#mind you I read a translation

[marantis]

You ever read a book by an author you really like and get hit by the realization that you have adapted some of their writing quirks into your own stuff?

[ifindus]

Would love to hear your thoughts about Norway during his peak in the Middle Ages - The old kingdom!

Thank you so much for all the top-tier historical asks you’ve filled my inbox with 🙏🥺💖 I very much appreciate it ✨

Norgesveldet, Norway at its largest and most powerful is such an interesting topic, and I’d like to take this opportunity to talk more about Norway’s character arch and his standing in Scandinavia during this time. And along this, @95jezzica’s hc that Norway is the oldest out of the Scandis, which I absolutely love.

During the 1200s Norway is at his peak. He is the largest he has ever been, ruling over land far away, a result of his exploration and craftiness at sea. He is involved with an extensive trading network, stretching from his settlements on Greenland, Iceland, the Faeroe Islands, Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides, as well as large areas that today belongs to Sweden, with connections to Europe through the Hanseatic League as well as his neighbours. Many of Norway’s territories are inhabited by Norwegian settlers, who all pay taxes to the Norwegian crown, accumulating a fair amount of coin to be spent on buildings and other stately projects. He has the entire North Atlantic under his control. Norway is exporting iron, furs, fish, and fish oil to the rest of Europe. At this time, Norway is the largest nation in Europe measured by land.

At home, Norway has just finished his civil war in 1240, and with a new and stable system in place, he flourishes; the Sagas are written, churches are built, and cities are founded. A sort of government is formed, and a new law is made, establishing a more developed justice system and a more effective military system. Norway was the second kingdom in Europe to be gathered under a common law (after Castille) and establishes diplomatic connections to other countries. The administration of the Norway is solidified and he really takes his shape as a powerful and well-established nation.

Based on the actual year of founding, Norway is the oldest “nation” in Scandinavia, and I want to give Jezz credit here for influencing me towards this hc. Denmark, Sweden, and Norway have all been more or less equal throughout the Viking Age, with some periods where they were in alliances and had more complex relations. Norway was allowed to grow on the basis of Denmark being weaker etc. But we essentially have three nations who grew up together here, similar in age, development, and influence. And we see Norway really grow up through his civil war between 1130 and 1240, coming out stronger as a result. In the 1200s and 1300s he is a genuine powerful nation who has powerful connections and resources.

Then, we get The Plague, The Black Death. Norway is hit a lot harder than Denmark and Sweden. It is almost fatal to him and it nearly kills him, eventually merging his royal family into those of his neighbours, and we see Denmark especially take advantage of the situation to form the Kalmar Union.

And this all makes such an interesting character development for Norway. As a slightly older nation with a rich and proud history, being an equal or maybe even more powerful than his neighbours, at his definite peak, to take such a fall. To end up being stowed away, his existence merely symbolic at times, seeing his future as uncertain and under the total control of others. He falls. He is crippled. And he ends up being tossed around for nearly 500 years before he can finally stand up as an independent nation once more.

It really makes for such an interesting dynamic between the Scandis as well. Both Denmark and Sweden knows what Norway used to be, how powerful and proud he was, and they see what he has been reduced to after the Plague and during the union. Maybe they even start to forget who he used to be. Though sometimes, in certain situations when he is fired up, they can see remnants of the nation he once was.

They are definitely reminded of his past in 1814 and 1905.

[pinazee]

Kirk could have greeted Spock with the vulcan salute but he chose a handshake. This way Spock thinks he’s more ignorant than he is and will lower his guard for when they eventually do play chess, and he’ll have the advantage. Kirk is out here playing the long con ;)

[thedolmainblog]

you know arts going well when you start drawing smth completely unrelated

[olasketches]

so because we have only three chapters left, I’ve decided that I’m going to wait for the official release instead of going through the leaks as I’ve been doing for… almost the past 2 years. I don’t want the leaks and the fandom discourse to ruin my last experience with jjk as a still ongoing manga… plus I thought it would be more fun and enjoyable this way... more special ig (I’m being so sappy ik) wish me luck guys!!

[ywpd-translations]

Ride 769: Danchiku's “escape”

Pag 1

1: Sohoku's number 5 jumped ahead! And he kept attacking!!

2: Number 4, Kaburagi, caught up to Doubashi who has been left behind!!

4: This is bad!! Pedal!!

Let's raise our pace!!

Pag 2

2: I won't let you get away, Chicken!!

Pag 3

2: No.... they're so fast!!

It's no use anymore, senpai!!

3: Get away Danchikuu!!

Pag 4

1: Yeah, Issa!!

Pag 5

1: 4km left until the sprint line!!

2: Don't underestimate him, San-na*!!

(*NdT.: Kaburagi is calling him that because when earlier he called him “Doubashi” with no honorifics, Doubashi corrected him saying “it's san, na” the 'na' is just and ending particle, but I decided to leave it in the nickname Kabu is using now)

3: Danchiku is strong!!

He's the kind of guy who once he makes a decision, he sticks to it!!

4: Buah!!

I'm not underestimating him

5: With that attack earlier I got that his “running” is no chicken!!

6: Haha, I told you from the start!! I told you “that's not true”!!

Pag 6

1: But “mentality” is another story!!

3: “Running” and “mentality”are different things, but two sides of the same coin!!

4: I'm chasing him like this!! I'm getting closer!!

That's the reality!! The situation!!

I'll swallow him

5: And even if I don't do anything, he'll make a mistake!!

6: Tch, this guy hit a nerve

7: Look

8: My pressure

Pag 7

1: Is rising!!

3: What's this

From behind me

4: It's the feeling of something dark and hug approaching!!

This is that guy's....!!

Seriously!?

Pag 8

1: But!!

Gaa

2: But I also came here fully prepared!!

ruaaagh

3: “Take care of that idiot”

4: Bamboo

6: Hop Shot!!

Pag 9

1: I'll leave him behind!!

2: Switch to a

3: higher gear!!

6: Dammit, instead of switching to a higher gear I switched to a lower!?

Such a stupid mistake!! In a moment like this!!

I'll switch to a higher gear now!!

8: Stupid mistake...? That's not it

Pag 10

1: Is my body reacting to Doubashi's pressure!?

Pag 11

1: Dammit!!

Don't turn around

2: San-na is going to move to pin Nagoya down, you go with him

This is the chance that

And then keep going like that!!

3: Issa managed to get for me!!

4: Don't turn around

He's getting closer, I can feel it on my skin!!

5: If I turn around his pressure will swallow me!!

Gaaagh

6: Dammit... so this is the Inter High?

Pag 12

1: This is Hakone Academy's Doubashi Masakiyo!!

2: Chicken.... your pedaling got all messy

Pag 13

1: He's coming closer!!

2: I'm gonna get swallowed!!

4: It's over

After all you really are a chicken

Pag 15

2: A white pressure... Issa!!

3: Danchiku, since it's you, you can do it!!

I'm sure of it, so run without hesitation

4: After all you're

Pag 16

1: Team SS..... Special Strong!!

Higaruaaagh!!

Pag 17

1: I'll take it, Issa!!

2: Higaruaagh!!

Dammit, what happened, he came back to life!!

3: What did you do, Orange

4: I raised it too

Pag 18

1: My pressure, to tell him “if it's you, you can do it”!!

2: I am “team SS”!!

3: I can do it!!

Garuaagh!!

4: Hahaha, if you don't hurry he'll get away, San-na!!

That's called Panda Shout!! That acceleration is terrific!!

5: Talking like that is your strategy to get me to use up my legs, Orange!!

Hahaha of course, you've finally noticed!!

Pag 19

2: I've noticed from the start, though

Is-is that so!?

Well, can't be helped. My plan to defeat him by using pressure alone was a failure

This time I'll use my legs

3: I'll show you my running that I've tempered thoroughly this past year!!

4: The sprint is now down to us three

As expected, there's no one who can catch up to us from there!!

Pag 20

1: In that group behind us!!

2: Pedal more

Let's catch up to them before they get out of sight!!

Gallop!!

Mokkosu!!

4: From behind us, another.... two people!?

Are catching up!?

5: It's two guys from the selected team!!

Pag 21

1: I'm so glad, we caught up with the lead!!

We were pulled by Doubashi-san but we got tore off a little later

You worked hard, you two!

Yeah, somehow!!

2: The leader of our team, Sugimoto-san, negotiated with Doubashi-san fro us

3: Our number has increased so we still have a chance!!

We'll chase Sohoku and Hakogaku that are ahead

Yeah!!

And we'll fight for the green number bib!!

4: Alright, senpai, I'll pull

“Two people” who caught up?

No

5: There's one more person!!

[chaoticreivingu]

Tl;dr Drayton is rigid and dishonest about himself and it fucks up his relationships with people

With how accusatory and intrusive the way Drayton talks with the player is I always felt like he harbored a little resentment towards us for changing Kieran. Not even by turning him into an edgelord but changing him in general.

He definitively has a problem with stagnation, so whenever change occurs he wants whatever change happened to be gone at all costs.

And it's probably because he was lowkey infatuated by a person that he'll never see again.

This is so sentimental, he's seriously pining for the old Kieran here.

In the japanese version he even tries to recompose himself only to fawn over Old Kieran again.

So ever since the start of the DLC he's been using us for his goals since we kinda "caused" this change to happen and also because we're literally the only ones who can fix this issue. But the way Drayton goes about it is frankly pretty naive?

Like he's so sure of his plan that he thought the "Ex-Champion" line would bring Kieran "back to his senses again". That he genuinely would respond to that burn with "You're right Duwurayton I'm not a champion let's be bfs besties again".

It's only when Kieran starts crying that he sees that not only did it not work but this whole scheme might've worsened their relationship in the long run.

No wonder he feels a bit bummed out at the end, in his mind all of this(using the player, getting the others to mistrust him, mocking Kieran) was for nothing. Kieran is no longer an edgelord but he still changed. No matter how hard he tries the exact version of the person that he so desperately wanted won't come back and he has to accept that.

And yet he still has to maintain the status quo aka his pretend "idgaf" attitude.

It's probably why in between the Ex-Champions he genuinely asks Kieran if he's been eating or if anything's wrong. Even if he's changed Drayton can't bring himself to hate him no matter how he's like.

So when Kieran asks why he keeps doing this he can't bring himself to talk about his true thoughts. So he masks with a cool one liner to maintain the Drayton Image.

Credit to Calem MrNazreenni for the playthrough screencaps.

[gingermintpepper]

hi, i haven't read the iliad and the odyssey but want to - do u have a specific translation you recommend? the emily wilson one has been going around bc, y'know, first female translator of the iliad and odyssey into english, but i was wondering on if you had Thoughts

Hi anon! Sorry for the somewhat late response and I'm glad you trust me with recommendations! Full, disclosure, I am somewhat of a traditionalist when it comes to translations of the source text of the Iliad + Odyssey combo wombo, which means I tend to prefer closeness in literal verbiage over interpretation of the poetic form of these epics - for that reason, my personal preferred versions of the Odyssey and Iliad both are Robert Fitzgerald's. Because both of these translations (and his Aeneid!) were done some 50+ years ago (63 for his original Odyssey tl, 50 flat for his Iliad and 40 for his Aeneid) the English itself can be a bit difficult to read and the syntax can get confusing in a lot of places, so despite my personal preferences, I wouldn't recommend it for someone who is looking to experience the Iliad + Odyssey for the very first time.

For an absolute beginner, someone who has tried to read one or both of these epics but couldn't get into it or someone who has a lot of difficulty with concentrating on poetry or long, winding bits of prose, I fully and wholeheartedly recommend Wilson's translation! See, the genius of Emily Wilson's Iliad + Odyssey isn't that she's a woman who's translated these classics, it's that she's a poet who's adapted the greek traditional poetic form of dactylic hexameter into the english traditional poetic form of iambic pentameter. That alone goes a very very long way to making these poems feel more digestible and approachable - iambic pentameter is simply extremely comfortable and natural for native english speakers' brains and the general briskness of her verbiage helps a lot in getting through a lot of the problem books that people usually drop the Iliad or Odyssey in like Book 2 of the Iliad or Book 4 of the Odyssey. I think it's a wonderful starting point that allows people to familiarise themselves with the source text before deciding if they want to dig deeper - personally, researching Wilson's translation choices alone is a massive rabbit hole that is worth getting into LOL.

The happy medium between Fitzgerald's somewhat archaic but precise syntax and Wilson's comfortable meter but occasionally less detailled account is Robert Fagles' Iliad + Odyssey. Now, full disclosure, I detest how Fagles handles epithets in both of his versions, I think they're far too subtle which is something he himself has talked at length about in his translation notes, but for everything else - I'd consider his translations the most well rounded of english adaptations of this text in recent memory. They're accurate but written in plain English, they're descriptive and detailled without sacrificing a comfortable meter and, perhaps most importantly, they're very accessible for native english speaking audiences to approach and interact with. I've annotated my Fagles' volumes of these books to heaven and back because I'm deeply interested in a lot of the translation decisions made, but I also have to specifically compliment his ability to capture nuance in the characters' of these poems in a way I don't often see. He managed to adapt the ambivalence of ancient greek morality in a way I scarcely see and that probably has a hand in why I keep coming back to his translations.

Now, I know this wasn't much of a direct recommendation but as I do not know you personally, dear anon, I can't much make a direct recommendation to a version that would best appeal to your style of reading. Ideally, I'd recommend that you read and enjoy all three! But, presuming that you are a normal person, I suggest picking which one is most applicable for you. I hope this helps! 🥰

[aaronofithaca05]

Battle in ink

||Tw: Calypso||

"I wander in search of a light upon your desperate face!”. Lascivious nymph of chalky fingers, elusive as an eel, murky and cold, let her burning fingers glide across the face, damp and cold, of the castaway.

Burning, sweet and vile bones of the nymph kept slithering, searing. In unnoticed possession, never truly casting spell or charm. "I keep begging Theos, for you to never leave me!.”

Odysseus, still, awaiting turn in this dance: "I am… searching…". Words escaped his lips, from his very depths within, man of thousand paths and missteps, struggling to chart this step.

Laërtes’s sweet words had carried him from Skýros to Ílion, Ténedos to Lēmnos. Voids of air slipping through his mind:

"By walking, one makes path, and upon glancing back…" Back, all his steps yearning to be undone.

"One sees the path that feet had crossed enough." Path by gnarled trees hiding Home. Olives, in which this infernal reef refused to sprout.

"Son, there is no path, but wakes upon the sea." Wakes Foamy paths in which Ithákē was built. United archipelago his domain. A kingdom never seen since his arrival, In barren foam turned his sweetness lost

The Ithacan monarch had never let his father’s wish fall to ill thought, but before the nymph who boiled his lymph and blood, he let those words fade.

Calypso waited, anxious, reluctant. He had been her lover, but what was there to expect from him?

From the weeper on her isle?. From the twat who never follows her in the daylight?. Yet he cried her name in her empty chamber under starlight?.

The eel coiled the wolfish sailor in its embrace while; Odysseus, man of a thousand tricks and wits, shot her a sharp grimace: Belly, chest, and face, At the two first, without joy, only indifference or ire, but in the last?. He gifted a lecherous and cold gaze in equal measure to the one he saw each dawn, in the second rosy fingered dawn by Calypso’s hands.

"Calypso, my queen." Anyone who heard it would have read the lie in his voice, the false melodic inflection, the lack of harmony as a neglected lyre’s threads, as his broken voice upon the cold sand of that bay.

"Forgive my rude behaviour," the honey he tried to wrap in his mouth was as insipid as his regard for his jailer. Learned movements directed at an essence, absence, breathed life into the corpse of 600 lives lost..

"My girl, my queen, the woman who waits for me." Penelope at the tip, a name so perfect and pure, so easy on his lips, cried out forcefully to escape from the voice of this liar.

"If I had…" he hated in his soul, hated, as in his name —the one that is hated—, the universe who cursed him in name and fortune. The Ithacan writhed within while the nymph?. Smiled, naïve.

"Knowing your embrace was so fine," fine as the skin of sharks, who knows how many of his men were devoured by those sea dogs.

Cephalopod and eel in battle, Still, Ink does not kill Will. Thanks so much @simugeuge with this take! Moots: @jarondont, @iroissleepdeprived, @nikoisme, @perroulisses,@poshgirlsstuff, @katerinaaqu @incorrecthomer, @dootznbootz, @nyx-of-darkness-1620, @sunshines-child, @random-krab, @ironspdr6700, @fangirlofallthefanthings, @twomanyfandomshelp, @thehighpaladin, @the-decapoddecapod, @myblacknightworld, @simugeuge, @itszorrito67, @incorrectatlas @tunguszka20

[birdmenmanga]

💢ＦＵＣＫ　ＴＨＥ　ＷＯＲＬＤ （ａｎｄ　ｍａｙｂｅ　ｍｙ　ｍｏｍ ｉｎ　ｐａｒｔｉｃｕｌａｒ）💢

1. ミザン／バルーン & ぬゆり ft. flower & 歌愛ユキ

2. 嫌われ者の詩／164 ft. GUMI

3. メーベル／バルーン ft. Eve

4. CUT／神山羊

5. 怪電話 ／r-906 ft. ROSE & POPY

Tanabemas gift for @wojtekaneko!! This is an Eishi-and-his-mom playlist!! It sort of tracks how their relationship sort of changes throughout the series, starting from the controlling relationship they had even before prologue, and culminating in Eishi's flight away in Flight 42: Open Your Eyes.

Most of these songs are on here because I think the lyrics are a really good match, but I think the video for Miseen (1) and Mabel (3) are worth watching. The album cover image is actually from the Mabel video, I just drew in the Eishi and Kiriko.

The opening and closing songs I see as duets between them, while the three songs in the middle are purely from Eishi's perspective. But of course you can interpret it however you want! I think all these songs are fun and I'd be very happy if everyone listened <3

LYRICS TRANSLATED

Miseen／balloon & Nuyuri ft. flower & Kaai Yuki

hated person song／164 ft. GUMI

Mabel／balloon ft. E ve

CUT／Yoh Kamiyama

A Mysterious Phone Call／r-906 ft. ROSE & POPY

[lafilleestmorte]

I have been thinking about Q.

Falling in love with the person leaving him notes at the cafe throws him completely off balance. It's his final year of high school, his world must revolve around his art and getting into college. But he's sitting thinking about this person he has never met and how natural it feels to love them and how deep this feeling has settled into his chest and how little he knows how to deal with it.

So he leaves. He goes to university. He spends a year making friends, dating around, drinking. His art surrounds him again and if he ignores the memory of that milk frappe boy whom he left behind then he can return to the person he understands. He loathes that he is able to live with having left him behind. He draws and fools around some more. And so the year ends, and, walking into a new semester, he meets Toey.

Q's mentee is. strange. For a fine arts major, he has the most peculiar relationship to art. He doesn't have the faintest clue of the skills that, to q, are simple as breathing. Armed with blunt pencils and a conviction like none other, Toey paints beauty into the world around him

It's like I'm sitting in a vast grassy field, with a gentle breeze under a bright sky. It's like I'm watching a masterpiece of art.

Q recognizes the way he's starting to care about Toey, but he's still trying to learn how to show it. Small gestures, little invitations. Quite moments with just the two of them. He remembers the milk frappe boy and regrets what he didn't do then. But he likes the person Toey is showing him how to be.

You said I didn't take care of you at all, so I'm treating you to some desserts.

It occurs to Q all at once that Toey might just as easily slip away. Because of a love beyond his hands or someone else who gets there faster or his own lack of action. Q refuses to lose the person he loves ever again. He's never been in love with a boy. He doesn't even know if Toey has a reason to like him back. But he doesn't have the time to give thought to his feelings or his fears. He needs to run towards Toey, faster than he himself thought it possible.

So when he finds out the truth, the feeling of betrayal is difficult to describe. The love that he had kept concealed - from everyone and from himself - out on display for all of his friends. A boy who made him want to reach out and hold onto his own genuine feelings, working behind him to catch him off guard.

The boy he has been in love with loves him back. He has always loved him back.

But the person he has been becoming now feels like he might slip away. How easy it would be to let him go. How easily he had left him in pain and silence, two years ago.

[thetardisisnotourdivision]

I am unreasonably upset about the fact that I've been forced to accept that Gabriel was a Gerald.

For context, in An Inspector Calls, Gerald Croft is engaged to Sheila Birling when he meets a homeless, struggling Eva Smith in a bar, and essentially in return for a home and money he shows her affection (ahem), then gets rid of her once he no longer has a use for her. Now, obviously this isn't a direct translation, but the essentials are - a Gerald is a character who uses another character, in return for something they need, usually masking the fact that they're using them with affection and love.

And against my will I've had to accept that this is exactly what Gabriel does to Nathalie.

Did I want to think he had potential to be better? Did I think he genuinely cared for Nathalie?? Hell, did I just really really want somebody to care about Nathalie???

Probably all of the above but the point is: he's Gerald. And I cannot - I literally can't unsee it now. Their whole dynamic in S3 is like “oh boohoo I'm sorry I wish you didn't have to use the peacock Miraculous and kill yourself over it but uh I need to use your powers” “yeah no that's fine I'm all good”. Which, given the "Gerald" theorem, I'm assuming leads to the fact that what Nathalie needed, above all, was someone to care about her - and Gabriel came along, as Sheila Birling puts it, "like a fairytale prince", and was so caring and gentle and... Yeah. She fell for him. And. Yeah he genuinely did seem to care like twice. But so did Gerald. Gerald actually admits that he did care for Eva, just not the way that she cared for him, and, uh, not enough to not just dispose of her. So he discards her anyway when she stops being useful.

Leading me neatly to my point.

He starts using the peacock Miraculous the second it's fixed, the slimy bastard, HOWEVER. It runs way deeper than that. Assuming I'm right (which I almost DEFINITELY am), then Gabriel only needed Nathalie while she was useful. She didn't stop being useful in season three - she's still scheming for him, helping him with plan after plan. It's only partway through season 5 that she officially servers ties with him, and starts to actively hinder him.

Nathalie stops being useful when she fails as Safari. And I reckon that's when Gabriel and Tomoe decided she had to go.

(It's painfully, I-was-ugly-crying-over-it obvious in Conformation that Gabriel is fully prepared to let Nathalie die - in the original storyboard, her alliance was encouraging her to sleep, and he's very obviously prepared for this moment - I've made a separate post about it that I'll link if I can find it. However, onto the next bit)

With all of this, there's one thing that sticks out to me - Nathalie didn't see any of it until it was already too late. There could be many reasons for this. But you know who would have seen through it? Whose parents were all loving and perfect until she married the wrong man? Emilie. Emilie, who left behind those videos, which on the surface look innocent, but when you look deeper look like a (love confession???????) AHEM a warning. I reckon Emilie noticed what was going on and realised that Nathalie wouldn't see through Gabriel, so she left those videos addressed to Nathalie (not Gabriel, which surely they should have been - they were about him, after all - unless they were there...) as a warning. I don't think the videos were supposed to be about helping Gabriel, I think Emilie was warning Nathalie to get the fuck out of that house, and to take Adrien with her. Because Emilie knew it'd end like this.

Yes I'm still mad ok give me a break.

[terreurihardlyknowher]

est ce qu'il y a des français dans la salle

[pickingupmymercedes]

Random thoughts I have while running: I wish I could read in russian and understand the russian mentality, mainly because when you read Clarice Linspector in english you lose soooo much of her that I'm just convinced I'm losing sooo much of Dostoevsky when I don't read his works in russian.

Clarice once discribed saudades, and you cannot argue with me that

"Saudade é um pouco como fome. Só passa quando se come a presença"

can be fully translated in all its nuances to "Nostalgia is a bit like going hungry. It only goes away when you eat the presence"

[sanasanakun]

Maybe I’m stupid (likely) but I feel like Gojo resembling Toji in his battle with Megumi!Sukuna is trying to show that he is a paternal figure in Megumi’s life. Like the two different sides of Megumi’s male paternal figures (or I guess the two most consistent male adult figures in Megumi’s life)??? I don’t buy that Gojo was a father figure for Tsumiki and Megumi (to me he was more like Spencer from ICarly lmao) but like…i feel like the outfit similarity is trying to say something about their relationship on a familial or paternal scale…but im too dumb to fully phrase this how i want so maybe just ponder on this for me hahaha

[spock-adoodledoo]

bruv