#pseudo-philosophical ramblings

[amateurvoltaire]

When I'm having a crappy day at work, I sometimes visit "L'Ami du Peuple" during my lunch break. It tends to put all the petty day-to-day stuff into perspective…

During the quieter moments, like today, when room 55 is nearly empty, I can't help but notice a pattern. Every single visitor, upon entering, pauses before the painting.

They do a double-take at the painting's name and give him another look. Some snap a photo they'll probably never look at again.

Then they move on.

Most of them likely have no clue who he is. They don't know he's holding a note from his assassin. If they even notice "L'An Deux" written at the bottom, they're probably confused by it.

But still, for those 30 seconds, David's brushstrokes exquisitely forming the face of this stricken man make them pause. What makes them linger? Is it the vaguely familiar name? The face they've seen on numerous posters and leaflets? The unsettling quiet brutality of the piece?

It doesn’t really matter why. Because, for that half-minute, through their eyes, he exists. He is present. He is contemporary.

[wr0ngwarp]

an attempted expression of feelings too large and colorful for my monochrome voice.

an overwhelming pressure buildup of fear and anger and joy and so, so much love for the world and the nature of art and self-expression

[spacecapybara]

Now a list of random thoughts my brain had during a depressive time in day

Money is strange to think about. Money is a good concept, its tokens for haggling. Which is why people wanting to hoard it always seems odd to me. There’s wanting it so you can afford things...then there's the folks that get so obsessed with it that they want to amass and keep so much of it without spending it. You are hoarding coupons for goods basically without redeeming them, What if there was an alternate world where cows could be summoned by frisbeeing burger patties. Could a Chameleon assemble a tiny chameleon-sized tent. All chaos in the world has an order behind it but its so far abstract to do with particular biology, chemistry or physics ways that all stack together. Yet somehow there is still Chaos behind that because back at the Big Bang, what caused the bang, random chance?

[increasing-nihilism]

I know this thought isn't originally but some times I look at myself and see all of the scars that cover my body, some days I look at them and think that they make me undesirable or ugly.

But, other days I look at them and think about how they make me unique in some way, about how one day someone could ask me how I got one and in the middle of this rather mundane recounting I could realize how much I enjoy saying anything at all to this person.

Rarely I think about how I am a monument to everything that has left a mark on me in someway, we really are just made of scars and isn't it that which draw people together?

[whencyclopedia]

Why Study History? Russia Teaches a Lesson

By Jan van der Crabben

Why should we study history? We all have our personal reasons why we love history; some like reading exciting stories that can be stranger than fiction, others let their imaginations transport them to worlds gone by. There are many reasons for loving history, but in this article I want to explore why history actually matters in the here and now.

Unfortunately, that belief is not universal. Around the world, budgets for social studies and history in particular are cut, and the focus in curricula is shifted to more practical subjects, such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in universities, and English and mathematics in schools.

Yet we have to look no further than the top headlines in current affairs to understand why history is extremely important as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine can only be understood through the lens of history. The primary reason for Russia’s war is neither economic (as wars so often are) nor religious (as wars so often were). No, it is Putin’s belief that Ukraine is the cradle of Russian civilization and should not be an independent country… especially not one that aligns itself with Europe. We know very well now that apart from dynastic lineage, the Kievan Rus had very little relationship to modern Russia. In the thousand years since the Kievan Rus, Ukraine has been at the crossroads of Poland-Lithuania, Austria-Hungary and Russia. 

In the lead-up to the war, Vladimir Putin published a long and somewhat rambling historical essay where he places Russia in direct opposition to its western neighbours (who he blames for estranging Ukraine from Russia). The historian Serhii Ploky wrote that “the Soviet Union was created in 1922-1923 as a pseudo-federal rather than a unitary state precisely in order to accommodate Ukraine and Georgia, the two most independent-minded republics.” Ukraine’s independence has been a thorn in the Russian leaders’ side for a long time, but at the start of the Soviet Union, Lenin sided with the Ukrainians while Stalin was against it but went along anyway. Ukraine’s unique cultural mix was accepted as independent during Soviet times, and by the fall of the USSR, 90% of Ukrainians supported independence. Putin wants to wind back the clock to imperial times, fully incorporating Ukraine (and other regions) into a unified Russia. According to Ukrainian journalist Veronika Melkozerova, many Russians share this view.

Russia’s claim to Kiev is not a new one. The Russian Imperial historian Vasiliy Klyuchevskiy already wrote in 1908 that “the Russian state was formed by the activities of Askold and later Oleg in Kiev.” He refers to the Kievan Rus, after which Russia is named, whose dynasty lasted from the Norse leader Rurik (r. 862-879) all the way to ​​Ivan IV, first Tsar of Russia (r. 1547-1584, also known as Ivan the Terrible). The medieval Tale of Bygone Years (c. 1113) called Kiev “the mother of all Russian cities” – which should be read Rus-sian, not Russian, to be historically accurate. Putin’s “favourite historian” Ivan Ilyin (1883-1954) was a fascist philosopher who argued for a greater Russia that included Ukraine. Much of Putin’s rambling historical essay is based on Ilyin’s nationalist beliefs, writes historian Timothy Snyder. Putin’s view completely negates hundreds of years of Ukrainian history, where the region was touched by more Western influences.

If culture is a tapestry, then history is the fabric it is made from. National identities are built upon our understanding of history, which is why in most countries, history has been a compulsory subject in school since the 19th century. Recent legislation regarding how the history of slavery is taught in the United States clearly shows that governments still recognize the power of history to control the national narrative. As the current crisis shows, national identity is a powerful force.

According to Russian historian Dina Khapaeva, “the leitmotif of Russian history [is] a steady fascination with the West, coupled with an urge to excel it in order to escape its influence.” When Vladimir the Great converted to Christianity before marrying the Byzantine Princess Anna in 988, he forced his subjects to be baptized by the river Dnieper in Ukraine, which was associated with pagan beliefs. As a newly Christian state, the Rus needed Christian rules: The Ruskaya Pravda, the first Russian code of laws, was most likely written by Byzantine judges and also forced upon the Slavic population. As such, Khapaeva writes, “people perceived culture and civilization [...] as something enforced by foreign rulers.” Later Western reforms by Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, and other rulers were always enforced at great cost to the general population. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the promise of democracy and a free market economy brought a short period of hope and expectation of prosperity which was crushed by economic crisis and political instability. This “idealization of the West therefore intensified the national inferiority complex”, writes Khapaeva: While in 1990 over two thirds of Russians considered themselves European, by 2007 only one third did. In the same 2007 survey conducted by Khapaeva, 80% of Russians believed that the history of their country should only stir feelings of pride. It is easy for a canny authoritarian leader to use all of this to his advantage.

In this context, Ukraine looking westward and aligning itself with the European Union is a major affront to Russia’s identity and Putin’s vision. After all, Putin and Russian nationalists see Kiev as the birthplace of the Russian nation. The current war can be seen as a calculated demonstration of Russia's might and opposition to the West. While this is a risky gamble for Putin (who appears to have underestimated both Ukraine and the West’s response), the historical context gives it a sense of rationality, albeit a false one.

Only through an understanding of history and how it shapes national identities can we begin to comprehend the major events in current affairs. The past is used by politicians to actively construct national identities; it is misused as pretexts for wars; it is abused in misinformation campaigns on social media. History is very much present and it matters for the present, just as much as STEM subjects do, and must be prioritized accordingly in order to shield our democratic culture from such malignant perversions of history.

Sources

Dina Khapaeva in Peter Furtado, Histories of Nations: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0500293007?tag=anciehistoenc-20

Joshua J. Mark, Kievan Rus: https://www.worldhistory.org/Kievan_Rus/

Matthew Lenoe, Fact-checking Putin’s claims that Ukraine and Russia are ‘one people’: https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/ukraine-history-fact-checking-putin-513812/

Save Ancient Studies Alliance, The Downward Trend: https://www.saveancientstudies.org/the-trend

Serhii Plokhy in Isaac Chotiner, Vladimir Putin’s Revisionist History of Russia and Ukraine: https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/vladimir-putins-revisionist-history-of-russia-and-ukraine

Timothy Snyder, Putin’s rationale for Ukraine invasion gets the history wrong: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/02/25/vladimir-great-putin-ukraine/

Veronika Melkozerova, The Western World is in Denial: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/what-if-world-war-iii-has-already-started/627054/

Vladimir Putin, On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181

[morsking]

you see, this is great about disco elysium because in a lot, and i say a LOT, of political theory irl you’ll find some pseudo-scientific philosophical bullshit that in some form or another tries to justify colonialism (hegel, being a core example) and as sad as it is even revolutionary politics are not immune to this meaningless posturing, because we live in a world where anyone can say anything and someone will believe it fanatically, because material discontent paves way for the disgruntled to find SOME justification in the fabric of reality for their plight and in fringe communities the first thing that will find them is some discriminatory conspiratorial bullshit. look at r*dical f*minism for example. without intersectionality you loop back around to eugenics, essentialism, conforming to the gender norm, and aligning with f*scists with all the bigoted -isms that come with it.

but i digress.

infra-materialism in disco elysium is a plausible example of how you can come up with all kinds of bonkers far-out navel-gazing about human physiology in relation to the political and material reality. and the worst part is, it didn’t come from nowhere. while the idea that you can just distort the laws of physics and change material and political reality by thinking is ludicrous, the fact of the matter is that humans are social creatures. we will pick up on whatever social trends and values are dominant in our surroundings, because... that’s just how we evolved. monkey see monkey do because monkey survive better in group so if not in group then danger you die! and the bourgeoisie exploit that evolutionary instinct, they create in-groups and out-groups in order to form a social foothold from which they can establish and preserve wealth disparity that benefits them. if everyone is convinced to agree that authority founded on wealth and influence is normal, then naturally they will seek to fulfill the systemic expectations of the institutions that enforce them. their ideas directly influence the world around them by creating a political reality, so naturally revolutionary politics within schools of thought are dedicated towards disseminating dissenting points of view, making the abnormal out of the normal by exposing the inner workings of class conflict and convincing people that it doesn’t have to BE this way. if we think very carefully about where we are and what got us here, the proverbial evolution of history of class conflict, we can direct where we can go, and we can arrive at a world free from class conflict by overturning the world order, the authority, that divides and subjugates the masses. 

so while thoughts DO influence our reality, it’s only because our beliefs give us the impetus to act in ways that are meaningful and impactful towards our surroundings. it’s a pretty basic idea, but the genius is in how the game presents it. political writings are a product of their time, a lot of them will simply not have the clarity of concept we can have now because they tried to deal with a topic that hadn’t really been explored yet (or simply had heinous ulterior motives). it’ll sound like drivel, the opioid-induced ramblings of someone who’s never gotten laid, touched grass, or ever properly had a conversation with another human being (let alone one from outside europe). the game says “a long time ago, someone really fucked up had a bonkers fucking idea, but it wasn’t bonkers enough to dismiss, so all kinds of people who were more or less fucked up expounded upon it to reach a conclusion, and they found that while it was a stupid idea, it wasn’t entirely baseless, so now we have more insight about human patterns of social and political behavior that can impulse real change in our material reality.”

and i think that’s really cool. the world of disco elysium is a fictional one with all kinds of outlandish names, countries, geographies, and ideas, but its writers understand our world and our history so well that the conceptual familiarities between ours and the game’s are eerie in their thoroughness. this world HAD to be built somehow, it HAD to have had political developments to situate the player where they are now, and it was built brilliantly! it was built with the same ideological methodological chaos as ours! and yes, it does make for a very, very bleak world, because it’s rife with all the same atrocities ours is, along with the messy, unsightly, complicated people that orchestrated and enabled them. but the point is that perhaps, much like revolutionary politics would have us internalize, is even though we may be painfully aware of our reality and cannot solve every single problem, whether individually or collectively, it’s not meaningless. understanding what the issue is and how it came about is the first step towards making progress, and we should not be deterred by disagreements about the amorphous shape of what progress is, because human beings as naturally curious social creatures are flexible, inquisitive, and will find ways to refine a solution even if it takes eons. what is vital, however, is that everyone understands that they can start now. they can become a part of something now. we can band in solidarity and start that discussion and put in the work now. and it won’t be in vain.

[sweetface-the-dollbaby]

This time I asked it to write an angry rant about me 😢

Ugh, don't even get me started on that insufferable Tumblr user "Skittlechild." Seriously, what a complete and utter nuisance they are! I can't believe the audacity they have to flood my feed with their incessant, mind-numbingly vapid posts. It's like they have zero grasp on reality and think that their pointless ramblings are some kind of groundbreaking intellectual revelation.

Every time I see a post from "Skittlechild," I can feel my brain cells dying one by one. I mean, do they really believe that their constant reblogging of nonsensical GIFs and poorly edited, migraine-inducing images is contributing anything of value to the world? It's like they've turned their blog into a dumping ground for the most mindless, random, and irrelevant content imaginable.

And don't even get me started on their so-called "deep" and "profound" quotes. It's like they've got a sixth sense for finding the most trite and overused inspirational sayings and slapping them onto a pastel background as if they've just unlocked the secrets of the universe. Newsflash, "Skittlechild": regurgitating clichés doesn't make you a philosopher, it just makes you painfully unoriginal.

What's even worse is their holier-than-thou attitude. They act as if they're the gatekeepers of wisdom and enlightenment, when in reality, their blog is nothing more than a bottomless pit of cringe and self-indulgence. I can't help but roll my eyes every time they spout some pseudo-intellectual nonsense in an attempt to appear deep and introspective.

I swear, interacting with "Skittlechild's" content is like voluntarily subjecting yourself to a torture chamber of banality. It's baffling how they've managed to amass any followers at all. It's as if there's a secret society of people who enjoy subjecting themselves to mindless drivel and empty platitudes.

In conclusion, "Skittlechild" is the embodiment of everything that's wrong with the internet. Their presence is a constant reminder that for every piece of insightful content out there, there's an army of shallow, attention-seeking individuals ready to drown it out with their inane chatter. So, excuse me if I'm not exactly thrilled to see their username pop up on my screen

[mikittalabs]

i would like to mention that my pseudo-philosophical ramblings happened while i was trying to draw gay furries. on that note i have figured out how to draw robin and joseph lookouts now so uhh

[dynared]

One episode in it seems like the people behind Netflix Gamers certainly learned their lesson from the Godzilla trilogy. More kaiju fights, less pseudo-philosophical ramblings.

[serenaew]

Serena's Masterlist: Snarry (SS/HP)

Last updated 28/12/2023

Overview

Meta:

Interview on the Fanfic Maverick Podcast, 1st half

Series:

Fateweaver Universe, and associated (WIP):

The Fateweaver (M, WIP: 4/?)

Secret Passage (T, Severus Snape (alone), complete)

Sectum Princeps (Dolorissimum) (M, Severus Snape (alone), complete)

Unspekable Mysteries Universe, and associated (WIP):

Unspeakable Mysteries (T, WIP: 1/14)

Once more (T, complete)

Hallowed (T, Harry Potter (alone), complete)

Whoso list to hunt (T, Aberforth Dumbledore & Severus Snape, complete)

Halcyon Days series (complete):

Curatio (T)

Repertum (M)

Fidelitas (T)

[Art] Flamma (G)

Ondine's Curse series (WIP):

Wish not for a soul that is full of sin (T, complete)

One-shots:

Blooming Heart (T, complete)

Homecoming (T, complete)

Flight of Dreams (T, complete)

Line by line (T, complete)

Promises, promises... (G, complete)

In darkness, there is fear and comfort (T, complete)

Carved into my heart, no knives needed (G, complete)

Podfic and filk:

[Filk] Sing for you in the dead of night (T, complete)

[Filk] Game Over (T, complete)

Art:

Kings of the Forest (G, complete)

Assorted Snarry poetry collections:

With you in mind (T, WIP: 4/?)

February Verselets: Snarry Edition (T, complete)

Weathering (G, complete)

Expand for more details on individual elements.

Details

Meta:

Interview on the Fanfic Maverick Podcast, 1st half

In which I talk about Snarry and Severitus.

Series:

Fateweaver Universe, and associated (WIP):

In which Harry is not quite the Master of Death, and travels back in time instead.

This universe is inspired by lyraonyx's Changing Fate. Thank you for letting me work with your ideas!

The Fateweaver (M, WIP: 4/?)

Summary: At King's Cross station, Death gives Harry a choice - between permanent death, return to a blissfully unaware semi-comfortable life after Voldemort, and his true destiny as Fateweaver who, together with his Guardian, will shape his world for centuries to come. As usual, Harry's saving-people-complex makes him realise that his task has only just begun, so he travels back in time to re-weave the fate of the magical world. Additional Tags/Warnings: Time Travel, Marauders Era, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Alternate Universe, Magical Theory, Spell Creation, Seer Harry Potter

Secret Passage (T, Severus Snape (alone), complete)

Summary: The origins of the secret passage from the Room of Requirement to the Hog's Head. In reference to Chapter 4: "[I]f Snape had known about the Room in the other timeline as well - which was a safe assumption… He must have known about the students who had hidden in there the year he had been Headmaster - and had allowed that - that army against him to live, to grow even…" Additional Tags/Warnings: Canon Compliant - Deathly Hallows, Secret passages (Hogwarts), Headmaster Severus Snape, Cruciatus Curse

Sectum Princeps (Dolorissimum) (M, Severus Snape (alone), complete)

Summary: The first cut hurts the most. - A canon-compliant-ish fic about how Sectumsempra came to be. Additional Tags/Warnings: bullying, domestic violence, Dark, Anger, Teenage Severus Snape, Character Study

Unspekable Mysteries Universe, and associated (WIP):

In which Harry fakes his death and finds the unexpected in the Depertment of Mysteries.

Unspeakable Mysteries (T, WIP: 1/14)

Summary: Harry Potter is dead. Or rather, he chose to inform no one of his improbable survival of 7/7, instead finally accepting the invitation to join the Unspeakables, codenamed Saven. Now a novice Unspeakable in search of a Mentor, the magic of the Department of Mysteries will lead him where he needs to be. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Department of Mysteries, Pseudo-philosophical ramblings

Once more (T, complete) and

Hallowed (T, Harry Potter (alone), complete)

Summary: Companion poetry to various, as of now unpublished, Unspeakable Mysteries prequels. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Pensieves, Grief, Pining, Deathly Hallows, Survivor guilt

Whoso list to hunt (T, Aberforth Dumbledore & Severus Snape, complete)

Summary: Those on the hunt should never judge an inn by its looks. The pre-prequel to the Unspeakable Mysteries series. Additional Tags / Warnings: Hog's Head Inn, Unspeakable Aberforth Dumbledore, Unspeakable Recruit Severus Snape, Good Severus Snape, Pre-Canon

Halcyon Days series (complete):

In which Harry finds healing in the form of a kingfisher...

Curatio (T)

Summary: curatio, onis, f noun 1. healing/curing 2. object of care 3. treatment, surgical operation, medical care At the foot of the Whomping Willow, there lay an injured kingfisher. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, inspired by Alcyone and Ceyx, taking care of an injured bird, hopeful ending

Repertum (M)

Summary: repertum, i, n noun 1. discovery 2. finding again 3. invention For Healer Harry Potter, the war is not over even years after Voldemort's defeat. As he finds himself recovering from an attack at his workplace, St. Mungo's, familiar comfort flies in in the form of a kingfisher. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Angst, Healer Harry Potter, Magical Medicine, St Mungo's, attack on medical personnel, stab wound, life-threatening injury, open ending

Fidelitas (T)

Summary: fidelitas, atis, f noun 1. faithfulness, fidelity The long-awaited happy ending to the Halcyon Days series! Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, POV Luna Lovegood, wedding, kingfishers, Matching Patronus Form, with art by both Acid and Serena

[Art] Flamma (G)

Summary: flamma, ae, f noun 1. ardour, fire of love 2. flame, blaze 3. object of love Companion artworks to Fidelitas. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, digital art, lettering, artworks by Acid and Serena

Ondine's Curse series (WIP):

The merman!Snape, partial amesia AU no one asked for.

Wish not for a soul that is full of sin (T, complete)

Summary: After all, a flighty soul could not return to the water, or to the earth, as they maintained all life eventually should. (What one did not have, they believed, could not be broken.) Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, inspired by classical music, with digital art, Fairy tale retelling, Romanticism, merfolk lore, with art by khaleesisophie

One-Shots:

Blooming Heart (T, complete)

Summary: From the very first petal, Severus knew he was doomed. The orange lily. - in which Severus Snape develops hanahaki disease, two years after he survived Nagini's near-fatal bite. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Denial, Pining, Healer Harry Potter, Magi-Physiology, Hanahaki Disease, Language of Flowers, Angst with a Happy Ending

Homecoming (T, complete)

Summary: He had no choice, inevitably Pulled back to the warmest place Even (ex-)Dementors are. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Dementors, Patronus Charm, Time Travel - sort of, Angst with happy ending

Flight of Dreams (T, complete)

Summary: There is truth in every legend, they say. It is a truth Severus has been feeling painfully since Harry Potter's return to Hogwarts as Defence Against the Dark Arts assistant professor. It is a truth he sees every night in his dreams. It is a truth his mother, Eileen Prince, has been telling him since his childhood. His Chosen One is waiting for him. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Creature Inheritance, Getting Together, Fluff, Light Angst

Line by line (T, complete)

Summary: After an involuntary exile from the Wizarding World, Harry is now Assistant Librarian at Hogwarts and part-time artist. Who is the poet of the Hogwarts-inspired verses he is creating art for? Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Artist!Harry, Librarian!Harry, Professor!Severus, light angst, happy ending, poetry, Christian themes, calligraphy

Promises, promises... (G, complete)

Summary: Healer Harry Potter has been pining after his former-professor-turned-occasional-consultant-colleague Severus for a while now, but he doesn't believe anything will come out of it. Turns out, his children, Jamie, Al and Lily, have a surprise for his birthday — will he like it? Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Harry's canon kids ship Snarry, Ginny and Draco ship Snarry, getting together, surprise party, oblivious Harry, flirty Severus, fluff, with art by acydpop

In darkness, there is fear and comfort (T, complete)

Summary: Ten years after the end of the Second Wizarding War, Severus and Harry face their worst fears once more. They have changed, and so have their fears. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Boggarts, Medical Jargon, Healers Harry Potter and Severus Snape, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Severus Snape has heart, Angst with happy ending

Carved into my heart, no knives needed (G, complete)

Summary: Fluff and pumpkin lettering. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, fluff, slice of life, pumpkins

Podfic and filk:

[Filk] Sing for you in the dead of night (T, complete)

Summary: In which Harry sings his heart out, Severus responds in kind, and they try to make it safely out of Hell. Additional Tags/Warnings: Filk, HP:EWE, Inspired by Orpheus and Eurydice 

[Filk] Game Over (T, complete)

Summary: As the war ravages on, they meet again, years after Snape's betrayal. Additional Tags/Warnings: AU (from DH), Unresolved sexual tension, filk, inspired by Dracula the Musical, Ambiguous / open ending

Art:

Kings of the Forest (G, complete)

Summary: There the trees, holly and oak, stood through sun and rain, always ready to spread their leaves over visitors and inhabitants of Hogwarts Castle who came their way. Additional Tags/Warnings: Traditional Art, HP:EWE, Inspired by Philemon and Baucis, inspired by neopaganism, holly and oak, they are trees your honour, with ficlet

Assorted Snarry poetry collections:

With you in mind (T, WIP: 4/?)

February Verselets: Snarry Edition (T, complete)

Weathering (G, complete)

[youvereachedthebadend]

Sometimes things are just simple. When it comes to your identity, what you say is true by virtue of you declaring it, y'know? If you say you're separate from someone else, you are. It's not a truth you find, it's a truth you create.

But enough of my pseudo-philosophical ramblings! Do you feel ready to talk about your guys' relationship right now? Totally okay if not, things have been stressful, but if you're up to it I think you should. Given the whole "used to be fiancés and one of you forgot the other's existence" thing,

"Ah." Henrik pauses. "Well, ah..."

"Did they say something strange?" Trisha giggles.

"They... asked me if we want to talk about our relationship," Henrik says slowly. "I mean, ah, it is up to you. Of course. This is a bit of a strange time."

"Huh." Trisha's smile fades. "Well... it's complicated, yes? You don't remember me. But I still remember you. Very, very clearly. I... I never expected the forgetting. It is... strange. Very strange."

"Well." Schneep pauses. "I think... I-I know you are important to me. When I look at you, I can feel the absence in my mind where you should be. So... perhaps we can start again?"

Trisha stares at him. She takes a deep breath. "Yes. I think we can start again."

[cursushonorumhistory]

Those who do not learn history...

are doomed to repeat it, right? That’s the quote, isn’t it? This is an out-of-context statement that is short, witty, and will make everyone think you’re smart. But, let’s read the full passage by George Santayana in his book the Life of Reason (1905). “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted; it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in whom instinct has learned nothing from experience. In a second stage men are docile to events, plastic to new habits and suggestions, yet able to graft them on original instincts, which they thus bring to fuller satisfaction. This is the plane of manhood and true progress.“ You should know what source witticisms come from, and what conclusion the author draws from them. He is taken out of context because it’s a catchy line of course, but he is trying to describe a reason why barbarians and children are similar in their fundamental nature. Given the date of the book, 1905, you can assume his definition of barbarian to be just about every ethnicity other than a select few on Earth. You don’t need to read in between the lines to find this, you only need to google the original source and read the passage and the date to find why this quote is treated with general distaste among historians. A single sentence of gold amidst a pile of pseudo-philosophical racist ramblings is not really what you want your profession to be known for.

[g0th0mens]

frequent tags to organise the psichosis, a list under constant revision:

uh oh, she processed An Emotion and now there’s a pseudo philosophical ramble - #dia thinks thoughts

i blacked out and have absolutely zero recollection of writing these, its probably a shitpost / general nonsense - #the demons

i have Opinions on Stuff - #rant

life experiences that are maybe, perhaps, just maybe the undiagnosed neurodivergency - #yea

variety of topics of interest archived as such, fandom, classic lit, etc

# dia writes - wips and whatnot -> ao3

[ear-worthy]

The Art Career Podcast: Becoming Smarter About Art And Artists

 I hate it when some commentator on Fox News starts ranting about elitists. To them, an elitist is someone who finished college, reads books and actually knows real facts. 

Elitist or not, I've been an art fan for much of my life, ever since I saw Girl with A Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer. After all, what is that expression on the girl's face? So elusive, and so easy to interpret in so many ways.

But elitism is a true concern in the art world. You have your art snobs, your faux art critics, and your art pseudo-intellectuals, who claim to divine meaning from famous paintings that we could never comprehend.

Even people who know about art do not have a decent understanding of art careers. Art History majors and masters of Fine Arts are increasingly the target of ridicule by those who insist that learning contributes to something critical in our society, such as coal mining, gun manufacturing, or meat packing plants.

That's why I like The Art Career podcast with Emily McElwreath so much. You don't need to know anything about Wassily Kandinsky's 1911 Composition V to enjoy the podcast.

 Here is the mission statement of the podcast:  "Want to learn and be inspired by the leading art professionals who are shaping our culture? The Art Career Podcast is a space, breaking barriers by letting you sit in on candid, straightforward conversations with leaders in visual arts, writing, music, theater and film. Join New York-based advisor, curator, and overall artist advocate, Emily McElwreath as she dives deep into topics like self-development, career trajectories, mental health, social justice, and the artists that have changed our lives"

The host, Emily McElwreath, asserts, "With each episode, our mission is to empower you, expanding your journey through the arts." 

To be clear, McElwreath doesn't just have guests who are artists in the sense of painting. To her, "artist" is an expansive term, so she has writers, fashion experts, poets, educators, and even a critic.

As a host, I can compare McElwreath to the 20th-century artist Jasper Johns. His works were deceptively simple yet rife with inscrutable allusions to deeper philosophical concepts. In effect, McElwreathy makes podcast hosting looks so easy and untroubled, she evinces the idea that she's not working hard.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In one of my favorite episodes, McElwreath (Doesn't her name sound like a Lord of the Rings character?)  talks with writer Cheryl Strayed. The best-selling author of Wild and the critically acclaimed debut novel, Torch, Strayed goes deeper than a cursory promotion for Tiny Beautiful Things, which is being adapted into a Hulu TV show.

The guest and host talk in depth on imposter syndrome and Strayed's self-acknowledged "inner terrible someone," which, she claims, is an essential part of the writing process. Strayed opens up about dealing with writing flaws and learning to craft sentences lovingly. 

To be clear, McElwreath is not one of those podcast hosts who simulate cognitive behavior therapy in audio. You know the type. The host asks an open-ended question and then the guest takes off on a long, uninterrupted ramble, only to have the host then say, "Can you tell us more about it?"

McElwreath is an active participant in the intellectual heavy lifting going on in these discussions. And her verbal contributions add to the interview, often bringing greater focus to the guest's primary message or clarifying a point. 

Emily McElwreath owns a firm, McElwreath Art Advisory, which is a full-service firm that provides guidance and assistance to art collectors through a comprehensive list of services. She has over seventeen years of experience as an advisor, independent curator, and art educator.

Throughout her career, Emily McElwreath has worked on blockbuster exhibitions, including Andy Warhol, Julian Schnabel, and Nate Lowman at The Brant Foundation, as well as lecturing at top NYC museums including The Whitney and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Most recently, she has curated multiple exhibitions with leading emerging artists and is now the host and CEO of The Art Career Podcast. With an MA from Purchase College in Art History with a Concentration in Contemporary Art Criticism and an Art Business Certification from Christie's Education, Emily McElwreath possesses diverse, real-world experience and formal academic training.

That blend of the real world with the academic makes McElwreath the perfect person to create and host the podcast.  

One of my other favorite episodes occurred in the second season with Jasmine Wahl, who is the Founder and Director of the Project For Empty Space, a non-profit organization based in Newark, New Jersey. In the show, McElwreath and Wahl take listeners on a wild ride from subjects as diverse as cultural identities and the overestimation of politeness. 

At one point, Wahl asks, "What can we do in our current society to create equal structures?"

 The podcast just began its third season in early April. The most recent episode is with Rebecca Pauline Jampol, who discusses public arts programs in the city, and how a thriving arts scene can become a hub for change, activism, and social discourse.

Join The Art Career Podcast for new episodes every Thursday. Since listening, I've learned more about the intricacies of the artistic process, the art business in general, how art can be a force for positive change in our society, and how art can bring us together instead of pushing us away from each other.

If I could ask Emily McElwreath anything, it would be this. Is there really a musical melody inside Leonardo da Vinci's famous The Last Supper painting?

[deepspaceclawstation]

.

[dawnbutterfly]

We may regard the present state of the universe as the effect of its past and the cause of its future. An intellect which at a certain moment would know all forces that set nature in motion, and all positions of all items of which nature is composed, if this intellect were also vast enough to submit these data to analysis, it would embrace in a single formula the movements of the greatest bodies of the universe and those of the tiniest atom; for such an intellect nothing would be uncertain and the future just like the past would be present before its eyes.

Laplace's Demon 

A fascinating deterministic concept regarding the nature of cause and effect, and one which I believe has farther reaching philosophical implications than people may realize. So come with me on a little thought experiment, if you will. 

The concept, in essence, is that if an intellect, the so-called "Demon" of the concept, were able to see, in its entirety, a snapshot of the universe, and comprehend all forces that are occurring within it at that moment, they would be able to not only extrapolate those forces backwards to know the whole of the past of the universe, but also extrapolate them forward, to know the whole of the future. 

For one such as I, who believes that the forces most would describe as "randomness" are naught but regular functions of the universe we simply lack the tools to observe and understand properly, this concept of course holds some rather damning implications on the existence of "free will", as any "choice" a person makes would simply be the result of the inter-playing forces of the universe culminating in a predictable functioning of their brains. However, take this concept one step further, and it begins to unravel the relevance of what we know as "reality" itself. 

If all things that all people do are simply determined by the forces at play behind the cosmic scenes, then nothing we do has any true "meaning" behind it. It is all simply the execution of a beautiful mathematical equation beyond our comprehension. From this perspective, our "reality" is little more than a script. A story, already written and determined by its own conception. There is little difference between any of us, and a character within the pages of a book, or on the screen of a television. Their existence is just as "meaningful" as ours, as regardless of their author, they too are the result of the inter-playing forces of the universe. They too are created by the same forces as we are. The only difference is a trivial matter of quantity, how much of their existence is caused by those forces. In essence, we are the same. “Fantasy” and “reality” are merely two sides of the same coin, differentiated only by our subjective perspective. 

So the next time someone tell you you can’t ship yourself with a character because they’re “not real”, just remind them that reality is an illusion, the universe is a hologram, and to buy gold. 

Bye!