#kainosite

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Hello hi, I know this is an absolutely absurd ask, but I am bored and curious: do you like incense and if so, do you have a favourite scent? mine is patchouli for some reason, probably because my late father liked it. Thank you so very much if you do respond~

It's a little bizarre that this is such a big question for me, but I've used incense from a lot of different places over the years and my favorites would include:

(1) The incense from the Hindu wedding market at the airport, which smelled like some combination of clove, cardamom, sandalwood, and a bit of cinnamon

(2) A candle I had for a while that had the most amazing scent I've ever encountered and which made it difficult to sleep at night in college and which I still smell sometimes just because it's one of the world's great smells

(3) The incense that comes in a bag of sticks from an Indian grocery with an intense smell of curry and cinnamon that seems like the kind of incense one is meant to burn in a temple

(4) Incense from a Buddhist grocery with an intense smell of vanilla, and which I used when visiting the area when I was living in California and then forgot about for years after I moved away

As you can see, I like a range of smells! I think my tastes are shaped by when and where I bought incense, and I think that the above list does a pretty good job of capturing a range of the main categories – clove, cinnamon, sandalwood, etc. – plus some that I didn't list.

(Incidentally, for the record, I haven't liked the incense the airport sells in about a decade, even though I had a similar airport trip a few days ago and brought a bottle of it. This incense is a particular blend that the airport market has that I can't stand, although the market itself has a lot more variety in the incense you can buy).

[knitepercival]

This was inspired by Kainosite’s The Art of Tying a Cravat on AO3!

[pilferingapples]

kainosite replied to your post: [[MOR] …my drawing is Upsetting me. 

Thanks to the BBC the Barricade Cat is canon now.

The Barricade Cat has ALWAYS been canon! It's just a shame there wasn't a Joly to see it there:P

[bobcatmoran]

kainosite replied to your post “Les Mis BBC, Part 5: lol politics wut”

Er... the exchange about the gunpowder seems similar to 2012 because in both cases it's a verbatim quote from the novel.

Fair enough. I do find it interesting, though, that the first two lines of that exchange were translated exactly the same in both instances, though. Given that the delivery of those lines was so dramatic and striking in the 2012 movie that the audio is seared into my memory, I was kind of thrown off when Marius ended the exchange with “Myself, too” this time around.

(for the record, here’s how it goes in the translations I have:

FMA:

“Get back, or I’ll blow up the barricade!” 

“Blow up the barricade! And yourself, too!”

“And myself, too.”

Denny:

“Clear out or I’ll blow up the whole place!”

“If you blow up the barricade, you’ll blow up yourself as well!”

“And myself as well.”

Wilbour:

“Begone, or I”ll blow up the barricade!”

“Blow up the barricade! And yourself also!

“And myself also.”

Hapgood:

“Be off with you, or I’ll blow up the barricade!”

“Blow up the barricade! And yourself with it!”

“And myself also.”)

[earthstory]

Kainosite A mineral rarity including the rare earth elements Yttrium and Cerium in its chemical formula it was first discovered on a remote Norwegian island and named after the Greek word for unusual due to its scarceness and unusual elemental content. Being so rare it only occurs in a few places on the globe mostly in Scandinavia and Russia where it forms in alkali rich granites and other volcanic rocks. Colour varies from none to straw yellow and chestnut brown and the Mohs hardness of 5-6 means that it has on occasion been cut for collectors though gemmy material is exceptionally uncommon. Crystals form as stumpy prisms or radiating wheatsheaves. Other localities include Austria, Italy, the USA, Canada and Germany from which comes the 0.8x 0.6 x 0.4 cm facet grade example in the photos. Loz Image credit: Rob Lavinsky/iRocks.com https://www.mindat.org/min-2133.html http://bit.ly/2rlGHZ5

[astarion-dekarios]

Who's your favorite Communard?

To be entirely honest I’m not as knowledgeable as I’d like to be regarding the Paris Commune; I’m fond of a fair few of them from what I’ve read so far but I’m not sure that I can pick a favorite without risking being called injudicious, and to Louise-Michel just by name recognition seems unfair. :P

Maybe Lissagaray. I /still/ haven’t read his History although I’ve had it on my to-read list for Several years, but I at least know a fair bit about him and he seems like a Rad Dude. Who is yours?

[prudencepaccard]

kainosite replied to your quote “Not only do I not believe in the stability of the American government,...”

Dragging de Maistre with the benefit of 200 years of hindsight seems a trifle unfair, but I am totally here for it. XD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv6wq1X7L1s

[esteliel]

kainosite replied to your post: The slavefic is now officially longer than the...

Because there wasn’t enough balls-squeezing in the casefic. :p

If only someone had told Claquesous that that’s the correct way of dealing with prisoners... :(

[vapaus-ystavyys-tasaarvo]

OMG I just saw your Tholomyès tag. :D

I’m very proud of it! xD

[kainosite]

Les Misérables 2018, Episode 4

If I post the review before the next episode airs in the US that counts as “timely”, right?

The Good

• Extremely South London Éponine is the best thing in this series.  From the moment she steps into Marius’ room, their interactions are absolutely perfect.  Her crass attempt to offer herself to him and her delighted wonder when it fails, Marius’ appalled, half-paralyzed bewilderment at the whole situation and his awkward charity, Davies’ made-up slang for the écu, “You’re a star, are you sure!?”,  Éponine code-switching at the end and then grabbing the bread on her way out, even the noncanonical, nonconsensual kiss – the whole scene is spot-on from start to finish.

As is her reunion with the rest of the Thénardier clan.  The coarse sisterly banter and Azelma’s look of joy when Éponine hands her the stale bread, Thénardier’s petulant ranting, his violence towards Éponine and Mme. Thénardier’s weary indifference to it, his immediate attempt to crush Éponine into submission when she shows any sign of independence or self-worth – it all paints a vivid picture of Éponine’s world, and the juxtaposition to the scene with Marius makes it very clear that her infatuation with him is not about a crush on a boy but rather about getting the hell away from all this.  And I love that she grabbed her five francs back at the end.

• It’s interesting that the miniseries with the most graphically awful Toulon also has the most determinedly reclusive Valjean, and it’s consistent with his experience in Montreuil-sur-Mer as well.  In the novel Madeleine’s fall is precipitated by his carelessness towards his subordinates, first with regard to the consequences of his factory’s morality policy and then with regard to Javert’s feelings.  But that’s all pretty indirect, and Brick Valjean could reasonably feel that he was the victim of an arbitrary misfortune and that if he’d been a bit luckier everything would have worked out fine.  Westjean, on the other hand, was hunted from the moment Javert showed up in town and was personally responsible for Fantine’s downfall.  From his perspective, his attempt to participate in society must seem like a catastrophe.  He might well wonder whether it’s possible for someone in his position to do any good at all, given the debacle in Montreuil.  Both guilt and prudence suggest it might be better to just give up and become a hermit.

• Cosette’s little convent friends.  This miniseries has consistently gone out of its way to place the female leads in community with other women, and it’s nice to see.

• Rivette continues to be excellent even with a silly moustache.

• The Mabeuf + Marius timeline continues to be nonsensical, but I enjoyed their meet-cute and Marius was charmingly obtuse.  I also enjoyed Davies’ commitment to Georges Pontmercy/Mabeuf, which is the only explanation I can think of for why Mabeuf might keep a collection of old newspaper clippings about Georges in his attic.

• Gillenormand is still pitch-perfect.

• This episode was not Quinjolras’s finest hour, but he was extremely done with Marius’ shit, which though not particularly Brick-accurate is a quality I always appreciate in an Enjolras.  Giving him Combeferre’s “To be free” line was inspired.  I’m also impressed by his ability to adjust his rhetoric to match his audience – “Think of the poor veterans living in poverty!” is the way to win Marius to the side of revolution, if anything will.

• The juxtaposition of Javert’s lonely, cheerless bedtime routine and Valjean broodingly watching Cosette at the piano could have been filmed by a Valvert shipper (Look!  They’ll never be complete without each other!), which in a way I suppose it was.

• The police patrolling the Luxembourg Gardens while Cosette is looking around in raptures was a nice subtle touch.  This series plays up the Valjean vs. Cosette conflict more than I might like, but it does a very good job of showing you where they both are coming from.

• THE HANDKERCHIEF SCENE!

• I do appreciate Westjean’s ongoing commitment to self-branding.  Also the fact that they included the chisel scene makes the Coin of Shame a nice piece of foreshadowing.

The Meh

• I suppose it makes sense for a Cosette raised by Shouty Valjean to shout a lot herself.  This Valjean + Cosette pair actually articulate their needs and desires and communicate them to each other, instead of repressing everything and sinking into silent depression.

On the one hand, that’s healthy.  Good for them.  I know people are concerned about the tenor of their relationship, but frankly Westjean has done a better job than Brick Valjean of raising Cosette out of the unquestioning silence of her abuse.  They both adopted a kid who “had suffered so much that she feared everything – even to speak, even to breathe”.  Only Westjean has a kid who doesn’t exhibit the exact same trauma symptoms six years later.

On the other hand, who are these people?

• I do not appreciate Javert’s medal, but I very much appreciate Javert’s resentment of his medal while there’s still a Valjean on the loose.  If we’ve gotta go Bread Crimes let’s really commit to it.

• Sister Simplice is convinced the outside world has become more dangerous.  Sure, I guess?  1823-25 when they came into the convent was a relatively calm period, and there has just been a successful revolution.  Still, this seems like a good time for the show to mention that.

• “Wow,” I thought, “What a perfect choice for the Rue de l’Homme Armé!”  Oh wait, it’s the Rue Plumet which is still mostly orchards at this point.  That said, the garden is fantastic.

• Marius’ wet dream was actually okay.  After the Éponine Peep Show Incident I feared the worst, but there was nothing terribly wrong with it.  Marius had vaguely sexual thoughts about Cosette, his subconscious pulled a bait-and-switch and transformed her into Éponine, at which point he went “Nope nope nope DNW!” and awoke in a cold sweat.  This is not at all an unreasonable thing for Marius to dream, especially in an adaptation that’s dangling Éponine’s sexuality in front of him as aggressively as this one is.  The key theme of Marius/Éponine from Marius’ end, which is that he’s not attracted to her because he understands it’s immoral to fuck starving child prostitutes, comes through loud and clear.

• What a weird way to do the Chaîne scene.  I can see it happening: most Valjeans would never intentionally expose Cosette to a sight like this, but because Westjean is stuck with a Cosette who actually asserts her needs, he has to push back much harder than usual in order to maintain their secrecy.  He doesn’t show her the Chaîne to punish her or upset her – it’s clearly an ill-judged attempt to convince her The World Is Bad and win their argument from the day before, and perhaps also to start a conversation about his own past which will explain why he’s a paranoid recluse.  A bit manipulative perhaps, but that’s well within Valjean’s repertoire, and he’s thoroughly punished for it by the narrative since the whole scheme ends up backfiring horribly on him.  Cosette is not just appalled by this glimpse into the brutality of their society but repulsed by the convicts themselves, and the viewers get an explanation for why Valjean will be so adamant later that Cosette must never learn his true history.

I do think the Chaîne scene is important for explaining Valjean’s Cosette Issues so I’m always glad when an adaptation decides to include it, but on balance I think it works better when they stumble across it by accident.

• The attempted kidnapping at the Gorbeau tenement was fine.  Points for including the chisel and all the “neighbors” slipping into the room, minus points for Valjean punching everyone.  I’m not sure why Valjean thought paying off Thénardier would help anything, but then Valjean has never been the king of good decisions and this Valjean less than most.

The Bad

• I appreciate Valjean’s aspiration to spend the rest of his life hiding in a hole.  I do not appreciate the hard sell on Cosette taking the veil.  It just makes him seem selfish and inconsiderate of her needs, to a degree that he isn’t in the novel.  His “I thought we’d found a home here together where you could grow up and I could grow old, and you could grow old, and I could die, and you could die, and we’d be buried and we’d be together forever! :D :D :D” line is hilarious and adorable in the way it expresses the tragic limits of his aspirations, but I would sacrifice it in order to lose this scene.

• After holding down the fort on costumes and set design for two episodes, the Prefecture of Police sadly let us down this episode.  You guys were doing so well!  No uniforms, no illegal tricolors in 1823 like some adaptations we could mention *cough2012cough*, but now it’s 1832 and suddenly everyone is dressed like an officier de paix and Javert has a medal and they’ve still got the fleur-de-lys up.  Also that blah jacket of navy serge is not what the Prefect of Police’s uniform looked like in the 1830s, lmao.  I mean, for fuck’s sake, it’s fancier than that now.  That thing Chabouillet was wearing in the 1978 movie is also not remotely what the Prefect’s uniform looks like, but at least they bothered to slap some gold braid on it.

I will grudgingly accept the uniforms as a visual representation of the increasing professionalization of the police, Not!Gisquet’s Légion d’honneur is a reasonable reward for him apparently allowing the July Revolution to happen, and I do appreciate them swapping the portrait of Louis XVIII for Louis-Philippe inside, but there’s no excuse for Javert’s medal or the flag.

• Surely the entire purpose of casting Josh O'Connor as Marius is so Marius can be shy and stiff and awkward, and emphasize these qualities by having a face that consists primarily of nose and ears?  Otherwise you could cast someone who actually looks like Marius.

I know everyone shouts a lot in this and he probably needs to be able to shout back to keep up with Cosette, but from his very first words to Gillenormand he’s far too assertive and confrontational.  Part of the charm of Marius/Cosette is how isolated and naive they both are, and how these victims of childhood abuse are able to find in each other a safety they might not find in anyone else.  (Marius’ damage is obvious, and while Cosette’s is more subtle her tendency towards unquestioning acceptance would leave her incredibly vulnerable to the Tholomyèses of the world.)  This adaptation portrayed this kind of mutual refuge very well with Valjean/Fantine, of all things, so it’s weird they didn’t think to do it here.

Of course, Bambersette is healthier than Brick Cosette in some ways so maybe she doesn’t need it so much, but they still need to sell us on the pairing somehow.  Meet-cutes in the Luxembourg are all very well, but handkerchief sniffing can only get you so far.

• I see Fantine’s inability to put her hair up like a respectable woman is hereditary.

• If we have to see this much of the principal-tenant of the Gorbeau House I want to see some parrots, dammit.

• Éponine has a job and we have no reason to assume she’s bad at it, so I’m not going to say she wouldn’t do a sexy peephole dance for her new neighbor the law student.  At this point she knows nothing of Marius’ virtuous chastity; all she knows is that he’s young, male, richer than her, and she’s probably going to be forced to sleep with him for money at some point.  This scene could happen.

But we sure as fuck didn’t need to see it.  Stop sexualizing the starving child prostitute, Davies.  It’s disgusting.

• Speaking of things not to sexualize, why the hell does the dressmaker assume Valjean is Cosette’s sugar daddy and not her actual relative?  It made sense that everyone thought so last week because Valjean was being super shady.  It makes sense for Thénardier still to think so, because Thénardier is Thénardier.  It makes absolutely no sense for random strangers to assume it.  It’s the nineteenth century!  People die in childbirth!  There’s a cholera epidemic!  Teenage girls need their fathers to take them clothes shopping because all their female relatives are dead.  This is not such an unusual scenario that anyone would remark on it, or make highly offensive insinuations about a customer.  And why doesn’t Valjean just introduce himself to people as her father???

Mild, mild Valjean/Cosette is Brick canon and I don’t think we can justly criticize an adaption for including it, but every random passerby shouldn’t be remarking on it.

• On my first viewing of this episode, I assumed that its portrayal of the Amis as tiresome drunken louts could be explained by the fact that Andrew Davies simply didn’t like Enjolras, and probably not the other Amis or the June Rebellion very much either.  The superb barricade sequence in the subsequent episodes demolishes that theory.  Never has it been portrayed so well, and certainly not in any English language adaptation.  But that leaves me at an absolute loss to explain what Davies was doing here.  This is our first introduction to the Amis: they should be likable, so that we will like them.  They are not.

The irony is that it’s not particularly hard to prosecute a case against Enjolras, if you want to complicate his heroism a bit.  Enjolras is ridiculous and slightly insufferable!  Enjolras is a guy who thinks “Citizen, my mother is the Republic,” is a coherent and comforting response when his best friend musically drags your Napoleon eulogy.  I mean, just look at these twats in hats in the Théâtre de la Jeunesse adaptation.  They are highly mockable!  And on a more somber note, Enjolras led a revolutionary cell that misjudged the public mood so badly it got a hundred people killed to no useful purpose.

But Enjolras is not deliberately trying to orchestrate a battle to the death over France’s system of government.  Enjolras had the chance to battle to the death only two years ago, and he’s still here.  What Enjolras wants is to jump up on Lamarque’s casket and have all the National Guards and the troops of the line wave their muskets in the air and say “Yeah, fuck that pear-faced buffoon!  Down with the king!  Vive la république!”  That’s why his side have been quietly trying to propagandize and subvert every military unit in Paris for months, which Davies knows, because Enjolras mentions it himself in Episode 5!  If the monarchy could be overthrown without any bloodshed at all, that would be ideal.

And Enjolras has too much dignity to throw food at anyone, even Grantaire.  If we must take a swipe at Enjolras through the medium of food fights, Courfeyrac should throw food at Grantaire and Enjolras should give him a pious lecture about wasting food when so many are starving.  That wouldn’t be in character either, but it’s at least within shooting distance of proper characterization and it highlights annoying qualities the characters actually have.

• Speaking of annoying qualities characters don’t have, when Courfeyrac is coming off as sleazier than Tholomyès you are doing it wrong.  Courfeyrac knows girls you don’t have to pay, beyond the usual ‘showing them a good time’ expenses.  He does not have to take his dorky virgin friend to a brothel to get him laid!

• Grantaire is a drunk, but he’s a grandiloquent drunk.  That is... his entire characterization.  How could anyone get this wrong?

• That fucking brothel scene.  WHY.

If you must do a Sexual Awakening of Marius plotline, and evidently Andrew Davies must, I think the correct sequence is this: Courfeyrac and Grantaire take him out beyond the barrières and try to set him up with cute girls.  Marius is having none of it, of course; he’s too shy and awkward, girls are scary, he doesn’t want a fling.  Then he sees Cosette in the park and he’s smitten.

A visit to a brothel Courfeyrac is too classy ever to patronize is not in the cards.  The sole redeeming feature of this scene was the fact that Enjolras declined to attend.

This episode was a return to form, and by form I mean the Thénardiers were fantastic and everything else was incredibly fucking uneven.  While I can’t say that this Gavroche will make fun of Enjolras’ rubbish beard, I can say this Gavroche would make fun of Enjoras’ rubbish beard, and that’s what really counts.

[wigmund]

From Mindat.Org Photo Of The Day; January 23, 2017:

Kainosite-(Y): Ca2Y2(SiO3)4(CO3)·H2O

Locality: Mount Malosa, Zomba District, Malawi

A 4.3 cm kainosite-(Y) from Mount Malosa, Malawi. Bruce Cairncross

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Would you say you're fergalicious, frank?

"I'm a fergalicious girl"

[iberiandoctor]

Five Works in 2020

I was tagged by the lovely @angel-in-new-york-city! This was fun, thanks for letting me play!

Rules: Choose your 5 favourite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

Here are five works, in seven different fandoms, in this past Year of the Plague.

1. The Adoration of the Earth: 

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Strange/Norrell, [E], 6,000+ words.

One should never flirt with odd books at Solstice-time in Faerie, as Mr Strange learns to his great chagrin.

My first JSMN fic, written for @threedomiciles in 2020′s Smut4Smut challenge. Writing explicit fic is challenging, and writing it in Susanna Clarke 19th C. pastiche even more so; still, I’m pleased with how things turned out! Plus, I live for esoteric footnotes ;)

2. The Lark and Her Lieutenants: 

Les Misérables  - Victor Hugo, Cosette/Marius, Enjolras/Grantaire, Valjean/Javert, [G], 18,585 words. 

While Cosette is stirring up the Revolution, Grantaire meets a young man in the Luxembourg Gardens.

My Les Mis Quarantine Edition Big Bang fic, a collaboration with the awesome @thebansacredbanned. Now with art from @sssara-b! In this story, Cosette and Enjolras swap roles: Enjolras is the shy ingenue, Cosette the revolutionary leader; Valjean just wants to get his daughter off the barricades.

3.  The Instruments of Their Master: 

La Comédie Humaine - Honoré de Balzac/19th Century CE France RPF, Corentin/Manuel, [E], 5,700 words. 

The Duke of Otranto had two protégés: one, a police spy; the other, a promising future Deputy. The lessons these men learned under his tutelage — none more during the Hundred Days, when the Republic hung on a knife’s edge of war and politics — left the one greater, the other more guilty.

My Yuletide treat for @kainosite, in very much a fandom of two; a crossover pairing between Balzac’s fictional police spy, Corentin, and noted 19th century French politician Jacques-Antoine Manuel. Set in France’s Hundred Days period, Napoleon’s spymaster Joseph Fouché pits his two protégés against each other so that they can better work together to secretly thwart old Boney; hatesex and politics and history collide!

4.  Diamonds Taking Shape ... : 

Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston/Crazy Rich Asians (2018), Alex/Henry, Nick/Rachel, [T], 4040 words.  

 … and an intersection with Crazy Rich Love (:winky face emoji:)

My Yuletide assignment for @legendaryguardian; when I saw I’d matched with them on both CRA and RW&RB, I knew I had to write this crossover! Alex & Henry visit Singapore, and have dinner with Nick & Rachel at Gardens by the Bay.

5.  The Age of Imagination and Experience: 

Call Me by Your Name, Elio/Oliver, Oliver/Michol, [M], 2/9 chapters. WIP.   

 “Ah – to have that kind of innocence, the innocence that seals the mind against imagination and the heart against experience!" A Gilded Age, The Age of Innocence AU.

I started writing this Gilded Age AU for the December CMBYN Challenge, though the way it’s going, it’ll be well into 2021 before it finishes! I have loved Wharton’s The Age of Innocence for more than half my life, and I couldn’t resist envisioning Elio as Ellen Olenska and Michol as May Welland, with Oliver as Newland Archer, the man in the middle. Having a bisexual male love interest in place of Wharton’s foreign divorcee is a different narrative proposition, and I am very much enjoying exploring 1870s New York society through Oliver’s eyes.

I’m tagging all the talented creators mentioned in this post, and anyone else who wants to join in - @breadcrumbsandstars, I know you wrote a lot last year? @saltedpin; @raspberryhunter, so did you guys!

[pilferingapples]

kainosite

replied to your post

“Excuse me, but are you a very large and exceptionally mobile lettuce?”

Wait but if you're an apple that pilfers fellow apples... isn't that, like, apple trafficking? Or is this more of an underground railroad situation, liberating your oppressed brethren from the fruit bowl?

it’s more of a REVOLUTION **knocking over the still life** Roll, my siblings! Be Free!  Les rapins à la lanterne!

[iberiandoctor]

@kainosite

Sea Fever! My favorite poem in the world, especially as the season ends each year and I get nostalgic. I hope I’ve done it justice. _ other comics /art /ko-fi /patreon

[astarion-dekarios]

@kainosite

  �� re: Enjolras

I violently disagree with this meta, but it’s interesting. Another point in favor of your reading: Combeferre’s “We will share your fate” is an incredibly bizarre and twisted thing to say under the death interpretation, but makes perfect sense with this interpretation.

Thank you very much! Do you have another reading entirely, yourself, or do you subscribe to the death interpretation? Hopefully you don’t disagree so violently as Enjolras might. :)