A place of exceptional happiness and delight
POPULARITY
Categories
In this episode, JT, @TuneThyHeart and @demonerasers delve into various themes surrounding faith, tradition, and societal issues. They discuss the significance of God and the implications of false idols, the importance of understanding the true meaning behind holidays like Christmas and Hanukkah, and the struggles of anxiety and mental health. The conversation also touches on the history of transportation, the influence of big oil, and the connection between prohibition and alternative fuel sources. Throughout the discussion, the hosts emphasize the importance of community support and the need to focus on others rather than oneself. The conversation explores various themes including the impact of resource extraction, urban planning, car dependency, alternative fuels, cultural reflections in media, and the mysteries of ancient technologies. The discussion transitions into the post-apocalyptic narratives in media, particularly focusing on the show 'Paradise' and its implications about society, governance, and the potential realities of life underground. The speakers ponder the historical significance of underground infrastructures and the possibility of a hidden truth about Earth's structure and history.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jt-s-mix-tape--6579902/support.Please support our sponsor Modern Roots Life: https://modernrootslife.com/?bg_ref=rVWsBoOfcFJESUS SAID THERE WOULD BE HATERS Shirts: https://jtfollowsjc.com/product-category/mens-shirts/WOMEN'S SHIRTS: https://jtfollowsjc.com/product-category/womens-shirts/
Bobbin Headcast 226 - Best Of 2025 - By Husky - 24/12/25 Follow us on the social links below www.facebook.com/bobbinheadmusicwww.soundcloud.com/bobbinheadmusicwww.twitter.com/bobbinheadmusicwww.instagram.com/bobbinheadmusic Track listing 1. Shabi – Mellow Scene – Groove Culture 2. Moodena – Phonky - Tropical Disco3. Jude Brown – Feeling Free – Salted Music 4. Jeremy Joshua & DJ Mes – Touch My Mind (Miguel Migs Remix) – Salted Music 5. Ada Morghe – Amin Bird (Mousse T Remix) – Lalabeam Records6. Husky & Akeem Raphael – Regular Man – Bobbin Head Music 7. Random Soul – Lay It On The Line – Random Soul Recordings8. Luca Olivotto – Remember – Groove Culture Deep9. Nathan Haines & Marlena Shaw – Squire For Hire (Fouk Remix) - Foliage10. Shabi – Light My Fire – Large Music11. Random Soul – No Credit (VIP Boogie Mix) – Random Soul Recordings12. Natalie Z & Lunabass – Who You Are (Husky's Beach Club Mix) – Bobbin Head Music13. Sebb Junior – Get Down - La Vie D'Artiste Music14. ManyFew & Husky – Say My Name (Husky's Beach Club Mix) – ManyFew Records15. Dante Tom – Key To Your Soul (Sebb Junior Remix) - La Vie D'Artiste Music16. Ralph Rosario & Eric Kupper – Take Me Up – Stickman Records17. Soul Avengerz Feat Sian-lee – Let's Go All The Way – Fool's Paradise 18. Jonas Blue & Malive – Edge Of Desire – Defected Records 19. Random Soul Feat Nada-Leigh – Need You – Random Soul Recordings 20. Doug Willis & Mike Dunn – Luv 2 Dance – Z Records 21. Random Soul – Devil On My Shoulder – Random Soul Recordings 22. Sudden Moves – All Got Soul – Robsoul 23. Akeem Raphael & Husky – Weightless Love – House Heads 24. Jay Vegas – Don't Want It – Hot Stuff 25. Darius Syrossian – Tengo La Musica (Crackazat Remix) – Moxy Music26. Sam Karlson – On The Run – Fool's Paradise 27. Random Soul Feat Nada-Leigh – Stronger (Grant Nelson Remix) – Random Soul Recordings28. Mark Knight & Mark Dedross – Fighting Love – Fool's Paradise 29. Random Soul– Mesmerizing (Extended Club VIP) – Random Soul Recordings30. Husky – Breathe – Bobbin Head Music 31. Wh0 & David Penn – La Fiesta – Toolroom 32. Monty Kiddo – The Sit Down – HouseU 33. Blackchild – Nothing Better Than Music – Defected 34. Weiss (UK) Feat Louise Marshall – Promises – Electronic Nature Records 35. Chris Lake & Abel Balder – Ease My Mind – Black Book Records 36. Low Steppa & Capri – Got The Funk – Defected 37. DJ Dove – Lonely No More - Toolroom38. Husky– True Love – TMRW Music39. Chris Lake – Savana – Black Book Records 40. Sonny Fodera & Jazzy – All This Time - SOLOTOKO
There is no easy way to describe the plot to the fantasy musical comedy, Phantom of The Paradise but The Vern and guests from Shocked and Applaud podcast do their best to describe it. Made right after Sisters(72) and before Carrie(76) Brian DePalma directed this rock horror musical that came out before The Rocky Horror Picture Show but for some reason did not get the cult status that one achieved. Listen now to see if it deserves any love or if the disfigured face the lead character gets is good enough, Ad SpotsThat's Da Bomb Yo from Rabbit Hole PodcastsMusic CreditsMusic featured in episode was from Phantom of the Paradise(1974) released by 20th Century Fox. Songs were written by Paul Williams and performed by Jessica Harper
Barbara Emener Karasek is the CEO and Co-Owner of Paradise Advertising & Marketing, Inc., an award-winning full-service agency specializing in tourism, hospitality, and lifestyle brands. With a global marketing career spanning leadership roles at organizations such as SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Inc. & Entertainment, PGA TOUR, NASCAR, and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, Barbara brings deep expertise in brand strategy, partnership negotiation, and consumer engagement. She's also co-founder of AiOpti Media LLC, a data and analytics firm that leverages AI to improve media targeting and performance. A Furman University and University of South Florida alumna, Barbara has been recognized among HSMAI's Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Sales, Marketing, Revenue Optimization and Distribution for her impact in hospitality and marketing.
"Money is one of my languages, real estate is a dialect, and the islands are one of my tongues."Are you dreaming of waking up to the sound of the ocean, or perhaps you're looking for a strategic investment that pays for itself while you're back in the States? In this episode of Exit Strategies Radio Show, host Corwyn J. Melette sits down with Kathy Colon, the Founder and CEO of Nova Lux DR Properties.Kathy bridges the gap between public health expertise and luxury Caribbean real estate. She shares how her boutique firm specializes in "wellness-focused" properties and why the Dominican Republic is currently the "crown jewel" of Caribbean investment. Whether you are planning for retirement, seeking a vacation home, or looking for high-yield short-term rental opportunities, this episode provides the roadmap to making the island life a reality.Key Takeaways:03:26 The Nova Lux Difference: Kathy explains her unique approach to real estate, focusing on health, wellness, longevity, and "aging in place" criteria for every property she vets.04:37 Geography 101: A quick breakdown of the Dominican Republic's location in the Caribbean and why its size and proximity to Puerto Rico and Cuba make it a central hub.07:45 The "Wellness Checklist": Why Kathy uses a strict public health lens to select properties and how it protects investors looking for long-term value.09:23 Navigating the Buying Process: From vetting communities to handling the "daunting" legal aspects, Kathy describes how her boutique firm curates a list tailored to your lifestyle (golf, beach, or mountains).12:05 The Power of Pre-Construction: How international buyers can benefit from 15-year tax exemptions (CONFOTUR) and see immediate equity growth of 30-40% by the time a project is completed.13:51 Stress-Free Transactions: Why you don't have to worry about currency exchange (transactions are in USD) and how to navigate financing with international banks like Scotiabank.16:11 Hands-Off Investing: A look at the "Rental Pool" model where major brands like Wyndham manage maintenance and cleaning while you collect a return on investment (ROI).22:41 The Next "Big Thing" in the DR: Kathy reveals why Cap Cana is the best-kept secret and where celebrities like Alex Rodriguez are putting their money.The Legacy Building Moment:Kathy shares that Nova Lux was born from caring for a loved one, redefining real estate as a tool for longevity and generational living—choosing homes that support families aging in place and building a legacy that lasts.Connect with Kathy:Website: www.novaluxdrproperties.comInstagram: @novaluxdrpropertiesEmail: Kathy@novaluxdrproperties.comPhone: 917-419-9090Connect with Corwyn:Contact Number: 843-619-3005Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exitstrategiesradioshow/FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/exitstrategiessc/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxoSuynJd5c4qQ_eDXLJaZAWebsite: https://www.exitstrategiesradioshow.comLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmelette/Shoutout to our Sponsor: Country Boy HomesDo you remember your grandma's front porch? You know that spot where stories were told, kisses were stolen, and sweet tea was always being sipped. Now imagine giving your family a place to make those same memories, but in a brand new, energy-efficient, and home that was built just for you. At Country Boy Homes, we help folks just like you find that forever feeling.Whether it's your first home, your next home, or your, we're done with rent forever, like, seriously home, we specialize in affordable, durable, manufactured, and modular homes, the kind that make room for muddy boots, big dreams, and second helpings. Come see what coming home really feels like. Call 843-574-8979 today.Country Boy Homes, Built to Last, Priced for You.
Primera entrega de la serie dedicada a repasar 2025 a través de 100 canciones favoritas del año. Sin ningún orden en particular y sin pretender que sean las mejores. Tan solo canciones que se han quedado grabadas en las paredes de este Sótano.Playlist;I. JEZIAK and THE SURFERS “Night owls”MING CITY ROCKERS “I’d like to assist you but my head is too small”LOS PEPES “Paradise”AWEFUL KANAWFUL “Horse with no name”PRIVATE FUNCTION “Gamma Ray”THE PRIZE “From the night”GEOFF PALMER “Exit wounds”NERVOUS EATERS “No more idols”SPLIT SQUAD “Chemicals”CYANIDE PILLS “Falling for you”MUCK and THE MIRES “Because of you”KID GULLIVER “24 hours”LOS SUMMERS feat ADOLFO AIRBAG “Casi vacaciones”VIBEKE “2nd Avenue”BRAD MARINO “Not fooling me”FEEDBACKS “Hate is all around”ZACK KEIM “Battery Lane”Escuchar audio
Tous les dimanches à minuit, Daniel Riolo propose une heure de show en direct avec Moundir Zoughari pour les passionnés de poker. Conseils d'un joueur professionnel, actualité, tournois... Votre rendez-vous poker, sur RMC !
Tous les dimanches à minuit, Daniel Riolo propose une heure de show en direct avec Moundir Zoughari pour les passionnés de poker. Conseils d'un joueur professionnel, actualité, tournois... Votre rendez-vous poker, sur RMC !
Tous les dimanches à minuit, Daniel Riolo propose une heure de show en direct avec Moundir Zoughari pour les passionnés de poker. Conseils d'un joueur professionnel, actualité, tournois... Votre rendez-vous poker, sur RMC !
In this NBN episode, NBN host Hollay Ghadery speaks with acclaimed Manitoba author David Elias about his new novel, Into the D/Ark (Radiant Press, 2025). Rose Martens struggles with the aftermath of a terrible fire that has left her sons, Jake and Isaac, horribly disfigured. The boys have gone to live in an abandoned house they've named Bachelor's Paradise, where they spend all their time watching American network television. Their father Clarence works day and night in his blacksmith shop, producing bizarre metallic creations no one can make any sense of. Martha Wiebe returns to the stifling conformity of the valley to discover that her brother Abe, a preacher, has abandoned his congregation to devote himself to the construction of “The Ark”, a massive and mysterious edifice whose purpose he will not divulge. When the first major snowstorm of the year roars into the valley, it unleashes a chain of bizarre events that the valley may never recover from. About David Elias: David Elias is the author of seven books, most recently The Truth about the Barn: A Voyage of Discovery and Contemplation, published by Great Plains Publications. It was featured in the Winnipeg Free Press as one of the top titles for 2020. His most recent work of fiction is an historical novel, Elizabeth of Bohemia: A Novel about Elizabeth Stuart, the Winter Queen. It was published in 2019 by ECW Press, and was a finalist for The Margaret Lawrence Award for Fiction at The Manitoba Book Awards. His previous works have been up for numerous awards including the McNally Robinson Book of the Year, the Amazon First Novel Award, and The Journey Prize. His short stories, novel excerpts, and poetry have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies across the country, and in addition to writing he spends time as a mentor, creative writing instructor, and editor. He lives in Winnipeg, Canada. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Merry Christmas you hulksters! Episode 5 of Thunder in Paradise is a strange brew of voodoo. This podcast has no show, we have another one with the show S1E5: Strange Bru After scuba-diving zombies attack him, Bru hallucinates and him and Spence take on a voodoo drug dealer. Want More or Less? Click Here: Simplistic.Reviews/links Site: www.Simplistic.Reviews Podcasts: https://simplistic.media/podcasts Spotify: https://goo.gl/pcBg5V Twitter: https://twitter.com/simpletweeters Facebook: http://facebook.com/SimplisticReviews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplygramming Apple Podcasts: https://goo.gl/orhsR4 #tv #Commentary #tvshow #christmas #Podcast #thunderinparadise #1994 #hulk #hulkhogan
Merry Christmas you hulksters! Episode 5 of Thunder in Paradise is a strange brew of voodoo. This podcast has the show, we have another one with no show S1E5: Strange Bru After scuba-diving zombies attack him, Bru hallucinates and him and Spence take on a voodoo drug dealer. Want More or Less? Click Here: Simplistic.Reviews/links Site: www.Simplistic.Reviews Podcasts: https://simplistic.media/podcasts Spotify: https://goo.gl/pcBg5V Twitter: https://twitter.com/simpletweeters Facebook: http://facebook.com/SimplisticReviews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplygramming Apple Podcasts: https://goo.gl/orhsR4 #tv #Commentary #tvshow #christmas #Podcast #thunderinparadise #1994 #hulk #hulkhogan
Hey Beautiful People I'm back once again like a Renegade master this Wednesday on Cruise FM. so try and control your excitement!! The paradise sessions - Discos Revenge returns to its original birthplace on Wednesday's 8-10pm with @markymmp on @cruise_fm UK cruise FM. So in Wednesdays's show We heading into new music territory with an Awesome Dozen feature of tracks Powered by DJ Allan Singleton and some new tracks celebrating music from 2025. So be prepared for another high energy uplifting radio show that brings sunshine and smiles on a a Humpday. It's a Specially Prepped Rewind for your aural pleasure. Much Love Marky MMP Cruise FM, and hope you can join me on this special weekly journey delivered with love.. Title Artist Step Inside The Music Gus Pirelli, Andre Espeut I Know you got Soul (DJ 'S' Remix) Eric B & Rakim Step Inside The Music Gus Pirelli, Andre Espeut Nights Like This (ft Omar x Lemar x House Gospel Chior) DonaeO K-Jee (Ray Mang Remix) AC Soul Symphony, Dave Lee ZR, Ray Mang Spirit Moves (Extended Mix) Michael Gray, Definite Grooves, Dyanna Fearon Celebrate (Michele Chiavarini Remix Extended) Micky More & Andy Tee, Kathy Brown, Sheree Hicks, Michele Chiavarini You & Me (Star Steppin') Phazed Groove Get It Done Fouk You Know Everything (Original Mix) Zetbee Life Will Be (Extended Mix) Michael Gray, Phebe Edwards If You Want Me (Club Mix) Lenny Fontana, Jasmine Lovett Can't Fade My Love (Original Mix) Marcus Soulbynight Dance, Dance, Dance (Trackheadz 6ix Extended Mix) Nick Holder, The Trackheadz Everybody Get Up (Jazz-N-Groove Nu Disco Vocal) Capriccio Rise (DJ Spen & Thommy Davis Vocal Reproduction) Michelle Shellers, DJ Spen, Thommy Davis Hands in the Air Block & Crown 7 Ways To Love David Penn, Saint Etienne You Got It (Richard Earnshaw Extended Vocal Mix) J.Soul, Rona Ray, Richard Earnshaw Baby Don't Change Your Mind (Michael Gray Remix - Extended) Gladys Knight & the Pips Do What You Feel (Dave Lee 2025 Re-Tweak) Joey Montenegro, Dave Lee ZR Pull up to My Bumper Block & Crown (I Wanna Give You) Devotion (Dr Packer & Mikee Freedom Remix - Extended) Nomad feat. MC Mikee Freedom I love you all
In this NBN episode, NBN host Hollay Ghadery speaks with acclaimed Manitoba author David Elias about his new novel, Into the D/Ark (Radiant Press, 2025). Rose Martens struggles with the aftermath of a terrible fire that has left her sons, Jake and Isaac, horribly disfigured. The boys have gone to live in an abandoned house they've named Bachelor's Paradise, where they spend all their time watching American network television. Their father Clarence works day and night in his blacksmith shop, producing bizarre metallic creations no one can make any sense of. Martha Wiebe returns to the stifling conformity of the valley to discover that her brother Abe, a preacher, has abandoned his congregation to devote himself to the construction of “The Ark”, a massive and mysterious edifice whose purpose he will not divulge. When the first major snowstorm of the year roars into the valley, it unleashes a chain of bizarre events that the valley may never recover from. About David Elias: David Elias is the author of seven books, most recently The Truth about the Barn: A Voyage of Discovery and Contemplation, published by Great Plains Publications. It was featured in the Winnipeg Free Press as one of the top titles for 2020. His most recent work of fiction is an historical novel, Elizabeth of Bohemia: A Novel about Elizabeth Stuart, the Winter Queen. It was published in 2019 by ECW Press, and was a finalist for The Margaret Lawrence Award for Fiction at The Manitoba Book Awards. His previous works have been up for numerous awards including the McNally Robinson Book of the Year, the Amazon First Novel Award, and The Journey Prize. His short stories, novel excerpts, and poetry have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies across the country, and in addition to writing he spends time as a mentor, creative writing instructor, and editor. He lives in Winnipeg, Canada. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
A Hamster With a Blunt Penknife - a Doctor Who Commentary podcast
Worthy of the bile that has been tossed its way...or an unpretentious fun adventure that is unfairly maligned? You mean to say you've been INTERVIEWING me?
Send us a text if you want to be on the Podcast & explain why!Ever feel the ground shift under a job you once loved? We sit down with a K–12 principal who built his identity around coaching kids, weathered the Paradise fire, and still found his purpose dissolving under politics, ego, and endless pushback. What follows is a candid look at walking away from a steady six-figure paycheck to pursue fitness, craft, and a life that feels honest again.We trace the throughline from early days lifting in Chico to leading schools where every decision meets resistance, and then to the spark of a new path: training, education reform from the outside, and programs that make movement central to learning. We talk openly about comfort as a trap, the fear of starting at zero, and the mindset shift that turns practice into momentum. If you're wrestling with a pivot, you'll hear a practical playbook: shadow great coaches, study daily, build a routine that stacks mobility, lifting, and focused learning, and have one meaningful industry conversation every day. It's career capital by design, not hope.There's a strong case for bridging education and fitness. PE gets sidelined, yet aerobic work boosts BDNF, sharpens attention, and primes the brain for class. With the right partnerships, schools can implement zero-period training, teacher wellness, and skill-based PE that kids actually believe in. This isn't about quick wins; it's about craft, clarity, and owning your trajectory. If you're choosing between safe and alive, this conversation will nudge you toward the path that compounds.If this resonates, follow the show, share it with someone stuck in a comfort loop, and leave a review with the bold move you're planning next. Keep showing up.Want to become a SUCCESSFUL personal trainer? SUF-CPT is the FASTEST growing personal training certification in the world! Want to ask us a question? Email info@showupfitness.com with the subject line PODCAST QUESTION to get your question answered live on the show! Website: https://www.showupfitness.com/Become a Successful Personal Trainer Book Vol. 2 (Amazon): https://a.co/d/1aoRnqANASM / ACE / ISSA study guide: https://www.showupfitness.com
ReferencesAlcohol Clin Exp Res . 2002 Sep;26(9):1420-9Brain Struct Funct. 2017 Jul;222(5):2017-2029Alcohol Res. 2017;38(2):255–276Neuropharmacology2014 Volume79, Apr Pages 1-9Psychiatry Research1995. Volume 56, Issue 1, 31 JanuaryPages 81-95Dylan, B 1965 It's All Over r Now, Baby Blue. Byrdshttps://music.youtube.com/watch?v=n_CtmeMx8Qg&si=5Tz6gPB1tG3lDpiNHayward, J. R. Thomas. 1968. Visions of Paradise. Moody Blueshttps://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lGfuNPMSpBI&si=lHMld0Fq6AUtYyVyMcQuinn, R. 1971. Pale Blue. Byrds. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh3J7GqrdzY&si=g8eOrtKF1hE07YR-Morrison, J. 1970. Blue Sunday Doorshttps://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ENIbGONsdUg&si=bM424eN5U57Rl_AxMozart, WA. 1791. Der Zauberflöte Act II. Duet K.620https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lP9V7_fevgQ&si=SG4OxN0VO7l2cf2x
I had another episode planned for today, but at the last minute I decided to rerun this Christmas episode for you. I think this will become our traditional Christmas episode here at Gnostic Insights. And, if you are new to this podcast, welcome! Next week’s episode will be controversial, so I thought it best to wait until after Christmas for its release. Today, we're going to look at the nature of the Christ—the who, what, why of Christ. Most people are familiar with seeing the baby Jesus in the manger and that's what we celebrate at Christmas time, the birth of the Christ on Earth in the form of a human. But the Christ is an ethereal creature that predates the birth of Jesus. Jesus and the Christ aren't exactly the same, although Jesus was fully Christ. The Christ predates the birth of the human known as Jesus. So, let's learn more about the Christ and why the Christ figure is so essential to us Second Order Powers. Gnosticism is the forerunner of the modern Christian faith. As such, a better understanding of the figure of the Christ is essential to understanding both Gnosticism and Christianity. The cosmology that I talk about here on the podcast was well known to Jesus and his original followers, but it was cut out of Christianity about 1700 years ago by the Nicene Council, at the urging of the Pope and the Roman Emperor. Because this theology was subtracted from orthodox Christianity, many of the ideas of gnostic cosmology sound odd and unfamiliar to modern churchgoers. Some of the ideas may even sound heretical at first glance due to their unfamiliarity. Yet the theology contained in these early scriptures makes sense of so many puzzling aspects of Christian faith that they must be reexamined. That's why I call the Substack The Gnostic Reformation. I'm confident that once you understand gnostic Christianity, you will better understand your relationship with God. According to gnostic cosmology as laid out in the Nag Hammadi, we humans and all other forms of life on Earth, from bacteria and eukaryotes on up, are the fruit of the Pleroma and Logos. We Second Order Powers find ourselves locked in a never-ending battle for dominion over the Earth with forces that were generated as a result of the Fall. Due to the law of mutual combat, we have forgotten our origin in the Fullness and our mission to bring love and harmony to creation and have instead taken on many of the characteristics of the shadows of the Deficiency. The Second Order Powers are locked in a never-ending war with the Deficiency. Here below, we constantly battle the physical forces of death and entropy, as well as the spiritual forces of vice, sin, delusion and despair. In order to restore memory and reason to the Second Order Powers, the Aeons of the Fullness, every one of them individually and all of them collectively, gave glory in unison to their Father while praying for a helper to bring peace to the Deficiency and forgiveness to Logos. Out of this focused prayer, a unique fruit emerged, one that contained all of the capabilities and powers of the Fullness, along with all of the love and eternal qualities of the Father. The singular fruit of the Fullness and the Father is known by various names: the Christ, the Savior and the Redeemer, the Advocate, the Light, and the Beloved. In Simple Explanation terms, the Christ is a perfect and full fractal of the Father and the Son, all rolled-up into one perfect form. Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth was both perfect man and perfect God incarnate. Christian Gnostics believed the same. Here is a more complete explanation of who Jesus was. It's said that Jesus was conceived without sin because he carried within his body the perfection of man and God. This would mean that Jesus was perfect and true to the original DNA formula for humanity. Hence the importance of the virgin birth that then imparted that perfect DNA to the baby. Jesus was also without negative karma attached to his soul, as his soul was the soul of God. The components of Jesus's body were also without sin, as the cells and flesh that became Jesus were in fact the Aeons of the Fullness incarnate. As Colossians 1:19 says, “For God was pleased to have all his Fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on Earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.” This one sentence from Colossians contains the entire Christian Gnostic Gospel. Because Jesus brought along the entire Fullness of the Pleroma when he incarnated, every aspect of the Father and Son came to material instantiation on Earth. In this manner, the eternal God experienced the finite life of us Second Order Powers and all of the struggle between birth and death that plague us all. Here is how the Tripartite Tractate of the Nag Hammadi scriptures describes this process: “As for those of the shadow, Logos separated himself from them in every way, since they fight against him and are not at all humble before him. The stumbling which happened to the Aeons of the Father was brought to them as if it were their own, in a careful and non-malicious and immensely sweet way. It was brought to the Fullnesses so that they might be instructed about the Deficiency by the single One, from whom alone they all received strength to eliminate the defects. They gathered together, asking the Father, with beneficent intent, that there be aid from above from the Father for his glory, since the defective one could not become perfect in any other way unless it was the will of the Pleroma of the Father, which he had drawn to himself, revealed, and given to the defective one. Then, from the harmony, in a joyous willingness which had come into being, they brought forth the fruit which was a begetting from the harmony, a unity, a possession of the Fullnesses, revealing the countenance of the Father of whom the Aeons thought as they gave glory and prayed for help for their brother with a wish in which the Father counted himself with them. Thus it was willingly and gladly that they brought forth the fruit. And he made manifest the agreement of the revelation of his union with them, which was his beloved Son, but the Son in whom the Fullnesses are pleased to put himself on them as a garment through which he gave perfection to the defective one and gave confirmation to those who are perfect, the One who is properly called Savior and the Redeemer and the Well-pleasing One, and the Beloved, the One to whom prayers have been offered, and the Christ and the light of those appointed in accordance with the ones from whom he was brought forth, since he has become the names of the positions which were given to him. Yet what other name may be applied to him except the Son, as we have previously said, since he is the knowledge of the Father whom he wanted them to know? Not only did the Aeons generate the countenance of the Father to whom they gave praise, but also they generated their own, for the Aeons who give glory, generated their countenance and their face. They came forth in a multifaceted form in order that the one to whom help was to be given might see those to whom he had prayed for help. He also sees the One who gave it to him.” (That is from the Tripartite Tractate sections 85 through 87.) So you see, the mission of the Christ, as stated in Colossians, was to redeem all of creation, including the fallen Aeon who had founded our material universe. Because the Christ came to redeem everyone, the body of Jesus came to Earth with every one of the Fullnesses on board. For every fallen spirit, the Christ brought forth their own personal and recognizable Savior. Redemption has already taken place. It is up to the Second Order Powers and the one who fell to recognize and accept that redemption in order to complete the mission of the Christ. In Simple Explanation terms, the Christ brought the correcting formula for all of our spirits and souls, each unique and personally formulated to meet our individual needs. The baptism of the Christ washes away the mental and spiritual confusion brought on by the endless war with shadows of the Fall. Gnostics are apocalyptic, as are Christians. Gnostics believe that some day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus, the Christ, is Lord. Repentance and redemption comes harder for some than for others. Some souls take more time to recognize and remember. Ultimately, though, there comes a day of reckoning, for the Father will not be denied forever. There will soon come a day when the Deficiency ends. On that day, a new economy will unite Heaven and Earth, and all souls will find their joyful place in Paradise. The only forms banished to the outer darkness will be the shadows and phantoms of the Fall, which did not exist within the Father's consciousness from the beginning. These shadows are not real and they will have no home with us in Paradise. The hierarchy of the Fullness of God dreams of Paradise. Logos crowns the hierarchy and contains fractals of all the other Aeons. Now here's a gnostic perspective of Jesus on the cross. One of the central themes of the Christian faith is the death of Jesus on the cross. Christians the world over focus on the body of Jesus hanging on the cross, and I've often wondered, why this fixation of Jesus on the cross? Why is the crucifix the focal point of every church and altar? Why do people wear the cross as jewelry or hang a crucifix in their bedroom? The obvious answer Christians give is that without the cross, Jesus could not have saved humanity from sin, for he bore our sins into the grave with his death and they were washed away with his resurrection from the dead. Praise be to God, but why the cross? If Jesus had been stoned to death or drowned or beaten or thrown from a high tower, would we still feel such affinity for the stone, a lake, a club or a roof? I don't think so. I think there is something very special about the shape of the cross itself. I ask this question because Jesus never said, I'm soon to pass on from this world, and I want you to focus on my body hanging on the cross as I take on the sins of the world. And yet, that's what people do, as if that were the entire point of the Gospel. As far as I can tell, Jesus did not ask for his death and resurrection to be the focal point of worship. What Jesus actually said was: “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30), and, “Whoever welcomes me welcomes the Father that sent me” (Luke 9:48). In other words, Jesus acknowledged himself in reference to his Father and he deflected glory to his Father. Yet Jesus is worshipped by modern Christians to the extent that the Father almost goes unmentioned. Thank goodness for the Lord's prayer, which is directed to the Father and not to the Son. Jesus taught it to be said to the Father; he did not teach it to be recited to himself. No slight to the Son, of course, we're merely emphasizing the importance of the God Above All Gods. During the last supper, Jesus instructed his followers to think of his broken body as they break and eat bread and to consider his blood as the fulfillment of a contract with humanity as they drink wine. This is what Jesus left the church as instruction regarding his death. He did not instruct them to erect images of crosses and to worship him hanging on a cross, as if he were stuck up there forever. Yes, Protestants have allowed Jesus to come down off the cross and therefore their crosses are unoccupied to remind us that Jesus resurrected, but still the focus is on the cross. Again—why the cross in particular? Here is the symbolism of the cross as I understand it. We who dwell on Earth are engaged in endless warfare with the Imitation that always seeks to lure us away from our Father in Heaven. Oftentimes we don't even realize we're engaged in warfare with the Imitation, because it can appear disguised as goodness. This is what is meant by the Devil being a liar. Things are proposed “for our own good,” but they're not; they're proposed for power and control. We Second Order of Powers are engaged in this endless warfare and, although we come from a good disposition of the Father and the Fullness, we have forgotten our heavenly nature and become deluded because of rage and other passions and addictions. The Christ came to Earth in the form of a Son of Man to bring the Third Order of Powers to Earth as the solution to overcoming the phantoms of the Imitation that have mired the Second Order Powers in error and ignorance. Those who have eyes to see the Christ are able to remember their Father in Heaven. Those who remember their Father in Heaven and repent from the Imitation are redeemed. Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the promise to redeem the fallen. Jesus as the Son of God and the Son of Man brought salvation to the Deficiency and restored it to the Kingdom of Heaven. The reason the cross looks as it does and occupies such a central role in worship is that the cross represents human beings. The Cross is shaped like a human, a Son of Man. It is no accident that Jesus was crucified on a cross because Jesus is a Son of Man, the Son of Man. The Cross should remind us that humankind has been redeemed by the body and blood of Christ in an even more profound way than acknowledging the indignity and suffering of Christ on the cross. It should remind us that the Son of God—the Christ—bridged with the form of his human body spirit-to-matter, which is top-to-bottom, and neighbor-to-neighbor, which is side-to-side, just as the shape of the cross. In the Gnostic Gospel, redemption comes to all of creation through the incarnation of the Son of God into the body of the Son of Man. The manner of the Savior's birth, death, and resurrection will come to every soul as they realize their Father is in Heaven and to Heaven they will return. For, as it says, “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” That affirmation comes from the New Testament (Philippians 2:10). It just takes time. We aren't there yet because of the common delusion of presumptuous thought, which causes people to behave selfishly. Ego must first make way for the love of Christ to take over the throne of the Self. Only then may you rise above the egoic imitation, for then you will have a champion and a king. The very public way that Jesus was crucified and the very public way that he resurrected gives us all hope of the same: Jesus demonstrates proof of resurrection and his life, death, and resurrection is about all of us, not only about the Christ. Jesus is the exemplar of our resurrection. And, by the way, in a Gnostic sense, which could be considered heretical by many Christians, the story of Jesus and the Christ and the Father don't even have to be believed as historical fact, which many nay-sayers make the cornerstone of their argument against Christ and God. The very concepts themselves—the very thoughts, the mind—is what carries this. We are consciousness and this Christ story is in our consciousness for our salvation. Think on that… I acknowledge that this is a very different version of Christianity than has been traditionally presented to us. This is gnosis that was originally contained in the sacred scriptures that formed the New Testament prior to the Pope and Emperor of Rome getting their hands on it and stripping it out. It's nice to know. I hope you get it. It doesn't really matter, because all you need to know is that we come from the Father and to the Father we will return. That is the bottom line. We are emanations directly of the Father and the Father has promised to save us all and bring us all home. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me.” This has been taken to mean that one must acknowledge the power of the Christ before the Christ can redeem you. But, you see, this would put all of the power of redemption in your hands rather than Christ's. The Christ will redeem all Second Order Powers by the end of time, with or without your prior acknowledgment. All redemption comes to the Father through the Christ, and that is in Christ's hands. What accepting the Christ now does for you is open the door for the Third Order Powers to enter your egoic soul. This power makes it possible to live a joyous and virtuous life. It allows the love of the Father to flow through you and out into the world. And it eases your transition after the physical death of your body, so you may enter the afterlife without fear, knowing that you rest in the Pleroma of the Christ. The Final Economy is our foretaste of Paradise. No more shadows, no more sorrow. I hope that this information is helpful to you and will help you remember your gnosis. Merry Christmas. God bless us all. And onward and upward. If you are getting any gnosis from this information, please consider supporting Gnostic Insights with a generous donation. It helps keep me motivated. I’m a one-person enterprise with full responsibility for every aspect of this podcast, from writing to recording to editing to artwork to paying for the hosting services that bring this gnosis to you. I could really use some more support! Please do what you can. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Name *FirstLastEmail *Stripe Credit Card *Choose your item *Item A - $10.00Item B - $25.00Item C - $50.00Total$0.00Submit
Die Serienjunkies-Redaktion kommt zum Jahresende zum Podcasten zusammen und lässt das vergangene Jahr Revue passieren. Den Anfang macht das Duo Nadja und Adam, die jeweils fünf (+/-) Serien im Gepäck haben, die ihnen besonders gefallen haben. Mit dabei sind beispielsweise Pörni“, „The Gilded Age“, „And Just Like That...“, „Adolescence“, „Paradise“, „The Last of Us“, „Stranger Things“ und „Pluribus“. Aber auch einige kurze Ausblicke und Geheimtipps fürs kommende Jahr, die erst noch nach Deutschland kommen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
John Granger Attempts to Convince Nick (and You!) That The Hallmarked Man will be Considered the Best of the Series.We review our take-away impressions from our initial reading of The Hallmarked Man. Although we enjoyed it, especially John's incredible prediction of Robin's ectopic pregnancy, neither of us came away thinking this was the finest book in the series. For Nick, this was a surprise, as enthusiastic J. K. Rowling fan that he is other than Career of Evil every book he has read has been his favourite. Using an innovative analysis of the character pairs surrounding both Cormoran and Robin, John argues that we can't really appreciate the artistry of book number eight until we consider its place in the series. Join John and Nick as they review the mysteries that remain to be resolved and how The Hallmarked Man sets readers up for shocking reveals in Strike 9 and 10!Why Troubled Blood is the Best Strike Novel:* The Pillar Post Collection of Troubled Blood Posts at HogwartsProfessor by John Granger, Elizabeth Baird-Hardy, Louise Freeman, Beatrice Groves, and Nick JefferyTroubled Blood and Faerie Queene: The Kanreki ConversationBut What If We Judge Strike Novels by a Different Standard than Shed Artifice? What About Setting Up the ‘Biggest Twist' in Detective Fiction History?* If Rowling is to be judged by the ‘shock' of the reveals in Strike 10, then The Hallmarked Man, the most disappointing book in the series even to many Serious Strikers, will almost certainly be remembered as the book that set up the finale with the greatest technical misdirection while playing fair.* The ending must be a shock, one that readers do not see coming, BUT* The author must provide the necessary clues and pointers repeatedly and emphatically lest the reader feel cheated at the point of revelation.* If the Big Mysteries of the series are to be solved with the necessary shock per both Russian Formalist and Perennialist understanding, then the answers to be revealed in the final two Strike novels, Books Two and Three of the finale trilogy, should be embedded in The Hallmarked Man.* Rowling on Playing Fair with Readers:The writer says that she wanted to extend the shelf of detective fiction without breaking it. “Part of the appeal and fascination of the genre is that it has clear rules. I'm intrigued by those rules and I like playing with them. Your detective should always lay out the information fairly for the reader, but he will always be ahead of the game. In terms of creating a character, I think Cormoran Strike conforms to certain universal rules but he is very much of this time.* On the Virtue of ‘Penetration' in Austen, Dickens, and Rowling* Rowling on the Big Twist' in Austen's Emma:“I have never set up a surprise ending in a Harry Potter book without knowing I can never, and will never, do it anywhere near as well as Austen did in Emma.”What are the Key Mysteries of the Strike series?Nancarrow FamilyWhy did Leda and Ted leave home in Cornwall as they did?Why did Ted and Joan not “save” Strike and Lucy?Was Leda murdered or did she commit suicide?If she was murdered, who dunit?If she commited suicide, why did she do it?What happened to Switch Whittaker?Cormoran StrikeIs Jonny Rokeby his biological father?What SIB case was he investigating when he was blown up?Was he the father of Charlotte's lost baby? If not, then who was?Why has he been so unstable in his relations with women post Charlotte Campbell?Charlotte CampbellWhy did her mother hate her so much?What was her relationship with her three step-fathers? Especially Dino LongcasterWho was the father of her lost child?Was the child intentionally aborted or was it a miscarriage?What was written in her “suicide note”?Was Charlotte murdered or did she commit suicide?If she was murdered, who done it?If she committed suicide, why did she do it?What happened to the billionaire lover?What clues do we get in Hallmarked Man that would answer these questions?- Strike 8 - Greatest Hits of Strikes 1-7: compilation, concentration of perumbration in series as whole* Decima/Lion - incest* Rupert's biological father not his father of record (Dino)* Sacha Legard a liar with secrets* Ryan Murphy working a plan off-stage - Charlotte's long gameStrike about ‘Pairings' in Lethal WhiteStrike continued to pore over the list of names as though he might suddenly see something emerging out of his dense, spiky handwriting, the way unfocused eyes may spot the 3D image hidden in a series of brightly colored dots. All that occurred to him, however, was the fact that there was an unusual number of pairs connected to Chiswell's death: couples—Geraint and Della, Jimmy and Flick; pairs of full siblings—Izzy and Fizzy, Jimmy and Billy; the duo of blackmailing collaborators—Jimmy and Geraint; and the subsets of each blackmailer and his deputy—Flick and Aamir. There was even the quasi-parental pairing of Della and Aamir. This left two people who formed a pair in being isolated within the otherwise close-knit family: the widowed Kinvara and Raphael, the unsatisfactory, outsider son.Strike tapped his pen unconsciously against the notebook, thinking. Pairs. The whole business had begun with a pair of crimes: Chiswell's blackmail and Billy's allegation of infanticide. He had been trying to find the connection between them from the start, unable to believe that they could be entirely separate cases, even if on the face of it their only link was in the blood tie between the Knight brothers.Part Two, Chapter 52Key Relationship Pairings in Cormoran Strike:Who Killed Leda Strike?To Rowling-Galbraith's credit, credible arguments in dedicated posts have been made that every person in the list below was the one who murdered Leda Strike. Who do you think did it?* Jonny Rokeby and the Harringay Crime Syndicate (Heroin Dark Lord 2.0),* Ted Nancarrow (Uncle Ted Did It),* Dave Polworth,* Leda Strike (!),* Lucy Fantoni (Lucy and Joan Did It and here),* Sir Randolph Whittaker,* Nick Herbert,* Peter Gillespie, and* Charlotte Campbell-RossScripted Ten Questions:1. So, Nick, back when we first read Hallmarked Man we said that there were four things we knew for sure would be said about Strike 8 in the future. Do you remember what they were?2. And, John, you've been thinking about the ‘Set-Up' idea and how future Rowling Readers will think of Hallmarked Man, even that they will think of it as the best Strike novel. I thought that was Troubled Blood by consensus. What's made you change your mind?3. So, Nick, yes, Troubled Blood I suspect will be ranked as the best of series, even best book written by Rowling ever, but, if looked at as the book that served the most critical place in setting up the finale, I think Hallmarked Man has to be considered better in that crucial way than Strike 5, better than any Strike novel. Can you think of another Strike mystery that reviews specific plot points and raises new aspects of characters and relationships the way Strike 8 does?4. Are you giving Hallmarked Man a specific function with respect to the last three books than any of the others? If so, John, what is that exactly and what evidence do we have that in Rowling's comments about reader-writer obligations and writer ambitions?5. Nick, I think Hallmarked Man sets us up to answer the Key mysteries that remain, that the first seven books left for the final three to answer. I'm going to organize those unresolved questions into three groups and challenge you to think of the ones I'm missing, especially if I'm missing a category.6. If I understand the intention of your listing these remaining questions, John, your saying that the restatement of specific plot points and characters from the first seven Strike novels in Hallmarked Man points to the possible, even probable answers to those questions. What specifically are the hallmarks in this respect of Hallmarked Man?7. If you take those four points, Nick, and revisit the mysteries lists in three categories, do you see how Rowling hits a fairness point with respect to clueing readers into what will no doubt be shocking answers to them if they're not looking for the set-ups?8. That's fun, Nick, but there's another way at reaching the same conclusions, namely, charting the key relationships of Strike and Ellacott to the key family, friends, and foes in their lives and how they run in pairs or parallel couplets (cue PPoint slides).9. Can we review incest and violence against or trafficking of young women in the Strike series? Are those the underpinning of the majority of the mysteries that remain in the books?10. Many Serious Strikers and Gonzo Galbraithians hated Striuke 8 because Hallmarked Man failed to meet expectations. In conclusion, do you think, Nick, that this argument that the most recent Strike-Ellacott adventure is the best because of how it sets us up for the wild finish to come will be persuasive -- or just annoying?On Imagination as Transpersonal Faculty and Non-Liturgical Sacred ArtThe Neo-Iconoclasm of Film (and Other Screened Adaptations): Justin requested within his question for an expansion of my allusion to story adaptations into screened media as a “neo-iconoclasm.” I can do that here briefly in two parts. First, by urging you to read my review of the first Hunger Games movie adaptation, ‘Gamesmakers Hijack Story: Capitol Wins Again,' in which I discussed at post's end how ‘Watching Movies is a a Near Sure Means to Being Hijacked by Movie Makers.' In that, I explain via an excerpt from Jerry Mander's Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, the soul corrosive effects of screened images.Second, here is a brief introduction to the substance of the book I am working on.Rowling is a woman of profound contradictions. On the one hand, like all of us she is the walking incarnation of her Freudian family romance per Paglia, the ideas and blindspots of the age in which we live, with the peculiar individual prejudices and preferences and politics of her upbringing, education, and life experiences, especially the experiences we can call crises and consequent core beliefs, aversions, and desires. Rowling acknowledges all this, and, due to her CBT exercises and one assumes further talking therapy, she is more conscious of the elephant she is riding and pretending to steer than most of her readers.She points to this both in asides she make in her tweets and public comments but also in her descriptive metaphor of how she writes. The ‘Lake' of that metaphor, the alocal place within her from her story ideas and inspiration spring, is her “muse,” the word for superconscious rather than subconscious ideas that she used in her 2007 de la Cruz interview. She consciously recognizes that, despite her deliberate reflection on her PTSD, daddy drama, and idiosyncratic likes and dislikes, she still has unresolved issues that her non-conscious mind presents to her as story conflict for imaginative resolution.Her Lake is her persona well, the depths of her individual identity and a mask she wears.The Shed, in contrast, is the metaphorical place where Rowling takes the “stuff” given her by the creature in her Lake, the blobs of molten glass inspiration, to work it into proper story. The tools in this Shed are unusual, to say the least, and are the great markers of what makes Rowling unique among contemporary writers and a departure from, close to a contradiction of the artist you would expect to be born of her life experiences, formative crises, and education.Out of a cauldron potion made from listening to the Smiths, Siouxie and the Banshees, and The Clash, reading and loving Val McDermid, Roddy Doyle, and Jessica Mitford, and surviving a lower middle class upbringing with an emotionally barren homelife and Comprehensive education on the England-Wales border, you'd expect a Voldemort figure at Goblet of Fire's climax to rise rather than a writer who weaves archetypally rich myths of the soul's journey to perfection in the spirit with alchemical coloring and sequences, ornate chiastic structures, and a bevy of symbols visible only to the eye of the Heart.To understand Rowling, as she all but says in her Lake and Shed metaphor, one has to know her life story and experiences to “get” from where her inspiration bubbles up and, as important, you need a strong grasp of the traditionalist worldview and place of literature in it to appreciate the power of the tools she uses, especially how she uses them in combination.The biggest part of that is understanding the Perennialist definition of “Sacred Art.” I touched on this in a post about Rowling's beloved Christmas story, ‘Dante, Sacred Art, and The Christmas Pig.'Rowling has been publicly modest about the aims of her work, allowing that it would be nice to think that readers will be more empathetic after reading her imaginative fiction. Dante was anything but modest or secretive in sharing his self-understanding in the letter he wrote to Cangrande about The Divine Comedy: “The purpose of the whole work is to remove those living in this life from the state of wretchedness and to lead them to the state of blessedness.” His aim, point blank, was to create a work of sacred art, a category of writing and experience that largely exists outside our understanding as profane postmoderns, but, given Rowling's esoteric artistry and clear debts to Dante, deserves serious consideration as what she is writing as well.Sacred art, in brief, is representational work — painting, statuary, liturgical vessels and instruments, and the folk art of theocentric cultures in which even cutlery and furniture are means to reflection and transcendence of the world — that employ revealed forms and symbols to bring the noetic faculty or heart into contact with the supra-sensible realities each depicts. It is not synonymous with religious art; most of the art today that has a religious subject is naturalist and sentimental rather than noetic and iconographic, which is to say, contemporary artists imitate the creation of God as perceived by human senses rather than the operation of God in creation or, worse, create abstractions of their own internally or infernally generated ideas.Story as sacred art, in black to white contrast, is edifying literature and drama in which the soul's journey to spiritual perfection is portrayed for the reader or the audience's participation within for transformation from wretchedness to blessedness, as Dante said. As with the plastic arts, these stories employ traditional symbols of the revealed traditions in conformity with their understanding of cosmology, soteriology, and spiritual anthropology. The myths and folklore of the world's various traditions, ancient Greek drama, the epic poetry of Greece, Rome, and Medieval Europe, the parables of Christ, the plays of Shakespeare's later period, and the English high fantasy tradition from Coleridge to the Inklings speak this same symbolic language and relay the psychomachia experience of the human victory over death.Dante is a sacred artist of this type. As difficult as it may be to understand Rowling as a writer akin to Dante, Shakespeare, Homer, Virgil, Aeschylus, Spenser, Lewis, and Tolkien, her deployment of traditional symbolism and the success she enjoys almost uniquely in engaging and edifying readers of all ages, beliefs, and circumstances suggests this is the best way of understanding her work. Christmas Pig is the most obviously sacred art piece that Rowling has created to date. It is the marriage of Dantean depths and the Estecean lightness of Lewis Carroll's Alice books, about which more later.[For an introduction to reading poems, plays, and stories as sacred art, that is, allegorical depictions of the soul's journey to spiritual perfection that are rich in traditional symbolism, Ray Livingston's The Traditional Theory of Literature is the only book length text in print. Kenneth Oldmeadow's ‘Symbolism and Sacred Art' in his Traditionalism: Religion in the light of the Perennial Philosophy(102-113), ‘Traditional Art' in The Essential Seyyed Hossein Nasr(203-214), and ‘The Christian and Oriental, or True Philosophy of Art' in The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy(123-152) explain in depth the distinctions between sacred and religious, natural, and humanist art. Martin Lings' The Sacred Art of Shakespeare: To Take Upon Us the Mystery of Things and Jennifer Doane Upton's two books on The Divine Comedy, Dark Way to Paradise and The Ordeal of Mercy are the best examples I know of reading specific works of literature as sacred art rather than as ‘stories with symbolic meaning' read through a profane and analytic lens.]‘Profane Art' from this view is “art for art's sake,” an expression of individual genius and subjective meaning that is more or less powerful. The Perennialist concern with art is less about gauging an artist's success in expressing his or her perception or its audience's response than with its conformity to traditional rules and its utility, both in the sense of practical everyday use and in being a means by which to be more human. Insofar as a work of art is good with respect to this conformity and edifying utility, it is “sacred art;” so much as it fails, it is “profane.” The best of modern art, even that with religious subject matter or superficially beautiful and in that respect edifying, is from this view necessarily profane.Sacred art differs from modern and postmodern conceptions of art most specifically, though, in what it is representing. Sacred art is not representing the natural world as the senses perceive it or abstractions of what the individual and subjective mind “sees,” but is an imitation of the Divine art of creation. The artist “therefore imitates nature not in its external forms but in its manner of operation as asserted so categorically by St. Thomas Aquinas [who] insists that the artist must not imitate nature but must be accomplished in ‘imitating nature in her manner of operation'” (Nasr 2007, 206, cf. “Art is the imitation of Nature in her manner of operation: Art is the principle of manufacture” (Summa Theologia Q. 117, a. I). Schuon described naturalist art which imitates God's creation in nature by faithful depiction of it, consequently, as “clearly luciferian.” “Man must imitate the creative act, not the thing created,” Aquinas' “manner of operation” rather than God's operation manifested in created things in order to produce ‘creations'which are not would-be duplications of those of God, but rather a reflection of them according to a real analogy, revealing the transcendental aspect of things; and this revelation is the only sufficient reason of art, apart from any practical uses such and such objects may serve. There is here a metaphysical inversion of relation [the inverse analogy connecting the principial and manifested orders in consequence of which the highest realities are manifested in their remotest reflections[1]]: for God, His creature is a reflection or an ‘exteriorized' aspect of Himself; for the artist, on the contrary, the work is a reflection of an inner reality of which he himself is only an outward aspect; God creates His own image, while man, so to speak, fashions his own essence, at least symbolically. On the principial plane, the inner manifests the outer, but on the manifested plane, the outer fashions the inner (Schuon 1953, 81, 96).The traditional artist, then, in imitation of God's “exteriorizing” His interior Logos in the manifested space-time plane, that is, nature, instead of depicting imitations of nature in his craft, submits to creating within the revealed forms of his craft, which forms qua intellections correspond to his inner essence or logos.[2] The work produced in imitation of God's “manner of operation” then resembles the symbolic or iconographic quality of everything existent in being a transparency whose allegorical and anagogical content within its traditional forms is relatively easy to access and a consequent support and edifying shock-reminder to man on his spiritual journey. The spiritual function of art is that “it exteriorizes truths and beauties in view of our interiorization… or simply, so that the human soul might, through given phenomena, make contact with the heavenly archetypes, and thereby with its own archetype” (Schuon 1995a, 45-46).Rowling in her novels, crafted with tools all taken from the chest of a traditional Sacred Artist, is writing non-liturgical Sacred Art. Films and all the story experiences derived of adaptations of imaginative literature to screened images, are by necessity Profane Art, which is to say per the meaning of “profane,” outside the temple or not edifying spiritually. Film making is the depiction of how human beings encounter the time-space world through the senses, not an imitation of how God creates and a depiction of the spiritual aspect of the world, a liminal point of entry to its spiritual dimension. Whence my describing it as a “neo-iconoclasm.”The original iconoclasts or “icon bashers” were believers who treasured sacred art but did not believe it could use images of what is divine without necessarily being blasphemous; after the incarnation of God as Man, this was no longer true, but traditional Christian iconography is anything but naturalistic. It could not be without becoming subjective and profane rather than being a means to spiritual growth and encounters. Western religious art from the Renaissance and Reformation forward, however, embraces profane imitation of the sense perceived world, which is to say naturalistic and as such the antithesis of sacred art. Film making, on religious and non-religious subjects, is the apogee of this profane art which is a denial of any and all of the parameters of Sacred art per Aquinas, traditional civilizations, and the Perennialists.It is a neo-iconoclasm and a much more pervasive and successful destruction of the traditional world-view, so much so that to even point out the profanity inherent to film making is to insure dismissal as some kind of “fundamentalist,” “Puritan,” or “religious fanatic.”Screened images, then, are a type of iconoclasm, albeit the inverse and much more subtle kind than the relatively traditional and theocentric denial of sacred images (the iconoclasm still prevalent in certain Reform Church cults, Judaism, and Islam). This neo-iconoclasm of moving pictures depicts everything in realistic, life-like images, everything, that is, except the sacred which cannot be depicted as we see and experience things. This exclusion of the sacred turns upside down the anti-naturalistic depictions of sacred persons and events in iconography and sacred art. The effect of this flood of natural pictures akin to what we see with our eyes is to compel the flooded mind to accept time and space created nature as the ‘most real,' even ‘the only real.' The sacred, by never being depicted in conformity with accepted supernatural forms, is effectively denied.Few of us spend much time in live drama theaters today. Everyone watches screened images on cineplex screens, home computers, and smart phones. And we are all, consequently, iconoclasts and de facto agnostics, I'm afraid, to greater and lesser degrees because of this immersion and repetitive learning from the predominant art of our secular culture and its implicit atheism.Contrast that with the imaginative experience of a novel that is not pornographic or primarily a vehicle of perversion and violence. We are obliged to generate images of the story in the transpersonal faculty within each of us called the imagination, one I think that is very much akin to conscience or the biblical ‘heart.' This is in essence an edifying exercise, unlike viewing photographic images on screens. That the novel appears at the dawn of the Modern Age and the beginning of the end of Western corporate spirituality, I think is no accident but a providential advent. Moving pictures, the de facto regime artistry of the materialist civilization in which we live, are the counter-blow to the novel's spiritual oxygen.That's the best I can manage tonight to offer something to Justin in response to more about the “neo-iconoclasm” of film This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe
In this episode of Power Producer Shop Talk, host David Carothers interviews Pam Seidler, the only female contestant in Season 3 of The Protégé. Pam shares her diverse background, from working in radio and TV to oxygen sales and a stint in the captive insurance world with AAA. Now, she's diving headfirst into commercial insurance, eager to prove that being new to the industry is not a disadvantage but an opportunity to learn without bad habits. David and Pam discuss the importance of mentorship, finding the right agency culture, and why starting directly in the middle market can be more beneficial than cutting teeth on small commercial accounts. Pam also opens up about her niche focus on the pet industry and gathering places (coffee shops, etc.), leveraging her past experiences to build a unique book of business. Key Highlights: Breaking into the Industry Pam shares her winding career path, which included stops at Fox News, tech startups, and medical sales, before a chance encounter on a plane planted the seed for an insurance career. After gaining experience as a captive agent, she made the leap to the independent side, drawn by the freedom and limitless potential of commercial insurance. The "New Producer" Advantage David argues that hiring producers with zero insurance experience is often better than hiring veterans with bad habits. Pam embodies this "blank slate" advantage, approaching the competition with a hunger to learn and no preconceived notions about how things should be done. This mindset allows her to absorb coaching and implement new strategies rapidly. Niche Focus: Pets & Gathering Places Drawing on her early career aspirations with Petco and PetSmart, Pam discusses her strategy to target the pet industry—from groomers to boarding facilities—as a primary niche. She also plans to focus on "gathering places" like coffee shops, utilizing her natural ability as a connector to build relationships in these community hubs. Finding the Right Agency Culture David advises Pam (and listeners) on how to interview an agency. He suggests bold moves like asking to speak with top and bottom producers, as well as current and former clients, to get a true picture of the agency's deliverables and support structure. This transparency is key to finding a long-term home. The Power of Spousal Support David shares a personal story about how his wife's unwavering support was the catalyst for launching Florida Risk Partners. He emphasizes that a strong support system at home is crucial for any producer navigating the ups and downs of a sales career, a philosophy he integrates into his Producers in Paradise event. Connect with: David Carothers LinkedIn Pam Siedler LinkedIn Kyle Houck LinkedIn Visit Websites: Power Producer Base Camp AHI Insurance Group Killing Commercial Crushing Content Power Producers Podcast Policytee The Dirty 130 The Extra 2 Minutes
Urbana Radio Show By David Penn Chapter #717 1. Jamback - Positive - Circoloco Records 2. Belfort ft. Veylurav - Braids - Big Top Amsterdam 3. Akeem Raphael, Husky - Weightless Love - House Heads 4. Soul Avengerz - Reachin' - Fool's Paradise 5. David Penn, Sex-O-Sonique - I Thought It Was You - Central Station / London Records 6. DJ Chus - That Feeling (Cassimm Remix) - Stereo Productions 7. Roog, Rickster - Night Moves (Roog Reconstruction) - Altra Moda 8. Piem, Reza - The Sound - Jackies Music Records 9. Low Steppa, Ruff Driverz - Don't Stop - Altra Moda Music 10. Raiden - House - Techne 11. Tony Romera, Gene Farris - Lazy - Toolroom 12. Cassimm - Over You - Toolroom 13. The Cube Guys, Alaia & Gallo, The Melody Men - Bees To The Honey - Cube Recordings Thanks to all the labels and artist for their music. All tracks selected and mixed by David Penn DJDAVIDPENN.COM FACEBOOK DJDAVIDPENN INSTAGRAM @DJDAVIDPENN INGENIUM BOKINGS EUROPA MUSIC MANAGEMENT Encoded by MUSICZONE PODCAST SERVICES.
Thank you so much for listening to the Bob Harden Show, celebrating over 14 years broadcasting on the internet. On Friday's show, we visit with Senior Legal Fellow William Yeatman with the Pacific Legal Foundation about Congressional spending bills, Obamacare subsidies, and the President's primetime speech. We visit with Senior Economist with the Competitive Enterprise … The post Who Get’s Coal in Their Stocking from Trump? appeared first on Bob Harden Show.
December 17th, 2025 Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X Listen to past episodes on The Ticket’s Website And follow The Ticket Top 10 on Apple, Spotify or Amazon MusicSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Carol Fitzgerald shares commentary about her 42 Bookreporter Bets On selections from 2025. These are books that she is betting Bookreporter readers will love! (* means a video/podcast interview with that author is available.) Fiction Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall * The Correspondent by Virginia Evans * The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb Heart the Lover by Lily King * Buckeye by Patrick Ryan Speak to Me of Home by Jeanine Cummins * Culpability by Bruce Holsinger * The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage (* to come) Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson * More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova * What Happened to the McCrays? by Tracey Lange * When the Cranes Fly South written by Lisa Ridzén, translated by Alice Menzies What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown Pictures of You by Clare Leslie Hall * Days You Were Mine by Clare Leslie Hall * Historical Fiction The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis * Atmosphere: A Love Story, by Taylor Jenkins Reid One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter * Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray * The Lost Baker of Vienna by Sharon Kurtzman * Last Call at the Savoy by Brisa Carleton * Whatever Happened to Lori Lovely? by Sarah McCoy Thrillers & Mysteries The Doorman by Chris Pavone * Presumed Guilty by Scott Turow * Apostle's Cove by William Kent Krueger The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark * All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan * The Unraveling of Julia by Lisa Scottoline She Didn't See It Coming by Shari Lapena Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney Saltwater by Katy Hays * Please Don't Lie by Christina Baker Kline and Anne Burt The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict * The Oligarch's Daughter by Joseph Finder * The Break-In by Katherine Faulkner The Note by Alafair Burke The Maid's Secret: A Maid Novel, by Nita Prose * Memoirs & Other Nonfiction Dear Sister: A Memoir of Secrets, Survival, and Unbreakable Bonds, by Michelle Horton * Seeking Shelter: A Working Mother, Her Children, and a Story of Homelessness in America, by Jeff Hobbs * This Happened to Me: A Reckoning, by Kate Price Boat Baby: A Memoir, by Vicky Nguyen * Our Latest "Bookreporter Talks To" Interviews: Vicky Nguyen: https://youtu.be/ssPMpaokVp8 Brisa Carleton: https://youtu.be/aE2cCH4oMsk Alex DeMille: https://youtu.be/EstkI7Caul8 Lily King: https://youtu.be/ir_IaUnaru4 Virginia Evans: https://youtu.be/6FtYT5KRW2Q Hank Phillippi Ryan: https://youtu.be/7O3gIC1IJN4 Sharon Kurtzman: https://youtu.be/CMCnGJitKMY Francesca Serritella: https://youtu.be/XmmvtzilXg0 Bruce Holsinger: https://youtu.be/KukE7DscmsY Our Latest "Bookaccino Live" Book Group Events: Clare Leslie Hall: https://youtu.be/j0j3_ScryJg Paula Hawkins: https://youtu.be/nxakmJRaKaY Amy Neff: https://youtu.be/lfHGY8VEyoA J. Courtney Sullivan: https://youtu.be/fE8XHj-vV40 Fiona Davis: https://youtu.be/hv68HE3tjLU Beatriz Williams: https://youtu.be/q1lwGj7ZUlg Sign up for newsletters from Bookreporter and Reading Group Guides here: https://tbrnetwork.com/newsletters/ FOLLOW US on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookreporter Website: https://www.bookreporter.com Art Credit: Tom Fitzgerald Edited by Jordan Redd Productions
Paradise (I'm Taking You) - Shy5
Trapped in Paradise (1994) Movie Review & Retro Holiday Comedy BreakdownTrapped in Paradise is a 1994 Christmas crime comedy film starring Nicolas Cage, Jon Lovitz, and Dana Carvey. Set during the holiday season, this underrated 90s movie blends slapstick humor, small-town charm, and a classic “one last job goes wrong” story that has quietly earned cult status among fans of retro comedies.The film follows three ex-con brothers — Bill, Dave, and Alvin Firpo — who return to their hometown of Paradise, Pennsylvania, just before Christmas. Hoping to pull off a quick bank robbery and escape with the money, the brothers instead find themselves literally trapped in Paradise after a massive snowstorm shuts down the town. As the night unfolds, their criminal plan unravels thanks to bad luck, moral dilemmas, quirky townspeople, and the growing realization that the people they're robbing might be kinder than they expected.Directed and written by George Gallo, Trapped in Paradise showcases an unusual but memorable trio of 90s comedy and film stars. Nicolas Cage, in the middle of his transition from quirky character roles to blockbuster stardom, plays the conflicted brother trying to go straight. Jon Lovitz, known for his time on Saturday Night Live, delivers nervous energy and sarcastic humor, while Dana Carvey, also an SNL legend, brings an over-the-top performance that has become one of the film's most talked-about elements.Although Trapped in Paradise struggled at the box office upon its original release and received mixed to negative reviews at the time, the movie has since gained appreciation as a nostalgic holiday comedy. Fans of 90s movies, Christmas films, and offbeat crime comedies often rediscover it during the holiday season. Its mix of winter visuals, practical effects, and physical comedy makes it feel like a time capsule of mid-1990s filmmaking.This episode dives deep into everything fans want to know about Trapped in Paradise, including behind-the-scenes trivia, filming challenges, box office performance, and fun facts about the cast. We also explore why this movie didn't connect with critics initially, how it compares to other Christmas comedies of the era, and whether it deserves a second look today. From snow-covered chaos to surprisingly heartfelt moments, this film offers more than its reputation suggests.If you love retro movie podcasts, 90s movie reviews, Christmas movie deep dives, or discovering underrated holiday films, this breakdown of Trapped in Paradise is for you. Whether you're a longtime fan or watching it for the first time, this episode celebrates the charm, flaws, and strange appeal of a movie that proves even a bad plan can lead to a memorable holiday story.
Thank you so much for listening to the Bob Harden Show, celebrating over 14 years broadcasting on the internet. On Thursday's show, we discuss legislative developments on “Artificial Intelligence” and its implications for public education with the Director of Policy and Advocacy with the Florida Citizens Alliance, Ryan Kennedy. We visit with Cato Institute Health … The post St. Matthews House: Addressing Food Insecurity Over the Holidays appeared first on Bob Harden Show.
(SPOILER) Your Daily Roundup covers more from St. Lucia and Taylor Frankie Paul, live re-watch getting pushed back a day, a Bach in Paradise couple gets married (which in turn gives an F-U to an alum), & your Survivor finale will take longer than usual tonight. Music written by Jimmer Podrasky (B'Jingo Songs/Machia Music/Bug Music BMI) Ads: ZocDoc – Click on https://zocdoc.com/RealitySteve to find and instantly book a top rated doctor today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ducky and Donnie bring you up to date on the massive events at WSOP Paradise and the WPT World Championship.Follow Donnie on Twitter: @Donnie_PetersFollow Tim on Twitter: @Tim__DuckworthFollow PokerGO on Twitter: @PokerGO Subscribe to PokerGO today to receive 24/7 access to the world's largest poker content library, including the WSOP, High Stakes Poker, No Gamble, No Future, and more. Use the promo code PODCAST to receive $20 off your first year of a new annual subscription. Join today at PokerGO.com.Play free poker against real players anytime, anywhere on PlayPokerGO. Build your path to poker mastery for free with Octopi Poker. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/pokergo-podcast--5877082/support.
Today on Script Apart – all aboard a conversation about The Lost Bus, with a writer who's glued me to my screen time and time again over the last few years. Brad Ingelsby is the creator of Mare Of Eastown starring Kate Winslet from back in the pandemic. He also created this year's stunning Task – an HBO drama with Mark Ruffalo about an FBI agent investigating a string of violent robberies in rural Delaware County, which is a recurring backdrop to his storytelling – and the Apple TV+ thriller Echo Valley. This year, you might also have caught his collaboration with director Paul Greengrass – a thriller that would have been an exciting throwback to the disaster cinema of decades past, were it not for one particular interesting texture to that film. The Lost Bus told the true life tale of a bus driver, Kevin McKay, played by Matthew Maconahey, who stepped up to save a class full of children amid devastating wildfires encroaching on the small town of Paradise, California. Those fires were in 2018. In January this year, California was devastated by all-new wildfires that cemented a sense of new normal. Climate scientists are warning in unison that we can expect more of the precise scenario depicted in this movie. So, how did that fact affect Brad's approach to the script? What's behind his love of stories set in rural communities not often depicted on-screen? Why is it that his storytelling often centres around parents being pushed away by children on the cusp of adulthood? And what lesson is there about writing and life in the fact that, at the end of The Lost Bus, McKay reaches a realisation: the only way out of the fire is through? Brad spills all in this riveting chat.Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek. Follow us on Instagram, or email us on thescriptapartpodcast@gmail.com.To get ad-free episodes and exclusive content, join us on Patreon.Get coverage on your screenplay by visiting ScriptApart.com/coverage. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
LAST EP OF THE SZN AND THE YEAR!! In this weeks episode.. I discuss the latest tv/film updates, events I've been too and divide It moments! -Tell me lies S3 release date-Jonas Brothers Christmas movie -Camp Rock 3 teaser-Artful dodger Trailer s2 -Rivals first look -Paradise s2 teaser -People we meet on vacation trailer -Bridgerton first look photos+ 12 days of bridgerton -Emily in Paris trailer -Stranger things Vol 1+Vol 2 trailer-A24's The Drama teaser -Tubi's How to lose a popularity contest -Tell me Softly Prime video-Heated Rivalry Follow Divideit: IG: https://www.instagram.com/divideitwithgill/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@divideitwithgill?lang=en
BachelorClues and PaceCase kick off the first of three annual Q&A episodes, answering questions straight from the Pit—with this installment focused entirely on The Bachelor and reality TV at large. From the greatest plays in franchise history and iconic Paradise moments to producer manipulation, travel patterns, demonic tidbits, and behind-the-scenes strategy, this episode treats Bachelor Nation like the professional sport it is. A wide-ranging, lore-heavy AMA that blends deep analysis, franchise history, and classic Game of Roses irreverence.__Join the Pit on Patreon for more exclusive content and shows! : / gameofroses__Want coaching tips? email gameofrozes@gmail.com__Follow us on TikTok: @gameofrosesFollow us on Instagram-Game of Roses: @gameofrosespodPacecase: @pacecaseBachelor Clues: @bachelorclues Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
WhoMike Giorgio, Vice President and General Manager of Stowe Mountain, VermontRecorded onOctober 8, 2025About StoweClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Vail Resorts, which also owns:Located in: Stowe, VermontYear founded: 1934Pass affiliations:* Epic Pass: unlimited access* Epic Local Pass: unlimited access with holiday blackouts* Epic Northeast Value Pass: 10 days with holiday blackouts* Epic Northeast Midweek Pass: 5 midweek days with holiday blackouts* Access on Epic Day Pass All and 32 Resort tiers* Ski Vermont 4 Pass – up to one day, with blackouts* Ski Vermont Fifth Grade Passport – 3 days, with blackoutsClosest neighboring U.S. ski areas: Smugglers' Notch (ski-to or 40-ish-minute drive in winter, when route 108 is closed over the notch), Bolton Valley (:45), Cochran's (:50), Mad River Glen (:55), Sugarbush (:56)Base elevation: 1,265 feet (at Toll House double)Summit elevation: 3,625 feet (top of the gondola), 4,395 feet at top of Mt. MansfieldVertical drop: 2,360 feet lift-served, 3,130 feet hike-toSkiable acres: 485Average annual snowfall: 314 inchesTrail count: 116 (16% beginner, 55% intermediate, 29% advanced)Lift count: 12 (1 eight-passenger gondola, 1 six-passenger gondola, 1 six-pack, 3 high-speed quads, 1 fixed-grip quad, 1 triple, 2 doubles, 2 carpets)Why I interviewed himThere is no Aspen of the East, but if I had to choose an Aspen of the East, it would be Stowe. And not just because Aspen Mountain and Stowe offer a similar fierce-down, with top-to-bottom fall-line zippers and bumpy-bumps spliced by massive glade pockets. Not just because each ski area rises near the far end of densely bunched resorts that the skier must drive past to reach them. Not just because the towns are similarly insular and expensive and tucked away. Not just because the wintertime highway ends at both places, an anachronistic act of surrender to nature from a mechanized world accustomed to fencing out the seasons. And not just because each is a cultural stand-in for mechanized skiing in a brand-obsessed, half-snowy nation that hates snow and is mostly filled with non-skiers who know nothing about the activity other than the fact that it exists. Everyone knows about Aspen and Stowe even if they'll never ski, in the same way that everyone knows about LeBron James even if they've never watched basketball.All of that would be sufficient to make the Stowe-is-Aspen-East argument. But the core identity parallel is one that threads all these tensions while defying their assumed outcome. Consider the remoteness of 1934 Stowe and 1947 Aspen, two mountains in the pre-snowmaking, pre-interstate era, where cutting a ski area only made sense because that's where it snowed the most. Both grew in similar fashion. First slowly toward the summit with surface lifts and mile-long single chairs crawling up the incline. Then double chairs and gondolas and snowguns and detachable chairlifts. A ski area for the town evolves into a ski area for the world. Hotels a la luxe at the base, traffic backed up to the interstate, corporate owners and $261 lift tickets.That sounds like a formula for a ruined world. But Stowe the ski area, like Aspen Mountain the ski area, has never lost its wild soul. Even buffed out and six-pack equipped and Epic Pass-enabled, Stowe remains a hell of a mountain, one of the best in New England, one of my favorite anywhere. With its monster snowfalls, its endless and perfectly spaced glades, its never-groomed expert zones, its sprawling footprint tucked beneath the Mansfield summit, its direct access to rugged and forbidding backcountry, Stowe, perhaps the most western-like mountain in the East, remains a skier's mountain, a fierce and humbling proving ground, an any-skier's destination not because of its trimmings, but because of the Christmas tree itself.Still, Stowe will never be Aspen, because Stowe does not sit at 8,000 feet and Stowe does not have three accessory ski areas and Stowe the Town does not grid from the lift base like Aspen the Town but rather lies eight miles down the road. Also Stowe is owned by Vail Resorts, and can you just imagine? But in a cultural moment that assumes ski area ruination-by-the-consolidation-modernization-mega-passification axis-of-mainstreaming, Aspen and Stowe tell mirrored versions of a more nuanced story. Two ski areas, skinned in the digital-mechanical infrastructure that modernity demands, able to at once accommodate the modern skier and the ancient mountain, with all of its quirks and character. All of its amazing skiing.What we talked aboutStowe the Legend; Vail Resorts' leadership carousel; ascending to ski area leadership without on-mountain experience; Mount Brighton, Michigan and Midwest skiing; struggles at Paoli Peaks, Indiana; how the Sunrise six-pack upgrade of the old Mountain triple changed the mountain; whether the Four Runner quad could ever become a six-pack; considering the future of the Lookout Double and Mansfield Gondola; who owns the land in and around the ski area; whether Stowe has terrain expansion potential; the proposed Smugglers' Notch gondola connection and whether Vail would ever buy Smuggs; “you just don't understand how much is here until you're here”; why Stowe only claims 485 acres of skiable terrain; protecting the Front Four; extending Stowe's season last spring; snowmaking in a snowbelt; the impact and future of paid parking; on-mountain bed-base potential; Epic Friend 50 percent off lift tickets; and Stowe locals and the Epic Pass.What I got wrongOn detailsI noted that one of my favorite runs was not a marked run at all: the terrain beneath the Lookout double chair. In fact, most of the trail beneath this mile-plus-long lift is a market run called, uh, “Lookout.” So I stand corrected. However, the trailmap makes this full-throttle, narrow bumper – which feels like skiing on a rising tide – look wide, peaceful, and groomable. It is none of those things, at least for its first third or so.On skiable acres* I said that Killington claimed “like 1,600 acres” of terrain – the exact claimed number is 1,509 acres.* I said that Mad River Glen claimed far fewer skiable acres than it probably could, but I was thinking of an out-of-date stat. The mountain claims just 115 acres of trails – basically nothing for a 2,000-vertical-foot mountain, but also “800 acres of tree-skiing access.” The number listed on the Pass Smasher Deluxe is 915 acres.On season closingsI intimated that Stowe had always closed the third weekend in April. That appears to be mostly true for the past two-ish decades, which is as far back as New England Ski History has records. The mountain did push late once, however, in 2007, and closed early during the horrible no-snow winter of 2011-12 (April 1), and the Covid-is-here-to-kill-us-all shutdown of 2020 (March 14).On doing better prepI asked whether Stowe had considered making its commuter bus free, but it, um, already is. That's called Reeserch, Folks.On lift ticket ratesI claimed that Stowe's top lift ticket price would drop from $239 last year to $235 this coming season, but that's inaccurate. Upon further review, the peak walk-up rate appears to be increasing to $261 this coming winter:Which means Vail's record of cranking Stowe lift ticket rates up remains consistent:On opening hoursI said that the lifts at Stowe sometimes opened at “7:00 or 7:30,” but the earliest ski lift currently opens at 8:00 most mornings (the Over Easy transit gondola opens at 7:30). The Fourrunner quad used to open at 7:30 a.m. on weekends and holidays. I'm not sure when mountain ops changed that. Here's the lift schedule clipped from the circa 2018 trailmap:On Mount Brighton, Michigan's supposed trashheap legacyI'd read somewhere, sometime, that Mount Brighton had been built on dirt moved to make way for Interstate 96, which bores across the state about a half mile north of the ski area. The timelines match, as this section of I-96 was built between 1956 and '57, just before Brighton opened in 1960. This circa 1962 article from The Livingston Post, a local paper, fails to mention the source of the dirt, leaving me uncertain as to whether or not the hill is related to the highway:Why you should ski StoweFrom my April 10 visit last winter, just cruising mellow, low-angle glades nearly to the base:I mean, the place is just:I love it, Man. My top five New England mountains, in no particular order, are Sugarbush, Stowe, Jay, Smuggs, and Sugarloaf. What's best on any given day depends on conditions and crowding, but if you only plan to ski the East once, that's your list.Podcast NotesOn Stowe being the last 1,000-plus-vertical-foot Vermont ski area that I featured on the podYou can view the full podcast catalogue here. But here are the past Vermont eps:* Killington & Pico – 2019 | 2023 | 2025* Stratton 2024* Okemo 2023* Middlebury Snowbowl 2023* Mount Snow 2020 | 2023* Bromley 2022* Jay Peak 2022 | 2020* Smugglers' Notch 2021* Bolton Valley 2021* Hermitage Club 2020* Sugarbush 2020 with current president John Hammond | 2020 with past owner Win Smith* Mad River Glen 2020* Magic Mountain 2019 | 2020* Burke 2019On Stowe having “peers, but no betters” in New EnglandWhile Stowe doesn't stand out in any one particular statistical category, the whole of the place stacks up really well to the rest of New England - here's a breakdown of the 63 public ski areas that spin chairlifts across the six-state region:On the Front Four ski runsThe “Front Four” are as synonymous with Stowe as the Back Bowls are with Vail Mountain or Corbet's Couloir is with Jackson Hole. These Stowe trails are steep, narrow, double-plus-fall-line bangers that, along with Castlerock at Sugarbush and Paradise at Mad River Glen, are among the most challenging runs in New England.The problem is determining which of the double-blacks spiderwebbing off the top of Fourrunner are part of the Front Four. Officially, the designation has always bucketed National, Liftline, Goat, and Starr together, but Bypass, Haychute, and Lookout could sub in most days. Credit to Stowe for keeping these wild trails intact for going on a century, but what I said about them “not being for the masses” on the podcast wasn't quite accurate, as the lower portions of many - especially Liftline - are wide, often groomed, and not particularly treacherous. The best end-to-end trail is Goat, which is insanely steep and narrow up top. Here's part of Goat's middle-to-lower section, which is mellower but a good portrayal of New England bumpy, exposed-dirt-and-rocks gnar, especially at the :19 mark:The most glorious ego boost (or ego check) is the few hundred vertical feet of Liftline directly below Fourrunner. Sound on for scrapey-scrape:When the cut trails get icy, you can duck into the adjacent glades, most of which are unmarked but skiable. Here, I bailed into the trees skier's left of Starr to escape the ice rink:On Vail Resorts' leadership shufflesTwelve of Vail's 37 North American ski areas began the 2024-25 ski season with a different leader than they ended the 2023-24 ski season with. This included five of the company's New England resorts, including Stowe. Giorgio, in fact, became the ski area's third general manager in three winters, and the fourth since Vail acquired the ski area in 2017. I asked Giorgio about this, as a follow up to a similar set of questions I'd laid out for Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz in August:I may be overthinking this, but check this out: between 2017 and 2024, Vail Resorts changed leadership at its North American ski areas more than 70 times - the yellow boxes below mark a new president-general-manager equivalent (red boxes indicate that Vail did not yet own the ski area):To reset my thinking here: I can't say that this constant leadership shuffle is inherently dysfunctional, and most Vail Resorts employees I speak with appreciate the company's upward-mobility culture. And I consistently find Vail's mountain leaders - dozens of whom I have hosted on this podcast - to be smart, earnest, and caring. However, it's hard to imagine that the constant turnover in top management isn't at least somewhat related to Vail Resorts' on-the-ground reputational issues, truncated seasons at non-core ski areas (see Paoli Peaks section below), and general sense that the company's arc of investment bends toward its destination resorts.On Peak ResortsVail purchased all of Peak Resorts, including Mount Snow, where Giorgio worked, in 2019. Here's that company's growth timeline:On Vernon Valley-Great GorgeThe ski area now known as Mountain Creek was Vernon Valley-Great Gorge until 1997. Anyone who grew up in the area still calls the joint by its legacy name.On Paoli Peaks versus Perfect NorthMy hope is that if I complain enough about Paoli Peaks, Vail will either invest enough in snowmaking to tranform it into a functional ski area or sell it. Here are the differences between Paoli's season lengths since 2013 as compared to Perfect North, its competitor that is the only other active ski area in the state:What explains this longstanding disparity, which certainly predates Vail's 2019 acquisition of the ski area? Paoli does sit southwest of Perfect North, but its base is 200 feet higher (600 feet, versus 400 for Perfect), so elevation doesn't explain it. Perfect does benefit from a valley location, which, longtime GM Jonathan Davis told me a few years back, locks in the cold air and supercharges snowmaking. The simplest answer, however, is probably the correct one: Perfect North has built one of the most impressive snowmaking systems on the planet, and they use it aggressively, cranking more than 200 guns at once. At peak operations, Perfect can transform from green grass to skiable terrain in just a couple of days.So yes, Perfect has always been a better operation than Paoli. But check this out: Paoli's performance as compared to Perfect's has been considerably worse in the five full seasons of Vail Resorts' ownership (excluding 2019-20), than in the six seasons before, with Perfect besting Paoli to open by an average of 21 days before Vail arrived, and by 31 days after. Perfect's seasons lasted an average of 25 days longer than Paoli's before Vail arrived, and 38 days longer after:Yes, Paoli is a uniquely challenged ski area, but I'm confident that someone can do a better job running this place than Vail has been doing since 2019. Certainly, that someone could be Vail, which has the resources and institutional knowledge to transform this, or any ski area, into a center of SnoSportSkiing excellence. So far, however, they have declined to do so, and I keep thinking of what Davis, Perfect North's longtime GM, said on the pod in 2022: “If Vail doesn't want [its ski areas in Indiana and Ohio], we'll take them!”On the 2022 Sunrise Six replacement for the tripleIn 2022, Stowe replaced the Mountain triple chair, which sat up a flight of steep steps from the parking lot, with the at-grade Sunrise six-pack. It was the kind of big-time lift upgrade that transforms the experience of an entire ski area for everyone, whether they use the new lift or not, by pulling skiers toward a huge pod of underutilized terrain and away from longtime alpha lifts Fourrunner and the Mansfield Gondola.On Fourrunner as a vert machineStowe's Fourruner high-speed quad is one of the most incredible lifts in American skiing, a lightspeed-fast base-to-summit, 2,040-vertical-foot monster with direct access to some of the best terrain west of A-Basin.The highest vert total in my 54-day 2024-25 ski season came (largely) courtesy of this lift - and I only skied five-and-a-half hours:On Stowe-Smuggs proximity and the proposed gondola and a long drive in winterAdventurous skiers can skin or hike across the top of Stowe's Spruce Peak and ski down into the Smugglers' Notch ski area. An official ski trail once connected them, and Smuggs proposed a gondola connector a couple of years back. If Vail were to purchase sprawling Smuggs, a Canyons-Park City mega-connection – while improbable given local environmental lobbies -could instantly transform Stowe into one of the largest ski areas in the East.On Jay Peak's big snowmaking upgradesI referenced big offseason snowmaking upgrades for water-challenged (but natural-snow blessed), Jay Peak. I was referring to this:This season brings an over $1.5M snowmaking upgrade that's less about muscle and more about brains. We've added 49 brand new HKD Low E air-water snowmaking guns—32 on Queen's Highway and 17 on Perry Merrill. These aren't your drag-'em-out, hook-'em-up, hope-it's-cold-enough kind of guns. They're fixed in place for the season and far more efficient, using much less compressed air than the ones they replace. Translation: better snow, less energy.On Perry Merrill, things get even slicker. We've installed HKD Klik automated hydrants that come with built-in weather stations. The second temps hit 28 degrees wetbulb, these hydrants kick on automatically and adjust the flow as the mercury drops. No waiting, no guesswork, no scrambling the crew. The end result? Those key connecting trails between Tramside and Stateside get covered faster, which means you can ski from one side to the other—or straight back to your condo—without having to hop on a shuttle with your boots still buckled. …It's all part of a bigger 10-year snowmaking plan we're rolling out—more automation, better efficiency, and ultimately, better snow for you to ski and ride on.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe
In this episode, Kelly Hooker and I discuss our top reads of 2025. Our Top Shared Reads: Dead Money by Jacob Kerr This American Woman by Zarna Garg The Correspondent by Virginia Evans The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar Kelly's Remaining Selections: Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall Slanting Towards the Sea by Lidija Hilje Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley Life & Death & Giants by Ron Rindo Seeking Shelter by Jeff Hobbs Cindy's Remaining Selections: What Happened to the McCray's? by Tracey Lange Nesting by Roisin O'Donnell Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton Heartwood by Amity Gaige No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown The Whyte Python World Tour by Travis Kennedy Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein Culpability by Bruce Holsinger Gemini by Jeffrey Kruger Connect with Kelly Hooker on Instagram. Donate to the podcast here or on Venmo. Check out this list of all the great books I loved in 2025. Want to know which new titles are publishing in January - May of 2026? Check out our fifth Literary Lookbook which contains a comprehensive but not exhaustive list all in one place so you can plan ahead, and we color-code by genre in this one! Looking for something new to read? Here is my monthly Buzz Reads column with five new recommendations each month. Connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Threads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In anticipation of their comeback show THIS WEEKEND, Shawn Spann of I The Breather joins the show to chat about PlayStation 1 Demo Discs, VHS tapes, his favorite shows of the year, & Stranger Things 5.EARGASM Use the code METALCORENERDS to save 10% off your order. Protect your hearing while still enjoying the music you love.Support I The Breather!Tickets to Their Comeback Show | Instagram | Facebook | SpotifySong of the Week: Left Empty "STILLWATER"Check out the Metalcore Nerds Pull List Spotify PlaylistJoin the Metalcore Nerds Community:Discord | FB GroupFollow Metalcore Nerds on Social Media:Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | TikTok
Here we go hulksters, episode 4 of Thunder in Paradise! This podcast has the show, we have another one without the show S1E4: Sea Quentin Spence and Bru's arch-enemy Hammerhead, a dangerous criminal, takes over the underwater prison he's imprisoned in. Want More or Less? Click Here: Simplistic.Reviews/links Site: www.Simplistic.Reviews Podcasts: https://simplistic.media/podcasts Spotify: https://goo.gl/pcBg5V Twitter: https://twitter.com/simpletweeters Facebook: http://facebook.com/SimplisticReviews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplygramming Apple Podcasts: https://goo.gl/orhsR4 #tv #Commentary #tvshow #christmas #Podcast #thunderinparadise #1994 #hulk #hulkhogan
Here we go hulksters, episode 4 of Thunder in Paradise! This podcast has no show, we have another one with the show S1E4: Sea Quentin Spence and Bru's arch-enemy Hammerhead, a dangerous criminal, takes over the underwater prison he's imprisoned in. Want More or Less? Click Here: Simplistic.Reviews/links Site: www.Simplistic.Reviews Podcasts: https://simplistic.media/podcasts Spotify: https://goo.gl/pcBg5V Twitter: https://twitter.com/simpletweeters Facebook: http://facebook.com/SimplisticReviews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplygramming Apple Podcasts: https://goo.gl/orhsR4 #tv #Commentary #tvshow #christmas #Podcast #thunderinparadise #1994 #hulk #hulkhogan
Happy Tuesday! It's a strange, full 3-hour show on a Tuesday now that Ryan Day isn't having regular press conferences. Rothman is back from Chicago. We discuss the NFL playoff outlook and how the AFC North factors into it. We play Fool's Paradise with CB coming to hangout with us as he and Rothman are going up against each other in the station's semifinals. The Floor is Yours. We play Party Like a Rothstar. Tyvis Powell is late to the show because he picked up Richard Sherman's phone call instead of ours. Jeremiah Smith was passed over for the Biletnikoff Award. Joel Klatt thinks March Madness is terribly constructed. Shedeur is under fire for standing still while everyone else tries to go tackle the defender who intercepted his pass. We go Day Trippin' w/ Austin Ward. And Rothman and Ice pull a rabbit out of their hat on a trivia question during Tell the Truth.
Fine caviar, Persian carpets, the malignant presence of a possibly former-Nazi zookeeper, a cameo from a sensuous Mossad agent and cold-blooded murder. This is the improbable, totally true story of a flying Dutchman and some of the last "olim" to leave Iran before the Revolution. Our end song is Gan Eden Shel Ha'Adam ("Man's Paradise") by Gilad Segev.Image licensed from Dragan Ilic at Dreamstime.comStay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, and by signing up for our newsletter at israelstory.org/newsletter/. For more, head to our site or The Times of Israel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Ep 191 w/ Mark Phipps (Lost In Paradise Travel) – Off-Grid Mongolia & Southwest Africa: Reindeer Tribes, Wild Roads & Namibia SafarisIn this week's episode, I'm rejoined by Mark Phipps—author, avid traveller and owner of Lost in Paradise Travel—who returns with stories from two incredible journeys: a solo winter adventure to Mongolia and an epic three-week road trip through Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. This conversation is packed with logistics, unforgettable moments and plenty of wanderlust-inducing content that should seriously inspire your next big trip.We start with Mongolia, where Mark travelled completely solo during peak winter, experiencing minus eight degree temperatures and some of the most remote, off-grid travel you can imagine. He walks us through the entire journey—from a twelve-hour overnight bus from Ulaanbaatar to the northern town of Moron, then an eight-hour bone-rattling ride in a Soviet-era four-by-four across frozen rivers and dirt tracks with no signposts, before finally reaching the Dukha reindeer herders on the back of a reindeer itself. Mark spent two nights living with this semi-nomadic tribe just sixty-five kilometres from the Russian border, sleeping in traditional Gers, observing their daily life and experiencing one of the last truly authentic travel adventures left in the world. He shares what it's like to communicate with zero shared language, the food they eat, the spiritual connection to their reindeer, and why this trip requires permits, patience and a serious sense of adventure.From there, Mark takes us through central Mongolia—visiting Karakorum, the ancient capital under Genghis Khan, hiking in Khustai National Park to see wild horses roaming the steppes, and exploring the Mini Gobi with its massive sand dunes and shaggy Bactrian camels. He breaks down the logistics too: how to book buses when systems are old-school, why you need to work with local guesthouses, what it costs to hire a guide, and why Mongolia is one of those rare places where independent travel still feels properly wild.Then we shift continents entirely. Mark recounts an unforgettable three-week road trip with five friends across Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe—all done independently with rented four-by-fours and rooftop tents. He describes climbing the massive sand dunes of Sossusvlei, staying in open-air treehouses perched over rivers with hippos audible from bed, and driving deep into the Okavango Delta to witness Botswana's incredible elephant population up close. But the real highlight? Camping on the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans—a vast, otherworldly expanse where they drove wherever they wanted, watched the sun go down, cracked open beers around a fire and experienced the clearest view of the Milky Way Mark has ever seen. It's one of those moments he describes as truly once-in-a-lifetime.Mark also shares practical advice throughout: the best time of year to visit for wildlife (September to October), what to expect from border crossings, why you should let your tyre pressure down on the salt flats, and the mantra their safari guide lived by—"What nature provides, you will receive." It's a reminder that patience and flexibility are just as important as planning when it comes to African travel.Finally, we dive into Lost in Paradise Travel, Mark's new venture. After his friend had her passport stolen in Budapest on New Year's Day—completely disrupting their trip—Mark created a GPS-enabled passport wallet that connects to your iPhone's Find My app. It's trackable, has an audible alarm, protects your passport cover and holds all your travel documents in one place. He explains why passport loss is such a recurring problem in the travel industry, how much disruption it causes, and why this simple solution could save your next trip. Pre-orders are live now at lostinparadisetravel.com, with the first shipment arriving in time for Christmas.This episode
Coolios Paradise || The Wheelz Of Steel 13th Dec 2025 by Capital FM
Chris and Andy talk about the second-season trailers for ‘Hijack' (1:49) and ‘Paradise' (8:17), as well as the first teaser for ‘Supergirl' (11:07). Then they break down the ongoing Netflix–Paramount–Warner Bros. saga and the potential ripple effects of each outcome (13:18). Later, they discuss ‘Pluribus' Episode 7 (42:24), Andy's thoughts on the most recent episode of ‘Landman,' (01:04:04) and the breakout success of ‘Heated Rivalry' (01:07:46). Subscribe to the Ringer TV YouTube channel here for full episodes of The Watch and so much more! Hosts: Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald Producers: Kaya McMullen and Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hey guys :)) In this video you will be my test objects hehe :P, no worries though you are in good hands :*D I am sorry for some imperfections, I hope you will still enjoy it. And that weird glitch around 5:50? I cant seem to be able to delete it, I tried 3 times, somthg is wrong with YT :/ Thank you for the love and support! ♥ ^_^ -Airlight channel (Russian whisper): http://www.youtube.com/user/AirLightASMR-Nicolasmrelaxation channel (French whisper): http://www.youtube.com/user/NicolasmrelaxationAsmrtists mentioned: QueenOfSerene: http://www.youtube.com/user/QueenOfSereneTheWaterWhispers: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheWaterwhispersEphemeral Rift: http://www.youtube.com/user/EphemeralRiftAmazon MP3https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_srch_drd_B01BAXDICM?ie=UTF8&field-keywords=GentleWhispering&index=digital-music&search-type=ssGoogle Play MP3https://play.google.com/store/music/artist/Gentlewhispering?id=Apc4txglf3f2siowzgqccttky5i&hl=enSpotify MP3https://play.spotify.com/artist/3gkB9Cdx4UuWQxjhelyd87?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=openiTunes MP3https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/gentlewhispering/id1077570705#see-all/top-songshttps://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/maria-gentlewhispering/id1048320316Disclaimer: *** This video is created for relaxation, entertainment and ASMR/tingles/chills inducing purposes only. For more information about ASMR phenomenon please click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_sensory_meridian_response This video cannot replace any medication or professional treatment. If you have sleep/anxiety/psychological troubles please consult your physician. Thank you :) ***PayPal (Donations): https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=RA5K2GG7687VJ Email: MariaGentlewhispering@gmail.com#asmr #gentlewhispering3/26/13
Ben and Ashley’s hang with Cindy Cullers from Mel Owens’ season of The Golden Bachelor continues! We ask Cindy the burning questions and find out what would have happened if she had been given a “promise ring” from Mel after receiving his final rose. And… could we see Cindy on Paradise? Or as our next Bachelorette??See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
MUSICViolet Grohl, daughter of Dave Grohl, released her first two solo singles, "THUM" and "Applefish", on Dec. 5. ICYMI: Filter, Filter Eleven and Local H are teaming up for a spring tour that starts March 5th in Wenatchee, Washington and wraps up April 1st in Cleveland. Tickets go on sale Friday. It looks like Oasis fans will definitely have to wait until 2027 to see the band again. Liam Gallagher answered fans' questions on X about continuing their reunion tour, and when one fan asked him to announce dates for next year already, Gallagher replied: “We're not doing anything in 2026 sorry.” Loudwire.com published a list of five '70s rock stars who never drank or did drugs. Could they seriously only find FIVE? https://loudwire.com/1970s-rock-musicians-no-drugs-alcohol/ 1. GENE SIMMONS2. FRANK ZAPPA3. ANGUS YOUNG4. TOM SCHOLZ5. TED NUGENT TVTwo TV critics from "Variety" chose the 10 best shows of 2025. List 1:1. "Adolescence", Netflix2. "The Pitt", HBO Max3. "Forever", Netflix4. "Paradise", Hulu5. "It: Welcome to Derry", HBO6. "Outlander: Blood of My Blood", Starz7. "A Thousand Blows", Hulu8. "Untamed", Netflix9. "The Gilded Age", HBO10. "Murdaugh: Death in the Family", Hulu List 2:1. "Andor", Disney+2. "Long Story Short", Netflix3. "The Pitt", HBO Max4. "Dying for Sex", FX5. "The Righteous Gemstones", HBO6. "Everybody's Live with John Mulaney", Netflix7. "The Lowdown", FX8. "The Gilded Age", HBO9. "Pluribus", Apple TV10. "The Studio", Apple TV https://variety.com/lists/best-tv-shows-2025/ MOVING ON INTO MOVIE NEWS:Best movies of 2025 … Rolling Stone just released their list of the Top 20 movies of 2025. These are the Top 5. The question is … Did you see any of them? Did you see any of them in the theater?Nouvelle Vague (5) Train Dreams (4) Black Bag (3) Hamnet (2) One Battle After Another (1) I've never wanted a celebrity relationship more than I want Pamela Anderson and Liam Neeson. Unfortunately, it sounds like it's not happening. At least not anymore. On the bright side, it sounds like they're in a really good place. https://people.com/pamela-anderson-on-liam-neeson-relationship-exclusive-11864356 AND FINALLY'USA Today' has picked its list for the worst Christmas songs of all time. They are: Alvin and the Chipmunks, ‘The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)' Elmo and Patsy, ‘Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer'NewSong, ‘The Christmas Shoes' Jessica and Ashlee Simpson, ‘The Little Drummer Boy' New Kids on the Block, ‘Funky Funky Xmas' 'USA Today' called their number one pick for worst Christmas song "the novelty song from Hell."Sure there's those annoying Christmas songs we hear every year . . . but let's take it up a notch with Christmas carols from HELL. 1. "Here Comes Santa Claus" by Mrs. Miller. She was discovered by the announcer from "Laugh-In", which should tell you all you need to know.2. "Silent Night" by Wing. Wing Han Tsang was from Hong Kong and started singing as a hobby when she moved to New Zealand. Surprisingly, she made it kinda big. "South Park" even parodied her back in the day.3. "White Christmas" by Tiny Tim. There's also "Silent Night", featuring a spoken-word break where he takes aim at hypocrites, fornicators, and child molesters. You know, just regular Christmas caroler stuff. 4. "Little Drummer Boy" by William Hung. Isn't it crazy to think there's a whole generation who has no idea who this "American Idol" treasure is? 5. "I Got a Cold for Christmas" by the Three Stooges. Not terrible, but not exactly a classic.6. "Jingle Bells" by William Shatner, featuring Henry Rollins. Yes, THAT Henry Rollins.7. "Santa Claws Is Coming to Town" by Alice Cooper, featuring John 5, Billy Sheehan, and Vinny Appice. 8. "The Night Before Christmas" by David Hasselhoff. This one is extra cheesy, but did you expect anything less?9. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by Regis Philbin. This one has a cameo by a pre-Oval Office Donald Trump, who offers Rudolph a job in place of Santa.10. "Jingle Hell" by Christopher Lee. Yes, one of the greatest actors of all time. He dabbled in heavy metal later in life. This actually isn't his only holiday song, either. He also did covers of "The Little Drummer Boy" and "Silent Night".11. "Away in a Manger" by the Brady Bunch. This one only features the vocal talents of Marcia, a.k.a. Maureen McCormick. It's from an album called "Merry Christmas from the Brady Bunch".See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In Episode 213, Sarah and Chrissie (@ChrissieWhitley) wrap up the year with the Best Books of 2025 Genre Awards. They reveal their Overall Best Books (Fiction and Nonfiction) and a full breakdown by genre, including: Best Literary Fiction, Best Romance, Best Brain Candy, Best Genre Mash-Up, and more! Plus, they share the winners for these same genres as chosen by the Sarah's Bookshelves Live Member Community. This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog. Announcements The 2026 Reading Tracker is out! This year brings upgraded features across the board — including NEW average star rating and 5-star book tracking for every stat on the Dashboard — plus an updated Lite Tracker for those who prefer a streamlined version. Both Trackers are ONLY available to paid Patreon or Substack subscribers ($7/month) and is no longer sold separately. To avoid Apple's 30% fee, be sure to join directly from the Patreon website (mobile or desktop). Join our Patreon Community (here) OR become a Substack Paid Member (here)! Highlights Podcast reflections from 2025 — including top episodes based on download stats. A brief overview of Sarah's and Chrissie's 2025 year in reading. Their favorite books of the year: overall and by genre, including the SBL Member Community's picks. 2025 Genre Awards [12:39] Sarah The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [12:45] The Favorites by Layne Fargo (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [16:32] The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [20:13] One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [23:48] The Compound by Aisling Rawle (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [28:47] August Lane by Regina Black (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:03] The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [41:54] Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:36] This American Woman by Zarna Garg (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [50:00] Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [52:59] The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [54:44] Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [56:29] Next of Kin by Gabrielle Hamilton (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:00:10] The Elements by John Boyne (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:03:10] Chrissie Fox by Joyce Carol Oates (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [13:42] Joy Moody Is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [17:36] Marble Hall Murders (Susan Ryeland, 3) by Anthony Horowitz (2025) | Amazon| Bookshop.org [21:39] The Pretender by Jo Harkin (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [25:51] What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [30:28] To Clutch a Razor (Curse Bearer, 2) by Veronica Roth (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [32:39] The Love Haters by Katherine Center (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [37:03] These Heathens by Mia McKenzie (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [43:31] The Zorg by Siddarth Kara (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [47:11] Misbehaving at the Crossroads by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [51:09] A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [53:38] Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[55:11] Heartwood by Amity Gaige (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [57:16] Future Boy by Michael J. Fox (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:01:23] Reports of His Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated by James Goodhand (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:06:07] SBL Member Community The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [15:43] The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [19:02] Heartwood by Amity Gaige (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [22:52] Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [27:21] The Compound by Aisling Rawle (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:28] The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [35:23] One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [38:39] Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [40:57] Big Dumb Eyes by Nate Bargatze (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:15] Hot Air by Marcy Dermansky (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:17] Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:19] The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:22] Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:24] So Far Gone by Jess Walter (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:27] This American Woman by Zarna Garg (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:28] Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [48:20] Ordinary Time by Annie Jones (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [52:32] Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [54:31] Among Friends by Hal Ebbott (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [59:25] Awake by Jen Hatmaker (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:02:33] Other Books Mentioned Leaving by Roxana Robinson (2024) [13:51] Heart the Lover by Lily King (2025) [15:35] Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (2025) [15:58] Audition by Katie Kitamura (2025) [16:09] The Names by Florence Knapp (2025) [16:11] Dream State by Eric Puchner (2025) [16:13] Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder by Kerryn Mayne (2023) [17:45] Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (2025) [18:46] Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (2025) [18:56] The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham (2025) [19:18] Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding by Lian Dolan (2025) [19:23] Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (2023) [21:28] The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark (2025) [23:03] The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman (2025) [23:07] Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (2025) [23:13] The Boomerang by Robert Bailey (2025) [23:15] We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter (2017) [24:09] Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin (2022) [26:03] What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown (2025) [26:55] Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2025) [27:06] The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis (2025) [27:12] Isola by Allegra Goodman (2025) [28:13] Merge by Grace Walker (2025) [31:35] The Memory Collectors by Dete Meserve (2025) [31:43] Sunrise on the Reaping by Susanna Collins (2025) [31:48] Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (2025) [31:01] The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker (2025) [32:05] When Among Crows by Veronica Roth (2024) [33:05] Katabasis by R. F. Kuang (2025) [34:23] Babel by R. F. Kuang (2022) [34:36] Yellowface by R. F. Kuang (2023) [34:37] A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (2025) [34:49] The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (2024) [34:54] Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (2025) [34:58] The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (2025) [35:05] Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab (2025) [35:31] The Art of Scandal by Regina Black (2023) [36:49] The Favorites by Layne Fargo (2025) [38:54] The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (2025) [40:30] Hungerstone by Kat Dunn (2025) [40:37] We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad (2025) [40:42] The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig (2025) [41:19] Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker (2025) [41:30] When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi (2025) [44:56] The Wager by David Grann (2023) [47:34] Replaceable You by Mary Roach (2025) [49:04] The Gales of November by John U. Bacon (2025) [49:11] Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams (2025) [51:58] All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert (2025) [52:08] Awake by Jen Hatmaker (2025) [52:24] Nobody's Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre (2025) [52:28] One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (2025) [52:49] The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (2024) [53:22] Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025) [54:21] Life, and Death, and Giants by Ron Rindo (2025) [54:27] Woodworking by Emily St. James (2025) [56:16] Buckeye by Patrick Ryan (2025) [58:57] The Elements by John Boyne (2025) [59:15] Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley (2025) [59:49] My Friends by Fredrik Backman (2025) [59:51] The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne (2017) [1:05:51] James by Percival Everett (2024) [1:08:07] Top Podcast Episodes Ep. 199: Best Books of 2025 (So Far) with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide) and Susie (@NovelVisits) Ep. 184: Best Books of 2024 Genre Awards with Susie (@NovelVisits) Ep. 185: Winter 2025 Book Preview with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide) Ep. 205: Fall 2025 Book Preview with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide) Ep. 192: Spring 2025 Book Preview with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide) Ep. 198: Best of Thrillers with Anderson McKean of Page & Palette (@PagePalette) Ep. 188: Best of Fantasy with Chrissie (@ChrissieWhitley) Ep. 193: Clare Leslie Hall (author of Broken Country) Ep. 187: State of the Industry in 2024 with Kathleen Schmidt (@KathMSchmidt), author of the Publishing Confidential Substack Ep. 208: Best of Narrative Nonfiction with Elizabeth Barnhill of Fabled Bookshop (@FabledBookshop)
In the chaos surrounding the back-to-back hurricanes Irma and Maria that hit the Caribbean in 2017, schoolteacher Hannah Upp disappears from the US Virgin Islands. Even more mysteriously, this is the third time she has disappeared. Is it possible that she is in fugue state, and doesn't even know who she is? Find and watch "Vanished in Paradise: The Untold Story" on Hulu WE'RE ON YOUTUBE - Want to view the episodes and not just listen? Check our new video feed to see full video episodes starting today. CLICK HERE TO WATCH AND SUBSCRIBE! OUR MERCH STORE IS BACK - AND ON SALE! Missed out on the merch drops earlier this year? From now until the end of the year, you can grab all of our remaining stock of merchandise for 30% off! Shop now!! LOOKING FOR MORE TCO? On our Patreon feed, you'll find over 400 FULL AD-FREE BONUS episodes to BINGE RIGHT NOW, including our episode-by-episode coverage of popular documentary series like Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God, LulaRich, and The Curious Case of Natalia Grace; classics like The Jinx, Making A Murderer, and The Staircase; and well-known cases like The Menendez Murders, Casey Anthony: American Murder Mystery, and The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, and so many more! Episode Sponsors: Everyday Dose - Coffee with benefits! Visit www.everydaydose.com/TCO for 45% off your first subscription order! Remi - Protect your smile with Remi's custom-fit nightguard. Go to www.shopremi.com/TCO to get up to 55% off your nightguard! Chime - Make progress towards a better financial future with Chime. Open your account in 2 minutes at www.chime.com/TCO DraftKings Casino - New players, download the DraftKings Casino app and use code TCO. Play five bucks and get 50 spins a day for 10 days on Cash Eruption slots. Momentous - Help elevate your workout results with Momentous Creatine Chews! Go to www.livemomentous.com, and use promo code TCO for up to 35% off your first order! Join the TCO Community! Follow True Crime Obsessed on Instagram and TikTok, and join us on Facebook at the True Crime Obsessed Podcast Discussion Group! AND INTRODUCING THE NEW TCO DISCORD CHANNEL AS WELL!!!
Jase, Al, and Zach respond to an emotionally raw husband who finally confessed his lifelong porn problem and is now facing the painful fallout. The guys talk honestly about how secrets choke intimacy, why confession hurts before it heals, and how hiding only multiplies the damage that sin has already done. They pivot into Phil's old “soul-sleep” way of describing death and compare it to Jesus' promise of paradise and Paul's glimpses of the world to come. The guys land on why believers can face both confession and death with confidence: in Christ, neither your darkest secret nor your final breath gets the last word. In this episode: John 19, verses 38–42; John 20, verses 19–23; Acts 17, verse 28; Romans 8, verses 10–23; 1 Corinthians 5, verses 1–5; 2 Corinthians 12, verses 1–4; Galatians 5, verses 16–18; Ephesians 2, verse 6; Ephesians 3, verses 16–19; Ephesians 4, verses 9–10; Ephesians 4, verses 4–6; Revelation 1, verses 13–18; Revelation 2, verse 7; Revelation 21, verses 1–4; Revelation 22, verses 1–5 “Unashamed” Episode 1225 is sponsored by: https://covenanteyes.com/unashamed — Try the Victory software free for 30 days! https://on.auraframes.com/UNASHAMED — Get exclusive offer of $35 off Carver Mat with Promo Code UNASHAMED https://myphdweightloss.com — Find out how Al is finally losing weight! Schedule your one-on-one consultation today by visiting the website or calling 864-644-1900. https://andrewandtodd.com or call 888-888-1172 — These guys are the real deal. Get trusted mortgage guidance and expertise from someone who shares your values! https://preborn.com/unashamed — Visit the PreBorn! website or dial #250 and use the keyword BABY to donate today. http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ — Sign up now for free, and join the Unashamed hosts every Friday for Unashamed Academy Powered by Hillsdale College Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://open.spotify.com/show/3LY8eJ4ZBZHmsImGoDNK2l Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters: 00:00-15:11 When your dirty secrets are exposed 15:12-21:08 A baseball champ comes for dinner 21:09-26:06 Mia comes home for the holidays 26:07-31:16 Facing the consequences of our sins 31:17-42:15 Are we awake after we die? 42:16-50:25 Paradise is a person & a place 50:26-57:12 A present reality with future benefits — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices