#rich gunter

[spilladabalia]

The Dolly Mixture in Doncaster, 1981. Photo by & © Rich Gunter.

[djungelsims]

games night! beth invited charlie - and it seems vallie is warming up to her... a little

[hoperays-song]

Sing Colour Palettes: The Theatre Adults

Buster: Blue, Red, White, and Grey

Eddie: Red, White, Grey, Gold

Rosita: Pink, Green, and Blue

Gunter: Gold, Yellow, White. Pink, and Red

Nana: Black, Green, Gold, and Purple

[patrik6090]

Fire emblem (but with actual effort done by someone for someone who has heard penny rambled and played most of the games)

Patrik6090: Iago, fruitiest Tumblr Mf turned into (one of) fruitiest fire emblem MFs

pennyroyald: Annette, sweet cute girl that will bash your head in for both approval and anger issues

Mari: Camilla, a type of knight and also lilac hair ignore the icky maybe incest stuff and bam it's Mari Even personality wise

@importantpeachfury : Lianna, the princess of aytolis probably makes her rich, she's also blond and is like peach if she was smart except still dumb but also way smarter

manicali: Henry, a dark mage who kills others with a smile, he is also a heroic sided character and fits eerily close to manic in character

Groggle: Tune, two entity's of pure chaos

@stargazing-with-friends : Eleanora, a mature and smart elder woman and mother of protagonist eliwood, she fits ig

@ms-macintosh : Al, an annoying dumbass who wins at everything and is way cooler then people say they are, unfairly hated, perfectly fits them

@aflairforthemelodramaticc : generic villager, basic

@half-fey-freak-of-nature : Tsubasa Oribe, reasoning, VIBES VIBES VIBES

@sleepy-boything-shit : viron, Fruity Mf with similar vibes even if they act different

@f4y3w00d5 : Faye, both obbsesive and neglected and also FAYE AS FAYE I COULDNR RESIST TOAKE FAYE FAYE

@decaffeinatedcatkitten :Gunter, reasoning? Vibes

@canisnebular : Jamie, reasoning? Same vibes

@sarrinight :claud (FE4) basically you if you were a wimp

@asqadia-banthen : ylgr, murder child with axe

@eirxair : FE12 bantu, reasoning? He's the worst character in the game

@losairr : Azuka advisor of pelleas, reasoning? He's a scumbag racist and you give off similar vibes, but you also feel like you have similar personality which is the selling point

@letmeoutofthebasementplease : Lilith, she's the closest thing to a slime girl in fire emblem I can think of and your a slime girl in my head, she doesn't act much like you though

illusionsignmisdirecti0n: Julius, idk you give jule vibes

@weenietickler : glen, reasoning? VIBES

@wyfy-meltdown : Sharena, Kind, cute, gambler, always ignored by isnysts and she's a hero,

@moongasux : Kris, reasoning? Your similar to each other

@roeldraws : Keaton, reasoning? WOLFBOY IS WOLFBOY

@the-rat12 : Layla, VIBES and Music

@ihavehomework2dobutimhereinstead : Kempf, AMERICA ITSELF AS KEMPF AMERICA ITSELF

@gobodegoblin : Sothis, vibes

@iri-desky : Manuela, Music girl

@pansexualcake9 : shinon, no explanation needed

@vee1021 : Catria, your litteraly them

@enbypalsidk : Naesala, your Naesala id they were a girl and nice

@watercraver : Oliver, I don't need to explain

@mayowayo : Alfred(??????????) idk I couldn't figure someone out and they were the biggest almost maybe

@untitled14360 : Titania, old lady who's mentally strong and has similar vibes

@kimisbunny : Bord, a strong hearted warrior with great determination and muscle who works best with his partners who are like brothers to him

@sunsickle : Læraðr, you command the same level of intimidation and respect, you give off his aura of power and his level of anger

@durdurdurrrb : eda, Vibes

@im-an-anthusiast : Python, strong sassy and strong, might be confusing him with someone else but don't wanna look up the name

@transfem-users ' Dimitri, Dimitri is a transfem egg in my eyes

@yuris-redgreen-drink : Manuela, you two are the same person

@sarah-ankh : Minerva, a strong powerful charismatic amazing woman and lady who is amazing

@cado-thingy : genny, same vibes

@irishfry : Oscar, you are literally him

@apjofan : alcryst, Seemingly wimpy and untalented, but he is in truth a worthy and smart young man deserving of millions of praise

@tameable50 : yarne, you are bunny and yarne is bunny

@lovegood3173 : surtr, he's you if you were evil and mean

@poisoned-sugar11 : linhardt, communism

@frost-the-soulcrow-elytrian : Limstella, same people

@stervers : Rennac, he's just a normal guy

@soruset : dream King freyr, same vibes

@jellyfishrui : Makalov, you if you were a bad person

@stargazer365 : Forrest, he acts a lot like you, he's also an artist like you, and he's femme presenting and probably a furry just like you

@bees-official : Wildlife, the wildlife in fire emblem

@poppy-petals18 : Farina, little tomboy who hates her big sis and loves money, which fits how you act

@green774 774: fire emblem, you are the entire franchise of fire emblem

🤹: Xane, a trickster freelancer

Girlkisser: Loptous, ELDRITCH GOD ALERT

Puki anon: Alfaðör, old man and father of many

Mango: Loki, seductive purple haired women

R.S: duma, I'm god of war

Plutowhoops: peri, She loves murder and she's also really cute, she murders innocents for fun and also likes fires so she's basically Pluto

Ooh Lago seems fun! Looks like he wakes up with a defeated sigh and a groan every morning

So just like me fr fr

[cutekoala1001]

What is your favorite head canon for all characters in sing?

Favourite head canon for ALL the characters?? Well, if you’re interested, I do have lots of hcs! These are just some of mine (so it’s ok if you disagree!) :

Buster - He’s physically small, but as someone in charge, he prefers to be seen as bigger. So he stands on the moon prop or stands on objects to be closer to others’ eye level, or even to have them look up at him.

Eddie - I suspect that Nana isn’t the only diva in his family. And his father either runs some sort of successful business or is in show business himself. His father is never around.

Meena - She comes from a very supportive, and very religious, family.

Ash - Doesn’t have a good relationship with her parents; comes from a rough upbringing. Moved out and in with Lance as soon as she could.

Rosita - Has a “live, love, laugh” sign somewhere in her home. Family is everything. Thanksgivings are nuts.

Gunter - has ADHD and is quite a talented creative.

Mike - did not survive the bears 💀

Johnny - Was popular with the girls at school, but hesitated to date anyone seriously. Or maybe he had a serious gf once but because of heartbreak (and family gang stuff) he needed time before getting into another serious relationship.

Alfonso - is interested in “Eastern philosophies” (he’s wearing those beaded bracelets) and is probably into meditation.

Porsha - Mother left when she was young and her rich father spoiled her in place of being there for her. She’s been given anything she wants in place of the attention from her busy father, but her father’s attention is all she ever really wanted. A daddy’s girl and will probably find a sugar daddy to support her.

Klaus - I’m 100% with @picapicamagpie ‘s hc on his history and upbringing! She explains it very well in her fic.

Clay - He went on to do solo tours and reunite with old friends in the industry. He’s healing and moving on from his past.

Nooshy - Also from a rough upbringing. Was homeless at one point.

Miss Crawly - She has been with Moon Theatre longer than anyone else in Sing. She has seen a lot. She has also forgotten a lot.

Nana - Buster’s business partner and, I would assume, oversees the financial aspects of Moon Theatre seeing as it was through her fortune that it was revived. Has had a dynamic life in showbiz. Divorced. Has a lifetime of working hard to acquire fame and fortune. Past experiences have left her bitter and resentful; it’s difficult to trust others; she isolates in her retirement; lives in the past when she was in her prime; is self-absorbed; and has high standards for others and herself. But underneath it all she actually does want to help and give back to the world.

☆ I hope we’ll get a glimpse of a little more into the character’s pasts in the 3rd movie!

[satoshi-mochida]

Hand-drawn story-driven adventure game Vivarium announced

Gematsu Source

A currently unnamed studio that consists of creator Michael Nowak and collaborator Trent Garlipp (A Walk With Yiayia) has announced Vivarium, a hand-drawn story-driven adventure game inspired by Love-de-Lic cult classics Chulip and moon, as well as slice-of-life adventure games like Boku No Natsuyasumi, with visuals and audio inspired by 1974 to early 1980s anime and manga. Platforms and a release date were not announced.

Here is an overview of the game, via the developers:

About

Vivarium is a story-driven adventure game set in the world of a terrarium!

Key Features

Gameplay focused on exploration and character storylines—expanding on the RPG town concept from games like Stardew Valley.

Hand-drawn cel-animation graphics inspired by classic anime—akin to Cuphead‘s take on 1930s cartoons.

Story

Jenny lives in a quaint ranch house by herself in the whimsical world of Vivarium. ��However, not all is as it seems in the terrarium.

Objective

Jenny finds the giant tree in the center of the terrarium has died—throwing off the balance of the world in Vivarium. However, a new sprout has taken root in its place. As Jenny helps characters, solves puzzles, and grows in her experiences, the tree sprout grows in size.

Characters

“Yulia” the talking Slavic Dog hermit

“Rishi” and “Gunter,” the local shopkeepers

…and more to meet in the world of Vivarium

Game Loop

Explore – Gain access to new locations and characters.

Find Quests – Take on quests and mysteries in the terrarium.

Solve – Solve puzzles with items, conversation, and ingenuity.

Grow and Repeat – Gain experience with your actions, causing the sprout to grow.

World

Explore a dense, hand-painted world in Vivarium—filled with scenery, nooks, and secrets to discover.

Art Style

Our style is inspired by classic animation, especially from 70s to 80s Japan. Vivarium features a totally hand-drawn traditional cel-animation process—reflective of the media it’s inspired by. Every frame of the game is hand-crafted with love! Vivarium‘s environments are rendered in rich, thickly saturated gouache painting. Every area features its own original art assets and highly detailed painted backdrop. Vivarium uses subtle post-processing, lighting, and color grading to achieve a retro-cinematic aesthetic. Hand-placed dynamic day-night cycle lighting. Grain, lens focus-blur, and a cel drop-shadow are all applied in-engine. These effects replicate the look of traditional animation photographed and printed on film.

Watch the announcement trailer below.

Announce Trailer

[saiyansweetheart45]

Ideas for the Coffee Shop AU

Hey, everyone! Later this month and throughout December, I'll be releasing the first chapters of my newest story idea! But for now, here's the layout for this lovely (if I do say so myself) new idea. I hope you all enjoy reading as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

The Full Moon Brew Coffee Shop is more than just a place to get a cup of coffee. It’s a haven that offers a break from the day-to-day chaos in the city of Calatonia, presided over by one Koala Connoisseur, Buster Moon, a coffee enthusiast as well as a master showman. The Full Moon Brew is a nook of coziness and even creativity. With the air teeming with coffee and creative encouragement, it’s no wonder the place hosts such an eclectic bunch.

Up and coming rocker Ash goes there at least twice a week to get her caffeine fix, but also likes the atmosphere because it helps inspire her songwriting.

Sweet-obsessed and sass-filled Nooshy likes to busk down the road (before meeting the rest of the gang) for extra pocket money to afford her cream and sugar-loaded coffees. And it combines the two things she loves: dancing and coffee. She also enters the occasional contest held at the shop.

Then there’s introverted British newcomer Johnny who spends anywhere from half an hour to sometimes even half the day, at the place, ordering at least three cups of coffee, all while reading or writing songs as well. It’s like a haven in the new city he's moved with his family to following his dad and uncle’s being transferred for a job. Occasionally, on their lunch break, the three older gorillas stop in to get a little bite of the pastries the place offers and of course an espresso-loaded cup or two. Each. They don’t ever stick around long, but they can see why the youngest member of their clan loves the place so much.

Then, we have the equally shy Meena, whose small family business supplies the baked goods to the coffee shop, and Meena occasionally visits both to subtly network for her family’s business, and to try to become more social, since coffee shops are great for being both social and withdrawn. And she loves their smoothies, and is trying to acquire a taste for coffee, but can’t quite do it.

Enter Rosita, the on-the-go mother that does it all, but always makes some time to get a little pick-me-up for herself and do a bit of work to help her husband, for whom she always orders a special cappuccino before she heads to pick up their extensive brood of piglets.

The tea-loving theater legend Nana Noodleman happens to be one of the top investors for Buster’s shop. The place is small but makes a pretty profit, what with having fresh, homemade treats, along with beverages one can’t get just anywhere. And Buster always makes sure to keep a steady supply of fine teas at the ready for Nana. She even has a special table with a high-backed purple velvet chair by the window just beside the patio overlooking the ocean.

The excitable bundle of Piggy Power Gunter occasionally visits the shop, drawn by the musical selection and the open mic nights. Though by his own admission, he comes less for the singing and more for the dancing. And of course, a caffeine fix here and there is needed for such dedicated dancing.

Another new kid enters. Meet Ryan Collins, a student in a nearby dance academy, who happens upon the coffee shop by complete coincidence. He finds that while he doesn’t much care for coffee, he enjoys the chill atmosphere, a welcome reprieve after his hectic classes under the iron fist of Klaus Kickenklober. Plus, who doesn’t occasionally love a Toasted Vanilla or Hazelnut Steamer?

Two new faces also enter this colorful Coffee shop mix, we have the two rich kids Eddie and Porsha, both of whom are working their first jobs ever under the watchful eye of Miss Crawly. Don’t let her age and dottiness fool you, the old Lizard Lady is a brewing MASTER.

Both prove straight away to be a bit…unskilled to say the least, but they slowly start to adapt, with Porsha even scoring huge brownie points when she creates a new drink for the menu.

And finally, the dutiful, efficient, and long-suffering Suki Lane occasionally stops by the shop to get coffee for herself, but also (reluctantly) for her image-obsessed boss who doesn’t like coffee but is quick to associate himself when the little shop starts to gain more attention.

Suki herself may not particularly like Buster, but she does like the coffee. And she does secretly loathe Crystal's dismissal of it. And dismiss it he does. At least until it starts to gain more popularity, at which point he tries to buy it out. But that meeting goes as well as you'd expect.

This version of Buster has a few slightly different traits; poised, knows his worth, and won't sell himself out for a few beans. He knows why Crystal wants the business and is having none of it. First off, because he knows the price Crystal offered is insulting given the profit the place brings in. Second, and more importantly, because his father bought the property, had the building built with his own money, and personally let Buster design the place, the menu, everything. This place is a symbol of everything his dad worked for and gave him. All the while the man was hiding a terminal illness. This last project was a distraction from the inevitable. And Buster will NOT trivialize that sacrifice.

[monika-k-adler]

Sick Bacchus: Storyboard/Aeon Rose

a film by Monika K. Adler

www.sickbacchus.com

www.instagram.com/sickbacchusmovie

SICK BACCHUS

Violetta is one of London’s wealthy elite, rich and beautiful but pathologically dissatisfied with life. When her mind starts to destroy her body, she finds help in Dr. Gunter Berezovsky, a brilliant blood specialist and cultured psychopath who treats the city’s super-rich. As they become closer, a disturbing game plays out between them; one that will show her the truth about herself, and the society she inhabits. What she learns will change her forever.

[machiroads]

Machi's 2024 Media Year in Review

Books, games, manga, and other quality content that kept the lights on in '24

YEAH DUDE

The Culture Code - Daniel Coyle: Book of the year for me, a recommendation from one of my corporate overlords. A really insightful look into what makes organizations good

Blood - Dr. Jen Gunter: Runner up book of the year. A scientific deep dive into the female reproductive system. Still cursing my uterus afterwards tho, just in a slightly more intelligent way

Tiger Tiger: Webcomic of the year. Women can't do anything? Wouldn't it be unfortunate if one did a ruse to stow away on a boat and cavorted with a dormant god of evil and studied sea sponges and rebuffed romantic advances from the most hateable guy of all time.

Detroit: Become Human: An offhand addendum from a @plusultraetc fic got me to finally buy this, which has been in my Steam wishlist for like. Years. The controls were a bit wonky to get used to, but I did 2 full playthroughs in the span of like. A month. I would die for u Kara and Alice. Also Clancy Brown 💖

Cat Cafe Manager: Got this one on sale, and 100%-ed it in like. 2 weeks. Very cute, no notes.

Spy x Family: Manga of the year for me even though I don't really post about it! Read Spy x Family!!!

The Barbie Movie: I finally watched it. Cried. Refer back to Blood above re: the fun of BEING A WOMAN

Knives Out: Glass Onion: I finally watched this one too. Daniel Craig in his little outfits. A surprise tweest. Dunking on rich people. It's got it all.

Youtube: I probably watch way too much youtube. A selection of channels that sustained me in the year 2024: Jet Lag: The Game, Drawfee, Tia Weston, Midwest Magic Cleaning (and the broader cleantube), Maigomika, Strange Aeons, Sarah Spaceman, Kiun B, Rachel & Jun, Evan & Katelyn

SURE WHY NOT

This Is How You lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone: Yes I read the bigolas dickolas wolfwood book. A pretty quick read, and I enjoyed the epistolary format, though the nonlinear timeline donked my brain a bit

Papers, Please: The youtube algorithm decided to show me vtubers playing this and I remembered I'd bought it several years ago and only played a few days before I decided it was too hard. Turns out there's an easy mode! I would die for u Jorgi.

Cascade Failure - L.M. Sagas: JUST finished this one (another rec from @plusultraetc). As much as I am tantalized by Firefly and its spacewestern ilk, I found this to be slightly too fast-paced for my tastes, I would have liked to chew on the worldbuilding a bit more. Jal & Saint are very pwecious to me though. Anke is on THIN ICE.

Frieren: This was a Rachel & Jun recommendation, and I enjoyed a lot of the earlier arcs, but the later arcs seem to be wandering into a bit of power/threat level creep.

Yomi no Tsugai: Arakawa Hiromu's current series. I have the memory of a goldfish and forget it exists half the time because it only updates monthly. Not grasping me quite as strongly as FMA or Silver Spoon, but still quality Arakawa content.

THE NEUTRAL FACE OF NEUTRALITY

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning - Margareta Magnusson: The youtube algorithm decided to show me people cleaning out their houses or their parents houses, and I figured I'd read this one too. I read Marie Kondo a few years ago and found it to be more my speed. This one feels like it's geared towards a slightly older audience.

DNF

Baldur's Gate 3: Listen I have a custom built PC and this game still managed to crash like it was going out of style. Originally was going to co-op with my husband and BIL but scheduling sessions was a pain in the ass. I ended up playing through to the start of Act 3 by myself on Saturday mornings for a couple months before I got tired of it. I think this also coincided with my IRL D&D burnout tbh.

Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir: another tumblr recommendation that I ended up getting from the library at a time when I didn't have the spoons to focus on it. Lots of politicking and wandering large tombs at the start. It's back in the queue, maybe I will get around to finishing it in '25.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone - Benjamin Stevenson: Got this to read on a flight, and I ended up doing other stuff instead.

RERUNS

Stardew Valley: Yeah 1.6. We've all seen it. I romanced Abigail this time, my amethyst-eating wife. Here's a snippet of this year's over-engineered farm (stardew planner is my life)

Pokemon Sapphire / Alpha Sapphire: Hoenn my beloved. My comfort gen. After losing my mind last year on emulated versions of a few other generations (looking at you heart gold) I tried to do a run where I'd only catch pokemon I actually liked. I managed to get up to Tate & Liza before the prospect of Shoal Cave seemed too daunting and then my life blew up at the end of the summer and that was that.

The Way of the Househusband: An easy, mindless reread. Endlessly entertaining.

Gravity Falls: Rewatched this with my husband over the last few months. The older I get, the more relatable I find Grunkle Stan, and I'm not sure that's a good thing lmao

Our Book Club Academia: What if a conspiracy board was also a book club. What if we reread BNHA from start to finish, 1 volume a week. I am using this as an excuse to figure out how/why/where things went so wrong, with the side effect of generally having a good time. Thank you, once again, to @plusultraetc for organizing 💖

[lyra-swan]

Books I've read in 2024 that I recommend:

I've read 24 books this year, which is the most I've read since I was a kid binging Warrior Cats and Enid Blyton's series, usually I'd struggle to finish one book within a year, but I got a library card this year and ended up checking out more books than I'd expected. Anyway, I wanted to make a post with my favourite reads and recommend them as a way to celebrate me being able to read so much for the first time in a long time. Big thank you to my library for all the LGBT books it keeps in stock, otherwise I would've been too bored to continue reading. The links all lead to the books' goodreads pages.

Tipping The Velvet, Sarah Waters

5/5 stars! Finished this one in December and I loved it to death! I just happened to see it on goodreads in the recommended section of another book I was looking at and I'm glad I saw it, and especially that my library had a beautiful hardcover on its shelf. It's a rags to riches, to rags to riches, then rags again story and it's a lot of fun seeing where the protagonist will end up next in a later Victorian era London. The writing is excellent, and I loved the whole cross-dressing theme in the book, especially when Nancy decides to pretend to 'be a boy' and trick gay men into believing she is one 'for a pound a suck'. The moment Kitty was introduced, on the stage as a male impersonator in a suit, I was in love with the book. I couldn't recommend this enough and if you like cross-dressing girls and tragic lesbian romances then give this a shot.

The Tin Drum, Gunter Grass

5/5 stars. This was the first book I checked out from the library this year once I updated my library card from the children's section. For a short description: it's about an insane little pervert midget who pretends to be three for the remainder of his life after turning three, and is obsessed with tin drums and nurses. It's hilarious, shocking, sometimes disgusting, and I loved the way the author wrote Oskar. My favourite aspects of his characterisation is how he chides himself for, I won't be specific for spoilers, some of the bad things he does, but as a reader I got the feeling he doesn't actually care that much, like it doesn't seem to deeply trouble him, yet somehow does, yet somehow doesn't, god he's a complicated character and I love the writing to bits. He grows up during the growth of the Nazi party and eventually, WW2, then everything afterwards, and it's such a unique perspective seeing it through this insane midget's eyes. Always the narrator (Oskar, from his bed in a mental facility) switches between first and third person, but it was done very smoothly and was just icing on the cake for me. I've spilt a full glass of wine while writing this and I'm very upset over the loss.

A Single Man, Christopher Isherwood

5/5 stars. This is my favourite novel by Christopher, having read Mr. Norris Changes Trains and Goodbye to Berlin after The Tin Drum. I watched the movie this month and while I thought it was a pretty good adaptation, I love the book more. Had I known I'd be writing this post I'd love to have written more notes for this to better put into words what exactly I loved about this book. Christopher knocked it out the park with this one, and in 1964 when E. M. Forster was still hiding Maurice, which I also read and am extremely thankful was eventually published.

Dancer from the Dance, Andrew Holleran

5/5 stars. I will need to re-read this one, I unfortunately had things going on and I was too focused on those happenings to really pay attention. But when I was able to focus on reading, I loved it a lot. It takes place in the gay scene of 1970's New York and has such a sad tone right from the first chapter, something I'm a sucker for when done right (and here it is done perfectly), but it also made me smile plenty of times. The main character's need to be liked was relatable in a way for me, and the queen Sutherland who helps him through his new life was my favourite character in the novel. (There's a Sutherland Security in my country and I always thought of the character when I saw a sign for the company while knocking on doors delivering pizza). The depiction of the setting, and the surroundings Malone finds himself in was done beautifully.

The Island of Dr. Moreau, H. G. Wells

5/5 stars. This one wasn't actually a library book, I found it by chance while I was visiting the local second-hand bookstore for a copy of any books that I wanted to read but weren't at the library. It must have been calling to me from where it sat on its shelf by the front desk, because now it's one of my favourites. If you know me then you know that I love, LOVE evil doctors who do unethical experiments, so of course I was instantly captivated by Dr. Moreau himself who was shunned by society for his own experiments, and continued to do them on an island away from society's eyes. The creatures on the island were written terrifyingly. Loved it - the tension of the protagonist exploring the island at night, even in the day, and of course I loved the doctor. Hurrah for evil doctors!

Carmilla, Sheridan Le Fanu

4/5 stars. This was the first proper vampire novel I have ever read in my life, and I'm glad for it. There was a certain eeriness to it, and though I could already guess the identity of the vampire and make out what was going on, it didn't diminish that eerie quality. I never thought a vampire novel could have that effect on me! I have to wonder what the first readers back in 1872 thought of it if this is how I felt despite all the pop culture surrounding vampires here in 2024. Also, the very reason I decided to read this: the Sapphic undertones in every interaction between Laura and Carmilla. *Chef's kiss*. It's not explicitly lesbian but it's definitely worth a mention. I suppose my one complaint would be how, many, commas, there were, in each sentence, but I got used to it.

Seducing the Sedgwicks Series, Cat Sebastian

4.5/5 stars. Again so thankful to my library for stocking a variety of LGBT books, from tragic types like Dancer from the Dance to comfiness like these. I still haven't read the third one, but I intend to and am excited to because the first two were so good! So far the second book is my favourite of this series, the main characters just being a perfect mesh for each other. I always thought those Victorian romances with their silly covers were silly, but I guess if it's gay I actually like them. (Or lesbian, in fact I ended up buying Cat's A Little Light Mischief because of how I enjoyed reading her work in this series.)

The Jasmine Throne, Tasha Suri

4/5 stars. This was the first lesbian novel I have ever read, thanks library! I have to admit that at the start I thought I might not enjoy it after all, but the world was interesting and I really wanted to see how things would go between the girls Malini and Priya, so I kept reading and ended up liking it more than I thought. I was really disappointed seeing my library didn't have the next two books - until not too long ago! My library has now acquired them and I feel very lucky and thankful.

Other books I read, loved, and recommend:

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (beautifully written, bought and started reading last year, finished this year)

The Captive Prince series by C. S. Pacat (SO fun)

Maurice by E. M. Forster

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Animal Farm by George Orwell (it's always relevant, isn't it? When Snowball was being blamed for everything that went wrong on the farm, it sounded eerily similar...)

Night by Elie Wiesel (should be read by everyone)

The year isn't over so I might yet finish a few more books, I have Annie on My Mind and Late Bloomer sitting on my bedside drawers. I hope I can continue reading next year though I might be busy since I'll be starting study. Either way I feel a bit proud of myself for being able to read so much for the first time in ages, all thanks to my library. I'm blessed that New Zealand can't be half-bothered 'cracking down' on LGBT books in the libraries, so that I and everyone else can have free access to these books. Of course, I could pirate when I'm out of money, but where's the fun in that? I love holding the books in my hands and smelling their pages like some kind of freak.

[justforbooks]

In the mid-1990s the historian James Sharpe, who has died aged 77, wrote Instruments of Darkness, a book on witch-hunting in England that reopened a field of research that had been in the doldrums for a generation after the Welsh historian Keith Thomas’s brilliant Religion and the Decline of Magic (1971). Published in 1996, Jim’s book helped to make the study of British witchcraft what it is today: one of the most lively areas of historical writing.

Earlier historians had argued that whereas witch-hunting on the European continent was fantastical, dominated by beliefs about the devil, English witch-hunting was comparatively rational and down-to-earth, centred on beliefs about the practical harm that witches caused to people and animals. Jim showed that this was nonsense, and that English witch-hunting was also powered by fear of the devil and followed much the same pattern as many other European countries.

An archival hound, Jim surveyed every possible paper-trail in the course of his research, uncovering valuable sources for those who have come after him, including via his copious footnotes and bibliographies. In addition, he went to many conferences on the continent and made it his business to meet the leading scholars of crime and witchcraft, always developing the European dimension of his work.

He loved the detail – he was fascinated, for instance, by the phenomenon of familiars in English witchcraft, creatures who suckled on witches and carried out their bidding, one of the few features that do indeed set English witch-beliefs apart from the continent. He noted them all: Bid the ferret, a lamb, another creature that was carefully kept in a basket with wool, and a white-spotted cat ominously named Sathan.

Perhaps his most appealing book is his history of Anne Gunter, published in 2000, about a 17th-century girl who claimed to be possessed but was unmasked as a fraud. It is a classic of its kind, a marvellous micro-study that reveals the inner world of an unhappy individual who found herself used for other people’s agendas and who, Jim argued, just wanted love and attention. The book, Bewitching of Anne Gunter, explores the mindsets of the doctors, ministers of religion and even the monarch himself, James I, who did not believe Anne’s stories.

As Jim was well aware, at another level it is also a story about fathers – and patriarchal figures of all kinds – who fail their children. It is a gripping read, with lots of humour, and along the way speculates on the origins of football. In the style of a 17th-century broadside Jim gave the book the wonderful sub-title, A Horrible and True Story of Deception, Witchcraft, Murder and the King of England – wording that led the Bavarian State Library in Munich to refuse twice to buy it, on the grounds that it simply could not be an academic book.

Jim followed up with Dick Turpin: the Myth of the English Highwayman (2004), another fantastic read, and then A Fiery and Furious People: a History of Violence in England (2016), which upturned the idea of the peaceable phlegmatic English character.

This was a return to earlier preoccupations, for Jim started out as a historian of crime. From 1983 on he wrote a series of path-breaking books on the history of crime in the British Isles in the 16th and 17th centuries, inspiring others to follow in his wake.

In a field dominated by Tudor and Stuart monarchs and their courts, Jim brought ordinary people into history, in all their variety, by showing just what could be done with court records of crime. These rich sources have revolutionised how we write history because they take us as close as we can to the voices of the lower classes in the past, and Jim was one of the first to realise this.

Jim was born in Lewisham, south-east London, to James, a labourer, and Margaret, a cleaner. At Colfe’s school, in Blackheath, he won a place at Oxford University, where he did a history degree and then a doctorate under Thomas’s supervision. He spent all his career, from 1973, as a history lecturer at the University of York, where he was a marvellous and generous teacher and rose to be professor before retirement in 2016.

York became the go-to place for social history, with the three Jims, Jim Walvin, Jim McMillan and Jim Sharpe, all doing exciting new work on slavery, women’s history and crime respectively. He adored teaching and had a wonderful line in dry humour; his students all knew how proud he was of them.

He is survived by his wife, Krista (nee Cowman), whom he married in 1993, and their children, Guy and Freddie.

🔔 James Anthony Sharpe, historian, born 9 October 1946; died 13 February 2024

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

[longlistshort]

VSF gallery is currently showing The Harrisons’ Survival Piece #1: Air, Earth, Water, Interface: Annual Hog Pasture Mix, 1970-1971, part of The Getty’s Pacific Standard Time: Art & Science Collide.

On Thursday, 10/17, a local pig will enter the grow box to turn over the pasture in an iteration of the 2012 performance that took place at The Geffen Contemporary at MoCA.

From the gallery-

The first in their visionary series of Survival Pieces, “Hog Pasture,” as it is known by Harrison’s fans, emerged from a direct dialog with the most visionary and boundary pushing artists of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. The impact of the Earth Day movement and the nascent cultural awareness that human beings were rapidly depleting the planet’s natural resources ignited a deep and sincere conversation within the art world about the stakes of art-making in the post-war, post-1968 world.

While later survival pieces highlighted a culminating harvest feast, Survival Piece #1 is focused on growth. The rectangular form of the raised planter bed and the grid of grow lights above echo sculptural innovations by artists like Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, and Richard Morris;  however, Newton Harrison had by this time decided that a sculpture or a painting was not enough. His artwork needed to not only have a moral purpose, it needed to strive to restore the earth and protect the abundant future of humans on our planet.

In 1971, shortly after their first foray into ecological art, Making Earth (which VSF exhibited earlier this year at Frieze LA and is now in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art) Newton and Helen heard from David Antin that Virginia Gunter at the MFA Boston was curating a show titled Earth, Air, Fire, and Water: Elements of Art and wanted to include their work alongside contemporaries including Robert Smithson, Michael Heizer, Hans Haacke, and others. Exploring ideas of growth and change, Gunter’s vision for the exhibition was meant to challenge conservative, formalist, Greenbergian ideas about art as well as expectations of the museum as an institution that primarily collected unchanging pictures and objects that somehow articulated the best ideas and techniques of the time in which they were made.

Interested in building on his use of artificial lights, Newton decided that he should actually grow something. He commissioned one of his painting students to look through seed catalogs to find a mixture that was “totally singular,” eventually landing on R.H. Shumway Seedsman’s Annual Hog Pasture Mix. In Boston, a large raised planter bed was built in a basement gallery of the museum, agricultural grow lights were installed in a parallel grid from the ceiling, a potent mix of manure, compost, worm castings, and other rich grow media were added to the planter bed, the seed mix was added, and a small pasture grew there with alarming speed. While Gunter wouldn’t allow a hog to come and graze the original hog pasture, subsequent exhibitions of the work, including Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974 curated by Miwon Kwon and Phillip Kaiser at MoCA in 2012, have brought the work to its natural conclusion and invited a pig in to enjoy the rich, velvety mix of legumes and grasses. Similarly, VSF has invited a hog to harvest the indoor meadow during the exhibition’s closing ceremony on October 17, 2024. The remaining pasture, earthworms, and soil mix will be gifted to visitors. We hope that you will join us while our porcine guest enjoys the first survival piece feast envisioned by Helen and Newton Harrison.

[djungelsims]

vallie met this new girl charlie... i dont think she's a huge fan

[dirtyoldmanhole]

i think another thing about gunter/corrin that has me chewing wires -

(krad how many are we on? 32?)

- is that it's just as canon as any other ship in all the big thematic ways.

don't get me wrong, i'm the furthest thing from a canon purist. in fact most of my favorite ships (take uhhh zaeed/shepard as an example) you basically have to mentally write from the ground up as a glorious crackship. and it's fun! it's freeing playing in your own sandbox, and it teaches you great skills about improvising, creating, being independent of corporations etc etc. be the person making the entire ship tag.

but

when you've done that for every dynamic you're interested in for a good 2+ decades. it can kinda get... tiring? a little isolating maybe? not in the sense of people being around but you find yourself wishfully thinking to have your own little toy blocks of characters sometimes. being able to indulge in your own weird little fucked up favorite dynamics.

and then not only does fates give you a pretty rich mentor/mentee dynamic threaded through earlygame, you get the classic C-S supports, you get Kana, you get Gunter&Kana supports, you get the extra JP festival conversation with Gunter and Kana-

but in revelation (i know, even with the removed gunter marriage there, i know) you get one of the coolest, most compelling 'to enemies' arcs i think i've ever seen :D for a consummate villainfucker? literal cherry on top. it is not a stretch to say revelation treats him as a major character.

it's not perfect, but dear lord is the sheer amount of text and hm, validation? is a whole buffet-style feast compared to what i'm frankly used to.

[cynical-gamer-media]

Hey Cyn, if you don't mind me asking, any thoughts on the Conquest cast?

I am absolutely happy to answer!

So I believe I am roughly half-way through the game, so this is a half-way impression. I will make a final one when I finish the game! (Haven't played Birthright yet).

So far I am loving Conquest.

I love Corrin. There is a lot of interesting elements and character development with them through Conquest's storyline. I find them compelling.

I am utterly perplexed with the hatred of Corrin. 'They're stupidly naive' they literally have been sheltered for their entire life? Didn't even know what BUGS looked like (Silas Support). 1/2

Also they are not nearly as naive as people make them out to be. They acknowledge how screwed up Nohr is. The idea to change within is extremely smart. They are hopeful. 2/2

'Everything centres around them' because they have ROYAL siblings in Nohr and Hoshido? They have influence in the ruling families, so of course all focus on Corrin??? Also wow siblings love their sibling or are angry with them so of course they'd focus on them???

I love the Nohr siblings so much. Each one of them is distinct. You can see how they truly care for one another, through one-on-one, a few at a time, and altogether. You can feel the love they have for Corrin and one another. Positive sibling bonds whoo!

Xander is playing the politics well. We don't see a lot of politics, but we still have an understanding of it through how he knows how his father acts. Kind and stern older brother.

Camilla is fascinating. She either acts sultry around others to appease them or to lower their guards, or overly doting mother-figure to the siblings (clearly they didn't know their mother well). Far smarter than she lets on. Love that.

I love Leo acting as 'I am a true Nohr noble, father; I do not care about bonds' in front of Grado, but we see that it is an act to not be seen as being far kinder and compassionate then he lets on.

I love how Elise, while being chirpy and optimistic, is no fool. The fact she's all 'if you kill Corrin, Father, then kill me too' with zero hesitation shows that she is unfortunately used to his abuse and rule. She's also shown to be cunningly smart like Leo.

I love how they are actually plotting against their abusive father without trying to rouse his suspicions.

Azura is way more fascinating than I expected! Eager to get her supports with the Nohr siblings (or if I miss out: watch online). So far my favourite supports have to do with her.

I love the dichotomy between Nohr siblings and Hoshido. The Hoshido group give me a vibe of 'royals first, family second', and I don't really feel that Takumi is close to his siblings. Nohr feels like 'siblings and royals'.

Silas is a wonderful character that needs more love damn it!

Jakob has more going for him than I thought when checking certain supports (Azura)! I like him!

Arthur is a caricature, sure, but I find him strangely endearing? I guess because he is so over-the-top (and reminds me of Sky High from 'Tiger and Bunny').

Effie is a godsend in battle.

Benny's taciturn nature intrigues me, funnily enough!

There's something likeable about Kaze, even though I don't know much about his personality through story.

I feel nothing for Nyx, Selena, Berkut and Gunter so far. Mainly because I benched them, and not a fan of the 'Awakening gang is here too; do you remember Awakening!?? (Selena, Laslow, etc).

Niles, Odin (Awakening I know), and Peri being 'torture chamber time' just makes me grin. What a bunch to be retainers to the Nohr siblings!

Charlotte is great. I laughed at her introduction. Her story is fun; acting cutesy to bag some rich partner, but actually has a sailor-mouth (well, the more kid friendly version).

Keaton's introduction also made me laugh, but he seems like a fun character!

[denimbex1986]

'A whale or a lion or an earthworm is less inclined to go off in their heads than a human. No animal other than man suffers from congenital or acquired mental disorders such as depression or multiple personalities. We may hazard an explanation for this in the extremely complex and fragile wiring of our brains. Naturally, our default mode is insanity.

There is no reason why J Robert Oppenheimer, one of the most intellectually gifted, successful, and born-rich men of the 20th century, would suffer from bouts of depression till he died—of throat cancer in 1967.

Christopher Nolan’s eponymous movie, much debated, does everything right except bring alive the man’s torment, either before or after the bomb that Oppenheimer fathered and President Truman dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki—killing, according to one estimate, 2,20,000 people, most of them civilians.

Truman may not have been clinically mad, but he and his country had been fighting a war that cannot be said to be the finest expression of human reason. It must rub off in ways we are not equipped to tell because we are inside the matrix.

If those melted by the bomb, even one of them, were brought back to life by Nolan and confronted Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer’s remorse and guilt would have had an emotional punch the movie now lacks. Because when the dead come back, they always do so with more questions than the living can ever hope to answer.

In his essay on Gunter Grass, with special reference to the post-World War II novel, Crabwalk, J M Coetzee says: ‘Grass presents his apology for not having written and, sadly, for no longer having it in his power to write the great German novel in which the multitude of Germans (italics mine) who perished in the death throes of the Third Reich are brought back to life so that they can be buried and mourned fittingly … and a new page in history can at last be turned.’

Because of Oppenheimer’s connections at the time with the Communist Party of the US, he went through a sustained period of trauma, facing allegations of sedition and leaking sensitive information to the Soviet Union. Only as late as last December was he wholly rehabilitated, and the process by which his security clearance was cancelled (by the US Atomic Energy Commission in 1954) was declared ‘flawed’.

That a man who mastered nuclear forces and invented the atomic bomb for his country could be seen as an enemy explains how one’s fate is at the mercy of the careers of other men/women. If Hitler had remained a corporal as he was in World War I, content with the Iron Crosses he earned for his bravery and his soldier’s pension, and did not cherish a career in politics ending in his becoming the Fuhrer, millions might have had their lives spared. The role of an individual’s career in the destiny of civilisation yet awaits an author.

Indeed, had Oppenheimer’s ambition and drive for power not been so aggressive, he would not have accepted the post of director at Los Alamos Laboratory, which birthed the bomb.

In the movie, one of Oppenheimer’s lovers (Jean Tatlock, a communist party member, played with disturbing neurotic indeterminacy by Florence Pugh), in the course of a bedroom scene, picks out the Bhagavad Gita from the shelf, opens it conveniently at chapter 11, and makes Oppenheimer read the lines: ‘I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’

The words are from Bheeshma Parva, in which Arjuna suffers from the ‘atomic’ equivalent of a nervous breakdown and would rather not take up arms against his elders and cousins; in short, he would rather not wage war. What good can come off such epic slaughter? But in the movie, the way it is played out, Oppenheimer never really has any great misgivings on his mission. They mildly assail him only after the bomb has been dropped.

The words come from one of the most egotistic chapters in all literature. Krishna annihilates the idea of Free Will for humanity. He is everything. Everything has been done. By Him. In Him, death happens. So does life. And all of it has happened once. All of it will happen again. There is no human agency. Arjuna just must carry out his dharma. In the great lines following, which Oppenheimer must have understood with keener insight than an average Indian, Krishna virtually licenses the dropping, thousands of years later, of the bomb: I have already killed Dronacharya, Bheeshma, Jayadratha, Karna, and other brave warriors. Therefore, worry not; slay them without a second thought. Do your duty, Arjuna.

Except for the appeal of Freudian association (Eros, love, and Thanatos, death, are virtually bedmates), it is not clear why coitus is interrupted for a short course on the Gita in the movie. Perhaps it augurs the destruction of Tatlot herself, who later commits suicide as Oppenheimer is reluctant to continue with the affair.

Despite the massive implication that we can all do great harm in the name of God, that if we are detached enough—having surrendered to the divine will—we are free to detonate a bomb, the nature of Oppenheimer’s career is markedly Faustian. He was ready to trade in death and make good in life. The US exploited Oppenheimer as much as Oppenheimer exploited the US. The amorality of either party does not find sufficient dramatic expression in Nolan.

Despite a boycott call by the right-wing Save Culture, Save India Foundation trending on social media, the movie has collected close to ₹100 crore at the Box Office. I suppose we have arrived at a stage in India where particle physics has become a matinee attraction. And at the same time, feel the need to save the Gita from Hollywood bedrooms. As I said, insane.'