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Said it a year ago and I’ll say it again.

Pirate all your favorite shows, movies and games while you still have the chance.

Oh, and never stop supporting physical media.

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Some magnet family

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trust in me, just in me

shut your eyes, trust in me

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oh claudia

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i dont think iwtv couldve communicated the utter horror of claudia's situation better than in that scene of her being dragged on the floor by louis. its genuinely frightening to watch. it really hammers home the emotional horror that exists in louis and lestats relationship - revealing the depth of louis despair, so awful that it would make him do something like that, beg the way he did. lestats own strange panic, unsettling. and the plain, unobscured, violent horror of claudia's burned body being pulled around like a doll, never to have autonomy ever again. its not romantic, not from any point of view, not anymore. it is just horror.

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Did you hear about that, mother?

Broke her daughter's legs in two

And said it's too dangerous out there to walk

So

I had to save you

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Since my big Languages and Linguistics MEGA folder post is approaching 200k notes (wow) I am celebrating with some highlights from my collection:

Africa: over 90 languages so far. The Swahili and Amharic resources are pretty decent so far and I'm constantly on the lookout for more languages and more resources.

The Americas: over 100 languages of North America and over 80 languages of Central and South America and the Caribbean. Check out the different varieties for Quechua and my Navajo followers are invited to check out the selection of Navajo books, some of which are apparently rare to come by in print.

Ancient and Medieval Languages: "only" 18 languages so far but I'm pretty pleased with the selection of Latin and Old/Middle English books.

Asia: over 130 languages and I want to highlight the diversity of 16 Arabic dialects covered.

Australia: over 40 languages so far.

Constructed Languages: over a dozen languages, including Hamlet in the original Klingon.

Creoles: two dozen languages and some materials on creole linguistics.

Europe: over 60 languages. I want to highlight the generous donations I have received, including but not limited to Aragonese, Catalan, Occitan and 6 Sámi languages. I also want to highlight the Spanish literature section and a growing collection of World Englishes.

Eurasia: over 25 languages that were classified as Eurasian to avoid discussions whether they belong in Europe or Asia. If you can't find a language in either folder it might be there.

History, Culture, Science etc: Everything not language related but interesting, including a collection of "very short introductions", a growing collection of queer and gender studies books, a lot on horror and monsters, a varied history section (with a hidden compartment of the Aubreyad books ssshhhh), and small collections from everything like ethnobotany to travel guides.

Jewish Languages: 8 languages, a pretty extensive selection of Yiddish textbooks, grammars, dictionaries and literature, as well as several books on Jewish religion, culture and history.

Linguistics: 15 folders and a little bit of everything, including pop linguistics for people who want to get started. You can also find a lot of the books I used during my linguistics degree in several folders, especially the sociolinguistics one.

Literature: I have a collection of classic and modern classic literature, poetry and short stories, with a focus on the over 140 poetry collections from around the world so far.

Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia: over 40 languages and I want to highlight the collection for Māori, Cook Islands Māori and Moriori.

Programming Languages: Not often included in these lists but I got some for you (roughly 5)

Sign Languages: over 30 languages and books on sign language histories and Deaf cultures. I want to highlight especially the book on Martha's Vineyard Sign Language and the biography of Laura Redden Searing.

Translation Studies: Everything a translation student needs with a growing audiovisual translation collection

And the best news: the folders are still being updated regularly!

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wa Spoiler fanart?

it couldn't be

i hate the pose and anatomy so much but by the time i realized it was too late to go back

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"You've changed"

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Finally unstuck myself from the breakup bench long enough to think about the rest of episode 4 and my thoughts are a bit of a jumble but I’m fascinated by the progression of Louis’ decisions here.

Let’s start with the Louvre: his instincts (vintage De Lioncourt) are actually pretty spot on. As real as Armand’s vulnerability is it *is* a case of different vampire same shit. Less overt, more manipulation than shouting and violence, but Armand is absolutely just as fucked up and toxic as Lestat in his own way. They all are, no exceptions.

Even when Armand tells him about his past the reservations are still there, expressed -albeit incoherently- through DreamStat. Louis is feeling Armand’s real pain, but he is wary.

Then we have what I’ve come to think of as the pivotal scene - the honest assessment that he can recognize a good shot but his own photography is meh. Technical and personal flaws aside (see this post for great commentary) the point is that he does not connect with humanity enough - they’re pray, not peers. He’s a vampire, a predator. Again, it’s expressed through DreamStat but this time I think it’s actually sinking in.

But what he also gets is external confirmation of Armand’s fragility. The truth of his soul.

And once he accepts that his attempt at connecting with humanity was a failure what is left for him?

Vampires. Not the coven, obviously. Not Lestat, he can’t stay forever in the past, trapped in his own mind. Armand, and companionship, and a glimpse at a chance to be happy.

He’s been attracted to Armand since the beginning. He’s been, in a way, testing him and the relationship with the secret and the refusals, the assertions of independence. And understandably Louis is focused on looking out for Lestat-like reactions. It’s pretty clear he’s still a mess, still very much feeling the consequences of his relationship with Lestat - including massive (and not unwarranted) trust issues. A relationship that’s a bit quieter, less overwhelming, less all-encompassing, that leaves him a bit more space of maneuver, independence and influence - power of his own despite the imbalance he’s acutely aware of - must look incredibly attractive.

And an external confirmation gives him, I think, a push to trust in it. An earworm.

Yet DreamStat is still whispering Louis’ own doubts, and pretty pointedly -hello, manipulative gremlin!

But wait, what about Claudia? She and Louis haven’t exactly been good at making each other happy, have they?

And here she is, barging in fuming at right the wrong time. Right when he’s making up his mind to throw his lot in with Armand, stacking shouting and raging and resentments against vulnerability, companionship and the promise of submission.

Not a terribly hard choice, is it?

He’s been ignoring red flags since arriving in Paris - first at Claudia’s urging, then to make her happy and to keep Armand. What’s one more?

And so he leaves DreamStat behind, and with him the amorphous doubts he had - including the the legitimate ones.

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i saw the tags on this post i made and i find this super interesting because i don't think the problem was actually that he just doesn't have enough light - it's a hindrance for street photography, sure, but a tripod and a shutter cable could solve that and you can take creative approaches to street photography to outweigh the lack of light. you can also shoot in well lit interiors, you can use faster lenses, faster film, etc. you could even pivot to a different type of photography. of course, as technology advances, this would become less of a problem and light is important in photography, but that's solvable. people have made and continue to make great photography in the dark. the pictures that turn out to not be taken by louis are mostly taken at night or inside.

partly, it's down to louis. as dreamstat says, louis is impatient and doesn't take the proper care, e.g. by cleaning his lens, framing his shot with care, taking enough film, or sticking around to try out different compositions in different conditions.

but this is something that he could train himself to do. the real problem (as the dealer points out) is that the compositions do not say much. louis doesn't have "the eye." the photograph they discuss is not good because it was shot in daylight, it's because it tells a story, there is depth to the image, the subjects are framed in a way that it lets you interpret the meaning. it's human.

however, it also goes deeper than that. louis cannot connect with humans to properly picture them or tell their stories because he's a vampire, and therefore there is no relationship that goes beyond predator and prey anymore. he is separated from humanity at this point, even if he doesn't want to realize it. he cannot (and does not) want to stick around to get to know humans, make a connection with them. he finds the idea of doing that preposterous and impossible - they're sustenance and not interesting enough for him to actually invest time and interest in them. i think he likes to think that he is interested in humanity, and that's why he tries to capture them on film, but really, the gap between him and them is too big at this point.

and then there's this excellent point that @feedingicetothedog made in this post. vampires are mimics but they cannot create. louis can recognize the story when it's in front of him in form of a picture, but he cannot recreate it in his own photography because he's no longer human.

so i don't think that, no matter the technology, louis will ever be the type of photographer he wants to be, the one that captures people and human life, its essence and its complexities and its emotions. he's not capable of that anymore because he's a vampire.

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read it and weep

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„but in answer to your question. yes. i’m gonna bloody kill you”

„if you are alive you’d have done it already”

prints + merch + dm for commission info

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michael shelley I would die for you

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WHY. does the book say twink on it. hello. am i reading this right

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Statement begins

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Favorite Nucleonics illustrations