AH Cultural Descriptions

Orangism is the New Black (L'orangisme, la nouvelle Noirée) is a satirical short story by Victor Hugo. It is one of his later works written at the end of his life in his estate Saint Genevieve in French Louisiana and is often cited as the prime example of Hugo's 'American Period' when he was exiled by King Louis Napoleon for being too critical of the way the latter used the 1848 revolution (in Hugo's opinion: 'betrayed the revolution') to help himself to power.

In a mere twelve pages Hugo tells the story of Coraline, a quadroon born of a French nobleman who had to flee to the Louisiana Free State after the 1830's revolution brought king Louis Philippe to power and a woman shopowner of 'black ancestry'. Although slavery had already ended with the independence of La Louisiane in 1804, Coraline is still ostracized by Louisiana's upper class for her dark skin - even while her father as a French noble is highly revered.

When the young count Adalbert steals her heart, but then goes to propose to her father that he would take her as a paramour because his status would not allow him to officially marry any woman of color, and when her father actually seems amicable to the deal, Coraline's mother instead sends her away to France to look after their business interests there. In France in the meantime, king Louis Philippe has been replaced with Prince Louis Napoleon and in his wake a new breed of upper class has emerged. In this society, Coraline is well received and admired for her independence and business acumen. Paris' new nobility now regards her dark skin as 'exotic' and admires her Louisiana spunk and several men offer to help her in her business enterprises by giving her access to their business contacts. Coraline readily accepts all their introductions, but spurns all their 'good advice' and (in typical Hugo satire) by doing so becomes more successful than all of her backers combined. However at the height of her success, she again falls for a young Parisian noble, curiously also named Adalbert, and when the latter makes inquiries into her background, he finds out that her father had to flee France in 1830 because he backed the Duke of Orange over the 'Bourgeois King' Louis Philippe. Although Louis Philippe is now deposed, the 'orangists' are no friends of Louis Napoleon either and therefore again find themselves pushed out of the circles of power by the latter. Again ostracized, Coraline has no choice but to return to Louisiana because 'In this modern France, orangism is the new black and Orangists have less rights and less standing than the lowest black men in the colonies"

In a twist of fate however, while Coraline was in Paris, a new breed of political refugees, former backers of the 'bourgeois' Louis Philippe started to settle in Louisiana and again changed the culture of the Free State. So when Coraline returned, she was now a rich businesswoman instead of simply a quadroon. Soon many of the new nobility there expressed interest both in Coraline as in her fortune. Seeing his chances slip, Coraline's old beau Adalbert now proposes to her... only to be rebuked.

The story is remarkable in its contrast of the lyric, almost tender description of the nature of Louisiana and the loving portrayal of the people of Saint Louis de la Mississippi versus the biting and ascerbic portrayal of the French high-society under Louis Napoleon. Therefore it is often reprinted, even today, in French school textbooks as a typical example of Hugo's later years and if not one of Hugo's most famous works, it has certainly become the one story of him that is most known and -more important- most often read and quoted from.

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I am the walrus
 
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I am the walrus
Jeg Er Hvalrossen is a spy novel by Danish exile Lars Nilsson. Set in 70's Communist Scandinavia it follows State Investigator Albi Pietersen as he tries to locate the infamous guerrilla named Hvalross coming across police corruption and a state conspiracy in the process. The final scenes involve him arrested and falsely accused of terrorism and sabotage against the State; he comes the realisation that anyone could become an agitator given reason, so he utters the famous line "I am the Walrus".

Blackhole Sun
 

Deleted member 120563

Blackhole Sun - (ブラックホールサン - Burakkuhōrusan) is a 2006 science-fiction action-adventure video game developed and producted by Konami under the supervision of producer Hideo Kojima for the PlayStation 2.

Set in 2258 and following centuries of human presence, Earth has been rendered all-but-uninhabitable by contamination, exploitation and warfare, forcing it to branch out across the Solar System (referred to as 'Sol') in the billions to survive - the catalyst for the formation of a unified authoritarian state known as the Unified Solar Nations (USN) with a ravaged Earth and terraformed Mars as its dual-capitals. With faster-than-light communications and travel now attainable via monolithic "doorway engines" constructed in Mars' orbit, many have chosen to venture into the unknown as a means of escape from the crowded, overbearing existence in search of a better life - forming a handful of colonies with a limited de facto autonomy from the USN.

The game's events primarily take place upon Dusk, a world tidally locked between the Epsilon Indi system's brown dwarfs which receives no light but retains sufficient heat and atmosphere to sustain life and follows protagonist Everett "Shichi" Sevchenko, an agent for the USN sent undercover to investigate anti-USN terrorists responsible for attacking several installations across Sol. Many times in the game and its background, Dusk and its occupants (who, due to the lack of natural lighting, exhibit a pasty, almost ghostly-white skin complexion) are disparaged for "turning their backs on the light of Sol's star in favour of their 'Black Sun' " - the dark silhouette of a brown dwarf seen in a permanent night's sky. Shichi himself is not entirely separated by this cultural division and racism, but over the course of the game his opinions begin to shift sympathetically towards Dusk and its people and likewise, he becomes increasingly conflicted with his commanders and the orders he must carry out.

As Shichi's investigation and infiltration progresses, he discovers that the anti-USN terrorist organisation - aptly named the Blackhole Suns - were founded by a handful lf pro-independence activists who were targeted and attacked by the USN for suggesting the colonies form a new government entirely separate from Sol, becoming political prisoners or branded as criminals, learning from their leader, Icarus that he too was persecuted by the USN despite his pacifism.

More of the USN's crimes against Dusk and its citizens become apparent and eventually Shichi discovers that it is preparing to stage a mass-occupation of Dusk as a stepping stone to reassert control over the colonies, a monumental task which would result in mass murder and persecution of the colonists. When Shichi, who has expressed increasing degrees of hesitance towards his superiors' orders, admits reluctance to continue further, the USN offer him a chance to retire only to attempt to kill him to remove what they view as a liability. Shichi survives the assassination attempt and sincerely defects to the Blackhole Suns' cause. Knowing the approaching threat, Icarus devises a plan to prevent the invasion by disabling the doorway engine in Martian orbit, cutting off Sol long enough to buy the self-sufficient outer colonies time to prepare for and defend against any invasion, winning their independence.

In the climax, the Blackhole Suns invade and seize control of the doorway engine in Martian orbit where Shichi, after refusing to evacuate when ordered to do so, realises that Icarus has lied to him - the engine cannot be disabled, only destroyed. Confronted, he admits that he plans to deorbit the doorway engine and cause it to crash into the government capital on Mars to destabilise the USN and prevent them from mounting an invasion for years. When Shichi cites Icarus' pacifist beliefs and the millions who would die in the aftermath, the latter admits he already failed as a pacifist and is willing to stain his hands for the cause, revealing that he had suspected Shichi was a double agent but nonetheless points out the irony in winning over and manipulating one of the USN's very own agents into striking at its heart.

Refusing to back down, Icarus destablises the doorway engine and directs it on a collision course with Mars - both now donning mecha suits, he and Shichi battle in the station's outer structure until the latter fatally damages Icarus' life support. With his dying words, he reminds Shichi that his efforts are for nothing - the station cannot be restored to its original orbit. In a desperate effort and an act of self-sacrifice, Shichi gives up the opportunity to evacuate in favour of directing the station to crash upon Mars' moon Phobos, expressing a respect for human life and a hope that in the time it takes for the gap between Sol and the outer colonies to reunite, the wounds between its peoples will heal and allow for peace. As the Martian planetscape fades into darkness, a brief flare appears as though an object is careering towards it, implying that Shichi may have survived - followed by the credits.

During development, the team became aware that the game's visuals would unfavourably age as time progressed, emphasised by the looming approach of new console hardware which could rapidly outperform the PlayStation 2. In an effort to limit this and give the game a distinct feel, "as though they were participating in an anime series with high production values" the developers chose cell-shaded graphics to present gameplay while major cutscenes were created in an animated format.

Initially overshadowed by the emerging next-generation of consoles and mediocre sales, Blackhole Sun was acclaimed by critics for its story, soundtrack and presentation but was criticised for its low-fidelity textures on scenery and character models, in addition to instances of poor framerate, particularly during intensive scenes of gameplay which was largely due to the hardware limitations of the PlayStation 2. A port to the PlayStation 3 was released in Japan in 2007 but due to a limited understanding of the new console's hardware and a tight release schedule it suffered from multiple technical issues including poor framerate, low gameplay resolution and the absence of several animated scenes, leading to the cancellation of US and European localisations due to poor sales. However, in subsequent years the game gained a cult following and numerous fan petitions appeared with demands for a sequel and remaster. In 2009, producer Hideo Kojima expressed regret of his inability "to devote more attention" to the game due to being preoccupied with the development of Metal Gear Solid 4 and in 2010 suggested Konami would take interest in another release if enough people were willing to buy it.

After collaboration with Bluepoint Games a remastered high-definition port was released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 in 2012 and an otherwise identical port with support for 4K resolution was later realised for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2017. A Nintendo Switch port was announced in June 2018 but a release date has not yet been confirmed.

Silent Hill
 
Silent Hill
A movie collaboration by Quentin Tarantino and Guillermo Del Torro announced in 2001. Starring John Travolta as the male lead and little known Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi. Filming took place largely in Southern California for the urban scenes and Northern Japan for the forested ones. The project was ambitious to say the least. A four hour movie with three acts including intermissions; it was described as a Trilogy-in-One. Tarantino and Del Torro emphasized that they really did not expect audiences to sit through the movie all in one sitting, instead watching an act, taking it in then continuing at a later date. The movie was almost entirely self funded with Del Torro and Tarantino footing half of the budget with a variety of other sources pooling in for the rest of the money. Not having a studio hanging over their shoulder both directors later admitted was rather freeing yet also lead them to rather unchecked ambition that led to multiple re shoots and edits that ate up precious time and money. Distributed under the banner of Tarantino's studio Grindhouse Films everybody was eager to see what the celebrated directors would do next.

The Movie itself was released in late 2003 and immedeatly things began to go wrong. Both Del Torro and Tarantino distanced themselves from the film and Travolta had his name taken off the promotional material a week before the premier. The packed premier was actually only attended by around 40 people, mostly Tarantino's friends, and the few reviewers who showed up panned the movie. They called it over-long, pretentious, confusing and thin with the review for the New York Times declaring "I wasted four hours." and the San Francisco Sun saying "I fell asleep for two hours and was still just as informed as I was before when I woke up". The movie also apparently almost killed the directors as the stress both physical, financial and emotional caused numerous problems including sending Tarantino to the hospital for a week after a heart palpitation on set almost killed him. Not only that but both directors grew to hate each other over filming and by the time the movie was kicked out the door (under a dummy studio named Broken Films) both had refused to do press interviews with each other. In the end the movie made a paltry four million dollars on its opening month with the few theaters that did take it only showing it once or twice. Tarantino went on to make The Vega Twins, The White Witch and Ultimate Spiderman to varying degrees of success while Del Torro made a few small films before retiring from film making all together. It did however launch Rinko Kikuchi's career in the US as the few people who did see it agreed that her acting was one of the better parts of the film. She is currently starring in the new Suicide Squad movie, an unnamed project by Steven Spielberg about the Korean War and a few movies in Japan.

Eighty Years to the River Rhine

The SEGA Switch

or

"If I have to eat ass so do you, now get munchin!"
 

Deleted member 120563

The SEGA Switch - a term used to describe SEGA's unexpected and controversial transition from the home console market following the commercial failure of the Dreamcast to handheld consoles, starting with the announcement and later release of the SEGA NovaP (the P standing for NovaPocket) in early 2005. Entering a marketspace already occupied by the rival NintendoDS and PlayStation Portable, the NovaP released at a launch price of $149.99 or £99.99 with a library of remastered Genesis and arcade titles such as Earthworm Jim, Street Fighter, Sonic the Hedgehog and its sequels.

With a processor that exceeded the Nintendo DS but fell short of the PSP with clock speeds of up to 296MHz, the cartridge-based NovaP suffered both from its hardware limitations and the lack of innovative features such as the DS' touch screen and dual-display setup, but offered significant support for internet usage and online gameplay, particularly in multiplayer-ready titles such as Sonic the Hedgehog or Street Fighter. An agreement was also reached between SEGA and Capcom to support the development of several console exclusives - though at a later point the latter would renege on these and release ports to rivaling consoles in the years that followed.

In many respects, the NovaP was praised for having a wide selection of games though it faced criticism from some who derided its extensive library of sixth-gen home console and arcade ports such as the Resident Evil 1-3 REvisited trilogy and Code: VeronicaP as an an excessive "rehash" of dated games in a time where consoles such as the DS were making their own innovations or ambitious offerings. The hardware limitations imposed upon it meant that several titles with PSP counterparts would perform poorly in comparison or otherwise held an inferior degree of graphic fidelity, while being more expensive than the technologically inferior but nonetheless popular Nintendo DS.

Ultimately the console failed to sell more units than either the PSP or the Nintendo DS but was not considered to be the commercial failure that its forefather, the Dreamcast had been - yet it indeed spelled the end of the company's tenure with the market, as following the NovaP's discontinuation in 2013 the company announced that it would not be return to the console market and instead focus exclusively on existing hardware.

The Walking Dead
 
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Whitewings

Banned
The Walking Dead

The name of the first documentary to cover the migration away from New Orleans following the terrible multiples storms of 2014 that effectively destroyed the area. The title came from the lost, dazed, almost completely blank expression seen on a particular refugee column as they trudged away from the flooded city, carrying what little they'd been able to salvage. One of the worst disasters in the history of the US, the 2014 devastation resulted in the near-total destruction of the Republican party's credibility in consequence of their complete failure to manage response, rescue, relief, or even a simple call for help, instead waiting so long that by the time relevant authorities were called in, they were effectively useless, and the Republican-dominated Congress refused to grant President Obama emergency authorization to deploy relevant Federal assets despite the obvious need. Like Katrina but worse, the 2014 storms not only devastated the city but the entire political fabric of the state and of Washington.

Le Grand Zombie
 
Le Grand Zombie

One of the biggest krewes of Nouvelle Orléans Mardi Gras. Mainly composed of people of African or Haitian ancestry, it was banned from parading three years(1964-1967) during the Race War in CSA for the political involvement in racial equality of most members. Nowadays, it's noted by its fast increase of members due to African immigration and by its Voodoo-related Mardi Gras parades.

Exile on Main Street.
 
Exile on Main Street.
The term for a specific punishment given to the people who fell out of favor of the government. They simply invalidated their Purchase Pass keeping the criminal from buying or paying for anything which frequently led to the collapse of that persons life. Most came begging for their Pass to be reinstated after only a few days, but a few notable exceptions instead lost everything and instead turned to sitting on the Main St of their town or city with a sign reading "Exiled on Main Street". This practice generally fell of of favor when the AFPF lost power even though some isolated communities in the interior kept some form of the practice up for decades afterward.

"What are you looking at? All you fucking assholes. You know why I did it? You all dont have the guts to be what you want to be. You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your fingers and say 'That's the bad guy, get him'! So what does that make you? Good? Your not good! You just know how to hide, how to lie. Me, I don't have that problem, I always tell the truth even when I lie...especially when I lie. So say goodnight to the bad guy. C'mon, this is the last time your gonna see a bad guy like me again. C'mon, make way for the bad guy. There is a bad guy coming through! Better get outta his way!"
 
"What are you looking at? All you fucking assholes. You know why I did it? You all dont have the guts to be what you want to be. You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your fingers and say 'That's the bad guy, get him'! So what does that make you? Good? Your not good! You just know how to hide, how to lie. Me, I don't have that problem, I always tell the truth even when I lie...especially when I lie. So say goodnight to the bad guy. C'mon, this is the last time your gonna see a bad guy like me again. C'mon, make way for the bad guy. There is a bad guy coming through! Better get outta his way!"
When Richard Nixon had to give his telivised resignation speech in 1973, he did beforehand a sound and vision check with an improvised text. Little did he know that this was still recorded. The actual speech has been lost in time, but the testrecording became an all-time favorite when Internet memes arose.

All along the Watchtower
 
All along the Watchtower
A book by Mexican-American author Lorena Marroquin Rosas, set during the infamous Rape of Mexico during the Mexican-American War. The entire book takes place in a tower, where protagonist Maria Cantoran and her baby, Jose, have taken refuge in a secret compartment. For five long days, Maria hides without food, water, or even sunlight, and the book goes into intricate detail about her mental state, not helped by the sounds of gunfire, screams, and fire outside of the cramped compartment. The famously unclear ending leaves it a mystery whether Maria and her baby survive, whether she kills the baby on accident, or even on purpose, or whether she dies and the baby lives.

xkcd
 
All along the Watchtower

All Along the Watchtower (originally: Die Ganze Zeit der Wachtturm) is the famous novel circulated anonymously in 1677 at the imperial court of Ferdinand III, widely suspected to be written by Princess Maria, the later Electoral Princess of the Palatinate. The novel is at once an allegorical warning against the futility of going against the plans of God and a tragicomic retelling of the imprisonment of Richard the Lionheart by Leopold V in the eponymous watchtower, as well as his failed attempt at escape. The novel begins as Richard wakes up in the watchtower after having been ambushed during the night. Richard finds himself imprisoned in a solitary cell guarded by Konrad Feder, a guardsman in the employ of Leopold V and the illegitimate son of William V of Montferrat. Owing to the darkness, the shared name, and the physical similarity between the half-brothers, Richard comes to believe that Feder is really the soul of Conrad of Montferrat, who Richard ordered assassinated in his jealous rage after Conrad's election as King of Jerusalem. Following this line of thought, Richard reasons that he must be in hell to atone for his sins. The novel follows Richard's blasphemous plan to escape hell and seek revenge, famously declaring himself an enemy of "the Devil, Mankind, and even God Above if I must" when he sets his plan into action. Towards the end of the novel Richard finally manages to escape, only to find himself standing not in Purgatory as he thinks but in the courtyard at Trifels Castle. Upon realizing that his escape has not been from hell, and that he therefore is still bound for the pit after his death, Richard in his despair allows Leopold to recapture him. The name of the book is taken from the phrase Richard utters when he realizes his predicament: "All along the Watchtower? All along King Leopold? And all along still bound for hell?". All Along the Watchtower is, along with Cervantes' Don Quixote, widely celebrated as heralding the modern era of western literature, and is considered to be among the primary literary works in the history of Austria.

EDIT: Since I appear to have been ninja'd, I can also add this:

Xenomorphs kontra Command Drones (XKCD) is a real-time strategy game developed by Ensemble Studios in 2003. It represents the third installment of the "kontra"-series, which pits armies from popular science fiction and fantasy franchises against each other -- in this case, the Xenomorphs of the Alien franchise and a hypothesized future version of the Global Defense Initiative from the Command & Conquer franchise. While initially scorned by critics, the game has developed a cult following and remains a favorite with RTS fans today.

Lobster Telephone
 
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Deleted member 120563

Lobster Telephone - a 2000 single, initially spread by ringtone provider Jambol - it would later go on to become one of the earlier examples of internet memes with numerous fan and officially authored animated videos and GIF images across webpages.
Stardust Crusaders - a 1976 song recorded by British rock band Queen and artist David Bowie, authored as the first of several collaborative efforts between the latter and Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury. It would later become the namesake for a 2015 biopic portraying the tumultuous business and personal relationships between the artists, starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Eddie Redmayne as Mercury and Bowie respectively.

Devil May Cry
 
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Devil May Cry

Award winning and controversial miniseries, showing brutal combat on the Alpine Front between forces of Italy and Austro-Hungarian Empire during the Great European War. Most of its material was based upon the actions of the 42th Division of the Royal Croatian Homeguard, the so called "Devils Division", and was widely acclaimed and praised for its realistic portrayal of combat conditions present on the Alpine Front. It was however heavily criticised, especially by Italian critics, who consider it nothing more then a propaganda created by their longtime rivals, the Danubian Monarchy.

Croatian God Mars.
 
Croatian God Mars

A controversial candy bar released by the Mars Confectionery Company in 2006. The sweet was intended to expand the Mars Company's success to the Balkans, but due to poor research, the release of the "Croatian God" branded bar, with flavors allegedly "inspired by baklava", stoked backlash. The treat was rejected by Croat nationalists and denounced by Serbian radicals, while finding a ready base among Bosniak youths after a viral video showed one being blended with dog shit and served as a bar shot. In the end, the Croatian God Mars bar was pulled from sale after less than two months.

Apollo Symphony

Cheers,
Ganesha
 
2012 musical tribute to speed skater Apollo Ohno, the last work of the composer, Hikaru Hayashi.


Godzilla vs. The Board of Education

A landmark court case defining fair use for material of educational purposes. The name stems from a film class’ use of clips of the Japanese monster film Godzilla for the purposes of teaching prop use and directing techniques.

Mississippi Queen
 
Godzilla vs. The Board of Education
Otherwise known as James vs. The board of education. A Supreme Court case were Owen James a 14 year old boy at our Lord Jesus catholic middle school, entered the annual school short story competition. His short story about a Pacific island lizard at bikini bottom that mutated due to the radiation from nuclear bomb test and turned into a giant moster named Godzilla that reeked havoc over San Francisco Owens home town.

Originally the story gained the most votes by his peers but the school retroactively disqualified him using the ground that his story was unchristian due to the creatures name. But Owen argued that no such rule existed when he entered the competition. This story would have gone no where if it wasn't for a local anti religious socialists news paper picking it up and publishing Owens short story. The ACLU would later contact Owen and his family asking them to sue as part as a nation wide case with other parents over schools retroactively disqualifying children from certain activities after they won. And since most law suits where from blacks against southern schools the ACLU desperately wanted a white faces for the case.

James won the case and later set a nation wide precedent. His short story was later licensed by a b rated Japanese movie studio that created the movie Godzilla, which followed Owens original plot but instead of San Francisco, the monster attacked Tokyo. The movie was a great success spawning multiple other movies and creating one of the most financially successful movie franchises. Making Owen James a multi millionaire before he died.

Man screw you and your blind mama
 
A landmark court case defining fair use for material of educational purposes. The name stems from a film class’ use of clips of the Japanese monster film Godzilla for the purposes of teaching prop use and directing techniques.

Mississippi Queen
Dammit ninjad by 5 mins.
 
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