#everything i'm reading lately is books from public domain

[mzannthropy]

A resolution to read all previously unread books of your favourite authors this year is all well and good, until you realise that there is a reason why you've not read those books. Because they are. Not that good.

I finished Pat of Silver Bush, but getting into Mistress Pat is a struggle. I can't get through the chapter when Tillytuck is introduced. His head looks like a marshmallow and I don't like the way he comes in and takes over a scene, which should be women having a quiet and cosy evening in the kitchen. LMM is not selling me the "he sat down and it was as if he always belong to Silver Bush". Sorry. So I have to put it aside for later.

Now for Agatha Christie. The only books that remain are Postern of Fate and Passenger to Frankfurt and I know those are bad. I actually started on Passenger but it was a slog and I gave after like, two chapters? I'll get her autobiography on audio, with memoirs and stuff like that I prefer listening anyway. I could get another of her Mary Westmacott novels, but I can't be bothered.

So fuck it, I've picked up Five Little Pigs for a re-read!

[maurofonseca]

Are you working on any personal projects? Any comics from you on the horizon?

Hopefully!

I've got a main idea of comics I want to do, but I'm gonna take longer talking about it, so I'll first mention a couple others-

I've in the past drawn a lot of like, online meme characters. Not this exactly, but stuff like "Earth-chan". Lately been thinking about revisiting that, making them my own characters, changing designs and names, and working from that for small slice-of-life things.

I've got a friend I collab with on ideas, and I asked him ideas for short stories. Planning to draw a couple of his ideas, both for portfolio and because he does good stuff.

However, the main thing, of course, is my ideas involving my characters Lalla Shepherd, Jackie Pollard, Lily Rock, etc etc.

Gonna go on at length about it now, so putting it under a read more.

I've got a setting of characters etc I've nurtured for a few years now. It's a setting of cartoon animal people, adventure, fighting, etc. Very much trying to replicate the Disney comics I grew up on, stuff like Barks, Cavazzano, Gottfredson, but also stuff like Tintin, Indiana Jones, Sonic the Comic. It's set in a fantasy version of Earth circa the 1960s, by which I mean it's just Earth, but everything's been renamed for denial purposes, a layer of distance. If I want "London" to be the 60s but "Lisbon" to be the 80s, I get to do so, because it's not really London or Lisbon, it's Fumdon and St. Vincent, right? If I want there to be a war in the backstory, it can be WW1, WW2, Korean War, and Vietnam War all at once, because it's not really any of those, it's a fantasy one. Kinda what Pokémon does with its regions.

The idea is to do multiple stories, small stories, short stories, in this setting. Again, like the comics I grew up on- adventure stories of 10 pages, rather than epics of 1000.

You can read an early first go at an introduction to it here. It's kind of outdated, in aesthetics at least, but it's still overall matching what I plan.

The starting point is, there's these three characters- Lalla Shepherd, a racer and former soldier dealing with what happened to her during the War, Jackie Pollard, a girl with a mysterious past who appears in Fumdon looking for a job and with an amazing aim; and Lily Rock, a supremely confident fighter who's travelled the world and is sent to Fumdon to cover the upcoming Tournament. Said Tournament is going to be a combat tournament held in Fumdon but part of the culture of a separate small nation-estate, as a diplomatic move between countries. This is attracting weirdos and people with ill intent, so our three main characters get made into a team of sheriffs to deal with it in the months leading to the event proper.

The tournament is primarily just a plot excuse though- it'll be happening "soon" for as long as needed. It's a near-future event that excuses why any character would be appearing now and making their entrance in the public stage, no matter how weird they might be.

It's also about a bootlegging criminal in another country, whose wares get stolen by a wannabe gentleman thief, and how that drags a lot of other characters into that story.

Open and obvious about it, it's primarily made of me seeing characters and ideas in other stuff, and going "I want to make my own version". Very Alan Moore League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in that sense- "I want to make fanfiction where James Bond fights The Avengers (the british spy team) and Mina Murray (from Dracula), but I don't have the rights for them, so I'll switch names around etc." Very cape comic books in that sense too- "we want to tell a story about Superman, but we're Marvel, so we make a Superman pastiche called Hyperion".

Part of it was influenced by the upcoming wave of public domain stuff in the US. As you can see by my drawings, it was planning to use specific characters like Mickey Mouse, but then I got confirmation that that's really really not gonna work internationally. Ah well.

Some of you might've been here long enough to recognise a lot of these ideas and characters were part of an abandoned webcomic I was doing before, 4QC. Well yeah, this is me trying to make that one work and avoid the pitfalls that killed it lol.

Dunno, hope that's enough context. I'm hoping I can get a new story of this, a remake of the old one I did maybe, out before the end of the year; and then to do a lot more next year, using the money I'm saving from Sonic work this year.

[deadpresidents]

What are you currently reading?

I've been having trouble getting into just one book lately, so I've currently been reading parts of several books, hoping one of them hooks me. Guess what? That's literally never worked any time I've ever tried it, and yet, I still do it constantly. It always ends up taking me longer to read everything than if I just read the books one after the other.

Anyway, this is what I'm in the middle of right now, all of which are too interesting to keep me from focusing on just one at a time:

•Lady First: The World of First Lady Sarah Polk (BOOK | KINDLE) by Amy Greenberg •The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-Line Pioneers (BOOK | KINDLE) by Tom Standage •King Faisal of Saudi Arabia: Personality, Faith and Times (BOOK | KINDLE) by Alexei Vassiliev

I'm also still on the Richard Francis Burton kick that I mentioned last year, so I've been reading these too: •Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: The Secret Agent Who Made the Pilgrimage to Mecca, Discovered the Kama Sutra, and Brought the Arabian Nights to the West by Edward Rice •The City of the Saints: Among the Mormons and Across the Rocky Mountains to California (BOOK/PUBLIC DOMAIN LINK) by Sir Richard Francis Burton

[aguecheek]

do you have any good resources for watching/reading some of shakespeare's works? i've been wanting to learn more about poetry and writing lately and i would love to better understand them for inspiration when i write my own stuff

(rubs my hands together) you may regret sending this question in, because I'm about to be insufferable and talk way longer than I have any right to.

First thing you need to understand is this: Shakespeare did write poetry, don't get me wrong. He wrote 154 sonnets and 4 longer poems (Venus and Adonis, A Lover's Complaint, The Rape of Lucrece, The Phoenix and the Turtle,. But reading his plays as poetry is not (in my opinion) a particularly helpful approach. Certainly, you can look at the poetic conventions he uses, and you can look at their poetry as part of the larger picture, but when academics treat his plays as if they are just poetry and not performance pieces, they miss a ton of stuff. If you're gonna read his poetry, read it like poetry. If you're gonna read his plays, read them like highly poetic plays.

Second thing: Don't read his plays. This is really hypocritical of me, since if you ask me what my favorite book is and what my favorite play is, the answer is the same both times (it's King John). But I'm serious, especially if you're just starting out--please watch them. Please go see local productions and support live theatre, or watch movie adaptations, or recordings of live plays (since Shakespeare is public domain, there's no shortage of them on youtube). His plays were never intended to be literature, they were intended to be performed. Look, he was a genius, and there is a ton of stuff you can learn from reading what he's written, but if you're really trying to understand them, you just can't do it without watching them performed first. If you watch a video, and you hear someone say something interesting, pause it and write it down, and then ctrl+f for it in the full text later, and then read the full scene to get better context for the cool line you heard. You will be able to better understand why the line works, why the scene makes sense, if you have connected to it emotionally through performance first.

Third thing: I know how tempting it is to use a "no fear" or "no sweat" translation. Believe me. But that kind of translation is not going to help you understand what's being said. Maybe it'll give you the gist of it, and I absolutely believe that students and actors and pretty much everybody should have access to those translations. But if you are a writer trying to dig into the text, a translation will not serve you. I promise you, he is speaking the same language we are. Most of the words he uses are words we know. You can look them up, if you like, but translations often lose really key factors about the text that I think are important if you are trying to get a grasp on him as a writer.

fourth thing: disregard everything I've just said to you and figure out a method that works best for you. I've already given you conflicting information. I'm just some guy on the internet who knows way too much about Shakespeare. Mostly, what I want to impress upon you is this: don't treat this like an english class. If you want to get into Shakespeare, that's fantastic. He's a genius writer, and his texts are worth getting to know. But the second you stop having fun, you've lost. His plays are about 70% sex jokes. Every time you don't understand a phrase, there's a good 50/50 chance that it's a sex joke, and I'm completely dead-faced serious about this. He wrote for the working class, his plays were written to be enjoyed by everybody who saw them, they were always meant to be fun, they were never meant to become high literature. Distancing yourself from that fun is the fastest way to lose sight of what's important in his writing.

If you're gonna watch something, I will recommend what I always recommend which is Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet. Some people hate it, but I believe that it achieves what every Shakespearean movie adaptation should set out to achieve. It is fun, it is engaging, it is emotional, it is self-aware, it is heartbreakingly clever.

If you're gonna read a book about it, I'm gonna recommend This Is Shakespeare by Emma Smith. I think that Smith's book is one of the most beginner friendly Shakespeare analysis texts I've read, while still remaining intelligent and comprehensive. It covers a broad range of topics, and is so clever and thoughtful that it changed my mind several times throughout reading it.

You can read the full text of every single one of his plays online, as well as his poems. This link has all of them except the phoenix and the turtle for some reason, but you can find that one on poetryfoundation.

I don't really have a thesis statement, this is more of a word vomit. If you have any follow-up questions you can drop them in my askbox at any time, or if you just want to message me for clarification, or my opinion on something, or a conversation about what you're reading, feel free. I don't bite!

[scoobydoofenshmirtz]

I posted 4,661 times in 2022

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I tagged 1,149 of my posts in 2022

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#funniest moment of the year was when this (posted by bots that auto share their tweets) had to be manually deleted from the spncast channel

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

But if a mouse sold NFTs of a kia sorento?

33 notes - Posted January 4, 2022

#4

💕my most romantic fic recs💕

a little late for valentine's day but here's a special addition of my fic recs that I think are particularly appropriate for the holiday or if you're just in the mood for something with a lot of heart. sorted by length. as always, feel free to message me/send me asks about any of these fics. i'm always happy to talk :)

recs under the cut:

dean's coworkers vs the heteronormative agenda by cowboydeanwinchester T, 4,106

Premise (from ao3): Dean started working at a local auto repair shop in Lebanon, Kansas about a year ago. His coworkers don't know much about him. Except that he has a wife. Or maybe he doesn't. But he has a kid. Who is either a toddler or a high schooler. Who is either named Jack or Sammy. He also might have a best friend named Cas, but that also might be his wife.

Truth is nobody knows what to make of Dean. In universe, where nobody dies and Cas and Dean get domestic and Dean doesn't realize the mental hoola-hoops he's causing his coworkers to work through.

My recommendation: This outsider POV has a really fun look at Dean and Cas's relationship and centers around their anniversary. A nice quick read if you're looking for something light.

Sixpence by tiamatv T, 10,055

Premise: Dean and Cas get married, but things don't go exactly as planned.

My recommendation: Some angst stemming from a vital misunderstanding, but at the core a very romantic story with a great resolution.

Broadway Musical by Griftings M (very light), 12,453

Premise: AU where Sam stays at Stanford, Dean and Jo are destined to bear two sons to become the vessels. The angels try and fail to set them up, so Castiel decides to go to Earth to get them together himself.

My recommendation: A classic comedy full of romantic hijinks.

you're fooling yourself by cowboydeanwinchester T, 13,051

Premise: Dean who is now a mechanic and Cas who now sells goods at the farmer's market raise baby Jack together.

My recommendation: Super cute baby Jack fic (part of a series).

profoundly bonded (by law) by sobsicles E (only comes in at the end, the rest is very pg), 20,130

Premise: Dean and Cas are retired and living together. One day Cas asks to Dean to marry him (just as friends) and Dean says yes because he can't think of a reason not to.

My recommendation: Simple, sweet, domestic.

Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover by ImYourHoneyBee E, 26,300

Premise: With Cas back from the Empty, Dean is eager to share his feelings, but Cas doesn’t believe him. Dean will do anything to convince him.

My recommendation: This has the tag "Dean being a simp" which I think sums it up nicely lol. Just Dean doing everything in his power to woo a disbelieving Cas. Very cute with minimal angst.

A Hero of His Own Story by ioascc E, 26,779

Premise: A canonverse au of sorts on one of Chuck's other versions of Earth where Dean is not the righteous man, but ends up meeting Castiel anyway who joins him and Sam on hunts.

See the full post

41 notes - Posted February 15, 2022

#3

Public Domain Day 2022

OMG forgot about Public Domain Day! Happy Public Domain Day 22 (2 days late)! Some really good stuff this year including the original Winnie the Pooh book, The Sun Also Rises, Bambi, and a ton of other works! As the years go by we get more and more sound recordings and films since their preservation obviously increased over the years. While only a few hundred thousand go into the public domain this year, that number will certainly go into the millions in a few years time. We're also nearing the talkie era and next year The Jazz Singer will be PD with a deluge of sound films to follow. Remember once a work is in the public domain you can do pretty much anything with it, so go ahead, get creative!

Some resources:

See the full post

64 notes - Posted January 3, 2022

#2

fic recs for...no particular reason

[Image ID: Screenshot of Ben Wyatt from Parks and Rec saying "Pizza? Never heard of it," edited so that "pizza" is replaced with "finale." /.End ID]

Wild that after 15 seasons Supernatural never actually had a finale. Oh well, we have fanfic. Here's a collection of some of my fav fics that fill the void of never having a finale. Click here for my full rec list.

Recs under the cut sorted by category, listed by wordcount

Post-canon

dean's coworkers vs the heteronormative agenda by cowboydeanwinchester T, 4,106

Hey Stud by mrhd M, 4,715

swimming with the fish pond fishes by februyuri E, 25,674

Haircuts and Harboring Hope by City_Of_Paper_And_Ink T, 14,558

six hundred sundays (and many more) by sobsicles M, 15,689

Learning Curve (I just want to say I love you) by tsujiharu M, 20,206

*thunder road by dothraki_shieldmaiden E, 20,883

swimming with the fish pond fishes by februyuri E, 25,674

so good at crashing in by Wintertree M, 26,430

Fenario by ftmsteverogers E, 47,085

The Things You Cannot Change by marbleflan E, 67,867

Right Where You Left Me by outdean E, 93,581

*take the long way home by dothraki_shieldmaiden E, 95,043

take the bones, begin anew by JustStandingHere M, 103,254

dumbassery, denial, doing (the three d’s to the destination) by sobsicles E, 108,427

*written pre november 2020

Fix-its

We always were but never knew it by frightfullyrude G, 3,819

The Jensen Mistake by fellshish T, 5,087

foundations by rhinestoneangels (almondrose) T, 6,236

of fire and circles by rhinestoneangels (almondrose) T, 7,939

adam bites the apple by sicsempertyrannis T, 10,946

the valley of the shadow of death (keep walking) by p1013 E, 16,006

Waveform Frequency by LeverDrift M, 20,419

On Labor by a_good_soldier E, 24,661

See the full post

109 notes - Posted November 19, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

well then

165 notes - Posted April 14, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[harusaki-hugo]

◇》 Howdy!May I have a JJBA/Hetalia/Undertale match?164cm gemini ambivert straight girl pale skin wavy dark brown hair (the tips are purple) and eyes (with glasses) plus a little chubby.Sassy just+love cats and to laugh(puns and dark humor) play tease draw prank fight debate(about everything) learn and read(especially mystery thriller and fantasy) plus I'm a devil's advocate.Very open minded but confused with feelings so I'm an expert at making jokes at the wrong time and not reacting or (1/3)

◇》answer "normally" to some situations.Not very touchy in public+some trust issues.I'm charismatic prideful vengeful even if I appear chill Most people say I have anger issues it's more annoyance then anger(tsundere tendencies) cause if I get angry then I won't have ANY mercy toward you.I care about my friends and family even If they don't notice it and they don't come to me for help cause they say I'm blunt and I think it's better to finish this fast so I'm more logical but in reality I'm (2/3)

◇》expressive/talkative/protective/insecure a little naive but adventurous and a tomboy.I'm cruel to my enemies and even sadistic and indifferent towards them but I'm also curious in every domain(morbid ones too) and I have no problem talking about anything unless it's sexual or VERY gore which means that morally a lot of my entourage don't agree with me.A calculative and a smartass+chaotic good/neutral.♡ nightmares because they give me ideas and intense feelings.Thank you!(3/3)(Sorry it's long)

Sorry of the very late reply, I got very busy.

I match you with:

Rusia/ Ivan braginski:

Aww, I think you and Ivan will get along so well. This guy loves your height, he 182 and you 164, he will be going to pick you up, twirl you around, and Eskimo kiss you if he can. He thinks your hair is so beautiful and that purple tips, you match with his eyes! He to a bit chubby so bet my money he going to pinch your cheeks while chuckling. He doesn't mind you being sassy, he too sometimes might get harsh with his word without him noticing. Love to play with the cat with you, will laugh at your pun and dark jokes ( he get the dark joke ). A love fantasy book might join you in reading together. Sometimes Ivan answers always leaning toward, "Magic Pipe Of Pain", I think the other countries are used to this situation, sometime he might react to you making jokes at the wrong time or not react to some situation. Because of his history, Ivan is sympathetic. He going to respect your boundaries and will take time to gain your trust, when he was a child, he always gets attacked by big countries so he understands you. Ivan might be big-hearted and innocent but that didn't mean he not going to smack you with his pipe, he insane and cruel, but he didn't even realize it, you two personalities clashed. You two make a badass couple. You a tsundere? Oh, he has a sister who is obsessed with him, he doesn't mind it, but he does his best not to make you angry. If you two pissed, I bet it going to be a bloodbath, Ivan will give no mercy, same with you. He cares about his family too, sometimes he gets depressed remembering his sisters, his older sister always scared to ask him for help because of her boss and his youngest sister is yandere and always ask him to marry her, yet he didn't even get to spend quality time with them, please comfort him. He looks like a cinnamon roll but can kill you. Yes, you two a perfect match!

Asriel Dreemur [ Before being flowey ]:

This is a bit hard but I think Asriel is a perfect match for you. He loves your hair and eyes, remind him a bit of chocolate. I mean, come on. Toriel loves making a pun, he used to you pun though he might be concerned about your dark joke,( he going to ask if you okay.). Will join you on the prank, not a good debater but willing to learn with you. He sometimes gets worried at you for making a joke at the wrong time and reacting to a weird situation, like you facing Undyne and what you do? Cracking a joke while her spear on your throat. You okay, buddy? He respects your boundaries, will ask if he can hug you. The monster was sealed by the human, he understands your trust issue. Will slowly gain your trust. Remember Tsundere plane, you remind him of her, so he chills with your personality, might ask Alphys for a bit of advice. He all about kindness, when you get angry he will do his best to calm you down. He cares about his family, even though your family didn't see it, he notices it, he knows you love your family. He wishes to go to the surface so he has an adventurous side and will follow you to a new adventure. He can sometimes be cruel to his enemy but he rather takes a peaceful way, a.k.a it up to you to beat the crap out of his enemies. He looks like a cinnamon roll and is a cinnamon roll. 

Rohan Kishibe:

Ah, yes, this arrogant Kishibe Rohan. He might find you pleasant to look at ( Totally lie, he love you look) He a sassy man too, you two might have a childish sassy comment battle. (Spoiler alert: he lost every time). He is hard to please but might chuckle silently at your pun and dark jokes. He down to learn new thing, rather than reading the book you recommend, he rather 'read' you story. Sometimes thinking if he should re-write something from you, maybe common sense, because this guy this close, this close using Heaven door to write you a common sense. One time, he burns his own house, and you make a fire and house pun. Another time, he told you to run away from Highway star to attack you, and what you do? Yes, react poorly to this situation. He loves you but for Pete's sake, stop making that dark joke. He didn't even notice your Tsundere tendencies because he so dangs prideful honey. He accepts you whatever you are. He didn't mind how merciless you, you not afraid to speak up to him, and put him in his place, Rohan is a brat, don't @ me. Nonetheless, behind his eccentric and discourteous demeanor, Rohan is still a decent person, he understands your actions toward your family. He loves adventures, even a weird one, might bring you along with him. Rohan is a Narcissistic, arrogant brat but still good in heart!

[shaanks]

top 5 books c:

Okay SO

1) The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is a shortish book by Stephen King that is still one of my favorite stories of all time, and definitely my favorite book. It's got a couple fairly recognizable pieces of Lord of the Flies in it, (the God of the Lost is very present in that way) but it's such a fascinating exploration into the way children process trauma, with a physical quagmire standing in for the internal, emotional one. So so so so good, so underrated, cannot recommend enough.

2) I know it's gonna seem like blasphemy to list this below anything, let alone a little horror novel, but the first time I ever read Lord of the Rings it was all bound together in one book, so I'm calling for that. LOTR doesn't need like. My introduction or input, it's simply one of the best pieces of fantasy fiction ever written.

3) The Great Divorce by CS Lewis. It feels a lil odd to specifically recommend something that's so centrally religious, but like. CS Lewis touches on how pursuit of divinity and divine approval ultimately alienates us from everything that's inherently human, on purpose, in a way that I haven't really seen done in any other semi-modern piece of fiction. It's uncomfortable and thought provoking, but in a way that critiques of established religion should be, I think.

4) The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by HP Lovecraft. He was garbage but the work is public domain at this point so I'm happy to slam dunk him right in the garbage, and instead take the formatting that this story provides of an entangled, sprawling outer universe that cares not for the reader or the protagonist but simply exists, dangerous and glittering and fully formed. To either be discovered, or to devour the hero whole. Just. It's written like a fever dream, which makes sense given that unknown Kadath is only accessible through the astronomically small chance of stumbling across just the right dream at just the right moment. Definitely worth a read.

5) I can't list the entire Shannara series by Terry Brooks so I am listing the Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks. Another really unique, fun, heart wrenching fantasy world that i've spent like, inordinate amounts of time in. This one is harder to recommend bc I think there are like. 50? Books in the series now? But Elfstones is still good even as just a standalone story so yes.

Honorable mentions go to the Neil Gaiman books Coraline and American Gods. Coraline for scaring the life out of me and cementing my love for scary stories as a kid, and American Gods for being a) VERY good, and b) having a scene where a deity EATS a man with her vagina, which I loved!!! but that I did not know about before I suggested the book to an old woman to read while she was recovering from a surgery. Very fun phone call shortly after that where I realized that happened like 10 minutes to late to save the old woman from reading it with her own two eyes.