Category
Italian Superwomen
Whenever I travel, I often end up just walking around the city. In doing so, I come across interesting graffiti and can’t help but take a picture of it. I’m not really sure why, as I go back to review old photos much less than I always think I’m going to do.
When I was in Italy, I came across a handful of the street art done by LeDiesis. They do art of
female figures who have inspired and still inspire the new generations
It wasn’t something I expected to see wandering around the streets of Ravenna and Rome. I first saw the art in Rome but didn’t think about it very much. It wasn’t until I saw the same type of art in Ravenna that I realized there was something larger going on.
The first photo I took of the art was a female Dante Alighieri, the patron saint of FanFic.
Super Dante
They’ll put their women in Classical clothing, though I’m not sure what the ‘S’ is doing in this pic.
Super Athena
The art presents women in more modern clothing, too, as of this one which is either smoking a joint or gnawing on a wishbone.
In Rome, the art I came across seemed to be representing actual people, but I don’t know who these people are. I also don’t know why two of them are holding up four fingers nor why their right eyes appear to be swollen shut.
Super Apron
Super Amazing Hair
Super Kim Basinger
I look forward to discovering more of these the next time I’m in Italy.
Cool French Library
Cardinal Richelieu had such an outsized influence on France during his career (reign?) that streets and buildings are named after him. It’s always surprising to realize he was a real person and not just the villain of a story about those four musketeers.
On the Rue de Richelieu in Paris, you can find what used to be the National Library of France. (The actual National Library is now located elsewhere, and this is a library/museum) As someone who reads a lot of books, if I were to live in Paris, I’d be in that place reading any chance I had. Look at the ceiling on this thing!
Skylights the Best Lights
I planned to wake up early and head to the place so I could chill out and read for a bit, but I woke up late (jetlag… or soul delay?) so was unable to find a spot to sit down. All of the seats and tables were filled, and the people there didn’t seem to be the types to get up and leave any time soon.
Normal Ass Library
It was a lovely day in Paris when I was there. The sun fell through the glass ceiling providing the perfect illumination for reading. The temperature was a little warm what with the ceiling being made of glass, but nothing too uncomfortable. The people quietly read or browsed the computers. Many of the books lining the central reading area and the walls were reference books. Readers brought their own books to just bask in the area and read.
I would have liked to see it on a stormy day so I could watch the rain fall onto the ceiling. I could see myself being fascinated by that for many hours.
I didn’t spend much time there. With the seats being occupied and me being hungry, I moved along before too long. I look forward to returning so I can read a book on one of the comfortable chairs while enjoying the architecture.
Gazing at My Shoes
I can’t remember when exactly, but a few years ago something in my brain switched and I suddenly began listening to a lot of Shoegaze music. I still have no idea why. I wouldn’t even say I’m a big fan of Shoegaze. Many of the songs are forgettable.
On thing I figured out quickly, though, is that it’s possibly the best music to listen to when you’re doing something else. That can be driving, cleaning, or working at the office. Background noise that isn’t white noise. Or one of those studying playlists.
Whilst searching youtube for a shoegaze playlist one day, I encountered a user that uploads compilations of Shoegaze tracks, goldentony111. I went through the catalogue and saw that there were already 60+ compilations created, most over two hours long. And the special uploads were almost ten hours. That’s a lot of damn Shoegaze!
I listened to every single one. And I found a favorite.
Shoegaze Compilation Vol.91 is the pinnacle of goldentoney111’s work.
It’s even better than Shoegaze Compilation Vol. 60.
It’s one of the few compilations that I can hear a song that’s so good that I need to check who the artist is. The first song, from chirrp, is great. There’s an Aseul song in there that’s absolutely magical—and the album picture is mesmerizing. ‘Somewhere’ is followed by a Moon Worm track that’s perfectly dreamy. Sleep in the Class’s track Please Love Me drops in the compilation as the perfect change up. Honeywave follows shortly after with a powerful voice. New Politicians appears with a great punk song. Daydream Review with a psychadelic pop song comes a bit later is fantastic. And that’s followed by a Stars song! There’s a great track from Echo Beach, the album art for Cats of Transnistria looks like it was painted by Georgia O’Keeffe, and a great finish with a State of Grace song.
So many great tracks on this compilation, and they work so well together.
Except one song. One song almost completely derails the entire compilation. It’s Fifteenth’s Walk in the Garden at nearly the 2 hour mark. This song is so bad, so jarring, so awful that I nearly skip this compilation when I’m replaying these compilations. It’s a garbage song, and it just doesn’t fit it in with the other tracks. It fits in even less than the Sleep in the Class or the New Politicians songs mentioned above. It hurts my hears. Even the first time I listened to this compilation I skipped through this track because it was so bad. If I really get into a zone at work, I stop hearing anything, even any music that’s on—but this song comes on and it sucks me right out of my reverie. Concentration, gone.
That’s the way it goes with compilations, I guess. You’re going to have a compilation that introduces you to the Drop Nineteen or Dengue Fever, but sometimes you’re going to need to step in shit to get there.
Terrible Pixel Art
I was walking around last night, around 10pm or so. As I’m crossing a quiet street, I see two college age women tandem riding an electric scooter. They zipped through a red light because there was no one else around.
A few seconds later, I saw a woman on a skateboard gliding down the street. She was wearing a billowing blouse with khaki pants. She was following her friends, though they were on an electric scooter so they were going much faster. She had her phone in front of her as if she was following a map.
I had my camera, but it was in my bag and she was gone before I could think to take a photo. So instead, I decided to recreate it in Shitty Pixel Art.
Here you go, the first ever piece of Pixel Art I’ve ever made. It’s terrible.
“Why was this something you felt you needed to make in Shitty Pixel Art? ”
I like to walk around cities a lot and I just go where ever my feet take me. I inadvertently run into that one park where all the skateboarders hang out. I’ve run into this in numerous cities in a few countries. Doesn’t matter where, the skateboarders are all wearing basically the same clothes, that look where you wonder if they’re shooting a commercial for Vans and/or on their way to a punk rock show in the basement of a church.
Last night, the woman was wearing a very loose blouse which allowed the extra fabric to flow behind her. She was wearing just normal pants without any wallet chain attached to it. She was a bit distant, so I couldn’t see her shoes very well, but they looked a little high to be skate shoes.
So the outfit was different, but that’s whatever. It was also how she was holding her phone out in front of her so she could follow directions. When her friends left her a bit behind during an uphill part of the street, she glanced down at the map a few times to double-check where she was. Something about that motion just struck me as neat.
“And the Pixel Art? ”
Gotta start somewhere.
Found In the Louvre
Art Photographing Art
I went to Paris for a week in April of this year. It was my second time in Paris, though the previous time I was only there for a couple of days. I was very far outside the city last time, so for this trip I made sure to stay in the middle of the city.
When I was in Paris last time, I didn’t have a chance to visit the Louvre, so I booked a ticket for the museum very far in advance, probably before I even had my hotel. There were a few highlights that I definitely wanted to check out while I was there, and I was pleasantly surprised by some of the pieces they had. I always assumed the statue version of the Gummy Venus de’ Milo below was in Italy. Feels like it should be in Italy, right?
Carved By Gummy artisans who work exclusively in the medium of Gummy.
If you’ve never been to the Louvre, first thing to know is that it’s big. Extremely big. Also, not the easiest place to get around. Take a look at the map on the second page here. The museum is effectively 4 levels, from -1 through 2. (That makes sense. Nothing confusing about that at all) So after being there for a while, I sat down to take a break when the woman way up at the top of this post walked into the room.
I forget which room I was in, one of the ones with lots of paintings of pale Europeans, I think. (Definitely narrows it down, eh?) I was sitting there in the room examining the maze printed on the brochure which the museum calls a ‘map’ when the woman above entered. I glanced in her direction and noticed the outfit, something which is difficult not to do in Paris. There are many well dressed people in that city. Is Paris known for well dressed people? I’ve never heard such a thing. That needs to be a thing.
Fashion = Paris
The woman looked around the walls, identified that painting above which you can see she’s taking a photo of with her phone, and lined up to take a photo. She took a few photos, which was timely as it allowed me to take a picture of her with her back to me. I could make an excuse like “I needed the photo because no one would believe me otherwise” or “I was taking a picture of something on the wall and she got in the way”, but neither of those would be accurate.
Truth is, her tattoo was the most interesting piece of art in the entire room.
As mentioned above, I’m pretty sure this was another room with many paintings of rich dead people with too much money. So into that room walks a living, breathing person with many, many hours worth of ink covering her back, covering the back of her legs, and crawling like ivy onto her arms.
She exuded a vibrancy in the staid room which drew the eye much more than whatever masterpieces adorned the wall. While she was present, the level of artistic essence imbibed by those of us sharing the space with her was exponentially greater than in her absence. She arrested the eyes of all the visitors she graced with her presence, herself and the tattoo combining into a synergistic masterpiece.
Then she left.
Did she leave because some creep took a pic of her back? Can’t be ruled out.
And I was just some middle-aged dude resting my feet in a random room of one of the greatest museums on the planet. Surrounded by pretty pictures on the wall that just hung there. Deflated.
I Should Have Stopped Earlier
Hail Mighty Caesar!
I’ve read the first three books of the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown. I keep track of books I’ve read on Fable. I gave the first book 4 Stars, the second book—Golden Son—3.5 Stars, and the final book, Morning Star just 2 Stars.
I can’t get over how badly I disliked the third book. I finished it a few days ago and I’m still annoyed at it. There are a few reasons for why I feel this way which I’ll detail below. Be warned that everything after this is filled with Spoilers. All of the Spoilers. I’m literally going to discuss the final chapter in the third book because that’s another area where I have a complaint.
Firstly, Mustang is basically 'testing’ Darrow for the entire book, at least once they reunite. She says that she’s trying to figure out if Darrow can build something or just destroy everything. Quick question, though—what did Mustang build? Anything? She’s not part of the Sons of Ares in the beginning, she isn’t out in the territories beyond the asteroid belt building a coalition to take on the Sovereign, she’s not working as head of a solo rebel group on Lune to take down the leader from that area… she’s just in hiding. Meanwhile, Darrow gives a speech that is broadcast to everyone in the solar system where he tells all the lower colors to rise up for themselves. He’s the military head of the Rising, which at this part of the war is probably the more important part of the rebellion. I don’t get why Darrow wouldn’t laugh in her face when he realizes she’s ‘testing’ him.
That part annoyed me, but Darrow (and others) seem to think there is value in Mustang being around to help with the next phase of the rebellion, the building phase. I don’t understand why they would think this. The series mentions she dislikes aspects of the Society and would like to see changes, but it’s a damn slave-state. You can’t reform your way out of that, you burn it to the ground.
The ending of the book is a fight against the Sovereign’s bodyguard, the heroes finally kill her, and take out the Sovereign. They then march to the collected Senate where Mustang proclaims herself to be in charge by raising the special stick in one hand and the Sovereign’s detached head in the other!
WTF?
The author also mentions specifically that this was how the previous Sovereign—back when she had a head—climbed to the throne. If you’re a senator and you have to confirm the next emperor of their Society, you’re slightly worried that she’s close with Darrow but at least it’s not Darrow now in charge. Nothing she presents to the audience is different than the last emperor’s ascension. She has the special stick. She doesn’t immediately put the senators to the death. She has the previous emperor’s head in her other hand. She doesn’t ignore the senators and just go directly to the people. She hasn’t even taken off the Sigils on her hand. The only person who has done that is Darrow and it’s odd enough that the author mentions multiple people have stared at his hands in surprise. If you’re a senator, you’re concerned but ultimately this is someone you can work with.
On the other hand, imagine you’re a Red, you’ve been freed from your hovel, told that you, your family and friends have been lied to and Mars has been habitable for centuries, but the leaders just wanted you down in the mines slaving away. You’re moved to a terrible city with no food or medicine. You’re conscripted—maybe volunteer—into the army, fight a whole bunch of battles against other slaves bred to kill… and suddenly someone says, “We’re done. The Gold we don’t like is dead, and another Gold is now in charge. She’s the Reaper’s girlfriend.” What part of that would make you want to stop this rebellion? You’re slave society has collapsed and the person in charge was considered a Reformer, previously, and not even a Radical Reformer at that. Nah, I’d keep fighting.
I think of this this way. Consider the following two scenarios.
Mustang has no interest in living in a slave state and wants to burn everything down to create something new
Mustang (and Cassius, but we’ll get to that) don’t want to live in the horrors of the Antebellum South, so they work together to move the Society along to the Jim Crow South.
How does the ending change in either of those scenarios? You’d have to work to fit a slip of paper in the difference between those two scenarios.
The character of Mustang never built anything in the series. She just hung around while Darrow destroyed everything he touched. She has no right to be part of the post-Rising leadership. Her telling the Senators she now how the special stick and the previous Sovereign’s head means nothing.
I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Darrow doesn’t begin the third novel on the front lines. Rather, he’s trapped in a box that’s being used as a dining table by the Jackal. He becomes friends with the Darkness.
Then he gets out and… he goes back to being the Darrow from the first two books. He was in the box for 9 months, fed through a feed tube that provided barely enough nutrients to live, and a few months later he’s fine.
Absolutely not, brother. No way. Dude would be completely gone. He’s be in therapy for a decade, and at the end he wouldn’t be ‘healed’, he just be falling forward in time until his supernatural body gave out.
The Darkness and his experience with it is mentioned later, but it’s not really a point of contention with him. He dives into stupid fights as if he’s invincible—but he knows he’s not. He was literally in a box with nothing but his thoughts for NINE WHOLE MONTHS!
If an author introduces something that harrowing to the reader at the beginning of the book, I’d expect the book to be about that experience. We didn’t get that. He actually healed up, though he was a sad boy because his friends are now dead. Not because he was in a box for NINE WHOLE MONTHS, no, just because his friends are dead and he’s realized his dead wife was full of shit.
Seriously, he really shits on Eo for a good part of the third book and even much of the second. His mom told him she didn’t like his dead wife and he just dropped his estimation of her, didn’t he?
Anyway, one last thing to mention—you can’t convince me that Cassius and Mustang aren’t still seeing each other. Firstly, I do want to mention that Mustang hooking up with Cassius was easily one of the dumber things about Book 2, Golden Son. She knows Cassius despises Darrow, that he has a blood feud going with the guy, and she still hooks up with him. She explains it’s part of her plot to save her family. I feel like I’m missing something in her plan.
In the third book, the main characters spend a bunch of time dragging Cassius around as a hostage. If Mustang was really all in, why didn’t she take him out? Because she still has feelings for him. At least Sevro wanted to just kill him, even if he didn’t so as not to upset their warlord. I’m not sure Mustang ever wanted to kill him, I think she wanted him alive so she could become the new Sovereign, put in some half-assed reforms, plot to have Darrow killed, and boom—new husband she can rule the Society with.
You know who I feel bad for? New Pax. In fifteen years (I know it doesn’t happen this way, I’m aware the series continued), mom and Cassius are going to sit him down and say Pax isn’t the kid’s name, he’s actually named after his Uncle Julian, who was killed by the guy he thought was his dad for all of his life. I’m not sure that’s NINE WHOLE MONTHS of Darkness worth of therapy required to help him, but it’s pretty close.
This post is already too long, so I’ll just rapid fire some other annoyances here.
The final fight with Ava wasn’t required. Not all of Darrow, Mustang, Sevro, or Cassius needed to be in the room with the Sovereign and the Jackal. You really only needed Darrow and Cassius. In Book 2, those two alone would have been able to take out Ava.
Ragnar not getting a hit on Ava during their fight was bullshit. As mentioned above, she was not that good in Book 2. I don’t know how she became a super-boss in this book.
Ragnar was awesome. Him becoming more human was one of my favorite parts of the second two books. Not sure he would have become a Howler, though.
Quicksilver arrived a book too late. If you’re going to introduce the money of the rebellion in the final book, at least drop it in the first couple chapters. Instead we only find out about him a third of the way through the final book and he’s suddenly the 2nd most important part of the Rising.
Darrow destroying the ship docks in the Rim territories to win the next war was a good moment, I liked that.
I never took to Roque for the entire series, so his death was kinda ‘meh’ for me. The Pink opening the door, though, that was good.
After Cassius ‘killed’ Sevro, I closed the book and had a good think. Was the author dumb or was this a trick? I felt certain this was a trick and continued. In which case, why not tell us? Why was there so much writing about how sad Darrow was that another of his friends died? We all knew it was a trick, don’t waste my time like that. I wonder if an earlier version of the book had him actually dead. But then he wrote himself into a corner by making Ava into Shin-Ryu, so needed Sevro to come back to turn the fight.