#baltasar short

[dillydedalus]

WIT 2024: read + WIT 2024 acquired (physical only, i read & bought a bunch more)

some stats books read: 16 og languages: catalan (3x), croatian, danish, french (3x), greenlandic, japanese (2x), russian, spanish (4x) female translators: 16 books i read (* marks stand-outs)

living pictures, polina barskova, tr. from the russian by catherine ciepiela

butter, asako yuzuki, tr. from the japanese by ursula gräfe / english tr. by polly barton, same title

gesang für die verlorenen, hemley boum, tr. from the french by gudrun & otto honke (no english translation so far)

*grieving: dispatches of a wounded country, cristina rivera garza, tr. from the spanish by sarah booker

*jawbone, mónica ojeda, tr. from the spanish by sarah booker again

*tríptic: permafrost / ***boulder / mammoth, eva baltasar, tr. from the catalan by julia sanches, READ BOULDER READ BOULDER READ BOULDER

days in the caucasus, banine, tr. from the french by anne thompson-ahmadova

my work, olga ravn, translated from the danish by sophia hersi smith

das tal der blumen, niviaq korneliussen, tr. from greenlandic to danish by the author as far as i can tell, tr. from danish to german by franziska hüther (no english translation)

diary of a void, emi yagi, tr. from the japanese by david boyd & lucy north

unser teil der nacht, mariana enríquez, tr. from the spanish by inka marter & silke kleemann (english translation: our share of the night, tr. by megan mcdowell)

so reich wie der könig, abigaïl assor, tr. from the french by nicola denis (english translation: as rich as the king, tr. by natasha lehrer)

fox, dubravka ugrešić, tr. from the croatian by ellen elias-bursać & david williams

the house of spirits, isabel allende, tr. from the spanish by magda bogin

[steelycunt]

hiiiii…. do you have any book recommendations? i think we have similar taste :)

hi! yeah! i definitely have some recs, although they’ll all be books i’ve talked about on here before so they probably won’t be very new for anyone who’s been following me for a while 😭 not sure what you’re after specifically but this is just everything i’ve enjoyed! anything with as asterisk is a special favourite : ^ )

books ive read this year:

(fiction)

boulder* - eva baltasar: very short read but baltasar’s prose is 2 die for! second in a trilogy but im pretty sure they can all be read as standalones. also nice to see fiction that treats lesbians as seriously as piles and piles of arty litfic treat gay men rather than the clipart cover of two women with a title like ‘Jemima Mulligan Is So Done 🤣’ that comes up when you search lesbian fiction now.

all quiet on the western front* (+ the way back/the road back) - erich maria remarque: only classic im going to mention (i could talk about james baldwin all day) but this is my favourite book i’ve read this year! and my only five star fiction read so far this year. absolutely heartbreaking!! and if you enjoy it i would say it’s worth reading the sequel, the way back.

hangman - maya binyam: read this recently and honestly think it’s quite a marmite book i think you’ll either enjoy the absurdity of it or find it deeply irritating almost straight away but. i thought it was wonderfully disorientating + not too long that the style started to grate on me + an great postcolonial work

we need to talk about kevin* - lionel shriver: such a terrifyingly good book omg. prose is a bit dense which at least i found a bit daunting at first but it’s soo intricate and absorbing and horrific.

penance* (+ boy parts) - eliza clark: was honestly a bit surprised to like this as much as i did my expectations were pretty low but i thought it was a genuinely excellent depiction of modern teenagers + the way they use social media (i have never seen it done so well) + the intricacies of the dynamics between young girls against the backdrop of ‘true’ crime. if you like it you’ll probably also enjoy boy parts so i recommend that too!

antarctica + walk the blue fields - claire keegan: keegan is imo one of the best storytellers writing today and these two short story collections by her were wonderful this year! my favourite of her work is foster but since there are multiple stories in these collections id say they’re the best place to start!

my work - olga ravn: quite experimental in terms of style there’s a lot of prose spliced with prose which i wasn’t sure would be for me (im an idiot) but i thought it was a really fascinating look at motherhood + creation + post-partum depression!

(non-fiction)

dont actually have a ton of non-fiction books 2 mention just adding this category in to recommend empire of pain* - patrick radden keefe as a book i finished recently and one of if not the best non-fiction book ive ever read. just so incredibly interesting i can’t stress enough

some quickfire books i read last year/year before!

duck feet - ely percy

juno loves legs - karl geary

archive of alternate endings* - lindsey drager

shuggie bain* + young mungo* - douglas stuart

my brilliant friend* - elena ferrante

the secret history + the goldfinch - donna tartt

mr loverman - bernadine evaristo (SAINT LUCIA MENTIONED 🇱🇨)

the marriage portrait - maggie o’farrell

the passion - jeanette winterson

[bts-trans]

231105 RM's Instagram Story

Response

…myself feel like someone else. Especially when people say stuff like "be more mysterious", or "if you want to be respected, don't get too close". I do that kind of stuff because it's just who I am as a person, I have no need to make things look good. I've been through a lot of pain and felt loss and suffered and shed tears. Having experienced all that, the attempts to filter myself, my efforts to become someone else - it all seems so insignificant and unnecessary. My life is too short for me to try and suppress everything. I feel like I should just feel everything I feel and live happily. Relationships with people cause disharmony? distrust? discomfort? Well those are also feelings I feel and are all a part of my life. If I have something to say, I just end up saying it. I'm bragging? Maybe, so what? Let's do that too, let's just go ahead, if nobody in the world bragged, why would that word exist, why would it mean what it does? I'm no Hong Gil-dong* - pride, envy, greed, anger are all part of life, of being a person. If it has a name, it's not something to be treated as evil, but something we should just face head on and accept. Whether it's about me or someone else, all of it makes my life richer. Just like there are no stories without conflict. When I think about things that way, it feels like I've lived my whole life until now touching things with mittens on. I'm happier now that I've taken them off. Books are great, but you're not a book, you're not someone else, and you're definitely not David, made of stone. I hope you can just become you.

(T/N: *The protagonist of the very famous story 'Hong Gildong jeon', written during the Joseon dysnasty. Hong Gil-dong is a Robin Hood-like character who stands against social hierarchies and steals from the rich to give to the poor. Overcoming his low birth status to become a hero and a king, he is seen as invincible, righteous figure.

2. The picture is a screenshot of a comment on this YouTube video. The video is an audiobook of the Korean translation of 'Oraculo Manual y Arte De Prudencia', or 'The Art of Worldly Wisdom' by Baltasar Gracián. 🔗https://youtu.be/Qkt4phMoCP4?si=txGX1C00ND9nHgda)

Trans cr; Aditi @ bts-trans © TAKE OUT WITH FULL CREDITS

[no-passaran]

Hi! Don't feel obligated to answer, but I've been learning catalan & I'd love to read some novels originally written in catalan, but i'm having a bit of a hard time finding ones that aren't 'classics'. Any recs? (I usually like literary stuff, like, authors irritatingly showing their skill, i eat that shit up, but anything contemporary or psychological or fantasy or anything will absolutely do :,) )

Oop sorry, I hadn't seen the message until now.

You won't have difficulty about this because Catalan literature is very lively and there's lots of great books coming out very often. Catalan literature has been praised around the world for having such vitality and quality, considering that it's a relatively small language community.

Personally the first recommendation that came to mind is Manuel de Pedrolo but idk if you're considering that a classic? He's relatively recent but many 20th century authors have become classics. His Mecanoscrit del segon origen is definitely considered a classic even though it's only from 1974, but I don't think the other ones are usually. Anyway, I really like his sci-fi short stories book Trajecte final, and my dad has spent years obsessed with his theatre play Homes i no. Talking about theatre scrips, I have a really soft spot for La cançó de les balances by Josep Maria Carandell ❤️.

I'm not usually one to read many short stories books but I also recommend Albert Sánchez Piñol's Homenatge als caiguts (stories of about 2 pages long and usually funny, very entertaining to read).

For a completely different vibe of short stories, I also thought El Cafè de la Granota by Jesús Moncada was excellent, the characterization and events feel like hearing your grandparents telling stories of when they were young. I still haven't read his most famous novel Camí de sirga though, honestly I don't know what I'm waiting for lol.

Canto jo i la muntanya balla by Irene Solà has also been very popular in the past few years and she definitely shows off her literary prose. I found it very lovely and I recommend it for when you want something more experimental. It's a book where each chapter is narrated by someone or something different (a shepherd, the rain, a witch who was killed centuries ago, a deer, a dog...) and it's very well written, it has also won some international awards.

And listen for some reason I still haven't read them myself (I plan to change that soon) but the best contemporary author is probably Jaume Cabré. I've only heard the highest praise for his Les veus del Pamano, and other of his books like Jo confesso. I'm planning to finally read Les veus del Pamano this summer and I'm very excited for it.

Another one I've heard lots of praise for and which I'm excited to read (hopefully soon) is Les històries naturals by Joan Perucho. I wasn't going to include books I haven't read besides Cabré (because, let's face it, with a question like this one must include Jaume Cabré) but since you asked for literary fantasy I think you might like it. It's about a knight/botanist who looks for one of Jaume I's knights who is a vampire.

Others that I've had recommended but haven't had time to read yet: Junil a la terra dels bàrbars by Joan Lluís-Lluís, Nicolau by Antoni Veciana, Guilleries by Ferran Garcia, and lots of people have loved Eva Baltasar's Permagel, Boulder and Mamut though it doesn't seem like my style they seem interesting.

I don't know if any of my followers wants to share some more in the comments/reblogs, but I'd be interested to hear them too 👀

[rattlinbog]

Books Read in 2023

(loved!, enjoyed, okay, did not care for)

January

Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson

The Hidden Palace (The Golem and the Jinni #2) by Helene Wecker

Ruthless Tide: The Heroes and Villains of the Johnstown Flood, America’s Astonishing Gilded Age Disaster by Al Roker

The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

February

Grendel by John Gardner

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death, and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Winters

March

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

The World We Make (Great Cities #2) by N.K. Jemisin 

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey 

Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

April

Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art by Lewis Hyde

Daisy Miller by Henry James

Washington Square by Henry James

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu 

The Heartsong of Charging Elk by James Welch

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

May

The Antelope Wife by Louise Erdrich

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell 

Orlando by Virginia Woolf (reread)

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg 

Beneficence by Meredith Hall

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Ramadan Ramsey by Louis Edwards

The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li 

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

June

Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie T. Chang

Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah 

The Crocodile Bride by Ashleigh Bell Pedersen 

The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende 

What the Fireflies Knew by Kai Harris

The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier 

The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America by John Demos

Tales of Burning Love (Love Medicine #5) by Louise Erdrich

July

The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse (Love Medicine #6) by Louise Erdrich

Four Souls (Love Medicine #7) by Louise Erdrich 

In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado 

Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman 

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

The Color Purple by Alice Walker 

At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier 

The Second Greatest Disappointment: Honeymooning and Tourism at Niagara Falls by Karen Dubinsky 

These Ghosts are Family by Maisy Card

Songs for the Flames: Stories by Juan Gabriel Vasquez

August

Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road by Kate Harris

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

New to Liberty by DeMisty D. Bellinger

Cove by Cynan Jones 

Being Esther by Miriam Karmel

Boulder by Eva Baltasar

The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk

September

Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Gut Symmetries by Jeanette Winterson 

Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit

We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland by Fintan O’Toole

October

Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman

The Changeling by Victor LaValle

Don’t Fear the Reaper (The Indian Lake Trilogy #2) by Stephen Graham Jones

Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley 

The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon

November

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin 

Fen, Bog, and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis by Annie Proulx

Natural History: Stories by Andrea Barrett

December

Lessons by Ian McEwan

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (reread)

A Vintage Christmas: A Collection of Classic Stories and Poems

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

[southernmermaidsgrotto]

Let's talk about San Baltasar, the Wise King, Saint of Afroargentines.

I think it's extremely interesting how one of the biggest afrodiasporic cults native to Argentina is that of El Santo Negro (the Black Saint) St. Balthazar, the Wise King. Other syncretic saint cults make mention to african deities or saints with titles such as "The Queen of Rivers" or "The Queen of the Sea", making the deities involved easily identifiable, but this cult in particular is one of the most widespread across the black population of Argentina and yet the most elusive in regards to who may be behind the mask. At least, until you pay attention to the details.

The Church first introduced the cult of Catholic Figures and Saints such as San Baltasar (King Balthazar) or San Benito de Palermo (St. Benedict of Palermo, the Moor) as a way to control the enslaved population politically and culturally. Although their goal was to dissipate african religions and install catholicism among them instead, they underestimated black argentines: after much effort, the church allowed the enslaved faithful to organize socially and politically and perform dances, drumming and singing for the saints of their formed Cofradía (similar to a congregation, but including social and political structures within it, naming a king and queen or a president and other culturally and politically significant roles). Thanks to the passing down of african culture and customs through these organized societies and the syncretism within them, we can proudly say the church failed in their attempts. The african spirits are very much still an integral part of afroargentines' lives. Today, although it has spread across the country and beyond, the center of this cult is in it's origin, the capital city of Corrientes, Argentina, in a neighborhood called Cambá Cuá.

The cult to San Baltasar is clearly african in origin, although with indigenous (guaraní) influences, such as calling the saint Santo Cambá/Kambá (Black in guaraní language), calling his statues Cambára'angá (guaraní for Black Figure), and some dancers dressing up as indigenous figures like el pombero, among other things. Thus, it is an afroindigenous cult, developing amongst mixed descendants of african enslaved peoples and guaraní natives. The cult is also a local expression of the most african of customs: ancestral veneration. The festivities honor not only the Saint himself, but all the black ancestors before us who are present in pictures at the altar, and answer to the call of the drums. The color red, that covers the saint and adorns his followers, is the color of warriors and protection in African Traditional Religions. He's offered food and drink (such as wine and traditionally made sangría), and most importantly dance and drums. He is invoked and honored, along with the ancestors, through drumming and dancing, through La llamada a San Baltasar and Saludos de Tambores a los Santos Cambá (Calling Saint Balthazar and Drum Salutations to the Black Saints).

His festivities, held in Corrientes around Epiphany, from January 1st to the 6th, include dancing afroargentinean rhythms such as diverse forms of candombe and samba. Particularly, he was traditionally honored with a dance called bambula, a form of ring dance where women move in short and slow steps, barely lifting their feet, while men jump in the air, and where one singer sings a phrase that is then repeated or answered by the others present. This kind of dance is native to Congo and Angola, and widely practiced by enslaved people and their descendants in the Southern United States, the Caribbean, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. The music used to this day to petition favors, to invoke his spirit into his image and even dispel or call thunderstorms or other natural phenomena, is called charanda and includes drums, guitars and triangles. Just like in other afrodiasporic devotional and resistance dances, these dances involve Kings and Queens of the dance, a hierarchy of drummers including those called Master drummers, and a hierarchy of the drums themselves as Chico, Repique and Piano.

If you compare him to Xangó...

He carries a double-headed axe. He's often depicted wearing a crown. His colors are, surprisingly, also white and red, with gold accents. Also a King and a warrior, also associated with thunderstorms and fire, drums and dance. His followers also wear white and red beaded collares. Ringing any bells...?

Now, I am not saying they are the same Spirit, but there is an undeniable resemblance. You come to your own conclusions. It's kind of obvious that this afrodiasporic cult stems from either (a) a hidden, veiled cult to the orisha(s) or (b) a syncretic cult to african deities (not only orishas but maybe other african spirits too). There is, after all, strong ties not only to Yorubaland but also to Dahomey, Kongo, etc. Just in this instance, the spirit may resemble an orisha but the rhythms and dance are from kongo, so there is much more to it than just one or the other. There is a culture of resistance born from the union of Nations through music, faith and tradition.

Sources:

None of the images here belong to me: San Baltazar and festivities [1,2,3,4-6] and Xangó [1]

Festividad de San Baltasar : performances artístico-religiosas de la cofradía de la ciudad de Corrientes, by Cavalieri, Ana Belén, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Artes, Diseño y Ciencias de la Cultura, 2018. Available for download at [Link]

San Baltazar, Historias de Corrientes at [Link]

The bamboula Lineage at [Link]

The Orishas, Indiana University at [Link]

[malfattore]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER. ( REPOST DO NOT REBLOG ! )

○  NAME: Erin // Xy.

○  PRONOUNS: he/him

○   PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION: Discord or Tumblr, either or is completely fine. I reply to both the same, tho im slow.

○    NAME OF MUSE(S): Malfatto, William de Saint-Prix, Nightstalker Joe, wow i’m really going down the basic names now, I roleplayed artorias and pate from dks but not anymore. I also muse Verulo and a small amount of Illario from acb but on the side, and more so Verulo. He’s a bit of an older muse that I did nothing with besides throw comments in for (still do, since im not sure who he fits with)

○    EXPERIENCE/HOW LONG (MONTHS/YEARS?): 10 years, off and on? Could be more tbh I’ve lost count I feel old

○    PLATFORMS YOU’VE USED: for rp, I mostly use Discord but Tumblr is nice too, when it’s functional lol

○   BEST EXPERIENCE: In General? Musing with people and creating a deep and expansive world around what little canon information we even received from Ubisoft — as well as Personal, @ardentfew @larosafatale @templarlanz @officialcahin (also w/ ur bitch ass (affectionately) baltasar) you guys have added so much to my musings and experiences to define Mal as he continues to age as my oldest muse at like 10 years now? I genuinely appreciate it wholeheartedly. These are probably my best experiences over this whole blog’s lifespan. Also I have to throw in @vilestblood, you always made me feel so welcome and appreciated as a newcomer, it really did make the whole experience for me, and while i’m over here for now, I hope you know how often i still appreciate you. I hope I can repay all of you somehow.

○    RP PET PEEVES / DEALBREAKERS: Treating my muse(s) like he’s either a sex object/disrespecting my boundaries on his sexuality, a Villain to exclusively to fit your narrative/headcanons, or automatically assuming I condone the actions of my muse just bc I am expanding on his emotions or more positive traits. as well as just seeing him as a shipping objective — Besides the fact that I am not interested in shipping Malfatto out as he is single-ship to one character and i’m more interested in defining his friendships than another spouse.

○    FLUFF, ANGST, OR SMUT: I’m a whore for angst but i’m more of a hurt-comfort kind of guy tbh, I don’t mind the pain of loss and complete defeat and hopelessness, i adore depressing themes but I do want a comforting concept to end off on. I love fluff within plot and smut is the same, I don’t particularly want just baseless smut for the sake of smut (tho it can be interesting sometimes) but if it fits well, it legit makes my heart skip djdjjhdj

○    PLOTS OR MEMES: I love memes on tumblr so much, esp as an icebreaker, but I love plotting things out more extensively so I can learn more about your characters and where they can interact more personally.

○    LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: Both but I prefer longer if the short we are talking about is like one liners. Unless we are in a very fast paced setting like discord chat, one liners make me lose muse pretty quick.

○    BEST TIME TO WRITE: Anytime I can get some quiet, I admittedly cannot write in a noisy setting. My brain is too panicked with stuff going on that I can’t zone in.

○    ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S): I always joke around and say that he’s the kinnie so Honestly, yes? it sounds awful to relate to the serial killing doctor, who also tortures random civilians, guards, and sex workers BUT that aside, I understand his impulsivity and I understand his traumas, at least on a semi-adjacent level. We like similar things and find comfort in the same settings, though i did not expect to build him like this. I’m enough like him that I can somewhat? understand where he is coming from mentally when he does stupid impulsive shit that eventually gets his dumbass floored while also being very aware that his reactions and opinions are not something I would even consider. He’s fun he’s like the little devil on my shoulder telling me to act on impulse and commit arson when i have anxiety even over looking like i’m shoplifting

TAGGED BY: No-one. I stole this from general tags.

TAGGING: @larosafatale @ardentfew yea idk who else is active anymore, steal it

[cammotea]

Accumulate Skills

There is much to be known, life is short, and life is not life without knowledge.

—Baltasar Gracián

Your main goal in the Apprenticeship Phase must be to learn and accumulate as many real-life skills as possible, particularly in areas that personally excite and stimulate you. If, later in life, your career path changes or your skills are less relevant, you will know how to adapt, adjusting the skills you have and knowing how to learn more. Mastery was once an arduous process because the necessary information to attain skills was not something that was shared. If your interest was in the sciences your only hope was to be in the right social class that would allow you to attend the only universities that trained scientists. Now, with the internet, these walls around information have been shattered. You must take supreme advantage of the opportunities the internet now offers for accumulating skills, through various online resources.

[garnetcapricorn]

I was not expecting this major book hangover after reading Rabble: End Game. (spoilers ahead if u care)

the Villainous Things series is so fucking fun-- I wasn't ready to leave! even though there were hints of future mpreg, I would deal with and probably enjoy it anyway because that's my 2nd fav couple (Baltasar/Zion)

My FIRST favorite is a combo (possible polycule?👀) of Andre/Theo/Gabriel plus Micah/Ziggy. The Gabriel/Micah flirting and makeout scene was to die for! Would've loved to see them go further...

also I totally agree with Theo: twincest would be hot af. And then Gabe was all "he makes it sound so good" so it's basically 2 vs 1 and I can so see Dre caving to his subs ⚔️

also also the reconciliation scene with Theo & Ziggy was actually really touching 🥺 I think Theo should get a bonding experience with his offspring (Ziggy & Simon) and I KNOW it would be bloody🔪 because they're all psycho murder bbs (affectionate). They should get to take down the next big bad.

Simon/Wolfgang is my 3rd fav couple I guess. I really liked that Wolfy was SEVERELY touch starved when they met. that whole situation was so angsty and so hot when they finally got physical.

back to Balty/Zion: very into their giant- lizard- form- primal- mating thing. Baltasar has a cock pocket in lacertus form but Zion does not, which is why I got all the mpreg vibes. like B is an omega. which tbh it's always hot when omegas go into heat.

least fav couples are Xander/Butch and Violentia/Kai. I'm not much of a daddy kink fan. I'm even less of a mommy kink fan. and all the other couples have way better (imo) powers/ dynamics/ tropes.

oh! and bonus couple Luca/Erich: there's only short intro excerpts about them but I'm betting I'll rank them at least tied with Baltasar/Zion. because Luca is demisexual apparently (sweet sweet representation) and an alien (stellarian like Theo and Ziggy) AND was instantly obsessed with Erich after hearing his DJ-ing which perfectly matched his stellarian native language (I think Ziggy described it in his book like "classical music on electric guitar" "symphonic" and Micah had to create a special little instrument to mimic the resonance). so Luca was caught way tf off guard when a normal human was able to resonate like him.

I can't wait to listen to Rabble when it comes out on Audible✨️✨️😇😍🤩😁 Micah's VA is incredibly fun and energetic and amazing

[oddygaul]

The Resort

I followed Andy Siara here. With how much I love Palm Springs I guess I shouldn’t be surprised how much I enjoyed this in the end, but to be fair, that synopsis sure wouldn’t have drawn me in without that baked-in goodwill.

Still, love me a good mystery, and The Resort was well-paced and engrossing. It started off a bit slow, but honestly that made it more compelling - the show going from “eh, I guess I’ll give it a second episode” to “okay that was kinda wild let’s get one more” to “yo what the fuck is going on I am INVESTED” was a fun ride.

There was definitely a weird vibe for the first episode or two. It almost felt like an isekai, but for people who are super into true crime podcasts: two Americans, already imposing on an unfamiliar culture by being tourists at a fancy luxury resort, start sticking their noses into everyone’s business and wander around the city drunk finding ‘clues’? It’s funny at times, but a little obnoxious, too - I found myself hoping they’d be punished by the narrative for how stupid they were about the whole thing. That doesn’t really happen, but at least Baltasar absolutely lays into them for their shoddy fucking detective work when they all finally link up.

“If this was a horror movie, my aunties would be like, ‘don’t go down that hallway’! Haha. (beat) This is real dumb though.”

Baltasar fucking rules, by the way - easily the show’s standout character. Episode 4, where he lays out his past and his time at the Oceana Vista, is one of those Peak TV Episodes that’s compelling enough to stand on its own as a short story, context be damned. Even beyond that, his character is just so unique; I love how he’s always asking questions. Not the obvious, TV show detective questions, either - it almost feels like he’s actively speculating alongside the audience, analyzing facts as they come in and floating theory after theory, the same way we all are while watching.

I’m so happy Ben Sinclair is out here doing things, too! I suppose it’s my fault for not taking the time to look up his filmography since High Maintenance, but I jumped when I saw his name in the writing credits and was stoked to see him in a major role here.

The Resort ends with a bit of a whimper. While the show at large devotes as much attention to its character arcs & themes as it does to the ever-expanding mysteries and lore of the world, the finale really only satisfyingly resolves the former, leaving the latter a touch less explored than I’d have liked. Still, the ending does allow the show’s main theme to shine through strong: while it’s easy to get stuck in the past and spend our time obsessing over memories and what could have been, you’re ultimately just taking time away from what your life could be in the present.

[dillydedalus]

women in translation month wrap-up

here's what i read this witmonth, faves marked with *

das verbotene notizbuch, alba de céspedes (translated from the italian by verena from koskull, english translation: forbidden notebook, by ann goldstein)

salomés zorn, simone atangana bekono (translated from the dutch by ira wilhelm, no english translation yet)

witches, brenda lozano (translated from the spanish by heather cleary)

*three summers, margarita liberaki (translated from the greek by karen van dyck)

breasts and eggs, mieko kawakami (translated from the japanese by sam bett & david boyd)

im park der prächtigen schwestern, camila sosa villada (translated from the spanish by svenja becker, english translation: bad girls, by kit maude)

*boulder, eva baltasar (translated from the catalan by julia sanches): READ BOULDER BY EVA BALTASAR

sweet days of discipline, fleur jaeggy (translated from the italian by tim parks)

the wandering, intan paramaditha (translated from the indonesian by stephen j. epstein)

my pen is the wing of a bird, anthology of short stories by afghan women, translated from dari & pashto

all your children, scattered, beata umbyeyi mairesse (translated from the french by alison anderson)

*waking lions, ayelet gundar-goshen (translated from the hebrew by sondra silverston)

*the lover, marguerite duras (translated from the french by barbara bray)

*trieste, daša drndić (translated from the croatian by ellen elias-bursać)

evil flowers, gunnhild øyehaug (translated from the norwegian by kari dickson)

*empty wardrobes, maria judite de carvalho (translated from the portuguese by margaret jull costa)

die tochter, kim hye-jin (translated from the korean by lee ki-hyang, english translation: concerning my daughter, by jamie chang)

still reading:

the books of jacob, olga tokarczuk (translated from the polish by jennifer croft

mister n, najwa barakat (translated from the arabic by luke leafgren)

[smunconservadors]

El Tiempo 

Baltasar Santos Montejo Gears up for Presidency with Massive Support 

20 January 1950 

BALTAZAR RETURNS!!! The face of the Liberal party and former popular president, Senor Baltazar Santos Montejo has announced his candidacy for presidency with support from the Liberal party, the following is a short excerpt of his otherwise 15 minute speech he made on the city of Boyaca regarding his candidacy "When I finished my term as president of our motherland after leading it through the storm of the Second World War, I thought I could retire in peace, and watch the sunset on the beaches of Bogota in peace, I was wrong. A greater fire is approaching, threatening to swallow up our entire nation, a darker time than that of the 1000 days war is approaching, and I cannot stand idly by while it ravages our nation" Rumors from eyewitnesses says that what looks like some well-known Conservative generals in civilian clothing is seen whispering with Senor Baltazar afterwards, is the Conservative fracturing and joining Baltazar?

[smunalianzaliberal]

El Tiempo 

Baltasar Santos Montejo Gears up for Presidency with Massive Support 

20 January 1950 

BALTAZAR RETURNS!!! The face of the Liberal party and former popular president, Senor Baltazar Santos Montejo has announced his candidacy for presidency with support from the Liberal party, the following is a short excerpt of his otherwise 15 minute speech he made on the city of Boyaca regarding his candidacy "When I finished my term as president of our motherland after leading it through the storm of the Second World War, I thought I could retire in peace, and watch the sunset on the beaches of Bogota in peace, I was wrong. A greater fire is approaching, threatening to swallow up our entire nation, a darker time than that of the 1000 days war is approaching, and I cannot stand idly by while it ravages our nation" Rumors from eyewitnesses says that what looks like some well-known Conservative generals in civilian clothing is seen whispering with Senor Baltazar afterwards, is the Conservative fracturing and joining Baltazar?"

[twoguysandaride]

JP Morgan’s Rolls-Royce

JP Morgan’s 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom II

This car was originally ordered by J.P. Morgan Jr. and was used as his summer car until 1941 when it was donated to the Henry Ford Museum. Morgan requested some items when ordered, including a taller folding top to allow for a top hat, black wheels with SS spokes, softer riding main springs, and the Morgan crest on the rear doors.  Join us as we talk to the current owner Irving and take a tour of this magnificent piece of automotive history.

The Phantom II used a refinement of the New Phantom's 7.7 L (7,668 cc or 467.9 cu in) pushrod-OHV straight-6 engine with a new crossflow cylinder head.[2] Unlike on previous 40/50 hp models, the engine was bolted directly to the 4-speed manual transmission. Synchromesh was added on gears 3 and 4 in 1932 and on gear 2 in 1935. Power was transmitted to the rear wheels using an open driveshaft, a hypoid bevel final drive, and Hotchkiss drive, replacing the torque tube from a remotely mounted gearbox used on earlier 40/50 hp models.

The chassis of the Phantom II was completely new. The front axle was mounted on semi-elliptical leaf springs as on earlier 40/50 hp models, but the rear axle was now also mounted on semi-elliptical springs instead of cantilever springs. This, along with the drivetrain changes, allowed the frame to be lower than before, improving the handling. The 4-wheel servo-assisted brakes from the Phantom I were continued, and the Bijur centralized lubrication system from the Springfield-built Phantom I was included on all Phantom II chassis.

The standard wheelbase of the Phantom II was 150 inches (3,800 mm). A 144 inches (3,700 mm) short-wheelbase chassis was also available.

A total of 1,681 Phantom II chassis of all types were built.

Only the chassis and mechanical parts were made by Rolls-Royce. The body was made and fitted by a coachbuilder selected by the owner. Some of the most famous coachbuilders who produced bodies for Rolls-Royce cars are Park Ward, Brewster, Thrupp & Maberly, Mulliner, Carlton, Windovers, and Hooper. Outside the UK, cars were bodied in Australia by Martin & King, Italy by Castagna, Spain by Baltasar Fiol, Germany by Erdmann und Rossi, Sweden by Nordberg, Belgium by Van den Plas (Bruxelles,) The Netherlands by Van Rijswijk, France by Saoutchik, Kellner, Binder and Gaston Grümmer, and the United States by Brewster and F.R. Wood.

#1930rollsroycephantom #1930rollsroyce #rollsroyce #phantomii #phantom #rollsroyc #carcollection #jaylenosgarage #cameronrichards #jaylenosgarage #porsche918spyder #rolls #royce #classicpromenade #automotive #motorcycle #automobile #sportscars #carforsale #comparescars #arizona #phoenix #corvette #camaroz28 #testdrive #supercars #carreviews #harryclark #vintagecars #classiccars 

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this week (Year 4, week 3)

The candidate, my terrific third thriller by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, about the fall of a (short!) fixer enmeshed in an overwhelming web of political corruption. Spanish 'House of Cards' meets 'Michael Clayton'. Sharp staging and fast story-telling, but it suffers from a bit too sudden ending. 8/10.

🍿  

2 Finnish works, both starring Alma Pöysti:

🍿  Fallen Leaves, my 11th (?) dark film by Aki Kaurismäki. Sad and dreary lives of two lonely people, existing at the lowest levels of society. Part of his 'Proletariat' series, it tells of the same type of characters he always does: Menial workers who speak little, communicate without expressing themselves verbally, smoke and drink too much, who resort to chance meetings to lift them out of their gloomy lives.

At the same time, there's a strong 'Brief Encounter' vibes here, and a love story that ends like 'City lights' (with a dog named 'Chaplin'). 9/10.

🍿 Tove is a completely different kettle of Lohikeitto soup. A feel-good, often sunny biopic of Tove Jansson, the highly successful creator of The Moomins [which I never read and didn't really know].

It lovingly depicts her formative years, as she develops her beautiful art style, and discovers love, mostly to another bohemian woman. Alma Pöysti's acting is on a class of its own, unrecognisable when compared to 'Fallen Leaves': She's centered, strong, desirable. The scene when she kisses her (life-long) lover for the first time is tender and heartwarming. 8/10.

*Woman Director

🍿  

Zhang Yimou's beautiful melodrama One second from 2020. A heartfelt metaphor about a political prisoner during the 'Cultural Revolution' who escapes from a work camp in the desert in order to search for his 14 year old daughter. An ode to the "Magic of Cinema" both as a tool for Maoist propaganda, as well as a fountain of emotions.

🍿  

Jar city, my 4th sad film by the terrific Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur. Apparently he's been filming mostly in Hollywood the last decade, but everything I've seen by him is from Iceland. Another atmospheric police procedural Nordic Noir, grey and bleak, about murder mystery, old secrets from a small town, and parallel relationships of pain between fathers and daughters. 8/10

🍿  

2 versions of the same tragic infatuation:

🍿 La Chienne ("The bitch") is an early-sound film by Jean Renoir. Meek, middle-aged Michel Simon is lost in a loveless marriage, falls for "Lulu", a prostitute, and is being exploited for money by her abusive pimp. It opens with a puppet show that declares that this story is not a drama or a comedy and has no moral message. But it's a cruel and cynical triangle of love, greed and betrayal.

🍿 14 years later, Fritz Lang remade the same Caution Tale into Scarlet street, a Hollywood version, made under the constrains of Production Code Administration of The Hays Office. Edward G. Robinson as "Chris Cross", the henpecked husband and Joan Bennett repeats their previous Lang roles from 'The woman in the window'.

🍿  

"I didn't squawk about the steak, dear. I merely said that I didn't see that old horse that used to be tethered outside here"

W C Fields' last film Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, with a script he wrote under the pseudonym Otis Criblecoblis. Also with Margaret Dumont as 'Madame Hemoglobin', Fourth Wall break, real laughs, crazy scene of falling from an airplane, a zany car race finale, and this exceptional Diner Scene. 8/10.

🍿  

4 Soviet movies:

🍿 "To my dear father, from Makhmud".

Zerograd is another kind of weird. An absurdist Russian fairy tale. An engineer arrives at a sleepy town, and among the very mundane trappings, some details inexplicably stand out: A secretary who's completely naked, a cake he didn't order in the shape of his own head, a rock 'n' roll chef who commits suicide because the engineer didn't taste the cake. It's Kafkaesque and bizarre. 7/10.

🍿 "Yo Soy Fidel!"

My 2nd by Mikhail Kalatozov (after 'The cranes are flying') I am Cuba, Cuban-Soviet propaganda film about the Cuban revolution. Forgotten for decades because of its socialist messages, it was 'rediscovered' in the 1990's and regained its place among the world's top movies. Especially in regards to its cinematography, and dazzling camera work: Includes some of history's greatest tracking shots [equal to and better than with 'Goodfellas' Copacabana Club, 'Touch of Evil' and 'The Player' openings, 'Path of glory', etc.] Written by Yevtushenko: Guernica for cinema.

[Not Cubano, but I've been listening to Rita Payés's Nunca vas a comprender 100 times or more, and it reminds me of some of the scenes here.]

🍿 The Steamroller and the Violin, Tarkovsky's very first film, made for his film school diploma finals. A sweet story of a 7 year old violinist who befriends a steamroller driver, it gives similar innocent vibes as 'The red balloon'.

🍿 Chess Fever, my first silent comedy by Pudovkin, the influential developer of montage theories, and who feuded with Eisenstein about the political purpose of the edits. It also was the basis for Nabokov's novel 'The Luhzin defense'!

🍿  

The cute Australian comedy The dish, my second by Rob Sitch (after 'The Castle'). How a remote radio astronomy observatory in New South Wales helped relay live-TV feed during Apollo 11 Moon landing. One implausible problem was to have only 4 guys manning the whole operation.

🍿  

"Seven years of hamburgers..."

Behind the locked door, my first episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour TV show. Gloria Swanson punishes a gold digger who married and then killed her daughter.

🍿  

I haven't seen A simple favour for a couple of months, so here I go again. Why is it so appealing to me? it's mostly because of how sexy-cute Anna Kendrick is. My previous structural analysis from a few watches ago still stands. 10/10.

🍿  

2 documentaries of the week:

🍿 "This is the dawning of the age of asparagus..."

The Disappearance of Shere Hite, a compassionate story of a most amazing trailblazing woman. She dared talk publicly about masturbation and "intercourse" (what we now call 'fucking'), when even the words 'Clitoris' and 'Orgasm' were not permitted in most newspapers. I bought and read her 600 page report then, but let's not talk about the 70's.

Oh, sexual liberation in misogynist America, the culture that hates woman so much, it keeps oppressing them in today as it did for hundreds of years! It's blood-boiling tragic. 7/10. (Photo Above).

*Woman Director

🍿 I knew it would be painful for me to watch the 2023 documentary Israelism, and it surely was. A brave review and critique of the American Jewish relationship to Israel. How it calcified into a harsh dogma, embodying a narrative that Israel is a peace loving democracy. This dogma does not allow for even a tiny tinge of rebuke, and aligns itself today with the worst at the white-nationalist coalition. It follows two disillusioned American Zionists who come to realize that the propaganda they heard since birth covers a vast system of oppression, and their struggle to see what is really happening in Palestine.

Watching the heartbreaking realities of life under apartheid [even before the current genocide] felt like the worst stomach churning horror movie I've seen. Utterly depressing.

8/10, and if not for the overwhelming, constant mood-setting soundtrack, it would score even higher.

🍿  

The hidden face, is a shallow Colombian thriller about a woman that 'disappeared'. It starts out bland, with uninteresting main characters, but midways drops one hell of an De Palma twist. 4/10.

🍿  

A Few Shorts:

🍿 Jada, a sad little story about a homeless 7-year-old black kid surviving on her own on the streets of Venice Beach. The performance of the little girl who played her was tremendous. 8/10.

🍿 Pony, a 30-minute gem about the cutest 5-year-old girl, who has to spend a weekend with her jaded rock musician uncle, when her single mom must go out of town. The little actress is so so sweet, and she asks him questions like “How do bumblebees poop?”. Unsentimental, unexpected. 9/10.

*Woman Director

🍿"When you get an opportunity, it’s nothing more than a chance to be disappointed".

In The Dishwasher, a chef at a fine dining restaurant in New York City asks a Mexican dishwasher to find good tortillas. As good as any food movie - 7/10.

🍿  In Civil, a new door-to-door salesman, who is black, is invited inside a house for the first time, to demonstrate his set of kitchen knives, only to discover a confederate flag hanging on the wall.

🍿 A cute one note concept: A man is told by his doctor that he only has 1500 Words left to say, after which he'll die. His shocked reaction at the doctor's office depletes all but the last 50 words...

🍿  "Are you talking Dueling Banjos?..."

In Training Wheels, a socially-inapt woman rents a male escort for 48 hours, in order to practice 'relationships' before a 'real' date.

*Woman Director

🍿 In Dream of aces, an uncharismatic magician shows a simple card trick in a 'secret' gathering and explains how he learnt it. It's all tell and no show. 1/10.

🍿 And, I'm also looking forward to see the new short 'The heart' by new female filmmaker "Malia Ann"...

*Woman Director

🍿  

(My complete movie list is here)