#strange hostel of naked pleasures

[weirdlookindog]

A Estranha Hospedaria dos Prazeres (1976)

AKA The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures

[cinematic-studies]

The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures (José Mojica Marins, 1974)

*Cinematic Studies is also on Instagram. Follow @cinematicstudies

[brokehorrorfan]

Inside the Mind of Coffin Joe will be released on November 28 via Arrow Video. The five-disc Blu-ray box set collects 10 films from Brazilian horror icon José Mojica Marins, better known as Coffin Joe.

It includes: 1964's At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul, 1967's This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse, 1968's The Strange World of Coffin Joe, 1970's Awakening of the Beast, 1971's The End of Man, 1972's When the Gods Fall Asleep, 1976's The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures, 1977's Hellish Flesh, 1978's Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind, and 2008's Embodiment of Evil.

Each disc has its own Blu-ray case with reversible artwork by Butcher Billy. They're housed together in a slipcase with a book featuring new writing by Tim Lucas, Carlos Primati, Jerome Reuter, Amy Voorhees Searles, Kyle Anderson, and Paula Sacramento, a double-sided poster, and 12 double-sided art cards.

All 10 movies have been newly stored in 4K from the best available elements with original lossless mono audio (except Embodiment of Evil, which has lossless 2.0 and 5.1 audio). Special features are listed below, where you can also see more of the packaging.

Disc 1: At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul

Audio commentary by José Mojica Marins, filmmaker Paulo Duarte, and film scholar Carlos Primati (Portuguese with English subtitles)

Video essay by Lindsay Hallam (new)

Damned: The Strange World of José Mojica Marins - 2001 documentary

Bloody Kingdom - Marins’ first short film with director’s commentary

Excerpts from early works by Marins

Trailer

Disc 2: This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse / The Strange World of Coffin Joe

This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse audio commentary by José Mojica Marins, filmmaker Paulo Duarte, and film scholar Carlos Primati (Portuguese with English subtitles)

The Strange World of Coffin Joe audio commentary by José Mojica Marins, filmmaker Paulo Duarte, and film scholar Carlos Primati (Portuguese with English subtitles)

Interview with film historian Stephen Thrower (new)

Video essay by Miranda Corcoran looking Coffin Joe as horror host (new)

The Strange World of Coffin Joe alternate ending with commentary by Marins

Trailers

Disc 3: Awakening of the Beast / The End of Man

Awakening of the Beast audio commentary by José Mojica Marins, filmmaker Paulo Duarte, and film scholar Carlos Primati (Portuguese with English subtitles)

The End of Man audio commentary by José Mojica Marins, filmmaker Paulo Duarte, and film scholar Carlos Primati (Portuguese with English subtitles)

Interview with Guy Adams on Marins’ esoteric aspects (new)

Video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on the gender politics of Marins’ films (new)

The Awakening of the Beast alternate opening titles

Trailers

When the Gods Fall Asleep / The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures

Interview with Virginie Sélavy on surrealism in Marins’ work (new)

Interview with Jack Sargeant (new)

Interview with Embodiment of Evil co-writer Dennison Ramalho (new)

Footage of Marins at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival

A Blind Date for Coffin Joe short film

Trailer

Disc 5: Hellish Flesh / Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind

Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind commentary by José Mojica Marins, editor Nilcemar Leyart, Paulo Duarte, and Carlos Primati (Portuguese with English subtitles)

Interview with Andrew Leavold on Marins’ place in '60s & '70s Marginal Cinema (new)

Video essay by Kat Ellinger (new)

Trailers

Disc 6: Embodiment of Evil

Audio commentary by producer Paulo Sacramento and co-writer Dennison Ramalho (Portuguese with English subtitles)

Interview with Dennison Ramalho (new)

Interview in which Ramalho pays tribute to Marins

Footage of Marins at the film’s premiere

Making Of featurette

Experimental Making Of featurettes

Multiple featurettes with commentary by Marins

Trailer

Additional contents:

Collector’s book with new writing by Tim Lucas, Carlos Primati, Jerome Reuter, Amy Voorhees Searles, Kyle Anderson, and Paula Sacramento

Double-sided poster with artwork by Butcher Billy

12 double-sided art cards

Cultural icon, anti-establishment statement, sadistic lord of carnival horror! With his long fingernails, top hat and cape, Coffin Joe was the creation of Brazilian filmmaker José Mojica Marins, who wrote, directed and starred in a series of outrageous movies from 1964 to 2008.

Pre-order Inside the Mind of Coffin Joe.

[vsthepomegranate]

Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures (1976)

by Marcelo Motta and José Mojica Marin

[fitsofgloom]

The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures

[thelordofdarkreunion]

Magnificent Scoundrels- Soldiers of Fortune

I’ve been a bit busy the last month, so I’ve had less time to write.  My apologies.  I will try my best to get these out sooner.  So, sit back, and I hope you enjoy the story.  As always, I own nothing except Drake and his crew.

Mass Effect Galaxy

Terminus System

The message arrived after midnight, carried by a small starship sent all the way from the Citadel in the galactic center.  On board was one individual.  A SPECTRE.  The elite group of quasi-special forces soldiers that operated outside the normal law, allowed to bring Citadel justice to any major threats to galactic stability.  They were the scouts, the spies, the muscle, the eyes, ears, and arms of the galactic government.  And this particular SPECTRE had been entrusted with a very special mission indeed.  He had been in the Terminus System for many a week now, secretly observing a group of particularly nasty pirates, when he had been ordered to drop everything and bring a message to a very unusual group.  And now, locked in a vault aboard his ship, the message was carried to an unassuming human colony in the most volatile sector of galactic space.  He had been told that he might miss the various people to whom the message was addressed if he did not travel that same night, for the group moved swiftly.  And so that very same night he traveled.

Now, after a jump through the local Relay, his ship arrived at the planet.  A cluster of contacts, large, strange, capital ships, were parked far off in the endless black void of space.  His quarry was still here.  Good.  Carefully, as to not get close enough to the sensors of the alien ships, he slipped quietly into the atmosphere and landed on the planet.  He knew, instantly, where exactly he needed to go, for the night sky was lit with flames that served as a beacon.  Getting out of the sleek starship, weapons at the ready, he walked down the dirt road to the burning town.  A lesser man, or, in this case, Turian, would have been nervous of the sky, seeing the fire twist above the town’s outer walls to fill the night with a depp, churning smoke that was touched a livid red where it was struck by highlights of flames, but he was not.  Or, at least, that is what he told himself.  In truth, he was nervous.  Nervous of meeting these strange new contacts, from different galaxies no less, to deliver a message.  He looked to the pitch black sky again.  He had heard from humans, tales and fables of Hell, and thought to himself that this is what Hell must look like if it existed.  But he was a SPECTRE.  So he walked on.

The flames were centered around the southeaster gate of the town, and casted wild shadows upon the large fortress in the northwest, created to protect the townspeople from pirates and slavers.  The gate itself had been torn off its hinges with such violence that it had come to lay a full ten meters inside the city.  Houses within the city were aflame, their insides gutted and blacked while the hungry flames devoured anything in their path.  The SPECTRE shuddered to think at what force could do something like this, and it was then he saw shadows moving in the town, their forms made eerie by the wild light of the fires.  

He shuddered and unholstered his sidearm.  This mission was supposed to be peaceful, but, judging by what was happening around him, he doubted it would end that way.  He passed a corpse of a human woman, completely naked, her throat cut and blood pooling beneath her lifeless form.  Nearby were several others, evidently the colonists who originally lived here, all messily dead.  Further on were dead Batarians.  That made sense.  A race, disdained by all the others, who based their society around slavery.  Colonies like this one were extremely vulnerable, so, despite the unfortunate loss of the colonists themselves, nothing was out of the ordinary.  Until he examined the dead more closely.  

None were killed by bullets.  That in itself would be alarming, but the nature of these wounds was more close to terrifying.  Cauterised craters, each ten to twelve centimeters in length, covered the dead Batarian’s torso.  They had passed through the kinetic barriers that all soldiers wore, and punched through the armor, stitching up and down the length of the chest.  Another body’s chest cavity was completely gone, leaving a charred mess, evidently burned away by a weapon of such force that it was able to go through the kinetic barriers, outer armor, bodysuit, and still melt away almost the entire torso.  The SPECTRE was so engrossed with studying the wounds that he did not see a lone Batarian soldier until it was too late.  The Batarian came from behind, knife in hand, and tackled the SPECTRE.  He flailed, reaching for a pistol that was no longer in his hand, the Batarian’s knife inching inexorably towards his face, until, suddenly, mercifully, it stopped, and the Batarian made a choking, gurgling nose, and flopped over, stone cold dead.  The SPECTRE shrugged of his assailant, only to see a figure, clad in shining grey armor that reflected the lurid light of the flames onto the ground below.  It was humanoid in appearance, and its face was covered by a helmet of similar colored armor.  It outstretched a hand to help him up, and he took it, slowly, hesitantly.  The figure looked as if it was going to say something, but it was cut off by the arrival of two new shapes.  They were like nothing he had ever seen.  They were humans, that much was obvious, but they were wearing old-fashioned looking grey-blue armor around their torsos, and nothing else.  No barriers, no full body suits, not even anything to protect their arms and legs.  In their hands were oversized, blocky black rifles of a type he’d never seen before.  Both the weapons and armor were emblazoned with a golden double-headed eagle, wings spread wide, a symbol he had never seen before.  The woman in front looked at him with distaste then spoke to the figure in grey.  

“Sir?  Are you alright?”  

“Never better.”  The voice was that of a human man, and the SPECTRE looked closer at him, but the armor was still not familiar.  The soldiers in grey-blue turned to look at him.

“What do we do with this one?  Kill him?”  The grey armored human rubbed his head with exasperation.  

“You can’t just go around killing everyone.”  He turned to the SPECTRE and spoke.  “Who are you and what are you doing here?  This is not exactly a good place to be right now.”  This was accompanied by a vague hand wave at all the destruction around them.  

“I’m a Council SPECTRE, and I bear a message addressed to a group calling themselves the Magnificent Scoundrels, addressed to the various governments they serve.”  The grey armored man laughed, a high, clear, clean laugh that seemed greatly at odds with the carnage surrounding them.  

“Well then, you seem to be in the right place.”  He stuck out a hand.  “Admiral Adam Vir of the GA.  A pleasure to meet you.  My compatriots should be somewhere around here.  Come on.”  He took off in a double time, and the bewildered Turian followed, with the two other soldiers giving each other dubious glances before taking up the rear.  

They passed the ruins of more homes, their timbers burned away by fire and walls crushed by explosive power.  Shopfronts were gone, their glass windows shattered and insides tattered.  The group passed more grey-blue soldiers, patrolling the streets, staring suspiciously at anything that moved, the golden eagles on their breastplates displayed prominently.  The farther they went into the city, the more they started to see different people.  Humans, in ragged clothes, their faces gaunt, evidently the civilians who originally lived here walked numbly through the ruins of their town.  Others, wearing mis-matched pieces of dark armor, with a flame decal on their shoulder pads, walked through the destruction.  

“Careful.  It gets a little deadly around here,” said the Admiral as they slid their way through the rubble.  In the distance, there was a shout, followed by a high pitched, whining crackle.  Some sort of communications device hummed to life within the Admiral’s armor, and a human voice cut through the night.

“All hostels within section 3-4 have been neutralized.”  This was followed by a chorus of acknowledgments.  What the hell was going on here?  Batarians, like most pirates and slavers, only ever fought hit and run.  This seemed to be a massive battle for the town, with at least three distinct factions involved.  

He suddenly heard a noise behind him, and, to his horror, saw a Batarian, weapon outstretched, pointing it directly at the group.  By the time he got his own sidearm up, he would already be dead.  It was too far out of reach, and too slow to get to.  He saw the Batarian’s trigger finger tighten, and he waited for the snap of the gun and the light of the muzzle flash.  It grinned, knowing it had him, and he waited for death.  It began to squeeze, and-

Exploded.  A force of such power struck the Batarian that its torso and lower head literally ceased to exist, instead becoming a spray of blood and viseria that decorated a nearby wall.  The legs, unsupported, toppled over and the arms, torn from their sockets, fell to the ground with a weak thud.  The Admiral and the two other unnamed soldiers turned to face it.  

“Holy shit.  Cain and Drake were not lying about that gun…” muttered the Admiral.

“What the hell was that?” half screamed the SPECTRE.  Vir turned and pointed to a watchtower on the town walls.  

“We have a sniper up there, getting rid of any stragglers like that one,” he gestured at the unpleasant stain on the wall.  “He’s armed with some fancy new weapon supplied by my colleagues.”  The SPECTRE shook his head, sighed, and decided it was best not to overthink things.  

They trotted through the destruction of the town until they reached a centrally located building, still standing, that looked much more sturdy than anything they had passed at this point.  As they stepped inside, raised voices could be heard.

“I will not allow you to take down the gate of the fortress!  You’ve already destroyed the town.  You don’t need to destroy anything else!”  This was shouted by a short, balding, rather pudgy looking man in civilian clothes.

“Listen buddy.  The only reason I haven’t leveled this entire town and be done with it is because some of my more humanitarian friends here don’t like that idea.  Now, leave this to the professionals or I will shoot you in the head and order an orbital bombardment.  Understand?” replied a human man wearing midnight black armor.  The civilian paled and ran from the room.  The black armored man turned back to his colleagues, a most odd and diverse group.  An incredibly, unbelievably tall green armored man, a man and woman, faces unnaturally pale, wearing the grey-blue coats emblazoned with golden eagles, and...SPECTRE Shepard.  The Turian SPECTRE frowned.  Well, he was warned Shepard was alive and was with this group.  Oh, well.  

A set of holographic projections were set up on the other side of the room, revealing another man in what looked to be a yellow and black jumpsuit, a relatively normal looking man, and a series of boxes, with with rising and falling lines inside; apparently the members who could not show their faces for whatever reason.  The black armored man turned towards Vir and the SPECTRE.

  “Who is this?” he asked curtly.  Surprisingly enough, it was Shepard who spoke next.  

“SPECTRE Irraldis,” he nodded.  “I know of your work.”

“Great.  A SPECTRE.  Why are you here?”  

“I’m bearing a message to the different governments you serve from the Citadel Council.  I have them in my ship, if you’d like to come over.”

“Love to.  Rather busy at the moment though-”  One of the holographic voice boxes crackled to life.  

“Central command, this is Star-lord.  The bombs are planted.  Over.”  The man in black, who had yet to be introduced to the Irraldis, ran over to the consul and pressed a button.

“Copy that, Star-lord.”  His fingers danced across a keyboard, and spoke to another box.

“Ordelphine?  Bombs planted.  Move out.”  

“Copy that, Captain,” replied the voice of a human female.  The black armored man pointed to Irraldis.

“You’re a SPECTRE, right?  Care to join the assault?”  

“Uh...yeah, sure.  Why not.”

“Excellent!  Oh, yes, by the way, introductions.  I’m Thomas Drake.  Over there,” he indicated the two soldiers in grey-blue, “are Colonel Kasteen and Major Brocklaw of the Imperial Guard.  That,” he pointed to the tall green armored soldier, who had still yet to speak, “is Master Chief.  And you already know Shepard and Vir.”  Drake fitted a black armored, blue lensed helmet on his head, then gestured to the door.  “Well, now everyone knows each other.  Wonderful!  Let’s go blow stuff up.”  The entire team, minus Kasteen and Brocklaw, who, with a team of grey-blue soldiers, seemed to be keeping tabs on the central communications area, followed Drake as he jogged through the shattered streets.  They reached the outskirts of the fortress, connected to the town by a massive, solid metal gate.  Nearby was a group of humans, clad in dark green, led by a tall man, wearing a sword of all things, dressed in a black and red greatcoat, emblazoned with the golden eagle.  He nodded at the newcomers and shot an inquiring look at Irraldis.  

“This is a Citadel SPECTRE who has a message for us,” replied Drake to the look.  The tall man seemed satisfied at this, then went back to checking his weapons.  Drake keyed his comms.

“Ordelphine, begin your run.”  

“Understood, Captain.”  Drake pressed a button on his wrist, then spoke again.

“Star-lord, this is Drake.  Detonate.”  In lieu of a response, the heavy gate blew upart with a fiery explosion, and came to rest at least ten meters away.  Red flames shot high into the night, illuminating the attackers, yet no one moved, and no one fired.  They seemed to be waiting for something.  

A low thrum sounded through the night, and high above, a large shape blocked out the moon, casting weird shadows on the ground below.  Ordelphine’s voice sounded through the comms system.  

“Approaching target.  Stand by.  Ready in three...two...one...go!”  Another voice, this one unfamiliar, spoke.  

“Copy that.  Stand by for Titanfall!”  The night was broken by a crackling noise, and Irraldis would see a dark shape falling from the sky.  It landed with a massive crash on the road to the gate.  Irraldis could see it was some utterly massive bipedal war machine.  A monster of metal, it stood at least six meters tall, wielding a gun as large as two humans were tall.  Rocket pods were mounted above its shoulders, and these fired, destroying a portion of the upper walls that concealed the enemy.  It ran forward, the various ground soldiers of the Scoundrels following.  A Batarian within the fortress, dazed from the explosive force of the rockets, tried to bring its gun up, but was instantly cut down by at least three different people.  The fortress’s courtyard turned into a bloodbath, the massive war machine destroying anything that posed a major threat, and the ground soldiers mopping up anything that survived.  Irraldis now saw the weapons of the Scoundrels at work.  The blocky rifles of the grey-blue soldier spat crimson death at the Batarians, cutting straight through kinetic barriers designed to stop projectiles, not lasers.  Drake himself flourished a triple barreled gun that fired electric blue and magenta balls of plasma with sufficient force to literally melt straight through armor and flesh.  The other Scoundrels held more conventional weapons, but they were no less deadly.  In less than a minute, all the Batarians in the courtyard were dead.   Satisfied with this, Drake seemed to be about to order the storming of the fortress proper, when a voice from the fortress itself spoke.  

“We surrender!  We surrender!”  A group of Batarians, their hands held high, exited the fortress.  Drake nodded approvingly.  

“Well that saves us time.  Disarm them,” he told a group of the dark armored, flame-decaled soldiers who followed him.  They proceeded to do so.  “Now kneel,” he told the Batarians.  They looked at him with bewilderment.  

“What?”

“I.  Said.  Kneel!”  They did so, hesitantly, reluctantly.  Shepard and Vir seemed to guess his intent.

“Wait, no.  You can’t do that, Drake!” said Shepard.  Vir nodded in agreement.  Drake turned his head towards them and drew his pistol.  

“And why not?  They’re slavers.  Murderers.  They deserve to die.”  At the mention of death, the Baratians flinched, but said nothing.  

“You can’t just kill them out of hand!  It isn’t legal!  They need a trial!” 

“Ah.  So it’s legality you’re worried about.”  Drake holstered his pistol.  “Cain.”  He pointed to the tall man in the greatcoat.  Cain nodded and stepped forward.  

“In the name of the God-Emperor of Mankind, by the authority invested in me, I find you guilty of the murder and enslavement of humans, and thus guilty of crimes against the Imperium and Emperor.  Your sentence is death.”  He stepped up to the first kneeling Batarian and shot it through the head.  

“I am a SPECTRE, and this is my galaxy.  I won’t allow you to kill them.  I’ll hand them over to the proper authorities,” said Shepard.  Cain looked at Drake, who rolled his eyes.  

“Fine.  Then they’re your problem.”  He turned to Irraldis.  “Now then.  With that cleared up, I believe you have some messages for us?”

Wow.  That took a bit of a dark turn.  The messages will be here sooner rather than later, and then we get the full effect of the galaxies meeting.  If you like a particular time of story (i.e. battles, Scoundrels interacting, governments interacting), then feel free to tell me.  Also, if you have any comments, criticisms, ideas, thoughts, requests, concerns, or anything else, feel free to ask.  

[tenaflyviper]

@thedeathalchemist

Ooh, that's a good one, and maybe also a tough one. There are films with wall-to-wall surreal imagery like Ice from the Sun (1999) or Adrenaline (1990), but then there are films with a cohesive story that utilize surrealism at key moments to heighten tension. Lemme see what I can dig up that qualifies as having surreal imagery:

Dante's Inferno (1911)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Häxan (1922)

A Page of Madness (1926)

Un Chien Andalou (1929)(short film)

Jigoku (1960)

Night Tide (1961)

Carnival of Souls (1962)

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1964)

Repulsion (1965)

This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse (1967)

Viy (1967)

Hour of the Wolf (1968)

Blind Beast (1969)

Awakening of the Beast (1970)

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)

Let's 's Scare Jessica to Death (1971)

A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)

All the Colors of the Dark (1972)

Arcana (1972)

The Devil (1972)

Images (1972)

The Woman who Powders Herself (1972)(short film)

Belladonna of Sadness (1973)

Ganja & Hess (1973)

The Mansion of Madness (1973)

A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973)

Deafula (1975)

Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures (1976)

Alucarda (1977)

Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977) (I know you said "good", but everyone needs to see this film at least once)

Eraserhead (1977)

Hausu (1977)

Messiah of Evil (1977)

The Psychic (1977)

Shock (1977)

Suspiria (1977)

Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind (1978)

The Redeemer (1978)

Phantasm (1979)

Rapture (1979)

Altered States (1980)

Inferno (1980)

The Shining (1980)

The Beyond (1981)

The House by the Cemetery (1981)

Possession (1981)

Superstition (1982)

The Boxer's Omen (1983)(no subtitles)

Eyes of Fire (1983)

Possibly in Michigan (1983)(short film)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Come and See (1985)

Where Evil Dwells (1985)(short film)

Adventures of Electric Rod Boy (1987)

Death Powder (1986)

Paperhouse (1988)

Kwaidan (1964)

Gothic (1986)

Alice (1988)

Dream Demon (1988)

Dr. Caligari (1989)

Santa Sangre (1989)

Tetsuo the Iron Man (1989)

Adrenaline (1990)(no subtitles)

Begotten (1990)

Def By Temptation (1990)

Jacob's Ladder (1990)

Delicatessen (1991)

964 Pinocchio (1991)

Naked Lunch (1991)

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992)

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)

Cube (1993)

Dark Waters (1993)

Cemetery Man (1994)

In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

Ozone (1995)

Rubber's Lover (1996)

Event Horizon (1997)

Lost Highway (1997)

Love God (1997)

Dark City (1998)

Pi (1998)

ExistenZ (1999)

Ice From the Sun (1999)

Little Otik (2000)

Subconscious Cruelty (2000)

Uzumaki (2000)

Donnie Darko (2001)

The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)

Gozu (2003)

The Call of Cthulhu (2005)

Lunacy (2005)

Tideland (2005)

Inland Empire (2006)

Mad Cowgirl (2006)

Re-Cycle (2006)

Visions of Suffering (2006)

Embodiment of Evil (2008)

Sauna (2008)

Tokyo Gore Police (2008)

Antichrist (2009)

Amer (2009)

Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (2009)

Triangle (2009)

Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)

Mandy (2018)

Berberian Sound Studio (2012)

John Dies at the End (2012)

Escape from Tomorrow (2013)

Motivational Growth (2013)

The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (2013)

Under the Skin (2013)

The Neon Demon (2016)

Antibirth (2016)

Mother! (2017)

There are even more listed here, though I'm not sure about their criteria.

There are likely more out there beyond both lists, but I feel confident in this sampling of films. I wish I could have found more links, but I wanted to stick to sites I trust.

Enjoy! 🤗

[escherstrange-ffxiv]

Layers: Escher Strange

Tumblr failed to notify me that @yvesoix-sellemontiere tagged me. How dare.

WARNING: Mildly NSFW.

LAYER ONE: THE OUTSIDE

—–

Name: “Escher.”

Strange isn’t his real surname so he avoids using it when he can.

Eye Color:  “Yes, it’s pink. Your point?”

A DIY fantasia potion gone wrong gave him one purple eye, though there may be other aetherial reasons behind it.

Hair Style/Color: : “Of course it’s naturally pink, I got it from my grandfather! I used to keep it short, but one day it grew out and I looked into the mirror and-”

He absolutely did inherit the pink hair from his grandfather, though Tia is convinced it’s actually lime green. He never keeps his hair long at the back, only in front.

Height: “The fates are fair - what I lack in height, I compensate elsewhere. >)”

He’s like 175 cm max. Not min height, but what I’d ideally like to be. As for compensating, he’s just slightly larger than the average midlander (7 ilms approx). 

Clothing Style: “My family never had a reason to dress finely but now I do, and you bet I’ll milk it for all it’s worth.”

His regular MSQ glam is the screenshot above: Scion Adventurer’s Jacket + Pants, Expeditioner’s Thighboots, Leonhart Gloves, all in Jet Black Dye. Depending on his mood he’ll go full ham or something subtler but still stylish. He doesn’t look too good in baggy stuff so it’s mostly fitted.

Best Physical Feature: *Flips hair* 

I initially picked his pink hair for shits and giggles, but it’s started to grow on me, and his face looked surprisingly good once I removed his facial hair. I know this because the FFIV subreddit confirmed it.

LAYER TWO: THE INSIDE

—

Your Fears: “Have you seen Tia when he’s angry? Trust me when I say you don’t want to make Tia angry.”

He’s still scared of sharp things to the face, though it’s slowly being replaced by Tia.

Your Guilty Pleasure: “How does one feel guilty from pleasure? That makes no sense.”

He’s always been the sort to do what he likes when he likes. Getting copious amounts of sex in Eorzea was just the cherry on top of the cake.

Your Biggest Pet Peeve:  “When people just aren’t open to new things. It’s just for science, you’re not going to die! ...Okay maybe you might die a little, but think of what you’ll contribute to the future!”

Your Ambition for the Future: “I said I’ll prove that one man can cause a calamity, and I intend to see it through. But after I taste test Tia’s cookies. It’s not a metaphor for anything, gods damn it!”

LAYER THREE: THOUGHTS —

Your First Thoughts Waking Up:  “Did I burn anything last night, and am I in the correct bed?”

What You Think About the Most: “How well would this burn?”

What You Think About Before Bed: “Have I done all that needs to be burnt today?”

You Think Your Best Quality Is: “My ability to focus.”

He gets quite easily distracted, but once he finds something to hold his attention (usually fire), he concentrates at the expense of all incoming danger.

LAYER FOUR: WHAT’S BETTER?

—

Single or Group Dates: “It’s hard to excuse ourselves to commit extremely silly and reckless crimes if we’re in a group. Manners and everything.”

To be Loved or Respected: “Respect. Anybody can be loved. Respect must be earned.”

Beauty or Brains:  *Looks at Tia* *Looks at Kieo*  “...Beauty. I have enough brains for the both of us.”

While not book-smart, his partners make up for it with a LOT of common sense/street smarts to get him out of trouble.

Dogs or Cats: “...Cats.”

Tia is a Moon Keeper Miqo’te while Kieo was a half-Keeper Elezen. Escher confirmed to have Chiao Churu treats in his blood.

LAYER FIVE: DO YOU?

—

Lie: “If I lie, I’d have to lie to you now, and then what would be the truth?”

Believe in Yourself: “Of course. You can’t do explosions otherwise.”

Believe in Love:  "I’m going to die horribly if I say no, aren’t I?”

Want Someone: “I already have Tia. What’s left to want?”

LAYER SIX: EVER?

—

Been on Stage: “Tia won’t let me. Something something set the stage on fire. Pussy.”

Done Drugs: “Haven’t found the right one for me.”

Changed Who You Were to Fit In: “I didn’t do it in the Studium, I’m not doing it anytime soon.”

LAYER SEVEN: FAVORITES

—

Favorite Color: “Black. Pink. Blackpink. Heehee.”

Favorite Animal: “Tia- hey ow! It’s true, you have cat ears and- OW! Not the face!”

Favorite Food: “I’m Sharlayan, my taste buds are too dead to like anything.”

Favorite Game: “The game where I burn everything and see if nothing lives- what?”

LAYER EIGHT: AGE

—

Day Your Next Birthday Will Be: 6th Sun, 4th Astral Moon (July 6)

How Old Will You Be: “Add 5, carry 4, square root of 7.43 factored by 12...TIAAA, how old am I again?!”

32 at ARR, 34 by Shadowbringers. Escher is just phenomenally bad at math (except things that require gil transactions).

Age You Lost Your Virginity: “I’m not counting the one that happened at 18 because I don’t remember anything, so....add 7 to the power of 3.4....KIEOOO how old were we when we did it on your dad’s bed?!”

When he was 18 he drank spiked punch at a graduation party and woke up naked between a male Elezen and a fem Roe. Since he can’t remember a thing, his reasoning is “if I don’t know it happened, it probably didn’t happen.” The other virginity loss was at 32 at the First Steps, a hostel/guild for new adventurers. Nobody talks about it. Ever. (Like IC don’t go and talk about it, this incident actually caused mild OOC drama. 💧)

Does Age Matter: “As long as the FBI isn’t on our lawn. Tia, what IS an FBI?”

LAYER NINE: IN A BOY OR GIRL

—

Best Personality: “Someone said this about my taste in partners: Gay, feral, powerful, and slightly dumb.”

Best Eye Color: “Rolanberry red.”

Tia’s eyes are red.

Best Hair Color: “Pink, duh!”

Best thing to do with a Partner: “Sitting at a high point watching the world burn, like cuddling in front of a roaring fireplace. And then we eat cake.”

LAYER TEN: FINISH THE SENTENCE

I love: “The heat in my face from a massive explosion.”

I feel: “Warm. And fuzzy. Is there alcohol in this drink?”

I miss: “The friends I lost, the hearts I burned. I’ll never be able to heal that.”

I wish: “To burn the world. What, you thought it was ever going to change?”

----

And done! *flop*  Tagging @finallyfancy14​, @fenrishion​, @aelyriawindrunner​ and @forthyn​ because I don’t have enough FFXIV friends on Tumblr (should everyone be glad though...?).

[lawrenceop]

HOMILY for the 20th Sunday per annum (C)

Jer 38:4-6, 8-10; Ps 39; Heb 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53

One of the greatest saints of the Church, St Augustine of Hippo, knew well the ravaging effect of sin on the individual, on our relationships, on a community, and on a civilisation. He knew this because he himself had personally lived deep in sin, enslaved to bodily pleasures and captivated by erroneous thinking for decades, until his conversion to Christianity when he was in his 30s, due in no small part to the fervent prayers and tears of his mother St Monica. His honest appraisal of his own deep psychological struggle against sinful addictions and habits, his struggle to reject wrong ideas about God and so to find the truth, and the divided-ness of his affections are all movingly laid open in his autobiography, a long conversation with God in which he details his conversion experience. This book is now called ‘The Confessions of St Augustine’ and it’s one of the most important books a Christian could read besides the Bible – if you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to! But, while his ‘Confessions’ was about the personal struggle for holiness, he wrote another great work, the ‘City of God’ which is about this struggle on a social scale; it is about the fight against sin, against false, sinful ideas, and about the final victory of God’s grace in the world, in our political life, in societies, families, homes, and civilisations. But this victory does not come easily: there is a struggle, real spiritual (and even physical) combat, and divisions and war both in our own hearts and even between people. 

For as St Augustine said: “Only truth and virtue can offer a centre of resistance against turbulent and degraded passions.” Because, when most of the world and its powers denies that there is such a thing as objective universal truth, or human nature, and when, instead, the popular culture and influencers of the world promote virtual realities, advance ideologies based on falsehood, and eschews rational arguments for emotivism, then there will be a definite resistance between truth and the ruling “dictatorship of relativism”. Indeed, there is a clash between the powers of the world, and the God-given and unchanging truths about the human person and his nature, and about the meaning and goal of the classic virtues of prudence, fortitude, justice, and temperance. These are meant to incline us towards God, who is the source of all that is good and true; truth and virtue makes for our human flourishing as individuals and as a community. 

However, many of our contemporaries oppose truth and virtue in the name of the dogmas of toleration, love, and freedom. But these are words appropriated from the classical Christian thought that built our Western civilisation, and then they were emptied of their true meaning, and they became slogans with novel, warped significance. Like the king’s men who opposed the prophet Jeremiah, so the media, the Twitterati, and the powers of the world oppose the Church and good Christians who are trying to follow the teaching of Jesus Christ. The powers of the world say: “These fellows do not have the welfare of our people at heart so much as its ruin”, and so they try to shut Christians up, or forbid us from teaching in schools, or speaking in the public square. Just yesterday, there was news from Scotland that a motion was tabled in a local council to “remove the voting rights of religious representatives on education boards” so as to effectively shut them out of the conversation. If they could perhaps they’d treat those religious representatives like Jeremiah and stick him in the mud too!

So, if we are attentive and if we open our eyes to what is happening around us, we will see the obvious fact of what Jesus says in the Gospel. His words shouldn’t really surprise or shock us: “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (Lk 12:51). If we had a sentimental and false idea of Christ, then, perhaps, we would find these words surprising. But every Christian, like St Augustine, would know that when we decided to take our faith in Jesus seriously, then we would have to make hard decisions. Christ comes to divide us from our sins, from our old sinful habits and ways of thinking, from our former behaviour, and even from the people who lead us into sin. And sometimes this includes classmates, colleagues, friends, and even, family members. 

I have an old friend, for example, whose father has not spoken to her for almost 30 years, since the day she told him she was baptised as a Christian; he’s a Hindu. I know several others, university students who I have catechized, whose parents and family strongly disapprove of their becoming Catholic because they recognize that many of the moral teachings of our one true Faith contrast with theirs, with the liberal mores of our Western society. And we have several Dominican brothers in our Province whose parents, likewise, resist and object to their entry into the Order. 

But to stand with Christ and to choose him, even at great cost to our personal relationships is to choose truth and virtue, and ultimately, to choose eternal life and the embrace of divine love. And no earthly thing is to be preferred above God. And yet, the fire of love for God doesn’t yet burn brightly in our hearts, thus we find the struggle, the vacillation, the battle with sin and our consciences that St Augustine had experienced in his own life. Indeed, St Paul knew this struggle too, and we read in today’s reading from Hebrews of the “fight against sin” and the need to “throw off everything that hinders us” in our journey of faith, in our quest for God. 

What we all need, therefore, is fire – the kind of spiritual fire that Jesus says he desires to give us. He is speaking of the Holy Spirit, who we recall came down upon the apostles like tongues of fire at Pentecost. This is the fire of love, an ardent burning consuming love for God. And the Spirit will burn away all our attachments to sin, shed light on our falsehood, and bring warmth to our cold hearts so that we will love God more intensely and fully. This love empowered the "great cloud of witnesses" mentioned in Hebrews, ie, the Saints to oppose sin, to rebuke false ideologies, to learn languages and bring the Gospel to wild and strange new frontiers, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and educate the orphan and cure the sick in hostels and hospitals. Let us pray, then, for this fire to ignite our hearts, and to convert our friends and families too. For then we would be united together in Christ rather than divided from them. 

What does conversion look like? How does grace changes our lives? Let me end with St Augustine’s experience – conversion to God, he tells us, is sensual, bodily, and moves the whole human person. So, in one of the most famous passages in his Confessions he writes: “You were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things which you made. You were with me, and I was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you… You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. you were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now I pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire, I burned for your peace.”

If we desire peace, true peace, which comes only with freedom from sin and union with God, then pray that God will touch you also, and set you on fire with his divine love. 

[tamboradventure]

Let’s Talk About the Double Standard in Travel

Posted: 02/20/2020 | February 20th, 2020

Kristin Addis from Be My Travel Muse writes our regular column on solo female travel. It’s an important topic I can’t adequately cover, so I brought in an expert to share her advice for other women travelers to help cover the topics important and specific to them! In this month’s article, she explores the double standards that come with solo female travel.

I rushed to the gate at Julius Nyerere Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. As the agent checked my passport, he looked around me and, perplexed, asked if I was alone.

I’d just finished up four months of solo traveling up from South Africa, one of the best and most enriching solo trips of my life, and replied that yes, I was alone.

“Your husband lets you do that?” he asked incredulously.

I get it. In Tanzania, it’s unthinkable for a woman, especially in her late twenties like I was, to travel alone. I gently let him know that nobody “lets” me do anything, and that I’m unmarried.

While I take pleasure in shifting paradigms when possible, I still wonder what it would be like if I were a man. How would I be perceived when I solo travel or write about it? How would people treat me differently?

1. They wouldn’t ask me whether or not my husband “lets me” travel alone.

From Tanzania to the Philippines, I’ve been asked where my boyfriend or husband is. I bet almost nobody would ask me if my girlfriend lets me travel alone if I were a man.

I wouldn’t have to question whether or not I should lie about being single. I wouldn’t debate wearing a decoy wedding band. My safety wouldn’t be tied up in my singleness.

2. They wouldn’t question whether a boyfriend or daddy pays for my trips.

Is it so strange to believe that a woman can fund her own lifestyle? Why is there such a pervasive myth that women who travel solo are being bankrolled by someone?

When I travel, I pay for it, and when I travel with my partner, we split it 50/50.

I bet I wouldn’t have to state that if I were a man, though.

3. People might ask when I’m planning to settle down, but they wouldn’t do it with such frequency and entitlement to the answer

Maybe settling down with a white picket fence, 2.5 kids, and a dog named Spike used to be the norm, but we have more mobility these days, and the internet, and too many people anyway. So why is it so darn important to people that I eventually settle down?

I think in a way it’s saying, “Hey, this was the only option I gave myself, and now you have to follow suit.” For those who conform to expectations, it’s uncomfortable when others deviate from the norm, especially women.

But I’m not worried about it. If and when I choose, I’ll do it, and if I don’t, that’s OK too. I’m approaching this more like a man, OK?

Also, get out of my ovaries.

4. I’d be called adventurous and an explorer rather than irresponsible and stupid.

If I traveled solo as a man, even if something unfortunate happened to me, I’d be called an explorer and lover of life.

Yet as a woman, I’ve been called stupid, warned I’d be “found dead and cannibalized,” and accused of leading other women to their death (just look at the comments on this video, the worst of which I actually deleted).

5. I wouldn’t be warned I’d “get raped” if I traveled alone.

If I were a man, I’d only have a 6.6% chance of being told I’d “get raped” if I travel alone, versus nearly 70% as a woman.

This is problematic on so many levels, it deserves its own post.

6. I’d be able to wear what I want.

In some places, I can’t wear what I want. I understand that modesty is built into the culture in many places around the world, and I respect it and assimilate when in those countries.

But that doesn’t mean I have to pretend that I enjoy wearing long sleeves and pants in 90-degree weather with 90% humidity while the boys get to wear shorts and tank tops.

7. I wouldn’t have had to wonder what the hell to do when cornered in an elevator in Santiago by two big men, saying salacious things to me in Spanish.

When I traveled through Patagonia with a male friend, nobody harassed me, assuming I wasn’t available. Yet when we parted ways so that I could solo travel — something that was important to me to do — the catcalls started pouring in.

Sadly, I’ve been catcalled in almost every country that I’ve been to, even the ones you’d least expect (yet not at all in southern and eastern Africa — points for Africa!). It ranges from “ciao bella” to being chased down the sidewalk.

It is not a compliment, it’s an assertion of power, and it’s exhausting.

In Santiago, it crossed the line into terrifying when two huge guys got into an elevator with me, hovered over me, and harassed me. It was the perfect place, because who could help me in there?

Would that have happened to a man?

(On the positive side, if I were a man, locals might not be as concerned with taking care of me as many are. People might also not trust me outright the way they do. Right or wrong, women tend to be perceived as more peaceful and gentle and in need of protection.)

8. Nobody would have assaulted me in public in Nepal.

In Pokhara, Nepal, after a random power cut, the sun was setting and I realized I needed water to drink to get through the evening. Though I prefer not to walk alone when it gets dark, I had to do so in that instance.

I heard myself scream before realizing that a local male had grabbed my breast. I whirled around and saw nothing but the back of his head as he ran away like the coward he is.

Everyone nearby just pretended like they hadn’t seen anything, of course.

9. But maybe the police would have taken me more seriously.

I wonder, if I’d been a man demanding the police take notice, would they have listened to me? Would the officer still have rolled his eyes and acted like I was ruining his night by demanding an escort back to my guesthouse?

I can only wonder if it would have been different.

10. Insulting my ass would not be the topic of discussion on a post about road trips.

When women share about something like travel on social media, why is body shaming still a thing?

Why, on a post about road trips of all things, does someone feel the need to inform me that my ass is flat? Does that happen to guys too? I think not.

11. I wouldn’t have had an internet stalker demand a naked selfie from me for months on all of my social platforms.

If being a solo female traveler is tough at times, try writing about it. Have any of my male peers ever been harassed for months on end, on every platform, by a stalker demanding a naked selfie?

Unfortunately, women are targeted online way more than men. According to the BBC, one in three teenage girls have been sexually harassed online.

Why can’t we just share our travel pictures in peace?

12. I wouldn’t get a flood of comments from fragile males on posts like this.

It always happens, but I’m curious: Why should any egalitarian male, who has the ability to see things from someone else’s perspective, ever take this personally? Why does pointing out issues in our society automatically equate to blaming men?

Louder, for the ones in the back: it doesn’t.

***

Obviously, there are drawbacks for male solo travelers too — and benefits that only women who travel solo get to enjoy. There can be an implied trust factor between women that transcends cultures, and time and time again, people have been generous towards me in ways that I didn’t expect.

In the end, I still love and champion solo female travel and believe that every woman should do it. I’m just sick of all the double standards and think it’s high time to call them out.

Kristin Addis is a solo female travel expert who inspires women to travel the world in an authentic and adventurous way. A former investment banker who sold all of her belongings and left California in 2012, Kristin has solo traveled the world for over eight years, covering every continent (except for Antarctica, but it’s on her list). There’s almost nothing she won’t try and almost nowhere she won’t explore. You can find more of her musings at Be My Travel Muse or on Instagram and Facebook.

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewher eother than a hotel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

World Nomads (for everyone below 70)

Insure My Trip (for those over 70)

Looking for the best companies to save money with? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!

The post Let’s Talk About the Double Standard in Travel appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Nomadic Matt's Travel Site https://ift.tt/2SIqUim via IFTTT

[cinematic-studies]

The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures (José Mojica Marins, 1974)

*Cinematic Studies is also on Instagram. Follow @cinematicstudies

[tenaflyviper]

Cinco de Mayo (2013)

Other notable Spanish, Brazilian, and Mexican Horror:

Vampire (1957)

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1964)

Poison for the Fairies (1984)

This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse (1967)

Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972)

House of Madness (1973)

Blacker than the Night (1974)

Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (1975)

Santanico Pandamonium (1975)

Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures (1976)

Alucarda (1977)

Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind (1978)

Cemetery of Terror (1980)

Pieces (1982)

Santa Sangre (1989)

From Dusk 'Till Dawn (1996)

The Devil's Backbone (2001)

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

We Are What We Are (2010)

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!

[cinematic-studies]

The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures (José Mojica Marins, 1974)

*Cinematic Studies is also on Instagram. Follow @cinematicstudies