Podcasts about unquestionably

Read Online“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.” John 6:40Do you believe in Jesus? Unquestionably the answer is “Yes.” However, to believe in our Lord is something that must deepen with every passing day. Therefore, if you do have faith in Jesus, you can also admit that you do not have faith enough. In this Gospel passage in which the “Bread of Life Discourse” is continued, Jesus calls us to do two things. First, we must see Him. Second, we must believe. Let's start with the first.When Jesus first spoke these words to the crowd, they did see His physical presence. But many of them did not see beyond the surface. They saw His miracles, heard His teaching, but very few saw the deeper reality of Jesus as the Son of the Eternal Father and the Savior of the World.If you are to believe in our Lord and all that He is, then you must first see Him. One of the best ways to foster this “holy sight” of our Lord is to gaze at Him in the Most Holy Eucharist. When you attend Mass or spend time in adoration and  look upon the Most Holy Eucharist, what do you see? Do you see the Eternal Son? Do you see His holy divinity? Do you see your God and the Lord of all?As we stand or kneel before our Lord, present in the Most Holy Eucharist, it's easy to become distracted. It's easy to allow our minds to wander to the many other aspects of our daily lives and to fail to see the eternal Son of God as He is present to us. Reflect, today, upon the way you look at our Lord. If you want to deepen your faith, your belief, then start with your sight. Start by considering how you look at Jesus, present in the Most Holy Eucharist. If you are blessed to be with Him this day at the Holy Mass or in adoration, examine the way to see Him. Gaze at Him. Make an intentional act of faith in His divine presence. Acknowledge His Godhead, His glory, His holiness and His sacred presence. If you can look beyond the surface and lift the veil that covers His glory, then this holy gift of sight will give way, also, to the gift of profound faith. My ever-present Lord, I thank You profoundly for the way You come to me in the Most Holy Eucharist. I thank You for Your divine presence and glory. Help me to see beyond the veil of the appearance of bread and wine so that I can see more clearly Your divinity. As I see Your divine presence, dear Lord, help me to profess my belief in You with greater certitude and faith. Jesus, I trust in You.  Image: Rembrandt, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsSource of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2025 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Business ownership begins with much more than spreadsheets and profit margins. Furthermore, it encompasses a deeply human experience filled with challenges, triumphs, and countless learning moments. Additionally, this episode of Numbers Know How explores what truly matters when steering your business ship through both calm and stormy waters. The Captain's Decisions Business owners face choices daily, much like selecting a movie after a long day. Consequently, each decision carries its own set of risks and rewards. Should you invest in that new product line or stick with what works? Moreover, the key lies in your willingness to make choices, test them out, and pivot when necessary. Although making decisions might feel overwhelming at times, remember that even Netflix viewers change their selection ten minutes in! Managing Your Crew Running a business involves managing different personalities and needs, similar to hosting a complex family dinner. Accordingly, some team members require additional guidance while others thrive with independence. The real magic happens when you bring these diverse individuals together to create something greater than themselves. Despite the challenges, creating an environment where people feel valued produces the best results. Undoubtedly, business ownership succeeds when connections form beyond just completing tasks. Balancing Stress and Self-Care Stress arrives as an uninvited guest for every business owner. Specifically, it often feels like juggling flaming swords while riding a unicycle on a tightrope! Nevertheless, a small amount of stress adds flavor and drive to your business journey. However, too much can quickly become overwhelming. Therefore, recognizing when to ask for help remains crucial. The Recharging Necessity Business ownership demands consistent energy and focus. Hence, self-care becomes non-negotiable. Think of yourself as a smartphone that needs regular recharging after handling challenges throughout the day. Otherwise, your effectiveness diminishes when running on empty. Certainly, taking time to recharge—whether through proper sleep, walks in nature, or mindful breathing—keeps you performing at your best. The Complete Picture Overall, business ownership transcends numbers and growth charts. Rather, it encompasses the full human experience with its ups and downs. While profits matter, the people involved—including yourself—make the journey worthwhile. Unquestionably, embracing both aspects creates sustainable success. Take Action Today Do you connect with the human side of business ownership? Then listen to the I Hate Numbers podcast for more insights that transform how you view your business journey. Additionally, each episode provides practical wisdom that goes beyond traditional business advice. Subscribe today and join our community of thoughtful business owners!

The current administration in the United States is adversarial towards renewable energy and highly supportive of the use of fossil fuels.  Unquestionably, this will create rough waters for the clean energy industry and, unfortunately, will throw a monkey wrench into the world's efforts to mitigate climate change.  But it cannot stop what has become a […]

Trust forms the cornerstone of every thriving business relationship. Although many focus on profits and growth, this fundamental quality ultimately determines long-term success. Consequently, businesses that prioritize building strong relationships create deeper connections with customers, employees, and suppliers alike.Think about your own experiences. Certainly, you can recall businesses you stopped using because they broke your confidence. Conversely, consider those establishments you return to repeatedly. Undoubtedly, they've proven themselves reliable and honest over time.The Business Value of ReliabilityCustomer LoyaltyStrong relationships keep customers coming back. Indeed, people often stay with businesses they believe in, even when competitors offer lower prices. Moreover, reliable businesses benefit from powerful word-of-mouth marketing. Subsequently, positive reviews and referrals provide cost-effective advertising.Team DynamicsEmployees who believe in their leaders generally show greater engagement. Additionally, they demonstrate willingness to go the extra mile during challenging times. Correspondingly, this creates a positive workplace culture that attracts and retains talent.Business ResilienceDuring difficult periods, strong relationships act as a buffer. Specifically, customers and suppliers more readily support businesses they believe operate with integrity. Therefore, reliability becomes an invaluable asset when facing market uncertainties.Practical Steps to Build Stronger RelationshipsBe Honest and TransparentTransparency undeniably forms the foundation of strong business connections. Accordingly, when problems arise:Communicate proactivelyExplain the situation clearlyProvide realistic solutionsFor example, when delivery delays occur, contact customers before they contact you. Although they might not like the news, they will appreciate your honesty.Make Realistic PromisesReliability proves essential to establishing credibility. Hence, only commit to what you can deliver consistently. Furthermore, aim to underpromise and overdeliver rather than the opposite. Consequently, you'll create positive impressions that strengthen business relationships.Communicate ClearlyClear communication binds relationships together. Therefore, avoid vague statements and jargon. Instead, speak plainly and specifically about expectations, deadlines, and outcomes. Thus, misunderstandings decrease while confidence grows.Maintain ConsistencyActions must align with stated values. Likewise, consistency reassures people they can rely on your business. Nevertheless, many businesses start with quality offerings but later cut corners. However, customers notice these shifts, and credibility erodes quickly.Take ResponsibilityMistakes happen. Still, how we handle them makes all the difference. Unquestionably, owning errors, apologizing sincerely, and making things right builds stronger connections than denial or defensiveness. Additionally, taking responsibility demonstrates integrity that customers and employees respect.Extending Good Practices Throughout Your BusinessDigital PresenceIn today's online world, credibility extends to digital interactions. Therefore:Ensure secure payment systemsBe transparent about policiesRespond professionally to all reviewsHandle negative feedback...

April 20, 2025 Literally Raised & Unquestionably Seen The Cornerstone of the Christian Faith - Part 2 Matthew 28։1-10 Pastor Gabriel Orr Information about how to connect with us can be found at www.nobc.church Please join us on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@NorthOaksBaptistChurch Please also check us out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NorthOaks We hope you have been blessed by this sermon. And we would love to have you join us in person if you are able.

We're celebrating our 1st anniversary with the turbo-charged, melodrama-soaked, gravity-defying classic that redefined what a Great Bad Movie truly is. Fast Five is the Citizen Kane of car-based heist movies. We saved this one for a special occasion, because Fast Five isn't just any movie — it's a beautifully chaotic mix of telenovela-level emotional showdowns, dialogue that sounds philosophical but means almost nothing, and incredible action sequences with things you've never seen before. Is it absurd? Absolutely. Is it brilliant? Unquestionably. Is it a little bad? Ummmmmm, all we can say is we love every second of it.Come celebrate with us as we toast to one year of great cinematic achievements, and honor the film that somehow made dragging a vault through Rio with two Dodge Chargers look cooler than it has any right to.Check out this episode's page on our websiteSubscribe to Great Bad Movies wherever you listen to podcastsMore Great Bad Movies online:InstagramGreat Bad Movies WebsiteYouTubeEmail us at greatbadmoviesshow@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a textPrime Minister Justin Trudeau gets a lot thrown at him. But in 2021 in southern Ontario, the CEO of the Peoples Party of Canada, a rival party, threw a handful of small rocks at him. Unquestionably that should never have happened. There's no room for that in our society. Charges were laid and the accused acknowledged what he had done. But as part of his defense, he wanted the Prime Minister called to give evidence at the trial.Trudeau decided to challenge the subpoena and won his challenge. He wasn't required to testify.Normally a defendant is given every opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law including calling witnesses, but would the Prime Minister's testimony have lent anything to the legal proceedings? Or was this an effort simply to try to gain political points?Read Stephen's blog on this story Gardiner Roberts website https://www.grllp.com/Email Gavin Tighe gjtighe@grllp.comEmail Stephen Thiele sthiele@grllp.com

Welcome to Crypto Today with Connor Sephton — your easy-to-understand look at the top stories.In today's episode: new figures reveal how much money was lost when the Libra token collapsed.Why experts predict the scandal could spell the end for memecoins.A woman who stole $4 million in crypto is jailed for 10 years.And new rumors that Google might be about to make it a lot easier to use Bitcoin.Give our show a follow wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on X: @ConnorSephton and @CryptoTodayPod.

The Abyss Podcast - Issue 181: BUB STYLES Brooklyn is back in the building with the return of Bub Styles! Unquestionably one of the most interesting characters in this Underground wave, Bub talks with us about his commitment to quality and maintaining standards of dopeness, the ongoing work with @gee.cts and @chinatown.sound , his presence in the scene missing no opportunity to pop out and perform, more music on the way and more! Dave Proch came thru with the elegant portrayal, sit back and listen to Lukey Karl and PrimoJAB on another new episode of The Abyss! DON'T SLEEP TAP IN! IG- @crimefaces @crimefaces_the_abyss @lukeycage @thebonechurch @primojab EMAIL- cftheabysspodcast@gmail.com

Unquestionably one of the best bands in Christian music in the 2000s was Tenth Avenue North. Their front man, Mike Donehey, is my guest today and he joins me to talk about their career and why things are much different in the music industry than they were 20 years ago. Mike has a lot to say about an artist's calling and the necessity for deep friendship.

Super Bowl 59 Champs and Green is Gold! An incredible performance from a generational team. Unquestionably the best Eagles team of all-time and maybe the best team to ever grace Broad and Pattison. Your boys break it down. Let's go!

One of the best episodes of the year, where even Chiefs and Aubrey (Drake) fans will laugh and endure the pain together. Andrew with all-star extensive cast of Nonsense, Vince Saiz, Darnell Porter, Ralph Mentor, JR, JX, Brando Tate, the return of Mani Mavuso, Brian Cowan, Josh B, Tee Dizzle, Eric, Mentru Nagbe and Lucas Gaynor.

Former Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly sat down with Brendan following the loss of his seat in the recent election, he talks about how his family home was targeted during COVID, creating a culture of productivity in the Department of Health and why you need a healthy ego to go into politics.

Fletcher Powell says a new movie is a singular achievement.

Financial advisors can be quite intimidating, especially if we feel we're starting ‘too late', or we don't have ‘enough' money. Dr. Sophie Jablonski and Minna Schmidt are on a mission to break that stigma and encourage more people to talk about money matters in a healthy way. On The Lisa Burke Show this week, Sasha Kehoe starts off by giving us a reflection of the week's news.  Flourishing Financially in mid-life. Dr. Sophie Jablonski and Minna Schmidt set up Flourish Financially to help empower people both mentally and financially, the two being highly combined.  Their main community are midlife women who fall into the statistical bracket of being behind men in building wealth. The gender wealth gap across all countries has been averaged as about 77%: that's to say for every €100 earned by a man, a woman earns €77. There are many reasons for this including taking time out to raise a family, returning part-time and sickness.  Women are also less likely to talk about money, often end up dependent on others, especially in older years, despite also living longer on average. For many people, it's midlife, that crunch-point of perhaps raising a family plus parents who might need more help, to heavy workloads, plus possibly divorce, where one contemplates the purpose of having a buffer in life; a financial blanket to ease the inevitable moments of hard times. This duo want to encourage anyone, whatever stage of life you are in, to take control of your own financial health. Unquestionably, more money means more freedom: freedom of choice; freedom to find the best healthcare for aging parents; freedom to leave a bad marriage.  Sophie and Minna hope to inspire and create a community who is more aware of their own financial options, without feeling shame or fear, whatever the starting point; at whatever age.  Sophie is particularly clear that positive psychology is linked to a flourishing mindset, and when this part is ‘right' the rest can follow. How is your Financial Health? Sophie and Minna have developed a Financial Flourishing Scale - a reflective tool to help people understand where they stand on their financial health journey— thriving, languishing or surviving. Using evidence-based insights from positive psychology and financial resilience research, it's a great starting point for building financial well-being. Access the tool for free here: Financial Flourishing Scale https://flourishfinancially.org The PROVIDERS celebrate their 25th anniversary at Den Atelier The Providers started out 25 years ago in a garage in Kehlen with three teenagers. It's now grown to a 10-piece band and old members will join them to perform at their sold-out show at Den Atelier on Saturday. However, there are two tickets left. In this show, Pit Mass talks about The Providers and mentioned how many people will be on stage for this show. Write into hosts@rtltoday.lu with your answer after listening to the show! Website of Minna: https://www.minnaschmidt.com Website of Sophie: https://drsophiecoaching.com LinkedIn of Minna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/minnaschmidt/ LinkedIn of Sophie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-sophie-jablonski/ Instagram of Minna: https://www.instagram.com/minnaschmidt/

Are Christians biblically commanded to ALWAYS DO EVERYTHING the government tells them to do? What about when going to war? I am not confusing the WW2 time period with today. These are two different times in history, two different generations, which very different moral values. That being said, the principle of biblical moral grounds for obeying government is just the same. It seems that World War II was the last war that I see as definitively morally justified to warrant war. War leads to death and destruction on all sides in order to squelch evil. Today, I am going to show you that for the most part, we are to follow the government, but the Bible is clear that we are to avoid EXTREME PATRIOTISM as well. What is "Extreme Patriotism"? In light of Romans 13:1 as a primary verse which says, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgement." (There is also Romans 13:3-13:5 which speak further to the issue.)But, there is more to God's position on the ethics and morality of listening to government when we look at the Bible. For example, just because a government (often an immoral or biblically immorally run government) commands (Christians to) war, doesn't mean the that war is justifiable biblically. As such, we as individual Christians act rightly/biblically when we critically analyze the WHY behind THAT we are to go to war. After all, war entails death, destruction, injury and mental scars that last a lifetime. As such, we are called to analyze government mandates with a biblical worldview and act rightly in light of what God says. And if a godless government asks Christians to fight a biblically immoral war and kill or harm other human beings, we are called as Christians to analyze that war and our level of involvement in military service. This is a touchy subject and I am VERY patriotic. That said, I serve God before I serve any government or human leader(s). I pray this episode brings more clarity than it does emotion. Make sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel! Join our COMMUNITY at: www.StevenGarofalo.ComBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reason-for-truth--2774396/support.

In the field of practical life, each person has his own criteria, his own more or less stale way of thinking, and never opens himself to anything new; this is irrefutable, indisputable, incontrovertible. The mind of the intellectual humanoid is degenerated, deteriorated, in a clear state of devolution. Indeed, the intellectual capacity for understanding of today’s humanity is similar to that of an old, inert and absurd mechanical structure, itself incapable of any authentic flexible phenomena. The mind lacks ductility, it is bottled up in multiple rigid and outdated norms. Each person has their own criteria and certain rigid rules within which they act and react incessantly. The most serious thing about this whole issue is that the millions of criteria are equivalent to millions of putrid and absurd norms. In any case, people never feel wrong, each mind is a world itself and there is no doubt that among so many mental recesses there are many distracting sophisms and unbearable stupidities. But the narrow criteria of the multitudes do not even remotely suspect the intellectual bottleneck in which they find themselves. These modern people with “cockroach brains” think the best of themselves, they boast of being liberals, of super-geniuses, they believe that they have very broad criteria. The enlightened ignorants turn out to be the most difficult, because in reality, speaking this time in the Socratic sense we will say: “Not only do they not know, but, in addition, they ignore that they do not know.” Socrates The intellectual scoundrels clinging to these antiquated norms of the past are violently prosecuted by virtue of their own bottleneck and emphatically refuse to accept something that in no way can fit within their steel standards. The enlightened know-it-alls think that everything that for one reason or another goes outside the rigid path of their rusty procedures is one hundred percent absurd. In this way, these poor people with such difficult judgments deceive themselves miserably. The pseudo-sages of this era boast of being brilliant, they look down on those who have the courage to depart from their time-worn norms, the worst of all is that they do not even remotely suspect the harsh reality of their own obtuseness. The intellectual pettiness of stale minds is such that they even allow themselves the luxury of demanding demonstrations about what is real, about what is not of the mind. People with a rickety and intolerant intelligence do not want to understand that the experience of reality only comes in the absence of the ego. Unquestionably, in no way would it be possible to directly recognize the mysteries of life and death as long as the *inner mind has not been opened within ourselves. *(Study the lecture “The Three Minds” here) It is worth repeating in this chapter that only the superlative consciousness of the Being can know the truth. The inner mind can only function with the data provided by the Cosmic Consciousness of the BEING. The subjective intellect, with its reasoning dialectic, can know nothing about that which escapes its jurisdiction. We already know that the content concepts of reasoning dialectics are elaborated with the data provided by the senses of external perception. Those who are bottled up within their intellectual procedures and fixed norms always resist these revolutionary ideas. Only by radically and definitively dissolving the EGO is it possible to awaken consciousness and truly open the inner mind. However, since these revolutionary declarations do not fit within formal logic, nor within dialectical logic, the subjective reaction of the involutionary minds opposes violent resistance. These poor intellectual people want to put the ocean in a glass, they assume that the university can control all the wisdom of the universe and that all the laws of the Cosmos are obliged to submit to its old academic norms. The ignorant paragons of wisdom do not even remotely suspect the degenerate state in which they find themselves. Sometimes such people stand out for a moment when they come to the Esoteric world, but soon they go out like will-o’-the-wisps, they disappear from the panorama of spiritual concerns, they are swallowed up by the intellect and disappear from the scene forever. The superficiality of the intellect can never penetrate the legitimate depths of BEING, but the subjective processes of rationalism can lead fools to all kinds of very brilliant but absurd conclusions. The formulative power of logical concepts in no way implies the experience of reality. The convincing game of reasoning dialectics self-fascinates the reasoner, making him always confuse the cat with the hare. The brilliant procession of ideas blinds the scoundrel of the intellect and gives him a certain self-sufficiency so absurd as to reject everything that does not smell of library dust and university ink. The “delirium tremens” of alcoholic drunkards have inconclusive unmistakable symptoms, but that of those drunken on theories is easily confused with genius. When we get to this part of our chapter, we will say that it is certainly very difficult to know where the intellectualism of scoundrels ends and where madness begins. As long as we continue bottled up within the rotten and stale norms of the intellect, the experience of that which is not of the mind, that which is not of time, that which is real will be more than impossible. Samael Aun Weor *Note: The term “Involution” is used in relation to Degeneration, which is A retrograde or degenerative change, such as in biology or zoology https://www.lanuevaeradeacuario.org/english/intellectual-norms/

Four-time Grammy Award winner Stanley Clarke is undoubtedly one of the most celebrated acoustic and electric bass players in the world. What's more, he is equally gifted as a recording artist, performer, composer, conductor, arranger, producer and film score composer. A true pioneer in jazz and jazz-fusion, Clarke is particularly known for his ferocious bass dexterity and consummate musicality. Unquestionably, he has attained “living legend” status during his over 40-year career as a bass virtuoso. Part One of 67th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival ShortsAnd inside look into the artist and the legendary Festival.Stanley's new recording will be dropping soon, stay tuned!Source: https://stanleyclarke.com/Source: https://montereyjazzfestival.orgHost Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.Send us a textSupport the show@profileswithmaggielepique@maggielepique

1. Meet people whose profession was destroying the planet that had a change of heart. Not only did they quit what they were doing, but became advocates for what they had been working against. Meet a rancher, logger, fisherman, and author who experienced an about-face and made positive contributions to the health of the planet.2. Unquestionably renewables are better for the environment than fossil-fueled power plants. However, there are a few things about alternative energy sources that deserve a closer look. Is there an even better option than renewables? Listen in and see what you think. 

Https://www.patreon.com/isyanderandkoda You already know how to please the Machine Gods at this point so thank you so much. And make your voices heard for which faction you would like to see next! -Isyander Everything below is for the omnissiah. But like, you can read it if you want. Just a synopsis of the video you're watching. The Dark Eldar, also known as Drukhari, are a sinister and malevolent faction in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Originating from the ancient Eldar civilization before its catastrophic fall, the Dark Eldar differ from their Craftworld kin by embracing the corruption that led to their society's downfall. They retreated into the Webway, establishing the dark metropolis of Commorragh. This city, vast and labyrinthine, is the heart of Dark Eldar civilization, a place of perpetual darkness and home to millions of Dark Eldar and alien beasts. Commorragh is divided into numerous districts, each controlled by different Kabals, Wych Cults, and Haemonculi Covens, featuring gladiatorial arenas, armories, and vehicle bays​Dark Eldar society is structured around these Kabals, Wych Cults, and Haemonculi Covens. Each Kabal is led by an Archon, who maintains power through assassination and ruthless governance. Wyches, the gladiatorial warriors, are organized into Wych Cults, performing in arenas for both sustenance and entertainment. The Haemonculi, twisted flesh-sculptors, run the Covens, providing dark technologies and grotesque enhancements. Over time, Dark Eldar suffer from "The Thirst," an all-consuming need to drink the souls of other beings to stave off the leeching effect of Slaanesh, the Chaos God who consumes their souls upon death​ Biologically, Dark Eldar possess superior strength, reflexes, and senses compared to their Craftworld cousins, attributed to their physically demanding lifestyle and perpetual conflict within Commorragh. They lack psychic abilities, avoiding them to prevent attracting the attention of Slaanesh. Technologically, Dark Eldar are highly advanced, utilizing anti-gravity devices, dark matter weaponry, and various poisonous and destructive tools. Their weaponry, such as Splinter Rifles, Dark Lances, and specialized close combat weapons, emphasizes speed, precision, and lethality. Vehicles like the Raider and Voidraven Bomber are designed for rapid assaults and devastating strikes​ Notable figures in Dark Eldar society include Asdrubael Vect, the supreme overlord of the Kabal of the Black Heart, and Lelith Hesperax, the renowned gladiator and leader of the Wych Cult of Strife. These leaders epitomize the cunning, ruthlessness, and martial prowess that define the Dark Eldar​ TIMESTAMPS —— 0:00:00 Intro0:08:19 The Fall of the Eldar0:16:40 The Birth of Slaanesh0:27:05 The Dark City0:36:15 Vect0:43:57 A Day in the Life of a Drukhari0:50:19 Tho(oug)ts?——TAGSWarhammer 40k, Dark Eldar, Drukhari, Commorragh, Eldar civilization, Webway, Kabal, Archon, Wych Cult, Haemonculi Coven, Slaanesh, Chaos God, The Thirst, Dark Eldar society, Dark Eldar history, Dark Eldar technology, Splinter Rifle, Dark Lance, Raider, Voidraven Bomber, Asdrubael Vect, Lelith Hesperax, Kabal of the Black Heart, Wych Cult of Strife, Dark Eldar weaponry, Dark Eldar armor, Dark Eldar vehicles, Kabalite Warrior, Trueborn, Haemonculus, Agoniser, Razorflail, Shardnet, Impaler, Hydra Gauntlet, Dark matter weaponry, Splinter Cannon, Haemonculus Covens, Incubus, Eldar gladiators, Dark Eldar raids, Warhammer 40,000 lore, Warhammer universe, Warhammer factions, Warhammer 40k history, Warhammer 40k technology, Warhammer 40k battles, Warhammer 40k characters, Warhammer 40k society, Warhammer 40k weapons, Dark Eldar leaders, Dark Eldar tactics, Dark Eldar campaigns, Dark Eldar biology, Warhammer 40k Webway, Eldar FalSupport the Show.

Emmy-Award Winning Sportscaster Bomani Jones joins Steiny & Guru to remember one of the greatest athletes in the history of America, Willie Mays.

Since we're officially more than halfway through Q1 earnings reports, it's fair game to derive some of the winners from the start of 2024. Unquestionably among them is Chipotle, which experienced a 7% increase in same-store sales driven in large part by a 5.4% increase in traffic.To understand the secret of Chipotle's momentum of late, it's important to understand its sharpened focus on throughput. Indeed, the word “throughput” was mentioned 33 times during the company's earnings call April 24. Unsurprisingly, several brands, from Cheesecake Factory to Starbucks to Portillo's, have noted a more intentional prioritization of throughput, because why wouldn't they want to emulate Chipotle's recent success? That said, they all have some catching up to do to get on the same playing field as Chipotle.

This is so fucking cool. Bob Nastanovich joins me this week to talk about a whack of shit including song 33!!!!Transcript:1:00] Loretta Scars. Alex from Portland, how are you feeling about Loretta Scars?It's a great song. I've got all kinds of thoughts on it, but it's on Flannidand Enchanted, which is a great album. it's,Slanted and Enchanted is the least varied album in my opinion like,most of the songs on it are kind of of one vibe and this is definitely no exceptionI think it's a great vibe I enjoy it Hey this is Westy from the Rock and Roll Band.Track 3[1:40] Pavement and you're listening to The Countdown Hey it's It's JD here back foranother episode of our top 50 countdown for Seminole indie rock band Pavement.Week over week we're going to count down the 50 essential Pavement tracks thatyou selected with your very own top 20 ballads.I then tabulated the results using an abacus, a bicycle pump,lotion, and some biscuits for Kevin, my homemade from uni.How will your favorite songs fare in the rankings? Well, you'll need to tune in to find out.So there's that. This week we're joined bypavement superstar bob fucking nastanovichbob what is up nookay cool and you're aren't you a toronto personsure am yeah how are thingsthere bright blue sunny skies todayabout five degrees celsius so that'slike spring weather for us especially yeah that's niceyeah we've got I don'tmean to show you up Jamie but it's 63degrees Fahrenheit here with a light breeze and a bright sunshine oh man herein Paris Tennessee you know like a typical winter day here is kind of gray and44 but it's especially nice.Track 3[3:03] Today which is pretty awesome that sounds about rightthat sounds like good you know good walking weatherso yeah how are you doing all right with thisproject so far so good i'm likelike people are lining up to do it uh likei'm caught up through march uh i'vegot to do some interviews this week with people sobasically people seem to be like iwas like i don't know how people respond to a top 50 thatthey have to listen to every week but idon't know my numbers are good and um like goodfor me you know yeah they'll get into it yeah ithink so and like just a little bit of water cooler debate rightwhat's that bud just a littlebit of water cooler debate yeah exactly youknow like what if what are you fucking thinking greenlanders likegreenlander was 46 six andyou know people were really pleased thatit made the top 50 but then there's another cohort that are like that's crazyit should be at least in the top 30 you know or whatever so no that is so weirdi mean i don't um i do know people that love greenlander and i um ineffectively insisted.Track 3[4:18] On trying to getit played live in iceland and that would have been cool yeah and um he we soundchecked it and it sounded just fine for about 70 seconds and malchus was.Track 3[4:43] Like i don't want to do that one you know and then um with him you know his attitude was so.Track 3[4:53] Sterling in 2022 and 2023 that um you don't and he was willing to play so many,different songs because in the past like specifically in 2010 um i just thinkit's uh i mean i remember his attitude back then was sort of uh.Track 3[5:18] It's going back to a more juvenile style of songwriting for him, which is more direct,but I guess maybe it kind of reminded him of certain aspects of his life.I mean, especially the earlier stuff, pre-Steve West, seems to give him a certainamount of actual PTSD, which is a word I never use.Track 3[5:48] Self-reference um just because of umthe stress caused by gary likei sat next to him when we watched the screening of gary's documentary andum it he didnot i mean it's a great documentary have you seen iti did yeah it's a great documentary andi don't think they really could have done a better job and umi mean i would have been wildly pleasedwith it i know gary was um so coolthat he got to see it before he passed at least right ican't i can't believe he lived that long i mean noway you know i mean i mean forhim to make it to 70 um should give us all belief that we can do it too um buthe comes from really supremely great genes in terms of longevity his parentslived well into their 90s and uh for some reason despite.Track 3[6:49] Every possible attempt without actually attempting suicide he basically triedto shorten his life um man imean he was just what was it like when you first met him bob what was thatsituation exactly like every other time i methim um he uhi mean at first he was kind of suspicious of me because he i mean you know verybriefly he was suspicious of me because he thought that i was like a friendof malchmas's who could probably drum and was there to replace him so So for the first,until a day or two in, we practiced in his parents'house the first time we went on tour in 1990.And when I say practice, I think we only had 12 songs and we only played six or seven shows, I think.And when he realized that I couldn't play drums, he...He relaxed a little bit. I mean, I think he realized that I was there to,like, kind of carry gear and make things happen and drive and then...You do more than that, dude. You do. I mean, back then, I actually did verylittle. There's this je ne sais quoi that you bring.Well, yeah. I mean, I developed my role over the years.Track 3[8:09] It's hard for me to really accept my overall importance. But back then,there were some shows, you know, shows back then were 45 minutes or whatever.And there were some shows where if he was on, I really didn't have to do a thingbut sort of stand there. I mean, it was, it was strange.I mean, there was a few, there's like, there were times where I would actually be like, um,pretty embarrassed because people in the audience must've thought,you know, why does the, why does the guy who doesn't do anything have to stand on the stage?And um and then also after the first time we toured europe in 92 and it waswe played like maybe 28 shows in 31 days or something and we we finished inbelgium somewhere and remco,was doing our sound for the first time that far back he goes i didn't realize that He goes back.The very first night we met him was about five o'clock on the day that we openedfor My Buddy Valentine and Super Chunk at the Old Ritz in New York. What a lineup.Track 3[9:27] Yeah. And he, uh, we played for 25 minutes and we played seven songs and, but whatever.So we met Remco outside the old Ritz. Um, we were on a, um.Track 3[9:46] On a label called Big Cat, which was run by this rather scurrilous fellow namedAbbo, Stephen Abbott, who was in a band called UKDK.And as it turned out, he was actually kind of a thief, but he knew Remco becauseRemco had worked with the band Copshoot Cop.And so he kindof figured that this young Dutch kid should do sound for us because we neededa sound man because we would turn up in a lot of places and we'd be so disheveledand disorganized and unprofessional that local sound staffs would be like,who are these assholes?You know what i mean like back then in the 90s if you didn't sort of show up.Track 3[10:41] I mean if you showed up at least in the manner thatpavement did a lot of these people you know youwere really at the mercy ofpeople um whoyou know hypothetically wereinto sound garden started and if youdidn't sound like them then you couldfuck right off um and if you didn't bringthat some level of professionalism or panache um then you could really get theshaft because people would just be like really annoyed that they had to workwith you and that's and and that's really what it's like when you have to dependon the house unless you've got one of of those rare situations where they give a crap.Right. So from that point on, you guys were on the road with Remco.Yeah, pretty much.Ninety seven percent of the time, like in 2010, like those one off things inNorth America, we wouldn't fly them over.Bob Weston did set them sound for us a few times.Now we've got this guy named Aaron Mullen.Track 3[11:54] Who did a few shows this year. I mean, it's just if it makes no sense.Financially for Remco to come over for a short stint. I mean,obviously doing sound for pavements, not rocket science,but Remco was proved his effectiveness generally at festivals.Festivals um he's prettypassionate about making sure the bands he works forsound good because it's big timeego gratification for him um iflike if people go around and say you guys sounded really great you know youknow and so he's he's very competitive in that regard which worked in our favoryeah sure did you guys sounded great at the festival i went to the Primavera in Porto.That was a fantastic show.Yeah. I'm happy that I see Barcelona didn't sound very good.Um, cause Remco didn't come to the practices, um, had trouble getting his visa.So he was completely unprepared for Barcelona.He didn't really even have Rebecca turned up.Track 3[13:08] And then a lot of the stuff that I'd learned because she's in the band now,um, Which I hadn't done before, weren't even turned on in Barcelona.And then in Porto, I'm not sure if you're aware of it,but I showed up for sound check and the bright blue case that had all of mybits and bobs of percussion,some of which I'd had since the early 90s, got stolen.Are you fucking kidding me? No, I didn't know that. No, I had no gear.I had no gear. I didn't even have anything to mount.I didn't have a tambourine that you can hit, and I didn't have anything to mount it on.And I had no tambourine maracas, cowbells, whistles, all my tricks, and claves.And thank goodness that Rebecca...Track 3[14:16] Was in the band because at first rebecca was just going to kind of come out there,and do keyboard parts and either comeand go or just kind of sit there and she's areally good i mean she's a great drummer and she'sa really good percussionist um so i said no you'regonna do something on every song andthen we you know quickly find out found out that she cando background vocals on anything and that'sgreat she can scream and obviously andshe's also very joyful performer um and she was you know she's a good very goodpercussionist so thankfully i was able to use some of her stuff um that nightbut it was still was not my stuff i I mean, it was very,very, it would be like if.Track 3[15:11] Well, actually, I think it kind of, I mean, it would be like if,like, guitars got stolen from a guitar player.I mean, that actually, it happened to Dinosaur, I think maybe in Porto,Dinosaur Jr., all their guitars got lost and they were still in Italy when they played.Oh my god yeah so theyhad to play i think they bought guitars um youknow that's so whatever i meani'm happy that it was me because if ithad been like anybody elsethen they probably would have had a harder time i mean i was able to just youkept it cool i'll just wing it you know what what i mean like it was funny becausenobody you know people you kind of realize the level of.Track 3[16:07] How, uh, you know, the, the immense level, you know, of your bandmates,they're kind of focused on their own deal.Like they couldn't deal with that.My bad news. Um, only Rebecca could like only Rebecca could like,you know, I mean, she's great.She's great. she was really a neat addition likereally uh from the fondashow i mean i went to the fonda show that was justit was mind-blowing that was a that was my favoriteshow of the tour like that was the first i can see why i mean it was long ifyou're a big fan i mean we played tons of songs and it sounded fine and it wassmall and the atmosphere was good and i mean at least 90 90% of the people inthere were way into the band. Oh, yeah.So, I mean, it was kind of an ideal time to see Pavement because we were freshoff the shelf and in a mode where we kind of had to give everything a go.Yeah, it was tremendous to be a part of it and experience it.One thing I wanted to talk to you about was Rebecca Clay Cole and you know, her, um.Track 3[17:29] Her contributions, I suppose, to the overall pavement experience,like, um, is she sort of a permanent member at this point? Is she coming to South America?I mean, of course she's coming to South America, right?Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. No, that's it. And that's it. I mean, right now that's it. Sure. Sure.It's 2024. You guys have been on the road for two years, man.Yeah we haven't done anything those for a long time we haven't done anything since um cincinnati,and um it's going to kind of be interesting because one good thing about southamerica is we don't obviously haven't played there um a couple of the places we've never played and,and we've only played three shows down there ever so we can just you know basicallyplay we don't have to learn 70 pavements to relearn 70 payment songs you know not that,not that they're immensely challenging but at the same time.Track 3[18:35] You know i basically could make the four set lists nowand um you knowwe're you know it's not going to be you won'tbe hearing um greenlander no butuh you go with the uh you go with theessentials not the deep cuts yeah and i think we've got i think i'm in a listof 32 that i sent out to them about six six weeks ago oh that's good yeah soundsall right well if i come into any money i'll see you in uh i'll see you in southamerica but let us know yeah yeah let us know i But,you know, times are tough.Well, should we talk about track number, what is it? Track number 33 on thecountdown? Okay, that's pretty good.All right, let's do it. Yeah, that's pretty good.Hey, this is Bob Mustanovich from Pavement.Track 1[19:32] Thanks for listening, and now on with a countdown. 33!Track 3[23:28] Okay, that was Transport is Arranged from the fourth record released February11th, 1997, Bright in the Corners.It's the third track on the album, and it's the sixth song from Bright in theCorners that is on the countdown at this point.So Bright in the Corners is representing the bottom portion of this top 50 so far.Bob, what do you think about Transport is Arranged? Jamie.I just think that, first of all, it's cool to hear that Bright in the Cornersgot a lot of action, having a lot of love.It is a very listenable pavement record. I love it.And I think Transport is Arranged, when the record was made in Kernersville,North Carolina with Mitch Easter,was just kind of viewed and the feel around it was that, okay,that's another song that definitely should be on the record.Track 3[24:33] Um but isn't the kindof song that um it youknow maybe should be a single or something like that it was just it was justa song that was like really solid and good and then as the song got played overand over again on tour and over the years um i think it's become rather clear to me that,you know, aside from kind of the more bubblegum-y songs on the record like Stereo and Shady Lane,that it would have stood up as a truly special pavement song.And I just think that it's, for the most part, an outstanding example of,Of not only Stephen's songwriting ability and composing, but I just think it'san unusually good set of lyrics.I'm with you. When I think about like verse three, I swung my fiery sword,I vent my spleen at the Lord.He is abstract and bored, too much milk and honey.Well, I'll walk through the wilderness with nothing but a compass and a canteensetting the scenes. I mean, it just got this certain depth.Track 3[25:57] Of course, you know, I am the worst of my kind. I want to cremate the crush.It's funny, some people think that that's crutch, but it's I want to crematethe crush actually has a lot of personal importance to me because that's anexpression I used to use.Track 3[26:17] Really? Yeah, Cremate the Crush. I would actually say that that's a valid lyricalcontribution from my notebook that was usurped by Balchmus,which he was more than welcome to do that.That um cremate the crush was often used when one of your mates had um regardless of.Track 3[26:45] Gender orientation had fallen really really hard for somebody and it becameclear to yourself and everyone around that it wasn't going to work and it was a really bad idea.Track 3[26:58] And um so you had to pull your friend and that believe me that happens whetheryou're You know, no matter how old you are, you know, sometimes you just,um, I think we've all seen it in our lives.We've seen people that fall really hard for the wrong person and rather thanjust sit back and watch them go through a very vile, um, heartbreak,um, an effort needs to be made to cremate the crush.Um wow and that's the expression that i used um all right man like this is ridiculouslike because you see it all the time like yes obviously amongst my dude friends like dude man,you're really barking up the wrong tree there you knowwhat i mean not yeah whatever whatever series of reasons umbut really transport is arranged umas that song got played there's a a really unusually goodversion of it really good recording and filming from an italian show that wedid um it's on youtube um oh i'll have to look that up mouth miss had reallyreally short hair um it was this really strange festival that i believe wassomewhere in the vicinity of venice um.Track 3[28:18] And it was one of these festivals that you turn up to in the early afternoon,and the people are still, like, kind of making the stage, and you're sort of,like, in this state of disbelief that any concert's actually going to happen there today.And this was the vibe. We were just like, whoa.Oh, you know, because usually it's like, you know, the Heineken banners arealready up and like, you know, the kids are already listening to,you know, a band that sounds like Green Day and, you know, people are drinkingor you see the tent village.This festival, it looked like they'd gotten the days wrong, and it was goingto happen two or three days, but somehow they whipped it all together,and we played a very memorable version of Transport is Arranged.Track 3[29:13] And you know it pretty much became a staple of ourlive show from the bright in the corners tourforward um it's just has a good um mid-tempo vibe to it good lyrics good guitarlove the tone of his voice the tone of his voice is really like in a sweet spot,i agree i just say to me it's just like a great pavement song it's always really relaxing um,kind of in a grounded sort of way but like even more relaxing and like,yeah i mean some people you know at times think that pavement doesn't rock andthen when we actually do rock we're just like pretending to be hardcore or pretendingto be like jokey metal or or something like that.I actually feel like Transporter is arranged, if it's played with a proper punch,kind of is truly a rock and roll song.Oh, when you get to that, when you get past the solo and you guys all get intoit, it sounds so tight and it sounds.Track 3[30:23] Yeah, it sounds very tight and it sounds very rocky, you know,like rock and roll. It rocks.It's a great rock and song. it kind of stomps and but then it gets really mellowit just has really really good dynamic and yeah I can tell you like wheneverI put it on a set list we don't,We don't really start with it because it doesn't, you know, sometimes songswith like kind of a very mellow lead in, it's not such a good idea.But you can sort of stick it after anything kind of noisy.Track 3[31:00] And then, so then people can sort of like return to like sort of a serene vibe.And then after a certain period of time, it kicks back in again.So, um, I just love, um, I love that song and it's always a pleasure to see,to put it on a list and see it coming up.And, um, in fact, depending on who I'm talking to, if they've never heard Pavement before, um,and I sort of get a general idea that they like rock music, then it's a songthat I would almost play first.First um to sort of youknow give them a feel and then when i do play transportersrange they're like oh okay like yeah like 90s umcollege rock or something and uhyeah yeah which is fair special it'smore special than that but i i hear you you knowbut i'm talking about complete newbiles they umbecause if you play them something toocute or i mean obviouslyyou know i'm in the horse racing profession and there's a lot of people thatyou play father to a sister of thought and range life and other sort of countrytin songs because they you know would absolutely there's a lot of people i knowa lot of my friends um who know of pavement don't like pavement because.Track 3[32:26] It to them it sounds too harsh um youknow because a lot of people don't really have any punk rock backgroundright okay um they don't want to hear anythinglike unfair or serpentine pador they don't want to hear anything medium fire lo-fi like debris slide or forklifti mean like something like forklift just sounds like 13 year olds making a horribleracket um to them like they don't see the cool in that you know yeah um youknow of course There's...Track 3[33:01] I mean, I haven't listened to it on vinyl in a long time, but Forklift,you know, I remember it sounding kind of maniacal and frenzied in a very 1990ssort of way, which was kind of cool.But I can understand, but Transport Is Arranged kind of ticks all the boxes,like Grounded would sound like kind of like too much, like a stoner type thing to people.People um shady lane might sound kind oflike listless summer babes kindof repetitive and some people might think like ohyou guys wanted to be nirvana or somethingum which we certainlydid not um that didn'tlook like much fun to me and uh but yeah no i just i just love the song andi think that it's it should definitely not be a forgotten song transport isarranged i think it It should be sort of at the forefront of anybody makinga mixtape or a tape of 10 to 15 pavement songs.I like that. Yeah, it stands up. So then you would say on the countdown,it's underrated at 33, right?Yeah, and I would, I mean, for me, it would always be in my top five.Top five? Holy shit, Bob.Yeah, it would be in my top five.Track 3[34:26] Unquestionably top 10 But probably top 5 In fact people ask you know sometimes like,You know, one lazy question by anybody is like, what's your actual favorite pavement song?And, you know, when you say transport is arranged, you're not being entirely obvious.And then if they've only heard 10 pavement songs or 15 pavement songs or justthe hits, then you're kind of forcing them to listen to a great pavement songthat they may have not heard before.So it would unquestionably be in my top five um it's under four minutes i mean um,i really am very much of the you know when it comes to a band that's a rock band in sort of the,three minute form like pavement is i mean um you know my general belief.Track 3[35:23] Maybe it has to do with attention span or something like that but songs overfive minutes better bepretty awesome for you to justify them being thatlong agree um totally agree it's alittle pretentious brilliant right there's somany great bands who have made somany great songs and they just fall preyto loving their groove so hard thatthey do it one or two passes too manyand a song thatmight have had like you know major appeal whetherit be like sort from a venom sense or from a sweetnesssense is just um losesits effect if it'sgot too much length so um i thinkit weighs in under four minutes i think it's you know it's i think it's fourminutes are justified i don't think there's any wasted motion i think it's gotgood dynamics and again one of malcolm's best sets of lyrics um you know andi think you know obviously.Track 3[36:30] David and Stephen were both very good lyricists and, you know,David's a poet. He was celebrated for it.And I think that David, you know, was an influence on Stephen and sort of challengedhim from a lyric writing perspective and would get annoyed when Stephen wasbeing too lazy about lyrics.And I think very much in, you know, the Stevens sense,it's a unusually or just a very good set of lyrics from a lyricist who had atthat point very much found his way.You know, something that had been sort of a discardable aspect of the band,even to an extent through a lot of Slanted and Enchanted.And then, you know, I mean, some people think that his lyrics are just garbled nonsense.And to an extent, you know, by intent, they are, you know, fairly good.Track 3[37:44] Senseless but i mean you know i think of songs like um this song and from acompletely different era um lyrics like trigger cut um i just think that youknow he he's he does not get,the he gets the respect he deserves as a guitar player but perhaps not as alyricist i think you know transport his range has both yeah i'd agree totallyagree what is the whole pillars of eight thing. Do you have any insight on that?What's that? The pillars of eight. Do you have any insight on that?No, no, no, I don't really have anything of that.I think it probably has to do with, um, just, uh, you know, then you're falling into him.Um, and I think you've probably seen some of his scrawlings and notebooks and stuff like that.Um, you fall into him choosingexpressions and just simply sortof loving words and how they look andhow they sound coming out of his mouth and then sothen using uh you know sets of a set of words like pillars of eight and puttingin a place where it's going to fit you know obviously that you know eight rhymeswith a lot a lot of things and fit you know i'm saying so yeah yeah you know he's.Track 3[39:06] When you're in a situation where not only are you going to have to write lyrics but,you're going to also have them umanalyzed then i think that you force yourself to you know put a certain amountof time into that process and i think throughout the course of um his entire songwriting history.Track 3[39:38] I think, you know, perhaps it's a bit freeing since Pavement ended that thingsare a little bit less under the microscope.Track 3[39:47] But certainly in 1997, they, you know, were very much under the microscope.In fact, this album, I remember getting really slammed by a writer at a majormusic publication for the lyrics in Blue Hawaiian.Um, they were actually misconstrued as sexist in, um, this, um,particularly the line, the slap is a gift. Your cheeks have lost their luster.Um, Oh my God. I would have never put that together.I would have got there from that. You know, this slap is a gift.I mean when Imean then you know in some ways like um you could see how the journalist madethat point I suppose but I mean I yeah like you I never really thought alongthose lines because maybe if you know the person and you know that they're notlike a misogynist creep then,you don't even really think about them in that context but um perhaps um thatperson did and I just remember, you know, when you write songs,which I don't do, then you are just like any type of writer,you are susceptible to...Track 3[41:10] To criticism and then you know then of course you've you'vereached a certain mantle when your lyrics are being pickedapart and every pick of you in detail is being brought to the fore um and butthat's like also a compliment that people you know care that much about whatyou write that's um yeah but you know at the same time like you know some things that are almostlike unfathomable to a songwriter, um,come to the, you know, come, come to the floor when, when people go over them with a fine tooth comb.Um, but, uh, no, I've never really heard anybody moan about Brighton the Corners,um, lyrics and, you know, maybe it's because it is like in the thirties.Um, but I really don't think it should be a forgotten song.I think that in some ways it's as good as Late Period,and when I say Late Period, I would say albums four and five,as good as Pavement was in terms of sounding like Pavement.I mean, there isn't much of Terror Twilight,which can be described as sort of typically pavement,but there is on Bright in the Corners, and you definitely cannot describe asong like Stereo as typically pavement.Track 3[42:40] So, yeah, no, pleasure talking about one of my favorite pavement songs, Jamie.Me Bob it's been a pleasure talking to you period it always is anytime man I'mbasically just basking in the glorious winter sunlight here in Paris that'sspectacular yeah with my unmade bed,And, um, I don't even know what I'm going to do.I actually have to go grocery shopping, but yeah, a pleasure,pleasure to talk to you and good luck with all of your endeavors.And, uh, let me know if you need anything more from me.Awesome. Thanks so much. Always, you know, uh, shall I remind you again that,um, Steve West would probably be, you know, gladly help, um, help you out.Oh, I'll ask him. Yeah.He'll definitely do it. Cool. I can also hook you up with Rebecca if you want her to do one.It would be cool. That would be really cool because then I could ask her thatquestion that you planted in my head.Yeah, it'd be really good actually, because then, then you'd be the first,um, prominent music journalist that tackled that question.Track 3[43:51] Anyways, love you, mate. And, uh, have, have a, have a great,uh, Canadian afternoon and I'll, I'll, uh, pass on.You've got all the Wes information, right? I do. Yeah.Yeah. I'll pass on Rebecca's. Cool. Oh, all right. All right.Take care of yourself and keep on flying the flag.You betcha. All right. Enjoy yourself. My pleasure.One more thing. Wash your goddamn hands.Thanks for listening.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/meeting-malkmus-a-pavement-podcast/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.” John 6:40Do you believe in Jesus? Unquestionably the answer is “Yes.” However, to believe in our Lord is something that must deepen with every passing day. Therefore, if you do have faith in Jesus, you can also admit that you do not have faith enough. In this Gospel passage in which the “Bread of Life Discourse” is continued, Jesus calls us to do two things. First, we must see Him. Second, we must believe. Let's start with the first.When Jesus first spoke these words to the crowd, they did see His physical presence. But many of them did not see beyond the surface. They saw His miracles, heard His teaching, but very few saw the deeper reality of Jesus as the Son of the Eternal Father and the Savior of the World.If you are to believe in our Lord and all that He is, then you must first see Him. One of the best ways to foster this “holy sight” of our Lord is to gaze at Him in the Most Holy Eucharist. When you attend Mass or spend time in adoration and look upon the Most Holy Eucharist, what do you see? Do you see the Eternal Son? Do you see His holy divinity? Do you see your God and the Lord of all?As we stand or kneel before our Lord, present in the Most Holy Eucharist, it's easy to become distracted. It's easy to allow our minds to wander to the many other aspects of our daily lives and to fail to see the eternal Son of God as He is present to us.Reflect, today, upon the way you look at our Lord. If you want to deepen your faith, your belief, then start with your sight. Start by considering how you look at Jesus, present in the Most Holy Eucharist. If you are blessed to be with Him this day at the Holy Mass or in adoration, examine the way to see Him. Gaze at Him. Make an intentional act of faith in His divine presence. Acknowledge His Godhead, His glory, His holiness and His sacred presence. If you can look beyond the surface and lift the veil that covers His glory, then this holy gift of sight will give way, also, to the gift of profound faith. My ever-present Lord, I thank You profoundly for the way You come to me in the Most Holy Eucharist. I thank You for Your divine presence and glory. Help me to see beyond the veil of the appearance of bread and wine so that I can see more clearly Your divinity. As I see Your divine presence, dear Lord, help me to profess my belief in You with greater certitude and faith. Jesus, I trust in You. Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2024 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Knowing that we are in the last of the last days, with an imminent Rapture a very real hope, our thoughts often (and indeed should) turn to the signs that Christ said would herald the nearness of His return. The signs that are most widely cited include “wars and rumours of wars...[when] nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom...and...famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes...these are the beginning of sorrows” (Mt 24:6-8).Unquestionably, these specific “sorrows” have been both prominent and accelerating since Israel again became a nation in 1948. Since that time, the intensity and frequency of these signs have increased like the birth pangs of a woman approaching her time of delivery, exactly as Christ foretold. However, the first sign that Christ gave has been largely overlooked and His solemn warning neglected:* And Jesus answered and said...Take heed that no man deceive you.* For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many....* And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many....* For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (Mt 24:4,5,11,24) [Emphasis added.]

Aloha Buddies! One constant in the ever changing record collecting hobby of ours is the pre-imminent tool we use to grow and develop our collections: Discogs. Unquestionably the largest vinyl record database out there, it has made it easier and more accessible to collect our favorite pieces of music, predominantly on vinyl. Likewise, the marketplace aspect of the platform has helped to bridge the divide from the rare and limited releases to collectors across the globe. In the past few weeks, the head leadership at Discogs has popped up on a couple Vinyl Community channels to discuss their business, and the timing of these chats without any high level launch/product change/etc. is curious (to me). Another channel in the community (Tom c/o High Rant District) also noticed this and recently shared some takes that pushed my curiosity into overdrive. This 'sode talks about those confluences, my own thoughts on Discogs in it's current state, and things that I strongly feel need to be addressed to continue to give buyers and sellers alike confidence in using the platform (even in the face of next to no competition in this space; a space they have essentially created themselves). Would love to hear your thoughts on this, and Discogs in general, so don't be shy and reach out to my social media channels and share away!   For more information on host Concert Buddie: https://www.youtube.com/@ConcertBuddie IG: https://www.instagram.com/concertbuddie   Videos mentioned in this episode: Tom (High Rant District): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KukaN3FwalU&t=12s   Steve Westman interview with Discogs Leadership: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg7tA0biIfM   G.I. Sanders (NTX Vinyl) interview with Discogs Leadership: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imRmfxOjNz8   For more information on Vinyl Community Podcasts: https://vinylcommunitypodcasts.com  

Guest Deborah LeBlanc delves into the profound depths of grief, offering insights and strategies for harnessing its power to forge a stronger, more resilient self. Deborah LeBlanc is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, and specializes in 68 different presenting issues. She has helped hundreds of individuals break free from debilitating, limiting beliefs, which allow them to experience success, joy and fuller, happier lives. Deborah's passion, enthusiasm and motivating style has awarded her the opportunity to speak at conferences and hold workshops around the world. Unquestionably, wherever Deborah goes, she travels to deliver one basic message—a message of hope…then commits to turning that hope into reality. Deborah LeBlanc's Links: Website: https://mindpaththerapies.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCL3T4-QaaVR... ______________________________________________________ ​ Claudia Torres Children's Mindfulness Teacher Founder of Presently Aqui​ with Claudia Podcast & Our Mindful Kids​ - Children's mindfulness online school https://presentlyaqui.com https://ourmindfulkids.com

Dave Brisbin 3.3.24 Decades ago, I met a Christian who converted to Judaism, eventually becoming a first century Jewish follower of Jesus. He spoke of his personal theology, a stated set of personal beliefs. I'd never considered such a thing. Growing up Catholic, theology belonged to the church, as if God had written it, and the church discovered it, parceling it out each Sunday. Unquestionably true, the idea of a personal theology was blasphemous. We had no permission to think personally. Yet here's Jesus overturning tables in the temple and cursing a fig tree for having no fruit. Both stories pointing to the fact that the Jewish system of his day had become bankrupt, fruitless, unable to guide its people to authentic spiritual encounter. Jesus gave himself permission to explore his own beliefs, lived and taught out of that conviction, exposing the defects of his tradition. And where did that tradition come from? If you roll back any religion to its inception, you get to one person. A person who had life changing spiritual experience, which they lived and taught and people followed. All theologies begin as personal theologies—attempts to express an inexpressible experience of the infinite in a finite life. But when we come to that religion as a follower, what we experience first is the expression as it has been handed down, not the experience. Heresay…which won't be useful unless or until it guides us to our own experience. Once theology becomes institutionalized, it becomes a closed loop, no longer pointing to life changing experience, but to its own law and ritual, as if they were such experience themselves. Any theology only become useful once it has become personal. Once you've memorized the phone number, you can burn the slip of paper. Once the law is written on your heart, you can forget the rules. The purpose of theology is to catch God. Once God is caught, theology can be forgotten—we can meet God without a middleman. But we'll never know this until we give ourselves permission to get personal. Permission will never be granted to overturn our tables of old thinking or kill our trees of unfruitful action.

Dave Brisbin 3.3.24 Decades ago, I met a Christian who converted to Judaism, eventually becoming a first century Jewish follower of Jesus. He spoke of his personal theology, a stated set of personal beliefs. I'd never considered such a thing. Growing up Catholic, theology belonged to the church, as if God had written it, and the church discovered it, parceling it out each Sunday. Unquestionably true, the idea of a personal theology was blasphemous. We had no permission to think personally. Yet here's Jesus overturning tables in the temple and cursing a fig tree for having no fruit. Both stories pointing to the fact that the Jewish system of his day had become bankrupt, fruitless, unable to guide its people to authentic spiritual encounter. Jesus gave himself permission to explore his own beliefs, lived and taught out of that conviction, exposing the defects of his tradition. And where did that tradition come from? If you roll back any religion to its inception, you get to one person. A person who had life changing spiritual experience, which they lived and taught and people followed. All theologies begin as personal theologies—attempts to express an inexpressible experience of the infinite in a finite life. But when we come to that religion as a follower, what we experience first is the expression as it has been handed down, not the experience. Heresay…which won't be useful unless or until it guides us to our own experience. Once theology becomes institutionalized, it becomes a closed loop, no longer pointing to life changing experience, but to its own law and ritual, as if they were such experience themselves. Any theology only become useful once it has become personal. Once you've memorized the phone number, you can burn the slip of paper. Once the law is written on your heart, you can forget the rules. The purpose of theology is to catch God. Once God is caught, theology can be forgotten—we can meet God without a middleman. But we'll never know this until we give ourselves permission to get personal. Permission will never be granted to overturn our tables of old thinking or kill our trees of unfruitful action.

Alfred Hitchcock's Storyboards with author Tony Lee Moral Dan and Tom bring back author Tony Lee Moral to discuss his latest book Alfred Hitchcock's Storyboards. We focus on Hitchcock's spy movies in today's discussion. Unquestionably, Hitchcock was notorious for his use of storyboards and his practice has been emulated by many directors.  We read an advance copy of the book prior to its February 6, 2024, release.  Tony's book is an excellent look at why Hitchcock used storyboards. He also discusses how Hitchcock used them to set up the filming of the scenes in his movies. He drills into many of Hitchcock's movies.  In addition, one great aspect of the book is the sheer number of storyboards he includes in the book that Hitchcock used. And the industry tricks of the trade including how those have changed over time with the use of technology. Another thing we love about this book is that Tony teaches us about making movies. He does this by showing us how Hitchcock did it.  For example, in his discussion on THE 39 STEPS, Tony talks about how TikTok users can use a similar approach to what Hitchcock did to string together a bunch of shorts. We drill into this with Tony in this episode.  It's a great and fun way to learn. WHERE TO GET ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S STORYBOARDS You can order Alfred Hitchcock's Storyboards at the following links (These are non-affiliate links, SpyMovieNavigator receives no compensation if you use them): tonyleemoralbooks.com – A site of mystery and suspense Alfred Hitchcock Storyboards @ Titan Books Alfred Hitchcock Storyboards: Moral, Tony Lee: 9781789099546: Amazon.com: Books Alfred Hitchcock Storyboards by Tony Lee Moral: 9781789099546 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books Alfred Hitchcock Storyboards by Tony Lee Moral, Hardcover | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com) Share your thoughts So, take a listen – did this discussion help you decide to buy Tony Lee Moral's book Alfred Hitchcock's Storyboards? We highly recommend it if you are a movie fan.  Let us know your thoughts, ideas for future episodes, and what you thought of this episode by dropping us a note at info@spymovienavigator.com.  The more we hear from you, the better the show will be! You can check out all of our CRACKING THE CODE OF SPY MOVIES podcast episodes on your favorite podcast app or our website. Additionally, you can check out our YouTube channel as well. Webpage:  https://bit.ly/hitchcock-storyboards

What I learned from reading Insull: The Rise and Fall of A Billionaire Utility Tycoon by Forrest McDonald. ----Get access to the World's Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----Come and build in-person relationships at the Founders Only conference----(0:01) Insull had been in the electric business as long as there had been an electric business.(4:00) He awoke early, abruptly, completely, bursting with energy; yet he gained momentum as the day wore on, and long into the night. Sam had near-demonic energy.(5:00) Sam's most obvious attribute was a capacity for racing through large quantities of reading material, effortlessly perceiving its important assumptions and generalizations, and thoroughly assimilating its salient details.(7:00) He eagerly embraced platitudes:• Idle hands are the devil's workshop• Time is money• Things are simply "done" or "not done"• One reveres one's family• Only that which is useful is good• Survival of the fittest(8:00) Opportunity handled well leads to more opportunity.(12:00) He developed an ability to concentrate on a single subject and to completely shut out everything else, no matter how pressing.(13:00) A theme from the robber baron era: How do we turn a luxury product into a necessity?(18:00) If you do everything you will win.  — Working by Robert Caro. (Founders #305) and The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words edited by J. Christopher Herold. (Founders #302)(19:00) Insull reread every one of Edison's European contracts, and he took it upon himself to write weekly letters to Johnson, summarizing the fluctuations in the telephone situation and outlining Edison's shifting interests in connection with it. These letters proved to be the best selling points Johnson could have in recommending Insull to Edison.(20:00) One of his most deep-rooted traits was that he was absolutely unable to imagine the possibility of his own failure; he entirely lacked the sense of caution of those who doubt themselves.(21:00) Caution, like relaxation, was unnatural to him.(21:00) We will make electric lights so cheap that only the rich will be able to burn candles.(27:00) Edison had an almost pathological hostility to any form of system, order, or discipline imposed from without.(33:00) Warren Buffett on leverage:Unquestionably, some people have become very rich through the use of borrowed money. However, that's also been a way to get very poor. When leverage works, it magnifies your gains. Your spouse thinks you're clever, and your neighbors get envious. But leverage is addictive. Once having profited from its wonders, very few people retreat to more conservative practices.And [to repeat] as we all learned in third grade-and some relearned in 2008–any series of positive numbers, however impressive the numbers may be, evaporates when multiplied by a single zero. History tells us that leverage all too often produces zeroes, even when it is employed by very smart people.Leverage, of course, can be lethal to businesses as well. Companies with large debts often assume that these obligations can be refinanced as they mature. That assumption is usually valid. Occasionally, though, either because of company-specific problems or a worldwide shortage of credit, maturities must actually be met by payment. For that, only cash will do the job.— The Essays of Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett and Lawrence Cunningham. (Founders #227)(35:00) Smart men go broke three ways: liquor, ladies and leverage. — Charlie Munger(42:00) To make electricity as cheap as possible we need the largest base of customers. The way to get the largest base of customers is through monopoly.(45:00) He understood the potential of his industry in a way others did not.(45:00) We are only going to do things that other people can not do.(47:00) While money may not buy friends it will keep many a man from becoming an enemy.(50:00) The moment of applause was the moment for action.(1:00:00) You need to tell your customers what goes into making your product. It may be normal to you because it is your everyday thing. It is not normal to them. And if you explain and you educate your customers they will find it fascinating. And as a result it will make the service and the product you provide more valuable in their eyes.(1:00:00) Sam Insull made electric power so abundant and cheap in the United States that people who had never expected to use it, found it as natural and as necessary as breathing.(1:06:00) He took his leverage too high and the structure of the leverage was a problem. —  Ted Turner's Autobiography.(Founders #327)----Get access to the World's Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----Come and build in-person relationships at the Founders Only conference----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested, so my poor wallet suffers.” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Some Men of Steel are actually MONKEY! Case and Jmike are joined by Derek Van Dyke to talk about what is undoubtedly the "Optimal Optimus" (as well as "Code of Hero" because we are not monsters).   Transcript (Subject to error) 00:00 Case Aiken Season one has a couple, like, events that feel like this should be the season finale. Like the floating island one. Yeah. And then it's like, oh, no, we're just gonna keep going. 00:07 Derek Van Dyke Season one just did a lot of great, like, mini story arcs leading up to. Yeah. Watching Beast wars, like, out of order on syndication, over the air was. 00:17 Jmike Folson Yeah, that would have messed with you. 00:18 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, because it's like every other week there's some season finale, and you're like, what is happening? 00:40 Case Aiken Hey, everyone, and welcome back to the Men of Steel podcast. I am an optimal case Aiken, and as always, I am joined by my rat trap, J. Mike Falson. 00:51 Jmike Folson I gotta be rat trap, though. Why couldn't it be Cheetor? 00:53 Case Aiken Oh. 00:54 Jmike Folson Anyway, hey, welcome back, everybody. 00:55 Case Aiken I mean, honestly, you're probably the rhinox of the team. 01:01 Derek Van Dyke A higher compliment you cannot give. 01:05 Case Aiken Well, and there's the peacemaker right there. So that's the tiger Tron, Derek Van. 01:09 Derek Van Dyke Dyke, although I do not have nearly as deep and dulcite of tones as Tigatron's voice actor. 01:16 Case Aiken What's his name? Blue Mankuma. 01:18 Derek Van Dyke Beautiful, beautiful voice. 01:20 Case Aiken An incredible voice. So we're not going to mince words here. I tried to do a bit and it didn't quite work. But you know what? We're going to maximize this effort here. Today we're talking about maximize Transformers, Beast wars, and specifically, we're going to talk about Optimus Primal and how I would argue that he is a Superman analog. And before we started recording, Derek and I were talking about how probably of any Transformers character, especially any Beast wars character, Optimus prime is the best example of a Superman type character in the series. 01:50 Derek Van Dyke And that also, I think that primal specifically is probably the best version of Optimus to make that analog with in terms of the ways that Primal is a unique character from G, one Optimus, or, like, prime or Energon or any of those other versions of Optimus Primal, very much stands out in that regard to me. 02:11 Case Aiken Yeah. I mean, so much so that in the episode victory, there is a direct, like, it's a bird, it's a plane. It's exactly. I mean, we're all 90s babies here. This seemed kind of like an appropriate little session of just, like, nostalgia and looking at a thing that definitely, even if the metaphor is forced, it is the heroic archetype that we try to talk about on this piece, where a character has the power of action and does his or her best to make the world a better place, regardless of threats and regardless of the ability to do more in a way that would be harmful to others and trying to avoid those types of situations. So we picked out a bunch of episodes from the first season to really focus on for this. But we'll talk about the series as a whole. 02:56 Case Aiken We'll talk about some of the other characters. We're obviously going to talk about code of Hero because we're not monsters on this podcast. And that has to be discussed if we're talking about beast wars. But we are going to try to frame the conversation mostly about Optimus Primal, who is just goddamn awesome. And I think a good place to start, then, before we actually get into the episodes, is just how Optimus Primal is not Optimus prime. They're very similar characters. They are obviously both the leader types for the group. But for one thing, Optimus Primal isn't just the biggest fucking dude in the room. 03:28 Jmike Folson Always. 03:30 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, he's interestingly, like, perfect middle size. Rhinox and Dinobot are bigger than, like, several characters. Outsize him in stature, so he's not the big guy of the team like Optimus traditionally is. 03:45 Case Aiken Right? I mean, Skyfire aside, or Omega supreme or any of the other really weird ones out there, Optimus prime was always sort of positioned as being the biggest one. And some of that is japanese toy convention of having the leader types always be the biggest action figure, which is true for the Optimus primal gorilla figure. Although of course, for those of us from the 90s who remember when the Beast wars toys first came out, Optimus Primal was a bat. 04:09 Derek Van Dyke Oh God. That's right. I forgot that the first toy was a bat. Wow. 04:15 Case Aiken Yeah. And Megatron was a crocodile. 04:17 Derek Van Dyke I don't think I ever saw the megatron crocodile. 04:20 Case Aiken Yeah, well, and then they got phased out and they put out. Right, right. 04:23 Derek Van Dyke And then we got the ones that. 04:24 Case Aiken Are the monkey nut truck version of Optimus. While the figure was the biggest. There's a little bit of a weirdness when you look at Rhinox. Like, depending on the shot, rhinox is clearly bigger in beast form, but sometimes a little bigger. A little. Maybe not quite as tall, but wider in terms of sizing. It's still early. 04:40 Derek Van Dyke They don't always make him, like, way taller than everyone else. Rhinox is the big guy because he's also just wide and stock. He's built like a linebacker. 04:49 Case Aiken Yeah. Meanwhile, Dinobot is definitely the tallest of at least the season one maximals, and just is one of the biggest of the show, just generally speaking, which continues to be useful for him even when he does not get some of the upgrades that the others do. But yeah, no, Optimus, he's not the biggest one in the room. He is pretty tough, and he is actually pretty capable. One of the big differences that they make in Beast wars versus g one transformers is that they can't all fly explicitly whatever the hell was going on in the more than meets the eye pilot. And then in later episodes where it's like, oh, I guess we forgot how to fly. Optimus Primal is the unique one on the early team. He's the flyer for the group to. 05:27 Derek Van Dyke The point that's a huge advantage for the enemy team, the predacons, because they have multiple flyers, and we've just got Optimus on the good guy's side. And since he's also the commander, it's risky to have him flying around on basic scout duty. 05:42 Case Aiken Right. Scouting, you would think, would go to the flyer. He's also not the heaviest heavy, but he's a heavy on the team. They make a very big point early in the pilot of, like, in terms of COVID fire, Optimus can move faster to a location, but he's also going to be a better person to lay down suppressing fire in a situation. You kind of need him to be able to move into those spots. And so what that means is that Optimus primal in Beast wars is a generalist for the majority of the show. Yeah. 06:09 Jmike Folson Mid tier character. 06:10 Case Aiken That's a niche that a Superman type often falls into when they actually scale the power levels accordingly for a team, as opposed to having the big fluctuations of a full on Superman in the group. Because Optimus is durable as hell. He's strong as hell. He can fly, and he's got firepower, but he's not necessarily the top for any of them. He's the red mage on the team, which, if you're seeing everyone as having stats that get spread out and some people focus on some, the Superman type is going to be. Yeah, fast, strong, durable, good up close. 06:39 Derek Van Dyke Good from afar, good at thinking out a plan while not necessarily being, like, the master tactician. Like you said, a little bit of everything. 06:46 Jmike Folson Yeah, I thought that was because this iteration, like, when the first episode, they clearly say they're explorers. 06:52 Case Aiken Yes. 06:52 Jmike Folson So I was like, okay, they're not, like, beefy types that we're used to seeing. So I thought that kind of got explained away right there. I was like, okay, they're just doing their thing, and this optimist is just like, copernicus, Galileo. 07:03 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, well, and that's kind of a good point too, that this optimist is not a definitive military leader with a ton of experience. This is a scientist and a man of peace, and he has doubts. I think that, like, g one Optimus, who was really the only other version of Optimus that existed at the time that beast wars came out, right? 07:27 Case Aiken I think, yeah, I mean, there's g two Optimus toys and comics, but there hadn't really been, like, a mainstream transformers. 07:34 Jmike Folson I remember Megatron saying throughout these episodes is that at this point in the Transformers timeline, the Autobots had won the war. The Autobots had won the war. And the predicons, decepticons were underneath them. Now, I don't know how that figured out and everything else. 07:49 Case Aiken Well, it's a weird part, and I'll go into it, because I watched these to death back when I actually got them dvd. I watched these back in the day. Initially, I taped these off of vcrs and rewatched it, but I bought the dvds and I listened to the commentary tracks a ton. So I have some input from that which I did not get a chance to re listen to. So I'm only going touch on it a little bit. It's a weird series of a show in that it is technically in continuity with the original Transformers show in a way that is different from all the other transformers stuff that has come since. There has been a ton of Transformers material of all types, including additional versions of Beast wars characters and so forth. 08:23 Case Aiken What we're saying, though, is at the time when this came out, there was Peter Cullen as Optimus prime, and now we're getting Gary Chalk as Optimus Primal and setting those two up as different characters. 08:35 Derek Van Dyke Yes, and spoilers for a late 90s animated series. But it's both a sequel and prequel to the original transformers as opposed to a reimagining. And I just think that's also so interesting because to me, gen one Optimus is not a lot of a character. He's cool, right? But because it's Peter Cullen, and he just has some raw lines to lay down. But to me, it's the more dynamic personality of primal, of being somebody who does have doubts, being somebody who does fail more, somebody who is a boy scout, but also kind of aware of the ways that holds them back sometimes and has to struggle with that, I think makes him a more interesting character for actually engaging with the question of what it means to be a leader. 09:26 Case Aiken What it means to be a hero. 09:28 Derek Van Dyke Even sometimes, if you don't want to be, but just because you're the one. 09:32 Case Aiken Who is best able to be, right? I mean, he was the leader of a scientific exploration vessel and all of a sudden had to do a police action against war criminals. And it's stuck in this situation where in a Dino riders style pilot sequence, they transport back in time and crash land on ancient Earth and have to contend with weird histories and all that. I think this also goes for the fact that the supporting cast is so strong. And part of that is that this is a mid to late 90s CGI cartoon wherein they couldn't have that many characters. Like the original Transformers had, like, a fuck ton of characters, especially, oh, my God, we can't keep track of. And on purpose, like, to the point where they just start introducing characters. They don't need to be like, oh, here's the new guy. 10:16 Case Aiken It's just like, this guy's always been here, right? Like, you know, Perceptor, the microscope guy. You know him, right? He's been in all these episodes somewhere. 10:25 Derek Van Dyke He was just off screen. 10:26 Case Aiken Yeah, no, he was down in the science lab doing science stuff. And this episode has science stuff. So here's Perceptor. You know the guy. And so with Beast wars, the show had a very small roster. It's five characters on each side initially, where they make up for the fact that they don't have the virtue of Transformers properties in general, which is that you like the ones that you think is cool, and then you have so many that everyone's going to find one that they think is cool, and you keep going. In this case, they had to be like, here's the distinct personalities for the five that we can animate on each side. 11:00 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, here's the personalities they have. Here are the skills that they have, how all of this stuff informs each other, and then how those characters have to change over the course of the episodes. Because Beast wars is really good about having characters start at one place and then have to change and grow, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, as events affect them and stick with them in a way that was kind of rare for a lot of animation of the time. You have a lot of these animated shows of the time, and especially the original Transformers. Right? Where the point was, like, we have our episode plot of the week, and at the end, everything's going to go back to the status quo, right? And Beast wars really threw that out. 11:42 Case Aiken The window, for one thing. We have such dynamic supporting cast members like Rattrap and Dinobot on the hero side, where Rattrap is insubordinate, a coward, super competent, and a prick. Like, it's great, that whole combination right there. And then you have Dinobot, who was a reformed bad guy, and anyone who knows me knows that I am a sucker for reformed bad guy. No, like, Anubis is my favorite character on Ronan Warriors, Dinobot is one of my favorite characters. Piccolo is my favorite dragon Ball Z character. The honorable bad guy who realized the errors of his way and has reformed in ways that are logically consistent and not just because we needed a heel face turn for the sake of the plot, is so fucking good. And Dinobot is that. 12:31 Case Aiken And again, we're going to talk about code of hero, because we have to talk about code of hero. It's so goddamn good. But that means that right from the get go, we've got people who are arguing against Optimus Primal. Rattrap, who is on his team, who was part of his crew, asks him if he's up to the task constantly because the mission is different. First episode all the time. Like, Rattrap refuses a direct order, and so Optimus Primal has to put himself in danger. And then later is like, here is why I did this thing. Here's why I explained it this way, and I asked you to do it because it made more sense that way. And instead, we did it this way, and now we're hurt, and we're not in a good position where we can actually easily fix ourselves. Things are bad. 13:13 Case Aiken And then Ratchup still is giving him shit. It's not like a one time, and then it's fine. Every single time afterwards, he's giving him crap until eventually he finally learns to trust him. 13:23 Jmike Folson Optimus had to tell him early on. He's like, I'm not going to put you in positions and things that I wouldn't do myself, so you're going to have to trust me. And Raptrap's like, man, whatever. 13:34 Case Aiken Sure, Optimus. And that's such a good line. 13:37 Derek Van Dyke Better you than me. 13:39 Case Aiken That honestly has stuck with me in terms of my management style so much more, probably more than it's, like, healthy in some regards, where I'll throw myself out there to work on a project where I'm like, I probably should have been focusing on the macro. There have been plenty of times where it's like, oh, yeah, this project that needed to be done by the end of the month. I'm now cramming to finish because were in the weeds about something else somewhere earlier in the month kind of thing. But I think that's such a great aspect of his character. He is completely prepared to lead from the front, to take the hits, to do all that, even if he sees the best way to do it is this. And that's the plan I'm going to go with. 14:13 Case Aiken But when something doesn't work, when circumstances change, he'll get out there. There's no problem with that. And it's not for glory. It's not for honor. It's not for anything like that. This is the best plan. And does it make the most sense for me to be there? Yes. No. But it's never out of cowardice. It's never even self preservation from the standpoint of, like, well, I'm the commander. I have to survive so I can keep making new plans. Like, when the plan fails to make a new plan type character. No, he's not that. He just is aware that he's also pretty well equipped to do a bunch of different jobs because he's the red mage on the right. Yeah. 14:47 Derek Van Dyke And especially bringing up rat Trap and the way that rat trap kind of does not respect Optimus's authority at first. 14:55 Case Aiken Can we just pause before we go further on a discussion of rat Trap? And let's just say for anyone who has not watched the show, rat Trap is Rocket Raccoon. 15:03 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, I mean, that's a great point of comparison for modern audiences, like, to. 15:08 Case Aiken The point where I'm wondering if when they kind of rebooted rocket raccoon to be the character that he is in the comics, if they were looking at, like, they're that close. Yeah, we're all going to die, right? That's his catchphrase. We're all going to die. 15:22 Derek Van Dyke God, Scott McNeil is just so good as half the cast of this show. Yeah, but, like Rattrap, it's a great example of. One of the most powerful aspects of Optimus Primal, to me, is the effect that he has on the rest of the cast. Rat Trap is somebody who starts off as very cowardly, very insubordinate, and obviously, he's always going to be the team loudmouth and the team cynic. But over the course of especially that first season, you really watch rat trap, like, one step at a time. Have to learn from Optimus's example and from Cheetor some. But in that case, it's still indirectly Optimus, because Cheetor adores Optimus and is trying to do everything he can to mirror that behavior, sometimes to overly enthusiastic. 16:12 Derek Van Dyke But, like, it's that drags rat trap into being more of a team player, being more heroic, putting himself at risk more when he's the best person for a job you can watch over the course of that first season, how much he changes. And that's entirely Optimus's influence as a leader. 16:33 Case Aiken Yeah, that's the best part about Optimus, which is that the team becomes better because of his presence there. He inspires people to better, which is exactly the kind of thing we talk about on this show and why the archetype of, like, a hero who is doing their best is important. 16:51 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, it's not enough to be the leader and be like the jack of all trades. You also have to be a little bit the Paladin. Right? Like, you have to be somebody who, it's not just the actions that you take, but how you empower the people around you to better, to teach young and impressionable Cheetor to think a little bit more ahead, to teach rat trap to be kind of braver, to be an example for Dinobot to clash against. Right. Which is so fascinating because Dinobot never fully takes on Optimus's ideals. But I think especially by code of Hero, we'll get to it. You do see how much he has learned by his time with the maximals. 17:33 Case Aiken Why don't we actually dig into the episodes that we wanted to talk about? The ones that we highlighted specifically were the two part pilot BSors, episode ten, guerrilla warfare episode twelve, victory episode 24 before the storm, which is really just the first part of the three part finale, and then the two part finale of season one, which is other voices, and then Code of hero, because again, we're not monsters here. Yeah. So talking about beast wars, the Pilot, I emailed you guys when I was watching it because right from the get go. Oh my God, this show is so good at economy of storytelling. 18:06 Derek Van Dyke Yes. 18:06 Case Aiken We've got the whole transwarp. We've come through time and space and we're having this whole fight over this weird alien world. And we set up elements about all the different characters on the ship. We set up like, it's an exploration vessel, not a battle cruiser. Like all those little bits right there. We set up the proto forms, which is such an ingenious little element of like. Yeah. Now we know we're going to want to introduce characters more over the course of the season, at least. How do we do that? Here is an element that will work, but we don't have to worry about it right now. 18:37 Derek Van Dyke Here's a massive number of ticking time bombs for new characters that we can introduce as many as we want whenever we want down the road. But they're not here now, right? 18:46 Jmike Folson They're floating in space. 18:47 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, they're just sleeping. 18:50 Case Aiken There's the whole inner John situation that is on the planet in season one, where their robot forms are unable to function for prolonged periods of time in the environment. And so that they have to turn into animals as a way of basically, like, Terminator style clothing themselves in meat as a way to bypass a thing. And that's a really fun exposition bit that they set up very quickly. They bring up the great War, which, according to the commentary tracks, they didn't fucking know what that meant. They didn't know they were necessarily talking about the original transformers at the time. That all came later. And the fact that it fit so smoothly is incredible. 19:24 Derek Van Dyke Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you say the phrase the Clone wars, and you figure it out later. 19:30 Case Aiken You know what I mean? We introduce all these characters. We set up all that, and then we start setting up their capabilities very quickly. 19:38 Derek Van Dyke Right. 19:38 Case Aiken When they leave the ship for the first time, we start seeing the zooming in eye effect that Optimus Primal has, even in ape form, which I think is such a great way of one reminding everyone they're robots and they can do XYZ. I always thought that their augmented reality vision stuff was, like, one of the coolest secret abilities that they had, as opposed to the really obvious, like, I have a gun that comes out of my ape arm kind of thing. Yeah, no, they're still robots here. And just to continue the comparison with Superman. Yeah, he's got supervision on top of flight, and he's a robot. Yeah. 20:11 Derek Van Dyke Every character gets moments that are, like, establishing the most important pieces of their personality at the start of the show. Right. Like, rat trap is going to be cynical and cowardly from the get go. Rhinox is going to be the Peacekeeper and also the big guy who's like, nope, you know what? I don't care if there's a rock I can break through that know Cheetor is going to run off on his own when everyone says, stop, wait, he's already gone. 20:40 Case Aiken Right. And then establish that the communications are limited because of the environment that they're in, so they can't just, like, radio everywhere. 20:47 Derek Van Dyke The energon is such a brilliant little piece of plot BS in Beast wars, because the way that they've made the energon out to be in this, it is a resource that they desperately need and can fight over in however many episodes they feel like. It is the reason the bad guys are there, which makes it accidentally the reason the good guys are there. It is a limiting factor. Right. Because it is incredibly dangerous and forces them to arbitrarily whenever the plot demands it. Right? Oh, there's so much energon. We've got to stay in Beast form. Right? Like, it can be a limiter for the plot of the episode, which is used to great effect many times. 21:29 Derek Van Dyke And then finding out new weird things and ways that it interacts with a lightning strike or a certain piece of technology gives them the ability to bs in the plot. For a bottle episode, it's one singular element that really makes the show kind of by how it gets to both be the prize and the hazard. Yeah, if that makes sense. 21:54 Jmike Folson I feel like later on, they kind of forgot about a lot of the energon stuff they set up. 21:58 Case Aiken Yeah, because at first they're like, oh. 22:00 Jmike Folson We can't be in our robot forms for more than, like, two minutes. And by season two, they're having full on guerrilla warfare out there for hours at a time, like killing each other. And like, oh, wait, the season two. 22:14 Case Aiken They deliberately say all the energon because it's unstable energon, as opposed to what we had seen in OG transformers, where it's like, here's just cubes of stuff that soundwave emitted from his chest that can soar up the coal energy from this furnace or whatever. They make a point that it is different. It's unstable. It's dangerous, and there's so much of it and that the season one finale destroys most of it and transforms what's there into a stable version that does not affect them. 22:42 Jmike Folson Energon cubes. 22:43 Derek Van Dyke Unless you're, like, right up on it. 22:45 Jmike Folson Right. 22:45 Case Aiken Really, the split between season one and two is like a complete, like, we're just like, wiping the floor with all the status quo that we had set up in season one so that we can get away with doing a much weirder season two. And I like a lot of season two, but it loses some of the vibrancy of the first season. It's way more deserts and it's way more like battleground vistas as a. 23:04 Derek Van Dyke Just mesas and stuff. 23:05 Case Aiken Yeah, exactly. 23:06 Derek Van Dyke As far as the eye can see. 23:07 Jmike Folson So what you're saying is you don't like silverbolt? Shame on you, Casey. 23:10 Case Aiken I actually like silverbolt. But you know what? If fucking Silverbolt showed up in season one, he'd be interesting showing up in season two, right when they're showing up, like, being like, here's transmetals and here's all this other stuff going on, and here's Jesus fucking gorilla, man. Like, Silverbolt gets lost in the gouache at that point. 23:26 Derek Van Dyke He's just here to be very beautiful and stupid. 23:32 Case Aiken I mean, yes. So, like, the pilot does a lot of great stuff here. We set up the stakes. We establish, like, yeah, at first it's four on five as far as teams go, because dinobot, very quickly, you think he might be like the starscream of the team gets into a fight with Megatron. I love it where it's like leadership takes cunning and cleverness as well. Wouldn't you say? So Scorponok, like, just shoots him away. 23:55 Derek Van Dyke I do like, also, the pilot is the only time Scorponok is ever a threat. Very quickly becomes the butt monkey of the enemy team. 24:07 Case Aiken I mean, is he the worst butt monkey? It's hard to really say. 24:11 Derek Van Dyke Look, nobody out. Butt monkeys. Waspinator. 24:14 Jmike Folson Hey, we put some respect. 24:20 Case Aiken Secret best characters, the same. God, we love some of these characters. And some of these best characters are all voiced by the same person. 24:33 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, I know, right? I do love how they have a completely unsubtle like, yeah, this is the actual starscream in pterosaur. To the point of, like, he just sounds, looks, acts like everything like him gets possessed by Starscream. 24:48 Case Aiken In an episode. 24:50 Derek Van Dyke Waspinator gets possessed by Starscream. That's right. 24:53 Case Aiken When Starscream shows up in that. Not exactly a deep cut, but the fact that the Starscream ghost thing had been set up already, it's like, oh, that's fun. 25:02 Derek Van Dyke Yeah. 25:02 Case Aiken And also, as one of my favorite lines in the show, which is when black Arachnia betrays starscream and says, are all your dreams in Technicolor? But getting back to the pilot, so we've got this power imbalance, which I think is really fun. We also established that they are not that fucking big. Like, it's not Transformers OG style, where it's like, yeah, he's a truck that turns into a robot, but what if he's even bigger than that truck? What if the microscope guy is as big as the truck guy? What if the boombox is four stories tall? 25:33 Derek Van Dyke What if the bad guy turns into a regular handgun? 25:37 Case Aiken At least it made sense with G two when they turned him into a tank. 25:40 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, but, yeah, all the transformers are like, roughly analogous to human size. I think they're mostly a little bigger than your average person if you scale them against the pre humans in later seasons. But they're like six to 10ft tall, not 18ft 45. 26:00 Case Aiken Yeah, we know that Cheetor is the same size as a regular cheetah because of direct comparison there, we know that rat trap is very big. For a rat. But it appears that Optimus Primal is about the right size for a gorilla, which means that he's big for a person, but not terrifyingly big. And rhinox actually seems kind of small. And actually, Megatron seems kind of small for a T Rex. 26:20 Derek Van Dyke I mean, again, getting into the arachnids, I've never seen a tarantula that size. And if I ever did, I would die on. 26:30 Jmike Folson Snap my own neck. 26:32 Derek Van Dyke I'm out. 26:35 Case Aiken And what a roster of villains. We talked about terror sore being just the starscream. Like, he's there for that role. We've got Waspinator as the bumbling ally that we like, and we've got Scorponok as the bumbling ally that we don't like in terms of the bad guys, but fucking tarantulas, man. 26:52 Derek Van Dyke Fucking tarantulas. And it's crazy to go back to the first few episodes of the show and realize, like, a, they hadn't quite nailed down how much Waspinator was going to suck, and they hadn't quite nailed down what they wanted to do with tarantulas yet. Right. It takes a few episodes for them to really be like, actually, tarantulas is going to be the smart guy. 27:11 Case Aiken Well, they, right off the bat, say that he's the only one who has the skill to break down the giant rock of inner John that they find. And then the next episode is the web episode where he captures and tortures Cheetor. So I think at the very least, they were like, he's going to be the scary spider, right? 27:26 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, yeah. That's why they gave him the. It's. It's perfect. But the amount to which tarantulas becomes a capital p problem, I don't know that they had really planned out at that point. 27:40 Case Aiken No. And that's fair. This show is so good at. Yes. Ending in a way, once you know how little they knew what they were doing in the pilot, it fits so goddamn well. When you get to the end of season one and you see all the machinations of tarantulas and Megatron and how it plays out and all that. That's all really good. And you get to the shit at the end of season two where it's like, oh, man, it's g one transformers. And they're all there. But they didn't know shit about transformers when they made the show. They didn't know what they were doing. They were told, make a fucking show with these toys. These are the reboot guys. 28:19 Derek Van Dyke Yeah. Even the pilot is a perfect example of how they. Yes. And did from the beginning. Because I think you look at the pilot episodes compared to the third episode, and you see that within the pilot, there is so much more of transforming has to come with the full. 28:37 Case Aiken Yeah, they have, like, an activation mode. 28:39 Derek Van Dyke Or Cheetor maximize and then lengthy transformation sequence. And from as early as episode three, they're like, okay, we can cut down on the dramatic yelling at the sky and then stock footage. That's not the tone that's working for us. Let's minimize that a bit. I think it's interesting to see how much more expositional dialogue is in that first episode or two in a way that works great. Like you said, to set up, like, economy of storytelling, to set the stage in one or two episodes. But the format of dialogue changes so much by the third episode. 29:14 Case Aiken Yeah, I mean, obviously, it's kind of nice in the first episode to have them all do individually their activation codes where they say their full name and then what team they're on. If they say maximize or terrorize and go through that, also establish that it's just a code word that they can just change because Dynobot does it, which is a nice detail there. That's fun. That's power rangers for you. 29:34 Derek Van Dyke Changes his tattoo. 29:38 Case Aiken It's the 90s. We were suckers for it then. I'm still a sucker for it now. But you don't need to do that going forward. And eventually we get an episode where they full on are just like, oh, no. They're all in sync with their animal selves. Now. The call of the wild episode where they all regress to their animal forms and then, like, tiger Tron gets them stoned and, like, no, man, you just need to vibe with your animal self. But that does allow for really cool moves, like rat trap, like rolling as a rat and then standing up as a robot and shooting things. All those kind of maneuvers that really come into play in the second half of the season, which also goes for what kind of choreography can they do in the early episodes, if you're really paying attention? 30:14 Case Aiken Even some of the shots where it's like a different angle, it's still the model in the same motion. They can move the camera around, but the gunfire motions are oftentimes the same animation. Just like, move which angle that they're looking at the model from. And that's because this is a 90s CGI show. This is the reboot studio. This is the show that the reboot studio did right after reboot. Yeah, I was going to say to. 30:34 Derek Van Dyke Clarify for a lot of folks who don't. There was a show called reboot. 30:38 Case Aiken That is not the recent show called Reboot. 30:41 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, there's a CGI show called Reboot before this. This is not a studio that does reboots. It's a capital r reboot. I remember nothing about reboot, to be honest. 30:52 Case Aiken Reboot is great, but this came out between season two and three. And so season one and two of reboot is rough, particularly season one. 31:01 Derek Van Dyke It looks rougher to look back at, for sure. I think part of it, too, is that because beast wars, the designs are robots and toy animals, they don't have to look as off putting as, like, we made blue people. 31:15 Case Aiken Right. 31:15 Derek Van Dyke You know what I mean? 31:17 Case Aiken And even that was choices that were made to get around the fact that it was Tron as a tv show. It was set inside of a computer so that they didn't have to be that realistic because it was a tv budget CGI show, which at the time was really difficult to do. Side note, there is a call out to reboot, which is one of the catchphrases for the main character, which is there's just no pleasing some people. Optimus Primal says to rat trap at one point in the pilot. 31:40 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, I remember that line. 31:43 Case Aiken But the point is, this is the show that they pick up after that before they come back for the amazing season three and the lackluster season four of reboot. Season three of reboot, one of the best things you can ever watch. I will continue to sing its praises forever. It's fantastic, but this show is very clearly part of this phase of a group of people learning to work with their budgets and using the restrictions of the medium that they're working in to jumpstart creativity. We have such a defined, cool supporting cast in the show because they only have the resources to make five models for each side. We've got ten characters total, and we have a pretty clear idea of what they're able to do in all cases. 32:24 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, well, and that's why, again, new characters come in at a semi steady pace, but paced out, it takes a bit for Tigatron to show up, and then it takes a bit for black arachni to show up, and then it's eraser and then Inferno. Right. 32:40 Case Aiken And there's a reason why the first two that come in, I mean, also this kind of ties into the toys, which is that they're palette swaps. Like, yes, they have design changes, but a lot of the foundations for the models are based on the same characters. Tiger Tron is Cheetor. 32:55 Derek Van Dyke They're clone characters. 32:56 Case Aiken Yeah, exactly. Yeah. 32:57 Derek Van Dyke Down to the same rifle with the brain in the back of the gun for some reason. 33:01 Case Aiken It's a marthroy situation. Yeah. And black arachnia with tarantulas. And it's great there because. Oh, my. Like, what two wonderful characters did they spawn from this whole thing? Yeah. 33:13 Derek Van Dyke Holy shit. Those two being at each other's throats the entire time is just. 33:18 Case Aiken Yeah, just great details. But we don't get them until later. And they're fun additions, but they have to pick and choose their battles for when they bring a new character in who's going to be important, and yada, yada in the pilot, right off the bat, it's like, all right, well, here's, like, a little first confrontation. There's, like, a little pit and a rock, and we can establish some character stuff. And they do really good stuff because this is where Rattrap refuses to jump into battle. And we get, like, rhinox being, like, the big tough. Like, they need cover fire. 33:45 Case Aiken So I'm picking you up, and this is a whole groot rock and raccoon situation right here, where he's holding Rattrap, who's firing in one hand, using Cheetor's gun in the other, because they didn't really want to show off his Uzi as his main weapon in the pilot. 33:56 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, the chain gun with a buzzsaw blade on it for some reason. 34:01 Case Aiken Buzsaw blade within three. It's so weird. 34:08 Derek Van Dyke He never once used that thing to hit him. 34:11 Case Aiken No, but he does shoot some people at point blank rage several times. 34:14 Derek Van Dyke He sure perforates some folks with it. That's for sure. 34:18 Case Aiken Is so great. And we will mention beast machines at the end of this. But there is a reason why I hate beast machines. 34:24 Derek Van Dyke There's no human being who loves beast. I cannot believe that's possible. 34:30 Case Aiken So we get, like, this wonderful confrontation between them that sets up all this character stuff. We set up the efficacy of the Predacons, and then the first episode of the two part pilot ends with, well, now we've got to have a battle for victory between Dinobot and Optimus Primal, which is nice to set up. I love Dinobot. I love him having this, like, well, I need honor. Like, I can't just beat you with treachery. I wouldn't have earned leadership there. And that's such a good way of setting up. He's going to work here because he's the bad guy, but he's lawful evil. And you guys are fighting chaotic evil right now. Yeah. And he's powerful. 35:06 Case Aiken He's got those fucking eye beams and he's big and he's got a weird tail spin blade thingy, which, thank God, in code of hero, he uses as like a helicopter device. Yes, man, dinobot. So here's a weird thing. I love the Megatron design in season one. I think it's really cool. I love the Trex head as the arm. I feel like it's a great shout out to the g one transformers, where Megatron, weirdly, it's the scope of the gun, but it acts as a blaster that's on his arm. I feel like it works very well there. I always thought it was weird though, that they didn't just use the Grimlock design. And then I realized that Dinobot is Grimlock. And in fact, there is an alternate color toy of dinobot that is called Grimlock. 35:47 Derek Van Dyke Oh, I didn't know they did have Beast Wars. Grimlock. 35:50 Case Aiken Never in the actual series. Yeah. But if you look at his transformation sequence, it has actually the same positioning that's going on where the head goes down to the chest, the legs extend out from the chest and are not part of the main body. And that the legs of the dinosaur form slide up and become the upper torso arms. 36:08 Derek Van Dyke Okay. 36:09 Case Aiken And then the tail splits open. And on grimlock, it splits open and becomes like part of his back. In this case, it becomes a separate spinny weapon thing with his spine being his sword. 36:19 Derek Van Dyke Yeah. Or something. 36:21 Case Aiken That's the extension of the spine. 36:23 Derek Van Dyke Yeah. It's one long thing. One long spaghetti noodle. Right. 36:28 Case Aiken So there is some weird headcanon of like. Well, but maybe Dinobot is the descendant. The point is that they went with this very tried and true design for the character to be then this weird villainous lancer character. 36:44 Derek Van Dyke Yeah. 36:44 Case Aiken In a five man band. That sort of makes the most sense. Right. Because then, yeah, he was effectively the. 36:50 Derek Van Dyke Number two on the predicon side. And then he defects. And because the maximals just do not have that same explicit sort of hierarchy structure, it's like, okay, well, I'm not the leader. What am I? And it's like, here's the guy. Here's one of the boys now. And clearly he struggles forever to figure out how he is supposed to work as a soldier, as somebody who believes in hierarchies, as somebody who believes in a chain of command. Again, like there's science. This is not a military that he has joined. 37:24 Case Aiken Yeah. And it's like a small crew. It's not the starship Enterprise. Like, yeah, we've got rhinox. He's really good at scanning shit. And Rattrap's really good at fixing machines and making bombs. 37:35 Derek Van Dyke He's sort of the engineer. 37:36 Case Aiken Again, Rattrap is just fucking rocket raccoon. 37:40 Derek Van Dyke Technician, demolitions expert, snarky little guy, and I love it. 37:48 Case Aiken It's definitely not plagiarism in terms of rat trap, and it's archetypal, but it's just so well done here. Yeah. 37:53 Derek Van Dyke It's a defining version of that archetype for me. 37:57 Case Aiken We have this wonderful face off between the two of them where we get to establish Dinobot's credentials as being honorable, and we also get to see Optimus primal showing that. Yeah. In addition to having guns that come out of his body and rockets and guns that come out of his arms, he also has swords. He has, like, dual scimitars. Yeah. 38:17 Derek Van Dyke Like a copesh or something. 38:19 Case Aiken He is very capable. And then we establish, like, all right, well, the predacons show up, and they fuck up the whole thing, and then they blow up a mountain. It's like, oh, there's a big energon thing, and they both have to separately go to it. And again, economy of storytelling, or at least, like, seeding what's out there, they're like, this is a really weird world with, like, two moons and all this other shit. Also, that's fucking Stonehenge right there. That definitely was not put here by a thing we've seen so far. 38:41 Derek Van Dyke And I love, too, how it kind of confuses you of, like, okay, well, we've landed on earth, clearly, because there's earth animals and there's Stonehenge, but there are two moons that they call attention to. And the geography and landscape is still very alien and full of energon in a way that it is not by transformers g one time or just the modern day. And I love how they even use the pilot to set up things that will be the focus of several episodes separately down the road, and then many of which will loop back around for the season finale. 39:16 Case Aiken Yeah. And then the pilot kind of concludes with a big five on five battle in the energon field. So they can't transform because it's too dangerous. And we get. 39:25 Derek Van Dyke You get to watch the aminels fight. 39:27 Case Aiken I mean, some really, like, right off the bat, they are okay with reminding people, like, yeah, no, a t. Rex would be really, like, there's a shot, and they use it. In the opening credits of Megatron trying to bite Optimus Primal's neck. 39:41 Jmike Folson Oh, yeah. 39:41 Case Aiken And you're like, yeah, no, that's real bad. And side note, a gorilla would not have been able to survive. We gorillas are strong compared to us gorillas are not strong compared to Tyrannosaurus rexes. 39:54 Derek Van Dyke Right. There's a mass difference. Know. 39:57 Case Aiken But he's also a small T Rex. 39:59 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, but also just the way that, like, coming into that sequence, like, megatron, like, stomping in and the fact that it shakes the camera as he strides in ahead of the rest of his crew. It's very like, yes. Okay. Yep. You're selling that. This guy's big. Like, way bigger than everyone else on the field. 40:18 Case Aiken Right. But we also got a Mario 64 styled Optimus primal spinning it. 40:24 Jmike Folson Optimus swinging around, which I have to. 40:26 Case Aiken Imagine is just easy to animate because they're not really moving. You just spin the model around. 40:32 Derek Van Dyke But it's so good. It's so good to watch a gorilla swing a T Rex around. Right. And just yeet him there. Well, and also you get to see, like, rat trap. Do whatever rat trap does to tarantulas. That counts as an attack. 40:47 Case Aiken I don't know. 40:47 Derek Van Dyke It kind of seems like he tickles them. 40:49 Case Aiken I'm not really sure what it is. 40:50 Derek Van Dyke He goes, that's not even close to the sound. I give up. 40:56 Case Aiken Yeah, I mean, the pairing is okay, but as we pointed out, there's two flyers on the predicon side already. And it's not really, like a one to one kind of comparison right there. But it is close enough that it would fit any of the myriad two opposed army kind of tv shows that we had grown up on. At this point. If you could pair. 41:19 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, you could pair any of them off against any of the others. But I do like how the predicons and the maximals do not have clear analogs between each other. You don't have the clear cut good and bad version of the archetypes. You have pretty different dynamics on each team. 41:39 Case Aiken Yeah. Like, season one especially has just, like, very clear, different characters there. And then as we start adding people, they usually come in pairs. So that kind of puts them as opposite each other. Like, Tiger John and Black Arachnia are the first two that come in, and then Airazor and Inferno are the next two that come in for those fill in the slot of like, well, were missing this thing on our team. And then we get the fusors, where we get quickstrike and Silverbolt at the same time. Yeah. 42:08 Derek Van Dyke It's interesting to think of each character that gets added. And like, what is it that they're adding to each team? Right. And with Tigatron, we get the heroic character who can't be relied on to always be part of the super 6th. 42:22 Case Aiken Ranger when he shows up. 42:23 Derek Van Dyke Yes, the heroes get a one up, but it's not a one up that counts. And then Black Arachnia shows up. But Black Arachnia is even more double timing than pterosaur and tarantulas are. So it kind of doesn't fully count for the Predacons. And then we get Air razor and Inferno, who both do kind of fill out. But like, Inferno gives the predacons even more firepower. Air Razor gives the maximals another flyer they desperately needed. 42:52 Case Aiken But when Inferno joins, he's also a flyer in addition to being a heavy. 42:57 Derek Van Dyke Completely unreliable, no, he's reliable. 43:00 Case Aiken He's just. He's an idiot, though. 43:03 Derek Van Dyke Reliably going to fuck up everything in. 43:05 Case Aiken Front of him for better and for worse. Like, if you tell him, follow them, he will dig a hole underground below the level of a force field to make sure that he gets there because he's going to do his job. He's going to live up to the demands of his queen. For the colony, for the royalty. For the royalty. Yes, my queen, I do. She wouldn't call me that. But the pilot does his job is what I'm trying to say here. It's not an intensely complicated story that happens, but it sets up the first season so well. 43:39 Jmike Folson We will call these the beast War. He said the thing. 43:43 Case Aiken He said the thing. 43:44 Derek Van Dyke It's definitely cornier than the rest of the show, but it does a miraculous job of doing so much setup in just the first half of the pilot. You could do a writing class using that as an example of setting the foundation for what's to come. Most tv shows do not do that well. 44:03 Case Aiken Yeah, like, you know, the stakes. You know, everything that pops up after this point is introduced in the pilot. You have a clear idea of all of the characters, even if some of them end up being more of a fuck up than they are set up in this episode, and some of them end up being more of a fucking asshole than they are set up in this episode, they do a pretty good job of making sure you're aware of what are the players and what are they like. And God damn it, we haven't talked about Megatron that much yet. We got to talk about Megatron a little bit because his whole talking to himself thing and talking to his T. Rex hand especially is so good. 44:38 Jmike Folson Yeah, that got interesting. 44:39 Derek Van Dyke Later on, he gives it a rubber ducky. 44:41 Case Aiken Yeah. 44:41 Jmike Folson Because at times it looks like the arm is sentient and it's like looking back at him and communicating with him. But he's also kind of doing his. 44:51 Case Aiken He's not well, he's also doing the. 44:52 Jmike Folson Whole Dr. Claw thing where he's like. 44:54 Case Aiken Rubbing the arm, pets it like a cat. 44:56 Derek Van Dyke Yeah. 44:59 Jmike Folson Oh, yes. 45:01 Case Aiken I think in terms of setting up how different he is from, like, g one Megatron. He's fucking insane. He talks to his hand for the majority of season one. 45:10 Derek Van Dyke Yes, he's crazy, but he's crazy like a fox. 45:13 Case Aiken Yes. 45:14 Derek Van Dyke Because he is genuinely incredibly cunning. He is usually one step ahead, if not several steps ahead of Optimus and everybody on his side who is trying to murder him and take his place. Because that's the dynamic of the Predacons is like, most of them think they'd do a better job than him, and all of them are wrong. 45:34 Case Aiken Yeah. That's such a fun dynamic of the Predacons in general, where unlike in the original transformers, where it's two opposing sides and this is the army, that's like, kind of in the winning position. Like, the Decepticons have Cybertron mostly under control at the start of the series and pretty much cements their hold over the course of it. And so Megatron is the leader of this army. And while there's starscream, the majority of the people are like, people in the army with him. The Predacons in this are all criminals. And by that I mean there are predacons on Cybertron and they have their own governing body. Sorry. We're recording this in 2023. And you can probably make some weird comparisons to geopolitical stuff going on right now. But suffice it to say they are a subsidiary state with the maximals being the dominant power. 46:19 Case Aiken But the maximals are the good guys and kind of nice. And the Predacons are kind of like, well, we're working with them and we would like to not be doing this, but right now we've got our government and whatnot. And Megatron is a terrorist and he has criminals working with him that all have their own goals. And they're all criminals amongst the predacons. 46:38 Derek Van Dyke Yes, because there's a major plot point of the actual predicon leadership wanting him fucking taken care of. Because his actions destabilize the peace that they are currently in. And it's like, look, we don't like the maximals either, but we have our plans, and we're operating within the realm of politics, and you are operating within the realm of car bombing. You know what I mean? And we cannot have this. 47:05 Case Aiken Right. And that's a really interesting dynamic for these characters. You have to assume that some of that comes from the fact that this is a 90s show as opposed to an 80s show. The original show. Yeah, you could probably make a cold war parallel. And this is like the end of history. Everything is technically fine. We're at peace with everyone. But, oh, hey, there might be these terrorists out there. It's pre 911, but it's not pre the concept of terrorism. 47:30 Derek Van Dyke I mean, look, diehard existed before, you know what I mean? 47:35 Case Aiken And I also don't want to assign too much thought about the larger state of the world, but it is the zeitgeist that the show comes out of. 47:42 Derek Van Dyke Right. I think it gives us, like, a really interesting squad of villains in that regard. And I think to this day, it makes the Beast Wars Megatron the most memorable and version of Megatron out there. 47:57 Case Aiken Yes. Why do you always talk to yourself? 48:01 Jmike Folson His best and biased impersonation. 48:03 Derek Van Dyke I don't talk to myself. 48:04 Case Aiken I'm not intelligent conversation. It's not until episode ten that we really get a real optimus focused episode, and that is guerrilla warfare. And I love several things about this episode. For one thing, while it is a goofy as fuck, like, we learn something about this plant and it becomes, like, important for later element, which is very much a part of early beast wars. Like the first half of season one has a lot of these kind of like the natural world. We're studying these things, blah, blah. We get one, an incredible use of the biology of the different species that we're in, which is that we see that the dinosaurs have issues when shit gets attached to their neck. 48:42 Derek Van Dyke Oh, yeah. 48:43 Case Aiken Like the way dinobots tiny arms when it's happening is so good. We get some fun uses of Optimus primal, being a giant gorilla in that when he has to move a boulder, he uses his foot to move a stone to shift. Things like those are fun. Right there. We get Scorponok attempting to be the mad scientist archetype that he was intended to be, but then everyone immediately remembering that he's a giant fuck up in everything he does. 49:11 Derek Van Dyke Yes. And we get Optimus with the limiters removed. 49:17 Case Aiken And this is actually the thing that I really wanted to get to when I was saying, like, well, Optimus has the power of action to do a lot more than he necessarily does in the majority of the show, like, he's typically one of the strongest members of the team until he's definitely the strongest member of the team. 49:33 Derek Van Dyke Right. 49:33 Case Aiken The fact of the matter is, he could probably go into a bloody fight and kill a lot of people or lead a lot of people into a situation like that. But he's not about murdering people. He's about apprehending people who stole something. Like the death penalty is actually not what is required of that. He has restraint all the time up until he doesn't hear when a giant fly attaches to his chest and really fucks with his central nervous system. Yeah. 49:59 Jmike Folson Isn't the kryptonite. 50:00 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, well, and it's like, it's a great look. Everybody knows the famous world of cardboard speech with Superman. And that kind of applies here as it's the reminder that Optimus is holding back, because from his concept of morality, he is not supposed to be killing if he can avoid it, that's not what he is here to do. He is not comfortable with that. But also in terms of, like, he puts himself greatly at danger by going full berserker rage, and his team can't afford to lose him. So he could probably take out. As the episode establishes, most of the predacons single handedly die in the process, but then his team is left without him, and then where are they? It's multiple ways in which there's that recognition of, like, this is why I hold back. 50:49 Derek Van Dyke This is why I am not the ace on the team. 50:52 Case Aiken Yeah. When he is taken off the team, they fuck up trying to be like him, where we have to negotiate, and what they do is they spoil everything. They're like, here's a heads up that Optimus is coming your way. He's out of his mind. You can expect him anytime in the next hour. 51:07 Jmike Folson Perhaps only Optimus can think like Optimus. 51:10 Case Aiken Yeah, no way. So, yeah, I mean, he takes on tarantulas and he takes his anchor thingy. That is like, such a toyetic element. I remember, actually, that toy. It's like a spring loaded, like, grappling hook that fires off, and he uses the other end of it, which is sharp, to impale him against the wall. 51:25 Derek Van Dyke It's brutal. This episode goes hard. 51:28 Case Aiken Tanks. Like, all of these shots throughout these, which is such a Superman sequence of him just like, walking through gunfire to go into this whole fight. Fantastic stuff there. I mean, we're reminded, like, oh, yeah, big, scary, flying super monkey is kind of a scary thing. 51:43 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, it's fitting making him a gorilla because it's like, just like a gorilla. Right? We tend to not remember, oh, yeah, those things can rip your arm. 51:53 Case Aiken Yeah. It's a gentle giant situation. Yes. 51:55 Derek Van Dyke And be happy when they're being a gentle giant. Like, that's much preferred. Do the alternatives. 52:02 Case Aiken But in this episode, he decides to stop monkeying around and just truck on through everyone. And at the very end, we get the callback to the first part where it's like, oh, just shit. Attached to his neck. But in this case, it's Megatron, and he's got even smaller arms he can't even reach. It's a fun episode. I mean, it's not the deepest episode. It's like, well, what if he went angry and bad? And wouldn't that be bad? And I think it's good for this point in the show. It's ten episodes in. To remind us, like, yeah, no, the leader could be, like, a more aggressive Rob Liefeld style character, and that would be a problem because X, Y and Z and X, Y and Z here is like, he would probably die. You guys would probably die. The amount of devastation isn't worth it. 52:43 Case Aiken Like, the collateral damage, death, they are fighting, but they can be rebuilt. Most of the characters here take really bad punishment over time, and that doesn't kill them because they're robots. The rules are a little different. The rules get laid out over the course of the series for, like, what is a fatal kind of thing. But the death penalty is not just an automatic thing here. And that kind of incident is a big deal. Like, when a character actually dies. Dies. That is taken as a very serious thing, but it's also always on the table. 53:14 Derek Van Dyke This is a great example of a sort of a bottle episode. 53:17 Case Aiken Great. 53:17 Derek Van Dyke Like, first half of season. One example of we have a plot that wraps itself up by the end that doesn't drastically change the status quo and is informed by and also tells us more about certain characters. One of the things that does happen is there's a lot of collateral damage to equipment and bases, and that's the sort of thing beast wars makes a huge point of keeping you abreast of that. Damage to the ships matters because eventually these things have to get fixed and fly off. And you can put a somewhat damaged robot in the tank, and they will slowly recover over time if it's not a fatal injury. But when something gets broke, it's broken. When a door or a side of the ship gets blown out, now you've got a side of the ship that needs to get repaired. Resources are limited. 54:05 Derek Van Dyke Manpower is limited. That stuff matters. 54:08 Case Aiken And by this point in the series, we had seen a bunch of these kind of gimmicky episodes. Like, I think we had already had the teleporter episode at this point, the chain of command episode where Optimus is taken away and Ratchet has to lead. All the stuff that we kind of need to do just to be like, yep, this is the show we're dealing with here, but this is just a fun episode in terms of being like, we really need to establish what the leader is capable of and why is he not doing some of those things. Yeah, and I think you make a great point in terms of the damage to equipment. While the show has a status quo, more or less in season one, there are big shifts. 54:42 Case Aiken And when things happen that damage the two ships, that does have lasting impact in terms of the capabilities of the group, even while they are becoming more effective in their warfare, in developing new technology to fight with each other. 54:55 Derek Van Dyke But yeah, guerrilla warfare. Great. First half of season one episode, the pilot gives us the hero. We get to see Optimus continue to be just the leader in the background of several episodes leading up to that. And then we get to see, okay, no, he can rip ass in the right circumstances, but also here's why he does not. 55:15 Case Aiken Yeah, so moving on to. It's sort of the midseason finale, which is victory. I remember seeing this episode a lot, which I feel like the block probably ended somewhere about here. It's episode twelve. There's no actual victory. It's a fake out episode. It does do a really good job of setting up a recurring theme, which is that every time the maximals think that they have figured out espionage, they are reminded that the predacons are way better at espionage than they are, which I love because every time it's like, yeah, we figured out how to spy on their camera system. It's like, it's a good thing we figured out they're spying and now we have like fake information being fed to them. Right? Yeah. That's really great. 55:52 Jmike Folson Yes. 55:55 Case Aiken We open with. Were you guys deep Space Nine fans? There's an episode called the Pale moonlight, which is seen as like one of the better episodes of Star Trek in general, wherein there's kind of a similar thing where via deception, they are using a fake prerecorded sequence to mess with people in it. And in that scenario it's like way more fucked up than this. But it's still a scenario of the predacons have figured out that the maximals have been able to hardwire a feed from their security cameras. And so they pretend to die. 56:23 Derek Van Dyke Yeah, they stage, like, a fake rebellion and fight that leads to a horrible accident that kills them all, right? 56:29 Case Aiken Which, knowing going into the episode, it's like, okay, they're really playing it up in it all. But on the same token, pterosaur is a piece of shit who has betrayed Megatron multiple times at this point and continues to betray him because he is just fucking scream. The show knows that we're transformers fans. 56:47 Derek Van Dyke Starscream, but less intelligent, to be clear. 56:50 Case Aiken So much worse. Which is why they bring in real starscream, just to be like, oh, better Starscream here. 56:56 Derek Van Dyke Yeah. 56:56 Case Aiken And a reason why Pterosaur does not make it into season. You know, it's plausible. The only part that really threw me is that Scorpinok is on the side of pterosaur in that sequence. 57:06 Derek Van Dyke That should have been the giveaway, I think, to a lot of people. 57:09 Case Aiken Right. 57:09 Derek Van Dyke Because Scorponok's main defining trait for most of season one is that he's the one who stays loyal to Megatron. Unquestionably. Which probably also like the fact that Inferno comes in and is just that, but funnier is probably why Scorponok gets written off. 57:25 Case Aiken Right? Yeah, we're not going to talk that much about Inferno here, but I actually really like Inferno. He's a giant fuck up, but in a way that I really adore. 57:33 Derek Van Dyke Oh, incredibly funny. 57:37 Case Aiken But yeah. So they stage this fake death and then abandoned their base. And apparently black arachnia has developed some kind of tech that hides the signature from their sparks so that no one can actually identify that they are still alive and allow the maximals to raid their base, take all the stuff they would need to get their ship able to fly again, with the intent of then attacking the maximals and stealing the ship and flying off of it. I do have questions about how that all works based on the timeline that we see in this episode. But the big focus, and while Optimus is part of it, the big focus of this episode is Dinobot being like, well, if I go back to Cybertron, I am a criminal who was part of a massive theft of one of the great relics of our world. 58:21 Case Aiken And I left, and you guys pursued me and I was a turncoat and joined you when you pursued me. I have nothing to go home to. 58:29 Derek Van Dyke You're all going home. And I'm going to prison, right? 58:33 Jmike Folson Forever. 58:35 Case Aiken And it's an interesting moment because he decides to stay. And they are like, well, we got to get the ship going. We're going to go. And he's like, I'm going to conquer this world. It's like, well, that's kind of fucked up. I don't think that's a good idea. It's like, well, yeah, I'll probably die eventually. That won't be tomorrow. 58:50 Derek Van Dyke Yeah. 58:

Ally Carlton...beautiful, strong, brave and extremely fast. Ally and I met at the Hellbender 100 where she took 2nd overall female. I was fortunate enough to share a several miles with her during the first portion of the race, and instantly she struck me as genuine, humble, and one that truly seemed to care for others. Fast forward, and we have run into each other many times at cross country meets since she is the coach for Brevard Middle School. Then, on Thanksgiving Day, Ally goes out and captures the FKT for the Art Loeb Northbound while I was stuffing my face with turkey and mac and cheese! Not only that, but she then goes on to grab the Art Loeb FKT Southbound just 3 weeks later! What!? I was so delighted when she agreed to come on the podcast to talk about these two days, but also about how she discovered running, details of other races and simply life. We have already planned to chat again in the near future after she crushes another 100 this spring. Ally, thank you. You're all around awesome. Ally doesn't have social media, but she does have Strava! Check her out here: https://www.strava.com/athletes/6894903 Thank you, thank you for listening! Follow us on Instagram and message me there...@facingvert

When any degree of tragedy inevitably comes into our life, you'll often hear the old chestnut, “It could be worse”. What people are referring to in that case…is the Von Erich family. Unquestionably the most cursed name in the wrestling business…and that's saying something. That curse is depicted (and somewhat downplayed) in the film, The Iron Claw. Your boys have thoughts. AAWA the Rivera's take a look at what's coming down the line in '24 and Charlie picks up where Fritz left us in '27, with his elevator pitch for a Metropolis remake!

A new MP3 sermon from Grace Audio Treasures is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Unquestionably unacceptable and dishonoring to God! Subtitle: Puritan Devotional Speaker: Octavius Winslow Broadcaster: Grace Audio Treasures Event: Devotional Date: 12/2/2023 Bible: Revelation 15:3-4; Revelation 5:12-14 Length: 4 min.

Another insightful gem by Winslow-

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Chris Paul feels "sorry" for opponents, Anthony Edwards is "that guy", and Joel Embiid was cozying up to Knicks execs at his wedding? This is all too much... time to hit the headlines! Amin & Charlotte then bring on Jeff Pearlman, writer of "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s", the basis of HBO'S "Winning Time", to breakdown the most surprising revelations from that era, the reaction from the Buss family, and the backlash from Lakers legends on their portrayal. Tune into Oddball tomorrow to hear the rest of Amin & Charlotte's conversation with Jeff Pearlman and watch HBO's "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty" airing Sundays at 9PM ET/PT and available to stream on Max. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Paul feels "sorry" for opponents, Anthony Edwards is "that guy", and Joel Embiid was cozying up to Knicks execs at his wedding? This is all too much... time to hit the headlines! Amin & Charlotte then bring on Jeff Pearlman, writer of "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s", the basis of HBO'S "Winning Time", to breakdown the most surprising revelations from that era, the reaction from the Buss family, and the backlash from Lakers legends on their portrayal. Tune into Oddball tomorrow to hear the rest of Amin & Charlotte's conversation with Jeff Pearlman and watch HBO's "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty" airing Sundays at 9PM ET/PT and available to stream on Max. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The season of chaos continues, folks. With his "recent" passing, the tale of the Unabomber comes center stage in our lives again. From the infamous Unabomber sketch, to the hilarity of Will Ferrell's impression on SNL, today we're covering the trials and tribulations of Ted Kaczynski. Unquestionably brilliant. Undoubtedly misguided. Imagine the smell... As always, subscribe and leave a review (5 stars only) on your favorite podcast app. Email us at irregardlesspod@gmail.com to let us know what you think! Intro music courtesy of Cantonement Jazz Band Title: Bessemer Source: blissblood.com/index_cantonement.html Licensed under Creative Commons: BY-NC-SA Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/ Exit music courtesy of Vernon LeNoir - vernonlenoir.wordpress.com/ Title: I Put A Spell On You Source: freemusicarchive.org/music/Vernon_L…A_Spell_On_You Licensed under Creative Commons: BY-NC-SA Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany License creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/de/

Pujya Sir K.C.Narayana ( KCN ) Messages  (Meditation, Raja Yoga, Training, Spirituality, PAM - Pranahuti Aided Meditation, Divinity, Divine Service & Research, Babuji Disciple) Pujya Sri Ramchandraji's Disciple & Founder of  “Institute of Sri RamChandra Consciousness”  *Messages delivered by Pujya Sir K.C.Narayana ( KCN ), Hyderabad, India.  Dedicated his life for the Spiritual service of Pujya Sri Ramchandraji's Pranahuti Aided Meditation, Research, Meditation Trainings, Audio Messages, Books & SatSangh   For Meditation Info Contact: www.sriramchandra.in  Biography: kcnarayana.org Episode Notes: MOULDING IS THE PRECEPTORS BUSINESS 1.1. The theme of this seminar as we all know is taken from the article Methods of Training of our Great Master Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj of Shahjahanpur. This article was addressed to Preceptors/ prefects of Sri Ramchandra Mission in the year 1970 in a conference of Preceptors/Prefects at Tirupati. This talk forms part of the Audio CD of our Master which has 6 talks and a song sung by him released by ISRC. I may be permitted to use the term trainers, instead of using Preceptors/prefects every time hereafter in this paper. 1.2 All of us are aware of the tendency to think that every thing in this system of sadhana is done by the Master and the trainer as well as the aspirant, has precious little to do. This tendency of thinking was present even by 1969 and many trainers tried to disown their responsibility in the spiritual training that is being imparted in the system. It was the usual practice by then to say that the aspirant has nothing to do except to take the introductory sittings and attend the satsanghs (meditation sittings in groups) and annual/ biannual/quarterly gatherings organized by the institution. The individual sittings were optional. No effort was made to evaluate the progress made by the aspirant and it was being said that everything is left to the Master. And a very specious argument was given that to try to know ones' condition or stage of progress indirectly means that one has no faith in the Master. Thus a situation arose in the implementation of the system which promised through its books “Towards Infinity”, “Reality at Dawn” and “Efficacy of Rajayoga” a practical and verifiable system of sadhana, where no responsibility for guidance and no assistance in evaluation were forthcoming. Master was always proud of his system and was confident that he trained many to become masters. In his catholic approach he used the term master for the preceptors also in many of his writings, but these were conveniently made to be understood as referring the Great Master alone and the trainers slowly abdicated their responsibility for training and accountability to progress of the aspirants. The article, ‘Method of Training' has to be read therefore keeping in view the main theme of the Master namely clarifying the points in training and the role of the aspirant, the trainer and the Master. 1.3  If we ponder over the word ‘training' it becomes clear that there can be no training without moulding. But it is also true that Master used to talk about transformation. While we use the word moulding usually with reference to material objects we use the term transformation in the case of living beings. However moulding or transformation implies first of all change from the existing position or status. Therefore it is incumbent on the part of aspirants that they should be prepared to accept change in their ways of living and behaving as also bring in changes in their attitudes and priorities. It has been our experience that while almost all aspirants want to get ‘Realized' very few of them ever think of being prepared to change. This refusal to change and sticking to their familiar ways of living has been the main cause of lack of desired level of progress achieved by them in spite many sessions of offering of Pranahuti. 1.4  Before we go into the practical aspects of imparting training, there is need for us to be clear about the system itself. Is our system based on a type of evolutionary philosophy or is it a devolutionary. Further it is also necessary to note that our Master asserted that we are returning to our Home Land. In this context it is also necessary that we should be clear about the concepts of Destination and Home Land. Master in his message dated May 1970 stated “... if we pause a little and consider the problem (the Destination) we will surely come to the conclusion that you are sailing towards your own Home, wherefrom you have been snatched away by the irony of Fate.” Home Land and Destination clearly mean that the goal is something that we are aware of already. But our Master has stated that the spiritual journey is towards the Infinity. By definition, Infinity, has no end point and is ever moving forward. Again the concept of Nothingness as the goal, presents us a picture where we find it difficult to integrate the same with the concept of moulding. 1.5  ‘Human transformation is the goal of life' and/or similar expressions have been made by the Master and Dr.K.C.V. That Dr.K.C.V. bears a background of Aurobindonian thinking is unquestioned. Many times he said that what Sri Aurobindo promised namely the descent of Supramental Consciousness into the human life, is what Sri Ramchandraji delivers and the influx effected in fact is from a much higher level. Thinkers who subscribe to the theory of evolution (it may be noted that evolution is not a fact that has been observed but is only a theory advanced by Darwin and others) naturally hold the theory of change or flux. To put it in brief the contention is, life is not about doing, it's not even about being. Life is eternal becoming. It cannot exist without eternal becoming. Fundamentally, the whole story of evolution is a story of experimentation and change 1.6  However the philosophy of Raja Yoga is closely linked to the Sankhyan philosophy. Swami Vivekananda, while answering questions on Darwin's theory of evolution said that the last word on evolution has been stated in the Sankhyan system. He agrees with the Sankhyan system that there is no evolution without an involution. This same theory was held by Sri Krishna in the Pancharatra agama stating that the souls are in Pravrtti or Nivirtti paths. We were once pure and simple consciousness patterns expressing the Divine and we lost our balance and are now trying to restore the same, are the principle that should be fully grasped by us. 1.7 Swami Vivekananda stated “According to the philosophers of our country, every being is a perfect Soul, and the diversity of evolution and manifestation of nature is simply due to the difference in the degree of manifestation of the Soul. The moment the obstacles to the evolution and manifestation of nature are completely removed, the Soul manifests itself perfectly. Whatever may happen in the lower strata of natures' evolution, in the higher strata at any rate, it is not true that it is only by constantly struggling against obstacles that one has to go beyond them. Rather it is observed that there, the obstacles give way and a greater manifestation of the Soul takes place through education and culture, through concentration and meditation, and above all through SACRIFICE......The attempt to remove evil from the world by killing a thousand evil-doers only adds to the evil in the world. But if the people can be made to desist from evil- doing by means of SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION, there is no more evil in the world.” He adds further that “In the animal kingdom we really see such laws as struggle for existence, survival of the fittest etc., evidently at work. Therefore Darwin's theory seems true to a certain extent. But in the human kingdom, where there is the manifestation of rationality, we find just the reverse of those laws.....The highest evolution of man is effected through sacrifice alone. A man is great among his fellows in proportion as he can sacrifice for the sake of others, while in the lower strata of the animal kingdom, that animal is the strongest which can kill the greatest number of animals. Hence the struggle theory is not equally applicable to both the kingdoms.” Man's struggle is in the mental sphere. A man is greater in proportion as he can control his mind. When the mind's activities are perfectly at rest, the Atman manifests itself. The struggle which we observe in the animalkingdom for the preservation of the gross body has its use in the human plane of existence for gaining mastery over the mind or forattaining the state of balance.' 1.8  Swami Vivekananda also stated that Sage Patanjali has not advocated the theory of evolution and held that all were once involved in the Origin and they are all returning the Source. He adds further “Patanjali holds that the transformation of one species into another is effected by the “in-filling of nature.” I would request you all to ponder over this ' in-filling' and the Pranahuti that imperienced by us and also think about the possibility of transformation of ourselves through such in-filling. 1.9  Master stated “Life is the awakening of the state of Being. When we brought in our share of the awakening state, every function of the material existence commenced. In the beginning, it was more in relation with Divinity from which life started. With the progress of life, actions continued having their effect according to their nature.” He says that because Actions are very strong since they are connected with life, their misuse produced wrong effects and the whole frame of the body became a human factory with every faculty forming its own centre and started pouring out what has been collected thus far. When the span of life of a particular being ended a form afresh was assumed with the accumulated grossness and this process continued for several lives. Thus he says we have formed poles according to our Actions and they became very strong. Finally all this led to a condition where we remain embraced by the commands we receive from different centers each for the faculties. 1.10  Somehow due to the company of pious persons or due to good environment we got an opportunity to think of our original condition. Master says if we searched for a proper man to guide us in this pursuit and that thought touched the core of our being, it would produce a kind of trembling, and that would lead us to the proper man who is really spiritual. If there is any short fall in this we unfortunately land ourselves into the hands of gross persons and we do not attain the stage of entering our Home Land. Master says it is the responsibility of that person who promises to guide in the path, to destroy the poles we have formed due to unbalanced thinking. Thus if every thing is regulated the original state of our being comes to view and we begin to realize the awaken ness of Divinity which first fell to our share. (See the origin of rings of splendor in Path of Grace.) 1.11 Thus we see clearly the Master is referring only to the process of return to the Home Land and we are not talking of evolution proper as understood by Scientists, Philosophers and Psychologists. But the process of return to the Home Land is the process of gradually annihilating the Ego and becoming Self less. Such a self less person, who has reached a state of Void/Nothingness, naturally is in tune with the power of manifestation and his participation in that process is natural and Divine. The gradual process of becoming that has led to the theory of evolutionism is sought to be explained in this system as a gradual peeling up of samskaras/ impressions collected by the individual expressions of the Life energy. In tune with the Hindu conception regarding rebirth, Master implicitly holds that the human individual has gone through many lives before he came to be expressed as human in the path of return to the Home Land. But the beauty of the system is that while returning to the Origin/Centre we arrive at a state of pure Divinity and we are exhorted to use this condition to help others finds their return path to Home Land. The Commandment 9, has this implication is a point that we had many occasions to discuss. 2.1  Master in his message in May.1970 stated that “The soul, is longing to feel its characteristic which has gone out of sight, and this insignificant being is seeking fellow pilgrims to march on the path of freedom.” The point of great importance here is, Master is not restricting any one to try this system. According to Hindu tradition human beings can be classified according to the goals they entertain, as Kamarthi (seeker of desires), Artharthi (seeker of wealth), Dharmarthi (seeker of virtuous path) and Moksharthi (seeker after Freedom). That there are several types of people among human beings is unquestionable. Are all of them fit for spiritual training? Further we know that we cannot classify a person as purely Moksharthi or Kamarthi. The same person may at different times have different goals as also the person may have at the same time more than one of these goals. Spiritual training under the system advocated by our Master can be given to all. However Master classifies aspirants into five types, 1) Selfish 2) Fazli 3) Ahli 4)Devotee and 5) Murad. 2.2  The selfish persons among the seekers are interested in material benefits and are those who join the Satsang to achieve their selfish ends. They resort to flattery as the means to satisfy the Guru/God and leave the Master any way, either because their wishes were fulfilled or denied. 2.3  The Fazli disciples are those who come for meditation occasionally and are generally carried away by the pious environment and pleasant atmosphere. They have no goal clarity and are best called time passers. They may be regular to satsanghs or Annual congregations etc., but are those who do not practice the system as advocated by the Master. 2.4  The Ahli type of disciples are those with better samskaras and are willing to practice sincerely the system. 2.5  Master says some of them may graduate to the 4th level of disciples called Devotees. Some of these are such that they start from the beginning with the condition of Devotee and bear love and devotion to the Master. They know love and devotion to another person means obedience to him in every sense of the term. Persons of this type possess all the characteristics that is expected of an aspirant. 2.6  From among the Disciples few graduate to the level of Murad that is one who is the cynosure of the eyes of the Master. The Master never forgets them and he is the beloved of the Master. 3.1 While discussing the issue of ‘moulding' we should be clear as to whom we are referring to. It should naturally refer to the keen seeker rather than casual visitor. The aspirant should be one who would yield naturally to the Trainer leaving aside all his personal notions about the path and the correctness or otherwise of the path he has been treading if any. His aim should be to acquire naturalness and for this the Master asserts surrender and cooperation are the twin sisters who help the aspirant in the path. 3.2 Master stated that the abhyasi proceeds in two ways and both arenecessary,by the effect of transmission and his own efforts. The light which the trainer infuses travels to the different centers and a sort of vibration is felt by the abhyasi even at the higher points. The other thing which the Preceptor does, is to start Yatra to the different regions and centres. 3.3 The main point we have to be clear about in this context is whether all those who ostensibly seek the assistance through transmission can be given the same and also whether moulding of the seeker even with regard to goal clarity, determination to transform is also the task of the trainer. Unquestionably the Original Prana or Pranasya Pranah is that which is transmitted. While the force is the same the level from which the Pranahuti is offered can vary is a point that was clearly elaborated in the first issue of the Journal Imperience. This it is easy to observe depends on the level of approach of the trainer himself. Therefore it becomes necessary that the trainer always abides by the Master, in Him and for Him. This is a responsibility that clearly vests with the individual trainers and they have to put in every effort in this direction. 3.4 Our Master has explicitly stated 1) the various practices to be followed by the aspirant, 2) the role of the trainer and 3) the role of the Master. 3.5 The topic of the seminar is ‘moulding is the preceptors business.' Therefore we shall confine ourselves to the role of the trainer, without forgetting that he is essentially an aspirant. The trainer assists the aspirant in reaching the goal through various methods given by the Master. In order to successfully accomplish the task he uses Pranahuti. Pranahuti is the tool used by the trainer to foment with his own internal divine will power the various conditions in the aspirant and thus give him a satisfaction that he is in the hands of a competent person. The internal spiritual condition of the trainer is such that persons sitting near him automatically feel a certain amount of calmness or peace. This also encourages the aspirant to pursue the path sincerely. The self of the aspirant has to be turned to Divinity. This has to be done so that harmony is developed by him and his Self (Ego) is reduced. The trainer has the knowledge of centers and the energy they contain, and he exercises his will to direct the Divine power coming to him towards the aspirant. Various methods have been given to the Trainers so that they may introduce Divinity into the abhyasis who are dormant. The trainer has also to do Yatra in the case of aspirants who are not able to progress on their own even in initial stages. This is sought to be done through fomentation of the condition into the aspirants system. 4.1  By these efforts what is the moulding that is effected? Master states that ‘So long as there was the Balanced state we had no form of our own. We have simply to unfold ourselves and restore our own Balance which we had lost.' 4.2  We had observed earlier that there are different types of people. We also know that there are five sheaths covering human beings: these sheaths are well classified as the 5 kosas in our tradition. But there was no effort made to evaluate/ classify human beings according to the kosas. The simple point is that all the kosas are there in every human being and therefore no such rigid classification is possible. However we know some are governed more by some kosas more than others. In any society there are bound to be individuals at different levels of growth and maturity, not only intellectually but also morally and spiritually. Master in his own way said that the end of philosophy is religion, and the end of religion is spirituality. We find very interesting researches done by Psychologists of the present day who are trying to restore Soul to the Science of Soul (Psychology- Psyche=Soul, Logy= Science) which it almost lost a Century ago. 4.3  It is agreed in the circles of Transpersonal Psychology as well as Integral Psychology that there are streams of consciousness. They have been classified as mainly consisting of certain basic characteristics identified as typical of each stream. That all existence has been understood as a stream of Consciousness, we all know is the basic tenet of the great Sage Nagarjuna. His philosophy of Alaya Vijnana is something that swept the scholars of his day and most of the present day philosophies of Consciousness use his terms and terminology which went to the West via the Eastern China and Japan. Broadly the streams are classified as 7or 8 categories. But clearly some of them are contrived and are patterns into which an effort is made to somehow accommodate the entire human population. However they have done service in pointing out certain inherent contradictions in the content of consciousness. They are relevant for us in as much as we are trying to balance the contradictory forces in our consciousness pulling us at different directions, through the wholesome influx of Pranahuti. Pranasya Pranah is the basic core of any type of consciousness and has therefore the inherent capacity to bridge the gulf between two or more streams of consciousness that are in collision path in us. 4.4 It is however necessary to note that these streams of consciousness which perhaps can be better compared with strands in a rope never exist totally independent of the other. It should make an interesting study of research to find the origins of these strains or strands in the very make up of the content of consciousness which is itself a conglomerate of the physical, vital, lower mental, superior mental and the planes of equanimity. When we tend to classify human into types we invariably get into the problems particularly when we demand total separation of the types from each other. Even very great reformers and sages have tended to think in terms of pure Sattva ( Suddha) and having failed to find it in the Universe have said that the matter of Sri Vaikuntam is that and the bodies of Eternal Beings is composed of that type of matter. However for the one who knows and feels in the real sense Impurity is as much a myth as Purity. Thus if we keep in view that wholesome attitude it will be possible to find the following strains/strands/streams of consciousness in society in general and the individuals in particular. Their being present in the individual consciousness is the matter of concern for us. Magical: Persons whose thinking pattern accommodates this stream of consciousness think partially in animistic terms, magical spirits, belief in good and bad spirits which either bless or curse and in turn decide the events that occur. There is belief in the spirit of ancestors and an effort to work out lineage with persons who are gone for ever and a strong bond in the clan or tribe. In many persons we find this type of consciousness co-existing with more advanced features of consciousness, many times including rationality. In the case of persons who share this type of consciousness the Self is not fully developed and is dependant on magical and mystical means. If one set of rites and rituals or magical charms fail another is resorted immediately else their self collapses under the weight of lack of confidence in self. These magical are different for different cultures and societies Power Gods: Persons whose thinking pattern accommodates this stream think in terms of settling the accounts and through power (muscle or otherwise) control and dictate others- their main motivating principle is power and glory. Terrorists and war maniacs belong to this category. This is a streak of the animal instinct that somehow persists in the human- perhaps civilizations built and destroyed based on the muscle power and animal characteristics contribute to our thinking in this pattern. The self development in these cases is dependant on perceived capacity to inflict pain on others and ones' own muscle or money etc., power. The Self is bonded by these and any failing to the body or its prowess can inflict a stunning blow to the self. The conformists: Persons who partake in this stream are very decided as to what is right and what is wrong and they know it fully. Violating the code of conduct or rules is abhorred and punished if possible, if not the culprit is severed of his connections with the family/village/or any other group to which he belongs. Any lapse in following the norms leads a sense of guilt and severe punishments are given and accepted. These persons who follow the norms, rules, regulations and restrictions that are imposed by an avowed authority that is usually a religious figure or book or tradition, generally pass off as saintly persons in society which appreciates their holding the rigid hierarchies. The consciousness here can be totally against freedom of spirit of others and conformism is the only principle recognized. This pattern in consciousness is common to find and in fact any society at any given point of time is ruled only by the influence of these persons. The self here is under severe bondage but it enjoys the credits that are showered on it by the society and many times is not even aware of its bondage. This is one of the toughest bonds that required to be broken in the path of freedom of spirit. The explorers: Persons who partake in this stream are not convinced about the existing strict code of morals and rules governing life, they question everything of religion, every rite and routine. They claim to be having a scientific temper and want equality, fraternity and liberty to be the same for all the human population irrespective of the race, religion, gender and such other divisions. They do not accept any hierarchy in the relationship of the ruled and the ruler, between man and woman. Interestingly they raise a question why should God be male? They have no moral compunction to utilize the resources available even if it were to be for exploitation through intelligent maneuvers. They have no difficulty to use the baser instincts in the advertisement and propaganda of their products and give all types of specious logic to defend themselves. These persons have sought to use the available knowledge gained by explorations in the nature of mind for their personal gain, or call it corporate advantage and gain. This is particularly so in the food and cosmetic and fashion industries. They choose all attractive means to debase the human thinking and all the time say they are upholding the freedom of the individual to choose. This type of consciousness is unfortunately seen in almost all the human beings of the present day and this is one of the toughest problems facing one who seeks to transform the content of consciousness of aspirants seeking to realize their true nature. The self in these cases is under delusion and is totally lacking direction in moral and spiritual plane. Imagine the extent to which the program of awareness of AIDs goes and unabashed marketing of condoms and other means to protect oneself and not even a single person is there to call the buff and plead for a sane sex order. Note also the importance given in spiritual discipline for the practice of celibacy in grhastha ashrama. 5. The sensitive seekers:. Persons who partake in this type of consciousness are committed to communication as a means for developing fraternal bonds. They agree that human beings must be freed from greed, avarice, jealousy and believe in developing humane relationships with a symbiotic approach to all problems. While the desire is there to attain harmony and understanding amongst all, they end up with seeking and trying all the time to find means through which they can succeed to communicate to others their point of view. They are heavily dependant on the rationality of human being and think that rationality can itself solve the problem though it is always frustrated in its attempts and the explorers and power gods have their way. The simple fact that the explorers and the power gods constitute the majority of human population is enough to have their way at the least through the brute majority they command. The self in these cases is having a taste of the expansiveness and is ready to come out of the shackles. 6. The holistic super conscious men: These are very few in the human population who through their relentless struggle in their inner selves seek to generate harmony and good will amongst all the human beings and enable them develop true love amongst all sentient beings and devotion to the Supreme Consciousness that rules the Universe. Apart from abiding by Truth and Reality in all its aspects these persons enjoy a tranquility of the most superior type which bridges the gulf and the possible perceived differences and lives and moves in the sphere of harmony, understanding, compassion, co-operation, co-existence of all beings, love and direct non interfered one ness which helps them share and make the words of sacrifice meaningless in as much as it is only a service to ones' own very Being. They experience the inner oneness of all and find there is no disharmony essentially in nature. Disharmony and dichotomy are the products of thinking patterns that do not seek the good of all but only of a few to the detriment of others interests. For these persons there is no individual self and therefore no individual interest. They cross the borders of Egoism and naturally their performance is always marked by a fragrance of natural perfection, unifying all others efforts and exhibits a coordination that is better expressed as cohesion. The self in these cases can be taken as expanded and the bonds of animal and human realms and regions are broken and they are free moving and having their being in the realm of pure consciousness. 5.1 It is therefore obvious for us that we should tend to strengthen this last strand more and more. It is in this context the Prayer at 9 P.M. gains importance. It is now positively proved that the thinking of groups of people located in different parts of the world does influence others and its influence is felt even in inanimate objects of experimentation. This one task of moulding our selves and thereby others appears to be of paramount importance. 5.2 The words of wisdom of our Master has been our guiding points for contemplation and meditation. It is relevant to recall a few of his statements in this context. “Spiritual training starts with inner cleaning or purification of Chakras which is the most essential factor in spiritual training.” “Pranahuti is the only effective process to introduce immediate change to regulate the inner tendencies of our mind so as to effect our gradual transformation.” “What Pranahuti does for the spiritual uplift of an Abhyasi and removal of complexities in a short time, independent efforts cannot achieve even in a full decade.” “The light which the preceptor infuses travels to the different centres and a sort of vibration is felt by the abhyasi even at the higher points.” “In (our) system all the methods of doing are for the preceptors and becoming is the job of the abhyasi.” “It is the power of Pranahuti alone that can curtail this duration of travel from one spiritual stage to another, and enable the course of thousands of years to be covered within the span of one life.” “Only a person capable of transmitting Divine Grace through the Yogic process of Pranahuti is fit to become a Master.” “Transmission gives a new life to the sleeping condition of man and prepares for the highest approach reserved for human beings.” “A man is not fit to impart spiritual training unless and until he has developed the capacity of fomenting his disciples with superior force which is all and all.” 5.3 These are but a few of the pearls that are collected at random. How can the trainers do this duty is what we have endeavored to explain in our trainers manual. But most important is the development of Special Will. Will is a word that has almost become the weakest in our vocabularies and every action of ours is sought to be explained by different models and theories of motivation. Our Master has stressed the importance of the development of Special will in his work “Towards Infinity.” For developing this Will it is obvious that it is to be used for A good cause, with no selfishness/self interest With noble intention, With total faith in the Sovereign Principle of Justice, And for a Balance that follows Justice. Needless to say Faith in the Master is a must; Faith in the nobility of attempt is a must along with Faith in the deservancy of the effort on the part of the aspirant Coupled with Compassion and Love And an unfailing determination to succeed in the attempt 10. With a pious and unblemished character that alone accompanies any Divine effort. 5.4 It is obvious for developing these characteristics it is not enough to wish piously and hope that the Almighty will grant the capacity. It is the most essential tool without which any method in the manual or else where will not work While referring to the development of Sensitivity Master has stressed the importance of purity and in this context of development of Special Will it is all the more important. 5.5 It would be prudent to conclude this paper with the prayer O Master Thou art the Ocean of Bliss We are all seated in it The waves of Thy Ocean are passing through us Removing all the dirt and disease.  

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“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.” John 6:40Do you believe in Jesus? Unquestionably the answer is “Yes.” However, to believe in our Lord is something that must deepen with every passing day. Therefore, if you do have faith in Jesus, you can also admit that you do not have faith enough. In this Gospel passage in which the “Bread of Life Discourse” is continued, Jesus calls us to do two things. First, we must see Him. Second, we must believe. Let's start with the first.When Jesus first spoke these words to the crowd, they did see His physical presence. But many of them did not see beyond the surface. They saw His miracles, heard His teaching, but very few saw the deeper reality of Jesus as the Son of the Eternal Father and the Savior of the World.If you are to believe in our Lord and all that He is, then you must first see Him. One of the best ways to foster this “holy sight” of our Lord is to gaze at Him in the Most Holy Eucharist. When you attend Mass or spend time in adoration and look upon the Most Holy Eucharist, what do you see? Do you see the Eternal Son? Do you see His holy divinity? Do you see your God and the Lord of all?As we stand or kneel before our Lord, present in the Most Holy Eucharist, it's easy to become distracted. It's easy to allow our minds to wander to the many other aspects of our daily lives and to fail to see the eternal Son of God as He is present to us.Reflect, today, upon the way you look at our Lord. If you want to deepen your faith, your belief, then start with your sight. Start by considering how you look at Jesus, present in the Most Holy Eucharist. If you are blessed to be with Him this day at the Holy Mass or in adoration, examine the way to see Him. Gaze at Him. Make an intentional act of faith in His divine presence. Acknowledge His Godhead, His glory, His holiness and His sacred presence. If you can look beyond the surface and lift the veil that covers His glory, then this holy gift of sight will give way, also, to the gift of profound faith. My ever-present Lord, I thank You profoundly for the way You come to me in the Most Holy Eucharist. I thank You for Your divine presence and glory. Help me to see beyond the veil of the appearance of bread and wine so that I can see more clearly Your divinity. As I see Your divine presence, dear Lord, help me to profess my belief in You with greater certitude and faith. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2023 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Welcome to Day 2122 of  Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom James – Wisdom is Faith in Action 4 – Listening and Doing – Daily Wisdom Putnam Church Message – 09/26/2021 James: Wisdom is Faith In Action – Listening and Doing We are continuing our series today on the Proverbs of the New Testament, better known as the book of James.  Last week we discovered why we should not be misled by sin because we are God's Prized Possessions. Today our focus is on Listening and Doing.  Join me on page 1882 in the pew bibles as I read the Scripture for today. I would recommend keeping this passage open as we go throughout the message today: James 1:19-27 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. 26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. A debilitating disease is crippling the body of Christ—a syndrome so common that it seems to affect every believer with either a mild or an acute case. This insidious condition neutralizes the church's impact and nullifies its testimony. It can diminish effectiveness and paralyze production. The problem? A divorce between confession and deed, theology and action, listening and doing. As a result, God's Word fails to make it from the head to the heart for too many Christians. God's Word gets lodged between the heart and the hands for many more. In developing his overarching lesson that real faith produces genuine works, James has already dealt with the Christian's perseverance through trials, which proves our faith (1:1-12), and the believer's victory over temptation, demonstrating our character (1:13-18). As our theme for this series states, Wisdom is Faith in Action.  In this final section of chapter 1, James zooms in on the believer's appropriate response to God's Word. The break in the relationship between belief and behavior may be pandemic among Christians, but James reminds us that the two estranged partners of the Christian walk can be reconciled. -1:19-20 — James begins with a reminder: “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this” Unquestionably, he's writing to believers, brothers, and sisters in Christ. And he begins by acknowledging that they should already know what he's about to say.  In the NLT, James

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