#free entry to monuments

[ruinparadox]

Full deamon husk x shy gn reader in a beauty and the beast like relationship

I'm actually so upset I hadn't thought of this idea before because its so good. Like, you can't just drop a banger idea like this and just not elaborate!

The Beast and his Beauty - Full demon form overlord Husk x Gn!Reader

It’s been a few months since that fateful day. A casino stands at the edge of the city, all but abandoned. The tables are barren, the cards are rotted, and the castle-like building has only one resident, and now one hostage. You swore up and down to your friend that they should not just throw themselves into the casino just to fish for gold and whatnot on the off chance that the overlord who purportedly lives there has somehow died off in the past few centuries of his life.

But no matter how you tried, no matter how you pleaded, they simply waved you off and made for the decrepit castle. One day turned into two. Two days turned into a week into a month, and you left for the castle as well. Other sinners called out to you, trying to warn you of the dangers, but you didn’t heed them. Your friend was in danger and you needed to help them, safety be damned.

Interestingly, the casino stands opposite of the Hazbin Hotel. Atop a hill, behind a tall gate, sequestered away from the big city. It's such a short distance, yet so far away. The metal creaks as you push the entrance open, rust coating the exterior. And just like that you’re scrambling up the hill towards that ornate but blemished door. You grab the handle and notice that it isn’t locked. The mechanism must have eroded away or the overlord is eager to hunt for prey within his walls. Either way, you gain free entry into the estate.

Bravely, or perhaps foolishly, you call into the depths of the halls, your friend’s name reverberating like a siren call. And like a moth to a flame, the overlord appears. He is a hulking beast, his stature so tall he takes up half the entrance hall of the casino floor. His tail is covered in scars and spines, his wings tattered and frail, the colors of the feathers dull and grey. Barely enough plumes for him to assume a brief bout of flight. 

A snarl rumbles in his throat, his face riddled with soot with his face taking the shape of a tiger who’s muzzle is scrunched and wrinkled in perpetual anger. His eyes are like gemstones, glowing in the dark, his slit pupils watching your every move. He’s a predator eyeing prey in his territory. The scythes for talons and claws on his giant paws scratch the floor as he stalks towards you, leaving deep wounds in the marble panels.

“Why are you here?” You could feel the castle shake with his distorted voice. He sounds so… tired.

Why else are you here? For your friend. You demand to know where they are, right now. You demand for their release. 

“Friend? You mean this little plaything?” His tail comes around from behind him, the tip hooked through the hoop of a cage and your friend dangling inside it. “I am merely defending my home from intruders. Intruders such as you, if that wasn’t clear. Why should I release them?”

Indeed, why should he? He has no reason to care about you, a strange person trespassing on the monument to his shame. He has no desires to cling to, no vices to drown in. What could you possibly have to offer the beast who wants nothing but to be left alone?

A question that leaves you stumped. No amount of money could lift him from this state. He’d just gamble it all away again on the vain hopes some windfall might come his way. You can’t offer him power, he has that in droves, not that it's done him much good. And redemption is far too flimsy a concept for him to take on faith.

No, there’s only one thing you could give him. Your soul.

Immediately, your friend is banging at the bars of their cage, crying out in protest, but your gaze is fixed firmly on the beast towering over you, its breath brushing through your fur. 

“You would gamble away your soul on something so small?” He’s almost surprised you’d even considered it, let alone actually offered. But nevertheless, as terrified as you are, even as your body shakes in anxiety and fear, your gaze does not drop. You will see this through. Though to what end? Even you yourself aren’t sure.

His eyes narrow down at you, but he accepts your proposal. You utter an apology to your friend as they cry and beg for you to take it back. They’re cast out after the beast places a spell on them to never speak or mention anything about what took place and can never return to the castle beyond the gate.

In the next second, the beast has returned, and your friend is barred from the estate, their figure barely visibly beyond the gates at the foot of the hill. A golden manacle manifests itself around your neck, a chain rattling as it extends to the beast. You expect him to yank you towards him, but surprisingly, he doesn’t. Instead, he looks down on it, and lets it fall to the floor, its brilliant yet ominous glow fading out of sight.

You don’t even get a word in before he’s stalking off to some unknown part of the castle, his voice quiet as he mumbles for you to “do whatever you want.”

It's been a few months since that day, and you two have grown close since then. The beast, whose name you now know as “Husk,” is trapped in his own casino, surrounded by nothing but forgotten bets and dried up alcohol. He can’t even drink the pain away anymore. He refuses to elaborate when asked about what is keeping him here.

At first, he’s distant and grumpy, barely acknowledging your presence with small grunts, let alone words. You attempt to talk to him, but whether he can hear you, or is just outright ignoring you is anyone’s guess. With conversation a moot front, you attempt to at least make a space for yourself to sleep and live in. If you are going to be staying in a decrepit castle, you might as well make it as comfortable as you can.

He sees you attempting to clear out a room as best you can, but the dust, dirt, and rot are endless. Begrudgingly, he tells you to stop and to just sleep in his room. There’s a lot less dirt and it has the only bed in the entire building that hasn’t crumbled to dust.

The bed in question is more than half the size of the room, a large circle mattress dressed in blemished silk sheets. You imagine it must have looked lavish in the casino’s heyday. You find yourself impressed when it's revealed that the room is capable of housing both you and Husk, the giant resting his head on the empty half of the bed next to you. 

His breathing is soft, but given the size difference it's a veritable gust of wind ruffling your clothes in your sleep. No matter, you’ll just have to use a few more blankets from now on. Assuming there are still any left.

In the next few days you do some exploring of the grounds. You’re not allowed outside, lest you bring more intruders to disturb his territory, but you’re free to go wherever you wish inside. It is then you happen across a closet filled with dresses and other clothes somehow untouched by the ravages of time. Husk is equally surprised but says you can have them. Normally they’d be gifts for his employees if they excelled at their jobs but… well, you get the idea by now, don’t you?

Happily, you put one of them on, looking at yourself twirling about in a cracked vanity mirror. In the reflection, you catch Husk staring at you with a look that’s less than grumpy as he usually is. He notices you looking at him and immediately turns around, his tail nearly knocking you over as he grumbles about taking a nap.

The weeks go by and you catch Husk looking at you more and more, a glint of something you can’t quite recognize in his eyes. It escalates from there. Purrs rumbling the castle, an unexpected nuzzle here or there, and his tail gently wrapping around you.

He refuses to say anything about it until you confront him directly. Reluctantly, he tells you of days long past, when dancers lined the stage, when bright lights and strong drinks bathed the walls, when money flowed through the establishment like water through a dam… when a horrible deal gone wrong took everything from him and one by one, the people disappeared. 

Soon there were no dancers, no booze, no lights, and no money. He’s been here all alone in his self imposed exile. It's not that he can’t leave, but he won’t. For what purpose would that serve? There’s nothing waiting for him out there. Nothing that could fill the hole in his heart. A hole he carved out himself.

At least, that’s what he thought until recently. Until he felt a spark go off within him when he saw you wear that dress, smiling like you were ready to go dancing. He feels something for you, but he can’t trust himself to not mess it up, to not ruin it like he did everything else. 

You give him a smile and he feels his fur go warm for a bit. You tell him that he won’t know if it will work if he doesn’t try. That seems to touch something inside him and for the first time in a while, he smiles. 

That night, you two make for a ballroom. Not sure why a casino needs one, but neither of you really care right now. You two dance and dance throughout the night. Well, more like you’re the one dancing and he’s gently guiding you with his talons. He’s far too big to move about in such a manner without causing some damage.

Still, it doesn’t matter, both of you have fun, and the next few weeks, it only gets better. You two are now having dinner together with what little food you can find or afford, you’re allowed to go outside and buy or steal anything you need, and you now sleep together on the bed, his body curled around yours to give you all the warmth you need.

You tell your friend that you’re okay and you don’t need rescuing. You pack your things from the hotel and move them into Husk’s castle, saying goodbye to your friends while promising to visit. Redemption is overrated. And whether your lives end from being redeemed, or from an exorcist's blade, or perhaps they never end at all, you’re just happy to spend your life next to a beautiful creature such as he.

It doesn’t matter that he can’t return to his normal form anymore. You love him just the way he is.

[snapscube]

So do you have a spoiler free review of the Spider-Man 2 game, for people like me who haven’t bought/seen the game yet? (I lack money so I have to wait for Christmas lol)

I can give you my top-down thoughts yeah!

Gameplay-wise, it's a night and day improvement over the first game in basically every regard. I've heard some mixed opinions on the new gadget/abilities system, and I had my own hang-ups here and there, but once I got a feel for it and started actively looking for ways to cleverly use them and upgrade them it really clicked. The flow of combat is amazing. The swinging mechanics are a MONUMENTAL improvement over Spider-Man Remastered and Miles Morales. Those games had fantastic swinging, don't get me wrong, but they always had the issue of having a pretty intense speed cap and a disappointingly small amount of maneuvers to play with and master. This game introduces not only the web wings, which add a whole extra dimension of traversal to play with, but also still manages to improve the swinging itself more than I ever expected. Tight cornering, loop-de-loops, slingshots, and more are ALL introduced and work amazingly. And on top of it all, the speed cap for traversal is a 3X INCREASE when fully upgraded. And you feel it IMMEDIATELY, because even the baseline speed is so much faster from the jump. The game just plays beautifully in every regard, easily worth the price of entry for that alone.

Story-wise, I've mentioned I have some hangups about the pacing that I'm still working out. I just started a second story playthrough so I'm giving it time before I form any "final" thoughts, but my gut experience was that the first Act comes out the gate firing on all cylinders. The characters feel so alive, the world is breathtaking, and there's a ton of intrigue. But then once you hit Act 2 and 3 things speed up in a way that can feel a bit unnatural. One thing that helps this though is making sure to pace out your playthrough with side missions. It doesn't fix the pacing entirely, but there are so many side missions in this game that honestly feel just as integral and worth doing as the main story. I would say definitely try to do as much as you can to pace out Act 2 a little more with side content, cause much like Miles Morales this feels like the kind of game that lives and dies by its side stories. The secondary cast is incredible, and there's a ton of easter eggs and emotional beats that are integral to the overall picture of this game but just aren't in the main stuff. But the beats that hit in the main story hit REALLY HARD. The game definitely has the common sequel problem of shooting for a lot more and as a result kinda ends up a lot messier. The first game is still more of a quintessentially good Spider-Man tale than this one. But that is NOT to disparage this one at all. It is WORTH experiencing, for sure, I just think maybe it could have used some more polish. But there are a ton of moving parts, so I can totally see how they ended up with what they did.

I have a lot of other thoughts but those are sorta the big two pillars I can easily discuss without encroaching on spoiler territory and without writing basically a whole article.

[gemsofgreece]

Do people say "happy Oxi Day" in Greece? I'm Greek American and have very little idea how people actually celebrate today

Hello and χρόνια πολλά! This is our go-to wish for every occasion, including the Ohi Day. For non-Greek speakers, it means "(here's to) many years". Before the day arrives we also wish "Καλή επέτειο!" which means ¨Happy Anniversary¨, meaning the Anniversary of Ohi (No).

The day is one of the two (or two and a half to be exact) national days Greece has. It is a national holiday, only restaurants and cafes are open for the people to celebrate. This day museums and archaeological sites are also open and they have a free entry. Everything else is shut down though.

The most notable thing about the No Day is the school and military parades that take place all over Greece. Remote areas with little population may only have school parades. Larger areas have a mixed school and military parade. Athens and Thessaloniki, the two largest cities, have separate parades for convenience. It is customary that on October 28th, the major military parade takes place in Thessaloniki and on March 25th it takes place in Athens. So today it was in Thessaloniki. The major military parade includes heavy artillery and shows from the air forces. Sometimes on these days surviving historical warships from the 40s are moored to the big ports for people to see and visit.

Photos from the military parade in Thessaloniki and an evzone who went viral for tearing up.

And one from the school parade in Athens.

This day most TV channels have a thematic Ohi program, featuring movies, documentaries and talk shows about WW2 and Greece's history in it.

Now the working day before the October 28th (and the March 25th) is also a school holiday, however students still attend the school and have celebrations there which they prepare with their teachers for quite some time. This school celebration includes reciting poems, speeches, theatrical plays and music choirs. The best student (aka the one with the highest grades) of the school is announced and receives the flag, which they will use on the national day because they become the school's σημαιοφόρος (simeofóros) flagbearer in the school parade. The next five best students become the παραστάτες (parastátes), who join the flagbearer in a parade formation a little in front of the rest of the school. Between the flagbearer and the parastates and the rest of the school there is often a διμοιρίτης (dimirítis) marching on their own sort of guiding the rest of the school, who is singled out for their stature and / or their good march, so they give the rhythm to the rest of the kids. The school march is joined by the physical exercise teacher who is responsible for it and walks on the kids' side.

Oh also early in the morning, before the parade starts, the students and the authorities of every region and I assume representatives from the military as well lay wreaths at associated monuments, usually monuments to the Unknown Soldier.

Of course, I forgot to say that aside from being a school and military parade, the parade also features surviving war veterans, folklore and traditional associations from all around Greece, the scouts, the Red Cross staff, the students of the military schools, the police, the firefighters and more.

Happy rest of the October 28th!

[inception30daychallenge]

Inception 30 Day Challenge 2024: Get inspired, share your hot takes and win prizes!

Create a post, whether it be text, art, music, or any other media, using these 31 items as prompts. Feel free to participate in as many or as few of them as you want!

Copy the prompt into the body of the post somewhere and tag your posts with @inception30daychallenge, #inceptiversary, and #inception30daychallenge. Your posts will be reblogged on this blog for everyone to appreciate!

You earn one entry for every prompt you answer before 11:59 PM EDT on July 31. We’ll hold a raffle then to determine our prize winner(s)! More info can be found in our FAQ.

Prompts below the cut, or at this Google Doc link!

Day 01: Your favourite thing about the movie.

Day 02: Classify each character according to the Alignment Chart. (For more details on what each box means)

Day 03: A post-canon headcanon.

Day 04: Arthur’s secret phobia.

Day 05: Your favourite line in the movie.

Day 06: A fic rec!

Day 07: If you had to change a scene from the movie to have a musical number, which scene would it be?

Day 08: What songs/artists are on Eames’ main playlist?

Day 09: Which character has the most annoying habit on the job and what is it?

Day 10: A headcanon about your favourite character.

Day 11: Mal’s favourite fairytale.

Day 12: Your favourite setting in the movie.

Day 13: A fanart rec! (note: please do not repost art from tumblr artists! just reblog it and tag @inception30daychallenge so we can see it.)

Day 14: What skills would you bring to a dreamshare team?

Day 15: Cobb’s greatest parenting strength and weakness.

Day 16: Inception Day! Make anything Inception-related! Take a photo, write a poem, make a meme, sing a tune, whatever you want!

Day 17: How did the team spend the rest of the week on the first dream level?

Day 18: What building or monument does Ariadne wish she designed?

Day 19: Your favourite bit of fanon.

Day 20: Another type of rec! (meta, podfic, fanvid, edit, meme, blog, whatever!)

Day 21: What would you want to use dreamshare technology for?

Day 22: What skill does Robert wish he had?

Day 23: If you had to be stuck on a deserted island with an Inception character, who would you choose?

Day 24: A headcanon about your favourite friendship or relationship.

Day 25: When Saito was a child, what did he want to be when he grew up?

Day 26: Which summer Olympic sport would each character compete in? 

Day 27: A self-rec! (anything from art to a funny Tumblr post you made!)

Day 28: What piece of media would you want to see in a crossover with Inception?

Day 29: Something Yusuf keeps hidden in his desk.

Day 30: If the characters were all in a band, what instruments/roles would they play?

Day 31: A letter to Inception fandom.

[travelgraphics]

Milky way over Monument Valley, Arizona, USA https://ift.tt/34QnFJr

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[reasoningdaily]

Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Click the title link to Download for FREE from THE BLACK TRUEBRARY

Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Click the title link to Download for FREE from THE BLACK TRUEBRARY

A extraordinary work, decades in the making: the first atlas to illustrate the entire scope of the transatlantic slave trade   Winner of the Association of American Publishers' 2010 R.R. Hawkins Award and PROSE Award   “A monumental chronicle of this historical tragedy.”—Dwight Garner, New York Times   Between 1501 and 1867, the transatlantic slave trade claimed an estimated 12.5 million Africans and involved almost every country with an Atlantic coastline. In this extraordinary book, two leading historians have created the first comprehensive, up-to-date atlas on this 350-year history of kidnapping and coercion. It features nearly 200 maps, especially created for the volume, that explore every detail of the African slave traffic to the New World. The atlas is based on an online database (www.slavevoyages.org) with records on nearly 35,000 slaving voyages—roughly 80 percent of all such voyages ever made.   Using maps, David Eltis and David Richardson show which nations participated in the slave trade, where the ships involved were outfitted, where the captives boarded ship, and where they were landed in the Americas, as well as the experience of the transatlantic voyage and the geographic dimensions of the eventual abolition of the traffic. Accompanying the maps are illustrations and contemporary literary selections, including poems, letters, and diary entries, intended to enhance readers’ understanding of the human story underlying the trade from its inception to its end.   This groundbreaking work provides the fullest possible picture of the extent and inhumanity of one of the largest forced migrations in history.

Click the title link to Download for FREE from THE BLACK TRUEBRARY

[hush-house-yard-sale]

The Hush House Card Catalogue

@baja-blasted @terephin (please ignore the crabs)

//So the software I'm using to keep track of my books, lore bits, etc. is called Seatable! It wasn't my first choice for this project, I'm more familiar with Airtable (I've used it professionally), but Airtable's free plan doesn't let you color-code :c

//Seatable is a website that looks a lot like google sheets, but instead of building a spreadsheet, you're building a database. I knew I wanted a database rather than a spreadsheet for my card catalogue because it became pretty apparent early on that a spreadsheet would mean a lot of duplicate entries and be a lot more work to maintain, as well as monumentally more work if I wanted to use it for reference.

//My database isn't finished, and so I'm not really comfortable making it public, but I'm happy to walk through some of the things that I like most about it, that made me choose to make a database rather than a spreadsheet.

//The main things that were really important to me was being able to have (and filter by) multiple items in the same column, having lots of cross-linking between the different sheets in the base, and having different views depending on what I was looking to reference.

//These are my different tables right now, and the way they work is that each table has the most detailed information on each item, e.g. Books has the most detail on books, and Skills has the most detail on skills. But I have columns in each table that allow me to crosslink between them.

//So for each book, I have listed the skill and memory they give, but instead of writing each out individually it links to the corresponding entry in skills/memories

//And then over in the memories tab it has all the detail on the aspects, which wisdoms it can be committed to...

//...and every book this skill can be found in and every item it can be used to craft. And those boxes can be expanded so they're easier to read as well!

//I can also group and sort things in different views. My default view for books, for example, splits them into two categories—whether I've read the book or not—and then sorts the books in each category alphabetically. But I also have one that groups them all by mystery and then sorts them from low to high, and I have another that groups them by topic. Each of these views also omits columns that aren't relevant to that particular view, for example, if I'm searching for books by mystery to give to a visitor, it's important to know the author because it's fun to give people books they themselves have written, but I don't really care about what memories that book gives, or when I'm trying to connect lore dots, it doesn't matter whether or not the book is cursed and I don't need to include books I haven't read yet (and thus don't have topic tags for). The rows on the topic one are also bigger so I can better read the blurbs.

//Well, the topic one actually groups by location, because when I group it by topic, it splits it into every combination of my topic tags, rather that giving me "here are all your books about the mansus" "here are all your books about Longs and Names" so I've stored them all in different places in the house depending on what books I think are relevant to one another.

//It's still in progress, I don't have everything written down yet, and I want more data for workbenches, and I want to try and see if there's a way for it to, say, auto-match skills/souls to workbenches for committing to the tree or crafting certain recipes. Also my color-coding is in shambles bc I'm waiting for a friend to recover from covid so that they can make me a greasemonkey script to make it a little less... corporate...

//But yeah! I like it a lot, and it works really well for my purposes. I highly recommend trying it out, and I'm happy to answer questions!

[shima-draws]

IF YOU DON'T MIND I am going to talk... about my Kieran-momotaro theory for the Indigo Disk... so IDK how much you've seen of it but there's some pretty compelling evidence of a Momotaro pokemon to round out the Lousy Three in the Teal Mask DLC, and I believe this pokemon is likely the source of the poison chains the three have. But that begs the question, why introduce it in Indigo Disk instead of Teal Mask, where it would fit the setting most? I think that it's because it'll play into Kieran's character arc.

My theory is that Kieran will partner with this Momotaro pokemon during Indigo Disk in his pursuit of strength. Kieran already has a kind of connection to the lousy three, namely that it was HIS rage that brought them back from the dead. We're never really told HOW that happened, whether or not anybody getting mad near the monument would've revived them or whether there was already something about Kieran that made his anger special, but the fact remains that it was specifically Kieran who unintentionally brought them back. Another thing is that, what this Momotaro pokemon does is make others stronger. In Scarlet's dex entries, it goes over how the Lousy Three's chains all enhanced them in different ways- Okidogi got big and buff, Munkidori got really smart, and Fezandipity got... a fabulous new look. But boiled down, these poison chains all made the Lousy Three stronger, which matches Kieran's current pursuit of strength.

So I think Kieran is going to have a literal toxic relationship with this Momotaro pokemon, which makes it really on the nose that this thing's apparent symbol is poisonous chains, and the player is gonna have to beat some sense back into him/get him to snap out of it.

And honestly? The idea that Ogerpon's rejection would drive him to join forces with the ringleader of the pokemon that hurt her the most would make for a DELICIOUSLY ironic character arc

OOOH YEAH I've been seeing theories like this floating around! Also somebody pointed out that for a VERY brief second when Kieran punches the monument his fist glows purple. Whether that was bc the monument was just reacting to his negative emotions OR bc the Momotaro Pokemon was interfering and using Kieran to revive the Lousy Three remains to be seen but there's very compelling evidence that something happened in that moment 👀

I can definitely see the Momotaro Pokemon seeing Kieran's conflict and deciding to use it to its advantage. Idk if Kieran is acting out willingly or if the Momotaro Pokemon is twisting his emotions and really making him have a toxic obsession with strength but I can't WAIT to find out what's going on there.

God I'm SUCH a slut for puppet master situations like this. Is the character in question lashing out of their own free will? Or are they being manipulated to do so? Are they genuinely spiraling due to trauma or abuse or whatever else or are they being drawn into a trap? AGHHH.

Love this theory and your take on it and you are SO right Kieran teaming up with the Momotaro Pokemon would be the cherry on top of the absolute mess of a cake that we've gotten. I need the Indigo Disc YESTERDAY I'm going to lose my mind when it releases

[theliterarywolf]

Gunna put out an ask for the people, and that includes you Lit!: Got any suggestions for new ARG/Analog Horror series to get into?

On my end, I'll put out:

Angel Hare

Monument Mythos

Winter of '83 (which is actually pretty good when you get past the 'wait, Linkara-Linkara?!' aspect of it)

And, though it would lean more towards an audio-drama, it still has ARG/Analog Horror vibes so I'll add Katy Towell's After The Stars Fell.

Anyone else who has any notable entries (that aren't Urbanspook), feel free to add on.

[azvolrien]

Campania - Day 4

We left the hotel at about 8am – early, but late enough to get the hotel breakfast this time – and walked down to the station to take the Circumvesuviana again, this time all the way into Naples proper to disembark at Garibaldi Station. Once there, and after briefly wrestling a ticket machine, we took the metro one stop along to Piazza Cavour at the other end of a small city park from the world-famous Archaeological Museum, which houses the bulk of the artefacts removed from Pompeii and Herculaneum.

While this was our main reason for visiting Naples today, it wasn’t our first stop. Instead we walked past the museum and up the long but reasonably gentle slope to the district of Capodimonte in order to visit the Catacombs of San Gennaro, a popular local saint martyred by Emperor Diocletian.

Once there, we found that the catacombs are only accessible via guided tour – my book didn’t mention this – and that the next tour in English wasn’t for another hour, so to kill time we had a quick snack in the ticket office’s cafe and had a look inside the impressive Catholic basilica that sits above the catacombs. Mass was just finishing up, including the baptisms of a whole parade of babies, but no one seemed to mind a few tourists lurking discreetly at the back. Any time I’m in a Catholic church I’m struck by how much Stuff they have in them, statues and paintings and reliquaries and whatnot, when your typical Church of Scotland building tends to limit itself to ‘maybe some stained glass’.

We returned to the tour meeting point and met up with the guide, a knowledgeable young man called Riccardo who led us down into the catacombs and gave us a run-down of their history. Unfortunately photos weren’t allowed inside – by order of the Vatican, apparently – but it’s an extraordinary site: a network of tunnels carved by hand deep into the tuff of the hill, all of them lined with niches for shrouded remains and some decorated with elaborate frescoes of saints, animals, or sometimes just the people buried there. The bones themselves have been removed to another cemetery for hygiene reasons, leaving the niches empty, but it’s still an eerie place.

Riccardo finished up the tour by explaining that the catacombs and some other nearby sites are under the care of a group trying to bring some regeneration to the area, which suffered badly when it was bypassed by a bridge up to the royal palace on Capodimonte, and the tour group went our separate ways. Ours led us back down the hill to the Archaeological Museum, which we were pleasantly surprised to learn was doing free entry today.

It probably doesn’t cover as big a footprint as the British Museum, but the array of Classical artefacts on display here leave the equivalent collection in London completely in the dust. I lost count of the number of sculptures on display, ranging from tiny votive figures to colossal marble statues of various Roman emperors, gods and lesser dignitaries. Nor are the Pompeii/Herculaneum finds limited to monumental works, for the museum also houses countless relics of every day like from bronze cookware to tiny glass perfume bottles. Most engaging to me were the frescoes recovered from both sites, showing a wide range of subjects such as mythological scenes, still lifes and simple abstract patterns.

I have occasionally seen reconstructions online claiming to show what Roman statues would “really” have looked like when they were painted. I can readily accept that many of these sculptures were originally painted, but having seen the degree of skill that went into these frescoes, I think the artisans responsible would have done a better job than just slapping on a few garish blocks of colour and calling it a day.

Another exhibition I liked was the mosaics from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, which are many, varied and incredibly intricate, leading one to conclude that whoever lived in the House of the Faun was very, very rich. Leading off the mosaic rooms is the famous ‘Secret Cabinet’, aka the Roman smut collection, but it’s closed on days when the museum has free entry. Don’t know why.

By the time we left the Museum, the forecast rain had finally arrived and, as if making up for lost time, did so torrentially; we were both distinctly damp by the time we had walked along to visit the Duomo (also full of Stuff). We didn’t stay there long, however, and circled back through somewhat lighter rain to see the Galleria Umberto I, an impressive shopping arcade. It was getting on for evening by then, so after a few false starts we located a local pizzeria – two nights in a row, but I didn’t think I could come to Naples of all places and not have a pizza – before taking the metro back to Garibaldi Station and then the Circumvesuviana back to Sorrento. It was after ten o’clock by then and we were feeling too tired to either walk back to the hotel or wait for the bus, so we took another (also overpriced) taxi via what seemed to me to be a suspiciously circuitous route. I’m not sure why taxis are so expensive here when the buses and trains are so reasonable.

Naples doesn’t have the best rep as a city, but I can’t say I felt at all unsafe walking around the centre today. It could stand to make the pavements less slippery in the rain, however.

[docholligay]

What would be your dream race? Real or made up.

Hm, I mean, I would love to run a LOT of the world ones: London I put in for the ballot every year, I would really really love to run the London Monuments half, but I haven't put in for the ballot for it--my grandmother has said she'll help me pay to run London if I get in, but a half marathon is not impressive to her ahaha, and London is the only marathon she gives a shit about that's not Boston (I cannot qualify for Boston)--but someday if I have the free cash I'll probably put in for the monuments half.

Someday, SOMEday, I'll run the Marathon du Medoc, which has oysters and wine and steak and shit along the way, and has people throw up all the time, because it also has a rule I VERY much support: you have to be able to run the marathon in 6:30. That's not crazsy at all, that's only a 14:50 pace, BUT, if you're stopping at everything, as a practical matter you have to have a fair amount of cushion time.

So as a practical matter I'd want to make sure I could run a marathon in a 10 minute mile. That DOES NOT sound impressive. Until it's like, mile 20. (Seriously, if I drew London tomorrow my strategy would be 'survive'. Until beeb is in klindergarten, i don't have the time to train for a marathon. Cutoff for london is a 15 minute mile, I would come up with a run/walk strategy to survive the thing so I didn't DNF)

There are plenty I WOULD run: Paris, Tokyo, I do put in for Chicago, NYC, but those 3 above are probably my "If you said I could run whatever" choices. On the ground right now, whole trip being paid for it would be the Monuments half, because I know I can run a half without trouble. And I LOVE running through cities, especially major cities.

Now, if I had a shit ton of money and I could put on my own race, so looking forward to making everyone SO mad at me:

The Kawaii Ass Bitch Magical Girl Women's Run!

There would be the 5k, 10k, and Half.

There would be a drawing to win a Tokyo Marathon Package with guaranteed entry for the racers. This is, last I looked, worth about 6k.

If you run the 5k, you get one entry, if you run the 10k, you get two entries, if you run the half, you get three.

Anyway, also along the course I would have some cool stuff! At the start of the 10k/Mile 6ish, I would have a bunch of kids in the local band playing some magical girl themes and the like (I would pay them) and at the 5k start/the last 3ish miles for everyone else, I would have a big arch that would be all decorated and everything, and as you run through, there are speakers playing different attacks and power ups and the like from different magical girl properties. There's a spot on the course I'm thiniking of where you would have to go through a tunnel, I light it all up with those LED rolls so it's like a transformation for you.

Maybe before every start the countdown to the start gun would be Zettai Unmei, that sounds fun to me.

Anyway, the last stretch before the finish line would be playing the outers (read: harumichi) transformation music, and I would SOMEHOW figure out how to have fans blowing either fake or real rose petals, depending on the permits I could get ahaha.

Because it would be putting you up to run a marathon, it would presume you are of the athletic quality to run a marathon, at least potentially. So the cutoff times would be as follows. THEY ARE AGGRESSIVE FOR MOST PEOPLE'S TASTES.

5k: 30 minutes

10k: 1 hour 3 minutes

Half: two hours fifteen minutes

If you don't cross the finish line in that time, your name isn't in the randomizer.

Why? I get fucked every time I run the run to the pub by a bunch of 10k slow walkers in the last goddamn mile or so, walking four abreast for funsies. By the time I hit these people, the 10k has been started for AN HOUR AND A HALF. The draw prize is a place in the Dublin marathon, pretty much like what I'm suggesting above. I am bitter about this. I am bitter about fucking slamming into a bunch of people who could not fucking finish the Dublin and killing me when I am at the toughest point of the race, for me. I would hope this would encourage people who want to walk, to walk somewhere else. You can all think I am a villain, and that is fucking fine. There are some years the people who won did not even RUN the race. This INFURIATES me. Hate me! It's cool!

Also there's beer at the end I hate a fucking race without beer at the end.

[romeo-golf]

Let me tell you about Pete (Part I)

Pete was a man of considerable size, his frame exuding an air of grandiosity that couldn't be ignored, and he was usually the largest man in any room. Standing at nearly 6' tall and with a circumference of significant girth his every movement seemed to be choreographed in harmony with his ample proportions. His laughter, as contagious as ever, resonated through the air, and sent rippling movements through his body, his gut bouncing in a tight button-up-shirt-hammock over his belt buckle.

Pete had a fairly active job as a building surveyor. Initially, his weight was a mere footnote in his journey, hardly impacting his ability to perform his duties and his jovial demeanour endeared him to all, but Pete was fighting a battle with his willpower and a desire he'd harboured since youth; An irresistible and hormone-laden urge to grow even larger with an appetite for food the likes of which few of his peers could match.

As the years passed Pete's love for indulgence grew. His appetite, once merely the wrong side of healthy, evolved into something formidable and insatiable. Pleasures were sought and savoured through lavish meals and indulgent feasts, often enjoyed alone, at home, wearing nothing but his underpants as he allowed his hands to explore and grope his growing body. As time went by, his connection with food began to shape his very identity.

Pete's body, once sturdy and robust, swelled with each take-away conquest. Layers of flesh enveloped him in a way that could only be described as majestic. His cheeks held a soft plumpness that gave his laughter an extra resonance, a sonorous symphony of mirth that echoed far and wide. His arms, thick and comforting, seemed almost designed to provide bear-like embraces that enveloped those lucky enough to find themselves within them.

One day, Pete's impressive frame found its match in the form of a narrow access hatch on a site he was inspecting. Attempting to navigate a narrow entry during a survey, his generous belly met the frame of the opening firmly, becoming wedged in a moment that left him both embarrassed and proud. Colleagues rallied to his aid, and with a mixture of laughter and good spirits, they managed to extricate him from his awkward predicament. Going home that evening Pete knew he had a choice to make; Continue his career with a little more restraint around the buffet, or take a new path where his lustful desires could take the lead.

Retraining as a coach driver had been on his mind for some time. The allure of extended hours sitting down beckoned to him and some months later, as he settled into the plush driver's seat for the first time, his heart danced with anticipation for the leisurely days that lay ahead.

**

Days turned into weeks, and Pete's fondness for indulgence bore fruit. His once spacious uniforms struggled to contain his ever-expanding frame. Shirts strained at the seams, buttons burst free and ping across the floor every so often, and his trousers clung to him like a second skin. Each article of clothing became a testament to his voracious appetite and the wondrous growth it fuelled.

Navigating the narrow aisles of his coach became a spectacle in itself. His magnificent belly, now a bulging monument to his love for excess, brushed firmly against seats and shoulders, a testament to his unapologetic embodiment of self. Passengers would chuckle good-naturedly as they shifted to accommodate his grandeur, while gossiping in hushed tones to their fellow passengers after he passed.

As his appetite thrived, Pete's joy knew no bounds. He revelled in his expanding form. Meals at roadside diners became cherished rituals and personal challenges. His body buzzed with delight as he embarked on culinary adventures that further fuelled his growth. Pete's passion for food continued to show in his swelling body, a canvas of indulgence painted with stretch marks reflecting each hedonistic feast. The softness of his form, his plump cheeks, and the gentle undulations of his frame created an image that was impossible to ignore. Pete embraced it, treating his own growing form like an expensive hand-spun fabric which deserved affection, attention, and soft caresses.

In a world where societal norms often prescribed restraint, Pete stood proud as an advocate to the liberating power of self-acceptance. His journey, laden with appetite and desire, lust and libido, painted a picture of a man who had found his true north in the pursuit of his own satisfaction. It was a story he knew he'd only just begun to write for himself and he hoped to find the next chapter at the bottom his his Family Feast Chicken Bucket.

Part II: https://www.tumblr.com/romeo-golf/725988133102092288/let-me-tell-you-about-pete-part-ii

[scotianostra]

The architect John Thomas Rochead was born on on March 28th 1814 in Edinburgh,

Thomas, the son of John Rochead and Catherine Gibb, was educated at George Heriot's School.

He was responsible for buildings in Glasgow, Hawick, Dumbarton and his native Edinburgh. He is also known for being successful in several competitions including the Royal Arch, Dundee, St Mary’s Free Church, Edinburgh and the Wallace Monument, Stirling. Rochead’s entry for the Stirling competition was a controversial one in that his design was coloured, contrary to the conditions, and exceeded the cost limit by £5,000. And that was just the start as the monument’s contractor became insolvent and poor Rochead never received payment for what is now a major Scottish landmark.

Another of his designs was The Royal Arch on the dockside Dundee, this was sadly demolished in 1932 to make way for the Tay Road Bridge landfall development , the method used was blast it away with explosives but that failed and a large chunk of the arch was left standing, according to what I could dig up they used "other methods" to take the rest of this substantial architecture down

[tameblog]

It has been nearly four months since I dined at abc kitchens, the three-in-one, instantly iconic restaurant nestled on the ground floor of London's luxury hotel The Emory, across the road from leafy Hyde Park. But not even the time that has passed has been able to take away from the pleasantly hypnotic sensory overload I felt upon stepping inside.Inaugurated last spring, the burgeoning hotspot marks the debut of French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's celebrated trilogy of New York eateries — abc kitchen, abcV, and abc cocina — onto the British culinary scene. A multi-award-winning restaurateur, Vongerichten is the creative powerhouse behind, and the owner of, 60 gastronomic destinations worldwide — including the eponymous two Michelin-starred restaurant Jean-Georges, one of the few to have been awarded four stars by The New York Times.Credited with having "invented America's answer to nouvelle cuisine", as fellow chef and writer Mario Batali wrote in a 2005 article for the New York magazine, his masterfully executed, sculptural fusion of modern American, plant-based, and Latin American flavors would be enough to make abc kitchens a mandatory entry in our list of the best London restaurants — and a daily ritual for those lucky enough to sojourn at the sleekly designed, all-suite The Emory.Still, it won't take you more than a glance at its winding 1970s-style banquette couch and shimmering cocktail bar to understand that food isn't but one side of the story at this amber-hued location; the cherry on top of the cake, to keep it within the taste realm.With their pop, floral touches, Damien Hirst's The Secret Gardens Paintings (2023) bring the neutrally tinted interiors of abc kitchens to life(Image credit: abc kitchens. Design: Rémi Tessier)From the outside, the monumental pale stone, glass, and bronze, with the white-painted steel masts and cabling of The Emory's functionalist façade — a sophisticated exercise signed, as the rest of its architecture, by RSHP's late co-founder Richard Rogers and Ivan Harbour — make knowing what lies indoors anyone's guess. But as visitors turn left past the reception of the coveted Belgravia hotel, a play of light and shapes unfolds around the corner.When I visited the restaurant last fall, the sun had only just set on a Hyde Park covered in yellowed foliage, and the same golden glow irradiated the warm wood tones and Rosso Orobico marble of abc kitchens, casting dramatic shadows all over its mid-century modern furniture. Conceived to amplify the building's surroundings by self-taught interior designer Rémi Tessier, the space embraces diners in a chic cocooning environment where industrial-style copper pendant lights, a twinkling glass wine cave, and a wavy metallic curtain set the mood for Vongerichten's culinary explorations.Much like his genre-bending understanding of cuisine, abc kitchens is many things at once. "It's warm, cozy, inviting, and intimate," Vongerichten tells me over an email exchange. "You're able to gaze at the park while sitting in this highly designed and lit dining room", and thanks to its wide open kitchen, positioned meters away from where guests are seated, you can even catch him and Executive Chef Ben Boeynaems at work while savoring your meal.The Livingetc newsletter is your shortcut to the now and the next in home design. Subscribe today to receive a stunning free 200-page book of the best homes from around the world.The amber glass wine cave of abc kitchens makes the dining room into an atmospheric haven(Image credit: abc kitchens. Design: Rémi Tessier)For the American food disruptor, who first introduced the idea of fusion cuisine to London during his tenure at The Berkeley's Vong restaurant, abc kitchens' vision wouldn't be complete without its dazzling setting. "The original three abc restaurants have been loved by New Yorkers since we opened abc kitchen in 2010," he explains. "Each one harmoniously speaks to the same ethos — an emphasis placed on community and working with local, organic ingredients — but every restaurant takes that ethos and transforms it, whether in the form of cuisine or design."At abc kitchens, the trio of eateries is reunited under one roof for the first time in a boundaries-blurring tasting and aesthetic encounter between New York and the British capital. "From interiors to culture, food, and beyond, Londoners are very similar to New Yorkers in their preferences," Vongerichten says. "We have always wanted to combine the three abc restaurants, and in collaboration with The Emory, we felt it was the right place and time to turn this trilogy into a well-rounded experience that satisfies tastes and cravings for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."This intermingling of inspirations is best embodied by acclaimed English artist Damien Hirst's Secret Gardens Paintings series, whose striking floral motifs add unexpected pop touches to the space. "The variety of colors and textures in his pieces speak to the range of flavors and textures you can enjoy while dining at abc kitchens," adds the chef.The restaurant's retro-futuristic private dining room(Image credit: abc kitchens. Design: Rémi Tessier)Think anything from melt-in-your-mouth, sweet Orkney sea scallop tartare with shiso, kohlrabi, plum sesame, smoky crisp cabbage with roasted kabocha squash, Asian pear, and miso dressing to deliciously refreshing heirloom beet carpaccio with avocado purée, pea guacamole, crunchy tortillas, garlicky shrimps, and fragrant arroz con pollo with lemon zest and black pepper. Not forgetting the multisensory work of art that is the gold leaf-encrusted hibiscus poached pear dessert — the ultimate palate cleanser for sweet-toothed gourmands.Thanks to its worldly, tapas-style dining experience, where the collective enjoyment of food integral to Latin American and Southern European cultures meets the meticulous precision of French and Asian cuisine, and the heartwarming nostalgia of American diners, abc kitchens transforms meals into an opportunity for connection while continuously striving to push the boundaries of gastronomic innovation."The goal at abc kitchens is to facilitate a fun dining experience, where guests can share different dishes and flavors together," concludes Vongerichten. "It's the way I love to eat with my friends and family, and we encourage the same for people dining at our restaurants."Plus, if you are an interior enthusiast, the food is just the starter: head to The Emory's rooftop to discover what's for main.Book your table at abc kitchens. Source link

[hierohorror]

Journal Entry 155

The pillar of flesh twisted in the distance again, writhing and bending like it was trying to pull itself free from something. Her eyes were fixed on it, mesmerized by the way it moved, almost hypnotic in its sickening grace. She could hear it hum, low and constant, vibrating in the back of her skull.

He took a step closer, though the ground beneath her felt as though it was giving way. The water—was it water?—barely rippled. The faces in the pillar blinked in unison, their hollow eyes tracking every step, every breath she took. A hand, pale and unfamiliar, reached out toward the pillar, trembling slightly. His breath caught in her throat, a cold sweat breaking out along his skin.

Was I always this fragile? She wondered, fingers twitching as he pulled them back. The humming grew louder, the faces grinning wider, as if they knew something I didn’t.

The grinning faces stretched wider still, the twisted mouths gaping in an almost mocking silence. He couldn’t look away now, her heart pounding in his chest, echoing the eerie hum that pulsed through the air. Every instinct screamed to turn back, to move away from this grotesque monument, but her legs—his legs—were rooted in place.

One face, just inches above eye level, twitched. A slow, jerking movement, as if testing the limits of its own grotesque expression. It blinked once, twice, then spoke, though its lips didn’t move. The voice slithered into her ears, soft and scraping at the same time, whispering without words. His blood ran cold, though the air here had no temperature, no life to feel it.

"You are one of us," it said—or did it? She couldn’t tell anymore, the line between thought and sound blurring in his head. "You are nothing, and everything. You *will* return."

Her heart skipped a beat, or perhaps it stopped entirely. The ground beneath him rippled, not like water anymore but like skin stretching over bone. The faces on the pillar began to laugh, mouths opening wider, soundless yet deafening in the silence. She stumbled back, breath quickening, eyes wide, but the faces followed, always staring, always smiling.

"I don’t belong here," he whispered, though the words felt hollow even to her.

The pillar’s writhing slowed, its sickening movements becoming deliberate, purposeful. One final, twisted grin met his gaze directly, and her legs finally responded, propelling her backward, away from the pillar. She ran—if it could be called running in this thick, impossible space—until the humming faded, until the faces were no more than blurred memories in the distance.

But even as the silence settled once more, she knew. He was one of them now.

[thegreatsurvey]

I'd lived on the plains my entire life but had never seen the base of the tower. Besides it basically standing as a monument to the ruling structuralists, the entire idea of a tower invalidated our existence as plain-tenders, thus negating any curiosity or good will amongst the plainards it otherwise might have attracted. Providing a one-stop shop for travellers and outsiders, the commercial potential for a tower was obvious and not under dispute. The problem was that it not only stole the vast majority of commerce from the plainsmen's communities but essentially acted as a de-facto extension of the ruling state, dissolving the autonomy that had brought the plains their unique history and makeup. There's no need to cultivate the sands when the tower can provide the sustenance needed, constantly resupplied through a never-ending parade of vehicles and caravans. There's no need for a herdsman's knowledge when food is provided, slaughter-free, from one of a thousand restaurant options. There's no need for time-tested cultural tradition when the tower can import the latest and greatest technology and entertainment at a moment's notice. It's not necessarily that a tower and the Plainards couldn't co-exist, its that the structuralists don't want to and see no reason for an "old-fashioned" way of life. When a tower (or a hundred) can provide everything a population needs while also offering absolute control and oversight of the wild lands to the ruling class, there's no wonder why the tower system continues to grow or why the plainsman's reign in the region will soon come to an end. Today we travelled the last few miles to the Rift and, for the first time, glimpsed the base of the monumental structure. Our request for entry will soon be accepted and for the first and possibly last time, the Plainards will step off of solid ground.