#will darlymple

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

What I could read: :)

WHO WERE THE RESSURECTIONISTS?

MUNGO DALRYMPLE (1790-1829)

Perhaps one of the most notorious names asociated with The Ressurectionists was Mungo Dalrymple (1790-1829), an Edimburgh doctor who hanged himself in disgrace when it became public knowledge that he was buying cadavers from body snatchers, for his medical students to dissect.

Born in Carsphairn, Dalrymple had a meteoric rise to fame in the Scottish medical establisment when he became one of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh's youngest ever members at the age of 22. Dalrymple was passionate about the study of anatomy, giving many well received papers on the subject.

He was prine however to making enemies and earned a reputation for mercilessly skewering pomposity wherever he found it. This did not endear him to the senior doctors and surgeons of the Edinburgh medical establishment and Darlymple ruffed many feathers and as aresult had few allies when the bodysnatching scandal eventual broke.

FUN FACT Up until the 19th century, barbers carried out many surgical procedures in their shops!

...

Darlymple's downfall came when one of his suppliers, commonly known as 'Ressurection men', was suspected of murdering several of his lodgers in order to supply the doctor with a steady stream of cadavers. Eagle eyed landladies, Mrs Cat Clarke and Mrs Caro Clarke bravely confronted the murdere when he was attempting to conceal the body of his last victim in a barrel of pickled herring, and raised the hue and cry.

...

[haveyouseenthisseries-poll]

[inbarfink]

I do think it’s kinda fun the way the DHSAB prequel Comics play around with the idea of POV. Like, the Captain Hammer, Moist, Penny and Dr. Horrible Comics all include one shared event - a confrontation between Captain Hammer and Dr. Horrible during a CH autograph signing event in the park. But the way each of the characters seem to remember the event is… very different.

Captain Hammer’s version of events is extremely dramatic and dynamic. Constantly portraying the Captain himself in Cool Action Poses, while Dr. Horrible look as pathetic as possible

And the whole sequence ends with Captain Hammer throwing Dr. Horrible into space (or at least, like, halfway across the park). 

It’s also drawn in a very stylized art-style (courtesy of Dave Canete and Dave Stewart) that exaggerate and cartoonify the features of the characters in a way that is very complimentary to the Captain and very much not so to poor Billy. 

Plus, this is the only one of these comics that seem to be, like, an in-universe diegetic work. Like, this is a PSA Captain Hammer is making to the audience that exists in the Horribleverse. So that’s another layer of Fiction put between the comic and what really happened. And all in all, it’s very much promoting the audience to doubt this version of events (especially considering, you know, Dr. Horrible probably couldn’t survive in the vacuum of space). 

So when one reads through the Moist comic, and see how that old’ familiar scene plays, but with a more realistic artstyle (by Farel Darlymple and Dan Jackson), and a considerably more understated tone that allows the not-so-good Doctor to retain some of his dignity 

And even the ‘power-neutralizing ray’ being a better match to Horrible's usual tech aesthetic compared to the Captain Hammer Version’s Dinky Raygun-Gothic Thingy…

It might be easy to think this is a simple matter of Captain Hammer, being the full-of-himself antagonist of the whole DHSAB narrative, overexaggerating and aggrandizing the events, while Moist’s version shows us what really happened. But, well… let’s look at how our protagonist, Dr. Horrible recalls the events…

On the one hand we do get the added context that the ‘evil scheme’ Captain Hammer supposedly foiled that day was - in fact - all part of Dr. Horrible’s actual plan. 

But also… Dr. Horrible’s version of events has him sent blasting off again, much like the Captain Hammer version of events.

I mean, there's no 'thrown into outer-space' stuff, but it still resembles Captain Hammer’s recollections much more than Moist’s. And Dr. Horrible version also doesn't include his first meeting with Moist. Perhaps implying Dr. Horrible doesn't consider this encounter as important to his personal narrative as Moist obviously does? Plus, the art style (by Joelle Jones and Dan Jackson) is not as exaggerated as CH’s story, but still kinda cartoony. 

So… where does it leave us? Is Moist underplaying the confrontation in his version of events due to his own kinda laid-back personality or because the matter of how Captain Hammer knocked-out Dr. Horrible is just not as important to him as the fact that Doc even stood up to him in the first place? Or are Captain Hammer and Dr. Horrible both overdramatizing what happened back there, because obviously it’s good for Captain Hammer’s ego to see himself as so effortlessly thwarting and humiliating his enemies but also it’s actually good for Dr. Horrible’s ego to focus on Captain Hammer’s strength because then it feels even more impressive that he is able to match him as an arch-enemy? Or is it a bit of both? 

And what about Penny? How does she recall the event?

Well, Penny was in the park that day, but as far as she was concerned that epic confrontation of Good vs Evil was just in the background. Only slightly more notable than a guy losing a grip on his dog’s leash.

Because this is really what defines Penny in her POV comic, as the opening panel summarizes in a wonderfully succinct visual manner (as drawn by Jim Rugg and Dan Jackson). 

Until the event of DHSAB, for Penny, all of these superhero vs. supervillain business was just background noise, the really important stuff is the suffering and inequality she sees vividly around her on the ground level, in all of it’s grim detail - and despite it all she tries to remain bright and optimistic. That panel is really just... Penny in a nutshell.

And that’s a really important throughline with how this comic characterize Penny, she is out of lockstep with the mainstream because she doesn’t worship superheroes, maybe even resents them just a bit, because she kinda sees their super-escapades and fights against supervillains as… fun little distractions from the real problems of the world. The ones that she’s trying to correct little-by-little in that unglamorous non-super way of hers. 

And this is… I think the reason why the Fridging of Penny can feel so infuriating sometimes, is, well, leaving aside one’s feeling about the behind-the-scenes crew, it really feels like there was a really compelling character with her own story that was kinda tossed aside just for the sake of Billy getting ‘punished’ with her death.

Because when you read the Penny Comic, and you see, not just her general lack of worship for superheroes, but also the way she’s running herself rugged with different charitable activities

(It is probably not just a stylistic flare that Penny has bags under her eyes in almost every panel of this comic)

And the way she tends to bury down her own grief and negative emotions, to the point of lying to her fellow volunteers about her parents being alive.

And the way that as selfless and kind as she is, that kindness doesn’t always come easy to her. Sometimes she will grit her teeth and sigh in regret even as she keeps giving away all of herself.

And the way that she’s struggling, really really struggling to, as the title says, keep her head up. 

Like, ‘hope’ is the Big Obvious Motif of Penny’s character. But this comic really really drives home the fact that Penny is not some incorruptible platonic concept of Hope, and she’s not some storybook character living in a fantasy world. She’s just a person, trying her best to keep up a positive outlook in a world she knows is cruel and unfair. 

Like I said earlier, the different art styles of the comics can be seen as a reflection to how these characters see the world. Captain Hammer and Dr. Horrible both have an outlook of the world that’s maybe kinda exaggerated or cartoony. Even if the Doc is still considerably more tethered to the live-action reality. 

Meanwhile, Moist’s art style is more realistic, but also detailed in a way that makes it feel… kinda icky in a way that’s very Moist-appropriate.

And Penny’s artstyle shares the grounded feel of Moist’s and also the same kinda over-detail, but what distinguishes it is… this element of contrast. The contrast between the way the poverty and suffering around Penny is portrayed in a way that emphasizes grimness and grime (compared to the other art styles here at least) while you can also see how Penny is trying to see the brightness and beauty in the world, and preserve her own brightness and kindness as well - while still being fully aware of what kind of world she lives in. 

It seems like the default position in the Horribleverse is to just…buy into the spectacle and distraction of the Superheroes. Admire and flock around them, while ignoring the Real Issues around them. 

(note how the robot is described as 'disgruntled', so this is probably another Dr. Horrible-like situation of supervillain or super-menace being motivated by the inequalities of society and a superhero who does nothing about it but punch them into submission)

And Penny is specifically not that kind of Oblivious Happiness. Her brand of Hope confronts all the uncomfortable things Captain Hammer and Wingspan and their ilk would usually ignore, while still preserving a positive attitude. That’s, like, what all the imagery in ‘Penny’s Song’ is about.

Even in the darkness Every color can be found And every day of rain Brings water flowing To things growing in the ground

But also, this is hard, and she still struggles sometimes with keeping that balance between reality and optimism. With how the casual cruelty around her is so frustrating. With how much this takes away from her ability to have a ‘normal life’. With how isolated she feels caring about stuff so few around her seem to care about. 

And with all of this context now retroactively added to Penny in the actual Sing-Along Blog, there is actually so much going on with her character. Like, the entire events of the plot revolve around her worldview getting totally turned around again and again all in a row. 

Like, her falling in love with Captain Hammer after he supposedly ‘saved her life’ isn’t just ‘augh, typical Horribleverse Civilian obliviously fawning over their stupid superheroes’, or ‘well, Penny basically just met her idol'. Penny would not usually care about Captain Hammer, but then he (as far as she could tell) saved her life and, well… maybe it’s easier for Penny to read about Captain Hammer stopping a rampaging van some supervillain tried to hijack and go “Oh, that’s nice, but what about the people starving on the streets?” but to actually be in a life-threatening situation and get saved by a superhero… Maybe that was the first time in a long while that Penny actually understood why everyone thinks Captain Hammer is so great.

And then he started putting his charm on her at just the right time and then he agreed to go with her on a date at one of the homeless shelters she volunteers at. We the viewers understand that Captain Hammer only agreed for the sake of scoring with her, but Penny doesn’t come into it with the preconceived desire dislike CH cause he's the antagonist or has the time to watch out for the microexpressions of disgust on Captain Hammer’s face…

For her this is just… a wonderful turnaround on her previous opinion on superheroes. Here is an actual big name superhero taking an actual interest in the life of the poor and unhoused. Finally, after all of these years of not believing they’re going to do anything to really help people, here is a superhero actively taking interest in Penny’s most important issues. Because of the inherent goodness in his heart, and because of… love.

Like, the whole thing about “My Eyes” is that it’s about a change in perspective. (You know, “I cannot believe my eyes!”). It's about both Billy and Penny’s perspectives… intensifying. Billy is growing more cynical and more misanthropic and more resentful due to jealousy over Penny and Hammer's relationship, meanwhile Penny is shifting to be more optimistic and hopeful than she was before. 

I cannot believe my eyes How the world's Filled with filth and lies / finally growing wise But it's plain to see / And it's plain to see Evil inside of me / Rapture inside of me Is on the rise

If anything, I’d say her part of the song is even more overtly about a change in worldview than Billy’s are…

You know, the world is ‘finally growing wise’, because… a lot like Billy, she was also frustrated with the stupidity and shallowness that surrounded her, but unlike Billy who has fallen totally into self-important misanthropy, she was actually trying to keep her head up despite all of that and have some faith in humanity and the general public - and now, with Captain Hammer learning to care about homeless people… that probably validated all of her hopes for the whole world... well, at least in her eyes... 

But then a few days pass, the rush of that Heroic Rescue is starting to subside, and obviously the longer she keeps interacting with Captain Hammer the more chances there are for her to see the cracks in his facade. So she is starting to have some second thoughts…

Billy: How are things with "cheesy on the outside"? Penny:... Good. They're good. He's... nice.

Especially since at the same time she is starting to get closer to that cute guy from the laundromat.

Okay, so the fact that Billy’s crush on Penny was never a purely one-sided affair was another thing explicitly confirmed by the Penny Comic. Specifically in the very final panel.

But I think a lot of the previous interactions in the comic also help with that as well, both with the terrible awkward date that shows how Penny behaves around someone she has no ill will towards but also no affection or attraction towards… and also just in general how she seems to keep even her fellow volunteers at emotional-arm's-length by just repressing all of her emotional anguish away from them. Like, not just not opening up to them about her problems, she is actively lying to them about her parents not being dead.

And meanwhile, like… she is finding Billy to be someone she can open up too, that she can commiserate with about her own problems and like… okay, so ‘Penny’s Song’ doesn’t have her directly say ‘you know, I’ve had it pretty rough cause my parents are DEEEEAAAAAAD’ - but it does allude to it repeatedly. 

Here's a story of a girl Who grew up lost and lonely Thinking love was fairytale And trouble was made only for me

Grief replaced with pity For a city barely coping Dreams are easy to achieve If hope is all I'm hoping to be

In contrast to ‘directly flat-out lying to friends about her parents being alive’ I still think this must be a huge step for emotional intimacy from her, and she feels comfortable doing that with Billy. 

Also just like her verses in ‘My Eyes’, this song is about how perspective shifted from despair into hope. And I think this is as much about her initially going into charity work to cope with the grief of her parents’ death, it’s also about going from kind of the low-point of isolation in the comic and feeling ignored in ‘Caring Hands’ to now making new connections and feeling like the world is finally paying attention to her causes. 

But even with the ‘high’ of having her superhero boyfriend literally just easily gifting her the building her charity was working so hard to acquire - literally the manifestation of all the hopes she had for getting Captain Hammer involved in her causes… she is still noticing the red flags about Captain Hammer…

So they say we'll have blankets and beds We can open by Monday Thanks to you Thanks to me

And she’s still having her doubts. On one hand she’s out of the honeymoon phase with Captain Hammer and is getting more and more ambivalent with him and the cult of personality around him…

This is perfect for me So they say I guess he's pretty okay After years of stormy Sailing have I finally found the bay

But as always, the need to balance an acknowledgment of reality and the need to hold on to hope is the defining internal struggle of Penny’s life. Does she acknowledge the red flags, or… does she just allow herself to believe that this is a world where she can have love and happiness and make some real positive changes and the world is in general heading in a better direction? 

There's no happy ending So they say Should I stop pretending Or is this a brand new day

“Should I stop pretending or is this a brand new day?”

Stop pretending to herself that she’s still in love with Captain Hammer (note that she’s literally waiting for Billy for a Laundromat Frozen Yogurt Hangout as she sings this)

And also… stop pretending that a better world, a brand new day, is coming. Again, keeping her head up is as much a struggle for Penny as it is for anyone else. And in her darker, loneliest moments, drifting away from her boyfriend, her new friend and crush disappeared to Plan a Murder, hearing how shallow the media storm around Captain Hammer and Caring Hands is - she thinks about it not as hope, but as ‘pretending’. But she keeps on going, because… maybe this is a brand new day for her? Is this a chance she can afford to miss?

And then the opening ceremony comes and… turns out all the fears she’s been suppressing over the last montage have been confirmed. Captain Hammer talks about her in a way she clearly finds uncomfortable and his speech makes it clear that he hasn’t been actually listening to anything she’s been actually trying to teach him about homeless people and their problems. 

Everyone's a hero in their own way Everyone's got something they can do Get up, go out and fly Especially that guy – he smells like poo

And worst of all, everyone else is eating it up. The entire crowd is just 100% buying whatever comes out of this superhero’s mouth and most of them probably don’t care at all about homeless shelters and will probably stop caring once the big shiny superhero isn’t there. Not only all of the suspicions she’s been having about Captain Hammer validated, but all of the negativity she used to have about superheroes but pushed away once she started dating him has been validated as well. 

If superheroes can really help the impoverished and unhoused, Captain Hammer sure isn’t really interested in it.

In a way, it also kinda reminds me of the moment in Dr. Horrible’s comic, where Billy first gets disillusioned with superheroes.

But this is a lot more personal.

Really, the only way this moment can be any more of an emotional low-point for a character who always tried to hold on to hope in the goodness of humanity is if it turns out that the other person she’s been getting kinda emotionally intimate with recently is actually a murderous supervillain!

But what are the odds of that?

No sign of Penny - good I would give anything not to have her see It's gonna be bloody, head up, Billy buddy There's no time for mercy Here goes no mercy...

Yeah, she’s clearly mouthing ‘Billy?’ in this shot, she does know what’s going on now.

And okay, leaving aside the criticisms of Penny’s death from a thematic standpoint, I’ve also heard some complaints about it from a purely Wastonian perspective. Of, like, how the hell was she even hurt by that explosion happening on the other side of the room and basically no one else? But… I do think it’s notable that the general crowd is seen dodging the Death Ray Explosion Shrapnel by ducking down

And the last time we got a look at Penny she had just decided to stand up. 

Right after recognizing Dr. Horrible as Billy and then seeing him hesitate to pull the trigger. Maybe... She was considering confronting Billy directly? That despite him running around gloating with a death-ray, she still believed she could talk him out of it somehow? Was it just pure instinct to do something as she saw Captain Hammer in mortal danger?

And if she was still standing as Captain Hammer turned the tables around, was she just frozen in shock, or was she still considering if she should run ahead and intervene as Captain Hammer pulled the trigger.

Well, whatever was going on in her head, it seems like this instinct to try and get involved in that situation while still being too unsure to actually go ahead and try and do it - is what did her in. 

So now Penny has been disgusted by her boyfriend and disillusioned by the general public and emotionally betrayed by her best-friend-slash-crush and now she’s dying and it’s all the fault of these two aforementioned dudes and also maybe the fault of her trying to believe there’s something worth saving about both of them and I dunno how lucid she is to realize all of this but… I think the emotions of these events have made their impact regardless.

And like, Penny has spent her entire life running herself rugged trying to do the right thing, the actual right thing. And she’s been playing this balancing game of choosing both to not ignore all of the societal problems and not just focusing on ‘wow!! Cool superheroes!!’ and also keeping some amount of optimism and hope in humanity all this time. And sometimes it makes her just so isolated and depressed. And sometimes it gives her false hope that is just yanked from under her in the most cruel way.

So… why bother? When her life is so obviously over? Why bother keeping that balance of realism and hope? Billy decided to give up on hope and gave into self-important misanthropy. Penny couldn’t give up on hope, so she decided to give up on reality. Decided at that last moment to try and just be one of those civilians fawning over superheroes and hanging all their faith on them and ignoring everything else. She shouldn't have 'stopped pretending', so should start pretending harder.

Penny: Captain Hammer will save us...

This isn’t Penny holding on to her optimism and ideals despite it all, this is Penny giving up, for the last time. 

Well, this is my read of Penny's last line with the added context of her prequel comics. There are other places you can take this of course. You can connect it to that 'pie' motif that's also present with Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer's characters - You might think that Penny's hopeful attitude is naive and overly-idyllic and fawning at superheroes. But actually she's a lot more world-weary and savvy than that and she's actually the only civilian around to recognize Captain Hammer's bullshit when the time comes. But also deep down she is maybe overly naive and would want to believe in that fantasy of the clear-cut hero who will make it all better, and that's the feelings she retreats too when it's all over.

That's just one off the top of my head, there's probably other readings as well. But the main point is that regardless of what reading you take, Penny's prequel comic really contextualizes a lot about the character. The confirmation of her parents being dead explains the lyrics of her song, the reveal she was always kinda into Billy help shed light on her perspective of their interactions and seeing her pre-DHSAB feelings on superheroes really recontextualize how one can look at her last words. Cause it can't just be like "oh, Penny is always holding on to hope and faith in superheroes until her last moments", because we now know this is explicitly ISN'T something she would always do. Something has changed within Penny.

But also… you really can’t avoid the fact that the main narrative focus DHSAB gives to her death scene is not as a culmination of an arc about realism and hope and the failure of superheroes… It is mostly as This is the Most Emotionally Devastating Thing for Billy to hear Penny say. And that the narrative prioritizes how Penny’s death’s effects Billy’s arc. Where she mostly plays the role of a Symbol of Hope and Optimism and Goodness. Rather than a person who struggled with what it means to be Hopeful. 

And that’s just… really frustrating sometimes. 

[indira2004]

30.06.2023 piątek, piąteczek, piątunio

Zaczęłam czytać Miasto dżinów Williama Darlymple, no i natychmiast przestałam, bo historie o zamieszkach, morderstwach i zemście to za dużo na mój obecny stan ducha.

Więc czytam Basniobór od początku.

Jutro idę na 2.5 h maratonu aqua aerobiku.

[roxannepolice]

Sorry for the quality, but searching the whole GOS2 cast on the net is... a surprising pain in the ass, prime won't let me take screenshots on the phone, and you really don't want to search "darlymple" here on tumblr...

But either the surgeon from Edinburgh led a really interesting life after leaving the city in disgrace or his family has some honourable traditions.

[vsplusonline]

Amitabh Bachchan gives a glimpse of the books which have kept him busy amidst the lockdown - Times of India

New Post has been published on https://apzweb.com/amitabh-bachchan-gives-a-glimpse-of-the-books-which-have-kept-him-busy-amidst-the-lockdown-times-of-india/

Amitabh Bachchan gives a glimpse of the books which have kept him busy amidst the lockdown - Times of India

From gardening to experimenting with cooking and baking, Bollywood celebrities have been trying out new things at home amidst the lockdown. Amitabh Bachchan took to social media recently to reveal what has been keeping him busy.

Taking to Instagram, Big B shared glimpses of the books which have kept him busy lately as he self quarantines himself at home with his family amidst the outbreak of the global pandemic. He has been reading ‘Talking to my Daughter’ by Yanis Varoufakis and ‘The Anarchy’ by William Dalrymple. Check out his posts here:

View this post on Instagram

A room without books is a body without soul’. Using my lockdown time to devour this book “Talking to my Daughter” by Yanis Varoufakis .. #MyBookMyFriend Thank you @DrRPNishank for the much-needed idea to bring back reading in the digital age! Review: A simple, accessible and comprehensive breakdown of how a capitalist economy functions, for those who may not have, and will not need, a background in economic theory, modelling and numbers. Originally written in Greek, by their former Minister of Finance, this book explains the most complex economic models of banking, debts, production, surplus and markets in a language understood by us all. ⁣ ⁣ I HIGHLY recommend this book for those of you who (just like me) want a say in conversations about the economy, who want to contribute towards the growth of your country but don’t know how, and for those of you who just enjoy being educated! An important read for even those who aren’t directly involved in the economy but should, and MUST understand the basics of how one functions. ⁣ ⁣ “To have any say in humanity’s future, you cannot roll your eyes and switch off the moment words like ‘economy’ or ‘market’ are mentioned”

A post shared by Amitabh Bachchan (@amitabhbachchan) on Apr 26, 2020 at 3:36am PDT

Earlier in the day, the ‘Piku’ actor had taken to social media to wish all his fans on the auspicious occasion of Akshay Tritiya. Apart from that, Big B has also been raising awareness about COVID-19 and has been urging his fans to stay at home.

Meanwhile, on the professional front, Big B will soon be seen in ‘Brahmastra’ alongside Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. Apart from that, Big B also has interesting projects like ‘Jhund’, ‘Gulabo Sitabo’ and ‘Chehre’ in his kitty.

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[somerabbitholes]

I love how some books feature a city as if it's a character on its own. I've seen how you are very invested in the history of Bombay. Do you have any recommendations that will help in understanding the history of Delhi on the whole? Like how you were reading about municipal debates in Bombay.

Will be waiting for the weekend when you answer this.

hi! yes, that is definitely my favourite genre. i'm not as confident about delhi as i am about writing on mumbai for a bunch of reasons. most of all i think a lot of writing on delhi tends to get caught up in the city's nostalgia (as a mughal city, imperial city, the poet's city etc etc) in increasingly solipsistic ways without actually trying to see the city for what it is or how it has grown to be what it is. but i've been putting a list together of more focused work

city of djinns by william darlymple: an account of his year in delhi; looks at how people live its history and remember it; how it is handed down; what that means for the contemporary city

the seige of delhi by amarpal singh: about the 1857 'war' in delhi, how the revolt was crushed and fought out in the walled city

twilight in delhi by ahmed ali: about an aristocratic ashraf family in 1900s delhi; how they come to terms with the colonial city after 1857 and with everything that happens to the muslim population in the city; a little orientalist in its descriptions and everything, but also it's from the 1940s so what do you expect

indigenous modernities by jyoti hosagrahar: about urban growth, architecture, and identity in colonial delhi; how modernity is fleshed out in the space between colonial and nationalist politics

capital: the eruption of delhi by rana dasgupta: about how wealth came to delhi in independent india; how an elite class formed in the city but more generally about its more recent and more contemporary growth

delhi: ancient history edited by upinder singh: brings together the archaeological findings in modern delhi and looks at how they've been pieced together to form a picture of the city going back hundreds of years

delhi between two empires by narayani gupta: a broad overview of the city between 1803, when it fell to the british, and 1931, when it became the imperial capital, got a new delhi and sort of regained attention

connaught place and the making of new delhi by swapna liddle: how the imperial capital took shape; looks at plans made by the government, if they materialised and how they materialised; she also has a book on the mughal city with chandni chowk at its centre

city improbable edited by khushwant singh: an anthology of writings on delhi

indian summer: lutyens, baker, and imperial delhi by robert irving: looks at the planning and building of new delhi with these two architects at the centre; what their style says about the empire and modernity and so on

new delhi: the last imperial city by david johnson: about delhi between 1911, when it was decided that it would be the new capital, and 1931, when new delhi actually became a thing; i like this one because it has the ability to shift scales and also look at colonial politics and ideological considerations through the shift from calcutta to delhi

please don't go 'you've forgotten this' on this, because this is very specifically only a list of work i'm looking to read on delhi.

happy reading!

[bhaskarrac]

Experimenting sketch idea on a Mughal General!

(So I was thinking about how Mughal warriors would look like if they or their artisans had the skills of Japanese craftsmanship who work on samurai armours and masks. Not sure I have nailed that or not but this idea always keeps me up whole night. Inspiration courtesy from the book The Anarchy by Darlymple.)

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

hello! I found one of the older posts on this blog from 2021 of good omens setting up filming at Hopetown House! and i was confused, because now that season 2 has come out I can’t figure out when they used this setting. could it maybe have just been a production home base as they filmed in nearby locations?

https://www.tumblr.com/fuckyeahgoodomens/668190710386819072/douglas-bts-photos-from-the-good-omens-s2-filming

Wanted to get your expertise about it! love your indispensable cataloguing work!

Hiya! :) Very happy you like the blog! :) <3 The library in the Hopetoun house was used as the place where Aziraphale and Crowley conversed with Mr. Darlymple :)

Normally:

[claudehenrion]

Le ''politiquement correct'' - ( I ) : La perte de l'intelligence

  Plusieurs lecteurs (et des lectrices, aussi) me demandent plus de détails sur ce phénomène récent. Il ronge notre civilisation, et ce n’est pas une bonne nouvelle : pour le malheur de l'humanité, il n'y a rien qui puisse lui succéder et prendre une relève éventuelle, si elle disparaissait... Si ce n'est la sauvagerie -qui commencera par trois petits tours dans l'islamisme ravageur qui se sabordera de lui-même dans le néant : c’est sa seule racine et son seul devenir possible.  Ils demandent aussi comment identifier les symptômes de ce vice de la pensée (réponse demain)

  Pendant que je réfléchis à la question posée, une citation venue de mes lectures d'adolescent resurgit soudain : Alexis Carrel (qui a été affublé de tous les vices simplement parce qu'il avait diagnostiqué que le communisme était une faute irrattrapable…) écrivait, dans ''l'Homme, cet inconnu'' : ''Le sens moral est plus important que l'intelligence.  Quand il disparaît d'une nation, toute la structure sociale commence à s’ébranler''. On peut en effet se demander si notre magnifique civilisation occidentale (ou ''judéo-chrétienne'') n'est pas en train de mourir d'une perversion de son ''intelligence'', devenue à la fois excessive et mal-appliquée...         Dans le même mouvement, il me revient aussi à l'esprit une pensée de Theodore Darlymple, l'immense et génial médecin et philosophe britannique, qui affirme avec sagesse : “Quand les individus sont forcés de rester silencieux quand on leur raconte les mensonges les plus évidents, ou pire quand ils sont forcés de répéter ces mensonges eux-mêmes, ils perdent une fois pour toutes le sens de la probité''.

  (NDLR - C'est de lui aussi que vient l'idée que les idées progressistes répandues dans les cercles intellectuels occidentaux diluent la responsabilité des individus par rapport à leurs propres actions et sapent la morale traditionnelle, ce qui contribue à la formation, dans les pays riches, de sous-prolétariats affectés par une violence endémique, la criminalité, les maladies sexuellement transmissibles, la dépendance à l'assistance sociale et la toxicomanie. Hélas, tous ces mots font partie de notre quotidien, et chacun de nous a en tête au moins un exemple de l'une ou l'autre de ces perversions de l'esprit qui l'a touché, personnellement ou de très près).

  Mais une telle analyse, quelque peu désincarnée, ne suffit plus : la situation est si grave qu’il faut aller plus loin, car le bon vieux ''politiquement correct à la Papa'', qui emmerdait tout le monde mais savait s'arrêter avant qu'il ne soit trop tard a ''migré'' de cette ancienne attitude d'esprit (ou de manque d'esprit) à une intransigeance totale, systématique et indiscutable… quand elle n'est pas accompagnée de menaces d'exclusion civile pour qui n’adhère pas à LA ''vérité'' clonée... mais fausse. Cette forme nouvelle de dictature et de terrorisme intellectuel est une horreur à l'état brut, au nom d'une caricature d'intelligence qui se rêve ''bien-pensante'' mais n'est que désespérante ! En mon for intérieur, j'ai baptisé cette nouvelle pathologie ''le syndrome Zemmour'', du nom de ce nouvel ennemi public n°1 des ennemis de toute intelligence, qui DOIT être condamné et rejeté, puisqu'il a raison pratiquement sur tout ce qu'il dit, analyse, décrit, prédit ou annonce...  

  Retour sur images : je n'ai pas oublié ma stupeur lorsque j'ai découvert, en 1968, le phénomène qui allait devenir le ''politiquement correct'', aux Etats Unis où je sévissais comme ''Visiting professor of computer sciences'' dans 10 universités parmi les plus prestigieuses. Ce mélange de juridisme, de droits-de-l'hommisme, de vraies inégalités fabriquées au nom d'un faux égalitarisme, de fractionnement de la société au nom d'un féminisme mal compris et de contraintes au profit des seules minorités, m'avait paru ne jamais pouvoir  s’imposer en France, terre (croyais-je alors, ma jeunesse étant ma seule excuse) d'intelligence et de culture...

  Quelle erreur !. La France s'est retrouvée, en peu d'années, colonisée par toutes les idioties propres (?) à ce mouvement d'anti-pensée : la guerre des sexes, la cause noire, ou arabe, ou ''tout-sauf-blanche'', la fascination pour l'Islam ''cette religion de paix et d'amour’’(sic !), le jeunisme obligatoire (dont la version ''2-0'' est une ''ado-doulie'' depuis qu'une enfant de 13 ans impose au monde (par presse collaborationniste interposée) ses dangereux fantasmes et une grève chronique des écoliers), les pseudo martyrs LGBT, trans-sexistes, indigénistes, ''antifas'' sans fascisme ou ''inclusivistes dis-orthographiques''... La liste est longue de ces ravageurs dont le seul programme est la désintégration de tout ce qui marche..

  Notre pauvre France croule sous le poids de groupuscules aussi bruyants, sectaires et méchants qu'ils sont minoritaires et mortifères. Ils mentent, bien sûr, mais surtout ils menacent, insultent, rejettent, condamnent sans jugement, appellent au boycott : les exemples sont quotidiens d'iso- Zemmour, Finkelkraut, Védrine, et tant d'autres, qui sont interdits de parole, ''dés-invités'', priés de se taire, fichus à la porte, montrés du doigt et frappés de ''fatwas'' rappelant les pires heures de la révolution culturelle maoïste. Ils doivent être condamnés, abaissés, exclus et désignés à la vindicte publique... simplement parce qu'ils ne sont pas en conformité absolue (la nuance est  inconnue, chez les ayatollahs) avec les préjugés à la mode du jour... tout cela, bien entendu, au nom de la liberté qui a vraiment bon dos !

  Toute personnalité libre, créatrice, originale et autonome est déclarée clivante, un des mots liberticides qui stigmatisent tout opposant réel, virtuel, soupçonné ou possible... tout comme  traumatisant, complice ou conservateur (le plus grave, peut-être !), et surtout comme l'inévitable ''n'importe-quoi-o-phobe'' (est réputé  ''quelque-chose-o-phobe'' -et donc condamnable sans procès-  celui qui n'adhère pas à 100 % à la ‘’doxa’’... C'est pratique, non, pour éviter toute contestation ?).

  Un exemple me vient à l'esprit : il y a une semaine, je faisais partie d'un jury qui se réunissait, de manière à la fois solennelle et rituelle mais amicale, pour l'attribution d'une bourse internationale, la plus prestigieuse peut-être… Et c’est dans ce cadre protégé (croyais-je !) que j’ai assisté une tentative de ''mise à mort'' d’un candidat brillant, juste parce qu'il n'était pas conforme avec l’anti- ''modèle'' que la pression médiatique et politique ''recommande'' (avec une manière de ''recommander'' qui s'apparente à la démocratie telle que la pratique le sinistre Erdogan !)

  Cela s'est passé au pays de Montaigne, de Malherbe, de nos immenses classiques (dont les cuistres ont inventé, depuis peu, qu'ils sont tous ''quelque-chose-o-phobes'', à brûler en place publique), de Chateaubriand, de Raymond Aron... et de Philippe Murray -dont nous reparlerons bientôt, car je me demande sans cesse comment ce bel esprit libre et facétieux aurait réagi face au vide sidéral (et mensonger, ce qui est un comble !) de la dernière campagne ''européenne'', aux manigances diaboliques de notre Président (récemment qualifié de ''président-machiavel'' par un hebdomadaire dont les analyses sont généralement lucides),

  Seuls un Philippe Murray, un Michel Audiard ou un Pierre Desproges auraient pu trouver les mots qui conviennent pour raconter la génération soigneusement programmée par l'insupportable Hidalgo, ''notre drame de Paris'', d'embouteillages absolus qui ne pourront se terminer que par des bagarres et des meurtres inévitables... au nom, faussement invoqué, d’un ''écologiquement correct'' -au nom duquel tous les excès et toutes les folies seraient permis... Le but que poursuit cette harpie semble être la recherche à tout prix de ''l'embouteillage final'' (dans la logique assassine de la ''lutte finale'' lénino-marxiste), qui bloquerait tout, sans plus aucun espoir de pouvoir trouver la sortie... qui serait son cadeau de départ à ces parisiens qui, après l'avoir élue par erreur, l'ont si fort rejetée...   (à suivre). 

H-Cl.

[dinshaw8]

Day 2 at the Karachi Literature Festival

Day 2 at the Karachi Literature Festival

March 1, 2020

The “ills” of our times date back to the 1700’s East India Company!

In yesterday afternoon’s fascinating book launch “The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company” at the Karachi Literature Festival, William Dalrymple identifies the source of global corporate corruption and rot in society … The East India Company.

Darlymple’s style of delivery is OUTSTANDING! …

[caffeinedependentbookworm]

CITY OF DJINNS

A love letter to a city!

Rarely have I come across writing as brilliant as William Darlymple exhibits in the pages of his memoir compiled during his time in Delhi in the early 90’s.

I made it a point to read this book during a long visit to the Indian capital and couldn’t help but see references from the book all around me.

[current-mcr-news]

gerardway: DOOM PATROL ISSUE 5—AVAILABLE NOW From your local comic shop—comicshoplocator.com Or digitally through Comixology.com Let’s Go Fast! High-speed storytelling, more answers, death, Jane. The gang is almost all together, for now. Every time you hold an issue in your hands, you can remember where you were in your life at that moment. One thing I’ll always remember about this issue is that this is where I became completely comfortable writing this book. As a piece of advice right around issue 3, when I was really struggling, Grant Morrison told me that he doesn’t really get comfortable writing a series until about issue 4, and issue 4 was probably the hardest for me to write, but once I got through that everything started to move a lot faster, and I had a lot more confidence—I felt like I knew what I was doing. I had a tremendous amount of fun writing this one, and the issue that follows it. Again, I want to thank everyone for their dedication and patience in allowing us to get the book right. I feel we are getting closer to the schedule getting more regular again, and we’re doing our best to make that happen. Next week, we’ll get an awesome Director’s Cut of Issue 1, so be on the lookout for that. On the left, you’ll see the metallic version of the awesome main cover by Nick Derington, followed by the remarkable variant by Farel Darlymple, and then the regular (also awesome!) non-metallic cover to the main. Farel and I went to school together in NYC at The School of Visual Arts, and not only is he an awesome human but also an incredible artist. We also get another little gem from Brandon Bird in the back of the issue, the newest installment of Bane’s Coloring Corner, a somewhat presidential one. Lots of love The team killed it on this one, and here they are: Credits: DOOM PATROL #5 Written by Gerard Way (I mean I did ok) Art and cover by Nick Derington Colors by Tamra Bonvillain Letters by Todd Klein Variant cover by Farel Dalrymple "Bane’s Coloring Corner" by Brandon Bird

[somerabbitholes]

18. Least favourite books of the year

superior by angela saini was truly disappointing i didn’t even finish it

midnight’s children by salman rushdie was not for me — i don’t particularly like magical realism

if we’re widening the scope to include books i read for college, then the anarchy by william darlymple, which i have so many issues with.

[thedoylestownbookshop]

Join us this Saturday, June 24th at 2:00pm for a reading and book signing with local author Matty Darlymple. Matty is a thriller and suspense author and expert on independent publishing. Her newest novel is Rock Paper Scissors, a Lizzy Ballard Thriller.