Hi all,
My husband works hard and is good at his job. He's one of those people who busts his butt to try to do well, but is often overlooked for promotions and opportunities. He finally has a boss who is trying to work him up through the pipeline.
He works corporate office for a large retailer with a reputation for treating employees well enough. They've done some scummy things I'm not fond of, and I personally don't trust them, but overall it's a good place to work. I do feel he could get a better job elsewhere if he wanted to, but he doesn't want to, so that's fine.
A new position is likely opening soon that would put him into a supervisory role that he's actually pretty likely to get if he wants it. It would be a $20k raise (he currently makes $80k), though he'd lose his ability to collect overtime. Hours would be longer, and he'd unofficially be on call kind of always.
It would involve mandatory travel, and this company has been known to send people to other countries for 2-3 months at a time. For the current project, he'd be traveling about every other week, for up to two weeks each time, though just nationally. The travel schedule also counts your time on the plane as your day "off," so he'd really lose out on weekends.
I'm...not interested in that life. I've had numerous coworkers (granted, all women with kids and busy lives) who have had nothing but bad things to say about life with a traveling husband. We don't have kids, but have a lot of pets. I know they're not the same thing, but it is a lot for one person to manage every day. Plus there's just the household responsibilities, yard work, maintenance, etc. We're looking for our first home, and it will have to be a fixer upper because we can't afford much in our area. The number one thing my coworkers have complained about is how the burden of everything falls on them for the majority of the year, even when their husband is home.
I'm not going to be the person to prevent my husband from doing something he wants to do, but his reasoning so far is solely the money. He doesn't enjoy traveling, and his current position is the first time he's had a job with good work/life balance. He also is not someone who will set boundaries with the company, and will do whatever they tell him to do. If he has to suddenly pack up and leave, he will do that, regardless of what we have going on, holidays, etc.
He is also easily overwhelmed and overworked, and he has allowed it to negatively impact his mental health numerous times in the past. I think this position would contribute to that again.
I suppose I just don't think $20k is worth such a dramatic change in both of our lives. While he'd be making more money, he'd also be devaluing his time with the amount of hours he'd be expected to work.
I don't want to try to manipulate his decision or prevent him from doing it. I'd survive and we'd figure it out if he takes the job. But I also genuinely don't want him to do this.
AITA?

Hi ,I'm (21F) I graduated last year ,and have been admitted to the university of Glasgow for my masters course for this Sept 24 intake which cost £35640 ,I have been awarded with the scholarship of £10,000 which brings down the cost to £23640 ( £2000 deposit already paid) . So the things is,my dad(64M) is a retired self employed person, he hasn't Paid any income tax in a decade ,for me to apply for a education loan it's necessary to have my co applicant to show the income tax return,so it's not possible to apply for loan . My dad had arranged an alternate source of self funding ,he had asked his friend for the money ,for which the friend had agreed before but now it's seems doubtful. When my dad called that person last week to discuss something of work ,the person mentioned he had very less balance in his bank ( didn't mention directly ,my dad didn't even ask about the money) I have to apply for the visa for which I need to show the fund in my bank account. We do have a property which is pretty good ,but I don't want put that on mortgage and go aboard. I have a special emotion attached to that property and don't want to take money from it. I want to tell my dad ,that's its OK if fund are not arranged ,I don't mind backing out. I won't say it won't affect me ,but I don't want to put stress on dad for money. My dad is a heart patient too , me saying backing out would surely affect him more ,he will blame himself for not making it happen for me. When he was the one who said he will manage when I first asked of study aboard. If you'll say ," ask your family members, I am sure they won't give, and I don't want to ask them either" they are snakes iykyk get the idea from that ( they are upper middle class while we are middle class) I am in no position to ask that person(friend)to fund me as it's that person's money,they have the ultimate call to it,it's just that if you were gonna have trouble you should have informed us before ,so that we would have arranged something else. If you also say " I should have worked " in my country India its not possible to work in your teenage as part time,and as if that part time money would cover this cost. At this point I am sad of letting go of my dream to study abroad, but I can't see father asking others for money and stressing about it too. What should I do? Should I back out? Is there any alternate option?

Disclaimer: I do not speak Korean. This is purely translated by machine with a lot of cleanup afterward. With that in mind, I am open to criticism to improve these translations. Enjoy!
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Chapter 427
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On a December night, as winter's chill deepened, an unexpected snowstorm swept through the streets.
​
The snow fell thick and fast, confounding those who had expected clear skies based on the latest weather forecasts. Confusion reigned among pedestrians hurrying home, and even the meteorological agency was caught off guard.
​
"What’s going on? Where did this come from?"
​
"We’re analyzing it now. There shouldn’t be an issue like this."
​
"With snow as thick as hail pouring down, how can you say there shouldn’t be an issue? Stop the nonsense and bring the data. You must have real-time observations!"
​
"I’m looking into it right now... Oh, it seems there's been a surge in mana in the Sichuan region of China causing these abnormal conditions. The expected snowfall is no joke."
​
"Sichuan? Damn it. Is that bastard Arch Lich now controlling the weather too?"
​
Ever since the Great Cataclysm, the agency's forecasts had become near prophetic, enhanced by the integration of magical insights.
​
However, this unexpected storm suggested something far more sinister.
​
Within an hour, after frantic recalibrations and re-observations, a national heavy snow warning was declared. The agency predicted a historic blizzard, the likes of which hadn't been seen in decades.
​
But as people stopped to take shelter, their attention was captured by an announcement on the large public screens across the city centers.
​
- On this day, I am thrilled to bring you this news.
​
The screen showed an elderly Asian man.
​
Sitting behind him were leaders from countries that are members of the UN Security Council, and the President of the People's Republic of China, with reddened eyes and a shaky voice, parted his lips towards the numerous microphones.
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- The Arch Lich has been extinguished. We ... have won.
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Victory.
​
That one word was enough. For 34 days, an unprecedented monster wave had continued.
​
The news that the great war, which had troubled the world beyond Sichuan Province, had finally ended left people gaping, and soon after, they let out a massive cheer.
​
"Wowwwww!"
​
"Wait! Hold on. I didn’t catch that. What did you just say?"
​
"It's over!"
​
"What?"
​
"Look at the subtitles!"
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"The extinction of the Arch Lich... oh, it's true! Wowwww! I thought I was going to be fucking drafted!"
​
The joyous uproar drowned out the subsequent thirty-minute address by President Shao Yang and further explanations from the UN spokesperson.
​
With the Arch Lich's fall, his undead legions crumbled, extinguishing the looming threat and ushering in the long-awaited peace.
​
"Mom, it's me. Uh, did you see the news? No? Watch it now. Yeah, yeah!"
​
"That's it. Mr. Kim, let's go for a third round!"
​
"A third round? There's a server update tomorrow. Manager Noh is going to freak out."
​
"Manager Noh is also coming. He's bringing the corporate card."
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"Ugh, I really don't want to see that guy's face. Alright, let's go."
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"Reporting. Yes, Commander. This is Lieutenant Lee Jun-Beom. I would like to extend my leave for just one more day... No, I apologize."
​
Despite some initial reservations, the jubilant energy in the streets proved infectious. People who had cautiously stayed indoors, fearing another calamity akin to the Great Cataclysm, now flooded out to join the revelry.
​
Pubs filled to the brim with celebrants, and the cheers continued unabated even as the night turned into the early hours of the morning.
​
The next day, and for several days thereafter, the atmosphere remained electric.
​
The monumental victory announcement had the world buzzing with excitement, like a cauldron set ablaze on an open flame.
​
Each day brought a flood of new articles in countless languages, discussing the events more than even the unusual weather patterns that had seen snow cover Korea for three consecutive days.
​
And there was one name that appeared in every single one of those articles.
​
​
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[The New York Times, 'A Momentous Victory Introduces a New Hero to the World'] [Note: USA]
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[The Times, 'Eastern Promise: A New Hero Rises, With Connections to Prince Felix?'] [Note: UK]
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[The Asahi Shimbun, 'Jin Tae-Kyung: Asia's Beacon of Hope, But Japan's Elite Hunters Could Surpass Him!'] [Note: Japan]
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[People's Daily, 'A Young Korean Hero's Bravery Celebrated Amidst National Tragedy, Death of Wu Hei-Xing'] [Note: China]
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[China Youth Newsletter, 'Jin Tae-Kyung, A Descendant of the Ming Dynasty General Chen Lin - Soon to Be a Chinese Citizen?']
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[Korea Goryeo Daily, 'Uncertainty Shadows Ares Guild as Vice Guild Leader Lee Jeong-Ryong Goes Missing']
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[DAS Patch Korea Official, 'We've been investigating Jin Tae-Kyung for months but couldn't find out anything. His relationships with women were surprisingly clean.' When asked by a reporter whether his past relationships had all ended amicably, he replied "No, that's not it. I've been single since birth."]
​
​
​
For the various media outlets, the existence of Jin Tae-Kyung was nothing short of a Christmas present.
​
All spotlights were focused on him, and stories about him flowed endlessly.
​
The material was inexhaustible. Not to mention the so-called 'Winter War,' this recent monster wave, his past actions, and even minor personal details became fodder for the news.
​
Typically, such sensationalist articles would have been scorned and cursed at, but now they captured interest.
​
Such was the global attention drawn to this new hero who had led this great victory.
​
But not all of that attention was positive.
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From the tight internal security, little bits of leaked information had begun to raise doubts.
​
​
​
[Revealed: What Lies Hidden Behind the War's Great Victory? Growing Suspicions Cast Shadow on Jin Tae-Kyung]
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[Mystery Deepens: Tragic Deaths of S-rank Hunters Lee Jeong-Ryong and Wu Hei-Xing Raise Questions as New Hero Emerges]
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[Top Military Officials Question Battle's Intensity: Lack of Injuries on Jin Tae-Kyung Sparks Potion Use Probe; Clarity Expected Upon His Awakening]
​
​
​
Though these conspiracy theories were few and often dismissed, they managed to sow seeds of doubt among some, igniting fervent online debates.
​
The controversial articles were swiftly overwhelmed by waves of criticism and reports, but the questions they raised lingered in the public consciousness.
​
Now, all eyes were on Jin Tae-Kyung, waiting for him to step forward and address the swirling rumors.
​
When would he appear?
​
​
​
* * *
​
​
​
Beep. Beep.
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The room, reserved for a select few, was filled with the mechanical hum of the latest medical devices.
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Concerned faces looked down at Jin Tae-Kyung, who lay unconscious, an oxygen mask covering his face.
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「How is Mr. Jin's condition?」
​
Choi Min-Woo responded to President Shao Yang's question.
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「It's always the same. Everything seems perfectly normal, yet strangely, he can't regain consciousness.」
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「Did both of them say the same thing?」
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「Yes. They can't determine the cause.」
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「Hmm. If that's the case, it must be certain... But why can't he regain consciousness?」
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President Shao Yang sighed.
​
The two experts he referred to were leaders in their fields.
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One was a civilian doctor revered as a modern Hua Tuo, and the other was a world-renowned healer. [Note: Hua Tuo was a famous ancient Chinese physician. He is reportedly the first person in China to use anasthesia during surgery.]
​
If both specialists they had brought in to treat Jin Tae-Kyung had said so, it must be true.
​
「I heard his family has come.」
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「Our Peace Guild is taking good care of them. Fortunately, they are getting some rest at the moment.」
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「That’s good to hear. Might I be able to see them, even for a moment?」
​
「Hmm... I will ask, but the family's wishes are most important...」
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「I understand. Who wouldn't feel the same, seeing their blood relative unable to wake up? I’d be grateful if you'd think of it as nothing more than an old man's foolish worry.」
​
「Not at all, Mr. President. We appreciate you thinking so.」
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「Appreciate it? No need for such words. If it weren't for Mr. Jin, a much greater disaster would have occurred. Though I am an old man and may not have much time left, I will take this gratitude to my grave.」
​
President Shao's words were sincere.
​
Four days had passed since then, and a global team of experts investigating the Arch Lich's last stronghold uncovered traces of a Gate.
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The remnants of its immense magical power indicated a potential catastrophe.
​
「If Mr. Jin hadn't stopped the Arch Lich that day, not only our country but all of Asia, perhaps even the entire world, might have become a battlefield.」
​
「It's a very real possibility.」
​
Although the statement was slightly exaggerated, it held substantial truth.
​
Choi Min-Woo therefore acknowledged it with a nod.
​
He saw no reason to shy away from the praise or to downplay the deep gratitude expressed by a leader of over a billion people.
​
Indeed, gratitude, once extended, often yields rich dividends.
​
「By the way, Mr. President, recently there have been some unfavorable rumors circulating about Mr. Jin Tae-Kyung... Are you aware of them?」
​
「Are these internal issues, or external?」
​
「They are internal. It would be more accurate to say they involve the upper echelons of the Communist Party, or rather, the Princelings.」
​
President Shao Yang nodded knowingly.
​
「I am well aware of those matters.」
​
The matter concerned the death of Wu Hei-Xing.
​
The investigation had uncovered his severely damaged body, fueling conspiracy theories both domestically and internationally.
​
「There are those who suspect Mr. Jin Tae-Kyung. They point to a slight argument he had with Wu Hei-Xing at their first meeting and the fact that there were no significant injuries on Mr. Jin when he was first found.」
​
There were two main theories circulating among these rumors.
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The first suggested that Jin Tae-Kyung, harboring resentment towards Wu Hei-Xing, had orchestrated his death and attributed it to the Arch Lich.
​
The second theory proposed that Jin Tae-Kyung used Wu Hei-Xing as a scapegoat, potentially alongside Lee Jeong-Ryong, who is missing or presumed dead, to eliminate the Arch Lich.
​
President Shao Yang, well aware of these narratives, had already formed his own judgement.
​
With a stern voice, he assured Choi Min-Woo.
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「These are nothing but groundless slanders and conspiracy theories.」
​
「Thank you for your trust, but...」
​
It was a good response, but it was not enough.
​
Choi Min-Woo hesitated, then added thoughtfully.
​
「It seems the leader of the Princelings has a different view from yours, Mr. President.」
​
Within China, these theories, seen by many as national disgraces, resonated with a father mourning his son.
​
Wu Hei-Xing's father, the head of the Princelings and a figure wielding immense power within the Communist Party, was propelling these rumors forward.
​
He didn't stop at just speculation; he had initiated an independent probe to investigate further.
​
「If Mr. Jin Tae-Kyung regains consciousness, the truth will come to light. But for such high-ranking politicians to lead the spread of these absurd conspiracy theories...」
​
As Choi Min-Woo's words tapered off, President Shao Yang's lips curled into a subtle smile.
​
'No hesitation, I see.'
​
Despite the young man's impressive feats, his circumstances differed markedly from those of President Shao Yang.
​
Yet, here he was, confidently voicing his views, adeptly balancing his tone and stance.
​
'Was that story true?'
​
Recalling some personal details about Choi Min-Woo, President Shao Yang tapped the armrest of his chair thoughtfully.
​
「Alright. It seems my explanation was insufficient, so I'll say it again.」
​
「I'm listening.」
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「My comrades and I already know everything about it and have made all the necessary preparations.」
​
「All the necessary preparations...?」
​
「He will be put on trial before he appeals for his son's death.」
​
The Arch Lich's fall wasn't the only outcome of this conflict.
​
Widespread corruption and fraud have come to light, necessitating the dismantling of the Princelings.
​
Choi Min-Woo's expression softened into a calm smile.
​
「Is that answer sufficient?」
​
「It is enough.」
​
That concluded their discussion for the day.
​
After a few more exchanges, President Shao Yang exited the room, leaving Choi Min-Woo alone. He murmured to himself thoughtfully.
​
"So, it is done."
​
Suddenly, someone's eyes snapped open.
​
"Ah, fuck. I thought I was going to die from frustration."
​
Previous Table of Contents

I bought two packages during their opening promo last April and I must say their service has been disapponting. I tried to let it go but it just wasn’t right,I paid for this shit
First session: -The lady doing the shaving forgot to include an area -Someone had to start performing the laser in the meantime because the doctor came late -I only felt the laser on the upper area and it was over. I didn’t say anything in the moment because I trusted they’d know what to do. -I asked when the next session was gonna be and the lady said they’d just coordinate with me through text??? They were nice compared to the duo on the second session.
I receive a text two weeks later reminding me of the appointment I haven’t been informed of for the wrong treatment scheduled for the following day. They apologized and corrected themselves. The day before the second session,they sent me a text with the wrong name.
Fast forward to the second session: -Someone else was assigned to do the shaving because the previous lady was on a day off. I had just entered the room when she discreetly asks me about availing a facial. -I kindly specifically requested she leave a triangle before we began. I know it’s not too late because I’m still on my second session. She was unsure but understood and agreed. The previous lady told me they were experienced so I expected her to know what to do. She then reveals that she already shaved the entire area. She discreetly points out that I should’ve requested it on the first session. She points out the hair on my legs afterwards. I see that she left out some hairs when I got home. Is it so hard to do a clean job? -A new doctor comes and quickly just hands me the goggles. While performing the laser,she points out that I might wanna have Piqo done on my dark groin. I felt the laser on a wider area this time in case they didn’t cover everything because I forgot to be alert. I thought all I had to do was relax. -When the session was over,one of the women at the counter suggested a date two weeks from that time for the next session and no one objected. I know from Wink that it’s supposed to be at 4-6 weeks interval.
They seem to be rushing when the place is quiet. It was my first time feeling down after a derma session and I’ve been to Wink and Belo. The difference can really be felt. I’ve read bad reviews about cheaper clinics so I thought it was safe. They’re the only ones I found who offered Piqo aside from Belo and for significantly cheaper so I thought it was such a good deal. They’re probably slacking because my treatments are already paid for but there’s no other way. They even had the audacity to hide my google review instead of acknowledging their terrible service. I’m trying to stay optimistic about the third session and the other treatment I haven’t begun but it’s bothersome.

Phil Aston: Hello and welcome to the Now Spinning Magazine podcast with me, Phil Aston. And in this episode, I’m absolutely delighted to have with me Tony Martin, one of the UK’s most underrated rock vocalists. You’ve had a really varied career, but what we’re going to talk about today specifically is Black Sabbath and the new “Anno Domini” box set. So, welcome, Tony. Thank you so much for joining me.
Tony Martin: Thank you. And thank you for having me on the show. Very cool.
Phil Aston: A bit of context, because I think this is kind of helpful for you. My son is 30 now, but when he was 15, he set up a Facebook group, kind of saying, “One day, please can we have the Tony Martin Black Sabbath albums released?” That was 15 years ago. He was still at school, half his lifetime ago. And I think in the early time when he set this up, he may have reached out to you and you might have said something like, “I don’t think it’s gonna happen, Dan.” And here we are, all these years later, and it’s not only happened, but it comes out this Friday. How does that feel to know that these albums are now going to be available again?
Tony Martin: Well, first of all, well done to your son. It took 15 years, but he got it done. To be honest, there’s been a few periods when I didn’t think it was happening. In fact, about a year ago, Tony Iommi’s manager called me and said, “You know what, this is just so complicated. I don’t think we can do this.” So I was resigned to it not happening myself. It’s all to do with band politics, really. There are so many people involved or have their fingers in the pie that they all have to be on board. And there were allegiances changing all over the place, left, right, and center. So in the end, it was getting a bit tiring, but well done to Tony Iommi and BMG. My God, the patience they showed to get this thing together and actually get it out there. Wow. But how does it feel? It feels brilliant, to be honest. I’m very excited. I haven’t actually had these albums in my own hands physically for the past 25 years. I gave all mine away thinking I’d be able to get some more, and I didn’t. They just stopped making them. So to actually physically hold them again is really cool. What a great job they’ve done of it. So I’m thrilled and excited. And I’m helping out now because I’m not in the band, obviously, anymore. So I just offered my help to promote it and they said, “Great, let’s do it.”
Phil Aston: Isn’t it amazing? Because I’ve done quite a few reviews about Black Sabbath box sets and stuff, but this one, within about 12 hours, there’s literally 12,000 views of the review. The love for this period of Black Sabbath is actually huge. It’s grown. It almost feels as if the profile is higher now than it was at the time.
Tony Martin: Yeah, there is a kind of reason for that. Partly people have got over the “it’s the new guy” thing, and also it’s been 25 years since. So now we’re reaching out to a whole other group of people, in addition to those that were already there. But to the outside world, it looks like there was a huge gap, and to me it felt like a huge gap. But actually, the fans were always there. I’ve been waiting myself as well to get this back out there. And it’s just band politics, really. That’s all it is.
Phil Aston: Because you had that period when it was almost as if this part of Sabbath’s history was hidden because of band politics. None of this really happened, which I think probably stirred up more interest and kind of people wanting to find out more.
Tony Martin: Yeah, it could be. It’s an old famous thing, you know, if something ain’t around for a while, people start talking about it. But yeah, it’s a strange thing, the music business. You’re either in fashion or you’re not. But I am just thrilled that they’ve got around it. Just the patience they’ve shown to actually put this together. At one point they were just saying, “We can’t do it.” But I’m really chuffed anyway.
Phil Aston: I imagine there’s been compromises along the way. Lots of fans probably don’t understand how complicated the politics and all the different licenses and everything that goes on over the years, they become more and more entangled. People say, “Where’s Eternal Idol?” But of course, that was a different record label. Different people own it.
Tony Martin: Yeah, absolutely. It’s owned by somebody else. And also Eternal Idol, or “Eternal Idiot,” as we call it, was kind of reissued not that long ago. Really.
Phil Aston: That’s right. With the two CD version, wasn’t it?
Tony Martin: Yeah. So they were kind of thinking, “Well, there’s no real panic because that’s already been done and let’s just move on.” Because that would have wrapped them up in contracts for centuries, I think. I can’t even think that they’ll ever get them to let that go. But they were struggling to get the people involved with these four albums to make up their minds and do stuff. I’ve been all for it all the way along, I have to say. Obviously, because it’s my career, my history. It’s not just the band’s history. It’s ten years of my life that went AWOL. So, yeah, I’ve been up for it all the way along, but some people don’t and it’s taken them a while to get on board.
Phil Aston: I think it’s fantastic. The first one was Headless Cross. You joined one of the biggest rock bands with all that history behind it. You were an established singer with the Alliance. But this was a chance, as you say, with Eternal Idol, you went in and it was already prepared. You sang it, but this one was where you could really put your mark on it, your personality lyrically as well as musically. Can you remember what it was like actually being at the beginning of that? Did you feel comfortable around Iommi and Powell and thinking, “Right, what kind of lyrics am I going to do by Headless Cross?”
Tony Martin: Yeah, I was comfortable by then. Well, kind of. The thing is, with Eternal Idol, if I can just backstep a little bit. The Eternal Idol wasn’t the first call up. The first call up was in 1986 when they were doing the Seventh Star with Glenn Hughes. And that scared me to death because I can’t sing like Glenn Hughes. Nobody can sing like Glenn Hughes. They put me on standby back then, so I’d sort of tentatively had an introduction to Tony Iommi. Then in ’87, they got me in for the audition, and that was the next introduction to Tony Iommi. But because Eternal Idol was already written, that gave me a whole year plus a bit more to find out what this thing was. What the hell was I supposed to do? So just doing Eternal Idol like that was fine by me because I didn’t have to discover anything myself back then. It gave me a chance to get my feet in. So by the time it got to Headless Cross, now I know all the guys, and I kind of know what’s expected of me. I still had to find the “me” that I needed to find. I went around it the only way I could, by focusing on things I was interested in. I couldn’t do the lyrics and melodies that Geezer was writing for Ozzy because that was a generation before me. The stuff that Ronnie was doing was fantastic, but I couldn’t get inside his head. So I had to think about what I was going to do. I had an interest in the old gothic death stuff, like Dracula and Frankenstein, Mary Shelley type writing, and of course, in England, we have Shakespeare. Nobody speaks English like that anymore, that old English text. I thought, “Old English text, gothic death, and Black Sabbath. That might work.” So I put them all together and came up with Headless Cross, which is where I lived. I lived in a village called Headless Cross.
Phil Aston: Yeah, you put that on the map. They weren’t pleased about it. The most recognition I’ve got is my name on a bus stop. And Cozy Powell thought the album needed more death, didn’t he?
Tony Martin: Oh, that’s true. That’s actually true. We were recording “When Death Calls,” and he was in the studio playing, and he suddenly stopped. We went, “You alright?” He went, “Yeah, just remind me, what’s this song called again?” I said, “It’s called When Death Calls.” He said, “I don’t think there’s enough death in it.” And he carried on playing. So, okay, maybe he’s taking the piss, but isn’t it such a great sounding album? As Tony Iommi says, he never left Black Sabbath. So when people criticize him, saying, “You should change the name or whatever,” he never left. So it was still Black Sabbath. The riffs, the guitar sound was reaching new peaks of excellence around this time.
Because when it was just him and Ozzy, for example, it was guitar, that was it. When Geoff Nichols joined during the Dio period, it introduced a few more keyboard things. That allowed Iommi to play solos against those keyboard pads and chords. And then you come along and start sticking 50 tracks of vocal harmonies on it, like in Anno Mundi and stuff like that. It just kept developing. Sabbath isn’t really known for vocal harmonies and keyboards, but underneath that was still Tony Iommi. And it still sounded like Sabbath. We were happy to do that. We just wanted to make Tony happy and do the best for him. It was his band. So we were happy to seek out that Sabbath sound and make sure it did what it said on the tin. A couple of times, like with the Seventh Star thing, he ventured a little bit away from it. Songs like Heart Like a Wheel don’t really make the Black Sabbath sound, but it’s still good stuff. I have great respect for all of the eras that went before. I had to sing all of the songs. So I do have great respect for it. And it’s been an honor, you know, like being part of the whole story. But he was the only one that stuck it out. And we respected him for that. You’re right, they did ask him to change a couple of times. He said, “No, I can’t change now.”
Phil Aston: The next one, if I pronounce this right, it’s Tyr.
Tony Martin: Yeah.
Phil Aston: Because when it came out, me and my friends, actually, because there was no Internet back then and nowhere to go and check it, we did call it Tyr. To be.
Tony Martin: Yeah, Tyr.
Phil Aston: Watch you find in Birmingham. You know what I mean? So it actually rhymes with beer, doesn’t it?
Tony Martin: It is, yeah. Actually, it’s Tiw, which is Scandinavian for the son of Odin or something.
Phil Aston: Well, this is almost as close, probably, to Sabbath getting into almost a concept album. Isn’t it? This is a collection of songs that in another time and space you probably as a band would have gone out and performed the whole thing.
Tony Martin: Yeah, it wasn’t meant that way, but they were struggling to find a name for the album. We were recording and getting towards the end and the management called us up and said, “We really need a name for this album.” And Cozy said, “I’ve got one. Let’s call it Satanic Verses.” We went, “What, like Salman Rushdie thing?” He said, “Yeah, it would be great publicity.” We said, “Yeah, but we’ll all be dead.” So we did struggle, but they happened across the artwork. We’d done Anno Mundi, we’d done Gates of Valhalla and all that sort of stuff. They went, “What if… Tyr?” It was fine by me. So it took on the Viking sort of theme. By that time, I was thinking, once I’d done Headless Cross and started to have an interest in the Vikings and stuff. As you know, the Vikings haven’t been particularly good for us. They came over and stole all our women and sheep and whatever. But I had an interest in them as well. So I was thinking, every culture, every religion has its dark side. There’s always a devil type in a god type. I thought we could go around the world and I could do this. You could pick up on all sorts of cultures and pick out the dark side of various things. But it was the last kind of… I still did that with various other songs and various other artists. But Tyr was leaning towards that theme.
Phil Aston: It’s an excellent album. Then of course, the strangeness of the politics in Sabbath. Dehumanizer comes along and Dio re-enters the scene. You obviously had an opportunity because every cloud has a silver lining. You can go off and do your solo album at this time. But you did kind of like… It sounds like it was almost a forced relationship, the way that he was and he wasn’t. I mean, how was that period for you? Because you did demo some of the tracks, didn’t you?
Tony Martin: Firstly, it was a shock. I didn’t see that coming at all. Literally just walking out the door to the next writing rehearsals. My managers called up and said, “They don’t want you to go.” From what I recently found out, although I had my suspicions, Tony Iommi said the record label just wasn’t supporting it. They weren’t getting behind us at all. Then they started banding about all different names and stuff, and Ronnie’s name came up. They thought they’d give it a go. He said it was all on and off all the time. After they let me go, it wasn’t too long before Tony called me back and said, “Can you come back?” I said, “No, I can’t. I’m doing my solo album.” More time went by, and he called me back again and said, “Are you sure you can’t come back?” I said, “I’m doing my solo album. I really can’t.” He said, “Do you want to come down and try?” So I did. I went down and tried putting my voice on some of the songs, but it would have meant rewriting everything, and they weren’t going to do that. So I said, “The best thing is if you finish this with Ronnie, get this done and out of the way, then maybe we can talk again later.” So that’s kind of what happened. By that time, I’d done my solo album, which I wanted to get as far away from the Sabbath thing as I could at the time. I went back to doing what the Alliance and some of the bands I’d been with, that middle-of-the-road AOR type stuff. But when they called me back to Sabbath, Polydor dropped my solo album like a brick. They said, “We can’t do this if you’re going to go back with them.” So that got stopped. It’s so confusing. By the time I got back with the guys to Cross Purposes, it didn’t feel that much of a gap for me, because I’ve been talking to them and working with them through the Dehumanizer thing.
Phil Aston: Stylistically, that album, because it was on the IRS label, I know some people have said, “Well, it should be in there.” Stylistically, musically, it’s very different. I mean, you take it out. These four albums in this set, excluding Eternal Idol, they sound like a progression. Dehumanizer sounds like a kind of sidestep. Even the way the riffs are done in the songs, it’s changed. You take the vocalist out, but the music continued. You took you out and it was very different.
Tony Martin: I suppose it does a bit. If I go back and think over it, I guess that’s what it was. It was kind of an interruption into the flow of things. When we were doing Tyr, I thought we were doing really well. I thought we were onto something. Dehumanizer, in that sort of respect, does feel a little bit like an interruption. But there was some good stuff on there. Ronnie’s always been a good singer. I don’t quite know how they feel about it, but it was kind of nothing to do with me. I just let them get on with it.
Phil Aston: After that, Cross Purposes is probably, out of the four albums in this set, my personal favorite. Geezer’s back in the band now, so you’ve got his bubbling bass in there. And again, lyrically, it’s all you. Did you feel any kind of, “Oh, Geezer’s back. Will he want to help out?”
Tony Martin: I did ask. He just said, “No, you can do it.” So I just carried on.
Phil Aston
The reason why I love this album is that it’s varied. A lot of people think of Black Sabbath as the Godfathers of heavy metal, and heavy metal is always heavy metal. But if you think back to albums like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath in the seventies, they weren’t all heavy metal. There were all sorts of things on there. There were keyboards and light and shade. This, I felt, connected to that album, because you had light and shade on it. So there were more dynamics in the lyrical delivery and the song delivery, in the way that Iommi is weaving his riffs around the melodies. What are your thoughts looking back on this album now?
Tony Martin: I think you’ve just summed it up. It did sort of shift up a notch. Not only that, but the sound they were getting with Leif Mases producing it, it sort of grew up. It lifted somehow out of what they’d done before. It felt like, “Oh, this sounds good.” The songwriting and the exploring we were doing with the songs and stuff. At the time, Geezer Butler said that’s the best album he’s ever been on. He never said that again, but he said it at the time.
Phil Aston: I can imagine him saying just that.
Tony Martin: But it was good. Having Bobby Rondinelli in the band as well. Technically amazing. Brilliant player. His drums close in, and he plays with his wrists. Very technical. Whereas Cozy’s drums are stretched out far and wide. He’d lean over and hit them. But great to have them both in. What an honor. I mean, it’s Geezer Butler as well.
Phil Aston: When you got to South America, Bill Ward was in for a few gigs, wasn’t he? That must have been quite surreal. Bill Ward and Geezer playing songs like Headless Cross, which they had nothing to do with.
Tony Martin: They had nothing to do with. We were kind of weird because once we’d started to get Geezer and Bill back in, they wanted to start doing more of the older songs. That just makes you look, read between the lines going, “What’s going on? Where’s this going?” Once it’s happened to you, you know it. Then you’re reading between the lines. You start to feel it. Then you go, “Ah, right.” You can feel it. They’re clearing up. I did ask if they were going to do a reunion with Ozzy. Iommi was always denying it. Said, “No, no, we’re not doing that.” But I didn’t mind. The reason for that is because I knew what I could do in the future then. I thought, “Well, if they just tell me, that’s fine. Cause then I can plan.” The first time it was a shock and I didn’t know what to do. But I was kind of keyed up for it the next time. But he kept going. They got Bill in. I love Bill. I think he’s brilliant. We did some shows with him. But for some reason, and I don’t know what it is, I mean, I can tell you Iommi loves Bill. He regaled so many stories about when they were out there and how funny it was. I never understood why they never gave him time to get back in it. When you think of Def Leppard, they made a drum kit for a one-armed drummer.
Phil Aston: Yes, very true.
Tony Martin: Surely they can find time to get Bill settled back in. Whatever problems they’ve got. I mean, come on.
Phil Aston: You would think, yeah, very true.
Tony Martin: Get on with it. I thought, “Right, this is going to go south again.” But it didn’t. We carried on with Forbidden, and then Cozy came back after his accident. It was really up and down. Confusing. People in and out. During the time I was in the band, there were eight different lineups.
Phil Aston: It was very much a revolving door, wasn’t it? Before we move on, I just want to ask, because I know a lot of fans ask this. In the booklets in these box sets, there’s an image of Cross Purposes Live. That was a VHS tape and a CD. Is there a reason why that wasn’t included in some way? Is that game politics?
Tony Martin: I did ask about that, and they were just keen to get on with it. They said, “Come on, let’s go, let’s do it.” What they told me was that they’re going to take their time now to see what else they can gather and do an additional thing to this along the way with more of that in it. With the Cross Purposes Live and some other stuff. There’s a track that I recorded with them when Eddie Van Halen came and did Evil Eye.
Phil Aston: Yes, yeah, Evil Eye, wasn’t it?
Tony Martin: Yeah. I used to take the track out. I had it everywhere. Writing sessions, recording sessions, rehearsals. I just happened to be there. I didn’t even know who was coming. Iommi just turned up with Eddie Van Halen. I went, “Holy hell, it’s Eddie Van Halen. What’s he doing here?” He did some rehearsals with us and then disappeared. Never saw him again. But I got the recordings of the rehearsals that we did.
Phil Aston: Oh, wow.
Tony Martin: So I sent them to Tony Iommi. I said, “Use these. Get these on.” He said, “No, no, we can’t.” The reason they said was anything that has the slightest newness about it looks like a new Black Sabbath track or album track. They’re not allowed to release anything new under the Black Sabbath name. So even if it’s historical, they couldn’t allow it. It’s really weird.
Phil Aston: That means there must be lots of live stuff recorded. More bands were recording live stuff from the nineties onwards that you just couldn’t work on because it would go out under the Black Sabbath name.
Tony Martin: Not just live stuff. I’ve got about eight tracks that we never released. Just from the writing sessions and rehearsals and stuff that we used to do. They just can’t get out. They just won’t allow it.
I don’t understand. Well, I kind of understand. When you’re trying to protect your name, your mark, your image, your everything, which is where the band politics comes in, they won’t allow you to do anything that they think. And there’s all kinds of… Everybody from Ozzy to Dio to everybody. They don’t want their thing to be diluted or taken away. I do understand that. There are people involved all along the way that have an objection of some kind or another.
Phil Aston: But I guess, hopefully, this box set’s going to sell out really quickly and will show there’s a demand for this material and for this part of Black Sabbath history. There’s a lot of love for it. A lot of people worked really hard within it, like yourself. They’re great albums, wonderful songs. If there’s other music waiting in the wings, whereas we all get older, thinking through the eyes of the fan, it would go down so well, wouldn’t it? But I am, as you are, very grateful that these four albums have arrived in a box.
Tony Martin: Yes, it’s an important thing for me. It’s an important thing for the band, and it’s a great thing for the fans. I’m thrilled. It’s been an honor to be part of the story. I love the fact that it’s out there now. They did say there is no limit to the box sets. They have sold out on day one.
Phil Aston: I’m not surprised.
Tony Martin: They said the way they do it is they tend to poll the outlets and stuff and say, “How many do you think you can sell?” And they put their numbers in, and they’ve gone way past that. So now they’ve got to go back and produce more. There’s no limit to it. I love what they’ve done. There’s more in the box set than just the albums. Posters, programs, and everything.
Phil Aston: And then Forbidden. I’ll be honest, Tony, when I heard this for the first time back in the day, I didn’t like it. I tried, but I didn’t like it. My son liked it because I think probably because his dad didn’t. But now the remix, it’s as if someone’s released the drums and the guitars. It sounds like a Black Sabbath album. It sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?
Tony Martin: It does. It’s brilliant. I love the fact that they’ve dismantled it and put it back in a way that they couldn’t or didn’t with the other three. Forbidden needed it for all kinds of reasons. It was done under a sort of cloud where a lot of us weren’t really into it very much. But it was also an attempt at trying to give Sabbath a kind of acceptable twist to the youth. It didn’t work.
Phil Aston: The nineties were weird, weren’t they? The nineties were strange for heavy rock.
Tony Martin: The problem was we were fast heading towards great new bands like Nirvana and eventually Green Day and Metallica doing stuff. We were going and they were trying to change the sound to fit in. It didn’t work. We didn’t think it would. But there are people out there that love Forbidden as it is. I said that to Iommi. Last time I saw him, there are people out there that love it. He said, “They’ll probably love this version now.” But shaking the chains, guilty as hell, rusty angels, forbidden. And of course, “Loser Gets It All” is a great track. That wasn’t even on the album originally.
Phil Aston: It’s brilliant.
Tony Martin: Yeah. Strange. I absolutely love it now. It does sound like a Black Sabbath album. It sounds like it should be there in amongst the others. They’ve done a great job. Tony and his engineers have really pulled it together. It’s slightly more guitar and slightly less keyboard. They’ve done Cozy’s drums. Fantastic job on those.
Phil Aston: They’re just unleashed, aren’t they?
Tony Martin: Yes. They haven’t changed anything. They’ve mixed it and given it a new attitude, which is brilliant. They’ve given it more space. It sounds bigger. I just love what they’ve done to it. I’m really proud of it now. I didn’t like it then. There’s still a couple of tracks where I would love to have gone back in and…
Phil Aston: Yeah, you know.
Tony Martin: I thought at the time, because I was that off it at the time, my head just wasn’t quite there. A couple of tracks I thought I could have done better. I did sort of say when they were doing it, “Can I go back in?” They said, “No.”
Phil Aston: I suppose because that might edge towards it being a new recording then.
Tony Martin: Yeah, tricky. I’m not going to tell you which tracks it is, but there were a couple in there that I wasn’t quite happy with. But on the whole, it’s a great job they’ve done.
Phil Aston: Because when you were playing live, there were more songs from your period in Sabbath coming into the set, weren’t there? You were a unique vocalist in many ways for the band. You could cover Ozzy, Dio. You probably could have done Ian Gillan. Anything. You could have the ultimate set list, really, going through every era.
Tony Martin: That was a bit of a mistake. I told them I could sing anything, really. They thought, “What can we give him to sing?” They threw all sorts of stuff at me. I had a shot. Fortunately, I’ve got the kind of voice that can get around most things, and that’s a result of being in so many different kinds of music. I’ve been involved in everything from reggae to rock.
Phil Aston: Who were your key vocal influences growing up? As you say, outside of this Black Sabbath badge, your voice can go in any direction. So who were your influences? Was it blues, soul, rock?
Tony Martin: It kept changing. Everything I listened to, I thought, “That’s good. That’s good.” Each couple of years, something else took my attention. I’d really pour my soul into it. When I started off with reggae, believe it or not, I worked with Musical Youth and Dexys Midnight Runners in the studio. I was a guitarist back then. Then I loved blues. I got into prog rock bands like Yes, King Crimson, Jethro Tull. Then it shifted to Emerson, Lake & Palmer. That led to Rush and bands like that. Then I had to come down out of that prog rock technical stuff because Sabbath is much more honest and basic and straightforward. To a point. When you’re in the band and you find out how he does it, it’s stunning. I never even gave it a thought. I thought, “It’s got to be easy.” It wasn’t easy at all. Iommi can put seven, eight different riffs into one song, and each one of the riffs could be a song on their own.
Phil Aston: Very true.
Tony Martin: So, wow. You get your head around it. It’s weird. Plus, the time signatures he was throwing at us. There was a 14/4 and a 15/8 or something he was throwing at us. How he gets his head around it, I just don’t know. When I saw him a few weeks ago, he said, “You did a really good job on this.” I said, “Thanks, man.” He said, “I actually don’t know how you sang over some of this stuff.” I said, “Neither do I.”
Phil Aston: Just mad, isn’t it? You could try anything. I might have thought, “That means you might be able to put some of the songs in that Ozzy couldn’t do into the set. Or I can try something that I’ve never been able to do before because Tony says he can do anything.”
Tony Martin: It’s because I showed willing. I told them I’d have a go. And I did have a go. I did put into it. The songs, the writing, the live shows, whatever. I kind of made a rod for my own back in some ways because it was hard flicking between all of the different vocal techniques. But I did my best. It sort of came across okay. The problem is when you try to do stuff like that, it can sound a bit like a tribute act. But we got it nailed, I think. Especially having people like Cozy Powell, Geezer Butler, and all those guys in the band. We were willing to seek out that Sabbath sound, and we were conscious of it. So we were all aiming for the same thing. From outside, it might have looked like a chaotic mess. But on the inside, it all had a focus. We were all willing to give it a go. That’s what I think they saw in me. I knew they liked my voice, but I think that’s what they saw, a willingness to have a go and see if you can make it work. All those different time signatures and riffs that I had to go, looking back, to me, it’s Black Sabbath. Like,
Phil Aston I’m a Deep Purple fan, and every lineup of Deep Purple is still Deep Purple. I know Black Sabbath, there’s lots of politics in the way some of the fans look at it. But I think, which is why they had Heaven and Hell later on instead of Black Sabbath, because of the politics. But listening to these four albums, one after the other, you brought to life Viking mythology and song. More death. Just your passion and the way you projected the lyrics and your phrasing makes these albums unique. An important part of the Sabbath story. Finally, do you feel like this outpouring of love for this lineup is validating everything? Any doubt that might have been back then?
Tony Martin: Yeah, doesn’t it just? The biggest validation is from Tony Iommi himself. It wasn’t regarded that highly until he sat and listened to it without the bickering going around. When I went down a few weeks ago, he said, “You did a great job on this. There’s fantastic songs on here.” I said, “I know.” It’s just that validation that he gives it. The fact that the fans are returning to it. The fact that we’ve got new fans coming to it. Whole new record labels. I think it’s Rhino in America. It’s BMG in the UK, Europe. The record labels are coming back to it and getting behind it. They see something in it. The management sees something in it. So it’s all coming together. Which is a shame because I’m not in the band anymore.
Phil Aston Who knows? Maybe you and Tony will think, “It’d be great if some of this other stuff can come out at some point and we don’t have to wait another 25 years.”
Tony Martin: If he was going to do that, he’d say, “Let’s just write some new stuff.” But from what I’ve been told, Tony’s touring dates are done now. He won’t be going out on the road again. That’s probably out of the question for writing. I did tell him I was interested if he wants to do something. But he’s got so much going on. He’s still busy. Doing stuff. He had that ballet, the Black Sabbath ballet.
Phil Aston: Yeah, that’s true.
Tony Martin: Never saw that coming. No, he’s working on all kinds of stuff. He’s writing new material for something else now.
Phil Aston: So what about you, Tony? Have you got any plans for another solo album?
Tony Martin: I never actually stopped. For the past 25 years, my career took me into the studio and writing for people. My voice appears on 89 albums and projects now. It’s been good for me. I owe everything to Black Sabbath because that’s how the world got to hear my voice. People know what they’re talking about when they talk to me. “Can you write, can you sing on this?” They already know what they’re hearing or expecting. I always try to make it better than what they give me in the first place. A lot of that is me in the studio, and I’m happy, and I still am, happy doing that. But I do tend to choose what I do these days.
Phil Aston: Yeah, that makes sense.
Tony Martin: So I’m still doing the odd thing for people now. I did have a solo album a couple of years ago called Thorns.
Phil Aston: Great album.
Tony Martin: Yeah, totally unknown guitarist from America, Scott McClellan. I only met him because he kept badgering me on Facebook. He kept sending me stuff. I was like, “Go away.” He said, “Listen to this. What about this one?” In the end, I listened to it and it was brilliant. So I gave it a go and it turned out really well. But then Covid interrupted that and we couldn’t get out there with it. Some countries were saying, “Yeah, you can come,” and other countries were saying, “No, you can’t.” It all got distracted. I haven’t finished with Thorns because they wanted to do a vinyl for it. They said we had to take some tracks off to get it to fit on the vinyl. I don’t want to take any tracks off.
Phil Aston: Make it a double.
Tony Martin: Yeah, make it a double. Write some more. I wasn’t prepared for that. I’m pacing up, trying to write some new songs. Scott has sent me loads. We’ve got enough tracks for Thorns 2, but I haven’t finished Thorns 1 yet. I’ve got to come back to that. I do want to finish that off and get that done. Then if we can do the next Thorns thing, who knows? We’d like to try and get it out on the road. Getting out on the road for me is so different to the Sabbath thing. The Sabbath machine is huge. They only have to mention it and all the cogs start turning all at the same time all the way around the world. It all starts fitting into place within days, within weeks. On your own, it’s different. I can’t do that. I have to hire other musicians to go out on the road and rehearse the whole thing and start again with a brand new show. It’s a lot harder for me, but I would love to get back out there. My career took me into the studio, so I’ve got more to do. But I just tend to choose now.
Phil Aston: If people want to get Thorns, is it DarkstarRecords.net? Is that the best place?
Tony Martin: No, Battle God. They are the main label. Darkstar were involved and they’re still there, but they’ve had some troubles in the past couple of years. They were on board and I did two versions of it from between the two territories. I liked that. But mostly now, Battle God is the label to grab hold of it. It’s still available and I’m still signing them. People send me the stuff to sign.
Phil Aston: But I haven’t finished yet, so there’s more to come.
Phil Aston: Brilliant. Well, thanks very much, Tony, for all of your time today. Everybody, make sure you go and get a copy on CD or vinyl of this Black Sabbath Tony Martin years box set, “Anno Domini.” It’s absolutely superb.
Tony Martin: Yeah, it is good. I’m just smiling. I think it’s brilliant.
Phil Aston: No, that’s it, isn’t it? Whatever anyone thinks, these albums are available again. People can hear just how awesome this time for Sabbath really was.
Tony Martin: Thank you. Thank you very much.
Phil Aston: All right, take care, and hopefully I’ll talk to you again in the future.
Tony Martin: Thank you. All right, Phil, thanks, mate. Cheers.
Phil Aston: Well, a huge thank you to my guest, Tony Martin. That was fantastic. I’m almost lost for words in knowing what to say to sum up that interview because I know a lot of you are really interested in this box set, “Anno Domini” by Black Sabbath, which is out on CD and vinyl. Just as I thought, it’s sold out already, but there’s going to be another pressing. I was able to ask some of the questions I know some of you have been wanting to know, like why weren’t there extra tracks? Why wasn’t the live Cross Purposes included, etc. So now you know. Some of it is really exciting because it means there might be a companion set with some outtakes or live stuff as well. That’s really exciting.
Tony Martin is a fantastic vocalist, really passionate, really imaginative with his lyrics and his vision of how he writes his music. These four albums are essential. They’re Black Sabbath albums, okay? That’s what they are. They sound like Black Sabbath albums. Wasn’t it interesting that Geezer Butler said Cross Purposes is the best album he’d ever played on? It is a truly remarkable album. But they all are: from Headless Cross, to Tyr (which I can now pronounce correctly), Cross Purposes, and Forbidden, which has been given a new lease of life. Seriously, it is incredible. Just stunning.
Thank you again to Tony Martin for joining me here on the Now Spinning Magazine podcast. Please keep spinning those discs, whether they are vinyl or CD. Check us out on the podcast. We’re on every platform you can think of, from Apple to Spotify to Amazon. Of course, we’re on YouTube. Please subscribe and check out the website at nowspinning.co.uk. Remember, music is the healer and the doctor. So take care and I’ll see you all very, very soon.
Watch the full interview here
Phil Aston Now Spinning Magazine

May got out to a lightning start for me, continuing the torrid April pace for a while before cooling off a bit in the back end of the month. That's partially by design, as I jumped into a pair of longer games (one enormously so) which I won't finish until deeper into June, but I've also noticed I'm slowly bleeding gaming time from my evenings. As my kids get incrementally older and the days grow incrementally longer entering summer, an hour that would previously be my own is now deferred to them, and that adds up over the course of an entire month.
Not that I'd trade my kids, you understand.
(Games are presented in chronological completion order; the numerical indicator represents the YTD count.)
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#27 - Contra: Hard Corps - GEN - 8/10 (Great)
It's been fascinating to watch the Contra series evolve over time, and Hard Corps on the Sega Genesis is no different. With no Mode 7 (the SNES' proprietary isometric viewpoint mode) available on the system, necessarily some of the top down content from Contra III would need to be altered or removed, and that begged the question of what would take its place: after all, a return to basic sidescrolling action might feel like a big step down, and we can't have that. So I think I expected Hard Corps to throw in a new wrinkle to keep the formula a bit more fresh. What I did not expect was for it to make three enormous changes.
For one, Hard Corps has four different characters to choose from, and each is actually unique. It's not just the look - where else can you play a cybernetic wolfman? - but they've got different sizes and hurtboxes as well. And while each starts with the same basic low power machine gun, each has a completely different loadout of possible weapon upgrades, ensuring that all four play very differently from one another outside of the fundamentals of movement. To that end, the two weapon toggle of Contra III is expanded in Hard Corps, allowing you to hold all four of your upgraded weapons simultaneously and switch between them at will, which adds a new layer of depth and strategy to the action. Building upon this notion of enhanced player choice even further, the second big change is that the game has branching paths. After the first stage you make a choice that determines where you head for the second level, and then later on you make another choice that creates further divergence, such that the game has four main endings (and a secret fifth!), all with their own dedicated unique stages. It's for that reason possibly the most replayable game so far in the franchise; I myself did a run through of each ending using a different character per run to get a feel for them all.
This leads to the final big change, which is the only one I don't regard a resounding success: the entire game is basically a boss rush. Let's zero in on the main path that I followed on my primary playthrough and add up all mini-bosses and full boss phases. What number might you expect that to come out as? A dozen or so? Well, sorry about your naiveté, but the answer is 43: it's bosses all the way down. This is a MUCH more mentally taxing load than previous Contra games where you could kind of skate through the non-boss sections with good fundamentals. And that's just one of four possible paths through the game! It's absurd! It's also way more fun than it sounds it would be from the description, but I've heard people say Hard Corps is the toughest Contra game and now I know why. I do miss just running and gunning and dropping dudes in one hit before a thrilling finale; it's hard to be properly wowed by a boss fight when that's all you ever see. But nevertheless Contra: Hard Corps is lives up to the legacy of greatness the franchise had up until that point established...just steel yourself mentally for the extensive memorization it requires of you.
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#28 - Ancient Enemy - PC - 5.5/10 (Semi-Competent)
Solitaire is one of those games that nobody really wants to play. It’s a game of convenience and opportunity, only attractive in the absence of something better, which is to say “nearly anything else at all.” Slightly more entertaining are variations on the form, such as Mahjong Solitaire or Free Cell, where certain cards/tiles are locked until the ones above them have been cleared away. These are still just time wasting games for people with nothing else to do, but when presented as a discrete set of challenges there’s a bit more appeal. Do you know they say that every one of the 32,000 numbered games of FreeCell on classic Windows operating systems was supposedly beatable? Did you know a very bored teenage me once decided to see if I could prove it by playing and beating every single unique game of FreeCell in order? I got into the low 30s or so before I questioned what the hell I was doing with my life and wisely moved on.
Well, Ancient Enemy is a game for people with nothing better to do, masquerading as a game that would qualify as "something better to do." It’s an RPG, I guess, but the gameplay revolves entirely around a solitaire variant. You have a deck of “stock cards” numbered 0-9 and start each encounter (“hand”) by flipping the top one. Then on the board you have to collect a card with a number adjacent to the one you’re displaying - 0 serving as a bridge between 1 and 9. Getting a card reveals any card trapped immediately below it and enables that card to be collected as well. If you can’t make a move, you can flip a new stock card over to get a random new number until your deck runs out. Some levels are simple puzzles in this vein, trying to clear all the cards from the board. Most encounters though are battles, where you do the exact same thing, except the color of the card you collect enables you to attack, defend, or cast a spell. So it’s turn-based combat, except each turn is you basically clearing as many cards as you can from the board to juice up your attack or bolster your defense, and that’s about it.
Now, at first, this is actually way more fun than I’m making it sound. I mean, I like solitaire type games for what they are, and the extra mechanics definitely do enrich the experience. You get consumable wild cards, battle boards have bonus cards with instant benefits, you get powers that manipulate the board, new types of cards appear, all good stuff. The problem is that the game completely runs out of these new ideas about a quarter of the way through, at which point you’re just going through the motions until the end, accompanied by a complete nothing of a story that I was confident I had figured out, only to find that the ending was somehow worse than the cliche I’d been anticipating. Thus, the game sadly settled into that exact same niche of games it was supposed to improve upon and supplant. Which I suppose is ok…if you’ve got nothing better to do.
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#29 - Snakebird Primer - PC - 7/10 (Good)
I follow a general rule of always playing game franchises in order, but Snakebird Primer is a unique case wherein the developers of the original Snakebird decided that it was too off-putting to new players, and so they made a sequel that they explicitly wanted newcomers to play first. A "primer" in truth to ease you into the overall Snakebird challenge, as it were. So when I decided to check out Snakebird, I thought all right: just this once I'll do it your way.
So how does Snakebird Primer shake out? Well...it's fine. It's a jaunty kind of puzzle game, with bright colors, friendly art and music, and general good vibes. In each stage you control one or more segmented "snakebirds" and have to get them all to the rainbow portal to complete the level. Sometimes you need to eat fruit to open the portal as well, but that's the entire game in a nutshell. It's a very simple concept, complicated only by the fact that a snakebird that has no body segments touching the ground will fall, and so each stage is a kind of pathing challenge, tasking you to figure out the right order of operations to reach the end. The levels are very well paced and designed if you just go in order: there aren't any hand-holdy tutorials, but new ideas are introduced organically at various intervals, and the challenge always feels reasonable, especially because you can undo any number of moves at will, like stepping through code to find an error.
There is, however, a significant difficulty spike for the last couple levels, which is pretty jarring. And when you add to that the fact that the designer of Baba Is You said he built a lot of his design philosophy around the original Snakebird, I've got to admit I'm a lot less keen on checking that one out. It's in that same realm of "enter these six dozen commands in precisely the right order" that made Baba Is You eventually feel more tedious and frustrating to me than anything else, so I think for now I'm happy to have just played the "lite" version instead.
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#30 - It Takes Two - PS4 - 8.5/10 (Excellent)
When trying to write down a genre for It Takes Two in my tracking spreadsheet, I wanted to put "Yes". It's as though the developers wanted to make a bunch of different kinds of games and, rather than accepting any limitations (self-imposed or otherwise), they just found a way to do it all at once. It Takes Two is a platformer. It's a third-person shooter. It's a puzzle game. It's a rhythm game. It's a racing game. It's a stealth game. It's a boss battling action adventure. It's a minigame collection. It's a romantic comedy. It's an exploration playground. One minute you're flying around on a jetpack chucking Captain America shields at devils and the next you're literally playing a timed game of chess. None of the things that It Takes Two does would be characterized as masterpiece forms of their respective genres, but that's not the point. There's sufficient depth and development of each mechanic that it never feels like a lazy tack-on to check a box - and that in itself is beyond impressive - but it's the sheer number of different ideas tossed into this package that make it truly special.
It's hard for me to even review this game, frankly. Part of that is because I feel a strong bias towards the game for the audaciousness of what it tries to achieve, and for the way it inspires me to keep stretching myself in new ways however I can. But it's also hard because I don't remember the whole thing. It Takes Two is both fresh in memory, having just finished it, and yet far away and mingled in my mind with similar bits of similar other adventures (Tearaway foremost among them). Why is that? Well, I first booted up It Takes Two in May of 2022 as a co-op experience to share with my wife - quite fitting, as it turns out, given the nature of the game's plot of trying to reconcile an embattled couple. We'd only play in smaller bursts of 1-2 hours at a time, but every session we played it felt like we were playing a new, different game. Music to my ears, but much harder on my gaming-challenged wife, who took longer to adjust to each mechanical shift. Pretty soon we were playing less and less often, even as I was playing a game like Tearaway early on that occupied some similar design space in my head. Soon we stopped playing at all. When I tried to suggest resuming this title over the past year, I was repeatedly rebuffed until finally a month ago I managed to wear her down enough that we picked it up again for about an hour a week. So it is that the first half of the game is fuzzy and nebulous to me, even as I recall that I loved playing, whereas the back half is much fresher, and it's nigh impossible for me to separate my wife's frequent frustrations from my own experience - especially since I've been playing on a controller experiencing heavy stick drift, so managing the camera was a nightmare through no fault of the game's.
All that said, how could I not recommend this game? It's best played with two experienced gamers, but the story only fully lands if you play as a couple, so there's a bit of potential for a disconnect there, as I experienced. It's not a perfect game. But it is an incredibly ambitious one that had me routinely grinning from ear to ear, despite the grumblings on the couch next to me. When I pointed out to my wife that we finished the game in May 2024, almost to the day when we started back in '22, she said "They should've called it It Takes Two Years." We're both glad it's over, but I think for very different reasons.
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#31 - Rogue Legacy 2 - PS5 - 7/10 (Good)
Some game sequels try to really shake things up and try something different from the one before. Final Fantasy is probably the biggest and most obvious example of this, but you can also see it in virtually every Super Mario Bros. game, in the Castlevania series, and the list goes on extensively from there. On the other hand, some game sequels treat their predecessors like rough drafts to be perfected. With these, the idea is to take the vision for the previous game, use the increase in time/budget/developer expertise now available, and try to execute on it more completely than was possible before. When a game like this is successful, there becomes almost zero reason to ever play the original game (other than possibly its story), because the new version has replaced it entirely as the definitive experience.
Rogue Legacy 2 is one of these latter types of games. Everything from the first game is pretty much still there (bosses excepted): enemies, basic combat and room design, character classes, traits, progression, etc. It immediately feels like "Hey, I've played this before," yet a cursory look reveals a huge wealth of additional content over the first game. Classes are better differentiated, you get new weapons, more spells, special abilities, new items, new upgrades, new explorable regions, new mechanics, new new new. It truly is a total replacement for Rogue Legacy 1 in this regard, a "go ahead and uninstall that thing forever because we've got it all right here and then some" type of mission statement. I was amazed at how I kept finding ever more avenues of progression and discovery, even many hours into the game, In fact, I never did manage to play as every class, and each class has a variant form as well, most of which I didn't even unlock. It's overflowing with stuff.
And I think that's why it didn't work quite as well for me as the first game: it's all too much. Now there are four different types of currency, all acquired in different ways, all for different upgrade paths. You're always competing with yourself on what to level up between runs because there are too many choices and all of them seem pretty good, but as you're finding your early groove the game throws a big wrench in there: labor costs. While each upgrade has a set gold cost that increases as you level it up, early on the game adds a universal tax mechanic to the entire upgrade tree, making it increasingly prohibitive to spend your money on stuff, and it feels awful. Rogue Legacy 1 had a similar system where each upgrade cost 10g more than the previous, but in the sequel these escalate far more rapidly, to the point where you'll complete a huge run and still feel like you can only afford one or two upgrades that barely move the needle. It's a pure inflationary grinding system meant to pad playtime, and I'm not about that. I played RL1 through multiple New Game + levels, but I was thrilled to beat RL2's final boss and move on because the economy is so frustrating. Other than that though, it's got quite a lot going for it.
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#32 - Undertale - PS4 - 7/10 (Good)
When is some information too much information? Undertale is notorious for its rabid fan community insisting that there is only one "right" way to play the game, and so if you've ever heard of Undertale there's a good chance you already know what that preferred method is: pacifism. Undertale takes a unique approach to the JRPG in two primary ways: first, that defending against enemy attacks is an active system pretty much akin to dodging in a bullet hell game, and second that you almost never actually need to choose the "Fight" command from the battle menu in order to succeed in an encounter. The argument from the community is that you must play in this fully pacifist manner, largely because of a design decision that thoroughly punishes players who do not, only revealed after the game's conclusion. Thus, these players are "helping" curious newcomers by saving them from falling victim to a fairly vindictive design choice that would create a lot of frustration.
The problem with that approach is that Undertale makes it abundantly clear from the outset that you have the option for these alternative combat approaches, trains you on how to use them, and then gives you a positive feedback loop for choosing that direction with your gameplay. Which means the discourse surrounding this game effectively undermines not only the game's own ability to surprise and educate you, but also the authorial intent of that same design decision, which in context is a conscious player decision to go against the grain and suffer the possible consequences of doing so. In short, I wish I'd never heard of Undertale before I played it, as I'm sure I would've had a much better time.
As it stands, Undertale is still a highly creative take on the genre that, despite an aesthetic I didn't care for and writing that leaned a bit too hard at times into "lol I'm so random" territory for my tastes, still managed to get me invested with some of its characters and even make me laugh aloud at times. I was particularly impressed with that aforementioned approach to combat, as each enemy introduced unique hazards to avoid, so fighting a new monster was far more exciting here than in a standard turn-based RPG where the only meaningful question is "How much damage did this whatever move do to me?" So for those reasons I applaud Undertale. Even still, there's a lot of walking back and forth with no major purpose beyond "it was decided the game should be a little bit inconvenient here," adding some unnecessary tedium to the mix. In short, Undertale's a generally good time, but if you want it to be even better, just pretend you haven't read anything I just said.
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#33 - Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales - PS5 - 7.5/10 (Solid)
2018 was a big year for Miles Morales. In the fall he showed up in the PS4 title Marvel's Spider-Man as a major supporting character, and by the end of the year he was stunning cinema audiences in the fantastic Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as the primary protagonist. It's no surprise then that by 2020, with his brand so hot, Sony and Insomniac Games would cash in with a follow-up title to the hit PS4 game with Miles front and center. And for the most part, the game is what you'd expect it to be from that basic pitch: more of the same from 2018, only focusing on Miles' family, his new home of Harlem and its people, and his path to becoming a fully fledged hero in his own right. That's all fine, but here's the problem: all of it has been done better before, and recently to boot. Miles' story of personal growth and family drama was handled better in the Spider-Verse series, even though MSM:MM wisely walks chooses to walk some different beats along the way. "Superhero of Harlem" was done masterfully by Netflix with the Luke Cage series (the first season, at least) back in 2016, and MSM:MM doesn't even try to address any issues beyond the most surface level. And the "more of the same" gameplay?
Well, admittedly that's still pretty good. Web swinging is as fun as ever to the point that there's an XP challenge to web swing at high speed for a full cumulative hour of real time and I caught myself thinking, "Hmm, maybe..." There are fast travel points that unlock relatively early on, but the joy of traversal feels like the main point of the game, so why would you bother? Miles also gets some new Spidey moves related to his bio-electric powers, and these are really fun and impactful to pull off, such that "more of the same" isn't in this case a damning phrase. And yet, it's also distinctly not "more, but better." In order to emphasize your new powers, the goons you fight (now including women for the first time I can recall ever seeing in a superhero game like this) have upgraded their own abilities as well, which means the simple pleasure of chaining big combos is a bit diminished. Maybe this enemy just blocks all your basic attacks and stops you cold. Maybe this one turns the tables to dodge and counter you. Or maybe you're just constantly surrounded by a flood of dudes with guns and rocket launchers and you feel like you never get a chance to press "punch" without being thoroughly punished.
Now add to that the game's relatively brief length and general lack of meaningful activities compared to its predecessor, as well as its truly awful villains and the ho-hum plot that they service, and you've got a title that's decidedly a step back from what came before. Of course, what came before was excellent, so even a step back still lands you in territory that's quite fun to play around with. My 6-year-old summed it up best when he came downstairs to ask me a question one day and caught me playing: "Whoa...how are you Spider-Man?!" Which is to say that Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a game that really makes you feel like a wannabe Spider-Man who hasn't gotten it all figured out just yet. And I guess that's all right.
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Coming in June:

• I've had less time for PC gaming lately for a couple of different reasons, but I'm expecting that to be a temporary thing, and I don't think I'm in danger of failing to finish Mass Effect 3 by the end of June. I didn't realize the version of the game I had included all the DLC. Nor did I actually know what any of the DLC was. So I was quite a ways into the game and feeling great about my progress when I got suspicious that the section I was playing wasn't actually base game content. I looked it up and found that, in fact, about 90% of what I'd played to date was DLC and I'd barely actually started the base game itself. That explains why the main story was taking a while to get off the ground, at any rate.
• Speaking of getting off the ground, my journey through The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom began impatiently a few months after release, but I took an extended break from the game and have now spent pretty much all of May continuing my thorough trek through the game world. I'm well over 200 hours into the game and am only several days away from having explored the entirety of the game's map. At which point I believe I'll finally advance the main quest past its initial stage.
• In my review for Rogue Legacy 2 above I mentioned the Castlevania franchise, which I feel I can speak to as a whole given that I've finished nearly every game in the series to date. Unsurprisingly I felt most drawn to the metroidvania style games, so there was a layer of disappointment in exhausting the last of those to discover. Disappointment that will soon be temporarily eradicated when I boot up Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, produced by that same creative mind.
• And more...

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I had a decent relationship with my brother and dad for my whole life, until I became a SAHM. I have an advanced engineering degree and my license but it upsets them that my only contribution to society at this point is 'picking up my kids crayons'. When they call or visit, I listen to them talk the whole time about their traveling, job and hobbies (dad's retired), how stressful it is for them to manage their cleaning ladies/lawn mowing service/whatever it is. My brother told me he refuses to hire anyone for his startup that has a family because they won't be 100% focused on the company. I just sit and listen. If I send them a picture of my son it's ignored.
Now I'm pregnant with #2 and I feel as busy as we were in the newborn stage. We moved to a bigger house and have a big yard to manage, I clean the house myself, cook most meals... like most of the SAHP's I'm guessing. When my son takes his nap, I need to nap or clean. I don't want to spend my very limited free time on the phone listening to them complain and talk about themselves. I feel selfish because maybe they just need someone to talk to. But I'm now dreading their visits (infrequent as it is) and calls. They have no interest in my son and haven't asked about my pregnancy once (not a big deal bc they're men but it still feels weird).
Does anyone else feel this way? I feel bad and hate when people act too busy to make time for relaxing and stuff but I genuinely feel too busy at this point. I woke up early to cook breakfast and clean before my dad's visit, now the lawn while my husband is able to be with our toddler inside, and we have a laundry list of stuff to do before a birthday party later.
I love the life I'm living and wouldn't trade it. I think maybe it makes them uncomfortable seeing me just being a parent, and not making an income. I got really lucky and my husband makes a great salary and we just bought a nicer house in a great neighborhood. My parents divorced when I was born and there was never time for us, but were still upper middle class. I'm making friends who have a similar mindset as me so I don't think I'm crazy. But at the same time, even my sister, mom and grandma have told me I need to put my son (he's 1.5 btw) into daycare so I can go back to work 'for his benefit'.
Just a rant 😭

There are two main types of communists, and I don't like either.

1. Is the tankie LARP types with beards. Utterly disagreeable, unpleasant, condescending. Always trying to play up the fact that they're left wing but actually LOVE guns, which I guess we aren't supposed to expect.
2. The upper middle class communist types who have the easiest lifestyle in the history of working people but seem to be advocating for policies that A) hurt the rich, who they resent B) get them even more money even though they already have it good. They also have no real plan for working people who are stuggling except general notions of "you should form a union" and "you should get paid more". But they don't really like a lot of blue collar people personally and don't think they deserve to have it as good as they do. Also condescending people, and they only can live in cities for some reason.

There are communists that aren't like this, but that's the bulk of them.

What is Bhagwa Atheism ?

A hypocritical and privileged form of atheism that is critical against any religion (particularly Islam), but harbours sympathy for his religion in which they were born i.e. Hinduism.

Why is this sympathy?

The answer is simple ...casteism, we shall discuss this later on how this is deeply rooted in caste based privileges that facilitates such thinking. To understand this let me explain from my point of view:

According Marxism, in a feudalist/semi-feudalist/capitalist society there are two types of classes mostly, namely: the Bourgeois (the ruling class who controls the means of production and generates profit from the exploitation of working classes labour power) and The Workers (or Proletariats) (who do not own any means of production and has no power to purchase labour power of others, and they survive solely by selling their own labour power).
These classes emerge only at a certain stage in the development of the productive forces and the social division of labour, when there exists a social surplus of production, which makes it possible for one class to benefit by the expropriation of another. The conflict between classes there begins, founded in the division of the social surplus, and constitutes the fundamental antagonism in all class.

This holds true in case of several capitalist nations such as US, Canada, South Korea, etc. But however in case of India this classification becomes complicated due to yet another form of classification which effectively nullified any form of possible class conflict, 'Casteism'.

What is Casteism in Hinduism ?

Hindu Casteism (from material basis) is a form of hereditary class based on hierarchal order which ensures the flow the capital to the top most caste order and control over modes of production with the help of religious decrees itself.
It's a classification which sets 'permanent classes' based on their 'assigned' modes of production and their position within it's societal superstructures according to their hierarchy set by the 'permanent' ruling classes.
Once you take birth in one of these castes (hereditary classes), you'll be automatically assigned to the forces of production according to the 'order', which you'll do for the rest of your life.
Unlike Class, Casteism severally restricted upward mobility of people belonging to the lower strata of the Caste order, exception being a few handpicked intermediate 'gate keeping' castes loyal to this system. Who were sometimes rewarded by promotion, to become ruling classes itself.

So what changed this ?

Pre-arrival of British colonisation, caste and class were very much indistinguishable. Apart from ruling class there were hand picked bourgeois intermediate classes (vaishya) who were in direct service to the upper caste (sometimes the roles were reversed). The proletarian class (shudra and pariahs) were pretty much same as their european counterparts, lacked capital and hence no control over their means of production, in addition to that they also faced inhumane discrimination because of the caste in which they were born in. Thus were looked down upon as inferior subhumans.
This discriminatory system ensured poverty of the lower caste and prosperity of the top order, despite the lower caste comprising 90% of the population, as well as guaranteed cheap labour and exploitation of the working class 'caste'.
However with the introduction of colonial capitalism by Britishers the modes of production of old feudal order 'fused' with it to become a semi-industrial semi-feudal economy. This is when for the first time the European styled working classes began to take shape in India, parallel to hereditary classes that is casteism. This also introduced new bougeois classes within every community irrespective of their caste, but it's topic for another discussion.
Irrespective of the changes the older hereditary classes still affected this new order, those belonging to upper caste still had access to privileged jobs, better positions and capitals, hence were comparatively in better & prosperous position to that of those belonging to the lower strata of the older caste based order. With the introduction of 'English Education Act 1835' and later 'Macaulay Committee 1854' by Britishers, it further cemented caste order within this new colonial administration, ensuring the hierarchy of the upper caste and exploitation of oppressed castes.

Privileged classes and Caste blind class struggle

In words of Thomas Babington Macaulay:

"We (Britishers) should try to create a class of people, who would work as translators between the people who we are ruling and us, even though they may look like Indians by color; but their likes and dislikes, morals and thinking will be like an Englishman"

As, we can see the British were ok with the casteism as long as it ensured their hold and smooth management of their empire. Sure they helped abolishing the gut wrenching misogynistic practices such as 'Sati' but made almost zero effort to abolish caste system and untouchability (as this would mean they'll loose insubordination of intermediate 'gate keeping' classes that were in service to the British crown.
This new Intermediate urban classes had privileges to several rights within colonial administration in comparison to ordinary classes, however as we have mentioned earlier that with the introduction of colonial capitalism majority of castes further split into binary classes, economically forward and backward classes (note : this was only in case of upper and intermediate castes, majority of oppressed castes were still under poverty). The economically forward classes were infact the privileged classes and the economically backward classes began to fall in the borderline category between Upper-intermediate castes and Lower castes.
And this where 'caste blind' atheism, secularism, and socialism originates from. Who saw capitalism as well as colonialism as cruel system/occupation with respect to their material conditions but failed to emancipate and recognise inhumane treatment faced by those below their classes.
But does this mean that they were barred same as oppressed communities in upward mobility within this colonial capitalism?
No, They still had access to capitalist progress and upward mobility within the society. Simply put,

Casteism filtered oppressed castes from upward mobility within this new capitalist order while capitalism ensured that there will be limited progressiveness within the upper caste friendly circles.

So, whenever an economically backward class member transitioned into economically forward class they carried out his former progressive social ideas to their new found social position within society, while simultaneously giving up their resistance to capitalism. This new default ideology was known liberalism.
British colonial administration in India had many parallels with Apartheid system, but that is debate for another topic.

Consequences of Caste blindness in other '–isms'

With important positions still in access to powerful 'caste blind' and 'casteist' members of the society, they began to clash for power struggle. But they all had one commonality, they didn't gave up their caste identity.
During independence this power struggle began to materialise in two types of ideologies basically – 'caste blind' Leftism and 'meritocracy' based liberalism/conservativism but non of them were seriously against at each others throat as they were getting equal opportunities for their personal betterment.
But, what did the oppressed caste proletariats gain from this? Nothing.
They only got a chance at betterment when Dr. Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule, Savitri Bai Phule,etc began to make efforts at upliftment of them. However their efforts lacked anti-capitalist approach which emphasized less on capitalist oppression more on caste based emancipation. Which later proved detrimental in their efforts.

Modern day India and caste based wealth inequality

After the ( ½) implementation of Mandal Commission and Naxal Uprising, it began to perturb this harmonic 'clash' between conservatives and progressive left-liberal dynamics as it began to inject more and more political conciousness within the oppressed communities for reservations and political participation.
This is where the concept of savarna meritocracy, comes forth.

Illusion of Meritocracy

Meritocracy is a belief that affirmative actions results in positive results and vise versa in reality is a capitalist hypothesis, a fallacy which fuels the illusion that we are in a merit-based system.

Meritocracies tend to stratify over time. Successful people will pass on their wealth and privileges to their children and can perpetuate a widening inequality of opportunities. It can lead to the misplaced belief that only their talents and hard work account for their success, neglecting the support they have received. — Chan Chun Sing, Min. of Education, Singapore

This meritocratic illusion began to impose predetermined conditions which were biased and opaque on underprivileged candidates, missing to match their criterion in fixed amount of time means ruining of candidate's dreams. In other words it was an underhand tactics to filter out 'representation based/unfavourable candidates' and simply stereotyping them as 'unworthy', disregarding the unequal support the competing candidates got due to their material conditions and pretends that they 'reward the best of the best,' also overlooking the possibility of discrimination faced by oppressed caste students at hands of Upper caste dominant faculties.

After 1960 more and more population of the United States spent more than one-fourth of their entire lifetime in schools, from ages two to twenty-two. As on so many other levels and ways of mass democracy, inflation had set in, diminishing drastically the content and the quality of learning: more and more young people, after twenty years in schools, could not read or write without difficulty. Schools are overcrowded, including colleges and universities. In this increasingly bureaucratized world little more than the possession of various diplomas mattered. Since admission to certain schools-rather than the consequently almost automatic acquisition of degrees-depended on increasingly competitive examinations, the word “ meritocracy“ was coined, meaning that the rising positions to be acquired in society depended on the category of the degree and on the category of the college or university where from one graduate. In reality the term “meritocracy“ was misleading. As in so many of these spheres of life, the rules that govern the practices and functions of schools and universities were bureaucratic rather than meritocratic. It is bureaucracy, not meritocracy, the categorizes the employment of people by their academic degrees. The number and the variation of degrees awarded by higher institutions grew to a fantastic, and nonsensical, extent. Besides being custodial, the purpose of institutional education was now the granting of degrees to provide instant employment. – John Lukacs (At the End of an Age)

Final Conclusion

Provided all factors what we can conclude that Bhagwa Atheism, is form of Hindu upper caste exceptionalism (Agonistic Atheism) which believes in:
•the illusionary meritocracy that their material conditions is due to the (upper) caste in which they were born in.
•hating all religious dogma belonging to all faiths (including hinduism) but still hold dear to their caste based identity, hence the sympathy for hinduism.
•merit based order, refuses to acknowledge caste discrimination and caste wealth gap, sees it as inherited inability.
•convenient switching between Atheism and minimal Hinduism.
•convenient switching between liberalism and conservativism.
Thus, it's a type of agonistic atheism which does more & more damage to gnostic atheist beliefs and their critical thinking potential, making them more and more susceptible towards theism. In case of ex-hindus it's hinduism.

Ok, so for context, my (49M) sister (51F) has a 22-year-old son. My nephew's dad and my sister were not married, only dating, and they broke up after your nephew was born. Now your nephew's dad is a very wealthy man and was able to provide your nephew and his other kids with a very lavish lifestyle. My nephew grew up very rich. He went to a very expensive private school, always had very expensive designer clothes from head to toe, had a chauffeur, was well traveled, et cetera. My nephew's dad paid $20,000 a month in child support and while this might seem like a lot, my nephew's father is very wealthy and this wasn't much for him. This gave my sister a comfortable life after my nephew was born.
My sister remarried and her husband quit his job to live off my sister's child support since it was enough to support them and their new family but they were very irresponsible with their money, always blowing it on stuff, not saving and investing, and my sister always had a problem with my nephew's life. I love my nephew. He's a very humble young man and I'm so happy that he never had to stuggle and that he's lived an extremely privileged life (especially since we are people of color) and he will never have to stuggle but he is very spoiled and out of touch.
Like I said, he's basically a spoiled rich kid, a trust fund baby (which on the surface isn't bad), but my sister had a problem with it. She didn't like the fact that he went to an extremely expensive private school and that all his friends came from very wealthy families. She didn't like his designer clothes or his lavish lifestyle. When my nephew turned 18, he stopped seeing his mother, went to an expensive college for rich kids and basically had no contact with his mom. My sister also doesn't like my nephew's girlfriend (27F), who also comes from an extremely wealthy family, and my sister doesn't like her for this reason; she wanted him to date a girl who came from a lower-class, working-class, or middle-class background, not an upper-class one. After my nephew turned 18, he went without contact with his mom, and this was very bad for my sister. Remember how I said she was very irresponsible with the money?
Well, since she's not getting child support anymore, they were beginning to really struggle financially, and they ran out of all the money and my nephew's dad won't financially support her anymore. My sister and her husband have teen sons. My sister feels like her son should financially support them and his teen brothers. Like I said, my nephew has a very large trust fund and could easily support his mom and their family, but he chooses not to. I don't agree with this at all.
What did Uncle Ben say? "With great power comes great responsibility." My nephew was born to an extremely wealthy man, which obviously makes him very wealthy. By association, my nephew lives a very privileged lifestyle and has a lot of money and power. With that power comes great responsibility, and that responsibility is using that money to take care of his family.
He has the power to financially support his mother, his stepfather, and his stepbrothers, and because he has that power, he has a moral obligation to help them. I'm not going to sit here and defend my sister and act like she was the greatest person. She didn't like her ex-boyfriends and her son's lavish, wealthy lifestyle, but at the same time, she was more than willing to live off them and the very large child support because they were irresponsible with the money. They are in trouble but that doesn't change the fact that my nephew should help her. What do you think?
TLDR: My (49M) nephew (22M) won’t help his mother (51F) What should I do?

Ok, so for context, my (49M) sister (51F) has a 22-year-old son. My nephew's dad and my sister were not married, only dating, and they broke up after your nephew was born. Now your nephew's dad is a very wealthy man and was able to provide your nephew and his other kids with a very lavish lifestyle. My nephew grew up very rich. He went to a very expensive private school, always had very expensive designer clothes from head to toe, had a chauffeur, was well traveled, et cetera. My nephew's dad paid $20,000 a month in child support and while this might seem like a lot, my nephew's father is very wealthy and this wasn't much for him. This gave my sister a comfortable life after my nephew was born.
My sister remarried and her husband quit his job to live off my sister's child support since it was enough to support them and their new family but they were very irresponsible with their money, always blowing it on stuff, not saving and investing, and my sister always had a problem with my nephew's life. I love my nephew. He's a very humble young man and I'm so happy that he never had to stuggle and that he's lived an extremely privileged life (especially since we are people of color) and he will never have to stuggle but he is very spoiled and out of touch.
Like I said, he's basically a spoiled rich kid, a trust fund baby (which on the surface isn't bad), but my sister had a problem with it. She didn't like the fact that he went to an extremely expensive private school and that all his friends came from very wealthy families. She didn't like his designer clothes or his lavish lifestyle. When my nephew turned 18, he stopped seeing his mother, went to an expensive college for rich kids and basically had no contact with his mom. My sister also doesn't like my nephew's girlfriend (27F), who also comes from an extremely wealthy family, and my sister doesn't like her for this reason; she wanted him to date a girl who came from a lower-class, working-class, or middle-class background, not an upper-class one. After my nephew turned 18, he went without contact with his mom, and this was very bad for my sister. Remember how I said she was very irresponsible with the money?
Well, since she's not getting child support anymore, they were beginning to really struggle financially, and they ran out of all the money and my nephew's dad won't financially support her anymore. My sister and her husband have teen sons. My sister feels like her son should financially support them and his teen brothers. Like I said, my nephew has a very large trust fund and could easily support his mom and their family, but he chooses not to. I don't agree with this at all.
What did Uncle Ben say? "With great power comes great responsibility." My nephew was born to an extremely wealthy man, which obviously makes him very wealthy. By association, my nephew lives a very privileged lifestyle and has a lot of money and power. With that power comes great responsibility, and that responsibility is using that money to take care of his family.
He has the power to financially support his mother, his stepfather, and his stepbrothers, and because he has that power, he has a moral obligation to help them. I'm not going to sit here and defend my sister and act like she was the greatest person. She didn't like her ex-boyfriends and her son's lavish, wealthy lifestyle, but at the same time, she was more than willing to live off them and the very large child support because they were irresponsible with the money. They are in trouble but that doesn't change the fact that my nephew should help her. What do you think?

Ok, so for context, my (49M) sister (51F) has a 22-year-old son. My nephew's dad and my sister were not married, only dating, and they broke up after your nephew was born. Now your nephew's dad is a very wealthy man and was able to provide your nephew and his other kids with a very lavish lifestyle. My nephew grew up very rich. He went to a very expensive private school, always had very expensive designer clothes from head to toe, had a chauffeur, was well traveled, et cetera. My nephew's dad paid $20,000 a month in child support and while this might seem like a lot, my nephew's father is very wealthy and this wasn't much for him. This gave my sister a comfortable life after my nephew was born.
My sister remarried and her husband quit his job to live off my sister's child support since it was enough to support them and their new family but they were very irresponsible with their money, always blowing it on stuff, not saving and investing, and my sister always had a problem with my nephew's life. I love my nephew. He's a very humble young man and I'm so happy that he never had to stuggle and that he's lived an extremely privileged life (especially since we are people of color) and he will never have to stuggle but he is very spoiled and out of touch.
Like I said, he's basically a spoiled rich kid, a trust fund baby (which on the surface isn't bad), but my sister had a problem with it. She didn't like the fact that he went to an extremely expensive private school and that all his friends came from very wealthy families. She didn't like his designer clothes or his lavish lifestyle. When my nephew turned 18, he stopped seeing his mother, went to an expensive college for rich kids and basically had no contact with his mom. My sister also doesn't like my nephew's girlfriend (27F), who also comes from an extremely wealthy family, and my sister doesn't like her for this reason; she wanted him to date a girl who came from a lower-class, working-class, or middle-class background, not an upper-class one. After my nephew turned 18, he went without contact with his mom, and this was very bad for my sister. Remember how I said she was very irresponsible with the money?
Well, since she's not getting child support anymore, they were beginning to really struggle financially, and they ran out of all the money and my nephew's dad won't financially support her anymore. My sister and her husband have teen sons. My sister feels like her son should financially support them and his teen brothers. Like I said, my nephew has a very large trust fund and could easily support his mom and their family, but he chooses not to. I don't agree with this at all.
What did Uncle Ben say? "With great power comes great responsibility." My nephew was born to an extremely wealthy man, which obviously makes him very wealthy. By association, my nephew lives a very privileged lifestyle and has a lot of money and power. With that power comes great responsibility, and that responsibility is using that money to take care of his family.
He has the power to financially support his mother, his stepfather, and his stepbrothers, and because he has that power, he has a moral obligation to help them. I'm not going to sit here and defend my sister and act like she was the greatest person. She didn't like her ex-boyfriends and her son's lavish, wealthy lifestyle, but at the same time, she was more than willing to live off them and the very large child support because they were irresponsible with the money. They are in trouble but that doesn't change the fact that my nephew should help her. What do you think?

Ok, so for context, my (49M) sister (51F) has a 22-year-old son. My nephew's dad and my sister were not married, only dating, and they broke up after your nephew was born. Now your nephew's dad is a very wealthy man and was able to provide your nephew and his other kids with a very lavish lifestyle. My nephew grew up very rich. He went to a very expensive private school, always had very expensive designer clothes from head to toe, had a chauffeur, was well traveled, et cetera. My nephew's dad paid $20,000 a month in child support and while this might seem like a lot, my nephew's father is very wealthy and this wasn't much for him. This gave my sister a comfortable life after my nephew was born.
My sister remarried and her husband quit his job to live off my sister's child support since it was enough to support them and their new family but they were very irresponsible with their money, always blowing it on stuff, not saving and investing, and my sister always had a problem with my nephew's life. I love my nephew. He's a very humble young man and I'm so happy that he never had to stuggle and that he's lived an extremely privileged life (especially since we are people of color) and he will never have to stuggle but he is very spoiled and out of touch.
Like I said, he's basically a spoiled rich kid, a trust fund baby (which on the surface isn't bad), but my sister had a problem with it. She didn't like the fact that he went to an extremely expensive private school and that all his friends came from very wealthy families. She didn't like his designer clothes or his lavish lifestyle. When my nephew turned 18, he stopped seeing his mother, went to an expensive college for rich kids and basically had no contact with his mom. My sister also doesn't like my nephew's girlfriend (27F), who also comes from an extremely wealthy family, and my sister doesn't like her for this reason; she wanted him to date a girl who came from a lower-class, working-class, or middle-class background, not an upper-class one. After my nephew turned 18, he went without contact with his mom, and this was very bad for my sister. Remember how I said she was very irresponsible with the money?
Well, since she's not getting child support anymore, they were beginning to really struggle financially, and they ran out of all the money and my nephew's dad won't financially support her anymore. My sister and her husband have teen sons. My sister feels like her son should financially support them and his teen brothers. Like I said, my nephew has a very large trust fund and could easily support his mom and their family, but he chooses not to. I don't agree with this at all.
What did Uncle Ben say? "With great power comes great responsibility." My nephew was born to an extremely wealthy man, which obviously makes him very wealthy. By association, my nephew lives a very privileged lifestyle and has a lot of money and power. With that power comes great responsibility, and that responsibility is using that money to take care of his family.
He has the power to financially support his mother, his stepfather, and his stepbrothers, and because he has that power, he has a moral obligation to help them. I'm not going to sit here and defend my sister and act like she was the greatest person. She didn't like her ex-boyfriends and her son's lavish, wealthy lifestyle, but at the same time, she was more than willing to live off them and the very large child support because they were irresponsible with the money. They are in trouble but that doesn't change the fact that my nephew should help her. What do you think?

Edit: The downvotes have begun but hopefully that means people are reading till the end too. Will have to try the BridgertonRants sub as that seems more accepting of discussions and debates. : )
Would super appreciate it if everyone reads this long-ass thesis of a post with an open mind and to the end...its me being vulnerable in an anonymous reddit sub because i think these things matter in the larger framework of a uniquely special show and the big, bright, beautiful, multicultural gorgeous world we all as humans live in. My last post in this sub was downvoted to hell which btw totally ok...and i dont depend on reddit currency for my livelihood so its all good. I just care about my posts being read...specially this one.
Some context:
I'm very new to this community and reddit as well. Currently have time off work and going ham on reddit and venturing very scared into the deep dark of world of rabid fandoms and small niche communities. Getting a little burnt along the way but also learning from some super talented fans with their own eye-opening ideas and funny posts. Fans of all kinds, Im peeping into profiles, so white, black, brown multicolored rainbow of the world right here.
I'm also an aspiring writer and well...some of my best ideas have come from reddit lurking on cool and active subs with bridgerton sub being new for me. Jet lagged, anxious and just a tad bit antsy, I'm trying to go down and deep and maybe open some deeper discussions here.
I am Indian and lived primarily in India my whole life and now for the last 10 years between London and Canada (why am I sharing all this like and am I also going to tell you my weight, my height etc too...No but hopefully you'll understand this revelation as you read ahead without me spelling it out)
So I've been trying to figure out why fan wars as they pertain to this show prick so personally, so particularly.
I think fandoms anywhere in every country are full of insane people, obsessive chronically online people who find comfort through living through their faves..your beyonce stans, your rihanna stans, your Taylor Swift stans, your harry styles stans, your k pop stans, etc etc..
This show also has some rabid fans..But there is a conversation I want to open up only because I think it's important...Is fighting extra hard for your poc fave because you know their representation in pop culture is limited, their getting jobs is limited, subconscious biases exist even though we have been making great strides and even eradicated overt biases in employment, in accessibility, in government service etc etc ..and their culture not as dominant, their worlds not as seen or coveted.
Our ideas of beauty are framed by the extensiveness and longevity of colonial rule across the world.
there are shit people across all ethnicities religions and genders and nationalities. Barbarians, conquerors, invaders, pillaging villages raping women destroying livelihoods suppressing the peasant class, mutilating and diluting cultures- exist in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, East asia, middle East etc so not just Britain. Basically being brown, black or East Asian and Middle Eastern doesnt grant you moral superiority over white people and you can be racist and casteist and colorist and bigoted and biased and just all around shitty and criminal as a black, brown, east asian middle eastern etc etc person just as much as white people.
So now that thats settled, lets look at specific issues that POC only face because that eventually streams into the show and its politics and its discussion as well.
But for whatever reason ...the British were able to colonize on a scale that the other countries and ethnicities were not able to.. African and the Indian subcontinent's conquests and invasions were limited in area and time period...their scale of conquest limited to a small radius around their own countries...and not foreign lands travelled via sea etc.
As a result and only as a result and not because and I cannot emphasize enough that black, brown or east asian invaders, rulers etc were morally superior, kinder, less assholes...the culture that became dominant was white british culture..or european culture...if Indians had conquered the world, they would have imposed their culture on the lands and countries they invaded, if different African countries invaded the world to the extent of the british colonists, same thing...the dominant culture that would have been forcibly imposed by the people of african ethnicity would be their culture... Black skin would have been considered beautiful, white fair skin would not have been the standard....thats history....thats something we know to be true even through modern wars...the victor dictates...But that simply didnt happen.
it's not because t Africans or Asians or basically non white people are morally superior, more virtuous, incapable of terrorist acts or colonizing or I don't know were like we don't invade and conquest, we so good. But because that's history. They just didn't manage it. thats simply our current historical reality.
Being that the country or countries that did manage to conquer the world or close to 9/10ths of it were Europeans or more specifically British white nationals..which means as would happen even if another nationality had managed to invade the world, the culture that is dominant across the world is a west/white slanted world..
Colorism as a concept didnt exist until colonization: Why would it? If everyone existed under the same harsh sun, had the same skin color with minor variances...why would they think fair is more beautiful. Its because they wouldnt...the first blond haired blue eyed people would have been introduced to India via early traders of east india company in India and dutch colonists before them...Its like if everyone around you is brown, you assume thats just how everyone else looks like...thats the only reality you know...you simply havent seen anyone look any different..you havent seen blue eyes or anything else....same for africans and within that framework as humans are wont to do you create ideas of beauty.
So yes. POCs across the globe had just as arbitrary ideas of beauty as white people (chiense mutilated young women feet cuz small feet more beautiful, in africa genital mutiliation) because humans are humans and humans mess everything up...and animals are so much better...but color as a construct is a colonial one and one which managed to find deeep deep roots because of the extent of the rule, the sheer longevity, For context, India has been independent for the last 75 years..from over 200 years of colonial british rule...Not even the length of the life of a single human. Not even as long as Britains former queen was alive. It will take some more time for that in fighting and ideas of colorism deeply penetrated from the inheritance of our rulers to get dismanted...and totally thrown own...because you can freee from literall bondage more easily, the mind takes longer to adjust and form independent thought. But it will happen.
White people are not more or less racist than POC. Thats not a thing. There are shit people and you can find shit people anywhere...I have shit people right in my own home country, bigots, destroying the diversity of India by bullshit tactics...
But as it stands...because this cultural superiority of British and white people took over, the framing of beauty, of whats fashionable, of whats cool, of whats civilized is all seen through the lens of white culture...eating with hands which many cultures across the world do uncivilized unhygienic, paris fashions and made in italy...mark of excellence...made in India and China...cheap, low quality, scammers and shit people, (thats not to say shit people and scammers dont exist in India and China and there arent industries of scammers across these poorer nations but there is also denying the equisite craftasmanship across fashion and beauty in both countries-China and India.
Brown skin bad, even darker skin even bad etc etc...We wear clothes that our colonial masters did across the world, you wont find people in china wearing Chinese clothes, same for India, african countries etc...everything from clothing, to beauty, to furniture, to houses everything indigenous was changed to a foreign ideal from our rulers. The same would have happened whoever whichever ethnicity had invaded the world...like i said above..
Now and thanks for reading whoever read till here and I hope a lot of people did-on to to the show...
There is this frequent refrain and accusation of oppression olympics that I read about when it comes to this show, in general online discourse and also this insanely disgusting article fat shaming Nicola Coughlan in The Spectator.
And i really really want to open up this conversation...cuz race gets discussed a lot on this sub and other bridgerton subs and therefore a perfect place to have that conversation...Do Non-POC really believe in the concept of oppression olympics and that all kinds of biases are equally treacherous to navigate?
So I was overweight in my teens...I had a close friend who was wheelchair bound. my life was hard and I was bullied but surely surely I do not think that my plight was the same as my friend in a wheelchair...In class 10th, a close friend's father passed away, the same year my grandmother passed away, surely, surely, I dont think we are experiencing the same pain the same setback to our life...Class 10th in India is akin to A levels in Britain and SAT in the USA..
You know why I didnt think any of this and why if I had i was wrong, because there is a hierarchy to opression, .to loss, to struggles. There simply is. Opression Olympics is rooted in reality.
Pain is pain, loss and bad foundations suck ass...but privilege is a thing and some pains some loads just lighter compared to others. I could lose weight and get over the oppression I was facing because of my weight in school. My wheelchair bound friend didnt have that option..I wouldnt get my grandmother back...but my fathers loss would have a more immediate affect on my life and my friend who lost her father and her loss was just simply deeper. She needed more support, more help, more people crowding around her saying you've got this Niharika..well make sure your life doesnt change permanently cuz youlve lost your dad.
So when show fandom compare Jonathon Baileys struggle to Rege Jean George or say Victor Ali, they are simply pointing out that yes while Jonathon Bailey is gay...there is a difference between being white and gay and being black and gay or simply harder being black. And therefore there is a hierarchy. Why POC are less loath to crticize the average acting of their POC faves because they know the opportunities for them are limited. Lets do an exercise name 5 shows led by a POC in the USA or Britain or Canada-any POC..brown, black i dont care. And im not talking about black or brown actors in a show or film, im talking leads...
Also biases are self perpetuating....When black or brown led films fail, the opportunities immediately dry up because it shows that its just fairness and the numbers dont lie..Except this is not maths.....Maths would be first making equal amount of shows starring black or brown people, and then comparing...Now if the end result is white led shows do better-that would be correct math...but ratios and comparisons and statistics need to first start with an even scale...thats not even me taking about diversity...thats just math formulas...
If lets say there are 500 actors who are white in hollywood and 200 who are Black in hollywood, and lets say all 200 black actors are shit...would you say the statement...god white actors are so much better than black actors...no cuz the maths is not adding up...you compared 500 actors who were white of which 300 were excellent 200 bad and you made that into the conclusion that white actors are better because you were comparing only with 200 black actors to begin with...the actual math formula yieled equal number of bad and good actors..
Why people defend Kanthony harder...or wanted Simone Ashley to be promoted as much as Polin is because (lets go with my Math analogy again) all things being the same) unless Nicola and Luke are really bad actors compared to Simone Ashley, theyll still have it easier in acting...they simply will. they wont have to change their confusingly, long foreign sounding name, they wont have to work at assimilation in other ways, lets say they were muslim they wouldnt have been trying hard to sell themselves as Im just as liberal as you, im not a threat. And I love Luke Newton and Nicola Coughland-both seem like throughly, likable, personable, kind hearted beans..
Now my own experience. I have stated in an earlier post on this sub that I'm a Shonda Rhimes fan...because I have personally benefitted from the diversity she has included so naturally, so elegantly in all her shows. My own ideas of beauty, have been tested and transformed. In fact I know exactly the moment it happened...watching Christina Yang as a 14 year old...and thinking god meredith is so beautiful and I want to see more of HER and Izzie but then seeing christina again and again and again over each episode over hundreds of hours of binging, school, college, masters, big move outside India, my own constant this show..my brain was soft mushy and impressionable and christina yang, korean Sandra Oh became suddenly but actually slowly and then all at once became beautiful to me...I dont know when it happened but like the book Colin telling Penelope I dont know when or how and why others dont see it but you ARE beautiful in the book carriage scene. I found her hot, I found her cool. I cared to learn more about her Korean mother and her Jewish father and it didnt matter that the show never covered that culture..Christina was atheist and could handle her shit..even around racists.. But I still wanted to learn more about HER..a woman I simply didnt think was beautiful comparable to meredith and Izzie..me an impressionable 14 year old..just made that turn because of a show.,..a fluffy...not that deep soapy as hell show.
But it was only possible cuz I saw 24 episodes day in day out,...over many many years....for that to happen. I had many more years of falling asleep to dawsons creek joey and dawson, joey and pacey, gilmore girls rory and jess rory and dean rory and logan..i imagined and dreamt of windswept Mr. Darcy...and of course I luckily had my own countrys pop culture cuz I grew up and lived in a country where I was repped plenty eveywhere... So i found bollwood heroes hot and I found White americans or british people hot...my brain simply didnt have a framework for East Asians hot. And I needed to seem them constantly and frequentlyn and in Hot front and center, desirable covetable-their culture, their families all respected, admired again and again and again over many years for that switch to happen.
So why do we fight for our POV faves.. fight hard (some fight really ugly too which....they are not my people ( as in I dont know them) so sorry for that)....because we know how much more repping they need...we know how much MORE MORE MORE important it is to see POC culture done right...because it simply is not accessible,...cannot be to people outside..
K POP is making waves super..., people love themselves some MANGA and kimchi...so good and progress...but a lot of countries pop culture is in the native tongue...people outside of it cannot access it...in the same way one would English language content-books, podcasts, news, films, shows etc etc. And hollywood does our culture wrong, played up for laughs, stinky curry, stinky indians, scamming Indians, uncivilized heathens, oh so funny that Sofia Vergara and her funny accent (The Ellen Show), niche shows that dont become popular behemoths because it stars all ethnic casts-Fresh Off the Boat.
You simply will not understand how brilliant and gorgeous my country's embroideries, temple art, clothing and fashion, actors and sculptors, museums and writing and authors are...not because YOU are racist..but because you dont speak-my language and my culture isnt dominant or wide spread enough-insert again-my above explanation of colonialism and dominant and suppressed cultures. History made one culture the most widespread...again not because white people = bad and racist...brown and black people = good and not racist and benevolent..but because some people simply were the victors...for centuries...plural.
We want to fight harder for Rege and defend him leaving the show (im not even black but when you live outside of your home country, all POC seem like a united underrepresented group and you find kinship everywhere) because any potential cancellation or quote unquote unlikeability and hes difficult accusations would hurt him far far more than Nicola Coughlan, Luke Thompson, Newton, Phoebe etc. for the same "crimes" And there just arent enough of us to begin with to lose even one. For what is quite honestly a mid Netflix show with seeds of promise but a lack of ambition.

2024 T20 Blast Off
T20 Blast Off is a double header of Blast matches at Edgebaston, bookending the Blast season with Finals Day at the same location in September. Why the tournament launch event is happening on Day 3 of the tournament when all four teams involved have already played a game, is anyone's guess.
Live Video: Today's matches are on Sky Sports Cricket, so there will be no free video streams. If you are outside the UK, check the listings of whichever broadcaster normally airs cricket in England.
Live Radio Streams: Ball-by-ball radio coverage of every County match, and selected Women's regional matches, is provided by BBC Local Radio. The radio streams are found on the BBC Live Text Commentary Page for the day and are accessible worldwide.
Double Header at Edgbaston - Weather Forecast
14:30 - Derbyshire vs Leicestershire - Scorecard
18:30 - Warwickshire vs Nottinghamshire - Scorecard
North Group Standings:

Pos	Team	Played	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Net RR	Points
1	Northamptonshire	2	2	0	0	0	+1.700	4
2	Leicestershire	1	1	0	0	0	+3.391	2
3	Lancashire	2	1	1	0	0	+2.497	2
4	Warwickshire	1	1	0	0	0	+1.445	2
5	Yorkshire	2	1	1	0	0	+0.560	2
6	Worcestershire	2	1	1	0	0	-1.710	2
7	Derbyshire	1	0	1	0	0	-0.050	0
8	Durham	2	0	2	0	0	-3.090	0
9	Nottinghamshire	1	0	1	0	0	-4.075	0

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PPV UFC 02: Ufc 302: prelims // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:00am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:00pm
PPV UFC 03: Ufc 302: makhachev vs poirier // UK Sun 2 Jun 2:00am // ET Sat 1 Jun 9:00pm
PPV UFC 04: Ufc 302: postfight press conference // UK Sun 2 Jun 5:15am // ET Sun 2 Jun 12:15am
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== PPV MOLA PACK ===
PPV MOLA EVENT 00 : DP World Tour - European Open - Final Round start:2024-06-02 11:20:00 stop:2024-06-02 18:40:00
PPV MOLA EVENT 01 : 2024 U.S. Womens Open - Round 3 start:2024-06-01 18:00:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:10:00
PPV MOLA EVENT 02 : PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS - Principal Charity Classic - Round 2 start:2024-06-02 00:00:00 stop:2024-06-02 05:10:00
PPV MOLA EVENT 03 : UFC 302: Makhachev vs Poirier start:2024-06-02 00:50:00 stop:2024-06-02 11:10:00
PPV MOLA EVENT 04 : 2024 Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Finals - Game 6 : New York Rangers at Florida Panthers start:2024-06-02 01:00:00 stop:2024-06-02 06:10:00
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== PPV SETANTA PACK ===
PPV SETANTA EVENT 01 : Borussia Dortmund - Real Madrid start:2024-06-01 19:55:00 stop:2024-06-01 22:00:00
PPV SETANTA EVENT 01 : UFC 302: Makhachev vs. Poirier - Prelims start:2024-06-02 00:55:00 stop:2024-06-02 03:00:00
PPV SETANTA EVENT 02 : Florida Panthers - New York Rangers start:2024-06-02 00:55:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:00:00
PPV SETANTA EVENT 03 : UFC 302: Makhachev vs. Poirier - Main Card start:2024-06-02 02:55:00 stop:2024-06-02 06:00:00
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== PPV FLO RUGBY PACK ===
PPV FLO RUGBY 00 : 2024 Western Force vs Brumbies Rugby start:2024-06-01 10:30:00 stop:2024-06-01 14:30:00
PPV FLO RUGBY 00 : 2024 Scarlets vs Dragons start:2024-06-01 15:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 19:00:00
PPV FLO RUGBY 01 : 2024 Blues vs Chiefs start:2024-06-01 08:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 12:00:00
PPV FLO RUGBY 01 : 2024 DHL Stormers vs Emirates Lions start:2024-06-01 12:45:00 stop:2024-06-01 16:45:00
PPV FLO RUGBY 01 : 2024 Munster Rugby vs Ulster Rugby start:2024-06-01 17:15:00 stop:2024-06-01 21:15:00
PPV FLO RUGBY 02 : 2024 Benetton Rugby vs Edinburgh Rugby start:2024-06-01 13:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 17:00:00
PPV FLO RUGBY 02 : 2024 Cardiff vs Ospreys Rugby start:2024-06-01 17:30:00 stop:2024-06-01 21:30:00
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
PPV FLO RUGBY 03 : 2024 Racing 92 vs Section Paloise start:2024-06-01 14:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 18:00:00
PPV FLO RUGBY 04 : 2024 Sharks vs Blue Bulls start:2024-06-01 15:10:00 stop:2024-06-01 19:10:00
PPV FLO RUGBY 05 : 2024 Perpignan vs Union Bordeaux Begles start:2024-06-01 16:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 20:00:00
PPV FLO RUGBY 06 : 2024 Oyonnax Rugby vs Aviron Bayonnais start:2024-06-01 16:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 20:00:00
PPV FLO RUGBY 07 : 2024 Castres Olympique vs Stade Francais start:2024-06-01 16:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 20:00:00
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== PPV FLO SPORTS PACK ===
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 00 : FloWrestling Radio Live start:2024-06-03 17:00:00 stop:2024-06-03 21:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 01 : FloRacing 24/7 start:2024-05-26 10:00:00 stop:2024-11-24 06:59:59
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 02 : 2024 CIAC Outdoor Championships start:2024-06-03 20:00:00 stop:2024-06-04 00:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 03 : 2024 KHSAA Outdoor Championships start:2024-06-01 15:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 19:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 03 : 2024 MWDRS Flying H Summer Smackdown start:2024-06-02 00:00:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 03 : 2024 Morehead City Marlins vs Peninsula Pilots start:2024-06-02 04:30:00 stop:2024-06-02 08:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 04 : 2024 World Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship start:2024-06-01 18:30:00 stop:2024-06-01 22:30:00
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 04 : 2024 USAC Corn Belt Clash at Knoxville Raceway start:2024-06-02 01:10:00 stop:2024-06-02 05:10:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 05 : 2024 OHSAA Outdoor Championships start:2024-06-01 16:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 20:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 05 : 2024 Constitution Futures (G) vs Freedom Futures (G) start:2024-06-01 20:30:00 stop:2024-06-02 00:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 05 : 2024 New Jersey Jackals vs Sussex County Miners start:2024-06-02 00:35:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:35:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 06 : 2024 U23 Nationals and U20 World Team Trials (Mens) start:2024-06-01 15:30:00 stop:2024-06-01 19:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 06 : 2024 Team Independence (G) vs Team Constitution (G) start:2024-06-01 21:00:00 stop:2024-06-02 01:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 06 : 2024 Lake Erie Crushers vs Joliet Slammers start:2024-06-02 01:05:00 stop:2024-06-02 05:05:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 07 : 2024 WIAA Outdoor Championships start:2024-06-01 17:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 21:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 07 : 2024 NASCAR Weekly Racing at Riverhead Raceway start:2024-06-01 22:30:00 stop:2024-06-02 02:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 07 : 2024 Boise Hawks vs Billings Mustangs start:2024-06-02 02:35:00 stop:2024-06-02 06:35:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 08 : 2024 VHSL Outdoor Championships Class 5-6 start:2024-06-01 14:30:00 stop:2024-06-01 18:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 08 : 2024 Gastonia Baseball Club vs Staten Island FerryHawks start:2024-06-01 19:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 23:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 08 : 2024 NASCAR Canada Series at Autodrome Chaudiere start:2024-06-01 23:15:00 stop:2024-06-02 03:15:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 09 : 2024 VHSL Outdoor Championships Class 3-4 start:2024-06-01 14:30:00 stop:2024-06-01 18:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 09 : 2024 CARS Tour at Langley Speedway start:2024-06-01 22:45:00 stop:2024-06-02 02:45:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 09 : 2024 Brooks Bandits vs Surrey Eagles start:2024-06-02 03:00:00 stop:2024-06-02 07:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 10 : 2024 VHSL Outdoor Championships Class 1-2 start:2024-06-01 15:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 19:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 10 : 2024 Ramsey (Squirt) vs Marauders (Squirt) start:2024-06-01 22:45:00 stop:2024-06-02 02:45:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 10 : 2024 Great Falls Voyagers vs Glacier Range Riders start:2024-06-02 03:05:00 stop:2024-06-02 07:05:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 11 : 2024 Southern Plains Regional Championships start:2024-06-01 16:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 20:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 11 : 2024 NASCAR Youth Series at Metro St Louis Quarter Midget Association start:2024-06-01 23:00:00 stop:2024-06-02 03:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 12 : 2024 Western Force vs Brumbies Rugby start:2024-06-01 11:30:00 stop:2024-06-01 15:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 12 : 2024 Scarlets vs Dragons start:2024-06-01 16:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 20:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 12 : 2024 ISMA/MSS Supermodifieds at Oswego Speedway start:2024-06-01 23:00:00 stop:2024-06-02 03:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 13 : 2024 Blues vs Chiefs start:2024-06-01 09:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 13:00:00
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 13 : 2024 DHL Stormers vs Emirates Lions start:2024-06-01 13:45:00 stop:2024-06-01 17:45:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 13 : 2024 Munster Rugby vs Ulster Rugby start:2024-06-01 18:15:00 stop:2024-06-01 22:15:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 13 : 2024 Weekly Racing at Fonda Speedway start:2024-06-01 23:30:00 stop:2024-06-02 03:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 14 : 2024 Stockholm Marathon start:2024-06-01 11:50:00 stop:2024-06-01 15:50:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 14 : 2024 Sharks vs Blue Bulls start:2024-06-01 16:10:00 stop:2024-06-01 20:10:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 14 : 2024 Team William Penn (G) vs Team Ben Franklin (G) start:2024-06-01 23:30:00 stop:2024-06-02 03:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 15 : 2024 Benetton Rugby vs Edinburgh Rugby start:2024-06-01 14:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 18:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 15 : 2024 Cardiff vs Ospreys Rugby start:2024-06-01 18:30:00 stop:2024-06-01 22:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 15 : 2024 NASCAR Weekly Racing at Jennerstown Speedway start:2024-06-01 23:50:00 stop:2024-06-02 03:50:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 16 : 2024 Spartan Nationals start:2024-06-01 14:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 18:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 16 : 2024 NASCAR Weekly Racing at Berlin Raceway start:2024-06-02 00:00:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 17 : 2024 Racing 92 vs Section Paloise start:2024-06-01 15:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 19:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 17 : 2024 Windy City Thunderbolts vs Ottawa Titans start:2024-06-02 00:00:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 18 : 2024 Freedom Futures (G) vs Constitution Futures (G) start:2024-06-01 15:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 19:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 18 : 2024 USAC Western States Midgets at Ventura Raceway start:2024-06-02 00:00:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 19 : 2024 Dwars door het Hageland (Exterioo Cycling Cup) start:2024-06-01 15:15:00 stop:2024-06-01 19:15:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 19 : 2024 Southern Maryland Blue Crabs vs Hagerstown Flying Boxcars start:2024-06-02 00:00:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 20 : 2024 Team Ben Franklin (G) vs Team Independence (G) start:2024-06-01 15:30:00 stop:2024-06-01 19:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 20 : 2024 Schaumburg Boomers vs Trois-Rivieres Aigles start:2024-06-02 00:05:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:05:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 21 : 2024 Castres Olympique vs Stade Francais start:2024-06-01 17:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 21:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 21 : 2024 Kubota High Limit Racing at Butler Motor Speedway start:2024-06-02 00:15:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:15:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 22 : 2024 Perpignan vs Union Bordeaux Begles start:2024-06-01 17:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 21:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 22 : 2024 Weekly Racing at Port Royal Speedway start:2024-06-02 00:15:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:15:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 23 : 2024 Oyonnax Rugby vs Aviron Bayonnais start:2024-06-01 17:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 21:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 23 : 2024 Steve Smith Tribute at Lincoln Speedway start:2024-06-02 00:15:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:15:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 24 : 2024 Montpellier Herault Rugby vs Lyon OU start:2024-06-01 17:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 21:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 24 : 2024 New England Knockouts vs Tri-City ValleyCats start:2024-06-02 00:30:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 25 : 2024 CAUSA FS/GR State start:2024-06-01 17:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 21:00:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 25 : 2024 Quebec Capitales vs New York Boulders start:2024-06-02 00:30:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 26 : 2024 Team Constitution (G) vs Team William Penn (G) start:2024-06-01 17:30:00 stop:2024-06-01 21:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 26 : 2024 Holly Springs Salamanders vs Greenville Yard Gnomes start:2024-06-02 00:30:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 27 : 2024 Lexington County Blowfish vs Forest City Owls start:2024-06-02 00:30:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 28 : 2024 Tri-City Chili Peppers vs Wilson Tobs start:2024-06-02 00:30:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 29 : 2024 Martinsville Mustangs vs Boone Bigfoots start:2024-06-02 00:30:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:30:00
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 30 : 2024 Reapers Black vs Generals Blues (Varsity) start:2024-06-02 00:30:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:30:00
PPV FLO SPORTS TV 31 : 2024 York Revolution vs Long Island Ducks start:2024-06-02 00:35:00 stop:2024-06-02 04:35:00
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== IRELAND GAAGO PACK ===
IE GAAGO FIXTURES 00: Roscommon vs Mayo // UK Sat 1 Jun 4:15pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 11:15am
IE GAAGO FIXTURES 01: Cavan vs Dublin // UK Sat 1 Jun 6:30pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 1:30pm
IE GAAGO FIXTURES 02: Offaly U20 vs Tipperary U20 // UK Sat 1 Jun 6:45pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 1:45pm
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== AUSTRALIA STAN PACK ===
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 01 : Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid - UEFA Champions League Final 2023/24 start:2024-06-01 19:15:04 stop:2024-06-01 22:08:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 01 : Madrid Day 3 - World Rugby Sevens Series 2023/24 start:2024-06-02 08:55:04 stop:2024-06-02 11:48:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 02 : Force v Brumbies - Super Rugby Pacific Round 15 2024 start:2024-06-01 10:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 12:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 02 : Bath v Sale - Premiership Rugby Semi Final 2023/24 start:2024-06-01 15:25:04 stop:2024-06-01 18:18:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 03 : Blues v Chiefs - Super Rugby Pacific Round 15 2024 start:2024-06-01 07:40:04 stop:2024-06-01 10:33:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 03 : Madrid Day 2 - World Rugby Sevens Series 2023/24 start:2024-06-01 10:50:04 stop:2024-06-01 13:43:24
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 03 : Andreeva v Stearns - Womens Singles Round 3 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 14:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 16:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 03 : SS12 Coiluna: Loelle 2 - WRC Italy Rally 2024 start:2024-06-01 17:00:08 stop:2024-06-01 19:53:28
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 04 : Courtside 2: Day 7 - Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 09:50:04 stop:2024-06-01 12:43:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 04 : Badosa v Sabalenka - Womens Singles Round 3 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 13:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 15:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 05 : De Minaur v Struff - Mens Singles Round 3 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 10:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 12:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 05 : Andreescu v Paolini - Womens Singles Round 3 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 13:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 15:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 06 : Gracheva v Begu - Womens Singles Round 3 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 10:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 12:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 06 : Bergs v Dimitrov - Mens Singles Round 3 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 13:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 15:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 07 : Koolhof/Mektic v Purcell/Thompson - Mens Doubles Round 2 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 10:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 12:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 07 : Blinkova/Rus v Eikeri/Neel - Womens Doubles Round 2 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 13:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 15:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 08 : Zheng v Avanesyan - Womens Singles Round 3 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 10:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 12:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 08 : Mihalikova/Noskova v Krejcikova/Siegemund - Womens Doubles Round 2 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 13:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 15:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 09 : Baptiste/Parks v Shibahara/Wang - Womens Doubles Round 1 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 10:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 12:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 09 : Luz/Zormann v Bopanna/Ebden - Mens Doubles Round 1 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 14:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 16:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 10 : Muhammad/Sutjiadi v Kalinina/Yastremska - Womens Doubles Round 1 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 10:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 12:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 10 : Murray/Venus v Barrere/Pouille - Mens Doubles Round 2 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 14:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 16:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 11 : Kostyuk/Ruse v Burel/Paquet - Womens Doubles Round 1 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 10:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 12:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 11 : SS10 Coiluna: Loelle 1 - WRC Italy Rally 2024 start:2024-06-01 14:00:08 stop:2024-06-01 16:53:28
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 12 : Granollers/Zeballos v ErleMiedler - Mens Doubles Round 2 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 10:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 12:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 12 : Practice: Detroit Grand Prix - INDYCAR 2024 start:2024-06-01 14:40:08 stop:2024-06-01 17:33:28
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 13 : Added/Arribage v Balaji/Reyes-Varela Martinez - Mens Doubles Round 2 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 10:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 12:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 14 : Courtside 1: Day 7 - Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 10:50:04 stop:2024-06-01 13:43:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 15 : Mertens v Rybakina - Womens Singles Round 3 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 11:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 13:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 16 : Heliovaara/Patten v Johnson/Mansouri - Mens Doubles Round 2 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 11:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 13:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 17 : Frech/Tomova v Kenin/Mattek-Sands - Womens Doubles Round 1 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 11:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 13:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 18 : Shelton v Auger-Aliassime - Mens Singles Round 3 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 12:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 14:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 19 : Hurkacz v Shapovalov - Mens Singles Round 3 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 12:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 14:53:24
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 20 : Carle/Parry v Bouzkova/Sorribes Tormo - Womens Doubles Round 1 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 12:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 14:53:24
AU STAN SPORT AU EVENT 21 : EscobaNedovyesov v Ram/Salisbury - Mens Doubles Round 2 Roland Garros 2024 start:2024-06-01 12:00:04 stop:2024-06-01 14:53:24
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== UK-AUSTRALIA OPTUS PACK ===
UK-AU OPTUS 02 : Urawa Red Diamonds v Vissel Kobe start:2024-06-01 07:45:00 stop:2024-06-01 10:20:00
UK-AU OPTUS 03 : Suwon FC v Incheon start:2024-06-01 10:40:00 stop:2024-06-01 13:20:00
UK-AU OPTUS 04 : Kyoto v Cerezo start:2024-06-01 10:45:00 stop:2024-06-01 13:20:00
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== UK DAZN PACK ===
UK DAZN UK 02 Rws somratsamee vs. Kamlaipetch ii 01th 1:43pm/Ironman european championship hamburg 02th 4:58am
UK DAZN UK 03 Queensberry vs. Matchroom 5 vs. 5 // UK Sat 1 Jun 6:58pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 1:58pm
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== UK PDC PACK ===
UK PDC EVENT 01 2024 bet365 north american championship // UK Sat 1 Jun 6:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 1:00pm
UK PDC EVENT 01 2024 bet365 us darts masters day two // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:00am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:00pm
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
UK VIA PLAY 02 United Rugby Championship Cardiff ospreys // UK Sat 1 Jun 5:25pm ET Sat 1 Jun 12:25pm
UK VIA PLAY 03 United Rugby Championship Scarlets dragons // UK Sat 1 Jun 2:55pm ET Sat 1 Jun 9:55am
UK VIA PLAY 03 NHL Nhl tonight // UK Sat 1 Jun 5:30pm ET Sat 1 Jun 12:30pm
UK VIA PLAY 04 United Rugby Championship Sharks bulls // UK Sat 1 Jun 3:05pm ET Sat 1 Jun 10:05am
UK VIA PLAY 04 Nascar Toyota 200 // UK Sat 1 Jun 6:00pm ET Sat 1 Jun 1:00pm
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== UK RUGBY PACK ===
UK RUGBY LIVE 01: Bath vs Sale 15.30
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== CANADA DAZN PACK ===
CA DAZN CA 14 Rally italia sardegna stage 6 01th 2:49am/Esbjerg vs gyori eto 01th 9:00am
CA DAZN CA 15 Rally italia sardegna stage 7 01th 4:41am/Rally italia sardegna stage 11 01th 11:05am
CA DAZN CA 16 Rally italia sardegna stage 5 01th 1:41am/Rally italia sardegna stage 9 01th 8:05am/Final dortmund vs real madrid 01th 2:11pm
CA DAZN CA 17 Rally italia sardegna stage 8 01th 5:49am/Metz vs bietigheim 01th 12:00pm
CA DAZN CA 18 Rws somratsamee vs kamlaipetch ii 01th 8:45am
CA DAZN CA 19 Rally italia sardegna stage 10 01th 9:05am
CA DAZN CA 20 Rally italia sardegna stage 12 01th 12:05pm
CA DAZN CA 21 Queensberry vs matchroom 5 vs 5 01th 2:00pm
CA DAZN CA 22 Rally italia sardegna media zone 01th 2:15pm
CA DAZN CA 23 Finale dortmund vs real madrid (commentaires en français) 01th 2:41pm
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== USA TRILLER PACK ===
US TRILLER TV 01 Memphis Wrestling Episode 171 Brooklyn Brawler // UK Sat 1 Jun 5:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 12:00pm
US TRILLER TV 02 GCW Tournament of Survival 9 // UK Sat 1 Jun 10:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 5:00pm
US TRILLER TV 03 AEW Collision Episode 1924 // UK Sun 2 Jun 1:00am // ET Sat 1 Jun 8:00pm
US TRILLER TV 04 GCW Deathmatch Hall of Fame 2024 // UK Sun 2 Jun 3:00am // ET Sat 1 Jun 10:00pm
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== USA WNBA PACK ===
US WNBA GAME 01 Chicago Sky @ Indiana Fever start:2024-06-01 17:00:00 stop:2024-06-01 19:00:00
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== USA PEACOCK PACK ===
US PEACOCK 01 GOLF Lee hull featured groups // UK Sat 1 Jun 12:48pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:48am
US PEACOCK 01 INDYCAR Detroit qualifying // UK Sat 1 Jun 7:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 1:00pm
US PEACOCK 01 GOLF Live from the u.S. Womens open // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 5:00pm
US PEACOCK 01 RUGBY Hsbc rugby sevens sfs // UK Sun 2 Jun 8:55am // ET Sun 2 Jun 2:55am
US PEACOCK 02 INDYCAR Detroit practice 2 // UK Sat 1 Jun 2:40pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 8:40am
US PEACOCK 02 PRO MOTOCROSS Race day live hangtown // UK Sat 1 Jun 6:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 12:00pm
US PEACOCK 02 PRO MOTOCROSS Motocross rd. 19 hangtown // UK Sat 1 Jun 9:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 3:00pm
US PEACOCK 03 GOLF Live from the u.S. Womens open // UK Sat 1 Jun 4:30pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 10:30am
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
US PEACOCK 03 GOLF Principal charity classic rd. 2 // UK Sat 1 Jun 8:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 2:00pm
US PEACOCK 03 GYMNASTICS Senior men day 2 // UK Sun 2 Jun 1:00am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:00pm
US PEACOCK 04 GOLF Hataoka kang featured groups // UK Sat 1 Jun 4:39pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 10:39am
US PEACOCK 05 TENNIS French open rd. 3 // UK Sat 1 Jun 5:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 11:00am
US PEACOCK 06 GOLF U.S. Womens open rd. 3 // UK Sat 1 Jun 6:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 12:00pm
US PEACOCK 07 GOLF Rbc canadian open rd. 3 // UK Sat 1 Jun 7:30pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 1:30pm
US PEACOCK 08 MOTOR SPORTS Imsa detroit grand prix // UK Sat 1 Jun 8:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 2:00pm
US PEACOCK 09 SOCCER Usa vs. Korea republic (espanol) // UK Sat 1 Jun 10:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 4:00pm
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== USA MILB PACK ===
US MILB 01 Worcester Red Sox vs Charlotte Knights // UK Sat 1 Jun 6:05pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 1:05pm
US MILB 01 Fredericksburg Nationals vs Down East Wood Ducks // UK Sat 1 Jun 10:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 5:00pm
US MILB 01 Oklahoma City Baseball Club vs Albuquerque Isotopes // UK Sun 2 Jun 1:35am // ET Sat 1 Jun 8:35pm
US MILB 02 Bradenton Marauders vs Fort Myers Mighty Mussels // UK Sat 1 Jun 9:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 4:00pm
US MILB 02 Rocket City Trash Pandas vs Birmingham Barons // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:30am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:30pm
US MILB 03 Bradenton Marauders vs Fort Myers Mighty Mussels // UK Sat 1 Jun 9:05pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 4:05pm
US MILB 03 Lake County Captains vs Cedar Rapids Kernels // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:35am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:35pm
US MILB 04 Tri-City Dust Devils vs Vancouver Canadians // UK Sat 1 Jun 9:05pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 4:05pm
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
US MILB 04 Dayton Dragons vs Beloit Sky Carp // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:35am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:35pm
US MILB 05 Delmarva Shorebirds vs Carolina Mudcats // UK Sat 1 Jun 10:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 5:00pm
US MILB 05 Fresno Grizzlies vs San Jose Giants // UK Sun 2 Jun 2:00am // ET Sat 1 Jun 9:00pm
US MILB 06 Aberdeen IronBirds vs Hudson Valley Renegades // UK Sat 1 Jun 10:05pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 5:05pm
US MILB 06 Inland Empire 66ers vs Visalia Rawhide // UK Sun 2 Jun 2:30am // ET Sat 1 Jun 9:30pm
US MILB 07 Lehigh Valley IronPigs vs Columbus Clippers // UK Sat 1 Jun 10:05pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 5:05pm
US MILB 07 Everett AquaSox vs Spokane Indians // UK Sun 2 Jun 2:35am // ET Sat 1 Jun 9:35pm
US MILB 08 Amarillo Sod Poodles vs Arkansas Travelers // UK Sat 1 Jun 10:35pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 5:35pm
US MILB 08 Salt Lake Bees vs Reno Aces // UK Sun 2 Jun 2:35am // ET Sat 1 Jun 9:35pm
US MILB 09 Amarillo Sod Poodles vs Arkansas Travelers // UK Sat 1 Jun 10:40pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 5:40pm
US MILB 09 Tacoma Rainiers vs Sacramento River Cats // UK Sun 2 Jun 2:37am // ET Sat 1 Jun 9:37pm
US MILB 10 Portland Sea Dogs vs Altoona Curve // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:00pm
US MILB 10 Modesto Nuts vs Stockton Ports // UK Sun 2 Jun 3:05am // ET Sat 1 Jun 10:05pm
US MILB 11 Tampa Tarpons vs Palm Beach Cardinals // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:00pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:00pm
US MILB 11 Sugar Land Space Cowboys vs Las Vegas Aviators // UK Sun 2 Jun 3:05am // ET Sat 1 Jun 10:05pm
US MILB 12 Montgomery Biscuits vs Mississippi Braves // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:05pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:05pm
US MILB 13 Montgomery Biscuits vs Mississippi Braves // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:05pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:05pm
US MILB 14 Charleston RiverDogs vs Myrtle Beach Pelicans // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:05pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:05pm
US MILB 15 Greensboro Grasshoppers vs Asheville Tourists // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:05pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:05pm
US MILB 16 Erie SeaWolves vs Richmond Flying Squirrels // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:05pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:05pm
US MILB 17 Harrisburg Senators vs Binghamton Rumble Ponies // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:07pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:07pm
US MILB 18 Reading Fightin Phils vs Hartford Yard Goats // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:10pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:10pm
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
US MILB 19 Salem Red Sox vs Lynchburg Hillcats // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:30pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:30pm
US MILB 20 St. Lucie Mets vs Dunedin Blue Jays // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:30pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:30pm
US MILB 21 Lakeland Flying Tigers vs Clearwater Threshers // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:30pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:30pm
US MILB 22 Jupiter Hammerheads vs Daytona Tortugas // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:35pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:35pm
US MILB 23 Omaha Storm Chasers vs Indianapolis Indians // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:35pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:35pm
US MILB 24 Buffalo Bisons vs Syracuse Mets // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:35pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:35pm
US MILB 25 Durham Bulls vs Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:35pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:35pm
US MILB 26 Gwinnett Stripers vs Norfolk Tides // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:35pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:35pm
US MILB 27 Bowie Baysox vs Somerset Patriots // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:35pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:35pm
US MILB 28 St. Paul Saints vs Rochester Red Wings // UK Sat 1 Jun 11:45pm // ET Sat 1 Jun 6:45pm
US MILB 29 Chattanooga Lookouts vs Tennessee Smokies // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:00am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:00pm
US MILB 30 South Bend Cubs vs Quad Cities River Bandits // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:00am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:00pm
US MILB 31 Hickory Crawdads vs Winston-Salem Dash // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:00am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:00pm
US MILB 32 Columbia Fireflies vs Kannapolis Cannon Ballers // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:00am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:00pm
US MILB 33 Rome Emperors vs Greenville Drive // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:05am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:05pm
US MILB 34 Brooklyn Cyclones vs Jersey Shore BlueClaws // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:05am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:05pm
US MILB 35 Eugene Emeralds vs Hillsboro Hops // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:05am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:05pm
US MILB 36 New Hampshire Fisher Cats vs Akron RubberDucks // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:05am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:05pm
US MILB 37 Peoria Chiefs vs Lansing Lugnuts // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:05am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:05pm
US MILB 38 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders vs Toledo Mud Hens // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:05am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:05pm
US MILB 39 Great Lakes Loons vs West Michigan Whitecaps // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:05am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:05pm
US MILB 40 Augusta GreenJackets vs Fayetteville Woodpeckers // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:05am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:05pm
US MILB 41 Springfield Cardinals vs Wichita Wind Surge // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:05am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:05pm
US MILB 42 Pensacola Blue Wahoos vs Biloxi Shuckers // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:05am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:05pm
US MILB 43 Iowa Cubs vs Louisville Bats // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:15am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:15pm
US MILB 44 Nashville Sounds vs Memphis Redbirds // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:35am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:35pm
US MILB 45 Wilmington Blue Rocks vs Bowling Green Hot Rods // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:35am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:35pm
US MILB 46 Fort Wayne TinCaps vs Wisconsin Timber Rattlers // UK Sun 2 Jun 12:40am // ET Sat 1 Jun 7:40pm
US MILB 47 Corpus Christi Hooks vs Midland RockHounds // UK Sun 2 Jun 1:00am // ET Sat 1 Jun 8:00pm
US MILB 48 Northwest Arkansas Naturals vs Tulsa Drillers // UK Sun 2 Jun 1:00am // ET Sat 1 Jun 8:00pm
US MILB 49 Frisco RoughRiders vs San Antonio Missions // UK Sun 2 Jun 1:05am // ET Sat 1 Jun 8:05pm
US MILB 50 Rancho Cucamonga Quakes vs Lake Elsinore Storm // UK Sun 2 Jun 1:15am // ET Sat 1 Jun 8:15pm
US MILB 51 El Paso Chihuahuas vs Round Rock Express // UK Sun 2 Jun 1:15am // ET Sat 1 Jun 8:15pm
Screwdatt, [6/1/2024 8:23 AM]
=== USA NHL PACK ===
US NHL LIVE 01: 8pm New York Rangers at Florida Panthers

So, I get MANY DMs from guys who want some coaching. That is fine. I enjoy it and I never can quite work myself up to charge for it.
I try to get them to tell me the basics: who old they are, where they are from, what they do for a living, roughly what their long term earning potential appears to be, and what their relationship goals are. I probably should flesh this out a little more because I really need to know how ambitious they are and how they handle conflict and disagreement.
There Is No One Size Fits All Approach
My basic advice varies by who the man is, what his life experience has been, and what his relationship goals actually are. It really depends on a lot of variables.
For very confident guys with a lot of international travel experience - particularly guys over 35 - I tend to encourage them to just go back. If they want to sign up for an app, so be it. But those guys can usually do well overseas without much help at all. A good many of these guys are small business owners or military vets.
Often I am not sure why these guys are even asking me for advice. They don't need any help. Many have been to Ukraine or the Philippines before and they had a great time then. They are going to succeed.
For guys over 35, particularly if they have a track record of difficulty with women or in many cases rarely or ever date, I usually encourage them to consider AFA. A lot of these guys are IT professionals, lawyers, doctors, CPAs, and sometimes even trust fund heirs.
Many are in the 1% for intelligence, but have some issues with social skills. One was worth maybe $20 billion dollars. I didn't figure that out right away, because he did not tell anyone he was ridiculously wealthy.
Anyhow, these guys are the ones I have absolutely no problems urging to take an AFA tour. Meet some interesting women in real life. Many of these guys never meet a single woman in real life. A lot of them work mostly alone or in all male settings. A few - particularly those working in Silicon Valley - don't speak to women at their workplace, which was the traditional place that men like this met their mates starting in the 1970s, because HR has terrified them with sexual harassment "training."
For them an AFA tour often seems like a miracle, and I get a lot of positive feedback from them, but this leaves out at least half of the guys I who reach out to me.
The Other Guys
The other guys are more challenging to help. Sometimes going overseas is a real challenge. Sometimes guys are young and I rarely encourage guys under thirty to start international dating. Many do and I know it can and does work out sometimes, but sometimes it is more of a challenge.
Sometimes guys simply are not financially able to do international dating. It does take a certain amount of upfront capital - at least a few thousand dollars for a plane ticket and a week in a hotel somewhere.
Occasionally, I get the vibes that a guy is not emotionally ready for international dating or in fact ANY dating. I have had guys reach out to me a week after their wife moved out and left them nothing but a letter from her attorney saying she was filing for divorce. They are not in the right place in life.
A very few guys seem unbalanced and I try to encourage them to get some professional help before they start dating. At the very least read some self-help books about handling stress, relationships, and so on. This is pretty rare, but there are guys who are not ready for a relationship with a dog much less a woman.
What Do I Recommend?
For normal guys, particularly normal guys following a regular middle class career path, living in an American city that is at least a couple of hundred thousand people are larger who are under 35 here is my approach.
First, consider taking a college class. There are always more women than men in college classes these days, especially if you opt for a class that historically has higher female participation. Art history, psychology, and sociology are all great ideas. You will meet women - generally younger women - some of whom will be single.
Second, join a cross fit gym or something similar. Headphones have basically destroyed regular gyms as a social place. No one talks to anyone. That sucks and is a big part of the rise of cross fit because they are very social. Plus, you will get in shape and that is a positive.
Third, and this is probably the best advice. Start going to church. Look, in the United States in most mid-sized cities there are a huge range of churches. If you are conservative this should be incredibly easy, because the US is awash in conservative churches, but there are other choices.
Most large cities have some very accepting denominations like Unitarians and certain varieties of Lutheran, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and others. Heck, the Methodist church just blew itself apart over how conservative it should be. Just start going to churches until you find one that you find OK or better. If it helps you focus on you goals and improving how you treat others it is probably going to help you grow as a person.
Church Singles Groups
They will usually help you improve your dating life, because almost every church will help you meet single women. In the smallest church it might not be formalized, but most churches that are moderately sized have singles groups which normally have FAR more single women than single men. But don't trust me about it. Here is a whole article that explains the gender imbalance in churches.
I am focusing on Christian groups because that is what I know best, but this advice probably holds true in other religions too. I know it was true in the large synagogues in Los Angeles at one time, because I had one Jewish buddy who raved about it and I believe met his wife through a synagogue group.
So, your chances of success are very high. Essentially, the people who lead these groups are matchmakers and like all good matchmakers most of them are very invested in helping their members succeed.
And it works for a ton of people. Here is a longer article by some relationship coach about how to find a church singles group that works for you. It has some interesting information, but there are also large Christian dating groups not tied to one church - especially if you live in a large metro area. This article is tied to someone trying to earn a buck, but I have nothing against that, and it looks like a pretty good resource too.
Change Is Hard
So, I know there are some guys who have million reasons why this won't work for them before they have read down to here. Maybe it won't. Who knows? But if you want to change your life you have to take risks.
Change is hard and uncomfortable. But each of these suggestions do work regularly for certain singles. Why not you?
​

The reason I'm writing this: It's pretty common for me to see people claiming something to be woke. It's not unlikely that a rando doesn't really know what woke exactly is, even when they're not wrong about it.
I still remember that one interview from The Young Turks where the conservative lady got humiliated for not being able to define what woke is. I wouldn't wish that upon anyone.
Original definition: A person who is aware of the racial and social injustices of the world.
The more accurate definition of woke in Layman's terms: A binary caste system between a protected class and a scapegoat class. It promotes a class struggle between them (men vs women, black vs white, straight vs gay) and always want the protected class to be more privileged than the scapegoat class, with the belief that is what justice is.
Example: Race swapping from white to black is okay because black is a protected class. Race swapping from black to white is downright heretical and brands you as a white supremacist.
An all-female group is empowering and must remain untouched. An all-male group is problematic and must be fixed with female representation.
Conclusion: Factions like Salamanders and SoB are not evidence of 40k being woke (I've seen a meme making that claim). Their creation into the lore had absolutely nothing to do with promoting social justice or virtue signalling.

I’m reading more about the witch trials in France, England and the US. These historians have stressed a couple of points - these systematic murders were tactics to scare people into submission, and a lot of the women that were hung, drowned or set on fire were already outsiders or lacking a certain social protection.
What is the likelihood that some or even most of the women killed during this time period had ADHD? Or autism?
What if there were more people with ADHD but society killed them? How does that affect our gene pool today?
These witch trials were absolutely an endemic mass murder event. The murder numbers are so high. Could we call the witch trials in these areas a ND genocide? Is genocide too strong of a word?
Saturdays, amirite?

Good Morning Patriots
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New England Patriots News Catchup Links - OTA observations: Solid day for young rookies; QB throwdown

• Evan Lazar shares five observations as rookie QB Drake Maye and WR Javon Baker impress in second open OTA practice. 1. A ‘little things’ throw by Maye gets kudos from Jacoby.
• Mike Dussault finds Brian Belichick back where he’s happiest and grateful to be back coaching the Patriots safeties despite significant turnover across the rest of the staff and roster.
• Press Release: The Patriots and Beasley Media Group’s 98.5 The Sports Hub announce multi-year broadcast extension.
• Press Conferences: Jerod Mayo - Bailey Zappe - Chad Ryland - Jacoby Brissett - Jabrill Peppers - Deatrich Wise - Bryce Baringer - Brian Belichick - Dont’a Hightower - DeMarcus Covington - Jeremy Springer.
• Patriots Playbook: Takeaways from recent OTAs, Rookie expectations, potential changes to offseason schedule. (2 hours)
• Taylor Kyles’ Observations from Day 2 of open OTAs: Young offensive weapons made some big plays; Keion White assuming larger role in year 2; More.
• Mike Kadlick’s Patriots OTA Notebook: Tyquan Thornton is having another impressive spring; Maye’s footwork continues to be slower than the likes of Jacoby Brissett and Bailey Zappe, but the focus on honing in that part of his craft is there; Chad Ryland finished practice hitting 4 of 5 field goal attempts; More.
• Tom E. Curran and Phil Perry’s Wednesday OTA observations: Drake Maye starts slow, finishes strong; QB snap breakdown; More.
• Doug Kyed’s Patriots OTA Notes: Rookie WR Javon Baker impresses, Drake Maye sees more work; Sidy Sow’s lack of participation saw some reshuffling on the offensive line. Atonio Mafi and veteran guard Michael Jordan saw an increase in reps; More.
• Chris Mason gives us 7 takeaways from OTAs: Zappe over Maye in QB reps; Strong day for Tyquan; Guard rotation continues; More.
• Alex Barth’s OTA notebook: Spreading things out on offense; Cadence work; Hangtimes; Attendance; More.
• Nick Stevens notes rookie WR Javon Baker highlights a solid day for Patriots offense at OTAs
• Tom E. Curran and Phil Perry share their observations of QB Drake Maye from yesterday’s OTA practice session. “I’d give him an A-, B+ relative to what I would expect from him.”
• Matt Dolloff’s Mayewatch: Rookie QB Drake Maye looked solid in his latest open OTA practice, despite appearing to remain behind in the pecking order.
• Doug Kyed reports how Jacoby Brissett’s familiarity with the Patriots offense gives the entire unit an advantage.
• Karen Guregian says it isn’t a big deal why Drake Maye is still getting reps behind Bailey Zappe.
• Tom E. Curran and Phil Perry discuss Bailey Zappe’s role with the Pats, noting that Zappe has received more reps than Drake Maye this spring.
• Mike D’Abate observes QB Bailey Zappe “having fun” while competing for a spot on the depth chart.
• Andy Hart says the elephant in the QB room is the question of where Bailey Zappe fits on the QB depth chart.
• Alex Barth reports second-year defender Keion White was an early ‘surprise’ for Jerod Mayo.
• Chris Mason highlights kicker Chad Ryland eager to attack 2024 after a trying rookie season. “I’m no coward to a challenge.”