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miraraeblog · 2 months ago

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MiraRae's Royal Tropes & Legacy Challenge (aka The Royalty Challenge)

You can find the video where I go over the challenge and share images from my own attempt at the challenge here.

Here’s the overview, general rules, and cultural suggestions for your 10-generation Sims 4 royalty challenge. This challenge focuses on celebrating different cultures while allowing flexibility based on available packs and gameplay preferences.

Sims 4 Royalty Challenge Rules and Overview

Overview

No CC or mods required

This 10-generation challenge builds a diverse and culturally inspired royal legacy. Starting with Windenburg (or another world of your choosing), each generation introduces a new royal family and unique storyline, encouraging players to explore different cultures within The Sims 4. Packs are recommended to enrich gameplay but are adaptable based on availability.

Required and Optional Packs

Required: Get Famous and Get Together for fame, Windenburg, and the club system.

Optional (Choose at least 3-4 for added cultural depth):

Island Living (Sulani, Hawaiian-inspired)

Snowy Escape (Mt. Komorebi, East Asian-inspired)

High School Years (Copperdale, Native American-inspired) or Horse Ranch (Chestnut Ridge, Native American-inspired)

Wedding Stories (Tartosa, Spanish/Portuguese-inspired)

For Rent (Tomarang, Southeast Asian-inspired)

Love Struck (Enamorada, Latin American-inspired)

Life and Death (Ravenwood, Romania-inspired)

Note: If certain packs aren’t available, substitute suggested cultures/worlds with other packs/worlds you have available. You can also

Click here for a list of suggested cultural traditions and events for each kingdom

General Rules

Starting Funds: Each family begins with 1 million simoleons to simulate royal wealth. (type "money 0" then "money 1000000" in the cheats bar)

Weekly Stipend: The primary royal family receives $100K every Sunday (type "money 100000" in the cheats bar), symbolizing royal taxes or revenue. During the financial hardship generation, this stipend is suspended.

Fame Requirements: Each main family’s heir should ideally achieve "Global Superstar" fame before they take the throne, marking them as worthy in the eyes of their royal peers. If an heir ascends to the throne without this status, they face skepticism from other royals, who may question their worthiness. Use Mean interactions from other royals, such as Mock Celebrity Level or Insult, to show this tension.

Succession: If the reigning monarch dies, the heir immediately ascends the throne, regardless of whether they’ve reached "Global Superstar" or completed other personal goals. If this happens, the new monarch can still work to achieve "Global Superstar" while ruling but must endure the added challenge of earning respect from other kingdoms.

Marriage Dowries: Royal marriages bring in $200K, noble marriages bring in $100K (nobles must be descendants of other royal families), and no dowry is given for commoner marriages.

Interactions: Use Mean, Friendly, or Romance interactions as directed by each generation’s storyline to build relationships, rivalries, and romantic conflicts.

Click here for suggested titles by culture.

Generation Rules and Assigned Tropes with Clear Heir and Monarch Roles

Generation 1: Founding the Royal Line

Aspiration: Successful Lineage for the Windenburg king.

Trope: Establish alliances through arranged marriages.

Setup:

Create the Windenburg Royal Family: Start with a king and their spouse (either a queen, prince consort, or sovereign consort). Both should be young adults or adults. Assign the Successful Lineage aspiration to the king.

Enter Live Mode: Have the Windenburg royal couple conceive or adopt at least two children.

Raising the Heir:

Raise the children until they reach the child stage, focusing on building skills and preparing the heir for their future role.

Begin involving the children in clubs or other social events to start developing their social networks.

Introducing the Willow Creek Royal Family:

Once the Windenburg children reach the child stage, create a Willow Creek royal family with similarly-aged children. Set up a king and their spouse (either a queen, prince consort, or sovereign consort), who should also be young adults or adults. Assign the Successful Lineage aspiration to the Willow Creek king.

Arrange Friendships: Have the Windenburg and Willow Creek monarchs meet and develop a high friendship level to foster diplomatic trust.

Betrothal Arrangements:

Betroth the Windenburg heir to the second eldest Willow Creek child.

Betroth the younger Windenburg child to the Willow Creek heir, creating a dual alliance between the families.

Life Span and Succession:

Life Span: Playing on a short lifespan is recommended to help move the story along and set up future generations.

Succession: The Windenburg heir will ascend to the throne upon the current monarch’s death. To speed up this process, you may use cheats to arrange an early death for the monarch, allowing the heir to take over once the marriage alliances are secure.

Transition to Next Generation: The Windenburg heir becomes the new monarch after the current monarch’s death, with the Successful Lineage aspiration complete. This begins Generation 2.

Generation 2: The First Female Monarch

Aspiration: Renaissance Sim for the female heir, focusing on skill-building.

Trope: A female heir breaks tradition to rule.

New Royal Families: Create an Oasis Springs royal family with a supportive female or non-binary ruler.

Setup:

Heir Requirement: The current monarch from Generation 1 should only have daughters, or the oldest child should be a girl. If there are older boys, arrange accidental deaths when they are infants or toddlers using cheats so that the female heir is next in line.

Societal Challenge: Other royals and commoners, particularly from Willow Creek, may treat the female heir with less respect, creating added challenges. This represents societal resistance to a female ruler.

Heir’s Goals Before Ascending:

Alliance with Oasis Springs: Develop a strong relationship with her betrothed from the Oasis Springs royal family, whose monarch is supportive of a female heir.

Skill Development: Reach "Global Superstar" fame and max out three skills (suggested: Charisma, Logic, and Writing).

Proving Worth: Complete the Renaissance Sim aspiration to showcase her abilities. Unlike previous heirs, she does not need to maintain positive relationships widely, as her success is based on accomplishments rather than likability.

Monarch’s Goals:

Establish the female heir as a capable and skilled leader, respected for her talents rather than societal approval.

Transition to Next Generation: Once the heir becomes monarch, having completed her aspiration and skill goals, move on to Generation 3.

Generation 3: Sibling Rivalry

Aspiration: Leader of the Pack for both the eldest (heir) and younger sibling.

Trope: Sibling rivalry challenges succession.

New Royal Families: Add a Sulani royal family if Island Living is available.

Setup:

Family Requirement: The current monarch (from Generation 2) should have at least two children. The firstborn is designated as the heir.

Life Span: Play on short lifespan until the oldest child reaches their teen birthday, then switch to normal lifespan.

Sibling Rivalry:

From childhood, the younger sibling initiates Mean interactions with the heir to create rivalry and tension.

The younger sibling tries to gain favor with the monarch, using Friendly interactions to turn the monarch’s opinion against the heir.

Heir’s Goals Before Ascending:

Club Leadership: Both the heir and younger sibling should pursue the Leader of the Pack aspiration by forming a club with other royals. The heir must work to become the respected leader of this club, gaining influence and support.

Romantic Alliance: As teens, the heir must develop a romantic relationship with a royal from Sulani and secure a betrothal.

Proving Worthiness: Build friendships with the monarchs of Sulani, Oasis Springs, and Willow Creek to prove the heir’s diplomatic abilities.

Fame Requirement: The heir must reach "Global Superstar" fame before becoming a young adult to secure their position.

Monarch’s Goals:

Encourage unity among siblings while assessing their skills and alliances. The monarch will ultimately decide which child is worthy based on their accomplishments and relationships.

Consequences of Success or Failure:

If the heir completes all goals before reaching young adulthood, they ascend as monarch, while the younger sibling becomes a low-ranking noble or commoner.

If the heir fails, the younger sibling is appointed as the new heir, and the eldest becomes a low-ranking noble or non-royal.

Transition to Next Generation: The designated heir ascends the throne after their mother dies and completion of the Leader of the Pack aspiration, beginning Generation 4.

Generation 4: Forbidden Love

Aspiration: Soulmate for the heir.

Trope: The heir defies tradition by falling for a commoner.

New Royal Families: Add a Mt. Komorebi royal family if Snowy Escape is available.

Setup:

Family Dynamics: The monarch from the prior generation could only conceive one child, increasing the stakes for the heir’s choice of partner.

Life Span: Play on a short lifespan until the heir reaches their teen years, as this is when the storyline begins.

Heir’s Goals Before Ascending:

Forbidden Romance: Develop a relationship with a commoner through Romance interactions, defying the monarch’s arranged match with a Mt. Komorebi royal.

Commoner’s Challenge: The commoner must work to max out their Charisma, achieve "Global Superstar" fame, and attain a pristine reputation before reaching young adulthood. If they fail, the heir will be forced to marry the Mt. Komorebi royal.

Aspiration Completion: Complete the Soulmate aspiration by strengthening the relationship between the heir and the commoner, focusing on emotional depth and commitment.

Family and Political Obstacles:

Monarch’s Disapproval: The monarch discovers the relationship and expresses their disapproval with Mean interactions toward both the heir and the commoner.

Rivalry with Mt. Komorebi Royal: The Mt. Komorebi royal (or a substitute family from another available world) becomes a rival, using Mean interactions and spreading rumors about the commoner to complicate their relationship with the heir.

Transition to Next Generation: The heir ascends as monarch after securing their chosen relationship and completing their goals, beginning Generation 5.

Generation 5: Financial Hardship

Aspiration: Assign Fabulously Wealthy to the heir (the one who experienced forbidden love in the previous generation) only after they become monarch and the financial hardship begins.

Trope: The royal family faces financial struggles.

New Royal Families: If High School Years or Horse Ranch is available, add a Native American-inspired family in Copperdale or Chestnut Ridge.

Setup:

Marriage Alliance: When the monarch's heir is a teen or young adult, arrange a marriage with a royal from Copperdale, Chestnut Ridge, or another available kingdom to support future alliances.

Financial Hardship Begins:

Depletion of Wealth: Once the sim who experienced forbidden love in the last generation becomes monarch, reduce household funds to $50K (type "money 0" then "money 50000" in the cheats bar), simulating an economic depression.

Aspiration Activation: Assign the Fabulously Wealthy aspiration to the new monarch as they begin the struggle to restore financial stability.

Sunday Income Suspension: The family no longer receives the weekly $100K income, making them rely solely on career earnings, marriage dowries, and resourcefulness.

Monarch’s Goals:

Career and Earnings: Family members, including the monarch, must join careers and earn money. They may also sell off valuable items from the castle.

Marriage Dowries: Marry off children strategically to nobles or royals, bringing in dowries to aid household finances.

Wealth Restoration: Complete the Fabulously Wealthy aspiration by reaching a total of 1 million simoleons to ensure a stable future for the next generation.

Consequences for Failing to Restore Wealth:

If the family fails to reach 1 million simoleons by the monarch’s death, they will forfeit the weekly stipend for the rest of the challenge, adding difficulty for subsequent generations.

Transition to Next Generation: Progress to Generation 6 once the monarch has died and the family’s wealth has been restored, securing the legacy for future heirs.

Generation 6: Tragic Loss

Aspiration: Friend of the World for the heir (motivated by the tragic loss of their elder sibling).

Trope: A tragic loss leads to an unexpected succession.

New Royal Families: If Wedding Stories is available, introduce a Tartosa royal family.

Setup:

Sibling Bond: The eldest sibling and second eldest (now heir) are best friends, making the sudden loss more difficult to bear.

Unexpected Tragedy: The eldest sibling dies as a teenager, and the suggested causes could be a fire or accidental death from extreme heat, cold, or anger (symbolizing a sudden heart condition).

Heir’s Journey Before Ascending:

Personality Shift: Before the tragedy, the second eldest was cheerful and lighthearted, likely in a relationship with a noble or minor royal, as their betrothal was not a high priority.

Transformation after Loss: After the sibling’s death, the heir adopts the Gloomy trait, reflecting a sorrowful and serious new outlook on life. They lose their lightheartedness, straining their relationship with their former sweetheart, who struggles to understand their new disposition.

New Betrothal: The heir is betrothed to a Tartosa royal who was possibly intended for their late sibling. This new match brings empathy and companionship that resonates with the heir’s grief.

Heir’s Goals:

Aspiration and Friendships: Complete the Friend of the World aspiration by building meaningful friendships as a way to honor their late sibling’s memory.

Skill and Fame: Catch up on skills and achieve "Global Superstar" fame, reflecting their dedication to fulfilling the role their sibling left behind.

Monarch’s Goals:

As monarch, focus on building alliances and nurturing friendships, creating a legacy of compassion and unity inspired by the bond with their lost sibling.

Transition to Next Generation: The heir becomes monarch after completing the aspiration and building a strong support network, leading into Generation 7.

Generation 7: Betrayal and Unity

Aspiration: Assign Neighborhood Confidant to the heir only after they become monarch; Chief of Mischief for the betrayer (optional).

Trope: Attempting to unify kingdoms while facing betrayal from within.

New Royal Families: Add a Del Sol Valley royal family (Middle Eastern-inspired) or another available kingdom.

Setup:

Life Span: Play on short lifespan while the heir ages up, as most of the storyline occurs once they become monarch.

Betrothal: Arrange a betrothal between the heir and a royal from Del Sol Valley (or another available kingdom) to promote unity among kingdoms.

Heir’s Journey as Monarch:

Goal of Unity: Upon becoming monarch, the heir is assigned the Neighborhood Confidant aspiration with the goal of uniting the kingdoms through diplomacy, trust-building, and alliances.

The Betrayer: Create a royal advisor as the betrayer (alternatively, a sibling or member of the spouse’s family can be chosen). Play as the betrayer occasionally to sabotage the monarch’s reputation using Mischief interactions, Gossip, and Spread Rumors.

Betrayer’s Motivation: The betrayer might fear unification, have personal ambitions, or oppose the monarch’s influence. They work to undermine the monarch’s mission by sowing distrust and spreading rumors.

Monarch’s Goals:

Repair Reputation: Switch to the monarch’s perspective to counter the betrayer’s efforts, completing the Neighborhood Confidant aspiration by assisting others and winning back trust.

Reputation Requirement: The monarch must achieve and maintain a good or pristine reputation by the end of their reign. If they die with a poor reputation, their heir will inherit a negative reputation (use cheats if necessary).

Transition to Next Generation: Move to Generation 8 after the monarch’s death, with alliances and reputation intact or damaged, setting the stage for the next generation’s challenges.

Generation 8: Enemies to Lovers (or Friends)

Aspiration: Serial Romantic for the heir (switch to Soulmate or Friend of the World after completion).

Trope: Rivals in an arranged marriage who eventually develop a deep, genuine romance or friendship.

New Royal Families: Add either Tomarang (Southeast Asian-inspired) or Enamorada (Latin American-inspired).

Setup:

Life Span: Play on short lifespan until the heir becomes a teen, as the main storyline begins with their arranged marriage as young adults.

Arranged Betrothal: The heir is arranged to marry a royal from Tomarang or Enamorada, creating a union meant to strengthen alliances but marked by initial rivalry and tension.

Heir’s Journey Before Ascending:

Establishing the Rivalry: Use Mean interactions between the heir and their betrothed to create genuine resentment or frustration, establishing a rivalry rooted in clashing personalities.

Serial Romantic Aspiration: While still at odds with their betrothed, complete the Serial Romantic aspiration, pursuing other romantic interests to heighten the complexity of the arranged marriage dynamic.

Bastard Child: The heir should have a child with one of their romantic interests outside of the arranged marriage. This will setup for the next generation.

Character Growth and Friendship: After completing the Serial Romantic aspiration, work on building a strong friendship with their betrothed using Friendly interactions. This should create a foundation of trust and understanding before any romantic developments, if they choose that path.

Developing a Lasting Bond: After establishing a solid friendship, the heir can either pursue a romance by switching to the Soulmate aspiration or cultivate a supportive platonic bond by switching to Friend of the World. This bond, whether romantic or platonic, represents growth and mutual respect.

Monarch’s Goals:

If the heir becomes monarch before the “enemies to lovers” or friendship arc resolves, they should focus on presenting their relationship—whether romantic or platonic—as a symbol of harmony and unity for their kingdom.

Transition to Next Generation: Move to Generation 9 after the heir embraces their role as monarch and completes either the Soulmate or Friend of the World aspiration, establishing their relationship as a symbol of unity, through love or friendship, despite their turbulent beginning.

Generation 9: The Dark Monarch

Aspiration: Public Enemy for the dark monarch, driven by ambition, manipulation, and resentment.

Trope: A ruler with sinister ambitions and dubious alliances.

New Royal Families: If Life and Death is available, add a Ravenwood royal family (Romania-inspired), or substitute with another mysterious, gothic family.

Overview: The bastard child from Generation 8 ascends to the throne under controversial circumstances, using cunning and manipulation to establish their rule and assert a place in a family that once excluded them.

Setup:

Starting Role: Have the current heir marry into the Ravenwood royal family. Upon their marriage, shift focus to the illegitimate child who takes the throne.

Ambitions and Dark Interests: The new ruler harbors a fascination with hidden lore, arcane knowledge, or crypts. If Life and Death is available, they may have the Macabre trait, which fuels a desire to access Ravenwood’s hidden tomes and ancient secrets.

Pregnancy: Ensure the banished royal has a child during their exile, laying the foundation for the drama and redemption of Generation 10.

Heir’s Goals as Monarch:

Manipulative Relationships: Use Mean and Mischief interactions to destabilize alliances and assert dominance, ruling through fear and underhanded tactics.

Public Enemy Aspiration: Complete the Public Enemy aspiration by creating conflicts among allies, sowing distrust, and displaying a complete disregard for ethical rule.

Legacy of Fear and Exile: Establish a reputation of dominance and intimidation. To consolidate power, the dark monarch banishes the rightful heir and their family (including the former consort) to a distant world like Newcrest. This exile creates resentment and a desire for revenge among those banished.

Transition to Next Generation:

This setup leads to Generation 10, where the rightful heir’s descendants, now growing up in exile, seek to reclaim the throne and redeem the family’s reputation. Generation 10’s story will focus on taking back the kingdom and dismantling the dark legacy established by the previous ruler.

Generation 10: Restoration and Unity

Aspiration: Party Animal for the heir, reflecting their efforts to bring people together and restore the family’s reputation through gatherings and celebrations.

Trope: The rightful heir returns to repair the darkness introduced by the previous ruler, creating unity and peace across the kingdoms.

New Royal Families: Add any royal family not yet introduced from the list of optional kingdoms.

Overview: The exiled rightful heir returns with the support of an ally, using events, diplomacy, and celebrations to regain the throne and repair the family’s reputation.

Setup:

Would-Be Heir’s Background: Begin by playing as the rightful heir, raised in exile and determined to reclaim their family’s place. They develop a friendship and romance with a royal from a new or existing family, who helps them gain the support needed to reclaim the throne.

Alliance and Support: The romantic interest becomes a critical ally, leveraging their own influence to help the heir gain supporters across the kingdoms.

Heir’s Goals:

Gathering Support and Building Alliances: Use Friendly and Charisma interactions to build alliances and sway others to support the heir’s return.

Reclaiming the Throne: Rally allies, turn family members against the current ruler, and work to secure the throne peacefully or through a coup.

Restoration of Unity: Host frequent gatherings, celebrations, and diplomatic events to promote unity, rebuild alliances, and complete the Party Animal aspiration.

Symbolic Celebration: Host a final, grand celebration that brings all allied royals together, symbolizing the restoration of peace and trust across the kingdoms.

Monarch’s Goals:

As monarch, the heir continues to prioritize unity, ensuring the legacy of restoration and harmony is secure for future generations.

Challenge Conclusion:

The challenge concludes with the rightful heir fulfilling the Party Animal aspiration and hosting a unifying event that repairs the family’s reputation, securing a legacy of harmony and peace.

Optional Heir Training Requirements for Kids

These skills help develop the heir’s personality and abilities. Completing each skill offers unique benefits, while neglecting them may lead to challenges when the heir becomes monarch.

Toddler Skills (Foundation for Royal Training)

Benefits of Toddler Skills: Toddlers who excel in Communication, Imagination, Thinking, and Movement build strong foundations for future skills, improving confidence and early social connections, making them more adaptable and expressive as they grow.

School Performance for Heir Children

Grade A: Demonstrates discipline and intelligence. An "A" student is seen as a capable future leader, gaining confidence and public respect.

Grade B: Shows responsibility and diligence. A "B" student maintains a solid reputation, though not as outstanding as an “A” student.

Grade C or Lower: Indicates a lack of focus or rebelliousness, leading to doubts about the heir’s abilities. A "C" student may struggle with confidence and need to work harder to build a positive reputation as monarch.

Child Skills for Heirs

Core Skills

Creativity

Benefit: Enhances cultural sophistication. High Creativity allows the heir to host or attend artistic events confidently, boosting their public image.

Consequence: Low Creativity makes the heir appear out of touch with the arts, leading to lower public favor, especially among cultural allies.

Logic

Benefit: Essential for strategic thinking and decision-making, a high Logic skill ensures a capable and respected leader.

Consequence: Low Logic can make the heir appear impulsive or easily manipulated, weakening alliances and trust among advisors.

Charisma

Benefit: High Charisma makes the heir a persuasive speaker and well-liked by allies and subjects.

Consequence: Low Charisma results in awkward public appearances and difficulty gaining allies, leading to potential diplomatic challenges.

Secondary Skills (Choose 2-3)

Piano, Violin, or Pipe Organ (Choose One)

Benefit: Proficiency in an instrument adds elegance and discipline, helping the heir impress at royal gatherings.

Consequence: Lack of musical skill may lead to perceptions of the heir as rigid or less cultured.

Horseback Riding (Requires Horse Ranch)

Benefit: Represents physical fitness, courage, and a connection to tradition. Skilled riders gain favor with allies who value athleticism.

Consequence: Lack of riding skill may portray the heir as unadventurous, causing potential friction with more traditional or outdoorsy allies.

Singing

Benefit: Provides an entertaining and charismatic presence, enhancing public opinion and adding warmth to the heir’s image.

Consequence: Lack of singing skill may make the heir seem less approachable or expressive, affecting connections with commoners and allies.

Cross-Stitch or Knitting

Benefit: Demonstrates patience and creativity, appealing to those who value craftsmanship and dedication.

Consequence: No skill in these areas may make the heir seem impatient or uninterested in detailed work, affecting perceptions of their dedication.

Mischief

Benefit: A mischievous heir can navigate court politics and handle potential threats with ease, adding charm and cunning to their personality.

Consequence: Low Mischief skill makes the heir vulnerable to manipulation and may lead to difficulties in handling rivals or potential threats.

These skills allow heirs to grow with unique strengths and weaknesses, influencing their journey to become monarch based on their well-roundedness and adaptability.

#sims 4 royal family #thesims4 #miraraeroyals #sims4cc #sims 4 challenge #sims 4 legacy

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literaryvein-reblogs · 4 months ago

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The Lady of Shalott is a painting of 1888 by the English painter John William Waterhouse. It is a representation of the ending of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's 1832 poem of the same name.

The Lady of Shalott (1832) By Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Part I

On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye, That clothe the wold and meet the sky; And thro' the field the road runs by To many-tower'd Camelot; The yellow-leaved waterlily The green-sheathed daffodilly Tremble in the water chilly Round about Shalott.

Willows whiten, aspens shiver. The sunbeam showers break and quiver In the stream that runneth ever By the island in the river Flowing down to Camelot. Four gray walls, and four gray towers Overlook a space of flowers, And the silent isle imbowers The Lady of Shalott.

Underneath the bearded barley, The reaper, reaping late and early, Hears her ever chanting cheerly, Like an angel, singing clearly, O'er the stream of Camelot. Piling the sheaves in furrows airy, Beneath the moon, the reaper weary Listening whispers, ' 'Tis the fairy, Lady of Shalott.'

The little isle is all inrail'd With a rose-fence, and overtrail'd With roses: by the marge unhail'd The shallop flitteth silken sail'd, Skimming down to Camelot. A pearl garland winds her head: She leaneth on a velvet bed, Full royally apparelled, The Lady of Shalott.

Part II

No time hath she to sport and play: A charmed web she weaves alway. A curse is on her, if she stay Her weaving, either night or day, To look down to Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be; Therefore she weaveth steadily, Therefore no other care hath she, The Lady of Shalott.

She lives with little joy or fear. Over the water, running near, The sheepbell tinkles in her ear. Before her hangs a mirror clear, Reflecting tower'd Camelot. And as the mazy web she whirls, She sees the surly village churls, And the red cloaks of market girls Pass onward from Shalott.

Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, An abbot on an ambling pad, Sometimes a curly shepherd lad, Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad, Goes by to tower'd Camelot: And sometimes thro' the mirror blue The knights come riding two and two: She hath no loyal knight and true, The Lady of Shalott.

But in her web she still delights To weave the mirror's magic sights, For often thro' the silent nights A funeral, with plumes and lights And music, came from Camelot: Or when the moon was overhead Came two young lovers lately wed; 'I am half sick of shadows,' said The Lady of Shalott.

Part III

A bow-shot from her bower-eaves, He rode between the barley-sheaves, The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves, And flam'd upon the brazen greaves Of bold Sir Lancelot. A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd To a lady in his shield, That sparkled on the yellow field, Beside remote Shalott.

The gemmy bridle glitter'd free, Like to some branch of stars we see Hung in the golden Galaxy. The bridle bells rang merrily As he rode down from Camelot: And from his blazon'd baldric slung A mighty silver bugle hung, And as he rode his armour rung, Beside remote Shalott.

All in the blue unclouded weather Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather, The helmet and the helmet-feather Burn'd like one burning flame together, As he rode down from Camelot. As often thro' the purple night, Below the starry clusters bright, Some bearded meteor, trailing light, Moves over green Shalott.

His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd; On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode; From underneath his helmet flow'd His coal-black curls as on he rode, As he rode down from Camelot. From the bank and from the river He flash'd into the crystal mirror, 'Tirra lirra, tirra lirra:' Sang Sir Lancelot.

She left the web, she left the loom She made three paces thro' the room She saw the water-flower bloom, She saw the helmet and the plume, She look'd down to Camelot. Out flew the web and floated wide; The mirror crack'd from side to side; 'The curse is come upon me,' cried The Lady of Shalott.

Part IV

In the stormy east-wind straining, The pale yellow woods were waning, The broad stream in his banks complaining, Heavily the low sky raining Over tower'd Camelot; Outside the isle a shallow boat Beneath a willow lay afloat, Below the carven stern she wrote, The Lady of Shalott.

A cloudwhite crown of pearl she dight, All raimented in snowy white That loosely flew (her zone in sight Clasp'd with one blinding diamond bright) Her wide eyes fix'd on Camelot, Though the squally east-wind keenly Blew, with folded arms serenely By the water stood the queenly Lady of Shalott.

With a steady stony glance— Like some bold seer in a trance, Beholding all his own mischance, Mute, with a glassy countenance— She look'd down to Camelot. It was the closing of the day: She loos'd the chain, and down she lay; The broad stream bore her far away, The Lady of Shalott.

As when to sailors while they roam, By creeks and outfalls far from home, Rising and dropping with the foam, From dying swans wild warblings come, Blown shoreward; so to Camelot Still as the boathead wound along The willowy hills and fields among, They heard her chanting her deathsong, The Lady of Shalott.

A longdrawn carol, mournful, holy, She chanted loudly, chanted lowly, Till her eyes were darken'd wholly, And her smooth face sharpen'd slowly, Turn'd to tower'd Camelot: For ere she reach'd upon the tide The first house by the water-side, Singing in her song she died, The Lady of Shalott.

Under tower and balcony, By garden wall and gallery, A pale, pale corpse she floated by, Deadcold, between the houses high, Dead into tower'd Camelot. Knight and burgher, lord and dame, To the planked wharfage came: Below the stern they read her name, The Lady of Shalott.

They cross'd themselves, their stars they blest, Knight, minstrel, abbot, squire, and guest. There lay a parchment on her breast, That puzzled more than all the rest, The wellfed wits at Camelot. 'The web was woven curiously, The charm is broken utterly, Draw near and fear not,—this is I, The Lady of Shalott.'

#literature #poetry #art #the lady of shalott #alfred tennyson #john william waterhouse #writeblr #oil on canvas

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chellescripts · 7 months ago

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Career Legacy Challenge: Rules

A Sims 4 completionist legacy challenge that plays through all the careers while aiming to complete all collections, rewards, aspirations, degrees, skills, using all traits and worlds in-game.

Basic Rules

Since there are 26 generations in all, heirs could be named alphabetically

Spouses must complete the other career track, unless there’s only one career branch

Spouses may complete the side quests, second aspiration, and/or after-school activity

University is optional except when an organization or an after-school activity is specified

The family museum should contain the collections, career rewards, and other memorabilia of the family. It can be a closed retail lot that is passed throughout the generations.

Generation A: Actor

Traits: Self-Assured, Snob Aspiration: Master Actor/Actress Aspiration Collection: Crystals Side Quest 1: Complete the Successful Lineage Aspiration Side Quest 2: Start the Family Museum

Optional: Home: Del Sol Valley Degree: Drama

Generation B: Astronaut

Traits: Materialistic, Loves Outdoors Aspiration: Fabulously Wealthy Collection: Space Prints Side Quest 1: Fully upgrade the rocket Side Quest 2: Go to Sixam

Optional: Home: Oasis Springs Degree: Physics: Space Ranger

Generation C: Athlete

Traits: Active, Romantic Aspiration: Serial Romantic Collection: MySims Trophies Side Quest 1: Win the MVP Soccer Trophy as a Soccer Team Player Side Quest 2: Complete the Bodybuilder Aspiration

Optional: Home: San Sequoia Degree: Biology: Bodybuilder

Generation D: Business

Traits: Cheerful, Kleptomaniac Aspiration: Party Animal Collection: Holiday Cracker Plushies Side Quest 1: Become a Senior Member of the Foxbury Spirit Squad Side Quest 2: Max the DJ Mixing skill

Optional: Home: Magnolia Promenade Degree: Economics: Investor

Generation E: Conservationist

Traits: Child of the Islands, Vegetarian Aspiration: Beach Life Collection: Buried Treasure Side Quest 1: Cleanup Sulani until it is thriving Side Quest 2: Watch a Tutle Hatching event

Optional: Home: Sulani Degree: Biology: Marine Biologist

Generation F: Criminal

Traits: Evil Aspiration: Public Enemy Collection: Metals Side Quest 1: Befriend the Grim Reaper Side Quest 2: Complete the Villainous Valentine Aspiration

Optional: Home: Willow Creek Degree: Villainy: Criminal Boss

Generation G: Critic

Traits: Hot-Headed, Foodie Aspiration: City Native Collection: City Posters Side Quest 1: Learn all the City Food Stall recipes Side Quest 2: Buy all 5 Trash and Treasure items from the Flea Market

Optional: Home: San Myshuno Degree: Art History: Arts Critic

Generation H: Culinary

Traits: Glutton, Jealous Aspiration: Master Chef Collection: Experimental Food Photos Side Quest 1: Prepare Ambrosia and bring back a ghost to life Side Quest 2: Marry someone who will complete the Master Mixologist Aspiration

Optional: Home: Windenburg Degree: Culinary Arts: Chef

Generation I: Detective

Traits: Insider, Gloomy Aspiration: Leader of the Pack Collection: Microscope Prints Side Quest 1: Meet with the club at least once a week Side Quest 2: Complete the Neighborhood Confidante Aspiration

Optional: Home: Newcrest Degree: Psychology: Detective

Generation J: Doctor

Traits: Cat Lover, Neat Aspiration: Friend of the Animals Collection: Feathers Side Quest 1: Make a purple owl statue from another set of feathers Side Quest 2: Max the Veterinarian skill

Optional: Home: Brindleton Bay Degree: Biology: Doctor

Generation K: Education

Traits: Family-Oriented, Art Lover Aspiration: Super Parent Collection: Frogs Side Quest 1: Complete the Big Happy Family Aspiration Side Quest 2: Max the Cross Stitch skill

Optional: Home: Henford-on-Bagley Degree: Psychology: Professor

Generation L: Engineer

Traits: Geek, Unflirty Aspiration: Nerd Brain Collection: Space Rocks, Aliens Side Quest 1: Become a Senior Member of the Bot Savants Side Quest 2: Create a Servo

Optional: Home: Oasis Springs Degree: Physics: Mechanical Engineer

Generation M: Entertainer

Traits: Dance Machine, Lactose Intolerant Aspiration: Joke Star Collection: Sugar Skulls Side Quest 1: Win an award at the Starlight Accolades Side Quest 2: Complete the Musical Genius Aspiration with a Guitar

Optional: Home: San Sequoia Degree: Drama: Comedian

Generation N: Freelancer

Traits: Adventurous, Bro Aspiration: Extreme Sports Enthusiast Collection: Snow Globes Side Quest 1: Max all extreme sports skills Side Quest 2: Complete the Renaissance Sim Aspiration

Optional: Home: Mt. Komorebi Degree: Communications: Supervisor

Generation O: Gardener

Traits: Animal Enthusiast, Music Lover Aspiration: Country Caretaker Collection: Village Fair Ribbons (Main Competitions only since the Minor ones are bugged) Side Quest 1: Complete at least 3 errands Side Quest 2: Hatch a Golden Chicken

Optional: Home: Henford-on-Bagley Degree: Biology: Botanist

Generation P: Law

Traits: Perfectionist, Mean Aspiration: Angling Ace Collection: Fish Side Quest 1: Fish at Sylvan Glade and Forgotten grotto Side Quest 2: Win at the Sulani Fishing Tournament

Optional: Home: Willow Creek Degree: History: Judge

Generation Q: Painter

Traits: Creative, Clumsy Aspiration: Painter Extraordinaire Collection: Decorative Eggs Side Quest 1: Become a Senior Member of the Art Society Side Quest 2: Complete all emotional paintings with masterpiece quality

Optional: Home: Brindleton Bay Degree: Fine Arts: Master of the Real

Generation R: Politician

Traits: Ambitious, Hates Children Aspiration: The Curator Collection: Fossils Side Quest 1: Become a Senior Member of the Debate Guild and win at a Debate Showdown Side Quest 2: Complete the Mansion Baron Aspiration

Optional: Home: Newcrest Degree: History: Politics

Generation S: Salaryperson

Traits: Proper, Loyal Aspiration: Mt. Komorebi Sightseer Collection: Simmies Side Quest 1: Befriend Yamachan Side Quest 2: Complete the Soulmate Aspiration

Optional: Home: Mt. Komorebi Degree: Computer Science: Expert

Generation T: Scientist

Traits: Genius, Slob Aspiration: Academic Collection: Geodes Side Quest 1: Become a Senior Member of The Brainiacs Side Quest 2: Create all the serums from The Chemistry Lab

Optional: Home: Britechester Degree: Physics: Scientist

Generation U: Secret Agent

Traits: Childish, Erratic Aspiration: Chief of Mischief Collection: Voidcritters Side Quest 1: Become a Senior Member of the Secret Society Side Quest 2: Have a secret baby with Father Winter

Optional: Home: Windenburg Degree: Villainy: Villain

Generation V: Self-Employed

Traits: Noncommittal, Good Aspiration: Freelance Botanist Collection: Gardening, Magic Beans Side Quest 1: Purchase 6 Retail Perks that unlock items (Placard: My First Simoleon, Provocative Pedestal, Stunning Sign, Snazzy Shirt, Register of Tomorrow, Placard: Fobbs 500) Side Quest 2: Complete the Lord/Lady of the Knits Aspiration

Optional: Home: Magnolia Promenade Degree: Communications: Management

Generation W: Social Media

Traits: Self-Absorbed, Goofball Aspiration: World-Famous Celebrity Collection: Positivity Posters (Buy them from a pre-made retail lot), Underwater Photos Side Quest 1: Max the Media Production Skill Side Quest 2: Max the Dancing skill

Optional: Home: Del Sol Valley Degree: Drama: Internet Personality

Generation X: Style Influencer

Traits: Outgoing, Child of the Ocean Aspiration: Friend of the World Collection: Seashells Side Quest 1: Become a Senior Member of the Britechester Spirit Corps Side Quest 2: Max friendship with a dolphin

Optional: Home: Sulani Degree: Fine Arts: Stylist

Generation Y: Tech Guru

Traits: Loner, Dog Lover Aspiration: Computer Whiz Collection: Elements Side Quest 1: Reach the top of the eSports Competitor career in University Side Quest 2: Max the Pet training skill

Optional: Home: Britechester Degree: Computer Science: Start-Up Entrepreneur

Generation Z: Writer

Traits: Bookworm, Lazy Aspiration: Bestselling Author Collection: Postcards Side Quest 1: Write the Book of life Side Quest 2: Complete the Grilled Cheese Aspiration

Optional: Home: San Myshuno Degree: Language and Literature: Author

#sims 4 legacy #sims 4 generations #legacy challenge #the sims 4 #chellescripts #sims 4 challenge #sims #sims 4 #ts4 #career legacy #career legacy challenge

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streetrabbit42 · 3 months ago

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The Nature’s Palette Legacy Challenge

By StreetRabbit42 & SilverPhoenix42 aka @valkerie-queen

Needed Packs: EP: Seasons, Get Famous, Island Living, Discover University, Eco Lifestyle, Get to Work, Cat & Dogs, Snowy Escape, Cottage Living, Highschool Years, Horse Ranch, For Rent, Lovestruck GP: Outdoor Retreat, Spa Day, Jungle Adventure, Realm of Magic SP: Nifty Knitting, Crystal Creations

Generation 1: Labrador

You are a stay-at-home-parent, and a good one at that. When you get some time to yourself, you love to sit back with a ball of yarn and just zone out, making cute fluffy things for your children and future grandchildren. You love living a quiet life with your family and making sure everyone is happy.

Aspiration: Lord/Lady of the Knits

Traits: Generous, Family-oriented, Neat

Skills: Knitting, Cross-Stitching, Parenting

Career: None

World: Willow Creek, in the Foundry Cove or Courtyard Lane neighborhood

Rules:

They may have a career, but once they get married and have their first kid, they must quit.

Must have at least 3 kids

Must adopt a dog (preferably a labrador or golden retriever, but not a strict requirement)

Their kids must achieve at least a B grade in school

Their kids must have a good relationship with the Legacy Founder

Generation 2: Malachite

You loved your parent and the cozy stay-at-home environment they provided, but you always wanted to explore. You would run around the park and the neighborhood looking for adventure. So -of course- you had to follow that passion as an adult!

Aspiration: Jungle Explorer

Traits: Adventurous, Self-Assured, Active

Skills: Archeology, Fitness, Rock climbing

Career: Part-Time Diver

World: Mt. Komorebi or Tomarang

Rules:

Cannot have a full-time job

Must max 2 skills before settling down to have a family

Have no more than 2 kids

At least one of the kids must be active

Must not die until after grandchild is a child (yes, you may minorly cheat to make this happen)

When an elder, move in with heir and their child

Generation 3: Burlywood

You grew up hearing tales of your parent’s adventures, and as they got older you wanted to commit them to memory. Other people loved the stories, and you soon became a bestselling Adventure author.

Aspiration: Bestselling Author

Traits: Bookworm, Outgoing, Active

Skills: Writing, Selvadoradian Culture, Charisma

Career: Freelancer - Writer Branch

World: Brindleton Bay or Oasis Springs

Rules:

Must finish aspiration before becoming and elder

Charisma is not a mandatory max-out skill, but a preferable one

Can only have 1 child

When their parent is an elder, they must move them in

Generation 4: Fallow

You grew up hearing your grandparent’s stories and reading your parent’s books. After your grandparent passed, you wanted to reconnect with their adventures and the nature they loved so much.

Aspiration: Outdoor Enthusiast

Traits: Loves Outdoors, Cheerful, Vegetarian

Skills: Herbalism, Fishing, Wellness

Career: Conservationist - Environmental Manager Branch

World: Sulani or Copperdale

Rules:

Child must know the grandparent

Must go camping in Granite Falls fairly regularly (every 2 sim-weeks)

Must take your child(ren) camping

Must have at least 2 children

Generation 5: Verdigris

You grew up going camping all the time. You practically lived in the woods. While your sibling(s) were more active and handy, you preferred to be laid-back. Nothing makes you happier than just sitting back by the water with a fishing pole and a drink in your hand.

Aspiration: Angling Ace

Traits: Bro, Loyal, Goofball

Skills: Fishing, Guitar, Mixology

Career: Part-time Fisherman OR Culinary - Mixology Branch

World: Sulani

Rules:

Mixology does not have to be maxed (but is preferable)

If you choose the mixology branch you DO NOT have to max it out

It must be a small beach-side shack

Can only have 2 kids

Cook with fish regularly

Generation 6: Zaffre

You’re a laid-back person, taking after your parent. You loved watching the waves as your parent fished in the early hours of the morning. You came to wish you could capture the experiences and memories, so took up painting.

Aspiration: Painter Extraordinaire

Traits: Art Lover, Creative, Child of the Islands

Skills: Painting, Photography, Cooking

Career: Painter - either branch

World: Tartosa

Rules:

Only 1 kid

Take pictures of your family often to put on the walls

You must max the imagination skill as a toddler

You must max the creativity skill as a child

Generation 7: Carob

Your parent and grandparent were both laid-back, but you take things a little more seriously and love studying and reading. You love to see what the world has to offer and collect treasures of all kinds. Everything from crystals and metals, to those little trinkets you find in time capsules.

Aspiration: The Curator

Traits: Overachiever, High Maintenance, Bookworm

Skills: Logic, Piano, Charisma

Career: Education - Professor branch

World: Copperdale

Rules:

Must only max the Gemology skill

Must complete at LEAST 2 of the collections

One completed collection must be Crystals or Metals

Only have a max of two children

Children must have A grades in school

Heir must go to University

Must max out career level

Must max out main skills

Must not die until after grandchild is a child (yes, you may minorly cheat to make this happen)

When an elder, move in with heir and their child

Generation 8: Ecru

Your parent made sure you had a good education and lots of books growing up. But you always took a liking to the musical side of things, playing music while you read and studied.

Aspiration: Musical Genius

Traits: Music Lover, Clumsy, Ambitious

Skills: Piano, Singing, Violin

Career: Entertainer - Musician branch

World: Britchester

Rules:

Must complete a University Degree course (you can choose)

Must play an instrument as a child

Must teach a child/teen to sing or play an instrument

Must max career level

Must max main skills

Generation 9: Amaranth

You loved all the trinkets that filled your grandparent’s house, and loved collecting your own shinies. So as an adult, you continue your collection and share it with the world.

Aspiration: Crystal Crafter

Traits: Clumsy, Romantic, Kleptomaniac

Skills: Gemology, Entrepreneur, Singing or Guitar

Career: Self-Employed (selling your jewelry and crystals)

World: Ciudad Enamorada

Rules:

Swipe at least one collectable from your grandparent

Must max Gemology skill

Must complete the crystal collection

Generation 10: Feldgrau

You often played with the metals that your parent collected, and that turned into you messing with gear and any mechanical thing you could get your grease-stained hands on.

Aspiration: Master Maker

Traits: Maker, Perfectionist, Snob

Skills: Handiness, Fabrication, Robotics, Juice Fizzing

Career: Freelancer - Crafter branch OR Engineer - Mechanical Engineer branch

World: Oasis Springs

Rules:

Juice Fizzing is not a mandatory max-out skill, but a preferable one

Have no more than 2 kids

Have at least 20k in the bank

Have a dog

Generation 11: Cattleya

Your parent instilled in you a deep-seated confidence in whatever you do. Unfortunately, you took it a little too far. You think you are the best-of-the-best, and set out to prove it.

Aspiration: Master Actor/Actress

Traits: Snob, Materialistic, Romantic

Skills: Romance, Acting, Charisma

Career: Actor

World: Del Sol Valley

Rules:

Start out in the crappy lot in Mirage Park, and then move up to any lot in The Pinnacles before becoming an elder

Can not have biological children - Must adopt a child (or more)

Must max out their fame

Must have a lot of followers on social media

Must have the Phone Fanatic fame quirk

Must also have the Paparazzi Darling or Refined Palate fame quirk

Generation 12: Byzantium

Your parent was a pompous asshole, who was obsessed with their accomplishments in their youth. As a child, you wondered if you could create a potion for everlasting youth. You moved to Glimmerbrook to find that out, meeting a trio of strange people who promised you an opportunity to become something more. Something… not human.

Aspiration: Purveyor of Potions

Traits: Romantically Reserved, Jealous, Nosy

Skills: Gemology, Herbalism, Gardening

Career: Gardener - Botanist branch

World: Glimmerbrook

Rules:

Must have a below-average relationship with your parent

Master Alchemy

Learn at least 3 spells in the Practical magic path

Learn 1 spell in the Untamed and Mischief magic paths

Have a max of 2 kids

Has a relationship with their teen grandchild (yes, you may minorly cheat to make this happen)

When an elder, move in with heir and their child

Generation 13: Phthalo

Growing up, your mom taught you the basics of alchemy, but you could never get into the complexity of it. You still loved the garden and the beautiful flowers growing there. Your favorite hobby was always to arrange your parent’s alchemy ingredients to make beautiful bouquets and table settings.

Aspiration: Freelance Botanist

Traits: Loves Outdoors, Child of the Village, Lovebug

Skills: Gardening, Flower Arranging, Nectar Making

Career: Gardener - Floral Designer branch

World: Tomarang

Rules:

When their parent is an elder, they must move them in

Have at least 2 kids

Must have the first kid when they are a teen

Have a good relationship with your sibling

Generation 14: Xanadu

You were fascinated by the things your parent grew and their love for the nature around them. With your grandparent’s knowledge of magic, you set out to preserve nature the best you can.

Aspiration: Eco Innovator

Traits: Maker, Perfectionist, Green Fiend

Skills: Fabrication, Programming, Logic

Career: Civil Designer - either branch

World: Evergreen Harbor

Rules:

Learn at least 3 alchemy potions

Reach level 5 of gardening

Learn the Herbio spell

Learn a spell from both the Mischief and Untamed magic paths

You can not use magic around other people

Generation 15: Gamboge

This all started with a quiet life, and now you find yourself drawn to the countryside. You love your heritage, and want to go back to your roots -living a quiet and peaceful life with your children and spouse.

Aspiration: Country Caretaker

Traits: Wise, Rancher, Family-oriented

Skills: Horse Riding, Gardening, Baking

Career: Self-Employed

World: Henford-on-Bagley

Rules:

Make money by selling jams and other home-made goods

Have at least 3 kids

Have a cow or llama

Must have at least 2 chickens

Must have a garden

Have a decent relationship with your kids

Must have 1 horse and max the riding skill before becoming and adult

#sims 4 challenges #StreetRabbit42 challenge #legacy challenge #Nature Palette Legacy #sims 4 #ts4 challenge #sims 4 challenge #the sims 4 legacy #simblr #ts4 simblr

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dangerliesbeforeyou · 2 months ago

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ok so i just watched the wicker man (the original one ofc not that awful nicholas cage remake with the bees lol) and rather than making a post about it i ofc am gonna talk about mr king, aka the in9 episode that people kept saying was super similar to the film lol because if i cant relate everything to my hyperfixation then what is the POINT lol?!

first thing i will say is i absolutely LOVED the film!! i often find classic horror films either to be hit or miss (halloween sucked but the exorcist was amazing lol) and this was definitely a hit imo!

and it's super interesting thinking back to mr king and the things they chose to pay homage to from the original! creepy kids, masks and rituals, emphasis on sexuality and the harvest, even the outsider acting as a 'well-meaning coloniser' trying to 'educate' the natives lol

but i think it's in the changes that make mr king super interesting to me (and why it kinda bugs me that people keep just saying it's a remake of the wicker man... like it bugged me BEFORE i watched the film and even more now because they are v different lol something being inspired by a thing doesn't mean it's copying it smh have y'all never heard of a homage!?!?... anyway)

changing the setting to wales was SUCH a good choice imo, a place that is only really recently beginning to properly reclaim some of it's old culture after literally centuries of english colonisation (if you weren't aware, there have been recent pushes for various welsh landmarks and places to be referred to by the welsh name and not the english, which i wholeheartedly support tbh! you can't pronounce yr wyddfa? skill issue lol), and moving the focus from religion to environmental factors also made so much more sense for something set this century!

i also found it interesting the way both deal with the weaponisation of sex and sexuality... in the film it's when the landlord's daughter (willow) tries to seduce the sergeant in order to expose his hypocrisy (and ironically in not giving into it, he sealed his own fate in the end lol), and in the show it's the young girl who lies about alan being sexual towards her (in turn leading towards the whole photograph scene and, ultimately, his own grizzly end lol)... both in a way are responding to the culture of their respective times (the film commentating on the 60s/70s free love culture, mr king responding to the wider #me too movement of the last 10 or so years)

and continuing on from this, part of the horror in both speaks specifically to the audience's discomfort with open discussions and displays of sexuality, and the power that that discomfort holds over us still... and ofc in the film this manifests itself with the idea of christianity vs paganism, highlighting how both are a lot more similar than either side would like to admit to lol...

mr king is a little more murkier, since the emphasis is on environmentalism. in a way it deals a lot more with the concept of rationality (as in, science and the like) vs irrationality (as in, paganism and mysticism) than the original! though in the end the message is the same: that regardless of what or who you believe in, it ain't gonna stop you from being murdered lol! it also positions that in the mr king universe, the sacrifices aren't just the town trying to come back from a bad harvest, but instead a super important yearly ritual that, presumably, is actually working lol?? so what we may perceive as 'irrational' is actually the other way around lol...

one of the big changes from the film is the mystery element. in the film sergeant howie's whole deal is that he's gone to the island to find a young girl... in fact the town's people specifically use the fact they know he will stop at nothing to save her (even by the most degrading and invasive ways possible) as a way to trap him. alan is completely different in this regard, in that he has come to rural wales in order to escape his old life... he's not trying to save anyone, effectively he's running away! and even the mystery of the previous 'mr king' is only really something he looks into to save his own skin... both characters are selfish in the reasons why they end up in their positions, and naive to think that their positions as men in positions of authority would save them!

idkk i just think there's a lot of super fascinating stuff in this episode and how it plays with the aesthetics and themes of the film it was inspired by that i've just kind seen brushed aside just cos the 'twist' at the end was super similar to it lol??

#inside no 9 #mr king #the wicker man #in9 #i have NO idea if this makes any sense lol #also it's been a while since i rewatched mr king so i hope i didnt get any of the details wrong pfft #there was also more i wanted to say with like the queer elements of both? and comparisons between steve's character #and christopher lee's in the original but this post is long enough already pfft #anyway plz let me know ur thoughts about this ep if u have any!#i hardly see anyone talk about it tbhh

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folkwhore1998 · 3 months ago

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I had a feeling so peculiar, that this pain would be for...evermore

Evermore!!!

Amazing! How lucky are we to live in a world where we get to experience evermore. Imagine being bored in quarantine and being able to just create an incredible work of art.

(in my opinion) We did not get an evermore long pond studio sessions because of the editing on folklore versus evermore. folklore had some vocal editing that didn't capture her voice the way evermore does. go listen to august on folklore and then august on LPSS. numerous songs on folklore have that editing style, but nothing on evermore does.

Evermore is so beautiful and one of my favorite aesthetics. Evermore is a late November-December vibe. I wonder how many songs Taylor actually made during quarantine. Do you think that evermore are the vault tracks from folklore? (As in the songs that just did not quite make it onto folklore)

I actually had a very hard time ranking these songs. I didn't really think I was going to have as hard of a time as I did. I have a pretty consistent ranking of the albums in general and evermore is pretty high up there, but maybe it should move up on the ladder because these songs are just so beautiful.

happiness is an incredibly emotional song that people seem to skip all of the time. In my personal experience, when I've been in long term relationships, I almost become disconnected with the version of who I was prior. When I've broken up these long term relationships, I've have to leave it all behind to rediscover the happiness we held before them. When I've felt so much pain from loss, I can get so blinded by the fact at one point in my life, a person or situation may have been good for me, in a black and white thinking sense. happiness has honestly helped me process hurt and loss, and has helped me to lean into the idea not everything has to be black and white. No one talks about it enough.

I really need to address the performance of evermore on the eras tour. Literal chills. It was one the best live performances she has ever done. I need a live version released on Spotify BIBLICALLY. I wish it would have made the cut for the eras tour movie.

evermore (the song) was one i kind of looked over for awhile. I honestly could not put my finger on what it was for me. After hearing Taylor Swift perform it live at the eras tour... my entire brain chemistry changed. I'm not even being dramatic. It was breathtaking and I cannot believe how quiet the crowd was in all of the videos i have come across. I love that there is a collective agreement that everyone was fucking stunned at how incredible it was.

Here are my rankings of evermore:

marjorie

coney island

happiness

right where you left me

evermore if it is taylor only

tis the damn season

champagne problems

tolerate it

long story short

it's time to go

willow

evermore if it is with bon iver and taylor

gold rush

ivy

dorethea

closure

no body no crime

cowboy like me

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

youtube

CHILLS.

youtube

I am so surprised that this marjorie made it onto the setlist, but I am so happy it did.

youtube

So eloquent- actually the first time I am seeing this.

Check out some of these awesome small businesses on Etsy!

Here is a cutting board with Taylor's chai cookie recipe: Chai cookies just have such an evermore vibe. I gotta get my hands on one of these!

Here is the link to a cowboy like me necklace: Forever is the sweetest con.

@taylornation @taylorswift

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gemini-magic17 · 1 year ago

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Entanglement Chapter Twenty

**Kit's POV

The sound of the waves crashing against the shore made me know that we were very close to Dristarya. It was early when we got there and as I set my eyes on it for the first time it was astounding. Never before have I seen a castle so huge and ancient-looking as if it was built thousands of years ago. With how bare it looked and no signs of life I really started to question if the details that Willow was given were correct. It doesn't seem like anyone has lived here for many years.

"Hey", I hear Boorman say as he comes up behind me.

"Hey", I responded back still focused on the shore in front of me.

"What's wrong", he asked.

"I don't think anyone lives here."

"Why do you say that", he questioned.

"Just look at it. The entire island looks abandoned the only thing that I see is birds flying overhead what about you", I looked at him.

"Are you sure about that from what I see it looks like someone arrived here recently", he pointed towards the shore and I furrowed my eyebrows to where he was pointing at.

"Is that a boat", I asked squinting trying to clearly make out what I was looking at.

"Well from what I can see it is", he said.

I couldn't stop looking in that direction and the closer we got I was praying that what Willow had told me was indeed true. Then out of nowhere came the she-devil herself as the ship made its way partially on the shore.

"I'm going to go look for Y/n, the captain said he wants to stay aboard the ship; you and Boorman can do what you like", she said and proceeded to leap off the boat.

"Fuck that", I told her and went after her.

"Excuse me."

"You heard me. I don't know who the fuck you think you are or who you are talking to but I am not the one you want to piss off. I know I hurt her that I practically put her through hell but you have no right to tell me the fuck to do", I stated getting into her face.

"I am her wife, not you and I will do everything I can to make things right with her even if it takes me the rest of my fucking life to do so. Don't you think for a second that you can swoop in and try to take her away because you can't", I said.

"I won't need to try if she goes willingly", she said smirking and that made my blood boil.

"You know what Amara yo-", I began but was cut off.

"After all, who could deal with the shit you put her through. Do you really think that she is going to forgive you and take you back after everything? I have known her for my entire life and when I say what you put her through she will never forgive you", she said with a hard stare, and at that I couldn't hate her more than right now. Not just because she was threatening to take Y/n away but that I knew she was right with how she would never forgive me.

"Follow if you want I don't care anymore. I now know that I have nothing to worry about when it comes to you", she said and she began to walk off.

"Don't take what she says to heart Kit she is just jealous that you have Y/n and she doesn't", Boorman said.

"That's the thing, Boorman I don't have her. I may be married to Y/n but I don't have her not where it counts", I said, and we went to catch up to Amara as we made our way to the gates.

**Ser Easton's POV

These past couple of days have been quite peaceful and I know that is unusual to say considering this island is full of dragons. Yet, there is no fighting, yelling, or political issues to worry about here. I roamed all around Dristarya making sure to know the ins and outs of this place in case of an attack or unwanted visitors.

As I made my way to the opening under the castle I was told by Y/n to be careful as she recounted what happened to her when she arrived that very day. Getting closer to my intended destination in the corner of my eye I noticed a ship approaching. I couldn't see who was aboard but as it started to get nearer I hid behind a gigantic rock that was close enough to shore to see who was present.

It wasn't until the ship got closer to the shoreline that I saw it was Kit aboard and I was shocked. Why the hell was she here? Did she know that the princess fled to Dristarya? How could she have found out about it then? Many questions raced through my mind and it wasn't until they were making their way off the boat that I carefully mad my way to the castle to avoid being seen by them.

As soon as I was out of sight I ran all the way back to the castle making sure that I got to the trail before they could. I burst open the castle doors and searched through every room to find Y/n. I couldn't find her which led me to believe she was still sleeping. I ran as fast as I could to her room and when I made it there I was terribly out of breath. I began to bang my fist on her door knowing she would awake from the noise.

**Y/n's POV

I was fast asleep in my chambers when a loud banging on my door woke me up. Along with the constant fist pounding on the door, I could hear who could only be Ser Easton yelling with urgency.

"Princess! Princess!"

I jumped out of bed and rushed to open the door where I was met with an out-of-breath Ser Easton. He was leaning on the door frame trying to catch his breath from the obvious haste he made trying to get here.

"What's wrong? Did something happen", I asked with concern believing that something happened to him.

"I was out for a walk along the beach and saw a ship coming this way", he said.

"What? What are you talking about no one comes here", I said with confusion and a hint of worry that is evident in my voice.

"That's the thing Y/n I got closer to the beach making sure that the people on board didn't see me and I recognized one of them."

"Well, who was it", I questioned with anticipation building inside me.

"Your not gonna like it", he said and I step closer to him where I looked him directly into his eyes.

"Who was it Ser Easton", I said.

"It was Kit Tanthalos Princess", he said, and when the words poured out of his mouth my heart stopped for a second.

"Oh", I responded and the anger I was harboring toward her started bubbling to the surface.

"How did she even know to come here", I asked him and made my way to get some clothes.

"I can only think of one possibility."

"Which is", I said and began to change in the bathroom while we continued our conversation.

"Willow must have told her", I stopped what I was doing when I heard him say those words.

"I don't believe he would do that. He knows how much pain I felt with what Kit put me through. I just don't believe he would sell me out like that", I said clearly in denial about the whole thing.

"It is the only way she could have known Y/n I'm sorry. Willow is the only one who knows you are here and you know I wouldn't tell anyone especially her of all people."

"I suppose you are right", I said knowing what he said was true. I finished dressing and made my way out of my chambers.

"Y/n where are you going", he asked following hot on my trail through the castle's hallways.

"You said they were coming towards the beach yes which means they will be coming up the trail soon enough", I asked.

"Yes, what is it that you intend to do", he asked and we were outside of the castle's walls.

"I am going to go give Kit and her comrades a warm welcome to Dristarya", I turned to him and said.

"How exactly are you going to do that", he asked, and just then I could feel Kylora come up behind me.

"I'll give them a dragon's welcome", I said with an upturned smile.

#kit tanthalos x reader #hazel callahan x reader #willow 2022 #kit tanthalos #ruby cruz #willow fanfic

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mercurygray · 8 months ago

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HBOWW2 Rewatch: 1943

As we head into Week Two of the #hboww2rewatch, some context for where we left off:

It's February of 1943. We've spent a whole year fighting in the Pacific and to be honest, that year hasn't gone all that great - until we win on Guadalcanal. It is a six month long slugfest in the mud, but Guadalcanal is the battle that tells America that island hopping can be done - that there is some hope, however small, that maybe, just maybe, this will work. It's been a little over a year since Pearl Harbor. We're still trying to rebuild the Pacific Fleet. Kaiser Shipyards are trying cut down production times on destroyers. Willow Run has just finished being built, the largest single aircraft production facility in the world, ready to build B-24s at an astonishing pace.

It's February of 1943. John Basilone is headed home to sell war bonds, so that we can finance Kaiser, and Ford, and every single other crazy idea Big Bill Knudsen is trying to sell the manufacturers of America.

It's May of 1943. The North Africa campaign has been a success - Rommel has finally been booted back to Italy and the Allied forces have a toehold to attack the soft underbelly of Europe. Engineers are working hard to transform the desert airstrips of Tunisia and Algeria into working airbases that can attack the south of France, and Romania, and Italy.

It's May of 1943. The 100th Bomb group is forming up from Kearney, Nebraska, and a number of other bases west, going overseas for the first time, and they have no idea what they're getting themselves into. The RAF has been fighting the air war since 1939, and frankly they're tired.

It's May of 1943. Let's go.

#hboww2rewatch #hbowar

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rotomblr-island · 2 months ago

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Hilda and Mai got into a fight!

I calmed Mai down with a chicken pot pie and she apologized to Hilda...

...But Hilda's still not over it!

#islander: mai willows #islander: hilda verity

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m3r1m4r5u333 · 9 months ago

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(Jjsheh. This is perhaps my most unhinged essay yet, brace yourselves. I know it's not very coherent, I sound like I'm tripping, rambling about ancient Egyptian deities and all. I'm not the only one to have talked of rebirth though so hopefully I'm not alone in this mental collapse.)

I'm a wreck. It's just such BLATANT BUDDIE SUBTEXT to air THESE SCENES in the same episode!!!!

First, Eddie finding out Buck went on a date with a man and his stunned

"Omg I need to reconstruct my entire worldview. But I'm not weirded out!! I'm an ALLY!!"-deer in the headlights reaction to that!!

Finding out that both Buck and Tommy are into men will be such a curveball for Eddie, hitting him directly in the solar plexus, leaving him gasping.

The images that will start sprouting in his mind...

And the way that suddenly they're BOTH stumbling in this gigantic maze of confusion and questioning, looking at each other anew...

realising they need to reconstruct their entire worldviews because all of a sudden... They've been shattered.

The way that Buck looks at Eddie...?

The mirrored MASKS that both of these lines are!!

Starting to realise their worlds are in ashes.

Then rebirth.

Phoenix rising!!!

It's that treasure hunt riddle again.I've tried to figure it out and the way I read it, I think it's about feelings realization.

The "Narrow place" in the riddle sounds like an obvious arrow to Egypt. That's what the hebrew people called it or something, due to the divisional geography/the stories about them being enslaved there. Something like that.

And of course the river's edge in the riddle would then be The Nile. Denial.

And that heron? The ancient egyptian version of a Phoenix, Bennu. The deity of sun, creation, rebirth.

And what's a secret treasure by denial's edge? It's love. A secret treasure. Precious, yet something you want to hide. Hidden. Buried.

And the bullfrog is a reference to a line in a song, I think. "Jeremiah was a bullfrog".

Originally the line was supposed to be "Jeremiah was a prophet". The assistant in the episode, who was asked to hide the treasure... is called Jeremiah.

Jeremiah, the prophet, according to the Bible apparently traveled to Egypt himself.

But in the treasure hunt episode he steals the treasure and takes off to Maledives - an island without river's, btw!! No DeNial there!

Also... Another link to Egypt/Denial is the bullfrog croaking good measure.

"Ancient Egyptians used weights, like this small frog, to help calculate the value of goods. One Ancient Egyptian unit of measurement was the qedet, equivalent to about nine grams. "

"The Ancient Egyptians linked frogs to fertility and rebirth, likely because of the animal’s prolific reproduction.

These ties to abundance may have made frogs a suitable form for objects used to determine value."

Secret treasure, frogs, measurement, value, herons, narrow place = Egypt, the river's edge... (& My loss of sanity) Lots of links.

So let's see.

I walked along the river's Denial's edge

To hide my secret treasure love

The heron phoenix soared (= I burned, I was reborn.)

The gray bridge roared I saw you. (Because the bridge would be a reference to the "I see you!!" scene with Lola and Norman on that bridge, I think?)

And

"Isn't that what we all want in a partner, to be seen?"

I stopped beneath the willow tree

In the narrow place

And saw a light beam fall upon my treasured place hidden love

The light beam... It think it's truth? Realization, rebirth...

Btw, in the Bible Jeremiah writes about willow trees with much passion. It symbolizes hope, will grow by the river even in times of draught. So trust the Lord (the showmakers).

Also, this recent data of Marisol being nunlike?? What's "Nun" in relation to the Egypt theme?

Nun was represented as a frog or a frog-headed man (as a member of the Ogdoad) but could also be depicted as a bearded man with blue or green skin (reflecting his link with the river Nile and fertility).

In the latter form he can look fairly similar to Hapi (LOL), the god of the Nile, and often appears either standing on a solar boat or rising from the waters holding a palm frond (a symbol of long life), Occasionally, he appears as a hermaphrodite with pronounced breasts.

Nu ("Watery One") or Nun ("The Inert One") (Ancient Egyptian: nnw Nānaw; Coptic: Ⲛⲟⲩⲛ Noun), in ancient Egyptian religion, is the personification of the primordial watery abyss which existed at the time of creation and from which the creator sun god Ra arose.[1]

So let's watch the sun, rising from the denial!

#buddie #911 buddie #eddie diaz #evan buckley #buddie 911 #evan buck buckley #911 on abc #911 abc #tv: 911 #eddie díaz #911 treasure hunt #911 spoilers #911 speculation #I am not the gif wizard #911 treasure hunt riddle

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thebrickinbrick · 9 months ago

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History of Corinthe from its Foundation, part 1

THE Parisians who nowadays on entering on the Rue Rambuteau at the end near the Halles, notice on their right, opposite the Rue Mondétour, a basket-maker's shop having for its sign a basket in the form of Napoleon the Great with this inscription:

NAPOLEON IS MADE

WHOLLY OF WILLOW,

have no suspicion of the terrible scenes which this very spot witnessed hardly thirty years ago.

It was there that lay the Rue de la Chanvrerie, which ancient deeds spell Chanverrerie, and the celebrated public-house called Corinthe.

The reader will remember all that has been said about the barricade effected at this point, and eclipsed, by the way, by the barricade Saint-Merry. It was on this famous barricade of the Rue de la Chanvrerie, now fallen into profound obscurity, that we are about to shed a little light.

May we be permitted to recur, for the sake of clearness in the recital, to the simple means which we have already employed in the case of Waterloo. Persons who wish to picture to themselves in a tolerably exact manner the constitution of the houses which stood at that epoch near the Pointe Saint-Eustache, at the northeast angle of the Halles of Paris, where to-day lies the embouchure of the Rue Rambuteau, have only to imagine an N touching the Rue Saint-Denis with its summit and the Halles with its base, and whose two vertical bars should form the Rue de la Grande-Truanderie, and the Rue de la Chanvrerie, and whose transverse bar should be formed by the Rue de la Petite-Truanderie. The old Rue Mondétour cut the three strokes of the N at the most crooked angles. So that the labyrinthine confusion of these four streets sufficed to form, on a space three fathoms square, between the Halles and the Rue Saint-Denis on the one hand, and between the Rue du Cygne and the Rue des Prêcheurs on the other, seven islands of houses, oddly cut up, of varying sizes, placed crosswise and hap-hazard, and barely separated, like the blocks of stone in a dock, by narrow crannies.

We say narrow crannies, and we can give no more just idea of those dark, contracted, many-angled alleys, lined with eight-story buildings.

These buildings were so decrepit that, in the Rue de la Chanvrerie and the Rue de la Petite-Truanderie, the fronts were shored up with beams running from one house to another.

The street was narrow and the gutter broad, the pedestrian there walked on a pavement that was always wet, skirting little stalls resembling cellars, big posts encircled with iron hoops, excessive heaps of refuse, and gates armed with enormous, century-old gratings. The Rue Rambuteau has devastated all that.

[...] The passer-by who got entangled from the Rue Saint-Denis in the Rue de la Chanvrerie beheld it gradually close in before him as though he had entered an elongated funnel.

At the end of this street, which was very short, he found further passage barred in the direction of the Halles by a tall row of houses, and he would have thought himself in a blind alley, had he not perceived on the right and left two dark cuts through which he could make his escape. This was the Rue Mondétour, which on one side ran into the Rue de Prêcheurs, and on the other into the Rue du Cygne and the Petite-Truanderie. At the bottom of this sort of cul-de-sac, at the angle of the cutting on the right, there was to be seen a house which was not so tall as the rest, and which formed a sort of cape in the street. It is in this house, of two stories only, that an illustrious wine-shop had been merrily installed three hundred years before.

In the time of Mathurin Regnier, this cabaret was called the Pot-aux-Roses, and as the rebus was then in fashion, it had for its sign-board, a post (poteau) painted rose-color. In the last century, the worthy Natoire, one of the fantastic masters nowadays despised by the stiff school, having got drunk many times in this wine-shop at the very table where Regnier had drunk his fill, had painted, by way of gratitude, a bunch of Corinth grapes on the pink post. The keeper of the cabaret, in his joy, had changed his device and had caused to be placed in gilt letters beneath the bunch these words: "At the Bunch of Corinth Grapes (Au Raisin de Corinthe"). Hence the name of Corinthe. Nothing is more natural to drunken men than ellipses. The ellipsis is the zig-zag of the phrase. Corinthe gradually dethroned the Pot-aux-Roses. The last proprietor of the dynasty, Father Hucheloup, no longer acquainted even with the tradition, had the post painted blue.

#lm 4.12.1 #History of the Corinth from its foundations #the brick in brick

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justforbooks · 3 months ago

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Odyssey by Stephen Fry

The last in Fry’s four-book retelling of the Greek myths is relatable and full of humour

Not long ago, Elon Musk took a break from predicting civil war to offer his followers on X a book recommendation. “Can’t recommend the Iliad enough!” he tweeted. “Best as Penguin audiobook on 1.25 speed.” He accompanied this with a screenshot of the Penguin edition of The Odyssey. Erich Auerbach, thou shouldst be living at this hour.

Still, one way or another, Homer’s great poems have fulfilled the injunction to be news that stays news. Scholars of the original Greek, or partisans of Emily Wilson’s acclaimed recent verse translations, might roll their eyes at the injunction to speed-listen to an audiobook version. But one of the great virtues of myth is that it is robust to being reimagined: The Odyssey gives us Ulysses in one direction, and The Wind in the Willows or Watership Down in another.

And for practically as long as we’ve had the written word, we’ve had simplified retellings of the classical myths suitable for children and tech billionaires. Stephen Fry’s chatty and urbane but slyly erudite prose retellings fit right into this tradition. His Odyssey – which was preceded by Mythos, Heroes and Troy – brings a four-book sequence satisfyingly to a close.

Stylistically, Fry mostly eschews epic grandeur for the immediacy and relatability of modern idiom. The tone is spry rather than stately, and full of humour. Cassandra – wailing fruitlessly in the background all the way from Troy – is largely played for laughs; and when Agamemnon finally makes it home, the King of Men sounds for all the world like a red-trousered bon vivant back from the golf club after a bit too long at the 19th hole:

“Well, well, well! My darling, you grow ever more beautiful. The treasure ships are not far behind. The things you see! […] What’s that you say? A bath? Oh, my dear darling wife, there is only one thing I have been looking forward to more. And that can follow the bath, eh, eh?! Or maybe can be included in the bath, what?”

If he’d listened to Cassandra, he’d know what was included in the bath, but hey-ho.

Nor, though, does Fry altogether ignore the story’s pathos and poetry. There’s moving material about the easy love between father and sons – Odysseus is pierced at having missed out on Telemachus’s childhood – and here and there Fry’s default whimsy gives way to graver passages of writing. “A salt-caked, sun-burned, wind-scoured man lies face-down and naked on a beach. Sandflies skip on the scarred skin of his back.” Penelope, waiting on Ithaca, “strained her eyes towards the bar of haze that separated the blue of the empty sea from the blue of the empty sky”.

It’s not quite, or not only, a children’s book. The language gets fruity here and there – when Odysseus reveals himself to the suitors, he sounds positively Tarantinoesque: “He asked me who the hell I thought I was. I��ll tell you who I think I am. I think I am Odysseus of Ithaca, come back from the dead to revenge myself upon you. You fucking animals.” And the sexual violence is, if downplayed, not entirely absent (though perhaps to avoid muddying the moral clarity of the story for his younger readers, Fry omits Telemachus’s massacre of the maidservants).

There’s a lot of action in the footnotes, where Fry discusses lexicology or pronunciation, digresses on modern parallels, editorialises, or floats pet theories. He notes that Odysseus’s arrival on the Phaeacian coastline on a plank of his shattered raft may be “the first ever description of surfing in all literature”. He muses on why Hera is always “cow-eyed”, and notes that “cows (to us) are rarely imperious in aspect in the way Hera manifestly was, but perhaps this is a failure of observation on our part”. He argues, with reference to Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies and the name of the island Cos, that the lotus eaters are actually munching lettuce. He has Athena accusing Zeus of planning to “usher in an age without treaties, promises, honour or law”, and adds in a glum footnote: “A plan that finally has come into being in every detail it would seem … ”

This is a book with a theory, too. It completes a historic arc that has taken us from gods and titans, through demigod heroes, to the deeds of mortals in whose affairs the gods meddle freely – and it points to an era in which men, in a substantially disenchanted world, will find their own way. The trial of Orestes, in Fry’s account, is something like the thematic heart of the book. In it, Princess Erigone argues for “a new order” where “we are to reconstitute the world according to reason and sense, rather than impulse and bloodlust”, and the wise Athena “is the only god we need”. How’s that working out? Ask Elon Musk, I guess.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

#just for books #Stephen Fry #Odyssey #book review

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whatiwillsay · 8 months ago

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What if the love story in folklore is either Taylor spending time with Matty in a Joe intermission, or Joe doing something similar.

It adds meaning to the “he wasn’t a fool” convo from long pond between Jack and Taylor. If Jack is saying Taylor wasn’t a fool to spend time with him at a point when things were over. It also links with Taylor’s songs with MH being about being children.

Though there might also be something to Betty’s “show up at my party”, and “crashed my party in your rental car”.

Teenage love triangle needs revisiting!

so taylor says "my husband is cheating" and "We learned thе right steps to different dancеs, And fell victim to interlopers' glances" on the album about joe so I definitely think our long-running suspicion that joe cheated on taylor is confirmed but I think taylor also owns up to her OWN missteps and I think the folklore love triangle is a comment on all of that, not JUST taylor's affair with matty.

i don't think you can just one for one fill in the characters of the love triangle with three concrete people (like for example I've seen people say betty is taylor, halsey is august, james is matty or something like that)

i think they're all vibey songs- cardigan is taylor's perspective of what it's like to have someone from your past come back to you and make you feel better. i do think this song, in general, according to taylor, is about matty showing back up while joe was letting her down if we're going to believe what she said on eras tour (this is about you, you know who you are, I love you).

but i do think betty is taylor and joe talking to each other, both apologizing for cheating.

and i think august is ALSO taylor's perspective perhaps talking about how she felt about being the other woman to matty's partner (fka twigs?) but also I think she may have been trying to take into consideration the feelings of whoever joe cheated on her with.

remember, taylor's team confirmed that taylor and joe were on and off for a long time and had broken up before the big confirmed break up in April of 2023 and I've of course had tea confirming they broke up many times as well. i think one of these iterations was over quarantine (I have heard they got couples counseling in 2020). hence them writing songs like betty, exile, ch probs, and coney island together! and of course, taylor writing songs like illicit affairs and ivy along with the love triangle songs (and also tolerate it and happiness IMO were just about struggles with joe).

i think one of these breakups had to do with matty and also perhaps infidelity on joe's part but they worked it out and wrote songs together to cope and taylor wrote a bunch of songs about infidelity to process and understand it all.

the way the house in ivy burns down at the end and then taylor lights the lover house on fire and burns it down on eras tour to me is just chef's kiss. and it just ALL comes together on ttpd don't get me started on matty's matches in loml ("your arson's match your somber eyes") and all the other connections to folkmore/the love triangle.

i think most of folkmore is about these affairs and the failures of taylor and joe's relationship (while still trying to come back together and heal it with songs like evermore and willow and long story short). you can't really blame her for hiding it all in a fictional setting given how the public would have commented on the drama esp if she and joe were trying to work it out!

i comment a lot on all of this in my Learning the Lore of TTPD series part I is here on spotify and here on apple podcasts!

#taylor swift #folklore #evermore #cardigan #betty #august #folklore love triangle #matty healy #joe alwyn #swifties #the tortured poets department #ttpd #fortnight #how did it end #mbobhft #tsmwel #ivy #folkmore #tswift

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springbreezes-and-peonies · 11 months ago

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Peony

Peony can’t recall her own birthday, as the concept of dates and years is difficult to grasp when every day you live in solitude. In perfect, peaceful, sunny bliss. Like the summers of a childhood long past, free, vivid, warm…Everyday a flowering spring morning after rain, quiet and happy and perfectly, perfectly safe. She cannot read, or write. And indeed she would fumble through any attempts to keep a schedule or track of time even if she were trying with all her willpower. But, she can garden. She has a natural tendency to plants, a bond with them as innate as breathing, as pumping blood to your heart, and it is a blessing for her too, because her plants love her, and she loves them. She can hear them, as if they have little voices of their own, speaking to her, in her mind and in her heart. Peony cannot read, but she can sense the struggles of a bed of mums from many yards away. She cannot write, but she can hear the rare and beautiful, (and maybe slightly discordant) songs of wildflowers and weeds. Dandelions, clover blossoms, and speedwell sing in a harmony, or perhaps disharmony, all their own and it is something most people will never hear. She does not know her birthday (though the plants tell her she is 26? 27? 30?) but she can heal a dying rose bush with her touch, her kiss could mend even a wilting belladonna, and she dances with all of the grace and abandon of petals caught by a gentle spring breeze, of a girl raised by flowers and ferns and trees, of a lady who knows not what shame or humiliation are, and who is perfectly, entirely: herself.

She lives a very warm and happy life, even in solitude as her plants love her and guide her. Indeed she was named by the flowers, for when she came drifting to the lonely sky island on the outskirts of the Floralian kingdom’s archipelago, dropped by the wind with care at the feet of weeping willows, atop soft moss, they thought she may have BEEN a Peony and not a darling little moth-caterpillar. She was so covered in flower petals gathered in the breeze, they could be forgiven for such a mistake. The plants could not have known how such a name would come to suit her as she grew and matured, once her metamorphosis passed, and she became a lovely, grown moth-kind, she certainly resembled a Peony more and more. Her skin petal-pink, a cotton-candy crown of her curls atop her pretty pink head, curling playfully around her fuzzy gold moth antennae. Her sunset eyes light up her face and up close (or when especially excited) they sparkle and gleam as if they’ve been splashed by morning dewdrops, and beneath them, glittering, gold freckles dot her soft cheeks. She is a woman in love with dresses, flowing, playful, petal-y dresses with tiers and layers and ribbons.

Yes, Peony is very happy, for this solitude does not feel quite like solitude when the shy violets tell you their secrets, or the playful daisies gossip to you of what they’ve heard on the breeze of life in the castle.

“Did you hear?? The beloved Queen has transformed her appearance so completely! Folks say she doesn’t go out as much anymore and spends time alone in her room, managing her appearance…”

“Oh???” Peony asks, tilting her head inquisitively.

“Well, that’s what the hollyhocks in the castle gardens say. They say they see Lord Taranza more and more each day too. Alone. She must be spending less time with him as well…They say he seems very sad.”

“How terrible…” She frowns, and truly does feel quite sorrowful. “From all accounts he loves her dearly…I cannot imagine how that must feel…”

And this is more than true. For this is the one sadness in Peony’s life of bliss and summery wonder: she cannot imagine how this heartache must feel, for she has never had any sort of bond with another. She has heard gossips of friendship and love from her plants. Acts of kindness and care, of platonic bonding, of romantic courtships…She has known little of either. The flowers and trees and ferns are all good and sweet and loving in their way, but as she grows and matures she begins to feel they are a poor substitute for interaction with one of her kind, another Floralian, someone like her. But no one ever visits her little sky island, and a life of solitude makes her wary of fluttering off with her wings and venturing out to the more populace sections of the kingdom. So, she stays. She gardens. She watches the sunsets and stargazes as the dandelions whisper and sing to her, she kisses their seedlings off into the sweet breeze, hoping that at least they may sprout their roots somewhere that will give them all they need, all they pine for, and she does her best to be content with this life she’s been given…

And, for the most part, Peony is content. But hopes, and day dreams, and desires have a way of persisting no matter the distractions, and this desire has been pressed to within the tender soils of her heart by her own gentle hands, and like the seed it is, it takes root, and grows until she can think of nothing else but knowing the love of another, to go without threatens to split her delicate heart in two.

“I want a friend…” She whispers sorrowfully.

“We’ll be your friends!” A chorus of sunny daffodils replies in cheerful affection.

“I know.” Peony responds, and smiles sadly to herself.

“I want a beloved…I want to feel loved.” She sighs, laying in the empty, colorful fields on a cloudy day.

“We’ll love you Peony! You care for us everyday! You tend to us so carefully, even when we prick you with our thorns, you sing to us and talk to us and help us grow! You are beautiful inside and out!” The roses exalt her passionately, and honestly. But Peony sighs in response and simply nods her head.

“I know…” She whispers again, that same sad smile set on her pretty pink lips, as if it’s been carved there, immutably.

Then one day, everything changes. It is bright, sunny morning like many on her cozy island, and Peony is in her yard, in her garden, tending to her plants. She hums softly to herself and whispers gentle affirmations to her little plants, tending them with love and care, her melancholy pushed to the back of her mind as she sets her mind and heart to her task.

“My, my…What’s a gorgeous little creature like yourself doing all alone on this island…?” A voice. A non-plant voice, warm and smooth like a summer evening drifts to her ears, her antennae twitch and tickle…as she hears it…She moves her eyes from her work and looks around, and at the gate of her garden she can see him standing there, leaning on the fence…A moth-kind like herself…His skin gold…hair long and dark like a starless sky, his eyes black shadows on his golden face that seem to bear into her heart…A span of gold and black wings at his back, six dark, gloved hands rest on her wooden fence as he watches her from outside her garden, as if he’s studying a work of art…His voice, his presence, his appearance are so strange and so regal to Peony. She takes a breath. She tries to speak but the words simply won’t come. She can’t find them. They’re lost to her under his gaze.

“I don’t mean to frighten you, precious girl. I was simply struck by your beauty as I was flying by…” He explains, his words sweet as honey, his tone soft but confident. He does not approach closer than the fence.

“O-oh…Golly…” Peony blushes deeply, her pink face growing ever pinker. She is struck by his words…Something strange, something new is blooming in her heart, making her chest feel tight and her breath fall short. She is nervous…anxious…a little fearful of this stranger, but oh so excited. This is so new. The mundane is shattered. This is something different in days and days that pass in a sunny, flowery blur, this is unique…

The stranger chuckles softly as Peony merely stares at him, in awe of him. He shakes his head playfully at her.

“Are you always this way when you meet a stranger my dear?” He asks, his voice a reverie ringing in her ears.

“I-I…I don’t meet people often sir…” Peony replies, raising two of her yellow-gloved hands to her burning cheeks. She continues, a little breathlessly. “I-in fact you’re the first other than my plants…”

“Really?” The stranger tilts his head curiously, his black, pin-like antennae curl inquisitively at this.

“Mhm.” Peony smiles, feeling a little more at ease as they converse. The stranger grins.

“Well then it is quite an honor and a delight to be the first visitor you have little flower.” He chuckles again, enthusing over her.

Peony feels herself become so flushed and so shy with every compliment he gives…his praise of her beauty is overwhelming for her, his very presence is such a shock to her system, but she dare not retreat. She feels innocently and quickly taken with him. And from this day on, her days of pure, childlike, mundanity were over.

The stranger begins to visit every day. He watches Peony garden from just outside her garden gate, leaning against the wooden posts, his dark eyes seemingly unblinking as her gentle hands tend to her flowers, her plants. His voice, his words are almost entrancing to her, as if his speech is a spell cast upon her heart and soul.

“The flowers tell me you are lonely.” He says, his tone sympathetic and kind.

“They do??? You can speak to them too???” She asks, so very stunned by this. They are alike. So alike. Finally, someone like her…

“I can. And they do. Is that true pretty girl?” He asks gently of her.

“It was…” She responds shyly, the blush returning to her face, causing her pink face to nearly glow with its rosy tinge.

“Oh? It was?” He smiles at this, gazing affectionately at her rosy cheeks.

“It was…”

Days begin to come and go quickly for Peony now. Every morning she rushes herself from bed, her pink and gold wings abuzz to get to her garden, to see this man…This man who has captured her heart. Every day they spend longer and longer together, the hours fly by so quickly, too quickly as the instant he is gone she is pining for his company again. He stays at the garden gate, never entering, always watching, listening to her talk about flowers and plants and her abilities with them, smiling to her, showering her with praise, and compliments and adoration.

One day, it is very late, and she is still in the garden, he is still nearby, listening to her sweet babble about her flowers and her gardening skills, and after a long moment he tenderly interrupts.

“Peony…Do you trust me?” He asks of her, as if she wouldn’t at this point, as if there is so much weight to this question.

“Do I trust you?? Of course I trust you!” She answers in kind, as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe. “I trust you with my whole heart! With my soul!” She enthuses, a wide smile cross her face, her pink eyes sparkling with joy, with pure, true, honest love.

He smiles, his eyes like pools of the night sky surrounding them on his golden face.

“Then may I come in and sit beside you awhile?”

Peony blushes faintly at this, fiddling shyly with the pink bow tied round her neck, but after a moment she nods, realizing she’d want nothing more. She’d never wanted anything more.

At once, he opens the wooden gate, and moves smoothly, elegantly to her, as if the grass was made to bend to his graceful passage. He sits beside her, very close, facing her, his eyes gazing unblinking into hers. He is silent for a time, and all Peony can hear is her breath sharp in her throat, and her heart beating against her chest as though it would escape and offer itself to this man of its own volition if it could. She gulps.

“H-hi.” She simply says. She’s never been this close to him before…She’s never been this close to anyone before.

“Hello.” He responds, chuckling softly, and as Peony listens she is only now noticing, there is a faint, whispering echo to his silken voice when he speaks.

She tilts her head, moving her face close to his, her wings buzzing as she examines his face up close with great curiosity. She flutters all around him, looking him over close up as much as she can before landing and sitting across from him once more.

“Beautiful…” She murmurs sweetly, honestly…

He chuckles again, shaking his head gently. “My dear, if you’ll permit me, I’d like to give you a kiss…” He whispers to her, such tenderness to his voice. “Your very first…”

Peony gasps, and hesitates at this. She feels a little unsure, such a gesture is so grand, so new for her. She thinks hard for a moment. She remembers all her days of yearning for someone, a friend, a companion, a beloved. She remembers the strain on her heart, the melancholy and mundanity and how his simple presence shattered that, and she knows she wants to kiss him. She longs to with her entire heart. She nods.

“Oh I’m so delighted my flower. Would you close your eyes? Then I will give you your kiss…” He sighs softly, tilting her chin up delicately.

She gazes upon his beautiful, golden face…and she shuts her eyes…

And for a moment she feels nothing at all. She doesn’t even feel his presence before her. She doesn’t feel his hand tilting her chin. She doesn’t even feel the grass beneath her. She opens her eyes and sees nothing. Only darkness. Then, in an instant, a rush of unbearable, insurmountable feelings begin to course through her mind. Feelings of sorrow, of anger, of hatred, feelings so unfamiliar to the innocent moth. She feels intense pain and agony and as she opens her mouth to scream no sound comes out. He is gone. Everything is gone. Something is horribly, horribly wrong…She passes out with one final thought as consciousness drifts away…’I didn’t even get my kiss…’

After an unknowable amount of time, consciousness returns to her, and she can see again, but she still feels entirely numb. And as she focuses hard, she realizes in horror what her vision is seeing…Her own hands, her own self, destroying her plants, and not just her garden…not just her plants, but everything in sight. Her powers working in opposition to their natural state, everything she touches falling to decay…Even worse, she cannot stop, she is not in control…Some dark force has her possessed, something is piloting her body, destroying her home against her will. A deep sorrow fills her heart, making her sick to the pit of her stomach as the realization dawns on her…

“It’s him. He wasn’t even real. He…He was some darkness pretending in order to get ahold of me…To do this.” She cannot scream. She cannot cry. She can only look on in horror, trapped inside herself like a prisoner in her own mind, as she destroys everything she’s ever loved with her own hands. She hears ferns, flowers, even trees who have sheltered her for her entire life as she has sheltered them call out to her in pain, pleading for an end to this, but there is nothing she can do and no end in sight. There is no reprieve from this destruction, or the very new, very keen sadness it brings.

Time passes for awhile like this. Days. However long Peony cannot say, but the destruction does not end. She feels numb, lost, grey…She wants an end to it, anything for it to stop…Then one bright, cloudless day, she sees something as her face turns towards the sky…a ball of pink floating towards her against the blue…It gets closer…QUICKLY closer! It’s coming for her!

Peony is stunned, this small, pink, round creature is quickly upon her! Its eyes bright blue, within them the very images of the stars. It attacks with tenacity and speed she does not expect. She watches, helpless to stop herself as her possessed form begins to strike back against it, calling forth plants, vines, striking out with everything available to her.

“Oh no! No please don’t hurt the little thing!” She cries in her mind for it to stop, but she continues fighting back…and yet…so does the little pink ball…He bounces effortlessly back no matter how hard she hits him…He fights with such courage, such determination, she realizes he will not give up, and the darkness possessing her won’t allow her to either…At the end of this confrontation, one will be slain. She is filled with fear for the little pink creature, though he is strong, surely he cannot stop her slaughter…?

The battle wages on, no matter how many times the pink creature is hit, he refuses to give up, and after fighting him off for sometime, she can see her movements are becoming slow, sloppy, weak, and yet he is just the same as he was at the start…Finally, after sometime it’s over. Peony is defeated, and she feels her vision fading…as she is once again blacking out.

“It’s over…I’m through…If this is how I leave this life then……then…”

For a time she thinks no more……

And suddenly…her eyes are fluttering open…and she can move herself! She is in control again! And the first thing before her as her sparkling pink eyes open up, is that little pink ball! He has such a concerned look on his plush, pink face, his eyes nearly pressed to her own, swirling stars in their blue pools, gentle, childish sounds coming from him. He taps her head tenderly with one of his rounded arms, making a quizzical, concerned sound.

Peony feels a wave of relief washing over her. She’s alive, she’s okay…But something else washes over her as well, something doubtlessly caused by this creature’s presence, this pure, boundless happiness and warmth and…love. Real love. She can’t contain herself, laughter is bubbling up within her, desperate to escape, and she picks up the tiny pink ball with her six hands and spins around happily with him, laughing with such bliss, such warmth, and she can hear him laughing too. ‘Kirby’…The name passes through her mind as she affectionately bumps her forehead to his, and she blinks in understanding. She kisses his head lightly, hugging him tight, both of them laughing some more.

“Thank you Kirby…” She whispers to him, tears forming in her eyes, tears of freedom and peace…She feels Kirby squeeze her tighter in a hug, cooing affectionately, soothingly to her and something in her feels like everything is going to be alright…

After their embrace, Kirby takes off on his Warpstar, waving goodbye. Peony waves back, sighing heavily, a deep, regretful feeling slowly enveloping her as she looks at the destruction surrounding her. All her plants, her friends, and she can hear the sorrow they feel, the pain, the grief…She thinks hard for a moment, and takes a deep breath…There is one thing at least she can do.

Peony flutters up into the sky, high enough so she can see all of the surface of her island in view. She gathers her wits, and her strength. “I’m sorry. I will undo this pain my friends. I will never take you for granted again…”

She cries out hard, letting out an intense burst of energy that coats the dying grass and trees, glittering with life, with her love, coaxing things to be born anew…to heal…to live…And as her plants are healed by the forces deep within her very soul, she gently sinks against the grass to sleep…very much in need of rest…

Once Peony wakes, the flowers and plants are lively, they are coming back, all thanks to her…But Peony can no longer hear them, her touch no longer coaxes the dying petals of flowers back to their prime, and if they can understand her still she does not know. She sighs, smiling sadly, gazing out at the sky as the sun rises…”It will be okay…It’s just…a new start.” She looks up at the clouds, and blows a gentle kiss up to them, hoping it may reach Kirby, that little pink ball who saved her, who gave her a second chance…

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