#John M. Neale

[warningsine]

http://libgen.li/edition.php?id=136639771

[nerds-yearbook]

Die Another Day was released on November 22, 2002. The movie was the 20th EON James Bond film, 40th anniversary of the Eon Bond films, the last Bond film to feature Pierce Brosnan as Bond, and the first EON Bond film not to feature Desmond Llewelyn as Q since Live and Let Die (Llewelyn had died and John Cleese's character was promoted to Q). The movie was a financial success, but a critical failure. There were plans to use it as pilot for a spin off franchise for the new character Jinx played by Halle Berry, but nothing ever came of it. The movie also marked the last time Samantha Bond played Moneypenny. ("Die Another Day" James Bond Movie Event)

[that-dinopunk-guy]

Hell yeah, now I have all but five of the Babylon 5 novels. All I need now are Final Reckoning, Casting Shadows, and the novelizations of In the Beginning, Thirdspace, and A Call to Arms.

I love how the titles on some of these range from boring and utilitarian to amazing:

Also, they chose some interesting angles to show the station from on a couple of these:

[blackwoolncrown]

Reading list for Afro-Herbalism:

A Healing Grove: African Tree Remedies and Rituals for the Body and Spirit by Stephanie Rose Bird

Affrilachia: Poems by Frank X Walker

African American Medicine in Washington, D.C.: Healing the Capital During the Civil War Era by Heather Butts

African American Midwifery in the South: Dialogues of Birth, Race, and Memory by Gertrude Jacinta Fraser

African American Slave Medicine: Herbal and Non-Herbal Treatments by Herbert Covey

African Ethnobotany in the Americas edited by Robert Voeks and John Rashford

Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect by Lorenzo Dow Turner

Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race and the Evolution of Red-Black Peoples by Jack Forbes

African Medicine: A Complete Guide to Yoruba Healing Science and African Herbal Remedies by Dr. Tariq M. Sawandi, PhD

Afro-Vegan: Farm-Fresh, African, Caribbean, and Southern Flavors Remixed by Bryant Terry

Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston

Big Mama’s Back in the Kitchen by Charlene Johnson

Big Mama’s Old Black Pot by Ethel Dixon

Black Belief: Folk Beliefs of Blacks in America and West Africa by Henry H. Mitchell

Black Diamonds, Vol. 1 No. 1 and Vol. 1 Nos. 2–3 edited by Edward J. Cabbell

Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Carolyn Finney

Black Food Geographies: Race, Self-Reliance, and Food Access in Washington, D.C. by Ashanté M. Reese

Black Indian Slave Narratives edited by Patrick Minges

Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition by Yvonne P. Chireau

Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry edited by Camille T. Dungy

Blacks in Appalachia edited by William Turner and Edward J. Cabbell

Caribbean Vegan: Meat-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free Authentic Island Cuisine for Every Occasion by Taymer Mason

Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America by Sylviane Diouf

Faith, Health, and Healing in African American Life by Emilie Townes and Stephanie Y. Mitchem

Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman

Folk Wisdom and Mother Wit: John Lee – An African American Herbal Healer by John Lee and Arvilla Payne-Jackson

Four Seasons of Mojo: An Herbal Guide to Natural Living by Stephanie Rose Bird

Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement by Monica White

Fruits of the Harvest: Recipes to Celebrate Kwanzaa and Other Holidays by Eric Copage

George Washington Carver by Tonya Bolden

George Washington Carver: In His Own Words edited by Gary Kremer

God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man: A Saltwater Geechee Talks About Life on Sapelo Island, Georgia by Cornelia Bailey

Gone Home: Race and Roots through Appalachia by Karida Brown

Ethno-Botany of the Black Americans by William Ed Grime

Gullah Cuisine: By Land and by Sea by Charlotte Jenkins and William Baldwin

Gullah Culture in America by Emory Shaw Campbell and Wilbur Cross

Gullah/Geechee: Africa’s Seeds in the Winds of the Diaspora-St. Helena’s Serenity by Queen Quet Marquetta Goodwine

High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America by Jessica Harris and Maya Angelou

Homecoming: The Story of African-American Farmers by Charlene Gilbert

Hoodoo Medicine: Gullah Herbal Remedies by Faith Mitchell

Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals by Luisah Teish

Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care by Dayna Bowen Matthew

Leaves of Green: A Handbook of Herbal Remedies by Maude E. Scott

Like a Weaving: References and Resources on Black Appalachians by Edward J. Cabbell

Listen to Me Good: The Story of an Alabama Midwife by Margaret Charles Smith and Linda Janet Holmes

Making Gullah: A History of Sapelo Islanders, Race, and the American Imagination by Melissa Cooper

Mandy’s Favorite Louisiana Recipes by Natalie V. Scott

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet Washington

Mojo Workin’: The Old African American Hoodoo System by Katrina Hazzard-Donald

Motherwit: An Alabama Midwife’s Story by Onnie Lee Logan as told to Katherine Clark

My Bag Was Always Packed: The Life and Times of a Virginia Midwife by Claudine Curry Smith and Mildred Hopkins Baker Roberson

My Face Is Black Is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-Slave Reparations by Mary Frances Berry

My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem

On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker by A'Lelia Bundles

Papa Jim’s Herbal Magic Workbook by Papa Jim

Places for the Spirit: Traditional African American Gardens by Vaughn Sills (Photographer), Hilton Als (Foreword), Lowry Pei (Introduction)

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Dr. Joy DeGruy

Rooted in the Earth: Reclaiming the African American Environmental Heritage by Diane Glave

Rufus Estes’ Good Things to Eat: The First Cookbook by an African-American Chef by Rufus Estes

Secret Doctors: Ethnomedicine of African Americans by Wonda Fontenot

Sex, Sickness, and Slavery: Illness in the Antebellum South by Marli Weiner with Mayzie Hough

Slavery’s Exiles: The Story of the American Maroons by Sylviane Diouf

Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time by Adrian Miller

Spirituality and the Black Helping Tradition in Social Work by Elmer P. Martin Jr. and Joanne Mitchell Martin

Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones: Hoodoo, Mojo & Conjuring with Herbs by Stephanie Rose Bird

The African-American Heritage Cookbook: Traditional Recipes and Fond Remembrances from Alabama’s Renowned Tuskegee Institute by Carolyn Quick Tillery

The Black Family Reunion Cookbook (Recipes and Food Memories from the National Council of Negro Women) edited by Libby Clark

The Conjure Woman and Other Conjure Tales by Charles Chesnutt

The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham

The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks by Toni Tipton-Martin

The President’s Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, from the Washingtons to the Obamas by Adrian Miller

The Taste of Country Cooking: The 30th Anniversary Edition of a Great Classic Southern Cookbook by Edna Lewis

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: An Insiders’ Account of the Shocking Medical Experiment Conducted by Government Doctors Against African American Men by Fred D. Gray

Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape by Lauret E. Savoy

Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine by Bryant Terry

Vibration Cooking: Or, The Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl by Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor

Voodoo and Hoodoo: The Craft as Revealed by Traditional Practitioners by Jim Haskins

When Roots Die: Endangered Traditions on the Sea Islands by Patricia Jones-Jackson

Working Conjure: A Guide to Hoodoo Folk Magic by Hoodoo Sen Moise

Working the Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing by Michelle Lee

Wurkn Dem Rootz: Ancestral Hoodoo by Medicine Man

Zora Neale Hurston: Folklore, Memoirs, and Other Writings: Mules and Men, Tell My Horse, Dust Tracks on a Road, Selected Articles by Zora Neale Hurston

The Ways of Herbalism in the African World with Olatokunboh Obasi MSc, RH (webinar via The American Herbalists Guild)

[shoshiwrites]

Band of Brothers Ages: IRL vs. Actors

Did you know that according to a 1947 study, almost half the men who served in WWII were still under age 26 by the end of the war?

What this is : A (very long) post comparing the ages of the actors in Band of Brothers vs. the IRL figures they are portraying.

Background: Did I need to do this? No. Did anyone ask for this? Also no. Did I do it anyway? Yes.

Disclaimers: This is SUPER approximate for the most part. I based IRL ages off of D-Day unless otherwise noted, and actor ages off of January 1, 2000, the year filming took place (the latter is where the most variation will be because I didn't try to figure out what month filming started). I also didn't fact-check birthdays beyond googling. Most are sourced from the Band of Brothers and Military Wikis on fandom.com, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

I broke them up into rough categories, which are, again, approximate. I know I often forget how young the real life people were here, and this was a good reminder of that. I also found it interesting to see which actors were actually younger than their roles!

Check it all out under the cut ⬇️

~10+ years older

Dale Dye (55) as Col. Robert F. Sink (39) (~16 years)

Michael Cudlitz (35) as Denver "Bull" Randleman (23) (~12)

Marc Warren (32) as Albert Blithe (20) (~12)

Rocky Marshall (33) as Earl J. McClung (21) (~12)

Frank John Hughes (32) as William J. Guarnere (21) (~11)

Neal McDonough (33) as Lynn D. (Buck) Compton (22) (~11)

Dexter Fletcher (33) as John W. Martin (22) (~11)

~5+ years older

Simon Schatzberger (32) as Joseph A. Lesniewski (23) (~9)

Richard Speight Jr. (30) Warren H. (Skip) Muck (22) (~8)

Jason O'Mara (30) as Thomas Meehan (22) (~8)

Ron Livingston (32) as Lewis Nixon (25) (~7)

Donnie Wahlberg (30) as C. Carwood Lipton (24) (~6)

Matthew Settle (30) as Ronald C. Speirs (24) (~6)

Nolan Hemmings (28) as Charles E. "Chuck" Grant (22) (~6)

Douglas Spain (25) as Antonio C. Garcia (19) (~6)

George Calil (26) as James H. "Mo" Alley Jr. (21) (~5)

Rick Gomez (27) as George Luz (22) (~5 year)

Scott Grimes (28) as Donald G. Malarkey (23) (~5)

Stephen Graham (26) as Myron "Mike" Ranney (21) (~5)

~less than 5 years older

Shane Taylor (25) as Eugene G. Roe (21) (~4)

Tim Matthews (23) as Alex M. Penkala Jr. (19) (~4)

Matthew Leitch (24) as Floyd M. "Tab" Talbert (20) (~4)

Peter O'Meara (30) as Norman S. Dike Jr. (26) (~4)

Tom Hardy (22) as John A. Janovec (18) (~4)

Rick Warden (28) as Harry F. Welsh (25) (~3)

Kirk Acevedo (28) as Joseph D. Toye (25) (~3)

Eion Bailey (25) as David Kenyon Webster (22) (~3)

Craig Heaney (26) as Roy W. Cobb (29) (~3)

Damian Lewis (28) as Richard D. Winters (26) (~2)

Robin Laing as Edward J. "Babe" Heffron (~2, 21/23)

Ben Caplan (26) as Walter S. "Smokey" Gordon Jr. (24) (~2)

David Schwimmer (32) as Herbert M. Sobel (33) (~1 year)

Michael Fassbender (22) as Burton P. "Pat" Christenson (21) (~1)

Colin Hanks (22) as Lt. Henry Jones (21) (~1) (age around Bastogne)

Bart Ruspoli (23) as Edward J. Tipper (22) (~1)

~Same age

Peter Youngblood Hills as Darrell C. "Shifty" Powers (21)

Mark Huberman as Lester "Les" Hashey (19)

Younger

Lucie Jeanne (23) as Renée Lemaire (30) (age around Bastogne) (~7)

Ross McCall (23) as Joseph D. Liebgott (29) (~6)

Simon Pegg (29) as William S. Evans (~33) (~4)

Philip Barantini (19) as Wayne A. "Skinny" Sisk (22) (~3)

James Madio (24) as Frank J. Perconte (27) (~3)

Stephen McCole (25) as Frederick "Moose" Heyliger (27) (~2)

Matt Hickey (~16) as Patrick S. O'Keefe (18) (~2)

Incomplete/not found

Phil McKee as Maj. Robert L. Strayer (34)

Rene L. Moreno as Joseph Ramirez (30)

Doug Allen as Alton M. More (24)

David Nicolle as Lt. Thomas A. Peacock (24)

Rebecca Okot as Anna (Augusta Chiwy) (24) (age around Bastogne)

Alex Sabga-Brady as Francis J. Mellet (23)

Mark Lawrence as William H. Dukeman Jr. (22)

Nicholas Aaron as Robert E. (Popeye) Wynn (22)

Peter McCabe as Donald B. Hoobler (21)

Marcos D'Cruze as Joseph P. Domingus (not found)

[quasi-normalcy]

A while ago while I was in tumblr jail, you posted that you had a masters in science fiction literature (unless you didn't, I have been known to be mistaken), and I am wondering, what do you consider 'important' works of science fiction? Like the science fiction literary canon? I am so curious. Feel free to ignore, I will not harass you.

Yes! I do. I can tell you the ones that I was assigned (I'm afraid that the list skews extremely male and (especially) white).

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)

Olaf Stapledon, Last and First Men (1930) and Star Maker (1937) [You can probably add Odd John (1935) to this list]

Jules Verne, Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870) [You can probably add From the Earth to the Moon (1865)]

H.G. Wells, The Time Machine (1895) and War of the Worlds (1897) [Though you can probably go ahead and add The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897) and The First Men in the Moon (1901)]

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland (1915)

Catherine Burdekin (writing as Murray Constantine), Swastika Night (1937)

Karel Čapek, R.U.R. (1920)

Isaac Asimov, I, Robot (1950) [You can probably add the first three Foundation novels here as well]

Yevgeny Zamyatin, We (1921)

George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1967) and Rendezvous with Rama (1973) [Add: Childhood's End (1953) and The Fountains of Paradise (1979)

John Wyndham, Day of the Triffids (1951) [add: The Chrysalids (1955) and The Midwich Cuckoos (1957)]

H.P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu" (1926) [add The Shadow over Innsmouth (1931)]

Richard Matheson, I Am Legend (1954)

Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination (1956)

Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers (1959) [Probably Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966) too, depending on, you know, how much of Heinlein's bullshit you can take]

J.G. Ballard, The Drowned World (1962) [Also, The Burning World (1964) and The Crystal World (1966)]

Phillip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle (1962) [Also Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) and several of his short stories]

Frank Herbert, Dune (1965)

Michael Moorcock, Behold the Man (1969)

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-5 (1969)

Ursula Le Guin, The Dispossessed (1974) [Also The Lathe of Heaven (1971) and The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)]

Brian Aldiss, Supertoys series

William Gibson, Neuromancer (1984)

Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars (1992) [Also Green Mars and Blue Mars]

They also included Iain M. Banks's The Algebraist (2004), but I personally think you'd be better off reading some of his Culture novels

Other ones that I might add (not necessarily my favourite, just what I would consider the most influential):

Joe Haldeman, The Forever War (1974)

Matsamune Shiro, Ghost in the Shell (1989-91)

Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira (1982-1990)

Octavia Butler, Lilith's Brood (1987-89) and Parable of the Sower (1993)

Poul Anderson, Operation Chaos (1971)

Hector Garman Oesterheld & Francisco Solano Lopez, The Eternaut (1957-59)

Liu Cixin, The Three-Body Problem (2008)

Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Illuminatus! Trilogy (1975)

William Hope Hodgson, The House on the Borderland (1908)

Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash (1992)

Joanna Russ, The Female Man (1975)

Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game (1985) [Please take this one from a library]

Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars (1912)

Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (1985) and Oryx and Crake (2003)

Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932)

Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy (1952-68)

Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time (1962)

Walter M. Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)

Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)

[sasha4books]

List of Banned Book to Pick From

(Note: Check trigger warmings for all books)

Banned Book Club by Kim Hyun Sook et al

A Bad Kitty Christmas by Nick Bruel

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Alice Austen Lived Here by Alex Gino

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds et al

All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson

All Because You Matter by Tami Charles et al

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal

Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Ana on the Edge by A.J. Sass

Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Flamer by Mike Curaton

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Sold by Patricia McCormick

Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause

Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi

Drama, by Raina Telgemeier

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie

George by Alex Gino

I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Ulysses by James Joyce

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

The Naked Lunch by William Burroughs

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard, illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez

Bodies Are Cook by Tyler Feder

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

[bookquest2024]

100 Books to Read Before I Die: Quest Order

The Lord Of The Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

Under The Net by Iris Murdoch

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Crime And Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

A Passage to India by EM Forster

Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

1984 by George Orwell

White Noise by Don DeLillo

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

The Stranger by Albert Camus

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Oscar And Lucinda by Peter Carey

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carré

Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Ulysses by James Joyce

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Are You There, God? It’s me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Clarissa by Samuel Richardson

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Herzog by Saul Bellow

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes

A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul

A Dance to The Music of Time by Anthony Powell

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

I, Claudius by Robert Graves

Nostromo by Joseph Conrad

The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Little Women by Louisa M Alcott

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth

Watchmen by Alan Moore

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Trial by Franz Kafka

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Money by Martin Amis

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

[rabbitcruiser]

Vancouver Seawall (No. 2)

The Burrard Street Bridge (sometimes referred to as the Burrard Bridge) is a four-lane, Art Deco style, steel truss bridge constructed in 1930–1932 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The high, five part bridge on four piers spans False Creek, connecting downtown Vancouver with Kitsilano via connections to Burrard Street (formerly Cedar Street south of False Creek) on both ends. It is one of three bridges crossing False Creek. The other two bridges are the Granville Bridge, three blocks or 0.5 km (0.31 mi) to the southeast, and the Cambie Street Bridge, about 11 blocks or 2 km (1.2 mi) to the east. In addition to the vehicle deck, the Burrard Bridge has 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in) wide sidewalks and a dedicated cycling lanes on both sides.

The architect of the Burrard Street Bridge was George Lister Thornton Sharp, the engineer John R. Grant. The bridge's two close approach spans are Warren trusses placed below deck level, while its central span is a Pratt truss placed above deck level to allow greater clearance height for ships passing underneath. The central truss is hidden when crossing the bridge in either direction by vertical extensions of the bridge's masonry piers into imposing concrete towers, connected by overhead galleries, which are embellished with architectural and sculptural details that create a torch-like entrance of pylons. Busts of Captain George Vancouver and Sir Harry Burrard-Neale in ship prows jut from the bridge's superstructure (a V under Vancouver's bust, a B under Burrard's).

Unifying the long approaches and the distinctive central span are heavy concrete railings, originally topped with decorative street lamps. These pierced handrails were designed as a kind of visual shutter (stroboscopic effect), so that at a speed of 50 km/h motorists would see through them with an uninterrupted view of the harbour. The effect works at speeds from about 40 to 64 km/h.

Source: Wikipedia

[arcenciel-par-une-larme]

Ok now my curiosity is peaked: what is the correct translation for O Come O Come Emmanuel? I have seen quite a few variations over the years, and generally sing the most common one I guess?

The one by T. A. Lacey is the one I've been used to since I first learned the hymn.

Digging a little deeper after I saw how popular the alternative version is, it seems to have originated from Hymns Ancient and Modern in the 19th century, and was itself a paraphrase from John Mason Neale. In retrospect, I wouldn't necessarily say the A&M version is "wrong", but merely that Lacey's poetry was better and somewhat more faithful to the Latin original. The divide between the two might be an England vs. America thing -- e.g., like with "Nearer my God to Thee", which is almost always sung to HORBURY this side of the Atlantic, but Americans tend to do BETHANY without a second thought.

However, in some versions of the text which are frequently reproduced, including in that image set, there are other oddities as well; e.g., one of the lines is rendered as "And cheer us on by drawing nigh", which struck me as very out-of-left-field, and as I found out, it is not to be found in Neale, Lacey, or A&M. To this day, I have no idea as to whence it came.

God bless.

[famousblueraincoatmp3]

famousblueraincoatmp3 required reading list

kafkas diaries

anna karenina by leo tolstoy

their eyes were watching god by zora neale hurston

pale fire/despair/lolita by vladimir nabokov

the brothers karamazov by fyodor dostoyevsky

one hundred years of solitude by gabriel garcia marquez

another country by james baldwin

the master and margarita by mikhail bulgakov

anna karenina by leo tolstoy

the garden of forking paths by jorge luis borges

the gilda stories by jewelle gomez

demons by fyodor dostoyevsky

the left hand of darkness by ursula k le guin

we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson

the passion according to g.h/agua viva by clarice lispector

letters to milena

deathless by catherine m valente

the bluest eye by toni morrison

the god of small things by arundhati roy

tess of the d'urbervilles by thomas hardy

paradise lost by john milton

bestiary by julió cortazar

don quixote by miguel de cervantes

[mostlysignssomeportents]

All the books I reviewed in 2022 (Part I: Fiction)

Every year around this time, I round up all the books I reviewed in the previous 12 months; both as a convenience for readers and to remind myself that I don't need to feel quite so horribly guilty about all the books I *didn't* review (to those authors: rest assured, I still feel horribly guilty).

I should probably mention here that I had a book of my own come out in 2022:

Chokepoint Capitalism (co-authored with Rebecca Giblin)

A solutions-oriented look at how concentration in the tech and culture industries screws over creative workers, filled with detailed proposals for unrigging these markets and getting artists *paid*:

https://chokepointcapitalism.com/

Before I get to this year's books, here are links to previous editions. These are also good books and deserving of your attention!

* All the books I reviewed in 2021: https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/08/required-ish-reading/#bibliography

* All the books I reviewed in 2020: https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/08/required-reading/#recommended-reading

Now, on to 2022!

NOVELS:

I. Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson

An ambitious, sprawling tale of an eccentric Texas truck-stop magnate who unilaterally begins a program of geoengineering in a bid to cool the Earth by doping the stratosphere with sulfur. A great look at the social and technical dimensions of geoengineering, filled with Stephensonian grace-notes, from superb use of language to delightful, idiosyncratic characters.

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/04/general-ludd/#geoengineering

II. Dark Factory by Kathe Koja

Koja – an incredible, versatile writer who has pioneered multiple genres of fiction – presents an "immersive novel," about a high-stakes Bohemian party scene of mixed-reality artists, wealthy dilettantes, weird theorists and the very serious business of fun.

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/20/a-walk-in-the-park/#all-night-party-people

III. Aspects by John M Ford

The long-awaited, unfinished first volume of a steampunk fantasy series, with an introduction by Neil Gaiman; "what Game of Thrones might have been, if the author had been fascinated by trains…communication and politics, magic, redemption, and the forms that love can take." A book of quiet – but stunning – erudition. Every aspect of Ford's world – its politics, its history, its geography, its magic, its technology, its economics, its mythos – rings true. What's more, every part of it fits together with the rest of it in a way that is so believable that it feels realer than our own world at times.

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/09/john-m-ford/#aspects

IV. Up Against It by Laura J Mixon

The cracking first volume of WAVE, a space-opera series that manages to be both original — full of smart new ways of looking at science fiction ideas — and old fashioned — full of the kind of whiz-bang action-adventure that made so many of us fall in love with the field in the first place, about high-stakes administration of a space colony, where being good at your job is the utmost praxis. Republished as part of the Tor Essentials line.

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/25/mj-locke-rides-again/#two-fisted-astro-bureaucrats

V. The Animals In That Country by Laura Jean McKay

An extraordinary debut novel, about a plague of understanding that sweeps across Australia, leaving the infected cursed with the ability to communicate with animals. It's an inversion of the standard trope of people and animals communicating with one another and finding mutual understanding and peace as a result. McKay sets herself the (seemingly) impossible of dramatizing human-animal communication without anthropomorphizing the animals, and then pulls it off – brilliantly.

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/27/im-a-backdoor-man/#doolittle

VI. Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey

A gothic horror/haunted house novel that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It's a spooky tale of body-horror and homecoming that's full of twists and turns and unexpected villains and heroes. Vera's father Francis Crowder was a serial killer, but he loved her. He built the house she grew up in with his own hands, including the soundproofed basement. He did bad things, and he went to prison for them, and Vera never saw him again.

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/25/can-you-hear-me-now/#crowder-house

VII. A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys

A spectacular first-contact novel about complicated utopias and networked conflict – it's a wild ride, where the protagonist is a perfect match for the world, where a century of incredibly hard, smart work has carried us through the climate emergency, to the point where it's possible to believe that, over time, we will stabilize our relationship with the only known planet in the known universe capable of sustaining our species.

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/26/aislands/#dead-ringers

VIII. When Franny Stands Up by Eden Robins

Here's the McGuffin of this debut novel: The advent of World War II and the rise of woman comedians (filling in the vacuum left by the departure of all the men) reveals the existence of Showstoppers: involuntary psychic reactions that woman comedians can induce in female audience members when they're really cooking. A book that feels simultaneously  utterly contemporary and like an old, beloved classic.

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/01/eden-robins/#alt-history-comedy

Next up: Kids books!

https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/post/702452328987508736/all-the-books-i-reviewed-in-2022-part-ii-books

Image: Matthew Petroff https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George-peabody-library.jpg

CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

[Image ID: Interior of the George Peabody Library in Baltimore.]

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Blue Ocean

Bay Area three-piece Blue Ocean plays exuberantly discordant yet surprisingly mild-mannered noise pop, not unlike what a TV Personalities record might sound like if it were playing through a box fan that’s tumbling down the stairs. In his review of last year’s self-titled LP, Chris Liberato noted how suddenly the dynamics at play in the band’s songs can change, writing of “Human Now”: “You won’t be able to help but smile when a big bombastic synth chord comes lumbering across the song, from out of nowhere, with the enthusiasm of a sedated puppy — and then decides to stick around for a couple of encores.” Hot off the announcement of their Slumberland debut, Fertile State (out in October), band members Rick Altieri, David Stringi and Neal Donovan pop by to share a few words about some of the records they love.

Dave’s Picks:

Snapper — S/T

Found years ago, during a visit to Brooklyn, NY. I instantly gravitated to the vibrant and colorful slashes of paint, which abstractly splayed themselves across the front cover. The songs are very colorful as well, painted with electrifying rhythms and arpeggiating synth leads. “This would make a great gift for a couple of friends of mine.” Maybe someday Flying Nun will re-release it.

Dummy — EP2

I find myself listening again and again to this second installment from Dummy, sonic enthusiasts based on the West Coast. The opening track “Thursday Morning” introduces itself quite charmingly with its creative and concentrated vocal melodies. Followed blissfully by deep layers of noise and feedback within a clever collage process.

Rick’s Picks:

M. Sage — Paradise Crick

This album was a surprise find in the first half of 2023 for me, I was actually listening to the single “Crick Dynamo” before the album was released and remember my ears really perked up. I know M. Sage himself just did a Listed recently, what a lovely surprise — huge new fan of his work. I love the line walked between sonic lab experimentations and organic leafy strollings by a river; right up my alley.

Bill Evans — Coffee and Cigarettes

I always come back to Bill Evans when I’m in the mood for calming jazz that still demands your attention and challenges you in many ways. His playing on this record reminds me a lot of Debussy, another go-to when trying to unwind. Evans is one of my all-time favorite piano players.

Lifetones — For A Reason

Charles Bullen of This Heat went on to make this post-punk/dub hybrid classic with Julius Cornelius Samuel in 1983 — This Heat had just broken up the year before. The rhythmic syncopations and droning cyclical vocal delivery make every song on this record a mesmerizing journey. The lyrics are profound in their simplicity, dealing with human interaction and nature.

Neptune — Gong Lake

This record will always be special to me. Neptune was one of the first bands I remember seeing with Dave when I moved to Boston in 2008. They were playing in the basement of Gay Gardens, an old DIY spot in Allston. I was instantly blown away by the barrage of rhythmic noise and impressed by the homemade guitars and effects they had fabricated. They’ve been a huge influence on Dave and I for years now.

Emeralds — Does It Look Like I’m Here?

A Midwest synth classic. When I listened to the song “Candy Shoppe” again recently I was even more moved than ever before, a good sign that this 13-year-old album stands the test of time. This album fluctuates between gritty acidic synth-scapes and ambient movements in the vein of early Eno. I love Imaginary Softwoods too, John Elliot’s solo project post-Emeralds.

Neal’s Picks:

Ananda Kumar — Mangala Vadhyam Vol. 3

A friend with roots in Tamil Nadu told me about the nadaswaram, a double-reed instrument played at weddings and religious festivals in Southern India. I love how intense and cutting the sound is. This recording features two nadaswarams in semi-improvised conversation with each other. I'm reminded a bit of the groove and excitement of traditional New Orleans jazz. Also, the thavil drumming is insane, reminiscent of Aphex Twin breakbeats.

Jed Wentz — Telemann: 12 Fantasias for Flute

Telemann's fantasias for solo flute are so cool. Although they were published in the 1730s, there's something that feels very modern about having just the flute to focus on. The player is asked to jump around throughout the range of the instrument, sometimes outlining melodies and basslines simultaneously. It's all the more impressive on the keyless, wooden, baroque flute which has a mellower sound than modern metal ones. I imagine it as portable music that someone could play anywhere.

Sheer Mag — Compilation

My partner threw this on when we were cleaning out our last apartment. I'm not usually a big fan of riff-driven guitar rock, but this album just got me. The licks are smokin’, the guitar tones are perfection, and I love the mix— just gritty enough.

[beewantstotalk]

Hugo Awarded Books:

1. T.H.White - The Sword in The Stone(1939)(3/02/23)

2. A.E. van Vogt - Slan(1941)

3. Robert A. Heinlein - Beyond This Horizon(1943)(21/06/23)

4. Fritz Leiber - Conjure Wife(1944)(30/06/23)

5. Leigh Brackett - Shadow Over Mars(1945)(19/05/23)

6. Isaac Asimov - The Mule(1946)

7. Robert A. Heinlein - Farmer in The Sky(1951)(30/01/23)

8. Alfred Bester - The Demolished Man(1953)

9. Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451(1954)

10. Mark Clifton - They'd Rather Be Right(1955)

11. Robert A. Heinlein - Double Star(1956)

12. Fritz Leiber - The Big Time(1958)

13. James Blish - A Case of Conscience(1959)

14. Robert A. Heinlein - Starship Troopers(1960)

15. Walter M. Miller, Jr. - A Canticle for Leibowitz(1961)

16. Robert A. Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange Land(1962)

17. Philip K. Dick - The Man in The High Castle(1963)

18. Clifford D. Simak - Here Gather the Stars(Way Station)(1964)

19. Fritz Leiber - The Wanderer(1965)

20. Frank Herbert - Dune(1966)

21. Robert A. Heinlein - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress(1967)

22. Roger Zelazny - Lord of Light(1968)

23. John Brunner - Stand on Zanzibar(1969)

24. Ursula K. Le Guin - The Left Hand of Darkness(1970)

25. Larry Niven - Ringworld(1971)

26. Philip José Farmer - To Your Scattered Bodies Go(1972)

27. Isaac Asimov - The Gods Themselves(1973)

28. Arthur C. Clarke - Rendezvous with Rama(1974)

29. Ursula K. Le Guin - The Dispossessed(1975)

30. Joe Haldeman - The Forever War(1976)

31. Kate Wilhelm - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang(1977)

32. Frederik Pohl - Gateway(1978)

33. Vonda N. McIntyre - Dreamsnake(1979)

34. Arthur C. Clarke - The Fountains of Paradise(1980)

35. Joan D. Vinge - The Snow Queen(1981)

36. C. J. Cherryh - Downbelow Station(1982)

37. Isaac Asimov - Foundation's Edge(1983)

38. David Brin - Startide Rising(1984)

39. William Gibson - Neuromancer(1985)

40. Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game(1986)

41. Orson Scott Card - Speaker for the Dead(1987)

42. David Brin - The Uplift War(1988)

43. C. J. Cherryh - Cyteen(1989)

44. Dan Simmons - Hyperion(1990)

45. Lois McMaster Bujold - The Vor Game(1991)

46. Lois McMaster Bujold - Barrayar(1992)

47. Vernor Vinge - A Fire Upon the Deep(1993)

48. Connie Willis - Doomsday Book(1993)

49. Kim Stanley Robinson - Green Mars(1994)

50. Lois McMaster Bujold - Mirror Dance(1995)

51. Neal Stephenson - The Diamond Age(1996)

52. Kim Stanley Robinson - Blue Mars(1997)

53. Joe Haldeman - Forever Peace(1998)

54. Connie Willis - To Say Nothing to the Dog(1999)

55. Vernor Vinge - A Deepness in The Sky(2000)

56. J.K.Rowling - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire(2001)

57. Neil Gaiman - American Gods(2002)

58. Robert J. Sawyer - Hominids(2003)

59. Lois McMaster Bujold - Paladin of Souls(2004)

60. Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange and Mr.Norrell(2005)

61. Robert Charles Wilson - Spin(2006)

62. Vernor Vinge - Rainbows End(2007)

63. Michael Chabon - The Yiddish Policemen's Union(2008)

64. Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book(2009)

65. Paolo Bacigalupi - The Windup Girl(2010)

66. China Miéville - The City & the City(2010)

67. Connie Willis - Blackout/All Clear(2011)

68. Jo Walton - Among Others(2012)

69. John Skalzi - Redshirts(2013)

70. Ann Leckie - Ancillary Justice(2014)

71. Cixin Liu - The Three-Body Problem(2015)

72. N.K.Jemisin - The Fifth Season(2016)

73. N.K.Jemisin - The Obelisk Gate(2017)

74. N.K.Jemisin - The Stone Sky(2018)

75. Mary Robinette Kowal - The Calculating Stars(2019)

76. Arkady Martine - A Memory Called Empire(2020)

77. Martha Wells - Network Effect(2021)

78. Arkady Martine - A Desolation Called Peace(2022)

[claudz-vision]

JERUSALEM THE GOLDEN

Jerusalem the gold­en,

With milk and honey blest,

Beneath thy con­tem­pla­tion

Sink heart and voice op­pressed.

I know not, O I know not,

What joys await us there,

What radiancy of glo­ry,

What bliss beyond com­pare.

They stand, those halls of Zi­on,

All jubilant with song,

And bright with many an an­gel,

And all the mar­tyr throng;

The Prince is ev­er in them,

The daylight is se­rene.

The pastures of the bless­èd

Are decked in glo­ri­ous sheen.

There is the throne of Da­vid,

And there, from care re­leased,

The shout of them that tri­umph,

The song of them that feast;

And they, who with their lead­er,

Have conquered in the fight,

Forever and for­ev­er

Are clad in robes of white.

O sweet and bless­èd coun­try,

The home of God’s elect!

O sweet and bless­èd coun­try,

That eager hearts ex­pect!

Jesus, in mercy bring us

To that dear land of rest,

Who art, with God the Fa­ther,

And Spir­it, ever blessed.

Brief life is here our por­tion,

Brief sorrow, short lived care;

The life that knows no end­ing,

The tearless life, is there.

O happy re­tri­bu­tion!

Short toil, eter­nal rest;

For mortals and for sin­ners,

A mansion with the blest.

That we should look, poor wan­der­ers,

To have our home on high!

That worms should seek for dwell­ings

Beyond the starry sky!

And now we fight the bat­tle,

But then shall wear the crown

Of full and ev­er­last­ing,

And passionless re­nown.

And how we watch and strug­gle,

And now we live in hope,

And Zion in her ang­uish

With Babylon must cope;

But He whom now we trust in

Shall then be seen and known,

And they that know and see Him

Shall have Him for their own.

For thee, O dear, dear coun­try,

Mine eyes their vi­gils keep;

For very love, be­hold­ing,

Thy happy name, they weep:

The mention of thy glo­ry

Is unction to the breast,

And medicine in sick­ness,

And love, and life, and rest.

O one, O only man­sion!

O paradise of joy!

Where tears are ever ban­ished,

And smiles have no al­loy;

The cross is all thy splen­dor,

The Cru­ci­fied thy praise,

His laud and be­ne­dic­tion

Thy ransomed people raise.

Jerusalem the glo­ri­ous!

Glory of the elect!

O dear and future vi­sion

That eager hearts ex­pect!

E’en now by faith I see thee,

E’en here thy walls dis­cern;

To thee my thoughts are kin­dled,

And strive, and pant, and yearn.

Jerusalem, the on­ly,

That look’st from Heav’n be­low,

In thee is all my glo­ry,

In me is all my woe!

And though my body may not,

My spirit seeks thee fain,

Till flesh and earth re­turn me

To earth and flesh again.

Jerusalem, ex­ult­ing

On that securest shore,

I hope thee, wish thee, sing thee,

And love thee ev­er­more!

I ask not for my mer­it:

I seek not to de­ny

My merit is de­struct­ion,

A child of wrath am I.

But yet with faith I ven­ture

And hope up­on the way,

For those pe­ren­ni­al guer­dons

I labor night and day.

The best and dear­est Fa­ther

Who made me, and who saved,

Bore with me in de­file­ment,

And from de­file­ment laved.

When in His strength I strug­gle,

For very joy I leap;

When in my sin I tot­ter,

I weep, or try to weep:

And grace, sweet grace ce­les­ti­al,

Shall all its love dis­play,

And Da­vid’s roy­al fount­ain

Purge ev­ery stain away.

O sweet and bless­èd coun­try,

Shall I e’er see thy face?

O sweet and bless­èd coun­try,

Shall I e’er win thy grace?

I have the hope with­in me

To comfort and to bless!

Shall I e’er reach thy glo­ry?

O tell me, tell me, Yes!

Strive, man, to win that glo­ry;

Toil, man, to gain that light;

Send hope be­fore to grasp it,

Till hope be lost in sight.

Exult, O dust and ash­es,

The Lord shall be thy part:

His only, His for­ev­er

Thou shalt be, and thou art.

Ber­nard of Mor­laix (Monk of Cluny), 1146 (Urbs Si­on aur­ea).

Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John M. Neale

[dreamboybookclub]

dream boy book club is pleased to announce the imminent publication of . . . CuTieS oF CoNTeMPoRaRY LiTeRaTuRe: the Collected Dream Boy Book Club Vol. 1 ⭐️ featuring A.J. Brown, Alexandra Naughton, Annie Lou Martin, April Eileen Henry, ashla c. r., Ashley D. Escobar, Ayla McCarthy Combes, Beaux Neal, Benin Gardner, Carmen Vega, Caroline Ouellette, Clarke e. Andros, Danielle Chelosky, Ember Knight, Erin Satterthwaite, Francesca Kritikos, Isabelle Joy Stephen, Jerusha Crone, Joe Nasta, John Ling, jomé rain, Juliette Jeffers, Kaiulani Ellington Lee, Kitty Saint-Remy, Lee Phillips, Lemmy Ya’akova, Madeline Zuzevich, Maria Kirsch, Marianne Agnes, Maurane, Maya Osep, Meat Stevens, medb, Nestan Nikouradze, s m van de kamp, Sarah Elda, Sarah Velk, Siena Foster-Soltis, Sofia Hoefig, Sophia Georghiou, Stephanie Yue Duhem, and Swan Scissors, with an introduction by Jonathan Blake Fostar. ✨ available everywhere September 6th ✨ dreamboybook.club/store/cuties 😇