Some musings on the possible end of Battlestar Galactica, which is concluding over the next two weeks.

* * SPOILER ALERT * * if you haven’t been up to date with the latest episodes (i.e. up to “Islanded in a Stream of Stars”) …

Fans have been subjected to a slew of lukewarm episodes leading up to the series finale. There have been odd high points but even with some plot lines getting tied up there has been widespread concern with a decline in the quality of pacing.

Cuts in the editing room have been particularly brutal in purging grace notes or scenes clarifying plot points. One example being the debate between Adama, Roslin and others about seriously considering drafting Cylon Centurions for crowd control on Galactica after most of the marines turned stag in the mutiny.

Was this why the Centurions rebelled in the first place?

We were left with a fleeting reference by Baltar to the possibility of using centurions and that his ‘church with benefits’ being the preferable human option in “Deadlock”. Coming from Baltar, and compounded by the generally weak plotting given his story lately, the dilemma flew past most viewers. It was a split second comment and made Adama’s subsequent assent befuddling. Why arm one of the most repeatedly untrustworthy humans in the fleet?

EDIT: A what of the fate of the numerous mutineers such as Racetrack, Skulls, Seelix, Connor, Kelley? We shouldn’t have to listen to the official podcast to find out that they’re all incarcerated on the Astral Queen. After all, following Adama’s “no forgiveness, no mercy” rant we could be thinking that it was the bullet or airlock for them.

Tyrol’s decision to abscond with the Cylons in their inbreeding endeavour jarred with his earlier acceptance of being Chief of Galactica once again. Ron Moore’s podcast commentary claimed it was matter of fact reasoning on Tyrol’s part that he knew human prejudice would persist and that Colonial society was no home for him. But I believe that at least one fleeting scene would have helped cement that disenchantment. Why not have him witness and bail out Caprica 6′s assault in Dogsville? This was clearly a sign of anti-Cylon bigotry. At the very least the Cylon’s gathered around Anders’ sick bed could have referenced the incident.

They be among ye...

The latest episode, “Islanded in a Stream of Stars”, cut out scenes of Chief Tyrol in the brig. The B story of the episode before (“Someone to Watch Over Me”) focused on the Chief’s love for Boomer and her betrayal of him (yet again) by roping him into her escape from execution, while also facilitating the kidnapping of young Hera.

Given that STWOM closed with Tyrol’s guilt and betrayal viewers were understandably caught up in the Chief’s tragedy. Surely, one less viewing of Adama’s flailings of despair, or some weak Baltar, could have been traded for some reinforcement of this important development, especially since Boomer and Hera are back in play for the finale.

There’s alot of talk in Mo Ryan’s excellent post-episode Battlestar interviews of many deleted scenes to be reintegrated in extended DVD episodes. Its somewhat sad that the SciFi network didn’t give more minutes, another episode, or even reduced the opening credits to squeeze this in, as they did with the Season 4.5 opener. All told, BSG is supposed to be their flagship original content.

I don’t begrudge character development, we’ve been with these characters a long time, but pacing and cutting fat rather than muscle have been issues lately. The writers have realised they bungled up Lee’s character in Season 3, even citing this in dialogue with Zarek’s quips about his everchanging roles, but lately they’ve let him fade into the background. Aside from a brief return to a warrior role while putting down the mutiny they look like they still don’t know what to do with him. Not that I miss Lee much, but its sloppy.

EDIT: Maybe, consistent with BSG’s jiggling of real world gender roles, Lee ultimately serves as Starbuck’s (temporary) love interest who gets to be damsel in distress (recall the hairy two-viper crash landing in season one) and relegated to the sidelines after a good frak on New Caprica.

Still, there’ve been some great moments. The thumping musical reveal in STWOM connecting Starbuck, her father, Hera and the Final Five. Bear McCreary’s scoring in general. Boomer’s dark tryst with Helo while a bound, gagged, semi-conscious Athena watched helplessly. Athena’s primal scream of rage and pain. Helo’s tearful pleading with Adama for a Raptor to rescue Hera. Boomer and the Chief meeting again and picking up a thread laid in the mini-series. Cavil’s rage at his fleshy limitations (though the reveal of the Cylon ‘Plan’ being essentially Cavil’s revenge was a little deflating). An intriguing look at the Colony (how H.R. Giger). Caprica 6 putting Baltar in his place: “I’ve changed, but you haven’t”. Of course, Tigh is always good.

In a nice tribute to BSG’s commitment to naturalistic sci-fi STWOM featured Starbuck advising her pilots on habitable planet recon missions not to “wank too much, conserve your O2″, and just lately, Starbuck shitting on the can in front of Baltar. (Apparently, this was one of Eddie Olmos’ burning desires when directing, he always wanted a shot of Adama on the throne, but settled for Starbuck. Hail the Queen!).

Now we’re down to the last three hours. Galactica is crumbling after a final spontaneous act of sabotage by Boomer (she’s always blasting holes in the hull, ain’t she?). I never really liked the “Galactica as the dying leader of the Pythian Prophecy” line of speculation, but it looks like the old gal is gonna bite it. “In style”, as Adama said.

A nice line of speculation I heard on the Galactica Quorum podcast was that the ship could be fixed by ramming it through Starbuck’s mandala, the one that magically restores life and Viper bodywork. Sure, everyone would have to go through the trauma of death but they’d be spanking new. Plus, it’d give D’Anna some familiar corpses for company on Earth.

Starbuck, post explosive makeover

Such a path would be consistent with Starbuck’s epithet as “harbinger of death” as well as with the series’ themes of death and resurrection. Laura might have one last mystical gasp (now that she’s back in the throws of chemo) that points the way to the “promised land”.

This is a pretty mystical resolution, but there have been some hints at this in the last few episodes and the overall mythology of the series. Before his brain surgery Anders yelled that the Cylons and the humans have to stay together for some special happening. He has deliriously muttered that “…a closed system has no ability to reproduce itself…”. In the latest episode Baltar’s public declaration of Starbuck’s rebirth, that there is life after death, suggests another thread. Unless its just a bad bit of pointless plotting. I hope not, but with the last few episodes there is some reason to worry.

Will the Opera House sequence, recently revived, finally play itself out in a chase through the Colony as our (anti)heroes pursue Hera before Cavil lays her on Simon’s surgery table? Is Cavil going to clone Hera or – icky – raise her for a breeding programme? He hasn’t been shy about Oedipal acts (but do Oedipal issues really matter for bio-machines?). He mentioned giving her “little playmates”. Hmmm.

What will motivate a rescue attempt for Hera now that Adama has denied flight clearance to a tearful Helo? And Helo is signicantly absent from the Opera House visions. Is he just a sperm donor? Maybe his rebellious side will resurface as he and Athena comandeer a Raptor. But what about Roslin, Baltar, and 6?

It seems likely some kind of hybridisation – physical, social, emotional – between humans and Cylons will help break the cycle of “All this has happened before, and will happen again…”. But this would imply an optimistic ending, and this is not within the style of BSG. Kinda like D’Hoffryn, Anya’s vengeance demon boss from Buffy, the producers’ philosophy seems to be “Why go for the kill when you can go for the pain?” Except, they’ve one upped him ‘cos they do both on BSG. Oh bleak dystopia!

I never warmed to the “Daniel as Starbuck’s father” theory. Daniel seemed just a quick retcon for the inadvertent numbering jump between model 6 and 8. So the miraculous return of Starbuck still needs to explained. My bet’s on the mystical side of the BSG mythos. I don’t think there’s going to be any satisfactory technical explanation, and that would be too Trekkie, and Ron Moore has sworn off that stuff.

All Along the Watchtower will probably play some role as a divine theme of sorts: the semi-concealed whisper of the Powers That Be for humans and Cylons to love each other, get along, and make babies like rabbits in heat. Hey, maybe it’ll all end with one big ‘Frak party’.

Also interesting to see is how Roslin will die, its effect on Adama, and making it meaningful. Will Tigh finally accept his Cylon-ness? What’s going to happen to the Chief? Will Boomer redeem herself and die in the process? Just how big will the bodycount be? When’s Cavil going to make a move for his coup de grace? Will the centurions unleash a proletarian revolution against the skinjob central committee?

What’s going to happen to Anders now that he’s become a baseship hybrid of sorts? Will he plug into the Cosmic Big in his I/O delirium and guide the way as a literal deus ex machina? He’s already been tagged as having the power to trigger Galactica’s FTL drives, and Kara put him back online.

A frakked Earth. Gods frakkin' dammit!

Will the Galactica universe be shown to be definitively separate from our own? Was the Cylon Earth just named for a planet of dirt, or will the fleet somehow end up on our own Earth with some tantalising shots of the Cylons among us today closing the show? A flash of red cloth, platinum blonde hair, disappearing into a crowd. Cue credits.

Then there’s the meta-thematic elements of the show. The issues of free will in histories of violence and the choices one makes about who you want to be, who you can be. Why any race or people is worth preserving (a theme raised in the mini-series by Adama). In short, a profoundly ethical question.

My fingers are crossed that all this will be answered in those final three hours, because another series of this strength sure isn’t happening again anytime soon.

“Since independence, we have never felt like Malaysians. In the 10 months of the Pakatan Rakyat state government, we felt the promise of citizenship begin to be fulfilled.”

Jaringan Kampung Orang Asli Perak (JKOAP) secretary Tijah Yok Chopil

One of the worries that crossed my mind in following the recent BN coup in Perak was the likely reversal of fortune for the Orang Asli of Perak.

Sure enough, as The Nut Graph reports, a few days after the February 6 takeover trees near Kampung Chang were being marked for logging. Within a week sand mining had restarted on Orang Asli land.

The Pakatan Rakyat government had initiated a series of reforms to bolster and affirm the rights of Orang Asli. Their Orang Asli Taskforce Committee had begun the process of ensuring the issuance of as many permanent land titles as possible. Land rights are the key issue for Orang Asli as this is the main source of their wealth and livelihood.

The Orang Asli worry that the BN government (if it stays) will revert to their old policy of treating Orang Asli like second-class bumiputeras.

It seems likely that BN will pursue popular disenfranchisement and give free reign to predatory capital in any state that they seize back.

Seems that the bloating and associated ickyness of natural body decomp leads to gaseous meatsacks being mistaken for groaning corpses and such.

Read all about it here.

Link was courtesy of Whedonesque, devoted to all things Joss Whedon. And with his official endorsement to boot.

Bandar Utama residents and others show their support for Eli

In an amazing and touching show of support the RAs banded together and raised funds for banners and petition sheets and launched a drive to collect signatures to hand in to MB Khalid Ibrahim before he meets with the Sultan of Selangor on Wednesday.

Many heartfelt testimonies were delivered by RAs, friends, and comrades at her Bandar Utama service centre to a decent sized crowd who braved the torrential rain. After this we moved on to what will hopefully become the Kota Damansara community forest, essentially the last forest reserve in PJ. Eli has been a big supporter of residents’ efforts to preserve this green lung.

Kota Damansara residents for Eli.

Supporters waited in the drizzle for our convoy to arrive (complete with Eli banners strapped to our cars – Eli may be pleased to know that we carpooled – we kept it lean, green and mean!). More testimonies were given in front of the lake. With all the precipitation we were treated to the ethereal spectacle of mist coiling out of the forest.

We then headed to her ‘hood of Bukit Gasing and met with some Selangor ADUNs and councilors as well as assorted citizens. Along the way, while waiting at the lights by UM a family in a car expressed interest in the Eli banners we were sporting. Very quickly – and just as the lights changed – they received two banners and promptly began mounting them on their vehicle. People clearly feel strongly supportive of Eli for this to happen. We also received lots of friendly honks from passing cars.

A middle-aged citizen approached us outside of the Sri Paandi curry house and offered his view that Eli was someone who was really “multi-racial” and had transcended boundaries.

RAs rock the banners.

What came through very clearly in all the testimonies was how deep an impact Eli had made on her constituents and people in Selangor. She has been attentive, solicitous, responsive, professional, steadfast and principled. These are all things the new middle class political consciousness demands and appreciates in Malaysia. Eli to these people seems less a “politician” than a public servant in the fullest sense of the term.

Lecturer and Nut Graph columnist Wong Chin Huat underlined how this was an historic show of support for an elected representative.

Eli’s clear commitment to high environmental standards, especially her opposition to hillslope development, was noted and applauded. It was fitting then, that the convoy stopped last at the site of the landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa.

The condition of the area, even after basic measures were applied, was shocking. Even more so since the federal government had just declared that hillslope developments were no longer blocked since somehow land in Malaysia was scarce. [Malaysia has a population density (total population/area) of 81, whereas Vietnam, with 3.3 times our population on a comparable land area has a density of 254, so we're not exactly exploiting the limits of our space right now].

RM 70 million has been allocated for the two year remediation of the collapsed hillslopes, but residents of nearby areas warned us of more erosion occurring further up the same slopes. I don’t really know how people can still live in that area and sleep easy at night. I had visited the area in November, a month before the disaster, in order to get a sense of the mal-development that had taken place in Ampang. On Sunday I couldn’t recognise the streets I had gone down only months before.

Myself and the people we met on that day can’t think of another public servant who would dare to take such a principled stand against this risky and irresponsible form of development. The whole approach to hillslopes needs legal, political, and technical revision. Allowing it to go ahead without such changes, and allowing it on the steeper slopes, is sheer irresponsibility and greed.

If Eli loses or refuses her EXCO post, which politician will adequately champion the environment in Selangor?

POST-SCRIPT:

After the convoy ended some of us pushed ourselves further to fish for signatures at the Anti-ISA bloggers gathering in PJ State. They’ve temporarily given up on the tarmac demos due to police harassment and a lack of support from the local and state government. Now they were caucusing in the function room of Lotus curry house. Seems not all of them want to do away with preventative detention though, old fears die hard. But shouldn’t suspicions and proper investigative and intelligence procedures provide ample scope for application of provisions in the Criminal Code? I guess Rumsfeld-like thinking is present here: “Absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence.”

After that long day I was dead on my feet. I returned home to watch the second episode of Joss Whedon’s new series Dollhouse. It was better than last week’s pilot, but still underwhelming. I had hopes for this series, but there’s alot of flaws around. At least this week’s Battlestar was watchable aside from the hammy Baltar scenes. When James Callis slips into his native London patois it always sounds grating and less than compelling to my ears. A little subtle ambiguity wouldn’t be amiss in conveying both duplicity and persuasive skill.

Some links:

We Walk With Eli site

We Walk With Eli on Facebook (3,216 members and counting!)

Picture courtesy of Sin Chiew (via MalaysiaToday).

Eli’s departing statement:

I have departed today.

Despite having tendered my resignation from all posts, the media and websites continue to intrude into my private life and privacy. I have been informed by several media that they will continue to publish even more lewd graphical, sensational stories of my private life.

I have also been told there will be a fresh assault, with more photographs and videos released and circulated in order to completely degrade and bury me.

This is the darkest episode in my life. I have never felt so alone, vulnerable and humiliated. I need to rest and to search for peace of mind to get away from the stormy events surrounding me.

I appreciate the overwhelming support from all quarters, especially my voters, women in particular and party comrades. Words cannot express my gratitude for your gentle kindness.

I have informed my party leaders that I am determined to relinquish all my positions, as a Selangor state exco member as well as the state assemblywoman for Bukit Lanjan. I am thankful for the party leadership’s concern and encouragement. I seek their understanding for my predicament.

My commitment to the ideals of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat remains unwavering. I shall retain my party membership and continue to struggle for a just society with the party.

The nation is at a crisis facing a serious economic recession. Unemployment is rising, while corruption remains rampant. I wish public discussions would concentrate on these important issues rather than analysing my private life.

My principle remains the same – I will not answer any questions pertaining to my private life. My private life is not for public scrutiny as I have not broken any law or caused harm to anyone.

I plead to the media as well as my supporters to allow me some peace of mind, and to give me space. I urge the media to leave my family, friends and I alone. Please do not continue to shame my family and I, so that we have a chance to lead a normal life as ordinary citizens.

Lastly, I wish to thank the support from the public that has been pouring in ceaselessly. I am very moved and eternally grateful to my friends and colleagues who stand by me. There is nothing in this world that can repay your kindness. “

by Elizabeth Wong 19 Feb 2009
Selangor State Exco Member
PKR Bukit Lanjan Assemblyperson

I’m shamelessly repeating the social experiment from this blog posting:

http://scottthong.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/elizabeth-wong-nude-pic-gambar-bogel/

His search engine-snatching title (which I have replicated here) has allowed him to collect some suggestive data.

Poster by Chris Chew

Although this guy describes himself as a leading neo-con he has a very interesting analysis of the probable linguistic affiliation of those interested in hunting down the salacious pics involved in the political assassination of the widely admired Elizabeth Wong.

I’ve had real doubts about how widely distributed on the net these photos were. The news reports were saying so repeatedly. But you can’t necessarily take news reports at face value. After all, some were labelling it as a ‘nude’ or ‘sex’ scandal, but it has later been disclosed that the pictures are hardly revealing, and there’s been no sex involved in the pics released thus far.

But it seems that English searches for the pics do not yield many successful hits, nor are searches in English the majority. It seems that the curiosity for and and hosting of the pictures are primarily amongst the Malay language zones of the internet. As far as I’ve been able to determine, there aren’t more than a handful of sites hosting the pictures. It may be that the news is right to emphasise their propagation via mobile phone MMS. Then again, who knows? I certainly am not in a social network that would circulate such things.

This raises the broader issue that it was not necessarily the alleged widespread propagation of the pics that brought Elizabeth Wong down, but the perception that they were widespread, and the inflation of their impact by the sensationalising focus of the mainstream media, dishonourably led by the Malay Mail.

In a context of mass media perception counts more than actions. And in spite of widespread and vocal support for Ms Wong, the values of a conservative minority have held sway. Her personal was politicised and all her good deeds and intentions were crushed.

At least, let us hope, for now. We look forward to her return because this country and its people desperately need and deserve a public servant of her quality and dedication.

Later, I hope to have the strength to write more on how this whole episode has been an attack on the democratic process and on politicians of principle. Lest there be any confusion, I deem what goes on in the bedroom between consenting adults to be their business alone. The principles I’m talking about are those of unwavering dedication to public service. Such as exemplified by Elizabeth Wong.

If they had taken more time and effort and gotten a sample of above 1,000 they could have produced more statistically robust findings, although even with the present margin of error the responses are overwhelmingly negative towards BN.

The original Merdeka Centre poll can be downloaded here.

In case you weren’t sure… hear it from the people of Perak

IPOH, FEB 12 — If the Barisan Nasional and the Perak royal household had any lingering doubts about negative public sentiment towards the change of the state government, here is a message: doubt no more.

A survey of registered voters in Perak on Feb 8 showed that:

• 74 per cent of the respondents feel that the state assembly should have been dissolved after the defection of the three Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers

• 76 per cent of the respondents felt that the “people, through elections, should decide on who forms the government”

• 62 per cent of the respondents felt that the “role of the palace in this decision” means it does not recognise the will of the people

• 66 per cent of the respondents do not accept state governments formed through the defection of state assemblymen

• 59 per cent of the respondents feel that the political crisis in Perak would decrease support for Barisan Nasional.

Taken together, the poll by the Merdeka Centre suggests that Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and the BN may occupy the seat of government but a significant number of Perakians may not accept their legitimacy to hold power.

The political crisis unfolded in Perak when three Pakatan Rakyat legislators became independents and said that they would back the BN.

This wiped away the three-seat majority which enabled Pakatan Rakyat to rule the state since March last year.

After interviewing the three and the 28 BN representatives, Sultan Azlan Shah decided that BN had the majority in the state assembly. This was a controversial decision given that Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin and Pakatan Rakyat felt that the correct decision should have been for the Ruler to allow for the state assembly to be dissolved for fresh elections.

There is a roiling debate even among lawyers on the Sultan’s decision, with the majority saying that he should have either agreed to the dissolution of the House or held off making any decision until a vote of no confidence against Nizar was taken in the assembly.

The survey findings indicate that many Perak voters also feel that the Ruler may have erred.

Some 507 registered voters were interviewed by telephone and the sampling was done randomly. The margin of error was about 4.5 per cent.

UMNO Youth protest in Kuala Lumpur yesterday (pic by Minaq_Jinggo).

Confrontation between Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional continues over the Perak coup, whilst on Monday the loss of two PR politicians – V. Arumugam of Kedah to resignation and BN harassment, and Roslan Shaharum of Bukit Gantang, Perak to a heart attack – has opened up two by-elections which will be used as a popularity contest between PR and BN.

If PR wins both back it will be seen as a public repudiation of the BN. If the BN wins either it will suggest that public outrage over the Perak coup is less than significant.

UMNO Youth has been holding street demonstrations in Perak and Kuala Lumpur to protest against the “treasonous” conduct of PR politicians such as Nizar Jamaluddin, PR MB of Perak who refused to resign, and DAP elder Karpal Singh, who intends to sue the Sultan of Perak over his decision to demand Nizar’s resignation.

UMNO Youth protest DAP's Karpal Singh in Kuala Lumpur (Pic by Minaq_Jinggo)

Controversy has erupted over statements by UMNO Youth Deputy Chief Khairy Jamaluddin at the Perak protest. “In the old days, what did we do to those who commit treason?” This was allegedly greeted with cries of “kill them!” Khairy however said that Nizar should be banished and his citizenship revoked.

Commentators have pointed out the shift back to belligerence in Khairy’s statements as the UMNO Youth elections loom near next month. Recently he has tried to rebrand himself in more liberal  and multi-ethnic colours in an attempt to appeal to all Malaysians rather than just the reactionary wing of UMNO.

Farish Noor, ever the historian, has attempted to deconstruct what exactly was done in “the old days.”

Reports continue to arise of BN continuing its attempts to win over PR lawmakers by enticement, kidnapping, blackmail, and/or threats. V. Arumugam, the PR state assemblyperson from Kedah, relinquished his post citing the overwhelming pressure to defect coming from BN. Arumugam has also been at the centre of a bigamy scandal involving his marriage to two women.

Kulim state assemblyman Lim Soo Nee of Parti Keadilan Rakyat has threatened to quit Pakatan Rakyat if it continues to implement policies that do not benefit the Chinese. Lim has also publicised that he has been approached by BN but has refused to defect.

Lim may be the first among more disgruntled PR lawmakers who will take advantage of the Perak defections to exact concessions from their coalition.

The two PKR lawmakers in Perak who defected were due to be in court for their corruption trial on Tuesday. Both failed to turn up. Behrang assemblyman Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi submitted documentation via his lawyer that he was unwell. His counterpart Changkat Jering assemblyman Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu had an arrest warrant issued for him.

Meanwhile Hee Yit Foong who defected from DAP has not been granted a position on the state Executive Committee that she so desired. Of the three defectors Hee has attracted the most opprobrium, with her family being a convenient target for irate voters. The royally-appointed BN MB Zambry has apparently been feeling the strain of defending the BN’s takeover of Perak.

I’ve been meaning to write some notes about the last few episodes of the final season of BSG, most recently “Blood on the Scales”. But the real-life coup in Perak state has somewhat drained my zest for writing about similar events in the Galactica world. Maybe this is how viewers in the U.S. feel when BSG has offered them a social mirror for Iraq and Guantanamo.

Something else I will post soon is a beginner’s guide to BSG since I’ve been praising its virtues to anyone that’ll listen. Rest assured, the cheesiness of the 1979 original is absolutely absent from the present reincarnation.

Meanwhile, anyone who is up-to-date on the latest episodes should definitely head over to Mo Ryan’s blog at the Chicago Tribune. She always does a great job posting follow-up features and interviews for each new episode.

Those with a musical dimension to their fandom (…Hutnyk, I’m looking at you) should check out BSG composer Bear McCreary’s beautiful blog, complete with episode stills, instrumental and composition details, as well as actual scores of the themes used. Beware, it is SPOILER heavy.

The Sultan also continues to take flak. He cancelled his Silver Jubilee celebrations out of concern for “public safety.” His reticence to appear in public may be similar to Najib’s decision to avoid Perakians and their shoes.

Malaysian Insider reports on feelings from people in the street, and they are all supportive of the PR government.

Bar Council Human Rights Committee lawyer Amer Hamzah offers a lefty perspective on the crisis which sees the old alliance of interests reforming between UMNO, the Sultans, and capitalists.

The president of the Bar, Ambiga Sreenavasan defends Karpal’s and PR’s right to seek redress in the courts.

More legal opinion on the prerogative, or absence thereof, of the Sultan to dismiss the chief minister can be found here.

Rumours continue to circulate that Kedah could be next, given that only five defections are needed to bring it down. An analysis of the prospects for remaining PR states is here.