#How To Find Expired Domains

[italian-lit-tournament]

Evangelina Alciati - The reading - 1905 private collection

Italian 🔥Lit(erature) Tournament Bookclub - first edition

After the Commedia dell'Arte micro-tournament ended and the start of the Beef Edition - that will be postponed just one week more, to reach enough options for a complete poll, it's time to present a long term project that I started to think about since this January: the ILT bookclub, a daily, weekly or monthly reading challenge, on the model of Dracula Daily.

My personal aim with the Italian Literature Tournament, since its start a year ago, is to "promote" certain italian authors that maybe outside Italy, or in a literature school program, aren't very famous; I already started it two years ago with Pinocchio Weekly and meanwhile I want to relaunch it now as a parallel project, at the same time I'm thinking to try with other Italian novels, as long as are all public domain.

I've already written a draft list (it's proposed at the end of this post, under the cut) but at the same time I want to engage all of you to the choice of the first novel, so guess what I opened another google fom so all of you can send to me your ideas, yaaay. When a certain quota of names will be reached, I'll open a poll here and we'll decide together the first title to our bookclub. In any case, check carefully the list below if the title that you have in mind is already present.

The novel that you want to propose must follow these criteria:

must be in the public domain - and digitalized: I want to use substack so anyone will have the chapter easily to read in its email address and follow its preferred reading pace;

translated in english - and of course the translation have to be like the point one: it depends actually (check point 3). The English translation will be an easy point for anyone who can't read italian, so must be out of coyright and already digitalized. The copyright for translations according US law usually is of 70 years after the death of the translator - in any case the terms are always written at the start of the book copy/index card on the editor website;

the second point fall if we all decide to read in Italian - in this case only the original work have to be public domain: non Italian speakers don't worry, I will search all the possible translations in english/other languaes and will link the other options beside the challenge post, so if anyone want to read it translated borrowing it from the library or in different terms - it could be possible!

In the end: how to understand if a book is public domain? Easy: you can search it in various websites that collect and digitalized literary works, like Project Gutenberg, Internet Archive (attention: not all the works present there are open access, some are still under copyright but still present because Internet Archive makes them bookable like a virtual library for the subscribers), Wikisource, Google Books Advanced search (check "only complete visualization/solo visualizzazione completa" or use the publishing time option at the end). You can just search the translated version of the novel on amazon/google books/the press page and find when it was translated, in the colophon is written if it's still under copyright or you can calculate youself if it expired. Other useful links: wikipedia category for all the recent public domain entries.

A draft list of titles that I first thought under the cut

Public domain both in italian and english:

Malombra by Antonio Fogazzaro: One of the few gothic novel from italian literature, which inspired four movies (a silent film in 1917, a 1942 one that is aviable on Raiplay, a 1974 one that's actually a TV movie also this aviable on Raiplay, a 1984 one that's actually a porno).

The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni: A classic of italian literature with various movie, theatre and musical transpositions.

The Decameron By Giovanni Boccaccio: same as above.

The conquest of Rome by Matilde Serao: Francesco Sangiorgio is a newly elected deputy from a small province in Souther Italy. As he travels to Rome, he start to feel the weight of ambition, personal history, and the vibrant life of the city. The story unfolds against the backdrop of political and social dynamics of the time.

Fantasy by Matilde Serao: The novel is about the absolute but unhealthy friendship between the two female protagonists in the Naples at the end of the 19th century.

The Land of Cockayne by Matilde Serao: It explores the lives of various characters from the lower social strata of Naples, particularly focusing on their aspirations and struggles, centered around themes of fortune and despair, often represented through the lottery.

After the divorce by Grazia Deledda: Murder, catholic guilt, innocent people in jail, true love vs fail marriages, forbidden and ultimately destructive affairs!

Nostalgia by Grazia Deledda: Regina is a a young bride who has recently moved from her home in Sardinia to Rome with her husband Antonio. The novel explores the stark differences between her expectations and the reality of life in an unfamiliar environment, and Regina's struggle with homesickness and her journey of self-discovery amidst the vibrant yet isolating backdrop of Rome.

The house by the medlar tree (I Malavoglia) by Giovanni Verga: it follows the failing fortunes of the Malavoglia, a family of fisherfolk who are living through a period of political change following the country's annexation to Italy.

The late Mattia Pascal by Luigi Pirandello: a novel that explores the complex themes of identity and existential crisis through its protagonist, Mattia Pascal. After escaping an unhappy marriage to Romilda Pescatore, Mattia finds himself in Monte Carlo, where he unexpectedly wins at gambling.

Heart by Edmondo De Amicis: a children's novel which was the best known work from its era. Set during the Italian unification, and includes several patriotic themes and has been remade in various transpositions, including an anime.

The Devourers by Annie Vivanti: the author was italo-british and wrote this novel first in English then she translated in Italian. The book explores themes of family, loss, and the complexities of relationships through the lens of Edith Avory and her new family dynamics following the arrival of her half-sister Valeria and Valeria's baby. #familydrama #toxicmotherhood #motherdaughterism.

Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi: if anyone is interested click here.

Public domain in italian but not in english (translation exists but still under copyright):

Any novel from Emilio Salgari

Fosca by Igino Ugo Tarchetti: another of the few gothic novel from italian literature, there is a translation by Lawrence Venuti as Passion: A Novel. Is the basis behind an Ettore Scola movie and an awarded Broadway musical.

Zeno's Conscience by Italo Svevo: translation by Penguin Classics.

The Viceroys by Federico de Roberto: translated by Archibald Colquhoun, published by Verso Books (they often do discount if interested).

The Priest's Hat by Emilio de Marchi: translated by Steve Eaton & Cinzia Russi for Italica Press.

The Beautiful Summer by Cesare Pavese: translated by Elizabeth Strout for Penguin Classics.

[seat-safety-switch]

One of my favourite things in life is to find a new use for an old thing. Dirty keyboard keys? Put them in a cup of hot water with some denture tablets, and they'll come out good as new. Dog won't respect your authority as master of the house? Feed him bacon if he agrees to stop eating your azaleas.

The reason why this feels good to us is twofold. One, we like applying our life knowledge to a new domain or problem. For instance, if the top of your stove is dirty, you know that you need some kind of abrasive to clean it off. Baking soda is abrasive, you learned that one weekend making Drano bombs with Uncle Tom, let's mix up some of that with water. Boom, works great, and now when the feds kick down your door you're sure to get your security deposit back for keeping the kitchen clean.

The second, and probably more important, reason, is that we like getting one over on the secret authorities who rule our life imperiously from afar. How dare they force me to buy their sunscreen, when this TikTok video reveals the truth about how to make my own out of expired mayonnaise and house paint. As you can imagine, this second rationalization can often get those of us without critical thinking skills of any kind in trouble.

It is important, and I'm talking to everyone in the back row who is currently trying to push their fingers into the wall-mounted pencil sharpener, to always listen to that little voice inside your head. If it sounds too good to be true, it's probably bullshit made up by malevolent algorithms beaming nightmares directly into our skulls while circling the globe. Only by purchasing my new book, and accompanying nine-part video seminar, can we hope to get back to the world where mixing together random chemicals in your house helps solve problems.

[eliotbaum]

I absolutely adore your Curse of Strahd character! where did you find the blood domain if you don't mind me asking? I've seen a couple of different ones around.

Ohh thanks!! 🥺 I'm flattered... I watched Critical Role where it first came up, and then found it here on the dnd wikidot. They later changed details in a new rule and campaign book, so maybe that explains the different versions?

I bought the Tal'Dorei Reborn Campaign setting which made some significant changes to it, also available for free on dnd wikidot! (I'll discuss them under the cut LOL you've activated my cleric trap card) But I don't love the changes too much. In the end, my DM and I did a mix and match of both versions.

no one, absolutely no one: me: okay let me tell you everything about the blood domain jk but. the most significant changes between the first link and 2nd are, Reborn setting one is the spell list and how some abilities function. I personally like the spell list of the Reborn setting, but the abilities like Blood Puppet get a "charmed" condition and Wisdom Save instead of Con, which seems nonsensical to me when you control someone else's blood...

the new Crimson Bond also has no information about how much blood you'll need for the scrying lite ability, nor does it have an expiration date. We stuck to the 2 ounces rule and the blood losing its potency after 30 days. Also getting this ability at level 2 is quite powerful.

[mylittleredgirl]

Hello friend! A friend of mine is doing a Stargate SG-1 rewatch and lamenting the slim pickings of fic on AO3. Do you know where she can find fic that perhaps is still on some old archive of yore? Or have any recs? She's mostly interested in Jack/Daniel and Jack/Sam. Ty!!

oh my. with all the love in the world to your friend visiting us from a very different fandom tax bracket than i have ever had the fortune to participate in (those two pairings have well over 6k fics each on ao3), i'll see what i can do!

[several hours of looking around later] bad news!! not much!

most of vintage sg-1 fandom was wiped out by expired domains, struck-through livejournals, ff.net's porn ban, yahoo lists, etc. some pages are still preserved in the wayback machine for heliopolis, the massive het-and-gen archive, and area52, the slash counterpart, but with the search and directory functions pretty much toast, they're almost impossible to navigate.

fanlore has an old list of archives (including plenty of jack/daniel ones). some smaller archives might yield wayback paydirt, especially if they were hand-coded. samandjack.net is still alive!

and, hate to say it, this was peak era for ff.net and they have like 30k fics over there... but all the explicit fic is gone.

i recently learned some people are still doing het-reccers (user-submitted fanfic recommendations, LJ archive is here). i don't know if any slash equivalents are still around (and i haven't looked at this site for genuinely fifteen years, so i can't speak to the quality of recs).

some sam/jack recs of mine; some of these authors multi-ship:

nanda: her resolution series especially should not be missed and i can't stress that enough. smut and action. fics great fics across the board.

it's kind of difficult to express how popular Salr323's fics were (under a different name) back in the day. i'm told that archive servers would crash when she posted something new. low on smut, high on PINING. rec: it was admittedly 1 am but as i recall this one made me feel like i'd just seen the fanfiction mona lisa

there are quite a few multifandom wonders who cut their teeth in this fandom, including missparker (rec: a small crime)

this cassandra fraiser fic dealt me some damage: nobody dies tonight by isawet

someone who's still in touch with her please harass splash_the_cat for writing 99 sg-1 fics and then walking away without cracking 100. lots of fun little snacks in there including this one

everything anr touches is gold <3

starting to get stressed out about who i'm missing!!!!

if your friend likes D/s this one is fun by tremontaine

lol read my stuff (i never wrote smut for sg-1 though)

hey everyone, please add recs in the notes/reblogs, especially jack/daniel recs because that's out of my wheelhouse but we aim to serve

[that-hippie-user]

I just saw that you were making a Hubba Bubba fightstick, but I didn't see any pictures of the finished result. Did you ever finish it? I would like to see pictures of it if you did :]

XD oh god, took this pic when i was at the old house, i made this project before i moved to a blue state and changed my life! that chapter of my life feels like it wasnt even real and it ended LAST DECEMBER IN 2024.

;w; anyway yeah, i got quite sidetracked for a number of reasons

basically, i found a really dope joystick enclosure thingy on a free 3D model thingy for 3D printing

so naturally i rhink to make a stick! i get the model, and i buy some components, and i make a cool dustwasher for the stick in adobe-free-photoshop-clone, and it SEEMS like ill make some headway.

but then i decide i wanna modify the model to make it into smaller puzzle pieces cuz my printer is p small, and then i notice the enclosure is under a licensing agreement so even if i make it how i want i cant recreate it and sell it on etsy if i want, and im SUPER a copyright abolitionist so i wanna make my OWN model

;w; and then im hit with the realization that freecad is hard to use and scary to my dumb babybrain and so is 3D printing itself cuz its a skill i dont know yet

and now im moved and all my components have yet to be sent up here and my printer isnt up here either

;w; and at this point i dont think this thing is happening the way i planned it....

:3 so obviously the next step is to find the time to re-buy and re-build some parts, then maybe hire a 3D designer to make a proper enclosure under a creative commons license, and THEN finish it

XD so you know... neurospicy brain kinda just subjecting itself to the eldritch horror of creativity and executive dysfunction, and we kinda just gotta see what happens.

:3 anyway i miiiiight consider re-working the concept into a legally distinct version based on a fictional candy in my book which itself is public domain, and make it a Bubble Topz controller

XD i mean why not? the expiration date on that washer was already a reference to the year that story takes place in, might as well make more references to the lore and fandom in my brain, art is insanity, Hastur is god, and i am head of the Theater of The Mad, WHY NOT????

[myownjadedpieceofmind]

I made the cutest little bat for a friend of mine. I know I've become shit at posting, but have you seen the state of things lately? I mean...it's getting to be quite a hell scape and I truly regret never having the guts to leave the country.

I'm trying to find the passion to post new content on my oF site, but it's partly accepting the changes I've been going through.. which is totally normal, but it's not normal for me so I'm self conscious and struggling to pick my self esteem out of the dirt.

It took me nearly 3 weeks to realize my jewelry website domain had expired. That's how far in the dirt my head has been. I have over 30 pieces of jewelry to add to the site and I just haven't managed to get the photography done along with creating the pieces.

Still waiting for a hip replacement....i put it off to be available to my mom and dad after his knee replacement. It's been nearly a month since his surgery and he's been having a hard time getting back to normal. It's his right knee, so he can't drive himself anywhere and he's not great at taking care of himself either. It's made me think twice about having my hip done. Like, I don't wanna be fucked up for that long. I mean...i already am in severe pain. I don't want to do anything that makes it worse.

This was way more of an update than I meant to write.

[fishnoodles]

A Stroke of Fate

Fabrizio Moretti, drummer of The Strokes and Luz, the French cartoonist met in a rock bar in Paris.

From this chance encounter began an artistic project on the story of the Minotaur.

Here are some explanations on this black, white and blue collaboration.

(This is a mirror of an article from Posca Life Custom whose originally hosted domain expired, taken from the Wayback Machine, published Feb 27, 2015(?))

* You’ve been living in Paris for a while now, have you met any French musicians and listened to any French music?

Yes, especially as I’m sharing a studio with other musicians. I’ve been listening to French artists, and of course Serge Gainsbourg that I very much like.

Being in a studio is new to me, my approach to creating music has changed. I feel the need to practice, to work on my flexibility and not become too stiff. It’s the first time in my life that I don’t consider this discipline (drumming) as negative. Ever since, it’s become a routine, and it’s just who I am now.

If I’m working on the drawing, and just can’t seem to be creative, it’ll obsess me till I go crazy. It’s incredibly frustrating. The next day, I know that I’ll have a clearer head after my studio session, after a period of intense concentration. It’s a positive balance.

* You’re far from your band, The Strokes, is that a change…?

Band life is an abstract life, similar to a teenager’s life. Being in a band isn’t easy. We love each other but there are moments of tension, even if in the end it all works out and it’s like; damn I love this guy! Imagine it being a marriage between five asexual people! And sometimes it’s hard to keep your mouth shut!

*And Paris is an opportunity to…

Keeping your mouth shut (Laughs) I came here to take a break, to be in another language environment, and to find a sort of serenity. Finally the hardest is to talk with French people who will systematically talk back to you in English! That’s not easy!

Moreover I think that the French people speak more English than Americans speak French. It seems to be easier for a French person to talk with a foreigner. And when we speak French between foreigners, it’s a complete mess!

* When did you begin to draw? I can’t really say when or how it started. It’s always been a part of my life. When I was 6 or 7 years old, I remember classmates asking me to draw suff, and for me it was a way of joining in. Today it’s a way of discovering new things; it’s a permanent discipline and enables an instant image. It’s my way of expressing myself.

* Where did you meet Luz with whom you worked on the artistic project called Fuzlab?

I was having some drinks at a bar called Truskel, and we started chatting as we were both friends with the owner. I had with me Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces based on mythology and in which is mentioned the story of the Minotaur. Luz and I talked about mythology and we immediately wanted to invent and illustrate a new mythological world. If you are interested in Greek narratives, you can quite easily find a parallel with our own contemporary stories. I find it incredibly interesting and intriguing! Furthermore Greek mythology is very visual and Luz and I wanted to transform and reconstruct the illustrations.

* How do you regard Luz?

We’re very different but we draw well together and our styles complement each other. Luz is both innocent and mischievous, and this balance makes him curious about everything. He is capable of synthesizing what’s on his mind with what he draws. His drawings pour straight out of him, and the results always seem like the punch line to a joke.

Although we didn’t know each, we talked for hours about the Minotaur project. When we decided on the project he immediately told me about this huge roll of paper that a friend had given him. The next day he showed up at my place with the roll of paper. Luz is that kind of guy.

It felt very natural to be drawing next to him; I was very impressed because for him, it’s his job whereas I’m just a drummer! At first we just drew, but then we decided on a more elaborate scenario.

* Did you listen to music whilst drawing?

Yes we both brought records in and it was another way of sharing. Mahavishnu Orchestra was actually Luz’s idea and we came up with the idea of a sequence of battles. It was very exciting!

* Did you listen to other artists?

We listened to Walter Carlos, or rather Wendy Carlos, Grover Washington Jr, Mahavishnu Orchestra…and also psychedelic rock.

We listened a lot to Switched-On Bach by Wendy Carlos. It was an important pioneer album of the 70s. She recreated Bach’s recording with a synthesizer, which at the time was a relatively new and unknown instrument. It was a very interesting approach.

* And what about the color blue?

Luz arrived with blue, and also black and white. That’s how the project began, and now we are evolving to add different tones.

* And if Luz were a color?

Easy to answer, it would be Electric Blue!

[heresiae]

So, at the beginning of this year I left the medieval reenactment company because the toxicity level was Chernobyl style and it was the best decision ever.

Except, that I was their webmaster and since they could not find hey underpants once the wear them to save their life, instead of being on their own hosting account it was on mine (seriously, how hard it is on going to website -> reset password?).

Anyway, I didn't want to have anything to do with them anymore, so I sent them all the instructions to change accounts for the domain and how to open one in the name of the association.

Of course, they began the operations to do all this shit less than one month to the expiration date of the annual payment.

Yesterday they met. I know they met because it's the day they met. I know they were there because the two people I'm talking to to move this domain told they would be there.

They have to do just two things:

sign the frigging modules

photograph the president ID front and back

It's literally a 2 minutes activity.

Do you thing they did it?

OF COURSE NOT.

Why?

Because they LOST THE FRIGGING ASSOCIATION STAMP.

Which is normal, because they're more disorganized than the left party and do things without thinking.

Now they'll wire the money to me which was something I really didn't want to do, but if they don't resolve this shit by the end of next week I have an idea to send an email to all the damn directive that they either do it before the month ends, or I'll cut contact and they will lose everything next year.

fucking idiots I swear.

[itsbenedict]

From the beginning | Previously | Coin standings | 60/70 | 40/40

Adea will thank you to remember that this is her pathetic wet cat, thank you very much. Who among us has not seen a man have a seizure from eating a weird bug he found on the ground, and decided to marry him on the spot? Sometimes you just see a tiny insane philosophy professor in a sweater vest who would die if you didn't protect him, and nature takes over! He's scrunkly, okay? Shut up!

It once again falls to her to save her husband from the results of a sudden fit of gap moe, but she came prepared. She's got those DEVELOPER TOOLS, which, if she understands correctly, are like a technology thing that will tell you what's wrong with someone.

She pokes him with the needle, and...

Error: global entity index not found. No source record was retrieved. Deferring to local entity registry lookup. Error: floating process ID found for local entity "Walter Rehoots", but integrity checksum for "Walter Rehoots" failed. Access to insecure resource blocked. Examine insecure data with "oldtroopsleeve 'Walter Rehoots' --unsafe --pretty-print-source".

What the hell? What does any of that mean? Is this thing broken, or is something more wrong with him than she thought?

...She tests it on herself, and gets the exact same error message, except with her own name. Okay. Uh. Examine insecure data with... what, is it this button? Now she's seeing... just a load of incomprehensible computer nonsense. There's some stuff that's legible, though...

So, you're both "local entities", and have IDs for your names, but there's something called a checksum that isn't working. Maybe you need to get your checksums fixed? Do they make a cream for that?

There's a warning about "excessive data duplication" and "insecure defaults" that doesn't make much sense.

Okay, here's something- an age timestamp. He's... 45?! No, wait, what the- he was 30, last you checked. And- what the hell, you're 43?! No no no no no. That's not true. This thing's broken.

You've got these weird little labels on you with a flower icon next to them- you're labeled "ROBUST LONERS" and he's labeled "SORROW TO LEGS", which doesn't tell you much. Is he catatonic because his legs are sad???

There's a thing in your data called an ARCADE COOKING KIT, which apparently expired a few hours ago. Says here it denied over a thousand requests because they were from the wrong domain. Does this have anything to do with where you woke up?

Walter is "COAL-IMBUED" and you're "ACIDIC PIRATE", which is weird because he's always been big on green energy, and Talk Like A Pirate Day was yesterday.

You... don't find anything useful vis-a-vis snapping him out of this weird signal stabilizer fugue he put himself in, though. He seems... fine, except for all the mysterious crap that's not fine that you can't make heads or tails of. This thing is useless!

Walter interrupts to remind you that she's dead, she's dead, it's all pointless- and you flick him in the head. She's not dead, you tell him- and he says he saw it, saw her corpse being dragged away. You flick him in the head again and ask how and when he saw it, and whether he's sure he wasn't just seeing things.

This gets him quiet, but the kind of quiet where he's thinking. That philosophy brain, asking nerd questions like "why do I believe what I believe".

Both of you, actually, have been very obviously hallucinating a lot of crazy shit this entire time. Like, constantly. Just because he saw his DEAD DAUGHTER doesn't mean she's dead- maybe he was just thinking about how he TRUDGED AHEAD or whatever. You can't give up just because you had a mysterious vision. You are both objectively crazy people right now. It makes no sense to abandon all hope before you've had the chance to, like, get to a hospital and get medical care!

Walter sits there thinking for a couple solid minutes, which you let him do, and then he gets to his feet and wordlessly hugs you tight.

Alright. Okay. What now?

Continued | 60/70 | 39/39

[halfcourtyeet]

This Week's News, 4/6/25

Not a huge amount happened this week, but on the other hand I guess I'm not surprised. And yet, now that this is all written... It kind of is a lot of stuff.

If I can be a little bit honest with you,

I May Or May Not Be Tweaking Out

But hey, who isn't? Either way, I don't know how anyone in the US is getting work done at a time like this. I'm doing my best in spite of everything.

Let's get to the roundup.

Why Does Your DOOM Level Look Like That?

Because I'm cool is why. I'm breaking new ground all the time in these Damn Domains.

But seriously, I've really enjoyed using dev textures for my levels. I used them in the last map I made, but I've switched to the more saturated version of the dev art texture pack.

It's very satisfying to not only be able to put something down in a level, but to also know that it's for sure a placeholder. And I find the busy work of texturing and lighting at the end of a level's development surprisingly preferable to doing it simultaneously alongside level design and playtesting.

What's going on with these poor monsters, you ask? We'll talk about it next week when I go over the theming of my levels.

How Would YOU Solve Permadeath In An SPRG?

Yes, you. Specifically. And before you ask, yes, I am still thinking about SRPGs.

This is a conversation I had on a small indie dev forum, and I really liked the conversation I had. I watched a bunch of Youtube videos about it beforehand, centered around permadeath in the Fire Emblem games. Here's the main points:

Permadeath has been in the series since the very first entry.

The game compensated for it by having characters get minimal development outside of initial recruit conversations, and giving you many, many units to use if one dies.

Since Fire Emblem 4, characters (the ones not on the front of the box) began to be much more fleshed out, both in story and in gameplay, which discouraged letting units die. The game was harder (but not impossible) with lost units, and the story was less interesting, and typically units began to have more and more of a merit to being kept alive (needing certain units to unlock hidden chapters, items, or even recruit other characters.)

This trend continues steadily across the series: Notably with Fire Emblem Awakening and its direct predecessor New Mystery, which introduced the “Casual Mode.” In this mode, units don’t actually die permanently, they return at the battle’s end safe and sound.

Finally, the recent Fire Emblem: Three Houses puts so much stock into your characters, with so little options to replace them, that the permadeath-embracing “Classic Mode” is all but a formality.

I don’t know what Engage is doing. Not playing that toothpaste-hair game.

And my opinions:

I always hated the double standard with enemy versus player units. You can invest in your own, but 99% of enemy units are faceless goons that your characters gladly slaughter in dozens, if not hundreds. It always struck me as dehumanizing.

I never really felt like the games embraced the mechanic, despite the series being so known for it. Characters don’t get a bonus from being vengeful at seeing friends and family die. They don’t mourn the units past maybe the moment they expire. They don’t even get to recover the bodies and possessions of the dead unit.

I’m interested to see alternative approaches. I heard Dark Deity gives struck-down units a permanent scar/wound that hampers their stats. Maybe some way to protect the characters you care about most? Later FE games introduced basically a turn-by-turn rewind mechanic, which I’ve grown tired of as a band-aid to a deeper problem.

Some responses, if you care to read:

All this is set against the backdrop of me finally reaching the last chapter of part 1 in Genealogy:

It's getting real.

Album News

Ain't no album news.

(nah, but I did get some crucial vocals recorded after like, weeks of putting them off.)

Now it's time for something new on this blog I haven't done before. Get ready for the:

Where I show off cool stuff that I find, or stuff me and my friends are working on!

First a big shoutout to the Levitating Little Kitty you see there, as he was gracious enough to use his likeness for that image.

Nathaniel Jones: Strategy Game Longplay Demo

Look how far this man has come. It may be a bit hard to parse because of the placeholder art, but make no mistake: There is a full-blown Strategy RPG in the making here, and NJ should be super proud of his work in just a few months.

Dice'n Goblins: A Dicey Dungeon Crawler

Someone in a forum I'm in made this, and it's just fucking awesome. It's so impressive. Please check it out, it just came out on Steam and there's a demo.

That's all for this week. Keep on hoppin'.

[pkmatrix]

The Copyright Statuses of Gorgo, Konga, and Reptilicus

For your edification (and reposted from r/publicdomain on Reddit - Sorry, this is a long one!):

Gorgo, like King Kong, is a character who actually first appears in a tie-in novel published well before the actual movie's release. In this case, the novel was written by Bruce Cassiday (writing under the pen name Carson Bingham) and published by Monarch Books in 1960. You can find the copyright registration for the novel in the 1960 Catalog of Copyright Entries for Books and Pamphlets on Page 1148:

Gorgo, by Carson Bingham, pseud. Based on an original story by Eugene Lourie, screenplay by John Loring & David Hyatt. Monarch Books. Monarch books, MM603) (Monarch movie book) © King Bros. Productions; 11Ju160; A453958.

Interestingly, I checked both the 1960 and 1961 Catalogs but COULDN'T find a registration for the actual movie Gorgo (1961), however I'm pretty certain the movie itself had a proper copyright notice listed on it. I also searched the Catalogs for Periodicals and could not find any copyright registrations for any of the Charlton Comics Gorgo issues.

All of these would have needed to be renewed in the late 1980s or early 1990s, with the most important ones - the June 1960 novel and the 1961 movie - needing to be renewed in 1988 and 1989 respectively. This requires moving over to the post-1978 digital catalog, which is actually searchable. Searching for Gorgo and sorting by date brings up only TWO entries...BOTH for the movie:

Type of Work: Motion Picture Registration Number / Date: PA0000142974 / 1982-06-18 Title: Gorgo / producer, Wilfred Eades ; directed by Eugene Lourie. Imprint: sd., col. ; Publisher Number: 3 film reels (ca. 80 min.) : 16 mm Copyright Claimant: King Brothers, Ltd. Copyright Notice: notice: King Brothers Productions, Ltd. Date of Creation: 1960 Date of Publication: 1961-02-10 Date in Notice: notice: 1960 Authorship on Application: King Brothers Productions, Ltd., employer for hire. Copyright Note: C.O. correspondence. Names: Eades, Wilfred Lourie, Eugene King Brothers Productions, Ltd. King Brothers, Ltd.

And the renewal:

Type of Work: Motion Picture Registration Number / Date: RE0000393467 / 1988-09-11 Renewal registration for: PA0000142974 / 1961-02-10 (in notice: 1960) Title: Gorgo. By King Brothers Productions, Ltd. Copyright Claimant: King Brothers, Ltd. (PWH) Copyright Note: C.O. correspondence. Variant title: Gorgo Names: King Brothers Productions, Ltd. King Brothers, Ltd.

Note how both of these state that they for the movie and date publication as 1961, NOT the novel published in 1960. Also note how the registration number does not match the novel's registration number either.

I can find NO other renewals. Not for the novel, not for any of the comics.

The 1960 novel Gorgo by Bruce Cassiday (writing as Carson Bingham) IS Public Domain. The copyright expired due to non-renewal in 1988.

The 1961 movie Gorgo by Eugene Lourie and released by King Brothers Productions is NOT Public domain. The copyright will expire on January 1, 2057.

All issues of the comic book series Gorgo published by Charlton Comics IS Public Domain. The copyrights expired between 1988 and 1991 due to non-renewal, just BARELY missing the cut off for automatic renewal.

It's a very similar situation with Konga. The tie-in novel by Dudley Dean McGaughey (writing under the pen name "Dean Owen") was published by Monarch Books in 1960. You can find the copyright registration for the novel in the 1960 Catalog of Copyright Entries for Books and Pamphlets on Page 1128:

Konga, by Dean Owen, pseud. Based on an original story and screenplay by Aben Kandel & Herman Cohen. Monarch Books. (Monarch books, MM604) (A Monarch movie book) © Alta Vista Productions, Inc.; 8Aug60; A462440.

There are no registrations filed for the movie or comic books that I can find in the 1960, 1961, or 1962 catalogs.

The movie was released in March 1961 (only a few days apart in the US and UK), seven months after the book.

There were actually three renewals registered for the movie (RE0000443112 and RE0000423860, for LP0000021144, and RE0000412919 for PA0000377525), but none for the novel or comic book.

So, just like Gorgo, the 1960 novel Konga by Dudley Dean McGaughey (writing as Dean Owen) and the comic book series Konga by Charlton Comics ARE public domain.

The movie Konga (1961) is NOT public domain and will enter the public domain in the US on January 1, 2057.

Unlike Gorgo and Kong, I don't think Reptilicus himself is public domain.

I've gone back and forth on this, but here's my latest thinking:

The original Danish film was released on February 20, 1961. I cannot find an American copyright registration for this movie in 1961, but when the URAA went into effect its copyright would've been restored and extended to the full 95 years.

The novelization by Dudley Dean McGaughey (writing as "Dean Owen") was published later in 1961 by Monarch Books. The copyright registration is dated June 6, 1961. This can be found on Page 446 of the 1961 Catalog of Copyright Entries for Books and Pamphlets:

Reptilicus, by Dean Owen, pseud. Monarch Books. (Monarch movie book, MM605) Based on an original story by Sidney Pink. Screenplay by Ib Melchior. © Cinemagic, Inc.; 6Jun61; A506756

I cannot find any renewal registered for the book, so the novelization is public domain.

Reptilicus #1 from Charlton Comics has a cover date of August 1961, which means it was actually published in June 1961. I could not find a copyright registration for it.

The American film - which ISN'T just a dub of the the 1961 movie, but an entirely reshot and re-edited film (they had all the actors re-film every scene again in English, then dubbed over it anyway, and then made significant cuts) - was released some time in late 1962 (can't find an exact date). The copyright registration for the movie can be found on Page 39 of the 1963 Catalog for Motion Pictures and is dated November 21, 1962:

REPTILICUS. Cinemagic. Released by American International Pictures. 81 min., sd., color, 35mm, An Alta Vista Production. Pathecolor. Based on story by Sid Pink. © Cinemagic, Inc.; 21Nov62; LP23589.

The American movie's copyright was renewed on January 8, 1990 (RE0000464900), and the original Danish movie's copyright was renewed by the URAA when that went into effect.

Because the novelization was published several months after the Danish movie's release, the character and story of Reptilicus are NOT public domain. The Danish movie Reptilicus (1961) will enter the public domain in the U.S. on January 1, 2057 and the American movie will enter on January 1, 2058.

Luckily, you have a nice replacement in the character Reptisaurus, another Charlton Comics character whose comics have also lapsed into the public domain. Reptisaurus was originally created because Charlton lost the rights to Reptilicus, so Reptisaurus initially looks just like a red Reptilicus. Later, Reptisaurus graduated to a more unique character design so you get multiple monsters for one! And, frankly, Reptisaurus is a more interesting character anyway - he has a mate, has children, and fights space aliens!

[solarishashernoseinabook]

Could you expand on what you said in a post about libraries about the big 5 publishers screwing over libraries in terms of digital lending rights?? I’ve not heard of that at *all* and im generally pretty caught up on publisher news, so I think theres a pretty big library-shaped hole in my sources lol

All righty, a couple disclaimers here. One, this is from a Canadian library perspective, so idk how well it applies to the US. Two, I don't work in the collections department at my library, so I'm basing this off what I remember from class years ago

(also clarifying that I'll be referring to ebooks and audiobooks collectively as digital books just to make it easier)

But in short, the Big Five publishers only very reluctantly put up with libraries having physical books, and one of the reasons they do that is because only one person can have a physical book at a time. Digital books, though? Why, if a library has a copy of one of those, hundreds of people could read it at a time! That's profits they're losing! How terrible!

But, well, selling to libraries is still a sale, so the companies sell to them but restrict it as much as possible. One, libraries pay much more for digital books than your average consumer. I don't have the exact number, but it's significantly higher. Two, unlike a physical book, which a library can have rebound if it's popular but hard to find, and which could conceivably last years if it's hardcover or paperback binding, digital books have severe limits on them. Maybe the library can only buy one "copy" of a digital book - i.e., only one patron can use it at a time. That digital copy artificially expires after 20 loans or 2 years, whichever comes first. Got a waitlist of 50 people waiting to read the latest Alexander McCall Smith book? Too bad! 30 of them are gonna have to go without! Do you have a moderately popular book by Danielle Steel, which gets borrowed every couple of months? Sorry! You've had it for two years, so it's gone now! Better buy a new copy!

Now, this is the case on digital platforms like Libby/Overdrive. Each digital book acts the same as a physical book, except that most of them go away after a certain amount of time. Certain public domain books might be a one-time buy for libraries, but for the most part, every loan, every week that goes by is chipping away at a digital book's life. Certain digital platforms - Hoopla, for example - have what's called "simultaneous use" policies - maybe you only have one ebook copy of a book by Agatha Christie, but every library patron can read it at once. The trade-off for this is that my library has to pay a certain amount for every person currently reading or listening to a book on Hoopla. We have a daily budget that can't be exceeded. Every week we field calls from people who, one afternoon, wanted to open up Hoopla, but were told they couldn't take out any books - because too many of my library's 40 000 active patrons had also decided to enjoy a book that day. And not every publisher even allows simultaneous use licenses, or they don't allow it on all of their titles

A final reminder to this very long post: please do not boycott Libby or Hoopla over this, I beg of you. Your libraries are pouring a lot of money into them because they're being used. Instead, put pressure on the big five publishers to make their digital books accessible, and vote in your municipal elections to get libraries more funding so we have more budget to put into those items. An easy way to increase your library's funding is just to spend a bit of time a week in there. Hang out with your friend for a few hours, just walk in and look at the shelves, or sit there and use their free wifi to play games on your phone. Digital books are here to stay, and libraries are important for getting those books into people's hands

[duckapus]

The Orange Spaghetti Incident

It all starts, as many terrible things do, with Meggy and Domain in the castle kitchen. Apparently Meggy has an idea for how they might potentially actually cook something edible for once.

"Couldn't we just take a cooking class or something?"

"They all banned me already." She shrugs, "Look, just hear me out. I've noticed something interesting about our...issues. It seems like the harder we try to make something good, the worse the results are, sometimes to reality warping levels."

"That is why I'm worried, yes."

"So I thought; what if we purposely try to cook as badly as possible?"

"That...huh. So we'd basically be using reverse psychology on our own meme energy?" It should be noted that, while Domain is technically the most sensible of the hologram trio, he's also a former odd-number SMG, and has retained some of his more chaotic tendencies, "It sounds just crazy enough to work. Alright, I'm in."

"Great! Let's get started!" She starts digging through the fridge, "Now, what in here's expired..."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

*2 hours and several bad decisions later...*

The kitchen now resembles a cross between a garbage dump and a warzone. Meggy and Domain sit in the middle of the carnage, staring down at their creation.

"They're..."

"Orange. Like, orange orange."

Sitting on the counter in front of them are two plates of spaghetti, and indeed they are orange. But not merely colored orange, no, they seem to be the very concept of Orange made physical and molded into the shape of two of those standard spaghetti plate props. They look at each other nervously.

"Well...we've come this far."

The two simultaneously pick up one of the plates and, with some hesitation, eat them.

*THOOM!*

Sitting dazed and covered in soot in the resulting crater, they look at each other once again.

"..."

"..."

"That was..."

"Amazing."

"God yes! It was literally the best spaghetti I've ever had!"

Of course, it's at this point that they realize something very important. They made an impossibly good batch of spaghetti, possibly the best spaghetti...and will likely never be able to make it again since they were relying on Rule of Funny for it to work at all, and were deliberately not paying attention to what they were doing (since they were actively cooking as badly as possible) so they don't know the recipe.

And they just so happen to know someone who is absolutely obsessed with spaghetti and would be livid if he found out he didn't get to eat the Best Spaghetti Ever.

"...We can never let Mario find out what we've done."

"Agreed."

[irismfrost]

August 12 - Kyoto Guided Tour and Fushimi Inari Shrine

Today I booked a guided tour for 10:30am. This means I had an early day because it takes an hour to get to Kyoto from Osaka, not including the time to buy a ticket or for me to get ready and eat breakfast (I am so glad I pre-bought hotel breakfast). By the end of my journey, I figured out how to use the self serve electronic ticket machine. In my tour, there was a family from New York and their son actually had the same name as my dad and brother, and is the first person I've ever met with his same name. There was also a mother-son duo from Zürich, Switzerland. And our tour guide was Kareem who is from Quebec and has been living in Japan for 5 years. His wife is Japanese and they have a one year old daughter that they're bringing to Canada in November for the first time. It was nice to make friends with everyone and honestly to just have human interaction in a language I know. We started in the bamboo forest and went to the nearby Shinto shrine. Then we went to the former home and garden of a famous Japanese movie star, Denjirō Ōkōchi, called Ōkōchi Sansō. This was his second home and he died one year after building it. It has themes of zen Buddhism, a popular sect of Buddhism here. Here, we stopped for a little break; there was a rest area with tea and some cold drinks. I hadn't tried Calpis yet (they had it in Taiwan) because the name threw my off but they had some here and it was actually delicious. We left the bamboo forest and walked to a zen Buddhist garden called Sogenchi Teien. It was a beautiful Japanese zen garden and is a classic example of a zen garden. These places intentionally make the steps a little rockier to make you walk slower and appreciate the nature around you, which I thought was a cool design technique. Before we broke for lunch, we tried some foods: we had this rice patty thing (which was basically what the outside of mochi is) and I bought some and will need to eat it right when I fly back to Florida because it expires on 8/20. We also tried this sesame chili spice topping (with rice) and I bought some of that too. We broke for lunch and our guide helped me find some vegetarian food and he joined me because by the time I ordered food we only had like 30 mins left for lunch and I told him about Taiwan. It's on his bucket list. We also took a brief stop by this Kimono park thing which had a bunch of poles with the Kimono fabric. Our last stop was a mountain with monkeys. It does not compare to monkey mountain in Taiwan, definitely more commercialized and a fraction of the hike, but it was pretty cool. You get to feed the monkeys through the wire cage and their hands feel like human hands which is a little unsettling but makes sense. There was also this cute little baby monkey and later I saw his mom carrying him around and back to the safety of the mountains away from the people. And that was the end of our tour.

Our guide and some of the other people in our group suggested I should visit Fushimi Inari Shrine - so I did. This is a very famous Shinto shrine and is known for its thousands of torii gates that lead to Mount Inari. The gates are basically sponsors and are an avenue for Kami (the god-like spirits) to enter through (that's why you are supposed to walk on the sides- to give spirits room to walk through the middle). Inari is the Shinto goddess of rice (perceived gender has changed over time, but in ancient times Inari is depicted as female). Today, Inari's domain is more than rice; over time rice was generalized to agriculture which is now just business. You pray to Inari for success in business. I prayed at a few different shrines along the way and I prayed at the top of Mount Inari. I will say taking pictures at religious monuments makes me a little uncomfortable and feels a little wrong. It supposed to be a sacred site and there you are making sure you take a picture of yourself to post - just seems a little disrespectful to the faith I guess is what I'm saying. And honestly, I took some pictures of my experience too and they will probably end up on Instagram so I'm being hypocritical. But I will say, some of these people are taking pictures of themselves with professional cameras in the middle of crowds holding everyone up, some are leaning on the torii, some people wait in the middle of the path for other people to pass them to get a picture. It just feels like the reason they're there is for a picture and not to immerse themselves in a culture. As you got closer to the top, there were less people because there are many opportunities to cut the loop short- it is a long and mountainous loop. And by the time I got back down, all of the tourist shops were closed so I didn't get any trinkets or charms.

This was a HIKE. I was basically doing stairmaster for an hour and a half. I was very dehydrated and even ate my emergency snack and laid down for a second. I had some protein (20g) chocolate milk from the convenience store before and after my visit to the temple and was very hungry so I picked up this bento box at the train station so that I wouldn't have to leave the hotel after I got there. It was so nasty. They didn't have anything vegetarian so I settled for fish and I didn't even eat it. The egg loaf saved me on the protein side. And I had the probiotic drink for dessert. yum. Those probiotic drinks are very popular on this side of the world.

When I flipped on the TV in the hotel today, I found myself on a news channel that was in English, but was for China. Consumers are spending more on services than goods. Consumption is also growing in China overall. Consumption is also less quantity and more quality oriented. I think these are trends that the rest of the world will see as well (at least for large first world countries like the US). When the weather turned on, I noticed that Taiwan was considered a part of China and it just hit me how even though Taiwan is so independent and has so much of its own identity, it still has a conflicting political stance. When I was there, I was in Taiwan, not the Republic of China (imo, for legal reasons).

more pictures in next post

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: He-She

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS)

The public domain is filled to the brim with some of the best and most fascinating characters that you, dear reader, can use without issue in your very own stories! Nothing can stop you from slapping Dracula, the Martians from War of the Worlds, Gilgamesh, Cthulhu, and Sherlock Holmes into some big stupid crossover story! And if you plumb the depths of the public domain you’ll find even cooler and wackier characters who had their licenses expire ages ago. Why not put Six-Gun Gorilla or Stardust the Super Wizard into your works? You’ll get a lot more points for originality there.

But sometimes when you go deep into the depths of free-to-use characters, you find… Well, you find stuff like He-She.

In 1943’s Boy Comics #9, the world was given an answer to Two-Face that nobody had asked for, mainly because he’d only existed for about a year. But did Two-Face have the greatest fucking tagline ever?

I don’t think so! Still, the name alone might make you raise an eyebrow, and the mere concept sure does seem a bit… iffy in this day and age. I imagine there’s a reason I discovered this character through lists of old comic villains who are incredibly offensive (for some reason, Snowflame kept appearing on those lists too, even though there is nothing offensive about him except how much cooler he is than every other villain ever), although… is that really fair?

Motivation/Goals: All they want is money, money, money. Ain’t it funny? I mean, honestly, what do you expect from the villain in a Golden Age comic book? All the villains back then either wanted boatloads of cash or to destroy the city, with no in between. We wouldn’t get cool motives like “turn the population of New York into dinosaurs” or “Go on a gorilla rampage” until later. Most villains, however cool they appeared, were fueled by simple greed back in the day.

Final Fate: So, uh… They get executed for their crimes.

Like, what, they committed a murder and stole some money? Does that really warrant the death penalty? I’m thinking there was some other reason He-She got put to death...

Best Scene: Over the span of two pages, He-She uses their better half to seduce Crimebuster and then some random guy into doing their bidding. There’s just something genuinely hilarious about a villain using the exact same ploy twice in a row and having it be effective both times, especially since it’s one of the most transparent and silly ones ever used.

Best Quote:

Final Thoughts & Score: There is just so much to unpack here, and yet at the same time so little.

Let’s start with the obvious question: Is He-She offensive? Well, they refer to them as an “it” right off the bat, which isn’t particularly great, and we have our police character acknowledge there are people like them… in circus freak shows. Crimebuster is a little nicer in the end, saying they’ll pay for “his or her crimes,” but yeah, it’s not exactly tasteful by modern standards.

Of course, considering when this was made, it genuinely could have been a lot worse. Golden Age comics were rife with problematic characters, and by those standards He-She could have been some walking transphobic stereotype. But being trans wasn’t really the big topic it is today; I don’t really see He-She as being any sort of commentary on gender identity or trans people beyond having a name that is incredibly unfortunate with the benefit of hindsight because I really don’t think it was an issue mainstream enough to mock. I’m not going to pretend like this is tasteful or well done—it’s definitely not—but if they were genuinely trying to be transphobic it doesn’t really come off that way. He-She is just a generic criminal with a very weird gimmick that has aged a bit awkwardly.

And that’s really the long and short of it right there: He-She is, ultimately, a generic criminal. If not for their absolutely bizarre premise and design, I think they would be completely unremarkable. And even the gimmick falls a bit flat because it is truly poorly implemented into the story. He-She marries a landlady within the first page of the comic, but it’s only after their marriage during a big fight that their wife finds out that they’re He-She. Did she just never once see the other side of their face? Did they not kiss them at the wedding? Is the trench coat and hat really that great of a disguise? The entire plot would collapse if anyone bothered to look at He-She from the other side. Do they have some superhuman ability to make people never question why they always stand so you can only see their profile?

There are a few humorous moments like the aforementioned seduction trick, but the gimmick isn’t utilized well beyond that. What we’re stuck with is a historical curiosity that’s too bland to be offensive, too tasteless to garner a fanbase, and just a baffling creation in its own right. 4/10 seems about right. But that’s where you, dear reader, come in!

You see, as He-She is in the public domain, you can take them and put them in your own stories, free of charge! Give them complex motives and deeper characterization! Give them a more appealing design, or at least have their odd physical condition make a bit more sense! And most importantly, change their fucking name and write them with respect! Literally nothing is stopping you from rehabilitating this bizarre piece of comic history!

Except for the fact that, you know, He-She sucks. But that's why you gotta make them better.