place on a weekday (Prince William and Kate Middleton married on Friday 29 April 2011; Princess Diana and Prince Charles on Wednesday 29 July 1981; Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip on Thursday 20 November 1947). Having the wedding in May will allow the Duchess of Cambridge some time to recover from the birth of her third child, due in April.
The venue
The couple will say their vows at the picturesque St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. The chapel reportedly has space for around 800 guests, in contrast to the 2,000-person capacity of Westminster Abbey, where William and Kate got married.
The cost
While it’s not known exactly what the royal wedding budget is (and it’s unlikely to ever be disclosed), Kensington Palace confirmed that the event will be paid for by the royal family – at no cost to the taxpayer.
Related Story
What Prince Harry has given up for Meghan Markle
The royal titles
After the wedding, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will become known as their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The Queen has also made her grandson Earl of Dumbarton and Baron Kilkeel.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement: “The Queen has today been pleased to confer a Dukedom on Prince Henry of Wales. His titles will be Duke of Sussex, Earl of Dumbarton and Baron Kilkeel.
“Prince Harry thus becomes His Royal Highness The Duke of Sussex, and Ms. Meghan Markle on marriage will become Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex.”
The invitations
Kensington Palace confirmed that the invites were issued mid-March, and created by Barnard & Westwood, a company which has held a Royal Warrant for Printing & Bookbinding by Appointment to Her Majesty The Queen since 1985.
The invitations were die-stamped in gold and then burnished. The text on the invitation is also die-stamped, while edges of the invitation were bevelled, then gilded. The invitation features The Three Feather Badge of The Prince of Wales, and the names of invited guests were added later by a calligraphy printer.
Around 600 people have been invited to the service at St George’s Chapel and the lunchtime reception at St George’s Hall, which is being hosted by the Queen. The palace also confirmed that 200 guests will also be invited to the private reception at Frogmore House.
The engagement photos
The couple released two photos to celebrate their engagement. The images, which were taken by Harper’s Bazaar regular photographer Alexi Lubomirski, feature a close-up shot, as well as another where the two are sat down. Both were taken at Frogmore House in Windsor.
They also released a third, more candid image from the day of the shoot.
The dress
It’s widely expected that Markle will turn to a British designer for the all-important gown – and most fashion experts now believe that she has chosen Ralph & Russo, the only British couture label, to make her dress.
According to a royal insider, the duchess-to-be has opted for a hand-stitched, beaded gown which boasts a serious price tag of £100,000.
The source revealed: “It sounds a lot, but this is the wedding of the year and hundreds of hours of manpower have gone into making it, almost all by hand.”
Other sources have suggested that Markle will be wearing two dresses on her big day, changing for her second reception in the evening into something more modern. If she does this, she will be following in the footsteps of the Duchess of Cambridge wore two Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen dresses for her wedding. Markle could, however, opt to choose a different designer for the evening. Brands including Roland Mouret, Stella McCartney, Burberry and Erdem are just some of the names being suggested as contenders.
Related Story
Meghan Markle’s wedding dress designed by Givenchy
Markle previously talked about her “dream wedding dress” in a 2016 interview with Glamour, which took place following the wedding of her on-screen character Rachel Zane in Suits.
“I have the luxury of wearing beautiful pieces of clothing every day for work, so my personal style — wedding or not — is very pared down and relaxed,” she said. “Classic and simple is the name of the game, perhaps with a modern twist. I personally prefer wedding dresses that are whimsical or subtly romantic. Delphine Manivet and Christos Costarellos are faves of mine for their uniqueness and beauty. And I will always be a fan of Elie Saab. J. Mendel is spectacular as well, especially for more structural designs.”
She also revealed that her favourite celebrity wedding dress was the one worn by Carolyn Bessette Kennedy – a simple silk column dress by Narciso Rodriguez.
Related Story
We meet the Ralph & Russo designers
The wedding party
After playing best man to brother William at his 2011 wedding to Kate Middleton, Harry is repaying the favour and has asked William to be his best man. The news was announced via the palace’s Twitter account, which shared a number of sweet photos of the duo.
William’s children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, will also have roles within the wedding party – as they did at Pippa Middleton’s 2017 wedding – as a page boy and bridesmaid, alongside eight other children.
After Thomas Markle was forced to pull out of attending the wedding due to health issues (he reportedly suffered a heart attack and had to undergo surgery), Kensington Palace confirmed that Prince Charles will be walking the bride down the aisle. She will travel to the church by car with her mother, Doria Ragland.
The Duchess of Cambridge will make a low-key appearance at the nuptials, having recently welcomed her third child, Prince Louis, and will also not want to risk upstaging the bride.
Markle will not have a maid of honour or an adult bridal party, but will instead have a group of close girlfriends “assisting” her on the day.
A spokesperson for the palace revealed: “She has a very close-knit circle of friends and she didn’t want to choose one over another.”
They continued,”All have been actively involved in helping her prepare for the day and will be there in the days beforehand. She’s very happy to have their support.”
Related Story
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The coverage
The wedding will be televised on a number of channels in the UK. A pool camera will be allowed inside St George’s Chapel, allowing international media outlets to plug into the source the royal family provides and broadcast the same footage.
“The couple of course wants the day to be a special, celebratory moment for their friends and family,” said a royal spokesperson. “They also want the day to be shaped so as to allow members of the public to feel part of the celebrations too and are currently working through ideas for how this might be achieved.”
There have been two other televised royal weddings in history, that of William and Kate in 2011 (to which an estimated 23 million people tuned in) and Charles and Diana in 1981.
Find out more about exactly how you can watch the royal wedding here.
The cake
Claire Ptak, owner of London-based bakery Violet Cakes has been chosen to create the royal wedding cake.
“Prince Harry and Ms Markle have asked Claire to create a lemon elderflower cake that will incorporate the bright flavours of spring,” confirmed Kensington Palace. “It will be covered in buttercream and decorated with fresh flowers.
“Claire Ptak, who was raised in California, focuses on using seasonal and organic ingredients in her cake. Ms Markle previously interviewed Chef Ptak for her former lifestyle website The Tig,” they continued, adding that the couple are “looking forward to sharing the cake with guests at their wedding”.
The flowers
Meghan and Harry have selected London-based florist Philippa Craddock to design their wedding flowers, which will follow a natural wildflower theme. Her team will partner with a team from St George’s Chapel and Buckingham Palace to locally source white garden roses, foxgloves and branches of beech from the gardens of the Crown Estate and Windsor Great Park. Craddock will also incorporate peonies, which are Markle’s favourite flower, according to her now-deleted Instagram account.
“The Royal Parks will also supply pollinator-friendly plants from their wildflower meadows,” said a statement released by Kensington Palace. “These plants provide a great habitat for bees and help to sustain healthy and biodiverse ecosystems.”
“Where possible, Philippa will use flowers and plants that are in season and blooming naturally in May,” they added.
The music
Harry and Meghan have announced the music plans for the ceremony, which includes a number of group and solo performances, including from a gospel choir and 19-year-old cellist.
“Both Prince Harry and Ms Markle have taken a great deal of interest and care in choosing the music for their service, which will include a number of well-known hymns and choral works,” the Palace tweeted.
The couple have chosen to appoint Karen Gibson and the Kingdom Choir, which is made up of a group of British musicians that have been performing together for over 20 years. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Sheku Kanneh-Mason will be performing. The cellist was the winner of the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition. The Choir of St. George’s Chapel will of course also be taking part.
Read more about the music at Harry and Meghan’s royal wedding below.
The carriage
The couple have selected the Ascot Landau carriage for their anticipated procession through Windsor Town. The royal newlyweds will travel in a one horse-drawn carriage in the Carriage Procession from St George’s Chapel, taking the couple through Windsor Town and returning to Windsor Castle along the Long Walk, Kensington Palace has confirmed. William and Kate used the Imperial State Landau on their wedding day, as it usually remains stationed in London. Their wedding was also a state wedding, and the Imperial State Landau is often used by the Queen to meet Foreign Heads of State when they arrive on State Visits to Britain.
Related Story
Harry and Meghan have chose their wedding music
The honeymoon
The notoriously private couple (who managed to keep their relationship a secret for the first six months) will likely seek somewhere away from prying eyes for their post-wedding getaway. Botswana would be an obvious choice, as a country that holds a special significance for the pair; they holidayed there in the early stages of their relationship and Harry sourced a diamond from the country for Markle’s engagement ring. However, it’s more recently been strongly rumoured that the couple have chosen Namibia as their honeymoon destination.
However, what we do know is that the couple will not be going away on honeymoon straight after their wedding, but will instead be heading off a little later. Kensington Palace confirmed that the newly married couple would be undertaking royal duties the week after their wedding.
“The couple will be going on honeymoon, but not straightaway,” said Kensington Palace spokesman Jason Knauf at a press conference. “They will have their first engagement as a married couple in the week after the wedding.”
Reports also suggest that the newlyweds may choose a different African country to honeymoon in – with the neighbouring Namibia one of the rumoured destinations. As the least densely populated country in the world it would certainly provide the privacy they’d be craving after such a public wedding.
The royal titles
Buckingham Palace said in a statement: “The Queen has today been pleased to confer a Dukedom on Prince Henry of Wales. His titles will be Duke of Sussex, Earl of Dumbarton and Baron Kilkeel.
“Prince Harry thus becomes His Royal Highness The Duke of Sussex, and Ms. Meghan Markle on marriage will become Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex.”
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Who is Martin Luther King Jr. to us, 50 years later?
Wednesday, April 4th, 2018
50 years after MLK's assassination, is America moving backward on race relations?
Wednesday, April 4th, 2018Nearly 50 years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, his protégé Jesse Jackson ticks off a list of the many ways in which the civil rights leader’s push for people to reach what he called the “mountaintop” — a final plateau of racial and economic harmony — continues to be a struggle.
Jackson, who was with King in Memphis to press for fair wages for the city’s sanitation workers on the day of the killing, notes all these years later, more than half of African-American workers earn less than $15 an hour — and income inequality in America has ballooned.
White supremacists, Jackson said, are boldly and more frequently espousing their racist views in the aftermath of President Trump taking office.
On Wednesday, the nation marks 50 years since King was shot on April 4, 1968, as he stood on his balcony at Memphis’ Lorraine Motel — a dark moment in American history that triggered riots and violence in more than 100 U.S. cities.
In Memphis, civil rights leaders will commemorate King’s legacy with a march through the city. In Washington, the National Council of Churches will hold a rally on the National Mall they say will be the starting point of a multi-year effort with the lofty goal of eradicating racism and bringing the country together. Smaller memorials honoring King are scheduled throughout the country.
But the solemn milestone also is being observed as the nation finds itself wading through choppy waters in race relations.
The highly charged confrontations between police and black men have affected Americans’ view on race in America, polls show.
For much of the past two decades, race relations has been the issue that Americans say they have been least worried about, according to the polling firm Gallup. The question hit a nadir for American anxiety in 2010 as President Obama — the nation’s first black president — settled into his first White House term: Just 13% of Americans said they were greatly concerned.
Jackson said that if King were alive today he would see a ray of hope amid the uncertainty in the diverse group of young people who organized last month’s March for Our Lives rallies against gun violence in Washington and across the USA.
“There is unfinished business, but my hope is that America has become disgusted with this attempt to go backward,” Jackson said. “The Trump foray … is a temporary season. There is a tug of war for the soul of America. Should we move forward by hope and healing or backward by hurt and hate? I think hope and healing will win.”
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Bayeux Tapestry to be displayed in Britain
Wednesday, January 17th, 2018Artwork will leave France for first time since 11th century
The first loan of the Bayeux Tapestry outside France for 950 years, revealed today by The Times, is expected to be to the British Museum in 2022.
Although the museum stopped short of confirming that it had secured the loan, its director gave a statement saying that his museum would welcome it.
Hartwig Fischer, who became head of the museum in 2016, said: “This would be a major loan, probably the most significant ever from France to the UK. It is a gesture of extraordinary generosity and proof of the deep ties that link our two countries. http://credit-n.ru/zaymyi-next.html http://credit-n.ru/zaymyi-next.html http://credit-n.ru/zaymyi-next.html
Darkest Hour
Sunday, January 14th, 2018
Little House on the Prairie and its contested political legacy
Friday, December 8th, 2017With her books, Laura Ingalls Wilder forged a myth of the American pioneer.
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Brexit and Northern Ireland
Sunday, December 3rd, 2017Brexit Countdown: Why is the Northern Ireland border question so hard?
The international border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is about 310 miles long with, depending on how many tracks you include, as many as 275 crossing points.
In reality, the entire border is a crossing point because, apart from road signs changing from miles per hour to kilometres per hour, there is no physical infrastructure to see.
The concern is that all that could change when the UK leaves the European Union, and Ireland stays as an EU member state.
Why can’t there be a hard border?
Part of the concern is political. The 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the basic building block of peace in Northern Ireland, removed security checkpoints from the border and helped make it all but invisible. Customs checks could undermine much of that progress.
Like many peace deals, the Good Friday Agreement is a masterpiece of creative ambiguity, allowing different people to take different things from different parts of the text.
Shared membership of the European Union made that much easier to achieve. Ireland wants a clear written commitment that the agreement will be respected in all its parts.
The other concern of course is economic. The economies of Northern Ireland and the Republic are completely interconnected. Huge amounts of goods and services cross the border every day without checks of any kind.
Brexit negotiators are currently looking through more than 140 areas of north-south co-operation, involving everything from the single electricity market to environmental protection.
It is also estimated that at least 30,000 people cross the border every day for work. The movement of people is governed by the Common Travel Area between the UK and Ireland, which predates the EU.
Both sides are determined that the Common Travel Area will remain in place, but that in itself doesn’t resolve the challenge of a hard border re-emerging.
So if no-one thinks a hard border is a good idea, why can’t everyone agree now that it won’t be re-imposed?
Because the UK has announced that it is leaving the EU single market and the customs union. That immediately turns the internal border in Ireland into an external border for the single market and the customs union – with all the potential checks that implies.
At the moment, all rules and regulations, north and south, are exactly the same – on food safety, on animal welfare… you name it.
Again, it’s a relationship based in large part on agreements covered by joint membership of the EU. As soon as that changes, border checks may have to begin again.
That’s why the Irish government wants a written guarantee from the UK that Northern Ireland will continue to follow EU rules – so goods can continue to move freely across the border.
“It seems essential to us,” said the Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney earlier this month, “that there is no emergence of regulatory divergence from the rules of the internal market or the customs unions which are necessary for meaningful north-south co-operation, or an all-Ireland economy that is consistent with the Good Friday Agreement.”
In other words, both Ireland and the rest of the EU are suggesting that Northern Ireland should stay within the customs union and the single market.
But there would have to be checks somewhere between the EU and the UK, wouldn’t there?
Yes. It would – in effect – push the customs border out into the Irish Sea… an internal customs border, if you like, between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
Would that be acceptable to the UK government, or to its Unionist political allies in Northern Ireland, the DUP? In a word, no.
“We respect the European Union desire to protect the legal order of the single market and customs union,” the UK’s Brexit Secretary David Davis said in Brussels recently.
“But that cannot come at a cost to the constitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom.”
Couldn’t the UK simply declare the border open on a unilateral basis, and impose no checks or tariffs at all?
If it did that then, under World Trade Organization rules, it would have to do the same for the rest of the world. The UK economy would be swamped with cheap imports.
The EU would impose checks anyway which might allow the UK government to shift the blame on to Brussels. But that would be a pretty futile gesture.
So is there a solution?
If it was easy, it would already have been done.
The EU argues that the UK’s red lines on Ireland – no border on the one hand, and UK exit from the single market and the customs union on the other – are fundamentally incompatible.
The British government has spoken of technological fixes such as pre-screening of goods, and trusted trader schemes.
The EU says such things could speed up border transit, but it would be nowhere near enough to avoid the return of some border checks.
Alternatively, Irish officials argue that there are already cases of rules and regulations being different in Northern Ireland than in the rest of the UK, and they point to other examples such as Hong Kong in China where there are different regulatory arrangements within sovereign states.
Intense negotiations are taking place to try to come up with a solution that would ensure a) no divergence of regulations in key areas; and b) the creation of some form of customs partnership on the island of Ireland, which doesn’t threaten the constitutional order of the UK.
But if a fix emerges that seems to turn Northern Ireland into a back door route into the single market, then other EU countries will cry foul.
So even if all parties agree in the next two weeks that “sufficient progress” on Ireland has been made, there will be a long way to go before any kind of lasting solution emerges. http://credit-n.ru/zaymyi-next.html http://credit-n.ru/zaymyi-next.html http://credit-n.ru/zaymyi-next.html
The Queen and Prince Phillip pose for official photo ahead of 70th wedding anniversary
Sunday, November 19th, 2017
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have been pictured standing side by side in the first of a new series of portraits to mark their 70th wedding anniversary.
The photographs, taken by British photographer Matt Holyoak, show Elizabeth II and Prince Philip standing in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle in early November.
In the image, the couple are framed by Thomas Gainsborough’s 1781 portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte, who were married for 57 years.
Their enduring relationship has lasted the longest of any British sovereign, and Philip has been at the Queen’s side throughout the decades.
The monarch, who was a 21-year-old princess when she walked up the aisle, is the nation’s longest reigning sovereign, having overtaken the record set by Queen Victoria.
The 96-year-old newly retired Duke, who was 26 and fresh from serving for the Royal Navy in the Second World War when he wed, is the longest serving consort in British history.
Together they have celebrated the Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees of the Queen’s reigns, and faced ups and downs over the years. http://credit-n.ru/zaymyi-next.html http://credit-n.ru/zaymyi-next.html http://credit-n.ru/zaymyi-next.html
