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I have 21 followers and no song or book recommendations. I asked only one thing. 1 of you is a bot. Come on guys.

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“You have this way with your eyes, so when they settle on mine, I seem to be set ablaze. That look, that look alone makes me feel as though I’ve burned the life of a thousand stars, and if I must burn, I will. Gladly.”

— L.H.Z 

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when the times get rough and I lose sight of the goal i just. reread “the orange” by wendy cope again & remember. that’s where I’m going folks. sooner or later, whatever it takes.

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you thought i ran out of classical music recs, but i didn’t

some of these are pretty out of the way by fairly obscure composers, but it’s good stuff (also I’m sorry I don’t know much about compositions for winds because I’m a pianist and a violinist and I know next to nothing about what yall do)

poet and peasant overture, von suppe 

concerto grosso no. 1, bloch 

suite for string orchestra, bridge 

serenade for strings, suk 

invierno porteño, piazzolla (arr. gideon kremer)

introduction and allegro for strings, elgar

sunflower, yu shi wang  (I heard this when I was like 9 on the radio and it’s stuck with me since)

sonata in b minor, liszt 

lyric pieces, grieg 

trio elegiaque no. 1, rachmaninoff

kreisleriana, schumann 

overture to der freischutz, von weber 

symphony no. 2, sibelius

idyll for string orchestra, janacek 

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Happy Friday, Vancouver! Here are a few new releases you might have missed during social isolation! Available in-store or online at your convenience. (And there’s lots more where these came from.)

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Quarantine Nonfiction book recs for someone who likes science and sociology/psychology?

HECK YEAHHHHH

Sapiens, by Noah Harari

An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, by Col. Chris Hadfield (one of my fave books I’ve ever read, so detailed and so interesting. Not by a scientist but so much great reasoning involving scientific principles and being prepared and all that with PLENTY of adventure thrown in)

Crisis in the Red Zone, by Richard Preston (an almost novel-style, completely factual chronological retelling of the 2014 Ebola epidemic and multiple groups of people fighting it)

The Demon in the Freezer, also by him (if you wanna know about anthrax and smallpox and bioweapons, this is your book)

Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Khaneman

Do No Harm, by Henry Marsh

Counting Backwards, by Henry Jay Pryzbylo, MD

FICTION: Extraordinary Means, by Robin Schneider (I know it’s fiction, but it’s a hypothetical “what will it look like if Tuberculosis becomes totally drug resistant in our lifetime, how does modern society handle that”) 

An Unquiet Mind, by Kay Redfield Jamison

Flow (don’t remember who it’s by)

Rise of the Rocket Girls, by Nathalia Holt

For the Love of Physics, by Walter Lewin et. al. (Walter is a gross gross man who did a lot of iffy stuff with students if you know what I mean but this is singlehandedly the most beautiful description of falling in love with physics and learning and teaching and how magical it all is I have found so just get a copy used so he doesn’t get money and enjoy yourself) 

The Island of Knowledge, by Marcelo Gleiser

A Mind for Numbers, by Barbara Oakley (I think everyone who goes to high school or college should be given this book. if you gotta take math or science courses you deserve to learn what this book has to say)

The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg

Grit, by Angela Duckworth

Curious, by Ian Leslie

The Tipping Point, by Malcom Gladwell (actually just. any of his books. all his books. very interesting)

Applied Minds, by Guru Madhavan

The Like Switch, by Jack Schafer, PhD (dude. this is written by an ex-FBI dude, SO INTERESTING, parts of it can be a little awkward if you’re not in his same demographic, but like. this is so worth the read if you like psychology at ALL, it’s rad)

Situations Matter, by Sam Sommers

Have Dog, Will Travel, by Stephen Kuusisto (not exactly sciency but it’s an amazing exploration of the experience of disability, how different each disabled person is, how society treats the disabled, and how human we all are, plus how rad service dogs are in general, which is just a sociological gold mine honestly)

Not hard science exactly but Words on the Move by John McWhorter is SO NEAT if you want to fall in love with the English language and learn a lot about how our language trains us to think and why we think and say the things we do and how linguistics plays into our perceptions and thoughts and word choice and all that. it’s a love letter to English but it’s a lot more than that too

And this might be a bit too on the nose for right now, but if you’re up for it:

Very, Very, Very Dreadful, by Albert Marrin (some history of plagues throughout humanity’s history, how we figured out vaccines and that viruses and bacteria exist, and a LOT about the influenza pandemic of 1918. good read)

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A desert of the Heart - Jane Rule

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love isn't something you have to deserve. - Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols

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We need to talk about A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

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good books that are on my top shelf list

demian - herman hesse

duino elegies - reiner maria rilke

the foundation series - issac assimov

the stranger - albert camus

the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy- douglas adams

slaughterhouse five - kurt vonnegut

howl - allen ginsberg

pale blue dot - carl sagan

after dark - haruki murakami

no longer human - osamu dazai

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the five love languages are the brushing of fingertips, sarcasm, exploring magical forests, pizza, and late night drives

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If you're ever bored, here's a list of Studio Ghibli films you can watch for free.

Castle In The Sky (1986) Grave of the Fireflies (1988) My Neighbor Totoro (1988) Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) Only Yesterday (1991) Porco Rosso (1992) Pom Poko (1994) Whisper of the Heart (1995) Princess Mononoke (1997) My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999) Spirited Away (2001) The Cat Returns (2002) Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) Tales from Earthsea (2006) Ponyo On A Cliff From The Sea (2008) The Secret World of Arrietty/The Borrower Arrietty (2010) From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)

If any of the links stop working, please let me know so I can fix it.

For Castle In The Sky, wait for the free user button to be clickable and it will send you to the video.

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Chain me with golden cuffs and I will kneel before you

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everyone who reads this post will get some big spicy joy within 24 large minutes (hours)

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Pat pat pat.

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greek myth meme: titanesses (4/5) - metis

Metis was one of the elder Okeanides and the Titan-goddess of good counsel, planning, cunning and wisdom. She was a counsellor of Zeus during the Titan War and hatched the plan through which Kronos (Cronus) was forced to regurgitate his devoured children. In an odd reversal of fortune, Zeus swallowed Metis whole when a prophecy was revealed that she was destined to bear a son greater than his father. Metis afterwards bore a daughter, Athena, within the very belly of the god and equipped her with arms and armour before she was rebirthed from the god’s head.