The Strypes’ “Spitting Image” Is A Spitting Image of Brilliance

I know it’s been quite a while since I posted two blog posts in one week, but I figured that it was high time I blogged about one of my favorite bands from this decade, The Strypes. If you happened to see the movie ‘Sing Street’ last year, about a teenage band from Ireland who is trying to make it big, this band is essentially the real-life version of Sing Street. They’re all Irish and around 20 years old, but instead of drawing from 80s bands like Duran Duran, they reach farther back in their bucket of influences to the blues, the Rolling Stones, Nick Lowe, and other artists from the 60s and 70s. I’ve been following them since their first album, Snapshot, came out in 2014. That album was much rawer and more bluesy than this album, which feels more fully produced. I also recently became aware of their sophomore album, Little Victories, which came out in 2015 but is not available on iTunes or Spotify. Out of the few songs I’ve listened to on that album, “Get Into It” is a standout, and I may end up buying the CD on Amazon and uploading it to iTunes to hear it in its entirety.

One memorable moment from their promotion of Snapshot came when they performed on The Late Show with David Letterman, which I believe was their live debut on American television. Take a look at that here, and notice how fired up David Letterman is after their performance. I don’t blame him, I bet they’d be electrifying to see live.

However, though I enjoyed their loud, unapologetic rock ‘n roll sound from Snapshot, I think that Spitting Image is a huge step forward for them musically. Their lyrics are more mature and complex here, they dabble with musical elements like a saxophone solo, harmonicas, keyboards, and more, and in general their sound feels a bit more modern and acoustic. They still sound delightfully retro to me though, which is one of the things I love most about them. Song after song on this album is musically interesting, and when I first listened to it, I couldn’t believe I was hearing an album that was released this year. It sounded like it should have been released 35 years ago, which for my musical taste is an excellent sign.

As I’ve done before when discussing specific albums, I’m going to write approximately one-two sentences about every song on the album, to give you a good overview of my thoughts:

  1. Behind Closed Doors – This song has a fantastic music video to accompany it, but besides that it has a bouncy, poppy melody and interesting lyrics that stick in your head. It’s a wonderful, upbeat opening track that sets the tone well for the rest of the largely upbeat album.
  2. Consequence – The guitar tone on this song shifts effortlessly between somber and bouncy, which helps make it one of my favorites on the album. It makes me feel nostalgic for something, though I’m not sure what, which is always a sign that a song has grabbed my emotions tightly with no intention of letting go.
  3. (I Need A Break From) Holidays – This sounds SO MUCH like the band Squeeze, especially during the verses, that it’s almost uncanny, but I see it as more of a loving tribute than a direct copy. Either way, it’s a really fun song with a tightly packed structure that is another of my favorites on the album and one that I already intend to listen to as much as I can.
  4. Grin And Bear It – I love the opening guitar riff for this song, which also sounds reminiscent of a Squeeze song, and the drums throughout drive the song nicely. This one stands out less than the other songs on the album, but despite that it’s a very likable song that’s worth many listens.
  5. Easy Riding – I absolutely love the chorus to this song, possibly because it is quite Beatle-esque and very infectious. The whole song is fun and a great feel-good song to pass the time during lazy summer days.
  6. Great Expectations – This was my introduction to Spitting Image, and is one of those rare songs that I fell in love with after hearing only 10 seconds of the song. This may be the best overall production of a song on the album. From the opening acoustic riff, to the very singable chorus, to the closing sax solo, it fits my definition of an “instant classic” as a song that should immediately be cherished.
  7. Garden of Eden – This is probably my least favorite song on the album, if only because it sounds like a dated tribute to psychedelic 60s rock with a bit of bluesy harmonica thrown in. It’s all right, but it’s a bit tedious and plodding, though it’s still cool to listen to.
  8. A Different Kind Of Tension – The opening here reminds me a lot of the song “Laughing Out Loud” by the Wallflowers, which I love. This song also features an inviting harmonica part and a driving bass line. This song also blends into the album a bit for it to be one of my favorites, but it is still a wonderful song.
  9. Get It Over Quickly – Another Strypes song that derives its strength from a driving guitar part that bleeds into a solo and then morphs back in to the opening riff, it features I believe one of the overall best guitar parts on the album.
  10. Turnin’ My Back – This song has possibly the most infectious guitar riff out of all the wonderful guitar riffs on this album, and it’s a really fun highlight of the second half of this album! There really is nothing like a great, memorable guitar riff that repeats just the right amount of times in a catchy song.
  11. Black Shades Over Red Eyes – The second half of this song is a beautifully melodic interplay of guitar parts that feed into a very Beatles-esque outro. The first half is also great, with a very catchy chorus, so overall it’s a very worthwhile jam.
  12. Mama Give Me Order – This song is a lovely acoustic departure from the album’s largely upbeat, electric sound. It’s very Lennon-esque, which for an guitar ballad, and coming from a Beatles fan, is a huge compliment.
  13. Oh Cruel World – You could practically sing the Who’s “Magic Bus” along to this song and you wouldn’t notice the difference, but aside from that this is a really fun song with a GREAT harmonica part that’s worth singing along to, with no shame.

To be honest, though, words really cannot describe just how happy this album makes me that it exists. It represents a type of quality song construction and production so rarely seen among younger mainstream artists today, in my opinion. Every one of these songs feels complete and packed with instrumental and vocal goodness, with no stone left unturned in terms of production possibilities. This album, along with the upcoming Foster the People album, will surely be played heavily in my summer musical rotation. It also gives me hope that the Strypes will have staying power in the music industry for years to come.

I am sincerely thankful that I stumbled upon the Strypes a few years ago while reading something about Elton John, as apparently he is among their celebrity fans. While their lyrics may be, to quote a review I read, “sophomoric” at times, this band shows so much untapped musical promise that they deserve a bigger stage. This summer alone, the Strypes are supporting Liam Gallagher and The Killers, among others, which is a huge chance for them to break into some new fans’ hearts. I am always happy to hear of their new concert announcements on Facebook, but unfortunately their popularity is still contained mostly in the UK and they seem to only tour there.

If anyone connected with the Strypes is reading this, please know that you have at least one big fan here in the U.S. who would absolutely love for you to do concerts stateside. Part of my intention with this post was honestly to give the Strypes some free publicity for their fantastic album. Given that about 1500 people read this blog every month, hopefully some of those visitors are also looking for some new music and check out the Strypes after reading this. I believe so much in the future success of this band, and Spitting Image further solidifies how much I appreciate that this type of music is still being produced. This may sound cliché, but the Strypes truly restore my faith in modern rock music. Rock may seem like an old man’s game now, but the Strypes show me that there are younger bands who are a “Spitting Image” of their musical predecessors, just waiting to make a splash. I’ve been listening to this album on repeat for days, and I can’t wait for more hours of repetition in the coming weeks. “Spitting Image” is what good music is all about.

It was 50 years ago today/a month ago…

I’m Siriusly Excited About The Beatles XM Station

beatles radio

The Beatles, perhaps waiting to hear one of their songs on the radio!

As has become a pattern for me, I tend to blog whenever there is some newsworthy event happening in the Beatleverse, and this happens to be one of those times. These events often revolve around Beatles music entering the public consciousness in a new way, such as through iTunes, Spotify, and now, their own Sirius XM Station, channel 18. I had no idea that this was even happening until a few days before the station went live, and my initial reactions to this announcement ranged from “It’s about time” to “Finally!” Nothing against Pearl Jam, but if they have their own radio station, the Beatles deserve their own station as well. I’m also aware that those in charge of the Beatles brand and catalog (namely Paul, Ringo, Yoko, and Olivia Harrison, among others) are notoriously stringent about licensing the Beatles name. In recent years, I think these restrictions have loosened. Though I hope the Beatles don’t start advertising “sausages and diapers,” as George feared they would, I greatly appreciate that they’re latching on to new technological and musical developments and remaining relevant to modern music listeners.

Upon my first listen, the station reminded me a lot of me putting my iTunes library on shuffle and listening only to Beatles or solo Beatles music, as I did quite frequently early on in my Beatles fandom. Listening to the Beatles station has made me nostalgic for what now seem like simpler times when I was 14 and 15, when I dove headfirst into my obsession with all things Beatles and cared little about embracing the rest of the musical world. I’ve also been on a couple of long car trips in the past few weeks and the Beatles Sirius station has kept me entertained for hours each time. Many times while listening to the station, I’ve been delighted to come across Beatles songs that I’d forgotten about or hadn’t listened to for months. These include the underrated gems “For No One” on Revolver and  “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party” from Beatles For Sale. I’ve also greatly appreciated the commentary from friends and musicians close to the Beatles such as Peter Asher, as well as the “ear trivia” of playing a second of a Beatles song and revealing the song’s name later.

My one gripe with this development is that, somehow even on a Beatles-centric station that revolves completely around their music, George’s solo catalog is still vastly untapped. The station seems to roughly adhere to a format of “three Beatles songs, followed by one Paul McCartney and Wings song, and maybe a John or Ringo song occasionally,” which is fine. However, having now listened to several cumulative hours of the station over the past couple of weeks, I can count on one hand the number of George solo songs I’ve heard.

This is quite disappointing to someone who is as big a fan of George as I am and who knows the wealth of good material that he produced after the Beatles broke up. Songs like “Faster” from his album George Harrison, “Fish on the Sand” from Cloud Nine, or “Life Itself” from Somewhere in England are all exquisite songs that get zero radio airplay on this station, along with many other fantastic compositions. I hope that perhaps I just haven’t been listening at the right times and that George’s solo career actually has been greatly appreciated on this station in my absence. If not, I sincerely hope that the station begins playing more of his solo songs.

Other than this, I am absolutely thrilled that the Beatles are being celebrated 24/7 (or as the station cheekily notes, 24/8, referring to “Eight Days A Week”) on Sirius XM. They, perhaps more so than any other artist with their own radio station, have a large enough catalog of Beatles, solo Beatles, and Beatles influence songs to support a long stretch of engaging radio programming. What’s more, the whole vibe of the station feels like more than just another radio station. It really celebrates the Beatles’ musical achievements and the massive impact they had on their fans, as evidenced by soundbites from celebrity fans or screaming admirers from their heyday. I hope that it maintains its current charm and continues to celebrate both the sung and the unsung heroes of the Beatles’ success.

Beatles Songs And Movies, A Beautiful Marriage

This post, contrary to what this picture may imply, is not about Beatles songs in their OWN movies, but rather about Beatles songs in OTHER movies.

Music and movies are more intricately connected than we often give them credit for. Music may exist perfectly fine on its own without any attachment to a movie, but a movie would not be a fraction of its final product without accompanying music to set a mood. Music alone can give a movie scene a lighthearted tone, an eerie mysticism, or an inspirational spirit, even if the actual footage and dialogue used in the scene is the same regardless of the music choices. It also makes a difference to the audience whether the song is well-known or not, as the sudden appearance of a classic rock song, for example, in a movie is likely going to create a different reaction among an audience than a modern indie track.

It’s no surprise to me that many movies over the years have famously featured Beatles songs. The Beatles’ lyrics, especially for songs such as “Eleanor Rigby” and “A Day In The Life,” tell stories akin to how a movie strings together a narrative about characters, places, and hardships. This makes their songs well equipped to accompany movie scenes.  In addition, many opening riffs to Beatles songs are so iconic that the audience immediately recognizes them, adding a sense of familiarity to a scene in a movie that, by endearing itself to the audience in this way, allows the audience to sympathize with or relate more to the character in question than they may otherwise. I am more knowledgeable about music than I am about movies, but several notable examples of this beautiful marriage between Beatles songs and movies come to mind, which I’ll share with you here. Feel free to comment with any additional examples that may be close to your heart.

Baby You’re A Rich Man- The Social Network

This is one of the more critically acclaimed uses of a Beatles song in a movie that I can recall in recent memory, and with good reason. This song, which was originally directed by the Beatles towards their manager Brian Epstein regarding his hedonistic lifestyle, fits in perfectly to question Mark Zuckerberg at the end of this movie. If you’ve never seen The Social Network, during the scene with this song, Mark Zuckerberg is sitting in a conference room, on the cusp of Facebook’s truly explosive breakthrough into mainstream culture that is about to make him a billionaire. However, the movie ends (spoiler alert? this has been out for several years…) with him being put in his place by his constant refreshing of his friend request to his ex-girlfriend, and by this song playing in the movie’s background. I love how the song speaks directly to the listener, asking “How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people? How often have you been there?” The way the scene is shot, it seems like the song speaks directly to Zuckerberg. It’s a sharp critique of upper-class social life that remains relevant today, as do so many Beatles songs. I’m glad to see that an underrated song like this one received well-deserved attention for its feature in The Social Network, an excellent movie in its own right.

Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight- Sing

This is a more lighthearted addition to this list, which warrants a place mostly because of Jennifer Hudson’s incredible voice. I loved the movie Sing largely for how it celebrated an unbridled love for music, theater, and the arts in general. This song features in both the beginning and end of the movie, initially as a rather diva-esque moment for Jennifer Hudson’s character, and later as a satisfying moment of closure for the characters after the emotional roller coaster that they have all gone through. I cannot recall another animated movie in recent memory that used a Beatles song in as effective moving a manner as this one. Especially near the end of the movie, when the heartfelt characters are finally having their moment in the sun and singing their hearts out, I teared up a bit as this song played again in the movie’s background. Songs such as this from the second half of Abbey Road have a unique power to signify closure, in my opinion because they were among the last songs on the official last Beatles album. I always associate this song with the end of that fantastic album, and featuring it at the beginning and end of a heartwarming movie such as this created a familiar sonic pleasure for myself, and hopefully for other Beatles fans at the movie theater.

Because- American Beauty

Despite being the major Beatlemaniac that I am, I honestly don’t think I noticed that the version of this song in the movie is actually a cover, sung by Elliott Smith, until I looked it up. It sounds nearly identical to the original Beatles version, minus the instrumentation present on the Beatles’ version. This particular Beatles song is known for being one of their most beautiful and also most haunting songs, with which I completely agree. It perfectly complements the themes of the ultimate banality of American suburban life, and also the remarkable qualities present in every aspect of our lives, that this movie features. I find American Beauty a bit scary at times, especially at the very end, and this song plays perfectly into the slightly eerie tone of the entire movie.

Twist And Shout- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

This is one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite movies of all time. The marriage of song and scene here perfectly captures the universal appeal of the Beatles and how they manage to bring diverse crowds together all over the world, nearly 50 years after they split up. One thing interesting about this scene is how it begins with just Ferris singing along on the parade float, but gradually the entire crowd joins in until the entire street is singing along, young and old, to this classic song. This also illustrates to me the power that Ferris wields throughout the movie to bring people together who may have never associated with each other before, such as his sister Jeanie and Charlie Sheen’s character in the police station. “Twist and Shout” also captures the carefree, happy-go-lucky spirit of the entire movie that defines Ferris’s free spirit on his day off. Out of all of the iconic scenes in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, this scene stands out as perhaps the most iconic precisely for the use of this song.

All You Need Is Love- Love Actually

Last, but certainly not least, is a wonderful scene from another one of my favorite movies, which is perhaps the most literal interpretation of a Beatles song on this list. This scene, like American Beauty, features a cover of a famous Beatles song, this time by a joyful choir in the church during a wedding ceremony. I love how the traditional organ music after the couple exchanges vows quickly segues into the opening chords to “All You Need Is Love,” which begins an even more ceremonious rendition of the song when groups of instrumentalists suddenly stand up from their pews and play the song’s familiar riffs, in my opinion one of the most charming parts of this entire enchanting movie. I love most how delighted Keira Knightley’s character is by the whole affair, though frankly I don’t blame her. If I was surprised on my wedding day with a gospel choir singing a Beatles song, I think I’d react similarly. Anyway, this short scene always sticks out to me as a particularly effective use of a Beatles song  to communicate the message most prominent throughout their musical catalog: love.

Notice how I did not include any songs from the movie Across The Universe, a 2007 movie which featured entirely Beatles songs and which I have not seen. I’ve heard mixed reviews of this movie in particular, and I’ve also only listened to several of the tracks from the movie, which are all sung by cast members. From what I’ve heard, I don’t really love these versions of some of my favorite songs, though perhaps in the context of the movie they leave a different impression. But that’s for another blog post to hash out.

I may do a sequel to this post in the future if I think of any more movies I love that feature Beatles songs, or if a new movie comes out with a Beatles song I love. That’s all for now!

What Makes a Song Good?

George clearly contemplating the writing process, with guitar in tow

Today I’d like to discuss a topic that’s been coming to my mind recently as I’ve listened to Beatles songs and other songs alike, and that is, how do we as music listeners actually decide why a song is good or bad? The most important thing to remember here is that there really is no objective measurement of “goodness” or “badness” of a song. You can pretty much conclusively determine if someone is a skilled or unskilled piano player, but it’s a bit more murky to extend that level of objective analysis to judging the quality of an entire song. Of course, there are certainly songs I think are better than others, so here are a few points of comparison between songs and some examples to support that, both from the Beatles and from other artists I admire.

One point that’s recently been floating around in my mind is the idea of “good” songs balancing vocal and instrumental melodies. That is, the melody of the instruments is as important to the beauty and structure of the song as the melody of the vocals. This is assuming we’re discussing traditionally structured “pop” songs here, not 11-minute long instrumental jams. I hate to sound like a grump, but I find that so many modern pop songs have little instrumental substance and it’s all about highlighting the singer and their impressive growl or sky-high vocal riffs. There’s something about a song that has, say, an interesting opening guitar riff, melodic vocals, and other scattered instrumental breaks that just feels more complete to me. Songs like this also communicate that the quality of the song is what is most important, not the singer’s vocal talent. There’s a distinct, noticeable difference to me between a song that exists to celebrate beautiful, thoughtful music and a song that exists for a singer to show off how high they can belt.

Both categorizations have their place in the music industry, but the Beatles were musicians first and foremost and wrote songs that nearly always fall into the former category. Take “Eleanor Rigby,” for example. The staccato strings are really the iconic part of this song, not the Beatles singing. They sound great, obviously, but this song is a fraction of its final self without George Martin’s incredible string arrangement. Luckily Beatles fans are blessed with an officially-released instrumental version of this on the Anthology 2 album, and this may be the finest example of a Beatles song in which I actually prefer the solo orchestration to the complete song. There’s just so many interesting things to notice when you listen to only the string part, so many percussive strokes and instrumental counterparts, and it conveys the message of the song’s lyrics almost as well as the singing itself. But the complete song itself is what I highlight as a perfect example of a song that values its instrumentation just as much as its vocals.

In case that all weren’t enough to celebrate, it’s just over 2 minutes long and it feels perfectly complete. The song doesn’t thematically or instrumentally need to be any longer. There are no wasted notes here; they all contribute to the moving final product. The song’s inherent structure is so well-thought-out that it carries the beauty of the song all by itself. The more I listen to “Eleanor Rigby,” honestly, the more I marvel at it. It’s quickly moving up my list of favorite Beatles songs.

Another Beatles song that demonstrates their mastery of vocal and instrumental balance is “Here Comes The Sun.” This song features such a delicate, airy acoustic guitar part that I do wish there were an official version of just the instrumental parts without any of the Beatles’ vocals. It also features a lovely string arrangement, but rather than that being the star of this song, the interplay between the strings and the guitar combine to support the beautiful vocal part. “Here Comes The Sun” is absolutely a George Harrison masterpiece that is quickly becoming my new favorite Beatles song, mostly because the guitar is soothing and relaxing. I once heard a rare version of this song that features an additional overdubbed guitar solo, but I felt that it overpowered the rest of the song and did not mesh with the existing acoustic part. “Here Comes The Sun” is simply perfect and musically balanced the way it is.

In general, I feel that with songs I really admire, I could take out the vocals entirely and listen to only the instrumental backing and I’d love the song just as much. One example of a non-Beatles song that perfectly fits this description is “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits. The separated, choppy, yet beautifully melodic guitar part always hooks me from the second that the song comes on the radio. I really do feel that this song would function almost as well as a wholly instrumental song. I say “almost” because I do also feel that part of the reason the guitar here is so enchanting is because of how it counters the vocals by providing continual instrumental breaks throughout the song. These “breaks” wouldn’t exactly be breaks if they were not broken up by an intervening vocal part, now would they. This song, unlike the previous two, does not feature any sort of orchestration. Its notable instrumental part is almost strictly guitar, but the guitar here has a life of its own and  beautifully carries the melodic weight of the song so that no additional instrumentation is necessary for the song to feel complete.

Slightly unrelated, but this song also directly connects to the Beatles by featuring a lyrical reference to “guitar George” who “knows all the chords” and “doesn’t want to make them cry or sing.” There’s a chance this isn’t intentionally referring to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” but it seems more likely than not. After all that, I’m actually not 100% positive that this is a Beatles reference, but given that George Harrison is by far the most famous rock guitarist named George that I can think of, I’ll stick with this theory until proven wrong. Perhaps the guitar part throughout this song is meant as an ode to George’s carefully crafted Beatles guitar parts, which would certainly  explain why I love the song.

Much of the Beatles’ legend rests on their reinvention of the very idea of successful pop songs, and as this blog continually states, I do believe that they are still the masters of crafting songs with incredible attention to vocal and instrumental balance. However, they also epitomize the magical formula that I find takes a song from average to excellent, and that is a balance between highlighting vocals and highlighting instrumentals. It doesn’t necessarily have to be split 50/50, but I do feel that songs with a celebrated instrumental part, like the songs all mentioned above, possess more overall beauty than songs without.

I could go on and on about Beatles songs that feature a beautiful balance between vocals and instrumentals, and how this is also present in wonderful songs by other artists, but I’ll save that for another post. Until then, continue braving the long, cold, lonely winter and finding sunshine in your favorite songs.

I Finally Saw The Beatles On The Big Screen!

One of the biggest news events in Beatle-land this year has been the recent release of the Ron Howard documentary about the Beatles’ touring years, entitled The Beatles: Eight Days A Week. As I have mentioned before, it’s been a dream of mine for years to go see a Beatles movie in the theaters and pretend I’m a fan from the 1960s seeing A Hard Days Night upon its release.

I tried to do that back in 2012, when a documentary called The Beatles: The Lost Concert was scheduled for wide release in theaters. This documentary (supposedly) captured the frenzy of the Beatles’ first concert in North America, which occurred in Washington D.C. on February 11, 1964. Unfortunately, it was never released in theaters due to copyright issues. When I learned of its canceled release, I was heartbroken, but I never stopped believing that perhaps one day another Beatles documentary would find its way to a theater near me.

I first heard about The Beatles: Eight Days A Week over the summer, and even after watching the official trailer on the Beatles’ YouTube channel and visiting the movie’s website, I still sort of thought it was too good to be true. I reserved mild hope that I’d be able to see this movie, but I figured that my efforts to see the Beatles on the big screen and learn new Beatles trivia would be thwarted once again.

However, as events fell into place, the stars aligned, and my prayers were answered, I actually was able to see this movie at a theater near my school just a few weeks ago! I was so excited at the prospect of seeing 90 minutes of remastered Beatles footage and audio, and the movie definitely exceeded my giddily high expectations.

At this point in my Beatles fandom, I’ve read and watched so much about them that it’s difficult for me to be shocked by any aspect of their narrative. And yet I continue indulging in Beatles-related releases like this movie because I am always amazed at their magical story. The Beatles’ rise to success in the 1960s is a remarkable tale, filled with astounding chart domination, incredibly concentrated musical output, and incalculable influence on the culture of their era. I keep coming back to Beatles movies, articles, and programs because I revel in hearing about how they took the world by storm and altered the whole concept of rock music and success for a band. It’s infectious and endlessly fascinating.

Back to the movie at hand, it certainly did not blow my mind with a wholly new perspective on the Beatles’ touring years. However, it was a thoroughly enjoyable movie-watching experience for a Beatles fan. I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of backstage footage that I had somehow never come across on YouTube or television. These clips emphasized that the Beatles really were a hilarious four-headed monster, at least in their early days. The movie also detailed a few points about the Beatles’ stops in specific areas of which I was not previously aware.

These included a 1964 Beatles concert in Florida that they flatly refused to perform unless they sang to an unsegregated crowd. Though the Beatles were from England, they were very conscious of the racial tensions present in the US at the time and took this opportunity to maintain their belief that any form of segregation was morally wrong and unacceptable to them. This isn’t really a huge spoiler, but I previously had no idea that the venue actually agreed to unsegregate the seating for that particular concert so the Beatles would still perform,  which helped set a precedent for unsegregated concert venues in that and surrounding areas.

This movie also focuses a lot on the difficulties that the Beatles faced during their rise to worldwide acclaim through their tours. I was not wholly aware of the actual danger that they were in just entering a building or driving around. There were many clips of near-riots on streets all over the world that stemmed from the Beatles’ arrival in that particular city. This is a helpful reminder for aspiring musicians that the only sustainable reason to become a musician is because you deeply love music, not because you want to be famous. I am always in awe of the immense scope of Beatlemania in the mid 1960s, but it certainly was not all good days and sunshine.

Despite all of this, I would trade just about anything to spend one day experiencing the height of Beatlemania. However, seeing this movie in the theaters is probably the next best thing. The Beatles: Eight Days A Week may not be groundbreaking, but honestly, barring some huge, covered-up scandal I don’t know about, it is difficult for any new Beatles project to be groundbreaking. What I absolutely love about the release of this movie is how it contributes to keeping the Beatles’ music and story alive in today’s generation. As long as there is the occasional Beatles-related project or musical re-release, I’ll have confidence that they will remain eminent figures in cultural lore.


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Program de dezvoltare personala si optimizare comportamentala in grup pentru copii


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A hardworking, ambitious and confident student on the CIPR accredited degree Public relations and Communications Southampton Solent University, with the prospects of a career within corporate and managerial communication upon graduation in 2016. Being a self-motivated individual, the need to explore the communications sector further had led to the inspiration to search for a work placement in a well-established company within this industry. Academic and creative tasks throughout the degree so far, has led to the building of a well-rounded skill set, such as presentation skills , live client briefs and pitches, campaign and communication planning , the use of many design programmes and the opportunity to co-author a published eBook on Peer to Peer public relations. As well as these, having worked in a variety of customer service based roles, being able to communicate effectively comes easily.  Highly ambitious and willing to learn.  Strong presence and understanding of Social media platforms, also a PR and lifestyle blogger.  Motivational leader and group member.  Loyal, honest and punctual.  Excellent organisational skills.  Solid understanding of Public relations and communications industry.  Confident public speaker, being utilized both within secondary school and university to promote the school and course.  Strong work ethic, both within education and employment, having been in work since the age of 14.  Dedicated, gained from being a member of a dance team from the age of 5.  Excellent communication skills from being a dance teacher at ages 16 for children ages 4-16.  Strong knowledge and application of research skills.

Atlas Copco marketing communications, involved working within the office based team, sorting customer data and communicating with existing and prospective customers. Involved in the organisation and running of PR event for the release of new series of children’s TV show ‘Lazy Town’. Involved ordering props and gifts for children attending, communicating with the correct audience of bloggers and sending news releases to these. Also involved participating in ensuring the event ran smoothly on the day. ITV PR ‘This Morning’ TV interview, again with Casualty actor. Duties included communicating with the actor, presenters and PR team to ensure the correct messages were to be portrayed within the interview. ITV PR for Casualty TV programme. Involved in photo shoot organisation, and interview for Sunday times magazine with casualty actor.

I have always possessed a strong work ethic which led me to begin my first job at the age of 14. The entirety of my working life has been involved within the customer service sector ranging from being a waitress in restaurants and also at McDonalds, to a dance school and hotel receptionist. Skills that I gained from these work placements will be carried into my future career in Public relations and Communications as well as my dedication and willingness to work in any given environment. Most recent employment history includes; The Boat, Fullers Pub restaurant. This role demanded high standards of customer service which has led to me being a confident speaker to groups of large people as well as individuals. In a team of around 10 people working together each day, communication was vital in order in running efficiently, this has taught me the importance and vitality of communicational skills. I was regularly handling payments and cashing up tills, showing I was well trusted within the company by both team members and managers. The need to regularly organise party’s and dinners for customers has given me event management skills and the professionalism to perfect every detail the customer has requested , skills that shall be carried into future employment.

10 GCSE’s ranging in grades A* to B

2 A levels in

English Literature and Geography at grade C and 2 AS levels in the same subjects

1 A level in Media studies at grade C and 2 AS levels in Media studies at grade C and Sociology at grade B

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Vulnerability to Psychosis: A Psychoanalytic Study of the Nature and Therapy of the Psychotic State

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'Franco De Masi is well known for his psychoanalytic work with patients suffering psychotic illnesses. In this book, he addresses the human vulnerability to psychosis, but the modest title of his book belies the depth of its investigations and conclusions. De Masi invites the reader into a thoughtful, systematic exploration of many aspects of the complex problems associated with psychotic illnesses: its ontogenesis and the emotional crises that lead to the dominance of psychotic thinking, the function of psychosis with regard to reality, its eruption or progression (depending upon the type of psychosis involved) and, crucially, the difficult and painstaking task of treatment. This latter theme is explored in considerable detail and is perhaps the most telling message of this book. Example after example of de Masi's engagement with patients illuminates his central objective - the gradual disinvestment by the patient of psychic energy allocated to ostensibly protective, but ultimately self-destructive, psychotic constructions and a re-investment in neurotic or more normal psychic reality - a world the patient has had to largely forsake under the sway of delusion... This book is large in scope and substantial in content. It provides the clinician with important perspectives on the origins and development of delusions in psychosis and offers a new perspective regarding the radical differences between delusional and normal or neurotic thought, and how these differences come about. It moves our thinking forward in an area that has too often been neglected, and for this we need to be grateful.'- Paul Williams, from the Introduction

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CHAPTER ONE: Some psychoanalytic models of psychosis

“Analysts have to admit that where quantitatively massive upheavals of the personality are concerned, such as in the psychoses, the purely psychological methods by themselves are inadequate and the organic and chemical means have the advantage over them”

(A. Freud, 1968, p. 131)

The analytic model

Biological models postulate that psychosis stems from a genetic vulnerability that is expressed in structural or biochemical alterations of the central nervous system. By investigating the symptoms—manifestations of underlying organic changes—we can seek out and identify the biological defect that lies upstream of them.

According to psychological models, on the other hand, the symptoms are the expression of a psychic dynamic whose originscan be traced back to the patient’s current or childhood relationships. The psychoanalytic view is that the reasons for mental disorders are unconscious; thus, psychoanalytic investigation is based on a general theory of psychopathology and follows an eminently individual path. Psychoanalytic theory itself stems from in-depth study of a small number of individual clinical cases, which, however, allowed the development of general theories of mental functioning. Based as it is on clinical experience, psychoanalysis proceeds through theories that are open to modification in time, with new paradigms replacing and supplementing earlier ones. In this respect, it is no different from other disciplines whose theories are subject to verification and change.

CHAPTER TWO: The primitive and the pathological in psychosis

But the more we advance in our understanding of psychoanalytic problems, the more, I believe, we become impressed with the importance of the deeper problems of deficiency and deformation of the psychic structures themselves … If the authors had taken these issues more fully into consideration … they would probably would have written a vastly different chapter on the psychopathology of the psychoses in that case

(Loewald, 1966, p. 435)

Regression and primitive mental states

Analysing the psychotic state of Senatspräsident Schreber, Freud (1911c) states that the crucial factor in the construction of his delusion was the libidinal regression triggered by the infantile homosexual conflict with the father. Freud invokes the psychosexual model, according to which illness represents a return to a preconstituted fixation point. His view that the primitive (the fixation point) and the pathological (delusion) were equivalent prevailed for many years in psychoanalytic theory.

For Melanie Klein, too, psychological growth was characterized by the transition from the primitive forms of thought of the paranoid-schizoid position to the more developed modes of the depressive position. She further suggested that some individuals never succeeded in overcoming paranoid-schizoid functioning: any child with particularly intense basic anxiety and aggression was more predisposed to psychosis in later life. Indeed, Klein believed that all children passed through a psychotic phase, but that only a few overcame it completely.

CHAPTER THREE: An example of psychotic transformation

“As he lay wide awake, vast processions passed in mournful pomp before his eyes, and a never-ending succession of ancient, ceremonial buildings soared skyward. Yet soon his day-dreams merged into those of night, and everything his gaze conjured up in the gloom lived again as he slept, in uncanny and unbearable splendour…. Each night, he would plunge headlong into sunless chasms of unimaginable depth, from which there could be no hope of return. Even when awake once more, he remained a prey to all-consuming sadness and despair”

(Baudelaire, 1860, p. 208f., translated)

The psychotic journey

Psychosis can be thought of as a “journey” characterized by specific developmental phases involving the triggering of processes leading, once set in motion, to mental explosion. At first, the patient retains a degree of awareness that he is ill, but this is gradually lost. Entry into the psychotic state is merely theend result of a slow process of transformation: the alterations in the perceptual apparatus and in the consciousness of the self that take place silently over the course of time eventually become visible even to an outside observer. Psychosis may appear clinically as early as in infancy when bizarre behaviour or learning difficulties might signal a process already under way.

CHAPTER FOUR: The unconscious and psychosis

“I began having what I don’t think are dreams, since they were not like any dream I have ever had, or read of …”

(Philip Dick, from an interview with
Ursula Le Guin, July 1986; in Sutin, 1989)

“At that time almost the whole of my life was not experienced as such but as a film or as a reflection of the film projected by my mind on to the screen of my unconscious. Unfortunately, the unconscious can only feel and does not see, just as the eyes can only see and do not feel, and because the unconscious does not have eyes of its own to see inside, into its fantasies, but can only feel itself, it sees the internal images as delusions outside through eyes it lacks inside.”

These words were written to me a year after the end of a patient’s analysis and refer to the memory of the psychotic state that had dominated the analytic picture for a long period. What was the patient telling me? Why was he talking about the unconscious that had no eyes to see inside itself? Which unconscious was he referring to? His words seemed to me to provide a suitable opening for this chapter on the unconscious, whose aim is to examine some of the relations between analytic theory and psychosis. I contend that, by starting from the study of the unconscious, we can clarify the difference between neurosis and psychosis and construct an analytic approach more suitable for the latter condition.

CHAPTER FIVE: The meaning of dreams in the psychotic state

“The god created dreams to show the way to the dreamer, whose eyes are in darkness”

(Egyptian Papyrus Insinger)

Imprisonment in psychosis

The Schizophrenia Bulletin of the US National Institute of Mental Health includes a section, “First Person Account”, open to patients and their families. In some of these articles, patients diagnosed as psychotic discuss the way they live and their problems. (A collection of accounts by these patients and members of their families has been published in Italian by Bertrando [1999].) One of these descriptions seems to illustrate particularly well the state of mental imprisonment in which some patients live even when they have succeeded in recovering a part of their social capacity.

The patient concerned writes:1

“Over the years I have had many‘mad’ thoughts, but my main delusions, of grandeur—mediumistic phenomena—and persecution, have remained constant. These delusions are supported by such vivid hallucinations that I cannot usually distinguish them from reality, except by saying to myself that none of this is real, that what the people I love and trust tell me is true, that I am unusual only because I am schizophrenic, and that everything I think about the supernatural is due to an illness.”

CHAPTER SIX: Intimidation at the helm: superego and hallucinations in the analytic treatment of a psychosis

“Perhaps this is the bottom line to mental illness: incomprehensible things occur; your life becomes a bin for hoax-like fluctuations of what used to be reality…. The madman experiences something, but what it is or where it comes from he does not know”

(Dick, 1981, p. 26)

In this chapter I shall attempt to describe the progress of a hallucinatory state that developed during the course of an analysis and to illustrate how the patient’s self was recomposed in a process whereby his confusing and destructuring superego evolved into one that was more characteristic of melancholia. In the course of my exposition, I shall describe the psychic experience resulting from the action of the psychotic superego, involving, for example, condemnation, accusation, and mental terror, and I shall show how the process of recovery was thereby impeded.

I shall, therefore, tell of the road travelled by the patient in order to emerge from the psychotic state, the obstacles overcome, and my own frequent moments of difficulty and loss of bearings; finally, I shall consider the constant recourse by patient and analyst alike to the analytic method as the only possible therapeutic approach.

CHAPTER SEVEN: Difficulties in therapy: relapses into psychosis

“Schizophrenia cannot be understood simply in terms of traumata and deprivation, no matter how grievous, inflicted by the outer world upon the helpless child. The patient himself, no matter how unwittingly, has an active part in the development and tenacious maintenance of the illness and only by making contact with this essentially assertive energy in him can one help him to become well”

(Searles, 1979, p. 22)

David Cronenberg’s film Spider, which is based on Patrick McGrath’s identically titled novel (McGrath, 1990), tells the story of a schizophrenic, nicknamed Spider by his mother, who is sent to a halfway house after being discharged from the psychiatric hospital where he has been a patient for twenty years. On leaving the hospital to return to normal life, Spider is fearful, withdrawn, and suspicious of the world around him; he moves about like a zombie, as if lacking any awareness of himself and others.

The halfway house where he is to live is situated in the district on the edge of town where he spent his infancy. So he is able to revisit the house where he lived as a child, the canal and the gasholder, the little garden, and the pub where his father was a regular. The reconstruction of his past is central to the unfolding of the film’s plot. Everything Spider sees brings back memories of his infantile years.

CHAPTER EIGHT: Intuitive and delusional thought

Intuitive and delusional thought*

“Delusional production positions itself in a space that is neither the inner space of the psyche, nor external space, and not even intermediate or transitional space …. Does this mean that delusional people are the inventors of a fourth space? It must be agreed that delusion cannot be limited to its manifest or latent meanings. Delusion has a way of placing itself in its own space—that is, of secreting a space of its own”

(Racamier, 2000, p. 823-824, translated)

Mackey: How could you … a mathematician, a man devoted to reason and logical proof … how could you believe that extraterrestrials are sending you messages? How could you believe that you are being recruited by aliens to save the world? How could you …?

Nash: Because … the ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way that my mathematical ideas did. So I took them seriously. [Nasar, 1998, p. 11]

The above passage is quoted from a conversation between Professor George Mackey of Harvard University and John Nash, a Nobel prizewinner and eminent mathematician who became psychotic, and whose disconcerting life was reconstructed in the film A Beautiful Mind. Although cast in the sickly-sweet Hollywood mould, this film, which has a certain fascination of its own, can help us to understand how delusional imagination and intuitive imagination seem identical to a person who experiences delusion.

CHAPTER NINE: Transference psychosis

“I realize now that, in the past, I was like a man who, having at first denied the existence of light, made himself blind to the objects which it nevertheless illuminated. I have unfortunately had to realize that I experienced nearly all of my external life not as such, but as a film, or as a mirror of the film which my mind projected on to the screen of my unconscious”

(From a letter written by a psychotic patient after
the end of his analysis)

Misunderstanding and the analytic impasse

Afundamental aspect of analytic work, in my view, is the patient’s capacity to apprehend and explore the analyst’s mental functioning and to interact with it. This experience may develop by way of correct perceptions or under the influence of past traumas or primitive objects that inevitably alter the image of the analyst. The two elements are often present simultaneously. When the analyst systematically distorts the patient’s communications, this usually gives rise to a blockage in the analytic process, which is commonly referred to as an impasse. As a rule, the patient will signal his difficulty to the analyst soon after this situation arises, and it is essential for the analyst to accept this communication and turn it to account.

CHAPTER TEN: The fate of the transference in psychosis

“If it is to be possible for an analyst or a mental hospital to cure a schizophrenic patient it must certainly be possible for a mother to do so while the infant is right at the beginning, and the logical conclusion is that the mother often prevents schizophrenia by ordinary good management”

(Winnicott, 1987, p. 45)

As we know, Freud considered that psychotic patients were not amenable to psychoanalytic treatment because they were unable to develop a transference. Abraham (1912), on the other hand, was convinced that the transference existed even in schizophrenia. Other analysts, too (among others, Ferenczi, Federn, Sechehaye, Sullivan, Fromm-Reichmann, Searles, Rosen-feld, Aulagnier, and Benedetti), have expressed the conviction that conditions useful for the therapeutic process can be created even with psychotic patients.

In Abraham’s view, the need, in cases of narcissistic neurosis (i.e., schizophrenia), is to seek actively to maintain a relationship with the patient by taking advantage of the positive transference; ifthe transference were to be analysed, as in the therapy of neurotic patients, the analytic process would be disturbed.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Psychotic withdrawal and jeopardization of the sense of reality

“Oblomov’s face suddenly flushed with happiness: his dream was so vivid, so distinct, and so poetical that he at once buried his face in the pillow. … His obliging imagination carried him lightly and freely into the far-away future

(Goncharov, 1858, pp. 81 and 82)

“Once Chuang Chou dreamed that he was a butterfly. He fluttered about happily, quite pleased with the state he was in, and knew nothing about Chuang Chou. Presently he awoke and found that he was very much Chuang Chou again. Now, did Chou dream he was a butterfly or was the butterfly now dreaming that he was Chou?”

(Chuang-tzu, quoted in Blechner, 2001, p. 239, in
the chapter entitled “Knowing what we know in
waking and dreaming”, and also in Borges, 1976)

This tale is a good introduction to some considerations on the nature of delusion, the central core around which the ther-T apy of psychosis revolves. In the waking state, how can we know whether we are perceiving something real or instead creating an object with our imagination? What helps us to differentiate reality from fantasy creations? A clinical vignette drawn from the initial interview with a twenty-five-year-old patient who used soft drugs will be useful for illustrating the clinical problem I wish to discuss.

CHAPTER TWELVE: Disturbance of identity in the psychotic process

“A man who wants to lose his self discovers, indeed, the possibilities of human existence, which are infinite, as infinite as is creation. But the recovering of a new personality is as difficult—and as hopeless—as a new creation of the world”

(Arendt, 1943, p. 63)

In this chapter I shall consider one of the fundamental aspects of the psychotic process: the transformation of identity that takes place during the course of the illness. This transformation has particular characteristics. The patient perceives that he has a new identity, with in some cases ideal, and in others frightening, traits, or that he has become someone else—a character of his own fantasy—but is unaware that he himself is responsible for this transformation. The new delusional identity appears to him as a revelation, as an incontrovertible truth that casts new light not only on the present but also on the past, which is revisited and adapted to match the new version of the facts.Yet, this statement is only partially true, as a psychotic patient partly retains the perception of his lost identity. It is rather like Gregor Samsa in Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”, who perceives that he has been transformed into a monstrous insect, but “knows” that he is still Gregor Samsa.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Trauma and psychosis

“The aetiology common to the onset of a psychoneurosis and of a psychosis always remains the same. It consists in a frustration, a non-fulfilment, of one of those childhood wishes which are for ever undefeated and which are so deeply rooted in our phylogenetically determined organization”

(Freud, 1924b, p. 151)

This chapter is concerned with the complex relationship between trauma and the psychotic state. After examining infantile emotional trauma as an experience conducive to the onset of illness in adult life, I shall discuss the traumatic effect of psychosis on the psyche, and, last, describe the inability to tolerate frustration in the psychotic state.

Emotional trauma

Piera Aulagnier (1975) links psychotic illness to maternal violence, the violence practised in normal circumstances by a mother on herchild to structure his reality sense. In the case of a psychotic patient, excessive violence has the effect of an intrusive action that creates an object with the same characteristics in the child’s mind. To rid himself of the pressure of the intrusive object, the child must construct a self-representation contrary to the mother’s will by violent methods. The violence inflicted by one mind on another is repeated in the analytic process: the patient feels compelled to believe in his delusion, and the analyst likewise feels invaded by a distorted and alien kind of thinking.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Some modes of entry into psychosis

“People kept thinking I was regaining my brilliance, but what I was really doing was retreating to simpler and simpler levels of thought”

(The words of Lawrence, a young schizophrenic,
quoted in Nasar, 1998, p. 295)

The bat

In a classic paper entitled “What is it like to be a bat?”, the philosopher Thomas Nagel (1974) writes that, if we try to imagine how being a bat must feel to a bat, we notice that our mind’s resources are not equal to this task. Since every mental phenomenon is essentially bound up with one’s personal point of view, it is not possible to imagine what the consciousness of self of a subject other than ourselves must be like. Nagel is not claiming that we cannot know what it is like to be a bat, but that, in order to obtain an idea of what it is like to be a bat, we must adopt the viewpoint of the bat. My purpose in citing Nagel is not so much to emphasize the intrinsically subjective character of every mental phenomenonas to draw attention to the distance between our subjective experience and that of a psychotic patient, the “bat”.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Concluding remarks

“But there is much we can do in future. It is only by understanding our problems, difficulties, and failures in treating schizophrenia and other psychotic conditions that we can gradually achieve greater success”

(Rosenfeld, 1997, p. 23)

Ihave sought in this book to make clear my conviction that the difficulties experienced in the treatment of psychotic patients are due not only to our individual professional limitations, which in any case emerge in the constant process of comparison with colleagues, but also to the intrinsic incompatibility of the psychotic state with the traditional analytic approach. This situation discourages many analysts from taking patients with these symptoms into therapy.

My own view, however, is that as analysts we are in a privileged position: that of listening, session after session, to a psychotic patient who continues to place his trust in our method. No other clinician has the same opportunity of learning directly from someone, like a patient with this pathology, who has entered the worldof psychosis and can help us to understand it. On commencing the therapy of such patients, we should first and foremost bear in mind the need to forget the route followed by the “average” analysand, and instead prepare ourselves for an unpredictable analytic development, often interspersed with crises that may cause the treatment to be broken off. Sometimes these very crises can prove useful, because they compel us to turn back and try to understand what we have failed to comprehend. When the therapy is broken off, as frequently occurs in such cases, this provides us with an opportunity of gaining further significant knowledge.

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Won’t you not play the game with me?

Cribb          2017

Special Is as Special Does (The Veterinarian)

Today during surgery, an employee of mine was telling me about her previous experience working for one of the big corporate veterinary hospital chains. Her story is similar to a million others I have heard and in some cases, witnessed personally myself; business bastardizing the practice of veterinary medicine and mandating that veterinary support staff rigorously sell, intentionally misinform, and compromise their morals towards customers at the risk of being terminated by their employer if they fail to comply. This employee was told to falsely advertise, promote, and encourage “health plans” to customers, that were essentially lost leaders of misperception and increased cost (not savings). Furthermore, the worst part of the deal was in the fine print of the contract that the customer was required to sign. By signing, it locked the customer into being further exploited for an extended period of time without any recourse or escape. The employee was instructed just to sell the plan and not discuss or point out the fine print (all of the contractual obligations) to anyone. She chose instead to highlight the fine print and encourage careful review of the plan’s details by the customers, so that they might make a fully informed decision about their purchasing options. Eventually, she was unfairly terminated for being honest and forthright to the customers and despite having to undergo three trials in an attempt to block her deserved unemployment pay, she was finally found to be innocent of any crime, delinquency, or misdoings.

This is the type of employee that I have always preferred to have on my hospital team. Such an employee strengthens a hospital by acting for the betterment of all. Supporting, encouraging, and nurturing honesty, integrity, and empathy works in every direction. It isn’t too much to ask of anyone and it saddens me that so many see such an approach from an employee as an inconvenience or a negative character trait. No one is perfect and stones can be cast in any direction, but I want those truly trying; those fighting the good fight for everyone; those that believe it doesn’t have to be “us against them”, by my side, on my staff, and you should want them by your side too.

I am proud of the character of my entire staff and proud of the profound uniqueness of VCC in many regards. It is truly a special place that operates far beyond the expected and tolerated norm. I also do dearly appreciate all of our customers who know and get what I mean without any further explanation. It takes “special” to know “special.” These special customers give us the strength, hope, and faith to believe in ourselves, in others, and the amazing accomplishments that we can attain by continuing to work together in such “special” ways.

Dr. Cribb          2016

Making the World Safe for Animals and Spirits (WPMY 123)

“If you want to make the world safe for animals and spirits, you must have a system that reduces the amount of fear and greed and hatred and domineering to their minimum, which means that you must have enough economic security to get rid at least of that source of worry. Enough personal responsibility to prevent people from wallowing in sloth. Enough property to protect them from being bullied by the rich, but not enough to permit them to bully. And the same thing with political rights and authority—enough of the first for the protection of the many, too little of the second for domination by the few.”

“Sounds like peasants to me,” said Pete dubiously.

“Peasants plus small machines and power. Which means that they’re no longer peasants, except insofar as they’re largely self-sufficient.”

“And who makes the machines? More peasants?”

“No; the same sort of people that make them now. What can’t be made satisfactorily except by mass production methods, obviously has to go on being made that way. About a third of all production—that’s what it seems to amount to. The other two-thirds are more economically produced at home or in a small workshop. The immediate, practical problem is to work out the technique of that small-scale production. At present, all the research is going to the discovery of new fields of mass production.”

After Many a Summer Dies the Swan

Aldous Huxley          1939


Kevin D. Welch

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TACHS Reading : Finding context-dependent meaning of phrases

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for TACHS Reading

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Example Questions

Example Question #5 : Tachs: Reading

Which of the following options best expresses the meaning of the underlined and bolded section of the passage?

Possible Answers:

Arthurian knights and cowboys are exactly the same

None of these

While cowboys might not be spoken about in as lofty terms, their behavior is as praiseworthy as that of Arthurian knights

While their behavior is similar, cowboys are more venal and greedy than Arthurian knights

Correct answer:

This sentence makes a comparison between Arthurian heroes and cowboys. The key distinction here is one of class, while the knights are high class, and thus ascribed in legend a level of "purity" the cowboys are working class people. They are not valorized as pure or virtuous in the same way, but according to the author his behavior would justify such a comparison.

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UAE University
Zubaida Shebani is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Linguistics, UAE University. She has a keen interest in semantic language processes and the effects of cultural values on language learning and teaching.

The Effects of Cultural Values on Learner Autonomy (PO9)
The interaction between cultural factors and learner autonomy has been an under-investigated area of research. This study examined how cultural variations in attitudes towards learning may affect levels of learner autonomy in an Omani EFL context. Results of a four-dimensional survey revealed significant differences between the cultural values of students and their instructors, suggesting that these cultural differences may be the reason for the difficulty in increasing levels of learner autonomy in Omani EFL classrooms.


The tea ceremony in Japan

The tea ceremony in Japan
The tea ceremony in Japan, also known as chanoyu (茶の湯, chanoyu?), Sadō (茶道, sadō?), Or chadō (茶道, chadō?) Is a traditional ritual influenced by Zen Buddhism in which powdered green tea, or matcha (抹茶, matcha?), is a ceremonial prepared by a practitioner experienced and is served to a small group of guests in a calm.

Chanoyu (茶の湯, literally "hot water for tea"), this usually refers to the ceremony (ritual) alone, while sadō or chadō (茶道, or "the way of tea") is the study or doctrine of the tea ceremony. More specifically, the term chaji (茶事) relates to the tea ceremony complete with kaiseki (a light meal), usucha (薄茶, tea light) and koicha (浓茶, strong tea), for approximately four hours . A chakai (茶会literally meeting around a "tea") does not include the kaiseki.

Because a practitioner of the tea ceremony must be familiar with the production and the different types of teas, with the kimono, calligraphy, floral arrangements, ceramics, incense, and a wide range of other disciplines and traditional arts in addition to the practices of tea taught in his school, the study of the tea ceremony takes many years and often a lifetime. Even to participate as a guest in a formal tea ceremony, a knowledge of sadō is required, including recommended actions, sentences to say by guests, the right way to drink tea and holding general approach in the room where tea is served.

"The tea ceremony requires years of training and practice… yet the whole of this art, as to its detail, signifies no more than the making and serving of a cup of tea. The supremely important matter is that the act be performed in the most perfect, most polite, most graceful, most charming manner possible. "

-- Lafcadio Hearn

Translation: "The tea ceremony requires years of training and practice… although all of this art, as its details, is not what to do and serve a cup of tea. The most important thing is that the act is implemented in the most perfect, the most polished, the most gracious and most charming possible. "

The tea as a beverage was introduced in Japan in the ninth century by a Buddhist monk from China, where tea was already known, according to legend, for several thousands of years. Tea quickly became popular in Japan and began to be grown locally.

The custom of drinking tea, first for medicine, and then purely for pleasure, was also widespread in China. In the early ninth century, the Chinese author Lu Yu wrote the Ch'a Ching (The classic tea), a treatise on tea focusing on its culture and in its preparation. The life of Lu Yu was strongly influenced by Buddhism, and especially by the school which later became known as Zen, and his ideas will have a strong influence on the development of the tea ceremony in Japan.

During the twelfth century, a new form of tea, matcha, is introduced. This green tea powder, which is derived from the same plant as black tea producing but not fermented, was used first in the religious rituals of Buddhist monasteries. During the thirteenth century, samurai warriors began to prepare and drink matcha. The foundations of the tea ceremony were laid.

The tea ceremony was developed as a practice of "transformation" and began to change with its own aesthetic. This is the case, especially, wabi. Wabi (侘びmeans refinement sober and calm) is characterized by humility, restraint, simplicity, naturalism, depth, the imperfection and the asymmetry that enhances the simplicity through non-ornamented objects, Architectural spaces and the celebration of the beauty that the time and attention given to the materials.

During the sixteenth century, the fact that drinking tea is spreading throughout all levels of Japanese society. Sen no Rikyū, perhaps the historical figure the best known of the tea ceremony, introduced the concept of ichi-go ichi-e, (一期一会literally "once, an encounter"), a belief that every game should be regarded as a treasure that can never be repeated. His teachings lead to the development of new forms of architecture and garden, arts and leads to the development of comprehensive sadō. The principles that transmit - harmony (wa和), respect (kei敬), purity (精sei), and tranquility (寂jaku) - are still at the centre of the tea ceremony today.

A wide range of utensils is needed even for the most basic tea ceremonies. A complete list of all items, utensils, their styles and variations could fill several hundred pages of a book, and thousands of volumes of this type exist. The following list presents the essential components:

*Chakin (茶巾), a rectangular white canvas and flax or hemp is used for the r itual cleansing of the bowl.
* Fukusa (袱纱), the fukusa is a square of silk used for the ritual cleansing of the bailer and the natsume, or cha-ire, and to hold the hot kettle and its lid. The fukusa is sometimes used by guests to protect the tea utensils when consideration (usually this fukusa is unique and is called kobukusa or small fukusa. They are thicker, patterned and often much more colorful than normal fukusa . kobukusa are kept in a kaishi (a bag) or in the breast pocket of kimono.)
* Ladle (hishaku柄杓), a long bamboo ladle with a knot at the center of the race. It is used to transfer water to and from the iron pots and containers with fresh water in some ceremonies. There are different styles used in various ceremonies, but for different seasons. A wider style is used for ritual purification followed by the guests before entering the tea room.
* Tana (棚shelves) (literally), is usually a word that refers to all types of furniture made of wood or bamboo used in the preparation of tea; tana each type has its own name. The tana vary considerably in size, style, features and materials. They are placed before the host of the tea room, and the variety of tea utensils are placed above or stored in them. They are used in very varied during each tea ceremony.
* The tea bowl (茶碗chawan), is undoubtedly essential. Without it, the tea could not be served, and could not be drunk. The tea bowls are available in a wide range of sizes and styles, and different styles are used for strong tea and tea light (tea ceremony see below). The shallow bowls, which allow the tea to cool quickly are used in summer; bowls are used in deep winter. The bowls are often nominated by their creators or their owners, or by a master tea. Some bowls older than 400 years ago are still used today, but only in special occasions and unusual. The best bowls are shaped by hand and costing extremely expensive. The irregularities and imperfections are popular: they are often placed on the front of the bowl. The bowls are broken meticulously repaired using a mixture of lacquer and other natural ingredients. From the gold powder is added to hide the dark color of lacquer and drawings are sometimes created using the mixture. The bowls repaired in this way are mainly used in November, when practitioners of tea using the ro, or home (fire), again, as an expression and celebration of the concept of wabi, or the humble simplicity.
* Tea Box (natsume, cha-ire枣,茶入れ). The tea boxes come in two basic styles different, natsume and cha-ire, through which there is a variation of shapes, sizes and colors. The natsume is named for its resemblance to the fruit natsume (jujube). It is short with a flat lid, a rounded bottom, and it is usually made of wood lacquered or untreated. The cha-ire is usually tall, narrow (but forms vary significantly), and has a lid ivory with a gold leaf underneath. The cha-ire is usually ceramic, and is contained in bags decorated. The natsume and cha-ire are used in various ceremonies.
* Bailer tea (chashaku茶杓). The bailer is carved tea party to a single piece of bamboo with a nodule roughly in the middle. They are used to bail tea box of tea in tea bowl. Broader probes are used to transfer tea box of tea in the mizuya (水屋), or area of preparedness. The various styles and colours are used in the omotesenke and urasenke.
* Whip (chasen茶筅), whips tea are carved in a single piece of bamboo. There are thick and thin for strong tea and tea light. The old chasen damaged are simply discarded. Once in a year, usually in May, they are caught up in local temples and burned at a simple ceremony called chasen koyō, which expresses the respect with which treaties are the objects of the tea ceremony.

All objects of the tea ceremony are maintained with exquisite care. They are carefully cleaned before and after each use and before storage. Some components should be handled with gloved hands.

The tea ceremony
When the tea is made with water drawn from the depths of the mind

Whose merits exceed the measure, we really what we call the chanoyu

- Toyotomi Hideyoshi

The two main schools, Omotesenke and Urasenke have evolved, each with its own rituals. There are also other lesser-known schools. Currently, the Urasenke school is the most active and most followed. Within each school, there are sub-schools where there are seasonal variations in the timing and method of preparing and enjoying tea, in the types, forms of tea leaves and tools used.

All schools and most of the changes, however, have a number of common points. The host, male or female, usually a kimono, while guests can wear kimono or formal dark clothing. If tea is served in a tea house separately, rather than in the tea room, guests wait in a garden until he will be asked by the host. They then ritually purify by washing their hands and by rinsing the mouth in a small stone basin containing water. They then headed toward the "tokonoma, or alcove, where they admire the parchment and / or other statements. Then they sit in seiza position on the tatami, in order of prestige.

The tea houses and tea rooms are usually small. The typical size of the soil is about 4 and a half tatami. The size of the smallest room can be tea for two tatamis and that of the largest are limited only by the wealth of its owner. Construction materials and decorations are deliberately simple and rustic.

A simple and light meal, called "kaiseki" (懐石), or "chakaiseki (茶懐石) can be served to the guests, followed by sake. They then returned to the waiting room covered until they are again called by the host.

If no meal is served, the host will directly serve little delicacies. The sweets are eaten with a special paper called kaishi (懐纸); each guest brings his own, often in a small decorated portfolio. The kaishi is placed in the breast pocket of kimono.

Each utensil - including the tea bowl (chawan), the whip (chasen) and the bailer tea (chasaku) - is ritually cleansed in the presence of guests in a specific order and using very specific gestures. The utensils are placed in the exact order storage in accordance with the ritual that will follow. When the ritual of cleaning and preparation utensils is complete, the host place a measured quantity of green tea powder in the bowl and add the appropriate amount of hot water and tea fouette using predefined movements.

The conversation is kept to a minimum. Guests relax and enjoy the atmosphere created by the sounds of water and fire, the smell of incense and tea, the beauty and simplicity of the tea house and decorations seasonally appropriate.

The bowl is then served to the guests of honour ( "shokyaku初客" literally the "first guest"), or by the host, either by an assistant. The social courbettes is exchanged between the host and the guest of honour. The curve is then invited to the second guest and raises his bowl in a gesture of respect for the host. The guest turns the bowl to avoid drinking on its front, a small sip drinks, whispers a sentence predefined, then takes two or three sips before wipe the board, turns the bowl in its original position and pass to the next guest while welcoming the. This procedure is repeated until all guests have made tea from the same bowl. The bowl is then restored to the host. In some ceremonies, each guest drinks in a bowl couple, but the order in which tea is served and drinking is the same.

If strong tea, koicha, has been served, the host will prepare some tea light, or usucha, which is served in the same way. However, in certain rituals, only koicha or usucha is served.

Once guests have each drank tea, the host cleans the utensils. The guest of honour will ask the host to allow guests to examine the utensils and each turn, invited examine and admire each object, including water bailer, the box tea, tea bailer , the whip tea, and, most importantly, the tea bowl. The objects are treated with extreme caution and reverence because they are often priceless, irreplaceable antiquities done by hand, and guests often use a special cloth to keep them.

The host then recovered utensils and the guests then left the house tea. The host salute to the door and the ceremony ends.

A tea ceremony can last between one hour and five hours, depending on the type of ceremony performed and the type of meals and tea served.

Chabako demae
Chabako demae (茶箱点前) is called so because the equipment is made in a special box (chabako literally tea box) and placed in it.

Hakobi demae
Hakobi demae (運び点前)) is closely related to ryū-rei (see below), but it is practised in the seiza position. The name comes from the fact that the essential utensils - the bowl, natsume, the container with fresh water, the probes, and so on. -- Are transported (運ぶhakobu) both inside and outside the courtroom tea.

Obon temae
In Obon Temae (お盆点前), hosted a tea bowl, whip, the bailer tea, and chakin natsume on a special shelf. These objects are covered by the fukusa. Tea is prepared light on the board while guests kneel on the floor in seiza position.

When Ryū-rei (立礼), the tea is prepared in a special table. The guests were seated around the same table or at a separate table. The name refers to the practice of first and last greeting at the entrance of the tea room. In the Ryū-rei, there is usually an assistant who sits behind the host and which moves stool from the host when it is or where it sits upright. The assistant also serves tea and sweets to the guests.

The tea ceremony and calligraphy
(To write)

Calligraphy plays a central role in the tea ceremony. It is used to develop a sense of serenity and peace, and to bring the man in tea to discover the beauty in the non-common. It must be simple and sober, and is sometimes replaced by a drawing of Japanese style (the name escapes me). When the tea man enters the suki-ya, it should take the time to admire the flower arrangement and calligraphy for a long time. To delve into them. It must then report on its assessment to master tea.

The tea ceremony and floral arrangements
The chabana (茶花, literally "flower tea") is the most simple style of flower arrangement used in the tea ceremony. The chabana has its roots in ikebana, a traditional style of Japanese flower arrangement, which takes itself its roots in Buddhism and Shintoism.

The chabana has evolved into a less formal style of ikebana, which was used by the first masters of tea. The style chabana is now the standard flower arrangement for the tea ceremony. According to some sources, it would have been developed by Sen no Rikyū.

In its most basic, chabana is a simple arrangement of flowers of the season which are placed in a container. These arrangements typically include some objects. The vases are generally made in a natural material like bamboo, metal or ceramics.

The chabana is so simple that frequently no more than a single flower is used. This flower invariably look to the guests, or deal with them.

Kaiseki ryōri
Kaiseki ryōri (懐石料理literally chest-stone cooking) is the name of a type of food served during tea ceremonies. The name comes from the practice of Zen monks who placed the stones at the top of their robes to avert hunger during periods of fasting.

The kaiseki cuisine is normally strictly vegetarian, but nowadays, fish and other dishes can be served occasionally.

In the kaiseki, are used only fresh ingredients of the season, prepared to highlight their taste and odor. An exquisite care is taken in selecting ingredients and types of food. The dishes are beautifully arranged and garnished, often with real leaves and real flowers, so that some dishes look like plants or animals. The aesthetic aspect is just as important as food at the kaiseki.

The dishes are served in small amounts in individual dishes and the meal is eaten by sitting in seiza position. Each meal has a small plateau. The very important people have their own coffee table or several small tables.

The kaiseki for the tea ceremony is sometimes called chakaiseki (茶懐石, cha "tea"). The chakaiseki usually includes one or two soups and three different vegetable dishes with boiled rice and rice marinated. The sashimi or other flat fish can be served occasionally, but this type of dish is quite rare.

The kaiseki is accompanied by sake.

The tea ceremony and kimono
While the kimono was to be used on a mandatory by all participants in the tea ceremony, this is no longer the case. Although traditionally formal occasions during most of the guests will wear a kimono. Since the study of the kimono is an essential part of learning about the tea ceremony, most practitioners have at least a kimono of their own and they wear when they receive or participate in a tea ceremony. The kimono dress is compulsory for students of the tea ceremony, but fewer teachers emphasize this fact. It is increasingly common for students to wear western clothes during their practice. Indeed, it is difficult to have more than one or two kimonos, because of their cost, and it is important to keep them in good conditions. However, most of the students practise in a kimono at least a few times. It is essential to learn the movements prescribed properly.

Many of the movements and components of the tea ceremony evolved with the port of kimono. For example, some movements were designated with kimonos with long sleeves, and some movements asked to move races out of the way or allowed to avoid the mess when preparing tea, when served or when drinking . Other movements were allowed to pull the kimono and hakama.

The Fukasa are stowed in the obi. The kaishi and kobukusa are stored in the breast pocket of kimono. When someone wears Western clothes, he must find other places to keep these items on him. The sleeves of kimonos function as pockets and kaishi used is stored in them.

For the tea ceremony, men typically a combination of a kimono and a hakama, but some men wear only a kimono. Wear a hakama is not essential for the men, but it gives them a more formal look. The women wear kimonos of different styles depending on the season and events. Women generally do not hakama during the tea ceremony. There are lined kimono worn by both men and women during the winter months and non dubbed kimonos are used during the summer. For formal occasions, men wear kimonos type montsuki often with a striped hakama. Both men and women wear white tabi.

The tea ceremony and seiza
The seiza is an integral part of the tea ceremony. To sit in the position seiza (正座, literally "to be seated properly"), it begins with his knees on her buttocks bases on its heels, and then the hands are placed between the knees. The top of the foot is fully in contact with the ground.

When they sit at the table, the host and guests sit in seiza position. The seiza is the basic position from which everything begins and ends in the tea ceremony. The host sits in seiza for opening and closing the door of the room tea. The seiza is the basic position to arrange and clean utensils as well as to prepare tea. Even when the host needs to change position during different parts of the ceremony, these changes of position are made in seiza position. The guests also maintain the seiza position throughout the ceremony.

All greetings (there are three basic variations that differ in the position of the hands and the magnitude with which the greeting is done) practised in seiza position during the original tea ceremony.

The tea ceremony and tatami
The tatami also has a central place in the tea ceremony. The main surfaces of the rooms of tea and tea houses have a tatami floor and the tokonoma (alcove with parchment) in the halls of tea has often also a tatami floor.

The tatami are used in different ways in the tea ceremony. Their placement, for example, determines how a person walking through the hall tea. When walking on the tatami, we tend to be unbalanced, forcing slowing to maintain a good posture right and walk slowly. Avoid walking on the joints between the various parts of tatami. The placement of tatami rooms in the tea differs radically from the normal placement. In a room using sections 4 and a half, the pans are placed in a circular pattern around a central pan. It is customary to avoid walking on the central pan as much as possible because it forms a sort of table. The utensils are placed on it to watch, prepared tea bowls are placed on the pan to serve guests.

There are dozens of real and imaginary lines running through the halls of tea. They are used to determine the exact placement and utensils for thousands of other details. When you are in the presence of experienced practitioners, the placement of utensils or does not vary so infinitesimal between each ceremony. The lines of tatami (行gyou) are used as a guide for placing and joints are used as demarcations indicating where each person must sit.

The tatami provides a more comfortable surface to sit in seiza position. At certain times of the year (during the festivities of the New Year, for example), portions of the mat where guests are seated are covered by a red felted fabric.

Studying the tea ceremony
In Japan, students who wish to study the tea ceremony, usually join what is known as a "circle" in Japan, which is the generic name of a group that meets regularly and participating in a given activity. There are also tea clubs in primary schools, colleges, colleges and universities.

Most circles tea are required by the local school tea. Schools tea often have mixed groups who wish to explore all in the same school at different times. For example, there are women's groups, youth groups students and others.

Normally, the students pay for their courses once a month which covers the course, the use of bowls of the school (or teacher), other equipment, tea itself and sweets that students serve and eat for each course. Students must provide their own fukusa, their range, their paper and kobukasa, as well as their own suitcase in which they put these objects. Students must also provide their own kimonos and accessories that go along with them.

Typically, new students start out by the more advanced students. Normally, advanced students did not speak. They speak exclusively with the professor. The first thing that new students learn is how to open and close the sliding door properly, how to walk on the tatami how to enter and leave the tea room, how to salute, to whom and when to do it, how to wash, store and take care of the equipment, how to pack the fukusa, how ritually clean the tea bowls, tea boxes and the probes tea, and how to wash and put away the chakin. When mastered these essential steps, when students learn how to behave as a guest in a tea ceremony, ie, how to keep the bowls, how to drink tea and eat sweets, how to use paper and thousands of other details.

When mastered all these basics, students learn how to prepare tea powder to use, how to fill the tea ball, and finally how to measure and whisk tea. Once these bases acquired, the students begin to practice ceremonies easiest and usually starts with the Obon temae (see above). The study goes through observation and practice, the students often do not take notes and some schools even discourage that practice.

Each class ends with the entire group receiving brief instructions by the teacher, usually on the tokonoma and sweets that were served on the same day.

Read also Chanoyu

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