I received a letter from a debt collection agency (owned by a private parking company) in BC regarding an alleged parking ticket in which they attempt to collect an alleged debt for said ticket.
The letter states it is a "notice of authorization to forward file to legal counsel with request to file suit". The whole letter feels like it's worded to seem confusing and like legit legal action is taking place. In this letter they threaten legal action "may commence … if necessary" and if payment is not provided by a certain date. They also claim "all allowable accrued costs, fees, interest and charges to be added to judgement". Everything that I've seen about these guys says they're scammers and this is an empty threat to scare people into paying.
Is there any validity to their threat of legal action? Would they take me to small claims court over an amount less than $200? If so, would I be forced to pay for their legal expenses?

Hi guys.
My name is Ekene. My apologies if this question is too intrusive as I know that this is a community for kidney donors. I am on the transplant wait list, and I am conducting a campaign to find an altruistic living kidney donor. I have been doing this for about a year and a half.
I feel like I have tried everything. I have written letters to family, friends, churches, and the alumni associations of both my undergraduate and graduate schools. I have also run social media ads and canvassed with flyers. I am now trying to get news coverage through local and national news outlets.
Please do you guys know of specific ways to spread the word and reach potential altruistic donors. I would also appreciate introductions to people who can help my cause. Please feel free to dm me. Also feel free to call or text me if you prefer. My number is 917 215 2484.
Thank you all for your great work.

AMC had a rather infamous preshow advertisement featuring academy award winner nicole kidman talking about how great the cinema is. this monologue has been mocked for being really melodramatic. while i kind of agree with that, i can't hate it because it actually perfectly articulates my feelings towards the movie going experience.
i go the movie theater fairly regularly. i always try to see movies in theaters if i can. for me, there's just something special about seeing a movie on the biggest screen possible in a dark room with 100 crystal clear speakers. whether it's a re release or a new movie, there's just something about the movie going experience that resonates with me.
some people say that streaming is better. i agree that streaming does have it's benefits and, if you prefer to watch a movie at home, that's perfectly fine. but personally, i would rather see a movie in theaters then at home. maybe, once i get my own place, i need to invest in a home movie theater so that i can get the experience at home.
is the monologue cheesy? sure. but i'll be damned if every single word that comes out of nicole kidman's mouth in this ad is not absolutely true.

Humans are Weird – Striking a Pose

Original Post: http://www.authorbettyadams.com/bettys-blog/humans-are-weird-striking-a-pose
The third tide of the lunch shift was at it’s peat before Shiftssubtly managed to get clearance from the Shatar medic to move about the base on his own. It was not that he minded the presence of the nurses. The Shatar Brothers were both kind and loving to an almost unusual degree. The human nurse, Damian, somehow managed to find that perfect balance between formal propriety and saccharine affection that many humans missed when faced with an injured Undulate. No, the nurses were fine, he was just delighted to be well enough to move about on his own power, even if the lingering effects of the cold damage make him clumsy and more than half deaf.
He bumped into the wall of the stream as he misjudged the current and scrambled to grab onto the portal to the cafeteria before he was swept away and had to circle the base currents again. He was dimly aware that someone nudged him gently from behind and he popped through the portal, into the confusing bustle of the cafeteria. He hesitated a moment as he listened for the voice that would be familiar but muted, like all other sounds, he finally caught the thread of Human Friend Jock’s voice and happily began to swim towards it.
Human Friend Jock was sitting at one of the recessed tables. He bare feet dangling down into the water, swinging back and forth in the idle motion that all human feet seemed to indulge in when suspended off the ground. The human was laughing at something another human had said when Shiftssubtly came up to him. Shiftssubtly did not have time to make himself known before Human Friend Jock spotted him and gave a sudden joyful sound.
“Shifts!” Human Friend Jock cried out. “Second Sister finally let you out of the medical tank?”
“She did,” Shiftssubtly confirmed.
He tried not to wince at the sound of his own voice. He had spent so many rotations mastering the subtly of a human vocal range. Now he could tell that his voice was flat and emotionless. He wouldn’t have minded so much, but even through the haze of his damaged perceptions he could see Human Friend Jock wince in sympathetic pain as the sound reminded him of the danger Shiftssubtly had been in.
“And I have used my new freedom to seek out you,” Shiftssubtly went on, deliberately guiding the conversation into a new, more productive current.
“Well here I am little buddy,” Human Friend Jock said with a wide grin and spreading his arms out to exposed his core as much as possible. “What can I do for you?”
Shiftssubtly had been told that that was a sign of trust. Apparently the human core was full of soft, squishy bits that were easily damaged and one of the primary functions of having the arms so close to the body most of the time was to prevent predatory damage. It was a touching gesture when looked at like that.
“Second Sister suggested,” Shiftssubtly hesitated as he mulled over the exact meanings of his words, “well, ordered really, that I begin increasing my physical activity in every direction in order to encourage proper tissue regrowth.”
“Right,” Human Friend Jock said with a nod that was shared in sympathy by the rest of the humans around him. “Physical therapy, a pain but necessary.”
“I researched what was suggested for my species,” Shiftssubtly went on, “and there are a wide range of physical actions that will serve the purpose. However the primary note of import was that such activities are always most effective when done in group settings. I would like you to be my therapy partner if you don’t mind.”
“I’d be honored little buddy,” Humans Friend Jock said, but there was a curious frown on his face. “But if you don’t mind me asking why not another Undulate?”
“I observed your physical exertions in the communal pools a few days ago and they looked very enjoyable,” Shiftssubtly said. “I could sense that you were enjoying yourself and the joy was very attractive. Added to that you did them for the required half-hour I would need to-”
“My what now-?” Human Friend Jock said, his face flexing in perplexity.
Suddenly his skin flushed with embarrassment and he gave a startled yelp.
“You were there?” he burst out. “I mean of course you were there-I knew that-I just forgot-”
His voice cut off suddenly and he ducked his head down over his meal. Up to this point the other humans at the table had been going about their own conversations, but at Human Friend Jock’s sudden change in behavior they began to look between him and Shiftssubtly with obvious curiosity playing over their faces. The human female he had been talking to specifically seemed to be looking at Human Friend Jock with particular interest now.
“What movements of his would you be mimicking now Shiftssubtly?” She asked with a hint of a smile playing over her face.
Shiftssubtly knew that there was some complex human social game being played in this moment but he didn’t know what it was exactly. Human Friend Jock’s reaction suggested embarrassment but not shame so Shiftssubtly obligingly settled down into the water so that it supported his appendages and proceeded to mimic the four long appendages and head of the human in the movements he had seen. A ripple of chuckles and outright laughter swelled and dipped around him in gentle waves. Human Friend Jock did not laugh the least though there was a wry tone to the sound.
“So,” the human female said with a wide grin. “Human Friend Jock was flexing in front of the mirrors for a full half an hour was he?”
“Are these movements called flexing?” Shiftssubtly asked.
Human Friend Jock gave out a low groan and dropped his head onto the table.
“Yes,” he muttered, “yes it is.”

Science Fiction Books By Betty Adams

Amazon (Kindle, Paperback, Audiobook)

Barnes & Nobel (Nook, Paperback, Audiobook)

Powell's Books (Paperback)

Kobo by Rakuten (ebook and Audiobook)

Google Play Books (ebook and Audiobook)

Check out my books at any of these sites and leave a review! "Flying Sparks" - a novel set in the "Dying Embers" universe is now avaliable on all sites!
Please go leave a review on Amazon! It really helps and keeps me writing becase tea and taxes don't pay themselves sadly!

https://preview.redd.it/06in8pnwp13d1.png?width=859&format=png&auto=webp&s=501494a1e65ee74ba41a038728d6143d57c0d5b9

Humans are Weird – Striking a Pose

Original Post: http://www.authorbettyadams.com/bettys-blog/humans-are-weird-striking-a-pose
The third tide of the lunch shift was at it’s peat before Shiftssubtly managed to get clearance from the Shatar medic to move about the base on his own. It was not that he minded the presence of the nurses. The Shatar Brothers were both kind and loving to an almost unusual degree. The human nurse, Damian, somehow managed to find that perfect balance between formal propriety and saccharine affection that many humans missed when faced with an injured Undulate. No, the nurses were fine, he was just delighted to be well enough to move about on his own power, even if the lingering effects of the cold damage make him clumsy and more than half deaf.
He bumped into the wall of the stream as he misjudged the current and scrambled to grab onto the portal to the cafeteria before he was swept away and had to circle the base currents again. He was dimly aware that someone nudged him gently from behind and he popped through the portal, into the confusing bustle of the cafeteria. He hesitated a moment as he listened for the voice that would be familiar but muted, like all other sounds, he finally caught the thread of Human Friend Jock’s voice and happily began to swim towards it.
Human Friend Jock was sitting at one of the recessed tables. He bare feet dangling down into the water, swinging back and forth in the idle motion that all human feet seemed to indulge in when suspended off the ground. The human was laughing at something another human had said when Shiftssubtly came up to him. Shiftssubtly did not have time to make himself known before Human Friend Jock spotted him and gave a sudden joyful sound.
“Shifts!” Human Friend Jock cried out. “Second Sister finally let you out of the medical tank?”
“She did,” Shiftssubtly confirmed.
He tried not to wince at the sound of his own voice. He had spent so many rotations mastering the subtly of a human vocal range. Now he could tell that his voice was flat and emotionless. He wouldn’t have minded so much, but even through the haze of his damaged perceptions he could see Human Friend Jock wince in sympathetic pain as the sound reminded him of the danger Shiftssubtly had been in.
“And I have used my new freedom to seek out you,” Shiftssubtly went on, deliberately guiding the conversation into a new, more productive current.
“Well here I am little buddy,” Human Friend Jock said with a wide grin and spreading his arms out to exposed his core as much as possible. “What can I do for you?”
Shiftssubtly had been told that that was a sign of trust. Apparently the human core was full of soft, squishy bits that were easily damaged and one of the primary functions of having the arms so close to the body most of the time was to prevent predatory damage. It was a touching gesture when looked at like that.
“Second Sister suggested,” Shiftssubtly hesitated as he mulled over the exact meanings of his words, “well, ordered really, that I begin increasing my physical activity in every direction in order to encourage proper tissue regrowth.”
“Right,” Human Friend Jock said with a nod that was shared in sympathy by the rest of the humans around him. “Physical therapy, a pain but necessary.”
“I researched what was suggested for my species,” Shiftssubtly went on, “and there are a wide range of physical actions that will serve the purpose. However the primary note of import was that such activities are always most effective when done in group settings. I would like you to be my therapy partner if you don’t mind.”
“I’d be honored little buddy,” Humans Friend Jock said, but there was a curious frown on his face. “But if you don’t mind me asking why not another Undulate?”
“I observed your physical exertions in the communal pools a few days ago and they looked very enjoyable,” Shiftssubtly said. “I could sense that you were enjoying yourself and the joy was very attractive. Added to that you did them for the required half-hour I would need to-”
“My what now-?” Human Friend Jock said, his face flexing in perplexity.
Suddenly his skin flushed with embarrassment and he gave a startled yelp.
“You were there?” he burst out. “I mean of course you were there-I knew that-I just forgot-”
His voice cut off suddenly and he ducked his head down over his meal. Up to this point the other humans at the table had been going about their own conversations, but at Human Friend Jock’s sudden change in behavior they began to look between him and Shiftssubtly with obvious curiosity playing over their faces. The human female he had been talking to specifically seemed to be looking at Human Friend Jock with particular interest now.
“What movements of his would you be mimicking now Shiftssubtly?” She asked with a hint of a smile playing over her face.
Shiftssubtly knew that there was some complex human social game being played in this moment but he didn’t know what it was exactly. Human Friend Jock’s reaction suggested embarrassment but not shame so Shiftssubtly obligingly settled down into the water so that it supported his appendages and proceeded to mimic the four long appendages and head of the human in the movements he had seen. A ripple of chuckles and outright laughter swelled and dipped around him in gentle waves. Human Friend Jock did not laugh the least though there was a wry tone to the sound.
“So,” the human female said with a wide grin. “Human Friend Jock was flexing in front of the mirrors for a full half an hour was he?”
“Are these movements called flexing?” Shiftssubtly asked.
Human Friend Jock gave out a low groan and dropped his head onto the table.
“Yes,” he muttered, “yes it is.”
https://i.redd.it/ijohys2iq13d1.gif

Science Fiction Books By Betty Adams

Amazon (Kindle, Paperback, Audiobook)

Barnes & Nobel (Nook, Paperback, Audiobook)

Powell's Books (Paperback)

Kobo by Rakuten (ebook and Audiobook)

Google Play Books (ebook and Audiobook)

Check out my books at any of these sites and leave a review! "Flying Sparks" - a novel set in the "Dying Embers" universe is now avaliable on all sites!
Please go leave a review on Amazon! It really helps and keeps me writing becase tea and taxes don't pay themselves sadly!

This is my first update. Bear with me here. I wanted to write this at 300, but now I'm at 450 somehow.
Intro - Why CI Works and Feels Good
On the drive back from a beautiful botanical garden in Mexico, I was the only person able to speak Spanish amongst my white family, and our driver was a very talkative fellow who knew basically zero English. There was no internet out there, so no google translate. I had learned Spanish only from high school classes, and it was a disaster. I think I said "tenga miedo?" at one point. At the end of the drive I apologized for my bad Spanish, but he encouraged me to keep learning since he would try to do the same with English. We bonded through our terrible levels of each other's languages, and I honestly think that conversation motivated to learn Spanish more than anything.
The methods I tried in my journey prior to CI did not work. Do I really need to go into detail? Language transfer? Nope. Flashcards? Nope. Talking to the taqueria cashier in Spanish? Hell no. Watching casa de los flores with Spanish subtitles? Nope. Nothing felt like it was really working.
In hindsight, the dreaming spanish/comprehensible input method makes so much sense you can't believe you ever felt differently. We learn through actively acquiring and being immersed in our native languages. In a class for my education minor, we learned about how exploring a topic on your own is a great way to actually remember what you're learning. The CI method is exactly that: exploring. Like our prepubescent selves, we are actively filing out our mental maps of the language. Each new word, phrase, and structure, adds to this map, clearing the gray areas from our heads.
Part of the effectiveness of the exploration process are the "A-ha" moments that feel so rewarding. I remember listening to Learn Spanish and Go while waiting for the bus and they used the word "sobresalir" and its meaning just clicked perfectly into place. It was a very gratifying moment, and I've remembered the word ever since. Brute forcing a word through looking it up can potentially work, but internalizing it through multiple contexts of immersion cements it better than anything.
It seems like language learning is figuring out which way to make as much vocabulary stick in your head as possible, and CI does that the best for me. Traditional grammar studying and looking up/translating words weren't really working for me. I would just forget everything constantly. And most importantly, that method was BORING. Without some excitement and tangible progress, what's the point?
What works best for me is a mix of very understandable and just barely understandable content. Both help me learn and remember in different ways. Knowing almost every word singles out those words I don't know and helps me get closer to getting them through context. Harder content challenges me, has usually been much more interesting than other stuff along the journey, and acclimates me to the sound of faster Spanish. This is what I do personally, and it might not be the most efficient way, but it keeps me motivated. The content I used along the way follows.
The Content
Dreaming Spanish - Usage
I found the first 50-150 hours of the journey to be quite difficult. You have to make listening a habit, power through some sort of boring content, and generally feel a bit confused a lot. I watched a lot of DS and a tiny bit of cuentame.
I watch DS more now than ever honestly. I really enjoy videos like Pablo's personal stories in that idyllic little park in Thailand. Conversational content is overall still my favorite though. I just feel like listening to a convo is much easier to pay attention to and not space out than solo stuff.
DS - The Guides
Pablo: Not much to say about the goat. Would love to see him play other games (especially dark souls but more on this later).
Andres: He's just hilarious all around. I love how bad he is at spyfall and other games. He also apparently has an insane life. Was a military firefighter who once dated two gals at once (if he wasn't joking about that). His content is super accessible, and I recommend his advanced series on his military experience to everyone level 4 on beyond, since it's actually pretty easy to understand, and it's super interesting. His videos are always a must watch for me.
Shelcin: Everyone needs to be nicer to Shelcin because she's never done anything wrong ever and when they make fun of her my heart turns a little more blackened
Natalia: She rocks so much. I really hope she continues to do videos with the other teachers since she has fantastic vibes and speaks so very clearly.
Sandra: At first I wasn't a fan of solo talking to camera videos, but as I got more input, her videos really started to click. She's a genuine person, probably would be a cool friend. It's a shame she doesn't interact with other guides, but I assume she's off doing other stuff now and we're just watching backlog stuff.
The Rest: Everyone else is great, but I just don't have much to add about them.
Podcasts:
Spanish for False Beginners: This is premium intermediate CI. It's conversational, at a pretty solid but not too fast pace, the topics are interesting, and there are NO ADS. I really really hate when podcasts have like 2 minutes of ads at the start and end like No Hay Tos since I listen to podcasts at work sometimes where I can't easily skip forward. The podcasts is Oscar from Intermediate Spanish Podcast and his boyfriend (not native speaker fyi) riffing on various topics. They're super cute. Big recommend for this level.
Español Con Juan: I started this podcast at around 200 hours. It was very challenging. It's easier to space out when you find content a little too hard, so I definitely missed some of the middle episodes where he talked about kings and stuff. But when I go back to listen to new episodes it's just insane how clear he is for me now. I can understand basically everything he says at 450 hours. So give him a chance. You really just gotta get used to his speaking style, and then it's not as hard as it seems. And of course, the content itself is amazing, but you all already know that. I hope to live to see the day he tells the story about the dog.
Intermediate Spanish Podcast with Oscar: Starts out kind of slow, and is a little harder than ECJ, but it's just such good input. He gets into some great, even very personal topics later on and speaks very clearly. I've grown to really enjoy this one, even though it's a bit dryer than ECJ.
No Hay Tos: Too hard! And I will never pay for Rosetta stone. I'll give them a chance again soon though. I like the conversational style a lot and they seem funny.
LenguaTalk: Pretty short but great lower Intermediate conversational Spanish between a married couple from Spain. Very cute!
Other Content:
Hajime No Ippo The Spanish dub for this incredible anime is on YouTube for free. I've seen this before, so while it was incredibly difficult to watch at around 300 hours, I did get used to the pace and understood the vast majority of episodes by the end. You'll learn a lot of boxing terms if you're ever wondering how to say HE FELL TO THE CANVAS!!! A DEVASTATING RIGHT HOOK!! In Spanish. But really, this show is so good. The characters are excellent and the boxing is just so fun and tense. Big recommend.
Songs: This is a fairly controversial topic on this sub it seems. I've listened to a ton of songs in Spanish. I don't count this as input, but I genuinely think it can be helpful sometimes to remember vocabulary, especially if you find the song good and catchy. Some genres, like hip hop and reggaeton, are much harder to understand on average than others. I recommend folk and rock to start.
Here's a playlist I made of songs that are somewhat comprehensible at my level: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4fKeoBQI76Dc1vt6VhuDgY?si=edh6uxdXS-S3T0k50KRDkQ&pi=bUJOeicMRk64-
How to Survive the Long March - Things I've Learned Along the Way

1. Watch content you enjoy. If you can't find that at your level, which I definitely experienced at the beginner stage, watch content solely for the purpose of finding new vocab. It's not ideal, but coming at it from an "exploration" mindset can make mundane content much more tolerable.
2. Be realistic about your capabilities. I was shooting for 2 hours a day months ago. I barely hit that goal. Lowering it to 90 minutes helped a ton. Now I'm at 100, and pretty consistent about it too.
3. Find out what helps you keep going. What content works for you? How do you stay motivated? I personally listen to a ton of Spanish at the gym. Even though it's sometimes distracting, making learning Spanish synonymous with improving myself physically has been incredibly motivating. What's your goal for learning Spanish? I want to be able to communicate better with my Spanish speaking students when I'm a teacher. Being able to actually talk in Spanish would be incredibly helpful for me, so I kind of keep that fire under my feet to keep me motivated and consistent.

Musings
Pablo. PLEASE. please stream elden ring. i need someone to play the souls games with intermediate/advanced CI commentary. this is all i want in life. I will give you 20 dollars personally if this happens. I will venmo you. imagine the DS team playing mario kart or mario party together. 8 player smash bros with every guide. ok that's too far. but gaming content could be really good. how often do we get CI of Spanish speakers getting mad as hell at a game?
This method is going to absolutely blow up one day. People are going to be min maxing the best ways to get input in. They'll be watching 54 level difficulty videos at 1.17 times speed for maximum input. There will be official CI speedruns. This method is so ingenious I kind of can't believe a big corporation hasn't made it as soulless and profitable as possible yet. Get in on the CI train while it's still cool!!
DS has made me think a lot about how little content guys watch that is made from women in general. I didn't watch very many female Youtubers at all when I was in high school, and I think this was true of many friends of mine. I never would have watched something like Michelle's skincare or astrology series in English, so I really appreciate the wide variety of content and diversity one gets exposes to while going through this process.
Future
I'm going to start reading soon, but to avoid the pronunciation thing I'm going to listen to an audiobook as I read along. I have no idea if this will work. That's fine. I'm not a scientist I'm just a guy. I'm doing my best.
No speaking for a while too. I've spoken a little bit, and yeah, it's bad. I don't wanna sound like the Españolistas guy. So I'm waiting like a good boy 😃
Goal is 600 hours by August, when I start student teaching in a Teacher's Credential program. Whether I'll have any time for Spanish at that point, I really don't know.
Conclusion
Comprehensible input is very rewarding and motivating. It's the method that has worked best for me. I can genuinely say I've improved a ton at listening already. Progress is slow, but man it's so worth it. Learning Spanish gives you the ability to talk to so many more people, and that's a beautiful thing.
Good luck on the long march. It's nice to have a very friendly community to struggle alongside. So, thank you all and see you around.
cuídate

I've been a fan of UNIS since pre-debut, and a casual fan of TripleS as well.
As a UNIS fan things are extremely difficult. If you talk about them on a lot of subreddits you'll get downvoted, and I've literally been attacked and even had someone imply I'm a p word for it. The reasoning a lot of people have is that they have a 13 year old so they don't support it, which you don't have to if you don't want to (even though I still don't understand why this warrants attacking fans of them).
What's really odd to me though is how this treatment doesn't extend to TripleS, and it makes me think it's not really about their age, and is instead just whether people like the group or not. I'm not saying I hope people do the same to fans of TripleS, but it just doesn't make sense to me. They have the same exact age range (13-23), so why is being a fan of one ok, but being a fan of the other makes you a bad person?

Hello I wanted to do a chronological playlist combining all The Beatles material on Spotify from the live releases, to studio tracks, to outtakes. Here is a link to the playlist and below are my justifications for the placements. Would be curious if anyone could tell me any sections where I may have went wrong with the dates. This project has inspired me to dig deeper into the bootlegs of the studio sessions and I’ve already begun doing that so maybe I will make a post about that at some point as well.
1958-1961
1 We Were Four Guys… That’s All [Anthology 1]
Actually an interview clip from December 8 1970. Placed here for sequencing like in Anthology 1.
2 The Quarrymen - That’ll Be The Day [Anthology 1]
3 The Quarrymen - In Spite Of All The Danger [Anthology 1]
Two Quarrymen recordings from July 12 1958. These are the only official releases of the Quarrymen on Spotify. You may see another song listed by them on their Spotify but this is actually a different group.
4 Sometimes I’d Borrow… Those Still Exist [Anthology 1]
Actually from an interview on November 3 1994 but placed here for sequencing like Anthology 1
5 Hallelujah I Love Her So [Anthology 1]
6 You’ll Be Mine [Anthology 1]
7 Cayenne [Anthology 1]
1960 home demos. Left the sequencing the same as Anthology 1. Not sure on exact dates, but the interview clip mentions Hallelujah so I think it makes sense to start with.
8 First Of All… It Didn’t Do A Thing Here [Anthology 1]
Actually an interview clip from October 27 1962 but placed here for sequencing like Anthology as he mentions the Tony Sheridan recordings.
9 My Bonnie [Anthology 1]
10 Ain’t She Sweet [Anthology 1]
11 Cry For A Shadow [Anthology 1]
All recording with Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers June 22 1961. The June 22nd date is disputed
1962
12 Brian Was A Beautiful Guy… He Presented Us Well [Anthology 1]
13 I Secured Them… A Beatle Drink Even Then [Anthology 1]
Actually from October 1971 and October 1964 interviews respectively but placed here for sequencing like on Anthology 1.
14 Searchin’ [Anthology 1]
15 Three Cool Cats [Anthology 1]
16 The Sheik Of Araby [Anthology 1]
17 Like Dreamers Do [Anthology 1]
18 Hello Little Girl [Anthology 1]
Beatles Decca audition tape recordings. Recorded January 1 1962 from Anthology 1.
19 Well The Recording Test… By My Artists [Anthology 1]
Actually from the same October 1964 interview as I secured them… but placed here for sequencing like Anthology 1.
20 Besame Mucho [Anthology 1]
21 Love Me Do [Anthology 1]
Recorded June 6 1962 featuring Pete Best on drums for Love Me Do
22 How Do You Do It? [Anthology 1]
Recorded September 4 1962
23 Please Please Me [Anthology 1]
Recorded September 11 1962
24 Love Me Do (Single Version) - 2023 Mix
25 P.S I Love You [Please Please Me 2009 Remaster]
Love me do, the first Beatles single, releases October 5 1962. This version features Ringo on drums and would be different from the version on the Please Please Me LP.
1963
26 Please Please Me [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
27 Ask Me Why [Please Please Me 2009 Remaster]
Please Please Me releases as a single January 11 1963
28 Keep Your Hands Off My Baby [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
29 Beautiful Dreamer [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded January 26 1963 for the Beatles Saturday Club.
30 One After 909 (Takes 3, 4, & 5 with stops) [Anthology 1]
31 One After 909 (Takes 4 & 5 complete) [Anthology 1]
Recorded March 5 1963
32 Misery [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded March 12 1963 for Here We Go
33 I’m Talking About You [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded March 16 1963 for the Beatles Saturday Club
34 I Saw Her Standing There [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
35 Misery [Please Please Me 2009 Remaster]
36 Anna (Go To Him) [Please Please Me 2009 Remaster]
37 Chains [Please Please Me 2009 Remaster]
38 Boys [Please Please Me 2009 Remaster]
39 Love Me Do [Please Please Me 2009 Remaster]
40 Baby It’s You [Please Please Me 2009 Remaster]
41 Do You Want To Know A Secret [Please Please Me 2009 Remaster]
42 A Taste Of Honey [Please Please Me 2009 Remaster]
43 There’s A Place [Please Please Me 2009 Remaster]
44 Twist And Shout [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
Please Please Me LP released March 22 1963. This version of Love Me Do features Andy White on drums. I exclude all the singles that release before the album when doing this so Please Please Me, Ask Me Why, and P.S. I Love You were excluded.
45 From Me To You [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
46 Thank You Girl [Past Masters (Vols. 1 & 2) 2009 Remaster]
From Me To You single releases April 11 1963
47 We Were Performers… In Britain [Anthology 1]
Actually from a December 8 1970 interview, but placed here before a big chunk of live material similar to the sequencing on Anthology 1.
48 Love These Goon Shows! [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
49 I Got To Find My Baby [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
50 Young Blood [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
51 Sha La La La La! [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
52 Baby It’s You [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
Recorded June 11 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
53 Sure To Fall (In Love With You) [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
Recorded June 18 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
54 Some Other Guy [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
55 Thank You Girl [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
Recorded June 23 1963 for Easy Beat
56 I’ll Be On My Way [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
Recorded June 24 1963 for Side by Side
57 Hey Paul… [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
58 Hello! [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
59 A Real Treat [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
60 Boys [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
61 Absolutely Fab [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
62 Chains [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
63 Bumper Bundle [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
64 P.S. I Love You [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded June 25 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
65 Lend Me Your Comb [Anthology 1]
Recorded July 2 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
66 That’s All Right (Mama) [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
67 Carol [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
68 What Is It, George? [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
69 Soldier Of Love [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
70 A Little Rhyme [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
71 Clarabella [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
72 Lend Me Your Comb [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded July 16 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
73 And Here We Go Again [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
74 A Taste Of Honey [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
75 Sweet Little Sixteen [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
76 1822! [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
77 Lonesome Tears In My Eyes [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
78 Nothin’ Shakin’ [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
79 So How Come (No One Loves Me) [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
80 Love Me Do [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
Recorded July 23 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
81 Memphis, Tennessee [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
82 The Hippy Hippy Shake [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
83 Set Fire To That Lot! [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
84 Matchbox [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
85 How About It, Gorgeous? [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
86 Do You Want To Know A Secret [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
87 Till There Was You [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
88 Please Mister Postman [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded July 30 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
89 I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You) [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
90 Crying, Waiting, Hoping [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
91 To Know Her Is To Love Her [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
92 The Honeymoon Song [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
93 Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
94 Twist And Shout [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded August 6 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
95 I Got A Woman [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
96 Long Tall Sally [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
97 Please Please Me [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded August 13 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
98 Glad All Over [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
99 I Just Don’t Understand [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
100 Slow Down [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
101 Words Of Love [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded August 20 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
102 She Loves You [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
103 I’ll Get You [Past Masters (Vols. 1 & 2) 2009 Remaster]
She Loves You single releases August 23 1963
104 Dear Wack! [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
105 You Really Got A Hold On Me [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
106 Glad All Over [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
107 Lift Lid Again [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded August 24 1963 for Saturday Club
108 A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
109 Ooh! My Soul [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
110 Ooh! My Arms [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
111 Don’t Ever Change [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
112 Anna (Go To Him) [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded August 27 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
113 Honey Don’t [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
114 Roll Over Beethoven [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
115 There’s A Place [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded September 3 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
116 Too Much Monkey Business [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
117 Lower 5E [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
118 The Hippy Hippy Shake [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded September 10 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
119 Lucille [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded September 17 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
120 Ask Me Why [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
121 The 49 Weeks [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
122 Sure To Fall (In Love With You) [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
123 Never Mind, Eh? [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
124 Bye, Bye [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded September 24 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
125 Devil In Her Heart [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded September 25 1963 for Pop Go The Beatles
126 Lucille [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
127 I Saw Her Standing There [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
128 I’ll Get You [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
129 Memphis, Tennessee [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
130 She Loves You [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
131 Happy Birthday Dear Saturday Club [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded October 5 1963 for Saturday Club
132 I’ll Get You [Anthology 1]
Recorded October 13 1963 at the Palladium
133 Now Hush, Hush [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
134 From Me To You [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
135 I Saw Her Standing There [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
Recorded October 20 1963 for Easy Beat
136 I Saw Her Standing There [Anthology 1]
137 From Me To You [Anthology 1]
138 Money (That’s What I Want) [Anthology 1]
139 You Really Got A Hold On Me [Anthology 1]
140 Roll Over Beethoven [Anthology 1]
Recorded October 24 1963 at the Karlaplansstudion
141 Beatles Greetings [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
Recorded November 3 1963 for The Public Ear
142 She Loves You [Anthology 1]
143 Till There Was You [Anthology 1]
144 Twist And Shout [Anthology 1]
Recorded November 4 1963 at Prince of Wales Theatre
145 It Won’t Be Long [With The Beatles 2009 Remaster]
146 All I’ve Got To Do [With The Beatles 2009 Remaster]
147 All My Loving [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
148 Don’t Bother Me [With The Beatles 2009 Remaster]
149 Little Child [With The Beatles 2009 Remaster]
150 Till There Was You [With The Beatles 2009 Remaster]
151 Please Mister Postman [With The Beatles 2009 Remaster]
152 Roll Over Beethoven [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
153 Hold Me Tight [With The Beatles 2009 Remaster]
154 You Really Got A Hold On Me [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
155 I Wanna Be Your Man [With The Beatles 2009 Remaster]
156 Devil In Her Heart [With The Beatles 2009 Remaster]
157 Not A Second Time [With The Beatles 2009 Remaster]
158 Money (That’s What I Want) [With The Beatles 2009 Remaster]
With The Beatles releases November 22 1963
159 I Want To Hold Your Hand [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
160 This Boy [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
I Want To Hold Your Hand single releases November 29 1963
161 This Boy [Anthology 1]
162 I Want To Hold Your Hand [Anthology 1]
163 Boys, What Was I Thinking… [Anthology 1]
164 Moonlight Bay [Anthology 1]
Recorded December 2 1963 at ATV Studios
165 Brian Bathtubes [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
166 This Boy [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded December 21 1963 for Saturday Club
167 Money (That’s What I Want) [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
168 I Want To Hold Your Hand [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded December 26 1963 for The Beatles Say From Us To You
1964
169 Can’t Buy Me Love (Takes 1 & 2) [Anthology 1]
Recorded January 29 1964 in Paris during their residency at Olympia. Komm gib mir deine Hand and Sie liebt dich were also recorded at this session.
170 All My Loving (Live on the Ed Sullivan Show) [Anthology 1]
Recorded February 9 1964 for the Ed Sullivan Show in New York City
171 Johnny B Goode [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
172 If I Wasn’t in America [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded February 15 1964 for Saturday Club
173 You Can’t Do That (Take 6) [Anthology 1]
174 And I Love Her (Take 2) [Anthology 1]
Recorded February 25 1964 in EMI
175 Komm gib mir deine Hand [Past Masters (Vols. 1 & 2) 2009 Remaster]
176 Sie liebt dich [Past Masters (Vols. 1 & 2) 2009 Remaster]
German version singles of I Want To Hold Your Hand and She Loves You released March 5 1964*. These were done to try to penetrate the German market after The Beatles began to achieve international fame following I Want To Hold Your Hand going #1 in the US with pressure from Odeon execs. *Both Walter Everett and Barry Miles write the single was released in West Germany on March 5 1964, but the songs were not mixed for mono and stereo until the 10th and 12th. John C. Winn says the single was rush-released in West Germany after mixing, but does not provide a release date. See this for more details.
177 Can’t Buy Me Love [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
178 You Can’t Do That [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
Can’t Buy Me Love releases as a single March 20 1964
179 From Us To You Opening [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
180 Can’t Buy Me Love [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
181 From Fluff To You [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
182 Till There Was You [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
183 Ringo? Yep! [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
184 I Wanna Be Your Man [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
185 Just A Rumour [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
186 Roll Over Beethoven [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
187 All My Loving [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
188 Oh, Can’t We? Yes We Can [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
189 From Us To You Closing [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
From BBC vol 1 these are listed as March 10 1964 but Oh Can’t We? from vol 2 I believe lists the correct date of March 30 1964.
190 I Got A Woman [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded April 4 1964 for the Saturday Club
191 A Hard Day’s Night (Take 1) [Anthology 1]
Recorded April 16 1964 in EMI
192 I Wanna Be Your Man [Anthology 1]
193 Long Tall Sally [Anthology 1]
194 Boys [Anthology 1]
195 Shout [Anthology 1]
Recorded April 19 1964 for Around The Beatles in London
196 I Forgot To Remember To Forget [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
Recorded May 18 1964 for From Us To You Say The Beatles
197 I’ll Be Back (Take 2) [Anthology 1]
198 I’ll Be Back (Take 3) [Anthology 1]
Recorded June 1 1964 in EMI
199 You Know What To Do (Demo) [Anthology 1]
200 No Reply (Demo) [Anthology 1]
Recorded June 3 1964 in EMI
201 Long Tall Sally [Past Masters (Vols. 1 & 2) 2009 Remaster]
202 I Call Your Name [Past Masters (Vols. 1 & 2) 2009 Remaster]
203 Slow Down [Past Masters (Vols. 1 & 2) 2009 Remaster]
204 Matchbox [Past Masters (Vols. 1 & 2) 2009 Remaster]
The Long Tall Sally EP releases June 19 1964
205 A Hard Day’s Night [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
206 I Should Have Known Better [A Hard Day’s Night 2009 Remaster]
207 If I Fell [A Hard Day’s Night 2009 Remaster]
208 I’m Happy Just To Dance With You [A Hard Day’s Night 2009 Remaster]
209 And I Love Her [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
210 Tell Me Why [A Hard Day’s Night 2009 Remaster]
211 Any Time At All [A Hard Day’s Night 2009 Remaster]
212 I’ll Cry Instead [A Hard Day’s Night 2009 Remaster]
213 Things We Said Today [A Hard Day’s Night 2009 Remaster]
214 When I Get Home [A Hard Day’s Night 2009 Remaster]
215 I’ll Be Back [A Hard Day’s Night 2009 Remaster]
A Hard Day’s Night releases July 10 1964 along with A Hard Day’s Night single featuring the B Sides Things We Said Today and I Should Have Known Better in the UK and the US. Can’t Buy Me Love and You Can’t Do That were previously released singles.
216 Crinsk Dee Night [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
217 A Hard Day’s Night [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
218 Things We Said Today [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
219 Long Tall Sally [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
220 If I Fell [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
221 A Hard Job Writing Them [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
222 And I Love Her [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
223 You Can’t Do That [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded July 16 1964 for Top Gear
224 Mr Moonlight (Takes 1 & 4) [Anthology 1]
225 Leave My Kitten Alone (Take 5) [Anthology 1]
Recorded August 14 1964 in EMI
226 You Can’t Do That [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
227 All My Loving [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
228 Things We Said [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
229 Roll Over Beethoven [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
230 I Want To Hold Your Hand [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
231 Boys [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
232 She Loves You [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
233 Long Tall Sally [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
Recorded August 23 1964 at the Hollywood Bowl. I have decided to split Hollywood Bowl’s tracklist by day it was actually recorded and yes it does make the sequencing terrible. I did try to mirror the original setlist as closely as possible for that day, but both the The Paul McCartney Project and Beatles Bible list She Loves You as the 4th song, but the song features a clip saying “the next song will unfortunately be the last” making me think a different show show I put it second to last. The rest of the tracks on Hollywood Bowl are from the 1965 tour.
234 No Reply (Take 2) [Anthology 1]
Recorded September 30 1964 in EMI
235 Eight Days A Week (Sequence Takes 1, 2, & 4) [Anthology 1]
236 Eight Days A Week (Complete Take 5) [Anthology 1]
Recorded October 6 1964 in EMI
237 Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! (Take 2) [Anthology 1]
Recorded October 18 1964 in EMI
238 Riding On A Bus [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
239 She’s A Woman [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
240 I Feel Fine [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
241 I’m A Loser [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
242 Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
243 Honey Don’t [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
244 I’ll Follow The Sun [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
245 That’s What We’re Here For [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
246 I Feel Fine (Studio Out-take) [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded November 26 1964 for Top Gear
247 I Feel Fine [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
248 She’s A Woman [Past Masters (Vols. 1 & 2) 2009 Remaster]
I Feel Fine single releases November 27 1964
249 No Reply [Beatles For Sales 2009 Remaster]
250 I’m A Loser [Beatles For Sales 2009 Remaster]
251 Baby’s In Black [Beatles For Sales 2009 Remaster]
252 Rock And Roll Music [Beatles For Sales 2009 Remaster]
253 I’ll Follow The Sun [Beatles For Sales 2009 Remaster]
254 Mr Moonlight [Beatles For Sales 2009 Remaster]
255 Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey - Medley [Beatles For Sales 2009 Remaster]
256 Eight Days A Week [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
257 Words Of Love [Beatles For Sales 2009 Remaster]
258 Honey Don’t [Beatles For Sales 2009 Remaster]
259 Every Little Thing [Beatles For Sales 2009 Remaster]
260 I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party [Beatles For Sales 2009 Remaster]
261 What You’re Doing [Beatles For Sales 2009 Remaster]
262 Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby [Beatles For Sales 2009 Remaster]
Beatles For Sale releases December 4 1964
263 Rock and Roll Music [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
264 Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded December 26 1964 for Saturday Club
1965
265 Yes It Is (Takes 2 & 14) [Anthology 2]
Recorded February 16 1965 in EMI
266 You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away (Takes 1, 2, & 5) [Anthology 2]
267 If You’ve Got Trouble [Anthology 2]
Recorded February 18 1965 in EMI
268 That Means A Lot (Take 1) [Anthology 2]
Recorded February 20 1965 in EMI
269 Ticket To Ride [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
270 Yes It Is [Past Masters (Vols. 1 & 2) 2009 Remaster]
Ticket To Ride single releases April 9 1965
271 Green With Black Shutters [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
272 Ticket To Ride [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
273 Dizzy Miss Lizzy [Live At The BBC (Remastered)]
Recorded June 7 1965 for the Beatles Invite You To Take A Ticket To Ride
274 Bad Boy [Past Masters (Vols. 1 & 2) 2009 Remaster]
Bad Boy releases June 14 1965 on Beatles VI in the US
275 I’m Down (Take 1) [Anthology 2]
276 Yesterday (Take 1) [Anthology 2]
Recorded June 14 1965 in EMI
277 It’s Only Love (Takes 2 & 3) [Anthology 2]
Recorded June 18 1965 in EMI
278 Help! [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
279 I’m Down [Past Masters (Vols. 1 & 2) 2009 Remaster]
Help! single releases July 23 1965
280 I Feel Fine [Anthology 2]
281 Ticket To Ride [Anthology 2]
282 Yesterday [Anthology 2]
283 Help! [Anthology 2]
Recorded August 1 1965 for Blackpool Night Out at ABC Theatre, Blackpool, UK
284 The Night Before [Help! 2009 Remaster]
285 You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
286 I Need You [Help! 2009 Remaster]
287 Another Girl [Help! 2009 Remaster]
288 You’re Going To Lose That Girl [Help! 2009 Remaster]
289 Act Naturally [Help! 2009 Remaster]
290 It’s Only Love [Help! 2009 Remaster]
291 You Like Me Too Much [Help! 2009 Remaster]
292 Tell Me What You See [Help! 2009 Remaster]
293 I’ve Just Seen A Face [Help! 2009 Remaster]
294 Yesterday [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
295 Dizzy Miss Lizzy [Help! 2009 Remaster]
Help! releases August 6 1965. Ticket To Ride and Help! were previously released singles.
296 Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby [Anthology 2]
Recorded August 15 1965 at Shea Stadium, New York City
297 Ticket To Ride [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
298 Help! [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
299 Dizzy Miss Lizzy [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
Recorded August 29 1965 at the Hollywood Bowl. Dizzy Miss Lizzy includes recordings from August 30th spliced in so I put it last.
300 Twist And Shout [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
301 She’s A Woman [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
302 Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
303 Can’t Buy Me Love [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
304 Baby’s In Black [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
305 A Hard Day’s Night [Live At The Hollywood Bowl 2016 Remaster]
Recorded August 30 1965 at the Hollywood Bowl
306 Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (Take 1) [Anthology 2]
Recorded October 12 1965 in EMI
307 I’m Looking Through You (Take 1) [Anthology 2]
Recorded October 24 1965 in EMI
308 12 Bar Original (Take 2 Edited) [Anthology 2]
Recorded November 4 1965 in EMI
309 John Pop Profile [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
310 George Pop Profile [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded November 30 1965 at The BBC
311 Day Tripper [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
312 We Can Work It Out [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
Day Tripper and We Can Work It Out released as a double A Sided single December 3 1965 along with Rubber Soul.
313 Drive My Car [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
314 Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
315 You Won’t See Me [Rubber Soul 2009 Remaster]
316 Nowhere Man [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
317 Think For Yourself [Rubber Soul 2009 Remaster]
318 The Word [Rubber Soul 2009 Remaster]
319 Michelle [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
320 What Goes On [Rubber Soul 2009 Remaster]
321 Girl [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
322 I’m Looking Through You [Rubber Soul 2009 Remaster]
323 In My Life [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
324 Wait [Rubber Soul 2009 Remaster]
325 If I Needed Someone [The Beatles 1962-1966 2023 Mix]
326 Run For Your Life [Rubber Soul 2009 Remaster]
Rubber Soul was released December 3 1965
1966
327 She Said She Said (Johns Demo) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
John Lennon began recording She Said She Said in March of 1966 and this is a home demo.
328 Yellow Submarine - Songwriting Work Tape Part 1 [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
329 Yellow Submarine - Songwriting Work Tape Part 2 [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
These are home demos of Yellow Submarine and I am assuming they would go around here, but I’m not sure of an exact date. Possibly before She Said She Said, but I believe before the studio recording began.
330 Tomorrow Never Knows (Take 1) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
331 Tomorrow Never Knows (Take 1) [Anthology 2]
Recorded April 6 1966 in EMI. This was the beginning of the Revolver sessions. I am pretty sure these are the exact same but the mixing and mastering are different.
332 Tomorrow Never Knows (RM Mono Mix 11) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
From the April 7 1966 tape loop overdubbing sessions or the final overdubbing on April 22nd in EMI
333 Got To Get You Into My Life (First Version Take 5) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
334 Got To Get You Into My Life (First Version Take 5) [Anthology 2]
Recorded April 7 1966 in Abbey Road Studios
335 Love You To (Take 1) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
336 Love You To (Unnumbered Take) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Love You To began recording April 11 1966 in Abbey Road Studios with an additional session taking place on the 13th. I am going to assume these are both from the 11th.
337 Love You To (Take 7) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Recorded April 13 1966 adding an additional vocal to a previous take
338 Paperback Writer (Takes 1 & 2) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Recorded April 13 1966 in EMI
339 Rain (Take 5 Actual Speed) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
340 Rain (take 5 Slowed Down For Master) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Either recorded April 14 or 16 1966 in EMI
341 Doctor Robert (Take 7) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Recorded April 19 1966 at Abbey Road Studios
342 And Your Bird Can Sing (First Version Take 2) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
343 And Your Bird Can Sing (First Version Take 2 Giggles) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
344 And Your Bird Can Sing (First Version Take 2) [Anthology 2]
First version of And Your Bird Can Sing was recorded April 20 1966 in Abbey Road Studios
345 And Your Bird Can Sing (Second Version Take 5) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Second version of And Your Bird Can Sing was April 26 1966 in Abbey Road Studios
346 I’m Only Sleeping (Rehearsal Fragment) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
347 I’m Only Sleeping (Rehearsal Instrumental) [Anthology 2]
348 I’m Only Sleeping (Take 1) [Anthology 2]
349 I’m Only Sleeping (Take 2) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
350 I’m Only Sleeping (Take 5) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Recorded April 27 1966 in Abbey Road Studios
351 Eleanor Rigby (Strings Only) [Anthology 2]
352 Eleanor Rigby (Speech Before Take 2) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
353 Eleanor Rigby (Take 2) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Recorded April 28 1966 in Abbey Road Studios
354 Paul Pop Profile [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
355 Ringo Pop Profile [On Air - Live At The BBC (Vol.2)]
Recorded May 2 1966 at The BBC
356 I’m Only Sleeping (Mono Mix RM1) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
I’m Only Sleeping was completed May 6 1966 at Abbey Road Studios
357 Taxman (Take 11) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
358 Taxman (Take 11) [Anthology 2]
Overdubbing for Taxman Take 11 was done May 16 1966.
359 For No One (Take 10 Backing Track) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
I am assuming this is from the May 16 1966 session at Abbey Road but possibly from the May 9 1966 session. I believe the French horn solo was recorded at the final session on the 19th.
360 Yellow Submarine (Take 4 Before Sound Effects) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Recorded May 26 1966 at Abbey Road Studios
361 Yellow Submarine (Highlighted Sound Effects) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Recorded June 1 1966 at Abbey Road Studios
362 I Want To Tell You (Speech And Take 4) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Recorded June 2 1966 at Abbey Road Studios
363 Paperback Writer [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
364 Rain [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Paperback Writer single releases June 10 1966
365 Here, There And Everywhere (Take 6) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Recorded June 14 1966 at Abbey Road Studios
366 Got To Get You Into My Life (Second Version Unnumbered Mix) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
367 Got To Get You Into My life (Second Version Take 8) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Recorded June 17 1966 at Abbey Road Studios
368 She Said She Said (Take 15 Backing Track) [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Recorded June 21 1966 at Abbey Road Studios
369 Rock And Roll Music [Anthology 2]
370 She’s A Woman [Anthology 2]
Recorded June 30 1966 at Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan
371 Taxman [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
372 Eleanor Rigby [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
373 I’m Only Sleeping [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
374 Love You To [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
375 Here, There And Everywhere [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
376 Yellow Submarine [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
377 She Said She Said [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
378 Good Day Sunshine [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
379 And Your Bird Can Sing [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
380 For No One [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
381 Doctor Robert [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
382 I Want To Tell You [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
383 Got To Get You Into My Life [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
384 Tomorrow Never Knows [Revolver (Super Deluxe)]
Revolver releases August 5 1966 along with Eleanor Rigby and Yellow Submarine as a double A Sided single.
385 Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 1) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
386 Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 1) [Anthology 2]
387 Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 4) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded November 24 1966 at Abbey Road Studios
388 Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 7) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded November 29 1966 at Abbey Road Studios
389 When I’m 64 (Take 2) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded December 6 1966 at Abbey Road Studios
390 Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 7 And Edit) [Anthology 2]
391 Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 26) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
I believe the edit was done and take 26 was recorded December 8 1966 at Abbey Road Studios
392 Strawberry Fields Forever (Demo Sequence) [Anthology 2]
The final edit for the song was done on December 22 1966 at Abbey Road Studios
393 Penny Lane (Take 6) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded December 29 1966 at Abbey Road Studios
1967
394 Penny Lane (Vocal Overdubs And Speech) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded January 10 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
395 Penny Lane (Alternate Mix) [Anthology 2]
Likely created January 12 1967 at a later overdubbing session.
396 A Day In The Life (Take 1) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
397 A Day In The Life (Take 2) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
A Day In The Life began recording January 19 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
398 Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Take 1) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
399 Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Take 9 And Speech) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded February 1 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
400 Good Morning Good Morning (Take 1) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
401 Good Morning Good Morning (Take 8) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded February 8 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
402 Fixing A Hole (Take 1) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
403 Fixing A Hole (Speech & Take 3) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded February 9 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
404 A Day In The Life (Orchestra Overdub) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
405 A Day In The Life (Takes 1, 2, 6 & Orchestra) [Anthology 2]
406 A Day In The Life (Hummed Last Chord) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded February 10 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
407 Strawberry Fields Forever [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
408 Penny Lane [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane release as a double A Sided single February 13 1967
409 Only A Northern Song (Takes 3 & 12) [Anthology 2]
Recorded February 14 1967 at Abbey Road Studios. I do not believe these takes include the overdubs done on April 20th but would be interested in hearing from someone that knows more.
410 Good Morning Good Morning (Take 8 With Overdubs) [Anthology 2]
Recorded February 16 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
411 Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite! (Speech Before Take 1) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
412 Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite! (Takes 1 & 2) [Anthology 2]
Recorded February 17 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
413 Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite! (Take 7) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
414 Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite! (Take 7) [Anthology 2]
Recorded February 20 1967 these are duplicates but with different mixing and mastering
415 A Day In The Life (The Last Chord) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded February 22 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
416 Lovely Rita (Speech & Take 9) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded February 24 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
417 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Take 1) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded February 28 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
418 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Speech, False Start & Take 5) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
419 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Takes 6, 7 & 8) [Anthology 2]
Recorded March 2 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
420 Getting Better (Take 1) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded March 9 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
421 Getting Better (Take 12) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Likely recorded March 10 1967 following John Lennon’s LSD incident the previous day, but possibly both recorded on the 9th.
422 Within You Without You (Take 1) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
423 Within You Without You (George Coaching The Musicians) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded March 15 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
424 She’s Leaving Home (Take 1) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
425 She’s Leaving Home (Take 6) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded March 17 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
426 Within You Without You (Instrumental) [Anthology 2]
This version contains overdubs that were done on March 22 1967, but it’s possible this is based off the mix created April 3rd but it does not feature the sound effects overdubbed at that session so I’ve placed it here.
427 With A Little Help From My Friends (Take 1) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded March 29 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
428 Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (Take 5) [Anthology 2]
429 Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (Speech & Take 8) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Recorded April 1 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
430 You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) (Extended Stereo Mix) [Anthology 2]
Recorded May 17 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
431 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
432 With A Little Help From My Friends [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
433 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
434 Getting Better [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
435 Fixing A Hole [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
436 She’s Leaving Home [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
437 Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
438 Within You Without You [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
439 When I’m Sixty-Four [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
440 Lovely Rita [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
441 Good Morning Good Morning [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
442 Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
443 A Day In The Life [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)]
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band LP releases May 29 1967
444 All You Need Is Love [1 2015 Remaster]
445 Baby, You’re A Rich Man [Magical Mystery Tour 2009 Remaster]
All You Need Is Love single releases July 7 1967
446 I Am The Walrus (Take 16) [Anthology 2]
Recorded September 5 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
447 The Fool On The Hill (Demo) [Anthology 2]
Recorded September 6 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
448 Your Mother Should Know (Take 27) [Anthology 2]
Recorded September 16 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
449 The Fool On The Hill (Take 4) [Anthology 2]
Recorded September 25 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
450 Hello Goodbye (Take 16) [Anthology 2]
Recorded October 19 1967 at Abbey Road Studios
451 Hello Goodbye [1 2015 Remaster]
452 I Am The Walrus [The Beatles 1967-1970 2023 Mix]
453 Magical Mystery Tour [The Beatles 1967-1970 2023 Mix]
454 The Fool On The Hill [The Beatles 1967-1970 2023 Mix]
455 Flying [Magical Mystery Tour 2009 Remaster]
456 Blue Jay Way [Magical Mystery Tour 2009 Remaster]
457 Your Mother Should Know [Magical Mystery Tour 2009 Remaster]
Magical Mystery Tour releases November 27 1967 in the US before the UK EP.

Lonely Castle in the Mirror, by Mizuki Tsujimura
"Lonely Castle in the Mirror" is a genre-savvy portal fantasy about junior high students who get drawn into a mysterious castle when they're supposed to be in school. Kokoro had a terrible experience early in the school year that's made her terrified of facing her classmates, and develops some kind of (psychosomatic?) illness that prevents her from attending either the normal school or a special alternative school for students who need more support. Shortly after this, her bedroom mirror turns into a portal to the castle with six other students who are also not in school during the normal hours. The "Wolf Queen" in charge--an elementary school girl who enjoys allusions to "Little Red Riding Hood"--tells them all that there's a secret key in the castle that can grant one wish, and they have a year to find it and, potentially, use it. Also, if anyone is caught in the castle outside of the 9-5 school day timeframe, they'll all be eaten by a wolf.
So, these painfully shy students have the opportunity to make friends and have a non-terrifying experience with kids their own age, and they all enjoy bonding and playing video games and drinking tea together, and for the most part nobody cares about finding the key, because that would make the castle close and prematurely end their new friendship. For most of the book, the contrived quest stuff doesn't play into it. And then when it does, it kind of lampshades "oh yeah I have to do this on speedrun mode."
There are a lot of takes pointing out that books where "the magic goes away"/"everyone loses their memories"/"we just have to move on with our lives and pretend like the portal fantasy never happened" can be pretty messed up. In this book, however, I couldn't find myself relating to the characters because it felt like a perverse incentives situation. Yes, middle school is an emotionally volatile, turbulent, unpleasant environment full of many immature people. This is a pretty common experience, actually. Kokoro just can't handle it, and as a response, the infinitely patient teacher at the alternative school reassures her mother that she's battling really hard and it's not her fault, she just can't go to school, and then she gets to go through a portal into fantasy world with people who play video games and eat snacks all day...? I understand there's more to it than that, but something has to change about this situation because otherwise this really isn't the message you want to send. (Once we learn about the backgrounds and life situations of some of the other students, I can imagine how it was easier for people like Subaru and Aki to fall through the cracks, but it feels like, eg, Masamune and Ureshino's junior high situation should have had some kind of guidance counselor or adult in the room. The readers' guide in the back of the book describes Kokoro as a "futoko," and I understand this is more pervasive in Japan than elsewhere, but I have a hard time accepting that seventh graders staying home for months on end with no apparent homeschooling or tutoring gets such a shrug.)
The prose didn't really grab me, sometimes it felt awkward ("That day, Fuka apparently enjoyed the chocolates back home, for she faithfully reported to Kokoro that 'they were delicious.'") and there were a several parts with very. short. one. line. paragraphs.

Kokoro tried to convince herself that she hadn't been at home that day. Miori and the others had simply pounded on the door of an empty house, trampled over the patio, gone round and round over outside of the house. But nothing actually happened. Nothing at all. She never was about to be killed. And yet the next day, she said, "I have a stomachache." And she really did. It was no lie. And her mother chimed in: "You do look pale. Are you OK?" And that's when Kokoro stopped going to school.

A few paragraphs later:

Would she be able to protect herself?
The only place she could now go to freely from her bedroom was the castle.
If I'm in the castle, she started to think, then I'll be safe.
Only the castle beyond the mirror could offer her complete protection.

Girl, I know your mental health isn't the greatest, but we're talking about the place where people threatened you with being eaten alive by a wolf. ??? Sorry, my suspension of belief does not extend this far.
There's also a random red herring with a neighbor student whose father has an interest in researching fairy tales, and like, maybe that "real world" location/characters are related in some way to the portal world? No, it's just a fortuitous coincidence that helps Kokoro have access to more Western fairy tale info.
The good news is, about halfway through the characters start developing some genre-savviness and realizing what they have in common, and towards the end, things pick up significantly in terms of how and why some of the arbitrary fairy-tale logic came about. So it definitely sticks the landing in that way.
Bingo: Prologue/Epilogue, Author of Color, Book Club
Promise of the Flame, by Sylvia Louise Engdahl
At the end of "Stewards of the Flame," to which this book is a sequel, our heroes Jesse, Carla, and Peter had hijacked a spaceship and jumped to an uninhabited planet to set up a colony where humans could develop psionic powers free from the medical bureaucracy of Undine. Jesse's hyperspace jump was rushed and not perfectly calculated, so in order to ensure their oxygen supply makes it all the way to planet Maclairn (named after their late founder), the Group had to confront their deepest fear and brave the stasis boxes that had been Chekhov-gunned several times in the last section. As the existence of the sequel implies, the protagonists and most of their comrades survive stasis. But while, in "Stewards," the hyperspace navigation "error"/imperfection sets up the Group's ultimate test, here it casts a long shadow as Jesse keeps wondering, "could we have picked a better landing site if I hadn't screwed it up?"
The early days on Maclairn are a struggle. The first part of the book is a recurring cycle of "should we do things this way or that way? Well, we came here to set up a society fully founded on mind powers, we pretty much have to commit to the bit or else what's the point." Repeat ad infinitum. Later, this broadens somewhat to "we have to have psi powers coexist with modern technology to fulfill Ian [Maclairn]'s dream, otherwise what's the point." There are clear parallels to (Engdahl's older trilogy) "Children of the Star"; that society represents the endpoint if they go down a path of giving up on modern technology--and the burdens of agrarian, high-population-growth societies fall disproportionately on women. If "Stewards" had motifs of baptism, this is more of an Exodus story, with the characters sulking about "why did you bring us out of Undine just to starve in the wilderness, at least there we had enough to eat." "My God, came Carla’s thought, we’re homesick! Homesick for Undine! I never admitted that to myself, it was so foolish, I’d wanted so much to leave . . . I guess I just pushed it down inside, into a place I didn’t dare go. . . ."
The consequences of the hyperspace jump being off are a minor tonal retcon/change in perspective on the events of the first book. A more significant one, to me, involves love triangle dynamics. In "Stewards," we learn that Carla and Peter both previously had spouses who died under the authoritarian Undine government. Fortunately, Jesse shows up just when Carla is ready to love again, and their relationship brings him into the Group and thus enables their escape from Undine. "Promise" adds that Peter has been silently pining for Carla all along, but needed Jesse's starship skills too much to say anything. We're told the Group's adult recruits skew slightly female, but that isn't represented among the main characters, and you're telling me that none of them are Peter's type? All three of them sigh and angst about "oh, we're such great friends, we can't let this love triangle come between us," and at times it feels like it's setting up for a polygamy plotline (they're all highly powerful telepaths, they can't keep secrets from each other!) And then it just...goes nowhere. As in the first book, I can accept that sex is probably great among telepaths; I can't buy that every single person has to have sex in order to fully level up their telepathic sensitivity!
The best parts of "Promise" involve the culture clashes between Jesse, who grew up on Earth; the rest of the adult Group members, from Undine; and the Maclairn-born generation. Undine's environment is so tightly regulated, they don't even have insects or lizards, so the planet's "collective unconsciousness" doesn't have a fear of creepy-crawlies; Jesse's initial revulsion risks "contaminating" the psyche until everyone faces their fear.

“Horror vids involving animal life aren’t permitted on colony worlds,” Peter told him. “Haven’t you ever wondered why starship libraries don’t contain any? Earth has always banned their export as a measure to protect extraterrestrial lifeforms. It’s one of the few government trade regulations I think is wise.” Of course, Jesse realized. The average Earth citizen’s reaction would have been to kill the crawlies—if possible, to exterminate them. That hadn’t occurred to anyone yesterday. And horror vids often portrayed even intelligent aliens as repulsive; what kind of precedent would that set if similar ones were ever encountered?
Traditionally, said the knowledgebase, small farmers had chopped chickens’ heads off with a hatchet. Wringing their necks was said to be more humane, but nobody wanted to experiment on live, squawking chickens despite the specific instructions provided. These warned that the hardest part, in the physical sense, would be catching a grown chicken in the first place—a fact soon borne out by experience, as chickens are not devoid of telepathic sensitivity and the pursuers were unconsciously broadcasting their intent to kill.
Kel, like many of the Group’s other children, had been slow in learning to talk. It had taken awhile before it dawned on the adults that this was because the kids’ telepathic bonds with their parents had been so strongly encouraged that they felt no need to communicate vocally. Speech could not be allowed to die out in a psi-based culture; it was essential not only to reading but to the framing and communication of complex ideas. Now, everyone realized that like the skills for volitional control of the body, telepathic conveyance of concepts, as distinguished from emotions, must wait until the kids were older.

On the other hand, the scope of "this is dangerous, but we must, to commit to the psionic bit" and "well, we've come through a lot of tough situations before, but this time really is the end...jk never mind we got out of it" got repetitive. There was one scene towards the end where it's like "okay, we're almost done, I can see how telepathy might be used to enable a permanent self-sacrifice...nope, we're still going, huh," and even though some of the resolutions were nice callbacks/tying up foreshadowing, it was still a lot.
Like in James P. Hogan's "Voyage to Yesteryear," the kids who were raised outside of Earth and Undine's prejudices are, overall, a great step forward for humankind, but there can be some values dissonance. In both cases, the desire for lots of population growth leads to a much lower age of consent than Earthlings are used to. Justified somewhat more in Maclairn's case; telepathy means almost everyone wouldn't fathom hurting each other and of course sex is consensual, as well as amazing. On the other hand, in both cases, there's no prison infrastructure; if someone is determined to be evil and is posing a grave threat to others, you just have to kill them. "Promise" gets a little more philosophical about the problem of evil--if it's not nature and it's not nurture, what causes it? Free will? Sure, but it seems as if some people are also evil from day one even if their DNA is just fine.
There are a couple shoutouts to Lord of the Rings and Star Trek that fit in nicely. I found "it's just like using the Force, you know, like in that old vid, Star Wars" to be more of a distraction. Similarly, Engdahl's commitment to showing her work ("in the twentieth century on Earth, you know, people experimented with remote viewing!") got to be a distraction. But the exploration of "okay, let's try a rain dance, even if it fails we're learning something and pushing knowledge forward" was a great use of the "sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" trope, which is what I come to Engdahl for anyway.
Some people, like Peter, tend to believe in an afterlife; others, like Jesse, are more skeptical. Earth religions don't transfer well to other planets because the interstellar gap is too big for the collective unconsciousness to bridge. Despite this, characters use the word "God" (like in a telepathic context of "Carla . . . oh, God, Carla, answer me!") approximately 144 times. Do you have no one else's name to take in vain???
Criticisms aside, I do think that this is less heavy-handed than "Stewards" and at least as good a starting point!
Bingo: Dreams, Prologues/Epilogues, Self-Published, Survival. One prominent character acquires a physical disability midway through the story. Jesse and Peter's Criminal record on Undine is not very important (since the entire book is set on or around Maclairn), but it becomes more prominent in the last section.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, by Shannon Chakraborty
Once upon a time (1100s Indian Ocean) there was a notorious nakhudha (pirate captain) named Amina al-Sirafi. Ten years ago, she retired, and now she's a single mom with a bad knee and a leaky roof. However, a wealthy noblewoman who believes her granddaughter has been kidnapped by a Western European would-be sorcerer insists on having Amina rescue her, never mind Amina's own family responsibilities. So Amina has to put the band back together, staying one step ahead of the authorities while getting to the bottom of the mystery.
Amina and her crew are likable rogues. I found this easier to get into than Chakraborty's "City of Brass". That book focused more on a long-term conflict between two factions, neither of whom consistently seem like the "good guys"; maybe that's supposed to be sending a message about RL actually works, but I found it confusing at times. In contrast, the early sections of "Amina" are about tracking down individual allies, from a gay smuggler stuck in a prison in Aden, to a navigator and family man in Mogadishu, while researching the notorious Falco Palamenestra and speculating what he might be up to.
At first, Amina's Muslim identity comes through more in the ways characters talk, and some level of monster-fighting exorcism (like Catholicism in some horror movies), than actual practice. But gradually, we see more of how she's struggled to be a parent in her post-pirate life:

If the criminal past didn’t alert you, I have not always been a very good Muslim. Drinking and missing prayer were among my lesser sins, and if I tried to straighten myself up every year when Ramadan rolled around—a new life of piety easy to imagine while dazed with thirst and caught up in the communal joy of taraweeh—I typically lapsed into my usual behavior by the time the month of Shawwal had ended.
But then Marjana was born. And Asif was . . . lost. And if one of these events made me feel as though I had no right to ever call upon God again, the other filled with me a driving need I could not deny. So I keep my daily prayers, even if I feel unworthy the entire time.

To me, this rang true as a depiction of a complicated, realistic, person of faith.
This is a time and place that I knew very little about. For instance, one plotline involves the island of Socotra, an island off the coast of Somalia which is today part of Yemen. There are caves there with graffiti from sailors going back thousands of years, in Indian and Greek and Ethiopic scripts. This is a real place! I would not have been able to tell you anything about it before reading this book! So Chakraborty's vivid descriptions of places this, and of the diverse cultures and religious backgrounds of pirates who live and work alongside each other, is compelling. There's a danger in this as a reader, though, in that getting too caught up in the "worldbuilding" of the actual world can make it feel like its "foreignness" is what makes it speculative and fantastical, which is obviously inaccurate and beside the point. That's one reason why jumping in at the deep end with an honest-to-goodness sea monster in chapter one might have been a good choice, to remind us that there really are otherworldly things happening.
The themes of "rich people love to jerk poor people around" and "the male gaze sucks" are clear, but there's lots of quippy banter mixed in.

“That was you, was it not? The woman who poisoned the soldiers at the wali’s office, freed a crew of homicidal pirates, set a score of ships on fire, and fled the harbor in the middle of the night?” “I would never confirm such a thing and put you at risk of consorting with criminals. But it was two ships, not a score. I wouldn’t wish to encourage exaggeration.”
Sailing past its ancient breakwater—the stones said to have been set there by giants—you might feel as though you have entered a mythical port of magic from a sailor’s yarn. You would be sorely mistaken. Aden is where magic goes to be crushed by the muhtasib’s weights, and if wonder could be calculated, this city would require an ordinance taxing it.
“She knows you are a pirate?” “I am not a pirate,” Majed huffed. “I am a cartographer with a checkered past.” “Yes. A checkered past of piracy.”

The book contains a few chapters that are "in-universe documentation" or chronicles of the places and people in the main narrative. This is a trope I really enjoy at times. However, in this case, I didn't feel it added much, beyond underscoring the themes that "men feel threatened by powerful women, oh no."
The biggest issue for me was how all the diverse, sympathetic characters just kind of went along with developments that felt more reminiscent of 2020s Tumblr idiolect than 1100s Indian Ocean. How fortuitously convenient! (At least it got a Hugo nom.)
Smaller quibbles: the timeframe with Amina in her forties is appeSaling to the extent that it's a story about a working mother trying to follow her own dreams while also desperately missing her kid. But in order to make that work, the narrative sometimes withholds a lot of important information about the tragedies in Amina's past/her relationship with her child's father until it can be brought forward for dramatic effect, and it made me wonder what a story from the younger Amina's POV would look like without the artificial suspense problem.
More broadly, I felt like the second half's pace wasn't as crisp as the first--there's a dramatic near-death experience, then a bunch of fantastical creatures are introduced in quick succession as if to make up for the "worldbuilding via the actual world" stuff earlier, then we get a very contrived in-universe sequel hook, then we double back to a setting that had already been introduced. Whereas the first part was "we need to go to A to do B and then that gives us a clue that leads us to C."
Who wore it better?

“It is invalid!” I burst out. “Our nikah. It is not permissible for me to marry a non-Muslim.” Raksh frowned. “Is that why the man had me say all those words about God and prophets?” He returned to studying the contract. “Trust me, dear wife, I can be a vast number of things.” “But—but you are not a believer.” “Of course I am. Best to know the competition, yes?”

Compare "Alif the Unseen" (which is one of my favorites and I suspect I probably was harsh on "City of Brass" by comparison):

"But I told him I couldn't marry him even if I wanted to, because I can't marry an unbeliever. And he laughed and said he'd been a believer, 'for a the better part of a thousand years,' I believe were the exact words." "What?" said Alif. "Vikram? Vikram the madman who bites people?" "He might be those things," said the convert hastily, "but did you ever know him to do or say anything really blasphemous?" "I guess not."

Bingo: Alliterative Title, Criminals, Dreams, Reference Materials, Readalong! It's planned to be First in a Series but the sequels aren't out yet. (Statistics from last year just came out and this was the most popular book across all 2023 bingo cards, with ~200 reads!)
Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik
When I read "Uprooted" and griped about the implausible romance and/or reactive plot, people's reactions were "try Spinning Silver, it's an improvement in some of those ways." And yeah, it is! I was aware that Spinning Silver was set in the same world as Uprooted, ~1700s Eastern Europe but with some fantasy elements, and that it was based on Rumplestiltskin.
But it's a lot more than a simple retelling. "Spinning Silver" teases out the individual trope elements of Rumplestiltskin--a mercenary father trying to get his daughter to marry up, the dead mother looming over the plot, a woman given the impossible task of making gold out of other elements, terrible bargains, aloof and unknowable beings from the fae world, the power of knowing someone's true name, the horror of a mother trading her child to inhuman creatures--and blows them all up, turning them inside-out, and creating something original.
It also does a lot with POV. For the first chunk, we have two young women from a small town who go back and forth telling the stories of their business dealings. But as the book goes on, we start jumping into more and more people's heads, and everyone's voice is very different. Sometimes this can be used for dramatic irony; we hear what character A thinks of their interaction with B, then we jump back and tell the same scene from B's POV and what was going through their head is very different than what A assumes. Once in a while, this makes the plot drag--there's a couple of scenes towards the end where we can't have any suspense about "oh no, will they find what they're looking for" because we've just seen the corresponding scene from another POV, and it would have been more effective to rearrange them--but overall, things are propelled forward much more intriguingly than "Uprooted."
Our POV characters are:

• Miryem, the daughter of the village moneylender. Miryem's family is Jewish, which means her father is one of the few people socially permitted to work as a moneylender--but he's more interested in currying favor with the neighbors than getting his debts repaid, so his family goes hungry. Miryem steps up, grows "cold" and "wintry," and takes on his job, to her parents' horror. But an offhand remark about "look, I can turn silver into gold" (metaphorically, because of, you know, capitalism) inadvertently catches the ear of the "Staryk," monstrous elven raiders who live in a parallel realm.
• Wanda, the daughter of an abusive alcoholic. Miryem is like "he can't pay off his debt because he's drunk everything away, I'll have them repay me by hiring Wanda to assist me with our work, I know this is cold and ruthless but I have to." Then when we see it from Wanda's POV she's like "you're giving me money to be out of the house and away from my father? And you'll even feed me? What an undeserved kindness!" Her reaction to "learning to manipulate numbers and do arithmetic is an amazing kind of magic!" felt cheesy and over-the-top, but the contrast between the literal phrasing of a royal decree and the way she "translates" it was more convincing.
• Irina, the daughter of the duke of Vysnia (Vilnius, Lithuania). Like Wanda, her mother is dead and her father is trying to arrange the most profitable marriage for her, never mind what she wants. When Miryem is compelled to turn magical Staryk silver into gold, she does so by having an acquaintance forge silver jewelry which the duke purchases--so when the gold takes on magical powers in the Staryk world, so does the silver with Irina, and brings her to the attention of a tsar. Despite her cold relationship with her father, she learns a lot from him and is a true politician, adept as anyone at cutting deals to keep her realm safe.
• Stepon, Wanda's younger brother. His narration is very simple and childlike (amazing cold open with "I like goats because I know what they will do.") It's possible he has some kind of sensory/mental health issues, or it's possible he's just eleven and overstimulated by unfamiliar crowds.
• Magreta, Irina's nurse/caretaker. She can be kind and supportive, but her casual antisemitism provides a contrast to how Miryem is treated by the villagers.
• Mirnatius, the tsar. For a while we mostly see him through Irina's POV ("this guy is so full of himself he requires a new outfit every day, that's no way to manage the economy"), but again, his narration provides a very different perspective on what's going on.

So I said the romance was better than "Uprooted," in that we didn't have the implausible "elderly magician berates young woman all the time but also they can't keep their hands off each other." In "Spinning Silver," both {Miryem and the Staryk king} and {Irina and Mirnatius} are paired off without much say-so on anybody's part, it's being manipulated by magic/higher-ups. So the timeframe of the book is mostly them all learning how to tolerate each other, and the romance is kind of left to your imagination in the future era.
The Staryk magic is kind of like...you can see their roads briefly if they make incursions in the human world, but as soon as they've disappeared, you start forgetting them and it really takes effort to remember. This means that if someone, like Miryem, disappears into the Staryk world, she's forgotten almost immediately except for little irregularities that don't seem right. These depictions were well-done. (Except that I was trying to remember if the Staryk were the same as the [jerk, mundane human] aristocrats in "Uprooted." They're not. I think I was half-remembering "Marek," the creepy prince, instead of "Staryk," the winter elves.)
There's a cool liminal space that sets up back-and-forth "communication" between the human and Staryk realms, and again, the multiple POVs are a good framework for this. On the other hand, there are some things, like, why do the Staryk want human gold, that are kind of chalked up to "magic idk" and not completely spelled out; for some of the confrontations at the end, again, it's better not to worry too much about hard magic systems and just go with the vibes. There's also an earlier plot that definitely plays the trope of "the less the audience knows about the plan, the more likely it is to succeed" trope straight.
Especially early on, it can be a very bleak "everyone sucks here" setting. Wanda and Stepon's father is horrific. Irina's father is mercenary and sets her up with Mirnatius, a dandy who abuses animals for fun. Nobody in the village respects Miryem's family, and when she tries to reclaim what she's due, her parents are horrified. The Staryk raid the village and carry off women and demand impossible tasks. There's a lot of "I have my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it" coming from all sides. Even though the plot is moving forward, it's hard to feel like there's anything to root for.
But cracks of light shine through. Miryem's mother, and her mother, defy the "dead moms" trope, and are able to be loving parental figures to Wanda, Stepon, and their brother Sergey. Miryem's grandfather is wise and conscientious, warning her of the risks that some of her choices pose not only to their family but to the Vysnia Jewish community as a whole, but still recognizing she's mature enough to make her own choices. They even make use of a real-world Jewish blessing for the first blossoming of trees in the spring. Even when people are trying to be cold, sometimes they're just too human!
Bingo: Alliterative Title, Under the Surface (not for most of the plot, but there is a secret tunnel that gets use), Multi-POV (and how!)
The Infinite Arena (edited by Terry Carr)
Anthology of SF short stories about sports, stumbled upon while browsing a used bookstore. I like sports and the first one was based on "Casey at the Bat," so okay, sold.
It's from 1977, and the stories were originally published in the 40s-70s timeframe. The sex ratio among writers appears to be nine men, zero women, which is pretty "impressive" considering there are only seven stories. Three of them are installments from series that feature the same recurring character(s), so maybe that explains some of the...paucity? I don't want to say they're "flat" or "shallow" or anything, most of the contemporary "deep" stuff isn't to my taste either, but it feels like there's "no 'there' there" for several of these. In some cases, it's like, "we have to raise the stakes by involving gambling/someone's fate being on the line"; in others, it's looking for parallels between sports and other aspects of life (warfare? weird alien insects?) that provide the impetus for two plots to intertwine.
-Joy in Mudville (Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson)--very impressionable and earnest teddy-bear-like alien species imprints on humans, and immediately become obsessed with baseball. One of the aliens names himself Mighty Casey, but unfortunately, opponents can rattle him by reminding him of how "Casey at the Bat" turned out. Fortunately, what poetry can break, poetry can also fix...

"You untentacled mammal! raged Ush Karuza. "You sslimeless conformation of bored flesh!" Alex had long ago discovered that mankind rarely reacts to insults couched in nonhuman terms. It did not offend him at all to be told that he was slimeless.

-Bullard Reflects (Malcolm Jameson)--Dazzle Dart is a sport played by bouncing light rays around with reflective gear and aiming for a goal at the opponents' end. Like American football, one team is designated on offense at a time, and the other is on defense, but you can "intercept" and score from on defense. In Dazzle Dart, this is worth bonus points. Except instead of normal goals and "turnover" goals being worth one and two points respectively, it's twenty-five and fifty. And you thought Quidditch was silly. (This is from 1941.)
-The Body Builders (Keith Laumer)--the best of the stories, in my opinion, in that it predicts both technological advancement and the social changes that will ensue in a clever way.

So it's a little artificial maybe--but what about the Orggies, riding around in custom-built cars that are nothing but substitute personalities, wearing padded shoulders, contact lenses, hearing aids, false teeth, cosmetics, elevator shoes, rugs to cover their bald domes? If you're going to wear false eyelashes, why not false eyes? Instead of a nose bob, why not bob the whole face? At least a fellow wearing a Servo is honest about it, which is more than you can say for an Orggie doll in a foam-rubber bra--not that Julie needed any help in that department.

-The Great Kladnar Race (Robert Silverberg and Randall Garrett)--bored humans on an alien planet try introducing something like horse races that they can bet on. However, the aliens' concepts of sports and competition and betting don't necessarily align with the humans'.
-Mr. Meek Plays Polo (Clifford D. Simak)--guy who has only seen one space polo game in his life somehow accidentally stumbles into being the "expert" space polo coach, oops. Also there are weird alien bugs that are great at computation (a little like "The Circle").
-Sunjammer (Arthur C. Clarke, whose name is spelled wrong on the front cover)--a solar flare interrupts a solar sailboat race. Felt timely given the storm of a few days ago! (I did not get to see the aurora, alas.)
-Run to Starlight (George R. R. Martin)--short and slow but extremely muscular aliens enter an American football league and crush everyone, metaphorically and literally. However, the aliens' concepts of sports and competition don't necessarily align with the humans'. Too bad he never wrote anything else ;)
Bingo: 5+ short stories.

As a former friendly of Adora's who is a part of the Black community. I wanted to make a statement. Due to me not having enough followers to go live, I can only share my sentiments via being a guest on other panels when my social anxiety lets me. However, I did want to share my sentiments in a post here.
Weeks ago I went to a live explaining I had not seen any racial comments from Adora and I would change my stance if I did. I made a comment about the Reddit page (I see it is also recorded). When I first scrolled through the Reddit page (her first accountability live) there were a lot of transphobic comments misgendering, photos and video screenshots discussing looks, etc. which I do and still disagree with. I do not believe calling someone out has to be in the form of disrespecting their gender identity and this goes for EVERYONE in your community. From my time here today, I do see this page has cleaned up a lot since I first joined, and I am glad the advocacy has increased since and you all are calling out harmful people!
I want to say to Adora I am completely disgusted by what you have been doing since having a platform on TikTok. I am completely disgusted by your only friends. I am completely disgusted by your previous racial and misogynist comments. I am completely disgusted that you lacked accountability and gave none of your close paid subs, followers, and friends closure. Instead, you ran away like the coward you have "fought" strongly against for the past few years. I pray the people who defended you including myself find closure and continue the good fight despite your lack of advocacy in the community.
To Andy, Jasmine, Abby, Barbie, etc. I hope you all are surrounded by people who love you and will never put you in a position to host lives, ask questions, and defend them countless times because they knew your heart would be of good use to make themselves look "good". I can't imagine the countless comments you all and more have come across calling you a liar, "hater", and a bad taste for the community that seeks some sort of "revenge". It was complete victim blaming and I am disgusted with myself that I was not a voice from the beginning. I commend you all.
To Steph, AB, mods, and other (current) friends, you all did well hiding your racism and lack of advocacy for months. I am not sure if you all attended an Academic of Arts but the performance was honestly outstanding. What you all do is not a form of activism. Going against another minority community and painting them to be liars to "fight" for the LGBTQIA+ community not only damages the LGBTQIA+ community but it damages the African American community who not only are a part of that community, but the ones like myself who defend daily. If I ever see any of you in a live advocating for LGBTQIA+, I will join as a guest and I will call out the racism you all defend every chance I get until you take accountability for the black fishing, racial bias, etc. you all continue to defend. PERIOD.
To Mel, when you go live I pray to every God one believes in that you do not add a "but" to your apology. Every minority community has had enough of privileged people explaining their harmful ways. You have multiple accounts and you could have went live to address this immediately and tell everyone you will no longer associate with Adora. This gives me a bad feeling that you will continue to be friends with Adora behind closed doors as you still have never cut Hull off completely (we know). I can be wrong, so prove everyone wrong. If that wrong is not proven, please be prepared for your Tik Tok lives to come to an end as well.
As part of a minority community that has looked up to activists such as Marsha P. Johnson who not only were discriminated against and k" lled for the color of their skin, but also for their gender identity and sexuality, I find it my duty to fight for the LGBTQIA+ community. I will continue to do so for every minority community that faces harmful bias daily. I will continue to unlearn the bias I have been taught by the American educational system no matter what. When I become a mother, I will provide my children with what I should have learned as a child. I understand firsthand the fight for people to let you EXIST. The battle for people to RESPECT you. The fight for people to not be AFRAID of you. The struggle for people to ALLOW you to be you. I will never go against a minority community because of people like Adora or others who use activism to fuel their hatred and harmful actions. Negative isms will never be in my vocabulary.
Someone one day asked me to touch gas and I told them I couldn't afford it. Outside is too expensive! So unfortunately you all will still see me throughout people's lives adding my two senses as always with my glass of wine. P.S. apple does not allow me to download the Reddit app because I owe them coins, so I will try to respond to comments if I can throughout the evening if any.
In the words of Malcolm X, "Truth is on the Side of the Oppressed". Continue fighting the good fight (not literally, don't get a black eye or do and sue to pay off them student loans!). Take your meds, drink water, and cut off that toxic relationship!

• Z

I’ve upscaled as much as I possibly could by myself. The whole “word of mouth” thing only takes you so far when you’re in a small town of 10k so I need to reach the cities neighboring me. So I want to know what ads have worked best for you?

It's been a long time since I last posted about one of my grandmothers, possibly 2020 when my paternal grandmother broke her hip and was in hospital, with everyone convinced she'd get covid & unalive.
Well this evening I've gotten a WhatsApp message from my estranged father, I think I've blocked him so he couldn't call or text, or he chose WhatsApp so he could see if I'd read it. Anyway, apparently his mother is very unwell and if I want to see her again this is my last chance.
The thing is, years ago when I used to visit her at her bungalow, my father would sometimes turn up and I'd have to lock myself in the bathroom. I eventually told her I didn't feel safe at hers any more and would prefer to meet in public places. She told me I was being dramatic and refused to meet me in public places & only messaged me once again, plus visited for the cheque incident I posted about.
Remember I live a 5 hour drive away, one of my sisters lives a 7 hour drive away, & her other 3 grandchildren are within 10 minutes of her. She once cancelled on me visiting her bungalow while I was down because my cousin had just called to say she was coming by. No idea why I couldn't be there with my cousin. My maternal family think it's because my father wasn't free to pop by while I was there.
So anyway, this woman has chosen not to have a relationship with me for like a decade if it means meeting in cafes or me joining her at bingo or something. Going to see her is likely going to involve being cornered by my father. I'm now a wheelchair user so it's going to be a palaver to visit anyway, without the added ability for my father to block me in.
I think I'm going to phone her, & maybe see if I can do a video call with her, but no matter what's going on health wise she's going to sound like she's on her last leg, so it's going to be hard to take this seriously. She & my father have cried wolf so many times.
Is it OK to not feel guilty about this? I don't feel it's safe for me to visit, and they've lied to me so many times I can't believe a word out of their mouths. The woman is in her late 80s so it is coming sometime. I don't think I'll feel bad when it happens though. But I do feel bad about not feeling bad, if that makes any sense.
I am tempted to respond to my father to get her a postal vote in case she holds on long enough to get the Tories out, but that's an impulse I'll have to control.

Episode 5: Chapter 15: Friday the 13th
Friday, June 13th: After the intro, the episode starts off with all of the liars except for Faran in the middle of class. The teacher hands out test papers and puts 30 minutes on the clock. Nia gets a text on her phone. The text says “Some people just can’t keep their lips to themselves. You use yours to kiss, I use mine to tell. 🌹” Noa is visibly bothered and she asks to go to the bathroom. Noa exits the class and Imogen was the only person to notice Noa’s expression. She asks to excuse herself to the bathroom and she exits as well. She follows after Noa. Imogen asks Noa what’s wrong. Noa is getting ready to tell Imogen everything, but she realizes that if she says anything to Imogen that she’ll have to tell her about her kissing Jen, and right now she can’t tell anyone. She says that she got a message about her mom and she just got a little upset, but she’ll be okay. Imogen gives Noa a hug and pats her on the back.
Faran is in her room on her laptop. Since 5 days after her final girl test and lifting that beam then getting attacked exhausted her, we can see bandages on her arm due to her attack. Her dad, Zeke, comes into the room and she immediately closes her laptop. He asks if she needs anything. She tells him that she’s good. He then asks her if she’s telling the truth about what happened. She says that she has no reason to lie. She says that she’s already told him the same thing 10 times. She tells him that she had a little accident and she exhausted herself too much, nothing is going on. He leaves the room. She reopens her laptop and we see that she’s on Spooky Spaghetti. She opens a post from a user named “Anonymouse.” In this post, this user claims to be the first person to have made a post about Bloody Rose, which means that they are the creator of Bloody Rose. This post is adding more and more to the lore of Bloody Rose. Faran calls all of this lore bullshit, but she continues to read. She then gets a knock on her window. She opens it and it’s Henry. She asks why he didn’t just knock on the door. He says that he knows her dad doesn’t want any visitors right now so he had to come to the window. He comes into her room through the window, Billy Loomis style. He then says “We need to talk.”
The guys at the pool are wondering where Faran is at. Ash walks up to all of the guys and tells them that Mouse talked to Faran and Faran had a little mishap and she couldn’t come so she put him in charge for the day.
School is over for the day and the girls exit the school. Imogen teases Tabby and asks how things are going with Christian. Tabby says that things are going good. Imogen asks if that’s all she has to say. Tabby says that she really doesn’t have much to say about Christian and he’s a sweet guy. Tabby asks how things are with Johnny. Imogen says that they’re totally into each other but if Tabby wants to be discreet about Christian, she’ll be the same way with Johnny. They giggle and then Imogen gets a text. The text reads “Mother would’ve liked Johnny. If only she hadn’t ended it all before it even got started. 🌹” Imogen and Tabby see a bright red rental car drive by and they see Bloody Rose driving inside.
3:31PM:
Noa is working her shift at Pinball Pizza. Jen is supposed to be there, but she didn’t show up. Noa tells Benny that she’s going on her break. She goes to the back of the restaurant and she pulls out her phone. We can see that she’s tried calling Jen 12 times already but she hasn’t answered any of the calls. She calls Jen a 13th time but she doesn’t answer. She sends Jen a voicemail saying “Where the fuck are you? You’re supposed to be working right now and Benny didn’t seem too happy either! Do you know how hard I worked to get you a job here? We kiss and you just disappear? That’s fucked up!” She thinks about sending it but she deletes the voicemail and when she turns around, Benny is behind her and it scares her for a moment. He asks if she’s seen Jen. Noa says that she hasn’t seen her since yesterday. Benny says that when Noa sees Jen to tell her that she’s fired. Nia tries to plead with Benny but he says that he’s given her too many chances and he’s given up on her so that’s it.
Henry & Faran are talking in her room. Henry asks why Faran has been avoiding him. She asks him why their relationship has been so traumatizing for him that he tells randos about it. He says that he didn’t mean for her to get offended, but he asked his question first so she has to answer it. Faran says that Henry has been such an asshole recently and she needed space. Henry says that he thinks he’s given her enough space and they should be able to talk things out. Now, let’s cut to Zeke in the living room. He gets a text message. In the message it says “Your daughter’s been a liar. Couldn’t you tell? When Pinochio lies, his nose grows longer, when Faran lies, her spine curves. 🌹”
Mouse is out riding her bike around town with a camera in hand. She rides her bike to Bloody Rose’s cabin. She walks up to the door and begins twisting the knob. It’s open. She walks inside and begins to take pictures of the inside of the cabin. She is excited and freaked out at the same time. She then hears a noise from outside. She sees Bloody Rose walking around outside through the window. Blood Rose opens the door slowly and begins to check around the cabin. She pulls out a phone and sends Mouse a message. Luckily, Mouse’s phone is on silent. The message reads “Come out, come out wherever you are rodent. Looks like you’re back for round 2 of our game.” Bloody Rose continues to search around the cabin so Mouse takes the chance to run out of the cabin and onto her bike.
Imogen is working her shift at Millwood Creamery. Johnny comes up behind her and kisses her on her cheek. She smiles. All of a sudden, a woman walks into the shop shaking. She frantically walks up to the counter. Imogen asks if everything is okay. The woman breathes heavily and begins to talk “Man… chasing me… I need my inhaler.” She drops to the floor and begins heavily breathing. The woman is able to get a couple of words out and she says “PURSE… I NEED INHALER!” Imogen begins frantically searching through the woman’s purse. Johnny grabs the woman and sits her at one of the booths. Imogen finds the woman’s inhaler and hands it to her. The woman thanks Imogen. She continues to heavily breathe but she’s okay now. A man suddenly bursts through the door. The woman yells “THAT MAN! HE TRIED TO RAPE ME!” Imogen stands up and stands in front of the man. He tries to get her to move but she tells him to back off before she has to call the police. The man scoffs at Imogen and says that she won’t do anything. Johnny grabs his phone and dials 911 but doesn’t press the call button. He asks the man if he would like to bet. The man backs up and walks out the door.
Henry & Faran continue their conversation. Their talk turns into an argument about Henry’s recent behavior and Faran constantly wanting nothing to do with Henry. In the middle of that argument, Zeke bursts into the room and he says “Faran, we need to talk!” He & Henry make eye contact. He asks Henry what he thinks he’s doing here. He then kicks Henry out due to his no visitor rule right now. Henry says that he was just leaving. Henry walks out the door and leaves. Faran’s dad shows her the text message and asks what this person means and who it is. Faran gets a message on her phone that says “Don’t tell daddy about our little secret meeting. 🌹” Faran says that she doesn’t know and that person is probably just messing with them.
7PM:
Noa ends her shift at Pinball Pizza. She walks out of the place and she bumps into a woman. Noa recognizes the woman as Jen’s mom and he introduces herself. Noa asks Jen’s mom if she’s seen Jen today since she didn’t show up to her shift. Her mom says that last time she talked to Jen was yesterday when she told her that she would be at her dad’s house to pick up a couple things. Noa thanks her and heads off.
Tabby & Christian are cleaning up at the Orpheum. Tabby reminds Christian that they never got to watch Blacula together. Christian says that they could though. Christian asks when Tabby’s free. Tabby says that she can’t today since her mom wouldn’t be okay with her staying at a boy’s house this late, and tomorrow she plans on laying in bed all day since it’s her day off so maybe some other day this week. Christian says that he’s always available whenever Tabby is. Tabby smiles and they continue cleaning up. All of a sudden, Tabby gets a call. It’s from an unknown number, she’s afraid but a bit excited at the same time since it could be PIFT. It’s PIFT, they call her to let her know that they really did enjoy her film, however, it will not be being screened at the festival. Tabby’s heart is broken but she puts a strong face on. The call ends and Christian asks what happened. Tabby begins to cry and she falls into Christian’s arms. Wes walks in and he asks what happened. Tabby tells them that she the film they made for PIFT isn’t going to be screened at the festival. Christian consoles her then Wes begins to rub Tabby’s back, which makes her feel a bit uncomfortable but he continues to do it.
Mouse is in her room on her computer. She posts the pictures of Bloody Rose’s cabin that she took earlier onto Spooky Spaghetti. Lola walks in and tells Mouse that dinner is ready. Mouse gets up and hugs Lola and thanks her then she leaves the room. Lola sees that Spooky Spaghetti is on Mouse’s screen. Lola takes a seat in Mouse’s chair and she begins to scroll through Mouse’s posts and she’s reading them. We skip to 15 minutes later: Lola is still looking through all of Mouse’s posts then Mouse walks back into the room. Mouse asks what Lola is doing. Lola says that this website is scary and Mouse shouldn’t be on it. She begins to question why Mouse is on it. Mouse says that she enjoys reading posts on there. Lola says that Mouse has also been making her own posts. Lola tells Mouse to stay off of websites like this since these kinds of websites give you viruses. Mouse asks Lola if she’s gonna tell Mouse’s moms. Lola says that she won’t tell them as long as Mouse listens to her. Lola then says that it’ll be their little secret and she does “shhh” while holding her finger up to her mouth and smiling.
Noa shows up to Jen’s dad’s house. However, to her surprise, a husband and wife answer the door. She’s confused. The wife asks if she needs something. Noa asks if Jen is home. The wife says that there’s no Jen living there and that Noa must have the wrong home. Noa looks at the husband and says that he’s Jen’s dad so he should know her. He says that he doesn’t have any daughters, only 2 sons. The wife comes to a realization. The wife says that Noa must be talking about their ex babysitter, Jen. The wife tells Noa that Jen used to babysit their 2 sons, but they caught her stealing expensive items from them so they had to fire her and almost had her arrested. The husband says that Jen came back a couple of days ago and stole a watch from them so they had to have her arrested. Noa apologizes for her mistake and begins walking away while calling Jen a lying bitch. She then gets a notification. It’s a message from the number that texted her in class earlier in the day. The text says “Come to this location if you’re ready to be a final girl. And remember, this stays between you and me or you’ll be hurting the person you love most.” A location is attached along with an image of Jen at a bus stop, the same bus stop that Imogen was at in episode 2. Noa says “Oh shit!” and she begins springing for her car.
Imogen & Johnny finally finish their shift and begin to close up. The woman from earlier says that she should probably go since they’re closing up. Imogen insists that the woman stays. Imogen gets a message from an unknown number. It says “Wow Imogen, good on you for helping out. If only your mom were here to help out with the baby. 🌹” A picture of her baby in her crib is then attached. Imogen begins to panic and Johnny asks what’s wrong. Imogen yells “My baby!” She begins to dial one of Estelle’s dads. He answers. Imogen frantically asks if everything is okay with Estelle. He says yeah and that she’s asleep in her crib. She says that he needs to check on her now. He asks why. She says just do it. He runs upstairs to check on the baby and she’s okay. He says that Imogen almost gave him a heart attack and that wasn’t funny. He asks why she’s acting like this. All she says is “Because Rose…” She stops herself and says that she just had a bad dream about Estelle. He thanks her for caring about Estelle but says that Estelle’s gonna be okay in his household so it’s no need for Imogen to act like this. He says bye and hangs up. The woman at the booth says “I used to know a Rose. Rose Waters..” Imogen’s eyes widen and she asks what Rose was like. The woman tells Imogen to take a seat and she’ll tell her all about Rose. Imogen asks Johnny if he’s okay with this and he says yeah.
Noa arrives at the location. She realizes that it’s Bloody Rose’s cabin that her, Mouse, & Faran were at in episode 1. She takes a deep breath and she walks up to the cabin. There is a note outside of the cabin with a rose next to it. The note says “Don’t be afraid to enter without permission. I’m sure another charge wouldn’t hurt.” Noa rolls her eyes and enters the cabin. She sees a trail of roses on the floor. She follows them to the back of the cabin, where she finds a table. The table has a note, a rose, and a clock on it. She reads the note. It says “Some people’s pasts are better kept hidden, but now you must face yours. No matter how hard you try to forget it, the past always comes back to bite. You’re used to being locked up so embrace it. Escape the cabin by any means necessary. 30 minutes on the clock bitch, don’t let it hit 0 or the ghost of the past comes out to play.”
Back to the Millwood Creamery, we find out many things about Rose Waters. We find out that this woman is Rose Waters’ ex best friend and they just fell out of contact months ago. We find out that when Rose Waters had Angela & Archie, she had bad mental problems. His favorite place to be was the playground so Rose would take him & Angela there everyday. Other kids were scared of him because he would bully them, but Rose refused to believe that her son could be a bully so she convinced herself that other kids were scared of him because he was ugly. Archie wasn’t actually deformed, but Rose made him feel that way and she began to hide him from the public eye and never let him out of the house.
Tabby is waiting outside for her mom to pick her up. She then gets a call from her mom. Her mom tells her that her car engine won’t start so she’s gonna be a little late picking her up. Her mom hangs up and Tabby gets a message. Tabby looks bothered so Wes asks what’s wrong. Tabby says that her moms engine won’t start so she’s gonna be late picking her up. Wes offers to give Tabby a ride and Tabby says sure. She texts her mom telling her that a friend offered to take her home so her mom doesn’t have to worry. Her mom asks what friend and Tabby tells her that Christian is gonna give her a ride. Her mom says okay and Tabby gets a message from someone else. The message says “Wes wants you to ride in his car? I wonder if that’s the only thing that he wants you to ride. 🌹” Tabby obviously seems a bothered by this message but she tries to hide it and gets into Wes’ car.
Noa tries to break the windows of the cabin but she isn’t able to. She starts to get frustrated. She looks for anything to pick the lock with but she doesn’t find anything.
Back to Imogen and the woman at the creamery, they continue their conversation. Johnny tells Imogen that he’s leaving and asks if she’s okay with locking up. She says yeah and he leaves. We find out that as the years went on, Rose’s mental state crumbled even more. Rose moved to Rosewood for a little while last year and she started seeing a therapist named Doctor Sullivan for her hallucinations of Archie, but the pills only made her hallucinations worse. Rose only stayed there for 1 month though and decided to move back to Millwood where she struggled to get on her feet. The therapist, Doctor Sullivan moved to Millwood recently and Rose was supposed to start seeing Doctor Sullivan again, but she no showed the appointment. The woman reveals that she lived in Rosewood too but moved to Millwood to help Rose get back on her feet since Rose was her best friend, but Rose stopped answering her messages and she hasn’t seen her since. Imogen seems overwhelmed by all of this information. She then says that both of them should probably get going. She asks the woman her name. The woman avoids the question and says that she should be going now and she quickly walks out of the door. Imogen runs after the woman but she can’t find her anywhere.
It’s 10 minutes left on the clock for Noa. She begins searching drawers and she finds nothing until she gets to 1 drawer. It’s hard to open but she pulls it hard enough and it finally opens. All it has is a bunch of Redemption House flyers in it. Noa tries various different methods to try and escape but none of them work. She begins trying to ram herself into the window but the windows don’t break.
Wes drops Tabby off at her house. Before Tabby leaves his car, he stares into her eyes and tells her that she has a lot of talent and he knows that one day she’s gonna make it big. She thanks him but she is still weirded out. She gets out of the car and walks to her front door.
Back to Noa, it’s only 30 seconds on the clock. She is using everything that she can find. 30…29…28…27..26… Noa hears the clock ticking and she begins to panic. Nothing that she’s done has worked yet. 5..4..3..2..1. Times up. Noa gets a text, “Tick tock, times up! 🌹” The door begins to open. Bloody Rose is standing at the door. Noa begins to scream as Rose walks towards her. Rose tries to stab Noa but Noa ducks and begins to run out of the cabin. Rose slowly walks after her. Noa falls and gets her foot stuck in between 2 trees so she takes her shoe off. Noa accidentally runs onto some thorns and falls to the floor holding her foot. She tries to get back up but she can’t. She says “STAY AWAY YOU BITCH!” Bloody Rose continues to walk towards Noa. Noa is able to get herself up slowly. She continues to run with blood. She begins patting herself for her car keys but she can’t find them. She can’t get into her car without them so she runs even more. Bloody Rose may be slowly walking, but she’s not far behind. Now eventually comes across a lake and since Bloody Rose is close, this is her only choice. She gets into the lake and begins to swim. We see Bloody Rose in the background still following behind her, but she stops in front of the lake, not willing to get in. Bloody Rose walks away and Noa stays in the lake.
Cut to the Millwood Community Pool. Shawn is leaving place. Heads to the parking lot and he presses the button to find his car. His car beeps, but all of a sudden, a bright red car speeds and hits him in the middle of the parking lot. The episode ends with a shot of Shawn laying on the ground.
This is the episode that I wrote. I may have forgotten some things that have happened in past episodes, so it may not follow everything that the show has told us. Sorry about that. Anyways, I hope you liked it since I’m going to be doing this for every remaining episode of S2 following my universe. I even hope that I can write a season 3 and post it onto here.

Hi everyone, I recently made the tough decision to leave the university I initially joined in pursuit of a better academic environment that aligns more closely with my future goals. While I was excited to begin my journey at my first university, I soon realized that the teaching methods and faculty approach weren't conducive to my learning style and aspirations.
Despite my efforts, I found myself disheartened by the preferential treatment given to students who completed their undergraduate studies at the institution. It seemed as though opportunities were more readily available to them, leaving me feeling overlooked and undervalued.
One of the main issues I faced was the lack of time for rigorous study. The constant stream of exams, sometimes even weekly, left me feeling overwhelmed and unable to delve deeply into important concepts. It felt like a race to regurgitate information rather than truly understanding and learning.
What adds to my uncertainty is the fact that I was the only one among my peers to leave the university. While they seemed content with the status quo, I couldn't shake the feeling that I needed more.
Now that I'm on a path to prepare for entrance exams for other universities, I'm feeling uncertain about whether I've made the right choice. Leaving my first university was a tough decision, but I knew it was necessary for my academic and personal growth. However, as I delve into studying for entrance exams, doubts have started to creep in.
To make matters more challenging, I've encountered a setback as I'm unable to dedicate time for rigorous study for the next month. This has only added to my anxiety and uncertainty about my decision.
I can't help but wonder if I'm making the right choice or if I'm just running away from challenges. I felt like I was skipping valuable concepts just to keep up with the pace, while others seemed to effortlessly gobble up what the teachers taught and regurgitate it on the exam paper.
I'm reaching out to the community for guidance and support during this uncertain time. Has anyone else experienced a similar situation? How did you navigate the process of leaving one university and preparing for entrance exams for another, especially when faced with time constraints and a less-than-ideal learning environment?
Any advice or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your help.

What is the Sutra of Increasing Wisdom 思益經? It has majorly impacted the Zen tradition.
First, Buddha sitting in enlightenment under the Bodhi tree is common imagery. In my last post, we saw that it is said that the beginning practice of the Tathagata is śamatha. We also know that tso-chan and "just sitting", and sitting meditation appear many times in Zen texts or records and seem to be intrinsically linked to the "ideal image" of Buddhahood. (Despite some who will say otherwise, but let's simply stick to source texts rather than the words of the confused).
The following words are ascribed to the Buddha as told within the Sutra of Increasing Wisdom:

如思益經云。佛言。我坐道場時。唯 得顛倒所起煩惱畢竟空性。以無所得故得。
"While sitting in the place of enlightenment, I have only attained the ultimate emptiness of the afflictions that arise from delusion. It is through having nothing to attain that I attain."

This above quote can be found in Yanshou's Record of the Source Mirror, and the referenced sutra (思益經) appears a good number of times throughout this 100 volume record.
Now, the Sutra of Increasing Wisdom (思益經) is a peculiar Chinese Buddhist text. It was quoted and referenced for a great period of time... with a cursory glance, it appears referenced in texts dated between the years 334~417 AD, well into the 1300s... and likely later than that as my look was not exhaustive. You will receive back 441 results if running a search for it on CBETA.
For example, here's Chan Master Zongmi referencing it to illustrate the sudden enlightenment teaching:

四、頓教者，但一念不生即名為佛，不依地位漸次而說，故立為頓。 《思益經》云：「得諸法正性者，不從一地至於一地。」《楞伽經》云：「初地即為八，乃至無所有。」何次？ 總不說法性，唯[＊]辯真性。一切所有唯是[＊]妄想，一切法界唯是絕言。五法、三自性皆空，八識、二無我都遣。訶教勸離、毀相泯心，生心即妄、不生即佛。
Fourth, sudden teaching refers to the concept that the moment a single thought does not arise, it is called Buddha; it does not rely on gradual stages of attainment, hence it is established as sudden.
As stated in the Sutra of Increasing Wisdom (思益經): "Those who attain the true nature of all phenomena do not progress from one stage to another." And in the Lankavatara Sutra: "The initial stage is the eighth, until there is nothing possessed." What comes next?
In general, it does not speak of the nature of the Dharma; it only discusses the true nature. All phenomena are merely illusions; all realms of phenomena are absolute words. The five dharmas and the three natures are all empty; the eight consciousnesses and the two non-self are all negated. The exhortation of the teaching is to depart from delusions, obliterate appearances, and extinguish the mind; the arising of the mind is delusion, and the absence of arising is Buddha.

This exact line was also used by Changshui Zixuan, (who had received transmission in the Linji line, and is referenced in some koans). He too refers to the 思益經 Sutra, and repeats:

故思益經云。得諸法正性。不從一地至於一地。圓覺云。知幻即離不作方便。離幻即覺亦無漸次。
Therefore, as stated in the Sutra of Increasing Wisdom: "Those who attain the true nature of all phenomena do not progress from one stage to another." And in the Sutra of Complete Enlightenment: "Knowing illusions leads to detachment without employing expedient means. Detached from illusions, enlightenment arises without gradual stages."

This 思益經 sutra also appears in the Blue Cliff Record, where Huizhong questions someone who has annotated and provided commentary on the 思益經 sutra. He then says that for anyone annotating sutras, that it's necessary to first understand the Buddha's intention:

聞說供奉解註思益經。是否。奉云。是師云。凡當註經。須解佛意始得。奉云。若不會意。爭敢言註經。師遂令侍者將一椀水七粒米一隻筯在椀上送與供奉。問云。是什麼義。奉云。不會。師云。老師意尚不會。更說甚佛意。王太傅與朗上座。如此話會不一。雪竇末後却道。當時但與踏倒茶爐。明招雖是如此。終不如雪竇。雪峯在洞山會下作飯頭。一日淘米次。山問。作什麼。峯云。淘米。山云。淘米去沙。淘沙去米。峯云。沙米一時去。山云。大眾喫箇什麼。峯便覆却盆。山云。子因緣不在此。雖然恁麼。爭似雪竇云當時但踏倒茶爐。一等是什麼時節。到他用處。自然騰今煥古有活脫處。

I have yet to find the Sutra itself, so if someone has a source, link it up. Though without it we can piece together quite a lot simply by examining some quotes like the ones above, or in the many other pages available through CBETA.
Here's another passage, this is where 思益經 is quoted by Huizhuo (慧沼)(714 AD):

If a person can understand and follow the words, phrases, and sentences spoken by the Tathagata, and even know how the Tathagata speaks, how he speaks according to circumstances, how he speaks expediently, what teachings he uses, and how he speaks with great compassion, then, O Brahma, if a bodhisattva can understand how the Tathagata speaks with these five abilities, that bodhisattva can perform Buddha's deeds. How he speaks, he speaks about the three times, birth and death, nirvana, aggregates, bases, and realms, that is, discussing the essence of the teachings. How he speaks according to circumstances means speaking according to the situation, whether speaking about purity or impurity, about self or non-self, whether explaining clearly or speaking obscurely. Regarding expedient means, it is to alleviate suffering or bring about happiness, to instruct and bring joy, and to teach without words but expediently. Regarding the teachings, it means speaking about various teachings within the framework of one teaching.

I also wanted to point out here, that there's a concept frequently encountered in Zen study of "Four Meditations" which as a concept also seems to come from this sutra. Here is a Huayan text offering this quote from Buddha which establishes it:

"Brahma! Bodhisattvas have four practices that are good for overcoming destructive actions. What are the four? First is the practice of the Dhyanas of Non-Birth, because all phenomena have no origin. Second is the practice of the Dhyanas of Non-Cessation, because all phenomena have no cessation. Third is the practice of the Dhyanas of Causes and Conditions, knowing that all phenomena arise from causes and conditions. Fourth is the practice of the Dhyanas of Non-Abiding, because there is no continuation of different mental states. These are the Four Dhyanas."

These Four Meditations are tied to the Eight Consciousnesses and the Four Directions, which is no coincidence my last post was simply a passage about cessation and sitting, and which had the title of "Sincerity in Four Directions" (真心四儀).
We know that Vairocana Buddha is commonly depicted in a seated position (and is both representative of Shakyamuni and all other enlightened Buddha bodies), is the Dharmakaya and is vital to the Zen Understanding. If interested, here's a post about the Eight Consciousnesses transforming into the Four Wisdoms producing the Three-fold Body of Enlightenment.