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#i do think it's a well-written and extremely comprehensive book
anamariamauricia · 2 years
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read this book (in a fruitless attempt) to better understand the details of the thirty years’ war and the author gets her digs at these people at every chance she gets:
“In the Louvre the King [Louis XIII] lay on his huge bed day after day, but his unhealthy body, which had for the last years never seemed truly alive, was unable to die. The pulse beat obstinately on in the wasted skeleton. Day after day he lay almost motionless, sometimes sinking into troubled sleep, sometimes half-conscious, sometimes speaking, while his wife cried noisily at his bedside.”
“Richelieu, though never popular, had evoked a certain apprehensive admiration. The people did not feel the same about Cardinal Mazarin. The dapper little Sicilian with his petty personal vanities, his childlike ostentation, his delight in craft and cunning, had few impressive qualities. Equally he had not the comprehensive genius of Richelieu; he never understood or managed to control the internal politics of France.”
“Philip IV, having lost both his wife and only son within a few weeks of each other, began, with indecent haste, to seek out a young bride; he was not a very prepossessing husband, old and glum for his forty-odd years, dumbly stupid; as a ruler, a useless idol. He was devoted only to his one remaining child, the scatter-brained little Infanta who was despite the formalities of Madrid and the splendours of Versailles remained through life a foolish, impulsive, perpetually sweet-tempered schoolgirl.”
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stillsolo · 18 days
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GET TO KNOW THE MUN. respond to the prompts out of character !
what made you pick up the current muse(s) you have? oh, where do i even begin?  well, i suppose i should start with how long sw has been in my life.  ANH was the first movie my mother ever saw when she visited the USA; she saw it with my grandmother ( and subsequently developed a massive crush on harrison, so indiana jones became a huge part of my childhood too lol ).  for this reason, my mother introduced my brother and I to sw when we were actual babies.  then, when the prequels came out, it’s all me and my brother consumed.  from the movies themselves to the original clone wars cartoon to the PS2 games to the novels/book series.  we watched it on a tiny portable player for every trip, and every time my relatives needed us to go away to let the adults talk lol.  it also helped our comprehension of english so much. i can’t recall a time in which sw hasn’t been present in my life! before i joined the tumblr swrpc, i kept to myself in the prequels community, wrote fanfic, and rped anakin on skype.  he’s always been a character that hit a little too close to home in one too many ways.  the main parallel i have with him (that doesn’t relate to his mental issues haha) is his love/devotion/attachment to his mother.  it’s difficult for me to explain without getting into the aspects of my culture (孝順 / filial piety), but in short, i am cantonese; if my mother asked me for my thumb tomorrow, i would give her my arm today.  anakin’s love for his mother, his determination to free her from slavery at an early age, was very touching.  EPII has been memed to oblivion, yes, but the pain i feel when anakin doesn’t get to hear his mother tell him she loves him one last time before she dies, and knowing that it haunts him for the rest of his life (eu), makes me want to throw myself out a window lmao  i have an extremely close relationship with my parents; this sort of pain is absolutely gutting for someone like me. anyway, when i joined the tumblr swrpc, writing han solo was never the plan.  i originally wanted to write luke but ended up changing my mind at the last second.  I’d written well over a dozen fics with han at that point, but was nowhere near confident, so i thought of it as more of an experiment. guess that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, because if you really think about it, since the day i started writing him in fics, he hasn’t stopped butting into my brain.  in fact, he’s been harassing me ever since—to the point that i even switched from writing luke to him… lol given my upbringing and my mother’s love for him, han has always been my childhood hero, as well as my brother’s.  our dad was our han solo.  the nostalgic and familial associations run so deep, it’s difficult to articulate.  we share many traits, right down to his universally agreed-upon zodiac sign (sagittarius); i know han solo like the back of my hand—and it’s probably because i wanted to be just like him when i grew up.
is there anything you don’t like to write? character death.  if i have to say another, it’s when people conflate harrison with the character he plays and then decides to address that in a thread.  harrison was a ladies man back in the 80s, and that’s fine, but that doesn’t mean the same for han.  i hate seeing the conflation between the two.  not sure if this happens as often anymore, but there was a time when fics/threads/even han rpers would lean into it, by default, thus totally destroying his character in my eyes.  i mean, write it as a storyline, that’s cool and fine, but infidelity has never been inherently part of his character.  i will die on this fucking hill.
is there anything you really enjoy writing? most unpopular opinion ever: action sequences.  critical situations, fast paced action, thriller scenes featuring immediate, life-threatening circumstances.  i love writing that which exhibits a sense of urgency and tension, with sprinklings of emotional depth and contemplative introspective moments.  scenes with internal conflict combined with aforementioned external events.  even evading enemy forces, sustaining minor/major injuries, dressing wounds.  dunno why those are always the most fun to me.  aside from that?  romance/romantic angst.  i’ve had many writing partners over the years, and each one thought they could outdo me in writing romantic angst.  sometimes, the psychosomatic pain of heartbreak isn’t far from feeling like you’ve lost a limb in battle.
how do you come up with headcanons? by being the most annoying, meticulous person ever.  i’m extremely detail oriented; when i see incongruities in my own work, i perish.  so, when i come up with headcanons, i have to consider all factors that may affect the outcome of whatever question i’ve posed in my mind and feel the need to justify my choices, for whatever reason, by tying it back to XYZ.  my headcanons must align with my muse’s personality, their environment from childhood to adulthood, their current circumstances, and if it’s an AU, how it mirrors canon events.  canon/eu is everything imo, because they are their own choices; it’s what shaped them into the character we know them as.  ofc, this is my process and opinion, so make of that what you will.
do you write in silence or do you play music? no music, no tv.  sometimes people talking is too much for me.  i have adhd and my medication only helps so much.  i will absolutely start writing down the conversation or lyrics playing in the background lol
do you plan your replies or wing them? plotting vs planning replies is different to me.  plotting gives me a foundation, but it can’t be too confining.  to plan a reply is to block out each moment.  if you trap me, i will always deviate; so i wing everything, even when i have a foundation.
do you enjoy shipping? yes, absolutely!  i’m not sure why people tend to assume otherwise, but i’m more open to it than people think.  i’ve never cared about who you write, if they’re in the sw franchise, or even what era of sw etc etc  never given a shit about what people think; if our muses click, they click.  honestly, some of the best ships i’ve had with han, as in the most enjoyable and enlightening of his character, have been ‘crack ships’.
what’s your alias/name? vin, vince, vincent.  vincent van hoe.  trash bin vin.
age? 27!
birthday? dec 2!
favorite color? silver.  if that’s not a color to you, then blue.
favorite song? you can’t expect me to… well, ‘in your eyes’ by the weeknd has been up there for a long time.
last movie you watched? star wars: the clone wars (2008)
last show you watched? … the clone wars lol
last song you listened to? billie jean - MJ.
favorite food? my mother’s 番茄炒蛋 ( egg and tomato stir fry ), unagi, freshly baked breads, fresh fruit …
favorite season? i get mostly tropical weather, but i love a cold winter.
do you have a tumblr best friend? unfortunately, so many people have left the site over the years, but i'm grateful to call these people some of the closest friends i have in the rpc: @techniiciian @desiccation @vibraea @rcvanchist @sgterso @voxcrystallis
tagged : @debelltio thank you for thinking of me!! tagging : if you're still reading this, i tag you!
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tagomago · 2 years
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they r semi being nice to me so i won’t be mean but like. i have written fic on occasion and i still think it isn’t like art or whatever and have manyyyy issues with it and consider publishing of fic with changed names etc kind of a bad habit and think that anyone who reads fic and nothing else probably has extremely poor reading comprehension so i actually would probably ‘shit on it’ as they say 😭 and of course i’ve tried ya because i was once a teenager. but the thing is i’m nearly 23 now and if i picked up another ya book i think i would break out in a pox. like i no longer have the constitution for it. also equating ya and romance… lol. i think there r good romance books there are many romance classics i doubt people r especially shitting on the whole romance genre just like those quick turnover beach reads or whatever. anyway im going back to sleep sorry i don’t even want to insult them i just don’t think u need to say this in my tags when i wasn’t even doing it. “do the people who say read more classics ever stop doing this? not you op” ok well i said read more classics so either u r overgeneralising or including me
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manuscripts-dontburn · 11 months
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Stone Blind
Author: Natalie Haynes
First published: 2022
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
I am so, so sorry, but this one was a mess. The Gods ruin it, because they are, in fact, 21st century teenagers. The other thing that ruins it is a million points of view which chop the story up in a way that takes every exciting moment away, stretching it until you just do not care one bit. And Medusa? She is a minor character, to the point of being in the story for less than even half of it. Natalie Haynes can do better and has done better.
What Maisie Knew
Author: Henry James
First published: 1897
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Dear Lord... I think this was the most tedious and boring book I have read this year so far. If I was not listening to it on audio, I would have DNF-ed it halfway through. I was hoping for much, much more from a classic dealing with a child of a messy divorce and custody battle in times when divorce was still a dirty word. Sadly this is just a mix of awful people and a desperately naive kid in situations that are so repetitive I could have cried.
The Golden Enclaves
Author: Naomi Novik
First published: 2022
Rating: ★★★★☆
I cannot deny this whole series has issues, mainly it needed much, much more editing, and the info-dumps, so often taking a form of a stream of consciousness, can get tiring. And yet, this last book ties it together with a bow so well, I cannot help but applaud Naomi Novik for creating an original, interesting, and captivating version of the world. The finale left me positively breathless.
Elisabeth: portraits of an Empress
Author: Brigitte Hamann
First published: 1998
Rating: ★★★★★
A very nice, quite comprehensive gallery of official portraits, photographs and prints of the famous Empress, that would make a perfect companion to a full-blown biography. Perhaps the one by Brigitte Hamann herself.
The Seed Keeper
Author: Diane Wilson
First published: 2021
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Some parts of this book are extremely touching and well-written. Unfortunately, other parts bored me. I felt like the author needed to make the story tighter, and more focused. Much of what was happening seemed to only skim a surface of a situation, many of which could carry great importance within the story.
Off With Her Head: Three Thousand Years of Demonizing Women in Power
Author: Eleanor Herman
First published: 2022
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
(Wo)Maaan this was a MESS. I don´t even know where to start.There is really no logic in how the narrative is arranged. The history part is only about 25%, 10% talk about women in other places than US and the overwhelming majority of information is about Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris and Nanci Pelosi. Essentially, if you have even a tiny interest in US politics, there is nothing new or surprising (though of course, it can still make you angry). The only thing this book says is that there are awful double standards and women in power have always been treated much more harshly and cruelly than men - something we all know, cannot dispute and it could have been a Tumblr post. But frankly, Mary Beard said the same thing with fewer words and greater impact in her Women & Power: A Manifesto.I feel kinda bad about rating this book so low, considering the topic, but this was just too basic and not well put together.
Nightingales: The Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life of Miss Florence Nightingale
Author: Gillian Gill
First published: 2004
Rating: ★★★★☆
The amount of research done for this book and the included details that stem from it is simply astonishing. That can be seen as both an advantage and a disadvantage of the book, depending on what you want and how much of it you want. If you read this only to familiarize yourself with the remarkable Florence Nightingale, you will be probably swamped by the wealth of information about her extended family (and even some ancestors) and the almost tedious narration of her life before the Crimean mission. However, if you like family sagas, delving deep into Victorian daily life and attitudes, you will have your fill with this book. The title is indeed truthful to the content. One also must mention that even though dense, the book is very readable and easy to navigate (at least once you get over all those ancestors).
The Rules of Magic
Author: Alice Hoffman
First published: 2017
Rating: ★★★★★
Do you like - magical realism? - strong and believable family ties? - romance? - beautiful writing? Then pick up this book.
Triangle: The Fire That Changed America
Author: David von Drehle
First published: 2003
Rating: ★★★★☆
I had some problems following the opening chapters dealing with the hidden politics of New York in the early 1900s, and the frequent breaks in the narrative to introduce nearly everyone felt sometimes jarring, but all in all, this was a well-researched and sensitive tribute to those who lost their lives during this horrific event. It is also a loud call-out of greed and its favorite child, capitalism. What truly terrifies one is the fact, that things like this still happen and the underlying reasons are always the same.
The House is on Fire
Author: Rachel Beanland
First published: 2023
Rating: ★★★★☆
This is a solid piece of historical fiction that uses the same style that made books like Salt to the Sea and All the Light We Cannot See so very readable: short chapters that keep changing points of view. I liked the fact that the whole book is set during just three days, showing how quickly and unexpectedly lives can completely change. I was also glad to learn about this tragic event - the historian in me is always, always interested in learning.
The Corset
Author: Laura Purcell
First published: 2018
Rating: ★★★★★
Not gonna lie, this was pretty great! Sure, the story of Dorothea is not really as engaging as the story of Ruth, but Dorothea´s chapters provide a welcome breathing space from the suspense and horror of Ruth´s. The longer you read the more difficult the book is to put down. Excellent gothic novel.
Empty Theatre: or, The Lives of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and Empress Sisi of Austria (Queen of Hungary), Cousins, in Their Pursuit of Connection and Beauty...
Author: Jac Jemc
First published: 2023
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
I was stunned by how purposefully artless the writing was. I also believe a "satire" should be more than just being snarky about real historical people. The whole thing felt extremely pointless. Save your time for better books, all ya readers of historical fiction.
The Brontës: The Fantastically Feminist (and Totally True) Story of the Astonishing Authors
Author: Anna Doherty
First published: 2022
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Sweet and simple introduction to the magnificent Bronte sisters for little kids.
Little Fires Everywhere
Author: Ng Celeste
First published: 2017
Rating: ★★★☆☆
This is a very, very good book. It was, unfortunately, simply not for me, who gets easily bored by American middle-class drama. The most interesting parts dealt directly with the adoption case, which turned out to be a subplot rather than the main event.
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panharmonium · 2 years
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one more... 13 for Sakura or Sasuke. or both!
13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character?
I’ll do Sasuke, because fandom opinions about Sakura are so utterly unhinged (in wildly non-textual, completely contradictory ways) that I don’t even know what would count as “unpopular.”  
Anyway, my most unpopular opinion about Sasuke is not an unpopular opinion, it’s an unpopular fact, but I’m just gonna let that one lie, because even in an ask meme designed for the sowing of salt, there are some things that I just don’t have the energy to complain about. X) 
In lieu of that, I’ll say instead that I guess my unpopular opinion is that both Sasuke’s diehard haters and his diehard fans are equally disconnected from the fundamental purpose of the story.  Which is totally fine - it’s fandom, so if people prefer playing with whatever pieces of a story appeal to them and not engaging with it as a comprehensive whole, that’s fine; have fun; we’re all just here to enjoy ourselves.  But when we’re talking about reading the story as it was written and as it was intended to be read, both extremes of the Sasuke debate are missing the point.  
When it comes to his haters - when people watch this show without caring about Sasuke, without rooting for him, without hoping for him to get the closure he needs and surmount his pain and free himself from his chains and find his way back to the people who truly love him, then they’re not watching the story as it was meant to be read.  That is literally the premise of the entire manga/show.  The whole “we’ve gotta save the world from all these evil guys” stuff is just a vehicle for the real storyline, which is and always has been “will Team 7 be able to help Sasuke find his way out of the darkness?”  Watching this show while hoping that the answer to that question will be “no” is like...well, I don’t know what you would get out of it, I guess.  Rooting for Sasuke to reunite with his friends and finally be loved and cared for and healed is the beating heart at the center of this story, and if you hate him and think he doesn’t deserve that kind of resolution, then you’re not reading the story as it was written to be read.
At the same time, takes that are like “Sasuke did nothing wrong to anyone ever and has nothing to apologize for and his ‘friends’ are evil and he never should have gone back to them” miss the mark just as widely.  I understand that this attitude is probably just a reaction to the fact that the ending missed its landing so badly (yes, it IS completely ridiculous to write an ending where justice is never done and the whole Uchiha massacre/government cover-up is literally dropped like a hot potato; that is NOT the conclusion we were promised by this story’s previously developed themes and I do not accept it as believable canon), but to watch the story of Naruto unfold and legitimately desire an outcome where Sasuke doesn’t someday come home to rejoin a loving community of friends/surrogate family is like complaining that an author who wrote a book about a particular story didn’t instead choose to write a completely different book about a completely different story.  We ALWAYS knew Sasuke would come back to Team 7 eventually, because that’s what we were promised in the very first chapters of Part 1, when Kakashi teaches his students the sacredness of teamwork and lays the foundation for their friendship.  It has literally never been a secret that this story is going to be about the sundering and subsequent mending of Team 7′s bonds; we KNOW this story is supposed to be about the re-forging of these relationships; that is literally the entire point.  Loving Sasuke to the exclusion of everyone who is written as genuinely loving and caring about him is just as nonsensical as hating him and thinking he doesn’t deserve that kind of love in his life.  That’s not the story we’re being told; it never was.
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caputvulpinum · 2 years
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Hey! I hope you're doing well despite people having no reading comprehension 💜
I saw your posts on Heartstopper and cishet women making money by fetishising gay men and I completely agree with you! As someone who would consume BL media while thinking I was a cis girl, I'd like to share my 2 cents on the matter
I think lots of cishet girls/women use BL stories as a way to not be held accountable for how they're unable to form meaningful relationships with other people because they're extremely uncomfortable with who they are.
Like, it's really based on homophobia and internalised misogyny and a lack of introspection. If you only ever read and/or write about boys/men in love, and you're not a gay man, what is it that you're trying to feel? What are you really yearning for? Are you so afraid of confronting your own unaddressed issues that you'd rather fetishise a group of people you're not part of, you'd rather be a part of this oppressive society, just so you can stay comfortable and not be honest with yourself? That's shitty. Don't do that. I know being honest with yourself can be terrifying but you're in so much denial that you're being an asshole to an entire community. So maybe, you know, stop being an asshole
The first time I read a gay romance written by a gay man it really, really hit different (that book played a huge part in me realising I'm not a girl actually). So if you, reading this, must engage with stories about gay men but you're not a gay man, at the very, very least read about stories written by gay men
That's literally it, and it's infuriating that this is apparently such a Radical Concept Which Is Misogynist Somehow. It's objectifying and fetishizing gay men, and if you identify as a woman/non-MLM, what are you gaining from wanting to read this SO badly? What do you get from being so angry and entitled at MLM saying that this is actually kinda weird and fucked up and stop? Why is this such an important part of your life that you're willing to ignore the voices of the people you're ostensibly interested in hearing from in fiction?
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daedalusdavinci · 4 months
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spell homestuck
GOD. THIS IS SO MUCH LONGER THAN TWO FACE. i typed too much and theres too many qs so under the cut it goes
H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?
books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or....... i guess comics, these days, but i HATE READING COMICS they juST HAVE MORE COMPELLING FANDOMS. book fandoms are PUNY nad everyone is STUPID. youd think actual literary fandoms would have reading comprehension and understanding of literary critique but no!!!!!!!!!!!!! its literally my eternal fuckign struggle. somehow comic fandoms hit the perfect medium between compelling, readable content and the enthusiasm of cartoon fans without the childishness of cartoon fans
O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?
this isnt really a thing i do. the only time i associate characters w songs is my own ocs. barbies theme is miltons tower from the what remains of edith finch soundtrack!
M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.
i have also never really been one to project myself into stories. its just not how i consume media. i think sollux and rose already closely resemble the kinds of friends i make, so maybe them?
E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?
(freddy fazbear vc) vanessa.... ive done things, im not proud of.
i dont even know if i want to answer this question bc its so fucking humiliating LKJSNDLFSDNFSDF the truth is yes. i am solely responsible for. a lot. particularly in the pjo fandom. i created several crackships ground up all on my own way back in 2014 and developed a following for them and i. dont wantto tell you what those ships were. LSKJDFNSLDJNSDFSDDF ive also pioneered many ship tags for other fandoms and i ship a lot of rarepairs and stuff but i dont think im RESPONSIBLE for them?? in that some ppl already were into them/talking abotu them or tht theyre still not popular (augh. to the ones that became popular) but i AM liTERALLY responsible for some crack shit in the pjo fandom and its. it haunts me sometimes. i dont want to talk about it. IF YOU REMEMBER WHAT I DID NO YOU DONT
S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)
this is so vague. my headcanons are shifting and nebulous and aus are my constant companion in everything, but uhhhhhhghhusjkdjnsdg i think. roxy writes the same way dave draws comics. its extremely memey and meta and self aware and largely just for the personal lolz, and were all doing her a disservice by pretending her writing looks like roses, when in reality dirk is probably the one whod make comics the way rose makes books (which is probably why he doesnt make comics). its more of that thing where roxy and dave are the same and rose and dirk are the same ykwim. well YOU dont corvus but im sure someone else does
T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?
jason takes after bruce in terms of like. adopting entirely too many kids. he broods
U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.
harvey is a heartwrenching character when written well, with a complicated view of morality, heartbreaking ties to our main hero, and a lot of internal conflict. something about such a hopeful character deadset on making a different in the system becoming a victim of it, and the potential he has as a vehicle for critiquing the law.
percy is my favorite character from pjo bc it was the very first time in my life i ever read a book and saw myself in it. hes aggressive, impulsive, and rebellious, he fidgets and has a hard time standing still, he acts on emotion without always thinking it through, he gets in trouble in school and hands his mom a murder weapon to kill his stepdad, hes just... hes a lot of the things ive always gotten in trouble for, things i couldnt help being, and hes a hero. he means everything to me.
vriska, i will maintain until the day i die, is one of the best homestuck characters- maybe just characters?- ever written. shes dramatic, shes impulsive, shes manipulative and mean and creative, and shes just so messy about it. shes a mean girl in a way that feels real, where her trauma impacts and shapes her as a person, and shes complex, with warring wants, and people she cares about, and dreams, and shes so messy. shes rough and rude and shes doing what SHE wants to, being a version of herself that feels right to HER, rather than some caricature of the hot badass evil lady. shes thirteen!! and she FEELS thirteen. shes a thirteen year old weird girl who is kind of an asshole, and she means literally fucking everything to me. shes a pirate!!!!! shes a swashbuckling badass dressing up in her larping outfit and yelling at her friends on the playground to swab the deck and she is the bestest ever, the end.
i didnt mean for each one of these to be longer than the last but here we are.
C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.
i hate jdedave peace and love it just feels weird as hell to me. dave, for the most part, is hyper respectful of other peoples choices and boundaries but when it comes to jade hes always trying to mke choices for her, to protect her, and it gets to the point where even jade points out how much it bugs her. jades crush on dave also seems to come from a place of misunderstanding to me, admiring a lot of the parts of himself that he exaggerates and pretends to care about as a result of trauma. it always felt like a kid crush that they shouldve grown out of with time. dave also just sort of seems to... go along with whatever romantic relationships people push him into at that age, rolling with whoever flirts with him jsut bc hes trying to maintain the image of a player, so its really hard to take him seriously any time he hits on someone?
that is just my interpretation of it tho
K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?
well. i havent finished my reread of homestuck, so that feels difficult to comment on just yet, bc im sure ill have a different opinion when i do finish it. no one in dc gets character arc bc theyre all just undone immediately, so thats like. yeah. and in pjo the arcs are pretty weak bc 1) kids books and 2) RICK UNDOES THEM ALL. AUGH. regardless of all of this, i am going to say jason grace. he had a lot of development in like the last two hoo books, or maybe just like.... hints of how he couldve developed? promise? which rick immediately set fire to in toa when he killed him, but fUCKING WHATEVER. UGH.
anyway actually tho eleanor from the good place. bisexual icon. queen. probably one of the best character arcs of all time. the episode w her mom has some of the most powerful fucking dialogue ever and i think about it. all the time. i should rewatch the good place.....
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utopians · 2 years
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if you hate the boys but like the concept, what are your opinions on Watchmen?
I LIKE WATCHMEN QUITE A BIT... ended up writing a kind of long post so I'll put my thots on the different adaptations under the cut
I've read the graphic novel which is like. undeniably dated in many ways but I think does generally hold up well. it's extremely dense but I enjoyed it a lot, I think the characters are all rather compelling and it works very well thematically imo. felt prescient how relevant rorschach is as a character to modern alt right shit for sth that was written in the 80s but I guess some things never change
full disclosure I have not seen the zack snyder movie version in full since I was like. literally eleven years old so I can't really give a comprehensive take on that but given just how long and dense the book I'd be interested in a rewatch to see how competent an adaption it is. the only take I can really provide on it is that I don't love how they adapted ozymandias from the novel he's fine but he has the wrong vibe
I REALLY enjoyed the hbo miniseries... at the time I watched it I was already so crazy burnt out on superhero shit that I was kind of uninterested but my parents enjoyed it a Lot so I ended up watching it with my sister and WOW jesus christ it was incredible. best editing I've ever seen and the way it handled dr. manhattan's perception of time was even better than the book (and that was one of my favorite parts of the book!) just a great show all round. the entire time I was watching the boys I just couldn't stop thinking abt how hbo watchmen had done literally everything it was trying to do far better
I am gonna put out a warning here to anyone who might be interested in watching the hbo series, it deals largely with the topic of institutional racist violence (main plot centers around investigating a white supremacist terrorist cell) and it shows racist violence in ways that are extremely explicit and upsetting so please do be aware of that going in. this is not a warning I give lightly it's intense
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thateclecticbitch · 1 year
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The reading comprehension isnt just bad on tumblr and twitter. It's bad everywhere.
For many years I've known that over 1/2 of Adults in the USA cannot read a book written above an 8th grade level. I've been trying to figure out why this is. Surely this many people don't have an actual learning disability, do they?
Well two weeks ago I stumbled on this podcast, and then this related article.
The reason so many people don't know how to read, is because we have not actually been teaching them how to read.
Oh, Teachers think they are teaching kids how to read, but in reality it's all a buncha baloney based on a long debunked theory on how children learn how to read. And it's been widespread curriculum in school districts rich and poor for decades.
Needless to say, I am nothing short of absolutely horrified.
Now, I'm a bit of a conspiracy theorist. And by conspiracy theorist, I mean I've done extensive study, research, and observation on the increasingly divisive and hostile political climate if the Not So United States Of America (spoiler alert, its been going on for decades, not years). I know about the GQP plan to privatize public education. It is extremely unlikely this was a part of that.
The curriculum was originally meant to only be used with the poorest of readers to help them keep up with their classmates, and it was a massive oversight to apply it accross the board. It happened to have the unfortunate side effect of contributing to extremism and cultish mentality. That isn't to say that educated people cannot become extremists. No one is immune to Authoritarian Thought Control Tactics. But having good reading comprehension and internet literacy skills lowers your likelihood of falling prey to misinformation and brainwashing.
The GQP didn't start this. But they do want to keep it this way. "They don't want an educated populace capable of critical thought, sitting around the kitchen table realizing how badly they're getting fucked!" -George Carlin
Okay. So.... What now?
Now that we know about the problem, we can do something about it. Fortunuately, we know how kids learn to read, which means this is a fixable problem. If you are in or near a school district that uses the "Three Cueing System" as their reading curriculum, go to district board meetings. Make petitions. Sign petitions. Call your local representitives. Fight like hell for effective evidence based reading curriculum based on science. Please. The kids need it.
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ribombeee · 11 months
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hello! favourite book of 2023 so far? :)
ill give one for each category!! (fiction nonfiction poetry)
fiction: i read the whole rest of the murderbot diaries series (after the first book) by martha wells this year and it’s really hard to pick just one (both bc theyre all excellent and bc the novellas kind of run into each other and arent separate story lines) but i’ll say exit strategy was my favorite :) just genuinely very enjoyable and fun and tightly written, i dont care how long the series ends up going on i could read a million more pages of murderbot just doing whatever
nonfiction: absolutely no competition how the word is passed: a reckoning with the history of slavery across america by clint smith….. ive said this before but its just such a good read….. doesnt provide a comprehensive history or survey of american slavery which is of course too enormous of a topic for that but instead focuses on (and is extremely effective at) conveying the emotional reality of many aspects of slavery as well as the very strange ways people deal with that history today and the ways it still affects our lives. i think that’s something often missing from current discussion on slavery (at the very least in american public schools where most americans including myself have gotten the majority of their information on the history of slavery) which tends to be very. perfunctory for lack of a better word. removed from the reality that those involved in all sides of the system were living breathing human beings. very good book 👍
poetry: weirdly enough i havent read that much poetry outside of class this year so far.. i’ll say all the flowers kneeling by paul tran. i got to go to a live reading + a writing workshop led by the author and it was a very memorable (in a good way) experience. its an extremely solid and intelligent debut collection and a very interesting discussion of/subversion of the idea of “trauma poetry”
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pompompurin1028 · 2 years
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Hi Kat! How about 3, 4, 11, and 15 for the ask game? <3
Thanks for the ask Coff! Sorry about the delay
3 things ask game
3. 3 songs that mean something to you
Music of the Night from The Phantom of the Opera
Pale Blue by Kenshi Yonezu
For Good from Wicked
4. 3 topics you’d love to learn more about
1. Art History
My friend took it and he had me help them proofread their essays and just hang out with each other, and the topics seem so interesting, it's not something I'm familiar with but I would love to learn more about it
2. Psychology
Behavioral psychology seem like an interesting thing to understand
3. Chinese literature
I am Chinese after all, and though I have studied some passages in and throughout school, I actually hated it, I felt that it was too difficult (and still do) since most texts are written in old Chinese which is so difficult to understand because a lot of times words with two characters are shortened to one character which makes them almost incomprehensible and you have to guess, and characters could have a very different meaning from what they mean now too and texts hadn't begun to be written in vernacular Chinese until the 20th century so the majority of the texts we studied are such, we also had to be forced to memorize all the passages and also had reading comprehension on unseen old passages which makes it even harder. But as I grew older, didn't have to study them for school anymore, and think back on the passages the more interested I got, things I didn't grasp and thought was quite absurd in the past had me intrigued, quite a bit of Chinese texts of the past at least the ones we learnt intertwine philosophy and literature as well. With the internet there are usually translations, maybe it'll make it easier to pursue them once again, just not in an academic setting
11. 3 books that you would recommend everyone to read
Once again I'll just be adding some books I enjoyed or found interesting, not in any particular order
1. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
I read this last week and actually really enjoyed it a lot more than I imagined. It just gives you a moment to reflect on alienation (is work/school alienating you from your loved ones? your passion? you hobbies? society?), it also makes you think about what is humanity?
2. The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami
I found it an extremely interesting reading experience and I still think about it sometimes. There's this short of feeling like I hadn't grasped everything there is to this book. Is it about the dangers of the pursuit for knowledge? Or the effects of the loss of innocence from gaining knowledge? Was it just a dream, or a nightmare? Also it can be described to be Kafka-esque, so mentioning Kafka before this, this book came to mind. It's a very short novella (best read together with visuals) with a bit of horror elements, and my first step into Haruki Murakami's work as well.
3. Otogizoshi: The Fairy Tale Book of Dazai Osamu by Dazai Osamu
I did read this in my Chinese so the translations may differ in meaning, but I actually really enjoyed these stories, and when I read them I couldn't help but read through them in a couple days. It's basically four of Dazai's rendition of traditional Japanese fairytales, and I just found them so interesting to read! In his works, Dazai tends to add his own thoughts or feelings to his works and this is no different, if you've read No Longer Human, it's a bit different from it, although I too really enjoyed NLH, and at times you too can see some melochonic aspects you see in it, parts of it almost feels ironic, some are genuine and show the kindness in his literature. My favorites were The Stolen Wen and Urashima-san!
15. 3 quotes that have a special place in your life
1. 「請你更積極地愛這個俗世,恨這個俗世,一生都沈浸享受其中吧」 from Dazai Osamu's Blue Bamboo
It means "please actively love this world, hate this world, immerse yourself in it all your life" the actively sounds a bit weird but it makes more sense in Chinese😅. Although there is an English translation for this short story but it says "You must become even more attached to the world, and spend you life immersed in the hardships it presents you with", I just found myself liking the Chinese translation better
2. "You never know what's around the corner. It could be everything. Or it could be nothing. You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you've climbed a mountain." - Tom Hiddleston
This was a quote I loved when I was younger
3. "How we ought to live? No one can say. All we have is the right to waver, like stray dogs that have hit rock bottom" from BSD
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The Perfect Blend for Isolation
I have thought about writing this for a while but always backed out. I knew it would cause some people to be confused, or even angry with me, but I need to get this off my mind.
I am Autistic, Dyslexic, and I have a Phonological Processing Disorder I have a spikey IQ profile, and low EQ (Emotional Intelligence). All of this combines to make the perfect blend of isolation. Here's why.
Within the online Autistic community, I am not welcome because I cannot form arguments well. I cannot access the information I know I hold in my head that counters what someone is saying. It just will not come out into words. I am then more often than not told I am "stupid", "moronic" or "mental".
I am surrounded by Hyperlexic Autistic people in spaces such as Tumblr and Reddit. There is an expectation that I can read the same piece of text as the rest of you and have perfect comprehension. I just don't! If I ask questions or misunderstand I am told I am being "a troll" or "abusive". How else am I meant to understand what has been written?
In the offline world, I cannot engage in group activities or socialise the same way other people can. I cannot even put on an Autistic Mask. My sensory overwhelm is easily triggered, I find many things in the world to be physically painful. I cannot pronounce words properly. I cannot process what is being said to me quickly enough for conversation. I cannot even process what I need to say quickly enough! I can't think of any small talk or how to progress a conversation. I cannot understand body language properly. I can't memorise instructions that have been given to me verbally. I can't remember what has just been said to me! I cannot process time or subtle words like "should" "could" "maybe" - my brain hears these as absolutes instead. A "maybe" is a I will, a "should" is a must, a "could" is a "this will definitely happen". It is exhausting and leads to me not being able to follow a conversation properly.
My spikey IQ means that I do not have access to support groups for people with lower IQs, even though for things such as processing and memory, I have extremely low scores. I am simply not allowed in these spaces! So where am I meant to go when I have demonstrated to myself repeatedly that I do not belong with the rest of society or within the Autistic community?
Books are something that make me very tired but I do enjoy reading them. It is easier to understand a book because the author has taken years to consider what they want to say. There is often little consequence if I have not properly understood an author either. It is upsetting that people then become angry at me when I struggle to read emails, messages, and other forms of written communication. Often times your writing is poorly put together - everyone's is - when it comes to quick writing.
There is probably much more I have missed above, but I struggle with writing and getting my thoughts out. I feel trapped within my own body because I cannot express what I mean in a way that people can understand. I feel like I am the only Autistic person on earth experiencing these things! I barely use social media now because I just cannot follow what is going on. I don't really go anywhere on my own because I don't know what people are saying. I just have myself and my own thoughts with the only feedback I get from the world being "You're stupid".
I wish there was a place in the world where I fitted, with patience and understanding of my complex communication needs. I will keep on trying to find people who are kind and understanding, who don't instantly reject me for not being as "quick" as them. I am tired of being othered and dehumanised. I just wish I as not so alone in the world.
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risalei-nur · 1 day
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 45
THIRTY-THIRD WINDOW
Praise be to God, Who has revealed to His servant the Book, and has allowed no crookedness therein. (18:1) * Alif. Lam. Ra. A Book which We have revealed to you, in order that you might lead mankind out of darkness into light. (14:1)
Think of all the Windows we have mentioned as being a few drops from the ocean of the Qur’an, then you will be able to compare how many lights of Divine unity like the water of life the Qur’an contains. But even if the Qur’an, the source and origin and fountain of all those Windows, is considered in an extremely brief and simple manner, it still forms a most brilliant, luminous, comprehensive Window. To see how certain and shining and luminous this Window is, we refer you to the Treatise on the Miraculousness of the Qur’an, the Twenty-Fifth Word, and to the Eighteenth Sign of the Nineteenth Letter. And beseeching the Merciful Throne of the All-Glorious One, Who sent us the Qur’an, we say:
Oh our Sustainer! Do not take us to task if we forget or unwittingly do wrong! (2:285) * Oh our Sustainer! Let not our hearts deviate now after You have guided us! (3:8) * Oh our Sustainer! Accept this from us; indeed You are the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing! (2:127) * And turn unto us; for You are the Oft-Returning, Most Compassionate. (2:128)
NOTE
God willing, this Thirty-Third Letter of Thirty-Three Windows will bring to belief those without belief, strengthen the belief of those whose belief is weak, make certain the belief of those whose belief is strong but imitative, give greater breadth to the belief of those whose belief is certain, lead to progress in knowledge of God –the basis and means of all true perfection– for those whose belief has breadth, and open up more brilliant vistas for them. You cannot say, therefore, that “One window is enough for me,” because if your reason is satisfied, your heart wants its share as well, and so will your spirit want its share. Your imagination will also want its share of the light. The other Windows are also necessary, therefore, for each contains different benefits.
In the Treatise on the Ascension of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), it was primarily the believer who was addressed, while the atheist was in the position of listener. But in this treatise, it is the denier who is addressed, while it is the believer who is in the position of listener. This should be taken into consideration when looking at it.
Unfortunately, due to an important reason, this letter was written with extreme speed. It has also remained in the state of the first draft. There will certainly therefore be some irregularities and defects in the way it is expressed, which are due to me. I request of my brothers then that they look at it with tolerance, and correct it if they are able, and pray for my forgiveness.
Peace be on those who follow Guidance, and may those who follow their own desires be censured.
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed You are All-Knowing, All-Wise. (2:32)
 O God, grant blessings and peace to the one whom You sent as a Mercy to All the Worlds, and to his Family and Companions, and grant them peace. Amen.
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nerianasims · 1 month
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Midsummer Eve part 2
This book. Is causing me pain.
Okay first I have two good things to mention.
I'm still liking Honeybell. She says she wants to defend Sidney (since he's so perfect and all), and Night-star admonishes, "With all good thoughts and honest spells." Honeybell shoots back, "With weapons of all kinds."
Later, when Night-star calls Eva perfect (again), Honeybell says, "[one] wearies of perfection, as one does of moonshine, I am sometimes so glad when the broad-faced moon stares herself to death, and goes right out; the dancing, trembling, winking stars, that sparkle in heaven's high arch, delight me most."
(By the way, Honeybell has one of the easiest character voices to read in this, surpassed only by Cormac. She speaks in a much simpler, more comprehensible manner than everyone in the book but him. That quote from her is refreshingly to the point, elegant, and lacking in commas and semicolons compared to most of the book.)
Niceness over now time to complain again.
The writing style has gotten worse. There are pages and pages of text blocks with no paragraph breaks. Randy the woodcutter is the worst in his speechifying about nature and goodness and how perfect Eva is and I don't even know what because I can't read what he says any longer. To top it off, he's written with a broad Irish accent.
Plot: Eva's mother dies (of course) when Eva is I think 16 and her mother (Geraldine) was in her mid 30s. One of the things Geraldine says in her long, long, LONG death speech is "God is good." Um no I don't think God is good for killing off a woman in her mid-30s sorry. But that's typical of this book.
Also typical is that when Eva goes to the doctor, she passes by an old woman who thinks about how beautiful she is, and then the doctor also thinks about how beautiful she is. While her mother's dying. Everyone in this book is always thinking and talking about how beautiful Eva is. I promise you, you have never read a fanfic which people accuse of being about a "Mary Sue" that's this extreme.
I'm not sure, because time is not tracked very well in the book, but I think a year later Cormac returns and proposes to Eva again. So she's 17 at this point and he and Sidney are 21. I am much less uncomfortable about this than when Eva was 14 and they were 18. Cormac's kind of a jerk about his proposal but also he offers her riches and the ability to help people with them. He says "I again offer you the passionate love of a passionate nature."
Eva of course nobly turns him down because she can only love Sidney and also because this book is opposed to passion. Cormac says he met Sidney in Rome, where Sidney had failed at becoming a rich and famous artist. This is true, but Cormac also says that Sidney no longer loves Eva, which is false. We learn this immediately because Sidney pops out of the bushes to tell her so.
This is where the walls o'text start to really come out in full force, so I've been skimming even more than usual. Sidney and Eva get married, though they have nothing to live on. They get on a ship going to I believe Rome, because for some reason that's the only place Sidney can become an artist. There's a shipwreck and a lot wrung out of Eva's dog almost dying in it, but he's fine because Eva's so amazing. They lose what little they had and live dirt poor in London.
Sidney says he could make money if he would paint what was popular, but he just cannot lower himself to do that, and Eva of course agrees. I do not. I think he's a self-absorbed shit. He could at least get a job and paint in his free time -- but no, that would sully the purity of his art and of his and Eva's noble impoverishment. And we're in a holding pattern of purple as I wait for Sidney to get kidnapped by fairies as was promised in a description I read of this.
And finally, here is a typical passage about Eva:
"[She] was, in the poetic feeling and phraseology of the country, 'the world's darling,' 'the Flower of the Lakes,' the Rose of Mucross,', 'the heart's delight,' 'the pulse of the heart,' 'the world's cush la machree --' to all within her sphere; and if they loved her before 'her trouble,' -- with the warm instinct of Irish nature, they idolized her after it."
As a reward after finishing this thing, I am going to read Howl's Moving Castle as soon as I'm done.
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qweei · 1 month
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i'm tired of this idea that good literature HAS to be written in a extremely complicated and complex way in order to be seen as well-written
i really enjoy writing but i'm also dyslexic so i struggle with reading (great combo i know) which sucks as a writer since I want to better my writing and vocabulary via reading books.
but it's so hard to do so when all the recommended "literary masterpieces" and "must reads" that are seen as the blueprint for good writing, are all written to with the most difficult and sometimes unnecessary language/way possible. while more easily comprehensible and easy to read work are viewed as less than and for those less intelligent
also i'm not specifically referring to old classics, i understand they wrote differently than we do today. since newer literature still do this and hold up this standard
stuff like this really messes with my confidence with writing, since sure it's one thing already that i struggle with spelling and grammar. but now i also have this added weight of constantly doubting my writing being too simple or surface level to be taken seriously.
when i just want my work to be easily digested and read, for both myself but also others like me.
of course i don't think that all written media should be simplified, there should absolutely be room for non-simplified written work but it shouldn't be seen as superior than work that isn't
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grandhotelabyss · 3 months
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Really enjoying Major Arcana! In your research for the novel, have you found your preferred Tarot deck or Tarot system? What books have you found most helpful?
Thank you! Ash del Greco's research methods (lazy, associative, and extremely online) are my own, so I can't give you the world's most comprehensive bibliography on the subject, but I'll do my best.
I love the Rider-Waite deck because Pamela Colman Smith's pictures resist the systematic and function perfectly and beautifully as polysemous symbols available for free interpretation. The best book I've read on the subject, Rachel Pollack's Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, responds in kind to these images, with informed, intuitive, and sensitive readings akin to the best literary and art criticism.
Other than that, I've read this book on the Rider-Waite and this book on the Marseilles for the more conventional interpretations (I don't own a Marseilles deck), the former of which uses Waite's Pictorial Key, though I haven't read this in full. I'm sure I should read Jodorowsky's book and Valentin Tomberg's, but I haven't yet.
I have a Thoth deck as well, and do appreciate aspects of it, but I find its high modernism—Crowley's determined attempt to make it a kind of encyclopedia or anatomy of occult systems, including alchemy, Kabbalah, and astrology—sometimes obtrusive and discouraging. I haven't read The Book of Thoth but have used the deck's thick accompanying pamphlet, written by artist Lady Frieda Harris at Crowley's direction, extensively, and have read Alan Moore's Promethea, the pedagogical sections of which take Crowley's ideas as a guide through both Tarot and Kabbalah.
(I've recommended these before, but see the Art of Darkness podcast's detailed and extensive episodes on Smith and Crowley; co-host Brad Kelly is a professional Tarot reader and also writes lyrical essays about the cards on his website.)
All in all, I think everyone should have a Rider-Waite deck and get acquainted with the imagery if only for the purposes of general cultural literacy and to appreciate Pamela Colman Smith's popularly generative illustrative genius. Simon Magnus's idea that this deck is at once a modernist poem and an early graphic novel is my idea too.
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