#rebecca quasi

[artspaume]

UNE CHOSE QUASI DISTANTE | 6 JUIN – 6 JUILLET 2024 / Galerie Patel Brown (CA)

Oeuvre: Maya Fuhr, Sustained Silhouette, 2024, cotton rag print 6 JUIN – 6 JUILLET 2024 Some things we have only as long as they remain lost, some things are not lost only so long as they are distant. Rebecca Solnit COMMISSAIRES : Joséphine Rivard et Roxanne Arsenault Une chose quasi distante / An Almost Distant Thing réunit diverses œuvres autour de l’idée du fragment, de la collecte et du…

[muatyland]

Miss Foley e il dottor Ballard | Quasi Rebecca

Miss Olivia Foley ha bisogno di un lavoro e il dottor Vincent Ballard è alla ricerca di un’infermiera.Miss Foley non è un’infermiera, tuttavia il dottor Ballard è troppo disperato per far caso a un dettaglio del genere. Comincia così un proficuo sodalizio professionale che sfocia in breve tempo in un piccolo scandalo, costringendo Miss Foley e il dottor Ballard a convolare a nozze.Decisi a…

[diceriadelluntore]

I Miei Libri del 2024

Il libro è una cosa: lo si può mettere su un tavolo e guardarlo soltanto, ma se lo apri e leggi diventa un mondo - Leonardo Sciascia

Giulio Giudorizzi - i Miti Delle Stelle

Jamie Ford - Sulla Via Dell'Incenso

Jonas Jonasson - Tre Amici Quasi Geniali Verso La Fine Del Mondo

Oscar Wilde - Il Fantasma Di Canterville e Altri Racconti

Julian Barnes - Elizabeth Finch

Luciano Canfora - Convertire Casaubon

Will Ferguson - Felicità©

William Dalrymple / Anna Anand - Koh-I-Nur

Hervé Clerc - A Dio Per La Parete Nord

Stefano Mancuso - Fitopolis, La Città Vivente

Sam Kean - La Brigata Dei Bastardi

Henry James - La Cifra Del Tappeto

Giorgo De Santillana / Hertha Von Dechend - Il Mulino Di Amleto

Rebecca Struthers - Memorie Di Un'Orologiaia

Alexander Lernet-Holenia - Due Sicilie

Daniel Mason - La Foresta Del Nord

Peskè Marty - Qui Il Sentiero Si Perde

Alexandre Dumas Figlio - La Signora Delle Camelie

Lauretta Colonnelli - La Vita Segreta Dei Colori

Fred Vargas - Sulla Pietra

Giorgio Pestelli - Il Genio Di Beethoven

Richard Osman - L'Uomo Che Morì Due Volte

Adam Thirlwell - Il Futuro Futuro

Stefano Bizzotto - Storia Del Mondo In 12 Partite Di Calcio

Edwin A. Abbott - Flatlandia

Shirley Jackson - L'Incubo Di Hill House

Ferdia Lennon - Eroi Senza Gloria

William Gaddis - Le Perizie

Michael Young - L'Avvento Della Meritocrazia

Eric Fouassier - Le Notti Della Morte Blu

Laurent Binet - Prospettive

A.K. Blakemore - L'Insaziabile

Tommaso Giartosio - Autobiogrammatica

Alessandro Baricco - Castelli Di Rabbia

Rosa Montero - Il Pericolo Di Essere Sana Di Mente

Beatrice Del Bo - Arsenico e Altri Veleni

Jenny Erpenbeck - Kairos

Il totale è 37 come nel 2023, le pagine sono aumentate, e per il secondo anno consecutivo supero il mio obiettivo personale delle 10 mila, sono arrivato a 11 750. Ho letto anche più di un classico per trimestre, tra cui anche dei saggi, e l'anno prossimo l'obiettivo è leggere un libro di un autore dell'età classica a trimestre.

Sulla qualità dei titoli, ammetto che dopo anni di ricerca e di perfezionamento delle fonti ne sbaglio pochissimi: alcuni rimarranno nel tempo, come L'Insaziabile, l'ultimo di Erpeneck (vincitrice dell'International Booker Price del 2024, un libro drammaticamente potentissimo), Lennon, Marty, Thirlwell. Libri del tutto particolari, tra l'autobiografia, il racconto e il saggio sono quello di Montero e Giartosio. Se devo notare una differenza, ho letto meno autori e autrici italiane, e una cosa che dovrei iniziare a fare è rileggere dei volumi di qualche anno fa, tipo una decina, e scoprire l'effetto che fa.

Chiunque voglia, può rebloggare, commentare e aggiungere i suoi libri o quelli che gli sono piaciuti di più, per diffondere autori, case editrici, idee.

Il libro è una delle possibilità di felicità che abbiamo noi uomini - Jorge Luis Borges

[meddow]

To celebrate International Asexuality Day I’m going go give reasons why Una Chin-Riley/Number One is a glorious Ace icon.

Opening episode character introductions: Pike is making breakfast in bed for Marie, Spock is desperately hoping T’Pring will propose, Una has…found two random scientists, taken a ship out with like zero crew for like some random space thing, decided to do a quickie first contact on the side, and managed to wind up in an alien prison attempting to escape with a spoon. Getting bored while your friends are moping about their relationships/oncoming cruel fate and winding up on a crazy adventure, that is some iconic Ace behaviour right there.

She’s spent most of her life pretending to be human, which means trying to hide the fact she’s got super strength and her body puts on a lightshow whenever exposed to pathogens – so the classic Ace cliché of being more interested in cake than an partnered physical activity in which there is much sharing of body fluids is probably a superpower for her.

Una has a queer-coded storyline: It turns out she has been hiding who she is, has a whole episode in which she has to come out multiple times and deal with an array of reactions, is immediately arrested and put on trial by the quasi-military organisation she works for as soon they find out, and then is much happier when finally being able to be herself in the workplace and even sings a whole song about keeping secrets. Saying that, did you know that according to Stonewall’s Ace in the UK report 2023 that people of asexual orientation are significantly less likely to be out to family, neighbours and work colleagues than other sexual orientations for fear of a negative reaction. I’m certain Una being terrified of revealing she’s Illyrian and ultimately choosing to reveal herself cos she’s tired of living a lie likely resonates with many, many different people and groups. But just noting that the fear of coming out is also very central to many people’s experience of being Ace.     

Una/Neera can very much be read as that friendship which got messed up because it became a sexual relationship but the Ace person within it hadn’t figured out they were asexual yet – but then everything felt wrong and they couldn’t figure out why so reacted badly and the entire relationship went to shit, and it still hurts decades later.

Una knows how to invest in a friendship: and it’s making sure you win Enterprise Bingo together in the most spectacular/death risking fashion and also turning the gravity off during your life advice number in the musical episode so it is even more of A Moment.

Look, given there is so little Ace rep out there in media, I just think that having someone played by the ridiculously attractive Rebecca Romijn who has enough chemistry with other characters to be one half the fandom’s most popular het ship and one half of the fandom’s most popular femslash ship be Ace would be neat.

In conclusion:

(Inevitable disclaimer because it’s fandom: I’m not saying anyone is wrong about their view of Una and as a person who ships many Una ships, I love all her allo interpretations as well)

[f1wags-opinions]

Sooo… rebecca deleted her athleisures brand from her ig page, wonder why lol.

Lmaoo yeah i saw. She deleted it after she acquainted that dior PR person lol. I guess now she can finally move on from her persona of model/entrepreneur/quasi-athlete. Before you know it, she’ll adopt that “old money”/classy aesthetic lol

[the-badger-mole]

In Defense of Mrs. van Hopper

It is once again time for my periodic revisit to the novel Rebecca, and I have some thoughts. For such a famous book, with such a great film adaptation, I don't see a lot of discussion about it. So as I do with other random things that I don't have anyone to talk to about IRL, I'm going to post here. I'll be quick, I promise. Please join me in picking apart this nearly century old book about pathological jealousy, set in a society that doesn't exist anymore and featuring a main character who has no name.

Mrs. van Hopper wasn't a bad person. I know that the narrator and the Alfred Hitchcock adaptation wanted the audience to not like her, but honestly, aside from being a bit of a busybody, and a little overly dramatic she doesn't seem like a terrible employer. Had she picked someone a bit less intensely neurotic, she would've been a really good employer, I think. Nothing she asks the narrator to do is that difficult- arrange meals, pick up toiletries, play cards with Mrs. van Hopper and her friends. The narrator seems to have plenty of down time, even before Mrs. van Hopper gets sick and needs to be cared for by a nurse instead of her travel companion. Mrs. van Hopper herself encourages the narrator to get out and meet people her own age.

The worst thing Mrs. van Hopper ever did to the narrator was tell her the truth. Or at least the truth as she saw it. She told the narrator that Maxim de Winter, a man that the narrator had a 2 week long quasi friendship with- a man who was twice the narrator's age, mind you- had only asked her to marry him because he didn't want to go back to his big ol' mansion alone. I think the first few times I read this novel, I was mostly on the narrator's side about Mrs. van Hopper. Now, though, I think Mrs. van Hopper was genuinely trying to look out for the narrator. In any other novel, her warning would've been right. This 21 year old girl with abandonment issues, no self-esteem and who can barely manage making a declarative statement marrying a rich, powerful 42 year old man who hasn't shown any sort of real affection for her after knowing him for 2 weeks is a set up for disaster.

I can't find much on Mrs. van Hopper on my latest read of the novel to really dislike about her. Maybe I wouldn't want to be her friend, but she's not a monster. Even du Maurier's worst criticism is that she's vulgar and blunt, and yeah, Mrs. van Hopper is blunt, but she's a New Yorker. That's just how we roll. We are seeing Mrs. van Hopper through the narrator's eyes, and the narrator is not the most objective person. Frankly, the narrator's telling of the story leaves me thinking she was a terrible employee rather than Mrs. van Hopper being a terrible employer. I feel bad for Mrs. van Hopper. Well...I mean as bad as I can feel for someone who is rich enough to be able to afford to pay someone to be a travel companion.

[eolewyn1010]

Downton Abbey Fashion 41 - indoors fashion in 1922

Rose’s initial stringent color palette of either red outfits or blue ones is loosened up once she becomes a regular; she gets to wear pink shades and, as a quasi-adopted Crawley, purple. Side note, I’m not including the scene when she dons a maid dress because that’s just Anna’s uniform that she borrowed for five minutes and I already have a post about the servant uniforms in use this season.

A very girlish drop waist dress, this one has a print that almost makes it look like dotted with strawberries. Or like one giant strawberry. Never mind, it’s cute. A spread collar of white lace, short sleeves – Rose looks so young in this. Granted, she is the age Sybil was at the beginning of the first season, but Sybil was never the bubbly airhead that Rose starts out as.

Speaking of youthful vibes, Rose has this adorable cream sweater with a sailor collar and some blue piping, plus a band of blue checker around the drop waist. And I have an inexplicable weakness for this lacing closure on the front. By the way, this sweater is recycled from 1997’s Rebecca, and Rose will have another piece from the same movie next season.

Hm, I’ve seen shirts of this cut on the show that I liked better. But I guess that’s a matter of taste; this pattern isn’t really for me and neither is this shade of purple, despite looking good on Rose. I’m in favor of the neckline, so there’s that. Since she is wearing this at the very beginning of the season when Mary is still in black (and Edith in grey), this might be less of a fashion choice and more half-mourning decorum, although Rose also wears purple for fashionable purposes.

Like she does here. Rose’s former colors were red and blue, her new color is purple – let’s just throw them all together! Okay, in all fairness, this print is adorable. And with the top being cut in triangles instead of the more common rectangles of the time, the dress does have a little shaping to it. Somehow, they picked the exact right shade for the little piping trim, blue enough to blend in, yet electric enough to pop.

Technically, she wears this dress while going out for a dance, but she’s not running around on the air without a coat, so I’ll call it an indoors look. Lighting is not the priority at the dance, but believe me that it’s purple with a white print all over. And more white with a little lace trim for the under layer and collar; the overall composition is not glamorous, but quite nice, another playful and girly look to which she adds a cloche hat with a white flower ornament.

Back on blue, a simple long skirt and a long-sleeved shirt that looks like a silk satin. Rose likes this collar shape, doesn’t she? The geometric print keeps this from looking too boring, but I wish Rose would have gone with a contrasting skirt.

This shirt is nice; can I see more of it? It’s another cream one with blue square elements, a darker and a lighter blue shade that do something almost like an adventurous meander on one side, but otherwise are demoted to trim duty. Nice one, a bit baggy, but nice.

And now for one of the prettiest shades of pink I will get my eyes on around here and that Rose will repeat a few times next season: This dress is just on the meeting point between petal pink and peach, and it’s practically shining in and of itself. There could be no bigger compliment for Rose’s English Rose complexion, even though this is one of the few occasions when she’s not beaming. With the pearl strand and the white embroidery in orderly squares, this is one of her tamer looks, but the dress is of one of the drapier fabrics and looks like it could have some flow to it in motion.

[libero-de-mente]

𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗹'𝗔𝘃𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼

𝟱 𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗲��𝗯𝗿𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯

Caro diario,

questa mattina la giornata si è aperta sotto grandi auspici.

Mentre mi avviavo per un vicolo deserto per raggiungere il centro cittadino, avevo un appuntamento di lavoro per me importante, ecco che noto per terra una banconota da cinquanta euro.

Cinquanta euro. Il mio primo pensiero è stato quello de "sarà sicuramente un facsimile, una di quelle banconote false che dietro riportano una pubblicità di un possibile sconto e bla, bla, bla"

Mentre il "bla, bla, bla" riecheggiava nella mia mente mi chino con molta goffaggine a raccogliere la valuta cartacea.

Si goffamente, perché io di avere la fortuna nel trovare banconote per terra non sono abituato. Mica sono Gastone Paperone cugino del più sfortunato Paperino.

Dopo averla raccolta, avendola controllata bene, mi accorgo che quella è una banconota autentica. La piega che portava mi ha fatto comprendere che era stata tenuta in un portafoglio o in una tasca.

Mi guardo attorno con aria di colpevolezza, come a voler trovare a tutti i costi il proprietario di quella banconota. Nessuno.

Alzo la testa per vedere se qualcuno, da qualche finestra, abbia visto la scena; pronto a scusarmi con un "l'ho trovata per terra, mica l'ho rubata". Nessuno.

Quella banconota mi spetta quindi di diritto, un po' come a dire "chi la trova se la tiene". Cose da asilo Mariuccia per intenderci.

Ripongo la banconota in tasca e mi avvio al luogo dell'appuntamento. Mentre cammino ripenso alla mia fortuna con il denaro. A parte qualche monetina, spiccioli in lire o centesimi, l'unica volta che trovai una consistente cifra di denaro fu... all'interno di un corposo portafoglio.

Quindici marzo millenovecentottantanove, al ritorno da San Siro dopo una partita di Coppa Campioni, così si chiamava l'attuale Champion League, passeggero in auto di un amico ci fermammo al casello autostradale di Milano per rientrare a casa. Notai qualcosa per terra dal lato passeggero e senza pensarci, mentre il conducente prelevava il biglietto, aprii la portiera e acciuffai al volo il malloppo.

C'era dentro tutto, oltre a circa ottocento marchi tedeschi, i documenti che davano un nome e un cognome al proprietario. Anche la foto del suo gatto.

Per restituire il tutto, denaro compreso, dovetti fare dei salti mortali. Neanche i Carabinieri, a cui mi ero rivolto, mi assicuravano che il denaro sarebbe arrivato a destinazione. Così rintracciai il proprietario da solo, farmi dare le sue coordinate bancarie e dopo aver versato la valuta sul mio conto fargli un bonifico. Il tutto stando attento al cambio valuta. Non volevo che gli mancassero dei soldi.

I documenti, foto del gatto compresa, glieli feci arrivare tramite un pacco assicurato con una società di spedizioni.

Tutta qui la mia fortuna.

Nel tardo pomeriggio, rientrato a casa, trovo figlio numero due sull'orlo della disperazione.

Gli chiedo cos'è successo, con gli occhi arrossati e tanta rabbia mi racconta che aveva messo da parte del denaro per comprare il regalo di Natale alla sua Rebecca. Ma una volta arrivato in negozio gli mancavano dei soldi, aveva perso cinquanta euro. Non sapeva né come né dove. Ha lavorato alcune sere per metterli da parte.

Lo rassicuro, può capitare un attimo di distrazione, e guarda caso fuori dal nostro cancello di casa ho trovato una banconota da cinquanta euro tra le foglie secche degli alberi. Mimetizzata. Ma che l'occhio vigile del papà l'ha notata. Recuperandogliela.

Mi guarda incredulo, ma ancora più incredulo è il suo sguardo quando dalla mia tasca estraggo la banconota. Lui sa che io non giro quasi mai con del denaro in tasca. Tra App per i parcheggi e i pedaggi, oltre alle carte per gli acquisti, ho sempre le tasche vuote.

Mi abbraccia, tira un sospiro di sollievo, rimette la banconota con le altre del "budget Rebecca" e mi promette che starà più attento. Così domani andrà di corsa in negozio a comprarle il regalo, prima che finisca.

Questa mattina era iniziata sotto un buon auspicio, questa sera è finita con un'aspettativa più grande. Quella di aver donato la serenità a mio figlio. Non avrei potuto utilizzare meglio quel denaro.

A fine giornata dunque non mi sono ritrovato "più ricco", ma "molto più felice". Perché convinto che chi ama si preoccupa di dare e non di ricevere.

[uovoc]

2023 Media consumption

God tier: media that invoked blorbo-induced euphoria, mini-obsession, or just haunt me

White Cat Legend (大理寺日志, Dali Court Journal) - donghua, seasons 1 and 2. The new vice minister of the imperial court of criminal justice is, unfortunately, a cat demon. Tang Dynasty workplace comedy/political intrigue. Lovely animation, sick fight scenes, and catboys.

Scissor Seven (刺客伍六七) - donghua, seasons 2-3. Netflix summary: "Seeking to recover his memory, a scissor-wielding, hairdressing, bungling quasi-assassin stumbles into a struggle for power among feuding factions." Season 1 was just ok at best, season 2 was great, season 3 was phenomenal, season 4 was meh.

Derkholm duology by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

God Troubles Me / Hanhua Riji (汉化日记) - donghua. Cringefail loser girl Su Moting, her cringefail smartphone god, and her cringefail cat (demon) have to save the world. But first she has to go to work. And get takeout. And watch dramas. The premise sounds SO cringe but it's well-executed and hilarious. And actually a pretty sharp but good-humored window into the delights and horrors of modern everyday life in china.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt (reread). At the peak of the California gold rush, hitmen Charlie and Eli Sisters are hired for a job that Eli is liking less and less. 1st-person perspective of a stone-cold killer, where it turns out the killer is just Some Guy. Who is kind of awkward. And pathetic. And maybe not very bright.

Gobelins graduation animated shorts: "Chroniques de l'Eau Salée" (2021), "Last Summer" (2022), and "Go Fishboy" (2022). Available to watch on YouTube. Got caught up on 2021 and 2022 and these are the ones that will haunt me.

Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi - manga (reread). Teenage martial artist is cursed to transform into a hot girl whenever he's splashed with cold water. Still some of the funniest and most deranged comedy I've ever read.

"Golden Age" - short story by Naomi Novik set in the Temeraire universe. Hilarious and delightful Feral Temeraire AU.

Just ok: media that I didn't hate, and maybe even enjoyed

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore

Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore

Glass Onion (2022) dir. Rian Johnson

Puss in Boots: the Last Wish (2022) dir. Joel Crawford

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead

Witch's Business by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones (reread) - Charmed Life, The Lives of Christopher Chant, Mixed Magics, The Pinhoe Egg

Firebirds: An Anthology of Original Fantasy and Science Fiction, ed. Sharyn November. Faves: "Beauty" by Sherwood Smith, "Little Dot" by Diana Wynne Jones, and "Remember Me" by Nancy Farmer.

All Systems Red (异星危机) by Martha Wells, Simplified tr. by 黎思敏

All Saints Street (万圣街) - donghua, seasons 1-3

Moira's Pen by Megan Whalen Turner

Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

The Game by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

Selected Discworlds: Thief of Time, Unseen Academicals (reread)

The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer (reread)

The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer

"Louise", Gobelins 2021 graduation animated short. Pretty good, but not god tier.

The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

Less by Andrew Sean Greer. Most of it was a slog, but the ending was wonderfully tender.

The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke

Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Spinning by Tillie Walden

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (reread)

The Mermaid (美人鱼) - movie (2016)

Exhalation by Ted Chiang. Fave: Exhalation

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

Motorcity - cartoon (rewatch)

Sing 2 - movie

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - movie

White Cat Legend (大理寺日志) manhua through chapter 186

A Monster in Paris - movie (rewatch)

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - movie

Lionboy trilogy by Zizou Corder: Lionboy, The Chase, and The Truth (reread)

The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw

Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms (封神第一部：朝歌风云) - movie

Our Flag Means Death - season 2

Skellig by David Almond (reread). Even more unsettling and magical than I remembered.

The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System (人渣反派自救系统) by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Savvy by Ingrid Law (reread)

The Silent Boy by Lois Lowry

Golden Age and Other Stories by Naomi Novik. "Golden Age" alone was amazing. Every thing else: meh.

Wonder by RJ Palacio except that the ending sucked

蓝溪镇 (Lanxi Zhen/Blue Creek Town) - manhua (reread), through chapter 112

Translation State by Ann Leckie

Disliked and often DNF'd

House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds

A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn

The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley

Phoenix Rising by Karen Hesse

Palimpsest by Catherine Valente

Knives Out (2019) dir. Rian Johnson

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nhi Vgo

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots. Genuinely creative concept, enjoyable characters, and horrifying (affectionate) ending! Writing was just very, very bad.

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore

Stowaway by Karen Hesse

Nirvana in Fire (狼牙榜) - ok objectively it was fine. It was just SO long that I started losing patience at multiple points.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes on (2021) dir. Dean Fleischer Camp

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor

Suzume - anime movie

Fairies Albums (百妖谱) - donghua

Link Click （时光代理人）- donghua

The Strange Tales of Oscar Zahn by Tri Vuong - webcomic

Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo

Journey to the West: Demons Strike Back (西游伏妖篇) - movie

Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Others Writings by Jorge Luis Borges

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

Frozen 2 - movie

Logan - movie

The Three Sisters of Tenmasou - movie

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Nothing new.

Bewilderment by Richard Powers

Nimona (2023) - movie

Prophet by Helen MacDonald and Sin Blache

One Piece - the live action Netflix series

Good Omens season 2

Birdwing by Rafe Martin

Blue Eye Samurai - netflix cartoon

Haven't You Heard I'm Sakamoto - anime

System Collapse by Martha Wells

The Cay by Theodore Taylor (reread)

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Bottoms (2023) - movie

Daily Life of the Immortal King (仙王的日常生活) - donghua

Witch King by Martha Wells. Actually I enjoyed the Kai/Bashasa storyline a lot. The present-day storyline I found extremely boring. Which was unfortunate because it was more than half the book.

The King's Avatar (全职高手) - donghua

The Apothecary Diaries - anime

Assorted nonfiction

The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May. Bored. DNF

Alone in the Wilderness (2004) - dir. Dick Proenneke. Documentary of Proenneke's year spent living alone in the Alaskan wilderness. Neat look at one dude building a cabin, furniture, and all his accompanying household implements by hand.

A River Lost: The Life and Death of the Columbia by Blaine Harden. The human and environmental significance of the Columbia dam system.

Gifted Earth: The Ethnobotany of the Quinault and Neighboring Tribes by Douglas Deur. Guide to key native species and their traditional uses.

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders. Four classic Russian short stories with accompanying technical analysis of their narrative construction. Great look at the process of writing and analyzing stories.

Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin - animal behavioral psychology

Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin - more animal behavioral psychology

Crying in HMart by Michelle Zauner. DNF. Felt like the book could have been 1/4 of its length. Mostly nothing new.

Wood in American Life: 1776-2076 by WG Youngquist and HO Fleischer. Wood use in America. Really makes you realize just how many things are now made out of plastic but used to be wood. And how much more difficult and expensive it was to make and replace objects.

Authentic Diversity: How to change the workplace for good by Michelle Silverthorn. Concise and nicely concrete. Would be a good starting place for an executive.

Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil - how some big data algorithms reinforce preexisting inequality, and how to improve them.

The Relationship Cure by Joan Declaire and John M. Gottman. The classic originator of the "bids for attention" approach. Pretty good, most helpful was the part where it identifies the styles of responses.

Essential Retirement Planning for Solo Agers: A Retirement and Aging Roadmap for Single and Childless Adults by Sara Zeff Geber

A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs

the excellent hyperlocal nature guidebook I bought after encountering the author at the mall

Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence, by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez. 2018 ed.

[ellieellieoxenfree]

52 weeks, 52 movies: may

more catchup. watched some great stuff this month and some real fucking garbage.

a radiant girl (france) — 19-year-old irène (rebecca marder), a jewish girl, dreams of being an actress in 1942 france, blissfuly unaware of the horrors breathing down her neck.

okay, i know what this movie is going for. i get it. i know what point they’re trying to make, juxtaposing irène’s carefree joys against the encroaching nazi regime. except the nazis barely even register in this movie (until the very end), and the vague hints that occasionally pop up throughout don’t really register. there are mentions of surrendering radios and bicycles, and a few of irène’s classmates disappear, but she’s so self-absorbed and shallow that none of these things register to her on any level. she comes off as less a head-in-the-sand dreamer and more of a willfully obtuse ignoramus.

nor is she a particularly interesting character, nor is her story particularly interesting. she wants to be an actress. she flirts with boys. she has a weird quasi-incest moment with her brother that gave me the actual creeps. it’s all very pedestrian and dull and i could only stomach so many scenes of her giggling with her friends about acting or hatching schemes to get the cute optometrist to notice her. (she concocts an entire plan to get glasses she doesn’t need to get his attention. it is dreadfully boring.) by the time we got to an admittedly chilling ending — her boisterous singing in a cafe catches the eye of a nazi soldier, who cruises over to her with shark-like focus, right before the screen goes black — i was long past the point of giving the remotest fuck about her. she’s as shallow as a puddle two days after rain. she’s unable to conceptualize of the world or people around her, so watching her got very, very tiresome very very quickly. at no point does she put deeper thought into the things that are happening around her. her jewish faith feels equally like an afterthought and barely shows up in the movie. the only thing that seems to matter is having her flit around like an empty-headed simpleton declaiming monologues in pursuance of her dream. even the classmates around her don’t register as people. irène’s entire world is irène and everyone exists to orbit her.

this was absolutely one i finished because it was for the challenge. i cannot recommend anyone do the same, regardless of the reason.

girl picture (finland) —three young women (aamu milonoff, eleonoora kauhanen, and linnea leino) navigate adolescent dreams and hardships over a handful of weekends.

oh, girl picture. oh, you. i wanted to like this more, and there were parts i liked. but the longer i sat with it the less settled about it i felt, and ultimately i concluded that it didn’t work for me. ultimately, it seemed unwilling to fully commit to following the story all the way through, so none of the storylines quite ever satisfied properly. they didn’t quite feel like i was voyeuristically dropping in and seeing a snapshot of a life, either; things artificially ended or resolved so abruptly that i felt a bit of whiplash.

for example, two protagonists, mimmi and emma, fall in love. there are tantalizing plot threads here with both characters; mimmi has clearly unresolved family issues, feeling out of place, replaced, and abandoned by her biological family, while emma is a figure skater struggling with the demands of competitive athleticism. their romance is so whirlwind as to be headache-inducing — this might be the fastest quasi-enemies-to-lovers speed run ever — but its ending is what truly sours it. mimmi, who wrestles with emotional honesty, becomes a relationship saboteur and throws the relationship in emma’s face, then grinds their affection into the dirt by ostentatiously going off with someone else at a party in front of her. they resolve this, but it’s less ‘resolving’ and more ‘emma is a doormat who just apparently takes her back and there’s no communication about it.’ it felt, quite frankly, rather unsettling and more than a little gross. i suppose a scene prior to their resolution, where mimmi tearfully calls her absent mother and has a bit of a cry with her, is meant to be shorthand for her growth, but it feels utterly inauthentic. we, as viewers, have no reason to believe in mimmi’s change of heart. emma just comes off as a weak-willed fool.

separately, their arcs could have been interesting. emma’s heart isn’t in skating; mimmi’s relationship issues clearly come from the parental abandonment she feels. but the film doesn’t dig into that in any meaningful way, or doesn’t dig enough, so it lacks a ton of the power it could have.

similarly, rönkkö, the third member of the trio, has intriguing notes to her characterization that both don’t add up and don’t bear fruit. she seeks sexual pleasure, which manifests as a series of ineptly fumbling encounters with teenage boys little more than moronic brutes, but the storyline doesn’t ever really seem to land in a satisfying way. i’ve read that she ultimately settles on asexuality, but everything is vaguely and hazily defined and the word never gets brought up. (it doesn’t necessarily need to be, although asexuality is still so underrepresented in media that the film’s unwillingness to commit to this story beat alongside the others gets more and more frustrating.)

the actors are capable, and some of the landscapes are simultaneously beautiful and hideous in their winter frigidity. but the longer i went on, the more i asked myself, what are you trying to say? and found the answer was nothing at all.

sapphire (uk) — when a young woman (yvonne buckingham) is found murdered, a number of secrets spill over and shake loose the casual racism and bigotry of the predominantly white community around her.

this was a tidy little treat of a movie from basil dearden, who, as criterion tells me, was known for his kitchen-sink realism. (two years after sapphire, he’d make britain’s first sympathetic film about homosexuality.) this packed a LOT into a short package — while i generally spoil a lot of the plot points in my movie reviews, i think this one’s worth discovering all the secrets on an actual viewing, other than to say that this tackled race relations head-on. it’s incredibly progressive and daring for 1959, covering a lot of topics that the american production code would have had a stroke over. most shockingly, the murdered woman isn’t demonized, despite what i will delicately term indiscreet behavior. it’s nice to see something from the 50s that’s more openly unvarnished; it’s not that the behaviors didn’t happen, but censorship shut down their mere mention in popular culture, so this is an incredibly interesting time capsule. obviously, there’s no shortage of more modern stories about scandals of the period, but this has the immediacy of current values and beliefs uncolored by future ways of thinking.

it was also particularly interesting to see depictions of black culture in 1950s london. i recently watched small axe, which was a modern take on many of those cultural landmarks and touchstones, so it was interesting to contrast what steve mcqueen was doing in his depictions versus what dearden did in his. (dearden was a white man, so did not have the intimate knowledge of the community, and some black critics have commented negatively on his depiction of race relations. as a white woman, i certainly am not qualified to speak over them, but i do applaud what dearden was doing within the context of the time period. for its era, it’s progressive. by modern standards, it may not be as progressive or speak to things as skillfully and thoughtfully as mcqueen could do in small axe, but for my money, it was still an incredibly bold feat of filmmaking. engrossing and highly recommended.

baby assassins (japan) — two high school girls (takaishi akari and izawa saori) who moonlight as assassins face personal crises when their bosses order them to share a living space.

i’m waffling about this one. (this was not intended originally to be a joke, but could be construed as one for other viewers of this movie.) the concept is great, as is the fight choreography (izawa saori, who is the most precious thing alive, is a former stuntwoman), and much of the cast works well together. on the other hand, it bears the hallmarks of an amateur director who isn’t quite sure of themselves or their vision or voice, so it doesn’t quite gel as well as it could have, and it tends to meander at points. when it’s on, it’s on; when it’s not, it’s just frustrating. as with many of the movies i’ve seen this year that didn’t quite live up to expectations, the bones are good. the bones are there and could be fashioned into something superlative. but it just doesn’t quite get there.

a lot of what i seem to keep criticizing is tone, and this suffers from some awkward tonal shifts that don’t always work. it veers from comedy to bloodthirstiness — there’s a gory scene where a yakuza member tortures a shopkeeper for a joke he doesn’t like, which seemed to belong in a darker movie — and the two things don’t always marry well. the movie is overall pretty gory at spots, with some setpieces of large-scale shootouts, but the torture scene feels deliberately cruel in much more grounded and realistic way than the over-the-top nature of the other fight scenes.

it’s also a bit thinly written at times, and i could have used some more beefing up to the script to better establish our characters, their jobs, and the world around them. due to the lack of connective tissue, it can get confusing regarding motivations and logistics, and another pass at the script to add in some connective tissue would have gone a long way.

but it is fun a lot of the time as well. the girls have an easy, natural chemistry, and director sagamoto yuko takes advantage of that to just showcase them in everyday situations — lounging around their apartment, eating together, lightly bickering. again, stronger/tighter writing would have done a lot to help give a better sense of who the girls are (chisato, played by takaishi, is the bubbly, giggly one, whereas mahiro (izawa) is the perpetually exhausted one who’s just done with a lot of this nonsense), but they do their best to carry the material anyway. given chances to shine, such as in a scene where they both need to get day jobs at a maid cafe, they perform admirably. in another scene, they argue over who’s responsible for finishing a job, while the bound and gagged hostage panics in the background. i really wanted the film to lean into the everyday absurdity in more scenes like this — again, a stronger director and writer could have coaxed out the inherent hilarity of the premise.

there is a sequel to baby assassins, which i unwisely picked up on a sale before watching the first one, but the longer i thought about it, the happier i was that i did. i don’t think the movie is a flop or unsalvageable, and i think that there’s enough potential in the material that sagamoto has the chance to learn and grow from his fumbles in the first one to make the second a stronger, leaner machine. we’ll see if i’m booboo the fool.

other viewing

polite society (uk)

willie dynamite (usa)

oh, god! (usa)

uhf* (usa)

borders of love (czech republic)

my fake boyfriend (canada)

the first wives club (usa)

street gang: how we got to sesame street (usa)

smarty (usa)

yomeddine (egypt)

chico and rita (spain)

words bubble up like soda pop (japan)

the girl can’t help it (usa)

the bride came COD (usa)

beans (canada)

born to win (usa)

the boy inside (japan)

the sum of us (australia)

the railway children (1970) (uk)

congrats my ex! (thailand)

leprechaun 5: leprechaun in the hood (usa)

love undercover (hong kong)

the bad guys (usa)

farha (jordan)

the kick (new zealand)

mahler (uk)

moonfleet (usa)

goodbye, mr loser! (china)

invasion of the body snatchers (1978) (usa)

the doctor and the girl (usa)

mangrove (uk)

challengers (usa)

working class (hong kong)

blondi (argentina)

the girl without hands (france)

in china they eat dogs (denmark)

my first summer (australia)

the secret of my success (usa)

men in white (1934) (usa)

lovers rock (uk)

just good friends s1 (uk)

kiss the blood off my hands (usa)

red white and blue (uk)

northern pursuit (usa)

guidance (canada)

[comprate--na--personalita]

A gennaio mi reco a Bonn, e stiamo insieme forse per la prima volta come vogliamo. Come possiamo.  La settimana non si apre facilmente. Ma si conclude meglio. Come è nelle  abitudini di entrambi, ma in particolare di Andrea, appena io sono sul treno lei già mi sta scrivendo e imbuca il giorno stesso una lettera che arriverà a Milano molto dopo di me. Ogni missiva è una battaglia di pensieri e dubbi. Sia le sue che le mie. Ma mentre io non ho perplessità circa la nostra relazione, lei è spesso combattuta. La distanza è un peso, enorme, per Lei. Le mie vere preoccupazioni sono legate ad altro. Gli eventi a casa mia sono devastanti, mio padre è violento e aggressivo con mia madre, continuamente. Mia madre durante l’anno successivo tenterà il suicidio 10 volte. Quasi riuscendoci in due occasioni. Non ci sono soldi in casa e io dovrò abbandonare ben presto gli studi per lavorare. Ma non ho cuore di riferire queste cose ad Andrea. Di parlarle delle giornate violente e del clima assurdo che vivo a casa ogni giorno. Del senso di abbandono e solitudine che vivo quotidianamente. La distanza è un ostacolo già sufficiente tra noi. Non voglio che lei si senta  in dovere di aiutarmi, o che si preoccupi per me. Non potrebbe fare nulla da quella distanza e finirebbe solo per patire anche di più. E io per lei.

Il mio comportamento - che lei descrive così quando parla di me a me stesso, che non sempre sono tranquillo - è legato non alla relazione con lei, ma a tutto questo, alla mia situazione. Ma Andrea lo ignora. Il vedermi teso causa reazioni, ma riferirle le mie ragioni aumenterebbe solo i problemi, e poi non sarebbe giusto nei suoi confronti. Questo genererà ben presto alcune terribili incomprensioni tra noi.

Però almeno, almeno ci diciamo onestamente tutto. Forse troppo. Anche nelle situazioni più complicate. Ci fidavamo profondamente l’uno dell’altra. Al punto di confessarci  anche quello che di solito si evita di dire. Pensavamo, entrambi,  per una inclinazione naturale del nostro carattere, che la nostra unione fosse fondata su certi pilastri. Alcuni solidi, altri vacillanti. Ma che il cuore, i nostri cuori dovessero comunicare totalmente per poter sopravvivere. E’ tutto molto insolito a ripensarci. Quando guardo “this is us” e osservo Rebecca e Jack parlare tra loro, come coppia, o come marito e moglie, e affrontare problemi che fanno tremare molte relazioni, io rivedo in loro la stessa forza, la stessa  stupida onestà che avevamo io e Andrea. E forse per questo non riesco più a guardarli. Perchè mi ricorda chi eravamo. Mi manca questa sincerità che avevamo, di parlare di tutto, anche di ciò che ci faceva più paura, non per ferirci ma per rispetto e amore.  Per parlare dal profondo del cuore. Andrea 20 anni, io poco più. Eravamo due ragazzi, pensavamo e agivamo da adulti. Ritenendo, forse stupidamente, che la nostra vita fosse nostra - che quello che facevamo fosse il frutto della nostra volontà, forza, intensità, e spirito. Ma forse poi in definitiva, era proprio così.

[diceriadelluntore]

Lancette

Questo in foto è un capolavoro di arte artigianale: è un orologio Breguet che ha molteplici "complicazioni", cioè mostra dei dati come l'equazione del tempo (la differenza tra il tempo solare medio, il nostro tempo civile della durata convenzionale di ventiquattrore, e il tempo solare vero, che varia in funzione dell’orbita irregolare della terra intorno al sole) o il calendario perpetuo e sul quadrante finemente lavorato a guilloche sfoggia un tourbuillion, geniale invenzione di Abraham Louis Breguet, cioè l'installazione dell'intero scappamento (il bilanciere con la rispettiva molla, l'ancora e la ruota di scappamento, ossia le parti più sensibili agli effetti della forza di gravità) all'interno di una gabbia mobile che compie una rotazione completa ogni minuto. In questo modo, i difetti, che hanno una cadenza regolare, si compensano reciprocamente. Questo è un prodotto fatto quasi totalmente a mano da un abilissimo orologiaio. E abilissima è l'autrice di questo libro, che ho adorato

Rebecca Struthers è una delle ultime orologiaie del Regno Unito. In questo saggio racconta la sua storia prima di studentessa (fino alla laurea in orologeria), poi di giovane artigiana e infine da affermata restauratrice di orologi antichi e, insieme al marito Craig, fine produttrice di pezzi unici, fatti completamente a mano nel loro piccolo laboratorio di Birmingham. Ogni capitolo è un pezzo di storia della sua vita, un pezzo di storia dell'orologio e un pezzo di meccanica, dove spiega con la massima semplicità (tipica di chi è maestro di una disciplina) le meraviglie tecniche che indossiamo al polso ogni giorno.

Oltre le incredibili storie dell'oggetto, i cui andamenti variano da oggetto di lusso a status symbol economico, in una sorta di spirale sinusoidale di successo, commercio e crisi e dei personaggi a loro legati (scienziati, re e regine, inventori, industriali, geni come Breguet, generali, esploratori, sportivi e così via), ci sono due aspetti che mi hanno colpito profondamente e personalmente:

l'importanza del lavoro degli artigiani, e soprattutto l'importanza delle scuole per gli artigiani: il saggio di Rebecca Struthers è anche un viaggio nel declino di una certa idea di trasmissione del sapere che è coinciso con la fine delle scuole di alta specializzazione (Struthers è stata una delle ultime a completare un corso di studi specifico per l'oreficeria e l'orologeria, che adesso non esiste più). In un paese come il nostro, che spesso solo a parole si vanta della propria tradizione artigiana (che ancora resiste), dovrebbe essere un motivo di studio e dibattito;

Ci sono delle pagine che ho sentito molto vicine a me quando Struthers parla della decisione di mettersi in proprio, e di aprire un laboratorio "fuori dal tempo": le difficoltà iniziali, il modificare macchinari vecchi e usati, il primo stipendio serio dopo anni ma allo stesso tempo la certezza che una scelta di qualità, che comporta molti più problemi di una scelta di quantità, con il tempo sia premiante soprattutto a livello di piena soddisfazione di sè. e l'importanza di fare le cose con le mani, che è un momento creativo eccezionale.

[sharpened--edges]

[The] distinction between the legal code and the unwritten popular code is a commonplace at any time. But rarely have the two codes been more sharply distinguished from each other than in the second half of the 18th century. One may even see these years as ones in which the class war is fought out in terms of Tyburn, the hulks and the Bridewells on the one hand; and crime, riot, and mob action on the other. […] The commercial expansion, the enclosure movement, the early years of the Industrial Revolution—all took place within the shadow of the gallows. The white slaves left our shores for the American plantations and later for Van Diemen's Land, while Bristol and Liverpool were enriched with the profits of black slavery; and slave-owners from West Indian plantations grafted their wealth to ancient pedigrees at the marriage-market in Bath. It is not a pleasant picture. In the lower depths, police officers and gaolers grazed on the pastures of crime—blood-money, garnish money, and sales of alcohol to their victims. The system of graduated rewards for thief-takers incited them to magnify the offence of the accused. The poor lost their rights in the land and were tempted to crime by their poverty and by the inadequate measures of prevention; the small tradesman or master was tempted to forgery or illicit transactions by fear of the debtor's prison. Where no crime could be proved, the J.P.s had wide powers to consign the vagabond or sturdy rogue or unmarried mother to the Bridewell (or “House of Correction”)—those evil, disease-ridden places, managed by corrupt officers, whose conditions shocked John Howard more than the worst prisons. The greatest offence against property was to have none. The law was hated, but it was also despised. Only the most hardened criminal was held in as much popular odium as the informer who brought men to the gallows. And the resistance movement to the laws of the propertied took not only the form of individualistic criminal acts, but also that of piecemeal and sporadic insurrectionary actions where numbers gave some immunity. When Wyvill warned Major Cartwright of the “wild work” of the “lawless and furious rabble” he was not raising imaginary objections. The British people were noted throughout Europe for their turbulence, and the people of London astonished foreign visitors by their lack of deference. The 18th and early 19th century are punctuated by riot, occasioned by bread prices, turnpikes and tolls, excise, “rescue”, strikes, new machinery, enclosures, press-gangs and a score of other grievances. Direct action on particular grievances merges on one hand into the great political risings of the “mob”—the Wilkes agitation of the 1760s and 1770s, the Gordon Riots (1780), the mobbing of the King in the London streets (1795 and 1820), the Bristol Riots (1831) and the Birmingham Bull Ring riots (1839). On the other hand it merges with organised forms of sustained illegal action or quasi-insurrection-Luddism (1811–13), the East Anglian Riots (1816), the “Last Labourer's Revolt” (1830), the Rebecca Riots (1839 and 1842) and the Plug Riots (1842).

E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class (Vintage, 1966), pp. 60–2.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

FEELING BLUE? NOT AS BLUE AS SHE IS -- THE TIMMVERSE MEETS 20th CENTURY FOX.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on assorted pin-ups of the lithe, shapeshifting, and quasi-nude supervillain, Mystique, as she appeared in the smash comic book movie "X-MEN" (2000), played by Rebecca Romijn. 20th Century Fox. Artwork by Bruce Timm.

Bonus reworked/baby blue color version by "DrDoom1081," via DeviantArt (original artwork by Bruce Timm).

Sources: www.flickr.com/photos/36035759@N04/3350999921, GeekTyrant, & DeviantArt.

[acciaiochirurgico]

sarò paziente, anche se di solito non lo sono (la calma è la virtù dei morti?)

questo è un bel periodo, finalmente dopo tanta attesa sto iniziando a vedere i frutti: mi hanno chiamato per iniziare l'affincamento nel banco pane, i colleghi di Senigallia sono tutti adorabili e l'ambiente di lavoro è incredibilmente sano e pieno di vita. molte ragazze -mie colleghe- hanno la mia età e questo ha reso facile il mio inserimento nel reparto. io penso onestamente di fare uno dei lavori più belli del mondo: il pane caldo la mattina, i dolci da servire, il chiacchiere con i clienti, anche quelli antipatici. sono felice, serena e sto bene. Senigallia a differenza di Pesaro è una piccola realtà di campagna, la gente è semplice ma in maniera buona, sono tutti cordiali e ti trattano come vicini di casa. la mia città, al contrario, è inquinata da una fume tossica di inzidia, cattiveria ingiustificate e senso di superiorità. oggi serena negli spogliatoi mi ha detto “difficilmente voi riuscirete a fare squadra quanto noi„, è ha ragione. purtroppo la nostra realtà -per quanto facciamo parte della stessa campagnola regione- è quella che è, e a lungo andare sapremo come rovinare la grande opportunità che abbia fra le mani. perché l'indole del pesarese è così: corrotta. stiamo aprendo un punto vendita da zero, saremo tutti uguali e soprattutto quasi tutti coetanei o comunque in rapporto a persone di quarant'anni, possiamo plasmare questa nuova realtà lavorativa come tutti vorrebbero e spero tanto che sapremo fare le scelte giuste.

nel complesso perplessità a parte e primi battibecchi affrontati, io sono felice e per la prima volta mi sento sicura di me e delle mie capacità, sto scoprendo una Rebecca del tutto nuova e soprattutto con cazzimma da vendere.

poi mi sto frequentando con un ragazzo e sembrerebbe andare bene, la patente sta procedendo e perché no? magari alla fine dell'anno finalmente guidero!

che sia l'inizio di qualcosa di belle?

Solo perché non lo vedi, non significa che non sta succedendo.

[r-rook-studio]

Roseville Beach Reads in July

So July didn't have as many total titles as May or June, but including Delany's dense, surrealistic 900-page magnum opus alongside an often forgotten best-selling fantasy series and two classics of gothic and suspense literature made it a great month.

First the fantasy trilogy!

I kicked off the month of July binging Katherine Kurtz's debut series (and the first trilogy in her long Deryni series). Kurtz is a historical fantasy writer, bishop of a breakaway feminist Catholic Church, and founder of an interfaith "third order" semi-monastic group called The Order of St. Michael. Her books might have been published today as YA fantasy. They're fun to read (if thematically heavy-handed) and foreground personal relationships and negotiating loyalties to family, community, friends, faith, and state. Set in a quasi-historical setting in a fictional area of medieval Europe, her approach to psi and magic feels on point for much of what we'll see in fantasy fiction in the 1970s, and the way she presents the marginalization that Deryni face during this first trilogy will seem familiar to queer readers (and I don't know enough of Kurtz's biography to know if that was intentional at the time of publication), including King Wincet, who's invading from a neighboring kingdom, as a bad Deryni/bad gay.

I'd dipped my toes into the Deryni-verse at one point, but had started in the series internal order, picking up the second trilogy first. I don't remember much about it now, but it was good to come back to the series again, if only because it was once so influential and now so often forgotten.

Finishing Kurtz, I wanted something more gothic, so I returned to reread Jackson's classic about the remnant members of the Blackwood family: Merrikat, Constance, and poor Uncle Julian. I'll need a full blog post, but I know I first read this when I was young, repressed, and deeply closeted, and my brain hadn't fully processed the disturbing queer subtexts then, and I definitely was not nearly as familiar with the gothic then.

After re-reading it this time, I think I called it the best introduction to the gothic novel.

I may need a couple of blog posts and a little big of post-book therapy to process everything that went on here. It's an SF novel (you know because it was sold in the SF section); it's post-apocalyptic (though outside the city, the world's still running perfectly fine); it's a meta-narrative that never forgets it's also a narrative (though you'll forget at times whether it's narrative or meta-narrative that you're reading); it's Delany's bestselling novel (which should fuck with all the data-free assertions that you have decide whether you're writing literary fiction or commercial fiction). Delany never lets you get comfortable with the city, the characters, the action, or the sex. When I started re-reading other Delany novels for this series, @aaronmfking was right to steer me back to this one. I'd picked up several times over the past 20 years, and this time I didn't bounce off.

Finally, the novel that put horror back on the best-seller lists (the last gothic or horror novel to make it the Publisher's Weekly list had been Rebecca). I'd not read this (or any Levin) before, and am only 1/3 of the way through, but it's a short book, so I'm expecting to finish today or tomorrow before heading to Gen Con.

In August, it's on to The Exorcist.