#class readings

[laughatlocksmiths]

"At last, however, I found one door at the top of the stairway which, though it seemed to be locked, gave a little under pressure. I tried it harder, and found that it was not really locked, but that the resistance came from the fact that the hinges had fallen somewhat, and the heavy door rested on the floor."

I really enjoyed this detail from today's reading. Bram Stoker does such great work peppering in these small, eerie details about the castle to emphasize that Someone Lives Here, But People Don't Live Here. This is not a human-occupied residence. Dracula and his roommates who rudely eat his leftovers without asking brides don't interact with their house in the same way that humans would. Dracula has to do the cooking and cleaning himself because normally no one needs to do either of those things. Even the rooms that seem to be habitually used still look unoccupied and uncared-for. The doors physically fall apart and no one notices for years, probably because they don't normally use the doors that often. And as funny as "lizard fashion" is, it's also a very clever way of indicating that Dracula doesn't always see the world the way a human would. Why shouldn't he climb up and down the exterior walls? It's easy for him to do, and no one else around him is human enough to think it's strange.

Of course, a lot of this is also about the waste and ruin of the idle rich, not exclusively about monstrosity, but Stoker does a great job of combining the two themes while describing the condition of the house.

[love-4ever]

2.14.2024

Happy Valentines Day! ❤️🫶💌

I hope you have a wonderful day spending time with your loved ones today! In the mean time I’ll be writing notes and catching up on class lectures for my Health Psychology.

P.S. My new MacBook Pro is Amazing!🤩

Also for work, I need to work on my latte art and cappuccinos.

[ahsokalegend]

One of my favorite choices the Apothecary Diaries made was making the Emperor a “normal guy” (as far as I know as an anime-only). He’s not evil. He’s not hindering Mao Mao’s journey. He respects the concubines.

If anything his lack of autonomy and presence as the most powerful person in the country further enhances the show’s themes of working within the confines of class and gender inequality.

The previous emperor was a horrible, horrible pervert. Okay, then this emperor only weds women of age… Until he’s forced to take his father’s precious wife due to politics. The current emperor reasonably avoids her.

Eunuchs exist? Bam! now the surgery is outlawed, but this will create a reduction in male labor around the palace.

The emperor clearly favors few women. Well, now he must recognize a concubine with a powerful politician father playing the system.

He supports Mao Mao toeing the line of social expectations for women, but hasn’t removed the law against women preparing medicine. It makes one think, if he wanted to, could he make the change at all? For every two steps forward, he’s forced to take one step back.

In this universe even the Emperor is limited by social pressure and the expectations of his station. His life and that of his children is out of his control, and if that isn’t such a compelling piece of world building I don’t know what is.

If that’s how the author twists the narrative of the Emperor you better believe her female characters dealing with women’s issues in this society are even better written.

[wordwings]

*kicks down your door* It might seem like a plot hole that no one thought about the possibility of Dracula being invited into the asylum by Renfield (or any other patient) but actually it speaks to the way Renfield’s personhood is being denied mainly by Jack Seward, but also the rest of the crew in part through their reliance on Seward’s expertise. Which also ties into the way they have decided to shut out Mina at the very same time. It literally just did not occur to them that the patients living in the same building as them would have any claim to the residency that allows someone to grant the permission a vampire needs to enter a home. But of course the asylum is the patients’ home just as much as it is Jack’s! They live there! In short this fatal blow dealt to the heroes at this crucial juncture comes about through both their sexism and their ableism. Good night. *puts your door back on its hinges again and leaves*

[marigoldbaker]

another cool thing is when you devour a book over the course of a handful of hours and it fucks you up and you just have to lie on the couch feeling like your brain went swimming for too long & only just came up from under the water. art is so good

[orpheus-has-lyreizz]

AU where paris is just a little less of a dumbass

[bone-yarddz]

Audio books but it’s Michael Sheen reading books as Aziraphale and sometimes you hear David Tennant shouting something obnoxious as Crowley.

[one-time-i-dreamt]

I was forced to read a Donald Trump autobiography for one of my college courses. It was just the plot of Boss Baby. He thought nobody would notice. 

[trickstersaint]

i want to introduce you all to a project that is very close to my heart... or lack of one. anyway. for anyone who has ever wanted to play a poem. i'd like you to meet aromanticism

(link opens itch.io - she'll run on html in your browser! please be nice to her!)

[enduracarrotchips]

dear reader by @heavilycaffeinatedsblog

[laughatlocksmiths]

Because vampires have been incredibly popular in mainstream fiction for a very long time now, I think we're often too hard on authors of vampire stories for using the themes or subtropes of the vampire story that we personally don't like or have seen too much of.

For example: I've seen quite a few people here on tumblr say that using the idea of vampires-as-parasites to talk about class inequality, or even using vampires to talk about class inequality at all, is too tired to ever work again. I don't think that's reasonable;* I think we just see a lot of those interpretations and are sick of seeing them for a while. That's a normal part of being a fan of an extremely popular genre. It doesn't say much about whether the ideas themselves work.

*Although I will say that I personally don't enjoy how those two tropes work together; to me, using parasite motifs always makes the story's vampires come off pathetic and powerless. That's not necessarily bad, but I don't think it works well for a story where vampires represent the ruling class. But I think that comes down to my own preference as a reader.

[love-4ever]

I’m extremely tired and anxious at the same time. Idk why? But every time I start school during the new year I feel as if I’m going to fail.

As of late I haven’t been able to sleep, cause I very I close my eyes I then open them and see it’s only been 3 hours since the last time I opened my eyes. Like I’m not even sleeping when I thought that I was. This has been going on for 2 weeks and it sucks.

Going back to the subject of school, I am so anxious in my health psychology class. I feel as if every time I speak to ask a question or give an answer, I am judged by my peers. As if I talk too much, and I do because last year I found out I am extremely inquisitive. Because of this I feel so insecure about myself. Not to mention I feel stupid on how to approach in completing my writing assignments. Writing isn’t my strong suit.

Im not sure anymore. I’ve been drinking iced chais and less coffee. Gone back to finish shows that I’ve started and have not finished such as Gotham.

[ghostember]

heres some gouache sardines

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

*glancing back at my childhood in the rearview mirror* and what the FUCK was up with my mom always signing me up for Activities

[baba-is-blog]

YOU IS TAKE LITERARY ANALYSIS CLASS

BABA IS BEG

[meltinii]

hualian fits!