Category Archives: Immortality

Arriving at Londons Young Vic theater to see a new play about Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, I was thrust into the thick of 1980s New York. Basquiats signature SAMO tags were scrawled throughout the theater, while a record-scratching DJ was spinning hip-hop and disco in an effort to recreate the electricity of Studio 54. Onstage sat several reproductions of Basquiat paintings. Thats the $110 million Basquiatthere, I whispered to my partner as we sat down.

Its hard to talk about Basquiat these days without nodding to the insatiable appetite for his work on the contemporary art market. Written by Anthony McCarten and directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah,The Collaborationwhich, after its run in London ends on April 2 will head to Broadway, before being adapted for the Hollywood screenknows this.

The drama gives us a fictionalized take on the real collaboration between two titans of art history. It also advances something of a cautionary tale about the toll that the cynical forces of the art market take on artistic expression.

The action opens at Bruno Bischofbergers eponymous downtown gallery. The Swiss art dealer and Warhol are taking in work by Basquiat, whose star is rising fast. Hes mine now, Bischofberger declares, as he announces a scheme to pair the two artists together in a selling exhibition, a cynical PR stunt which he hopes will generate a healthy profit.

Jeremy Pope and Paul Bettany in The Collaboration. Marc Brenner.

McCarten has written both artists as reluctant to collaborate, which is a simplification and less than historically accuratebut their hesitation opens the space to establish one of the central tensions of the play: both are disenchanted, in their own ways, with the mercantile machinations of the contemporary art market.

Paul Bettanys laconic, whiny Warhol acridly bemoans the art worlds tendency to move onto the next hot thing. Jeremy Popes restless, babyish Basquiat, meanwhile, is already fed up with a so white establishment and his place within it as a Black man. Why cant his talent survive on its own without hitching his wagon to Warhols star? And how come his graffiti is elevated to art that sells for $60,000 when equally talented contemporaries, such as his friend Michael Stewart, are arrested for defacing public property?

The titular collaboration itself begins in Andy Warhols ascetic studio, conjured in Anna Fleischles set design using recreations of Warhols Marilyns and Campbell Soup cans to adorn the walls. There, it becomes apparent that the two artists have very different ideas about what art should be.

Basquiat, who paints with spiritual fervor and believes paintings can be imbued with supernatural powers declares Warhols mechanically reproduced works to be bereft of soul. Im Dizzy Gillespie, blowing a riff, hes one of those pianos that plays all by itself, he shrugs. For his part, Warhol defends his theory of art: Im trying to make art that forces you to ignore it, the same way were ignoring life.

The second act is where the play really comes to life, as the action jumps forward a couple of years to Basquiats messy downtown studio. The two men have grown closer. Their walls have come down and a few tender moments relay their character outside of their cultivated public personae. Basquiats infectious spirit has disrupted Warhols detached performance of himself, exposing his self-loathing and trauma after being shot a few years earlier.

Meanwhile, Basquiat is deteriorating. Grappling with his own trauma, a worsening heroin addiction, and the indifference of the art industry, he turns to nihilism, stuffing his fridge full of cash, Cristal, and caviar.

The climax of the play comes after Michael Stewart is brutally beaten by police in a subway station, and Basquiat begins to paint his friend in an effort to heal himthe work ultimately becomes Defacement (The Death of Michael Stewart).When Basquiat finds out that his friend has died from his injuries, he explodes at Warhol, distraught at his arts inability to resurrect the dead.

Jeremy Pope in The Collaboration. Marc Brenner.

In a review of Julian Schnabels 1996 film, Basquiat, the curator Okwui Enwezor once derided the painter-turned-director for reducing the nuances of Basquiats life to a simplified narrative about a Black artist losing a Faustian wager with fame, money and the white art world. Schnabel was wrong; Basquiat didnt sell his soul to the art market. But nearly three decades on, the market has taken it anyway. Basquiat the man has been totally swallowed up by Basquiat the brand. (Perhaps Schnabels film even played a role in cementing that brand.) McCarten and Kwei-Armahs drama gets this. It resurrects Basquiat the man brieflybut doesnt stop reminding us of what is to come either.

The drama comes to a close shortly after Warhol emotionally implores Jean-Michel Basquiat I order you to live forever There are layers of dramatic irony to this line; we all know Basquiat tragically died of a heroin overdose at 27. We also know that Warhols prophecy comes truebut in true Warholian fashion. The exhortation calls back to the first act, when Warhol hits us over the head with a more cynical message: Were not painters anymore, Jean. Were brands. Well, youre almost a giant brand, and after this exhibition with me you will be too. Then just watch the language change, Jean. People will have to have you suddenly And not you. Not you. Your paintings.

The Collaboration doesnt get into the lukewarm critical reception the pairs joint show actually received, which played a role in Basquiats subsequent decline. The omission is possibly because to todays audience, that hardly matters anymore. Its the Basquiat brand that has been immortalized. He is todays top-selling contemporary artist, and his work is used to sell everything from skateboards to Tiffanys diamonds.

As the lights fade at the Young Vic, you hear the voice of Sothebys auctioneer Oliver Barker come over the speaker, a snippet of the historic moment in 2017 when that same skull painting I picked out at the beginning of the play sold for $98 million! That would be the highest ever price ever for a U.S artistfinally unseating Andy Warhol. Its haunting.

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A Moving New Play About Jean-Michel Basquiats Collaboration With Andy Warhol Explores the Price of Artistic Immortality - artnet News

Every great hero, even the greatest wizard of all time, has a weakness. For Albus Dumbledore, that weakness was also his greatest strength. His capacity for love and boundless compassion for others were two traits that simply couldnt live while the other survived, as was the case for Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort.

The Headmaster of Hogwarts bumped up against this dilemma at the end of Order of the Pheonix whilst searching for Voldemorts Horcruxes. Aware of Voldemorts attraction to powerful people and objects, Dumbledore suspected that the Dark Lord might have turned his famous family heirloom the ring of Salazar Slytherin into a Horcrux. His suspicion was correct, but to his surprise, upon visiting Voldemorts mothers house, he discovered that the ring of Salazar Slytherin, which had been passed down from generation to generation, was also one of the Deathly Hallows, and that Voldemort, in his haste for immortality, had violated it with dark magic.

Both. The Ressurection Stone referenced in the famous childrens fairy tale The Tale of Three Brothers was created by Death itself and passed down through the Peverell family all the way to Salazar Slytherin. At that point, the ring ceased to be known for what it was and became known simply as Salazar Slytherins famous heirloom.

Having grown up with Muggles, Voldemort was not privy to wizards childrens stories and likely never heard of The Tale of Three Brothers or the Deathly Hallows. In his haste for immortality, he ended up making a Hallow a Horcrux.

Dumbledore was a secretive man. He kept his cards close to his chest. Perhaps his biggest secret of all was the one he kept hidden in plain sight. Unbeknownst to Voldemort or any other members of the magical community, the Headmasters wand was actually the Elder Wand, the most powerful wand in history and one of the Deathly Hallows, which meant that Dumbledore surely recognized the Deathly Hallows symbol on Salazar Slytherins ring when he saw it.

No doubt the symbol brought back memories of his youth, specifically his friendship with Gellert Grindlewald and their mischievous quest to acquire the Deathly Hallows and overpower the Muggle race. No doubt a flush of power came over him at that moment, blinding his better judgment and tempting him with the possibility of reuniting the Deathly Hallows once and for all. After all the years of taming his lust for power, here was an opportunity to lean into the urge. That being said, it was neither his lust for power nor his nostalgia for the days of his youth that made him put the ring on.

No, the Headmaster was a wise man with a vat of incomparable knowledge, so he surely had an idea what would happen if he slid the ring onto his finger. Here was a Horcrux violated by dark magic, passed down through generations of dark wizards, but at that moment all Dumbledore saw was an opportunity to be reunited with his mother and sister.

Like all the other Horcruxes Voldemort created, a protective curse was placed over the Ressurection-Stone-turned-Horcrux. Anyone who tried to take the ring would be cursed the moment it touched their finger, which is exactly what happened to Dumbledore.

Given that Harry used the Ressurection Stone at the end of Deathly Hallows to speak with his mom, dad, Lupin, and Sirius, the magical properties in the stone obviously still worked even after being turned into a Horcrux. It makes you wonder whether or not Dumbledore got to speak with his sister and mother. What we do know is that he used the sword of Gryffindor to destroy the Horcrux and then sought Professor Snapes help to temporarily contain the curse from spreading beyond his hand. He removed the Ressurection Stone from the inlet of the ring, placed it inside the first Golden Snitch Harry ever won in Quidditch, and passed it down to Harry, who, he believed was the most selfless person hed ever known and would protect the ring from getting into the wrong hands.

In the end, we learned that Dumbledore was more than just the most powerful wizard of all time. He wasnt just wise, intelligent, and compassionate he was also remorseful, self-conscious, and deeply flawed. In other words, Albus Dumbledore was just like everyone else.

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Here's Why Dumbledore's Hand Turned Black in 'Half-Blood Prince' - We Got This Covered

Welcome to This Week in Shonen Jump, our weekly check in on Vizs various Shonen Jump series. Viz has recently changed their release format, but our format will mostly remain the same. We will still review the newest chapters of one title a week, now with even more options at our disposal. The big change for our readers is that, even without a Shonen Jump subscription, you can read these most recent chapters for free at Viz.com or using their app.

This week, Robbie checks in with Dr. Stone. If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!

Dr. Stone Chapter 231Written by Riichiro InagakiIllustrated by BoichiReviewed by Robbie Pleasant

As Dr. Stone heads towards its final chapter, it all comes down to this. The Medusa devices that turned the world to stone have been revealed to be a mechanical alien intelligence that offers the gift of petrified immortality in exchange for maintenance, and Senku, the protagonist, is ready to negotiate on behalf of all humanity.

So before we discuss the contents of this chapter, lets talk about the Medusas, the true identity of the Why-Man and the ones responsible for humanitys petrification. I have mixed feelings about them.

On one hand, its unlikely that any explanation Riichiro Inagaki had in mind would satisfy everyone, and it was indeed a twist with enough setup to make the explanation make sense in context.

On the other hand, for a series all about humanitys intelligence and inventiveness, for the driving force behind the entire plot to be some kind of alien AI made by who knows what (not even the Medusas themselves know) feels unsatisfying. Their overall goal also doesnt really work; they seek out sufficiently advanced civilizations, then petrify them under the assumption that everyone would be so grateful for the gift of stone-based immortality that theyd create new batteries for the Medusas? It feels like theres a lot of leaps in logic there, even if the story hinges on the fact that, yes, the Medusas/Why-Man cant comprehend why people would not be cool with spending the rest of eternity as a statue.

So yeah, its not my favorite explanation. It still leaves a lot unexplained and would have worked much better if it were an actual human deciding that petrification would be good for the world. But thats not the main point were here to look at how the chapter itself worked.

And in that regard, well, Doctor Stone continues to impress. That is, of course, due in large part to the amazing artwork from Boichi. This chapter gives us a massive skeletal figure made out of swarming devices in zero gravity, and it looks absolutely stunning in detail and immensity.

At the same time, Boichis bold, clean, and highly-detailed art is filled with a sense of depth made through judicious use of shading, alongside distinctive character designs and expressive moments. The amount of attention and care that goes into images like Senku holding up an axe to the sky, illuminated by the Earth in the background, absolutely hits just the right notes.

Similarly, Riichiro Inagakis script continues to bring us well-defined characters with their own voices and personalities, while building on the mangas overarching theme of the power of human ingenuity and science. The conversation between Senku and Why-Man is filled with optimism and hope (or at least Senkus half of it is) in the face of the unknown and uncertainty. Its a good note to end the chapter on, and a fitting way to conclude the overarching story of the series.

So even if the reveal behind humanitys petrification might have fallen a little short, Doctor Stone continues to hit the right notes for the art, characters, and overarching theme. Chapter 231 is no different, bringing the series closer to what will undoubtedly be a satisfying conclusion.

Final Verdict: 9.0 While the reveal of the Why-Man in previous chapters may be mixed, this chapter stays strong with incredible artwork and a good conclusion based on the mangas core themes of science and discovery.

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This Week in Shonen Jump: Week of 2/27/22 Multiversity Comics - Multiversity Comics

What a night it was! The No. 10 Wisconsin Badgers mens basketball team took down the No. 8 Purdue Boilermakers, for the second time this season, on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center. This time, the win gave the Badgers at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title, their second in three years.

There was obviously a lot that stood out from this game, but lets try and narrow it down to just three and try and focus on the actual game and not all of the broader implications of winning it.

Three things that stood out...

The Wisconsin bench isnt called on all that much for contributions over the course of any given game. Four of the five starters for UW average over 70% of a games minutes and Wisconsins bench minutes percentage of 23.3 is ranked No. 320 in the country according to enemy of the state, Ken Pomeroy.

Sure Jordan Davis had a great showing against Minnesota last week, but that has been the exception, not the rule, for UWs bench. At times this year the bench has been shorthanded as well. Reserve guards Jahcobi Neath and Lorne Bowman have both missed considerable time this season.

All that being said, Neath, Ben Carlson and Chris Vogt provided exactly what Wisconsin needed against Purdue. Neath drained a three and had four boards while guarding Jaden Ivey. Carlson had two points and three rebounds in only seven minutes of action. Vogt was the difference maker though. He ended the game with two points, four rebounds (three offensive), two assists, one black and was second on the team with a plus-nine rating.

There are few good clips of his impact here.

It has become quite clear that the Badgers dont NEED big scoring outputs from the bench unit to win games, but all of the other things they do are extremely important, especially in a three point game.

Weve been fans of Hepburn since before he was even on campus. He just did, and continues to do, things that winning point guards do. His tenacious defense, his intelligent passing and, if youll excuse the graphic imagery, his enormous damn balls make him the ideal floor general.

Hepburn was already having a great game before Wisconsins final possession. He had made three out of five three pointers, had two assists and zero turnovers while also picking up one of UWs six steals. However, what everyone will remember from this game IS Wisconsins final possession and his game-winning (and conference title-winning) shot.

Not only does Hepburn have the balls to take that final shot, he knew it was going in too! On a team with Johnny Davis and Brad Davison, two late-game shot-making experts, the true freshman point guard showed that the team will be in good hands next year after those two depart.

Close games come down to a lot of little things that add up over the course of 40 minutes so its nearly impossible to pinpoint ONE thing that caused a team to lose or win. One of the rare exceptions is a teams free throw percentage. If you have a high one...you probably won, but if you have a low one, you almost definitely lost.

Purdue has the most efficient offense in the country, has the third highest eFG% in the land and is the second-best three point shooting team in the nation. One area of a shooting at which they are not elite? The charity stripe.

They shoot 70.6% from the line as a team, which is good for No. 209 in the nation. The Badgers, a mostly poor shooting team from everywhere on the floor, shoot 74.6% from the line and on Tuesday night they made the same amount of freebies as Purdue did in eight fewer attempts.

The Boilermakers went 11-of-20 on free throws, leaving nine points off the board in a game they ultimately lost by three. Wisconsin went 11-for-12, with their only miss being the front end of Davisons one-and-one which led to Ivey making a game-tying three and then Hepburns trip to immortality in Madison.

Wisconsin didnt get to the line nearly as often as Purdue, but they sure as hell made their trips count and now...they are Big Ten champs.

Up next: The Badgers host the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT to try and clinch an outright conference title. The game will be aired on Big Ten Network.

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Wisconsin Badgers mens basketball: three things that stood out from a sweeping of Purdue - Bucky's 5th Quarter

Kobe Bryant had an influence and impact like no one else. He spent all 20 years of his playing career at the Lakers. In the process, Kobe absolutely revolutionized the way the world looked at basketball. Only a few people have been able to do something like that. And one of those few names is Michael Jordan.

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During his stint with the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant won 5 championships with 2 NBA Finals MVPs. Along with multiple broken records and countless achievements, he showed the world a playing career most players can only dream of having. His fearless shooting and unpredictable style of play made him a legend. He held the capabilities to produce what many can only wish to have.

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There is no doubt in the fact that Kobe absolutely loved the Lakers. Mamba played there for 20 long years and never had a lapse of dedication or passion. He proved time and again how much he loved playing for LA.

Although Kobe was born in Philadelphia, he did not want to play for the 76ers anytime in his career. Mike Sielski, author of The Rise: Kobe Bryant & the Pursuit of Immortality recently featured on the YouTube talk show The Philly Factor and talked with the host Paul Perrello.

The two talked about the book and the early life of the NBA legend.

He didnt really want to play for the Sixers, he didnt grow up dreaming playing for the Sixers. He grew up dreaming of playing for the Lakers being the next Michael Jordan and I think that that goes to the heart of why his relationship with the Philadelphia area was so fraught for so long, said Mike.

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According to Mike, Mamba, despite being from Philly, famously warned the 76ers team before they met in the 2001 NBA finals.

Mike continued, It wasnt just that when the Lakers play the Sixers in the NBA 2001 finals, Kobe says Im gonna cut the hearts of the Sixers and their fans and people around the Philadelphia area went apoplectic over that.

The book by Mike talks about Kobes early life, his family, and who he was before being an NBA Superstar. Mike Sielski paints an inspiring tale of the origin of the superhero before his time in Los Angeles Lakers. The Rise: Kobe Bryant & the Pursuit of Immortality is an amazingly written story of the NBA legend before Mamba inspired the world.

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Watch This Story: 5 Times Kobe Bryant Copied Michael Jordan and His Style

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Kobe Bryant, Who Was Born in Philly, Vowed to Cut the Hearts Out of 76ers Fans - EssentiallySports

Saul Canelo Alvarez does not have any problem serving as the sports cash cow.

The time has come, however, for others to start doing their part.

News of Guadalajaras Alvarez (57-1-2, 39KOs) deciding to next challenge WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol figures to have a ripple effect across the middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. The matchup kicks off a lucrative deal of at least two fights with Matchroom Boxing and DAZN, having fielded a similar offer from Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) which would have kept him on Showtime Pay-Per-View where he stopped Caleb Plant in the 11th round to become undisputed super middleweight champion last November.

The renewed deal with Matchroom and DAZN will begin May 7 on the sports streaming platforms PPV arm, when Alvarez faces Bivol (19-0, 11KOs) at a location to be determined. From there, the plan is to return on September 17in celebration of Mexican Independence Dayand possibly a third fight on the year in December.

Whatever comes of his 2022 campaign, there simply isnt room for everyone waiting in line for a shot at the pound-for-pound and box office king.

Everybody want to fight me, Alvarez told ESNews Elie Sekbach. They have many options too. Why dont they fight each other? They need to. This year, Im busy.

The considered deal with PBC began as a one-off fight in May, where Alvarez would have faced WBC middleweight titlist Jermall Charlo (32-0, 22KOs) who would move up to super middleweight for the fight. A counteroffer from PBConce Matchroom and DAZN upped the antewould have seen Alvarez face Charlo as well as unbeaten former two-time WBC super middleweight titlist David Benavidez (25-0, 22KOs).

Both fights would have seen Alvarez defend his super middleweight crown. The fight with Bivol will mark the second trip to light heavyweight for the Mexican superstar, who views the move as the first step toward aspirations of becoming undisputed light heavyweight king.

Whatever option for me, the money is there. Its a lot of money, admits Alvarez, already a multimillionaire many times over. I just want to make history. This time, Bivol offered me [to fight for the] world championship at 175. Its a good fight. I just want to make history. The money is there already. I care about my legacy.

Sometime after Alvarez-Bivol is supposed to come the unification bout between lineal/WBC/IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (17-0, 17KOs) and WBO titlist Joe Smith (28-3, 22KOs). Such a fight would save Alvarez a few steps in having to chase all of the light heavyweight belts, whereas he fought every available super middleweight titlistCallum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders, Caleb Plantto become the divisions king over a four-fight, eleven-month stretch.

This time around, Alvarez seems to prefer a quickerthough still challengingpath on the road to boxing immortality.

Im okay with fighting anybody, insists Alvarez. But they need to fight each other. They want to fight me because they want good payday. I know that. They need to fight each other and I fight the winner of all of them.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox

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Canelo: Everybody Want To Fight Me, They Need To Fight Each Other; This Year, I'm Busy - BoxingScene.com

Dr. Stone's main villain has revealed why the Earth was petrified and turned to stone in the first place in the latest chapters of the manga! Ever since the final arc of Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi's original manga series first began last Fall, the "Stone to Space" phase of the series had seen Senku Ishigami working together with people all around the world to eventually craft a ship that could make it to the moon. This trip ended up being successful, and it was on the moon's surface that Senku finally came face to face with the Why-Man, the one who started all of this.

The series is inching closer and closer to its immediate end (which is looking all the more palpable with some of the reveals we have gotten lately), and after it was revealed that the true "villain" of the series was a mass of Medusas that serve as a parasitic technological life force that seeks to advance their own means through the exploitation of intelligent life, it's explained that the Earth was turned to stone in the first place as their intelligent life could understand the allure of eternal life. Thus keeping the cycle going.

Chapters 229-230 of the series sees the Medusas explain that they first test intelligent life with their petrification, and that humanity was one of the species that recognized that this power could keep them alive forever. This granted immortality was meant to be a lure to eventually experiment enough to keep the Medusas going. Monitoring the radio waves given by humanity over the millennia, the Medusas sought to teach humans about this immortality by forcing activation throughout the years.

It's why the Meduas seemed to activate on their own, and it's why the "Do you want to die?" question comes into play as the Medusas are literally asking humanity if they'd prefer death over that eternal life. The petrification is made to break easier with high mental activity (it's why Senku is one of the first to break out), and when the humans chose to avoid the Medusa use at first, then they started to act even more. Now it's just a matter if Senku can work with such a mentality.

The Medusas can't understand why humanity would devlop technology that isn't specifically meant for saving the Medusas, and Senku needs to understand more about this advanced technological life. As the series comes to an end, there's one last agreement that Senku wants to reach. We'll see if that works out, but what do you think? How do you feel about the Why-Man's reveal overall? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

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Dr. Stone Reveals Why its Villain Turned the Earth to Stone - ComicBook.com

This piece was adapted from Russell Moores newsletter. Subscribe here.

Early in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, some longtime observers of Vladimir Putin speculated that he might soon use what he did before: mobile crematoriums.

These incinerators arent for the combatants killed on the other side but for the bodies of Putins own troops. Such ghoulish machines would be employed to hide the number of fatalities to avoid humiliation abroad and loss of support at home.

Regardless of whether these experts predictions are right, Putins impulse is to hide what his invasion will bring for Russian armies: death.

As Christians around the world mark Ash Wednesday, perhaps we can remember that the Christian way of death is opposite of this invading tyrants. For both Christians who observe the church calendar and those who dont, this Ash Wednesday may be especially poignant this year.

Many of us are only just now catching our breath after two years of a pandemic that has killed countless people and upended the lives of everyone who survived it. And on all our television screens and social media feeds are images of brave Ukrainians holding their own against those invading their homes and communities.

In the backdrop of all this are possibilities we almost dare not even mention: a war spreading all across Europe or even, given the evident instability of the Russian dictator, the prospect of nuclear war.

Putin operates out of what intelligence services and diplomats tell us is a nostalgia for the old superpower days of the Soviet Union. To do this, he projects an imagethe shirtless warrior riding a horse, for example. The last thing he wants the world to see is the corpses of Russian soldiers. Such would suggest weakness.

The Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelensky, seem to want the world and their own countrymen to see the opposite: a vulnerable people who are willing to die with honorand who are in desperate need of help.

Putins denial of death is not uncommon in the history of the world, especially in tyrants with delusions of empire. The pyramids of the pharaohs tried to present rulers who could, in some ways, transcend death. So did the images that other emperors employed of their own immortality or even godhood.

To the prince of Tyre, God delivered an oracle through the prophet Ezekiel: Will you then say, I am a god, in the presence of those who kill you? You will be but a mortal, not a god, in the hands of those who slay you (Ezek. 28:9).

The fallen human view of ultimate power wants to project two things: I can hurt you, and I cannot be hurt. One would be hard pressed to find a better symbol of both projections than the cross of the Roman Empire. Every crucifixion represented a threatthis can happen to our enemiesall from an Eternal City aspiring to godhood.

Jesus upended all of that.

Ash Wednesday is appropriate for wartime because it points to a deeper, and even more dangerous, war. The Bible says the human condition wants to conquer death, but not in the way God intends, through the dependence that comes from eating from the Tree of Life.

Instead, we have listened to a different voice telling us, You will not certainly die if only we eat at his direction, in order to become invulnerable, to become like God ourselves (Gen. 3:16). At the end of that is ashes.

We became subject, the Bible says, to lifelong slavery to him who holds the power of deaththat is, the devil (Heb. 2:14). The power the evil one has held over us is fear of death v. 15). The more we fear death, the more we clamor for the kind of power and glory we can display to forget that we are but dust and to dust we will return.

The gospel answers that slavery to fear not by a display of carnal strength but by the One who was crowned with glory and honor through experiencing the very thing we dread most: the suffering of death (Heb. 2:9). The answer to our slavery to fear is what seems to be shameful to a world that loves power: the cry of a desperate infant, Abba, Father! (Rom. 8:15).

This Ash Wednesday, Christians all over the world are standing with the people of Ukraine. Various church communions have planned vigils and calls to prayer. And we do so not because Ukraine is the more powerful nation or because we admire their strength in some social Darwinist way.

The church prays with Ukraine because their cause is just and because they, like we, are vulnerable and imperiled, and they know it.

Ash Wednesday is about remembering that we will die, and thats important. We are told to number our days (Ps. 90:12) and to remember that life is a vapor soon to vanish (James 4:14).

But it is also about how we died. Joined to Christ, we have died with himin the most humiliating and shameful way possible. The way to glory is not the way of Rome, of Russia, or of our own desire to exalt or protect ourselves. The way to glory is the way of the cross.

In wartime, dictators should remember that, win or lose, they will die and that there will be no invading or conquering the kingdom of God. At Ash Wednesdayand all year roundwe should remember this too.

Russell Moore leads the Public Theology Project at Christianity Today.

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Ash Wednesday in a Time of War - ChristianityToday.com

Despite featuring some of the best recurring adversaries to the Doctor, like the Master, the Doctor Who series also isnt short of its good guys, including the dashing and the brave Captain Jack Harkness.

But who exactly is Captain Jack Harkness, whats his relationship with the Doctor, and how has the character evolved through one of televisions longest-running series?

Captain Jack Harkness is a pseudonym adopted by a former Time Agent turned conman Javic Piotr Thane, who appears in the Doctor Who and Torchwood television series, where hes portrayed by John Barrowman, and The Lives of Captain Jack Harkness audio series, where hes voiced by the same actor.

Hes introduced to the Who universe in the New Who era, during Christopher Ecclestons tenure as the Ninth Doctor, though chronologically, he first met Colin Bakers Sixth Doctor in the aforementioned audio series.

Captain Jack Harkness is a known associate of the Doctor, mainly cooperating with Christopher Ecclestons Ninth Doctor, David Tennants Tenth Doctor, and had a brief encounter with Jodie Whittakers Thirteenth Doctor in 2021s festive special episode Revolution of the Daleks.

Though seemingly mundane, John Barrowmans Captain Jack Harkness is actually a time-traveling human from the 51st century, originating from the Boeshane Peninsula one of Earths future colony worlds. He later signs up for the Time Agency, an organization tasked with the safekeeping of time, and garnered the nickname the Face of Boe. Did we mention hes also immortal?

As a time-traveling agent, conman, and later companion, Jack Harkness possesses several unique abilities.

As a human from the 51st century, Captain Jack Harkness has an evolutionary advantage over typical humans/companions found in the Doctor Who series. This advantage comes in the form of evolved human pheromones, which made him naturally nice-smelling and attractive to others.

In fact, in the episode The Doctor Dance, Jack recalls being sentenced to death. Thanks to his evolved human pheromones, he managed to seduce and bed both executioners at the same time, referring to them as a lovely couple that has stayed in touch. Of course, there was some hypervodka involved as well.

One of his most crucial abilities is his immortality and the range of other abilities implied by the detachment of death, like resistance to heat and radiation. However, his immortality isnt innate to his being; it was accidentally acquired through a failed resurrection process.

Jack was brought back to life by Rose Tyler as the Bad Wolf after he was killed by the Daleks on Satellite 5. However, Rose couldnt control the newfound powers she wielded at the time, and instead of simply resurrecting Jack, Rose brought him back forever.

Because of this, Jack became a fixed point in time and space, and as a result, he is now eternal, never aging past his prime, and never capable of truly dying. Whenever he did die, he would resurrect almost instantly, followed by a deep breath as his respiratory system became active again.

Severe trauma could delay his resurrection; he once recovered from being blown up by a bomb, regenerating himself from just his arm. His body would first grow the bones, followed by internal organs, flesh, and skin. This also meant that he could regain consciousness during still incomplete resurrections and feel all the pain associated with the current state of his body.

The advantages, besides immortality, were resistance to heat and radiation, which had no effect on him due to his regenerative capabilities, which would keep him in nearly perfect health at all times. Smaller injuries, like superficial cuts and bruises, will remain and heal at the rate of a normal human.

Other than the evolved pheromones and immortality, Jack had no other superhuman abilities. However, he was physically strong and fit, a skilled fighter with extremely fast reflexes, and an expert in firearms.

So far, Captain Jack Harkness has appeared nine times in the entire Doctor Who series, not counting for the Torchwood spin-off. Heres a list of his appearances.

While there are previous records of Jack traveling with the Doctor before the time he met Rose, the most common account of Jack and Doctors first encounter states that the two met during the London Blitz in The Empty Child episode.

He became a recurring member of Team TARDIS throughout the Season One of the new Who series, up until he became immortal and was unfortunately stranded in the year 200,100. He was left there purposefully by the Doctor, explaining that Jacks nature fixed in time and space now prevented normal functioning of the TARDIS.

However, despite being on friendly terms, the Doctor and Jack have very little in common in terms of their respective physiologies. Jack resurrects himself as a response to fatal injury and does have some instantaneously regenerative abilities, but those arent similar to the Doctors ability to regenerate in any way.

While the Doctors regeneration is a part of his Time Lord physiology, allowing him to regenerate entirely from old age or fatal injuries, Jacks resurrection is entirely different. Sure, it allows him to regenerate as well, but unlike the Doctor, Jack apparently cant be permanently killed. By all accounts of the Doctor Who series, Captain Jack Harkness is endless.

As we previously said, he was resurrected by Rose Tyler, who had become the Bad Wolf after absorbing Time Vortex energies, during the Dalek invasion of Earth in the 2002nd century. However, Rose didnt have full control of her powers and ended up resurrecting Harkness forever a gift he sometimes saw as a curse.

Apart from becoming immortal in the series, Jack Harkness remained a forever dashing and handsome character that didnt see much development over the course of the Doctor Who series.

Most of his characters backstory and numerous adventures were explored in the Doctor Who spin-off series, Torchwood, which ran for four seasons, before concluding its run in 2011.

According to numerous reports, the future of Captain Jack Harkness within the Who universe is questionable, at best. John Barrowman has been systematically distanced from the projects tangentially connected to the Doctor Who series following the stings of accusations questioning his on-set professionalism and discipline.

In Torchwood: Children of Earth What Was the Unusual Reason the 456 Wanted Human Children?

They Needed Them to Eat

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They Needed Them for Their Religion

They Needed Them to Help Increase Their Numbers

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Doctor Who Has Long Hinted That Jack Harkness Will Evolve Into the Oldest Living Creature in Existence One Day with What Apt Name?

The Man Who Beat Death

The Chin of Gilgamesh

The Everlaster

The Face of Boe

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In Doctor Who Spin-Off "Torchwood," What Was Revealed to be the Name of Jack's Long Lost and Thought Dead Brother?

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How Did Jack Know That if He Based Himself in Cardiff the Doctor Would Eventually Make an Appearance?

Susan Secretly Has an Apartment in Cardiff

He Knew the Doctor Would Come Looking for Him

Cardiff Has a Time Rift That is Needed to Refuel the Tardis

Cardiff has the Best Jelly Babies in all of London

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After the events of Jack's Resurrection on Satellite 5 What Year did the Vortex Manipulator End up Stranding Him on Earth?

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How Captain Jack Harkness Has Evolved In Doctor Who - BuddyTV

Dr. Stones big villain explained why the world was petrified and turned to stone in the first place with the latest chapters of the manga series! Ever since Riichiro Inagaki and Boichis original manga series kicked off its final arc last Fall, the Stone to Space phase of the series saw Senku Ishigami working together with people all over Earth to eventually craft a ship that could make the journey into space. When finally making their way to the moon successfully, the newest string of chapters have seen him now coming face to face with the one who started it all, Why-Man.

The series is inching closer and closer to its immediate end (which is looking all the more palpable with some of the reveals we have gotten lately), and after it was revealed that the true villain of the series was a mass of Medusas that serve as a parasitic technological life force that seeks to advance their own means through the exploitation of intelligent life, its explained that the Earth was turned to stone in the first place as their intelligent life could understand the allure of eternal life. Thus keeping the cycle going.

Chapters 229-230 of the series sees the Medusas explain that they first test intelligent life with their petrification, and that humanity was one of the species that recognized that this power could keep them alive forever. This granted immortality was meant to be a lure to eventually experiment enough to keep the Medusas going. Monitoring the radio waves given by humanity over the millennia, the Medusas sought to teach humans about this immortality by forcing activation throughout the years.

Its why the Meduas seemed to activate on their own, and its why the Do you want to die? question comes into play as the Medusas are literally asking humanity if theyd prefer death over that eternal life. The petrification is made to break easier with high mental activity (its why Senku is one of the first to break out), and when the humans chose to avoid the Medusa use at first, then they started to act even more. Now its just a matter if Senku can work with such a mentality.

The Medusas cant understand why humanity would devlop technology that isnt specifically meant for saving the Medusas, and Senku needs to understand more about this advanced technological life. As the series comes to an end, theres one last agreement that Senku wants to reach. Well see if that works out, but what do you think? How do you feel about the Why-Mans reveal overall? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

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Dr. Stones Big Villain Explains Why the World Was Turned to Stone - Verve Times