#non-history

[la-kampanart]

Lazy little doodle.

[maggiec70]

Maréchaux d'Empire: La gloire pour destin

Quelle horreur!

On the other hand, this book will keep me alternating between guffaws and serious eye-rolls for days.

The "replacement" for David Chandler's anthology, Napoleon's Marshals, published in 1987 with each of the 26 mini-bios written by for-real scholars [and not just Americans, either] is this November 2023 anthology edited by Francois Houdecek, who holds forth at the Sorbonne, claims to be a "disciple" of Jean Tulard [I believe M. Tulard has thousands of those!], and is involved in all sorts of activities and scribblings involving Naps. He is also responsible for gathering and organizing vast quantities of Napoleon's correspondence, so kudos for that.

However--and oh, my! what a huge "however" this is!--the 26 contributors range from the marginally average Pierre Branda to the apparent dregs of French scholarship whose names have never resonated outside the borders of Gallica. Each of these articles is depressingly cardboard, flimsy with details, utterly bereft of any attempt at analysis or understanding of the individual's character, talents--or lack thereof--and other useful and expected details, even in an anthology. These contributors apparently competed to see who could write the most drivel using the fewest sources. Naturally, I went straight to the entry about Lannes, and by the time I reached the end, I had permanently dislocated my eyebrows. The "author" of this travesty is Jacques-Olivier Boudon, whose credentials, on paper, are impressive but whose knowledge of Jean-Boy is worse than passing; it is non-existent. The reason for that is based on M. Boudon's sources:

He cites Lannes’ “official dossier” in the SHD, which I copied before I left, so I know every page and every sentence in it, and I know you won’t find squat that is useful unless, of course, you care how much putting on Mozart’s Requiem cost, and who sang the tenor solo.

High on the hit parade list is Regis de Crepy’s smarmy bio of the Lovely Louise, another book I can quote endlessly. Boudon used one letter from that.

Boudon also took bits and pieces from the three more recent French biographies by Dammame, Zins, and Willette—although the latest was published in 1994—and explained what I thought about them in a previous blog.

The absolutely most hysterical “source” is the 2002 historical fiction by a lovely 93-year-old woman, Penelope Le Fers-Dupac, who lives in Lectoure and who I know [I also know the biographer Jean-Claude Dammame, but that’s another story]. This novel is called “Le Mousquetaire de Napoleon: L’autre vie du marechal Lannes.” Make of this what you will, but it is the wonderfully entertaining, hilarious, and fictional tale of Jean-Boy’s first marriage.

I am appalled that this person didn’t do justice to Jean-Boy in an anthology where he would have shone at the top in capable hands. I know who's the real expert here, and I certainly don’t mind if someone also chooses to write about My Guy. But he or she had damn well better get it right, and this French morceau de merde massacred his subject.

BTW, joachimnapoleon, have you encountered Vincent Haegele? He did Murat no favors here, either. Thanks for reading the rant. I feel better.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

hero/villain showdown but one of them has a spontaneous medical emergency and the battle gets put on hold while their archnemesis drives them to Urgent Care

[alienbycomics]

A history and mythology lesson reminding you that trans and non-binary people have always existed! [Long post]

[gumy-shark]

having mutuals who’ve never touched the mcyt fandom is so fun for me it’s like an entire cultural experience i’ve had. every so often i remember how many of my Beloved Mutuals don’t know about the mcytblr sexyman tournament. or scitties. they don’t know about the whoreslut survey.

[egophiliac]

doylist explanation for why Gidel is only in Fellow's non-idle lesson animations: probably something about space constraints and making sure two sprites in one seat aren't covering anyone else when they're not in focus

watsonian explanation for why Gidel is only in Fellow's non-idle lesson animations: he snuck in and is hiding from the teachers, don't give him away 🤫

(I've reached my limit of unsuccessful attempts at pulling them before I need to save keys for Halloween, so I've been living vicariously through youtube videos...but the fact that Gidel just pops up from under the desk to wave his arms around happily is really testing my resolve. D: I'm gonna die when they finally get to do alchemy...)

[shutinthenutouse]

[anbaisai]

he is a very serious boy and hence he shall lock in (continuation of mer au)

More Jamil shenanigans in this AU:

Mr future schemer and overthinker is Very Serious and the type of kid who thinks himself more mature and serious than his peers

(But still clearly operating on kid logic)

Hence the very diligent "research" after he gets home, and somehow convincing himself this debt needs to be repaid with a lifelong commitment

Starts being weird at school and implying he's Taken by doing things like turning down dances in gym class because he's committed (some of the other kids think wow that's so cool)

In a few years (maybe by age 10) he realizes this is insane and drops the idea and never brings it up again, except other ppl still remember so someone (possibly Kalim) asks "Hey how's your gf/you don't bring up your gf anymore"

Jamil panics and claims they broke up because they can't be together anymore (very tragic. Idea may or may not be stolen from one of his mom's romance novels that he read as a part of his "research")

Bro has to live with the fact that he invented an entire tragic romance plot with someone he doesn't even know the name of

You cannot waterboard this information out of him in present day

(Although it does make Book 4 ten times funnier if things still play out the way they do in canon)

[johnadamsnotquincy]

Teehee hi babe

📷 🎵

OMG HI BABE

My lock screen carousel with my art and this was it when I opened it last:

2. And the last song I listened to was "Come With Me" by Chxrlotte. It's in one of my OCs' (Kev's) playlists.

[genderqueerdykes]

excerpt from Original Plumbing, a publication for and by transmasculine people.

Khane - The Brooklyn Barber

"Even though I identify with the trans community, I also identify with the butch community. When I barber I use 'she' because it's important to me to use that pronoun in this male dominated profession. The are 'female' barbers, but I don't see them getting notoriety. That's why I take every opportunity to do interviews, barber in public, and post photos to show that female-bodied barbers do exist and are just as good if not better than persons identified male at birth."

[la-kampanart]

Drew this at a Starbucks

and yes, I used the very tissue that came with my drink (I’m so glad it didn’t fall apart)

(and yes, I also have an mbti fixation)

I’ll give you a cookie if you can guess which one I am >:)

[justdavina]

Such a sweet transgender woman! I love her very very very pretty dress. With it's low cut top it shows just enough to be delicious! I LOVE her beautiful straight hair and her face...Oh My ..She's just a amazing woman anyone would be lucky to have as a girl friend or more! She would make for a very pretty wife.

[fictionadventurer]

I love libraries.

I'm browsing the WWI shelves (as you do) and notice a very old book about the war. I glance at the first pages that talk about how one day the war will be over and we'll look at this place and not see any signs of the battlefield.

Then it hits me. And I check the publishing date.

This book was printed before the war's end. Not written. Printed. The physical object was created in 1918, while the war in question was raging and the end was as yet uncertain.

Now I'm standing on the other side of the apocalypse, with this physical link to that era in my hands. I'm living proof that the war did end and life did go on and we can all look at the end of the world as a long-ago memory.

Reading old books is cool enough, connecting our minds and hearts through the ideas of people who lived long ago, but there's something extra profound about holding a copy of the book that comes from the time that it was written. It's a physical link between the past and the present connecting me to those long-ago people. A piece of the past come into the future that gives me the chance to almost take the hand of some long-ago reader, to hold something they could have held, connecting not just mentally but physically to their era, a moment of connection across more than a century.

Excuse me while I go weep.

[qqueenofhades]

I think we need to bring whatever the hell was going on at 17th-century conclaves back. Who's with me.

[lexveryreal]

never getting over this ever

how i love you tony's 2025 hamilton mixtape

[temporarylikeapumpkin]

WHEN I WAS

A YOUNG BOY

MY FATHER

TOOK ME INTO THE CITY