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Vast Leitner Reading List

The full list of submissions for the Vast Leitner bracket. Bold titles are ones which were accepted to appear in the bracket. Synopses and propaganda can be found below the cut. Be warned, however, that these may contain spoilers!

Abedi, Isabel: Forbidden World Adams, Douglas: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Asimov, Isaac: Nightfall

Borges, Jorge Luis: El Aleph Bradbury, Ray: Kaleidoscope Bradbury, Ray: No Particular Night or Morning

Caine, Rachel: Weather Wardens Clarke, Arthur C.: Maelstrom II Clarke, Susanna: Piranesi Coates, Darcy: From Below Coleridge, Samuel Taylor: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Curtis, Wardon Allan: The Monster of Lake LaMetrie

Foster, Alan Dean: He

Gardner, Martin: Thang Godwin, Tom: The Nothing Equation Gonzalez, J.F.: Clickers Gorky, Maxim: The Song of the Stormy Petrel Grant, Mira: Into the Drowning Deep

Hawking, Lucy and Stephen: George's Secret Key to the Universe Hardinge, Frances: Deeplight

Inglis, James: Night Watch

King, Stephen: The Jaunt

Lewis, C.S.: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Liu, Cixin: The Dark Forest (Three Body Problem Book 2) Lovecraft, H.P.: Dagon

Macfarlane, Robert: Underland Marquitz, Tim and Nickolas Sharps, ed.: Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters Melville, Herman: Moby Dick Mortimore, Jim: Beltempest

North, Claire: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

Oesterheld, Héctor Germán: El Eternauta

Poe, Edgar Allen: A Descent into the Maelström Pratchett, Terry and Steven Baxter: The Long Earth series Purser-Hallard, Philip: Of the City of the Saved...

Reed, Robert: An Exaltation of Larks Reisman, Michael: Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper

Sanderson, Brandon: Firefight Seuss, Dr.: Horton Hears a Who! Simmons, Dan: The Terror Swift, Jonathan: Gulliver's Travels

Tennyson, Alfred: The Kraken Tolstoy, Leo: War & Peace

Verne, Jules: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Abedi, Isabel: Forbidden World

"Reginald has gained a dangerous power. He can shrink anything he likes. And he wants nothing less than the world's most famous buildings. The originals in miniaturized form, of course. Gradually he builds up a huge landscape in his cellar. But Reginald has overlooked something, or more precisely someone. Otis was locked in the Statue of Liberty and Olivia had fled from the police into the famous Berlin department store KaDeWe, when suddenly at night the buildings shrank. Now the children are the size of a fingernail... While they fight for their lives, chaos breaks out in the world outside: where have the monuments gone? And who has stolen them?" Vast stuff: Otis' fear of heights is a huge plot point and he was born on a plane. While Olivia wants to become a pilot. Many scenes of being in high places and terrified, and focus on being very small in a big world.

Spoilers: This book contains two Djinns one that can change the sizes of things one that can make them small and one that can make them big. But they are running out of magic fuel so staying small is the big fear of the characters.

Adams, Douglas: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The series swings wildly between cosmic dread and comedy, from the insignificance of the Earth's destruction to the chaotic results of the Infinite Improbability Drive to the very notion of the Total Perspective Vortex, the story hammers home again and again the infinitesimal nature of our existence in the vastness of the universe.

***

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy": Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised Guide. Together they stick out their thumbs to the stars and begin a wild journey through time and space.

"The Restaurant at the End of the Universe": Facing annihilation at the hands of warmongers is a curious time to crave tea. It could only happen to the cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his comrades as they hurtle across the galaxy in a desperate search for a place to eat.

"Life, the Universe and Everything": The unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky- so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now only five individuals can avert Armageddon: mild-mannered Arthur Dent and his stalwart crew.

"So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish": Back on Earth, Arthur Dent is ready to believe that the past eight years were all just a figment of his stressed-out imagination. But a gift-wrapped fishbowl with a cryptic inscription conspires to thrust him back to reality. So to speak.

"Mostly Harmless": Just when Arthur Dent makes the terrible mistake of starting to enjoy life, all hell breaks loose. Can he save the Earth from total obliteration? Can he save the Guide from a hostile alien takeover? Can he save his daughter from herself?

The incomprehensible vastness of the universe is a theme repeated throughout the 'Trilogy". Notable examples include the guide initially describes Earth as 'harmless", after being stranded there for several years, Ford revises this to "mostly harmless". The Total Perspective Vortex, a machine that extrapolates a model of the entire universe, along with a microscopic dot labeled "you are here" this sense of perspective destroys the victim’s mind.

Asimov, Isaac: Nightfall

Lagash's six suns means an Endless Daytime, except for once every 2,049 years, when five suns set and the only sun left in the hemisphere is eclipsed by the moon. The scientists are trying to prepare civilization and themselves for the upcoming nightfall, but when it does occur, no-one is prepared for the thirty thousand stars that suddenly appear in the night sky. This leads to the far more devastating revelation how tiny and insignificant they are by comparison.

"Aton, somewhere, was crying, whimpering horribly like a terribly frightened child. 'Stars — all the Stars — we didn't know at all. We didn't know anything. We thought six stars in a universe is something the Stars didn't notice is Darkness forever and ever and ever and the walls are breaking in and we didn't know we couldn't know and anything —'"

Borges, Jorge Luis: El Aleph

In Borges' story, the Aleph is a point in space that contains all other points. Anyone who gazes into it can see everything in the universe from every angle simultaneously, without distortion, overlapping, or confusion.

Bradbury, Ray: Kaleidoscope

First published in the October 1949 edition of Thrilling Wonder Stories this describes a scene where a spaceship is hit by a meteor and torn apart – ejecting the crew into space. Each astronaut flies off on his own trajectory, hurtling to his doom. For a time they can all communicate through their helmet comms, but slowly, as the separation becomes millions of miles apart, they wind up as solitary figures, alone with his thoughts.

Bradbury, Ray: No Particular Night or Morning

This story takes place during a long interstellar journey. The destination and purpose of the journey are unclear. There are many men (it seems only men) on a large ship. Among them are friends Hitchcock and Clemens. Hitchcock begins to struggle with the idea that there is anything that exists outside of him, that none of it can be proven to exist. Clemens tries to argue with him until Hitchcock is finally treated by the ship’s psychiatrist with the captain’s knowledge, but to no avail. He finally dons a space-suit and leaves the ship. Over the radio he can be heard muttering about how even his own body does not exist.

At one point, Hitchcock is asked why he wanted to go on this journey in the first place. Was he interested in the stars? In seeing other places? In travel? He responds that “It wasn’t going places. It was being between”

Caine, Rachel: Weather Wardens

A speculative fiction series about the secretive bureaucracy that controls the weather. Consequences of this include severely pissing off Mother Earth, sentient storm fronts, and falling from great heights. Often.

Clarke, Arthur C.: Maelstrom II

This short story revolves around an astronaut named Cliff Leyland drifting in a low orbit around the moon after an accident with his capsule's launch. Much of his time is spent waiting to see if he can be rescued and reunited with his family, or is doomed to crash and die.

Clarke, Susanna: Piranesi

Piranesi lives in a place called the House, a world composed of infinite halls and vestibules lined with statues, no two of which are alike. The upper level of the House is filled with clouds, and the lower level with an ocean, which occasionally surges into the middle level following tidal patterns that Piranesi meticulously tracks. He believes he has always lived in the House, and that there are only fifteen people in the world, all but two of whom are long-dead skeletons. The status that decorate the halls and walls of the House are all gigantic and the halls themself are immense and bigger than what any human would be able to build on their own.

Coates, Darcy: From Below

"No light. No air. No escape. Hundreds of feet beneath the ocean's surface, a graveyard waits... Years ago, the SS Arcadia vanished without a trace during a routine voyage. Though a strange, garbled emergency message was broadcast, neither the ship nor any of its crew could be found. Sixty years later, its wreck has finally been discovered more than three hundred miles from its intended course...a silent graveyard deep beneath the ocean's surface, eagerly waiting for the first sign of life. Cove and her dive team have been granted permission to explore the Arcadia's rusting hull. Their purpose is straightforward: examine the wreck, film everything, and, if possible, uncover how and why the supposedly unsinkable ship vanished. But the Arcadia has not yet had its fill of death, and something dark and hungry watches from below. With limited oxygen and the ship slowly closing in around them, Cove and her team will have to fight their way free of the unspeakable horror now desperate to claim them. Because once they're trapped beneath the ocean's waves, there's no going back."

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

This epic poem of a sea voyage beautifully encapsulates the horrors of the ocean, from the terrific force of horrific storms and whirlpools to the unsettling infinity of life, both beautiful and strange, that inhabits the depths below. Most of all, however, it shows the horror of being stranded at sea as the ship is becalmed in the doldrums.

"Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean. Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink. The very deep did rot: Oh Christ! That ever this should be! Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs Upon the slimy sea."

The crew perish one by one, apart from the narrator. He, by killing the albatross, invoked the wrath of the sea. He alone must live on while the others are permitted to escape in death.

Curtis, Wardon Allan: The Monster of Lake LaMetrie

The story of Dr. James McLennegan and his sickly companion Edward Framingham who travel to a lake high up in the Wyoming mountains. When they reach the lake, McLennegan discovers it is home to an Elasmosaurus which attacks him, but he manages to kill it and removes the brain. Shortly afterwards Framingham seemingly commits suicide and McLennegan decides to place Framingham’s brain into the body of the Elasmosaur, as one does. While this works for a bit, the remainder of the story explores the horror of scale as Framingham's inability to adjust to his new size results in him snapping and devouring his now-insignificant former friend.

Foster, Alan Dean: He

A short story detailing an oceanographer's encounter with the last megalodon, a colossal shark that has lived for millions of years. He is feared by all other creatures and the sight of him installs a primal terror in humans.

Gardner, Martin: Thang

https://vintage.failed-dam.org/thang.htm The titular creature is large enough to grasp Earth between two fingers. It clears off all water and ice before chewing the planet, core and all, before it, in turn, is also eaten by a planet-eater eater.

Godwin, Tom: The Nothing Equation

A short story about how being stationed alone in an empty section of space drives a man mad. Like stories about lighthouses, but bigger. Short enough to link a complete ebook.

Gonzalez, J.F.: Clickers

"Phillipsport, Maine is a quaint and peaceful seaside village. But when hundreds of creatures pour out of the ocean and attack, its residents must take up arms to drive the beasts back. They are the Clickers, giant venomous blood-thirsty crabs from the depths of the sea. The only warning to their rampage of dismemberment and death is the terrible clicking of their claws. But these monsters aren't merely here to ravage and pillage. They are being driven onto land by fear. Something is hunting the Clickers. Something ancient and without mercy."

Basically, kaiju crabs invade the land -- because they're fleeing from something even bigger.

Gorky, Maxim: The Song of the Stormy Petrel

"A short poem, text can be found here. It describes the storm, vast and careless masses of water, roaring and ruthless skies, and a mighty storm petrel fearlessly taking on both elements. it even dares the tempest to get more intense, as all other oceanic forms of life (seagulls, grebes, a penguin) hide in horror before the face of the storm. stormy petrel in russian (буревестник), if translated literally, means 'the announcer of the storm'. there is a short old cartoon which depicts how this poem would function as a leitner, although the cartoon is very comedic and lighthearted. unfortunately, i wasn't able to find a version with english subtitles, but i think it would be clear just from the visuals"

Grant, Mira: Into the Drowning Deep

Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a “mockumentary” bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy. Now, a new crew has been assembled. But this time they’re not out to entertain. Some seek to validate their life’s work. Some seek the greatest hunt of all. Some seek the truth. But for the ambitious young scientist Victoria Stewart this is a voyage to uncover the fate of the sister she lost. Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the waves. But the secrets of the deep come with a price.

Hawking, Lucy and Stephen: George's Secret Key to the Universe

The space aspects of it, as well as the fact that a character gets trapped in a black hole at one point, gives off Vast vibes to me. Synopsis for more info: The main characters in the book are George Greenby, Susan Bellis, Eric Bellis, Annie Bellis, Dr. Reeper, and Cosmos, the world's most powerful computer. Cosmos can draw windows allowing people to look into outer space, as well as doors that act as portals allowing travel into outer space. It starts by describing atoms, stars, planets, and their moons. It then goes on to describe black holes, which remains the topic of focus in the last part of the book. At frequent intervals throughout the book, there are pictures and "fact files" of the different references to universal objects, including a picture of Mars with its moons.

Hardinge, Frances: Deeplight

"In the old days, the islands of the Myriad lived in fear of the gods, great sea monsters that rose up from the Undersea to devour ships and depopulate entire islands. Now, the gods are no more. They tore each other apart in an event known as the Cataclysm. Fragments of their bodies (known as godware) are dredged up and sold. Hark and his best friend Jelt are petty criminals. When they embark on a dangerous scavenging expedition, they stumble across a strange, pulsing piece of godware and things begin to go very, very wrong."

Gods, the ocean depths, and poverty all play into the themes of insignificance in this novel.

Inglis, James: Night Watch

Concerns an interstellar probe which is still functional when our Galaxy is dying. The story ends with the community of probes launched by various races and drawn together by the fact that very few stars are still shining, setting out on the long voyage to a distant and still-young galaxy as the last star of our galaxy burns out behind them.

King, Stephen: The Jaunt

“As a family prepares to be "Jaunted" to Mars in the 24th century, the father entertains his two children by recounting the curious tale of the discovery and history of this crude form of teleportation. He explains how the scientist who serendipitously discovered it quickly learned that it had a disturbing, inexplicable effect on the mice he "sent through"—eventually concluding that they could only survive the "Jaunt effect" while unconscious. That, the father explains, is why all people must undergo general anaesthesia before using the Jaunt.

The father spares his children the gruesome semi-apocryphal account of the first human to be Jaunted awake, a condemned murderer offered a full pardon for agreeing to the experiment. The man "came through" and immediately suffered a massive heart attack, living just long enough to utter a single cryptic phrase: It's eternity in there...

The father also doesn't mention that since that time, roughly thirty people have, voluntarily or otherwise, jaunted while conscious; they either died instantly or emerged insane. One woman was even shoved alive into eternal limbo by her murderous husband, stuck between two jaunt portals. The man was convicted of murder; though his attorneys attempted to argue that he was not guilty on the grounds that his wife was not technically dead, the implications of the same argument served to secure and hasten his execution.

After the father finishes his story, the family is subjected to the sleeping gas and Jaunted to Mars. When the father wakes, he finds that his inquisitive son held his breath in order to experience the Jaunt while conscious…Hair white with shock, corneas yellowed with age, clawing out his own eyes, the boy reveals the terrible nature of the Jaunt: "Longer than you think, Dad! It's longer than you think!"”

Lewis, C.S.: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

"The Dawn Treader is the first ship Narnia has seen in centuries. King Caspian has built it for his voyage to find the seven lords, good men whom his evil uncle Miraz banished when he usurped the throne. The journey takes Edmund, Lucy, and their cousin Eustace to the Eastern Islands, beyond the Silver Sea, toward Aslan's country at the End of the World."

I mean it's a story about trying to get to the end of the world. What's more Vast than that?

Liu, Cixin: The Dark Forest (Three Body Problem Book 2)

I considered other books in the series but this book more than the others deals with the impact of discovering there is other life out in the universe and the distance between worlds as humanity learns an alien fleet is approaching earth at near-light speed. This book is both vast in the scale of the universe but also on a time scale as it covers the 400 years between the fleet’s departure and arrival at earth.

Lovecraft, H.P.: Dagon

Link

The narrator tells of being on a cargo ship that was captured by a German sea-raider in the Pacific. He would eventually escape and drift until he found himself a “black mire”, which was full of rotting fish and more foul stenches. The things that he witnesses in the vast expanse drive him to madness, and eventually he kills himself rather than face the creatures he witnessed there.

Macfarlane, Robert: Underland

A series of essays on "deep time" - that is, viewing the world over timeframes of billions of years, rather than the shorter timeframes we live within & understand. It is essentially the vastness of time. This concept stretches eons into the past and future and is very daunting to read about. The essays all revolve around things underground and often focus on how they're so much larger than us, existing far before us and stretching far beyond.

Also there's a chapter where the author talks about a calving glacier he saw surge upwards hundreds of feet from the sea, unbelievably huge. He recounts how the ice at its base hadn't seen sunlight in eons, and had never even been seen by human eyes, it was so ancient - it then sank underwater again, to once more be hidden. And if that doesn't sound like the origin of a vast avatar idk what does

Marquitz, Tim and Nickolas Sharps, ed.: Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters

From the forward: "Enter Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters. This collection of Kaiju shorts continues the traditions begun by Kaiju pioneers, bringing tales of destruction, hope and morality in the form of giant, city destroying monsters. Even better, the project was funded by Kickstarter, which means you, Dear Reader, made this book possible. And that is a beautiful thing. It means Kaiju, in pop-fiction, are not only alive and well, they’re stomping their way back into the spotlight, where they belong. Featuring amazing artwork, stories from some of the best monster writers around and a publishing team that has impressed me from the beginning, Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters is a welcome addition to the Kaiju genre and an anthology of epic proportions. My inner nine-year-old is shouting at me to shut-up and let you get to the Kaiju. So, without further delay, let’s all enjoy us some Kaiju Rising."

Notable for the fact the majority of the stories within are downer-ending horror short-stories versus more upbeat monster-fighting ones. Several also tackle concepts of an unstoppable, implacable force, themes of religious horror, and other Vast-aligned concepts.

Melville, Herman: Moby Dick

Okay so Ahab is Hunt, but the thing he's hunting is 1000% Vast. The book is very detailed in its descriptions of the enormity of whales and of the sea. Also, Moby Dick is basically outright stated as being God.

***

We all know what The Whale is about. Ahab has beef with Moby Dick, so he vows to hunt it. This is a particularly intelligent, huge whale that everyone advises to steer clear of, and possibly an allegory of God. The book itself is large, it's 135 chapters and a lot of pages and for some reason mandatory reading in some schools. It's a classic and rightfully so. Trying to read it in one sitting is like trying to hunt the proverbial whale, a foolish endeavor no mortal man should attempt. Infinity is best consumed one day at a time, and so is the book. Otherwise you'll drown in (mostly descriptions of) whales.

***

Man attempts to fight a giant whale that apparently is representative of the unfathomably great and terrible power of nature/fate/God, and thus almost everyone on his crew ends up drowning.

Mortimore, Jim: Beltempest

Synopsis: "The people of Bellania II see their sun, Bel, shrouded in night for a month following an impossible triple eclipse. When Bel is returned to them a younger, brighter, hotter star, it is the beginning of the end for the entire solar system...

100,000 years later, the Doctor and Sam arrive on Bellania IV, where the population is under threat as disaster looms — immense gravitational and dimensional disturbances are surging through this area of space.

While the time travellers attempt to help the survivors and ease the devastation, a religious suicide-cult leader is determined to spread a new religion through Bel's system — and his word may prove even more dangerous than the terrible forces brought into being by the catastrophic changes in the sun... "

Why it's Vast: The main conflict revolves around the massive natural disasters caused by changes to the Bel System's sun. Moons are ripped from their orbits, gravity waves create planetary earthquakes, and the void of space is rocked by solar flares. In response to these unstoppable disasters, a religion springs up in worship of the star -- as Simon Fairchild noted, religion was once a strong vector for the Vast, though it wasn't explored in much depth within the podcast.

North, Claire: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

"The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August" is about the titular protagonist Harry August. He is born, he lives, he dies... Except he does this a lot more than most regular people. Harry is a kalachakra (or ouroborus, the names are used interchangeably), a member of a select few people who, upon dying, simply return to when they were born with all the memories and knowledge of their past lives. This is all well and good until, while on the deathbed of his eleventh life, Harry is warned by a little Kalachakra girl that the world is ending, and he must stop it from doing so."

Vast realised in endless lives of the characters stretching before them till infinity. Vast realised in the perfect endless memory of the main character and some others. Vast realised in eternity.

Oesterheld, Héctor Germán: El Eternauta

Juan Salvo, the inimitable protagonist, along with his friend Professor Favalli and the tenacious metal-worker Franco, face what appears to be a nuclear accident, but quickly turns out to be something much bigger than they had imagined. Cold War tensions, aliens of all sizes, space―and time travel―this one has it all.

Poe, Edgar Allen: A Descent into the Maelström

Inspired by the Moskstraumen, it is couched as a story within a story, a tale told at the summit of a mountain climb in Lofoten, Norway. The story is told by an old man who reveals that he only appears old—"You suppose me a very old man," he says, "but I am not. It took less than a single day to change these hairs from a jetty black to white, to weaken my limbs, and to unstring my nerves." The narrator, convinced by the power of the whirlpools he sees in the ocean beyond, is then told of the "old" man's fishing trip with his two brothers a few years ago.

Driven by "the most terrible hurricane that ever came out of the heavens", their ship was caught in the vortex. One brother was pulled into the waves; the other was driven mad by the horror of the spectacle, and drowned as the ship was pulled under. At first the narrator only saw hideous terror in the spectacle. In a moment of revelation, he saw that the Maelström is a beautiful and awesome creation. Observing how objects around him were attracted and pulled into it, he deduced that "the larger the bodies, the more rapid their descent" and that spherical-shaped objects were pulled in the fastest. Unlike his brother, he abandoned ship and held on to a cylindrical barrel until he was saved several hours later when the whirlpool temporarily subsided, and he was rescued by some fishermen. The "old" man tells the story to the narrator without any hope that the narrator will believe it.

Pratchett, Terry and Steven Baxter: The Long Earth series

Blueprints for an easily to build device that allows people to "step" into a nigh infinite series of alternate earths get published online. The series deals with the exploration of these alternate earths, and the way their existence and accessibility changes human society over the next 50 or so years. The earths next to our own are similar to ours except that there are no humans, but further earths diverged from our own earlier in geological history; millions of earths away are worlds where the KT extinctions never happens, billions of earths away there are worlds where jellyfish live in the sky. It's emphasized throughout the books that all of these earth's are entire planets with billions of years of history that no one will ever fully understand because there's just too much space.

Purser-Hallard, Philip: Of the City of the Saved...

It's set in a city where every human or descendant of humanity who has ever lived has been reborn all at once, and the book makes sure you understand the scope of that. To pull out a few statistics, the city is the size of a spiral galaxy and has a population of a hundred undecillion - or 1 followed by 38 zeros. There's a watchtower at the city's centre which is the width of a continent and the height of one astronomical unit (the distance of Earth to the sun), and a city council ampithetre the size of a gas giant. When I think of a book emphasising physical vastness, I think Of the City of the Saved, because it doesn't just gloss over the size and call it incomprehensible, it makes sure you begin to grasp the scale of things. And that every character in the book is just one person on that scale.

Reed, Robert: An Exaltation of Larks

The book shows the heat death of the universe, where the stars have long since burned out, and stellar formation ceased, leaving behind a dark, cold, and empty universe. Time travelers from the end of time have steadily been working their way back to the Big Bang to prevent this gradual death from happening by turning the universe into an effectively Perpetual Motion Machine that expands, contracts, and expands again.

Reisman, Michael: Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper

A boy inadvertently discovers the book that controls the laws of physics and learns to play with gravity and velocity, which on multiple occasions results in him taking an uncontrolled fall into the sky.

Sanderson, Brandon: Firefight

This is the second book in The Reckoners Trilogy, which is about the eponymous group hunting Epics--people who were granted superpowers by the mysterious red star Calamity, but also turned evil and destroyed society as we know it.

In this one, the Reckoners go to Babylon Restored, a.k.a NYC. The city was flooded by the hydrokinetic Regalia, killing thousands and leaving the survivors to inhabit the rooftops of the sunken buildings. Regalia has immense control over water, able to manipulate it on both a mass scale and in a more precise way to attack with tentacles and create clones of herself. Most terrifyingly, she can see out of the surface of any exposed water--which means almost nowhere in Babilar is safe from her eyes.

The fact that the city is flooded is especially problematic for protagonist David, who can't swim and discovers he has a fear of drowning--especially after he is nearly executed in this way. To make matters worse, the Reckoners' base of operations is an underwater bunker with a window open to the water. This culminates in him facing his fear in attempt to save his love interest by shooting at the window to get out of the bunker. While Regalia saves him for her own ends, she also reveals something even more grand and incomprehensibly terrifying--Calamity itself is sapient and apparently malicious.

Seuss, Dr.: Horton Hears a Who!

Hey kids! Take a minute to think about what would happen if the whole planet existed on a single speck of dust, and how easily everything you know could be eradicated by complete cosmic accident!

Simmons, Dan: The Terror

Being trapped in the Arctic? Not just in the Arctic but in the middle of an ice sheet on the ocean? With the only land being a 3 day trek away? So all you can see before you is open plains of snow and ice and knowing underneath you is also the cold, uncaring, freezing ocean? That's not even taking into account the monster hunting you and your men is easily the size of 3-4 polar bears

Swift, Jonathan: Gulliver's Travels

Plays a lot with perspective -- Gulliver is a giant on one island, and an ant on another. There's also an island that flies and blots out the sun to conquer the lands below it.

Tennyson, Alfred: The Kraken

Link to the poem

Vivid imagery of deep-sea colossi and the enormous weight of the ocean and eternity.

Tolstoy, Leo: War & Peace

real world leitner - inspires dread and fear in the hearts of millions of russian high schoolers with its enormous page count, oppressively large cast of characters and incomprehensible fragments of french inserted directly into the narrative

Verne, Jules: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Themes of insignificance and descriptions of colossal terrors abound.

#leitner tournament #reading list #vast poll

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bethanydelleman · 11 months

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Northanger Abbey Readthrough Ch 23

So the joke of this chapter, which I will admit to not understanding on my first read, is that General Tilney is deliberately showing Catherine everything he has renovated, so the newest and most fancy parts of the abbey, while all that Catherine wants to see is the old stuff. She's basically getting the brag tour and she wants the historical tour.

When the general had satisfied his own curiosity, in a close examination of every well-known ornament

Eleanor wants to take Catherine further, but the General is against it because "Had not Miss Morland already seen all that could be worth her notice?" The real meaning here is that nothing else is fancy enough for his pleasure, but Catherine's imagination is running again, "Something was certainly to be concealed"

The General’s improving hand had not loitered here: every modern invention to facilitate the labour of the cooks had been adopted within this, their spacious theatre; and, when the genius of others had failed, his own had often produced the perfection wanted.

General Tilney sounding a lot like John Thorpe here, but again, just more educated:

He told her of horses which he had bought for a trifle and sold for incredible sums; of racing matches, in which his judgment had infallibly foretold the winner; of shooting parties, in which he had killed more birds (though without having one good shot) than all his companions together; and described to her some famous day’s sport, with the fox-hounds, in which his foresight and skill in directing the dogs had repaired the mistakes of the most experienced huntsman, and in which the boldness of his riding, though it had never endangered his own life for a moment, had been constantly leading others into difficulties, which he calmly concluded had broken the necks of many. (Ch 9)

It's like the Thorpes were a nice warm-up for Catherine's discernment and now she's up against the real boss of liars.

As a mom, I can never read this without a bit of distress: by passing through a dark little room, owning Henry’s authority, and strewed with his litter of books, guns, and greatcoats. Litter of guns!!! What if a child toddles into this room, sir? I know there are no children about but STILL. Litter of guns, indeed.

Also, Catherine's general displeasure with this tour reminds me of Mary Crawford's speech about viewing houses in Mansfield Park:

“That she should be tired now, however, gives me no surprise; for there is nothing in the course of one’s duties so fatiguing as what we have been doing this morning: seeing a great house, dawdling from one room to another, straining one’s eyes and one’s attention, hearing what one does not understand, admiring what one does not care for. It is generally allowed to be the greatest bore in the world, and Miss Price has found it so, though she did not know it.” (ch 9)

I love Catherine being shocked about how numerous the servants are, since in Gothic novels only one or two are needed. Also, the note of how Mrs. Allen found that unrealistic. Catherine hasn't had to manage household staffing, cleaning, and cooking yet!. This is one of the things I liked about Emma 2020 by the way, the little touches they added with the servants always being around.

Catherine compares General Tilney to Montoni, and for those like me who have not yet read The Mysteries of Udolpho:

Montoni is a prototypical Gothic villain. Brooding, haughty and scheming, he masquerades as an Italian nobleman to gain Madame Cheron's hand in marriage, then imprisons Emily and Madame Cheron in Udolpho in an attempt to take control of Madame Cheron's wealth and estates. He is cold and often cruel to Emily, who believes him to be a captain of banditti. (Wikipedia)

Okay, Catherine. (Then again, it is weird that he just paces back and fourth for a full hour in the drawing room. Sit down, sir.)

Catherine sometimes started at the boldness of her own surmises, and sometimes hoped or feared that she had gone too far; but they were supported by such appearances as made their dismissal impossible.

Oh Catherine. This is the part where it's nearly impossible not to feel some secondhand embarrassment. I want to send Fanny Price or Anne Elliot to the abbey to straighten her out.

Also, here is some more information about those pamphlets the General is reading. He may be looking for traitors.

#northanger abbey readthrough #northanger abbey #general tilney #brag tour

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theofficialastronomy101 · 10 months

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During the latest hearing before the U.S. House Science and Technology Committee SETI scientists Seth Shostak and Dan Werthimer asserted that solid evidence for extraterrestrial life in our galaxy — or, at the very least, solid evidence for a definitive lack of it — will come within the next 5 years. It’s a bold claim for scientists to make on public record, but one that Shostak has made many times before (and he’s not particularly off-schedule either.) And with SETI’s Allen Telescope Array (ATA) continually scanning the sky for any signals that appear intentional, exoplanets being discovered en masse, and new technology on deck that can further investigate a select few of their (hopefully) Earth-like atmospheres, the chances that alien life — if it’s out there — will be found are getting better and better each year.

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steelbluehome · 3 months

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The Guardian

A Different Man review – Adam Pearson shines in oddball Doppelganger parable

The Under the Skin actor is a standout in a story starring Sebastian Stan as a man whose appearance is transformed by surgery

Peter Bradshaw

Sat 17 Feb 2024

Writer-director Aaron Schimberg has created a diverting, if contrived, noir satire-parable about the faces we prepare to meet the faces that we meet. I’m not sure that, finally, it says as much as it thinks it’s saying, and I’m also not sure if the resemblance to early Woody Allen is intentional or not. But it is arresting and challenging with an exhilarating performance from Adam Pearson, from Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, and whom Schimberg has in fact already directed in his previous feature Chained For Life.

The setting is a dark and dingy New York City, where Edward (Sebastian Stan) is a would-be actor with a craniofacial condition who so far has only got work in an instructional video for corporations about how to treat co-workers with craniofacial conditions. Poor Edward is shy and nervous (his neighbour says he’s like Woody Allen) and Reinate Reinsve has the Annie Hall role as Ingrid, the quirky-beautiful next-door neighbour who is kind to him.

When Edward has pioneering surgery transforming him into a conventionally handsome guy, his life is turned around and he passes himself off as someone else, but when he hears Ingrid is writing a play about their friendship, he insists on starring in it, wearing a mask of his old face. The arrival of Oswald (Adam Pearson) changes things: a dapper, witty, confident British guy with precisely the same (untransformed) facial condition who professes himself a massive fan of Ingrid’s creative process and has no interest in surgery. With his sheer confidence and happiness, Oswald becomes a doppelgänger threat to Edward.

The tangled oddity of the story makes as many demands on an audience’s attention and credulity as anything else on screen – although the way Schimberg’s film refuses the horror tropes that another might embrace is interesting. Pearson himself moves through the film with more unselfconscious lightness than any other character: he is allowed to be garrulous and effusive in a way absolutely denied to everyone else - and the effect is dreamlike and unreal but bold too. It’s a film whose tone and meaning can’t be nailed down.

#a different man #sebastian stan #adam pearson #renate reinsve #aaron schimberg

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exhibit-of-the-century · 5 months

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Exhibition Catalogue: Reflecting Upon Nude Veritas

Masterlist

BUY ME A COFFEE

Work written for University Assignment based on Catalogue Essays/Writings. Examples: A Painting - Manet's The Railway - A Painting - Mantegna's Adoration of the Magi - A Drawing - Hepworth Fenstration of the Ear - A Manuscript - The Chronicles of England

Painted during the end of the 19th century, by Viennese painter Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), the oil painting, Nude Veritas (Fig.1), comes from the era of the Vienna Secession, an art period closely related to Art Nouveau, roughly between the years of 1890-1914. Through mixed media this movement focused on combining the natural world with the man-made, using the fine arts, sculpture, and architecture for decorative motifs. Nude Veritas was created far before either world war and the artist died before the WWII.

Nude Veritas clearly has art nouveau links, with the displayed female nude, gold leaf decorative frame that’s bold and striking, and text that’s reminiscent of posters from the era. Drawing more on Art Nouveau, the painting is hung like a portrait, with a nonrepresentational background, presenting an idealised female nude. The body is flanked by decorative patterns of gold leaf and flowers which was another common motif of Art Nouveau.

While this work draws heavily on Art Nouveau, it lacks the finish that is most associated with the movement, like clean and bold contour lines, flat colours, and exaggerated curving patterns, which do feature in this work but only as a background decoration. Nude Veritas also features a “fuzzy” textural quality, thanks to Klimt’s use of oil on canvas achieving brushed out and light paint, allowing him to create this finish which draws on the Impressionist movement and contains traces of early Expressionism. Impressionism, approximately 1860 onwards, draws on saturated naturalistic colour to exaggerate emotion, with visible brushwork and painterly qualities. Paintings like these emphasised accurate depictions of light to form atmosphere, focusing on ordinary subject matter. Expressionism used distorted imagery of naturalistic scenes for a radically greater emotional effect, and to evoke moods and ideas. Whilst Nude Veritas conforms to some aspects of this movement, it largely draws on Art Nouveau and Impressionism.

Fig 1. Gustav Klimt, Nude Veritas, 1899, Oil on canvas painting, 240 x 64.5 cm, Austrian Theatre Museum, Vienna, Austria

The text featured on this oil painting reads as follows: “KANNST DU NICHT ALLEN GEFALLEN DUCH DEINE THAT UND DEIN KUNSTWERK – MACH ES WENIGEN RECHT: VIELEN GEFALLEN IST SCHLIMM” (“if you cannot please everyone with your actions and your artwork – please only a few: to please many is bad”). “NUDE VERITAS” (“nude truth”)

Holding what appears to be a mirror or looking glass, the subject faces the viewer, challenging them head on, despite a blank and indecipherable stare. With full frontal nudity, and addition of pubic hair, the form becomes less idealised and far more confrontational. As our eyes travel lower, following her body down, we find a snake tangled at her ankles. Once again being confronted by “Nude Truth”, we find the snake obscuring the words possibly representative of an obstruction of truth. Perhaps the woman is the embodiment of truth, her nakedness linked to the word “nude” before truth and being on display for all to see. Or perhaps she is telling us to see a naked truth, once more linked to her bareness on display.

With this in mind, we must understand Klimt’s work and background to understand how this piece is recontextualised in WWII by the Nazis. There is a forgotten history here, as Nude Veritas and many others feature in an exhibit held by the Third Reich Party in 1943. Klimt’s work predominantly features women, due to the nature of the movements he was a part of. “Whenever he was free to choose his sitter, Klimt preferred the dark-haired, Mediterranean type of woman to the blonde, Nordic type so pre- dominant in the German lands.”[1]

Although The Kiss is highly regarded and known today, his other work falls into relative obscurity. Around the time Nude Veritas (1899) was finished, Klimt was commissioned to paint ceilings (1900). Philosophy, one of these paintings “was attacked as "painted lunacy," "pathological," and "immoral."”[2] While this highlights that his work was ridiculed during his life and was seen as controversial, it raises interesting questions about what the Viennese public of the 1940’s thought, under Hitler’s rule, as this work and many others of Klimt’s were displayed. However, his works were not in a degrading exhibition that the Nazis had been known to make, where they displayed artworks to humiliate and condemn certain artists and styles.

“The majority came only to jeer, but a counter-protest was staged by a small minority.”[3] These provocative pieces Klimt painted emphasize a set of conservative sensibilities, yet “writing of the Klimt era, the German Meier- Graefe said: "Woman influenced all this art, good and bad alike […] the worship of women is an integral part of the national culture."[4] How can Klimt works be considered part of a sexual revolution when the Nazi party advocated for a specific archetype of woman. The hypocrisy of the Nazis is laid bare by this contradiction, reinforced by Nude Veritas herself, inviting us to see a naked truth.

It has been well documented that “close to 16,000 works [that were] deemed degenerate were sold, burned, or ridiculed in exhibits set up precisely for that purpose.”[5] The amount of art destroyed under the Nazis, as well as the art that was condemned as degenerate, in some respects overshadows the work they did endorsed. Furthermore, there’s an estimated “100,000 artworks stolen by the Nazis [that] have still not been located”.[6] It is perhaps this we should be focusing our attention on as well, in addition to trying to understand what they were endorsing, and what they wanted the public to take away from their encounters with endorsed works, like Nude Veritas.

It's safe to say that there were a lot of factors against Nude Veritas and Klimt in general, for his work to be endorsed by the Third Reich. Just by looking at Klimt’s work, it’s clear that he does not paint archetypal Aryan women, in fact he seems to avoid them. Moreover, he had a well-documented history of Jewish patronage in Fritz Waerndorfer and his wife Lili. So, despite Klimt being dead by the time his painting was hung on display in the exhibit in 1943, it’s impossible to erase the history he left behind, and the documentation of his life. Yet despite these reasons and the fact that “Adolf Hitler had a tight grasp on the art that was promoted by the Third Reich Party, not one to delegate the task.”[7] it’s a surprise to see Klimt, an artist who succeeded in Vienna where Hitler had failed, being so readily endorsed.

It is precisely all these reasons that make Klimt’s work so interesting to observe from the lens of the Third Reich and their propaganda. Nude Veritas becomes such an intriguing piece to witness as she demands a reflection of the truth, and a self-reflection from the viewer.

Nude Veritas stand upright (240 x 64.5 cm), at just over two and half meters tall; the painting is incredibly large and imposing with a presence demanding to be looked at. This demand for attention is reinforced by Klimt’s use of goldleaf all around the frame, which exudes luxury and material wealth, something the Nazis were fond of: “The U.S. government has estimated that German forces and other Nazi agents before and during World War II seized or coerced the sale of approximately one-fifth of all Western art then in existence.”[8]

While most nudes of women are painted with sensuality highlighting a show of vulnerability, and for the pleasure of the viewer, this painting she stands tall and domineers, despite being a woman in the nude, the space she is presented in and the canvas she is painted on. Her nudity can be read as a primal exposure. This motif of primality is strengthened by her wild unkempt hair, as it bunches all around her head in a voluminous mass, intertwined with what appears to be wild daisies, giving her an untamed appearance. This nudity becomes a far more provocative work because of the fierce undertones it presents for a woman at the time. Moreover, this wildness she carries in her physical appearance, linked with the possible interpretation that she is a physical representation of truth, she reflects the true nature of a human, or women, which is unexpected for contemporary viewers.

Her mirror or looking glass only serves to reinforce the narrative of truth. The favoured interpretation is that of the looking glass, perhaps she is implying we inspect what we are shown, or told as truth, more closely and with greater scrutiny. That there is more than meets the eye, to study and dissect the painting and to carry that scrutiny and translate it into the world around us. Although her face is indecipherable, her eyes look glassy and distant, perhaps blind to truth, but desperate to see it and seek it out as she clutches her looking glass close and almost protectively.

More on the snake, toward the bottom of the painting; snakes are seen representative of duplicity and cunningness. A sign of danger and deception even from a Christian perspective with the garden of Eden, the woman here could possibly be interpreted as Eve. The snake literally is covering the truth up, it also travels towards and around the woman, encircling her legs. Possibly to physically stop her from seeing the truth or deciphering it, and potentially restraining her.

While it is hard to gauge what a contemporary audience would have taken away from this piece, as a modern audience we have a retrospective of the work. We know historically that the Nazis hid concentration camps from the wider world, and destroyed a great many more prized artworks, books, manuscripts etc. Nude Veritas gains another layer of meaning to us, if we were to place ourselves in the contemporary context, the hidden truth of the Nazis, relating their presence to the snake deceiving truth, and a physical showing of wealth and material power by possessing this, and other artworks.

Bibliography:

Morowitz, Laura, 'Heil the Hero Klimt!': Nazi Aesthetics in Vienna and the 1943 Gustav Klimt Retrospective, (Oxford Art Journal, Vol. 39, No. 1, 2016) pp. 107-129 [accessed 12 February 2024]

Kaye, M. Lawrence, Avoidance and Resolution of Cultural Heritage Disputes: Recovery of Art Looted During the Holocaust, (Willamette Journal of International Law and Dispute Resolution, Vol.14, No. 2, 2006) pp. 243-268 [accessed 9 February 2024]

Werner, Alfred, Two Austrian Expressionists, (The Kenyon Review, Vol. 26, No. 4, 1964) pp. 599-616 [accessed 10 February 2024]

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neighboursdaily · 1 year

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Wives Cara and Remi, played by Sara West (Don’t Tell, Wakefield, Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door) and Naomi Rukavina (Harry Potter Theatre Production, Run Rabbit Run, Pawno), and sons JJ, played by Riley Bryant (Surviving Summer 2) and Dex, played by newcomer Marley Williams in his first television role – make up the Varga-Murphy family.

Sara West said: “I’m so honoured to be a part of the new Neighbours legacy and really looking forward to bringing the Varga-Murphy family to Australian and international screens. Cara has a bold, impassioned love for her family and I love that her intentions have, so far, always been good. I hope having the Varga-Murphy’s on tele will help better reflect the beautiful LGBTQIA+ community that I’m proud to be a part of and I can’t wait to share the family with you!”

Naomi Rukavina said: “I am thrilled to be joining the new Neighbours legacy. As a stalwart of Australian drama television, the show is on the front foot of showcasing diverse and real representations of Australian families, not in a tokenistic way. The joys, sadness and madness of Neighbours has been a great adventure thus far and the Varga-Murphy family have already formed a special bond off screen and on. I can’t wait to share it with the world.”

Jason Herbison, Neighbours’ Executive Producer, said: “We are delighted to welcome the Varga-Murphy family to Ramsay Street and the amazing cast portraying them. It feels fitting that the new season will herald the arrival of a new household, with many new stories to tell. They have fitted into Erinsborough beautifully, they are warm, fun and also very unpredictable.”

#neighbours #neighbourstv #casting news #neighbours news #revival 2023 #naomi rukavina #sara west

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imaginedmelody · 2 years

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please feel free to talk about any of your middle aged gays wips I would LOVE to hear about any of them 👀💖

Beloved, this is literally my love language and you KNOW that 💖💖💖 A few of these are either not quite middle-aged or only one of the two members is, but here we go:

Allen Hynek & Michael Quinn, Project Blue Book- Listen, I know Allen Hynek was a real person, but the version of him in this TV series is very fictional and my version is even more so 🤣My top WIP right now is an aromantic-Allen fic which I am going to tentatively say is ALMOST done. It's what I'm usually working on in sprints (and I'm going to say something bold here: there's one passage in this that may be some of my favorite words I've ever written.) This pairing has the cocky fighter pilot/nerdy professor dynamic we've all been waiting for. The show is enjoyable if not outstanding, cancelled 1 season before it should have ended, and the fandom is not nearly big enough.

Irving & Burt, Severance- The ULTIMATE canon yearning! I've been working on a fic about them for months, but the fact that there's so much mystery associated with this show means that trying to write a romantic interaction with them outside of Lumon is proving complicated, lol. I've written pretty much all of it except the part that requires any explanation of the logistics of this show's universe. IDK, I am just deeply drawn to the vulnerability of two people whose knowledge of each other is confined to this very limited existence, stepping outside of that place's boundaries and discovering each other in the process. This fic has Irv and Burt flirting over classical music as well; between pieces I'm going to mention in the fic and other non-classical pieces that remind me of the pairing, I'm tempted to include a playlist along with this when I publish it.

Ted Lasso & Trent Crimm, Ted Lasso- Okay, okay, I don't have any solid WIPs about these two at the moment (there's one I started a long time ago that is in sleep mode until I figure out what I want to do with it), but Season 3 premieres March 15th and Trent Crimm apparently plays a "significant role" in it, so you KNOW I will have ideas in the very near future. I enjoy writing these two so much; they have such unique voices and that is so much fun to play with as a writer. Plus this trope is like grumpy/sunshine if the sunshine was secretly a clinically anxious mess of a human and the grumpy's harsh exterior was only a facade and he was unexpectedly very willing to have an open mind and see the good in someone.

Murray Bauman & Alexei, Stranger Things- (Alexei probably isn't quite "middle aged" here, but I'm including this anyway) Another underrated pairing, but I love their dynamic. Two people on opposite sides who could very easily be bitter enemies, but who (in the show, in canon) instead bond with each other so quickly! They snark and sass, but Murray is quite literally the only person who speaks Alexei's language, in personality as well as in actual words. I've already written fic for them, and I thought that was gonna be it, but I have more to say, lol

There are so many more middle-aged gays I love but haven't written for too! Truly we are in our best era with all of these wonderful pairings.

#imaginedmelody writes fanfic #thank you my swamp wife i love yoooooooou <3 #hynequinn #project blue book #severance #burt x irving #tedependent #ted lasso #cherryvodka #murray x alexei #stranger things #i realize looking back that i talked a lot about the pairings and told you almost nothing about the fics #so please feel free to ask follow up questions!

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surejess--arc · 2 years

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TASK 001: MUTANT FUCKERY !

what is your ability?

fun lord with clown physiology

what is your character’s government-assigned classification level?

level four. she can essentially bend reality... and the past and the present, as long as it’s fun to any kind of third party. that said, at inspection, she does not look entirely human, but she’s far more passing than most level two.

what can you do?

use all silly powers, master cartoon physics ( fun lord is the highest form ), grow stronger through laughter, make people burst out into song, induce a party, attack with any weird forces, and fully control the plot ( amongst other things ). however, before this... ‘i’m you but stronger’ side of her mutation was unlocked, she simply had clown physiology -- that said, she is a master of all powers related to that. she’s a class act with hilarity, and definitely the power she has the most control over (otherwise her audiences would literally fucking die). she’s also very good at controlling the simpler ones – card generation, balloon manipulation, prank intuition, performance art intuition. and, although she no longer has much use for it, malleable anatomy and pain suppression are both skills. her final few years in kappa (or barnum depending on hf timeline) did her one favor: introduce her to the miming variation, thus meaning she can mime any action and thought waves will will it to happen in real life (such as miming a gun and shooting – if she wants to, it can actually have the same effects as an actual bullet). she has her own pocket dimension to keep weaponry – both real and gag – within. she is more bound to the laws of cartoon physics than she is to the laws of nature, thus making her very existence more... comical (for example, you best bet that if she got slammed through a wall, it would leave the perfect silhouette as opposed to a gaping hole). they don’t all apply to her, but... so many do...

and a few other things that are just silly and goofy and creepy! in addition, although not due to her mutation, very acrobatic – being part of a traveling troupe can do that! she can also technically leave clown form™, but why would she ever give up the powers just to look like someone who doesn’t make bold fashion statements? ALSO, lest we forget her alien mind… love it for her…

what can’t you do?

since she’s only had the fun lord fully unlocked for a few years, she has not nearly mastered those abilities. she’s always had a touch of cartoon physics, but things like manipulating logic ? creating paradoxes ? controlling the plot ? yeah, she’s got no fucking clue. ( for fun lord reference -- just because it sounds so broad, but... i would not choose a power that is broad over fun, think about the looney toons and fleischer brother cartoons (betty boop, popeye, koko the clown) and how they can completely manipulate their reality. there’s also this one toon i was shown in my animation class last year... so sad i can’t remember it, but the characters made the author change the plot. so fun stuff like that ! ) she’s generally good at not just fucking building bombs, but every now and again… a balloon will almost go ka-plow! rip :-( she’s also got a pretty immense fear of using her miming, but that… you know, stems from mutant caterpillar trauma… how they chopped off her limbs for that one to see if it was reality warping or she really did need to action it 😔

what are your weaknesses?

well, she always looks like a clown with one pink iris, so jot that down. ( that said, very lucky in that the clownery aesthetic lends more towards e-girl than it does ronald mcdonald. ) in addition, mentally blending in with the people who surround her is not very easy. it takes a lot of work to pretend to see the world in its real hues as opposed to some brilliant vibrancy, a la ‘ldn’ by icon lily allen. there are also some people who are just boring who her super fun powers won’t work on 🙄 then there are also all the fun lord powers, but you know...

how did you first come to the realization that you were a mutant?

she was born looking a little bit different, but it was chalked up to a kid with some human genetic defect. after suspicions increased, driven by weird-ass magic clown shit, she was shipped off to go live with some carnies and be their local clown ! then she told a not-funny-at-all joke that accidentally made half the audience literally laugh themselves to death :\ so like... that was confirmation... as for fun lord, after extracting some of her dna to inject into kian to see what the hell happens, an upgraded mutation??? was unlocked. she was working beyond the realm of clownery, working beyond the realm of regular cartoon physics ( mastering them, instead ). there were times that she could swear... she was contacting her creator ! someone named may ! and, upon release, there were times that she would say any ‘i wish’-adjacent statement and... it might just happen. nothing grand scale, but she could say ‘i wish i had chosen rye instead of pita’ and history would rewrite itself.

if given the choice, would you remain a mutant? why or why not?

mhm ! can it be difficult ? for sure. has it presented a lot of obstacles and torture, whether the hf timeline keeps kappa or i move to an original affiliation ? yea :\ but the world must be a dull place...

what do you hope to see change in the future, with respect to the current strife over mutant acceptance? short-term? long-term?

some legit comeuppance. while she would never join the damned -- hierarchies and organizations just aren’t her thing! ( hf doesn’t count by reason of not being a group that relies on the standing of mutants... and by reason of being headed by january with her as the right-hand ) -- she does agree with the part of their cause that basically says: humans gotta take responsibility or get fucked! ( but so do mutants who helped :\ it’s so messie :\ )

#task !#luv that i've been playing jess long enough to see the superpower wikia shift the title from #'clown physiology' to 'archetype: clown'#ur still clown physiology to me <3

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fontlabs · 4 months

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Sherlock Holmes Font Free Download

Sherlock Holmes Font is a fancy decorative typeface that is based on the best movie by GUY RITCHIE, with ROBERT DOWNEY JR. This font was designed by Alphabet & Type for the first time. This display font family comes in two different weights. It features a bold design that will look great on modern poster and flyer designs. It contains 165 characters and 119 unique glyphs. This fancy font quickly became popular after its release. And a large majority of designers for different jobs. And if you’re a designer, you should try it out. This beautiful typeface is accompanied an extraordinary clarity and a prominent display. Therefore, it will work in a great way to enhance the beauty of any unique design. Sherlock Holmes Font Font Name: Sherlock Holmes Font Style: Decorative, Fancy, Typeface Font Designer: Alphabet & Type File Format: TTF License: Free For Personal Use Files: Sherlock Holmes (Truetype) This display font family becomes part of a premium product, so it is guaranteed to run with high quality. It has become one of the most loved and beloved fonts in the world. This bold font family is perfect for many different projects such as designing a logo, brandings, official cards, poster advertisements, titles, body text, banners, movie posters, website headers, magazine covers, and so on. The great aspect of this typeface is that it is free for personal as well as commercial use. Some related display fonts are Terminator Font by Allen R. Walden and Lemiesz Font by David Rakowski. We hope this helps you in providing the best quality fonts. So, please give us feedback about this typeface in the comments section and help us share this font with your social friends. Download this fine-quality font family for free in just a single click function and don’t forget to appreciate this font. Read the full article

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youngeditor1999 · 5 months

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🍓

I see you/your account and immediately think ✨✨✨COOL ASS NYC ARTIST WHO IS OUT LIVING THEIR BEST LIFE✨✨✨ (even on rough/not great days)!!!!!!!!!!

I love and appreciate ALL of the art you do, from GIFs to drawings to graphic posters!!!! All of your projects totally slay, fr FR!!!!!! 🤩🥳🔥💯🌟💞🎨🖌️🖼️

And speaking of art, you are so creative in general because you also write and crotchet!!! 📝🧶

All of your stories are great!!! A reader can definitely tell how much you care about your subjects, no matter who they are!! :D

And as for your crochet hobby...!!!

I always fangirl a little whenever I see your completed projects because every single one is SO DETAILED and all around AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! 🤩🔥💯🌟💓

Back to GIFs for a second:

I still absolutely ADORE those Cowboy!Tom one you made just for me back in February!!!!!!!!!!! 🥹🤠<3

That was such an important and special moment for me, especially because I know that Thomas is not your number one NFL guy 😅

That being said, you are all-around a VERY loving and caring person!!!!! And you do an excellent job of balancing giving your projects away to people you care about while also saving some just for yourself!!!

Another thing is your love and dedication to the one and only Joshie Allen!!!!!!

Of course I know that you are a lesbian, but it's still neat to see you love and appreciate Josh!! Your observations about him has made me appreciate him more!!!!! 🤩❣️

Moving on, I see you as being an extremely brave and bold person!!

The way you jump into new situations is very admirable, even if the new situation is simply a new hobby or fresh RPF ship 🥰

Last but not least, your strong loyalty to traditions and all the things that you love makes me wanna scream & cry & bang on walls sometimes!!!

An example of this is how sometimes when we talk shit about the Colts in the server, you simply reply with a "):" to basically let us know that you are disappointed with us because of the connection that you have to the Colts through your mom!! 🐴💙🤍🐎

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

In conclusion, I love how we met and became friends!!! 🥺🥹🤧💗

I low-key can't believe that I know you!! I feel SO HONORED to be able to talk to you and have you as a mutual!!!!!!! 🧡

I 💜 you and hope that you keep slaying and creating for many, MANY more years to come!!!! :D

#asks #askbox #deafleppard #asked and answered #Send me a 🍓 and I'll reply with a compliment!!!!!#friendship!!!!!!!#love

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jdgo51 · 1 year

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Can I Lose My Salvation?

Today's inspiration comes from:

Misled

by Allen Parr

"'Many Christians are being misled by the lie that somehow they may have lost their salvation — or might lose it if they aren’t careful. They live in the constant grip of fear that their sins will disqualify them from being a Christian. Some churches even teach that it’s not really possible for a Christian to know for sure that they are saved. The good news is that God does want us to have assurance of our salvation, and the Bible says as much:

I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. — 1 John 5:13

The lie that we can lose our salvation or can never know whether we’re truly saved is a perversion of the true gospel, and it hinders believers from living in and embracing the freedom, peace, and joy the gospel promises. We’re going to look at some important biblically supported doctrines and teachings that can set every Christian free from the fear that salvation is fragile, fleeting, or uncertain. Perhaps the most important doctrine is eternal security. Sometimes referred to as “once saved, always saved,” eternal security is the theological belief that once a person places genuine faith in Jesus Christ, their salvation is eternally secure. In other words, they no longer have to fear going to hell. It is impossible for this person to lose or even forfeit their salvation.

I admit that’s a very bold statement. So it’s essential to support it with a strong biblical foundation that demonstrates why the opposing view doesn’t stack up. Before we dig into the doctrine of eternal security, let’s examine how and why it’s so dangerous for a Christian to deny this doctrine of eternal security.

The Consequences of Denying Eternal Security

Understanding this doctrine of eternal security is not just some theological exercise to make you sound intelligent. The way you view your salvation has ramifications for how you relate to God and live your daily life as a Christian.

If you believe your salvation is on shaky ground, you will relate to God on the basis of fear rather than faith. Everything you do for Him will be motivated by fear rather than love. Denying this doctrine will inevitably set up a legalistic relationship between you and God. Legalism demands that you perfectly adhere to a set of rules to secure or keep your salvation. It also suggests that God’s love for you and His acceptance of you fluctuates depending on your behavior.

Instead of experiencing the peace and joy that come from knowing your salvation is secure, you will live in a constant state of uncertainty, wondering day after day if you’ve done enough to keep from losing your salvation. That uncertainty might make you try to get saved and baptized again and again just to make sure you’re going to heaven. My friend, God doesn’t want that for you. He wants you to be free. He wants you to enjoy the peace and freedom that come from knowing what your Savior did for you on the cross.

We’re saved by grace alone through a genuine belief in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Biblical Pillars of Eternal Security

I liken eternal security to a house with eight pillars. Each of these pillars is essential for this house to stand. I hope this chapter provides you with such overwhelming biblical evidence for the security of your salvation that you’ll never doubt it again.

Pillar #1: Perseverance

This first pillar is that of perseverance, or the perseverance of the saints. This doctrine states that those who are truly born again will be empowered by the Spirit to continue to believe until the day they die. We don’t persevere in our own strength. We persevere because the Spirit of God, who lives within us, empowers us to do so. Several scriptures support this teaching:

Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. — Philippians 2:12–13

Notice that we’re encouraged to work out our salvation, not work for it. There is a huge difference between the words out and for! Working for our salvation would imply that we must do something to earn it or complete it. Working out our salvation implies that we’re already saved, and we are simply trying to grow in our faith and sanctification. To echo Charles Spurgeon, we are “working out” what has already been “worked in.”1 As Spurgeon pointed out, God has already worked His salvation in us, and we are simply working it out in our daily lives. This raises some good questions you may be wondering about: Couldn’t a Christian simply walk away from the faith and give up on the entire thing? Can’t they decide at any point that they no longer want to be a Christian? In other words, can a Christian renounce or forfeit their own faith and thus not persevere?

Before we answer that, it’s critical that we establish one very important truth:

There is a difference between genuine Christians and professing Christians.

Some profess to be Christians but are not. They seem like Christians, at least on the surface. They attend church like Christians. They give money like Christians. They talk like Christians. They may even listen to Christian music! But none of these things mean they are actually Christians. Jesus warned about this:

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in Heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’ — Matthew 7:21–23

There are a few important details to highlight in this passage. First, the people were saying the right things. But Jesus said that many who say, “Lord, Lord,” will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Second, they were doing what appeared to be the right things. They were involved in religious activities that most people would attribute to Christians. Third, based on what they said to Jesus on the Day of Judgment, these people seemed to be depending on these religious activities to get them into Heaven. But religious activities don’t save us. We’re saved by grace alone through a genuine belief in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Fourth and finally, focus on four very important words: I never knew you. Jesus did not say, “I don’t know you anymore.” That would have implied a previous relationship that had been lost. The fact that He said I never knew you reveals that there was never a relationship to begin with.

So professing Christians can turn away from the faith because their faith wasn’t genuine in the first place. This is called apostasy. Genuine Christians cannot apostatize. In other words, genuine Christians will not totally and finally turn away from the faith. Let’s define these two words. Totally means that genuine Christians may struggle in some aspects of their faith, but they won’t renounce Christianity entirely. Finally means that it is quite possible and common, for that matter, for genuine Christians to experience a temporary lapse in their faith, but they will return at some point.

Another consideration that relates to the question of whether a genuine Christian can renounce their faith involves how Jesus described genuine salvation. In John 3, Jesus said that we must be “born again.” Let’s analyze this concept. When a person is born physically, is there anything they can do to undo that fact? You may say, “Well, they can commit suicide.” While that’s true, it doesn’t negate the fact that they were born first. Does that make sense? Taking one’s life doesn’t erase the fact that they were born. In the same way, once a person is born again, there is nothing they can do to undo their spiritual birth. Just as babies have nothing to do with their physical birth, a person who is born again has nothing to do with their spiritual rebirth.

Another scripture that strongly supports the distinction between genuine Christians and those who are merely professing Christians is 1 John 2:19:

They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.

To summarize, there can only be three possible explanations for leaving the faith.

The first possibility is that they were never saved to begin with. They professed to be but were never truly converted. The second possibility is that they remain saved but will be severely disciplined by their Father (see Hebrews 12). The third possibility is that they are in an extreme but temporary state of backsliding and rebellion, but God knows they will return to Him later. The Bible teaches that those who are truly regenerate will indeed persevere in the faith. Perseverance is not something we do to earn our salvation, but rather something God empowers us to do to keep us walking in the salvation He’s already given us."'

Excerpted with permission from Misled by Allen Parr, copyright Allen G. Parr Jr.

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notebookmusical · 1 year

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Hey! I know you didn't reply yet but I am very intrigued by your Barbie musical choices. I love that cast idea! Unfortunately I missed the movie again the other day but maybe I will see it the next week..idk. but I realized that I never told you my favorite musicals. So..my musical knowledge at first was from a lot of movie musicals..which I still love. Like I was familiar with Hairspray, Mamma Mia, Sweeney Todd and Rent..which are some of my favorites still cuz I'm so familiar with them. One of my absolute favorites is Sweeney Todd..and I know the show is better now but I still enjoy the movie. I was able to see Rent on tour which was better but I still enjoy the movie too. Then when I saw the Les Mis movie..I became obsessed with it and got more into Broadway because of it. But before that..I was familiar with a few songs from Wicked..and that was the first show I saw on tour so I still love it. Then I got really into Newsies and Jeremy Jordan for a while..and I think the musical is better than the movie..even if I saw the movie first lol. By this time..Hamilton had come out and I also loved that..but maybe not as much as other people..and 2016 was the first year I watched the Tony's. I enjoyed Waitress too. I also started watching old musical movies around that time..and just wanted to know as many musicals as possible..so West Side Story is one of my favorite movie musicals. La La Land had come out and I was obsessed with it..but Emma Stone is my favorite actress and her being in a musical was a dream come true. I know many people don't like it..but I did since it wasn't based on anything and reminded me of old musicals. Basically I like any musicals mostly..and don't really pick favorites between them. Unfortunately I haven't been as into Broadway as much lately for new shows but I try to see shows on tour. Hadestown on tour was really good and I hope you get tickets!!!There are a lot of cast recordings I haven't listened to yet. What are some of your favorite musicals? Sorry this is so long..and I know you haven't replied yet. Also I forgot to ask you your opinion on the new Emily Henry book!!!

have you watched the barbie movie yet? i'd love to hear your thoughts — especially with my casting! a friend suggested gavin creel (especially with his current hair) as ken, and once that was suggested most things just fell into place! i was toying around with stephanie styles (or taylor louderman) for barbie, originally, but then once i got attached to the idea of gavin creel as ken, i knew i needed someone who i was confident could hold their own next to gavin, someone who was a strong actor (and a more subtle actor), among other things and i just really, really want meghann fahy to go back to theatre! i'm really happy for her success in tv (and i loved watching her in bold type, and will someday get around to watching white lotus for her and her alone), but i do miss her doing theatre. she just has such a beautiful voice, and i've loved her since her sam brown days! i think about her singing valentine by preston max allen, and her as riley in the we are the tigers concert all the time! a fun fact about me is that i've only actually seen the sweeney todd movie, and i've actually never seen rent! for some reason, i've had it in my mind that i should just hold out on seeing rent until i can see it in person, and the last time the tour was here in seattle i had bronchitis and wasn't up for seeing it. i'm hoping i can see it sometime soon! i love love love mamma mia, and i think it's just the perfect movie musical — and also a perfect musical! it is simply just so fun! my friends and i did a powerpoint night a few years ago, and her powerpoint was on potential mamma mia sequels (and i think she had like, eight different titles + plots picked out). as a les mis snob, i have a love hate with the les mis movie, but it also did pull me deeper into the world of musical theatre 🤍 newsies was the first show i saw on broadway and it'll forever have a special place in my heart (my first musical ever was annie!). and i do also agree that the newsies musical is much better than the movie! i have such a soft spot for it. i used to follow the tony awards religiously (and also just like, constantly check up on broadway grosses, etc.) but i don't anymore! waitress is another show that has a special place in my heart; it's tied for the show i've seen the most, actually! speaking of la la land, i just remembered they were hoping to adapt it for the stage — i wonder what happened to it, or if it's just fizzled out. the choreo in la la land is spectacular, and i was just talking to a friend a little bit ago about how paramour (the cirque show) did a la la land tribute back in the day! i also haven't been as interested in current shows on broadway, unfortunately! i'm hoping that something will speak to me soon, because i'd love to go back and see some shows. i know the notebook musical is transferring, and i wonder if the cast will stay with it! i saw the notebook musical last october in chicago, and i thought it was ... very weak, but the cast was incredible. i was particularly blown away by john cardoza (who i still maintain should be orpheus in hadestown someday; i love him), and joy woods! and yes — i managed to get hadestour tickets while on the plane to chicago, actually! i'm super excited to see hadestown again 🤍 some of my favorite musicals are: les miserables, waitress, sunday in the park with george, hadestown, deaf west spring awakening, newsies, once, an american in paris, come from away, alice by heart, ride the cyclone, venice, marie dancing still, we are the tigers, company, amélie! i'm sure i'm leaving something out too! i haven't been listening to a lot of newer cast recordings either; i've been meaning to listen to the sweeney one, actually but i might hold off till the entire thing is released! and i'm so excited for the new emily henry! it sounds so up my alley (i say, as if any of her adult romances haven't been up my alley)! i saw the cover got leaked and it's so pretty too — i just wish it was coming out in paperback, and not hardback!

#post: answered #🩷 anon

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sarah-aliterarylife · 1 year

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The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Have you ever been on a holiday that was so good you didn’t want to come home? A trip that was so exciting, so filled with fun and new experiences, that you didn’t want it to end? Have you ever visited a place that was so wonderful, that you would be happy to live out the rest of your days there?

In February 2014, we travelled to New York to celebrate my husband’s 30th birthday. We were newly married in June of the previous year, and had recently bought our first home together. New York was bitterly cold, made even more so by the vicious winds that swept through the skyscraper filled streets. There was snow on the ground when we landed at Newark on a cold Friday morning. But we didn’t care one bit. For one week, we lived like New Yorkers (albeit with the perma-smiling faces of two tourists on their first trip to the Big Apple). We took long walks in Central Park. We visited Bloomingdales, Grand Central Station and the Rockefeller Centre. We walked along the High Line and watched a fashion shoot taking place inside one of the nearby buildings. We wandered the winding streets of Greenwich Village and drank hot tea in glasses in a tiny hipster café. We had lunch at a restaurant near Washington Square, surrounded by academics from NYU and Woody Allen types. We got lost looking for the Flatiron Building and ended up in Chelsea. On one particularly chilly afternoon, we took refuge in a church on the Upper East Side and drank hot chocolate, enjoying the stillness, a sanctuary from the bustling streets outside.

I love America. I would visit a different state every year, if the exchange rate didn’t make it so expensive for us Brits. I love its brashness, the boldness and confidence of its people. America to me is like a patchwork quilt of many colours and embroidered images. On every occasion I have visited, no two days are ever the same. No two streets are the same. You can be completely anonymous one moment and told that you are beautiful by a stranger the next. I love American people, American culture, American food, American television. But most of all I love American literature.

I couldn’t visit New York without perusing its many bookshops. I spent at least an hour wandering around Barnes and Noble on Fifth Avenue, until my new husband asked me if we could do something else. I couldn’t leave without making a purchase, so I left with two American classics – The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, and A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway.

And then I left them on the plane.

It was possibly the joy of some young academic’s life when they boarded the next Virgin Atlantic flight to New York, only to discover some free reading material for their trip, courtesy of me, underneath their seat. Either that, or the cabin crew threw them away. Regardless, I was devastated to discover on arriving home that I had left my double bill of classic American novels on the plane. The first thing I did was repurchase them both. I saved Hemingway for later that year, and read it during a trip to Paris to celebrate my own milestone birthday. But I got stuck into Edith Wharton right away.

Published in 1920, The Age of Innocence was Edith Wharton’s eighth novel, and is widely regarded as her finest work. The first Pulitzer Prize winning book to be written by a woman, it is billed as a slightly satirical novel, a comedy of manners.

The Age of Innocence is centred around Newland Archer, a young New York lawyer who has recently become engaged to May Welland, a young debutante from a prominent New York family. However, his world is thrown into disarray with the arrival of May’s cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska. The Countess has returned to America after separating from her husband, a Polish count, and her arrival causes a sensation. She shocks polite New York society with her glamorous and revealing outfits, unconventional manners, and rumours of adultery. It may not come as a surprise (especially if you have seen Martin Scorsese’s film version, starring Daniel Day Lewis as Newland Archer) to learn that Newland soon becomes attracted to the captivating Ellen. She returns his feelings, but decency and the fear of society’s judgement soon prove too much for Newland, and he moves forward with his wedding to May.

Time and May’s eventual pregnancy conspire to keep the lovers apart, until 25 years later, May dies from pneumonia. Now a father of three children, Newland travels to France with his son, where he arranges to visit the Countess at her Paris apartment. However, at the last moment, he changes his mind, choosing to send his son alone instead. He ultimately decides that he is content to live with his memories of the past.

It would be easy to dismiss The Age of Innocence as a kind of 19th century chick lit (I hate that term). It is also easy to call it a novel about two lovers and very little else. Instead, it is a novel about the struggle between society’s expectations and individual desires – essentially, between the individual and the group. May Welland is characterised as a product of the system, an ideal example of the social code. She is beautiful, innocent, and not intellectual. She appears perfectly subservient, and is the perfect wife for a man in Newland Archer’s position. And yet she is unafraid to manipulate Newland when it is needed, and there is no doubt that she uses her eventual pregnancy as a ruse to be rid of Ellen Olenska forever.

Edith Wharton wrote about a period of American history that took place around 50 years before she was born. She was writing about a time when moral codes and manners strongly dictated how the individual would act. Any deviation from these codes would lead to disgrace and even removal from polite society. Hence Newland ultimately refuses to sacrifice his desires and opinions in order not to upset the established codes of New York society.

The ending of this book initially irritated me. (That is not the first time it has happened – Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier and One Day by David Nichols both made me want to throw the book at the wall) Why bother with a significant time jump and the creation of circumstances that would allow true love to prevail, only to have your leading man conduct a complete about-turn right at the last moment? I imagine that Edith Wharton did this to demonstrate that in real life, because in real life, love between two old lovers rarely prevails. We rarely end up with someone we have loved and lost. Many of us have at one time or another loved someone we could not be with (or someone who was not ours to love) and when those relationships end, it is often final. Very few of us will eventually find a way to be with “the one who got away”. Newland Archer realises, with a depressing finality, that his memories of Ellen Olenska are ultimately more satisfying than any relationship between them could be, and that a renewal of their relationship in mid-life could never be the same. They may discover that they have nothing in common. They may discover that, 25 years on, they are very different people and no longer suited. Their romance may not last, and their memories will be tainted. So he chooses to leave their love in the past.

“It’s more real to me here than if I went up” he says.

The Age of Innocence is an intriguing insight into the New York of the 19th century – The Gilded Age, or Old New York as it is known. Since reading the novel, I have harboured a mild curiosity about that world, and its modern equivalent. I would be interested to learn whether some of those codes and conventions depicted in the book still exist, amongst a certain small proportion of New York’s high society. Watching the cliques of New York housewives at lunch together on Madison Avenue during our trip, and overhearing their conversations, I am sure that it does. Does that segment of society still marry (at least in part) for advantageous purposes, as opposed to simply marrying for love? Does who you know count more than what you know? Are women still expected to a certain extent to be a beautiful, innocent ingenue, as opposed to a free thinking, carefree woman like Ellen Olenska?

In 2023, we can find much to ponder about Old New York and its parallels to modern society in Edith Wharton’s novel.

Like this? Take a look at my website:

A Literary Life – A journey through the books of my life. (whatsarahread7.co.uk)

#book blogs #book addict #literature #classic novels #books and literature

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