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Upon a Burning Body – Blood of the Bull Review
By Dear Hollow
Upon a Burning Body is back, baby. Your favorite groovy Texans are ready to lay on the hurt with as many riffs as your ears can muster. Predecessor 2022’s Fury offered a no-frills attack that more substantially simplified the attack, recalling more the groove-oriented likes of Pantera or Lamb of God, as opposed to the longstanding comparisons to deathcore’s partyharders Attila and “fight everyone” breakdowners Emmure to whom they’ve been compared in the past. It seemed like a new direction for the San Antonio quartet, even if hindered by some grunge-inspired cleans and sporadic and uneven homages to their deathcore roots. Blood of the Bull tries to reconcile a new direction and a past that still haunts them.
Blood of the Bull is indeed Upon a Burning Body firing on all cylinders – although its direction remains questionable. Ruben Alvarez’s guitar work is immediately recognizable, a bluesy edge and layered rhythms with manic solos to boot, Tito Felix’s drumming is as unhinged as you’d expect,1 while Danny Leal’s vocals have returned to peak form, honed mids to complement his vicious lows – even bassist/vocalist Thomas Alvarez’s cleans are better than last go. In Blood of the Bull, poppier choruses contrast heavier to its breakneck riffs and metalcore leanings, leaving it slightly below Fury in its effectiveness but remaining a solid installment in Upon a Burning Body’s rodeo of a discography.
In many ways, Blood of the Bull exists as the band’s most experimental outing. While it channels Fury’s propensity for groove, Thomas Alvarez forgoes on the grungy tone almost entirely for the most soulful choruses the band has ever offered, tracks which often feature newfound synth in creeping intros or interludes (“Daywalker,” “Another Ghost,” “Living in a Matrix”). While the presence of these assets could potentially dull the teeth that Upon a Burning Body’s sound naturally possesses, they refuse to let that stop them. Their cleaner tracks feel bigger and more significant than ever before, albeit imperfect: the soaring melodies can feel shoehorned alongside groove or deathcore beatdowns, although the lyricism (for once) sometimes improves this issue (“Another Ghost”) and ruins it for others (“Reckless Love”). The mariachi returns full-force, a welcome homage to the group’s roots (“Sangre del Toro,” “An Insatiable Hunger”).
If the tracks with clean singing are risks with mixed payoff, then, when Upon a Burning Body conjures syncopated grooves and commanding vocals with memorable one-liners offer the best listening on Blood of the Bull. Furious shredding, wild solos, and Leal’s signature vocal attack offer a trifecta of headbanging goodness. No one growls profanity the way Leal does, and while it was noticeably absent in Fury, the “fucking” one-liners pump adrenaline (“Killshot,” “Curse Breaker”) while other tracks manage to feel kickass and brooding simultaneously (“Hand of God”), highlighting Upon a Burning Body’s vocal return to deathcore’s intensity. It can be odd and off-putting when songs that feature the most intense groove riffs can also feature those soulful choruses (“Daywalker,” “Living in a Matrix”), but aside from the aforementioned, these don’t feel as awkward as I expected.
Upon a Burning Body amps almost everything in its attempt to reconcile the old with the new, and if nothing else, the effort is noted. There is more than enough corny lyrics, ham- beef-fisted anthems, and soaring clean choruses aboard Blood of the Bull, but in this way, it feels more like Upon a Burning Body than they’ve been in a hot minute. Thankfully, if you can look past the flaws, the band’s seventh full-length is at its worst full of crunchy grooves, mind-numbing breakdowns, and jarring tonal shifts, but if that’s its worst – with Danny Leal and Ruben Alvarez leading the attack – that’s a worst I can get behind. Also, highlights like “Another Ghost” or “Daywalker” feel like flashes of potential not yet seen in lyrics or songwriting. For now, it’s Upon a Burning Body, love ’em or hate ’em: a whole lotta bull.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Self-Released
Websites: uponaburningbody.bandcamp.com | uabbtx.com | facebook.com/uponaburningbody
Releases Worldwide: December 5th, 2025#2025 #30 #AmericanMetal #Attila #BloodOfTheBull #Deathcore #Dec25 #Emmure #GrooveMetal #LambOfGod #Metalcore #Pantera #Review #Reviews #SelfReleased #UponABurningBody
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Upon a Burning Body – Blood of the Bull Review
By Dear Hollow
Upon a Burning Body is back, baby. Your favorite groovy Texans are ready to lay on the hurt with as many riffs as your ears can muster. Predecessor 2022’s Fury offered a no-frills attack that more substantially simplified the attack, recalling more the groove-oriented likes of Pantera or Lamb of God, as opposed to the longstanding comparisons to deathcore’s partyharders Attila and “fight everyone” breakdowners Emmure to whom they’ve been compared in the past. It seemed like a new direction for the San Antonio quartet, even if hindered by some grunge-inspired cleans and sporadic and uneven homages to their deathcore roots. Blood of the Bull tries to reconcile a new direction and a past that still haunts them.
Blood of the Bull is indeed Upon a Burning Body firing on all cylinders – although its direction remains questionable. Ruben Alvarez’s guitar work is immediately recognizable, a bluesy edge and layered rhythms with manic solos to boot, Tito Felix’s drumming is as unhinged as you’d expect,1 while Danny Leal’s vocals have returned to peak form, honed mids to complement his vicious lows – even bassist/vocalist Thomas Alvarez’s cleans are better than last go. In Blood of the Bull, poppier choruses contrast heavier to its breakneck riffs and metalcore leanings, leaving it slightly below Fury in its effectiveness but remaining a solid installment in Upon a Burning Body’s rodeo of a discography.
In many ways, Blood of the Bull exists as the band’s most experimental outing. While it channels Fury’s propensity for groove, Thomas Alvarez forgoes on the grungy tone almost entirely for the most soulful choruses the band has ever offered, tracks which often feature newfound synth in creeping intros or interludes (“Daywalker,” “Another Ghost,” “Living in a Matrix”). While the presence of these assets could potentially dull the teeth that Upon a Burning Body’s sound naturally possesses, they refuse to let that stop them. Their cleaner tracks feel bigger and more significant than ever before, albeit imperfect: the soaring melodies can feel shoehorned alongside groove or deathcore beatdowns, although the lyricism (for once) sometimes improves this issue (“Another Ghost”) and ruins it for others (“Reckless Love”). The mariachi returns full-force, a welcome homage to the group’s roots (“Sangre del Toro,” “An Insatiable Hunger”).
If the tracks with clean singing are risks with mixed payoff, then, when Upon a Burning Body conjures syncopated grooves and commanding vocals with memorable one-liners offer the best listening on Blood of the Bull. Furious shredding, wild solos, and Leal’s signature vocal attack offer a trifecta of headbanging goodness. No one growls profanity the way Leal does, and while it was noticeably absent in Fury, the “fucking” one-liners pump adrenaline (“Killshot,” “Curse Breaker”) while other tracks manage to feel kickass and brooding simultaneously (“Hand of God”), highlighting Upon a Burning Body’s vocal return to deathcore’s intensity. It can be odd and off-putting when songs that feature the most intense groove riffs can also feature those soulful choruses (“Daywalker,” “Living in a Matrix”), but aside from the aforementioned, these don’t feel as awkward as I expected.
Upon a Burning Body amps almost everything in its attempt to reconcile the old with the new, and if nothing else, the effort is noted. There is more than enough corny lyrics, ham- beef-fisted anthems, and soaring clean choruses aboard Blood of the Bull, but in this way, it feels more like Upon a Burning Body than they’ve been in a hot minute. Thankfully, if you can look past the flaws, the band’s seventh full-length is at its worst full of crunchy grooves, mind-numbing breakdowns, and jarring tonal shifts, but if that’s its worst – with Danny Leal and Ruben Alvarez leading the attack – that’s a worst I can get behind. Also, highlights like “Another Ghost” or “Daywalker” feel like flashes of potential not yet seen in lyrics or songwriting. For now, it’s Upon a Burning Body, love ’em or hate ’em: a whole lotta bull.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Self-Released
Websites: uponaburningbody.bandcamp.com | uabbtx.com | facebook.com/uponaburningbody
Releases Worldwide: December 5th, 2025#2025 #30 #AmericanMetal #Attila #BloodOfTheBull #Deathcore #Dec25 #Emmure #GrooveMetal #LambOfGod #Metalcore #Pantera #Review #Reviews #SelfReleased #UponABurningBody
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Upon a Burning Body – Blood of the Bull Review
By Dear Hollow
Upon a Burning Body is back, baby. Your favorite groovy Texans are ready to lay on the hurt with as many riffs as your ears can muster. Predecessor 2022’s Fury offered a no-frills attack that more substantially simplified the attack, recalling more the groove-oriented likes of Pantera or Lamb of God, as opposed to the longstanding comparisons to deathcore’s partyharders Attila and “fight everyone” breakdowners Emmure to whom they’ve been compared in the past. It seemed like a new direction for the San Antonio quartet, even if hindered by some grunge-inspired cleans and sporadic and uneven homages to their deathcore roots. Blood of the Bull tries to reconcile a new direction and a past that still haunts them.
Blood of the Bull is indeed Upon a Burning Body firing on all cylinders – although its direction remains questionable. Ruben Alvarez’s guitar work is immediately recognizable, a bluesy edge and layered rhythms with manic solos to boot, Tito Felix’s drumming is as unhinged as you’d expect,1 while Danny Leal’s vocals have returned to peak form, honed mids to complement his vicious lows – even bassist/vocalist Thomas Alvarez’s cleans are better than last go. In Blood of the Bull, poppier choruses contrast heavier to its breakneck riffs and metalcore leanings, leaving it slightly below Fury in its effectiveness but remaining a solid installment in Upon a Burning Body’s rodeo of a discography.
In many ways, Blood of the Bull exists as the band’s most experimental outing. While it channels Fury’s propensity for groove, Thomas Alvarez forgoes on the grungy tone almost entirely for the most soulful choruses the band has ever offered, tracks which often feature newfound synth in creeping intros or interludes (“Daywalker,” “Another Ghost,” “Living in a Matrix”). While the presence of these assets could potentially dull the teeth that Upon a Burning Body’s sound naturally possesses, they refuse to let that stop them. Their cleaner tracks feel bigger and more significant than ever before, albeit imperfect: the soaring melodies can feel shoehorned alongside groove or deathcore beatdowns, although the lyricism (for once) sometimes improves this issue (“Another Ghost”) and ruins it for others (“Reckless Love”). The mariachi returns full-force, a welcome homage to the group’s roots (“Sangre del Toro,” “An Insatiable Hunger”).
If the tracks with clean singing are risks with mixed payoff, then, when Upon a Burning Body conjures syncopated grooves and commanding vocals with memorable one-liners offer the best listening on Blood of the Bull. Furious shredding, wild solos, and Leal’s signature vocal attack offer a trifecta of headbanging goodness. No one growls profanity the way Leal does, and while it was noticeably absent in Fury, the “fucking” one-liners pump adrenaline (“Killshot,” “Curse Breaker”) while other tracks manage to feel kickass and brooding simultaneously (“Hand of God”), highlighting Upon a Burning Body’s vocal return to deathcore’s intensity. It can be odd and off-putting when songs that feature the most intense groove riffs can also feature those soulful choruses (“Daywalker,” “Living in a Matrix”), but aside from the aforementioned, these don’t feel as awkward as I expected.
Upon a Burning Body amps almost everything in its attempt to reconcile the old with the new, and if nothing else, the effort is noted. There is more than enough corny lyrics, ham- beef-fisted anthems, and soaring clean choruses aboard Blood of the Bull, but in this way, it feels more like Upon a Burning Body than they’ve been in a hot minute. Thankfully, if you can look past the flaws, the band’s seventh full-length is at its worst full of crunchy grooves, mind-numbing breakdowns, and jarring tonal shifts, but if that’s its worst – with Danny Leal and Ruben Alvarez leading the attack – that’s a worst I can get behind. Also, highlights like “Another Ghost” or “Daywalker” feel like flashes of potential not yet seen in lyrics or songwriting. For now, it’s Upon a Burning Body, love ’em or hate ’em: a whole lotta bull.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Self-Released
Websites: uponaburningbody.bandcamp.com | uabbtx.com | facebook.com/uponaburningbody
Releases Worldwide: December 5th, 2025#2025 #30 #AmericanMetal #Attila #BloodOfTheBull #Deathcore #Dec25 #Emmure #GrooveMetal #LambOfGod #Metalcore #Pantera #Review #Reviews #SelfReleased #UponABurningBody
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Upon a Burning Body – Blood of the Bull Review
By Dear Hollow
Upon a Burning Body is back, baby. Your favorite groovy Texans are ready to lay on the hurt with as many riffs as your ears can muster. Predecessor 2022’s Fury offered a no-frills attack that more substantially simplified the attack, recalling more the groove-oriented likes of Pantera or Lamb of God, as opposed to the longstanding comparisons to deathcore’s partyharders Attila and “fight everyone” breakdowners Emmure to whom they’ve been compared in the past. It seemed like a new direction for the San Antonio quartet, even if hindered by some grunge-inspired cleans and sporadic and uneven homages to their deathcore roots. Blood of the Bull tries to reconcile a new direction and a past that still haunts them.
Blood of the Bull is indeed Upon a Burning Body firing on all cylinders – although its direction remains questionable. Ruben Alvarez’s guitar work is immediately recognizable, a bluesy edge and layered rhythms with manic solos to boot, Tito Felix’s drumming is as unhinged as you’d expect,1 while Danny Leal’s vocals have returned to peak form, honed mids to complement his vicious lows – even bassist/vocalist Thomas Alvarez’s cleans are better than last go. In Blood of the Bull, poppier choruses contrast heavier to its breakneck riffs and metalcore leanings, leaving it slightly below Fury in its effectiveness but remaining a solid installment in Upon a Burning Body’s rodeo of a discography.
In many ways, Blood of the Bull exists as the band’s most experimental outing. While it channels Fury’s propensity for groove, Thomas Alvarez forgoes on the grungy tone almost entirely for the most soulful choruses the band has ever offered, tracks which often feature newfound synth in creeping intros or interludes (“Daywalker,” “Another Ghost,” “Living in a Matrix”). While the presence of these assets could potentially dull the teeth that Upon a Burning Body’s sound naturally possesses, they refuse to let that stop them. Their cleaner tracks feel bigger and more significant than ever before, albeit imperfect: the soaring melodies can feel shoehorned alongside groove or deathcore beatdowns, although the lyricism (for once) sometimes improves this issue (“Another Ghost”) and ruins it for others (“Reckless Love”). The mariachi returns full-force, a welcome homage to the group’s roots (“Sangre del Toro,” “An Insatiable Hunger”).
If the tracks with clean singing are risks with mixed payoff, then, when Upon a Burning Body conjures syncopated grooves and commanding vocals with memorable one-liners offer the best listening on Blood of the Bull. Furious shredding, wild solos, and Leal’s signature vocal attack offer a trifecta of headbanging goodness. No one growls profanity the way Leal does, and while it was noticeably absent in Fury, the “fucking” one-liners pump adrenaline (“Killshot,” “Curse Breaker”) while other tracks manage to feel kickass and brooding simultaneously (“Hand of God”), highlighting Upon a Burning Body’s vocal return to deathcore’s intensity. It can be odd and off-putting when songs that feature the most intense groove riffs can also feature those soulful choruses (“Daywalker,” “Living in a Matrix”), but aside from the aforementioned, these don’t feel as awkward as I expected.
Upon a Burning Body amps almost everything in its attempt to reconcile the old with the new, and if nothing else, the effort is noted. There is more than enough corny lyrics, ham- beef-fisted anthems, and soaring clean choruses aboard Blood of the Bull, but in this way, it feels more like Upon a Burning Body than they’ve been in a hot minute. Thankfully, if you can look past the flaws, the band’s seventh full-length is at its worst full of crunchy grooves, mind-numbing breakdowns, and jarring tonal shifts, but if that’s its worst – with Danny Leal and Ruben Alvarez leading the attack – that’s a worst I can get behind. Also, highlights like “Another Ghost” or “Daywalker” feel like flashes of potential not yet seen in lyrics or songwriting. For now, it’s Upon a Burning Body, love ’em or hate ’em: a whole lotta bull.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Self-Released
Websites: uponaburningbody.bandcamp.com | uabbtx.com | facebook.com/uponaburningbody
Releases Worldwide: December 5th, 2025#2025 #30 #AmericanMetal #Attila #BloodOfTheBull #Deathcore #Dec25 #Emmure #GrooveMetal #LambOfGod #Metalcore #Pantera #Review #Reviews #SelfReleased #UponABurningBody
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Tzevaot – The Hermetic Way Review
By Thus Spoke
Oh, to have half the confidence of the average solo artist dabbling in the esoteric. Their avant-garde opuses can’t all be the status-quo-subverting masterworks of music and philosophy they claim to be. For some reason, I, Voidhanger keeps signing them, and for equally opaque reasons, we keep choosing to review their albums. Tzevaot is the experimental black metal1 project of an individual known only as The Orator, who in The Hermetic Way explores occult ideas purported to unveil “actual hidden mechanisms of reality,” with heavy inspiration from the magical tradition made popular by who else but Aleister Crowley. And while everything from the flowery promo blurb to the time-stamped lyrics2 and the solemn spoken-word poetry tries to convince you of its significance. The Hermetic Way completely fails to impart much more than consternation.
It’s difficult to know where to even begin with The Hermetic Way, and its brand of wisdom. At every turn, things somehow go wrong. The core sound is something akin to Esoctrilihum—barking screams, twisty guitars, and a propensity for echo on everything—only with a mix you’d barely forgive a bedroom project for, and a compositional style that makes said Esoctrilihum sound catchy. Tzevaot jumbles synths, piano, and guitars that seem to hit upon a genuine groove of Emperor-esque theatrics or Absu-level style completely by accident; the fact that the best melodies are never reprised only supports this theory. The drumming—which may well be a machine for all I can discern3—is flat and dull, buried by the wall of heavy reverb between the sharp stab of the vocals and the other instruments. This intensifies the feeling of aggravated confusion that defines the listening experience, as one struggles to keep up with the nonsensical rhythmic trades, sudden inclusion of solo synth or piano, and yet more spoken-word. This is not the nuanced placelessness of an intelligent, complex extreme metal, where discordance and strange rhythms develop impossibly but seamlessly into new forms; this is a mess.
As with many similar works of art, all of The Hermetic Way’s failures arise from the hubris of their creator. The indulgence of every idea, at the expense of their development, integration, and refinement, causes the record to swing pendulously between mind-numbing boredom and toe-curling cringe. Without fail, songs go in the most annoying possible direction, dropping tension like a hot potato and throwing out a rare good musical passage in favour of the most jarring refrains (“Solve et Coagula,” “Pyres of Meaning Light the New Aeon’s Way”), or another arrangement of noise to a jaunty tempo that makes a mockery of the previous composition (“Zosimos the Alchemist”). Elements are often so poorly integrated, that sections clearly designed for drama—stripped-back keys or solemn recitations—fail to land; the sample of famed occult author Lon Milo DuQuette is barely audible past the fickle interchanges of organs, riffs, and drums. The Oracle persistently delivers vocals in a monotonous, rapid-fire bark that gets grating fast, particularly when combined with Tzevaot’s fondness for stacking tempos and synth accompaniments like dominos one after another. But I would listen to hours of all the above barks rather than sit just once more through horror show “The Hero of Megiddo,” a skin-crawling ditty whose redemptive brevity is made moot by its being the only thing on the record with a memorable tune, causing the perverse singing and jangling chords to turn around in your brain like an inescapable merri-go-round.
Most painful of all is that The Hermetic Way could have been so much better. Tzevaot might try to borrow the label of “jazz” to elevate whatever’s going on with piano and cymbals at various points. While that’s not really justified, it’s nonetheless striking that every single isolated passage of good music on The Hermetic Way involves piano4 (“The Emerald Tablet of Thoth,” “Air Fire Water Earth,” “Metempsychosis”). These fleeting moments, which comprise approximately five percent of the runtime combine key slides and arpeggios in a stylish, interesting way that’s very cool, and variously reminiscent of Wreche, Vengeur, and once again Emperor. In an hour of music that is otherwise so exhausting, this is obviously not enough. By the time the best parts of the album arrive in closer “Metempsychosis,” you’re likely too checked out to care, if you’re even still listening.
The Hermetic Way’s title is apt. Not only as it divulges supposed profound truths through the visionary teachings of the self-imposed hermit, who has reached enlightenment through years of solitary contemplation. But also because that’s quite a good analogy for the solo metal musician of the esoteric bent. Maybe Tzevaot harbors real genius, and I’m simply too blind and deaf to see or hear it in their work. More likely it’s another case of talent foiled by delusion.
Rating: Bad
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 265 kb/s mp3
Label: I, Voidhanger
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: November 14th, 2025#15 #2025 #avantGardeMetal #blackMetal #emperor #esoctrilihum #esotericBlackMetal #experimentalMetal #iVoidhangerRecords #nov25 #review #reviews #theHermeticWay #tzevaot
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"More Awareness Needed as Climate Change Could Spread Valley Fever
The changing environment—urbanization, industrialization and climate change—is leading to the spread of Coccidioides. Until recently, the fungus that causes Valley fever lived mostly in the southwestern United States, but today clinicians throughout the country should keep an open mind about this condition (JAMA Insights 2025 Feb 20. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.27274).
'Valley fever is caused by Coccidioides, a fungus that prefers dry areas,' said Pamela S. Lee, MS, MD, of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, in Torrance, Calif. 'Valley fever refers to the San Joaquin Valley [in California], but also has ‘hot spots’ in Arizona and Texas.'
Coccidioides resides in soil, and its growth is thought to increase with heavy precipitation. In their paper, Dr. Lee and her colleagues discussed how several years of drought followed by the very wet storms in California in 2022-2023 led to 'record-high numbers of coccidioidomycosis in 2023.'
Climate change has already increased temperatures and evaporative demand (i.e., the propensity of air to drive evaporation from the land surface and bodies of water) in the U.S. These changes have increased drought severity and soil dryness in the American West, with further increases anticipated depending on future global warming trajectory,' Dr. Lee and her team wrote. 'Decreases in soil moisture and/or increasingly wide or frequent swings between dry and wet conditions may promote environmental settings increasingly favorable to Coccidioides growth and dispersion.'
Coccidioidomycosis occurs with inhalation of spores that emerge from the soil when areas dry out, explained John Galgiani, MD, a professor of medicine in infectious diseases at the University of Arizona College of Medicine–Tucson."
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Il contesto era anche quello dell’applicazione del Trattato di Maastricht
A portare a compimento il processo di industrializzazione del paese, arriva negli anni Ottanta la cosiddetta “terziarizzazione”, ovvero un’accelerazione del settore terziario, costituito dai servizi secondo diverse le diverse tipologie elaborate per distinguerli dai beni. Genericamente si parla di commercio, servizi pubblici, turismo, trasporti, attività finanziarie, bancarie e assicurative, attività di ricerca, ecc., ma l’individuazione dei servizi è avvenuta in base a classificazioni molto elaborate <57.
Il terziario va a conquistare il centro del panorama economico che l’industria occupava dagli anni Sessanta <58. Nel 1980 esso rappresenta già una fetta di oltre il 48% degli occupati e il 51,6% del valore aggiunto. L’anno successivo, la “terziarizzazione” dell’economia produce un ulteriore spostamento degli occupati: i servizi assorbono la quota maggiore di lavoratori, quasi il 50%, l’industria scende sotto il 40% e l’agricoltura arretra all’11%. Nel 1995 le percentuali sono rispettivamente al 61,3%, 32,7% e 6%. Gli addetti al terziario nel 2009 saranno il 67,0%, con l’industria al 29,2% e l’agricoltura al 3,8%.
I settori dei servizi che giocano un ruolo determinante nel nuovo corso economico sono la finanza, l’informazione e ricreazione, e i servizi sociali. Soprattutto i servizi finanziari acquistano una centralità a livello globale nell’intreccio tra informatica e telecomunicazioni. “Fu determinante per lo sviluppo dei mercati monetari, nonché dei numerosi servizi e figure professionali ad essi collegati”, segnala Ginsborg <59.
In Italia, al contrario, proprio questo settore, come altri di punta del terziario, ha avuto un andamento atipico e più instabile rispetto alle altre potenze economiche. Per esempio, le banche, dopo il fortunato periodo senza precedenti degli anni Settanta e inizio Ottanta, quando approfittarono soprattutto della propensione italiana al risparmio, si mossero con lentezza e senza i rinnovamenti organizzativi e di configurazioni societarie in grado di competere con i colossi internazionali.
D’altro canto, la grande vitalità della produzione italiana è testimoniata dall’andamento dell’economia del nostro paese nella seconda parte degli anni Ottanta, in coincidenza con la decisa ripresa dell’andamento internazionale. In particolare, se la crescita in tutta Europa ha un progressivo incremento, in Italia le cose vanno ancora meglio, con un aumento del Pil da metà anni Settanta alla fine degli Ottanta di poco meno del 50%, un cinque per cento in più rispetto alla media degli altri partner europei. Ed è proprio sul finire di quel decennio che l’Italia può annunciare di essere diventata la quinta potenza economica mondiale del G7, cioè il Group of seven, il club ristretto delle sette democrazie più industrializzate al mondo dove il suo ingresso aveva fatto storcere il naso ad alcuni partner. È il cosiddetto “sorpasso” della Gran Bretagna annunciato nel gennaio 1987 dall’allora ministro del Tesoro e presa male da Londra, ma confermata dalle organizzazioni internazionali e solidamente legata alla grande realtà della capillare diffusione della piccola impresa, assente nel Regno Unito.
A livello industriale, le ragioni di questa rinnovata energia del comparto italiano vanno ricercate nella sua adeguatezza ad una nuova struttura dei mercati internazionali, sempre più dinamici e in continua espansione. Si tratta del fenomeno che vede la crisi mondiale della grande impresa ispirata al modello americano, incapace di incorporare attributi come rapidità e flessibilità nella produzione, presente invece nei distretti industriali italiani. Questi consistevano in reti di imprese che spesso si concentrarono in aree geografiche limitate, che avevano una serie di vantaggi nell’approvvigionamento della manodopera, nelle relazioni commerciali e nella specializzazione, indotta dalla concentrazione intorno ad una o più fasi di un processo produttivo.
All’incremento sostenuto della competitività delle piccole e medie imprese, corrispose una ristrutturazione dei centri industriali di grandi dimensioni. Per ridurre i propri costi, in particolare legati alle retribuzioni dei dipendenti, e guadagnare produttività, si fece ricorso all’automazione e ai vantaggi suscitati dalla rivoluzione informatica e tecnologica in corso, così come al decentramento, sia trasferendo parte della produzione fuori dai confini nazionali, sia esternalizzandola alle imprese di dimensioni più ridotte. <60
L’area del triangolo Torino-Milano-Genova perse conseguentemente parte della sua importanza, in seguito all’emergere di un notevole numero di distretti nelle aree più orientali del Nord Italia e lungo la costa Adriatica. Quest’ampia zona geografica, indicata con la sigla NEC, Nord-Est e Centro, prese il nome di Terza Italia.
Ma intanto, nello scenario internazionale gli ultimi anni Ottanta sono quelli della svolta che si prepara ad Est. A ridefinire gli equilibri globali è il cambio di rotta del blocco Sovietico, contrapposto a quello Occidentale nel mondo diviso in due. Nel 1985 il nuovo segretario generale del Partito Comunista, Michail Gorbaciov, annuncia che l’Unione Sovietica per sopravvivere deve uscire dalla stagnazione da cui è strangolata, attraverso una riorganizzazione dei principi che hanno guidato il regime comunista. I sui programmi di riforme, che furono segnati da resistenze e fallimenti, aprirono comunque la strada a quella spinta incontenibile che portò nel 1989 alla caduta del Muro di Berlino, con la riunificazione tedesca, e successivamente alla dissoluzione dell’Impero sovietico e alla fine della Guerra fredda. A livello psicologico, in Occidente la fine del Comunismo è vissuta come fine del Socialismo, della Socialdemocrazia e, in genere, di ogni intervento dello Stato nel Mercato.
Un passaggio storico che in Italia non si traduce nella sola ridefinizione del ruolo del Partito Comunista, ma che precipita in una crisi di decomposizione l’intero sistema dei partiti, imperniato su un consolidato patto di potere DC-PSI, a cui il PCI non è estraneo, coinvolgendo tutte le classi e forze sociali. Ma ciò accade proprio perché, se il quadro è quello della caduta del Muro di Berlino, ad agire sono anche fattori interni, legati soprattutto all’insoddisfazione proprio dei ceti medi urbani. Se da un lato l’irrompere nel 1992 di Tangentopoli, l’inchiesta giudiziaria sulla pratica consolidata delle tangenti da parte dei partiti, è vissuto come “questione morale”, dal punto di vista della Banca d’Italia “prese la forma di una crisi di indebitamento che avrebbe causato la sfiducia europea e internazionale nei confronti dell’economia italiana” <61.
Tanto più che il decennio si era aperto con la recessione del 1991 che aveva colpito in primo luogo gli Stati Uniti, per cause strutturali e non solo connesse alla fine della Guerra Fredda, esprimendosi come economia delle contraddizioni. “La Borsa di Wall Street continua a segnare record dopo record. Le corporation continuano ad annunciare profitti strepitosi. Ma per ogni punto guadagnato dalla Borsa e per ogni dollaro guadagnato dalle azioni di una corporation, ci sono migliaia di nuovi disoccupati” <62.
E così anche l’Italia, nel pieno infuriare di Tangentopoli e della guerra allo Stato dichiarata dalla Mafia in Sicilia, si trovò a dover far quadrare i difficili numeri della congiuntura economica. Una crisi di carattere finanziario che ebbe importanti effetti sul sistema economico e sulle condizioni di vita della popolazione: sostenibilità della situazione del bilancio pubblico, con un disavanzo corrente previsto oltre i quarantamila miliardi di lire, necessità di riforme strutturali, rilancio della competitività del sistema economico, collocazione dell’Italia nel commercio mondiale, aumento dell’efficienza della Pubblica Amministrazione, lotta alla corruzione, perdita di credibilità della classe politica.
Il contesto era anche quello dell’applicazione del Trattato di Maastricht, firmato il 7 febbraio 1992 nella cittadina olandese, nel quale l’allora Comunità Europea fissava le regole politiche e i parametri economici e sociali necessari per l’ingresso e la permanenza dei vari stati nell’Unione. Si fissava, inoltre, l’Unione economica monetaria, stabilendo che entro il primo gennaio 1999 si sarebbe dato il via alla moneta unica, l’Euro con la nascita della Banca centrale europea. Si indicavano un rapporto deficit pubblico/Pil non superiore al 3%, un rapporto debito pubblico/Pil non superiore al 60%, un tasso di inflazione non superiore del’1,5% rispetto a quello dei tre paesi più virtuosi. Mentre per diversi paesi, soprattutto del nord Europa, si pose il problema della ratifica del trattato, cui si opponevano ampie fasce di popolazione, per l’Italia la vera difficoltà era proprio doversi conformare a questi parametri. Il deficit di bilancio italiano all’epoca era il 9,9% del Pil, rispetto al 3% indicato dal Trattato. Il debito pubblico era al 103% del Pil anziché minore del 60%. Il tasso d’inflazione sfiorava il 10% del Pil, invece di essere entro il 3%.
[NOTE]
57 Grande influenza ha avuto la distinzione proposta da T.P.Hill nel 1977, secondo il quale “i servizi non sono beni immateriali o invisibili, ma godono di proprietà specifiche e devono quindi beneficiare di un diverso statuto concettuale”. Quanto alla destinazione, è stata in genere definita in relazione a due tipologie generali di mercato: servizi al produttore o intermedi da una parte, servizi al consumatore o finali dall’altra. Esempi del primo tipo sono servizi alle aziende quali la contabilità, la consulenza legale e finanziaria, la pubblicità, etc. Tra gli esempi del secondo tipo, i servizi ricreativi, la sanità l’istruzione. P. Ginsborg, ibidem.
58 Al censimento 1931 le percentuali erano: agricoltura 46,8, industria 30,8 e servizi 22,4. Nel secondo dopoguerra, l’agricoltura incide ancora per il 42% ma industria e servizi acquistano maggiore peso, 32% e 26%. È lo sviluppo industriale degli anni Sessanta che modifica la distribuzione degli occupati fra settori: nell’industria arrivano al 41%, nei servizi al 30% mentre gli occupati in agricoltura si attestano sotto il 30% (Fonte Istat).
59 P. Ginsborg, ibidem. “La gamma dei servizi finanziari, sia al produttore sia al consumatore, si ampliò in maniera spettacolare. Allo stesso tempo, i mercati monetari vennero trasformati dal volume e dalla mobilità dei capitali, dalla volatilità sia del prezzo del denaro (tassi d’interesse) sia dei rapporti tra le valute (tassi di cambio)”.
60 Ennio De Simone, Storia Economica, pp. 323-324
61 P. Ginsborg, ibidem, pag.472.
62 Piero Scaruffi, Il Terzo Secolo, almanacco della società americana alla fine del millennio (Feltrinelli, 1996).
Lorenzo Petrone, La classe media in Italia: un baricentro. L’evoluzione della compagine sociale protagonista del miracolo economico, Tesi di laurea, Università Luiss “Guido Carli”, Anno Accademico 2016-2017#1991 #1992 #anni #decentramento #distretti #Genova #indebitamento #industria #LorenzoPetrone #Maastricht #Milano #Ottanta #recessione #servizi #terziario #Torino #trattato #triangolo
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Spooky seismic lakes – Loch Ness and its monster
Loch Ness is known for a monster and for its location in the Great Glen, the most obvious tectonic feature of Scotland. Fault lines are associated with several spooky themes. For this entry into the Spooky Geology canon, I’m going to touch on some of the popular, paranatural ideas about fault-associated lakes. In this part 1 of 2, I’m tackling the oft-repeated relation between seismic activity on the Great Glen Fault and the Nessie legend.
There are some water bodies that exist above (and because of) an existing fault underneath, which conjures some spooky folklore. While all water bodies may be considered liminal areas between worlds, or passageways for the dead, those over faults are extra spooky because of the exaggerated ideas people have about what tectonic faults look like and how they behave. So let’s begin by touching on these fault-y ideas.
Faults and spookiness
Fault zones, in general, are already associated with three major spooky ideas:
- Lights – Earthquake lights are probably a real thing, but not in the way most people think of them. If they exist in one or more forms, they occur very rarely. We do not understand the mechanism and there is not a large body of convincing, reliable evidence. I’ve done extensive piecing together of what does exist in this post. They are spooky and still mysterious.
- Tectonic Strain Theory – This is the idea by research scientist Michael Persinger who proposed that ghosts, poltergeists, UFO sightings, and general strangeness may be the result of localized and transient geophysical forces associated with seismic areas under tectonic stress. This theory is not credible, yet it persists as a “sciencey” idea, popular with paranormalists because Persinger was a scientist and they can cite his research, which appears credible. The details are too much to go into here so I’ll save it for another post someday.
- Breath of the gods – Faults in Greece and Turkey have characteristics that result in transmission of hydrocarbons to the surface. A few of these places were known to be ancient locations of temples or ritual spots which were undoubtedly constructed due to the geological activity that occurred there. Examples include the Oracle at Delphi and the Hieropolis’ Plutonium. Only a few faults have this exciting characteristic.
Geomythology of Loch Ness
It is such joy when two of my favorite subjects overlap. Here is my opportunity to talk about spooky geology + cryptozoology! I feel I am uniquely qualified for this. For this discussion, we reenter the familiar sphere of geomythology and head to Scotland.
An extreme version of Nessie, circa 1933, a plesiosaur type that came ashore to steal sheep. According to TetZoo, this depiction, made into desktop wallpaper and sensationalizing the Spicer sighting, is by Gino D’Achille.Geomythology is the study of legendary stories that appear to modern observers to be an attempt by a pre-modern culture to explain a natural geological event. The cultural story can have a kernel of truth that suggests people of that time and place recognized a geological cause in a creative sense.
Geomyths are subjective in their translation and application. In other words, interpreting facts and making assumptions are a necessary part of making geomythological connections. Therefore, the process is tricky and fraught with pitfalls, particularly for those with an over-eager propensity for correlation.
Luigi Piccardi, a geoscientist who researches and writes academically about geomythology, proposed in 2001 that sightings of the Loch Ness monster may be related to seismic activity. On its face, this was a sciencey idea that seemed plausible. Piccardi suggested that waves, bubbles, and noises created by the fault activity could be mistaken for unseen monsters in the water. He also connected the cultural idea of faults as sacred places, and lakes as having supernatural creatures, to the lore of Loch Ness.
The Great Glen Fault
Loch Ness is part of a chain of lakes along the Great Glen of Scotland. The glen is a trough that cuts an obvious track through the country from SW to NE from Fort William to Inverness. It is a surface expression of the underlying Great Glen fault (GGF) and subsequent glacial action. The fault is very old, over 400 million years old, representing a suture of two land masses into what we now call Great Britain. The GGF is a strike-slip fault, but because it is so old, the movement of the fault over these eras is not clear.
Note that England does not appear in this graphic but is connected at the southern boundary.Piccardi’s explanation, first proposed at a 2001 geological conference in Edinburgh, then followed by a paper in 2014 (see references below), was popular with the news media. He framed it as “a simple natural explanation” for sightings of the Loch Ness Monster. However, it fell flat with many who knew about the seismicity of this area and about the long and colorful history of Nessie sightings.
Significant quakes on the GGF are not that common. However, the consensus from geologists is that the GGF is likely still seismically active. Between 1768 and 1901 several earthquakes were felt around Inverness, including one of the largest recorded in Scotland at M=5.1 in 1816. But because there was no precise measuring equipment in place, it’s unclear where the epicenters were or if they were the result of movement on the GGF or on other faults outside the glen. Nothing much happened after 1901 until October 4, 2013 when an earthquake with a magnitude of 2.4 occurred close to the village of Drumnadrochit, near Loch Ness. Reports described “a loud rumble” or “explosion”.
Piccardi cited the large quakes around Inverness from 1816 (M=5.1 and M=4.7), and in 1890 (M=4.5 with several aftershocks around M=3) as evidence of the Nessie-tectonic connection. He also referred to a quake in Inverness in 1934, close to the time when the Loch Ness Monster legend was really taking off. (That quake was later relocated off the GGF.) He pointed out that the Inverness Courier reported on that quake in the same issue as a monster sighting. It’s unclear if it occurred at the same time as the quake. This is the closest we get to a correlation and it is not that impressive.
Saint Columba and the Monster
For his primary evidence, Piccardi referred to the account of Saint Columba banishing a “monster” in the Ness River in the 6th century (which wasn’t written until more than a century later). A translation says the monster appeared with an awful roar. Piccardi supposes that this noise could be the sound of an earthquake. The other bits cited from this account as evidence of monster=earthquake are even weaker – a door opening by itself and the saint’s loud voice (I could not see any reason to mention the latter one). We will never know if the monster tale was coincident with an actual earthquake, or if Columba’s monster story had any truth to it at all.
While cryptozoologists love to roll back in time to say that the Columba story is evidence of a monster of long ago, scholars consider the story of the Saint rebuking the monster as a typical story of Christianity conquering the pagan sentiment of the lands. Indeed, Columba met with the King of the Picts, the native people of the area in the Middle Ages. It’s highly probable he was there, but the monster story was far more likely to have been propaganda than evidence of an unknown creature.
A vaguely described, man-eating river monster is just not similar to the modern accounts of Nessie, no matter how much cryptozoologists would like it to be. The Columba story is not evidence for a 6th century encounter with the creature.
This mural in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery depicts the Picts being converted to Christianity by Saint Columba.Seismic activity as a source of Nessie sightings
It is certainly possible that even tiny seismic events can create upwelling, turbidity, or waves that people may interpret as a monster surfacing. However, this could reasonably account for only a handful of sightings in Loch Ness. The Highlands area now has a multitude of seismic sensors in place to catch quakes below M=1. The most obvious evidence for this claim – a time correlation between Nessie sightings and seismic activity – has not materialized.
Instead, we can be quite certain that most of the Nessie “sightings” can be attributed to a long list of mundane potential causes – boat wakes or wind waves, mistaken animal identification such as birds, fish, or deer (and the waves they create), or floating logs or vegetation.
2013 “Nessie sighting” by David ElderPiccardi kept giving media interviews about his tectonic Nessie geomyth even though robust evidence was lacking. I recall hearing about it in 2001 and thinking it was a weak idea then. It never got better. Piccardi wasn’t well versed in cryptid tales and how they evolve; they aren’t that simple, especially to dismiss. The seismic Nessie story got publicity, though. History of geology writer (for Scientific American and then Forbes), David Bressan, also didn’t put any stock into the idea either. In 2013, Bressan wrote that Piccardi was aiming to get more attention paid to geomythology as a field but knew little about Nessie/cryptids. I totally agree.
Conclusion
What is the verdict on Nessie and seismic activity? A resoundingly negative.
Piccardi attempted to show that there was 1.) a basis for the seismic activity at Loch Ness, 2.) that historic earthquakes could have been source of, or at least enhanced, the monster legend, and 3.) that seismic activity might account for monster sightings today. While 1 may be true to an extent, I reject 2 and 3. The GGF is not active enough now, nor in the past, to have had a substantive influence on the Nessie legend. Piccardi attempted to line up a few known quakes with locations of monster sightings but they didn’t correlate in time, which is critical to make a solid connection.
Using the Saint Columba story is really reaching in several ways. First, the monster=earthquake connection is flimsy. And, the story itself is fictionalized. Even though it’s beloved by cryptozoologists, the ancient description of the creature, even though vague, is substantially different from modern reports. Instead, the actions by Columba represents a morality tale of Christianity triumphing over “evil” Pagan belief. It is not credible evidence of a long-existing mystery animal in the loch.
Finally, there is no basis to state that a rumbling sound, a main feature of small earthquakes, is associated with the monster in the lake from its entry into popular culture in the 1930s to the present. Anomalous waves are the most common association with the monster. These are regularly generated by several other mundane sources in the loch, but not notably via earthquakes. A reasonable correlation between seismic events and Nessie is absent.
The geomythological idea of seismic activity as an explantion for Nessie is sunk. It’s a fun idea, though, that keeps getting repeated even by people who should know better. Of all the many causes for the development of the Nessie legend and it’s sustaining popularity, we cannot fault the fault.
References
Allen, M. (2019). The long and moving story of the Great Glen Fault. Mercian Geologist. 19(4), pp. 216-223.
Galloway, D.D. (2014). Bulletin of British Earthquakes 2013. British Geological Survey Internal Report, OR/14/062.
Musson, R. M. W. (2007). British Earthquakes. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 118(4), pp. 305-337.
Piccardi, L. (2014). Post-glacial activity and earthquakes of the Great Glen Fault (Scotland). Mem. Descr. Carta Geol. d’It. XCVI, pp. 431-446.
Piccardi, L. (2001). Seismotectonic Origins of the Monster of Loch Ness (abstract). Earth System Processes – Global Meeting (June 24-28, 2001).
#cryptids #earthquakes #geomythology #GreatGlenFault #LochNess #LochNessMonster #Nessie
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l’opzione nucleare: un elemento cardine della strategia di israele (giorgio s. frankel, 2010)
sulle tematiche delle guerre in corso nel Medio Oriente
pubblichiamo un testo del 2010 di Giorgio S. Frankel
(Settanta/Milieu, 23 giu. 2025) :L’opzione nucleare: un elemento cardine della strategia di Israele
Israele si è dotato di un complesso strategico nucleare davvero formidabile (e quasi incredibile per un così piccolo paese) che certamente non corrisponde all’idea di arma di ultima istanza, di «bomba nello scantinato» da tirare fuori e usare quando la situazione rischia di farsi disperata o già lo è.
A posteriori, sembra proprio che la scelta nucleare, fatta più di sessant’anni fa e da allora sempre avvolta nel segreto o comunque nell’opacità, sia stata una delle decisioni più importanti che Israele abbia preso nel corso della sua storia, una decisione assolutamente prioritaria, fondamentale e sulla quale la leadership politica di Israele ha sempre rifiutato qualsiasi cedimento, anche a rischio di un difficile scontro con gli Stati Uniti […]
L’opzione nucleare è stata anche sostenuta, nel corso di mezzo secolo, dal consenso incondizionato del paese. Il giornalista e scrittore israeliano Michael Karpin ha scritto che nella storia di Israele ci sono stati pochissimi casi in cui «la leadership politica in tutte le sue incarnazioni e l’opinione pubblica hanno avuto un approccio così unito e armonioso come nel caso del programma nucleare». Un importante aspetto di questo «consenso» è la pressoché totale assenza, in Israele, di un vero dibattito nazionale sulle questioni nucleari. Ciò deriva non tanto dalla censura imposta dal governo quanto da un’autocensura (spontanea) del paese, che costituisce l’aspetto sociale della «opacità» nucleare di Israele.
La decisione di Israele ha contribuito alla sicurezza del paese nel contesto mediorientale grazie alla «deterrenza nucleare», ma ha pure trasformato Israele in una sorta di «mini-superpotenza» in Medio Oriente e, ultimamente, anche e sempre più a livello globale, riducendo le propensioni a una politica di compromesso in Medio Oriente e rafforzando la tendenza a una politica inflessibile.
Israele e l’atomica
Il politologo israeliano Zeev Maoz ha osservato che «Israele è passato da una strategia nucleare basata sulla deterrenza a una strategia maggiormente orientata in chiave offensiva con anche un intreccio, forse, di volontà imperialista».
L’armamento nucleare consente a Israele in primo luogo, naturalmente, di dissuadere paesi ostili dallo scatenare attacchi militari volti alla sua distruzione. Questo dovrebbe essere in teoria il suo scopo primario, quello della deterrenza e dell’arma di ultima istanza. A fini di deterrenza potrebbe però bastare una forza nucleare ben più ridotta rispetto a quella attuale.
Nella seconda metà degli anni Settanta, dopo la Guerra del Kippur (1973) e in un contesto internazionale relativamente difficile, il politologo Steven J. Rosen scrisse che «un deterrente capace di colpire cinque capitali arabe sarebbe [stato] più che sufficiente per costituire un livello di danni “inaccettabile” [per le potenze avversarie]».
Più recentemente, un rapporto elaborato da un gruppo di esperti israeliani e americani ha suggerito che, per garantire la propria deterrenza, Israele deve mantenere una forza di risposta nucleare («second strike») capace di distruggere 10-20 città nemiche, con una potenza esplosiva tale da compromettere definitivamente la possibilità, per l’eventuale aggressore, di continuare a esistere come Stato. «Tutti gli obiettivi nemici dovrebbero essere scelti in base al criterio che la loro distruzione costringerebbe prontamente il nemico a cessare ogni attacco nucleare o biologico o chimico contro Israele».
Su un piano più politico-strategico, il deterrente nucleare, e soprattutto il fatto di detenerne il monopolio nel Medio Oriente, consente tra l’altro a Israele di imporre la propria supremazia militare nella regione e mantenere uno status quo vantaggioso (l’occupazione dei territori arabi conquistati nel 1967) senza correre grandi rischi di pressioni o vere minacce militari da parte dei paesi arabi. Inoltre, la forza nucleare ha fornito a Israele, sicuramente a partire dalla guerra del 1973, un potente mezzo di pressione sugli Stati Uniti per ottenere aiuti economici e soprattutto militari giustificati dalla necessità di garantire che Israele mantenga il proprio vantaggio militare sui paesi arabi e non si trovi «costretto» a usare le armi atomiche.
Forte del suo status nucleare, Israele può premere ancora sugli Stati Uniti, con altre richieste, oltre che sull’Europa e sulla Russia; e può anche far fronte a eventuali pressioni politiche di questpotenze, per esempio per quanto riguarda la questione palestinese. Questa capacità può essere definita come una sorta di «deterrenza globale».
[…]
L’ipotetica «deterrenza globale» che Israele sarebbe in grado di esercitare con la sua forza nucleare potrebbe consistere in questa «dottrina» operativa: se Israele subisce un attacco nucleare, o se comunque rischia di soccombere di fronte ad altra minaccia esistenziale, la sua risposta nucleare colpirà non solo il paese responsabile di tale minaccia ma anche, direttamente o indirettamente, le altre potenze mediorientali, oltre a un certo numero di paesi islamici e, ancora, numerose potenze non del Medio Oriente.
In un’intervista a un periodico olandese, poi ripresa da molti, lo storico militare israeliano, Martin van Creveld, spiegò in termini semplici e diretti la strategia israeliana:
Abbiamo centinaia di testate atomiche [che] possiamo lanciare contro obiettivi in tutte le direzioni, forse anche Roma. La maggior parte delle capitali europee sono obiettivi per la nostra aviazione. Come disse il generale Moshe Dayan: “Israele deve comportarsi come un cane rabbioso, troppo pericoloso perché qualcuno voglia rischiare di infastidirlo”. […] Le nostre forze armate non sono certo al trentesimo posto nella graduatoria mondiale, bensì al secondo o al terzo. Possiamo trascinare il mondo nell’abisso insieme a noi. E vi assicuro che è quello che accadrà prima che Israele precipiti nell’abisso.
Il punto chiave di quello che dice van Creveld sta nelle due ultime frasi che è il caso di ripetere: «Possiamo trascinare il mondo nell’abisso insieme a noi. E vi assicuro che è quello che accadrà prima che Israele precipiti nell’abisso».
Un articolo apparso nel 2006 sul giornale online «Israeli Insider», e poi ripreso da altri siti, esprime gli stessi concetti di van Creveld in termini più crudi ma assai eloquenti:
[S]e lo Stato ebraico si trova di fronte al genocidio e all’annientamento, i nostri nemici non hanno più alcun diritto di sopravvivere, e questo vale anche per i paesi “neutrali” che hanno lasciato che le cose arrivassero a quel punto. […] Non permetteremo che Israele precipiti […] senza trascinare il mondo con noi. […] L’arsenale nucleare israeliano deve essere puntato […] contro i centri simbolici [religiosi] dei nostri nemici [islamici]. Lo stesso principio deve valere per quei paesi non islamici che aiutano coloro che cercano di sradicare Israele […] non permetteremo che si ripeta la storia di Vichy e di Mussolini, di papa Giovanni [sic] e di Stalin.
[…]● Giorgio S. Frankel, scomparso nel 2012, è stato analista di questioni internazionali e si è occupa di Medio Oriente e Golfo Persico. Ha collaborato con «Il Sole 24 Ore», il «Corriere del Ticino», «il Mulino» e «Affari Esteri».
● Il brano è tratto da L’Iran e la bomba. I futuri assetti del Medio Oriente e la competizione globale, DeriveApprodi (prima gestione), 2010.in evidenza:
#arsenaleNucleare #bombaAtomica #DeriveApprodiPrimaGestione #deterrenza #EdizioniMilieu #entitàSionista #GiorgioSFrankel #Iran #Israele #israeleMinacciaIlMondo #israeleStatoTerrorista #MartinVanCreveld #Milieu #minacciaNucleare #missili #missiliNucleari #MosheDayan #nuclearPower #opzioneNucleare #Settanta #SettantaMilieu #sionismo #sionisti #statoEbraico #testateAtomiche
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#GRK0154 #VIDEO #Chocs #HorreurNucléaire #PeterWATKINS
THE WAR GAME
de Peter Watkins (1965, BBC)
📽️VOstFR/720p👇
https://mega.nz/file/oNYgDJpR#mp52E4WmiLED8PaQ3w8E2ZnIi8Qd8oPomfYz93TLrJc
Si t'as les moyens:
ÉPUISÉSynopsis:
À partir de données recueillies à Hiroshima et Nagasaki, et d'autres lieux de bombardements massifs, tels que Dresde, Darmstadt et Hambourg, Peter Watkins essaye d'imaginer ce que provoquerait une attaque nucléaire sur l'Angleterre.Il décrit de façon réaliste les effets sur la population, les réactions sociologiques ainsi que les mesures prises par le gouvernement.
[La BBC avait demandé à Peter Watkins de réaliser une simulation crédible des lendemains d'une attaque nucléaire sur l'Angleterre, hautement d'actualité en 1965. Elle a ensuite refusé de diffuser le résultat, très documenté et réaliste, donc très alarmiste et aux antipodes des déclarations politiques britanniques.
Une lacune du contrat de production permit au film de tout de même sortir en salles. Il fut récompensé d'un Oscar et du prix spécial du Festival de Venise, ce qui pour une simulation est une prouesse. Il remporta également un succès considérable en salles malgré sa durée de 48 minutes.]------------------------------
Critique:
« Is there a real hope to be found in the silence ? »Faux documentaire, The War Game un projet très percutant qui prend pour parti de donner à voir ce que serait une attaque nucléaire sur l’Angleterre. A une époque où les images de dévastation nucléaire ne sont pas le lot commun des blockbusters qui s’attachent plutôt à l’histoire ancienne, l’idée de mettre en scène les images réalistes de cette menace permanente est brillante.
Le futur hypothétique qui se dessine est d’autant plus effrayant qu’il se nourrit de toutes les données issues d’un passé récent, que ce soit les bombardements intensifs de Dresde ou ceux d’Hiroshima et de Nagasaki. Ce va et vient entre les horreurs du conflit précédent et l’étendue de celle potentiellement à venir est une charge extraordinaire de pessimisme sur l’état du monde.
La construction du film achève cette démonstration : tantôt pure fiction, elle scénarise heure par heure et jour après jours le scenario catastrophe, dans un rendu journalistique et documentaire confondant de vérité. Rigoureux, exhaustif, le récit s’attarde aussi l’après et la vie des survivants, étalant dans la durée l’horreur et ses conséquences avant cette conclusion terrible : « Would the survivors envy the dead ? »
La voix off, clinique, didactique, est pour beaucoup dans l’efficacité du propos, ponctuant des images de dévastation par « This is a nuclear war », « This is a firestorm » ; et surenchérit par la lecture de documents administratifs qui montrent à quel point les mesures prises sont dérisoires face à l’ampleur des dégâts attendus, ou, pire encore, la position de l’Eglise qui explique comment vivre avec l’acceptation de cette horreur.
Il s’agit bien, et la thèse finale l’explicite, de frapper les consciences en mettant des images sur les mots : personne ne sait véritablement ce qu’est la bombe, mais tout le monde en parle.
En cela, le choix des témoignages est capital : montrer la doxa et le désir de revanche du peuple anglais est d’une rare pertinence, même si l’on aimerait savoir si ces interviews sont réelles ou non. Sur ce sujet, on pourra regretter l’excès de reconstitution lors des fausses réponses de certains acteurs, notamment celles des enfants qui expliquent qu’ils n’ont aucun projet pour leur avenir, surenchère dans le pathétique qui n’était pas utile à ce stade de la démonstration.
Film choc, à contextualiser pour prendre la mesure de son impact, mais aussi à prendre comme exemple de l’efficacité du réalisme au service de la dénonciation, et de la propension du cinéma à proposer autre chose qu’une imagerie baroque, épique et jouissive de la guerre.
Concernant la terrible réalité des bombardements, notamment sur l’Allemagne par les anglais, je vous invite à lire le formidable (et très court) livre de Mike Davis, Dead Cities.
(Sergent Pepper, senscritique)====================
Peter Watkins
est un réalisateur expérimental et militant britannique.Ses films, pacifistes et radicaux, redistribuent les frontières habituelles entre documentaire et fiction. Il s'est particulièrement attaché à la critique des médias de masse et de ce qu'il a nommé la « monoforme ».
Avant de développer sa critique de la monoforme, concept qu'il a formé pour nommer l'uniformisation de la forme télévisuelle et cinématographique (montage, musique, cadre narratif), Peter Watkins s'est essayé dès ses premiers films à accompagner sa remise en question de la représentation et de la narration traditionnelles par des recherches formelles hors-cadre.
Le réalisateur brouille d'abord les genres habituels, en déplaçant les frontières entre documentaire et fiction : des épisodes historiques ou fictionnels sont filmés comme s'ils se déroulaient sous nos yeux, la présence du « journaliste » est visible et assumée, créant des effets d'anachronie (caméra et micro visibles sur un champ de bataille du XVIIIe siècle ou dans le Paris de 1871) ou d'uchronie (La Bombe, Punishment Park).
Il insère également des formes cinématographiques différentes au sein d'un même film, faisant appel à des dispositifs du cinéma muet (les cartons), à des outils professionnels (décompte du temps d'une séquence, insertion de signaux sonores pour signaler une coupe au montage), à d'autres formes d'art (photographie, théâtre, cabaret).
Se refusant à employer les procédés standardisés par l'industrie hollywoodienne, il tourne très peu en studio, ou quand il le fait, en exploite les contraintes : c'est le cas de The Trap, où l'espace, entièrement confiné et surveillé, est oppressant. Les décors naturels, comme les costumes, font quant à eux l'objet d'un très long travail de recherche avant le tournage, afin de trouver des lieux qui ne « joueraient » pas plus – ou pas moins – que des acteurs donnant leur opinion réelle.
La lumière est naturelle ou travaillée spécifiquement pour le film, comme dans Munch, où elle est filtrée pour approcher du ton bleuté employé par le peintre, restituer l'atmosphère de la fin du XIXe siècle (maisons peu éclairées), et baigner le film dans une ambiance irréelle (allers-retours entre flashbacks, visions intérieures, épisodes présents).
Le son est désynchronisé et aéré de longs silences, afin de créer un décalage au sein duquel le spectateur ait le temps de développer sa propre réflexion sur le film, d'y ajouter ses émotions et souvenirs, Watkins cherchant à faire surgir le film d'une « alchimie » entre la matière cinématographique et l'expérience personnelle de chaque individu qui le regarde.
Le rythme de montage est asymétrique, alternant de longs plans-séquences ou des gros plans de visages avec des épisodes très brefs destinés à créer un effet de choc.
Enfin, Watkins, refusant les contraintes dictées par des impératifs commerciaux, s'affranchit des durées convenues (Le Voyage dure 14 h 30, La Commune 5 h 30 dans sa version intégrale), afin de laisser chaque film se développer sur un temps qui lui est propre, et chaque spectateur trouver l'espace de sa réflexion.
Cette recherche de la forme s'accompagne en effet chez Peter Watkins d'une réflexion sur la relation au public. Voulant casser le quatrième mur de l'espace cinématographique, celui de l'écran, il cherche, contrairement au système hollywoodien attaché à une fonction de divertissement et à une hiérarchisation forte des rôles, à faire participer le spectateur aux films.
Cela se traduit d'abord et avant tout par le recours à des acteurs non professionnels, qui expriment leurs points de vue véritables à travers leurs rôles, allant parfois jusqu'à modifier le scénario original du film, comme ce fut le cas pour Punishment Park, dont le final diffère de celui initialement écrit. Les Versaillais de La Commune, pour prendre un autre exemple, furent recrutés via des annonces dans les journaux, en fonction de leurs opinions politiques conservatrices.
Les acteurs sont ainsi engagés pleinement dans le processus – autre concept fondamental chez Watkins – de réalisation du film, et, au-delà, dans la construction ou reconstruction de leur propre histoire (exploration d'épisodes vécus par des ancêtres dans Culloden, d'évènements pressentis comme imminents dans La Bombe).
L'intérêt pour le public et le souci constant de casser la forme de pouvoir qu'induit la réception passive lors d'une projection, se manifeste par ailleurs dans ses films par des adresses directes de la voix off au spectateur, l'appelant à analyser ce qu'il vient de voir ou l'interrogeant sur son opinion – dialogue ou polylogue que le réalisateur a cherché à poursuivre dans des rencontres organisées après les séances.
Il n'est pas anodin, à cet égard, que Peter Watkins se soit dernièrement davantage intéressé à l'organisation de débats publics et d'ateliers de décryptage des médias qu'à la réalisation à proprement parler : le processus se poursuit ainsi dans le champ citoyen, et tente de réinvestir les espaces de critique et de démocratie asphyxiés, selon le réalisateur, par les mass media.
-
#GRK0154 #VIDEO #Chocs #HorreurNucléaire #PeterWATKINS
THE WAR GAME
de Peter Watkins (1965, BBC)
📽️VOstFR/720p👇
https://mega.nz/file/oNYgDJpR#mp52E4WmiLED8PaQ3w8E2ZnIi8Qd8oPomfYz93TLrJc
Si t'as les moyens:
ÉPUISÉSynopsis:
À partir de données recueillies à Hiroshima et Nagasaki, et d'autres lieux de bombardements massifs, tels que Dresde, Darmstadt et Hambourg, Peter Watkins essaye d'imaginer ce que provoquerait une attaque nucléaire sur l'Angleterre.Il décrit de façon réaliste les effets sur la population, les réactions sociologiques ainsi que les mesures prises par le gouvernement.
[La BBC avait demandé à Peter Watkins de réaliser une simulation crédible des lendemains d'une attaque nucléaire sur l'Angleterre, hautement d'actualité en 1965. Elle a ensuite refusé de diffuser le résultat, très documenté et réaliste, donc très alarmiste et aux antipodes des déclarations politiques britanniques.
Une lacune du contrat de production permit au film de tout de même sortir en salles. Il fut récompensé d'un Oscar et du prix spécial du Festival de Venise, ce qui pour une simulation est une prouesse. Il remporta également un succès considérable en salles malgré sa durée de 48 minutes.]------------------------------
Critique:
« Is there a real hope to be found in the silence ? »Faux documentaire, The War Game un projet très percutant qui prend pour parti de donner à voir ce que serait une attaque nucléaire sur l’Angleterre. A une époque où les images de dévastation nucléaire ne sont pas le lot commun des blockbusters qui s’attachent plutôt à l’histoire ancienne, l’idée de mettre en scène les images réalistes de cette menace permanente est brillante.
Le futur hypothétique qui se dessine est d’autant plus effrayant qu’il se nourrit de toutes les données issues d’un passé récent, que ce soit les bombardements intensifs de Dresde ou ceux d’Hiroshima et de Nagasaki. Ce va et vient entre les horreurs du conflit précédent et l’étendue de celle potentiellement à venir est une charge extraordinaire de pessimisme sur l’état du monde.
La construction du film achève cette démonstration : tantôt pure fiction, elle scénarise heure par heure et jour après jours le scenario catastrophe, dans un rendu journalistique et documentaire confondant de vérité. Rigoureux, exhaustif, le récit s’attarde aussi l’après et la vie des survivants, étalant dans la durée l’horreur et ses conséquences avant cette conclusion terrible : « Would the survivors envy the dead ? »
La voix off, clinique, didactique, est pour beaucoup dans l’efficacité du propos, ponctuant des images de dévastation par « This is a nuclear war », « This is a firestorm » ; et surenchérit par la lecture de documents administratifs qui montrent à quel point les mesures prises sont dérisoires face à l’ampleur des dégâts attendus, ou, pire encore, la position de l’Eglise qui explique comment vivre avec l’acceptation de cette horreur.
Il s’agit bien, et la thèse finale l’explicite, de frapper les consciences en mettant des images sur les mots : personne ne sait véritablement ce qu’est la bombe, mais tout le monde en parle.
En cela, le choix des témoignages est capital : montrer la doxa et le désir de revanche du peuple anglais est d’une rare pertinence, même si l’on aimerait savoir si ces interviews sont réelles ou non. Sur ce sujet, on pourra regretter l’excès de reconstitution lors des fausses réponses de certains acteurs, notamment celles des enfants qui expliquent qu’ils n’ont aucun projet pour leur avenir, surenchère dans le pathétique qui n’était pas utile à ce stade de la démonstration.
Film choc, à contextualiser pour prendre la mesure de son impact, mais aussi à prendre comme exemple de l’efficacité du réalisme au service de la dénonciation, et de la propension du cinéma à proposer autre chose qu’une imagerie baroque, épique et jouissive de la guerre.
Concernant la terrible réalité des bombardements, notamment sur l’Allemagne par les anglais, je vous invite à lire le formidable (et très court) livre de Mike Davis, Dead Cities.
(Sergent Pepper, senscritique)====================
Peter Watkins
est un réalisateur expérimental et militant britannique.Ses films, pacifistes et radicaux, redistribuent les frontières habituelles entre documentaire et fiction. Il s'est particulièrement attaché à la critique des médias de masse et de ce qu'il a nommé la « monoforme ».
Avant de développer sa critique de la monoforme, concept qu'il a formé pour nommer l'uniformisation de la forme télévisuelle et cinématographique (montage, musique, cadre narratif), Peter Watkins s'est essayé dès ses premiers films à accompagner sa remise en question de la représentation et de la narration traditionnelles par des recherches formelles hors-cadre.
Le réalisateur brouille d'abord les genres habituels, en déplaçant les frontières entre documentaire et fiction : des épisodes historiques ou fictionnels sont filmés comme s'ils se déroulaient sous nos yeux, la présence du « journaliste » est visible et assumée, créant des effets d'anachronie (caméra et micro visibles sur un champ de bataille du XVIIIe siècle ou dans le Paris de 1871) ou d'uchronie (La Bombe, Punishment Park).
Il insère également des formes cinématographiques différentes au sein d'un même film, faisant appel à des dispositifs du cinéma muet (les cartons), à des outils professionnels (décompte du temps d'une séquence, insertion de signaux sonores pour signaler une coupe au montage), à d'autres formes d'art (photographie, théâtre, cabaret).
Se refusant à employer les procédés standardisés par l'industrie hollywoodienne, il tourne très peu en studio, ou quand il le fait, en exploite les contraintes : c'est le cas de The Trap, où l'espace, entièrement confiné et surveillé, est oppressant. Les décors naturels, comme les costumes, font quant à eux l'objet d'un très long travail de recherche avant le tournage, afin de trouver des lieux qui ne « joueraient » pas plus – ou pas moins – que des acteurs donnant leur opinion réelle.
La lumière est naturelle ou travaillée spécifiquement pour le film, comme dans Munch, où elle est filtrée pour approcher du ton bleuté employé par le peintre, restituer l'atmosphère de la fin du XIXe siècle (maisons peu éclairées), et baigner le film dans une ambiance irréelle (allers-retours entre flashbacks, visions intérieures, épisodes présents).
Le son est désynchronisé et aéré de longs silences, afin de créer un décalage au sein duquel le spectateur ait le temps de développer sa propre réflexion sur le film, d'y ajouter ses émotions et souvenirs, Watkins cherchant à faire surgir le film d'une « alchimie » entre la matière cinématographique et l'expérience personnelle de chaque individu qui le regarde.
Le rythme de montage est asymétrique, alternant de longs plans-séquences ou des gros plans de visages avec des épisodes très brefs destinés à créer un effet de choc.
Enfin, Watkins, refusant les contraintes dictées par des impératifs commerciaux, s'affranchit des durées convenues (Le Voyage dure 14 h 30, La Commune 5 h 30 dans sa version intégrale), afin de laisser chaque film se développer sur un temps qui lui est propre, et chaque spectateur trouver l'espace de sa réflexion.
Cette recherche de la forme s'accompagne en effet chez Peter Watkins d'une réflexion sur la relation au public. Voulant casser le quatrième mur de l'espace cinématographique, celui de l'écran, il cherche, contrairement au système hollywoodien attaché à une fonction de divertissement et à une hiérarchisation forte des rôles, à faire participer le spectateur aux films.
Cela se traduit d'abord et avant tout par le recours à des acteurs non professionnels, qui expriment leurs points de vue véritables à travers leurs rôles, allant parfois jusqu'à modifier le scénario original du film, comme ce fut le cas pour Punishment Park, dont le final diffère de celui initialement écrit. Les Versaillais de La Commune, pour prendre un autre exemple, furent recrutés via des annonces dans les journaux, en fonction de leurs opinions politiques conservatrices.
Les acteurs sont ainsi engagés pleinement dans le processus – autre concept fondamental chez Watkins – de réalisation du film, et, au-delà, dans la construction ou reconstruction de leur propre histoire (exploration d'épisodes vécus par des ancêtres dans Culloden, d'évènements pressentis comme imminents dans La Bombe).
L'intérêt pour le public et le souci constant de casser la forme de pouvoir qu'induit la réception passive lors d'une projection, se manifeste par ailleurs dans ses films par des adresses directes de la voix off au spectateur, l'appelant à analyser ce qu'il vient de voir ou l'interrogeant sur son opinion – dialogue ou polylogue que le réalisateur a cherché à poursuivre dans des rencontres organisées après les séances.
Il n'est pas anodin, à cet égard, que Peter Watkins se soit dernièrement davantage intéressé à l'organisation de débats publics et d'ateliers de décryptage des médias qu'à la réalisation à proprement parler : le processus se poursuit ainsi dans le champ citoyen, et tente de réinvestir les espaces de critique et de démocratie asphyxiés, selon le réalisateur, par les mass media.
-
#GRK0154 #VIDEO #Chocs #HorreurNucléaire #PeterWATKINS
THE WAR GAME
de Peter Watkins (1965, BBC)
📽️VOstFR/720p👇
https://mega.nz/file/oNYgDJpR#mp52E4WmiLED8PaQ3w8E2ZnIi8Qd8oPomfYz93TLrJc
Si t'as les moyens:
ÉPUISÉSynopsis:
À partir de données recueillies à Hiroshima et Nagasaki, et d'autres lieux de bombardements massifs, tels que Dresde, Darmstadt et Hambourg, Peter Watkins essaye d'imaginer ce que provoquerait une attaque nucléaire sur l'Angleterre.Il décrit de façon réaliste les effets sur la population, les réactions sociologiques ainsi que les mesures prises par le gouvernement.
[La BBC avait demandé à Peter Watkins de réaliser une simulation crédible des lendemains d'une attaque nucléaire sur l'Angleterre, hautement d'actualité en 1965. Elle a ensuite refusé de diffuser le résultat, très documenté et réaliste, donc très alarmiste et aux antipodes des déclarations politiques britanniques.
Une lacune du contrat de production permit au film de tout de même sortir en salles. Il fut récompensé d'un Oscar et du prix spécial du Festival de Venise, ce qui pour une simulation est une prouesse. Il remporta également un succès considérable en salles malgré sa durée de 48 minutes.]------------------------------
Critique:
« Is there a real hope to be found in the silence ? »Faux documentaire, The War Game un projet très percutant qui prend pour parti de donner à voir ce que serait une attaque nucléaire sur l’Angleterre. A une époque où les images de dévastation nucléaire ne sont pas le lot commun des blockbusters qui s’attachent plutôt à l’histoire ancienne, l’idée de mettre en scène les images réalistes de cette menace permanente est brillante.
Le futur hypothétique qui se dessine est d’autant plus effrayant qu’il se nourrit de toutes les données issues d’un passé récent, que ce soit les bombardements intensifs de Dresde ou ceux d’Hiroshima et de Nagasaki. Ce va et vient entre les horreurs du conflit précédent et l’étendue de celle potentiellement à venir est une charge extraordinaire de pessimisme sur l’état du monde.
La construction du film achève cette démonstration : tantôt pure fiction, elle scénarise heure par heure et jour après jours le scenario catastrophe, dans un rendu journalistique et documentaire confondant de vérité. Rigoureux, exhaustif, le récit s’attarde aussi l’après et la vie des survivants, étalant dans la durée l’horreur et ses conséquences avant cette conclusion terrible : « Would the survivors envy the dead ? »
La voix off, clinique, didactique, est pour beaucoup dans l’efficacité du propos, ponctuant des images de dévastation par « This is a nuclear war », « This is a firestorm » ; et surenchérit par la lecture de documents administratifs qui montrent à quel point les mesures prises sont dérisoires face à l’ampleur des dégâts attendus, ou, pire encore, la position de l’Eglise qui explique comment vivre avec l’acceptation de cette horreur.
Il s’agit bien, et la thèse finale l’explicite, de frapper les consciences en mettant des images sur les mots : personne ne sait véritablement ce qu’est la bombe, mais tout le monde en parle.
En cela, le choix des témoignages est capital : montrer la doxa et le désir de revanche du peuple anglais est d’une rare pertinence, même si l’on aimerait savoir si ces interviews sont réelles ou non. Sur ce sujet, on pourra regretter l’excès de reconstitution lors des fausses réponses de certains acteurs, notamment celles des enfants qui expliquent qu’ils n’ont aucun projet pour leur avenir, surenchère dans le pathétique qui n’était pas utile à ce stade de la démonstration.
Film choc, à contextualiser pour prendre la mesure de son impact, mais aussi à prendre comme exemple de l’efficacité du réalisme au service de la dénonciation, et de la propension du cinéma à proposer autre chose qu’une imagerie baroque, épique et jouissive de la guerre.
Concernant la terrible réalité des bombardements, notamment sur l’Allemagne par les anglais, je vous invite à lire le formidable (et très court) livre de Mike Davis, Dead Cities.
(Sergent Pepper, senscritique)====================
Peter Watkins
est un réalisateur expérimental et militant britannique.Ses films, pacifistes et radicaux, redistribuent les frontières habituelles entre documentaire et fiction. Il s'est particulièrement attaché à la critique des médias de masse et de ce qu'il a nommé la « monoforme ».
Avant de développer sa critique de la monoforme, concept qu'il a formé pour nommer l'uniformisation de la forme télévisuelle et cinématographique (montage, musique, cadre narratif), Peter Watkins s'est essayé dès ses premiers films à accompagner sa remise en question de la représentation et de la narration traditionnelles par des recherches formelles hors-cadre.
Le réalisateur brouille d'abord les genres habituels, en déplaçant les frontières entre documentaire et fiction : des épisodes historiques ou fictionnels sont filmés comme s'ils se déroulaient sous nos yeux, la présence du « journaliste » est visible et assumée, créant des effets d'anachronie (caméra et micro visibles sur un champ de bataille du XVIIIe siècle ou dans le Paris de 1871) ou d'uchronie (La Bombe, Punishment Park).
Il insère également des formes cinématographiques différentes au sein d'un même film, faisant appel à des dispositifs du cinéma muet (les cartons), à des outils professionnels (décompte du temps d'une séquence, insertion de signaux sonores pour signaler une coupe au montage), à d'autres formes d'art (photographie, théâtre, cabaret).
Se refusant à employer les procédés standardisés par l'industrie hollywoodienne, il tourne très peu en studio, ou quand il le fait, en exploite les contraintes : c'est le cas de The Trap, où l'espace, entièrement confiné et surveillé, est oppressant. Les décors naturels, comme les costumes, font quant à eux l'objet d'un très long travail de recherche avant le tournage, afin de trouver des lieux qui ne « joueraient » pas plus – ou pas moins – que des acteurs donnant leur opinion réelle.
La lumière est naturelle ou travaillée spécifiquement pour le film, comme dans Munch, où elle est filtrée pour approcher du ton bleuté employé par le peintre, restituer l'atmosphère de la fin du XIXe siècle (maisons peu éclairées), et baigner le film dans une ambiance irréelle (allers-retours entre flashbacks, visions intérieures, épisodes présents).
Le son est désynchronisé et aéré de longs silences, afin de créer un décalage au sein duquel le spectateur ait le temps de développer sa propre réflexion sur le film, d'y ajouter ses émotions et souvenirs, Watkins cherchant à faire surgir le film d'une « alchimie » entre la matière cinématographique et l'expérience personnelle de chaque individu qui le regarde.
Le rythme de montage est asymétrique, alternant de longs plans-séquences ou des gros plans de visages avec des épisodes très brefs destinés à créer un effet de choc.
Enfin, Watkins, refusant les contraintes dictées par des impératifs commerciaux, s'affranchit des durées convenues (Le Voyage dure 14 h 30, La Commune 5 h 30 dans sa version intégrale), afin de laisser chaque film se développer sur un temps qui lui est propre, et chaque spectateur trouver l'espace de sa réflexion.
Cette recherche de la forme s'accompagne en effet chez Peter Watkins d'une réflexion sur la relation au public. Voulant casser le quatrième mur de l'espace cinématographique, celui de l'écran, il cherche, contrairement au système hollywoodien attaché à une fonction de divertissement et à une hiérarchisation forte des rôles, à faire participer le spectateur aux films.
Cela se traduit d'abord et avant tout par le recours à des acteurs non professionnels, qui expriment leurs points de vue véritables à travers leurs rôles, allant parfois jusqu'à modifier le scénario original du film, comme ce fut le cas pour Punishment Park, dont le final diffère de celui initialement écrit. Les Versaillais de La Commune, pour prendre un autre exemple, furent recrutés via des annonces dans les journaux, en fonction de leurs opinions politiques conservatrices.
Les acteurs sont ainsi engagés pleinement dans le processus – autre concept fondamental chez Watkins – de réalisation du film, et, au-delà, dans la construction ou reconstruction de leur propre histoire (exploration d'épisodes vécus par des ancêtres dans Culloden, d'évènements pressentis comme imminents dans La Bombe).
L'intérêt pour le public et le souci constant de casser la forme de pouvoir qu'induit la réception passive lors d'une projection, se manifeste par ailleurs dans ses films par des adresses directes de la voix off au spectateur, l'appelant à analyser ce qu'il vient de voir ou l'interrogeant sur son opinion – dialogue ou polylogue que le réalisateur a cherché à poursuivre dans des rencontres organisées après les séances.
Il n'est pas anodin, à cet égard, que Peter Watkins se soit dernièrement davantage intéressé à l'organisation de débats publics et d'ateliers de décryptage des médias qu'à la réalisation à proprement parler : le processus se poursuit ainsi dans le champ citoyen, et tente de réinvestir les espaces de critique et de démocratie asphyxiés, selon le réalisateur, par les mass media.
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Lens-Artists Challenge #349: The First Thing I thought Of …
This week Tina from Travels and Trifles is hosting the Challenge, and her theme is, ‘The First Thing I thought Of …‘. ‘This week I thought perhaps some humor might … be in order, says Tina. ‘Sometimes our sense of humor kicks in before we press the shutter button, other times a perfectly serious image can be made humorous after the fact’. Humour? In my photography? That’s a tall order, I thought.
I hardly ever photograph people, or animals, from which a lot of humour is derived, and instead I take fun from making images deliberately ‘wrong’, either by using a camera that produces an image that is outwith the normal ideas of what a photo should be, or just taking a perfectly good digital image and corrupting the data in some way. But then I got thinking about what I was doing just over a decade ago, when I was learning about photo editors and whatnot, and also some of the situations I came across when we first came to Portugal. And suddenly, I found that I had a few images that might be perfect for this week’s Challenge.
This first image is from a day out in Aveiro. At the time, some workers from the local council were doing some maintenance on the walls of the canal, and their idea of health and safety was unusual, to say the least.
Another thing that struck me as unusual was some people’s propensity to take a short cut to the train.
Another thing that we used to do quite often, until I fell down a hole, after which my Better Half flat out refused to go again in case I repeated this misfortune, was go the the annual hill climb in Caramulo. Cars and motorcycles would race up a hill, and the fastest driver to complete the time trial was the winner. Sometimes the motorbikes didn’t behave themselves.
Several years ago, the village of Oiã was awarded the status of Town, and we were honoured to have the then President of Portugal, Cavaco Silva, come to the town to officiate the ceremony and unveil a plaque. Back in those days, the security didn’t really stop the people from approaching the President, so grabbing some real close-up images of the President wasn’t a problem. Of course, not everyone treated the ceremony with the reverence that it deserved.
‘Back in the day’, I spent a fair bit of time trying how to use PhotoShop, and here are some of my attempts at multiple exposures. I really enjoyed doing these, and it reminded me of long-forgotten skills. I’m not sure if I could do this today.
The final image in this post, and the featured image, was taken at the annual Tall Boats festival in Ilhavo, near Aveiro. The brass band had just finished playing and were marching from the parade ground when the last musician just turned around and looked back. Fortunately, I was just taking a photo of the row of uniformed musicians as they passed by.
Themes for the Lens-Artists Challenge are posted each Saturday at 12:00 noon EST (which is 4pm, GMT) and anyone who wants to take part can po3st their images during the week. If you want to know more about the Challenge, details can be found here, and entries can be found on the WordPress reader using the tag ‘Lens-Artists’.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#Challenge #Humour #LensArtists #PhotoShop #TheFirstThingIThought #LensArtists
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"To be over-developed is to hasten decay,
And this is against Tao,
And what is against Tao will soon cease to be." - Lao Tzu, Tao Teh Ching.#NewYorkCity May Be Sinking Under the Weight of Its #Skyscrapers
A scientific journal suggests that the city’s 1.68 trillion pounds of buildings are causing the city to descend, in some neighborhoods faster than others.
by Tim Nelson, May 17, 2023
Excerpt: "The scholars first estimated the cumulative weight of New York’s buildings to be 1.68 trillion pounds, and then calculated the downward pressure these buildings exert on the mixture of clay, sand, and slit that make up most of the ground beneath the city’s streets.
"Based on their model, New York experiences a '#subsidence rate' (the technical term for sinking) of about one to two millimeters per year on average, though Lower Manhattan, as well as particular areas of Brooklyn and Queens, show a propensity for greater subsidence risk. As the authors note in their paper, much of lower Manhattan is currently no more than one to two meters above sea level, possibly exacerbating the effects of climate change in turn.
"While one to two millimeters per year may not seem that much, the study’s authors warn that this amount is more than enough to cause major coastal cities serious problems in the future. 'The combination of tectonic and anthropogenic subsidence, #SeaLevelRise, and increasing hurricane intensity imply an accelerating problem along coastal and riverfront areas,' the paper states. 'Repeated exposure of building foundations to salt water can corrode reinforcing steel and chemically weaken concrete, causing structural weakening.'
"As the study’s authors further point out, this level of annual collapse could potentially exacerbate the impact of #ExtremeWeather events like #HurricaneSandy, which saw sea water pour into New York."
-
"To be over-developed is to hasten decay,
And this is against Tao,
And what is against Tao will soon cease to be." - Lao Tzu, Tao Teh Ching.#NewYorkCity May Be Sinking Under the Weight of Its #Skyscrapers
A scientific journal suggests that the city’s 1.68 trillion pounds of buildings are causing the city to descend, in some neighborhoods faster than others.
by Tim Nelson, May 17, 2023
Excerpt: "The scholars first estimated the cumulative weight of New York’s buildings to be 1.68 trillion pounds, and then calculated the downward pressure these buildings exert on the mixture of clay, sand, and slit that make up most of the ground beneath the city’s streets.
"Based on their model, New York experiences a '#subsidence rate' (the technical term for sinking) of about one to two millimeters per year on average, though Lower Manhattan, as well as particular areas of Brooklyn and Queens, show a propensity for greater subsidence risk. As the authors note in their paper, much of lower Manhattan is currently no more than one to two meters above sea level, possibly exacerbating the effects of climate change in turn.
"While one to two millimeters per year may not seem that much, the study’s authors warn that this amount is more than enough to cause major coastal cities serious problems in the future. 'The combination of tectonic and anthropogenic subsidence, #SeaLevelRise, and increasing hurricane intensity imply an accelerating problem along coastal and riverfront areas,' the paper states. 'Repeated exposure of building foundations to salt water can corrode reinforcing steel and chemically weaken concrete, causing structural weakening.'
"As the study’s authors further point out, this level of annual collapse could potentially exacerbate the impact of #ExtremeWeather events like #HurricaneSandy, which saw sea water pour into New York."
-
"To be over-developed is to hasten decay,
And this is against Tao,
And what is against Tao will soon cease to be." - Lao Tzu, Tao Teh Ching.#NewYorkCity May Be Sinking Under the Weight of Its #Skyscrapers
A scientific journal suggests that the city’s 1.68 trillion pounds of buildings are causing the city to descend, in some neighborhoods faster than others.
by Tim Nelson, May 17, 2023
Excerpt: "The scholars first estimated the cumulative weight of New York’s buildings to be 1.68 trillion pounds, and then calculated the downward pressure these buildings exert on the mixture of clay, sand, and slit that make up most of the ground beneath the city’s streets.
"Based on their model, New York experiences a '#subsidence rate' (the technical term for sinking) of about one to two millimeters per year on average, though Lower Manhattan, as well as particular areas of Brooklyn and Queens, show a propensity for greater subsidence risk. As the authors note in their paper, much of lower Manhattan is currently no more than one to two meters above sea level, possibly exacerbating the effects of climate change in turn.
"While one to two millimeters per year may not seem that much, the study’s authors warn that this amount is more than enough to cause major coastal cities serious problems in the future. 'The combination of tectonic and anthropogenic subsidence, #SeaLevelRise, and increasing hurricane intensity imply an accelerating problem along coastal and riverfront areas,' the paper states. 'Repeated exposure of building foundations to salt water can corrode reinforcing steel and chemically weaken concrete, causing structural weakening.'
"As the study’s authors further point out, this level of annual collapse could potentially exacerbate the impact of #ExtremeWeather events like #HurricaneSandy, which saw sea water pour into New York."
-
"To be over-developed is to hasten decay,
And this is against Tao,
And what is against Tao will soon cease to be." - Lao Tzu, Tao Teh Ching.#NewYorkCity May Be Sinking Under the Weight of Its #Skyscrapers
A scientific journal suggests that the city’s 1.68 trillion pounds of buildings are causing the city to descend, in some neighborhoods faster than others.
by Tim Nelson, May 17, 2023
Excerpt: "The scholars first estimated the cumulative weight of New York’s buildings to be 1.68 trillion pounds, and then calculated the downward pressure these buildings exert on the mixture of clay, sand, and slit that make up most of the ground beneath the city’s streets.
"Based on their model, New York experiences a '#subsidence rate' (the technical term for sinking) of about one to two millimeters per year on average, though Lower Manhattan, as well as particular areas of Brooklyn and Queens, show a propensity for greater subsidence risk. As the authors note in their paper, much of lower Manhattan is currently no more than one to two meters above sea level, possibly exacerbating the effects of climate change in turn.
"While one to two millimeters per year may not seem that much, the study’s authors warn that this amount is more than enough to cause major coastal cities serious problems in the future. 'The combination of tectonic and anthropogenic subsidence, #SeaLevelRise, and increasing hurricane intensity imply an accelerating problem along coastal and riverfront areas,' the paper states. 'Repeated exposure of building foundations to salt water can corrode reinforcing steel and chemically weaken concrete, causing structural weakening.'
"As the study’s authors further point out, this level of annual collapse could potentially exacerbate the impact of #ExtremeWeather events like #HurricaneSandy, which saw sea water pour into New York."
-
"To be over-developed is to hasten decay,
And this is against Tao,
And what is against Tao will soon cease to be." - Lao Tzu, Tao Teh Ching.#NewYorkCity May Be Sinking Under the Weight of Its #Skyscrapers
A scientific journal suggests that the city’s 1.68 trillion pounds of buildings are causing the city to descend, in some neighborhoods faster than others.
by Tim Nelson, May 17, 2023
Excerpt: "The scholars first estimated the cumulative weight of New York’s buildings to be 1.68 trillion pounds, and then calculated the downward pressure these buildings exert on the mixture of clay, sand, and slit that make up most of the ground beneath the city’s streets.
"Based on their model, New York experiences a '#subsidence rate' (the technical term for sinking) of about one to two millimeters per year on average, though Lower Manhattan, as well as particular areas of Brooklyn and Queens, show a propensity for greater subsidence risk. As the authors note in their paper, much of lower Manhattan is currently no more than one to two meters above sea level, possibly exacerbating the effects of climate change in turn.
"While one to two millimeters per year may not seem that much, the study’s authors warn that this amount is more than enough to cause major coastal cities serious problems in the future. 'The combination of tectonic and anthropogenic subsidence, #SeaLevelRise, and increasing hurricane intensity imply an accelerating problem along coastal and riverfront areas,' the paper states. 'Repeated exposure of building foundations to salt water can corrode reinforcing steel and chemically weaken concrete, causing structural weakening.'
"As the study’s authors further point out, this level of annual collapse could potentially exacerbate the impact of #ExtremeWeather events like #HurricaneSandy, which saw sea water pour into New York."
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Weekly Update from the Open Journal of Astrophysics – 03/05/2025
Saturday morning once again, and time for another update of papers published at the Open Journal of Astrophysics. It’s been a recording-breaking week: since the last update we have published no fewer than ten papers, which brings the number in Volume 8 (2025) up to 54 and the total so far published by OJAp up to 289.
The first paper to report is “Subspace Approximations to the Focused Transport Equation of Energetic Particles, I. The Standard Form” by B. Kippenstein & A. Shalchi (U. Manitoba, Canada). This paper, which was published on Monday 28th April 2025, presents a hybrid analytical-numerical method to solve the Fokker-Planck equation for the transport of energetic particles. It is published in the folder Solar and Stellar Astrophysics.
The overlay is here:
You can find the officially accepted version on arXiv here.
Next is “The Importance of Subtleties in the Scaling of the ‘Terminal Momentum’ For Galaxy Formation Simulations” by Philip F. Hopkins (Caltech, USA). This presents a technical discussion of issues surrounding the proper modelling of supernova blast waves and their effects in numerical simulations of galaxy formation. It was published on Tuesday 29th April 2025 in the folder Astrophysics of Galaxies. The overlay is here:
The final version can be found on arXic here.
Next one up is “Local variations of the radial metallicity gradient in a simulated NIHAO-UHD Milky Way analogue and their implications for (extra-)galactic studies” by Sven Buder (ANU, Australia), Tobias Buck (U. Heidelberg, Germany), Qian-Hui Chen (ANU) and Kathryn Grasha (ANU). This one was also published on Tuesday 29th April 2025 in the folder Astrophysics of Galaxies. It describes a numerical study of the variation of chemical abundance with radial position in galaxies and the implications of this for galaxy formation. Here is the overlay:
and you can find the final accepted version on arXiv here.
The fourth paper this week is “Zooming In On The Multi-Phase Structure of Magnetically-Dominated Quasar Disks: Radiation From Torus to ISCO Across Accretion Rates” by Philip F. Hopkins (Caltech, USA) and 14 others based in the USA and Canada. This was also published on Tuesday 29th April 2025 in the folder Astrophysics of Galaxies. It presents very detailed numerical study of the structure of magnetized quasar accretion disks. The overlay is here:
You can find the official final version on arXiv here.
Next is “Tomographic halo model of the unWISE-Blue galaxies using cross-correlations with BOSS CMASS galaxies” by Alex Krolewski, Jensen Lawrence, and Will J. Percival (U. Waterloo, Canada). This one was also published on 29th April 2025, which was a busy day(!), but in the folder Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics. This paper describes using the halo model to create mock samples unWISE-Blue galaxies, applicable to other tomographic cross-correlations between photometric samples and narrowly-binned spectroscopic samples. The overlay is here:
The final version of this one can be found on the arXiv here.
Number six for this week is “StratLearn-z: Improved photo-estimation from spectroscopic data subject to selection effects” by Chiara Moretti (SISSA, Trieste, Italy), Maximilian Autenrieth (Imperial College, UK), Riccardo Serra (SISSA), Roberto Trotta (SISSA), David A. van Dyk (Imperial) and Andrei Mesinger (SNS Pisa, Italy). This was published on Thursday 1st May 2025 in the folder Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics. This one is about estimating photometric redshifts using an approach that relies on splitting the source and target datasets into strata based on estimated propensity score. The overlay is here:
The official version can be found on arXiv here.
Next is “The Impact of Galaxy-halo Size Relations on Galaxy Clustering Signals” by Joshua B. Hill and Yao-Yuan Mao (U. Utah, USA). This one was also published on May 2nd 2025 and is in the folder Astrophysics of Galaxies. It discusses the challenge of identifying a specific galaxy halo property that controls galaxy sizes through constraints from galaxy clustering alone. The overlay is here:
You can find the official version of the paper on arXiv here.
The next paper is “Detection of Thermal Emission at Millimeter Wavelengths from Low-Earth Orbit Satellites” by Allen Foster (Princeton, USA) and an international cast of 90 others, which is too many to list individually. This one was also published on Thursday May 1st but is in the folder Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics. The paper discusses the experimental detection of thermal emission from satellites and a discussion of the implications for astrophysical observations, especially time-domain astronomy. The overlay is here:
You can find the final version of the paper on arXiv here.
The penultimate paper of this week is “Pseudo-Cls for spin-s fields with component-wise weighting” by David Alonso (U. Oxford, UK). This one was published yesterday (Friday 2nd May 2025). The paper presents an approach to power spectrum estimation appropriate for data with anisotropic noise properties or for which complicated masks are required. It can be found in the folder Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics. The overlay is here:
The final version of this paper is on arXiv here.
The last paper this week is “The past, present and future of observations of externally irradiated disks” by Planet formation environments collaboration: Megan Allen (U. Sheffield, UK) and 52 others. This paper was published on Friday 2nd May in the folder Solar and Stellar Astrophysics. It presents a review of research on the effects of the ultraviolet radiation environment on protoplanetary disc evolution and planet formation. The overlay is here:
You can find the final version on arXiv here.
That’s all the papers for this week. I’ll just add that there were quite a few gremlins at Crossref this week, particularly yesterday. I usually do the publishing first thing in the morning but yesterday’s papers were held in a queue for most of the day pending registration. Usually it just takes a few minutes, but for these I had to wait several hours but we got there in the end. Although ten papers is more than we have ever published in a week, we still haven’t had a week in which we’ve published on every working day!
Anyway, that’s all for this week. I’ll post another update next Saturday.
#arXiv240416987v2 #arXiv240920379v2 #arXiv241007077v3 #arXiv241103374v4 #arXiv241113484v2 #arXiv241201157v2 #arXiv250202744v2 #arXiv250205268v2 #arXiv250212255v3 #arXiv250410756v2 #AstrophysicsOfGalaxies #CosmologyAndNonGalacticAstrophysics #DiamondOpenAccess #InstrumentationAndMethodsForAstrophysics #OpenAccessPublishing #OpenJournalOfAstrophysics #Satellites #SolarAndStellarAstrophysics #TheOpenJournalOfAstrophysics #ThermalEmission
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Weekly Update from the Open Journal of Astrophysics – 03/05/2025
Saturday morning once again, and time for another update of papers published at the Open Journal of Astrophysics. It’s been a recording-breaking week: since the last update we have published no fewer than ten papers, which brings the number in Volume 8 (2025) up to 54 and the total so far published by OJAp up to 289.
The first paper to report is “Subspace Approximations to the Focused Transport Equation of Energetic Particles, I. The Standard Form” by B. Kippenstein & A. Shalchi (U. Manitoba, Canada). This paper, which was published on Monday 28th April 2025, presents a hybrid analytical-numerical method to solve the Fokker-Planck equation for the transport of energetic particles. It is published in the folder Solar and Stellar Astrophysics.
The overlay is here:
You can find the officially accepted version on arXiv here.
Next is “The Importance of Subtleties in the Scaling of the ‘Terminal Momentum’ For Galaxy Formation Simulations” by Philip F. Hopkins (Caltech, USA). This presents a technical discussion of issues surrounding the proper modelling of supernova blast waves and their effects in numerical simulations of galaxy formation. It was published on Tuesday 29th April 2025 in the folder Astrophysics of Galaxies. The overlay is here:
The final version can be found on arXic here.
Next one up is “Local variations of the radial metallicity gradient in a simulated NIHAO-UHD Milky Way analogue and their implications for (extra-)galactic studies” by Sven Buder (ANU, Australia), Tobias Buck (U. Heidelberg, Germany), Qian-Hui Chen (ANU) and Kathryn Grasha (ANU). This one was also published on Tuesday 29th April 2025 in the folder Astrophysics of Galaxies. It describes a numerical study of the variation of chemical abundance with radial position in galaxies and the implications of this for galaxy formation. Here is the overlay:
and you can find the final accepted version on arXiv here.
The fourth paper this week is “Zooming In On The Multi-Phase Structure of Magnetically-Dominated Quasar Disks: Radiation From Torus to ISCO Across Accretion Rates” by Philip F. Hopkins (Caltech, USA) and 14 others based in the USA and Canada. This was also published on Tuesday 29th April 2025 in the folder Astrophysics of Galaxies. It presents very detailed numerical study of the structure of magnetized quasar accretion disks. The overlay is here:
You can find the official final version on arXiv here.
Next is “Tomographic halo model of the unWISE-Blue galaxies using cross-correlations with BOSS CMASS galaxies” by Alex Krolewski, Jensen Lawrence, and Will J. Percival (U. Waterloo, Canada). This one was also published on 29th April 2025, which was a busy day(!), but in the folder Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics. This paper describes using the halo model to create mock samples unWISE-Blue galaxies, applicable to other tomographic cross-correlations between photometric samples and narrowly-binned spectroscopic samples. The overlay is here:
The final version of this one can be found on the arXiv here.
Number six for this week is “StratLearn-z: Improved photo-estimation from spectroscopic data subject to selection effects” by Chiara Moretti (SISSA, Trieste, Italy), Maximilian Autenrieth (Imperial College, UK), Riccardo Serra (SISSA), Roberto Trotta (SISSA), David A. van Dyk (Imperial) and Andrei Mesinger (SNS Pisa, Italy). This was published on Thursday 1st May 2025 in the folder Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics. This one is about estimating photometric redshifts using an approach that relies on splitting the source and target datasets into strata based on estimated propensity score. The overlay is here:
The official version can be found on arXiv here.
Next is “The Impact of Galaxy-halo Size Relations on Galaxy Clustering Signals” by Joshua B. Hill and Yao-Yuan Mao (U. Utah, USA). This one was also published on May 2nd 2025 and is in the folder Astrophysics of Galaxies. It discusses the challenge of identifying a specific galaxy halo property that controls galaxy sizes through constraints from galaxy clustering alone. The overlay is here:
You can find the official version of the paper on arXiv here.
The next paper is “Detection of Thermal Emission at Millimeter Wavelengths from Low-Earth Orbit Satellites” by Allen Foster (Princeton, USA) and an international cast of 90 others, which is too many to list individually. This one was also published on Thursday May 1st but is in the folder Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics. The paper discusses the experimental detection of thermal emission from satellites and a discussion of the implications for astrophysical observations, especially time-domain astronomy. The overlay is here:
You can find the final version of the paper on arXiv here.
The penultimate paper of this week is “Pseudo-Cls for spin-s fields with component-wise weighting” by David Alonso (U. Oxford, UK). This one was published yesterday (Friday 2nd May 2025). The paper presents an approach to power spectrum estimation appropriate for data with anisotropic noise properties or for which complicated masks are required. It can be found in the folder Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics. The overlay is here:
The final version of this paper is on arXiv here.
The last paper this week is “The past, present and future of observations of externally irradiated disks” by Planet formation environments collaboration: Megan Allen (U. Sheffield, UK) and 52 others. This paper was published on Friday 2nd May in the folder Solar and Stellar Astrophysics. It presents a review of research on the effects of the ultraviolet radiation environment on protoplanetary disc evolution and planet formation. The overlay is here:
You can find the final version on arXiv here.
That’s all the papers for this week. I’ll just add that there were quite a few gremlins at Crossref this week, particularly yesterday. I usually do the publishing first thing in the morning but yesterday’s papers were held in a queue for most of the day pending registration. Usually it just takes a few minutes, but for these I had to wait several hours but we got there in the end. Although ten papers is more than we have ever published in a week, we still haven’t had a week in which we’ve published on every working day!
Anyway, that’s all for this week. I’ll post another update next Saturday.
#arXiv240416987v2 #arXiv240920379v2 #arXiv241007077v3 #arXiv241103374v4 #arXiv241113484v2 #arXiv241201157v2 #arXiv250202744v2 #arXiv250205268v2 #arXiv250212255v3 #arXiv250410756v2 #AstrophysicsOfGalaxies #CosmologyAndNonGalacticAstrophysics #DiamondOpenAccess #InstrumentationAndMethodsForAstrophysics #OpenAccessPublishing #OpenJournalOfAstrophysics #Satellites #SolarAndStellarAstrophysics #TheOpenJournalOfAstrophysics #ThermalEmission
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By Dear Hollow
It’s sexy when things you love collide with things you hate. My lust for mathcore is well-established – I go hard for that mind-numbing dyscalculic tinnitus any day – but if you put a slab of prog metal in front of me, I’m gonna go as flaccid as a gummy worm in a hot car faster than you can say “Wilderun.” That’s Benthos. The Italian collective slides a platter of progressive rock’s lush, ambivalent, and emotive movements alongside mathcore’s jagged edges and feral energy, and you’re guaranteed to find something you’ll love and hate – and get hot and bothered by. It’s core’s sellout and prog’s elitism personified in the dichotomy of the heavenly and hellish – yet in your divinely appointed and coarsely deadly free will, you decide which is which. In the words of the wisest, “yeet and yoink” with this particular Haken-themed hatefuck.
Benthos has been around since 2018, and gained recognition in their hometown of Milan by opening for The Contortionist and appearing in the Dissonance Festival in 2023. From Nothing is their debut full-length, although they released the ironically titled EP/mini-album II in 2021. Settled upon a foundation of lush melodies and evasive chord progressions before exploding into frantic Dillinger-inspired rhythm abuse, the act wavers between super serious and frantically silly, soulful cleans colliding haphazardly with demonic shrieks. From Nothing is ambitious in fusing two styles strangely congruous but also not at all, but in the end Benthos is exactly split down the middle, its arrhythmic beatdowns stealing the spotlight from masturbatory prog sections, blurring into some ambivalently erotic background.
First glances of Benthos are synth-heavy progressions and killer vocals. Gabriele Landillo has a formidable set of pipes, their post-hardcore-meets-Chino Moreno vibe lending a creeping sexiness (“Let Me Plunge,” “The Giant Child”) and a desperate belt that adds serious dynamic and show-stealing propensity (“From Nothing,” “Pure”), keeping the more uninteresting passages from descending into drearier monotony. Without careful listening, however, the proggier tracks blur together in a blurry pastel mesh in sprawling layered atmospheric rock tricks – serious synth on guitar action – with interspersed chuggy portions, feeling like a less nuanced songwriting a la (recent) The Contortionist or The Fall of Troy. Speaking of your favorite dark romance crooner Chino, From Nothing feels quite a bit like Deftones’ Gore in its decision to put include metal as a mere monument marker on the jaded journey to the pits of prog – ultimately, a bit of a cockblock. Benthos mixing is likewise stellar, Alberto Fiorani’s dummy thicc bass as audible as the cheek-clapping guitars and slamming drums.
Of its two audio halves, Benthos’ more chaotic mathcore attacks offer the best listening experience. After the vastly longwinded four-song introductory blur, the intro to “As a Cordyceps” introduces what makes From Nothing worth a bit more. Practically brimming with energy, the mathcore technicality and hardcore intensity finally kick in. This continues into the easy highlights that dispense the prog fluff into something that feels cutthroat and quirky, wonky leads weaponized with nimble and mind-bending rhythms (“Fossil,” “Athletic Worms,” “Perpetual Drone Monkeys”). These give Benthos more breathing room when the proggy sensibilities raise their ill-smelling feet, offering nuance to otherwise unwelcoming rooms. These also incorporate more of these chunkier vibes into more mundane moments, letting the rhythms inject a tasteful – albeit short-lived – dose of intensity (“The Giant Child,” “Pure”).
The best and worst part about From Nothing is that Benthos manages to sound both bored to tears and absolutely apeshit depending on which part you tune into. Its moments of unhinged insanity are too few and far between to warrant consistency or balance… or a solid recommendation. But if you’re like Dolphin Whisperer and like your music hot and heavy, while disrobing From Nothing’s many sexy layers and textured sprawls, take a cold shower before venturing out to pick up a copy.1 Benthos offers promise with the softness for the foreplay and the vigor for the penetration, but From Nothing has difficulty keeping it up across its forty-five minute runtime with too-long portions of pretty monotony2 and excessive indulgence,3 but armed with a vocalist both sexy and devastating and an instrumental presence as bonkers as it is patient… goddammit, I need a cold shower now.4
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Inside Out Music
Websites: benthosmusic.bandcamp.com | benthos-band.com | facebook.com/benthosbandofficial
Releases Worldwide: April 11th, 2025#25 #2025 #Apr25 #Benthos #Deftones #FromNothing #Haken #InsideOutMusic #ItalianMetal #Mathcore #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveRock #Review #Reviews #TheContortionist #TheDillingerEscapePlan #TheFallOfTroy #Wilderun
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By Dear Hollow
It’s sexy when things you love collide with things you hate. My lust for mathcore is well-established – I go hard for that mind-numbing dyscalculic tinnitus any day – but if you put a slab of prog metal in front of me, I’m gonna go as flaccid as a gummy worm in a hot car faster than you can say “Wilderun.” That’s Benthos. The Italian collective slides a platter of progressive rock’s lush, ambivalent, and emotive movements alongside mathcore’s jagged edges and feral energy, and you’re guaranteed to find something you’ll love and hate – and get hot and bothered by. It’s core’s sellout and prog’s elitism personified in the dichotomy of the heavenly and hellish – yet in your divinely appointed and coarsely deadly free will, you decide which is which. In the words of the wisest, “yeet and yoink” with this particular Haken-themed hatefuck.
Benthos has been around since 2018, and gained recognition in their hometown of Milan by opening for The Contortionist and appearing in the Dissonance Festival in 2023. From Nothing is their debut full-length, although they released the ironically titled EP/mini-album II in 2021. Settled upon a foundation of lush melodies and evasive chord progressions before exploding into frantic Dillinger-inspired rhythm abuse, the act wavers between super serious and frantically silly, soulful cleans colliding haphazardly with demonic shrieks. From Nothing is ambitious in fusing two styles strangely congruous but also not at all, but in the end Benthos is exactly split down the middle, its arrhythmic beatdowns stealing the spotlight from masturbatory prog sections, blurring into some ambivalently erotic background.
First glances of Benthos are synth-heavy progressions and killer vocals. Gabriele Landillo has a formidable set of pipes, their post-hardcore-meets-Chino Moreno vibe lending a creeping sexiness (“Let Me Plunge,” “The Giant Child”) and a desperate belt that adds serious dynamic and show-stealing propensity (“From Nothing,” “Pure”), keeping the more uninteresting passages from descending into drearier monotony. Without careful listening, however, the proggier tracks blur together in a blurry pastel mesh in sprawling layered atmospheric rock tricks – serious synth on guitar action – with interspersed chuggy portions, feeling like a less nuanced songwriting a la (recent) The Contortionist or The Fall of Troy. Speaking of your favorite dark romance crooner Chino, From Nothing feels quite a bit like Deftones’ Gore in its decision to put include metal as a mere monument marker on the jaded journey to the pits of prog – ultimately, a bit of a cockblock. Benthos mixing is likewise stellar, Alberto Fiorani’s dummy thicc bass as audible as the cheek-clapping guitars and slamming drums.
Of its two audio halves, Benthos’ more chaotic mathcore attacks offer the best listening experience. After the vastly longwinded four-song introductory blur, the intro to “As a Cordyceps” introduces what makes From Nothing worth a bit more. Practically brimming with energy, the mathcore technicality and hardcore intensity finally kick in. This continues into the easy highlights that dispense the prog fluff into something that feels cutthroat and quirky, wonky leads weaponized with nimble and mind-bending rhythms (“Fossil,” “Athletic Worms,” “Perpetual Drone Monkeys”). These give Benthos more breathing room when the proggy sensibilities raise their ill-smelling feet, offering nuance to otherwise unwelcoming rooms. These also incorporate more of these chunkier vibes into more mundane moments, letting the rhythms inject a tasteful – albeit short-lived – dose of intensity (“The Giant Child,” “Pure”).
The best and worst part about From Nothing is that Benthos manages to sound both bored to tears and absolutely apeshit depending on which part you tune into. Its moments of unhinged insanity are too few and far between to warrant consistency or balance… or a solid recommendation. But if you’re like Dolphin Whisperer and like your music hot and heavy, while disrobing From Nothing’s many sexy layers and textured sprawls, take a cold shower before venturing out to pick up a copy.1 Benthos offers promise with the softness for the foreplay and the vigor for the penetration, but From Nothing has difficulty keeping it up across its forty-five minute runtime with too-long portions of pretty monotony2 and excessive indulgence,3 but armed with a vocalist both sexy and devastating and an instrumental presence as bonkers as it is patient… goddammit, I need a cold shower now.4
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Inside Out Music
Websites: benthosmusic.bandcamp.com | benthos-band.com | facebook.com/benthosbandofficial
Releases Worldwide: April 11th, 2025#25 #2025 #Apr25 #Benthos #Deftones #FromNothing #Haken #InsideOutMusic #ItalianMetal #Mathcore #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveRock #Review #Reviews #TheContortionist #TheDillingerEscapePlan #TheFallOfTroy #Wilderun
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By Dear Hollow
It’s sexy when things you love collide with things you hate. My lust for mathcore is well-established – I go hard for that mind-numbing dyscalculic tinnitus any day – but if you put a slab of prog metal in front of me, I’m gonna go as flaccid as a gummy worm in a hot car faster than you can say “Wilderun.” That’s Benthos. The Italian collective slides a platter of progressive rock’s lush, ambivalent, and emotive movements alongside mathcore’s jagged edges and feral energy, and you’re guaranteed to find something you’ll love and hate – and get hot and bothered by. It’s core’s sellout and prog’s elitism personified in the dichotomy of the heavenly and hellish – yet in your divinely appointed and coarsely deadly free will, you decide which is which. In the words of the wisest, “yeet and yoink” with this particular Haken-themed hatefuck.
Benthos has been around since 2018, and gained recognition in their hometown of Milan by opening for The Contortionist and appearing in the Dissonance Festival in 2023. From Nothing is their debut full-length, although they released the ironically titled EP/mini-album II in 2021. Settled upon a foundation of lush melodies and evasive chord progressions before exploding into frantic Dillinger-inspired rhythm abuse, the act wavers between super serious and frantically silly, soulful cleans colliding haphazardly with demonic shrieks. From Nothing is ambitious in fusing two styles strangely congruous but also not at all, but in the end Benthos is exactly split down the middle, its arrhythmic beatdowns stealing the spotlight from masturbatory prog sections, blurring into some ambivalently erotic background.
First glances of Benthos are synth-heavy progressions and killer vocals. Gabriele Landillo has a formidable set of pipes, their post-hardcore-meets-Chino Moreno vibe lending a creeping sexiness (“Let Me Plunge,” “The Giant Child”) and a desperate belt that adds serious dynamic and show-stealing propensity (“From Nothing,” “Pure”), keeping the more uninteresting passages from descending into drearier monotony. Without careful listening, however, the proggier tracks blur together in a blurry pastel mesh in sprawling layered atmospheric rock tricks – serious synth on guitar action – with interspersed chuggy portions, feeling like a less nuanced songwriting a la (recent) The Contortionist or The Fall of Troy. Speaking of your favorite dark romance crooner Chino, From Nothing feels quite a bit like Deftones’ Gore in its decision to put include metal as a mere monument marker on the jaded journey to the pits of prog – ultimately, a bit of a cockblock. Benthos mixing is likewise stellar, Alberto Fiorani’s dummy thicc bass as audible as the cheek-clapping guitars and slamming drums.
Of its two audio halves, Benthos’ more chaotic mathcore attacks offer the best listening experience. After the vastly longwinded four-song introductory blur, the intro to “As a Cordyceps” introduces what makes From Nothing worth a bit more. Practically brimming with energy, the mathcore technicality and hardcore intensity finally kick in. This continues into the easy highlights that dispense the prog fluff into something that feels cutthroat and quirky, wonky leads weaponized with nimble and mind-bending rhythms (“Fossil,” “Athletic Worms,” “Perpetual Drone Monkeys”). These give Benthos more breathing room when the proggy sensibilities raise their ill-smelling feet, offering nuance to otherwise unwelcoming rooms. These also incorporate more of these chunkier vibes into more mundane moments, letting the rhythms inject a tasteful – albeit short-lived – dose of intensity (“The Giant Child,” “Pure”).
The best and worst part about From Nothing is that Benthos manages to sound both bored to tears and absolutely apeshit depending on which part you tune into. Its moments of unhinged insanity are too few and far between to warrant consistency or balance… or a solid recommendation. But if you’re like Dolphin Whisperer and like your music hot and heavy, while disrobing From Nothing’s many sexy layers and textured sprawls, take a cold shower before venturing out to pick up a copy.1 Benthos offers promise with the softness for the foreplay and the vigor for the penetration, but From Nothing has difficulty keeping it up across its forty-five minute runtime with too-long portions of pretty monotony2 and excessive indulgence,3 but armed with a vocalist both sexy and devastating and an instrumental presence as bonkers as it is patient… goddammit, I need a cold shower now.4
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Inside Out Music
Websites: benthosmusic.bandcamp.com | benthos-band.com | facebook.com/benthosbandofficial
Releases Worldwide: April 11th, 2025#25 #2025 #Apr25 #Benthos #Deftones #FromNothing #Haken #InsideOutMusic #ItalianMetal #Mathcore #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveRock #Review #Reviews #TheContortionist #TheDillingerEscapePlan #TheFallOfTroy #Wilderun
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By Dear Hollow
It’s sexy when things you love collide with things you hate. My lust for mathcore is well-established – I go hard for that mind-numbing dyscalculic tinnitus any day – but if you put a slab of prog metal in front of me, I’m gonna go as flaccid as a gummy worm in a hot car faster than you can say “Wilderun.” That’s Benthos. The Italian collective slides a platter of progressive rock’s lush, ambivalent, and emotive movements alongside mathcore’s jagged edges and feral energy, and you’re guaranteed to find something you’ll love and hate – and get hot and bothered by. It’s core’s sellout and prog’s elitism personified in the dichotomy of the heavenly and hellish – yet in your divinely appointed and coarsely deadly free will, you decide which is which. In the words of the wisest, “yeet and yoink” with this particular Haken-themed hatefuck.
Benthos has been around since 2018, and gained recognition in their hometown of Milan by opening for The Contortionist and appearing in the Dissonance Festival in 2023. From Nothing is their debut full-length, although they released the ironically titled EP/mini-album II in 2021. Settled upon a foundation of lush melodies and evasive chord progressions before exploding into frantic Dillinger-inspired rhythm abuse, the act wavers between super serious and frantically silly, soulful cleans colliding haphazardly with demonic shrieks. From Nothing is ambitious in fusing two styles strangely congruous but also not at all, but in the end Benthos is exactly split down the middle, its arrhythmic beatdowns stealing the spotlight from masturbatory prog sections, blurring into some ambivalently erotic background.
First glances of Benthos are synth-heavy progressions and killer vocals. Gabriele Landillo has a formidable set of pipes, their post-hardcore-meets-Chino Moreno vibe lending a creeping sexiness (“Let Me Plunge,” “The Giant Child”) and a desperate belt that adds serious dynamic and show-stealing propensity (“From Nothing,” “Pure”), keeping the more uninteresting passages from descending into drearier monotony. Without careful listening, however, the proggier tracks blur together in a blurry pastel mesh in sprawling layered atmospheric rock tricks – serious synth on guitar action – with interspersed chuggy portions, feeling like a less nuanced songwriting a la (recent) The Contortionist or The Fall of Troy. Speaking of your favorite dark romance crooner Chino, From Nothing feels quite a bit like Deftones’ Gore in its decision to put include metal as a mere monument marker on the jaded journey to the pits of prog – ultimately, a bit of a cockblock. Benthos mixing is likewise stellar, Alberto Fiorani’s dummy thicc bass as audible as the cheek-clapping guitars and slamming drums.
Of its two audio halves, Benthos’ more chaotic mathcore attacks offer the best listening experience. After the vastly longwinded four-song introductory blur, the intro to “As a Cordyceps” introduces what makes From Nothing worth a bit more. Practically brimming with energy, the mathcore technicality and hardcore intensity finally kick in. This continues into the easy highlights that dispense the prog fluff into something that feels cutthroat and quirky, wonky leads weaponized with nimble and mind-bending rhythms (“Fossil,” “Athletic Worms,” “Perpetual Drone Monkeys”). These give Benthos more breathing room when the proggy sensibilities raise their ill-smelling feet, offering nuance to otherwise unwelcoming rooms. These also incorporate more of these chunkier vibes into more mundane moments, letting the rhythms inject a tasteful – albeit short-lived – dose of intensity (“The Giant Child,” “Pure”).
The best and worst part about From Nothing is that Benthos manages to sound both bored to tears and absolutely apeshit depending on which part you tune into. Its moments of unhinged insanity are too few and far between to warrant consistency or balance… or a solid recommendation. But if you’re like Dolphin Whisperer and like your music hot and heavy, while disrobing From Nothing’s many sexy layers and textured sprawls, take a cold shower before venturing out to pick up a copy.1 Benthos offers promise with the softness for the foreplay and the vigor for the penetration, but From Nothing has difficulty keeping it up across its forty-five minute runtime with too-long portions of pretty monotony2 and excessive indulgence,3 but armed with a vocalist both sexy and devastating and an instrumental presence as bonkers as it is patient… goddammit, I need a cold shower now.4
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Inside Out Music
Websites: benthosmusic.bandcamp.com | benthos-band.com | facebook.com/benthosbandofficial
Releases Worldwide: April 11th, 2025#25 #2025 #Apr25 #Benthos #Deftones #FromNothing #Haken #InsideOutMusic #ItalianMetal #Mathcore #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveRock #Review #Reviews #TheContortionist #TheDillingerEscapePlan #TheFallOfTroy #Wilderun
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Chestcrush – ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ Review
By Tyme
Chestcrush is what happens when you fuck around and find out. These three blackened death dealers from Edinburgh, Scotland, formed in 2020, released their independent debut album, Vthelygmia, in 2021. That’s when Chestcrush caught my ear for the first time, penning one of my favorite songs, “Different Shepherd, Same Sheep.” After swapping original vocalist Thomas Blanc for Topias Jokipii, who debuted his wares on 2022’s Apechtheia EP, Chestcrush is back with its sophomore prüno-piss and vinegar-filled platter, ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ. Translated from Greek to mean ‘soul extractor,’ ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ metaphorically describes an experience or person that is so incredibly tormenting to you that it feels like it’s pulling your very soul out through your mouth. Will I need my jaw re-aligned after listening to ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ, or is this dog just a toothless barker?
Chestcrush executes its misanthropic, anti-everything brand of nihilism by fusing blackened deathgrind with sludgy, doomy industrialism on ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ. And even with the grindier bits dialed back, ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣA sounds like a bloodied blend of Anaal Nathrakh, Immolation, and Napalm Death sprinkled with an extra vitriolic dash o’ Nails. Evangelos Vasilakos crushes chests and eardrums with an onslaught of riffs full of brutish chugs, crusty sludge, and deathly density (“Existence is Punishment”). Drummer Robin Stone (Ashen Horde) brings the mutha-fuckin’ skulls to the yard with his rib-rattling, Anaal Nathrakhian double kick work, which often serves as a tempodic counterpoint to Evan’s wall of sound bass and guitar destruction (“We Shall Be Devoured by the Offspring of Our Own Flesh”). Topping off this sundae of fuck-off-fun-day decimation are the Mikael Åkerfeldtish vocals of Jokipii, whose roars and guttural growls bring an altogether beastlier edge to ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ‘s throat work. Chestcrush will not make you feel good about yourself, nor will they have you looking hopefully into the future.
Speaking of hope, if not abandoned wholly before entering Chestcrush‘s world, it will be by the time “Every Single Word That Comes Out of Your Filthy Hole Is an Infectious Lie a Spreading Disease” invades your earholes. It is a punishing, anti-religious anthem full of chunky riffs, dissonant tremolos, Stone’s inhuman drumming, and Jokipii’s tortured growls and screams, prefaced by an ominous warning, ‘Until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.’ And as the screechy, staticky ending of “Hang Them! Torch Them!” gives way to the tolling bells of the sludgy behemoth and album closer, “As the Damned Writhe in Eternal Woe,” it is clear that Chestcrush hates us all. ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ has no high points, no zenith; it is a cavalcade of sorrow, a series of nadirs plumbing depths subterranean of Dante’s seventh circle.
From the very Hellraiser-esque cover art courtesy of Vladimir Chebakov to the forty-minute runtime, Chestcrush‘s ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ is infinitely more mature than its predecessor, Vthelygmia. I attribute this leap in maturation to two things. First, Chestcrush‘s songwriting has blossomed like a blackened rose, resulting in fully developed compositions that wend, wind, and weave within themselves, an ebb and flow of drama that casts a pall of abject hopelessness over the entire affair. Second, the addition of vocalist Topias Jokipii, whose beefier delivery and propensity to stay in his lower, more guttural register better fit Chestrcush‘s aural aesthetic. I have little in the way of criticism for ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ, but there was something that stood out, which is a brief screech of feedback that rears its head throughout the album, mainly as an exclamation point. It works when employed to create an intersong dynamic (“Every Single Word…”), but it becomes grating when tacked on the end of nearly every track, sometimes twice (“We Shall Be Devoured…”).
Chestcrush has penned a dirge celebrating the death of humanity and is the human embodiment of existential hate. You’ll not be blasting ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ poolside this summer, cracking beers and seltzers with your buddies and their wives, crisping flesh in the sun. Chestcrush is of darkness, despair, and destitution, and that is where ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ will take you. I have committed several hours to ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ in preparation for this review, and this time has left me spent, my jaw firmly wired shut, soul removed. I think I need to go and listen to some Fellowship now.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Self-Released
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: April 4, 2025#2025 #35 #AnaalNathrakh #Apr25 #BlackMetal #Chestcrush #DeathMetal #Immolation #Nails #NapalmDeath #Review #Reviews #ScottishMetal #Sludge #ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ
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Chestcrush – ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ Review
By Tyme
Chestcrush is what happens when you fuck around and find out. These three blackened death dealers from Edinburgh, Scotland, formed in 2020, released their independent debut album, Vthelygmia, in 2021. That’s when Chestcrush caught my ear for the first time, penning one of my favorite songs, “Different Shepherd, Same Sheep.” After swapping original vocalist Thomas Blanc for Topias Jokipii, who debuted his wares on 2022’s Apechtheia EP, Chestcrush is back with its sophomore prüno-piss and vinegar-filled platter, ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ. Translated from Greek to mean ‘soul extractor,’ ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ metaphorically describes an experience or person that is so incredibly tormenting to you that it feels like it’s pulling your very soul out through your mouth. Will I need my jaw re-aligned after listening to ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ, or is this dog just a toothless barker?
Chestcrush executes its misanthropic, anti-everything brand of nihilism by fusing blackened deathgrind with sludgy, doomy industrialism on ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ. And even with the grindier bits dialed back, ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣA sounds like a bloodied blend of Anaal Nathrakh, Immolation, and Napalm Death sprinkled with an extra vitriolic dash o’ Nails. Evangelos Vasilakos crushes chests and eardrums with an onslaught of riffs full of brutish chugs, crusty sludge, and deathly density (“Existence is Punishment”). Drummer Robin Stone (Ashen Horde) brings the mutha-fuckin’ skulls to the yard with his rib-rattling, Anaal Nathrakhian double kick work, which often serves as a tempodic counterpoint to Evan’s wall of sound bass and guitar destruction (“We Shall Be Devoured by the Offspring of Our Own Flesh”). Topping off this sundae of fuck-off-fun-day decimation are the Mikael Åkerfeldtish vocals of Jokipii, whose roars and guttural growls bring an altogether beastlier edge to ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ‘s throat work. Chestcrush will not make you feel good about yourself, nor will they have you looking hopefully into the future.
Speaking of hope, if not abandoned wholly before entering Chestcrush‘s world, it will be by the time “Every Single Word That Comes Out of Your Filthy Hole Is an Infectious Lie a Spreading Disease” invades your earholes. It is a punishing, anti-religious anthem full of chunky riffs, dissonant tremolos, Stone’s inhuman drumming, and Jokipii’s tortured growls and screams, prefaced by an ominous warning, ‘Until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.’ And as the screechy, staticky ending of “Hang Them! Torch Them!” gives way to the tolling bells of the sludgy behemoth and album closer, “As the Damned Writhe in Eternal Woe,” it is clear that Chestcrush hates us all. ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ has no high points, no zenith; it is a cavalcade of sorrow, a series of nadirs plumbing depths subterranean of Dante’s seventh circle.
From the very Hellraiser-esque cover art courtesy of Vladimir Chebakov to the forty-minute runtime, Chestcrush‘s ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ is infinitely more mature than its predecessor, Vthelygmia. I attribute this leap in maturation to two things. First, Chestcrush‘s songwriting has blossomed like a blackened rose, resulting in fully developed compositions that wend, wind, and weave within themselves, an ebb and flow of drama that casts a pall of abject hopelessness over the entire affair. Second, the addition of vocalist Topias Jokipii, whose beefier delivery and propensity to stay in his lower, more guttural register better fit Chestrcush‘s aural aesthetic. I have little in the way of criticism for ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ, but there was something that stood out, which is a brief screech of feedback that rears its head throughout the album, mainly as an exclamation point. It works when employed to create an intersong dynamic (“Every Single Word…”), but it becomes grating when tacked on the end of nearly every track, sometimes twice (“We Shall Be Devoured…”).
Chestcrush has penned a dirge celebrating the death of humanity and is the human embodiment of existential hate. You’ll not be blasting ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ poolside this summer, cracking beers and seltzers with your buddies and their wives, crisping flesh in the sun. Chestcrush is of darkness, despair, and destitution, and that is where ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ will take you. I have committed several hours to ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ in preparation for this review, and this time has left me spent, my jaw firmly wired shut, soul removed. I think I need to go and listen to some Fellowship now.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Self-Released
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: April 4, 2025#2025 #35 #AnaalNathrakh #Apr25 #BlackMetal #Chestcrush #DeathMetal #Immolation #Nails #NapalmDeath #Review #Reviews #ScottishMetal #Sludge #ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ
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Chestcrush – ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ Review
By Tyme
Chestcrush is what happens when you fuck around and find out. These three blackened death dealers from Edinburgh, Scotland, formed in 2020, released their independent debut album, Vthelygmia, in 2021. That’s when Chestcrush caught my ear for the first time, penning one of my favorite songs, “Different Shepherd, Same Sheep.” After swapping original vocalist Thomas Blanc for Topias Jokipii, who debuted his wares on 2022’s Apechtheia EP, Chestcrush is back with its sophomore prüno-piss and vinegar-filled platter, ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ. Translated from Greek to mean ‘soul extractor,’ ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ metaphorically describes an experience or person that is so incredibly tormenting to you that it feels like it’s pulling your very soul out through your mouth. Will I need my jaw re-aligned after listening to ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ, or is this dog just a toothless barker?
Chestcrush executes its misanthropic, anti-everything brand of nihilism by fusing blackened deathgrind with sludgy, doomy industrialism on ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ. And even with the grindier bits dialed back, ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣA sounds like a bloodied blend of Anaal Nathrakh, Immolation, and Napalm Death sprinkled with an extra vitriolic dash o’ Nails. Evangelos Vasilakos crushes chests and eardrums with an onslaught of riffs full of brutish chugs, crusty sludge, and deathly density (“Existence is Punishment”). Drummer Robin Stone (Ashen Horde) brings the mutha-fuckin’ skulls to the yard with his rib-rattling, Anaal Nathrakhian double kick work, which often serves as a tempodic counterpoint to Evan’s wall of sound bass and guitar destruction (“We Shall Be Devoured by the Offspring of Our Own Flesh”). Topping off this sundae of fuck-off-fun-day decimation are the Mikael Åkerfeldtish vocals of Jokipii, whose roars and guttural growls bring an altogether beastlier edge to ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ‘s throat work. Chestcrush will not make you feel good about yourself, nor will they have you looking hopefully into the future.
Speaking of hope, if not abandoned wholly before entering Chestcrush‘s world, it will be by the time “Every Single Word That Comes Out of Your Filthy Hole Is an Infectious Lie a Spreading Disease” invades your earholes. It is a punishing, anti-religious anthem full of chunky riffs, dissonant tremolos, Stone’s inhuman drumming, and Jokipii’s tortured growls and screams, prefaced by an ominous warning, ‘Until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.’ And as the screechy, staticky ending of “Hang Them! Torch Them!” gives way to the tolling bells of the sludgy behemoth and album closer, “As the Damned Writhe in Eternal Woe,” it is clear that Chestcrush hates us all. ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ has no high points, no zenith; it is a cavalcade of sorrow, a series of nadirs plumbing depths subterranean of Dante’s seventh circle.
From the very Hellraiser-esque cover art courtesy of Vladimir Chebakov to the forty-minute runtime, Chestcrush‘s ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ is infinitely more mature than its predecessor, Vthelygmia. I attribute this leap in maturation to two things. First, Chestcrush‘s songwriting has blossomed like a blackened rose, resulting in fully developed compositions that wend, wind, and weave within themselves, an ebb and flow of drama that casts a pall of abject hopelessness over the entire affair. Second, the addition of vocalist Topias Jokipii, whose beefier delivery and propensity to stay in his lower, more guttural register better fit Chestrcush‘s aural aesthetic. I have little in the way of criticism for ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ, but there was something that stood out, which is a brief screech of feedback that rears its head throughout the album, mainly as an exclamation point. It works when employed to create an intersong dynamic (“Every Single Word…”), but it becomes grating when tacked on the end of nearly every track, sometimes twice (“We Shall Be Devoured…”).
Chestcrush has penned a dirge celebrating the death of humanity and is the human embodiment of existential hate. You’ll not be blasting ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ poolside this summer, cracking beers and seltzers with your buddies and their wives, crisping flesh in the sun. Chestcrush is of darkness, despair, and destitution, and that is where ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ will take you. I have committed several hours to ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ in preparation for this review, and this time has left me spent, my jaw firmly wired shut, soul removed. I think I need to go and listen to some Fellowship now.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Self-Released
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: April 4, 2025#2025 #35 #AnaalNathrakh #Apr25 #BlackMetal #Chestcrush #DeathMetal #Immolation #Nails #NapalmDeath #Review #Reviews #ScottishMetal #Sludge #ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ
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Chestcrush – ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ Review
By Tyme
Chestcrush is what happens when you fuck around and find out. These three blackened death dealers from Edinburgh, Scotland, formed in 2020, released their independent debut album, Vthelygmia, in 2021. That’s when Chestcrush caught my ear for the first time, penning one of my favorite songs, “Different Shepherd, Same Sheep.” After swapping original vocalist Thomas Blanc for Topias Jokipii, who debuted his wares on 2022’s Apechtheia EP, Chestcrush is back with its sophomore prüno-piss and vinegar-filled platter, ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ. Translated from Greek to mean ‘soul extractor,’ ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ metaphorically describes an experience or person that is so incredibly tormenting to you that it feels like it’s pulling your very soul out through your mouth. Will I need my jaw re-aligned after listening to ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ, or is this dog just a toothless barker?
Chestcrush executes its misanthropic, anti-everything brand of nihilism by fusing blackened deathgrind with sludgy, doomy industrialism on ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ. And even with the grindier bits dialed back, ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣA sounds like a bloodied blend of Anaal Nathrakh, Immolation, and Napalm Death sprinkled with an extra vitriolic dash o’ Nails. Evangelos Vasilakos crushes chests and eardrums with an onslaught of riffs full of brutish chugs, crusty sludge, and deathly density (“Existence is Punishment”). Drummer Robin Stone (Ashen Horde) brings the mutha-fuckin’ skulls to the yard with his rib-rattling, Anaal Nathrakhian double kick work, which often serves as a tempodic counterpoint to Evan’s wall of sound bass and guitar destruction (“We Shall Be Devoured by the Offspring of Our Own Flesh”). Topping off this sundae of fuck-off-fun-day decimation are the Mikael Åkerfeldtish vocals of Jokipii, whose roars and guttural growls bring an altogether beastlier edge to ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ‘s throat work. Chestcrush will not make you feel good about yourself, nor will they have you looking hopefully into the future.
Speaking of hope, if not abandoned wholly before entering Chestcrush‘s world, it will be by the time “Every Single Word That Comes Out of Your Filthy Hole Is an Infectious Lie a Spreading Disease” invades your earholes. It is a punishing, anti-religious anthem full of chunky riffs, dissonant tremolos, Stone’s inhuman drumming, and Jokipii’s tortured growls and screams, prefaced by an ominous warning, ‘Until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.’ And as the screechy, staticky ending of “Hang Them! Torch Them!” gives way to the tolling bells of the sludgy behemoth and album closer, “As the Damned Writhe in Eternal Woe,” it is clear that Chestcrush hates us all. ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ has no high points, no zenith; it is a cavalcade of sorrow, a series of nadirs plumbing depths subterranean of Dante’s seventh circle.
From the very Hellraiser-esque cover art courtesy of Vladimir Chebakov to the forty-minute runtime, Chestcrush‘s ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ is infinitely more mature than its predecessor, Vthelygmia. I attribute this leap in maturation to two things. First, Chestcrush‘s songwriting has blossomed like a blackened rose, resulting in fully developed compositions that wend, wind, and weave within themselves, an ebb and flow of drama that casts a pall of abject hopelessness over the entire affair. Second, the addition of vocalist Topias Jokipii, whose beefier delivery and propensity to stay in his lower, more guttural register better fit Chestrcush‘s aural aesthetic. I have little in the way of criticism for ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ, but there was something that stood out, which is a brief screech of feedback that rears its head throughout the album, mainly as an exclamation point. It works when employed to create an intersong dynamic (“Every Single Word…”), but it becomes grating when tacked on the end of nearly every track, sometimes twice (“We Shall Be Devoured…”).
Chestcrush has penned a dirge celebrating the death of humanity and is the human embodiment of existential hate. You’ll not be blasting ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ poolside this summer, cracking beers and seltzers with your buddies and their wives, crisping flesh in the sun. Chestcrush is of darkness, despair, and destitution, and that is where ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ will take you. I have committed several hours to ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ in preparation for this review, and this time has left me spent, my jaw firmly wired shut, soul removed. I think I need to go and listen to some Fellowship now.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Self-Released
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: April 4, 2025#2025 #35 #AnaalNathrakh #Apr25 #BlackMetal #Chestcrush #DeathMetal #Immolation #Nails #NapalmDeath #Review #Reviews #ScottishMetal #Sludge #ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ
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How the GAI Assessment Debate Has Led Us in the Wrong Direction
The common thread running through these debates is a fixation on outputs. GAI captured attention because of the ease with which eerily human outputs could be produced in response to natural language prompts. They may have been profoundly mediocre, at least initially. But it was still a remarkable discovery liable to unsettle the self-conception of those who work with text for a living. In fact it’s hard not to suspect this often underpinned the determination exhibited by many to explain away these automated texts as mediocre. The concern about academic integrity, what I describe in Carrigan (2024: ch 1) as the great assessment panic, rested on a similar assumption. It was now possible for students to substitute a human generated response to an assessment task with a machine generated response, creating an urgent need to find a way to distinguish between them.
There has thankfully been a widespread recognition that detection tools are unable to authoritatively identify machine generated text. They might detect patterns in writing which could be statistically associated with the use of GAI systems but they might also be associated with the style of those who are writing in a second or third language. Their demonstrated propensity to trigger false positives needs to be taken extremely seriously, because assuming a student of trying to cheat who has done no such thing must surely be weighed up against letting students through the net who have relied on GAI to produce their work.
The fact that one of the major detection tools has pivoted towards a water-marking model, effectively asking students to self-surveil the writing process in order to demonstrate their contribution to it, stands as a tacit admission to these limitations. There are certainly flags featuring in texts which should lead to a request for an explanation from a student, ranging from leaving what appears to be part of the prompt in the text or functional parts of the conversational agent’s response though to departures from assigned reading, odd stylistic fluctuations or hallucinated references. But the idea there is some conclusive means by which we could determine machine generated text, as opposed to a balance of evidence informing the decision to ask the student about their authorship, has rapidly unravelled in ways that can still feel troubling even to those who struggled to see how such an outcome could be possible from the outset.
It is slightly too easy to respond to this scenario by suggesting that assessment practice has to change and that perhaps the essay questions most vulnerable to machine generated responses always had their limitations. As I’ve argued previously, we’re now being forced to face limitations that were exposed by an essay mill industry which itself was facilitated by an earlier wave of digitalisation, in the sense that the scale it reached depended on platforms which could bring together buyers and sellers from across the globe (Carrigan 2024: ch 1).
But the idea that problematic use of GAI can be avoided entirely through shifting to more authentic and processual forms of assessment, involving ‘real world’ tasks in which students make things with assessment potentially informed by contextual knowledge of their progress through a module, should be treated carefully. Not least of all because there’s probably only so many podcasts or posters you should ask a student to do each year. But it goes deeper than a lack of creativity about what these new assessments should entail and the corresponding problem of student boredom.
Kay, Husbands and Tangen (2024) suggested plausibly that the rapidly emerging “cottage industry … promising to translate traditional assessments into supposedly generative-AI proof formats … greatly underestimate the power of current LLMs”. Not only current LLMs but the ones which will be released in the near future. Since they published this article in early 2024, ChatGPT released their latest GPT-4o, Anthropic released Claude 3 Opus which was rapidly superseded by Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Alphabet released further iterations of their Gemini model. I’m writing these words in July 2024. By the time I finish this book, let alone by the time you read it, there will be further models with expanded capacities. This is unlikely to be an indefinite technological expansion of the kind claimed by evangelists who believe that ever increasing model sizes will eventually lead us to the fabled artificial general intelligence (AGI). But the expansion of practical capabilities is likely to continue, as these systems are refined as software, even if the technological development of LLMs eventually stalls.
The problem is that, as Mollick (2024) has pointed out repeatedly, a working knowledge of these capabilities is limited to those who are heavily engaged with them in an applied context. I’ve been using Anthropic’s Claude on a daily basis for well over a year at the time of writing, with a specific commitment to exploring how it can be used as part of my work and identifying new uses which might be valuable to other academics. Inevitably I’m more sensitive to the changes in the successive models than someone who occasionally uses it for specific purposes or who has experimented for a period of time then set it down. In fact I’m slightly embarrassed to admit what an exciting event it is for me at this stage when Anthropic release a new Claude.
There is a rapidly developing knowledge gap between those who are using LLMs in a sustained hands-on way and those casual users or non-users who are simply following at a distance. This means that decision making in higher education risks lagging behind the current state of practice, including our sense of what LLMs could and could not be used for by students. It would be a mistake to imagine our students are ‘digital natives’ who are intrinsically attuned to these developments in a way that leaves them much better able to exploit the new capabilities which come with each successive model (Carrigan 2021). But there clearly are students who are doing this and there are student user communities, found in places like Reddit, where knowledge of this is being shared.
It is difficult to estimate how wide such a student group is and my experience has been that most students, even on the educational technology master programme I teach, restrict themselves to using ChatGPT 3.5. Even so this knowledge gap means that we should treat our assumptions about what LLMs can do, as well as what at least some of our students can do with them, with a lot of caution. It probably isn’t possible to design an assessment which a student couldn’t in principle complete with the support of an LLM. It might be that most students couldn’t or wouldn’t do this. But the idea that we can definitely exclude LLMs from assessment through design ingenuity is likely to distract us from the real challenge here.
Instead of thinking in terms of outputs we need to think about process. This will help us move away from an unhelpful dichotomy in which entirely human-generated outputs are counterpoised to entirely machine-generated output. Rather than conceiving of the technology as somehow polluting the work of students, we could instead consider how the process through which they have crafted the work leads to certain kinds of outcomes which embody certain kinds of learning. This leaves us in a murky grey zone in which hybrid work, combining human and technological influences, should be taken as our starting point. Authentic forms of assessment are valuable because they provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their thinking process, not just their final product—showing how they approach problems, make decisions, and integrate various sources of information including, potentially, AI tools.
One of the first things I did when tentatively exploring ChatGPT 3.5 was present it with a title from a recent essay I had marked, in which a student critically reflected on their experience of using Microsoft Teams with a view to understanding the opportunities and limitations of the platform in an educational setting. It immediately produced a piece of writing which was blandly competent, self-reflecting in a way which was coherent but likely to receive a low B at most. I remember sending a message to a friend confidently stating that the work it produced was mediocre. I’m struck in retrospect at how loaded this confidence was, as if immediately feeling I could place it in a marking scheme gave me agency over what was portended by this development.
It’s a reaction I could see through the immediate discourse within the sector, as a frenetic anxiety which imagined the teaching and learning bureaucracy being near immediately washed away was combined with a confident dismissal of the mediocrity of the writing which was produced. As Riskin (2023) put it in a reflection on what she believed to be AI-student generated essays, these words often read like the “literary equivalent of fluorescent lighting”.
To confidently dismiss these outputs as mediocre tended to gloss over the troubling fact of how predominant mediocre writing is from our students, as well as in wider society. The bland competence which tended to characterise these early experiments with ChatGPT, the rhythm and resonance which betrayed a lack of human engagement with the task, was perhaps uncomfortably familiar to many academics. It’s the style of writing which results when the primary motivation of the writer is meeting requirements they have been set, jumping through hoops in order to achieve a specific goal. It’s the writing which ensues when extrinsic motivations predominate over intrinsic motivations, accomplishing something in the world by following a procedure rather than a creative process in which something is expressed.
It would be naive to imagine students might exclusively be motivated by the latter, in a context where studying involves taking on an enormous amount of debt and a potentially bleak social and occupational future awaits them at the end of the line. But the poetics of instrumentality are troubling, amongst other reasons, because they confront us with our own role within that system. They remind us of students not enjoying their writing, much as we ourselves often do not enjoy it. The fluorescent lighting of mechanically written work, intended to serve a purpose rather than exhibit meaning, is not confined to our students.
What concerns me is how many academics seem to have left matters here. Either experimenting with ChatGPT 3.5 themselves, or seeing the experiments of fellow academics, the matter seemed settled. The problem with such a view is not only the radical expansion in capabilities with successive waves of models. This is often expressed in terms of the parameters involved: escalating billions, through to trillions with Claude 3, which might have rhetorical effects if we could grasp what either the billions or the parameters mean concretely. This quantification offers little insight for most potential users about how the models are advancing.
In reality it is difficult to understand the expanding horizons of what they can do unless you are immersed in their daily use within a specific context. This is still such an unusual position to be in that it can be difficult to convey this understanding to colleagues who are undertaking their work without the benefit of a GAI assistant. In fact it might be prudent to keep this strange collaboration to yourself because there remains a lack of consensus in any profession as to what constitutes appropriate or inappropriate use of these technologies. Furthermore, there are such vast number of regulatory issues related to their use within workplaces that many employers would prefer to ensure they are not used, even if there is little way for them to enforce this decision when employees routinely work from home and use their own devices.
#AI #artificialIntelligence #assessment #authenticAssessment #ChatGPT #generativeAI #higherEducation #LLM #technology
-
How the GAI Assessment Debate Has Led Us in the Wrong Direction
The common thread running through these debates is a fixation on outputs. GAI captured attention because of the ease with which eerily human outputs could be produced in response to natural language prompts. They may have been profoundly mediocre, at least initially. But it was still a remarkable discovery liable to unsettle the self-conception of those who work with text for a living. In fact it’s hard not to suspect this often underpinned the determination exhibited by many to explain away these automated texts as mediocre. The concern about academic integrity, what I describe in Carrigan (2024: ch 1) as the great assessment panic, rested on a similar assumption. It was now possible for students to substitute a human generated response to an assessment task with a machine generated response, creating an urgent need to find a way to distinguish between them.
There has thankfully been a widespread recognition that detection tools are unable to authoritatively identify machine generated text. They might detect patterns in writing which could be statistically associated with the use of GAI systems but they might also be associated with the style of those who are writing in a second or third language. Their demonstrated propensity to trigger false positives needs to be taken extremely seriously, because assuming a student of trying to cheat who has done no such thing must surely be weighed up against letting students through the net who have relied on GAI to produce their work.
The fact that one of the major detection tools has pivoted towards a water-marking model, effectively asking students to self-surveil the writing process in order to demonstrate their contribution to it, stands as a tacit admission to these limitations. There are certainly flags featuring in texts which should lead to a request for an explanation from a student, ranging from leaving what appears to be part of the prompt in the text or functional parts of the conversational agent’s response though to departures from assigned reading, odd stylistic fluctuations or hallucinated references. But the idea there is some conclusive means by which we could determine machine generated text, as opposed to a balance of evidence informing the decision to ask the student about their authorship, has rapidly unravelled in ways that can still feel troubling even to those who struggled to see how such an outcome could be possible from the outset.
It is slightly too easy to respond to this scenario by suggesting that assessment practice has to change and that perhaps the essay questions most vulnerable to machine generated responses always had their limitations. As I’ve argued previously, we’re now being forced to face limitations that were exposed by an essay mill industry which itself was facilitated by an earlier wave of digitalisation, in the sense that the scale it reached depended on platforms which could bring together buyers and sellers from across the globe (Carrigan 2024: ch 1).
But the idea that problematic use of GAI can be avoided entirely through shifting to more authentic and processual forms of assessment, involving ‘real world’ tasks in which students make things with assessment potentially informed by contextual knowledge of their progress through a module, should be treated carefully. Not least of all because there’s probably only so many podcasts or posters you should ask a student to do each year. But it goes deeper than a lack of creativity about what these new assessments should entail and the corresponding problem of student boredom.
Kay, Husbands and Tangen (2024) suggested plausibly that the rapidly emerging “cottage industry … promising to translate traditional assessments into supposedly generative-AI proof formats … greatly underestimate the power of current LLMs”. Not only current LLMs but the ones which will be released in the near future. Since they published this article in early 2024, ChatGPT released their latest GPT-4o, Anthropic released Claude 3 Opus which was rapidly superseded by Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Alphabet released further iterations of their Gemini model. I’m writing these words in July 2024. By the time I finish this book, let alone by the time you read it, there will be further models with expanded capacities. This is unlikely to be an indefinite technological expansion of the kind claimed by evangelists who believe that ever increasing model sizes will eventually lead us to the fabled artificial general intelligence (AGI). But the expansion of practical capabilities is likely to continue, as these systems are refined as software, even if the technological development of LLMs eventually stalls.
The problem is that, as Mollick (2024) has pointed out repeatedly, a working knowledge of these capabilities is limited to those who are heavily engaged with them in an applied context. I’ve been using Anthropic’s Claude on a daily basis for well over a year at the time of writing, with a specific commitment to exploring how it can be used as part of my work and identifying new uses which might be valuable to other academics. Inevitably I’m more sensitive to the changes in the successive models than someone who occasionally uses it for specific purposes or who has experimented for a period of time then set it down. In fact I’m slightly embarrassed to admit what an exciting event it is for me at this stage when Anthropic release a new Claude.
There is a rapidly developing knowledge gap between those who are using LLMs in a sustained hands-on way and those casual users or non-users who are simply following at a distance. This means that decision making in higher education risks lagging behind the current state of practice, including our sense of what LLMs could and could not be used for by students. It would be a mistake to imagine our students are ‘digital natives’ who are intrinsically attuned to these developments in a way that leaves them much better able to exploit the new capabilities which come with each successive model (Carrigan 2021). But there clearly are students who are doing this and there are student user communities, found in places like Reddit, where knowledge of this is being shared.
It is difficult to estimate how wide such a student group is and my experience has been that most students, even on the educational technology master programme I teach, restrict themselves to using ChatGPT 3.5. Even so this knowledge gap means that we should treat our assumptions about what LLMs can do, as well as what at least some of our students can do with them, with a lot of caution. It probably isn’t possible to design an assessment which a student couldn’t in principle complete with the support of an LLM. It might be that most students couldn’t or wouldn’t do this. But the idea that we can definitely exclude LLMs from assessment through design ingenuity is likely to distract us from the real challenge here.
Instead of thinking in terms of outputs we need to think about process. This will help us move away from an unhelpful dichotomy in which entirely human-generated outputs are counterpoised to entirely machine-generated output. Rather than conceiving of the technology as somehow polluting the work of students, we could instead consider how the process through which they have crafted the work leads to certain kinds of outcomes which embody certain kinds of learning. This leaves us in a murky grey zone in which hybrid work, combining human and technological influences, should be taken as our starting point. Authentic forms of assessment are valuable because they provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their thinking process, not just their final product—showing how they approach problems, make decisions, and integrate various sources of information including, potentially, AI tools.
One of the first things I did when tentatively exploring ChatGPT 3.5 was present it with a title from a recent essay I had marked, in which a student critically reflected on their experience of using Microsoft Teams with a view to understanding the opportunities and limitations of the platform in an educational setting. It immediately produced a piece of writing which was blandly competent, self-reflecting in a way which was coherent but likely to receive a low B at most. I remember sending a message to a friend confidently stating that the work it produced was mediocre. I’m struck in retrospect at how loaded this confidence was, as if immediately feeling I could place it in a marking scheme gave me agency over what was portended by this development.
It’s a reaction I could see through the immediate discourse within the sector, as a frenetic anxiety which imagined the teaching and learning bureaucracy being near immediately washed away was combined with a confident dismissal of the mediocrity of the writing which was produced. As Riskin (2023) put it in a reflection on what she believed to be AI-student generated essays, these words often read like the “literary equivalent of fluorescent lighting”.
To confidently dismiss these outputs as mediocre tended to gloss over the troubling fact of how predominant mediocre writing is from our students, as well as in wider society. The bland competence which tended to characterise these early experiments with ChatGPT, the rhythm and resonance which betrayed a lack of human engagement with the task, was perhaps uncomfortably familiar to many academics. It’s the style of writing which results when the primary motivation of the writer is meeting requirements they have been set, jumping through hoops in order to achieve a specific goal. It’s the writing which ensues when extrinsic motivations predominate over intrinsic motivations, accomplishing something in the world by following a procedure rather than a creative process in which something is expressed.
It would be naive to imagine students might exclusively be motivated by the latter, in a context where studying involves taking on an enormous amount of debt and a potentially bleak social and occupational future awaits them at the end of the line. But the poetics of instrumentality are troubling, amongst other reasons, because they confront us with our own role within that system. They remind us of students not enjoying their writing, much as we ourselves often do not enjoy it. The fluorescent lighting of mechanically written work, intended to serve a purpose rather than exhibit meaning, is not confined to our students.
What concerns me is how many academics seem to have left matters here. Either experimenting with ChatGPT 3.5 themselves, or seeing the experiments of fellow academics, the matter seemed settled. The problem with such a view is not only the radical expansion in capabilities with successive waves of models. This is often expressed in terms of the parameters involved: escalating billions, through to trillions with Claude 3, which might have rhetorical effects if we could grasp what either the billions or the parameters mean concretely. This quantification offers little insight for most potential users about how the models are advancing.
In reality it is difficult to understand the expanding horizons of what they can do unless you are immersed in their daily use within a specific context. This is still such an unusual position to be in that it can be difficult to convey this understanding to colleagues who are undertaking their work without the benefit of a GAI assistant. In fact it might be prudent to keep this strange collaboration to yourself because there remains a lack of consensus in any profession as to what constitutes appropriate or inappropriate use of these technologies. Furthermore, there are such vast number of regulatory issues related to their use within workplaces that many employers would prefer to ensure they are not used, even if there is little way for them to enforce this decision when employees routinely work from home and use their own devices.
#AI #artificialIntelligence #assessment #authenticAssessment #ChatGPT #generativeAI #higherEducation #LLM #technology