#good ol 2000s culture

[floatingcatacombs]

Anaheim Gals Being Anaheim Pals

12 Days of Aniblogging 2024, Day 2

Zeta Gundam has a real lurching, strange start by design. In the time between the One Year War and the Gryps Conflict, things have gone terribly! Not only did a good amount of Zeon’s forces escape to the asteroid belt and start rebuilding, the Earth Federation is getting taken over from within by the ruthless Titans. But wait, the Titans are still feddies at the end of the day, so why are they the ones piloting Hizacks and other Zeon-style designs at the start of the show?

The answer to this is brilliant and sadly relegated to a narrative footnote. You see, after the One Year War, Zeonic’s personnel and blueprints got absorbed into Gundam manufacturer Anaheim Electronics, as part of an Operation Paperclip-style deal. This leaves Anaheim's mobile suit aesthetics during the interwar period a total hodgepodge, iterating on both GM and Zaku style designs while also moving forward with plenty of secret prototype successors to the RX-78 Gundam. Maybe it’s just the OL in me, but this particular era and company really pique my interest! The culture shock and office politics that would follow from Anaheim folding in the engineers from the other side of the last war, the competition between rival design teams, the back-channel deals of an arms manufacturer now compelled to play both sides…

I’d been told that the Gundam OVA entitled Stardust Memory was vaguely about this, but I’d also been told that Stardust Memory was terrible and just plain not worth watching, so I steered away from it. Instead, my prayers were answered in the form of a lovely 2009 yuri doujin visual novel called Anaheim Girl’s Love Story.

I don't feel like cropping the screenshots, so peep my VM setup. it'll add to the vibe

First things first, I would like to simply acknowledge the joy of being alive, and alive at this exact moment in time. It is so wonderful that a group of dedicated fans made a complete visual novel starring lesbian office workers at the Mecha War Crime Engineering Company. And not only did they realize this dream in the first place, a separate group translated the script into English in 2013, and then another team reverse-engineered the game’s engine and released a patch in 2020 so that now the translation can be experienced in its original format. Each and every one of you is a true yuri warrior.

Anaheim Girl’s Love Story is a passion project through and through, extrapolating from all the bits and pieces of lore we get about Anaheim Electronics across various shows and crafting a believable setting, while still making it feel like a Gundam story on some level. It’s also fully voice acted? I don’t know what typical doujin VN production values were like in 2009, but still, color me impressed. We play as Rinne, a new recruit to Anaheim and a mecha otaku through and through. She loves these mobile suits, just like you and me! And she wants nothing more than to work for the company who invented the Gundam. Anaheim is a tech company through and through – most of the workers on the ground really believe in what they’re doing and put their whole heart into it, even as their leadership takes on increasingly shady and secretive contracts. But it’s also implied, in the VN and in the Gundam shows, that the company is staffed by mostly women. Great! I really do like when a setting asserts that being invested in mecha is primarily something that women do. After all, girls were the ones that kept 0079 popular in the first place according to Tomino.

All of the Anaheim girls have pale blue double-breasted suit jackets and long pencil skirts, culminating in an extremely 80’s look. AGLS also covers its blurry background photos with a dark blue filter, resulting in a fairly monochrome game where the character expressions really pop out from everything else. The mecha CGs are surprisingly well done, even if they suffer a bit from 2000’s shading syndrome, when everyone went a little too hard on the airbrush. The character portraits holds up a lot better in comparison. All of this to say that the presentation is fairly minimal, as they were clearly working with limited resources, but it gets the job done.

Rinne likes milk tea and is equal amounts excited and anxious about her job. This is the sort of milquetoast relatable protagonist traits you’d find in any dating sim, so the fun twist here is that when she’s feeling down about her work, she’ll go to the hanger where an RX-78 (the RX-78? It’s left unclear) is being stored and start talking to it. Rubber-ducking your mobile suit designs with an actual mobile suit is cute!! Things unfold as you’d expect, with Rinne befriending her hacker kouhai, starting a rivalry with the office villainess, and getting intimidated by her boss Sophie. It’s nothing revolutionary, but that’s fine, because the setting alone does a ton of the lifting. While no named characters from any official Gundam series appear, they’re namedropped ever so occasionally, and there’s plenty of cameos and lore sprinkled about for a Universal Centuryhead to lap up.

Of course, Rinne invites her boss over for dinner a bunch and discovers her soft and vulnerable side, and the two of them engage in a slowburn office situationship while trying to also trying to win the Gundam Development Project, an internal competition to develop next-generation experimental mobile suits. And wouldn’t you know it, office politics are afoot. She’s been keeping it from Rinne, but Sophie was originally an engineer from Zeonic. Trust issues ensue, as do complicated feelings about being in love with someone who designed the weapons that nearly killed you. The leadership of Anaheim has a clear bias towards Federation-style suits, and still views the Zeonic hires with scorn and suspicion, even if they bring useful perspectives in design philosophy. Sophie wants to design every part with cost and performance in mind! That’s what enabled the Zakus, after all. But if we skip ahead and look at the results, the end goal of this intra-office competition seems to have been extravagance bordering on wastefulness. Rinne and Sophie’s team produce a fairly standard but combat-versatile Gundam, while the other teams contributed a hyper-flexible Gundam, a hilariously overinflated mobile armor that you can stick a Gundam into, and a Gundam with a fucking nuke attached to it.

Most romance VNs and stories in general have some sort of last-act plot development that threatens to end things so the couple can bounce back and have a narrative climax. Sickness, family, trauma, a breakup feint, really anything is fair game. Anaheim Girl’s Love Story pulls out the most brutal one yet – “Stardust Memory happened”. It turns out that Anaheim has been playing both sides of the emerging Delaz conflict, and was planning on giving your team’s ship to a particularly unhinged Zeon commander as a gift of goodwill and temporary alliance. In doing so, they dismantle the iconic Gundam armor from the mobile suit frame, replacing it with a new and undeniably Zeonic red outer shell. It’s a genuinely fucked-up moment! To see your child ripped away from you and corrupted into being the other kind of war crimes monster, and your boss/girlfriend knew this was going to happen and was too ashamed to tell you. Rinne runs out of oxygen while trying to stop the Gebera Tetra from deploying, and falls into a coma afterwards. By the time she wakes up, the events of Stardust Memory have all played out, and things are in the process of returning to normal. Our protagonist ends up on a research vessel to Jupiter to test cutting-edge mobile suits, but promises to meet up with Sophie again when she returns. One wonders if she got recruited into joining Paptimus’ crew while on Jupiter, and was subsequently killed by Kamille. The timelines just barely overlap to make it possible!

Anyways, that’s Anaheim Girl’s Love Story. I’m not sure how fleshed out the hacker girl’s route is, or if there are different endings I could have gotten on mine. Maybe I’ll give it another shot next year. This game is by no means amazing. It is on some level just a softcore lesbian eroge with a Gundam coat of paint. But the delicacy with which it fits itself into the UC chronology without messing things up or being a fully irrelevant plot, the care put into having these ladies fall in love and do the usual OL yuri rituals, the honesty with which it carries itself… I’m so charmed by it all. I don’t know if I’d recommend it outright (you’d want to already be very invested in this slice of Gundam, and you need a VM with an older version of Windows to play it, and I think the website linking to the patch went down earlier this year), but I’m so happy that this exists in the first place and that I got to play it.

What I am less happy about is that this visual novel made me trick myself into watching Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory. This is entirely on me, mind. Most lesbians are fooled into watching Stardust Memory because they saw images of Cima Garahau online, but I was ready for that trick. No, I genuinely wanted to fill in the finer plot details of the 6.5/10 visual novel I just played. Oopsies.

[magicxc]

Movie Genres

Pairings: Survey Coprs - their fave movie genres

Word Count: 835

Warnings: netflix and chill? hulu subscription? binge watching disney?

A/N: I LOVE a good movie okay!! Put me in front of a juicy plot and I'm SAT. Here are the genres that I think the boys would enjoy most!! Tell me yours 🍿🎥🎬 

Headcannons Masterlist

Eren  - Action/Thriller 

Eren def strikes me as the type to enjoy loud movies that’s fast paced and chocked full of fighting scenes. Even though he has a special appreciation for the martial arts he can still get down with some good ole hand to hand combat. Anything that elicits excitement and anticipation does it for him.

Levi - Western Film

Walk with me here. I’ve seen Kenny reference and even dress cowboyish. I think he’d be all for the genre and considering his influence on Levi, it’s safe to say our short king would too. While the culture may be different from his own, it adds to his amusement all the more. Featuring cowboys, gunslingers, and bounty hunters it’d feel like a dramatisation of his old life underground; and while he no longer affiliates himself with that lifestyle, he does find the genre interesting. 

Erwin - Historical Drama

Fight me. Erwin strikes me as boring lowkey lmfao. I genuinely believe he’s only watching things that stimulate his mind or shows that he can take away from. He doesn’t mind the messiness too much as long as the movie in question is thought provoking or at the very least holds some truth to it. And honestly, the Commander might be onto something here cause historical drama pieces fucking slap. Movies/series like The Crown, Apollo 13, Hotel Rwanda, etc is what he’s tuning into if he wants to watch tv.

Throwing in National Geographic or shows like The Most Extreme for when he wants some background noise.

Connie - Animation/Musical

Connie is such a vibe and while he is comedic relief he’s also super sweet. It's said that he’s basically a runner up to Armin on the emotional scale in regard to how deeply he feels. Our boy started out super naive and trusting and although it shaped him into someone a little more serious; he’s still that sweetie pie at heart. And so I believe animation is his thing and can bring a deep sense of nostalgia from time to time; allowing him a chance to cater to the child within. And the plots genuinely be plotting. That early 2000’s Disney and Pixar was un-fuck-witable. Musicals are just as fun for Connie btw, anything with a happy ending he’s down for.

Jean - Drama

Jean is literally so messy he can't help it. The call is coming from inside the house with this one. Even though Jean is a realist, he can also be an asshole with little regard to how what he says may affect Eren people. That doesn’t mean our boi is heartless, noooo, there has been lots of maturation over the seasons. But he LOVES a good conflict chile. Movies/series like RHOA, anything Tyler Perry, Moonlight, etc is his go to.

Onyankopon - Crime/Mystery

Similarly to Erwin, Onyankopon prefers films that are stimulating. He doesn’t mind indulging in the occasional reality show, but that's usually if he just so happens to be walking past his girl and a good scene comes on. Other than that, Ony is all for the suspense. He loves trying to stay one step ahead of the character but finds it's equally as fun to pick up some cool trivia along the way as movies like these tend to touch on a wide range of topics.

Reiner - Comedy 

After almost losing his mind and his life, Reiner is cool on the movies that bring about intense emotions. He wants to laugh and not regularly either, but full on knee slapping laugh when he decides to indulge in a film. You know the kind where you have to beg your friend to stfu so you can catch your breath? The kind of laugh that feels like you just did a ab workout? That's what he wants. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t watch other genres, but they’re certainly not his first choice.

Armin - RomCom

It's self explanatory with this one. Our munchkin still views the world and its people with big doe eyes of hope, even against all odds. He is a little more realistic in his hopes but he’s still hopeful nonetheless. And he’s much the same when it comes to movies. He wants to see the film where the guy gets the girl, against all odds, and they kiss in the rain; and he’ll love it even better if you slide a joke or two in the mix. 

Floch - Slasher

I genuinely feel like if Floch had a Tumblr, he’d be like one of the slasher girlies with their ghost face fics, only he’s posting ghost face thirst traps hahaha. He gets a thrill from the gore, the screams, the plot, and the kills. I think Floch is just all for the scare, even if he's on the receiving end of it. Anything to get his adrenaline pumping while keeping him on the edge of his seat will do. Thankfully though he’s able to separate fiction from reality and we can only hope he doesn’t get any cute ideas.

[atla-confessions]

atla ship discourse is so whimsical to me because in nearly any other fandom I at least understand why people are calling each other "problematic" over ships (because usually discourse of this kind surrounds agegap or incest ships etc.) but this fandom is so so so special. so not like other girls. barely anyone gaf if you ship something taboo or dark here (which is a nice chance for a fandom I will say) however this brand of ship discourse has been replaced with the good ol' 2000s "who should main girl end up with?" type of ship war and I for one- think that's beautiful. I truly feel like I'm experiencing straightgirl 2000s fandom culture repacked with current day sensibilities. I look at the atla fandom doing their brand of "are you team jacob or team edward?" ship war with KA & ZK while utilizing modern fandom fauxprogressive language to intellectualize why their ship is the most feminist/progressive/etc. and why the other ship is #problematic and literally the spawn of the devil despite both ships being pretty standard and healthy relationships- and I smile. truly magical fandom. thank you atla fans for letting me experience this in current year. nobody does it like you guys

X

[nicejewishcharactershowdown]

NJCS 2024 Round One Eliminated Contestants (Part 2/2)

Lamb Chop Status: Transitive Jew Thank you Shari Lewis for my favorite “THEY’RE JEWISH?” moment of the 2024 bracket! Just check out the holiday specials for Hannukah and Pesach, available for free in full on Youtube. Reason enough to get your dogs some Lamb Chop toys this year, I think.

Betty Boop Status: Practically Canon Jew Boop-oop-de-doop! Betty Boop, our first Black, Jewish, female president. All hail the chief!

Dina (TLoU 2) Status: Canon Jew I feel like I would have been best friends with Dina if we went to Hebrew School together.

Coraline Jones Status: Canon Jew

Yes, this is an official still from the Coraline movie! She’d already qualify from the transitive property thanks to our good ol’ Tumblr friend Neil Gaiman, but this quantifiable, proof positive evidence of Coraline’s Judaism is really nice to see. Thank you, LAIKA Studios!

Philip J. Fry Status: Coded Jew He’s a man displaced out of time, reunited with his distant descendant in a future New York unfamiliar to him. Sound familiar? And of course, we can’t forget Farnsworth’s iconic moments in the time travel episode “The Late Philip J. Fry”.

Davey Jacobs Status: Canon Jew Dunno what else I can say about this mensch that isn’t mentioned in his character bio from official audition material for the musical… God, I love Newsies.

“Go and look it up, the poor GUY’S head is spinning!”

Yasmin (Bratz) Status: Transitive Jew Just like Barbie, the Bratz dolls have Jewish roots! Created by Isaac Larian in 2000, and adored by his tween daughter Jasmin, we can extra-hard claim the doll that was named in her honor. Yasmin might not have a specified ethnicity within Bratz canon, but the Sephardic roots of her namesake is proof enough for me. Even her Ken equivalent is textually Jewish (his name’s Eitan!) Just like Barbie, though, it seems this tournament might not be the friendliest environment for the plastic pop culture icons. Don’t worry ladies, I see you!

Paris Geller Status: Canon Jew Textually Jewish, Transitively Jewish (by way of Liza Weil)… she has it all!

[jakowskis]

@buffetpallascat doing a good ol' days reply because i had enough thoughts on this to warrant some meta, in my typical rambling fashion. hope you don't regret engaging by the time im done dfhkdsf

for starters, you're very welcome, i'm glad you enjoy the post :D

as for your question - i meant moreso that it was typical of the fandom, although it was also very much influenced by societal trends of the time, too. fandom's always had a rocky history with women, especially women who supposedly 'get in the way of "slash" couples', but the way fandom misogyny is performed has changed; i see more willful erasure of female characters these days than flat out blatant misogyny. in tw fan content from the 00s, i've seen gwen hatefully AND casually called some pretty horrible things that i rarely see fictional or real women called nowadays, simply because standards have changed. hell, one of the comms i linked, the twgenre finders one, there was several entries requesting fic where gwen experiences, like, bodily harm? not in a whump-y way, they actually wanted to recreationally read fic about her getting physically injured and suffering, out of some bizarre sense of malice towards her. simply because she 'gets in the way of janto'. and i can't even fathom that existing nowadays. pretty much everyone outside of weird little 12 year olds knows that's not acceptable. not to mention it's just weird.

interestingly i've also noticed a lottttt of change in how the fandom... reacted to and treated janto as a couple back in the day, versus now. people in 2006 were not normal about gay people. we know fandom's history with fetishizing gay men, and it was even worse in 2006 with an exceptionally rare canon gay couple being received by a jarringly hetero-but-'slash'-obsessed fanbase.

i mean, i don't wanna generalize. i saw a poll recently about how fandom is not mainly composed of straight women, contrary to popular belief, at least anymore, and i guess the question is, was it ever? i have seen a lot of the people involved in fandom in the 00s identify themselves as straight, but was that partially because of the culture of that era? have any of those people since come out as some type of queer? maybe, for some of them, that was them exploring their queerness in a safe environment, when the culture around being gay in real life was a lot different.... the same way modern fandom culture continues to be for those of us who aren't in accepting homes. if they were 20smth year olds in the 2010s/2020s, rather than the 2000s, would they still identify as straight?

not sure. but i've made a habit of going on the profiles of old lj accounts, and i'll sometimes wind up going through the journals and the personal posts of authors i respect, etc etc. a significant amount of mid 00s fic writers were straight women in their 30s - 40s, many married, some with kids. very different demographic to modern fandom. very different climate they lived in vs the one we're in.

(although, bonus note, i also once found a thread of bisexuals in 2006 praising torchwood's depiction of bisexuality, and that made me exceptionally happy. but also maybe a little sad, because torchwood's my personal fav bi rep, too, in 2023, and the fact that we've had nothing better in seventeen years is a bit of a bummer. but i digress.)

anyway, this is all to say, i've seen some insanely fetishy shit about jack and ianto that rubbed me exceptionally wrong. that gross dehumanizing, severely homophobic place where it's like... ahh, ok, so you don't see them as people, you see them as sexy dolls you can mash together. but, ofc, that's how i view it as a bisexual person in 2023 who's been on tumblr far too long. they didn't see any problem with it. they might've even seen it as progressive. how can you be homophobic when you're obsessed with the little gay people on ur screen? but it's the opposite end of the 'homophobes reducing gay ppl down to what they do in their beds' trope, and it comes across as dated and icky now.

i mean, i consume a lot of older media, i know how to turn off my 21st century sensibilities and remind myself things used to be different, but it's honestly an impressive difference. there's some fantastic fics from that era of the fandom, in fact most of my favorite fics are from that era, but i often get quite a bit of culture shock reading things. particularly, i'm always impressed by people in the 2000s, an extremely biphobic era, applying their impressive period-typical 'bisexuals aren't real' beliefs to The Bisexual Show. torchwood's rep's not perfect (again, a product of its era), but i've seen a fantastic amount of gay!ianto and straight!owen, because bisexual men don't exist, obviously, and jack's not bisexual, he's the amazing slutty space man, except he's mostly gay because all that matters is janto. and i don't even really see explorations of gwen or tosh's bisexuality at all, because, again, women who?

i found a comm a while back, i didn't include it on my list because it wasn't torchwood-exclusive and didn't have much content in the tw tag, but it was a lgbtfest, and contained fics about the team and their relationships with their bisexuality, and it was really intriguing to me to see queerness as understood by regular people in 2007/2008, y'know, not by gay writers or activists or films. i have no way of knowing if any of them were speaking from any personal place, but it was just interesting, because none of the fics i read in that comm had that same brand of tone-deaf sex-focused homophobia to them, they were progressive for the time, but it was still apparent to me that they were written by people with a mid to late 00s understanding of being gay, and i do think it's interesting, that substantial difference.

got a bit off topic, but now that i mentioned the initial fandom being overwhelmingly composed of women, i can also add that i think internalized misogyny factored hugely into the fandom's disdain for gwen. the 'strong female' trope doesn't just annoy straight men, it also annoys a lot of women (though not consciously) - not because they're opposed to well-written women, but because society tells us certain things that'd be admirable and complex and sympathetic out of a male hero are unacceptable out of a female one. it's the double standard. jack does some awful shit, but i rarely see him criticized. i've straight up seen fans go "jack's kind of a bastard, but it's ok because he's hot", which is fine in jest, i've joked about shit like that with characters, but it's not so cute when those same people turn around and condemn gwen for her actions. hell, or owen. i've literally seen someone say they'd like owen more if he was more conventionally attractive. like, ok, you're clearly just here for the janto eye candy. you haven't brought any substantial critical thinking skills. pls take ur shallow ass and leave. but back to gwen - she was held to a standard none of the other characters are held to. they picked on her for the stupidest shit. and her worse sin, the infidelity, it's bad, sure, but i've seen countless male characters who cheat on their partners who are beloved by their fandoms. it's just fucking gross. i fucking hate hypocrites.

dude, yknow what?? i've even seen fucking tosh bashing. WHO THE FUCK HATES TOSH????

ok im done. sorry for my babbling. but yeah, i think it's a fascinating thing. i love how humans change and develop with the times and how we can map the changes and how they affect media, and it's fun to observe in fandom because it's there, too, but no one's looking so i get to feel like a little scientist fdskjfds. ok i will cease with the excessive babbling now

[pleas3pretendimnothere]

I think seven books in a month is a record for me. Thank you, Narnia.

Uglies

By Scott Westerfeld - Haha, wow, this was a book. I remember growing up seeing the Uglies series populate library endcaps and book fairs. I remember friends toting the series. I don't remember anyone ever recommending it. Still, I respected that it was a piece of YA lit at the forefront of the dystopia craze, and I knew I wanted to read it one day. What luck! I found it on sale for all of ¥800, and I took it as a sign. It was time to read Uglies.

This book is nuts. While the prose is serviceable, the story explains so much to me about the YA dystopia cancer of the 2000s. The Hunger Games takes an idea and builds a frightening, believable world around it. Uglies takes an equally compelling idea and creates some real goofer-goober shit. I told myself Uglyville, Pretty Town, names like those were all a part of the satire, and I found myself having a grand ol' time. Until the middle of the book.

This is not a good book. Like Poor Things, after you get past the silliness of the world, Uglies has itself an intriguing, compelling narrative. A girl obsessed with her own appearance comes to realize this obsession stems not from herself but from the culture of her society. Beauty is subjective, and she is fighting to believe otherwise; beauty does matter, and she must not be ugly. A challenging narrator like this is a great idea, and she made me want to learn more about this fucked-up world. I wanted to see how it functioned, how beauty as a foundation for a society would change everyday living. I wanted the message to be in my friggin' face.

Would you believe that this book takes place almost entirely in the woods? And in an old timey, absolutely normal log-cabin town? No, not the dystopian city that intrigues you, not the interesting stuff. We're hanging out with the trees!! Exclusively!!

The story is bonkers rebellion bullshit. Chemistry between anyone other than Tally and Shay is rushed and unbelievable. The story squanders potential for adventure and exploration and instead parks the reader into normalcy ("Wow! This thing that the reader finds silly and boring is bonkers to us future-world characters!!") It seems like the second book explores this stuff better, but why couldn't it have been the first book? Because I'm no longer interested! You lost me!

Lots of good ideas about beauty standards and self-esteem in Uglies, but ultimately it's not worth anyone's time. The highlight is a narrator who sees appearance in everything; that is well done, but the plot is a whole lot of nothing. Don't waste any time on this one. SKIP IT!

The Horse and His Boy & Prince Caspian

By CS Lewis - Oh, Narnia. Such interesting reads as a liberal, female atheist in the year 2024. I could easily write up a hundred-page essay on this series, and I haven't even finished it yet. Yes, I am reading the books in order of the publisher's numeration, I don't wanna hear about the issues with that.

Horse perhaps is my favorite Narnia book so far--which is crazy, because no one else seems to feel this way. The book is full of problems that would not fly in today's worlds--the first being a poor little white boy is trapped in the savage desert land of heretic brown people who see Narnia as blasphemous beast country. Christianity and racism persist in every Narnia book though, so aside from how uncomfortable that shit made me, there was a great adventure story. Having a book set outside of Narnia was refreshing and expanded on the previously very small world. Horse felt far more adventurous than its predecessors; Magician and Wardrobe were mostly "things-happen-to-the-protagonists" kind of books, but Horse gives our main character and his partner real agency. This was a great bedtime story; I liked this one a lot!

And I didn't really care for Caspian! I know the Pevensies are the main characters of Narnia overall, but I seem to have the most fun when they're not around. Their return did nothing for me. Plus, the Christianity message in this one was especially strong, and that made me particularly uncomfortable (Ah, the religion of old usurps the religion of new, how joyous...). Outside of that, Peter is a flat, lackluster MC, and I never believed the siblings were ever as smart or strong or capable as Lewis tells me they are. Horse had me believe otherwise, so Caspian was a disappointment.

Will continue reading this series next month, hopefully! So far, my opinions seem to differ from the masses, but we'll see how that continues later!

Interview with the Vampire

By Anne Rice - When books are good, I don't have a lot to say about them. I don't have a lot to say about Interview, besides it's a masterpiece.

Not having a lot to say is always a good thing. Rice's prose is phenomenal; I more than once forgot I was reading a modern publication, instead believing I'd slipped into Lovecraft or Shelley or Wilde. The story is deeply emotional, just about to the point that I could not read much in each sitting because I'd start to feel ill. The mind of Louis felt so raw, so real, and the torment of his existence felt believably horrifying. The characters were incredibly compelling, and if I had a free month of time, I'd fully analyze this book front to back for its themes and messages and character relationships. This is stunning, deeply psychological horror. No wonder it's so loved today.

If you love vampires or horror or, hey, LGBT stuff (I'd count it), this is a must-read, and you don't need some random woman on tumblr.com to tell you that. BUY IT!

Black Sun

By Rebecca Roanhorse - I read the first half of this book in September and then put it back on the shelf. I didn't know if I wanted to finish it, but I decided to this month. I bought this book, after all, because it was so widely praised. It had to be good in the end, right?

Well, why did I put Sun down in the first place? A lot of reasons. I picked it back up for a couple reasons, too. The fantasy world is based on Colombian lore, and there's a heavy plot surrounding accension to godhood, which is one of my favorite types of stories. Crow gods and Jaguar gods were incredibly interesting. I liked the two main characters and their chemistry a decent amount, so for these reasons alone, I picked the book up again. Otherwise, I would have DNF'd.

I don't know where the praise is coming from for Sun. The prose is lackluster and at times laughably bad--I'd get horribly sucked out of the scene when a character just had to say, "I'm about to freeze my tits off." While two of the four characters are complicated and interesting, they still are stereotypes; all four characters are tropey, and Roanhorse does not shy from cringey, Marvel-esque one-liners. The plot gives absolutely nothing to chew on; characters set upon a goal and achieve them without complication. If something crazy does happen, the characters don't ever seem to react; they just carry on for the plot, unfeeling, or feeling the exact opposite of what I'd expect. The book is flooded with explanations--telling instead of showing--that leaves no impact on the reader; it's just noise. I rarely DNF books, but this one was close.

Sun is bad, and I don't know what I'm missing about it. The finale is incredibly bland because, as I said, nothing ever goes wrong. There's no emotion or fight in our characters; they just watch things go by. And by GOD, do I hate flashbacks, and this motherfucker is chock full of 'em. For the love of god, SKIP IT!

Children of Ragnarok

By Cinda Williams Chima - I read Chima's Seven Realms series and really, really loved them. So much, I decided I'm going to read everything else she's written. First, I'm reading the first book in her newest series, and I am happy to say Chima continues to satisfy my love of fantasy with Ragnarok.

The book suffers some pacing issues in the middle, but before and after that is some nonstop binge-reading. The intro sucks you in immediately; our two main characters are likeable and mysterious, though the male lead is especially compelling. Questions pervade his side of the story, and I was constantly trying to solve the mystery of his family. I've never cared more about the fate of someone's farm! Juxtaposed beside him, the female lead's tale offers necessary context for much of the male's story, but Chima has written an idiot. She is incredibly stupid, and the twists were very, "Well, no shit, sherlock." That made her half of the book fairly boring and...confusing? Why is she so dumb? How is she so dumb? Or am I genius??

The prose was acceptable, if not sometimes a little repetitive. How could Eiric's story be so good and Reginn's...not? There are intriguing element's to New Jotunheim in Reginn's story, but I was constantly wondering, "When do we get back to Eiric's story?" Eiric's character is harsh and complicated. His twists were frightening and shocking, his sister compelling and mysterious, his finale disturbing. How could one story be so successful and Reginn's so...meh?

Still, I loved this book. The world is rich and rooted in Norse lore, and Eiric's story was strong enough to carry me through to the end. Chima understands irony and pacing and good stakes, and despite the failings of Reginn's story and Chima's sometimes annoying prose, I'd still recommend you BUY IT!

Moloka'i

By Alan Brennert - I only tend to enjoy historical fiction if it somehow surrounds the suffering of women. Is that weird? Maybe, if not just cathartic. It's nice to read about women who are going-through-it.

Moloka'i follows the story of a girl's long life on the island of Moloka'i, where she lives inside a leprosy colony in the early 1900s. It details the trials and tribulations of living with Hansen's disease, all the while exploring how the illness impacts a person's life in this time period. It's a deeply moving story about love and loss and all the adventures of life, but more importantly, it transports the reader into a world mostly forgotten. The colony on Moloka'i is deeply realized and incredibly immersive. I often forgot this was historical fiction and not biographical. Brennert does a fantastic job paying tribute to the real people of Moloka'i, though I can only guess as much. He did inspire to me a wish to visit the island one day and tour the museums.

A greatly endearing piece of historical fiction about illness, prejudice, family, and spirituality. Not a page-turner for me, but definitely a tear-jerker. RENT IT!

[em-marti-capstone]

Week 2 - September 20

For this week's research, I narrowed down my topics to Comfort Food and Childhood, but overall focusing on the overall theme of Nostalgia. From this research, there were a few other categories of nostalgia that I found interesting, like nostalgia and marketing, the early historical context of the term, and some other details that I'll talk about below.

I started off by looking into comfort food and wanting to understand why it is so important. Why has comfort food become increasingly important over the years?

In the last few years, that has been more due to the pandemic and the emotional stress it caused everyone. Comfort food makes us "feel safe and in control," and during times of uncertainty, it is something that makes certain that we can be happy, even if temporarily (I say this as I drink an oreo milkshake for some temporary serotonin) (https://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2020/12/10/84906/ ; https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2024/07/18/Comfort-food-and-beverage-trend#).

Nowadays—well, some people still drink or smoke to de-stress—my generation at least loves to turn to comfort food, whether by making it ourselves or buying it, as a coping mechanism. We worked hard on an assignment? We deserve a sweet treat. We dealt with an annoying customer? We deserve a sweet treat. We're stressing over adulthood? Sweet treat it is.

Anyway, one of the other articles I looked into discussed gender and our overall social lives in regard to comfort food. For gender, women go more for sweeter foods while men go for the savory. Additionally, "women tend to look to comfort food when they are feeling lonely or sad, whereas men seek comfort food as a reward. Women associate comfort food with negative emotions, while men associate it with positive emotions" (https://sites.uab.edu/humanrights/2019/02/25/the-importance-of-comfort-food/). People also associate comfort food with other people (like caregivers, friends, etc.) or memories/good experiences to make us feel less lonely. A quote from this article: "nostalgia can evoke a sense of belonging."

Then my research brought me down the lane of nostalgia and marketing/branding. A quote from this article, https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2024/06/24/Nostalgia-food-trend, "Everything old, is new." Brands have seen the power of nostalgia, and whether it's in a manipulative way or a genuine way to make people feel nostalgic about the past, it works. There are some negative nancies (sorry Nancy) who say things like "It's not like it was in the good old days" (aka the customers at my job complaining about their sweet treat that they've had everyday since they were tiny). But overall, most consumers love the familiarity. Even some consumers who didn't experience something from the past still enjoy the vibes. According to this article on how the marketing works, https://sproutsocial.com/insights/nostalgia-marketing/ , "Campaigns that incorporate nostalgia marketing aren’t limited to the people who have those emotional heartstrings attached to a memory. They have an opportunity to use nostalgia as a mechanism for brand storytelling and longevity by nurturing long standing fans while also attracting new prospects, especially from younger generations." We see this in social media all the time where people are doing fashion and makeup trends from the early 2000s, even decades before they were born. For more recent generations, it's fun and refreshing and 'new' to us, and for the older generations, nostalgic brands enable people to reminisce on the 'good ol' days'.

A quote from an article on Pokemon Go and how successful it was a few years ago (https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurenfriedman/2016/08/02/why-nostalgia-marketing-works-so-well-with-millennials-and-how-your-brand-can-benefit/) : "How do you identify those special moments in time, those unique cultural events from the past that millennials crave? Nostalgia-centric marketing succeeds when brands keep a finger on the pulse of modern culture, listen to what people are talking about, and plug into those ideas to create new marketing campaigns. Monitor #TBT (throwback Thursday) on social-media channels and take advantage of trends."

Now, people aren't just posting TBTs on Instagram and Snap, they're also recreating those old pics, which I love and have done myself.

While researching, I went down a little rabbit hole of why internet cookies are called cookies because of the amount of times I had to click "accept all cookies" on these sites, but it had me thinking about how we name so many things food names to make us feel better about them. For instance, people were more likely to buy a cookie called "Grandma's Cookie" over one called "Premium Cookie," mainly because the term "grandma" made them think of warm and cozy and more comfortable for them (https://healthmindbodycare.medium.com/the-psychology-of-food-names-0b6b0a39d3d5). Many restaurants do the same thing with many items, tweaking the names of them to help customers think of their establishment as more welcoming and homey (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278431920300852).

I also enjoyed a Reddit thread of just people talking about things with food names that aren't foods. https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualConversation/comments/18612v4/me_and_a_friend_were_having_a_fun_conversation/

Fun little thread, but yeah more research!

I looked into the historical context of Nostalgia, where the term came from, and different variations of the term in other countries.

Early history of 'nostalgia' was pretty dark. Some quotes:

"The term 'nostalgia' derives from the Greek words nostos (return) and algos (pain). The literal meaning of nostalgia, then, is the suffering evoked by the desire to return to one's place of origin. The term was coined by the Swiss physician Johannes Hofer (1688/1934) to capture the adverse symptoms displayed by Swiss mercenaries in the service of European monarchs.”

"While sending the afflicted home was recognized as the best cure for nostalgia, scaring it out of them was also a popular treatment plan. In 1790, French doctor Jourdan Le Cointe administered the strategy of “inciting pain and terror” by threatening the sick with a jab from a “red-hot poker.”

Nostalgia was seen as something completely negative in the past, a disease, a form of depression, and only until the 20th century did it change to something a little lighter, longing for the past (depending on the person). The etymology article above also has other ways that nostalgia is translated in other countries, which was pretty interesting.

I briefly looked at Sonnet 30, a Shakespeare poem that discussed the bittersweet feeling of finding comfort in the past. Pretty sad, feeling heartbroken but yeah I can't remember why I ran into that. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45091/sonnet-30-when-to-the-sessions-of-sweet-silent-thought

Then of course I took some time throughout my week to enjoy Tiktok videos and Instagram reels, 1) because I just do that all the time, 2) to look at videos that show or discuss the increase in remakes and reboots of old shows/movies, the growing love for period pieces or shows taking place in the 80s like Stranger Things, and more. Some reboots and all just feel forced, but sometimes it is successful in bringing in older crowds to reminisce on the past. Social media platforms also LOVE to resurface old memories, like Snapchat sending me notifications saying 'On this day, 4 years ago..." and then I either laugh or cry at what I'm seeing. But woooo nostalgia.

Every generation also just has a different idea for what "simpler times" means. I think of simpler times as playing with my American Girl dolls with my sister, watching Blues Clues, and the only stress being my sister and I hiding our DSs under our pillows when we were supposed to be asleep for school. My dad's idea of a simpler time was when he and his brother would slide in the fire hydrant water while music was playing on a radio nearby and everyone was out on the block having fun, no internet or cellphones, just fun.

I had some trouble trying to make something for this week because I just was learning a lot of information and trying to see what other people's idea of comfort or nostalgia was, but I want to possibly get more responses maybe through a survey for this upcoming week, not sure yet. I made a pretty simple 'timeline' of starter packs (just a few photos that define a group of people basically), so nothing crazy, but hopefully whatever I make next week is stronger.

I feel like this week was more for me to gain a better insight on nostalgia, and the main conclusion that came from this (thanks to Nancy) was the strong relationship it has with power. I'm not totally sure what direction I will be going with this for this coming week, but I will figure it out. I did enjoy this week's research more than last week's though, so hope to see it go up from here. I feel like I have more to write but I'll just update the post if anything or save it for next week.

UPDATE: forgot to mention that so many customers came in to my job on Thursday and kept saying the same thing like “I remember these from when I was kid!” Or “This place is so nostalgic” (I did a double take hearing her say the word of the semester for me). Someone else’s grandma used to work at the bakery too and it’s just crazy. Anyway I came home yesterday and saw this on the fridge and it’s so interesting to see that “C” or “Correct” mark has not changed. I have so many tests and quizzes from when I was my brother’s age with that same mark and it’s always the same. Maybe I should try to get in contact with my old teachers sometime soon? We shall see.

[vixivulpixel]

Oh I'm like really interested in the liminal space interest that flared up a while ago and how it relates to precursor trends like vaporwave and how it also expanded into trends like weirdcore, dreamcore, and traumacore. There's a pervasive sense of like decay and nostalgia with the liminal space trend, focusing on a lot of places that were busy and full of people and are now empty. Also places that like elicit nostalgia, pictures of places from the '90s and early 2000's. I've seen a lot of people try talking about "liminal spaces" and focus way hard on what text book liminal is. I think there's something to be said about liminal spaces, the decay and removal of public spaces and community, and the alienation of capitalism. Like that specifically is the underlying feeling that took liminal spaces into weirdcore and stuff, like it's more of a reaction and natural expansion of that feeling, just not one I think a lot of people are conscious of.

Yeah, this really nails it on the head. It might just be a generational difference because I grew up in spaces that are now "liminal", I was a child during the age of shopping malls and funky multicolored patterned carpets in theaters and what have you. So many in that regard it's difficult for people younger to fully understand the complex emotions those images can trigger in someone who was a kid in the 90s and early 2000s.

Nostalgia is a very muddy feeling. As cozy as it can feel, it's inherently a feeling of loss. As much as it can be "Ah, the good ol' days", it can also be "I miss those days." It's a yearning for something that no longer is, or at least is isn't what it used to be. That's the sorta feelings liminal space images shoot off in me. An awful, nostalgic reminder that something that was a huge part of your life (and culture at large) is just gone. Nothing really reinforces that feeling more than seeing a sad, empty shopping mall or the hollowed out inside of what was once a Blockbuster.

I'm not super well-versed in Vaporwave beyond its aesthetic, but if this right here being one of my favorite pieces of music ever is anything to go off of, yeah. This is what liminal spaces sounds like to me.

I think some of it is also thanks to how The Backrooms took off as a meme where it got dumbed down into just another sandbox for creepypastas. Which is a shame cause in that regard it's also turned liminal spaces into something to ironically enjoy rather than genuinely think about.

[bogbatz]

Eddsworld USA

Just got out of artblock so easy on the judgement, please! Ok!! So I'm late to this, but I saw some art of "Southern Tord" and it violently ripped me out of artblock! SO GOOD!! AHAHAHAH!! Dude, Tord would fit in PERFECTLY with Southern culture. So here are my headcanons. I'm new to this AU, so this is my own spin on things! (This is set in the early 2000s, they're teens, and meet each other at Penn state university!)

-

Edd: An Ohio boy. Drawing is his escapism! There's not much else to do in Ohio so he has a lot of time for animation and world-building.

Tom: Born in Arizona, raised in Florida. A CLASSIC Punk ass. Graffiti, trespassing, skating, the works! He gives his skater friends stick n' pokes and piercings....they're not great! Dreams of the California Punk Ska scene.

Tord: Louisiana born and raised! Absolutely feral redneck. Masters degree in ducktape repairs, rustbucket mechanic, dynamite fisher, and hobby taxidermist! He has a camo hat with a fishhook in the brim. Feral.

Matt: Maryland boy. A rich boy. Same ole' himbo Matt! Probably scouted for modeling gigs AND/OR famous on Vine for being uncanny. Had a cute little boat. Sunk it immediately.

-

Inspired by @avikat-art !! Southern Tord is a DELIGHT, thank you so much! 💕💕

-

That's it!! Thanks! :DD

[niconiconwo]

What the fuck was with that really weird period of early 2000's-lateish 2000's trashy American movies like Big Mama's House, White Chicks, Norbit, and even Madea movies. Tell me your insight as a Burger.

All of these were Black comedy movies, which in the 2000s liked that trashy over the top camp and cheap humor that exploited stereotypes for laughs. I'm not saying it was only Black-written movies that did this (Adam Sandler movies for example around this time were pretty camp too), but it was the boldest and loudest in them. I think it's because they were by and for Black Americans first and the main draw was comedy (and they also didn't give a fuck about sensibilities); by mid-00s general audience tastes were in horror/slasher and romance as the 90s wore off and the War on Terror/associated cultural shifts made people want some good ol' escapism. This is why we also had such a big boom in these and similar genres like thrillers late-00s and it killed off the edgydark actiony genres and series' like Underworld, Blade, and Riddick until the next decade started rolling them out again. That is a separate thing tho.

I need to mention I don't remember most movies from back then, was a preteen for half the decade, and also am not a "movie guy" so this is all conjecture. Tl;dr it's cause they were black.

[candy-floss-crazy]

One of our most popular lines this summer has been the humble hamburger. Though perhaps humble is the wrong description given just how pervasive this simple dish is throughout much of the world. A staple of fast food establishments, and synonymous with American culture. However have you ever given any thought to how we came to eat the dish and why it was called a hamburger. Hamburg Germany Or USA Like many things the origins are hotly disputed. The two main schools of thought are that the dish either came from the German city of Hamburg, or the good ole US of A. The contender for the American side is that it was alternatively invented by Charlie Nagreen, Frank and Charles Menches, Oscar Weber Bilby, Fletcher Davis, or Louis Lassen, and with it being advertised in newspapers from New york to Hawaii since at least the 1890's puts up a good claim. The alternative argument postulates the invention of the Hamburgh Sausage in the Art Of Cookery Made Plain And Easy. A cookbook by Hannah Glasse published around 1747. The burger gained national recognition throughout the States when they were offered at the 1904 St Louis World Fair, so it is an argument that will rumble on without conclusive proof for either claim. White Castle One of the earliest nationwide (USA) vendors was White Castle chain based in Wichita Kansas. They launched a square beef patty called a slider, which had 5 holes in each patty to relieve the necessity for flipping the burger over to cook both sides. Big Boy Burger In 1937 Bob Wian created a double decker burger at his stand in California. It was called the Big Boy and would go on to become the name of his restaurant chain. They expanded nationally before gradually contracting, but a few do remain with the signature double deck hamburger. McDonalds Perhaps the most famous exponent of the burger world wide is the ubiquitous McDonalds. Originally established by the McDonalds brothers in 1940. The chain was eventually acquired by Ray Kroc who undertook a massive expansion which built the behemoth we know today. Along with Burger King, McDonalds dominate the market in the UK and USA. A number of local chains put a brave showing on, they are all only bit players in the market. Crazy & Co. Of course if you are planning an event and need burgers you can always have the burgers come to you. We offer a nice line in 100% beef patties, with cheese, salad and a range of gourmet toppings, basted in our special orange and cognac sauce and served in a brioche bun. Great for small events such as weddings or parties. But equally scalable to serve upto 2000 guests at major corporate events. Read the full article

[vrianch]

tracklist

Azul Azul - La Bomba - El Sapo  

Diego Bertie - Que Difícil Es Amar - Fuego Azul  

Nek - Laura no està - Nek (spanish version)  

The Reflex - Rock With You [The Reflex Revision] - Million Sellers Vol.4  

Christian Meier - Carreteras Mojadas - No Me Acuerdo Quién Fui  

Counting Crows - Mr. Jones - August and Everything After  

JAMIROQUAI - Cosmic girl (Dj Shaggy) 120 b  

Spin Doctors - Two Princes - NOW 100 Hits: Classic Rock  

The Cardigans - My Favourite Game - Now That's What I Call Music! 41  

No Doubt - Don't Speak - Now That's What I Call Music! Vol.36 CD1  

UB&O - Genio Del Dub (Control Machete Remix By UB&O) - Mexican Sessions  

Cristian Castro - No Podras - Agua Nueva  

Ole Ole - La chica yeyé - 1990  

Arena Hash - Y Es Que Sucede Así - Ah Ah Ah  

Luna Verde - Ay Que Calor - Pop  

Los Fantasmas del Caribe - Muchacha Triste - Lo Mejor de Los Fantasmas del caribe  

Chayanne - Provócame - Grandes Exitos  

Magneto - Vuela, Vuela (Voyage, Voyage) - Vuela Vuela  

New Kids On The Block - Step by Step - Step By Step  

Lucero - Autocontrol - Solo Pienso En Ti  

Vilma Palma e Vampiros - Fondo Profundo - Fondo Profundo  

Garibaldi - Que Te la Pongo - Grandes Éxitos  

Two Man Sound - Coco Loco - Samba Megamix  

Celia Cruz - La Negra Tiene Tumbao - La Negra Tiene Tumbao  

Azul Azul - La Bomba - El Sapo  

Miki Gonzalez - El Mar - Grandes Éxitos  

Menudo - Yo Quiero Bailar Reggae - Imagínate...  

El General/Anayka - Rica y Apretadita (feat. Anayka) - Serie 2000  

Lisa M - Menealo - No Lo Derrumbes Album Lp Vinyl  

El General - Funkete - Originales  

Cafe Tacuba - Abm - No Controles  

Culture Club & Boy George - I'll Tumble 4 Ya - Hit Collection  

Jon Secada - Otro Día Más Sin Verte - Jon Secada  

New Kids On The Block - Tonight - Greatest Hits Of The Millennium: 90s (Vol. 1 CD1)  

Michael Jackson - Jam - Dangerous  

ILLYA KURYAKI _ THE VALDERRAMAS - Abarajame [The Play Mix] - Peru BPM  

Britney Spears - ...Baby One More Time - ...Baby One More Time  

Madonna - Dm - Notting Really Matters - Ray Of Light  

Madonna - Fever (Edit One)  

Jordy - Dur Dur d'être bébé ! - Pochette Surprise (Remastered 2023)  

Daft Punk - Around The World - Homework  

Michael Jackson - Thriller (Steve Aoki Midnight Hour Remix) - Thriller (Steve Aoki Midnight Hour Remix)  

Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head - Greatest Ever Car Songs  

Roxette - Joyride - Joyride  

Roxette - The Look - Smooth FM Feel Good Favourites  

2 Unlimited - Get Ready For This - Electrónica de Oro  

2 Unlimited - Bbm - Twilight Zone - Hits Unlimited  

Dr. Alban - Am - It's My Life (Original Version) - Greatest Hits Disc 1  

Proyecto Uno - Brinca - Todo el Mundo!  

Proyecto Uno - El Tiburón - Latin Pulse 2000  

Dj Primera - Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - Mal Bicho [Dj Primera Remix Re Master]  

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - El Genio del Dub (Siambretta Hereje Version) - La Luz del Ritmo  

Dr. Alban - No Coke - Hello Afrika  

Pato Banton - Go Pato - The Best Of Pato Banton  

El General - Te Ves Buena - Estas Buena  

Natusha - Meneito - Remix - Re Mix  

Ace of Base - Happy Nation - The Sign  

Ace of Base - The Sign - The Sign  

Abm - Tu Pun Pun - Abm  

Reel 2 Real - I Like To Move It (MOOMBAHTON MIX) - X-Mix Urban Series 200  

Garibaldi - Que Te la Pongo - Grandes Éxitos  

Natusha - Lambada (Dj Flack Lambada)  

Shakira - Ciega, Sordomuda - Donde Estan Los Ladrones  

The Sacados - Hablándole a la Pared - Contra Attacan  

Pablo Ruiz - La Malagueña - Océano  

The Sacados - Ritmo de la Noche (Classic Version) - Superexitos Vol. 2  

Los Melódicos - Mi Corazón - La Orquesta Que Impone El Ritmo  

Pedro Suárez-Vértiz - Me Estoy Enamorando - Póntelo en la Lengua  

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - El Matador - 20 Grandes Exitos  

Michael Jackson - Black or White - Dangerous  

Chayanne - Provócame - Provócame  

Loco Mía - Loco Vox - Grandes Éxitos  

Miguel Mateos - Tira Para Arriba - Zas  

Café Tacvba - Como te extraño mi amor - Avalancha de éxitos  

Control Machete - ¿Comprendes, Mendes? - Mucho Barato  

Illya Kuryaki & The Valderramas - Coolo - Amores Perros CD1  

Jedward feat Vanilla Ice - Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby) - Now That's What I Call Music! #75 (CD1)  

Britney Spears - (You Drive Me) Crazy - ...Baby One More Time  

Pedro Suárez-Vértiz - Los Globos del Cielo - Póntelo en la Lengua  

Los Del Rio - Macarena - River Re-Mix - Fiesta Macarena  

Natusha - 100 MENEITO - [lCIXRemixe$]  

Los Pericos - Párate Y Mira - Pampas Reggae  

Maná - Como Te Deseo - ¿Dónde Jugarán Los Niños?  

Vico C - Bomba Para Afincar - VICO-C Digital Collection 1987-2007  

Vilma Palma e Vampiros - Fondo Profundo - Fondo Profundo  

Miami Sound Machine - Conga! - The Very Best Of Gloria Estefan (English Version)  

Ilegales - La Morena - Ilegales  

Juan Luis Guerra - Women del Callao (Spanish/English) - Romance Rosa  

Juan Luis Guerra y 4.40 - Las Avispas - Coleccion Cristiana  

Los Auténticos Decadentes - Los Piratas - Cualquiera Puede Cantar  

El Gato DJ - Mueve la colita - Remastered - Regreso al futuro  

LATIN LOVER - 134 - DECADANCE [DJ JOFERS TECHNO PERUANO]  

Twenty 4 Seven - Slave To The Music [ NOPARAK ]19'' 7  

Chimo Bayo - Asi Me Gusta - Sonido De Valencia - 1990 - 1999  

Faithless - God Is A DJ - Forever Faithless  

Fatboy Slim - Star 69 - Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars  

EMF - D - Children - Schubert Dip  

Underworld - Born Slippy (Nuxx) - 1992 - 2012

[dybdahlsvisitportugalspainfrance]

Brittany/Bretagne/Breizh, France

Oct. 4, 2023

We are home and I have been too busy "being home" to finish my journal - but today I will get back at it. Our suitcases are unpacked and put away and our clothes are laundered and back where they live. We have had one sleepover, spent the day at a petting zoo, watched one soccer game and have seen 3/7 of our grandkids and 1/3 of our kids. We have had 3 Dr. appts too. No dawdling around here!

We have doled out our grandkid gifts to only one kid - but the rest of the gift giving will happen soon.

Oh - and I am still on Europe time... I am also still glowing from all the wonderful times we had during our month away and now I will re-live the last week. So, here goes...

On September 24th said farewell most of our buddies and flew from Madrid Spain to Paris, France with Annie & Carl. We rented a car and drove 5 hours northwest to Brittany. Of course at this time, I didn't realize that this region had 3 names and that "Brittany" is the English word for this region.

Before I get too far - let's look at France. It is the biggest country in Europe and is about 2.2 times the size of Michigan. But the population of France is 63.3 million people while little Michigan is struggling to reach 10 million making the population of France six times that of Michigan. Interesting.

We were the guests of long-time friends of Annie & Carl's, Francoise, her brother Gabby and his wife Danielle and they were hosting us in their Loguivy de la Mer summer house that was the original home of Francoise and Gabby's great-grandparents. Charming!!!

And here is the "de la mer" view from their front yard...

Let me just say that we were treated like royalty!! The connection here is that Francoise's daughter, Helen (prounounced "a - LYNN) was Annie & Carl exchange student in 2002.

While our pace was certainly less intense than our on OAT trip we did a lot of stuff and learned so much. Have I mentioned that the best education is travel?

So let's begin with the name of the province we call Brittany: Bretagne/Breizh. Like Basque Country, Breizh is a diverse region in northwestern France and a historic country with a distinct identity, sharing much of its Celtic heritage with Cornwall and Wales. It has its own language, (Breton) its own food specialities (crepes and sea food of all kinds), and its own flag and culture.

The flag is relatively new - from the 1970's and was first considered a "separatist" flag but it is now accepted as the province flag and is considered apolitical. Breizh has been part of France for a long, long time and while they had good times during the 700 years they were a country before 1498 - they are not getting out of France and are no longer making an effort to do so. They are - however - working hard to save their language.

All the signage is in two languages: French on top and Breton on the bottom.

I read an article that said the average age of a person who speaks Breton is 74 and that in 1950 there were one million Breton speakers, in 2000 there were 200,000 Breton speakers today is number is 80,000. Breton is regional and is spoken primarily in the western part of the province - caller Lower Brittany (in the colors on the map below). The division between Upper and Lower Brittany is language. Upper Brittany (called "upper" based on altitude of the land) speaks French, French and only French.

Francoise and Gabby, grandparents were both teachers in the 1920s when Breton was outlawed. Breton was their native language and the language of their students but to keep their jobs - they had to teach ONLY in French. If you wanted to be employed anywhere - you had to speak French. Francoise and Gabby do not speak Breton and Francoise told me she couldn't even understand it. It is not even close to French, just as Basque is not even close to Spanish.

Hey - Is there some kind of a rule book that conquerors use to get the conquered to assimilate? It is the same ol' method since time began, it appears. When we visited Tibet in 2014, all of the buildings, shops and signage was written in Tibetan on the top and Chinese on the top - in much bigger font and lit. The Tibetan people were told to learn Chinese if they wanted to work and all the schools were teaching in Chinese and that was relatively new. But I digress....

There are schools where Breton is taught as a foreign language and there are a few schools in Lower Brittany where Breton is the language of instruction. The language is listed as "Endangered" by UNESCO.

Staying in the topic of "language", I had a BLAST digging deep to try to speak French. I studied French in high school from 1966-1970 (with the dinosaurs) and took one French Literature class (in French) in college. I have brushed up repeatedly with Duo Lingo or some other app - BUT the one thing I have never done was engage in meaningful conversation with a French speaker. Our hosts' English was better than my French and I think they all had excellent receptive English - but to communicate we spoke "Franglish". I was pulling all kinds of French words right out of my butt - so to speak. I still can read French fairly well and I can buy train tickets or ask for simple directions or order food - but to converse... nope! I loved it. They were so kind and patient and if felt safe to try and make mistakes. We were able to share all kinds of information. I asked "Comment dit-on..." (How do you say...) repeatedly during a sentence and most of the time saying the word in English or pointing at the item worked. But sometimes a more info or even a little charades was necessary - for example I wanted the word for "nephew" and I had to add "the boy baby of my brother) to my sentence. It is "neveu" in case you are wondering. It was delightful and makes me want to get back to studying. My new French friends, Francoise, Gabby and Danielle are coming to the US in February and will stay with Annie and Carl in Palm Desert (while we are there) so I have a good reason to get back at it. YAY!!

We arrived around 8:00 PM on Sunday, September 24 to a lovely meal. We visited a little bit after dinner - but turned in, exhausted after a full day of travel.

Next morning we awoke to a lovely breakfast, lots of conversation and then a walk through their community.

We walked down a couple of streets filled with quaint rock homes and into a park called La Roche aux Oiseaux (Bird's Rock) and onto a trail. BEAUTIFUL!

The first photo below is the river Roc'h ar Hon that flows into the bay - the next photo. This is the same bay we can see from the front porch.

We continued our walk to the Loguivy de la Mer harbor and village. Delightful! There are indications everywhere that this village has been here a long, long time.

The tides here are high - between 5 and 6 metres (15-18 feet). At low tide all the water is gone from the harbor and all the boats are sitting in the mud.

Across from the harbor is the church where Francoise and Gabby's grandparents were married. The gate was locked so this was the pic I took. Notice the palm tree. From the harbor we looking at the English Channel and yet - palm trees grow with ease here. It has snowed - once or twice - but this is a region that doesn't get below freezing much.

This pic I snagged off the Internet.

Of course this palm tree caused me to go down a rabbit hole - but now you won't have to. Check out the map below. Where you see shades of yellow, or orange or red are indeed where you might find a palm tree. Norway? Iceland? WHAT!?! Also it turns out there are low temperature tolerant palm trees too. Who knew?!?!

I'm going to stop here - just because I have other things to do at home. I'll pick up the rest of the day with our French friends soon.

Stay tuned.

[transmissionsfromthebattlefield]

What A Fantastic Movie I’m In

Someone on last.fm changed the album photo for Simply Saucer’s superb Cyborgs Revisited compilation from the good ol’ fashioned monochrome photo I’m used to to the original cover, the same photo soaked in searing psychedelic YMCK acid. It’s common for black and white photos to be everywhere on last.fm, and I do enjoy the combined old school-and-concise ethos of that mission, but I also appreciate the WHOA TRIPPEN OUT WOOOOOOAH effect of this shakeup.

I’ve been feeling the psych quite a bit these past days, to be truthful. Barbarella has been on my brain something fierce. As I get back to navigatrixing the trials and tribulations of Planet College, I guess I feel myself a tiny bit of its titular heroine, albeit less dumb (let’s be frank, she was pretty dumb) and more post-Babs Jane Fonda mugshot. At least, that’s what I’m trying to convey for myself. This is the semester I start going all in with the May 4 commemoration, after all, so I’ve got to get into that FTA ‘tude somehow. (Jane was scheduled to speak at the fiftieth back in 2020, but we all know how that went. NEAT.)

There’s a Barbarella remake in the works, apparently, which I only learned of fairly recently even though it was announced months ago. They’ve been trying for one since I think the nineties with actresses such as Drew Barrymore, and each try has ended in a quiet whimper of an abortion. This makes sense considering that Barbarella is a movie that could have only been made in 1968. How to you expect a modern audience to react to certain parts of that movie? Fittingly, there’s a plot summary for an early 2000s attempt (which of course I can’t find again for the life of me), and it sounds absolutely nothing like the original. Interesting if put in the right hands, but not faithful to the source material. Maybe it’s closer to the source material’s source material, which I am not yet familiar with. (Thanks to Mahvel’s subliminal effects on pop culture at large, I always forget that Barbarella is a comic book movie.)

That terminated remake seemed to take a more overtly political bent than the original, with lots of societal inequality and having your innocent past shattered before your eyes and the like. The original is also political, but in a super subtle way that is, obviously, drenched in copious amounts of sex. It is so sexy, in fact, that all anyone talks about regarding it is whether or not it is sexist. There’s surely a lens other than the feminist one that people can take about this movie* (while still recognizing Jane Fonda’s eternally radiating wonderfulness), and it doesn’t have to be an extremely serious one. Our world is more absurd, technologically advanced, and, frankly, stupid than ever, just like a Barbarella adventure. And what do we do? We refuse the laugh. It’s insane. And if you don’t recognize the insanity you can’t sustainably live.

2023! Less knee-jerk puritanical reactions, more embracing and exploring the trappings of liberation and all its hidden ugly corners, the pure intertwining with the reprehensible in perfect yin-yang union. If that remake actually happens, it is going to be awful.

* And I consider myself a feminist!

[cosmicyam]

thank you for the tag @iamfarfromvibingrightnow i love you buddy ol pal

i know at the very top it said make a new post and dont reblog but im attaching onto @iamfarfromvibingrightnow's post like an anxious child holds onto their parent for dear life weird analogy but we're gonna move past it it's late

three ships : Bráthair I- much like my friend who tagged me i feel like I'm exposing myself despite having reblogged things but oh well. obviously Mac and Dennis from iasip, my dysfunctional, codependent, will-they-won't-they kings. also Crowley and Aziraphale, they who break me emotionally every step of the way <3 Finally, I've got to say Adam and Ronan from the raven cycle those gay bitches got me through 2021. I realise there are no sapphic ships here and that is for the primary reason that ships from things like bottoms and yellowjackets, which i know for a fact i would ship, i have not yet watched :(

2. first ever ship : Ron and Hermione from harry potter. 8 year old me was FIGHTING TOOTH AND NAIL defending them against (getting aggravated at but never actually engaging with) dramione and harmione shippers. also i identified with hermione and had a crush on rupert grint so go figure

3. last song : 'I Am The Walrus' by the Beatles.... IT'S A GREAT SONG especially the orchestra in the background

4. last film : 'Brigid Jones's Diary'. An absolute comfort film bar the insane 2000s diet culture <3

5. currently reading : 'Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes' I've only read Good Omens and 4 Discworld novels so far but I was really interested in the author and the writer, who was very close to him, writes with so much quiet wit and evident admiration for Terry Pratchett while still remaining honest and not romanticising the very real person he was

6. currently watching : With how busy I am - nothing - though i do tune in weekly for the Great British Bake Off (i am nothing if not an old woman internally)

7. currently consuming : food wise? I ate some grapes and blueberries a while ago 10/10 snack, i feel like a prehistoric forager

8. currently craving : another cup of tea, see: i am an old woman

9. favorite childhood book : 'The Boy in the Dress' by David Walliams. I remember borrowing it from my school library, finishing it, and then borrowing again straight away. i also watched the film religiously to the point where i could recite it off by heart.... if you're thinking this might imply something about me NEXT QUESTION

oh there's no next questions. okay well i'll tag my beloveds @bealblath and @bluewallowner

9 people you’d like to know better

I was tagged by @rose-n-gunses for this one— thank you, dear heart!

1. Three Ships: Hellcheer, who inspired me to write again. Mulder and Scully, one of the OG ships for 90’s younguns. And most recently, Jessica Fletcher and Doc Hazlitt. 😜

2. First Ever Ship: Dicey Tillerman and Jeff Greene (I will give a thousand Losty-points to anyone who knows who they are)

3. Last Song: Circumstances, by Rush

4. Last Film: does Rifftrax count? I watched the Rifftrax version of “Birdemic: Shock and Terror” yesterday. God it was awful.

5. Currently Reading: just been slowly making my way through all the fics on my Marked for Later list… currently ridiculously slowly reading to get my soul known again by @staceymcgillicuddy

6. Currently Watching: way too much Murder, She Wrote. It seems to be one of the few things my still-covid-addled brain can focus on.

7. Currently Consuming: a large mug of citrus mint green tea

8. Currently Craving: spicy tuna sushi

And I’m adding a bonus Losty question because I felt like there should be 9 questions lmao

9. Favorite Childhood Book: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Absolutely no pressure with these tags (but if you do play, please make a new post instead of reblogging this one!!!)

@roxymorondraws @renaroo123 @tnmdfhgkg @khaleesa @danafoss @sare--k @pipergirl17 @paladinmoony @sasusc

[samzzie]

does anyone remember that deleted scene from the simple life where paris was just casually eating a jelly bean (or something???) and nicole looks to her and is like, are you fucking serious!? then proceeds to die of laughter sounding like an 80yr old smoker because pairs fucking ate dog food!