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Classical Pieces You've Probably Heard but Might Not Remember the Name

William Tell Overture- Rossini (Most famous part at 8:45, but why not listen to the whole thing?)

Also Sprach Zarathustra- Strauss

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik- Mozart

Symphony 94, Mvt. 2 “Surprise Symphony”- Haydn 

Toccata and Fugue in d Minor-Bach

Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2- Chopin

Rondo alla Turca- Mozart

Sinfonie de Fanfares: Rondeau- Jean-Joseph Mouret

The Four Seasons: Spring- Vivaldi (I just linked to the whole thing because it’s great)

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring- Bach

O Fortuna (from Carmina Burana)- Carl Orff

Funeral March- Chopin

Orpheus in the Underworld: Infernal Galop (A.K.A. Can Can)- Offenbach

Pomp and Circumstance (You probably graduated to this)- Elgar

Gayane: Sabre Dance- Aram Khachaturian

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Wedding March- Mendelssohn

Carmen: Les Toreadors- Bizet

The Ride of the Valkyries- Wagner

Für Elise- Beethoven

Dance of the Hours- Ponchielli

Rigotello: La Donna e Mobile- Verdi

Night on Bald Mountain- Mussorgsky

Romeo and Juliet: Love Theme- Tchaikovsky

Entry of the Gladiators- Julius Fucik

Lakmé: Flower Duet- Delibes

Peer Gynt: In the Hall of the Mountain King- Greig

Rodeo: Hoedown- Copland

Peer Gynt: Morning Mood- Greig

New World Symphony Mov. [2][4]- Dvorak

Ave Maria (You knew this, but did you know that it was by Schubert?)

Canon in D- Pachelbel

Add others if you want! Have fun!

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Journalists interrupt and berate Blinken on Gaza policy.

Several journalists who are outspoken critics of US support for Israel loudly lambasted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the war on Gaza on Thursday, repeatedly interrupting his final press conference as he sought to defend his handling of the 15-month-old war.

“Criminal! Why aren’t you in The Hague,” shouted Sam Husseini, an independent journalist and longtime critic of Washington’s approach to the world, before being physically dragged outside of the briefing room.

“Why did you keep the bombs flowing when we had a deal in May?” Max Blumenthal, editor of the Grayzone, an outlet that strongly criticizes many aspects of US foreign policy, called out to Blinken before being escorted out.

(source)

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introducing my four year old niece to the concept of "moral dilemmas" by telling her that i'm a monster that eats children and that i know it's wrong but i'm so so so hungry and everything else tastes yucky. i've tried all the human food in the world and it all tastes so yucky i can't even eat it. i can only eat children and i'm so hungry

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Les premières lignes de votre lettre m'ont donné le frisson. Il n'y a pas dix personnes en France – non certes, il n'y en a pas dix – au sujet desquelles j'en pourrais dire autant.

– Charles Baudelaire, à son ami Édouard Manet

[tr.] The first lines of your letter gave me the chills. There are not ten people in France – no, certainly not ten – to whom I could say as much.

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Metropolis (1927) dir. Fritz Lang Blade Runner (1982) dir. Ridley Scott

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Crow and Spider by Ohara Koson (Early 20th Century)

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Rewatching "oldies"

I couple weeks ago I started to watch, or play anime in the background while I was eating lunch or something, in a way to just listen to something without putting that much attention and exclusively shows that I already watched before, but that aren't from a couple of years ago.

Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend (冴えない彼女（ヒロイン）の育てかた) [Saenai Hiroin no Sodatekata).

Not watching the special (episode 00 with only a little introduction of each of the main girls and a lot of fan-service) I jumped directly into the first episode, reminding myself of a lot of stuff that you tend to forget after a certain time has passed since watching something, and welcoming with a smile every one of the characters, the tsundere Eriri, the needy dere Utaha, black hole dense Tomoya and Megumi Kato. At least for the first 5 episodes I really missed a lot of the meta jokes about the Light Novels, Visual Novels, Manga, Anime and video game tropes that Tomoya recognize, uses and signals every time he sees in others (but never on himself when not talking with Kato).

Every character has it's charms, even if they're the tropes themselves. I think this is because they are adequately written and the author (anime writers?) are using correctly the tropes and in good quantity. The fact that each heroine is really cute, the voice actresses do amazingly their job and you get immersed in the plot really fast and with the same zest as the main character, Tomoya.

Certain plot points are crucial and interesting, as you can see a lot of problems that come with manga or anime projects (like in "Genshiken" and "Shirobako" respectively) but in this instance it's about a bishoujo game (gal game) and the personal relationship of each of the characters, the hardships of the teenage years and their not-so-reflected and over-reflected feelings with other people.

When I finish it (again, the first season) I'll update this.

But, as Kasumigaoka Utaha said in episode 3: "The instant the main heroine came on board, the battle was over", probably referring to both the fact that she and Eriri were fated to get involved in Tomoya's project and recognizing Kato was, in fact, the main heroine and girl choosen by Tomoya, for both his project and his partner (in crime?).

01/09/2024

Eriri’s reactions in episode 5 are fun and cute, as Utaha’s, when Aki asks about the date. 

In the 6th episode, Utaha reactions when her editor leaves her in the hotel with Tomoya is such a fresh side of her personality, how she puts a mask in front of Tomoya and when he’s not around, she acts totally different, showing her innocence as a teenager (isn’t she like 18y.o.? Not that it’s incorrect to show her like that because of her age). She totally acts the way she does because it’s him that she has in front of her.

09/09/2024

The second half of the first season is fun, because Eriri and Tomoya collide when she believes that Tomoya has to like her art more than Izumi’s and he dumps the trauma of being left alone in primary school because he didn’t want to deny his hobby (otaku stuff and otome games), after the challenge is accepted, Eriri and Tomoya go back to being friends with the added tone of she trying to convince him that her art is superior than Izumi.

Michiru makes an entrance, after Kato doing the “lucky perv” dialogue totally not foreshadowing what will happen less than 5 minutes later. She totally disregards otaku culture because she feels it’s something far from her, even with Tomoya at her side since birth. She is a little upfront against Tomoya’s hobbies and likes, tempting him with “meeting girls that have a low bar to begin with”. The little comments about Michiru being Tomoya’s first childhood friend and Eriri’s reactions are cute and fun but I know they sting deep in her heart, till Michiru starts to tell good and fun anecdotes of Tomoya and her. All the reactions the girls have interacting with Michiru are cute.

What I can’t seem to understand is the fact that Tomoya listened to her songs without realizing they are “anisongs” but Kato detects it somewhat fast. “Because he’s accustomed to anisongs is that he didn’t detect it” he says, I mean, if you get to listen to her music and feel nostalgic about it, it’s because, probably, you’ve listened to it already. Or just the vibes. I guess Kato knew it was anisong because the “pop music” that she said it’s didn’t sound like something that she listens to.

The concert part was cute, and a lot of the future foreshadowing that they make in the form of, 1) “Blessing Software”, Utaha says correctly that Megumi「恵み」is translated into english as “blessing”, Taking Eriri, Tomoya and Kato by surprise. I think this coincidence is something that Tomoya just, at this point, isn’t aware about his feelings, obviously for the sake of the game. 2) Icy Tail 「アイシー・テール」being a pun of 「愛してる」and shouting it at the end of the performance to Tomoya immediately followed by Utaha and Eriri kicking him “without apparent reason”. 

12/09/2024

The second season was impactful at its own pace, with the winter comiket not being the last part, and the drama with Megumi being more present. The little perks and details in Megumi’s behaviour were the cherry on top. The fact that Eriri got stuck in a slump that only a real challenge (and her skills could be imitated) as part of the drama was good. A lot of works (manga and anime) speak about the difficulties of being a creator, but every one of them processes the solution in its own way.

After a lot of praise of their works, Utaha and Eriri were convinced their skills were great, but the reality was harsher outside their little bubble. They have their audience and not always are more or less critical of their favourite content creator, because a lot of fans put them on pedestals and try to pulverise them when their work isn’t of their liking. Something that’s totally on the subjective side. They needed to get out of their bubble. Better sooner than later in their career.

Tomoya learned that liking them as friends and content creators was too a way to show them that they could get better, if not with his direction, with someone else’s. He really liked them, in his own way, in 2 of 3 ways (the last one being the preferred of both of them).

Meguri chose to not comfort Tomoya at its lowest, when he, finally, decided to continue the circle even without Utaha and Eriri. She knew what could happen and chose to wait. She’s cute. Even when she was mad about Tomoya not putting her on the know about Eriri and other stuff, they were supposed to be part of a team, and he just tried, without realising it, to be the Main Character. Took him 2 months to speak clearly with Megumi, and her long long rant that even she went so far as to do it while bathing in his house and on the phone with him. She was right, she’s a woman, a girl, his main heroine, why didn't it occur to him that she has feelings? He’s totally oblivious about the 3D world even knowing that 2D and 3D can’t be mixed, he should know where the wisdom, knowledge and experiences from 2D come from. Maybe not as dense as a neutron star but he should know. Even if you blame his stupidity or not-so-thought actions on his youth, there’s a limit for that, dude, we’re rational animals, use your fucking head for a moment.

The date was something that I didn’t remember and took me for a surprise (lmao) it was cute and a way for both of them to distract themselves from their comrades leaving the circle. Megumi is the cutest. She’s totally a new trope, I can see it. How she smiled when Tomoya gave her a new hat, how she understood the lack of fashion sense from Tomoya (who could’ve totally just said which outfit he liked and she would’ve bought it without hesitation) and proceeded to just show him both of them behind scenes.

The Shinkansen scene was fun, both of Utaha and Eriri being cute trying to comprehend Tomoya’s actions, arguing and ending it with a kiss and the shinkansen leaving without any of them realising it. Also the “see my new glasses” scene, I thought the first time that Megumi was shocked about Tomoya using her first name but instead she was trying to hold her laughter realising that Tomoya’s glasses weren’t fit for him (for some reason or another).

Izumi’s debut in their school (and I guess as part of his circle) and Michiru, Utaha and Eriri fighting in the background of the scene.

I can’t wait to watch the movie, maybe this next weekend.

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When Everything Everywhere All at Once said “The only thing I do know is that we have to be kind. Please, be kind, especially when we don’t know what’s going on" 

When the Good Place said "Why choose to be good every day when there is no guaranteed reward now or in the afterlife… I argue that we choose to be good because of our bonds with other people and our innate desire to treat them with dignity. Simply put, we are not in this alone.” 

When Jean-Paul Sartre said ”‘Hell is other people’ is only one side of the coin. The other side, which no one seems to mention, is also 'Heaven is each other’. Hell is separateness, uncommunicability, self-centeredness, lust for power, for riches, for fame. Heaven on the other hand is very simple, and very hard: caring about your fellow beings.“

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A lighthouse in Michigan, before and after major ice storm

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girl are you the enigma of amigara fault because that h

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Happy Pride 🧡💛💚💙💜

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Happy Pride 🧡💛💚💙💜

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helen “trans people are perpetuating gender steriotypes” joyce is now upset that the scientific american is writing about how women were hunters too back in the day, not just mothers and caretakers. feminist win!

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All 12 Gundam Witch from Mercury S1 eps are available on the official Gundam YouTube channel for free!