#Roland also knows german

[masonlaend]

Chesed and Netzach speak spanish because I said so

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Harold Faltermeyer - Axel F 1985

"Axel F" is an electronic instrumental track by German musician Harold Faltermeyer. It served as the theme song for the 1984 film Beverly Hills Cop, its eponymous character (as portrayed by Eddie Murphy) and the film franchise it is based from, which became an international number-one hit in 1985. The track reached number one in Ireland as well as on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. Additionally, it was a number two hit in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK, and West Germany. In addition to the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack, the song appears on Faltermeyer's 1988 album Harold F. as a bonus track.

Faltermeyer recorded the tune using five instruments: a Roland Jupiter-8 provided the distinctive saw lead, a Moog modular synthesizer 15 provided the bass, a Roland JX-3P provided chord stab brasses, a Yamaha DX7 was used for the marimba sound, and a LinnDrum was used for drum programming. All instruments were played by Faltermeyer. According to Faltermeyer, the initial reaction to his first presentation of the track to the film's producers and director did not result in an immediate approval; it was not until director Martin Brest voiced his approval that the producers showed enthusiasm. A music video was produced to promote the single, directed by Faltermeyer.

"Axel F" has been sampled in many songs, including "Champion" by South Korean singer Psy. In 2005, Crazy Frog's version became a summer hit. It topped the charts in the UK, with some of the best weekly sales of the year, and remained at the top of the UK Singles Chart for four weeks to become Britain's third-best-selling single of 2005, outselling and outperforming the original version. It also reached number 1 in Australia, the Republic of Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Ukraine, Spain, and Sweden. In France, the song stayed at number 1 for thirteen weeks, only to be dethroned by Crazy Frog's second single, "Popcorn". This was only the second time that an artist had ever dethroned themself in that country. It peaked at number 3 on the US Digital Sales chart, and number 2 on the US Adult Contemporary Top 20. In 2024, as part of a tribute to celebrate the release of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, the Crazy Frog Youtube Channel made a special crossover music video with Netflix, featuring scenes from the movie, but re-edited to feature Crazy Frog in them, being chased by the Beverly Hills Police and Axel Foley.

"Axel F" received a total of 88,3% yes votes!

[sgiandubh]

Out of the OL bubble

Sidenote: this post owes everything to the incredible sleuthing skills of an already longtime trusted friend, who wishes to remain discreet. All credit goes entirely to her - this is such an idiotic topic, yet the Ur Troll insists.

I answered one of you in the comment threads yesterday, that once you get the hell out of the OL bubble, things begin to make sense. Why? Well, because of distance and context, I suppose. And also because this always was the dirty little secret of our Dedicated Manipulative Trolls: to make you believe in a terribly poor narrative, fit for a linear world. A world without compromise, drama, secrets and lies. Collective lack of time, perspective and/or Internet research skills did the rest and gave birth to this monster: the OL Fandom.

We are now told and are supposed to believe that because Scottish Xena apparently chose on purpose (with this and only this, I could agree, but for opposite reasons) to show us she trains in a Cumbernauld gym, that means... well, you know the rest and it involves The Magic Golden Dirk. That troll was never exactly subtle, was she, bless her heart?

That mother and entrepreneur has a life of her own and an entourage of her own and business collaborations of her own and her own agenda. Some of it is shown on her Instagram account, most of it can be speculated. Connecting dots just for the sake of it is neither productive, nor remotely interesting.

Let's see, for example, how she reacts to a very insistent fellow German athlete, whom she is going to meet at the Hyrox Cologne event (13-14th of April, during the Landcon week-end):

😬😱

What is Flamingos Club? Nope, not an ikebana society, no:

Tee-hee.

They were there before, in good company, last year, when they actually first met (rings a bell?):

(April 2023, ok? I am still waiting for my own DeLorean)

Who is this guy?

Fellow athlete, HYROX Ambassador (something I bet the farm she wants to achieve) and a contestant in this year's German reality show First Dates Hotel, on VOX (https://www.vox.de/cms/sendungen/first-dates-hotel.html):

The concept is simple: a renowned German chef, Roland Trettl (no idea!) now takes his blind date cooking show to the next level, with singles from all over the country parked into a Spanish dream holiday resort (Mallorca), shake, stir and see whatever happens. The classical Endemol recipe, now produced by Twenty Twenty. It also has an UK version, running on Channel 4 (coincidence? I doubt that very much, thank you!).

On set, Max's 'love interest' is a certain Linda. He recently wrote her ' a sweet love letter', taking the good advice of his namesake cast friend Max-the-Bartender:

(I swear to God, I feel like I am prostituting my 🧠, right now).

There is obviously nothing to see, here (or is it, such as two wannabes desperately wanting limelight?). She leads the typical no strings attached life of a single mom and he is still looking for a real job:

Since VOX does not give his full name, neither will I. It took five minutes to find him, with a bit of luck.

Why on Earth would one connect that woman to S, rather than to this nice, ambitious Bavarian?

I know why. It's almost too damn easy.

Two words: Channel 4. Truman Show. Ginger and Fred (oops, these are Our Couple).

Is it anything we haven't seen before?

Nope. We've seen way worse. But gone are the Days of Flukenzie Floozy.

[Edited] - there is no need to further expose our people.

[sissylittlefeather]

Introducing:

Vivian Choquette

A new OC for the upcoming fic Your Love's Been a Long Time Coming.

Headcannons:

- Born in 1940, she's 19 when she meets Elvis

- Her mother, Delphine, was French and she never knew her father. Her mother was a dancer and she married Vivian's stepfather, Roland Everett, an American officer, during WWII in 1945. Delphine passed away when Vivian was 14. Now, she lives with her stepfather where he's stationed in Germany.

- She speaks English and French fluently and knows how to communicate in German fairly well.

- She smokes, drinks, and cusses like a sailor, but there's an elegance and grace to her that seems to make everyone forget how crude she can be.

- She writes poetry in English and French and is obsessed with reading, specifically literary criticism, philosophy, poetry, and classic literature.

- She's also an actress, a singer, and plays the piano.

- Her aesthetic is romantic academia and her favorite colors are light pink and mint green.

- Her birthday is February 26th, making her a Pisces.

- She's an outgoing introvert, meaning she loves to work the room at a party, but she also needs time alone to recover from the interaction.

- Her first love was a boy in high school who wrote poetry and played the violin. He promised to marry her, took her virginity, and then disappeared.

- She's a hopeless romantic who is obsessed with all things related to love and the beauty of human connection. She thinks people are poetry and nature is spiritual.

- Her hair is dark brown, her eyes are deep blue, and she's 5'2" tall. Her build is petite and slender and her hands and feet are small and almost fairy-like.

- Despite her French blood, she prefers American food. Still, she herself cannot cook to save her life. She's been known to burn toast and struggle with boiling eggs.

- The other thing she cannot do is any kind of visual art. She can't paint, draw, or sculpt and finds it infinitely frustrating.

- She has a quick, short temper and will explode easily and then forget why she was mad ten minutes later. She also has a sense of melancholy about her and when she's in a mood can spend hours weeping over a sad song or poem.

- She loves music, but her exposure is fairly limited to classical and pop. Her favorite music is her mother's collection of Claude Debussy, specifically Clair de Lune and La Cathédrale Engloutie.

- All in all, she's like a summer thunderstorm, beautiful, chaotic, calming, and poetic all wrapped into one.

******

Stay tuned to meet her as Elvis does

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Taglist:

@ccab @aliypop @your-nanas-house @rjmartin11 @elvisfatass @tacozebra051

Let me know if you want to be tagged in her fic!

[ecargmura]

Wind Breaker Episode 11 Review - New Day, New Classmates

I’m a little confused. Tsugeura’s little motto revolves around the word “virtue”. In the manga, it’s virtue. The subtitles call it virtue as well, but I’ve seen some subs use “aesthetics.” What is the accurate word? A moot on Twitter says that the accurate word should be “aesthetics”. Virtue means a behavior showing high moral standards while aesthetics means a particular theory or connection to beauty or art. My moot told me that the word Tsugeura uses is actually more associated with aesthetic rather than virtue. I don’t know…. For now, I’ll just call it virtue since that’s what the subtitles say, but if they switch it to aesthetics or something, I’ll use that.

Anyways, it’s a new day, the fourth to be exact, and Sakura meets two new classmates. The first is Taiga Tsugeura who likes to talk about virtue, is a gym bro, and is an all around himbo. He speaks in Kansai dialect, by the way. While he’s a nice guy, he lacks personal boundaries, which is why everyone avoids him. Sugishita’s face says it all. Fortunately, Sakura, Suo and Nirei are nice enough to hang out with him after school. Tsugeura is a macho guy, but he’s surprisingly goofy and sensitive. While he doesn’t get along with Kiryu, he doesn’t let that bother him. He’s very funny, honestly. I think he brings a good dynamic to the group as the optimist in a way. His fighting style centers around wrestling with the way he did a German suplex to one of those scrubs.

Tsugeura’s voice actor actually surprised me. He’s voiced by Kengo Kawanishi. You might know him as Muichiro from Demon Slayer and Roland Fortis from The Case Study of Vanitas. Why I was surprised was because I normally associated with him quiet pretty boys, but remembering that he voiced Roland, he has the capability to go loud and dumb too. Also, another thing that surprised me about him was that Kawanishi always sounded like he could be Akira Ishida’s successor in terms of range and tone, but the voice he uses for Tsugeura makes him sound like Noriaki Sugiyama who you might know as the voice of Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto and also voiced Muichiro’s dad who appeared in the third season of Demon Slayer. Kawanishi’s range is seriously killer.

The second of the new classmates is Mitsuki Kiryu. He’s rumored to be from a rich family with the way he went to a rich kid’s school during junior high. His past sounds very interesting if he chose to rebel and went to Fuurin; I’m super curious as much as I am curious about Suo’s past. Kiryu is practically the total opposite of Tsugeura in every way. He respects people’s boundaries, especially girls’, but is rather effeminate compared to the macho himbo Tsuge-chan. He’s also a huge phone addict as he was first seen in episode 2 playing with his phone. I do wonder if he has a hamburger case alongside the hotdog case. His fighting style sort of reminds me of the Gentle Fist style from Naruto, especially with the way it focuses on deflecting as Kiryu deflects his opponents and sends them flying to his allies.

Kiryu’s voice actor is Toshiyuki Toyonaga. It’s been a while since I last heard Toyonaga voice a rather effeminate character. I actually really like his acting a lot! He has so much range that his voice is so hard to detect because he sounds so different in whatever anime he’s in. If you’re curious on what roles he had done in the past, some examples include Yuuri Katsuki from Yuri on Ice, Kazuki Kurusu from Buddy Daddies and Nayuta Yatonokami from Paradox Live. All three of those roles sound different, yet they come from the same person. Amazing, isn't it? I love how Toyonaga gives Kiryu a boyish voice; that tone is so cute.

The fighting scene in the anime was well-animated! All three have such distinct styles, but it meshes so well together. Heck, even Suo gets to be a part of the fight, despite him being at the back protecting Nirei and the girl Kiryu saved and only fighting when mooks try to run towards the back. I really like the part where Sakura is flipping around after Tsugeura throws in a punch and then Kiryu deflects a guy towards him.

The episode is also has some development towards Sakura as he gets new fighting allies in Tsugeura and Kiryu and even gets five new contacts in his phone. He’s the most chronically offline teenager, and he’s even slowly adjusting to the teen life by attempting to participate in group chats and stuff. I hope that Sakura becomes an expert at instant messaging by the time the story ends.

The episode ends with the second years coming to Sakura’s class in order to pick a Group Captain. What is a group captain? It’s like a top of the class or something. Suo volunteers Sakura to be captain. What happens next will be shown next week. However, the second years showing up is great because Enomoto is hilarious with the way he rolls his R’s. Can you believe that he’s voiced by Taishi Murata, who voices Pieyon from Oshi no Ko? Crazy, right? That’s the third voice actor with crazy range in this episode. Also, this is the introduction to Kaji but I’ll talk more about him next week as he’ll finally talk. I can’t wait to see people’s reaction to Kaji. He’s such a great character.

There are two more episodes left. With how popular this show is in the Japanese fanbase, I wouldn’t be surprised if a second season will be announced; I certainly want it. What are your thoughts on this episode and are you also wanting a season two like I am?

[hedgehog-moss]

do you ever read scifi or fantasy in french? i am trying to read more sff that was originally published not in english but it's not easy to find 💀

I do! It’s not my favourite genre but one of my friends loves it so I read a bunch of SFF books every year ahead of her birthday to try and find a gift for her. I’m glad I do this because it’s allowed me to discover N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy which was amazing, and I don’t know if I would have picked it up otherwise!

Here are some French-language authors I’ve read or plan to read (unfortunately English translations are few and far between :( I bolded the names for which I found English translations—if you read in another language you can check out the non-bolded authors, there are often translations available in other languages long before English ones)

When it comes to classics you've got Pierre Boulle (Planet of the Apes of course; also Garden on the Moon, which is (deservedly imo) less known), Jacques Spitz (La Guerre des mouches—it was translated but not into English), René Barjavel (The Ice People, Ravage, Future Times Three—I read them a long time ago but I remember them as very sexist even by French classic standards), Bernard Lenteric (La nuit des enfants rois), Alain Damasio (La Horde du Contrevent—maybe too recent to be a classic but it’s everywhere. I was surprised to find no English translation!), Bernard Werber (I feel like he rehashes the same 3 ideas again and again but some of his earlier stuff was fun), Alexandre Arnoux (Le règne du bonheur), Jules Verne of course, Stefan Wul (Oms en série which was adapted into the film La Planète sauvage—Fantastic Planet in English. I like the film better!) And some I haven’t read: Georges-Jean Arnaud, Serge Brussolo (I liked his Peggy Sue series when I was in middle school but it spooked me so much I haven’t dared to pick up any of his SFF for adults, like Les semeurs d’abîmes), Élisabeth Vonarburg.

Newer authors: Estelle Faye (L’arpenteuse de rêves, Un éclat de givre—I tend to like her worldbuilding more than her plots); Sandrine Collette (The Forests—if you count speculative fiction as SFF) (I didn’t like it at all personally but others might), Jean-Philippe Jaworski (I really liked Janua Vera; didn't like Gagner la guerre but it was mainly because I have a low tolerance for rape scenes in fantasy books) (he’s about to be translated into English according to his editor), Stéphane Beauverger (Le déchronologue)

More authors I haven't yet read: Pierre Pevel (The Cardinal's Blades—I've been told it's "17th century Paris with dragons"), Romain Lucazeau (Latium), Laurent Genefort (Lum’en), Christian Charrière (La forêt d’Iscambe), Roland Wagner (La saison de la sorcière), Aurélie Wellenstein (Mers Mortes—I love the synopsis for this one), Magali Villeneuve (La dernière Terre, trilogy)

And non-French, non-anglo SFF authors: Maryam Petrosyan (my review of the Gray House last year was that I understood maybe 1/3 of it but I liked it anyway!), Hao Jingfang (haven’t read her yet), Arkady & Boris Strugatsky (idem), Jaroslav Melnik (I’ve read Espace lointain (originally Далекий простір) but didn’t like it much), Andreas Eschbach (The Carpet Makers), Walter Moers (I read The City of Dreaming Books back when I was still learning German and found it very charming), Liu Cixin (I loved The Three-Body Problem but The Dark Forest was so sexist it made me not want to pick up the third volume), Lola Robles (El informe Monteverde, translated as Memoirs of an Interstellar Linguist), Elaine Vilar Madruga (Fragmentos de la Tierra Rota), Tatiana Tolstaya (The Slynx), Karin Tidbeck (Amatka), Emmi Itäranta (Memory of Water, The Moonday Letters), Angélica Gorodischer (I’ve read Kalpa Imperial and found it only so-so but it always takes me a while to warm up to characters or a setting so I struggle with short story collections. I’ll still give Trafalgar a try) Also my favourite fantasy book as a kid was Michael Ende’s Neverending Story, I was obsessed with it. I re-read it in the original German a few years ago and it was still great.

[tgrailwar-zero]

Ah. Big Chuck is basically the father of Europe, he was mostly known as a politician and king but there are stories about his adventures as a swordsman in his youth. He was the King of a very large part of central Europe known as the Holy Roman Empire. Which was neither Holy, Roman nor an empire. But from what I remember of stories he was known to be a very competent statesman who managed a large amount of vassals. He also made educational reforms and united and converted the German people... I think. So basically he's a giant brain while the Paladins would be the more mythic figures meant to go on adventures for ancient relics and be exemplars of knighthood. Asfolto also flew to the moon once if I recall? Roland was known as having a diamond body I believe, which likely is enhanced by the T-summon if it is indeed Mandricardo who had the armor of Hektor.

...Basically a Knight. That strips. A really tough Knight.

MUSASHI: "Huh. Well, the stripping part was pretty apparent, but the rest is good to know."

NERO: "On the topic of Roland, segueing back into the Flaming Bout… I've made some adjustments to Saber's mystic code, as agreed."

MUSASHI: "Oh, right! Caster basically made me into a certified water spirit… or what's the word you used? Right, sea-nymph! I never thought I'd say this, but I feel kind of pretty wearing it. No, sexy! No, wait--"

GIUSEPPE: "Let's remember propriety before you throw out a word more intense than 'sexy', please?"

MUSASHI: "Hehehe~ it's pretty good~!"

NERO: "Hahaha! I'm glad you like it! I knew you'd appreciate my genius!"

Based off NERO's skills, it seemed like the stuff she could make was pretty weird. But… well, this seemed like it turned out fine. Probably.

MUSASHI's Servant Matrix has been updated!

[herrlindemann]

Sonic Seducer - 2015, Interview with Till

"Rammstein is my life. My job, my family."

Sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. A truism that no one knows as well as Till Lindemann. For more than twenty years, the 52-year-old muscle man has been playing as Rammstein's frontman on records, stage and paper with the Neue Deutsche Härte-Feuer - after several postponements, the time has finally come: with his solo debut 'Skills In Pill’s announced at the beginning of the year will be released in mid-June, the most discussed album of the year!

Outside of the limelight, Till Lindemann tends to be the introverted, taciturn type who likes to avoid public appearances and feels much more comfortable in the rough wilderness night fishing than on red celebrity carpets. After one or the other time in the recent past at least raised eyebrows - on the one hand through the rather bizarre guest appearance of pop singer Heino during the last Rammstein show at Wacken Open Air 2013, on the other hand through Lindemann's songwriting work for Roland Kaiser's new album, also keep your fan base in suspense with the collaboration with Hypocrisy/Pain mastermind Peter Tägtgren: On the joint album 'Skills In Pills' Till Lindemann rolls his enigmatic lyrics in English throughout and thus causes divided reactions within the metal World.

«Writing in English is a kind of a new start,» says Till Lindemann, explaining his discovered affinity for foreign languages. « A whole new field in which I can let off steam. It has become very difficult to write German texts today because I have already said almost everything in some form. Everything has already been covered. With Lindemann I'm starting from scratch lyrically. Free choice! An unplayed place waiting to be deflowered. »

The themes dealt with by Lindemann on 'Skills In Pills' don't really differ that drastically from those in his Rammstein texts or his two previously published books: Dark passions, the curse and blessing of various pills, and of course sex in all conceivable ways or form. This time, however, not in German, but with a double dose of deep black humor. « At first I wasn't so sure if the lyrics were really good because they came together so easily. It was too easy compared to the German texts. At Rammstein, six people work in their designated areas. Everyone has their place and their fixed area that they work on. However, you still have to reconcile six different opinions. Of course, this is not always entirely without complications. Nevertheless, we of course also learned a lot from each other. »

Knowledge that Lindemann brings to his solo project today. Until recently, the Berliner focused almost exclusively on his work with the Berlin pyro-metallers, but his urge to express himself seems to become stronger and more unpredictable with each passing year.

« I think it's normal to express yourself in different ways over the years. When you're young and you start a band, you put all your energy into that band. Music, stage shows, artwork, everything. Today everything is better divided so that each of us can concentrate our energies elsewhere. I can already say that this project will be a big part of Peter's and my future together, but my priority will always remain Rammstein. Rammstein is my life. My job, my family. I spend my vacation from this family with Peter. »

Holiday fun with a difference: With loud widescreen guitars, electronic programming and dark, erotic doom prose - switching off in Lindemann style. « It was also nice to travel up to the countryside to see Peter again and again. It only takes about three hours from Berlin and you're there. I visited him 20 or 25 times; even if sometimes it was just for a day. Sometimes he called and said I needed to come in for a quick recording. Then I quickly got on the plane and was there straight away. »

The result of these spontaneous excursions can be heard in the form of the Lindemann debut 'Skills In Pills' from June 19th, 2015. The continuation of the interview with Till Lindemann and Peter Tägtgren can be found in the next issue.

[frasier-crane-style]

We Who Are About To Die episode 1

This got bad reviews, but what sword and sandals media gets good reviews? That said:

-Bewilderingly, the show has several Numidians and plays them as the most cliched African tribesmen imaginable, instead of as Berbers. I can only imagine that Peacock got more ESG points for black people than for Arabs. Either that or they saw that the source material had a "slaves trying to break free" plot and just had to make those characters black.

-It also plays them as Noble Savages entirely straight, being just aghast at how humans can kill for reasons other than eating. Okay, Tarzan, whatever you say.

-Naturally, the one gay character is the most debauched, out-and-out villain. Roland Emmerich is gay, so I think this is just his throwback to Spartacus and the like, but who would've thought a German would have that much of a sense of humor?

-In case you're wondering how dumbed down this all is from actual Roman history, they say at one point "All the people care about are bread and games." Because circus = spectacle = games is too big a leap for their target audience to make, one guesses.

-At one point, the chariot race announcer declares "Ride or die!"

-Anthony Hopkins gets the thankless role of old guy emperor. Would it be too much to ask that they get Pacino or Deniro for one of these? I feel Hopkins has done this character a dozen times.

-Speaking of, I know the British accent isn't realistically what ancient Romans would sound like, even if they were speaking English--but is it too much to ask for some consistency? It's just weird to hear the Romans go from British accents to American accents at random.

-The main 'Numidian' chick, Cala, has entirely too much plot armor. She's played something like a reverse Paul Atriedes who is induced into Roman society and immediately comes up with all these one-neat-tricks to improve things, as well as instantly becoming the right-hand man to antihero Tenax. It was unbelievable to me that Tenax has so small an organization that Cala is the first person to come along that he can delegate to, but at the same time he's such a huge power broker that he can affect the course of the Empire.

-This show has waaaay too many characters, man. Just for starters, we have three Spanish horse guys, four Numidians, two rival charioteers, the Roman emperor and his competitive sons, assorted gladiators, assorted politicians, random Romans who hold stock in the arena, and all their kooky love stories... it got to the point that two female characters started having a love scene: I had no idea who one of them was and whether the two had ever had scenes together before. And it's not like all of these characters come together at the end. Plenty of them are just THERE and never contribute to the larger plot. I understand not thinking this would get a second season, but surely they could've saved a few of these people for later instead of cramming them all in at once.

-A surprising amount of plot points arise from the charioteers 'boxing each other in' against a wall so that they can't get out of the way of an obstacle and crash right into it. I don't know, I'm not an expert chariot racer, but... horses stop, don't they? It's not just turning them left or right, you can actually make them stop, correct?

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Luther Discovers Hus

“You are espousing the pestilent errors of Jon Hus, who claimed that Peter neither was nor is the head of the Holy Catholic Church." John Eck accused Luther "I repulse the charge of Bohemianism," roared Luther.

This was an intense moment in the German town of Leipzig in July, 1519. Luther’s old German friend, John Eck, had challenged Luther to a public debate. For eighteen days the debate between Eck, Luther and Andreas Carlstadt was the center of the western world. This debate was a major turning point for Luther and the Reformation.

Eck, a polished debater, tried to corner Luther to admit that he agreed with the condemned Jon Hus. At first Martin told Eck the Bohemian was not an issue for the debate, and that he didn’t agree with Hus. But Luther didn't really know what Hus believed, only that he was a heretic.

During a break for lunch, Luther went to the university library and read the trial notes that condemned Hus as a heretic. Historian Roland Bainton said Luther found “to his amazement,” that he did agree with Hus. Bainton continues, “When the assembly reconvened at two o'clock, Luther declared, ‘Among the articles of Jon Hus, I find many which are plainly Christian and evangelical, which the universal Church cannot condemn.’" At this admission Duke George in disgust muttered in a loud enough voice that all could hear, “The plague!”

Eck had cornered Luther into a surprising concession. Because of that, some say Eck won the debate, although many say it was a draw. The debate ultimately helped Luther, who felt the debate was a waste of time, free himself further from the papal system. And Martin Luther had found a friend and ally in Jon Hus, a man burned at the stake as a heretic one hundred years prior to Luther.

“I thought of John Hus as a cursed heretic,” Luther later said. “I counted it a sin even to think of him. I would gladly have furnished the wood to burn him. I would have felt I had done God a real service….I was struck with amazement as I read on, and was filled with an astonishment difficult to describe, as I sought out for what reason so great a man—a doctor, so worthy of veneration, and so powerful in expounding the Scriptures—had been burned to death.”

If such a man, he wrote, "is to be regarded as a heretic, then no person under the sun can be looked upon as a true Christian." The Leipzig debate sealed Luther’s fate. It was only a matter of time before he would be excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

Martin Luther's "discovery" of Hus tells us a lot about Luther. He reads Hus and immediately changes a long and deeply held belief he had about Hus, showing that Luther is very teachable and willing to admit he is wrong. He casually admits his error to a room full of peers and powerful men. He didn't seem to care or worry about how this admission would effect his reputation--which was an amazing tendency of Luther. This shows Luther’s bravery and willingness to accept the repercussions of his convictions. The Leipzig Debate reveals the character of Luther and why he was the spearhead of the Reformation. It also moved Luther and the Reformation even further from Catholic teachings. "The ship of the Reformation was cut from its moorings, and had to fight with the winds and waves of the open sea," writes Historian Philip Schaff.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/church.history01

This is a really good Facebook account. Check it out and give Church History a follow.

[atthefishhouses]

Nr. 19 und Nr. 22 von den fic writer asks? ☺️🌼

19. The most interesting topic you’ve researched for a fic

For character arcs: I have been interested in trauma and trauma-related topics for a long time. And my involvement in Spatort has given me license to both brush up on my existing knowledge and branch out into new areas such as trauma-informed couple’s therapy (“traumasensible Paartherapie”) .  

For plot developments: In 2022, I went into something of a research frenzy regarding money laundering, since I wanted to understand what Roland Schürk and Boris Barns could possibly have done with 1.2 million Euros (in registered banknotes!), had it not been for Leo and the (un)fortunate incident in the garage. What struck me while I was learning about all kinds of international money laundering schemes was a) that some of these schemes are quite sophisticated and involve a large number of internationally operating organized crime units/families [which will even allow you to launder money that you came into as a result of a bank robbery] and b) that German laws can almost be said to facilitate and incentivise money laundering.

22. do you ever worry about public reaction to what you’re writing? how do you get past that?

I was certainly a bit nervous about posting my first story because I did not know if anybody would care to read my musings about Adam in Berlin. But having @opheliagreif read the story beforehand, definitely helped me to overcome any remaining nerves and post the damn thing (once I had a better idea of where the sequel was heading). Since I knew from the get-go that Adam and Karow are not everybody’s cup of tea – especially if the story is also more or less G-rated –, I was very pleasantly surprised by the clicks, kudos and kind comments people left.

If my inner critic raises its ugly head these days, which still happens from time to time, I try to remind myself to just chill, since one of the greatest things about fan fiction is the fact that it is something that you do for fun, for free and in your free time.

I also try to surround myself with kind people. And I have made it a rule (online and offline) not to take criticism from people whose opinions or personality I do not value or care for.  So there is actually no reason to worry about the negative things random people on the internet might think or say about my plots, my character arcs or my grammar and spelling, as long as I am happy with where the story is going.

[fraeuleintaka]

Raymond Shields' new name: Eddie Fender

This is the 19th post in the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Countdown: 62 days left until release!

Today's topic: Eddie Fender aka Raymond Shields!

I'm going to be honest: Ray isn't among my favourite characters. I do like him, especially for the role he plays in Investigations 2's story, but I'm not the biggest fan of his personality. I like his interactions with many characters but I'm not all that attached to him for his own sake so I basically would not have cared whatever his name in the official localisation would've been.

I like "Raymond Shields" as his name with "Shields" fitting to Miles' "Edge" in "Edgeworth" (similar to how their Japanese names have the meanings of "shield" and "sword" respectively) and "Raymond" coming from Proto-Germanic meaning "advice" and "protector" which handily fits his role in the game and his job as a defense attorney in general. Going from "Raymond" to "(Uncle) Ray" as a nickname also works really well.

From what I've seen "Eddie Fender" is only really a play on "a defender" which also references his defense attorney position but doesn't do much else. In that context I definitely prefer his fan translated name, it seems to have more meaning behind it. I don't know if he will also refer to himself as "Uncle Ed" or "Uncle Eddie" in the official localisation but somehow that sounds... dirtier than "Uncle Ray"? I'm not the biggest fan of his hug gimmick anyway (except that one time where Patricia Roland "out-hugged" him 😂) so I hope they won't make it worse. (I assume his "full name" is "Edmund" even though he'll only be called "Eddie" to make the pun work - similar to how Gumshoe's actual first name is likely "Richard" with "Dick" being a nickname but "Dick" has the detective reference so that's what he's called - so we'd have a similar nickname situation to "Raymond" and "Ray".) I don't care about his character enough to be particularly upset about the inferior name - and while it's less good than the fan translated one I don't think it's horrible either - but if I had to pick, I'd definitely go with his fan translated name.

[universestreasures]

Isono Full Bio!!!

Basic Information 

Name: 竜多郎 磯野 (Ryutaro Isono) / Roland Ingram

Gender: Male

Nationality: Japanese

Orientation: Heterosexual.

Zodiac: Taurus  

Birthday: May 11th

Age: 38 (Start of the Manga/Season 1)

Eye Color: Sapphire Blue

Hair Color: Black

Height: 6'4

Family: Haruka Isono (Wife, 36), Riko Isono (Daughter, 9). He also is the eldest of four siblings (3 girls and 1 boy), and his parents are both still alive.

Position: Chief of Staff (CoS) / Strategic Assistant To The CEO / Driver For Kaiba Corporation.

Skill Areas: Project management, problem-solving, event planning, delegation, driving, strategic planning, advanced technology use, and foreign languages (he can speak Japenese, English, Korean, Chinese, and German).

History

Ryutaro was hired as a driver for Kaiba Corp in 1988, two years before the Kaiba Brothers were adopted. He was 30 at the time and just starting out in the company. And thus, he had a low-level position. He went to business school for years (He had a Bachelors and was going through his Masters at the time of his employment) but had trouble getting any kind of decent position. So, with a 1-year-old daughter and a wife to care for, he took this job, hoping to eventually rise through the ranks in the company.

And he did, eventually becoming a manager for a small portion of Kaiba Corp's staff, specifically a team in the technology department, in 1993 (when Seto was 13). He also continued to be a driver as well, more so because he was requested to do so because he was so reliable, always able to get whoever it may be there quickly and efficiently. He had the driving routes and traffic patterns of Domino memorized, after all.

In his manager position, he came across Seto, who was working on his own tech project at the time: his Solid Vision system. He thought the system was remarkable, unlike anything he'd ever seen. Impressive that a child managed to create something like this. Though, what he was more impressed by was his reason for developing it, the very 'dream' he created it for.

That day made Ryutaro a fan of Seto's, and that admiration for him grew over time. He no doubt supported Seto in his quest to overthrow Gozaboru, even at the risk of his own future. He had that much faith in Seto's ability and his dream.

Eventually, Ryutaro is promoted to the Chief of Staff and works directly as a liaison to Seto as well as his and Mokuba's personal driver. When this happens I imagine will be different for every Kaiba I write with, but my mind it's following Duelist Kingdom since that's when Isono is seen in canon for the first time. He becomes trusted enough with important duties such as being an official for tournaments, a master of ceremonies, and even handling important projects like the excavation of the puzzle in DSOD. Ryutaro truly is the most reliable and most trusted employee in the entire company, a title he knows carries with it a lot of responsibility, especially because he has come to care about both Seto and Mokuba, both as bosses and as if they were his own children.

Fun Facts

Riko, his daughter, is an avid gamer, and I think that is partly what drew Isono to Seto and Mokuba to begin with. That, and he has a soft spot for kids.

He is very much the 'dad friend' to everyone in Kaiba Corp and cares about everyone's well-being.

He is very addicted to caffeine and needs it to function.

He often works late and doesn't get many days off, meaning he makes every second of his time with his family count and spoils them rotten often.

He has a lifetime pass to Kaiba Land and uses it to take his family. Riko especially likes the Kaiba Man show.

He met his wife Haruka in high school and married her soon after her graduation. They were high school sweethearts, and she very much is the more 'outspoken' of the two. She's no doubt complained about her husband being overworked.

Riko has been brought to work as apart of a 'bring your kid to work day' with her dad, and she loves being there and hopes to be hired someday, especially for anything related to game testing.

He is very lightweight when it comes to drinking, which is why he doesn't partake in it at all, especially when on business-related functions.

His wife packs him lunch every day and even dinner if he is staying late. They are very well-made bentos with little notes from her and Riko.

He has pictures of his wife and kid on his desk, and a picture of himself with both Seto and Mokuba.

Some of his hobbies include cooking and reading, and he likes to go to hot springs to try and relax with all the stress he's constantly under.

[iliiuan]

Epic Fantasy through the Ages

A Chronology of Story

This is a work in progress, but here is my list as of 6 July 2023. Please feel free to send me additions or corrections. I have focused on epic (works that are long and took a long time to create) and fantasy (works that include an element of magic, the supernatural, or superpowers). Some of the list could be categorized as myth, some as Literature™️, some as science fiction, but beyond these categories are the two main criteria of epic and fantasy. I also don't fully know what all of the ancient to modern works encompass, but that's the fun of read and find out. I probably have added some things that don't properly meet my criteria, and that's fine with me. 🌺

Works by Mesopotamian Bards (3100 BC - 539 BC)

Enumah Elish (Epic of Creation)

Atrahasis (The Flood)

Epic of Gilgamesh

Descent of Ishtar

Epic of Erra

Etana

Adapa

Anzu

Nergel and Ereshkigal

Avesta by Zoroastrian Bards (1500 BC)

Ramayana by Valmiki (750+ BC)

Mahabharata by Vayasa (750+ BC)

The Illiad and the Odyssey by Homer (650+ BC)

Thoegeny; Works and Days by Hesiod (650+ BC)

Popol Vuh (4th century BC)

The Torah and other Jewish stories (4th century BC)

Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes (270 BC)

Bellum Punicam by Gnaeus Naevius (200 BC)

Annales by Ennius (170 BC)

De Rerum Natura by Lucretius (50 BC)

Poem 64 by Catullus (50 BC)

The Aenid by Virgil (19 BC)

Metamorphoses by Ovid (2 AD)

Punica by Silius Italicus (50 AD)

Satyrica by Petronius (60 AD)

Pharsalia or Bellum Civile by Lucan (62 AD)

Argonautica by Valerius Flaccus (70 AD)

Thebaid by Statius (90 AD)

The Irish Myth Cycles: Mythological, Ulster, Fenian, and Kings (3rd Century AD)

The Bible and other Christian stories (5th century AD)

Dionysiaca by Nonnus of Panopolis (500 AD)

The Quran and other Muslim stories (7th century AD)

Arabian Nights (7th century AD)

Hildebrandslied and other German heroic lays by Bards (830 AD)

Shahnameh by Ferdowsi (977 or 1010 AD)

Chanson de Roland (1125 AD)

Cantar de Mio Sid (1200 AD)

The Dietrich Cycle (1230 AD)

Poetic Edda and Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson and others (1270 AD)

Beowulf by Old English Bards (11th century AD)

Nibelungenlied by Middle High German Bards (1200)

Amadís de Gaula (13th century AD)

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alghieri (1308)

Teseida by Bocaccio (1340 AD)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Middle English Bards (14th century)

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (1392)

Morgante by Luigi Pulci (1483)

Le morte d'Arthur by Thomas Mallory (1485)

Orlando Innamorato by Boiardo (1495)

Orlando Furioso by Ariosto (1516)

Os Lusiadas by Camoes (1572)

Gerusalemme Liberata by Tasso (1581)

Plays and Poems by William Shakespeare (1589)

The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spencer (1590)

Discourses on the Heroic Poem by Tasso (1594)

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1614)

L'Adone by Marino (1623)

Paradise Lost; Paradise Regained by Milton (1667)

Le Lutrin by Boileau (1674)

Order and Disorder by Lucy Hutchinson (1679)

Mac Flecknoe; Aenid English translation by Dryden (1682)

The Dispensary bu Samuel Garth (1699)

The Battle of the Books; A Tale of a Tub by Swift (1704)

The Rape of the Lock; Illiad and Odyssey English translations; Dunciad by Pope (1714)

The Vanity of Human Wishes by Samuel Johnson (1749)

Scribleriad by Richard Owen Cambridge (1751)

Faust by Goethe (1772)

The Triumphs of Temper; Essay on Epic Poetry by William Hayley (1782)

The Task by William Cowper (1785)

Joan of Arc; Thalaba the Destroyer; Madoc; The Curse of Kehama by Southey (1796)

The Prelude; The Execution by Wordsworth (1799)

Jerusalem by Blake (1804)

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge (1817)

Laon and Cythna; Peter Bell the Third; Prometheus Unbound by Shelley (1817)

Hyperion: A Fragment; The Fall of Hyperion by Keats (1818)

Don Juan by Byron (1819)

The Kalevala by Elias Lonnrot (1835)

Sohrah and Rustum by Matthew Arnold (1853)

Hiawatha by Longfellow (1855)

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (1855)

Idylls of the King by Lord Alfred Tennyson (1859)

Cantos by Ezra Pound (1917)

The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot (1922)

Ulysses by James Joyce (1922)

The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings/The Silmarillion etc. by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937)

Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake (1946)

The White Goddess by Robert Graves (1948)

Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell (1949)

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (1950)

Anathemata by David Jones (1952)

Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)

The Dark Is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper (1965)

Briggflatts by Basil Bunting (1965)

Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin (1968)

Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey (1968)

The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny (1970)

The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice (1976)

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson (1977)

The Magic of Xanth by Piers Anthony (1977)

Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolf (1980)

The Dark Tower by Stephen King (1982)

Belgariad and Mellorean by David Eddings (1982)

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (1982)

Shannara by Terry Brooks (1982)

The Riftwar Cycle by Raymond E. Feist (1982)

Discworld by Terry Pratchett (1983)

Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock (1984)

Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984)

The Black Company (1984)

Redwall by Brian Jaques (1986)

Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey (1987)

Memory, Sorrow, Thorn by Tad Williams (1988)

Sandman by Neil Gaimon (1989)

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (1990)

Queen of Angels by Greg Bear (1990)

Newford by Charles de Lint (1990)

Omeros by Derek Walcott (1990)

The Saga of Recluse by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (1991)

The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski (1993)

Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind (1994)

Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb (1995)

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (1995)

Old Kingdom by Garth Nix (1995)

A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (1996)

Animorphs by H.A. Applegate (1996)

Crown of Stars by Kate Elliott (1997)

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (1997)

The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steve Erickson (1999)

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (2000)

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini (2002)

Prince of Nothing by R. Scott Bakker (2003)

Bartimaeus by Jonathan Stroud (2003)

The Gentlemen Bastard Sequence by Scott Lynch (2004)

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (2005)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan (2005)

Temeraire by Naomi Novik (2006)

The First Law by Joe Abercrombie (2006)

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (2006)

The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss (2007)

Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2008)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008)

Graceling by Kristin Cashore (2008)

Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan (2008)

Night Angel by Brent Weeks (2008)

The Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett (2008)

Inheritance by N.K. Jemisin (2010)

The Lightbringer by Brent Weeks (2010)

The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson (2010)

The Expanse by James S.A. Corey (2011)

The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence (2011)

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (2012)

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (2012)

Grishaverse by Leigh Bardugo (2012)

The Traitor Son Cycle by Miles Cameron (2012)

Worm by Wildbow (2013)

The Powder Mage by Brian McClellan (2013)

The Broken Earth by N.K. Jemisin (2015)

Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston (2015)

The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee (2017)

The Band Series by Nicholas Eames (2017)

Winternight by Katherine Arden (2017)

The Folk of the Air by Holly Black (2018)

The Founders by Robert Jackson Bennett (2018)

The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir (2019)

Grave of Empires by Sam Sykes (2019)

Djeliya by Juni Ba (2021)

[anukkuna]

Oderbruch

As many people, I too get new TV recs from my Tumblr Dash (among other places), so i watched "Oderbruch".

Find my thoughts and potential Spoilers under the cut!

First of all: my overall conclusion is that I really liked the show. It didn't captivate me as much as, say, the first season of Dark, but it was an entertaining February watch for me.

I also went into the show completely unspoilered, I didn't know anything besides the mystery crime genre and who the three lead actors were and I think, for me, that was a good thing.

So, if you enjoy mystery-crime as a genre, liked shows like Dark, with some supernatural elements and intergenerational conflicts, I'd recommend that you watch the show first and without spoilers.

For everyone who is ready to be spoilered, I made lists of things I liked, didn't like, what I found ambiguous, things that surprised me etc.:

I liked:

The vampire rework. I'm not an expert on these, but I like that the vampires age when they don't consume blood (or only animal blood). Also you can't turn anyone, you have to be born a vampire.

The main plottwist that our protagonist is a vampire too. I didn't see this coming.

How they set this in eastern German no man's land.

That the series started with a bang, with not just one dead body but with a biiiiiiig pile. A mount. Bring it on!

Many connections the characters had. It's very villiage-y. I liked many of the intergenerational conflicts as well.

The ensemble cast. I knew some faces from Tatort, Polizeiruf, Das Boot, Dark and other German TV productions.

I liked that Maggie and Roland were past lovers and recent friends with history. Roland was helping an old friend with whom he shared a lot(!) - but he is portrayed as honest and faithful and never questions his loyalty to his wife and kids. Romantic relationships are not the main focus and not needed between the main characters.

All of the Chekov's X turned out to be relevant to the plot. Give us a close-up and we'll be sure to look out for: mom's flask, numerous weapons, even glass shards and side characters.

The voice change of "Adrian". Omfg, well played!

I didn't like:

The vampire "ethics". Maybe because I thought about this not so long ago... but: were there any? What message were they trying to bring across?? Is this gonna turn out as a questionable pledge for naturalistic morals (aka the Right is with the Strong)?

Kai says about the leeches: "nobody likes them, though they're good for the eco-system"... considering what these vampires do and to whom... are we supposed to think this about them as well? That's it's good that they feed on people who won't be missed? That it's justified how they treat the kids in the school?

Also, the whole shaky wolves-and-sheep-analogy: "the strong eat the week. It's simply our nature. You can't fight against this." I know it's mostly Stoian... but still. I guess, my final verdict on this depends on season two.

That Maggie didn't thoroughly finish Stoian off. I mean... come on! Cut him in half with your sword, as you did with the other one ffs!

The vampires' focus on finding a female to breeeeeeeed. WTF happened to the female vampires? How long haven't they been around that these guys write very old poems about it in their "code"? Is there really such an overall lack of vampire? Doesn't it seem kind of a bold assumption by Maggie's mom that they are supposed to be "the last two"?

Ambiguous:

With regards to the last point I made: maybe this is the line where you have to suspend disbelief. LeavIng some of these Story bits unexplained and not everything has to be logical, cause it's mystery... it's up to you if that's a premise you'll feel satisfied with and ethical implications you know what to make of.

The show is mostly SHOW and very, very little tell. That means: characters are harder to get because often they will just stare, maybe grind their teeth, frown, etc. That leaves room for interpretation but also for uncertainty and some of the characters thoughts and motives. Depends on you, if it's something you like (I did).

My overall recommendation still stands though: watch it, but be prepared.

Alright, so long for this one, people!

[biboocat]

I first heard about The Story of an African Farm (1883) by the South African writer Olive Schreiner in Vera Brittain’s memoir of the Great War, Testament of Youth. She and her fiancé, Roland Leighton were intensely interested in it, but its contents weren’t discussed, so I was curious to read it. Olive Schreiner wrote this debut novel when she was only in her 20s. The Story of an African Farm is set on an isolated farm in the South African veld. It is a coming of age story of the three children who live there, the two girls Em and Lyndall and Waldo, the farm manager’s son. Schreiner’s views are told mostly through Waldo and Lyndall as we follow their development and difficult quests. The novel is unconventional. Besides the traditional narrative sections it has the unusual features of an exposition (Times and Seasons) and an allegory as well as a lengthy letter. She describes Waldo’s spiritual journey from unquestioned religious belief to skepticism and apostasy and the replacement of the religious void with knowledge and an appreciation for the beauty and order of Nature. Olive Schreiner was raised by devout Christian missionaries but lost her religious faith after the death of her beloved 17 month old sister Ellie. Schreiner also raises the issue of gender inequality through Lyndall: the limitations on women’s education and their subservient roles in society, and she describes Lyndall’s desperate struggle for autonomy. I wasn’t surprised to learn that Olive Schreiner loved George Eliot‘s the Mill on the Floss and that she identified with Maggie Tulliver. Her views were quite progressive and controversial for her time, and the book was met with both wide appeal and opposition. I can imagine how it must have resonated with Vera Brittain’s own agnosticism and feminism. It’s a philosophical work that courageously challenges both the form of the Victorian novel and restrictive Victorian social conventions.

Memorable excerpts (among many):

“We must have awakened sooner or later. The imagination cannot always triumph over reality, the desire over truth…Now we have no God. We have had two: The old God that our fathers handed down to us, that we hated, and never liked; the new one that we made for ourselves, that we loved; but now he has flitted away from us, and we see what he was made of – the shadow of our highest ideal, crowned and enthroned.”

“But we, wretched unbelievers, we bear our own burdens; we must say, I myself did it, I. Not God, not Satan; I myself!”

I came across a reference to Olive Schreiner in a review of Lyndall Gordon’s biographical work, Outsiders: Five Women Writers Who Changed the World. I haven’t read it, but it sounded interesting, and I have provided the link:

The edition I read is from the Limited Editions Club. The cover material is Ugandan bark cloth, Isak Dinesen provides the introduction, and it is illustrated by Paul Hogarth. I have also seen editions from Oxford World’s Classics, Penguin, Virago, and Modern Library.

Memorable excerpts :

It is a terrible, hateful ending, said the little teller of the story, leaning forward on her folded arms; and the worst is, it is true. I have noticed, added the child very deliberately, that it is only the made up stories that end nicely; the true ones all end so.

They did not understand the discourse (the charlatan’s false sermon), which made it the more affecting. There hung over it that inscrutable charm which hovers for ever for the human intellect over the incomprehensible and shadowy.

To the old German the story it was no story. Its events were as real and as important to himself as the matters of his own life. He could not go away without knowing whether the wicked Earl relented, and whether the Baron married Emelina.

Times and Seasons is a very important chapter that outlines the course of one’s experiences with religious faith (if one is willing to think for oneself): belief, questioning, skepticism, disbelief, and finally the replacement of religion with knowledge and an appreciation of the beauty and order of Nature. Some excerpts from this chapter follow:

Is it good of God to make hell? Was it kind of Him to let no one be forgiven unless Jesus Christ died?

Is it right there should be a chosen people? To Him, who is father to all, should not all be dear?

We must have awakened sooner or later. The imagination cannot always triumph over reality, the desire over truth…Now we have no God. We have had two: The old God that our fathers handed down to us, that we hated, and never liked; the new one that we made for ourselves, that we loved; but now he has flitted away from us, and we see what he was made of – the shadow of our highest ideal, crowned and enthroned. Now we have no God...

We do not cry and weep; we sit down with cold eyes and look at the world. We are not miserable. Why should we be? We eat and drink, and sleep all night; but the dead are not colder.

And we add, growing a little colder yet, ‘There is no justice. The ox dies in the yoke beneath its master’s whip; it turns its anguish-filled eyes on the sunlight, but there is no sign of recompense to be made it. The black man is shot like a dog, and it goes well with the shooter. The innocent are accused, and the accuser triumphs. If you will take the trouble to scratch the surface anywhere, you will see under the skin a sentient being writhing in impotent anguish.’ And we say further, and our heart is as the heart of the dead for coldness, ‘There is no order’: all things are driven about by a blind chance.’. p117

What a soul drinks in with its mothers milk will not leave it in a day. From earliest hour we have been taught that the thought of the heart, the shaping of the rain-cloud, the amount of wool that grows on a sheep‘s back, the length of a drought, and the growing of the corn depend on nothing that moves immutable, at the heart of all things; but on the changeable will of a changeable being, whom our prayers can alter. To us, from the beginning, nature has been but a poor plastic thing, to be toyed with this way or that, as man happens to please his deity or not; to go to church or not; to say his prayers right or not; to travel on a Sunday or not. Was it possible for us in an instant to see Nature as she is – the flowing vestment of unchanging reality? When a soul breaks free from the arms of a superstition, bits of the claws and talons break themselves off in him. It is not the work of a day to squeeze them out...

Whether a man believes in a human-like God or no is a small thing. Whether he looks into the mental and physical world and sees no relation between cause and effect, no order, but a blind chance sporting, this is the mightiest fact that can be recorded in any spiritual existence. p118

Following this, the appreciation of the acquisition of knowledge and Nature’s own beauty and order fills the void of religion. pp119-121

We have never once been taught by word or act to distinguish between religion and the moral laws on which it has artfully fastened its self, and from which it has sucked it’s vitality.

But we, wretched unbelievers, we bear our own burdens; we must say, I myself did it, I. Not God, not Satan; I myself!

The secret of success is concentration; wherever there has been a great life, or a great work, that has gone before. Taste everything a little, look at everything a little; but live for one thing. Anything is possible to a man who knows his end and moves straight for it, and for it alone.