www.mediafire.com
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/520364 > > > > > > It rains a lot, up here; there are winter days when it doesn’t really get light at all, only a bright, indeterminate gray. But then there are days when it’s like they whip aside a curtain to flash you three minutes of sunlit, suspended mountain, the trademark at the start of God’s own movie. It was like that the day her agents phoned, from deep in the heart of their mirrored pyramid on Beverly Boulevard, to tell me she’d merged with the net, crossed over for good, that Kings of Sleep was going triple-platinum. I’d edited most of Kings, done the brain-map work and gone over it all with the fast-wipe module, so I was in line for a share of royalties. > > > > > > > > No, I said, no. Then yes, yes, and hung up on them. Got my jacket and took the stairs three at a time, straight out to the nearest bar and an eight-hour blackout that ended on a concrete ledge two meters above midnight. False Creek water. City lights, that same gray bowl of sky smaller now, illuminated by neon and mercury-vapor arcs. And it was snowing, big flakes but not many, and when they touched black water, they were gone, no trace at all. I looked down at my feet and saw my toes clear of the edge of concrete, the water between them. I was wearing Japanese shoes, new and expensive, glove-leather Ginza monkey boots with rubber-capped toes. I stood there for a long time before I took that first step back. > > > > > > > > Because she was dead, and I’d let her go. Because, now, she was immortal, and I’d helped her get that way. And because I knew she’d phone me, in the morning. > > > > > > > > * William Gibson, The Winter Market > > > > > > [Alternative links and file formats available from Anna's pirate cantina](https://annas-archive.org/search?q=The%20Year%27s%20Best%20Science%20Fiction%3A%20Fourth%20Annual%20Collection)
arotrios
12 months ago
•
80%
Sorry - these are all table top games.
github.com
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/371761 > A list of over 200 gaming systems available in various free formats, classified as follows: > > * [Open Source](https://github.com/Zireael07/awesome-tabletop-rpgs#open-source-games) > * [Free](https://github.com/Zireael07/awesome-tabletop-rpgs#free-games) > * [Retroclones](https://github.com/Zireael07/awesome-tabletop-rpgs#retroclones) > * [Quickstarts](https://github.com/Zireael07/awesome-tabletop-rpgs#quickstarts) > * [System Reference Documents](https://github.com/Zireael07/awesome-tabletop-rpgs#system-reference-documents) > * [Card Games](https://github.com/Zireael07/awesome-tabletop-rpgs#card-based-games)
github.com
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/371761 > A list of over 200 gaming systems available in various free formats, classified as follows: > > * [Open Source](https://github.com/Zireael07/awesome-tabletop-rpgs#open-source-games) > * [Free](https://github.com/Zireael07/awesome-tabletop-rpgs#free-games) > * [Retroclones](https://github.com/Zireael07/awesome-tabletop-rpgs#retroclones) > * [Quickstarts](https://github.com/Zireael07/awesome-tabletop-rpgs#quickstarts) > * [System Reference Documents](https://github.com/Zireael07/awesome-tabletop-rpgs#system-reference-documents) > * [Card Games](https://github.com/Zireael07/awesome-tabletop-rpgs#card-based-games)
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/350254 > > > > > > The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, often shortened to Buckaroo Banzai, is a 1984 American science fiction film produced and directed by W.D. Richter and written by Earl Mac Rauch. It stars Peter Weller in the title role, with Ellen Barkin, John Lithgow, Jeff Goldblum, and Christopher Lloyd. The supporting cast includes Lewis Smith, Rosalind Cash, Clancy Brown, Pepe Serna, Robert Ito, Vincent Schiavelli, Dan Hedaya, Jonathan Banks, John Ashton, Carl Lumbly and Ronald Lacey. > > > > > > > > The film centers upon the efforts of the polymath Dr. Buckaroo Banzai, a physicist, neurosurgeon, test pilot, and rock star, to save the world by defeating a band of inter-dimensional aliens called Red Lectroids from Planet 10. The film is a cross between the action-adventure and science fiction film genres and also includes elements of comedy and romance. > > > > > > > > After screenwriter W.D. Richter hired novelist Earl Mac Rauch to develop a screenplay of Mac Rauch's new character, Buckaroo Banzai, Richter teamed with producer Neil Canton to pitch the script to MGM/UA studio chief David Begelman, who took it to 20th Century Fox to make the film. Box office figures were low and less than half of the film's production costs were recovered. Some critics were put off by the complicated plot, although Pauline Kael enjoyed the film and Vincent Canby called it "pure, nutty fun." Buckaroo Banzai has been adapted for books, comics, and a video game and has attracted a loyal cult following. > > > > > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Buckaroo_Banzai_Across_the_8th_Dimension) > > --- > [Just in case the link doesn't cross post](https://movie-web.app/media/tmdb-movie-11379)
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/6407593 > [Link](https://theportalist.com/cosmic-horror-books) - From the nihilistic absurdity of Thomas Ligotti to the heavily science-fictional chills of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation, the cosmic horror of today continues to tell tales of a vast, indifferent, and even carnivorous cosmos, through new lenses and fresh new perspectives. > > Here are a few of the best cosmic horror books from exciting writers new and old—both those who were writing before Lovecraft appeared on the scene, and those who have come after. > >What is cosmic horror? As a writer whose own work is often at least adjacent to the subgenre, it’s a question I’ve been asked in columns and podcasts and panel discussions more times than I can count. Sadly the answer, all too often, ends up sounding a lot like that old chestnut about pornography, that we “know it when we see it.” > >American writer H.P. Lovecraft, in one of his copious personal correspondences, summed it up as follows: “Now all my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large.” So, basically: Universe big; humans small. > >While he is often considered the godfather of cosmic horror, Lovecraft was far from the first person to practice the subgenre, a fact that he (frequently) attested to during his own lifetime. In fact, his nonfiction opus Supernatural Horror in Literature is a catalog of other writers who, in Lovecraft’s estimation, were doing fine work in the field before he came along. > >Nor did the tradition end when Lovecraft died. Plenty of other talents have carried cosmic horror into ever newer horizons, even as scientific reasoning—which forms much of the backbone of Lovecraft’s cosmicism—has advanced far beyond anything he was ever exposed to. > >Social justice, too, has advanced enough to cause readers to recognize Lovecraft’s own racism and xenophobia. > >From the nihilistic absurdity of Thomas Ligotti to the heavily science-fictional chills of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation, the cosmic horror of today continues to tell tales of a vast, indifferent, and even carnivorous cosmos, through new lenses and fresh new perspectives. > >*At the Mountains of Madness* > >Sure, I just spent several paragraphs arguing that Lovecraft is far from the alpha and omega of cosmic horror. But this wouldn’t be much of a cosmic horror primer if we didn’t include at least one Lovecraft book. > >When it comes to classics of cosmic horror, they don’t come a lot more classic, or a lot more cosmic, than this timeless tale of arctic exploration and new vistas of human experience. It's equal parts a love letter to scientific exploration, and a horrified warning of the dangers inherent therein. > >*The King in Yellow* By Robert W. Chambers > >One of the things that makes Lovecraft’s work stand out in a crowded literary field is that—decades before the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Stephen King’s fictional version of a haunted Maine—his tales all occupy a shared universe, linked together by the names of beings, books, places, and people. Lovecraft wasn’t the first to do this, however. > >In fact, when Lovecraft was only five years old, Robert W. Chambers published The King in Yellow, a collection of tales linked together by the eponymous play and the similarly-named entity at its heart. > >The stories not only found their way into Lovecraft’s own Mythos, but that of plenty of other writers and artists over the years, including the creators of the HBO series, True Detective. > >*The House on the Borderland* By William Hope Hodgson > >British author William Hope Hodgson wrote across a wide variety of genres, and many of his best stories deal with the sea. However, perhaps his best-known and most cosmic work is this 1908 novel. > >It tells of two men on a fishing trip who find a journal in an old ruin which, in turn, tells the story of a recluse who lives alone with his sister and dog in the titular house, which has a sinister reputation and which seems to abut some sort of interdimensional nexus. > >*Malpertuis* By Jean Ray > >Often called the “Belgian Poe,” Jean Ray’s many, many, many stories and books (under an equally bewildering array of pseudonyms) were often pivotal in the European tradition of the fantastique in literature. > >But his tales of gothic, supernatural, and cosmic horror have been vanishingly hard to come by in English for some time, until the recent series of books from translator Scott Nicolay and Wakefield Press, which have begun to release many of the author’s tales in translation for the first time. > >Latest is the novel-length Malpertuis—which has previously been available in English, and was even adapted into a 1971 film featuring Orson Welles—a rare gem of gothic cosmicism begging to be rediscovered by a contemporary audience. > >*Volk* By David Nickle > >That’s enough dusty old cosmic horror, though. > >I said up above that plenty of contemporary authors have brought this tradition into the modern day, and this 2017 novel from David Nickle is an excellent example. > >Subtitled “A Novel of Radiant Abomination” and set during World War II, this sequel to Nickle’s Eutopia has been called “a critical and sharp demolition of Lovecraft’s own romanticization of eugenics” as well as “spooky as hell” by author Cory Doctorow. > >*Cthulhu's Daughters* By Silvia Moreno-Garcia & Paula R. Stiles > >Originally released as She Walks in Shadows, under which title it won a World Fantasy Award, this anthology of all-new fiction by women authors tackles Lovecraft’s complicated legacy and carries Lovecraftian cosmic horror into the modern day. > >It features tales by some of the leading voices in contemporary weird and cosmic horror including Molly Tanzer, Wendy N. Wagner, Selena Chambers, Nadia Bulkin, Gemma Files, Premee Mohamed, Angela Slatter, and many others! > >*The Fisherman* By John Langan > >This modern-day epic of cosmic horror won a Bram Stoker award. The book is an absolute jaw-dropper, mashing together a wide array of literary elements and styles into a novel that feels at once timeless, classic, and modern. > >The cosmic vistas are as unforgettable as anything that has delved into the borderlands (not to put too fine a point on it) of human experience since Hodgson’s House on the Borderland. > >(Full disclosure, Word Horde—who published this volume—also published several of my collections, but I don’t get any kind of kickbacks or anything for recommending this. I just love John Langan’s work.) > >*The Secret of Ventriloquism* By Jon Padgett > >Up above, I mentioned Thomas Ligotti, some of whose best-known works of cosmic nihilism have recently been released under the Penguin Classics imprint. For something in the Ligottian vein from a newer but equally exciting voice, check out Jon Padgett’s debut collection. > >Padgett was not only in charge of the Thomas Ligotti fan site for many years, making him something of an expert in this brand of intoxicating cosmic horror, but he’s also a lapsed ventriloquist, so you just know he’s got some creepy stuff up his sleeve. > >*Annihalation* by Jeff VanderMeer > >Fans of the cosmic horror film genre might be familiar with the critically acclaimed film adaptation starring Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac, but the book is even better. Winner of the 2014 Nebula Award for Best Novel, Annihilation tells the story of Area X, which has been cut off from the rest of civilization. Every expedition into Area X has ended with wildly different ends. The first group to return spoke of an Edenic landscape, but many of the groups who followed died along the way. > >The group readers see in Annihilation, which is the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, is the 12th expedition. The group is made up of four women tasked with mapping and observing Area X. They know to be on their guard, but nothing could have prepared them for the discoveries they make (and the surprises that follow them into Area X). > >*The Immaculate Void* by Brian Hodge > >Even the gods have reason to fear in Brian Hodge's The Immaculate Void. Told in dueling points of view and timelines, the story follows Daphne and her brother Tanner. Due to Daphne's childhood trauma, she's a pro at running away and disappearing. Tanner has plenty of practice at catching her, but this time, something's different. This time, it's not just about what (or who) is missing, it's about what terrifying presence has decided to make its presence felt at last. > >Perhaps the real horror story involved with The Immaculate Void, however, is in trying to find a copy to read. On his blog, Hodge says that difficulties with his publisher have led to the book's scarcity. You probably can't just go into a bookstore and find a copy. Currently, the best means of procuring the work are by trying the audiobook (link above) or by contacting the author directly. > >*Chills* By Mary SanGiovanni > >Look, sometimes cosmic horror can get a little … esoteric. Every now and then you just want a nice, quiet story about a bunch of ritual murders in a small Connecticut town caught in the grips of a snowstorm, as cultists attempt to call up unspeakable things beyond human understanding. It’s okay. We’ve all been there. > >Fortunately, Mary SanGiovanni, whose work F. Paul Wilson has called “a feast of both visceral and existential horror,” has us all covered with this police procedural meets occult crime tale. > >It takes advantage of the snowbound isolation, paranoia, and claustrophobia that was used to such beautiful effect in John Carpenter’s The Thing. > >*The Gone World* by Tom Sweterlitsch > >Here's what The New Yorker's review had to say about The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch: "I like to be freaked out and mystified simultaneously. The Gone World, a gory time-travel thriller, does both in surprising ways....Inception meets True Detective, but it also contains elements of Solaris, Interstellar, Twin Peaks, Minority Report, and even Stargate. To all this, it adds some innovative time-travel shenanigans." > >While those are some amazing comparisons for any book, bestselling author Blake Crouch's praise of The Gone World is even more impressive. “I promise you have never read a story like this.” > >The novel follows Shannon Moss, who is part of a clandestine division of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. When a Navy SEAL's family goes missing in western Pennsylvania, Moss is assigned to investigate the crime. Things only get weirder when she discovers that the missing SEAL was an astronaut whose ship is assumed to be lost in Deep Time. The novel plays with both epic scale and intimate, human moments in a way that can be unusual (and powerful) for cosmic horror. > >*Uzumaki* By Junji Ito > >Lots of incredible cosmic horror has been finding its way into sequential art in the last few decades, and no list of contemporary cosmic horror would be complete without the work of Japanese manga creator Junji Ito. > >Possibly his magnum opus—and in many ways his most cosmic tale to date—is this bizarre and haunting tale of a small town that becomes slowly obsessed with the shape of the spiral, a shape that seems to bend not only the minds of the townspeople, but the fabric of reality itself.
brooklynscififilmfest.com
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/513056 > > The Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival returns for 2023 with 135 films selected for screening October 9 through the 15th. SciFi fans from around the world are welcomed to join this one-of-a-kind event as all films will be made available online for streaming and rating through Brooklyn SciFi's Netflix style festival platform. This year we are proud to select the best films from independent filmmakers representing 26 countries, including first-time filmmakers and industry veterans alike. Classic SciFi themes of time travel, malevolent and friendly robots, clones, space travel, and aliens are well represented along with a renewed focus on A.I. appropriately including some of the festivals first A.I. generated content. U.F.O. fans are sure to enjoy several documentaries delving into extraterrestrial visitors including Accidental Truth - UFO Revelations narrated by actor Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket, Stranger Things). > > > > > > > > ``` > > "When the headlines are filled with stories of A.I., dystopian climate change, and UFOs, it's hard to deny we're living in a SciFi future. Let us be your guide." > > — Michael Brown, Executive Director - Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival > > > > ``` > > > > > > > > Categories include Live Action Short Films, Animation, Comedy SciFi, SciFi Documentary, Feature Films, Student Films and Young Filmmakers. The complete listing of selected films is available online at the BrooklynSciFiFilmFest.com website. The Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival is kicking off its fourth season this year on October 9th and will stream online through October 15th. There will be special events each night as well as watch parties, voting, panels, and the return of the 4th season of our curated film series The Sixth Borough featuring three outrages dystopian SciFi tales each episode. Think of it as the Black Mirror or Twilight Zone of independent SciFi. > > > > > **Online and In-Person Events** > > > > > > > > Events include a Best of Brooklyn screening of 12 Brooklyn-based SciFi short films at Stuart Cinema Cafe in Greenpoint, Brooklyn on October 11th. Animation Exploration night with a panel of 10 animators followed by an evening of films available online on October 12th, a 10th Anniversary online screening of the feature film Computer Chess by director Andrew Bujalski October 13th, and the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in-theater event and after party in Brooklyn on On Saturday October 14th, where we will feature a program of select short films and announce awards in each category. Tickets are available on Eventbrite or from the Brooklyn SciFi website at brooklynscififilmfest.com. > > > > > > > > **Filmmakers will be recognized in the following categories:** > > > > > > > > Best Feature Film - Awarded to the best feature length entry selected by our committee. > > > > > > > > Best Live Action Short Film - Awarded to the best live action (non-animated) short film (30 minutes or less) selected by our committee. > > > > > > > > Best Animated Short Film - Awarded to the best animated (non-live action) short film (30 minutes or less) selected by our committee. > > > > > > > > Best Comedy SciFi Short Film – Awarded to the best SciFi comedy short film across all ages and groups. > > > > > > > > > Best Student Short Film - Awarded to filmmakers between the ages of 18 and 26, and currently attending a film program at a recognized college, university, or certificate program. > > > > > > > > Best Young Filmmakers Award - Awarded to filmmakers under the age of 18, with recognition according to age and/or grade level (depending on number of entries). > > > > > > > > Best In Brooklyn - Awarded to the best entry shot in Brooklyn or directed by a Brooklyn-based filmmaker. > > > > > > > > Peoples Choice Award - Recognition to the film that receives the most viewer upvotes. Attendees of the festival cast votes for their favorite film to determine the winner. > > > > > > > > **More About the Brooklyn Scifi Film Festival** > > > > > > > > Born from a DIY spirit, the BSFFF is committed to being a place of inclusiveness. From its inception, the team behind the BSFFF knew they wanted to create an event that was open to anyone with the passion and determination to get their film made. “Unlike established festivals, which have acceptance rates that resemble the Ivy League, the Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival is a non-elitist home for indie filmmakers everywhere,” said Michael Brown, the co-founder and executive director of BSFFF. “It is, in that sense, the film festival for the people.” > > > > > > --- > > Hat tip to [@inkican](https://kbin.social/u/inkican) for his [post](https://kbin.social/m/scifi/t/510314/Robots-UFOs-and-A-I-Converge-at-the-Brooklyn-SciFi-Film) on [@scifi](https://kbin.social/m/scifi) that gave me the heads up on the festival.
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/509859 > > > > > > At dawn he arose and stepped out onto the patio for his first look at Alexandria, the one city he had not yet seen. That year the five cities were Chang-an, Asgard, New Chicago, Timbuctoo, Alexandria: the usual mix of eras, cultures, realities. He and Gioia, making the long flight from Asgard in the distant north the night before, had arrived late, well after sundown, and gone straight to bed. Now, by the gentle apricot-hued morning light, the fierce spires and battlements of Asgard seemed merely something he had dreamed. > > > > > > > > The rumor was that Asgard’s moment was finished, anyway. In a little while, he had heard, they were going to tear it down and replace it, elsewhere, with Mohenjo-daro. Though there were never more than five cities, they changed constantly. He could remember a time when they had had Rome of the Caesars instead of Chang-an, and Rio de Janeiro rather than Alexandria. These people saw no point in keeping anything very long. > > > > > > > > * from Sailing to Byzantium by Robert Silverberg, on page 178 > > > > > > [Alternative file formats](https://annas-archive.org/search?q=The+Year%27s+Best+Science+Fiction%3A+Third+Annual+Collection) > > [Wikipedia on the anthologies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year%27s_Best_Science_Fiction)
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/403415 > > > > > > The Third Man is a 1949 British film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Set in postwar Vienna, the film centres on American Holly Martins (Cotten), who arrives in the city to accept a job with his friend Harry Lime (Welles), only to learn that Lime has died. Viewing his death as suspicious, Martins elects to stay in Vienna and investigate the matter. > > > > > > > > The atmospheric use of black-and-white expressionist cinematography by Robert Krasker, with harsh lighting and largely subtle "Dutch angle" camera technique, is a major feature of The Third Man. Combined with the iconic theme music by zither player Anton Karas, seedy locations and acclaimed performances from the cast, the style evokes the atmosphere of an exhausted, cynical post-war Vienna at the start of the Cold War. > > > > > > > > Greene wrote the novella of the same name as preparation for the screenplay. Karas's title composition "The Third Man Theme" topped the international music charts in 1950, bringing the previously unknown performer international fame; the theme would also inspire Nino Rota's principal melody in La Dolce Vita (1960).[citation needed] The Third Man is considered one of the greatest films of all time, celebrated for its acting, musical score and atmospheric cinematography.[5] > > > > > > > > In 1999, the British Film Institute voted The Third Man the greatest British film of all time. In 2011, a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out ranked it the second best British film ever. > > > > > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Man)
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/497764 > > > > > > In spite of its ominous literary associations, 1984 proved to be a rather quiet year for SF. There were no major scandals like 1983’s infamous Great Timescape Fiasco, no SF lines driven into oblivion by corporate greed and shortsightedness, no major editorial shakeups … but if you looked closely enough, in the right places, you could see the foundations of the genre’s future for the next decade or so being quietly laid down. > > > > > > > > * from the introduction by Dozios > > > > > > [Alternative formats available here](https://annas-archive.org/search?index=&q=The+Year%27s+Best+Science+Fiction%3A+Second+Annual+Collection&sort=)
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/491274 > > > > > > Here's the cream of the crop: short stories, novelettes, novellas by science fiction writers already well known and awarded for their high-quality work in science fiction. These are writers like Poul Anderson, Joe Haldeman, Tanith Lee, George R. R. Martin, Robert Silverberg, James Tiptree, Jr, Vernor Vinge and Gene Wolfe. > > > > > > > > Here also are writers who are newer to the field, but just as excellent, including high-powered talents such as Greg Bear, Jack Dann, Jack McDevitt, Pat Murphy, John Kessel, Rand B. Lee, Pat Cadigan, Kim Stanley Robinson, Bruce Sterling, and Dan Simmons. Altogether there are 250,000 words of great science fiction; twenty-five stories by twenty- four authors. These are the stories that will be nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards this year, the stories that years from now people will still be talking about. > > > > > > --- > > > > > > > The Year's Best Science Fiction was a series of science fiction anthologies edited by American Gardner Dozois until his death in 2018. The series, which is unrelated to the similarly titled and themed Year's Best SF, was published by St. Martin's Griffin. The collections were produced annually for 35 years starting in 1984. > > > > > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year%27s_Best_Science_Fiction)
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/423678 > CW: They killed Fritz! Nazi mutants watching lots of Nazi propaganda. Elves with PTSD. Nuclear Armageddon. Pajama wearing assassins. Fairies of the night wearing near nothing. Evil Nazi wizard who skipped arm day. > > > > > > > Wizards is a 1977 American animated post-apocalyptic science fantasy film written, directed and produced by Ralph Bakshi and distributed by 20th Century-Fox. The film follows a battle between two wizards of opposing powers, one representing the forces of magic and the other representing the forces of technology. > > > > > > > > The film is notable for being the first fantasy film by Bakshi, a filmmaker who was previously known only for "urban films" such as Fritz the Cat, Heavy Traffic and Coonskin. The film grossed US$9 million theatrically with a $2 million budget. > > > > > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizards_(film))
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/478961 > > > > > > It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black. He strode in a swarm of fireflies. He wanted above all, like the old joke, to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning. > > > > > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451)
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/429137 > > > > > > Shadow libraries, sometimes called pirate libraries, consist of texts aggregated outside the legal framework of copyright. > > > > > > > > Today's pirate libraries have their roots in the work of Russian academics to digitize texts in the 1990s. Scholars in that part of the world had long had a thriving practice of passing literature and scientific information underground, in opposition to government censorship—part of the samizdat culture, in which banned documents were copied and passed hand to hand through illicit channels. Those first digital collections were passed freely around, but when their creators started running into problems with copyright, their collections “retreated from the public view," writes Balázs Bodó, a piracy researcher based at the University of Amsterdam. "The text collections were far too valuable to simply delete," he writes, and instead migrated to "closed, membership-only FTP servers." > > > > > > > > More recently, though, those collections have moved online, where they are available to anyone who knows where to look. > > > > > > > > The purpose of this site, then, is to have all these libraries at our fingertips when in need of a certain text or book. > > > > > > > > As Aaron Swartz put it: > > > > > > > > "Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves." > > > > > > > > We need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world. We need to take stuff that's out of copyright and add it to the archive. We need to buy secret databases and put them on the Web. We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file sharing networks. We need to fight for Guerilla Open Access. > > > > > > > > With enough of us, around the world, we'll not just send a strong message opposing the privatization of knowledge — we'll make it a thing of the past. Will you join us? > > > > > > > > Read the full text of the [Guerilla Open Access Manifesto](https://archive.org/stream/GuerillaOpenAccessManifesto/Goamjuly2008_djvu.txt) > > > >
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/429137 > > > > > > Shadow libraries, sometimes called pirate libraries, consist of texts aggregated outside the legal framework of copyright. > > > > > > > > Today's pirate libraries have their roots in the work of Russian academics to digitize texts in the 1990s. Scholars in that part of the world had long had a thriving practice of passing literature and scientific information underground, in opposition to government censorship—part of the samizdat culture, in which banned documents were copied and passed hand to hand through illicit channels. Those first digital collections were passed freely around, but when their creators started running into problems with copyright, their collections “retreated from the public view," writes Balázs Bodó, a piracy researcher based at the University of Amsterdam. "The text collections were far too valuable to simply delete," he writes, and instead migrated to "closed, membership-only FTP servers." > > > > > > > > More recently, though, those collections have moved online, where they are available to anyone who knows where to look. > > > > > > > > The purpose of this site, then, is to have all these libraries at our fingertips when in need of a certain text or book. > > > > > > > > As Aaron Swartz put it: > > > > > > > > "Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves." > > > > > > > > We need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world. We need to take stuff that's out of copyright and add it to the archive. We need to buy secret databases and put them on the Web. We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file sharing networks. We need to fight for Guerilla Open Access. > > > > > > > > With enough of us, around the world, we'll not just send a strong message opposing the privatization of knowledge — we'll make it a thing of the past. Will you join us? > > > > > > > > Read the full text of the [Guerilla Open Access Manifesto](https://archive.org/stream/GuerillaOpenAccessManifesto/Goamjuly2008_djvu.txt) > > > >
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/476755 > Don't panic, and bring a towel. > > For seasoned galactic travelers, if you're looking for the Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which includes: > > * Hitchhiker's Guide > * The Restaurant at the End of the Universe > * Life, the Universe, and Everything > * So Long and Thanks for All the Fish > * Young Zaphod Plays It Safe > * Mostly Harmless > > ... this [wormhole](https://annas-archive.org/md5/b783c3a803f737fc6a80787768a62774) should get you there. > > Also, upon conferring with both Space and Ice Pirates, I've been persuaded to also provide their contribution [here](https://movie-web.app/media/tmdb-movie-7453) in honor of the late, great [Douglas Adams](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams). > > Now could you guys please untie my cats and get them off the plank?
Fantasy books, stories, ＆c
The Belgariad - David Eddings - 1982
arotrios
12 months ago
•
75%
@jerzydyd@mastodon.social - I felt the same - I couldn't put them down as a kid. It's definitely got some 70s era prejudice in how it was written, and in the strict cultural divisions based on race and religion that it portrays, but I never felt that it was overtly or deliberately racist - rather the author portraying a barbaric world ruled by gods who were very close at hand and fiercely protective of their people. I still get chills remembering the god Mara wailing in the ruins for the slaughtered Maragor.
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/473973 > > > > > > The Way that can be articulately described is not the Unchanging Way. The name that can be said out loud is not the Unchanging Name. With your mouth unopened, and things left undefined, you stand at the beginning of the universe. Make definitions, and you are the measure of all creation. > > > > > > > > > > > The Tao Te Ching (UK: /ˌtaʊ tiː ˈtʃɪŋ/,[1] US: /ˌdaʊ dɛ ˈdʒɪŋ/; simplified Chinese: 道德经; traditional Chinese: 道德經; pinyin: Dàodé Jīng [tâʊ tɤ̌ tɕíŋ] i) is a Chinese classic text and foundational work of Taoism written around 400 BC and traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion dates back to the late 4th century BC, but modern scholarship dates other parts of the text as having been written—or at least compiled—later than the earliest portions of the Zhuangzi. > > > > > > > > The Tao Te Ching, along with the Zhuangzi, is a fundamental text for both philosophical and religious Taoism. It also strongly influenced other schools of Chinese philosophy and religion, including Legalism, Confucianism, and Chinese Buddhism, which was largely interpreted through the use of Taoist words and concepts when it was originally introduced to China. Many artists, including poets, painters, calligraphers, and gardeners, have used the Tao Te Ching as a source of inspiration. Its influence has spread widely within the globe's artistic and academic spheres. It is one of the most translated texts in world literature. > > > > > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Te_Ching)
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/473436 > > > > > > Long ago, so the Storyteller claimed, the evil God Torak sought dominion and drove men and Gods to war. But Belgarath the Sorcerer led men to reclaim the Orb that protected men of the West. So long as it lay at Riva, the prophecy went, men would be safe... > > > > > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Belgariad) > > --- > > * [Pawn of Prophecy](https://pdfhost.io/v/hN~kUR7P3_Pawn_of_Prophecy_Eddings_David_Belgariad_1_2011_d87a3b48487e40853af9a7287db6a45a_Annas_Archive) > * [Queen of Sorcery](https://pdfhost.io/v/PzFrrl4~0_Queen_of_Sorcery_Eddings_David_Belgariad_2_0_9445dd6ca0b045ff1a9921fdf794c79d_Annas_Archive) > * [Magician's Gambit](https://pdfhost.io/v/Zq.o4mUXD_Magicians_Gambit_Eddings_David_Belgariad_3_0_398d3da0766cd0c2ad4e231982e3a4a7_Annas_Archive) > * [Castle of Wizardry](https://pdfhost.io/v/zQMjv9MdV_Castle_of_Wizardry_Eddings_David_Belgariad_4_0_8b30a87f7e1e1700dcfd75f264bf91bf_Annas_Archive) > * [Enchanter's End Game](https://pdfhost.io/v/ppOgsacBi_Enchanters_End_Game_Eddings_David_Belgariad_5_0_84f3c5ac2dcce8843cca5652e9d813f6_Annas_Archive) > * [Alternative formats](https://annas-archive.org/search?index=&q=belgariad&ext=pdf&sort=) > > --- > > This series remains some of the best fantasy I've ever read, and it's often very hard to find, as it's been out of print for a while now in most places. > > **Content Warning:** David Eddings has a checkered past regarding the abuse of his adopted son, which he served a year in jail for in 1970. There are likewise dark themes in these novels that some readers may find disturbing. That being said, I believe the work stands on its own as a masterpiece of world-crafting. Please note I present it on those grounds, not as any endorsement of Eddings himself.
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/317329 > > > > > > The Blues Brothers is a 1980 American musical comedy film directed by John Landis. It stars John Belushi as "Joliet" Jake Blues and Dan Aykroyd as his brother Elwood, characters developed from the recurring musical sketch "The Blues Brothers" on NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. The script is set in and around Chicago, Illinois, where it was filmed, and the screenplay was written by Aykroyd and Landis. It features musical numbers by rhythm and blues (R&B), soul, and blues singers James Brown, Cab Calloway (in his final feature film role), Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Chaka Khan, and John Lee Hooker. It features non-musical supporting performances by Carrie Fisher, Henry Gibson, Charles Napier, Kathleen Freeman and John Candy. > > > > > > [More detail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blues_Brothers_(film))
arotrios
1 year ago
•
50%
That's one of the reasons I posted the source material as available (free) downloads as well - Day has come under criticism before by Tolkien scholars. I personally found most of his mistakes and liberties in this work to be minor, but I'm not a Tolkien scholar. Nonetheless, the work has a unique artistic touch that regardless of its accuracy, brings the novels to life in a way that surpasses later catalogues, and it was responsible for getting young readers of my generation interested in reading them.
www.youtube.com
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/468551 Original post credit to @_rhofman@kbin.social > > > > > > The Commander-in-Chief answers him while chasing a fly > > Saying, "Death to all those who would whimper and cry" > > And, dropping a barbell, he points to the sky > > Saying, "The sun's not yellow, it's chicken" > > > >
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/468313 > > > > > > Black Orpheus (Portuguese: Orfeu Negro [ɔɾˈfew ˈneɣɾu]) is a 1959 romantic tragedy film directed by French filmmaker Marcel Camus, and starring Marpessa Dawn and Breno Mello. It is based on the play Orfeu da Conceição by Vinicius de Moraes, which set the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice in a contemporary favela in Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval. The film was an international co-production among companies in Brazil, France and Italy. > > > > > > > > The film is particularly noted for its soundtrack by two Brazilian composers: Antônio Carlos Jobim, whose song "A felicidade" opens the film; and Luiz Bonfá, whose "Manhã de Carnaval" and "Samba de Orfeu" have become classics of bossa nova. The songs performed by Orfeu were dubbed by singer Agostinho dos Santos.[6] Lengthy passages of filming took place in the Morro da Babilônia, a favela in the Leme neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro. > > > > > > > > Black Orpheus won the Palme d'Or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, the 1960 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the 1960 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film and was nominated for the 1961 BAFTA Award for Best Film. > > > > > > Important to note, there's some controversy over the film in Brazil: > > > > > > > While the 1959 adaptation has been celebrated internationally, it has been criticized by Brazilians and scholars for exoticizing Brazil for an international audience and reinforcing harmful stereotypes. > > > > > > and... > > > > > > > The Palme d'Or and Oscar-winning film was celebrated internationally and criticized in Brazil; Vinicius de Moraes, author of the play Orfeu da Conceição upon which the film was based, was outraged by the film and left the theater in the middle of the screening. Critics of the adaptation by Marcel Camus argued that it reinforced various stereotypes about Brazilian culture and society and about Afro-Brazilians specifically, portraying the characters as "simple-minded, overtly sexual, and interested only in singing and dancing." Setting out to make itself more "appealing" to foreign audiences, the film resorts to a "cheap and problematic exoticism" of Brazil. > > > > > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Orpheus) > > This movie is an explosion of cinematic joy de vivre, unique in the energy it brings to a classic tragedy, and a unique picture of Brazil in the late 50s, I've decided to let the audience decide where their opinions sit in the controversy above. > > Captions in English available in settings -\> captions on the player for those that don't speak Portuguese.
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/468547 > > > > > > David Day's A TOLKIEN BESTIARY is a scholarly, definitive and enchantingly beautiful explanation of all the imaginary beasts, monsters, races, nations,deities, fauna and flora of J.R.R- Tolkien's fantasy worlds of Middle-earth and the Undying Lands. > > > > > > > > David Day has identified, analyzed and described 129 separate races. Each is lucidly explained in terms of its physical appearance, language, behavior and culture. A TOLKIEN BESTIARY does not retell their stories: its purpose is to make Tolkien’s own books more accessible by identifying his living creatures and explaining their roles in his epic world. > > > > > > --- > > While not the most accurate of the Tolkien Bestiaries, this one was the first, and the one with the best artwork. > > Downloads for the novels: > > * [Fellowship of the Ring](https://annas-archive.org/search?index=&q=fellowship+of+the+ring%2C+tolkien&sort=) > > * [The Two Towers](https://annas-archive.org/search?index=&q=the+two+towers%2C+tolkien&sort=) > > * [Return of the King](https://annas-archive.org/search?index=&q=return+of+the+king%2C+tolkien&sort=) > > * [The Silmarillion](https://annas-archive.org/search?index=&q=silmarillion%2C+tolkien&sort=)
arotrios
1 year ago
•
50%
I've always dug it because it was one of the first explorations of a successful invasion from another species, and it was an excellent scifi deconstruction of colonialism, one that was groundbreaking for the time it was written (right before WWII).
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/359206 > > > > > > Karel Čapek’s last major novel, War with the Newts, is a satirical dystopian masterpiece, both prescient and timeless, uniquely Czech and yet universal in appeal. Published in 1936, it remains one of the most thought-provoking novels ever written. > > > > > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_with_the_Newts) > > [The full novel in html, courtesy of Project Gutenberg Australia](https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0601981h.html)
www.youtube.com
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/466120 > > > > > > Racks on racks, money ginja me > > Opps, they talk, say na frequency > > Had to laugh way they humor me > > Runnin' it up with the urgency > > Streets dey over ginja me > > From the wall to the window seat > > In the sun, through the storm, in the winter > > I'm in the club, shawty moving like a ninja, ninja > > Fresh to death, I'm beyond heat > > Activist in my Dior jeans > > Buss a jigg, feed you Molly > > Feed my love like crack to this fiend > > I can't be your lover > > Too many things to lose > > You love me with no honor > > Don't wanna leave, I don't > > I knew that you were trouble > > Wasted eyes on you > > I can't be your lover > > Too many things to lose > > Demon with the Dior on the dresser > > Pop a Molly tessie in a Tesla > > Let it warm your back and your neck (uh, uh, uh) > > I'ma film it all, make a best-of > > Edit it all, make it scene on scene > > Under it all, know you scheme on me > > Hottie million with a milli' on me > > I wanna menage with the blicky on me > > Turn the bass up (tell me what you want, want) > > She want more to taste, uh (I can get it all, all) > > (Pretty little *removed*, give me pretty, give me nana) > > (Take me to Nirvana, diamond in the sky-y) > > I can't be your lover > > Too many things to lose > > You love me with no honor > > Don't wanna leave, I don't > > I knew that you were trouble > > Wasted eyes on you > > I can't be your lover > > Too many things to lose > > > > > > [Wikipedia on Amaarae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaarae)
Movies and TV Shows
Scanners - 1981 - written and directed by David Cronenberg, starring Stephen Lack, Jennifer O'Neill, Michael Ironside, and Patrick McGoohan.
arotrios
1 year ago
•
66%
A happy synchronicity - had no idea that had been posted, but off to upvote @MC_Lovecraft@lemm.ee.
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/465146 > > > > > > Why are you such a derelict? Such a piece of human junk? The answer's simple. You're a scanner, which you don't realize. And that has been the source of all your agony. But I will show you now that it can be a source of great power. > > > > > > CW: Exploding head. David Cronenberg. Genetic manipulation. Homeless escalator acrobatics. Involuntary suicide. Thinly veiled [Thalidomide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide) allegory. Did I say exploding head? Exploding head. > > --- > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanners)
arotrios
1 year ago
•
66%
If you need it in other formats, this link has a great selection of free alternatives - you can filter by your preferred file format. There's a azw3 version here that should work with Kindle.
www.youtube.com
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/460362 > > > > > > The Songhai Empire (also transliterated as Songhay) was a state located in the western part of the Sahel during the 15th and 16th centuries. At its peak, it was one of the largest African empires in history. The state is known by its historiographical name, derived from its largest ethnic group and ruling elite, the Songhai people. Sonni Ali established Gao as the empire's capital, although a Songhai state had existed in and around Gao since the 11th century. Other important cities in the kingdom were Timbuktu and Djenné, where urban-centred trade flourished; they were conquered in 1468 and 1475, respectively. The Akan state of Bonoman was located to the south of the empire.[3] Initially, the Songhai Empire was ruled by the Sonni dynasty (c. 1464–1493), but it was later replaced by the Askia dynasty (1493–1901). > > > > > > > > During the second half of the 13th century, Gao and the surrounding region had grown into an important trading centre and attracted the interest of the expanding Mali Empire. Mali conquered Gao near the end of the 13th century. Gao remained under Malian command until the late 14th century. As the Mali Empire started disintegrating, the Songhai reasserted control of Gao. Songhai rulers subsequently took advantage of the weakened Mali Empire to expand Songhai rule. > > > > > > > > Under the rule of Sonni Ali, the Songhai surpassed the Malian Empire in area, wealth, and power, absorbing vast regions of the Mali Empire. His son and successor, Sonni Bāru, was overthrown by Muhammad Ture, one of his father's generals. Ture instituted political and economic reforms throughout the empire. > > > > > > > > A series of plots and coups by Askia's successors forced the empire into a period of decline and instability. Askia's relatives attempted to govern the kingdom, but political chaos and several civil wars within the empire ensured the empire's continued decline, particularly during the rule of Askia Ishaq I. The empire experienced a period of stability and a string of military successes during the reign of Askia Daoud. > > > > > > > > Askia Ishaq II, the last ruler of the Songhai Empire, ascended to power in a long dynastic struggle following the death of Daoud. In 1590, al-Mansur took advantage of the recent civil conflict in the empire and sent an army under the command of Judar Pasha to conquer the Songhai and gain control of the trans-Saharan trade routes. Following a defeat at the Battle of Tondibi in 1591, the Songhai Empire collapsed. > > > > > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songhai_Empire)
Movies and TV Shows
They Live - 1988 - Starring Roddy Piper, Keith David and Meg Foster. Written and directed by John Carpenter.
arotrios
1 year ago
•
66%
Agreed - May as well make this a double feature.
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/457507 > > > > > > "The feeling is definitely there. It's a new morning in America... fresh, vital. The old cynicism is gone. We have faith in our leaders. We're optimistic as to what becomes of it all. It really boils down to our ability to accept. We don't need pessimism. There are no limits." > > > > > > --- > > > > > > > "Outside the limit of our sight, feeding off us, perched on top of us, from birth to death, are our owners! Our owners! They have us. They control us! They are our masters! Wake up! They're all about you! All around you!" > > > > > > --- > > One of the best everyman's survival guide to dealing with alien infiltration. The Electroids love to use these kind of tactics. > > --- > > > > > > > They Live is a 1988 American science fiction action horror film written and directed by John Carpenter, based on the 1963 short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson. Starring Roddy Piper, Keith David, and Meg Foster, the film follows an unnamed drifter who discovers through special sunglasses that the ruling class are aliens concealing their appearance and manipulating people to consume, breed, and conform to the status quo via subliminal messages in mass media. > > > > > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Live)
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/454289 > > > > > > I. THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD > > > > > > > > April is the cruellest month, breeding > > Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing > > Memory and desire, stirring > > Dull roots with spring rain. > > Winter kept us warm, covering > > Earth in forgetful snow, feeding > > A little life with dried tubers. > > Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee > > With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade, > > And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten, > > And drank coffee, and talked for an hour. > > Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch. > > And when we were children, staying at the archduke’s, > > My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled, > > And I was frightened. He said, Marie, > > Marie, hold on tight. And down we went. > > In the mountains, there you feel free. > > I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter. > > > > > > > > What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow > > Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, > > You cannot say, or guess, for you know only > > A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, > > And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, > > And the dry stone no sound of water. Only > > There is shadow under this red rock, > > (Come in under the shadow of this red rock), > > And I will show you something different from either > > Your shadow at morning striding behind you > > Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; > > I will show you fear in a handful of dust. > > Frisch weht der Wind > > Der Heimat zu > > Mein Irisch Kind, > > Wo weilest du? > > “You gave me hyacinths first a year ago; > > “They called me the hyacinth girl.” > > —Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden, > > Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not > > Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither > > Living nor dead, and I knew nothing, > > Looking into the heart of light, the silence. > > Oed’ und leer das Meer. > > > > > > > > Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante, > > Had a bad cold, nevertheless > > Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe, > > With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she, > > Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor, > > (Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!) > > Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks, > > The lady of situations. > > Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel, > > And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card, > > Which is blank, is something he carries on his back, > > Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find > > The Hanged Man. Fear death by water. > > I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring. > > Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone, > > Tell her I bring the horoscope myself: > > One must be so careful these days. > > > > > > > > Unreal City, > > Under the brown fog of a winter dawn, > > A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many, > > I had not thought death had undone so many. > > Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled, > > And each man fixed his eyes before his feet. > > Flowed up the hill and down King William Street, > > To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours > > With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine. > > There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying “Stetson! > > “You who were with me in the ships at Mylae! > > “That corpse you planted last year in your garden, > > “Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year? > > “Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed? > > “Oh keep the Dog far hence, that’s friend to men, > > “Or with his nails he’ll dig it up again! > > “You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable,—mon frère!” > > > > > > > > II. A GAME OF CHESS > > > > > > > > The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne, > > Glowed on the marble, where the glass > > Held up by standards wrought with fruited vines > > From which a golden Cupidon peeped out > > (Another hid his eyes behind his wing) > > Doubled the flames of sevenbranched candelabra > > Reflecting light upon the table as > > The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it, > > From satin cases poured in rich profusion. > > In vials of ivory and coloured glass > > Unstoppered, lurked her strange synthetic perfumes, > > Unguent, powdered, or liquid—troubled, confused > > And drowned the sense in odours; stirred by the air > > That freshened from the window, these ascended > > In fattening the prolonged candle-flames, > > Flung their smoke into the laquearia, > > Stirring the pattern on the coffered ceiling. > > Huge sea-wood fed with copper > > Burned green and orange, framed by the coloured stone, > > In which sad light a carvèd dolphin swam. > > Above the antique mantel was displayed > > As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene > > The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king > > So rudely forced; yet there the nightingale > > Filled all the desert with inviolable voice > > And still she cried, and still the world pursues, > > “Jug Jug” to dirty ears. > > And other withered stumps of time > > Were told upon the walls; staring forms > > Leaned out, leaning, hushing the room enclosed. > > Footsteps shuffled on the stair. > > Under the firelight, under the brush, her hair > > Spread out in fiery points > > Glowed into words, then would be savagely still. > > > > > > > > “My nerves are bad to-night. Yes, bad. Stay with me. > > “Speak to me. Why do you never speak. Speak. > > “What are you thinking of? What thinking? What? > > “I never know what you are thinking. Think.” > > > > > > > > I think we are in rats’ alley > > Where the dead men lost their bones. > > > > > > > > “What is that noise?” > > The wind under the door. > > “What is that noise now? What is the wind doing?” > > Nothing again nothing. > > “Do > > “You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember > > “Nothing?” > > > > > > > > ``` > > I remember > > > > ``` > > > > > > > > Those are pearls that were his eyes. > > “Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?” > > But > > O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag— > > It’s so elegant > > So intelligent > > “What shall I do now? What shall I do?” > > I shall rush out as I am, and walk the street > > “With my hair down, so. What shall we do tomorrow? > > “What shall we ever do?” > > The hot water at ten. > > And if it rains, a closed car at four. > > And we shall play a game of chess, > > Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door. > > > > > > > > When Lil’s husband got demobbed, I said— > > I didn’t mince my words, I said to her myself, > > HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME > > Now Albert’s coming back, make yourself a bit smart. > > He’ll want to know what you done with that money he gave you > > To get yourself some teeth. He did, I was there. > > You have them all out, Lil, and get a nice set, > > He said, I swear, I can’t bear to look at you. > > And no more can’t I, I said, and think of poor Albert, > > He’s been in the army four years, he wants a good time, > > And if you don’t give it him, there’s others will, I said. > > Oh is there, she said. Something o’ that, I said. > > Then I’ll know who to thank, she said, and give me a straight look. > > HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME > > If you don’t like it you can get on with it, I said. > > Others can pick and choose if you can’t. > > But if Albert makes off, it won’t be for lack of telling. > > You ought to be ashamed, I said, to look so antique. > > (And her only thirty-one.) > > I can’t help it, she said, pulling a long face, > > It’s them pills I took, to bring it off, she said. > > (She’s had five already, and nearly died of young George.) 160 > > The chemist said it would be all right, but I’ve never been the same. > > You are a proper fool, I said. > > Well, if Albert won’t leave you alone, there it is, I said, > > What you get married for if you don’t want children? > > HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME > > Well, that Sunday Albert was home, they had a hot gammon, > > And they asked me in to dinner, to get the beauty of it hot— > > HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME > > HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME > > Goonight Bill. Goonight Lou. Goonight May. Goonight. 170 > > Ta ta. Goonight. Goonight. > > Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night. > > > > > > > > III. THE FIRE SERMON > > > > > > > > The river’s tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf > > Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind > > Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed. > > Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song. > > The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers, > > Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends > > Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed. > > And their friends, the loitering heirs of city directors; > > Departed, have left no addresses. > > By the waters of Leman I sat down and wept . . . > > Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song, > > Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long. > > But at my back in a cold blast I hear > > The rattle of the bones, and chuckle spread from ear to ear. > > A rat crept softly through the vegetation > > Dragging its slimy belly on the bank > > While I was fishing in the dull canal > > On a winter evening round behind the gashouse 190 > > Musing upon the king my brother’s wreck > > And on the king my father’s death before him. > > White bodies naked on the low damp ground > > And bones cast in a little low dry garret, > > Rattled by the rat’s foot only, year to year. > > But at my back from time to time I hear > > The sound of horns and motors, which shall bring > > Sweeney to Mrs. Porter in the spring. > > O the moon shone bright on Mrs. Porter > > And on her daughter > > They wash their feet in soda water > > Et O ces voix d’enfants, chantant dans la coupole! > > > > > > > > Twit twit twit > > Jug jug jug jug jug jug > > So rudely forc’d. > > Tereu > > > > > > > > Unreal City > > Under the brown fog of a winter noon > > Mr. Eugenides, the Smyrna merchant > > Unshaven, with a pocket full of currants > > C.i.f. London: documents at sight, > > Asked me in demotic French > > To luncheon at the Cannon Street Hotel > > Followed by a weekend at the Metropole. > > > > > > > > At the violet hour, when the eyes and back > > Turn upward from the desk, when the human engine waits > > Like a taxi throbbing waiting, > > I Tiresias, though blind, throbbing between two lives, > > Old man with wrinkled female breasts, can see > > At the violet hour, the evening hour that strives > > Homeward, and brings the sailor home from sea, > > The typist home at teatime, clears her breakfast, lights > > Her stove, and lays out food in tins. > > Out of the window perilously spread > > Her drying combinations touched by the sun’s last rays, > > On the divan are piled (at night her bed) > > Stockings, slippers, camisoles, and stays. > > I Tiresias, old man with wrinkled dugs > > Perceived the scene, and foretold the rest— > > I too awaited the expected guest. > > He, the young man carbuncular, arrives, > > A small house agent’s clerk, with one bold stare, > > One of the low on whom assurance sits > > As a silk hat on a Bradford millionaire. > > The time is now propitious, as he guesses, > > The meal is ended, she is bored and tired, > > Endeavours to engage her in caresses > > Which still are unreproved, if undesired. > > Flushed and decided, he assaults at once; > > Exploring hands encounter no defence; > > His vanity requires no response, > > And makes a welcome of indifference. > > (And I Tiresias have foresuffered all > > Enacted on this same divan or bed; > > I who have sat by Thebes below the wall > > And walked among the lowest of the dead.) > > Bestows one final patronising kiss, > > And gropes his way, finding the stairs unlit . . . > > > > > > > > She turns and looks a moment in the glass, > > Hardly aware of her departed lover; > > Her brain allows one half-formed thought to pass: > > “Well now that’s done: and I’m glad it’s over.” > > When lovely woman stoops to folly and > > Paces about her room again, alone, > > She smooths her hair with automatic hand, > > And puts a record on the gramophone. > > > > > > > > “This music crept by me upon the waters” > > And along the Strand, up Queen Victoria Street. > > O City city, I can sometimes hear > > Beside a public bar in Lower Thames Street, > > The pleasant whining of a mandoline > > And a clatter and a chatter from within > > Where fishmen lounge at noon: where the walls > > Of Magnus Martyr hold > > Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold. > > > > > > > > ``` > > The river sweats > > Oil and tar > > The barges drift > > With the turning tide > > Red sails > > Wide > > To leeward, swing on the heavy spar. > > The barges wash > > Drifting logs > > Down Greenwich reach > > Past the Isle of Dogs. > > Weialala leia > > Wallala leialala > > Elizabeth and Leicester > > Beating oars > > The stern was formed > > A gilded shell > > Red and gold > > The brisk swell > > Rippled both shores > > Southwest wind > > Carried down stream > > The peal of bells > > White towers > > Weialala leia > > Wallala leialala > > > > ``` > > > > > > > > “Trams and dusty trees. > > Highbury bore me. Richmond and Kew > > Undid me. By Richmond I raised my knees > > Supine on the floor of a narrow canoe.” > > > > > > > > “My feet are at Moorgate, and my heart > > Under my feet. After the event > > He wept. He promised ‘a new start’. > > I made no comment. What should I resent?” > > “On Margate Sands. > > I can connect > > Nothing with nothing. > > The broken fingernails of dirty hands. > > My people humble people who expect > > Nothing.” > > la la > > > > > > > > To Carthage then I came > > > > > > > > Burning burning burning burning > > O Lord Thou pluckest me out > > O Lord Thou pluckest > > > > > > > > burning > > > > > > > > IV. DEATH BY WATER > > > > > > > > Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead, > > Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell > > And the profit and loss. > > A current under sea > > Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell > > He passed the stages of his age and youth > > Entering the whirlpool. > > Gentile or Jew > > O you who turn the wheel and look to windward, 320 > > Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you. > > > > > > > > V. WHAT THE THUNDER SAID > > > > > > > > After the torchlight red on sweaty faces > > After the frosty silence in the gardens > > After the agony in stony places > > The shouting and the crying > > Prison and palace and reverberation > > Of thunder of spring over distant mountains > > He who was living is now dead > > We who were living are now dying > > With a little patience > > > > > > > > Here is no water but only rock > > Rock and no water and the sandy road > > The road winding above among the mountains > > Which are mountains of rock without water > > If there were water we should stop and drink > > Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think > > Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand > > If there were only water amongst the rock > > Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit > > Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit > > There is not even silence in the mountains > > But dry sterile thunder without rain > > There is not even solitude in the mountains > > But red sullen faces sneer and snarl > > From doors of mudcracked houses > > If there were water > > And no rock > > If there were rock > > And also water > > And water > > A spring > > A pool among the rock > > If there were the sound of water only > > Not the cicada > > And dry grass singing > > But sound of water over a rock > > Where the hermit-thrush sings in the pine trees > > Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop > > But there is no water > > > > > > > > Who is the third who walks always beside you? > > When I count, there are only you and I together > > But when I look ahead up the white road > > There is always another one walking beside you > > Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded > > I do not know whether a man or a woman > > —But who is that on the other side of you? > > > > > > > > What is that sound high in the air > > Murmur of maternal lamentation > > Who are those hooded hordes swarming > > Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth > > Ringed by the flat horizon only > > What is the city over the mountains > > Cracks and reforms and bursts in the violet air > > Falling towers > > Jerusalem Athens Alexandria > > Vienna London > > Unreal > > > > > > > > A woman drew her long black hair out tight > > And fiddled whisper music on those strings > > And bats with baby faces in the violet light > > Whistled, and beat their wings > > And crawled head downward down a blackened wall > > And upside down in air were towers > > Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours > > And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells. > > > > > > > > In this decayed hole among the mountains > > In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing > > Over the tumbled graves, about the chapel > > There is the empty chapel, only the wind’s home. > > It has no windows, and the door swings, > > Dry bones can harm no one. > > Only a cock stood on the rooftree > > Co co rico co co rico > > In a flash of lightning. Then a damp gust > > Bringing rain > > > > > > > > Ganga was sunken, and the limp leaves > > Waited for rain, while the black clouds > > Gathered far distant, over Himavant. > > The jungle crouched, humped in silence. > > Then spoke the thunder > > DA > > Datta: what have we given? > > My friend, blood shaking my heart > > The awful daring of a moment’s surrender > > Which an age of prudence can never retract > > By this, and this only, we have existed > > Which is not to be found in our obituaries > > Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider > > Or under seals broken by the lean solicitor > > In our empty rooms > > DA > > Dayadhvam: I have heard the key > > Turn in the door once and turn once only > > We think of the key, each in his prison > > Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison > > Only at nightfall, aetherial rumours > > Revive for a moment a broken Coriolanus > > DA > > Damyata: The boat responded > > Gaily, to the hand expert with sail and oar > > The sea was calm, your heart would have responded 420 > > Gaily, when invited, beating obedient > > To controlling hands > > > > > > > > ``` > > I sat upon the shore > > > > ``` > > > > > > > > Fishing, with the arid plain behind me > > Shall I at least set my lands in order? > > London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down > > Poi s’ascose nel foco che gli affina > > Quando fiam ceu chelidon — O swallow swallow > > Le Prince d’Aquitaine à la tour abolie > > These fragments I have shored against my ruins > > Why then Ile fit you. Hieronymo’s mad againe. > > Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata. > > > > > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Waste_Land)
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/403415 > > > > > > The Third Man is a 1949 British film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Set in postwar Vienna, the film centres on American Holly Martins (Cotten), who arrives in the city to accept a job with his friend Harry Lime (Welles), only to learn that Lime has died. Viewing his death as suspicious, Martins elects to stay in Vienna and investigate the matter. > > > > > > > > The atmospheric use of black-and-white expressionist cinematography by Robert Krasker, with harsh lighting and largely subtle "Dutch angle" camera technique, is a major feature of The Third Man. Combined with the iconic theme music by zither player Anton Karas, seedy locations and acclaimed performances from the cast, the style evokes the atmosphere of an exhausted, cynical post-war Vienna at the start of the Cold War. > > > > > > > > Greene wrote the novella of the same name as preparation for the screenplay. Karas's title composition "The Third Man Theme" topped the international music charts in 1950, bringing the previously unknown performer international fame; the theme would also inspire Nino Rota's principal melody in La Dolce Vita (1960).[citation needed] The Third Man is considered one of the greatest films of all time, celebrated for its acting, musical score and atmospheric cinematography.[5] > > > > > > > > In 1999, the British Film Institute voted The Third Man the greatest British film of all time. In 2011, a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out ranked it the second best British film ever. > > > > > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Man)
cross-posted from: https://kglitch.social/m/13thFloor@kbin.social/t/51248 > Alright chumps, here's the skinny. You download a comic book reader - the Cdisplayex one linked above is free, but use whatever you'd like - something that reads .cbr files is most useful. Then you head on over to Anna's Comic Cantina here and set your search like so: > > * [Marvel](https://annas-archive.org/search?index=&q=marvel&content=book_comic&ext=cbr&sort=&lang=en) > > * [DC](https://annas-archive.org/search?index=&q=dc&content=book_comic&ext=cbr&sort=&lang=en) > > * [Darkhorse](https://annas-archive.org/search?index=&q=darkhorse&content=book_comic&ext=cbr&sort=&lang=en) > > ...and you've got access to 2mil free comics, give or take a thousand or so. > > Here's what Cdisplayex has to say about itself: > > > > > > > Free, Light, Efficient CBR Reader. It is the most popular comic book reader. It is able to read all comic book formats (.cbr file, .cbz, .pdf, etc..) and Manga. Everything is designed to give you the best reading experience, it load comic books immediately, reading is fluid and comfortable. > > > >
arotrios
1 year ago
•
100%
Another great one - here's a link to get a free .pdf copy if you're looking to add to your library:
https://annas-archive.org/md5/ae962cb11c50e00ecdc2b50d2d813b54
pdfhost.io
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/452228 > > > > > > In the remote border town of Q., which when seen from the air resembles nothing so much as an ill-proportioned dumb-bell, there once lived three lovely, and loving, sisters. Their names . . . but their real names were never used, like the best household china, which was locked away after the night of their joint tragedy in a cupboard whose location was eventually forgotten, so that the great thousand-piece service from the Gardner potteries in Tsarist Russia became a family myth in whose factuality they almost ceased to believe . . . the three sisters, I should state without further delay, bore the family name of Shakil, and were universally known (in descending order of age) as Chhunni, Munnee and Bunny. > > > > > > > > And one day their father died... > > > > > > --- > > > > > > > Shame is Salman Rushdie's third novel, published in 1983. This book was written out of a desire to approach the problem of "artificial" (other-made) country divisions, their residents' complicity, and the problems of post-colonialism when Pakistan was created to separate the Muslims from the Hindus after Britain gave up control of India. > > > > > > > > The book is written in the style of magic realism. It portrays the lives of Iskander Harappa (sometimes assumed to be Zulfikar Ali Bhutto), and General Raza Hyder (sometimes assumed to be General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq), and their relationship. The central theme of the novel is that begetting "shame" begets violence. The concepts of 'shame' and 'shamelessness' are explored through all of the characters, with the main focus being on Sufiya Zinobia and Omar Khayyám. > > > > > > [Wikipedia on Shame](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shame_(Rushdie_novel)) > > [Wikipedia on Sir Salman Rushdie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie) > > --- > > While the [Satanic Verses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses) get most of the press when talking about Rushdie, Shame is a masterwork of magical realism that deserves more attention.
www.youtube.com
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/449210 > > > > > > You break my back. You won't break me. > > All is black > > But I still see > > Shut me down > > Save me from myself > > Shoot me up > > Let me burn in hell > > Trapped under ice > > Comfortably cold > > I've gone as low as you can go > > Feel no remorse > > No sense of shame > > Time's gonna wash away all pain > > I made a god > > Out of blood > > Not superiority > > I killed the king > > Of deceit > > Now I sleep in anarchy > > Sacrifice to the cause > > Turn your code into law > > Compensate to validate the loss > > Take a thief, nail him to a cross > > Gospel of rage > > Faction of hate > > Deviate from the absolute > > Born of revenge > > Raised on cement > > Chaos created government > > I made a god out of blood > > Not superiority > > I killed the king > > Of deceit > > Now I sleep in anarchy > > I made a god out of blood > > Not superiority > > I killed the king > > Of deceit > > Wake me up in anarchy > > > >
arotrios
1 year ago
•
100%
I agree, Still Life is the stronger novel. I usually choose Cowgirls as the work of his to to introduce new readers to, as it's more accessible and lighthearted, but Still Life is where Robbins really shows his chops.
Here's a link to a free copy (.pdf download) from Anna's if you're looking for one: https://annas-archive.org/md5/85333852ce8e0b37dc4918f59cfb5bb1
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/448597 > > > > > > Amoebae leave no fossils. They haven’t any bones. (No teeth, no belt buckles, no wedding rings.) It is impossible, therefore, to determine how long amoebae have been on Earth. > > > > > > > > Quite possibly they have been here since the curtain opened. Amoebae may even have dominated the stage, early in the first act. On the other hand, they may have come into existence only three years—or three days or three minutes—before they were discovered by Anton van Leeuwenhoek in 1674. It can’t be proven either way. > > > > > > > > One thing is certain, however: because amoebae reproduce by division, endlessly, passing everything on yet giving up nothing, the first amoebae that ever lived is still alive. Whether four billion years old or merely three hundred, he/she is with us today. > > > > > > > > Where? > > > > > > > > Well, the first amoeba may be floating on his/her back in a luxurious pool in Hollywood, California. The first amoeba may be hiding among the cattail roots and peepers in the muddy shallows of Siwash Lake. The first amoeba may recently have dripped down your leg. It is pointless to speculate. > > > > > > > > The first amoeba, like the last and the one after that, ishere, there and everywhere, for its vehicle, its medium, its essence is water. > > > > > > > > Water—the ace of elements. Water dives from the clouds without parachute, wings or safety net. Water runs over the steepest precipice and blinks not a lash. Water is buried and rises again; water walks on fire and fire gets the blisters. Stylishly composed in any situation—solid, gas or liquid—speaking in penetrating dialects understood by all things—animal, vegetable or mineral—water travels intrepidly through four dimensions, sustaining (Kick a lettuce in the field and it will yell “Water!”), destroying (The Dutch boy’s finger remembered the view from Ararat) and creating (It has even been said that human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself from one place to another, but that’s another story). Always in motion, ever-flowing (whether at steam rate or glacier speed), rhythmic, dynamic, ubiquitous, changing and working its changes, a mathematics turned wrong side out, a philosophy in reverse, the ongoing odyssey of water is virtually irresistible. And wherever water goes, amoebae go along for the ride. > > > > > > > > Sissy Hankshaw once taught a parakeet to hitchhike. There is not much in that line she could teach an amoeba. > > > > > > [Wikipedia on the book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Even_Cowgirls_Get_the_Blues_(novel)) > > [Link to the stinker of a movie adaptation of 1993](https://movie-web.app/media/tmdb-movie-34444) - a prime example of when a novel absolutely flops as a film. Read the book before seeing it, because you won't want to afterwards.
radiofreefedi.net
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/432311 > > > > > > radio free fedi is consent, agency and artist celebrating community radio from the fediverse. We actively and openly present contributing artists' information with the hopes that you will drop-in, discover, and then LEAVE? That's right, RFF has no interest to be an end-point for hyper focused consumption. We also do not have the resource to provide infinite custom streams and we love the community to not do souless algorithms. We want to foster organic discovery and discourse. We want to generate support for fedi artists on the platforms and methods of their choice, no judgement. Support fedi artists! > > > > > > > > Things we do a little different: > > > > > > > > * No payola, no automated submissions, every submission is checked best we can to be from a decent fedizen and not likely to harm or harass our fedi friends of all walks > > * Every submission is carefully cleaned for good data and imagery. > > * We add an artist support link so you know where to go to help each other. > > * We add consented public fedi link so you can interact with, promote and share the artists you find. > > * We add artists' license and permission to celebrate agency and consent and again to foster good communication for support and collaboration. > > * Provide discovery options for independent fedi artists who, like may of us, find promotion a bit challenging or uncomfortable. The classic fedi LOVES indy artists and promotion in this light is never a dirty word. > > > > > > > > Artist data is made available on this website for now playing tracks and there is further track history in various formats including a bot for the main channel in case you missed track data while you were washing the dog. If you require alternative formats for ingestion for other means to help the community play RFF and support fedi artists please reach out. > > > > > > > > Stop gaps like Bandcamp playlists on third party tracking sites, hyper open methods with poor discovery and walled garden corporate streaming platforms seldom strike a good balance to retain attribution and actually promote, celebrate, interact and ENCOURAGE direct support of artists without costing everyone involved some painful percentage of coin, privacy and agency. We are continually impressed and heartened at the community that has rallied to support each other around a more transparent and organic discovery layer. > > > > > > > > > > > Admin Privacy Ethos > > > > > > > > We are using open and non-commercial platforms and formats where possible, there are no ads, no third party remote scripts, cookies, trackers, fonts etc unless introduced by your alternative playing app/method. There is a single local javascript for updating real-time stream and artist infos. The audio stream is collecting basic aggregate counts only. > > > > > > > > Licensing: > > > > > > > > We support fedi artists by passing on their preferred license since attribution and consent are paramount. All music and words we play retain the license that shows on this page for each piece as per the artists' wishes. All copyright materials we play have been consented by each artist for streaming only on radio free fedi. Please do not re-use the stream, DO however contact individual artists to talk amiable terms if you would like to use their work for your project. Support fedi artists! > > > > > > > > Fediquette: > > > > > > > > We expect classic standard fediverse etiquette of no nazis or fascists, no harassment or abuse of any kind, no racism, no bigotry, no ableism, trans lives matter, black lives matter. We want to radiate inclusiveness and empathy and also rock some kick ass tunes, sounds and words. Please let us know if we get anything wrong or we are accidentally promoting anything untoward. > > > > > > > > Keep the fedi weird and wonderful! Enjoy. > > > >
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/434350 > Animated by Yuri Norstein and drawn by Lyudmila Petrushevskaia, *Skazka Skazok* remains one of the most beautiful and intriguing animated films ever made. > > > > > > > It presents a series of beautifully-animated episodes that seem to make narrative sense at the micro-level and that appear to fit together as a whole, but leaves the audience bemused as to why this should be so [...] > > > > > > > > > > > Tale of Tales was created by Norstein while employed at the Soviet Union’s state-sponsored animation studio Soyuzmultfilm. Completed in 1979, it delighted Norstein’s colleagues, confounded the censors of Goskino (who immediately banned it, wholly ineffectually), gained awards at several international festivals, and was voted the ‘Best Animated Film of All Time’ at the Los Angeles Olympiad of Animation in 1984. - Ian Cross in [an article in Animation journal](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17468477221114596). > > > > > > There will always be a place in my heart in which a patient bull slowly turns a skipping rope... Thanks to @livus@kbin.social for the original post on !13thFloor@kbin.social
www.youtube.com
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/436532 > > > > > > The Yoshida Brothers (吉田兄弟, Yoshida Kyōdai) are Japanese shamisenist musicians who have released several albums on the Domo Records label. > > > > > > > > The two brothers are performers of the traditional Japanese music style of Tsugaru-jamisen which originated in northern Japan. They debuted in 1999 in Japan as a duo playing the shamisen. Their first album sold over 100,000 copies and made them minor celebrities in Japan, a fact that surprised the Yoshida Brothers themselves.They have since attracted an international audience. > > > > > > > > Their music has been a fusion of the rapid and percussive Tsugaru-jamisen style along with Western and other regional musical influences. In addition to performing songs that are only on the shamisen, they also use instruments such as drums and synthesizers. > > > > > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshida_Brothers)
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/444651 > > > > > > The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 American film noir written and directed by John Huston in his directorial debut, based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and indebted to the 1931 movie of the same name. It stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade and Mary Astor as his femme fatale client. Gladys George, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet co-star, with the last appearing in his film debut. The story follows a San Francisco private detective and his dealings with three unscrupulous adventurers, all of whom are competing to obtain a jewel-encrusted falcon statuette. > > > > > > > > The film premiered in New York City on October 3, 1941, and was nominated for three Academy Awards. Considered one of the greatest films of all time, it was one of the first 25 films selected by the Library of Congress to be included in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It is a part of Roger Ebert's series The Great Movies and was cited by Panorama du Film Noir Américain as the first major film noir. > > > > > > [Wikipedia on the film](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maltese_Falcon_(1941_film)) > > [Free .pdf of the novel by Dashiell Hammet](https://pdfhost.io/v/T9K7GC2br_The_Maltese_Falcon)
Movies and TV Shows
Howl's Moving Castle - 2004 - by Hayao Miyazaki, based on the 1986 novel by Diana Wynne Jones.
arotrios
1 year ago
•
100%
I agree. I'm probably gonna post this to the !13thFloor@kbin.social with more of a synopsis another night, but here's an early screening for you.
Movies and TV Shows
Space Ghost Coast to Coast - Episode 2 - Gillian - Interviews with the cast of Gilligan's Island
arotrios
1 year ago
•
100%
Wut?
The internet archive lit the fire, or whomever posted the video collection did. I just found the smoke, and invited y'all around the campfire. There's no need get snippy, Zorak.
www.youtube.com
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/371219 > > > > > > If the lions want war we gon' fight 'em till the battle ends > > Арслан ирвээс алалдан уралдъя > > If the tigers come running we gon' fight 'em to the bloody end > > Барс ирвээс байлдан уралдъя > > When the elephants come they gon' bow to my brethren > > Заан ирвээс жанчилдан уралдъя > > Lock 'em in a cage, parade them to the lion's den > > Хүн ирвээс хүчилдэн уралдъя > > > > > > > > Арслан ирвээс алалдан уралдъя > > Барс ирвээс байлдан уралдъя > > Заан ирвээс жанчилдан уралдъя > > Хүн ирвээс хүчилдэн уралдъя > > > > > > > > I breathe fire like a dragon killing demons > > Imma go hard, yeah we gonna seize the day > > Hellfire, rain it down upon my people > > If ya gonna bring the evil we could bury it today > > > > > > > > We all been lost, we all been called > > Everyone rise to a brethren code > > We got your back, we all been low > > Let's all rise to the brethren code > > > > > > > > We all been lost, we all been called > > Everyone rise to a brethren code > > We got your back, we all been low > > Let's all rise to the brethren code > > > > > > > > Өдөөд ирвээс өрсөлдөн тэмцэе > > > > > > > > Аравт болон аянгалан ниргэе > > Зуут болон зүрхэнд нь ниргэе > > Мянгат болон мөргөлдөн ниргэе > > Түмт болон тэнгэрээр ниргэе > > > > > > > > Үерлэн ирвээс үхэлдэн үзэлцье > > Нөмрөн ирвээс нүдэлдэн уралдъя > > Нисэлдэн ирвээс харвалдан унагъя > > Цахилан ирвээс цавчилдан тэмцье > > > > > > > > We all been lost, we all been called > > Everyone rise to a brethren code > > We got your back, we all been low > > Let's all rise to the brethren code > > > > > > > > Шонхорын хурдаар хурцлан давшъя > > Чонын зоригоор асан дүрэлзэье > > Тэнхээт морьдын туурайгаар нүргэе > > Тамгат Чингисийн ухаанаар даръя > > > > > > > > We all been lost, we all been called > > Everyone rise to a brethren code > > We got your back, we all been low > > Let's all rise to the brethren code > > > > > > > > Let's all rise > > To the brethren code > > Let's all rise > > > > > > [Wikipedia on the HU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hu) > > > --- > > So, pro-tip, when a group of throat singing Mongolian bikers show up, just after you've opened a gate to a haunted hotel's hedge maze, and demand to play the tea room so they can meet Babymetal while they setup a tribal ritual to drive away the restless dead... > > ...you say yes. > > Thanks to [@Penguincoder](https://beehaw.org/u/Penguincoder) for sending us the unexpected assistance. I don't foresee Jack Torrance causing any shit while they're around.
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/429137 > > > > > > Shadow libraries, sometimes called pirate libraries, consist of texts aggregated outside the legal framework of copyright. > > > > > > > > Today's pirate libraries have their roots in the work of Russian academics to digitize texts in the 1990s. Scholars in that part of the world had long had a thriving practice of passing literature and scientific information underground, in opposition to government censorship—part of the samizdat culture, in which banned documents were copied and passed hand to hand through illicit channels. Those first digital collections were passed freely around, but when their creators started running into problems with copyright, their collections “retreated from the public view," writes Balázs Bodó, a piracy researcher based at the University of Amsterdam. "The text collections were far too valuable to simply delete," he writes, and instead migrated to "closed, membership-only FTP servers." > > > > > > > > More recently, though, those collections have moved online, where they are available to anyone who knows where to look. > > > > > > > > The purpose of this site, then, is to have all these libraries at our fingertips when in need of a certain text or book. > > > > > > > > As Aaron Swartz put it: > > > > > > > > "Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves." > > > > > > > > We need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world. We need to take stuff that's out of copyright and add it to the archive. We need to buy secret databases and put them on the Web. We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file sharing networks. We need to fight for Guerilla Open Access. > > > > > > > > With enough of us, around the world, we'll not just send a strong message opposing the privatization of knowledge — we'll make it a thing of the past. Will you join us? > > > > > > > > Read the full text of the [Guerilla Open Access Manifesto](https://archive.org/stream/GuerillaOpenAccessManifesto/Goamjuly2008_djvu.txt) > > > >
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/442703 > > > > > > Howl's Moving Castle (Japanese: ハウルの動く城, Hepburn: Hauru no Ugoku Shiro) is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is loosely based on the 1986 novel of the same name by British author Diana Wynne Jones. The film was produced by Toshio Suzuki, animated by Studio Ghibli and distributed by Toho. The Japanese voice cast featured Chieko Baisho and Takuya Kimura, while the English dub version starred Jean Simmons, Emily Mortimer, Lauren Bacall, Christian Bale, Josh Hutcherson and Billy Crystal. The film is set in a fictional kingdom where both magic and early twentieth-century technology are prevalent, against the backdrop of a war with another kingdom. It tells the story of Sophie, a young milliner who is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king. > > > > > > > > Influenced by Miyazaki's opposition to the United States' invasion of Iraq in 2003, the film contains strong anti-war themes. Miyazaki stated that he "had a great deal of rage" about the Iraq war, which led him to make a film which he felt would be poorly received in the United States.[1] It also explores the theme of old age, depicting age positively as something which grants the protagonist freedom. The film contains feminist elements as well, and carries messages about the value of compassion. In 2013, Miyazaki said Howl's Moving Castle was his favorite creation, explaining, "I wanted to convey the message that life is worth living, and I don't think that's changed." The film is significantly thematically different from the novel; while the novel focuses on challenging class and gender norms, the film focuses on love, personal loyalty and the destructive effects of war. > > > > > > > > Howl's Moving Castle premiered at the 61st Venice International Film Festival on 5 September 2004, and was theatrically released in Japan on 20 November 2004. It went on to gross $190 million in Japan and $236 million worldwide, making it one of the most commercially successful Japanese films in history. The film received critical acclaim, with particular praise toward its visuals and Miyazaki's presentation of the themes. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 78th Academy Awards, but lost to Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It won several other awards, including four Tokyo Anime Awards and a Nebula Award for Best Script. > > > > > > [Wikipedia on the film](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howl%27s_Moving_Castle_(film)) > > --- > > The Book: > > [Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones - full book- free .pdf download](https://yes-pdf.com/electronic-book/3539) > > > > > > > Howl's Moving Castle is a fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, first published in 1986 by Greenwillow Books of New York. It was a runner-up for the annual Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and won the Phoenix Award twenty years later. It was adapted into a critically acclaimed 2004 animated film of the same name, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. > > > > > > > > Howl's Moving Castle is the first novel in the series of books called the Howl Series. This series also includes Castle in the Air, published in 1990, and House of Many Ways, published in 2008. WorldCat reports that Howl's Moving Castle is the author's work most widely held in participating libraries, followed by its first sequel Castle in the Air. > > > > > > > > For the idea Jones "very much" thanked "a boy in a school I was visiting", whose name she had noted but lost and forgot. He had "asked me to write a book titled The Moving Castle." > > > > > > [Wikipedia on the Book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howl%27s_Moving_Castle)
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/443578 > > > > > > MANY YEARS LATER as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. At that time Macondo was a village of twenty adobe houses, built on the bank of a river of clear water that ran along a bed of polished stones, which were white and enormous, like prehistoric eggs. The world was so recent that many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point. Every year during the month of March a family of ragged gypsies would set up their tents near the village, and with a great uproar of pipes and kettledrums they would display new inventions. First they brought the magnet. A heavy gypsy with an untamed beard and sparrow hands, who introduced himself as Melquíades, put on a bold public demonstration of what he himself called the eighth wonder of the learned alchemists of Macedonia. He went from house to house dragging two metal ingots and everybody was amazed to see pots, pans, tongs, and braziers tumble down from their places and beams creak from the desperation of nails and screws trying to emerge, and even objects that had been lost for a long time appeared from where they had been searched for most and went dragging along in turbulent confusion behind Melquíades’ magical irons. “Things have a life of their own,” the gypsy proclaimed with a harsh accent. “It’s simply a matter of waking up their souls.” José Arcadio Buendía, whose unbridled imagination always went beyond the genius of nature and even beyond miracles and magic, thought that it would be possible to make use of that useless invention to extract gold from the bowels of the earth. Melquíades, who was an honest man, warned him: “It won’t work for that.” But José Arcadio Buendía at that time did not believe in the honesty of gypsies, so he traded his mule and a pair of goats for the two magnetized ingots. Úrsula Iguarán, his wife, who relied on those animals to increase their poor domestic holdings, was unable to dissuade him. “Very soon well have gold enough and more to pave the floors of the house,” her husband replied. For several months he worked hard to demonstrate the truth of his idea. He explored every inch of the region, even the riverbed, dragging the two iron ingots along and reciting Melquíades’ incantation aloud. The only thing he succeeded in doing was to unearth a suit of fifteenth-century armor which had all of its pieces soldered together with rust and inside of which there was the hollow resonance of an enormous stone-filled gourd. When José Arcadio Buendía and the four men of his expedition managed to take the armor apart, they found inside a calcified skeleton with a copper locket containing a woman’s hair around its neck... > > > > > > --- > > > > > > > One Hundred Years of Solitude (Spanish: Cien años de soledad, American Spanish: [sjen ˈaɲos ðe soleˈðað]) is a 1967 novel by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez that tells the multi-generational story of the Buendía family, whose patriarch, José Arcadio Buendía, founded the fictitious town of Macondo. The novel is often cited as one of the supreme achievements in world literature. > > > > > > > > The magical realist style and thematic substance of One Hundred Years of Solitude established it as an important representative novel of the literary Latin American Boom of the 1960s and 1970s, which was stylistically influenced by Modernism (European and North American) and the Cuban Vanguardia (Avant-Garde) literary movement. > > > > > > > > Since it was first published in May 1967 in Buenos Aires by Editorial Sudamericana, One Hundred Years of Solitude has been translated into 46 languages and sold more than 50 million copies. The novel, considered García Márquez's magnum opus, remains widely acclaimed and is recognized as one of the most significant works both in the Hispanic literary canon and in world literature. > > > > > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hundred_Years_of_Solitude)
Movies and TV Shows
Space Ghost Coast to Coast - Episode 2 - Gillian - Interviews with the cast of Gilligan's Island
arotrios
1 year ago
•
100%
Shhhhh.... the corpodrones will hear you. They haven't relinquished the copyright - they've been hunting Space Ghost to extinction everywhere on the internet.
Seriously though, licensing and an aggressive anti-piracy campaign have pretty much wiped Space Ghost from most places online, and the daft motherfucker is a cultural icon. So it sure sure is great that the Internet Archive, knowing it's days were numbered, absolutely doesn't have a full download link for all the episodes in the lower right hand panel so you glorious bastards can do what you do best and make sure it doesn't get locked away behind a corporate paywall or vault for the next 30 years... because that would be illegal and wrong and cost a couple of pennies to the assholes who have every writer in Hollywood out on the street striking.
In fact, I'd say recent developments towards the centralization, sterilization and capitalization of our culture have become so extreme that subversive action is not just justified, but inevitable at this point.
In other words, surf's up, mateys! Time to ride the waves and sail the high seas again... Space Ghost needs our help!
guitars
arotrios
1 year ago
•
100%
Just my personal preference, but graduating from a Fender Squier to an Ibanez RG-170 (that I picked up in a garage sale for $80!) was the best thing I ever did for myself as a guitarist. The action is smooth to the point where you can play slide barehanded, and the expanded neck makes a huge difference in your range. If nothing else, give one a play while you're in the shop - effing beautiful guitars.