#Heinrich the pride of the DR

[klein-sodor-bahn]

The one time Heinrich was red

Translation:

Hein: huh

Hein: WHAT IS THIS CRAP

man left: Do we tell him?

Man right: Rather not

Mini text: I look like a damn can of coke

#ttte #thomas and friends #ttte humanized #ttte human au #ttte oc #akagi’s ocs #Heinrich the Pride of the DR #dr br 18 201 #dr 18 201 #18 201 #deutsche reichsbahn #ttte shitpost #ttte comic #Behold the big Coca Cola can on wheels #Ah yes the good old Roco marketing stunt #fun fact the red on the wheels and body are different shades #Feral himbo Heinrich lol

[tenderbittersweet]

Happiness is a Full Bookshelf 😊📚

My goal is to collect every Penguin Classic that has a black spine and cover, white title, and orange author name because they’re sooo aesthetically pleasing to me. My fun challenge of collecting/amassing them is by finding them exclusively through secondhand purchases (resale shops, ebay, garage sales, used bookstores, etc.) Then I only have to shell out $0-$7 each instead of $10-$30 each!

Penguin Classics

A Doll's House and Other Plays by Henrick Ibsen

A Nietzsche Reader by Fredrich Nietzsche

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Dolye

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

All My Sons by Arthur Miller

Angel of Repose by Wallace Stegner

Awakening and Selected Stories by Kate Chopin**

BUtterfield 8 by John O'Hara

Caleb Williams by William Godwin

Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Other Stories by Jack London*

Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer*

Charlotte Temple and Lucy Temple by Susanna Rowson

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker

Confessions by Saint Augustine

Conjure Tales and Stories of the Color Line by Charles W. Chestnut

Consolation of Philosophy by Ancius Boethius

Crucible by Arthur Miller

Daisy Miller by Henry James

Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane

Essays and Aphorisms by Arthur Schopenhauer

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley**

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck**

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

Hard Times by Charles Dickens

Hedda Gabler and Other Plays by Henrik Ibsen

History of The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë*

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman*

Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw

Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

Memoirs by William Tecumseh Sherman

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka*

Middlemarch by Geroge Eliot

Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

My Antonia by Willa Cather

Mysteries by Knut Hamsun

Narrative of the Lige of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave by Frederick Douglas

Nichomachean Ethics by Aristotle*

Nineteenth-Century American Poetry

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Odyssey by Homer**

On Liberty and the Subjection of Women by John Suart Mill

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

Passing by Nella Larsen

Personal Memoirs by Ulysses S. Grant

Portable Sixties Reader

Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw

Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne**

Seize the Day by Saul Bellow

Silas Marner by George Eliot

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Song of Roland

Summer by Edith Wharton

Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow

The Aeneid by Virgil

The Ancien Régime and the Revolution by Alexis de Tocqueville

The Bhagavad Gita

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy

The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio

The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Guide by R.K. Narayan

The Habor by Ernest Poole

The Hound of Baskerville by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Iliad by Homer

The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings by Olaudah Equiano

The Lais of Marie de France

The Marquise of O—and Other Stories by Heinrich Von Keist

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

The Odyssey by Homer

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli*

The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturlson

The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Three Theban Plays by Sophocles

To a God Unknown by John Steinbeck

Utopia by Thomas More

Villette by Emily Brontë

A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft

Washington Square by Henry James

Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson

Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Non-Penguin Classics

A Mercy by Toni Morrison

Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath**

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank*

Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood**

House on Mango Street by Sander Cisneros

My Antonia by Willa Cather

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien*

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Collections, Compilations, and Anthologies

100 Best-Loved Poems (American & British)

101 Great American Poems

English Romantic Poetry

Four Great Comedies of the Restoration & 18th Century

Four Great Elizabethan Plays

Great Poems by American Women

Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen)

Six American Poets (Whitman, Dickinson, Stevens, Williams, Frost, Hughes)

The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories

The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry

The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Victorian Love Stories

* = Started & didn’t finish (yet)/Read parts

** = Read ≥5 years ago

Strike-through = Read

Updated: April 14, 2024

Total count: 126

#classic literature #literature #penguin classics #my classics collection #bookblr #long post #personal #op

[rockislandadultreads]

Book Recommendations: LGBTQIA+ History Month

Eminent Outlaws by Christopher Bram

In the years following World War II a group of gay writers established themselves as major cultural figures in American life. Truman Capote, the enfant terrible, whose finely wrought fiction and nonfiction captured the nation's imagination. Gore Vidal, the wry, withering chronicler of politics, sex, and history. Tennessee Williams, whose powerful plays rocketed him to the top of the American theater. James Baldwin, the harrowingly perceptive novelist and social critic. Christopher Isherwood, the English novelist who became a thoroughly American novelist. And the exuberant Allen Ginsberg, whose poetry defied censorship and exploded minds. Together, their writing introduced America to gay experience and sensibility, and changed our literary culture. But the change was only beginning. A new generation of gay writers followed, taking more risks and writing about their sexuality more openly. Edward Albee brought his prickly iconoclasm to the American theater. Edmund White laid bare his own life in stylized, autobiographical works. Armistead Maupin wove a rich tapestry of the counterculture, queer and straight. Mart Crowley brought gay men's lives out of the closet and onto the stage. And Tony Kushner took them beyond the stage, to the center of American ideas.

Be Gay, Do Comics edited by Matt Bors

Be Gay, Do Comics is filled with dozens of comics about LGBTQIA experiences, ranging from personal stories to queer history to cutting satire about pronoun panic and brands desperate to co-opt pride. Brimming with resilience, inspiration, and humor, an incredible lineup of top indie cartoonists takes you from the American Revolution through Stonewall to today's fights for equality and representation. Featuring more than 30 cartoonists including Hazel Newlevant, Joey Alison Sayers, Maia Kobabe, Matt Lubchansky, Breena Nuñez, Sasha Velour, Shing Yin Khor, Levi Hastings, Mady G, Bianca Xunise, Kazimir Lee, and many, many more!

Gay Berlin by Robert Beachy

Known already in the 1850s for the friendly company of its “warm brothers” (German slang for men who love other men), Berlin, before the turn of the twentieth century, became a place where scholars, activists, and medical professionals could explore and begin to educate both themselves and Europe about new and emerging sexual identities. From Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, a German activist described by some as the first openly gay man, to the world of Berlin’s vast homosexual subcultures, to a major sex scandal that enraptured the daily newspapers and shook the court of Emperor William II—and on through some of the very first sex reassignment surgeries—Robert Beachy uncovers the long-forgotten events and characters that continue to shape and influence the way we think of sexuality today. Chapter by chapter Beachy’s scholarship illuminates forgotten firsts, including the life and work of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, first to claim (in 1896) that same-sex desire is an immutable, biologically determined characteristic, and founder of the Institute for Sexual Science. Though raided and closed down by the Nazis in 1933, the institute served as, among other things, “a veritable incubator for the science of tran-sexuality,” scene of one of the world’s first sex reassignment surgeries. Fascinating, surprising, and informative—Gay Berlin is certain to be counted as a foundational cultural examination of human sexuality.

Indecent Advances by James Polchin 

In his skillful hybrid of true crime and cultural history, James Polchin provides an important look at how popular culture, the media, and the psychological profession forcefully portrayed gay men as the perpetrators of the same violence they suffered. He traces how the press depicted the murder of men by other men from the end of World War I to the Stonewall era, when gay men came to be seen as a class both historically victimized and increasingly visible. Indecent Advances tells the story of how homosexuals were criminalized in the popular imagination—from the sex panics of the 1930s, to Kinsey study of male homosexuality of the 1940s, and the Cold War panic of Communists and homosexuals in government. Polchin illustrates the vital role crime stories played in circulating ideas of normalcy and deviancy, and how those stories were used as tools to discriminate and harm the gay men who were observers and victims of crime. More importantly, Polchin shows how this discrimination was ultimately transformed by activists to help shape the burgeoning gay rights movement in the years leading up to Stonewall Riots of 1968.

#LGBTQIA #history #library books #reading recommendations #reading recs #book recommendations #book recs #TBR pile #tbr #to read #nonfiction #nonfiction reads #lgbtq history month #lgbtq+ history

[twinantithesis]

An egomaniac and eternal smartass, I give you...

Heinrich von Schneeplestein!

Backstory & fun facts below the cut!

Heinrich is 38, 5′3, and a trans pansexual man!

Heinrich was born peacefully, unlike his brothers, as ‘Henrik’. Jack planned his entire life and existence from baby to his Henrik von Schneeplestein. He was a perfected Creation and, oh boy, does he know it. He was born right in front of Jack and immediately covered in blankets so he could come to terms with his backstory. The first words he spoke was an awkward, accented: “Someone get me coffee with whiskey or I kill everyone in this room.”

Henrik remembers an uneventful, spoiled life as the son of a rich single father in Germany. He remembers an easy, fully paid for FtM transition after only asking twice. He remembers medical school and a rowdy group of troublemakers as his college companions. He remembers Miranda, a Dutch exchange student, who he fell wildy, loudly in love with. He remembers the attractive tennis instructor that made him realise he loved men. He remembers Miranda sleeping with that instructor in revenge when she found out. He ripped apart everything from college while drunk the next day. He dropped contact with everyone, moved to Britain, and began using his three years of medical school to treat criminals and underground magicians. Occasionally, while living with the others, strange, shady people started showing up begging for Henrik. Well, actually... They asked for ‘Heinrich.’

Heinrich, as it turns out his actual name is, is an egomaniac at his core. He is, to himself, alway the smartest, hottest, coolest, funniest person in the room. When working in the hospital, his methods are very similar to Dr. House from House M.D. Heinrich is convinced he knows best, and to the chagrin of his colleagues, Heinrich is smart enough that he’s usually right. Heinrich isn’t self aware of it, but he shows a large amount of ADHD symptoms, with a tendency to hyperfixate on patient’s cases until they’re healed or dead. 

Jack loves Heinrich, and finds his egotistical behaviour charming and hilarious. They’re fond of each other and definitely friends, but they don’t spend much time together due to not sharing many interests. 

Jackie and Heinrich are BEST FRIENDS! They adore and feed off each other’s personalities greatly. Heinrich is confident enough to rub off on Jackie even in his most self-loathing moments. Jackie is kind and loving in a way that validates and assures Heinrich emotionally. They love just going for walks and talking, doing chores together, just plain being side by side. Heinrich buys Jackie his favourite foods and always patches him up after his escapades out on the street. 

Marvin is not fond of Heinrich when he’s first born. Why does Heinrich get to be perfect and loved by everyone? Why should he get to steal Jackie’s love? After months and months of bickering and hatred, Jackie blew up at Marvin in a shouting match worthy of a noise complaint. After this, Marvin began to apologise with actions, not words, and they slowly became more friendly and teasing in their bickering. 

Heinrich and Chase are very much the typical big & little brother! Heinrich does have shame and anger about the doctors not letting him help with Chase’s surgery and recovery after his attempt. Heinrich makes up for this by patching up every wound, sitting with him through every single breakdown, teasing and loving on Chase every chance he has. 

Heinrich does become good friends with Body/Jameson as he heals, but you will have to wait and see the story. ;-)

Heinrich is very proud of his trans identity and goes to pride every chance he gets. At work though, he’s closeted and tries to keep it just within his family.

Everyone close to Heinrich calls him Schneep! In fact it’s bizarre and usually a sign of danger if his brothers say his actual name. 

Heinrich always keeps his hair shaved-short and long on top. It’s his BRAND and if his hair is not neat, something is distressing him. 

Heinrich is fluent in German, English, and Mandarin!

#henrik von schneeplestein #jacksepticeye #jacksepticeye fanart #septicart #jacksepticeye egos #jacksepticeye fanfic #jse egos #jse henrik #my art

[girlactionfigure]

Nazi Who Didn’t Follow Orders

A story of redemption

Albert Battel was a Nazi officer who turned against the party after witnessing the liquidation of a Jewish ghetto in Poland and atoned for past sins by saving 100 Jewish families.

Born in 1891 in Prussian Silesia, Albert served in the German Army in World War I. After the war, he attended law school and worked as an attorney in Breslau. In the early 1930’s, as Hitler rose to power in Germany, Albert heard the Nazi leader speak and was inspired by his message of German pride and unity after the humiliating defeat in the Great War. Albert joined the Nazi Party in 1933 and served as a Lieutenant in the Wehrmacht army reserves.

In 1942, Albert was called up from the reserves at age 51. He was sent to Prsemysl, Poland to help liquidate the Jewish ghetto there. Albert was horrified at the human misery he witnessed during the cruel liquidation. Families were being separated, beaten, arrested, and sent to their deaths. The streets were lined with corpses of Jews who died from starvation, disease, beatings or gunshot wounds.

Albert was sickened and enraged by what he saw. Participating in the ghetto liquidation was simply not an option for Albert. Together, he and local military commander Major Max Liedke – another German officer with a moral compass – took action. They ordered the bridge over the River San, the only way to reach the ghetto, to be completely blocked so the SS could not get through. When the Nazi troops tried to cross the bridge, Albert threatened to open fire and kill them all. The local Jewish inhabitants were amazed. Albert then commandeered Nazi trucks to evacuate and save 100 Jewish families. Those families were the only Jews from the entire town of Prsemysl who survived. The rest of Prsemysl’s 24,000 Jews were murdered, most of them at Belzec concentration camp.

The Nazi party immediately conducted a secret investigation of Albert and found a history of kindness to Jews. Before the war, he had been disciplined for lending a small amount of money to a Jewish colleague. Another time, he was publicly reprimanded for shaking the hand of a Jew. The internal investigation went all the way to Heinrich Himmler, head of the Gestapo, who ordered Albert expelled from the Nazi Party and arrested. Himmler postponed Albert’s punishment, however, until after the war to avoid embarrassment for the party.

When the war ended with Nazi defeat, Albert was captured by the Russians. After his release, he returned to Germany but found that his Nazi past made him ineligible to practice law. Because Himmler’s order to expel him had been postponed, Albert was still on the records as a Nazi Party member.

Albert Battel died in 1952 of heart disease. In 1981, Dr. Zeev Goshen, an Israeli lawyer and researcher, investigated and publicized Albert’s story. Due to Dr. Goshen’s efforts, in 1981 Albert Battel was honored as Righteous Among the Nations by Israeli Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem.

For saving 100 families from certain death at high cost to himself, we honor Albert Battel as this week’s Thursday Hero.

Accidental Talmudist

[bitters-enthusiast]

Boozin’

A fic for @timmys-and-scribbles , I love u boo 

The bar was more than likely annoyed with the ginger at this point.

Julian had spent more than a few hours at the Rowdy Raven, his second home, and was drunk off his ass -- even that may have been an understatement. It’d started with a few drinks, just him trying to kill time while Julianne was working at the shop, keeping himself busy and away. Then it turned into him getting sad, a little down, because he didn’t have enough work to keep him steady and busy during a time like this. Wasn’t a doctor rather crucial to a city? Shouldn’t his knowledge and efforts be more needed?

If Julianne were there, she’d be telling him to just be thankful that he had the day off, and that he’d have patients tomorrow eager to hear his advice. 

But Julianne wasn’t there, she was busy. And so, having let the silly, intrusive thoughts take hold of him, he slammed back some more drinks.

More drinks turned into stories, stories turned into singing, and singing turned into slight arguments with other patrons who were getting quite annoyed with the man. Perhaps he’d better find another hobby that isn’t getting drunk and flirting with death.

A couple of hours in at that point, Julian had heard talk of a local musician holding an event in the marketplace in the afternoon in order to make pay for his home. His ears had perked up, and he grinned, even as he took another shot of liquor. Music? A lively night? That sounded exactly his style to the tee, and he’d started to get excited for when Julianne would finally be done with her work for the day. Oh, how he wished to spin her into the night with an exciting tango, or a cozy waltz. If she were there. Waiting for her would be the most excruciating part of his day. But how hopefully rewarding that waiting would be!

A few more hours passed, and at that point, the sun was starting to go down over Vesuvia. Not that Julian could really count the hours --- he was inside, and only whined aloud about missing his wife every other moment or two. 

At the current moment, though, he’d started rambling off a story to his most familiar bartender and friend (at least, Julian would consider him a friend), Reiner. Words slurred and wistful about the time that he’d gone to a city with the Nazali Satrinava -- no, really, it was them, on my life -- to practice his medical studies. While there, they’d caught wind of a puppeteer who used magic to make it seem as if their puppets could move and talk on their own. It was really quite scary, and just added onto the fact that he didn’t like magic at the time. 

“No, really, Reiner,” the doctor laughed, a little too loudly for others’ liking, and he clutched the glass beside him with a firm hand. “One of ‘em, I think it’s name was.. was.. Perhaps Tootie, or something of the sort, and it.. it just moved!”

“It moved, Ilya? Like a puppet is supposed to do?”

“Well, right, duh, but! It moved like a human. And that’s my point. It was absolutely horrible!”

“Right.” the man behind the counter laughed, cleaning out a glass with a soft rag. 

“I’m serious, you can’t take that stuff too lightly, Reiner. It can be rather powerful at times, you know.”

“You were dealing with a puppeteer, Julian.”

“What if she was using real people that she, I don’t know, shrunk! How disastrous would that be? No one would know! She was under the guise of children entertainment!!”

Reiner once again laughed, and set the now-cleaned cup upon his counter to use for someone else who walked in. “You’re quite the theorist.”

“Well, you can never be too careful. Magicians--”

Just then, the door opened quietly, and for the millionth time that night, as soon as Julian heard it, he turned quickly to see if it was Julianne coming to look for him. And this time, he was lucky enough to have his wish come true. 

The woman patted down her blouse, having looked like she just walked a mile to get there. She may as well have -- Julian would’ve waited either way. With a smile, though, she glanced across the room at the semi-familiar faces, before her eyes landed upon her desperate doctor. Placing a hand upon her hip, she smiled, and looked at him knowingly. “Did someone say ‘magician’?”

Julian practically lept from his seat, leaving Reiner behind to continue his work. How absolutely wonderful it was to finally be able to see Julianne’s beautiful face after waiting all day. He stumbled on his way over, and he attempted to laugh it off, hurrying forward to grab Juli in a bear hug. “Oh, Juli, love, I’ve been waiting for you all day. I thought you were never going to put up shop. I’ve been longing for you arms for hours, I--”

As he was speaking, Julianne gently wrapped her arms around him in turn, but shot a glance to the side at the man behind the counter. With a grin, Reiner could already tell what she was thinking. 

“Hey, Annie. Just the usual. He couldn’t be patient long enough to go home himself.”

“Ah,” Julianne nodded, smiling in return. By this point, she knew the staff of the tavern quite well, and had even befriended some of them. It was hard not to -- her doctor was here almost every other day. Her and Reiner were the best of friends out of them all, though, and she trusted him to keep Julian safe and in place when he got hammered -- such as tonight. Pulling away from the hug, Julianne looked up at Julian, and tsked quietly. “Too impatient indeed. Have you been wailing their ears off this time? I’m sure this bar has heard one too many of your renditions of Hound Cries at Midnight.”

When Julianne had pulled away from the hug, Julian had to force himself not to pout. He had craved her affection all day, and just when he’d gotten it...

“No, not today. Though, I do think I should modify that middle section to sound a little more operatic, don’t you think? I--” As he spoke, his eyes continued to search over Julianne’s face, and he began to melt from the inside out. He brought his hands upward, cupping either side of her face, and he crooned, his face adorned with a flirtatious smile. “Ohhh, Julianne, you’re so beautiful. Even after such a long day at work, you’re here, making sure I’m okay and giving me hugs and-- I just don’t deserve such a precious woman.” The redhead pressed a sloppy kiss to her forehead, before pulling her into another hug. 

Julianne was quite used to his drunken behavior at this point, but nonetheless, she still found it hilarious and sometimes flattering. Again, she hugged him back, a light blush on her face from embarrassment. Julian definitely never had volume control when he was drunk. “You’re such a ham, Julian. Don’t you know you’re in a bar?”

Chuckling, Julian pulled away. “What better place to announce your undying love to a beautiful maiden? At least then everyone will know she’s spoken for!” With dramatic flair, the man turned on his heel to face the bar, is arm landing snugly along Juli’s shoulders. With his voice slightly louder than before, he addressed the establishment. “Fellow ... er, uh... hearty drinkers! As some, but not all of you may know, this is my gorgeous, smart, funny, talented, practically perfect wife, Julianne! Julianne, this is Heinrich, Nattak, Erin, and ... was it Izaak? It was Izaak, right, friend? Oh, you absolutely killed  me with your strange noises and your story about the parrot inside the--”

“Julian,” his wife began to speak under her breath. She was flattered by his pride, sure, but this was just more than a little embarrassing. Her cheeks dusted with bright pink, she reached to touch a hand to his chest to try and get his attention as he rambled. 

“Oh! Right, right. Anyways, fellows, this is Julianne! A powerful magician who has stolen my heart--”

“Didn’t you just make a scene earlier about how much you dislike magic?” Some random, gruff man made a comment.

“Yes, well, she’s quite different than any other magician I’ve ever met before. She brings a sort of... fire out within me. Oh, especially when we kiss.” He sighs with an affectionate undertone, and you can practically see stars in his eyes. “Anyway! She’s stolen my heart so graciously, and also given me the best life I could have asked for. She’s really quite great, she treats me ever so well, and makes me--”

Julianne cleared her throat loudly this time, and shook her head in amusement. “Julian, how many times are you going to make this same speech? I’m sure poor Reiner has heard you say these same things three times already this month.”

Turning a little red, Julian chuckled, and faced his wife. He shrugged, as if he were a child getting caught and was trying to justify it. “What can I say? I suppose I just have, ack-!” As he was turning to face Juli, he tripped on a wooden floor board just barely raised above the rest, and he did his best not to stumble to the floor. Laughing it off, as he does, he glanced around the room and gestured to Julianne once more. “I guess I’m just head over heels in love, eh?”

“Sounds like she’s actually a little annoyed wit’ya, bud,” the same gruff man from the corner spoke. It was obvious he’d become a little annoyed with Julian’s drunken antics spoiling his quiet night at the bar. “I’d shut up if ya actually wanted to keep ‘er around. Maybe do less at the bar and more in the bedroom.”

Julian gasped, clutching at the material over his chest. “How dare you, Mr. Corner-Beard! I think I do quite well in that area, thank you! Why, you son’t even have to just take my word! Julianne, would you--?”

Reiner looked between the three of them -- the drunk doctor, his poor wife, and Mr. Corner-Beard -- and paused in his work to be sure that, for the millionth time, Julian didn’t start another bar fight that he couldn’t finish. And as if she read his mind, Julianne, grabbed Julian by his arm, and pulled him toward the exit. 

“That’s quite enough, Dr. Devorak. I think your friends heard enough of your home life today. How about we go home?”

Julian paused, right before the reached the door. He looked at the burly corner man right in the eyes, before he turned to take Julianne into his arms, press a long, dramatic kiss to her lips, and pulled away once more. He looked at the stranger one last time before pulling the door open, and exiting with his... certain dramatic flair.

Julianne stood there in shock for a moment, her face having now turned a bright red. She felt every eye in the place on her, and she could only find solace in one pair -- Reiner’s. The bartender forced himself to hold back his laughter, placing his hand over his mouth. All the woman could do was blink at him, and at this point, Julian was either storming his way home or was wandering around in circles waiting for her to leave alongside him. Reiner finally dropped his hand, only to say a few words before the magician left. 

“Don’t kill him. He has a dance he wants to take you to tonight. Wanted to dip you in the moonlight, or something along those lines.”

Julianne shook her head, turning to walk out the door, and muttered, “Don’t worry, I won’t kill him. I’ll just dip his head into the fountain to sober him up a bit.”

#bitters writes #drabble #this is for u bazz #and also timmy ig #Julian The Arcana #the arcana #julian devorak #arcana fic #the arcana julian

[spectrumdiversitycommunitycenter]

LGBTQ+ History: Karl Heinrich Ulrichs

Ulrichs was a German author, journalist, and lawyer born on August 18, 1825 in what is now part of Aurich. He is considered one of the earliest progenitors of the movement for queer rights and acceptance. He recalled that he had an affinity for the feminine as a young child and that his first sexual encounter was at the age of 14 with his male riding instructor.

He attended Göttingen as a student of both theology and law, after which he studied history at Berlin University. This background allowed him to work as a administrative lawyer for the district courts in his area for 8 years until he was terminated once his sexuality became known.

In 1862, he came out to his family, using the term Urning, a 19th century term denoting a "female psyche in a male body" that is attracted to men. There is some debate as to whether Ulrichs was trans or nonbinary without the right words to describe it, or if he was an effeminate gay man. He then began writing and publishing essays under the pseudonym Numa Numantius on the natural and biological nature of live and how no type of love is better or worse than another. He is credited with coining various initial terms for sexualities in this essays that were then used by the public at large until more modern terms were found as language evolved.

Soon thereafter, he began publishing his work under his real name, the first recorded public coming out in modern times. Homosexuality was still a crime then, and one of his essays was providing legal and moral support to a man charged with the crime of being gay.

On August 29, 1867, he became the first gay person to petition a legislative body to repeal anti-homosexuality laws, not to mention the first gay person to speak publicly in the defense of his community. His voice was drowned out and disrespected. Two years later, the weird homosexual was coined by an Austrian writer and the discussion began again.

Ulrichs moved all over Germany, continually in trouble with the law for his continued writings promoting homosexuality and criticizing the government. He continued writing essays and books on the subject of homosexuality until he died, one of his last works having the following except:

"Until my dying day I will look back with pride that I found the courage to come face to face in battle against the spectre which for time immemorial has been injecting poison into me and into men of my nature. Many have been driven to suicide because all their happiness in life was tainted. Indeed, I am proud that I found the courage to deal the initial blow to the hydra of public contempt."

His name faded from history for many years but his popularity gained a posthumous resurgence. Dr Magus Hirschfeld referenced him quite often while compiling his research on homosexuality. There are streets named after him and festivals held in his honor. The International Lesbian and Gay Law Association awards a Karl Heinrich Ulrichs award annually for "distinguished contributions to the advancement of sexual equality."

#lgbt #lgbt+ #lgbtq #lgbtq+ #lgbtq+ community #lgbtq+ history #lgbtq+ pride #lgbtqia #lgbt icons #lgbt community #gay rights #gay #gay rights are human rights #lgbt author #lgbt activist #lgbt activism #lgbt acceptance #coming out #lgbt history #lgbtq history #spectrum diversity community center #sdcc #gay pride #karl heinrich ulrichs #lgbt+ history #lgbt+ community #activism #queer #we're here we're queer #happy pride 🌈

[aleximedicusa]

𝟷𝟾𝟸𝙾𝚜 𝙲𝙷𝙴𝙰𝚃 𝚂𝙷𝙴𝙴𝚃 : 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙶𝙰𝚈 𝙰𝙳𝙳𝙴𝙽𝙳𝚄𝙼. a lovely person asked for me to make a post about the LGBT+ details of history in this era, so here we go! as a warning, maybe steer clear of this post if you’re sensitive to historical mistreatment of LGBT+ individuals, because... shit’s rough, to put it lightly. i’m gonna try not to make things too dark, but i’ll lay out the facts. once more under a cut for length.

so, first off, there really isn’t a word for homosexual. we do have some slang terms for lesbians, notably ‘tommy,’ going all the way back to the 18th century, but most of the words for homosexual men just relate specifically to the act itself, if that makes sense?? you could be called a sodomite or a buggerer, but that relates to the act of engaging in sex with another man, not to being a man who solely was interested in other men. it’s not until the 1860s that karl heinrich ulrichs (absolute king) began to publish essays and books that really first put a word out there for gay men. he himself didn’t actually coin the term ‘homosexual’ — the word he used was ‘urning.’ it was in 1869 that an austrian writer named karl-maria kertbeny actually coined the term ‘homosexual.’ so, sadly, although gay men would certainly have known the reality that they only liked men, they would not really have a word to apply to themselves to express that. 

let’s talk laws! and try not to get too depressed while we do it. sadly, in this era, two men engaging in sodomy is an offence that will get them executed. that law was not repealed until 1861, but the last men executed under this law were hanged in 1835, so there’s a weird period of almost thirty years where it still is punishable by death, it just... isn’t enforced. i don’t know enough about the nuances to know why that is. there’s no law on the books about sex between women, though, which anne lister actually mentions in gentleman jack — she makes a remark that even if being a lesbian could get you hanged, she’d put her head in the noose. now, that doesn’t mean things were all grand for lesbians or other wlw, of course. just because they weren’t executed doesn’t mean they weren’t treated like shit. their fate, unfortunately, was usually just being forced into marriages they didn’t want. 

trans people! unlike what transphobes would like you to believe, trans people did not just suddenly start existing as a fun trend in 2003. representation of trans people in this period is somewhat scarce, understandably, but we do have instances in the 1820s — most notably, the very badass dr. james barry. there’s intense debate about whether he was trans or whether he was a woman who just kept dressing as a man to study and practice medicine, but given the fact that he lived his entire life up until death as a man (even in scenarios where he could have relaxed his presentation) and the fact that we only know he was trans because his order of ‘don’t fucking touch my body after death or undress me i demand to be yeeted into a hole in whatever i’m wearing’ was violated, i’m firmly on the side of believing he was trans. so yeah, trans people exist and do cool shit in this time period. i don’t actually know anything about nonbinary representation in this period, so apologies for that, but i think there’s information out there if you’re curious.

so if you want to have a spicy affair with someone of the same gender, how do you do it without getting caught? well... depends. generally, it’s a bit safer to just have a bunch of one night stands. that way, you’re not seen constantly with the same person. for lewis and peter, it helps that they’re both men of science, so it doesn’t come off as weird that they’re spending so much time together. having a common interest would definitely go a long way to explaining things. but to be honest, unless they’re extremely overt, my hunch is that two men spending a lot of time together or two women spending a lot of time together wouldn’t be that... weird? i mean, look at pride & prejudice — darcy and bingley are glued to each other’s sides at all times, but no one really suspects them of an affair. as long as you’re careful and there aren’t too many sleepovers, you can manage to get away with it. there’s likely a lot more nuance in this, but it’s something that i have to do more reading into. 

#( * history. ) #( * reference. ) #homophobia // #transphobia //

[tokupedia]

Celebrating 55 years of Cyborgs on 009 Day 2019!

Cyborg 008

Real name: Albert Heinrich

Powers: Some degree of super strength and armor plated synthetic skin, a built-in radio receiver in Albert’s brain for communication with his teammates. A living arsenal of built in weapons including: a cybernetic right hand with machine gun muzzle fingers that can fire 6.5mm caliber bullets or homing energy lasers (God’s War). A left arm armed with an large electromagnetic/laser blade (Call of Justice), built in knife, and another gun that fires needle energy projectiles similar to the ones used in the Super Gun. Elbow joints contain surface-to-air homing missile launchers (seen in the 1960s films but rarely brought up), knee joints contain rocket launchers which are mainly equipped with Anti-Tank Missiles. Lastly, 004′s body is equipped with a compact nuclear bomb as a last resort suicide attack. (Though given the post-Fukushima mentality of Japan in recent years about atomic energy, this ability has been quietly edited out of recent modern productions or just mentioned and never used)

Shotaro Ishinomori was occasionally observing the politics of the world during the 1960s and the splintering of Germany was one such minor topic when it came time to create one of his cyborgs.

Albert was just a man who wanted a better life with the woman he loved in a place far away from his splintered homeland. He tried to cross the border of West Germany to an unknown destination, only for tragedy to occur as he was shot and his fiancé was killed when trying to run past the border patrol. Black Ghost operatives found him and dragged Albert to their secret lab to be the fourth 00 model cyborg. His flesh body was severely damaged, so anything that was broken was torn off him and discarded (there’s some nightmare fuel for ya) and replaced with cybernetic parts. 

As a result, Albert is the most mechanical of his 00 brethren in terms of components. This affects him psychologically, as he is melancholy, cynical and hates his body as he sees himself as a modern day Frankenstein’s monster. Despite this he has developed insight on humanity and is warm and caring towards his friends. Older depictions saw him as a bitter and angry man with a lust for violence towards Black Ghost. At his core though, he is the big brother of the team and looks out for his surrogate family, acting as first line defense and heavy artillery against armored foes, cyborgs or vehicles such as tanks.

In the 1970s, Germany’s younger generations realized the full ramifications of their nation’s Nazi past. Some were appalled and made strides to do what they could to ensure future generations would not repeat the same mistakes by showing them what happened and making old ruins of concentration camps into museums to mourn and remember those who died there thanks in part to a US documentary in 1979 bringing it to light. A smaller group of others however, had a more twisted view of things, believing they would have ruled the world if things didn’t turn out the way they did. Adopting old ways and taking up arms to “avenge” old Germany to the way Hitler would have wanted. In other words, Neo-Nazis. Elsewhere, some of the old Nazis were facing trial after being on the run for decades until they were finally caught in what had been one of the longest war crime trials in history, the Majdanek Trials, which was slowly winding down.

In one episode of the ‘79 anime series, Ishinomori and writer Susumu Yoshikawa took a bit of those then current events to the forefront and had Albert return home after 15 years to go on a mission on behalf of Dr. Gilmore. What started as an assignment to recover research on an organic metal material called Wagnium becomes a fight for his life as he battles Neo-Nazis who have one sinister plan in mind...revive Hitler with Wagnium as an evil immortal and indestructible cyborg! Albert is appalled upon hearing this and in his rage manages to foil their plans, eventually resulting in history’s most evil human being’s corpse being incinerated to ash. He also lays waste to the Neo-Nazis with his cyborg firepower. Even in later incarnations, Albert has ZERO tolerance for Nazis and prides himself as German born in a modern context.

Albert also proved once his humanity was stronger than his machine parts once when facing an evil robot clone of himself that could calculate his every move. The Robot 004 had advanced versions of his components and was stronger, and Albert tried to fight back despite his outdated tech.

Then, Albert saw a nest with baby owlets during the fight and saw they were falling off and went to catch them. The robot, expecting a counterattack, became confused as it could not predict this outcome in its cold machine programming. While the ‘bot 004 struggled with the concept of caring for the lives of others, the real deal came back swinging and finally destroyed it. Proving that humanity is more than the sum of its parts. 

While his origin is a bit dated, recent entries show that Albert was around during that time and is essentially ageless, permanently looking like he’s 30 years old despite now being almost 90.  

Whatever the future holds for Cyborg 009 in the next 50 years, we can be glad that this machine man with a heart is at the front of the line protecting his fellow heroes!

#cyborg 009 #cyborg 004 #albert heinrich #009 day #june 19th #shotaro ishinomori #manga #anime

[destroythetoy]

September 18, 2014

Kevin was tired.

His reflection on the cracked bus window showed a young man’s face with features aged prematurely and permanently etched in misery. There was no laugh lines around his eyes or a natural upward curl to his lips, instead worry carved wrinkles upon his brow and sadness tainted even the fantasy of a smile. His eyes, “such pretty blue eyes” his mother had complimented before the world turned upside down, were empty marbles in his skull. There was no spark of life, no shine of joy, no light in his gaze. It was dark and hollow and soaked in exhaustion.

Kevin stared at his dirty reflection and wondered if this is what everyone saw when they looked at him. If anyone even looked that close or if their eyes just passed right over him.

Kevin closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the seat.

God, he was so tired. It was a bone deep wariness that ate at his soul and chewed on his mind.

He was tired of all of it. He was tired of always being afraid and never being able to see what lay ahead without terror wrapping around his throat and suffocating him. He was tired of living fragmented memories and dreaming vivid nightmares. He was tired of never being alone and yet drowning in loneliness.

Kevin was tired of being broken.

He hadn’t always felt that way. When he was younger and his life had been at its most horrific, he had been grateful for the shattered pieces of his mind. They existed just for him; to protect him, to help him, to be there for him when there was no else.

He loved his pieces. He loved the easy grin Barry wore, the way Luke laughed with his entire body, the purity in Hedwig’s eyes, and the affectionate bickering between Mary and Ian. He loved Dennis’s strength, Orwell’s wisdom, Rakel’s logic, Felicia’s imagination, Polly’s confidence, Bernice’s warmth, Ansel’s serenity… How could he not love them? How could he not love the songs Patricia sang while she carefully watered all of Norma’s plants? Or the way a little gift from Mr. Pritchard could make Kat’s eyes glow? Or how Samuel felt so protective of Jalin he had somehow become his voice of reason? How could he not love the mountain of praise B. T. doused Goddard with when he tried a new recipe? Or how Heinrich’s excessive gestures made Jade laugh for an entire day? Or how she’d then spend the next few days helping Heinrich make them more realistically romantic?

How could he not love each and every one of them?

They were his family, his home, and the only reason he had woken up every day without completely hating his life. They were his everything.

Kevin opened his eyes and stared at the too bright lights lining one side of the bus’s ceiling.

He loved them, but a part of him was always jealous of them. They each knew who they were and existed for a reason.

Kevin used to think he existed so that they all could. He used to be comfortable with that idea, used to take pride in it even, and used to hold that belief close to his heart because they were good and it made him worthy.

Tears prickled at his eyes and he didn’t even attempt to wipe them away when they began to roll down his cheeks.

He didn’t feel that way anymore. Now he felt worthless.

The feeling had been so incredibly insidious it had taken a while for Kevin to realize what that heaviness in his heart was, but when he did…

Kevin swallowed back the sob that bubbled up his throat.

Life was supposed to have gotten better after they left his mother’s house. It was supposed to be a new start. They had started seeing Dr. Fletcher and she had helped them get a decent job at the zoo.

Life was supposed to be better.

But his skin was still draped in scars and his mind was still broken. The wounds weren’t healing, despite Dr. Fletcher’s efforts and Barry’s optimism, instead they were festering and none of them seemed to notice.

Hedwig had been the first casualty and it had broken his heart.

The boy he always to be was no longer protected by the others the way he had been before. Instead, comments were made, comments that were meant to hurt and confuse. Words here and looks there and suddenly sunny Hedwig shied away from the light. Suddenly, he didn’t take his turn with the same enthusiasm and he sat a little too quiet in his chair.

Then fell Patricia, with her stories becoming too fantastical and her soft smile showing too much teeth.

The others banned her from the light and tried to ignore everything she’d say in the hope she would stop talking. She never did.

Patricia’s banishment shook Kevin to his core and sometimes when she spoke, it was another woman’s voice he heard.

It was Dennis that really broke Kevin in the end.

His greatest protector, his most dependable companion, his first friend. Kevin lost them all the day Dennis was banned.

Maybe things weren’the way they appeared. Maybe Dennis hadn’t tried to hurt the girl like the others believed. Maybe there was a reason… but the others were so quick to judge and Dennis’s eyes had been glassy with betrayal even as his mouth remained shut.

Kevin’shand wrapped around the warm metal in his jacket's pocket.

Life was supposed to be better. They had survived hell together and they were supposed to be stronger now and better.

Kevin leaned his head forward and rested his forehead against the seat in front of him as the bus neared the final stop and the remaining passenger dwindled down.

He knew what he had to do. What had to be done before there weren’tany more of his pieces left.

He existed so they all could.

His heart pounded in his ears and his breathing slowed with purpose.

So maybe it was time they all stopped existing.

Kevin carefully withdrew the gun from it’s hiding place and sighed as he wrapped his lips against the barrel, his teeth scrapping against the metal and the taste of iron and sweat filling his mouth.

He loved them, every piece. He just didn’t want them to keep hurting, he hoped if there was a God, he understood.

Kevin’s finger inched down and clicked off the safety.

He hoped they understood.

Kevin squeezed his eyes as his finger caressed the trigger.

“Kevin!”

The panic in a voice always so calm made him freeze.

Then the world went black.

#split #split movie #kevin wendell crumb #suicidal thoughts #suicide attempt #gun warning #my writing

[klein-sodor-bahn]

Just stupid ass memes about my canon characters and OCs

#ttte shitpost #ttte meme #akagi’s ocs #thomas and friends #ttte #ttte henry #ttte gordon #ttte james #ttte edward #ttte sir topham hatt #ttte mallard #ttte oc #charlie the onyx engine #Madame Eugénie the Carnforth Frenchman #Otto the rude engine #Heinrich the pride of the DR #Just some brain dead memes #Just trying to be funny ig

[dweemeister]

The Blue Angel (1930, Germany)

With the silent era at its conclusion and the rise of Nazism upcoming, German cinema’s brief early sound era shows the visual mastery of what might have been. The Blue Angel is Germany’s first feature-length synchronized sound film and is helmed by Austrian-American Josef von Sternberg in his only German-language production. Von Sternberg had directed a handful of films for Paramount prior to The Blue Angel, including The Docks of New York (1928) and The Last Command (1928). Thematically, The Blue Angel – produced by Universum Film AG (UFA) and distributed in the United States by Paramount – is a departure from von Sternberg’s previous films, while also adopting the aesthetic influences of German expressionism. In these precious few years following the heights of German silent film glory, the audience is treated to a talkie that always feels like a silent film. That incongruity never distracts, and only serves to demonstrate how remarkable The Blue Angel is in an experimental period of filmmaking – a period where few filmmakers could balance the needs of image and sound.

In Weimar Germany, disciplinarian professor Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings) is the target of pranks and barbed words from his students at an all-male college prep school. One day, he is particularly annoyed by the boys passing around photographs of cabaret performer Lola Lola (Marlene Dietrich). Lola performs at a local nightclub called The Blue Angel, and Rath visits in hopes to catch his students there. His students are present, but Rath is overcome by lust after watching Lola perform. Returning the next night with a pair of her panties (that one of his students smuggled into his pocket), he spends the night with her. Rumors spread like the flu, Rath is dismissed from his professorship, and allows himself to be humiliated for what he thinks is love. His downfall is sealed.

The Blue Angel is a tragedy, but has more to do with Greek drama than Shakespeare – the former emphasizes the inescapability of divine fate and the role of human hubris in believing predestination can be overcome; the latter is dictated on the free will of an individual and how their character flaws result in their demise (the flaw need not be hubris, but it is often invoked by Shakespeare). According to von Sternberg, The Blue Angel is making no attempts at political allegory, so his intentions are purely personal. As Rath, Jannings plays his character as a rebuke to the besotted silent film romances seen across Western cinema. Unlike Heinrich Mann’s novel on which this film is based on, The Blue Angel never allows Rath to change himself over the course of his relationship with Lola. Maybe the audience should have sensed this earlier: his personality, his sense of order in the classroom was of strict control. Believing in his intelligence and ability to control his emotions and the situation, he stumbles upon Lola, holding her up to an image of perfection, and believing in that image steadfastly until he finally sees otherwise.

As the film’s seductress, Lola is a charismatic fantasy that men desire (permit some heteronormative language in respect to what the film depicts). But what people desire and what they need are distinct – something that neither Rath nor Lola ever understand. In her introductory scene, Lola is performing onstage, essentially opening herself to the unprocessed feelings of lustful men (young and old). She purrs, “... I have a pianola / that is my joy and pride. / They call me naughty Lola; / the men all go for me. / But I don’t let any man / lay a paw on my keys.”

What does Lola see in Rath that makes her want to be with him? They marry and it is implied that they become intimate. Her side of the relationship alternates between fits of passion and vitriol; intimacy and unfaithfulness; attention and apathy. Amid a society where cabaret performers like Lola could be seen as flighty and licentious, in Rath Lola sees someone who thinks otherwise. But instead of attempting to understand Lola’s anxieties and weaknesses – the viewer senses that, beneath her erotic public performances, there is more to this character that is never depicted – Rath views her as a romantic nonpareil. His ability for critical thought disappears when it comes to this sort of relationship he might never have experienced; his ability for self-reflection tainted by an unbending, stern, studious approach to his students. For her, Rath presents an opportunity to be accepted as something magnificent, something pure that which she nor anyone ever will be.

The film’s sensitivities are with Rath, not Lola. Even in Rath’s most despicable moment, von Sternberg and fellow co-screenwriters Carl Zuckmeyer, Karl Vollmöller, Robert Liebmann ensure that The Blue Angel remains within the tradition of Greek tragedy (with a twist). Where in the original novel Rath embarks upon exacting revenge against the authoritarian society that has shaped his interactions with students, there is no such redemption here. Rath is punished for his dangerous lustfulness – as he should be. Curiously, the predatory Lola – despite becoming a victim of attempted violence in the final minutes – escapes punishment of any type. In Rath’s tragedy, she has discarded what she no longer wants and has gained something/someone she presently desires. No remorse is present, nor does there appear to be any emotional trauma from ending her relationship with Rath. Perhaps the audience should have expected this, given the lyrics to the memorable “Falling in Love Again”, sung by Dietrich twice with music by Friedrich Hollaender and lyrics by Robert Liebmann (these lyrics are from the English-language version of this song; Hollaender adjusted the songs to accommodate Dietrich’s limited, but effective, vocal range):

Love's always been my game, Play it how I may, I was made that way, Can't help it.

If The Blue Angel had been produced primarily in the United States later in the 1930s, this ending could not have been upheld by the censors. Love (or romance or whatever you wish to call it), to Lola, is a fun game to play. And playing by her rules, she has always won. Where Rath experiences a tragedy befitting a German expressionist protagonist, Lola’s inconclusive fate feels contemporary regardless of the film’s Weimar morals.

The film collapses without the performances from its two central stars. Before release, Jannings was the lead if one looked at the billing. He had just won the inaugural Academy Award for Best Actor in von Sternberg’s The Last Command and 1927′s The Way of All Flesh (actors were listed for multiple movies at the first Oscars) – this film was to be his nominal pinnacle. Jannings excelled in playing tortured, disgraced characters and could do no greater here with his physical acting. His performance would be just as spellbinding if The Blue Angel was a silent film. However, Jannings is upstaged by Dietrich the moment she appears on-screen. Dietrich, playing an intemperate woman, became an instant sensation to European and American audiences in this, her twentieth film (and first talkie). But her success in The Blue Angel also served to typecast Dietrich into roles unscrupulous and indiscreetly erotic – pursuing sexual satisfaction at the expense of others’ needs. Von Sternberg doted on Dietrich during production, sparking the ire of Jannings (who entered production hoping to become next Hollywood star, but instead saw his career plummet afterwards due to his heavy German accent and subsequent work Nazi propaganda films) and von Sternberg’s wife (who filed for divorce after the film’s release). Her sensuality defined this film, whether or not the cameras rolled.

Manning the cameras was veteran cinematographer Günther Rittau (Die Nibelungen saga, 1927′s Metropolis). Rittau captures the smoky interior of The Blue Angel nightclub and the seedy nighttime of this unnamed German town to convey a sense of enclosure. Art director Otto Hunte (Die Nibelungen saga, Metropolis) employs distorted geometries – early shots of angled rooftops and jagged roads primes the imagination for the unconventional story to come – and exaggerated shapes and lighting to assist Rittau in achieving the film’s wondrous atmosphere.

This film, like many in the early years of synchronized sound, was shot in two different languages – German and English (yes, the actors had to shoot every seen and recite their lines twice). The above has been written based on the 107-minute uncut German-language version distributed by Kino International, licensed by the Murnau Foundation, and aired on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Consensus says that the German-language version is superior to the English edition.

Predictable though it might be, The Blue Angel is a forceful statement of German filmmaking – it is a film honoring the expressionist past while showcasing its future (a future where many of its innovators would flee the Nazis and work in Hollywood). It would also be one of UFA’s final classics – the studio also released Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), F.W. Murnau’s The Last Laugh (1924), and Fritz Lang’s visionary Metropolis. Von Sternberg’s film, reflecting the drama behind the cameras, is a romantic tragedy that sings of love even when its characters know little about it. The Blue Angel is a triumph that quickly became written into German cinematic history. Its rapid ascent into that history can be attributed to the political changes soon to uproot all that German filmmakers had nourished. This film could not have been made any better in any other time.

My rating: 9.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

#The Blue Angel #Josef von Sternberg #Emil Jannings #Marlene Dietrich #Kurt Gerron #Rosa Valetti #Hans Albers #Reinhold Bernt #Eduard von Winterstein #Gunther Rittau #Otto Hunte #Friedrich Hollaender #Robert Liebmann #Carl Zuckmayer #Karl Volllmoller #TCM #My Movie Odyssey

[esprit-de-corps-magazine]

HITLER'S FOOT SOLDIERS: Latvia's Nazis are the pride of the country, says defence minister

By David Pugliese

The Latvian government has upped the ante in its efforts to rewrite the history of the Second World War in that eastern European nation.

It may come as a surprise to the 500 Canadian Armed Forces members who are training Latvian troops but that country’s politicians have embraced as heroes those who supported and collaborated with the Third Reich.

Each March, despite condemnation from countries around the world including Canada, a parade is held in Riga to honour the members of the Latvian SS divisions which fought for the Nazis in the Second World War. Some in the parade this year – one of the largest in recent times – wore swastikas and other Nazi insignias.

But it was in September when the Latvian government further solidified its official support for Hitler’s loyal foot soldiers. “Latvian legionnaires are the pride of the Latvian people and of the state,” said the country’s Minister of Defence Artis Pabriks. “We will honor the memory of the fallen legionnaires, and we will not allow anyone to discredit their memory.” 

“It is our duty to honour these Latvian patriots from the depths of our soul,” he added.

Pabriks’ comments drew immediate condemnation from Jewish groups.

So who are these patriots that the Latvians so eagerly embrace?

They were a combination of Nazi collaborators, killers of Jewish women and children, and conscripts. Adolf Hitler ordered the creation of the Latvian SS divisions in 1943, with the initial core of the force made up of members of Latvian police and militia units such as the Arajs Kommando, which participated in the murder of at least 26,000 Jews during the Holocaust. Large numbers of Latvians were also conscripted to join the new SS units. 

The members of the Latvian Legion swore allegiance to Hitler and while Latvian government officials claim their first loyalty was to Latvia,  these soldiers were among the most loyal Nazis who made their last stand in Berlin against the Russian army as they defended SS leader Heinrich Himmler’s headquarters.

Among the Legion’s officers was Viktors Arajs, the anti-Semite who liked to refer himself as “Arajs, the Latvian Jew-killer.”

Arajs once regaled guests at a dinner party in Riga with his views on the best method to kill Jewish babies, according to the book, The Holocaust in Latvia. Arajs told his dinner party participants he would throw the children into the air and then shoot them. That way he avoided any ricochets that might happen if he murdered the babies on the ground.

Arajs was found guilty by a German court for his role in the murder of 13,000 Jews. He died in prison.

On the lower end of the scale in the Latvian SS Legion ranks were individuals like Juris Sumskis. He joined the Arajs Kommando in April 1942 and took part in a number of Nazi-led executions of Jews and other innocents. Sumskis remembers taking part in the murder of several hundred mentally ill patients, personally carrying one of the victims over to the execution area because she couldn’t walk. From that first execution, Sumskis graduated to burning down villages and guarding Jews who were to be murdered. Later Sumskis transferred to the 15th Waffen SS Latvian Legion where he hunted down partisans – fellow Latvians – who were fighting against Hitler’s regime.

The Latvian government and its supporters have tried to counter Jewish groups and others who have condemned the Latvian SS and Latvians who took part in the Holocaust. One of their main claims is that the history and articles written about the Latvian SS is “fake news” or Russian “disinformation.”

The Latvian Embassy in Canada has made such claims about articles in the Hill Times, Halifax Chronicle Herald, National Post and the Ottawa Citizen newspapers. Karlis Eihenbaums, Latvia’s Ambassador to Canada, has been at the forefront of using the “fake news” claim despite the wealth of information from Holocaust researchers.

In addition, the right-wing Macdonald Laurier Institute in Ottawa published a report by activist Marcus Kolga claiming articles outlining Latvians participation in the Holocaust and support for Hitler’s regime “essentially parroted the Kremlin’s tailored narratives.” The Macdonald-Laurier Institute has received funding from the Latvian Ministry of Defence. In addition, the Embassy of Latvia in Canada has also provided sponsorship for the institute.

The Latvians have also found support among some Canadian Army officers and members of the Department of National Defence who claim there is a need for “context” to explain the “complicated histories” of countries such as Latvia who eagerly welcomed Germans due to the brutality of the Soviets.

The idea that “context” can explain executing woman and children or throwing Jewish babies up in the air to shoot them so as to avoid getting hit by a ricochet is both disgusting and immoral. There is no “complicated” history that can justify murder. And does the brutality of the Soviets towards the Latvian people justify the killing of as many as 60,000 Jews who had nothing to do with that?

Or as Monica Lowenberg, a British woman who had many family members murdered by Latvian Nazi collaborators pointed out, honouring the Latvian Legion is akin to honouring those complicit in the killing of British, Canadian and U.S. troops during the Second World War. “When Latvian SS killed Soviet soldiers, they allowed Nazis on the western front to kill British and American soldiers in turn and thus made it possible for Auschwitz and other concentration camps to continue their heinous crimes against humanity,” wrote Lowenberg, who protested the parade in Riga honouring the Legion in 2012.

Various Jewish groups have started fighting against what they are calling Holocaust distortion and Nazi glorification. B’nai Brith Canada raised concerns about the SS parade and other events in Latvia. In the summer of 2018 B’nai Brith Canada’s chief executive officer Michael Mostyn called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to use his trip to Latvia that year to push back against that country’s glorification of Nazi collaborators as well as attempts to deny the nation’s role in the Holocaust. “We must challenge all those who distort the historical record on governments, military units or organizations that fought with, supported or sympathized with the Nazis during World War II,” Mostyn wrote to Trudeau. “This includes government leaders who acquiesce in, or fail to condemn, a process of Nazi glorification that amounts to Holocaust distortion.”

Dr. Efraim Zuroff , the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s East European affairs branch, cut to the heart of the matter by pointing out the obvious fact the Latvian government and some in the Canadian Forces don’t want to accept about Latvian defence minister’s comments. “Given the fact that the Legion fought for a victory of the Third Reich, the most genocidal regime in history, and that among those serving in it were active participants in the mass murder of Latvian Jewry, as well as of German and Austrian Jews deported by the Nazis to Riga, such comments are incomprehensible, let alone deeply offensive, coming from a senior minister of a country with full membership in the European Union and NATO,” Zuroff noted in a protest letter to the Latvian government Oct. 7.

[thegoing-gayhoax-blog]

“Ars Ratio” Reflection (Second Draft)

Kara Ireland

WRIT 3160

Reflection

 What's in my portfolio? In my portfolio are various modes of the depiction of how the myth of going gay functions in society. I've compiled a series of gifs, pictures, and scenes from various shows. These shows include MTV’s Faking It, ABC’s Glee, FOX’s Scream Queens, and Freeform’s The Bold Type. My argumentative piece follows these depictions. I used MTV’s Faking It pilot episode as my main source of scrutiny. I listed numerous discrepancies I had with the show. Mainly, I wanted to highlight how damaging the very first portrayal of lesbians on mainstream television since The L Word was. It was revolutionary for me because I was struggling with my own sexuality at the age of fifteen. Seeing two women in a same sex relationship at any stretch was good exposure for me, it increased my sense of normalcy. It wasn't until I got older, got more experience, and a wider world view that I began to see how awful the show’s premise was. My argumentative paper ventures into how I felt it missed the mark. I then have a comedy skit that will be supposedly performed at Atlanta’s Gay Pride. This original piece is modeled after the kind of comedy I'd seen at my own experience at Pride 2017. Most of the comedy was made at the expense of heterosexual people. In a safe environment full of people who have had similar experiences, it was okay to poke fun at the majority. The skit touches on inappropriate touching, unrequited crushes, and personal experience with girls supposedly going gay. It addresses some of the bothersome situations lesbians often run into in a lighthearted way.

My third argument was a series of tweets I’d composed in response to real-life depictions of “going gay.” I searched buzz words on twitter, such as “be gay, go gay, try girls” etc. to reply to. Though confined to 140 characters – even less, because of the handle, I felt that I’d used Aristotelian appeals accurately to challenge their beliefs.

 The gif set from The Bold Type contrasts the problematic tropes shown in both Faking It and Glee. It supports a stereotype, then dismantles it. In the first gif set, Kat is shown identifying with the lesbian experience, but saying that she didn't think she could get past “all this” referencing to the female anatomy. The lesbian character of the show, Adena, countered her statement with “it's not about all this. It's about this” in reference to her heart and emotion regarding a person.

 I believe this is relevant to my discussion because Kat admitted that the sexual nature of their budding relationship was offputting, as she did not identify as a lesbian. She was merely exploring her sexuality, and she'd done so by kissing Adena. They hadn't gone further, and she didn't think she could pursue a relationship because of the sexual barrier that existed between them. Adena validated it, but also said that it wasn't about the body. Being in a relationship transcended sex and the parts involved. It rested solely on the heart and the emotion surrounding the couple that determined it's sustenance. This was the point I was trying to convey, myself through my argumentative paper. Too many people believe that “going gay” is about sex, when it is only a mere part of the exploratory experience. To truly give oneself to a same sex relationship, it needs more substance than an attraction and willingness to explore. The Bold Type executed this well.

 ABC’s Glee enacted several stereotypical tropes about lesbians and gays throughout their series, but it was mostly for educational purposes to highlight and identify bigotry. Nevertheless, the openly lesbian character, Santana, was made out to be predatory in several instances. Quinn was one of her best friends, and they eventually had sex together. The scene where it happened was on prom night, when they were both single and feeling lonely. Alcohol was featured heavily in the episode. It implied that intoxication can make someone “go gay”. Quinn then emphasized the fact that she'd never slow danced with a girl before, and Santana smirked at her. This is the predatory lesbian fallacy being portrayed. The scene then cut from Santana leading her away by the hand from the party to a suggestive morning after scene. Additionally, with prior knowledge from the season, Quinn had gone through a rebellious bad girl phase, and this was amongst the last things she did. It was never explicitly said that this was part of her regime, but it can be interpreted that way.

 FOX’s Scream Queens was a satirical show that was made to offend people in the masses. There was no stroke to identify why the quotes were problematic, but it was understood by most that it was satire. There was one butch lesbian on the show, who was one of the first killed during a serial killing. She was dubbed Predatory Lez immediately, and we never learned her real name. In her brief duration, she developed a superficial relationship with Chanel #3 based on lewd jokes. Naming a character Predatory Lez does not help the view that lesbians really are predatory and infringe on boundaries. Viewers never got insight on the intricacies of their peculiar relationship, but at one point, Chanel #3 begs the killer not to kill her because she was “sort of gay now too”. Beyond the implication that a few kisses and explicit jokes made between one another changed someone's sexuality, it was also used as a discriminatory saving grace. She partially identified as a member of the LGBT community to be pardoned. She denied it later. This abrupt change makes it hard for people to come out. Though the show is based on satire, it does have parallels to real, ignorant people that think this way.

   Through this class, I have discovered that argument transcends pro and con. Essentially, everything is an argument. Commercials, designs, font choice, music, inflection, gesture, clothing, hairstyle – everything has the potential to be an argument. Anything can be designed to persuade. After analyzing various shows, I began to consider them differently. Words are not the only mode of argument because everything has the power to make a statement.

 I have learned that the color scheme of a product or an advertisement serves to persuade someone, years prior. Since being in this class, I have learned that the mere existence of the product is an argument within itself. The product serves an argumentative purpose initially. It was difficult to wrap my mind around, but throughout the semester, my mindset has been malleable. It has increasingly made more sense. In reading Heinrichs, mostly, I was offered several new perspectives through relatable material. I would like to thank you, Dr. Harris, for assigning such a book – rather than a text that is purely academic. It was much easier to read and retain. By reading Heinrichs, it has become more apparent to me that argument lives in everything.

 The philosophy of argument and writing is something I’m not entirely well-versed in. I understood it minimally when I came in, and I still have a tentative hold on it now. When I was a junior in high school I learned for the first time what ethos pathos and logos were. At Chamblee, Coach Smith taught it to us. It’s funny because we never even did anything with that information. I think we might’ve had one project or assignment that incorporated it, then I put it on the backburner. We learned the basics. When I came into WRIT 3160 three years later, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t plan on delving into Aristotelian appeals because I didn’t know about them and truthfully, I didn’t care about that stuff. For every argument I’ve made in the past, every persuasive paper, it was solely the rights and wrongs and do’s and don’ts. It was all pros and cons. Never once did I think that my delivery itself was part of the argument, that my rhetoric was just as influential as my facts.

 I didn’t care about the technicalities of argument. I didn’t care about the impact of pathos, logos, and ethos in real life situations. It was fascinating to discover that they’re all around us all the time. Reading Heinrichs was tedious for me at times because even though he made it relatable, I still couldn’t get engaged. This class was good nevertheless because it kept me writing when I didn’t want to and often times I resented the fact. As a writer and an author, I needed that push. This can now be used in my books, because my communication can be stronger.

 The concept of rhetoric is still somewhat lost on me, just because it encompasses so much. I would not say that I’m an expert, nor that I could effectively explain it to someone new. It’s still confusing for me, but this class has offered a little clarity. Assigning a weekly riff and response forced me to read for comprehension. I would skim Heinrichs, then have to go back and read it over again because the meaning was lost on me. Because rhetoric is all new to me, it was hard to absorb and apply the information. However, creating a riff and understanding how an author initially wrote their piece turned out to be the key to comprehension for me. This was an incredibly original recurring assignment. You forced us to read for interpretation, and you can’t effectively interpret something that you don’t understand. The riff and response held me accountable for my reading. Without it, I very well may have skipped the readings altogether because being introduced to new topics I haven’t had any prior knowledge about intimidates me, and I just opt out of participating. The riff was easier to produce than the response, for me.

           I learned about syllogism and can decipher it when it happens. I have noticed that people use syllogism incorrectly, more often than not. The most recent one I can remember hearing and identifying was on the premise of who can say the N word and who can’t. Essentially, the argument was: Black people are people of color. People of color say the N word. Mexicans are not black, but they are still people of color, therefore they can say the N word. People were using this syllogism to defend their right to say a word that didn’t pertain to them. I’ve also been noticing fallacies since being exposed to the different types.

Since discovering the intricacies of rhetoric, I have subconsciously been noticing and labeling certain moves as such. I’ve been decoding people’s decorum and spotting disingenuous advances. I’ve seen it a lot at work with my managers, the difference between their interactions with the customers at Target and their interactions in the break room. I can identify more deadly fallacies when I speak to people. The main ones my counterparts fall victim to are tautology, slippery slope, and the red herring. They love to change the subject. I’ve seen all of the Aristotelian appeals in play at work as a cashier, ranging from children using logos to get a toy, parents using ethos to justify their refusal to buy said toy, older adults using pathos to get a discount, people using Kairos to justify their splurging (“It’s on sale!”).  I’ve noticed code grooming a lot too, especially within mixed racial crowds. White people’s decorum shifts when in a predominantly black environment, they begin code grooming. Those are the few from Heinrichs that have stayed with me, those that I can readily identify. Without this class, those behaviors would not be blanketed by any academic terms. The child would be whining, the parent would be annoyed, the old people would be trying to mooch, and the splurgers would be irresponsible. My managers would’ve just been fake, just as the mixed crowds. I’m glad that I can pinpoint all of this as forms of rhetoric, even though they are not the conventional argument we automatically think of. Being in this class and reading these books give me a stronger sense of interpretation as I go through the world. It’s one of the more valuable things I’ll take from any class since I’ve been in college.

As far as my e-Portfolio is concerned, it is not ideally what I wanted. When I was first assigned this project, I was excited because I got to create a blog regarding something personal to me. I had already been using tumblr for most of my teenage years, so I thought it would be easy enough. My use of tumblr consisted of me, mostly reblogging relevant pictures and quotes. I’d never focused on the posting and the organization of it all. That was a more daunting task than I’d expected. My gifs did not post accordingly, in the grids I’d always seen them. They took up way too much space and required too much navigation. Originally, I had the vision of having my gifs with explanations and analyses beneath them, but the reflection wouldn’t allow me to do that effectively. I also didn’t have the tabs that I thought I would. Everything is just straightforward and narrow. I thought it would be more exciting, but the material was more important that the aesthetics of it all, so I left it alone.

#wip #second draft #rough draft

[shwagginonyou]

Sat 4 Feb 17

sigh finally stopped procrastinating to write on this journal again. literally so much as happened in the past 4 days which is why i was so reluctant to go through everything LOL. i think quick summaries of each day will have to do

wed- not too much happened actually. a whole lot of last minute prepping for our two observed lessons on thurs and fri. dr. conte and mrs. conte arrived in velden on wed afternoon and after a random phone call from them, we ended up having dinner with them that evening at rocket cafe again LOL. conveniently the lounge beneath their “motel” and the only restaurant open in our area anyway. it was really nice getting to know them better and tell them that we’re actually surviving quite well here and it has been a fantastic experience so far. 

thurs- day 1 of observations! the conte’s got to meet mr. brightman and ana. they came with the coordinator from the international school in trieste, and she was honestly so nice, i can imagine how awesome it would’ve been to stay at trieste as well. but honestly, i don’t think i would’ve changed anything for how it is now haha. the lesson went well thank JESUS! we had a little chat afterwards, and it was so encouraging and much needed to hear some positive reinforcement from a really funny old man. i know that sometimes i can get a little prideful of my accomplishments, but i think i really needed that boost of knowing that my efforts here, even with the limited music class exposure, has been well appreciated and that my studies at tcnj have allowed me to pursue greater excellence even out of college. anyway, after school, we went out with our co-ops (mine being julie of course LOL am i even doing music), the conte’s, james and ana, to the rocket bistro (third time’s the charm), and just had a really wonderful night to share about this whole experience and our gratitude towards each other. AND MY CAKE! haha one day early celebration

fri- day 2 of observations. after making sure that we are capable as teachers, the conte’s left us after lunch. haha me and jess had so much fun with them but at the same time, it was EXHAUSTING hosting them around like our grandparents. because they’re legit like 75+ years old LOL. but yeah, i think they really enjoyed their first time here so that’s all we could’ve asked for haha. oh yea it was also my birthday yesterday lol. after school, we went to our exciting first ever ISC curling tournament with other school staffs in velden. it was definitely.... interesting to say the least. now that i think about, we did a lot of interesting things for the first time yesterday haha. so we went with julie and after about an hour, she could not handle anymore of the swinging ice sticks back and forth the rink and seeing who can hit it closest to a black puck. she graciously invited us over to her place in klagenfurt so that we could go out for dinner. we got to see her lovely apartment and her cat!!! everything was super nice and cute. we walked around the downtown area of klagenfurt for the first time, got coffee and shopped a little, and then we met julie’s boyfriend and her boyfriend’s friend for dinner in a super hipster mexican restaurant/bar. we actually had a really really nice time, at least i did. oh yeah, most of the night prior to eating the meal at 10:30pm, i was feeling pretty woozy from pre-gaming on an empty stomach LOL. long story short, we got there at 8:30 and didn’t get our food until an hour and a half later. by the time we left, the next train back to velden was at 11:40, so we used the time to hit up another bar, which was PACKED lemme tell you. prob equivalent to a really stuffy college frat party in a little basement haha. but everyone there was SO OLD! last fun event of the night, we got on the wrong train to villach (we meant the direction of villach but the train dude actually meant the town itself....) so we had to take a taxi in the direction BACK to klagenfurt to get to our apartment. a 38 euro taxi ride later, we finally made it back safely by 12:30am. all in all, a very exciting way to spend my 21st! :D

and then today was a whole other adventure for the books. basically mr. brightman put out a notice to the parents that we (me and jess) have two free weekends while we’re still here in austria and that they could feel free to take us around and do fun carinthian things with the americans to make us feel more welcome. it just so ended up that emma and louisa’s parents (since louisa is in jess’s class) took that offer to a whole new level. we went to a heinrich harrer, a famous austria explorer, museum in the “heart of carinthia” which was pretty cool. we drove around in their new electric car tesla which was pretty cool. and we also had THE BEST THREE HOUR CARINTHIAN MEAL OF OUR LIVES which my body will never forget..... i can’t explain all the amazing things we ate and i really don’t have the energy for it.. so i won’t but believe when i say, we are forever indebted to the wonderful things our mouths experienced during those 3 hours. there was also a super cute border collie in the restaurant who would actually play fetch with us, in the restaurant, that served amazing food, and another birthday cake for me with super cool sparkly fire candles!!! 

and ya! we got back around 5pm, got some groceries, and then collapsed from the craziest past few days ever lol. maybe more tomorrow... for now. just thankful and trying to soak in all that we’ve been able to see and taste and experience here in this wonderful little country <3 

[klein-sodor-bahn]

One fast boi

Finally! Fucking finally I designed my human take on 18 201 aka Heinrich. A bit of a troubled soul because underneath those fancy clothes is a dark secret. Because 18 201 is literally a Frankenstein’s monster of an engine Heinrich here has parts of his body where the skin tone is different. And also the scar on his chest is based on heart surgery scars. He doesn’t know why he has those scars. But despite that he’s one of the sweetest engines around. But he also have a strong sense of justice and despises everyone who has slight tendencies towards N*zi ideals.

#ttte humanized #ttte human au #ttte oc #thomas and friends #akagi’s ocs #ttte gijinka #ttte #Heinrich the pride of the DR #thomas and friends humanized #humanized locomotive #humanization #ttte humanisation #character design #dr br 18 201 #The fast boy has finally a human form #Heinrich is such a puppy #His hair is always a mess