#Rose and Renaissance Volume 3

[glosschi]

Xia Xiqing: Why are your legs so stupidly long? |~ Zhou Ziheng: Better to chase you with. |~ Xia Xiqing: Insane.

Rose and Renaissance

[y0urnewhyperfixation]

i too must join the renaissance

[teapartyprincess4two]

Vampire- J. Guilbert (prologue)

pairing: Princess!reader x Vampire!Johnnie

classification: SMUT, fluff, slight angst, vampire AU

inspiration: request1, request2, Vampire by Johnnie Guilbert

warnings: 18+, MDNI, literal sex; mentions of mortality, biting, blood, parental death, death, killing; set in 14th-17th century Renaissance, pretty modern dialogue tbh, sub!Johnnie (kinda?), use of Y/n

summary: You take your relationship with Johnnie, your vampire lover, one step further.

Vampire PT.1

—

Autumn leaves crunch against your shoes as you walk through the castle garden. Beautiful red and white roses line the outer walls, each one beginning to die due to the cold temperature the season has brought.

You take a fleeting look behind you, footsteps quickening as you follow the row of roses to the garden’s outer gate. If anyone were to see or follow you, you’d have to save your escape for another day.

Luckily, no one is watching. The guards are too busy patrolling the front of the castle, your father is in a neighboring village, Bernadette is completing her chores, and your mother is deeply immersed in literature in the castle library.

Your hand pushes against the big, rusty gate. You hold your breath and wince when the metal creaks, examining your surroundings one last time before slipping through the crack.

The ground is soft, dead leaves and fog hiding your feet as they trudge through the mud.

“Johnnie?” you whisper shout, your delicate hand supporting itself against a tree. No response, just a howling gush of wind.

You decide to hike further, knowing that Johnnie hates meeting you close to the castle. After walking for some minutes, you find yourself in a clearing.

Moonlight shines through the gaps between the branches and the meadow’s bioluminescent moss glows with every footstep.

“Johnnie?” you try again, only raising your volume slightly.

You wait for a response, or to see his figure approach from within the forest, but all you hear is a coyote crying in the distance.

Every 3 days you venture out into the forest. Sometimes he shows, sometimes he doesn’t; it’s something that he’s explained to you time and time again. He’s a vampire, viewed as a predator by the rest of the world, and when he has villagers coming after him it just isn’t safe to meet you.

He’d never forgive himself if anything ever happened to you, and you know that, but it doesn’t hurt any less.

You’re about to give up and walk back home, when cold fingers swoop your long hair to one side. Johnnie’s lips find your skin, trailing kisses from your shoulder to the soft spot behind your ear

“I’m here, Princess,” he murmurs.

A smile forms on your face as your head falls back onto his shoulder. His arms have wrapped around your waist, holding you in place firmly as he continues feathering kisses all over your exposed skin.

“I’ve missed you, my love,” his breath fans against you, sending shivers down your spine. “I’ve missed you more,” you reply, and it’s true.

You turn to face him, warm hands delicately landing on his face. He’s so beyond beautiful, especially under the soft moonlight.

Your eyes dance over his face, watching as his fangs twinkle when he smiles. Most women would be running away in fear at the sight, but it only makes your knees buckle.

“3 days is too long.” His voice is still quiet, almost like he’s afraid someone is lurking nearby, ready to save you from a monster like him.

“You could just come visit me in the castle after everyone’s fallen asleep,” you suggest. His face was slowly inching towards yours, but he stops in his tracks at your comment.

“Y/n,” he warns, using your actual name instead of a pet name.

“We’ve been over this.”

“I know— it’s just— I miss you.” The last part sounds more defeated than you’d like.

“It’s not like we have forever, you know,” you whisper, wrapping your arms around your waist for some comfort. He knows that your time together is limited, and he hates that you’re constantly reminding him.

“Don’t start this again. Please,” he pleads. You only have a few hours together before the sun rises and he’s forced back into hiding, he doesn’t want to spend those fleeting moments arguing.

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” you say, your voice breaking slightly at the end. You’re close to breaking down into tears and he knows it.

“Y/n.” He pulls your gaze to his by your chin. Your eyes are glossy, a heartbreaking sight.

“I promise it won’t always be like this,” he says, not breaking eye contact. You’re not sure you believe him, mainly because of the ticking time bomb that is your mortality, but you want to believe him.

“Promise?” Your eyes hold so much hope.

“Promise.” He pulls your face in, finally kissing you after what seems like forever.

It’s slow and passionate, your lips moulding together at a steady rhythm. His hand holds a firm grip of your face, the other resting on your hip and pulling you closer to him.

You’re wearing a simple dress that contrasts your usual, elaborate gowns. So, as he pulls you in, you feel his erection pokes your lower abdomen. Subconsciously, his hips grind against you and a strained sound escapes his throat. He pulls away from the kiss, forehead flush against yours.

“What’s wrong?” you asks. His hand still holds your face and yours travels up to hold it, caressing his skin with your thumb.

“I should just— you should just go home,” he says, attempting to pull away from you completely, but you manage to keep him there. It’s surprising how someone so strong can be so weak when they’re in love.

“What? Why? We still have a couple hours left before the sun rises.”

“Because it’s dangerous out here. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

You roll your eyes. “No one is out here, Johnnie.”

He’s quiet. His mind his racing as he fights against his sinful thoughts. What he wants is to make love to you under the soft moonlight, but he’s worried that once he gets a taste of you, he won’t be able to control himself.

“Tell me what’s really wrong,” you say, pulling his hand off of your face to place gentle kisses on his knuckles.

“I’m just… I’m scared,” he admits. It’s an embarrassing confession coming from him, someone who doesn’t have to worry about anything other than what his next meal is gonna be.

You urge him to continue with your eyes.

“You do things to me that I can’t explain. I feel things that I’m not sure I can control when I’m around you.” Confusion is written all over your face.

“Here.” He guides your hand down to his erection, letting it cup his member over the fabric of his pants. “That’s what you do to me,” he gulps, struggling to hold himself back.

The feeling of your small hand wrapped around him is already excruciating enough, and the images that his imagination creates don’t help either.

“Johnnie,” you begin, already sounding breathless. A wetness grows between your thighs, and they subconsciously press together to relieve some tension.

“You’re not going to hurt me.” He appreciates the reassurance, but he’s still uncertain.

“I don’t want to risk it,” he replies through gritted teeth. His eyes clench shut when you begin massaging him, dick twitching and begging for release.

“Let me make you feel good. We can stop if it becomes too much,” you whisper, inching your face closer to his until your breath fans against his lips.

Your lips are ghosting his, barely grazing as he replies, “What if I can’t control myself? What if I hurt you?”

“You won’t. I know you won’t.”

Finally you close the gap between you two, opening your mouth to give him the access he’s been craving. It’s a sloppy, needy kiss fueled with passion and hunger. Your tongues battle for dominance, each lap mixed with moans and whimpers.

There’s a large tree stump in the middle of the clearing and you slowly guide Johnnie towards it by his hips. He walks backwards until his calves hit the bark, knees bending, causing him to sit.

His arms wrap around your waist, holding you like you’re his most prized possession as he stares up at you in awe. “I’m in control, okay?” you say, kissing him again before allowing your dress to fall past your shoulders and onto the ground.

Immediately, he tenses, feeling his animal instincts overcome him. The hunger is painful, so painful that his grip around you tightens. You’re not wearing a bra or panties, a beautiful sight that causes his pupils to dilate.

“Hey, look at me,” you say gently. “You’re not going to hurt me.”

Johnnie nods his head, allowing his eyes to dance over your body. You’re so beautiful; your round breasts bouncing slightly with your every movement and your curvy hips swaying as you position yourself between his thighs.

He can’t take it anymore, he needs to taste you. You gasp as Johnnie suddenly takes your left nipple in his mouth, gently sucking and licking on your sensitive nub.

“I really, really need you,” he rasps against your skin. “I know baby. I know,” you reply through a strained moan. Your hand finds his hair and pull him impossibly closer to you.

His lips travel from your nipple to the valley of your breasts, kissing licking his way down to your belly button. “You’re so beautiful.”

You’re about to reply but his mouth feverishly makes its way back to yours before you can, engulfing your lips in a steamy makeout session that has you whimpering. You can feel him trying to take control, and if you want this night to go well, that can’t happen.

So, you make work of his pants and underwear in between kisses, tugging at the fabric until it pools on the ground around his ankles. His penis springs free, slapping against his stomach.

“Remember who’s in control,” you remind him through the kiss.

He takes a deep breath, resting his forehead against your chest as he attempts to compose himself; to measure his strength as you two venture into uncharted territory.

You play with his hair, giving him the time he needs before pushing him back onto the tree stump until he’s laying on his back. Slowly, you crawl over him until you’re straddling his lap.

You lean down to his ear, placing a few open mouth kisses on the nape of his neck as you whisper, “We’re gonna take this slow, okay?”

“I—” he begins, cutting himself off.

“We can stop if you want to.”

“I don’t want to stop,” he says, “and that’s the problem because…”

“Because if I were to hurt you, Y/n, I don’t think I’d ever forgive myself. I’m struggling to keep my composure and we haven’t even done anything yet. If I get too carried away, pull me back into reality with you. Please,” he pleads the last part, tentative hands coming to rest on your hips. His touch is gentle, but firm.

You don’t respond, instead you nod your head and take his cock into your hands, dragging it up and down your slick folds before lining it with your entrance. His grip on your waist tightens as you begin to sink down on him, he clenches his jaw and watches tentatively as you take him without complaint.

A small moan escapes your lips at the stretch, your hands falling onto his chest for support. His skin is ice cold, a sensation that you quickly welcome. Johnnie fights to keep his composure, teeth digging so far into his lip that he’s drawing blood.

“Ready?” you ask sweetly. Johnnie responds by bucking his hips upwards, ensuring not to get too lost in the feeling.

He’s amazed that someone as delicate as you can hold this much power over him. He’s putty in your hands, he can’t remember the last time he felt this submissive.

You take the hint and begin moving up and down on his cock, bracing yourself with hands on his chest and knees on either side of his hips.

Johnnie’s grip on your waist is getting impossibly tighter, and if you weren’t so immersed in the pleasure, you might’ve registered the pain.

Your boobs bounce with your every movement, placing Johnnie in a lust filled trance. Your hair falls over one of your shoulders, swaying back and forth under the soft moonlight.

“Sit up please,” you command, your voice strained. Johnnie does as he’s told, and immediately you guide his face towards your breast. He’s hesitant at first, but the look you give him is enough to convince him that he can keep himself from taking a delicious bite from you.

His lips wrap around your left nipple as you continue bouncing up and down on his member. He’s completely lost in the euphoric feeling of you wrapped around him, a strong arm tightening around your figure.

“Johnnie,” you moan, your voice bringing him back to reality. He loosens his grip and brings you in for a kiss, drunkenly moulding his mouth against yours as you continue whimpering into his mouth.

His tongue swipes your bottom lip, begging for entrance so he can taste you. One of your moans serves as the perfect opportunity for him to slip his tongue in your mouth, drenching you like his existence depended on it.

Your tongue grazes one of his fangs, cutting you just enough for him to taste your blood. You feel the prick, but continue bouncing on his cock without paying too much attention.

“You’re doing so good, just like I knew you would,” you speak into the kiss. He loves the praise, especially because he just tasted your blood for the first time and can easily say he’s already addicted to

The position you were currently in was amazing, but your knees were starting to hurt and you really wanted to see what he’d look like from on top of you.

You hop off of him, earning a wince from him from the lack of contact. You lay back on the tree stump, innertwining your hand in his as you guide him over you. He follows your lead, immediately returning to the heated makeout session from before.

Slowly, he positions himself between your legs and lines himself up with your entrance. “Are you sure?” he asks breathlessly. This position gives him all the power, and he’s not sure he’ll be able to stop himself even if you try pulling him back to reality.

But you’re not scared of him, you never have been and you never could be. “Yes, my love. I’m sure.”

He looks beautiful on top of you, everything about his dark aura luring you in. Johnnie slowly sinks himself into you, one of his hands gripping the edge of the tree stump. The bark is rough against his fingers as he applies a pressure so powerful that it cracks the aged wood.

His thrusts are slow at first as he tries setting a manageable pace, but as he continues his eyes cloud with lust and desire and he begins pounding into you. The sound of your skin slapping together and your moans echo through the forest, his tip kissing your cervix every time.

His forehead is flush against yours. Johnnie loves you so much and it’s evident in the way his red eyes never break eye contact, despite the intensity of his movements.

He’s fighting against his strength to stop himself from breaking you in half, because if he really wanted to he could.

You keep bucking your hips into his as you chase your pending orgasm. Johnnie’s head falls onto your shoulder, grunts and groans fanning against your neck as his other hand pushes your hips down.

Your skin was sure to bruise, but none of that mattered right now. All that mattered was the feeling of his pelvis rubbing against your clit, bringing you dangerously close to your climax.

“I’m close!” you squeak.

Johnnie continues to snap his hips into you, fangs grazing your skin ever so slightly. He wants to do it; to take a bite of you, but he’s willing himself not to.

You wrap a leg around his waist, pulling him in until all he can do is roll his hips against you. Your pussy flutters around his cock as your orgasm washes over you.

The feeling of your spongy, warm walls clenching around him is enough to send him over the edge. His unmatched strength breaks yet another piece of the tree. He needed to occupy his mouth, so he’s latching onto your neck and sucking until the skin is bruised.

“I love you,” he murmurs through his orgasm, repeating the sentence so many times that it’s engraved in your mind.

Your voice is choppy as you try catching your breath, “I love you too.”

—

The next morning you wake up on a comfortable mattress surrounded by expensive pillows and a billowy comforter, but you wish you were still in the forest with Johnnie.

The night replays in your mind as you rub the sleep out of your eyes. A yawn escapes your lips as you stretch.

Suddenly you feel a throbbing pain on your waist. Your fingers trail down to the sensitive skin and you wince once they make contact.

Slowly, you throw the comforter to the side and walk over to your vanity. You bunch the fabric of your nightgown up against your breasts as you examine yourself in the mirror.

Your skin was lined with bruises so purple they were almost black. Quickly, you adjust your dress and make a mental note not to let Johnnie see them. You wouldn’t see him for another three days anyways, that was enough time for you to heal, right? Wrong.

Three days have passed and your bruises have only become more sensitive. They’re easy to hide when you’re home, mostly because you wear dresses so big that no one would ever notice them. The hickeys on your neck were masked with makeup and hidden behind your long hair.

You decide to stay home, because you know that Johnnie will somehow find out about the secret you hide under your clothes.

Just as you’re getting ready for bed, a sudden gush of wind blows past you. Johnnie enters through your bedroom window, looking around your room in a panicked frenzy until his eyes land on your figure.

“Johnnie?” you question in surprise. “Thank God you’re okay,” he sighs in relief, immediately walking over to you.

“You didn’t come to visit me,” he whispers sadly, “Why?”

When he waited in the clearing, and you never appeared, his mind raced with every and any possibly. Did someone hurt you? Was your kingdom under attack? Did you regret that night?

“I’ve just been really tired,” you say. It’s a lame excuse, but you hope he believes it.

“Did I do something wrong?” Johnnie’s hands land on your hips. You immediately wince, but try masking it with a cough. It’s no use though, he notices right away.

Johnnie bawls the fabric of your nightgown in his hands, ready to expose whatever you’re hiding. “Wait! No, Johnnie—” you try pushing him away, buts he’s so strong that he barely moves.

He wastes no time in lifting your nightgown, revealing the bruises that he left on your skin just three nights ago.

“I promise they look worse than they are,” you try and reason, but he’s not hearing any of it. His jaw is clenched, eyes trained on the horrific colors that blend across your skin.

“Never again,” he grits, letting the fabric of your dress fall back down. It felt like a shameful curtain, you wanted to rip it off and crawl into bed.

“What?!” your voice cracks.

“You heard me. Never again. If that’s what I did with my hands, imagine what would’ve happened if I lost control.”

“But I can take it—”

“Yeah? You think you’ll be saying that when my fangs inevitably find their way to your neck?” he snaps, his tone so harsh that it slaps against your ears.

“So then turn me,” you reply. Everything always seemed so simple to you, but becoming a vampire wasn’t something he ever wanted you to experience.

“Don’t,” he warns.

“Why not, Johnnie? Huh? Why not? Are we just going to continue having this same conversation until the day I die? Do you think I asked for the bruises? All I wanted was to love you, but if I’m going to continue getting hurt then why not just turn me?”

He remains silent, watching as the tears brim your eyes.

“I can’t live in a world where I don’t get to love you, to properly love you,” your voice is hushed, tears streaming down your face as you sit on the edge of your bed. “It isn’t fair.”

“I’m a monster, Y/n. All I do is hurt everything and everyone I love. Trust me, you don’t want to love someone like me,” he spits. His words completely contradict what he truly feels.

“I didn’t ask to love you, Johnnie. I just... do.” You sound so defeated.

He sighs, kneeling front of you and trying to catch your gaze. “I love you too, Y/n. That’s why this hurts me so much. I don’t want to be the reason for your pain, even if it is accidental. I want to protect you so that I can love you for as long as possible. Do you understand that?”

“Then love me,” you plead, “What’s the point of protecting me if you’re not staying true to your promise? We’re running out of time, Johnnie. Everyday I wake up a little older and a little closer to death, so please just love me. Love me despite our differences. Love me even if you think I’m weak.”

You bring him in for a kiss, one that is so passionate that he can’t find it in himself to pull away. You lean back onto the bed, pulling him with you until he’s laying on top of you.

“Princess, please.”

“Just love me.” You murmur against his lips, and just like that he’s making love to you under the soft candlelight that illuminates your room.

From that moment forward, Johnnie has vowed to love you everyday like it’s your last.

—

MASTERLIST

A/n: thanks for being patient with me guys, ily! Also I hope you enjoy this anon (requests are linked) I haven’t proofread this so be gentle with me guys 🥹 I’ll proofread it mañana

- L.A.M.B👼🏻💗

—

taglist: @nickgetsmewetter @sturniololovers @raysmayhem-72 @worldlxvlys @gnxosblog @meg-sturniolo @creamoncreamoncream2 @mattnchrisworld @sanyi5 @lustfulslxt @whicked-hazlatwhore @tworosesblackthorn @mxqdii @fawned01 @junnniiieee07 @sturniolololover @missriddle03 @k-l-a-w-s @maryx2xx @biggesthat3r @herxyzblog @getosuckers @sturnioloarchive @tillies33ssss @fratbrochrisgf @aurizp @riasturns @sturnikitty @sturnrc @sturtriple16 @sillyfreakfanparty @imwetforyourmom @mattslovelygf @certifiednatelover @cartiiwannagotoplutoo @luvr4miya @somegirlfromasgard @l0vergrlll @pepsicolapussy333 @unbruisable @sugrhigh @khxna @wh0resstuff

note: if you want to be tagged in my fanfic related posts, you can access my TAGLIST and comment 💐 if your user is striked through, I wasn’t able to tag you :(

[prof-ramses]

Volume 3 of Spooky Month headcanons

Shotgun man's last name is Cox (As in to cock a shotgun)

Kevin was in a garage band with some friends in high school. Most of them have moved away from Frighden since then.

Kevin has a slight phobia of lizards.

The first few movies Carmen and Richard ever showed Roy were all from the Disney renaissance. They also saw some in theaters as dates a few years into their relationship.

Skid's grandma was named Rose.

Skid would shave half his head in his teens. (You can't tell me he wouldn't)

Ross's sleep schedule is a god damn disaster(tm).

Patty owns a dog named Grim, she would kill for him without hesitation.

It's borderline impossible for Frank to get drunk. This man could down a beer stein worth of vodka and then calmly walk in a perfectly straight line. It doesn't have anything to do with whatever turned his eyes black, it's just the way he is.

On a similar note, Lila has a super high spice tolerance.

[inkofamethyst]

Nina's 2023 Bops

kind of in a rough order this year~

Artists

Upstate

Albums

Healing - Upstate

A Remedy - Upstate

Renaissance - Beyonce

Xscape - Michael Jackson

Sky Volumes 1, 2, 3 - Vincent Diamante

Traveler, a Journey Symphony - Austin Wintory

Songs

On a Journey - Theresa Ambat (my song of the year, from wtnv)

The Horror and the Wild - The Amazing Devil (runner up song of the year, from puzzle-friend)

Be Glad That I'm Not God - Vadia (second runner up song of the year, from tiktok)

You Sure Are Something - Theresa Ambat

Rotten - Missouri Surf Club (from wtnv)

That Unwanted Animal - The Amazing Devil (from puzzle-friend)

Bird Song - Florence + The Machine (from puzzle-friend)

Running Out of Time - Paramore

I Am My Own Muse; Heaven, Iowa; Love From The Other Side - Fall Out Boy (from cello-friend I think? or puzzle-friend? both?)

Seven Nation Army / Sweet Dreams - Buffalo Rose (from tiktok)

The Witch - Indra Rose (from wtnv)

Road of Trials - Austin Wintory (the one from Traveler!!)

Mars - Gustav Holst

Tiger Mountain Peasant Song - Fleet Foxes (from Disparition's Glass TIger)

Status Report - Star Trek SNW Cast

When The Sun Goes Down - Ezra Glatt (from tiktok)

Today I'm thankful for safe travels, a mother's love, and fourteen individually-wrapped slices of pound cake in the freezer.

I have a three days free before I start back up in the lab. Planning to map out some exploratory routes tonight. Already have some cool places of interest on my list, just need to connect them.

[dragynkeep]

Wait. Wait wait wait, people are comparing Ruby's moment in Schnee Manor... to Sam's moment in Osgiliath?... I'm sorry, WHAT? The dissonance there is like a children's crayon drawing to a renaissance painting, fucking WHAT??

ignoring the context of the moments, even sam & ruby are worlds apart. sam is a common born gardener, someone who was only in this mess because of his love for frodo & his promise to keep him safe, his devotion to his master (don’t look at me that way, it’s in the books >3>)

sam isn’t someone special & that’s the point. that even at the end where frodo failed & gave into the temptations of the ring, sam didn’t. sam rose above everything to give frodo the last line of defense & help he needed. sam proves that even the smallest can make the mightiest changes.

ruby doesn’t do that. they tried with “a more simple, honest soul” but then have had ruby in the last few volumes make exactly the same mistakes as the older male characters that’re now being burned at the stake. lying like ozpin? forgiven. overriding others decisions like ironwood? well she’s the leader, it’s her right. she’s just a child she can’t be blamed for her wrong decisions. & at the end of it all, ruby doesn’t know war. ruby, the ruby we’re given in canon with her reactions to things? barely knows loss. pyrrha unlocked her silver eyes but then is barely mentioned again. penny who was one of her closest friends came back to life & it was brushed off with funny jokes. we’re supposed to believe she’s torn up over summer but it has never been mentioned, brought up or even hinted at the entire show until salem’s yo mama snipe like?

these are two characters that just can’t be compared because one is a rich, fulfilling character who’s pain you feel, who you can feel love, hatred, anger, resentment, jealously, sorrow, grief, joy through in their actions & their words. you can tell the depth & breadth of their love & their devotion. you can see just how the war they’re in has left a lasting effect on them that will never be washed away & they can’t just “move past things” or “hope for the best” while sitting around.

the other is ruby rose.

[momo-de-avis]

tell me more about millais and the whole "steal ur wife and have a happy marriage with her lmaoo" and the whole pedo thing??? im intrigued

At the top of my head and very quickly without bothering myself with checking things online cause I’m a bit lazy sorry (though I’ve been over this story for quite a while, I trust my instinct)

When the Pre-Raphaelites appeared, they were the bad boys of London. Reasons:

1) Fucked around, mostly Rossetti

2) Broke academic rules by painting in excruciating and vivid details that weren’t possible with the naked eye (like Holman Hunt painted every single blade of the grass—your eye can’t see it unless you stare closely at it, so academically, that was ugly)

3) Used redheaded women as models. Now, Victorians were absolute fucking lunatics, but the ideal beauty to them was some corpse-looking Morticia Adams. Black hair and pale skin, was top notch. Blonde, blue-eyed beauty came second, probably. What mattered was the pale skin. It was a trend among Victorian women to paint purple and blue veins to look as dead as possible because the frailty of women in a society that told they literally were good for nothing except breeding was the Latest Trend. Redheads, however, were considered cursed. Case in point: the greatest pre-raphaelite muse, Lizzie Siddal: she was not only a red-head, but her skin was also darker than most prefered. Not that she was anything but a white woman, just not white enough to look like you were already flirting with tuberculosis and ready to die fashionably at 40 (though Lizzie was famous for being constantly sick and bedridden. And addicted to Laudanum, like a good Victorian).

4) Basically what gave them the name: PRE-raphaelite. To explain quickly: academic painting privileged the art that resembled Raphael's paintings: harmonious, made of volumes through precise shadowing, mannerist in its style. Line and drawing prevailed above colour. This is linked to formalism so I’m just gonna wrap it up quickly: drawing was considered the intellectual form of art (because in the 16th century people were like ‘oh, astronomy is a science!’ and 'oh, mathematics is a science!’ and people were like, 'well shit, we gotta find a reason to call arts a science too’ and the Renaissance worked that out by explaining that drawing was basically a form of science. Take Da Vinci). The Pre-raphaelites said: fuck that noise, and privileged colour. They used techniques to brighten their paintings (like a layer of white paint applied to the canvas before they applied the preliminary drawing, which made the colours stand out, and then finished it off with wax varnish, which makes it glow. If you ever see a PR painting live, note just how vivid it is. It looks like it’s never gonna wear off, it’s incredible). So with this, they basically said the Royal Academy was a bunch of piss babies who knew jack shit about painting (the accusation of being dumbasses included).

5) …but to be that guy, you had to LIVE the life. So, if you privilege medieval thinking, lifestyle and theology, what you gotta do? BE that medieval knight Victorians thought were oh so Chivalric. Again, famously, Lizzie Siddal is known to be the bad girl of this revival: she refused to wear crinoline and whatever shit the Victorian ladies wore. She wore loose dresses, no corsets and overall dressed like the engravings on Tennyson’s Idylls of the King. She was actually lauded for her commitment like, even Ruskin at one point saw Rossetti as a piss baby rock star wannabe who never finished his shit, but this girl? She committed.

So you see, when these guys popped up, Victorians scowled. BADLY.

But they knew that, to conquer the hearts of promiscuous dandies and hypocritical high-society, laudanum-ridden, arsenic-eating uptight douches and douchesses, they had to get to the loins of one man: most important art critic of his time, single-handedly responsible for elevating William Turner to the True Genius of English Painting: John Ruskin.

Now, just WHO was John Ruskin?

First of all, this little shit was overtly religious. Protestant kind, so you know what you’re in for. This guy studied Turner back and forth, knew everything about him, wrote extensively of his genius and was responsible, as I said, to consecrate him to the memory of British sea painting. Except he purposefully left a bit out, one particular episode of Turner’s life that, to Ruskin’s mind, would ruin his reputation.

Turner was a freak. My man has ENDLESS erotic drawings that go from curious artist look into the Vagina from full-blown pre-victorian porn. And Ruskin kept it all locked away inside his drawer.

The thing was, Ruskin was brought up surrounded by art. This guy looked at Roman statues of women, with their perfectly waxed peepees and toned arms supporting perky breasts and DEAD ASS though this was what women looked like.

So he married Effie Gray, a woman in everything respectable, a prosperous marriage for the good ol’ Victorian lady and dude.

And for the next five years of their marriage proceeded to REFUSE to even touch her.

When the pre-raphaelites pop up, Ruskin attends their very first exhibition and writes them a glowing review. Immediately they go from nut-heads to pop stars. But among them all, it was clear that it was John Everett Millais who was the most talented. So Ruskin took him under his wing.

His first assignment was: paint my portrait. But the pre-raphaelites did something the British academics didn’t: to paint nature, they went outside and painting the motif by looking directly at it. And Ruskin, who praised this mode of making art, had in mind the precise spot he wanted to be painted on: a waterfal or some shit in Scotland, where he owned a cottage.

This cottage was not big. It was actually rather small—you know, in pretending-to-be-a-peasant-is-so-much-fun! victorian fashion. And what does this absolute buffoon does? He invites Millais and his wife Effie in to paint his portrait.

Now I want you to imagine this woman, who has been pushing down 5 years of Horny, putting up with this dude’s shit, enclosed in a tight space with this man—who was older than herself—and incidentally, a handsome looking young fella who paints nicely.

I insist on this thing that Ruskin didn’t touch his wife because he thought women looked like statues because he actually told her. He told her he found her repulsive because—what do you know!!! The peepee’s got some pubic hair! And women menstruate! And like, we’re real fucking things, not Pygmalion's wet dream forged over and over again! She actually wrote a letter to her father detailing this (if you watch the show Desperate Romantics, the scene were Effie confesses this to Millais, the actress is actually reciting this letter word for word).

So when they return to London after the painting is done, they just… Fall in love. I mean, shit, what was she supposed to do?

The face of a man who doesn’t know he’s about to be shit-whipped by his pupil, painted by none other than his protegée, this same pupil.

But remember: no matter what Victorian fangirls say, and whatever that Victorian TV show tries to show you, this society was absolute utter shit for women. Effie Grey presented an annulment proposal to her marriage, and society collapsed on her. She was actually blamed for the fact that Ruskin wouldn’t consummate the marriage. And because she had grown quite close to Millais, she had to prove before the entirety of Victorian society that she was a virgin. Oh, yes. It’s what you’re thinking.

Those open-your-legs-wide-and-let-me-insert-this-not-at-all-friendly-looking-metal-utensil-up--your-private-canal-to-prove-you-are-a-virgin. This, mind you, was back then as utterly humiliating as it sounds now, and to make matters worse, Mr. I-only-fuck-clean-shaven-pussy claimed she was mentally unstable.

Either way: annulment conceded, and she married John Everett Millais. The two went on to a lifelong of fucking and 8 children. Check Millais’ painting Peace Concluded and tell me those two idiots did not die happy together.

I kid you not: until Millais’ death, Effie was socially ostracized. She was even barred from being present in social events where Queen Victoria was, proclaimed by the Queen herself (because remember kids! Victorian society absolutely sucked because it was none other than our favourite imperialist who made it so!) even after she ordered Millais the first Laureate painter. It was only when Millais was dying that in his death bed he BEGGED to lift that stupid shit and she conceded. I just honestly believe Effie didn’t give a shit at this point, because my girl was happy.

So, you ask, what happened to Ruskin?

Don’t think he got off easy lmao. He had his own demise. He wasn’t seen with good eyes after the whole annulment debacle. But of course, being the pissy adult he was, he had to make things worse.

Enter Rose de La Touche.

You see, Rose de la Touche was Ruskin’s pupil. She is, as far as we can tell from his writings, the only woman he ever called attractive and revealed to be attracted to her. When, you ask?

When she was fucking 9 years old, the first time he met her.

He became tutoring her when she was 14. At this point, this ugly ass vulture was way past his 40s. Rose’s parents actually made it worse if my mind doesn’t fail me, but I’m not certain so I won’t address them. Either way, he pretty much groomed her and she grew infatuated with him. He actually made plans to marry her once she turned like, 18 or something, like a good pedo.

The only reason Rose didn’t marry Ruskin? Effie Gray stepped in. Not that she was that interested in what was to happen. The thing was, the reason for the annulment was that Ruskin was impotent, and if he fucked a healthy girl and she got pregnant, she’d be in the shits. But either way, I think it was easy given that he was like 40 years older or some shit. Rose actually declined to marry because she wanted the marriage to be unconsummated, but this time around, ya big Pedo declined! I wonder why was it so easy the first time, and so hard now that he found himself a neat little child to corrupt, right?

At some point, even fucking Rossetti intervened. Now, Rossetti was the rock star of his time: he fucked everything that moved, he got into affairs with the wives of his pupils while Lizzie lingered between life and death at his home, and it took him some 9 years to finally keep his promise to Lizzie and marry her ass. He was the last person you’d expect to say a thing. But you know you’ve fucked up and that you’re a perverted piece of shit when THIS IS THE GUY who steps in to say 'hey, Ruskin, big fan, but you really gotta tone it down cause even I’m not a pedo, pal’.

Now listen: yeah, there’s a lot of speculation about Ruskin’s 'love affair’ with Rose de La Touche. Did he really fall in love with her when she was 9? We don’t know. We don’t care either, because it doesn’t make him any less a fucking pedo. Like, yeah, good art critic, nice theory on the whole Modern Painting book, but this dude had some serious issues.

And there you go

[heloisedc]

The darkness embraced him lovingly.[1]

I can no more recognize the form of this light than I can gaze directly on the sphere of the sun. [2]

We are mutually bound together, the lighter being restrained by the heavier, so that I cannot fly off; while, on the contrary, from the lighter tending upwards, the heavier is so suspended, that he cannot fall down.[3]

The excitement rushed through my body as the ritual started. Has meus ad metas sudet oportet equus.[4] (My goal is to transpire)

He was of utter beauty, grazing perfection. The reproduction of the image of the Vitruvian man […][5]

No sculptor can possibly produce a first class work of art here on Gaia without a well crafted Participation and the ones I produce of this particular type are considered excellent[…][6] We seem never to be altogether prepared for the resulting distress. If we do not literally shake, as I did […], we may experience an internal shudder that is the subjective equivalent of the overt trembling that occurred […]. While my physical shaking […] was observable by anyone standing near me, the inner shudder at my own bodily pain may not be visible to others even though it is felt intensely by myself, and felt as foreign to me. Some part of my body has become alien to me, split off from a coherent and unitary sense of self.[7]

He clearly abused himself, but in so doing rendered a stature I had never before had the blessing to see. Ideal form of excellence![8] but For what purpose?[9]

For them.

  I had also studied all the details of housekeeping; I understand cooking and cleaning; I know the prices of food, and also how to choose it; I can keep accounts accurately […].[10]

Mild water? I found suds forming on my body and I rubbed hastily here, there, everywhere, judging it to be the wash cycle and knowing it would not last long. Then came the rinse cycle. Ah, warm  Well, perhaps not warm, but not quite as cold, and definitely feeling warm to my thoroughly chilled body.[11]

If a man is covered by an eruption you will mix flour of malt little by little in oil, you will apply (it) and he will recover; if he is still not cured, you will apply hot simtum and he will recover; if he is still not cured, you will apply the warm residue and he will recover.[12] Since statues are feasting, it’s an interrupted meal. As though eternally interrupted. At which deadly mouthful were they immobilized?[13]

The Greeks were not wrong in showing us the immortals constantly feasting, drinking ambrosia, and laughing endlessly.[14]

Now, everything is finished.[15]

  Here the day has come; here the week of the lectistemium has begun.[16] If we employ extracts, they must have been recently prepared and preserved with great care.[17] Oiling out, making out, polishing, scraping, etc.[18] This new development came from the perfecting of the arts that imitate the human body.[19]

The physical effort was small, but the mental effort of trying to control without controlling was enormously difficult.[20] His only aim, his only possible aim, was to please me.[21] Or so I had thought.

I believed, however, that the soul could achieve temporary separation from the body in an ecstatic trance.[22] Is it truly possible to think without arriving at beauty, without penetrating the secret place where life bubbles up, without the transfiguration of the body?[23]

“Prepared?”[24]

  The Sacrifice, the gift

Then the engine was started, the machine ran along the ground, gathered speed, until finally, all of a sudden, at right angles, I rose slowly, […] as it were static ecstasy of a horizontal speed suddenly transformed into a majestic, vertical ascent.[25]

Now, drawn out from his body, his sinews formed a bundle of dark, shiny stalks, not unlike the bundle of lightning bolts that lay beside him, although these were bright and smoking.[26] Now between the dry head, more than dead, almost abstract, empty and dessicated, suitably objectivized, wholly exterior, pierced, visible, nameable, articulated, analyzable, between the skull and the rest of the world, a circumstantial halo of light, like the ones worn by the great saints, replaces, at bone level, the lining of flesh, fat, muscle, organs, skin, veins, tendons, hair, radiance, charm, beauty, glory. Thus the body thinks. The body thinks therefore shines.[27]

If you ever have to carry someone on your shoulders from the top of a mountain, down to the valley, you will think at first that you are dying, the torture endured by muscles that do not know how to work when walking down a slope is unbearable; then you get your strength back, as is always the case, a second wind and addiction to this new labour, gradually and for the first time previously unknown muscle fibres, unaccustomed angles, slumbering joints, zones of silence in the middle of your flesh make strange yet familiar music, never before heard yet immediately recognized, the mobile, non-homogeneous porterage column separates into its component parts, a whole world comes to life within it, arranges and adapts itself, redistributes its responsibilities under the implacable, crushing weight; the body becomes an architectural structure, moving masonry, a ship; the skeleton becomes a firm framework, with tie beams and rafters; the muscles form the wall and partitions.[28]

The gods were distinguished from men through their immortality; they were physiologically distinguished through their living on a special diet; and they were endowed with a variety of nonhuman qualities such as superior knowledge and strength, the ability to be invisible and to change their form; and so forth.[29]

Moments are points of rupture —ephemeral, euphoric, revelatory of the total, radical, sometimes revolutionary possibilities latent in everyday life.[30]

Everything that I can see in this body produces in me ecstatic wonder.[31]

Now whoever offers sacrifice must be a sharer in the sacrifice,  because the outward sacrifice he offers is a sign of the inner sacrifice whereby he offers himself to God.[32]

Then, having risen to so high a pitch, having been sustained with so much vigour, the chant, mingled with a murmur of supplication in the midst of ecstasy, seemed at times to stop altogether like a spring that has ceased to flow.[33] This music makes me cry because I am not like it, not something complete, which turns toward the lost sweetness of life like a distant quotation. Happiness can only be thought of as something lost, as a beautiful alien. It cannot be anything more than a premonition that we approach with tears in our eyes without ever reaching it. [34]

  In an ecstasy of joy, no doubt intensified by the joy he felt in making me shine before his friends, with extreme volubility, he reiterated, stroking and patting me as though I were a horse that had just come first past the post: “You’re the most beautiful man I know, do you hear?”[35]

BAs soon as he was free, he rushed out to admire the sunlight, crying out ecstatically, 'How beautiful![36]

 Just as a different image of the rainbow enters into every mortal eye, so too does the surrounding world reflect for each individual a different imprint of beauty, However, universal, original beauty, which we can name only in moments of ecstatic intuition and are unable to reduce to words, reveals itself unto the One who created the rainbow and the eye that beholds it.[37]

 It was time to rest again.

     [1] Asimov, Complete Robot Anthology

[2] Newman, Sister of Wisdom

[3] Pliny, Natural History Volume 1

[4] de Montaigne, The Complete Essays

[5] Hays, Architecture Theory since 1968

[6] Asimov, Complete Robot Anthology

[7] Casey, The World on Edge

[8] Wollstonecraft, Complete Works

[9] Asimov, Complete Robot Anthology

[10] Rousseau, Collected Works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

[11] Asimov, Complete Robot Anthology

[12] Serres, History of Scientific Thought

[13] Serres, Rome

[14] Serres, The Parasite

[15] Serres, The Birth of Physics

[16] Serres, Rome

[17] Laennec, A Treatise on the Diseases of the Chest and on Mediate Auscultation

[18] Gombrich, Art and Illusion

[19] Younes, The Historical Dictionary of Architecture of Quatremere De Quincy

[20] Asimov, Complete Robot Anthology

[21] Asimov, Complete Robot Anthology

[22] Schmitt, The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy

[23] Serres, The Five Senses

[24] Asimov, Complete Robot Anthology

[25] Proust, In Search of Lost Time Vol V The Captive The Fugitive

[26] Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony

[27] Serres, Statues

[28] Serres, The Five Senses

[29] Voegelin, Order and History 2

[30] Hays, Architecture Theory since 1968

[31] de Montaigne, The Complete Essays

[32] Aquinas, Summa Theologica

[33] Proust, In Search of Lost Time Vol III The Guermantes Way

[34] Sloterdijk, Critique of Cynical Reason

[35] Proust, In Search of Lost Time Vol III The Guermantes Way

[36] Foucault, History of Madness

[37] Harrison Wood Gaiger, Art in Theory 1648 1815

[hued-soul]

2020 R&B·Soul Best 50 Albums

* One of the Best

Sault – Untitled (Rise)

* Top 49

Aaron Taylor - Icarus

Alina Baraz - It Was Divine

Allan Rayman - Christian

Angela Muñoz - Adrian Younge Presents: Introspection

ASTU - Altars

Ben L'Oncle Soul - Addicted To You

Black Light Animals - Playboys Of The Western World

Braxton Cook - Fire Sign

Bruno Major - To Let A Good Thing Die

Busty & The Bass - Eddie

Cleo Sol - Rose In The Dark

Devon Gilfillian - Black Hole Rainbow

The Devonns - The Devonns

Donny Benet - Mr Experience

Dornik - Limboland

Duñe & Crayon - Hundred Fifty Roses

Emma Donovan & The Putbacks - Crossover

Franc Moody - Dream In Colour

Gabriel Garzón-Montano - Agüita

Galimatias - Renaissance Boy

GL - You Read My Mind

Gotts Street Park - Volume Two

Holy Hive - Float Back To You

Jacob Collier - Djesse, Vol. 3

Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure?

Joy Denalane - Let Yourself Be Loved

Khruangbin - Mordechai

Ledisi - The Wild Card

Leven Kali - HIGHTIDE

Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas

Luke James - To Feel Love/D

Mayer Hawthorne - Rare Changes

Monophonics - It's Only Us

Moses Sumney - Græ: Part 1

Nick Hakim - Will This Make Me Good

Nyah Grace - Honey-Coloured

Raheem DeVaughn - What A Time To Be In Love

Sam Sparro - Boombox Eternal

Seba Kaapstad - Konke

The Shadowboxers - The Slow March Of Time Files By

Sola Rosa - Chasing The Sun

Sons Of The James - Everlasting

Starchild & The New Romantic - Forever

Teyana Taylor - The Album

Thomas Dybdahl - Fever

Thundercat - It Is What It Is

Victoria Monet - Jaguar

Vulfpeck - The Joy Of Music, The Job Of Real Estate

The Weeknd - After Hours

[love-takes-work]

Steven Universe Ongoing Comic Series Warp Tour (Trade Paperback Volume 1, 2017)

As with many comics originally released in individual issues, the publishers later released this trade paperback compilation of the issues--1 through 4 in Volume 1, with more volumes scheduled for release after the individual issues have been out a while.

I already reviewed all of the issues individually as they came out:

Steven Universe Ongoing Comic Series #1 (2017)

Steven Universe Ongoing Comic Series #2 (2017)

Steven Universe Ongoing Comic Series #3 (2017)

Steven Universe Ongoing Comic Series #4 (2017)

There's not much point in writing up rereleased content, but just for your info, I'll spotlight the included stories and list the variant covers! (They call the issues "chapters" in this compilation.) CHAPTER ONE is about Steven, Lapis, and Peridot finding and caring for a baby bird, whom they name Susan. For issue 1 there were SIX covers included! 1. The main cover: Steven in a bubble with bubbled Gems around him, by Missy Peña. 2. Fried Pie exclusive cover: Stevonnie playing Steven's ukulele, by Missy Peña. 3. Wondercon Exclusive cover: The Gems in their beach outfits; Garnet's holding Steven, Amethyst's pointing at a sandcastle of the Sea Spire; Pearl's reading, by Missy Peña. 4. Gem foil exclusive cover: the Gems on the Warp Pad, by Missy Peña. 5. Subscription cover: Weapon-ready Gems in front of a superimposed Rose Quartz, by Rian Sygh. 6. Variant cover: Gems with weapons in the warp stream, by Jenn St-Onge.

CHAPTER TWO is about Stevonnie going to prom with Kiki Pizza. For issue 2 there are THREE covers included! 1. Main cover: Amethyst with her whip: by Missy Peña. 2. Subscription cover: Gems in front of the lighthouse from far away, by Rian Sygh. 3. Variant cover: Gems swimming in the ocean, by Jenn St-Onge.

CHAPTER THREE is about Steven helping Buck Dewey with food trucks. For issue 3 there were THREE covers included! 1. Main cover: Garnet posing with a gauntlet up, captioned "flexibility love and trust," by Missy Peña. 2. Subscription cover: Stevonnie with shield and sword, by Rian Sygh. 3. Variant cover: Crystal Gems group shot like Steven's taking a selfie, by Jenn St-Onge.

CHAPTER FOUR is about Peridot, Amethyst, and Steven attending a Renaissance Faire. For issue 4 there were THREE covers included! 1. Main cover: Pearl and Steven sitting on flowery vines, by Missy Peña. 2. Subscription cover: Steven playing ukulele in the bubble room, by Rian Sygh. 3. Variant cover: Gems with the van listening to Steven and Greg play instruments, by Jenn St-Onge.

There is NO other new content in the book, so if you only care about having all the stories and already own individual issues, there is no need to get this. But if you prefer having them all together and want the variant cover art, pick it up! For me, the standout comic here is #2 with Stevonnie and Kiki at prom. Steven and Connie also explore their relationship and the importance of disclosure, honesty, and intimacy. I think the weakest was #3 with the money-raising food truck scheme. It's all worth reading, though.

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

[glosschi]

Love turns everyone silly.

Rose and Renaissance

[runescapegnome]

can u also do 3 bc i love makeup but i dont wear it and i may or may not want to start and u always look celestial ;-;

"CELESTIAL" FUCKING STOP3. do you wear makeup? if so, favorite products?- i'm gonna put my base face products all in one bullet point: e.l.f luminous matte primer, nyx studio hd concealer, nyx micro brow pencil, colourpop brow boss gel, and the wet n wild natural finish setting spray. these are on my face literally every time i do my makeup. i can't live without them!!- i really like shiro cosmetics for loose eyeshadows. they do beautiful metallics! like, apply them with a damp brush and they literally go on like metal, it's GORGEOUS- the anastasia beverly hills modern renaissance palette is pricier but it's one of my staples- my favorite blushes are the milani romantic rose blush if i'm going for subtle and the shiro cosmetics hollywood handshake if i'm going for full blown 80s style blush- my favorite highlight combo is to first lay down the nyx away we glow liquid highlight and then top it with the colourpop fanny pack highlighter. i think the colourpop one was limited edition though, which is HORRIFYING. in general though, the colourpop super shock highlighters are gorgeous (flexitarian is another one of my favorites)- my favorite lip colors are usually from nyx and colourpop, particularly the liquid suede line from nyx and the ultra satins from colourpop. the milani amore matte lip creams are noteworthy too!- for mascara, my high end fav is the two faced better than sex mascara. but like, the wet n wild max volume is real good too and probably only 3-4 dollars.this is very long and potentially overwhelming so if there's any specific kind of product you're wanting to try or any other questions you have, lemme know! i love helping people with makeup c:

[mandysimo13]

I was tagged by the ever so lovely @ellipsical-elle for this 10 questions thing. So, here we go!

10 Questions

1. The very first fanfiction you’ve read: what, when, why, feelings? I honestly can’t remember what the first fic I had ever read was but I know it was in the Teen Wolf fandom. And I do remember going “finally! Someone got the story right!” cause Jeff Davis is the fucking worst to his characters. It was nice to see that other people were invested in his characters where he, himself, was not. 

2. Do you wear a fragrance? what’s the scent baby? 

I don’t usually wear a fragrance. Sometimes I wear something called “Vampire Kisses” which is a perfume I picked up at a renaissance faire. It’s rose and patchouli, smells great on me. 

I3. You are reading a very smutty fic in a public transportation, when suddenly (gasp!) you realize the person next to you is reading over your shoulder… how do you react? 

Ask them how they enjoy being a fellow pervert and if their mother had taught them that it was impolite to read over people’s shoulders. 

4. you already have Christmas-y stuff up? 

Nope. That goes up soon, though.

5. Which Hogwarts house are you in? How do you feel about it? 

I always fall between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, but the older I get the more Hufflepuff I get. And I think it’s very accurate. 

6. share your favourite quick dinner recipe? 

I do what I call “garlic pasta”. It’s basically over-glorified buttered noodles but I actually sauté fresh garlic in olive oil for a little bit, then add a little butter and pour it over whatever noodles I’ve made that night. If I am really fancy, I chop a little parsley and toss that in, too. The really lazy version is just olive oil/butter/garlic powder. Either version is great with parmesan cheese.  

7. Last movie you’ve watched in a theatre? 

Kingsman 2, The Golden Circle. 

8. what did you have the last time you went out for dinner? 

Burgers and fries with the boyfriend

9. Ever shaved your hair (or part of it)? Would you? 

Ha! No. I don’t think I’d look good with my head shaved. 

10. worst job? 

My worst job was working at a place called CapTel in Milwaukee, a captioning service for the deaf and HOH community. Basic call center. On the surface, it sounded great. Health/dental benefits, double-paid holidays if you were working and “holiday pay” (if you requested off work you still got your daily wage), PTO, you could request to leave early, and they had free food days every couple months. But the management was increasingly micro-managey, they kept taking away things that made your job easier, and the call volume kept increasing to the point where you would be captioning non-stop for over two hours some days. Not to mention you got every kind of horrible person on the phone that you had to caption without feeling or complaint. I’ve captioned calls where people are using every slur in the book, women crying about abusive husbands, aging people getting scammed by internet predators, and the very elusive sex calls (those were actually great and would make my whole damn day). I worked there for almost 4 years and was depressed for 2 of them. It was a bad time. 

And now for the tagging! I tag: @sherlohomora @bakingsherlycakes @missmuffin221 @benedictgingerbatch00 @agent-fangirl  @simpleanddestructivechemistry @crave-that-mineral @theycantstopthesignal and anyone else who feels like playing along! Tag me so I can see your answers! 

[bighousela]

Free VIP Day passes to our full days film screenings available to all whom register for this free event with Gerry Fialka, The list of films screening will be available as the films are selected to screen, updates to film blocks screening at the festival social media pages, and website:

https://www.facebook.com/filmfestla/

https://www.instagram.com/bighousela

https://www.filmfestlalive.com/

Nov 7th. Sat "Film Fest La & L.A. LIVE" presents FILM CAN'T KILL YOU BUT WHY TAKE A CHANCE from 3:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. at Regal Cinemas 1000 W Olympic Blvd, LA CA 90015, Info: 310-306-7330 Laughtears.com Free workshop and day passes sponsored by BigHouse-la.com Paramedia ecologist Gerry Fialka's fun interactive workshop explore cinema's hidden psychic effects via Marshall McLuhan's Menippean satirized percepts: "We shape our tools, then they shape us." and “The Balinese have no word for art, they do everything as well as they can.” and "How about technologies as the collective unconscious and art as the collective unconsciousness?" Delve deep into Live Cinema, Neurocinema and the metaleptic heart of movies. Read the OtherZine article: sticks-and-stones-may-break-your-bones-but-film-will-never-hurt-you.Gerry Fialka has been praised by the LA Times as "the multi-media Renaissance man." The La Weekly proclaimed him "a cultural revolutionary." His new book Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, with a foreword by David James will be published soon. His new feature The Brother Side of the Wake (BroSide) is the experimental documentary about the people of Venice, California. It probes the cliché: "Is the journey more important than the destination?" Watch the preview on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBj0UdpFEWo

Laughtears Press is proud to announce the new book,

Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation

by Gerry Fialka, Edited by Rachael Kerr, Foreword by David James.Publication date: SoonContact: Gerry Fialka

310.307.7330

pfsuzy@aol.com

http://laughtears.com/

Compelling interviews with notables in avant-garde cinema offer insights into moving image art--its creative processes, formative influences, and hidden psychic effects. Through interviews with George Manupelli, Chick Strand, Tom Gunning, Lynne Sachs, Jay Rosenblatt, Martha Colburn, Evan Meaney, Mike Hoolboom, Robert Nelson, and Nina Menkes,

Strange Questions

links powerful personal stories with the contemporary media-scape.

Questions addressed in this collection include:

What role does the audience play in the creative process?

Can art-making be egoless?

Is perception reality?

What is the role of intention in the creative process?

What counts as storytelling? Are experimental filmmakers telling stories a different way or doing something completely different?

What was the motive of the cave artists?

What is more important: conviction or compromise?

Is ambition based more on fear or joy?

+++++++++++++++++

Accolades from award-winning experimental filmmakers:

"Fialka is a damn good interviewer. His questions are sometimes so precise that it tickles and sometimes so grand and thought provoking that one feels on the edge of a new spiritual awareness." --Lynne Sachs

"Fialka asks unexpected Questions about important Ideas, eliciting Answers that can surprise even those doing the answering. My Interview with him taught me something about myself; it was a Gift." --David Gatten"Fialka's was the funniest interview I have ever had. He has developed a very wise way of triggering thoughts in the interviewee." --Leighton Pierce"Fialka's interview had me buzzing inside with thoughts and memories that his engaging questions set in motion. Super stimulation." --Larry Gottheim"I thank Gerry Fialka so much. I really enjoyed his interview with me, especially his unjaded joie de vivre, hearty laugh, and endless pursuit of knowledge sparked by social curiosity." --Phil Solomon."Gerry Fialka is a master interviewer. Working out of his natural sympathies and his erudition, Gerry cannily and cheerfully guides his interviewees along a path of Socratic inquiry that goes far deeper than the average Q & A and possibly deeper than the interviewee thought himself/herself capable of going. With Gerry at the helm, the journey really is about the destination and not just the journeying." --Fred Worden"Fialka is a meteor shower in the contemporary media arts discourse. He's blowing my mind." -- Craig Baldwin

++++++++++++++

Gerry Fialka, artist, writer, and para-media ecologist, lectures on experimental film, avant-garde art, and subversive social media at NYU, USC, UCLA, Cal Arts and MIT. He has been called "the multi-media Renaissance man" by the

Los Angeles Times

and "a cultural revolutionary" by the

LA Weekly.

Fialka's interviews have been published in books by Mike Kelley and Sylvere Lotringer. They have been heard on Pacifica KPFK radio, and have appeared in magazines:

Canyon Cinema, OtherZine, CineSource,

Artillery,

AMASS magazine, LA Jazz Scene, Jazz News,

Bird, Flipside, Venice BeachHead.

"Gerry Fialka is Los Angeles' preeminent underground film curator." - Robin Menken, CinemaWithoutBorders

Rachael Kerr is a filmmaker, writer, and researcher. She is a 2017 graduate of the University of Michigan Department of Screen Arts and Cultures. As a student she collaborated on the feature documentary

The Big House

, now slated for theatrical release in Japan. In Winter 2017, Rachael was part of a UM course taught be Terri Sarris and supported by the University's Bicentennial Committee, which explored the AAFF's long relationship to the University.

David E. James has written or edited a dozen books on avant-garde cinema and other forms of non-commodity culture, especially in Los Angeles. His latest publication is

Rock ‘N’ Film: Cinema’s Dance With Popular Music

(2016). His films have screened at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles Filmforum, and Canyon Cinema in San Francisco.

+++++++++++++

SoonSunday 7pm at Beyond Baroque

681 Venice Blvd Venice CA

FREE Admission

MOM - Movie Or Manuscript on Mother's Day -

Celebrate the publication of Gerry Fialka's new book

Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation

http://laughtears.com/strange-questions.html

and

his new feature film

The Brother Side of the Wake (test screening). Facebook=

https://www.facebook.com/events/173605590088661/

VIEW Youtube Clips=

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlhspvI86Z8

&

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vso1cEAUYRs

LilyCat Radio Show - Gerry talks about both book and film -

https://archive.org/details/20180225LilycatGerry

+++++++++++++

Upcoming volumes in the

Strange Questions

book series:

Experimental Film as Conversation, Continued.

This volume includes interviews with filmmakersDavid Gatten, Frank Mouris, P. Adams Sitney, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Bill Brand, Pip Chodoov, Craig Baldwin, Bill Morrison, Braden King, Naomi Uman, John Smith, Patrick Turrant, Madison Brookshire, Tony Gault, Bill Daniel, Vera Brunner Sung, Alexandra Cuesta, Tooth, Fred Worden, Mark Street, Leslie Raymond, Jason Jay Stevens, Ben Russell, Bryan Konefsky, Owen Land, Peter Rose, Alfonzo Alvarez, Jesse Lerner, Terri Sarris, Chris McNamara, Oren Goldenberg, Jesse Drew, Roger Bebe, Jon Jost, Betsy Bromberg, Thom Anderson and more.

Michigan Aesthetics as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with Mike Kelley, George Clinton, Sam Green, Jack Epps Jr, Grace Lee Boggs, Marshall Crenshaw, Ari Weinzweig (Zingerman's), Steve 'Muruga' Booker, John Sinclair, and Mary Jane Shoultz.

Venice Aesthetics as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with

Venice artists

Rip Cronk, Earl Newman, and Carol Fondiller.

Art as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with artists William Pope.L, Alexis Smith, Hunter Drohojowska-Philp, George Herms, Doug Harvey, Winston Smith, and Robert Branaman.

Poetry as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with poets Amiri Baraka, SA Griffin, Suzanne Lummis, ruth weiss, Linda Albertano, Les Plesko, Harry Northrup, and David Meltzer.

Political Activism

as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with political activists Grace Lee Boggs, Tom Hayden, Haskell Wexler, Bill Ayers, Skip Blumberg, Jon Rappoport, Lila Garrett, and Marcy Winograd.

Jazz as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with musicians Horace Silver, Jon Hendricks, Annie Ross, Oscar Brown Jr, Hadda Brooks, David Amram, Perry Robinson, Theo Sanders, and jazz writers Kirk Silsbee and Greg Burk.

Literature as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with writers Eric McLuhan, John Bishop, Chris Kraus, Kristine McKenna, Janet Fitch, Brad Schreiber, and Johanna Drucker.

Comedy as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with comedians Paul Krassner, Ric Overton, Paul Provenza, David Misch, Roy Zimmerman, Wes Skoop Nisker, Lady Lord Buckley, and Darryl Henriques.

Rock N' Roll as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with musicians Mac Rebennack (aka Dr John), Pamela Des Barres, Steve Vai, Van Dyke Parks, Barry Smolin, Bruce Langhorn, Jeff Mosier, Roger Steffans, Paul Zollo, Billy Vera, Del Casher, Baby Gramps and John French.

Avant Garde Music as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with musicians DJ Spooky, Carl Stone, Patrick Gleeson, David Ocker, Blue Gene Tyranny, Frank Pahl, and Veronika Krausas.

Documentary Film as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with documentary filmmakers Ondi Timoner, Marina Goldovskaya, Rodney Ascher, Jay Weidner, Tiffany Shlain, Mary Jordan, William Farley, Chris Felver, Chris Metzler, Stan Warnow, and Jon Alloway.

Performance Art as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with performance artists Ann Magnuson, Heather Woodbury, Gordon Winiemko, Joseph Keckler, Mark Pauline, and Ed Holmes (aka Bishop Joey).

Dance as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with dancers Simon Forti and Rudy Perez.

Hollywood as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with Hollywood people James Harris, Orson Bean, Timothy A. Carey, Mews Small, Abraham Polonsky, Jeremy Kagan, Jay Cassidy, Steve DeJarnatt, and Steve Fife.

Animation as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with animators Bruce Bickford, Karl Krogstad,and Gary Schwartz.

++++++This first book is the beginning of a 22-volume series.Upcoming

Strange Questions

will cover:More Experimental Film as ConversationMichigan Aesthetics as ConversationVenice, California Aesthetics as Conversation

Art as ConversationPoetry as ConversationPolitical Activism as ConversationJazz as ConversationLiterature as ConversationComedy as ConversationRock 'n' Roll as ConversationAvant-Garde Music as ConversationDocumentary Film as ConversationPerformance Art as ConversationDance as ConversationHollywood as ConversationAnimation as ConversationMedia Ecology as Conversation

Sculpture as ConversationPhotography as ConversationLive Cinema as Conversation

Gaming & Coding: Information Technology as Conversation

[fleurtyherald]

  At Gulf Wars XXIX on Wednesday I will be teaching a class on the toilette of my favorite person from the Renaissance, Caterina Sforza!

Caterina Sforza (1463-1509), Countess of Imola, was an exceptional woman. In her private life Caterina was devoted to various activities, among which were experiments in alchemy and a love of hunting and dancing. Her stillroom book was handed down to her son, Giovanni de’ Medici, and transcribed with his permission by a captain of the Bande Nere in 1525. In the volume, entitled Gli Experimenti de la Caterina di Forli, there are 454 recipes of medicinal, chemical, and cosmetic focus. Her recipes were published by Pier Passolini in 1893. I translated 20 of her recipes for my book available in the Kindle Store and by print from Amazon.

Here are the handouts for the class. The PDF is available here.

  Pale skin, fair hair, rosy lips and cheeks, high forehead, thin eyebrows, and curls. These were the characteristics of ideal beauty during the Renaissance in Emilia, Romagna, Lombardy, the Veneto, and Tuscany (1450-1600).

Take caution, though, to not cake on the makeup like later Elizabethans did:

No. Just, no.

Haven’t you noticed how much prettier a woman is if, when she makes up, she does so with so little that those who see her cannot tell whether she is made up or not? But others are so bedaubed that it looks like they are wearing a mask and dare not laugh be-cause they fear it will crack. Such women never change colour except when they dress in the morning, and must spend the rest of the day like motionless wooden images…. How much nicer it is to see a woman, a good looking one I mean, who obviously has nothing on her face, neither white nor red, but just her natural colour, which may be pale or sometimes slightly tinged with a blush caused by embarrassment or the like, maybe with her hair toudled and whose gestures are simple and natural, without working at being beautiful?” — Book of the Courtier by Castiglione, 1513 

Also, never forget the power of the rose!

To all aromatic mixtures are added roses, which are the best things for imparting scent. — Nostradamus 

Cleansing the mouth and face, combing/ scenting the hair, applying a whitener, as well as applying rossetto, body powder, and perfumes were all part of the daily ritual of a noblewoman throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Come to the class to discuss, learn, and try Caterina’s products!

Herbs Used

– Alkanet root, Brasilwood (Sappanwood), and red sandalwood are plants that calm skin inflammation and are used for rouge.

– Beeswax is essential to provide a moisture barrier and pseudo-emulsifier in creams.

– Cerussa is a poisonous lead based whitener for the face. Titanium dioxide (TiO2)is a food safe white pigment and good substitute in cosmetic recipes.

– Clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, musk are aromatic herbs with great medicinal properties when ingested or applied to the skin. They are uplifting and sensual fragrances.

– Lavender is an aromatic flower that contains a high content of linalool. Linalool is a terpene alcohol which calms the nerves and lessens pain.

– Myrrh contains sesquiterpenes, which make it effective as an antimicrobial wound healer.

– Olive Oil is rich in polyphenols, which are well known to protect against free radical damage, as well as vitamin E, which is the main source of protection against free radicals that damage the skin. 

– Rice powder contains para aminobenzoic acid which protects the skin from UV rays, ferric acid which is an antioxidant that provides protection especially when added to vitamin E, allantoin which is an anti-inflammatory agent, and tyrosinase which is an oxidase that limits the production of melanin.

– Rose possesses mood-elevating properties, heals acne scars, and provides nourishment for mature or sun damaged skin. Rose helps balance the skin’s PH and controls and balances sebum production, making it useful for skin imbalances such as dry and oily skin. 

– Rosehip seed oil contains antioxidant beta-carotene, and essential fatty acids omega-6 and omega-3, helping to repair and rejuvenate damaged skin.

– Sage (Salvia officinalis) is a tonic and stimulant. It is valued as a mouth treatment because of its anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties.

“Thou must know, Margaret, that a young lady could not have a complexion so clear, white and delicate if she did not aid it to some degree with art, or else it might show at times by mischance as might often happen, that it is not so fair. And they do not reason well who say that a lady, so she have a fair complexion by nature, may ever thereafter set it at naught and neglect it. And for this cause I would grant that a gentlewoman should use continually waters of price and excellence, but without solid matter to them or but the very least part. And for these I may know to give you receits most perfect and most rare.” — Il dialogo della bella creanza delle donne, 1541 

  SOURCES

Anon. Manual des Mugeres.

Banckes Herbal.

Delightes for Ladies.

Mattioli Herbal.

Mistress Jadwiga. Medieval Oils and Waters.

Passolini, Pier. Caterina Sforza Volume III.

Pointer, Sally. Artifice of Beauty.

Rucellai, Girolamo. Secreti del reverendo Alessio Piemontese.

Caterina Sforza Toilette Class 2020 At Gulf Wars XXIX on Wednesday I will be teaching a class on the toilette of my…

[slightlyrebelliouswriter23]

ahhh thanks for the tag @acourtofbooksandmemes ! 💜 this has been in my notifs for a while but i've been super busy lately so haven't had the chance to respond. luckily i have some time before my flight takes off so let's see if we can answer 20 questions in 20 min (not likely but challenge accepted).

1) nicknames: two small beers amanda, geyser of knowledge, magpie, steve bartman (there are others but for the sake of time...)

2) zodiac sign: first day of leo babyyyy

3) height: 5'3"ish? (probably optimistic tbh)

4) hogwarts house: usually gryffindor but been feeling like a slytherin lately and i'm embracing it

5) last thing i googled: "slash" (i couldn't remember if he was called "slash" or "the slash" and it was bothering the hell out of me)

6) favourite musicians: ooo wow tough question- i'd say hozier, sleeping at last, avi kaplan, lindsey sterling, gabrielle aplin, carley rae jepsen, ariana grande, and tori kelly are amongst my favs.

7) song stuck in my head: to be alone by hozier

8) following: oh yikes i have neither an idea nor the wear with all to answer this atm- but definitely a loootttttt of blogs

9) followers: i have no idea for this one either but i love you all so very much 💞

10) do you get asks?: i have received exactly two asks in my lifetime. one was a legitimate question that made me very happy (can't remember what it was or who sent it but shout out to them!) and the other was spam 😂

11) amount of sleep: last night i got 3 hours (hence the lack of wearwithall) but usually around 6-7 hours

12) lucky number: 23 is my ultimate lucky number but 7 and 5 are also good numbers in my book

13) what i'm wearing: a blue-grey long sleeve blouse from target that makes me feel like a maiden in the renaissance times, black leggings (with pockets!), my fav slouchy knitted grey cardigan, adidas (the white ones w black stripes, can't remember what they're called), black raybans w rose-tinted lenses, and my patron saint of travellers necklace (peter? gabriel? as you can tell, i'm a devout member of the catholic faith lmao)

14) dream job: author. professional traveller is also acceptable.

15) dream trip: new zealand, japan, thailand (but anywhere will do)

16) instruments: i can play maybe 10 chords on the guitar very poorly. i also love singing but usually only do so in the shower or in my car at max volume.

17) languages: english (but sometimes not even that lmao) very impressed with anyone who can speak more than one language.

18) favourite songs: it varies a lot but the songs i always come back to are stay by zed & alessia cara, edibles by jojo, language by tori kelly, mad love by jojo, miss you by gabrielle aplin, arsonists lullaby by hozier, saturn by sleeping at last, hearing by sleeping at last, want you in my room by carley rae jepsen, and adagio for strings by samuel barber. also anything by ariana grande or hozier.

19) five random facts:

-i'm american but i've lived in london for the better part of a decade.

-i eat my pizza backwards.

-i prefer sunrises to sunsets but only after i've stayed up all night (i won't wake up early for anything lmao)

-i quit social media at the start of 2019 and so far, tumblr is the only platform i've used since. i don't miss it.

-i've been writing my book for 6 years. (jesus take the wheel)

did it! whew that was difficult. it's been more than 20 min but my plane hasn't taken off yet so i consider this mission a success.

tagging: @protec-wylan-van-eck @razanistrying and @inej-carstaiiirs if you guys want to do this 💜

i was tagged by the amazing @stormwitch-privateer to do this tag 🥰 so thank you!!

rules: answer 20 questions and tag 20 people you want to get to know better.

1) nicknames: lia

2) zodiac sign: virgooo

3) height: 5’1 and a half : /

4) hogwarts house: slytherin baby hiss hiss

5) last thing i googled: “how many bits did pac-man run on?”

6) favorite musicians: i really don’t have a designated favorite musician. i just like music if it’s good lol

7) song stuck in my head: the less i know is better by tame imapala

8) following: 315 (i just started following a bunch of blogs recently and my dash is still dead :/)

followers: 198 (small ik but i love all of them)

do you get asks: i use to get random bursts of asks on my slightly bigger blog but to be honest i never really get asks (hint hint send me asks).

amount of sleep: 6-7 hours of sleep (8 when is the weekends :) )

lucky number: 2,4,7,13 (ik that seems like a lot)

what are you wearing: pajama pants and a sweatshirt

dream job: like a humanitarian job where i travel around and help people and save the world from like climate change but i can also take extravagant side vacations in like florence or thailand (i really really want a job like this but unfortunately i don’t think it exists)

dream trip: i want to go to italy, preferably alone or with a friend idk and just have an aesthetic vacation where i eat a fruit breakfast by the water and i walk though the city meeting people and then i go to prague :)

instruments: none, I couldn’t even play the kazoo if I tried (not trying to discriminate against my kazoo players though) I wish i knew how to play the piano :(

languages: english and tamil

favorite songs: don’t judge my music i’ll cry :) : needs - verzache, electric feels - mgmt, mr brightside - the killers, sweater weather - nbdh, sober up - ajr, buttercup - jack stauber

five random facts:

° i like doing dramatic makeup looks but i haven’t been doing it lately :/

° one time i missed my connecting flight and i was stranded in paris for a day and honestly it was amazing.

° i use to be a dog person and now i’m all like cats wooo, but i like both i guess

° hot humid weather doesn’t faze me. i do really good in it actually and i prefer it to other climates (i am horrible with cold weather and cold weather to me is like 50 F)

° i just began watching queer eye and I LOVE IT AHHHHHHHH

tagging: @ferniea @sulisaints @un-empressed @shiencystuff @sxfik @doloresthemanequin