hyperpotamianarch

[hyperpotamianarch]

מצע מפלגת "נמאס לי מהכל"

(מאת הארכיבאי העברי, שחושב שזו הייתה טעות לתרגם את השם שלו.)

א. המטרה של המפלגה הזאת היא להיות הצבעת מחאה, כי פתק לבן לא שווה כלום בימינו. נכון, גם מפלגה שלא עוברת את אחוז החסימה לא שווה כלום; אבל בניגוד לפתק לבן, אם היא תקבל מספיק קולות היא יכולה לעשות משהו.

ב. היה והמפלגה עברה את אחוז החסימה (איכשהו), זה אמור לומר לפוליטיקאים שכרגע בשלטון שלמספיק אנדים נמאס מהם כדי להכניס מפלגה עם מצע מטומטם כזה לכנסת. זו אזהרה ראשונה: אם זה קורה, זה אמור להיות סימן לכל המפלגות הגדולות שהן צריכות לחשב מסלול מחדש ולחשוב אולי על מה המצביעים שלהן רוצים. במקום, אתם יודעים, להפריח הבטחות באוויר בלי באמת לקיים אותן - מה שכולל להבטיח הבטחות שאתם לא יכולים לקיים.

ג. המפלגה, מעצם טבעה, לא יכולה להיות מזוהה עם אף צד פוליטי שהוא. כיוון שכך, היה והבלתי אפשרי קרה והיא עברה את אחוז החסימה - נוהל ההצבעה על כל חוק שהוא, כולל תקציב, ממשלה, כל דבר שיעלה על דעתך, נתון למשאל של חבר המצביעים וחברי המפלגה. לא שיש לי מושג איך אני מנהל את זה (בחירות חשאיות זו זכות שמוקנית אוטומטית לאזרח, וחברי מפלגה זה האלה ששילמו כדי לקבל קול בנהלים הפנימיים של המפלגה, אז זה לא ממש עובד), אבל ברמת העיקרון אין למפלגה קו פוליטי בכלל. חברי כנסת מטעם המפלגה יצביעו על פי התפלגות קולות חברי המפלגה. כלומר, המפלגה גם לא מדברת בקול אחד - כתלות בכמה גרוע המצב, חברי הכנסת מטעם המפלגה יוכלו לייצג ביתר נאמנות את התפלגות דעות המצביעים. כן, זה אומר שאם נבחרת כאחד/ת מחברי הכנסת מטעם המפלגה ייתכן שקולך יינתן לדברים שאינך מסכים איתם. היה ונגיע למצב כזה, נשתדל לחלק את הקולות לפי האמונות של חברי הכנסת שנכנסו - אבל לא בהכרח תהיה לנו פריבילגיה כזאת.

ד. המפלגה לא אמורה אי פעם להיכנס לקואליציה או לממשלה. מעצם טבעה, היא לא יכולה לכפות משמעת קואליציונית. יש סיכוי שזה מפר איזשהם חוקים שלא ידעתי עליהם לגבי מפלגות לכנסת, אין לי מושג. במצב התיאורטי שאיכשהו המפלגה תגיע להיות בראשות הממשלה (עם כל האי סבירויות בדרך זה לעולם לא יקרה, אבל ליתר ביטחון) - הנוהל יהיה לערוך משאל עם על הכל. פרקטי? ממש לא. אבל זו לא המטרה של המפלגה הזאת להיות פרקטית כרגע.

זו טיוטה ראשונית של המצע. העיקרון הבסיסי הוא: זו הצבעת מחאה, ואנחנו מנסים לייצג ישירות את הבוחרים שלנו. אין שום הבטחה על פרקטיות או הצלחה. התקווה העיקרית היא שאם זה יגיע לאנשהו אנשים במדינה יתחילו לעשות חושבים. זה הגיוני? ממש לא, זו "מחאה" כללית מדי בלי מטרה ברורה מספיק. אבל קצת נמאס לי מהכל, וזה בכל מקרה לא עומד להגיע לשום מקום, אז למי אכפת שאכתוב שטויות כאלה.

[hyperpotamianarch]

#מה.#תגית קודמת קודמת ->#מה???#תגית קודמת ->#מה????

אז ככה. נמר, טרף עובד, בגן החיות התנ"כי. אני די בטוח שהוא רק הרג אותו ולא אכל אותו. להבנתי ממה שאמא שלי אמרה על הנושא, הייתה פשלה בתקנות הבטיחות ולא סגרו דלת כמו שצריך.

הוא לא מת מיד, כנראה. כששמעתי על זה בפעם הראשונה ביום שישי אמרו שהוא במצב אנוש. כן, זה טיפה סוריאליסטי, אבל למרבה הצער יכול לקרות. ברוך ה', בדרך כלל עובדים בגני חיות זהירים מספיק כדי להימנע מזה, ואני בטוח שיש תחקיר ברגעים אלו לגבי מה לעזאזל קרה.

על מנת לשמח את התנא קמא של הפוסט - כנראה שאת/ה לא צריכ/ה לדאוג מפני חיות טורפות! מאוד מקפידים בגני חיות שהן לא יצאו מהכלובים, וגם הטריפה הזאת (להבנתי) לא הייתה בשבילי גן החיות. זה לא דבר חיובי, אבל למעשה הדרך העיקרית שבה אנחנו נמנעים מלהיטרף זה לא להיות בקרבת חיות טרף, ולהיות זהירים במקרה שחייבים להיות בסביבת חיות טרף. כל עוד את/ה יודע/ת לשמור על שני החוקים האלה את/ה בטוח/ה.

אני: יואו חיות טורפות זו בערך הסכנה היחידה שאין לנו, איזה מזל

חברה: היום נמר טרף עובד בגן החיות התנכי

[hyperpotamianarch]

One more thing I forgot: Howl is about 20 here, or at least in his early 20s. You can call him a kid at that age, I suppose, but it kind of seems weird to me, as a fellow man on his 20s. Howl is studying at college at this point - probably not yet on the doctoral thesis he mentions in the book, but possibly close. It just so happens that he's not necessarily all that responsible.

"JENKINS!"

Howell was panting in a corner, trying to collect his thoughts, holding his papers close to his chest. What could he ever have done to these people that they're chasing after him?

"Jenkins, when I find you, you won't have one whole bone in your body, d'you hear? I'll kill you for what you did to my sister!"

Oh, right. He broke up with Lizzy Hopkins. That's ought to be it. She was a great girl, really! But he was realizing that she wasn't really for him, and...

Well, and now he was being chased by her brother, apparently. Maybe he could've handled it more smoothly.

"You can't hide forever, brat!" The elder Hopkins shouted. Bloody hell, he was way too close to where Howell was hiding. Howell made a break for it, narrowly avoiding being caught by one of Hopkins' friends. "Hey!" The latter screamed, heading down after him.

And he just wanted to work on his next essay, Howell whined in his head. He was pouring over some weird medieval texts that seemed to be about a portal-opening spell. It was just his speciality! If he could just-

Another one of Hopkins' friends emerged from an alley to his right, so he dashed to the left. Hopkins seemed to have many friends for such an angry man - though considering the circumstances, maybe that wasn't the right time to judge. Howell looked back-

And run directly into Hopkins himself. Oops. Hopkins cracked his knuckles, a furious look on his face. Howell took a couple of steps backward. He turned around, but Hopkins grabbed his coat. "That'll teach you to treat my sister with respect!"

Howell quickly removed the coat and tried to run away, but Hopkins' friends were blocking the way. There was one door in the alley, but it was locked. Howell panicked. Hopkins was approaching, and he really didn't like the look on his face. He could maybe beat him alone, but he didn't really like confrontations like that - plus Hopkins had friends with him who were just as strong. He looked desperately at the photocopies of the ancient spell he held, wishing that they were real and could actually send him somewhere else.

He struggled again with the door handle. To his absolute surprise, and the surprise of the bullies after him, the door actually opened this time. He fell through it, then closed it quickly behind him and looked around. Then he shook his head in disbelief.

Wherever he was, it was not Swansea anymore.

***

First attempt at a Howl's Moving Castle fanfic, feedback appreciated.

[hyperpotamianarch]

All right. I'm going to supply my book-based answers - but I fully intend to be transparent with how much it relates to the movie based on the changes:

It's not completely clear where fire demons are prior to falling and where their names come from in the book. This particular explanation can only fit with the movie-lore because that whole scene is uniquely from the movie - headcanon it if you want, there's no clear indication one way or the other.

In the book it's unlikely to be the case from a number of reasons, but I just listened to the Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones episode on it and am left a bit confused. Anyway, Calcifer doesn't let people cook on him because he doesn't want to, not because it can hurt Howl's heart; and Howl is perfectly capable of not immediately sensing something is wrong with Calcifer, which isn't even the case with cooking. IIRC, Howl just happens to come back in in the morning and Sophie doesn't notice him because she's busy frying bacon. Correlation, not causation. He also doesn't come from the black handle, but more on that later.

We are talking about Howl eating the entire movie? Because they do move the castle, but this has nothing to do with Howl's eating habits. Is that something that's remarked upon in the movie, or did you just notice we didn't see him eat that many times? Because if the latter, it's probably nothing. If the former, well, IDK. Beauty standards in western men aren't that focused on being thin that much, but the movie isn't western. Could be either, but it's more like Howl to be worried about his looks.

That's a difference between the book and the movie, because in the book the curse wasn't lifted in any way until the very end. However, it is made clear in the book that Sophie is kind of holding onto the curse - various talented magicians tried ridding her of it, but she kept it because of the freedom being old gave her, or because she was afraid of her old life, or... it's not exactly her being self conscious. This movie bit might be Miazaki's take on this concept - maybe Howl removed her curse at the time, and that's why her age fluctuates - because it depends on her self perception. If that's the case, then it is because she's not self-conscious when she's asleep.

Honestly don't remember - is that the first Howl and Sophie meeting or another occasion? Anyway, the Witch's henchmen in the book barely appear, though I suppose they're kind of similar in nature to what's going on in the movie with the tiny bit they do appear.

That's a funny one, because the answer is usually "no one, he's the one doing the dumping" in the book, but the one person who possibly did actually dump him was Sophie's sister, Lettie. No, not the one working at the bakery, that's another Lettie. The movie removed the whole family plot, which is kind of a shame. Either way, there could be a number of reasons to dump Howl. I wouldn't know, I'm not attracted to men.

The books timeframe is surprisingly clear - Howl and Sophie's first meeting in the festival is during Mayday, though her meeting Howl is way shorter and less consequential in the book. The book ends on midsummer day. That's May 1st to June 24th, nearly 8 weeks (ignoring the unclear amount of time at the start). The movie changed a lot, so there's no clear indication if this is still the same timeframe, but this is a good starting basis.

The Ween questions are movie specific, because he's not in the book, not really. There is a dog in the book who lives in the castle, but his story is completely different. Part of it is that Madame Sulliman is actually a merging of two different characters: Mrs Pentstemmon, who is Howl's elderly teacher who lives in Kingsbury, and Wizard Sulliman, who is the royal wizard who went to attack the Witch of the Waste after she threatened the princess and was abducted by her. The dog in the book was composed of parts from Sulliman and parts of his friend (though fans interpret it as more than that), prince Justin - the king's brother. Suffice it to say, he doesn't spy on Howl. Or, well, he was sent there by someone completely different from those two people - Sophie's sister Lettie. That's a complicated story. Also, the war is not really much of a thing in the book. More to the point, though, I don't remember the movie, but maybe he expected Sophie to lead him back to Howl?

I don't know. Let the animators have their fun. Maybe there are dogs with that kind of feet.

I do actually have some ideas on that that are movie based (though related to one of the character Madame Sulliman grew put of): I think the show was there for Sophie's sake, so that she'll learn what Howl really is (at least the way Sulliman sees it). I really don't remember if it was indicated, but I think it works with the movie? Also, didn't we cut at some point with the Witch of the Waste? My impression was that she totally went through the same deal, just offscreen. Anyway, the idea that Madame Sulliman tried to show Howl's nature to Sophie comes from Mrs. Pentstemmon, who tells Sophie she needs to break Howl's contract with Calcifer. Which Sophie was already trying to do because Calcifer himself asked her to, but that's another point.

That one is so right on the money that I feel obligated to attach the equivalent book quote:

(ID in alt text, only of relevant parts which start on the second paragraph.) So yes. The inside is the Porthaven house, which is relevant because the original castle is actually a castle - no chicken feet and whatever the mess of a building it seemed to be in the movie. But its inside it's a very simple, very small house. All the windows but one are also open to Porthaven only, which becomes inconvenient when something starts chasing after the moving castle. Calcifer can sense flesh and blood there, but... well, it's the scarecrow. Who's a completely different thing in the book as well - Sophie is terrified from it and thinks it belongs to the Witch of the Waste, but it actually belongs to the disappeared wizard Sulliman. Long story. Anyway, when they move to Market Chipping the houses fit themselves together, and in the process Sophie's old room gets blocked. But she doesn't actually mind, because she wasn't interested in getting back to it.

12. Honestly no idea. Sophie gets to sew stuff in the book - mostly Michael's socks, I think, but Howl's suit as well at least once. Some clothes of her own as well. It's mostly just something she's really good at, so it's possible Howl bought them like that intentionally, or she just sews them for fun - I don't remember the movie well enough to answer.

13. Weren't they under some degree of pressure or something? This is movie specific, but I think they were pressed for time at the point. Hair isn't that bad to lose - it's not your heart, and there wasn't much time to argue IIRC.

14. Well, here we get to a major book vs movie difference. In the book, the black door consistently leads to a particular place (which I won't spoil, because it's kind of a fun twist). Thus place is also related to the curse the Witch of the Waste placed on Howl - the curse has a very specific text, and it comes from beyond the black door. Part of this text refers to finding where past years are. Howl claims to know already where they are - he says he could go back in time to become the bad fairy in his own christening if he wanted - but it's never actually shown in the book. I took the movie scene with Sophie to be about that, though I think the black door was used more generally in the movie. Doesn't Howl go back through it when he returns to the house as a bird after fighting? So I'm not sure what it means. I think it's mostly the past, though.

15. Don't know, don't remember the scene - maybe being with Sophie and running out of power turned him back or something? I need to rewatch the movie. The book doesn't have Howl's bird form in the way the movie does - the most memorable form Howl takes in the book is that of a cat.

16. Another movie specific thing. I don't know, possibly. In the book Calcifer stayed alive after Howl's heart was returned to him due to Sophie's particular brand of magic, which is animating things by talking to them. The movie uses something similar but lacks the book:s foreshadowing of it, making it a little weird.

17. I don't remember if it's ever specified who cursed the prince in the movie, if it was Sulliman she could have also created her servants based on him. In the book it all starts becoming a nightmare due to the combining - they could be based on the servants at the king's palace or on Mrs. Pentstemmon's servants. None of which will look like the prince, because the prince in the book is the brother of the king of Ingary, meaning he likely lived in the palace. I don't think anyone around the royal capital would have servants that look too much alike to the prince, especially not his best friend the royal wizard. So IDK.

Was that helpful?

Questions I have while watching Howl's Moving Castle while High :

1. Was Calcifer's name Calcifer before he met Howl, or did Howl name him that because of Sophie's "Howl, Calcifer, find me in the future" speech?

2. Did Howl come home from the black door the first day because Sophie was using Calcifer as a normal fire and he felt it in his heart?

3. Does Howl barely eat the entire moving because he has an eating disorder because of his struggle to be beautiful?

4. Was Sophie young again when Howl stares at her sleeping because her curse is only active when she's self conscious, or because we were seeing her through Howl's perspective?

5. What were the Witch's henchmen doing at the market? If they were there to find Sophie or Howl, wouldn't they sense the curse or magic?

6. Who the Hell dumped Howl?!

7. What is the timeframe of this movie? Days, weeks, months?

8. Was Heen really sent to escort Sophie, or was his mission to escort Howl, but he felt Howl's magic on Sophie (the ring) and thought it was him?

9. Also, why are Heen's feet like that...?

10. Did Madam Sulliman put on that whole show to poke fun of Howl, telling him she knows the demon who stole his heart was a falling star? Because the Witch of the Wastes didn't get all that to strip her powers...?

11. So the Blue (Porthaven Door) slot was replaced by the Yellow (Sophie's Hat Shop) slot, does that mean the previous inside of the castle was the inside of the Porthaven house?

12. Do you think when Sophie was sewing all her new clothes Howl got her, it was because he ordered them in a smaller size because he thought she'd be her normal self soon?

13. Why does Sophie question all of Calcifer's excuses about not being about to move the Castle except giving him her whole hair?! She just said "Oh, ok here ya go,"

14. What is the black door? Memories, or more like Dr. Strange Multiverse stuff ?

15. Why did all of Howl's feathers fall off when he and Sophie landed back in the ruined castle?

16. Did Calcifer and Howl survive after the water because Calcifer had eaten Sophie's hair, so there was a bit of her in Cal?

17. The Prince looks like those little boys Sulliman cloned...?

The End

[hyperpotamianarch]

So, I'd like to thank everybody who actually liked this story bit and paid it attention. However, unlucky me, I didn't actually check out with the DWJ quote I was basing this on before posting. So a couple of points:

A. There were four people chasing Howell. All of them were the brothers of his ex.

B. As someone noted in the reblogs, Howell studied at Swansea at the time, not Cardiff. That one's fixed in this version, but if you check any of the reblogs before that - I made that mistake.

C. While I wasn't loyal to what Diana said, I didn't actually add much. I just attempted to tell that point in prose form. Frankly, had I stuck too close to the details it probably would've hurt it - this isn't my best piece ever, but sticking to close to a formula is bound to make it worse. I could try and correct some things, but I think I'll leave it at that. That Swansea part is inconsequential because it's just one line.

D. The source for this idea of how Howl got to Ingary is this article in LiveJournal. I'm apparently incidentally in a Discord group for DWJ fans with the person who wrote that, but that's not really important. I always wanted to have a "Howl's early days" story, but the one time I thought I found something of the sort in AO3 it seemed way too concerned with Howl's contemporary to the book story. I didn't want that or feel like I needed that, so I didn't really finish that fic, but it's still up there in AO3, probably.

Still on that note, I have a self-made reputation for not finishing stories. I have maybe a couple of ideas for this one - the bits I have to hit are, of course, Calcifer and Mrs. Pentstemmon, Michael and the Witch of the Waste. However, there's some degree of time gap here, and Howl has to get a house in Porthaven because that's where the castle actually is. I have no actual details or connective tissue here, so I'll likely leave it at that.

Funny thing is, this isn't my most popular fanfic idea. That honor probably goes to either Camp Nephilim or the Bianca di Angelo is Alive, because Percy Jackson is way more popular than HMC. But I do think I care to update on this because in some ways, HMC is closer to my heart. But that's getting too personal, so I'll stop here.

"JENKINS!"

Howell was panting in a corner, trying to collect his thoughts, holding his papers close to his chest. What could he ever have done to these people that they're chasing after him?

"Jenkins, when I find you, you won't have one whole bone in your body, d'you hear? I'll kill you for what you did to my sister!"

Oh, right. He broke up with Lizzy Hopkins. That's ought to be it. She was a great girl, really! But he was realizing that she wasn't really for him, and...

Well, and now he was being chased by her brother, apparently. Maybe he could've handled it more smoothly.

"You can't hide forever, brat!" The elder Hopkins shouted. Bloody hell, he was way too close to where Howell was hiding. Howell made a break for it, narrowly avoiding being caught by one of Hopkins' friends. "Hey!" The latter screamed, heading down after him.

And he just wanted to work on his next essay, Howell whined in his head. He was pouring over some weird medieval texts that seemed to be about a portal-opening spell. It was just his speciality! If he could just-

Another one of Hopkins' friends emerged from an alley to his right, so he dashed to the left. Hopkins seemed to have many friends for such an angry man - though considering the circumstances, maybe that wasn't the right time to judge. Howell looked back-

And run directly into Hopkins himself. Oops. Hopkins cracked his knuckles, a furious look on his face. Howell took a couple of steps backward. He turned around, but Hopkins grabbed his coat. "That'll teach you to treat my sister with respect!"

Howell quickly removed the coat and tried to run away, but Hopkins' friends were blocking the way. There was one door in the alley, but it was locked. Howell panicked. Hopkins was approaching, and he really didn't like the look on his face. He could maybe beat him alone, but he didn't really like confrontations like that - plus Hopkins had friends with him who were just as strong. He looked desperately at the photocopies of the ancient spell he held, wishing that they were real and could actually send him somewhere else.

He struggled again with the door handle. To his absolute surprise, and the surprise of the bullies after him, the door actually opened this time. He fell through it, then closed it quickly behind him and looked around. Then he shook his head in disbelief.

Wherever he was, it was not Swansea anymore.

***

First attempt at a Howl's Moving Castle fanfic, feedback appreciated.

[hyperpotamianarch]

Well, that explains this part. But to answer your other question: self eating is by definition Ever Min HaḤay, so if you keep Kosher that's a problem - besides that I think it definitely is cannibalism.

[hyperpotamianarch]

Following this assumption, my PFP isn't Kosher. In addition, I don't know any owl-eaters who can tell if it tastes good when cooked.

[hyperpotamianarch]

So, is the sexy vampire lady from HoME as well? Or is she from the non-canonical version of Beren and Luthien or something?

things about middle-earth that sound fake to people who haven't read the silmarillion

the earth was flat until some people pissed off god enough that he punched it round

the sun and moon used to be trees, but a big spider ate them

elves even being in middle-earth can be traced back to one (1) dude hating that people mispronounced his mom's name

sauron is a werewolf

elrond's biological parents are a star and a bird now

there's a sexy vampire lady

fighting a balrog barehanded is so cool it'll get you reincarnated right away even if there isn't a current big crisis going on (sorry gandalf, glorfindel just did it better)

satan got banned from heaven for playing his own music too loud

if you were intense enough in life, when you die, you might literally explode

[hyperpotamianarch]

Hey, Agam, I know that there's no record of Ḥoni cooking, but I don't think there's a record of him cooking people either.

On another note, my PFP cannot cook if its life depended on it, considering the fact that the only living thing in it is an owl. So no is the proper answer.

[hyperpotamianarch]

That depends on if they want book-lore based answers. Plus, there's a number of questions on things that are unique to the movie, so there are no answers from the book and I don't remember the movie well enough to answer with certainty.

I won't be able to actually answer soon as well, but that doesn't seem pressing.

Questions I have while watching Howl's Moving Castle while High :

1. Was Calcifer's name Calcifer before he met Howl, or did Howl name him that because of Sophie's "Howl, Calcifer, find me in the future" speech?

2. Did Howl come home from the black door the first day because Sophie was using Calcifer as a normal fire and he felt it in his heart?

3. Does Howl barely eat the entire moving because he has an eating disorder because of his struggle to be beautiful?

4. Was Sophie young again when Howl stares at her sleeping because her curse is only active when she's self conscious, or because we were seeing her through Howl's perspective?

5. What were the Witch's henchmen doing at the market? If they were there to find Sophie or Howl, wouldn't they sense the curse or magic?

6. Who the Hell dumped Howl?!

7. What is the timeframe of this movie? Days, weeks, months?

8. Was Heen really sent to escort Sophie, or was his mission to escort Howl, but he felt Howl's magic on Sophie (the ring) and thought it was him?

9. Also, why are Heen's feet like that...?

10. Did Madam Sulliman put on that whole show to poke fun of Howl, telling him she knows the demon who stole his heart was a falling star? Because the Witch of the Wastes didn't get all that to strip her powers...?

11. So the Blue (Porthaven Door) slot was replaced by the Yellow (Sophie's Hat Shop) slot, does that mean the previous inside of the castle was the inside of the Porthaven house?

12. Do you think when Sophie was sewing all her new clothes Howl got her, it was because he ordered them in a smaller size because he thought she'd be her normal self soon?

13. Why does Sophie question all of Calcifer's excuses about not being about to move the Castle except giving him her whole hair?! She just said "Oh, ok here ya go,"

14. What is the black door? Memories, or more like Dr. Strange Multiverse stuff ?

15. Why did all of Howl's feathers fall off when he and Sophie landed back in the ruined castle?

16. Did Calcifer and Howl survive after the water because Calcifer had eaten Sophie's hair, so there was a bit of her in Cal?

17. The Prince looks like those little boys Sulliman cloned...?

The End

[hyperpotamianarch]

All right. I know you tagged me because Howl's Moving Castle, but Sophie's weedkiller has an account here?

That aside, the really funny thing is how Sophie actually acted old when she was young, and when she was cursed she actually became way more outgoing, even if she kept complaining about random pains occasionally.

[hyperpotamianarch]

Some imitation of the western culture is good, like fighting for queer rights for example,

I do think part of the problem is it seems both sides on queer rights derive their ideas from Western culture. Like, I might be wrong and this might just come from actually sharing some scriptures, but I was surprised to learn that quite a few of the arguments against queer rights here are similar to those in the US. Maybe the same topic brings out the same arguments, but it still kind of caught me by surprise. And that's with the constant idea I've heard that LGBTQ+ are all actually western culture.

I have some thought about the כור היתוך idea - the Dati Leumi community is really surprisingly homogenous for how diverse are people's origins and roots, IMO. Not completely homogenous, but surprisingly close. But I don't think I ever managed to finalize my thoughts on the topic.

And of course, there's the religious/secular divide. For which you have a point re: culture vs. religion. (Also, Kashrut and marriage laws are stuck with the Chief Rabbinate, which some religious Jews don't like either. But that's another story.) I do have some trouble separating the two and accepting the possibility of non-religious Jews practicing like that. I suppose I need to learn to accept that as well.

It's really exhausting trying to explain to some secular Israelis that a lot of what they considers religious Judaism is commonly practiced as cultural Judaism, and that a person can culturally practices Judaism while not being religious.

Like my roommates who wouldn't respect me only partially keeping shabbat because they thought there was no such thing.

Like my friend who made fun of a place for having a certificate saying they sold their chametz at Pesach even though they're not kosher.

Like my dad who complained about an employee who doesn't wear a kippah but takes days off on fast days.

Like both my parents who didn't believe me when I said the diaspora Jewish community is much more united than basically any other minority community, and has a lot of resources for supporting the Jewish community even if they're not religious. (Which I'm not claiming life is perfect or anything but I know these things exist)

A lot of secular Israelis don't understand the significance of Jewish culture, because they think they're being forced into religion. They don't understand the significance of knowing your culture and why non religious people care about practicing it.

And it really, really saddens me. That we came this far as a people and people are ditching their culture because they see it as outdated or even extremist, when they don't even bother to understand why others find it beautiful.

[hyperpotamianarch]

Oh, I agree. I was speculating she was talking about Rome. I decided to mention Roman Judeah.

August tomorrow you know what that means

[hyperpotamianarch]

Well, August is a month on the Roman calendar named after the second emperor of the Roman Empire - Augustus, who decided that both he and his adopted father deserved to have consecutive months named after them. Later, of course, the Roman calendar was adopted by Christians and spread worldwide for reasons unclear.

For us Jews, being reminded of Roman emperors in that time of year. However, Augustus himself was... Manageable. I mean, he was the guy who appointed Herod as king, which can be... Controversial. But he seemed to have relatively decent policies to the Jews of the empire and to Provincea Judea.

August tomorrow you know what that means

[hyperpotamianarch]

You're probably thinking of that post. It actually isn't me sort of explaining it - I just mentioned the consonant thing, OP was the one kind of explaining the mispronunciation. I'm not sure it actually explains why, which I'm actually curious to learn.

fun fact: every single sound in "Iraq" does not exist in English

[hyperpotamianarch]

I mean, do you know any other Glow Cloud (all hail) that emits low whistleing and drops dead animals?

"i asked chat gpt-"

well I asked the Glow Cloud (all hail) and it emitted a low whistleing and dropped a lizard on my head.

[hyperpotamianarch]

#PEAK PEAK PEAK#But just a note - Howell was actually studying at the Swansea University#not Cardiff#Howell definitely managed to absolve himself of all blame for the situation in his head lol#howl's moving castle book#hmc book#howell jenkins#my father is from Cardiff shout out to him

Thank you! I didn't remember that, and I'm very much not British and ignrant about... pretty much everything. So, maybe I could change that one reference to Swansea instead, didn't want to use Kansas because it'd have been kind of weird.

"JENKINS!"

Howell was panting in a corner, trying to collect his thoughts, holding his papers close to his chest. What could he ever have done to these people that they're chasing after him?

"Jenkins, when I find you, you won't have one whole bone in your body, d'you hear? I'll kill you for what you did to my sister!"

Oh, right. He broke up with Lizzy Hopkins. That's ought to be it. She was a great girl, really! But he was realizing that she wasn't really for him, and...

Well, and now he was being chased by her brother, apparently. Maybe he could've handled it more smoothly.

"You can't hide forever, brat!" The elder Hopkins shouted. Bloody hell, he was way too close to where Howell was hiding. Howell made a break for it, narrowly avoiding being caught by one of Hopkins' friends. "Hey!" The latter screamed, heading down after him.

And he just wanted to work on his next essay, Howell whined in his head. He was pouring over some weird medieval texts that seemed to be about a portal-opening spell. It was just his speciality! If he could just-

Another one of Hopkins' friends emerged from an alley to his right, so he dashed to the left. Hopkins seemed to have many friends for such an angry man - though considering the circumstances, maybe that wasn't the right time to judge. Howell looked back-

And run directly into Hopkins himself. Oops. Hopkins cracked his knuckles, a furious look on his face. Howell took a couple of steps backward. He turned around, but Hopkins grabbed his coat. "That'll teach you to treat my sister with respect!"

Howell quickly removed the coat and tried to run away, but Hopkins' friends were blocking the way. There was one door in the alley, but it was locked. Howell panicked. Hopkins was approaching, and he really didn't like the look on his face. He could maybe beat him alone, but he didn't really like confrontations like that - plus Hopkins had friends with him who were just as strong. He looked desperately at the photocopies of the ancient spell he held, wishing that they were real and could actually send him somewhere else.

He struggled again with the door handle. To his absolute surprise, and the surprise of the bullies after him, the door actually opened this time. He fell through it, then closed it quickly behind him and looked around. Then he shook his head in disbelief.

Wherever he was, it was not Cardiff anymore.

***

First attempt at a Howl's Moving Castle fanfic, feedback appreciated.