#I really love the writing style for the count of monte cristo | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dpsisquared · 2 months

Note

6 (although I think I already know the answer :P), 10, 20!

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

Other than Dimileth, lol... certainly Sylvain, particularly teasing Dimitri. He's just The Guy that says what the audience wants to say. And there's always an undercurrent of "I'm being an ass cause that's my gimmick but I do actually care underneath all this smarmy bs".

Lately I've been writing Flayn more and she is fun too. Her stage notes are basically "how would an overexcited puppy react to this?" Lol. Petra as well because she is usually dropping some knowledge but you have to really analyze your sentence structure and word choice but keep that same message.

10. How would you describe your writing process?

Utter chaos. Anarchy.

But more seriously, GRR Martin has a quote about "gardening" writing style, where you start with a small seed of an idea and let it grow on its own which is exactly what I do. I have never outlined a fic or even known where it was headed when starting. For example with my ongoing fic rn, I didn't start out thinking "I'm going to write a regency au with a count of monte Cristo type revenge arc". A conversation popped into my head where there was a party at some palace where a few women were talking about Kronya's body being found just outside. I just liked the contrast. Then I thought, oh the gossiping seems regency-ish. Then, I have to ask myself questions to fill in the blanks- who killed her and why? Dimitri-- but how do they not know that? He's hiding his identity-- ok then who do they think he is? What would have had to happen to make that plausible? Etc etc etc, eventually a setting and plot come together. This is why my longer fics are usually complete by the time I start posting. Because the beginning setup usually comes last 😅

Unfortunately this leaves a lot of unfinished WIPs with 1-2k words written in one sitting and abandoned 🫠 Sometimes I come back weeks, months, or even a year later and finish them, sometimes not.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

Hmmmm not sure if this counts, but I always try to keep Dimitri and Byleth's relationship balanced. I don't ever want it to be "woman with no personality of her own saves complicated man". I try to show how he has done a lot for her too 💙💙💙

A random thing I do for Byleth is reevaluate any dialogue that has her saying more than two sentences without pause. Almost always I will cut it down if that's the case, unless she is relaying an event or something unemotional like that.

#wow sorry that got long #i love talking about writing processes #fe3h #fire emblem three houses #dimileth #fire emblem #asks

10 notes · View notes

theworldisquietheretooquiet · 9 months

Text

Explore my bookshelf!

Thank you @searchingforserendipity25 for the tag! <33

An estimate of how many physical books I own: Uhhhh as a very rough guess maybe 300? I also somehow have a pile on my floor and some in a box on top of my wardrobe 😅. I'm on a book-buying ban though so hopefully they'll start decreasing.

Favorite author: Erin Morgenstern. I adore her writing/storytelling style, it's so beautiful.

A popular book I've never read and never intend to read: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. It sounds like nothing I need in my life.

A popular book I thought was just meh: Don't hate me but I don't really like Wuthering Heights... I love Jane Eyre but idk, I wanted to enjoy the Yorkshire Gothic vibes but it just didn't do it for me.

Longest book I own: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

Longest series I own all the books to: Either A Series of Unfortunate Events or A Song of Ice and Fire. I've read zero of the latter which is awful considering I own all of them and have no excuse.

Prettiest book I own: The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. Bonus points to any book with a dragon on the cover.

A book or series I wish more people knew about: I couldn't really think of an answer for this one, but In Memoriam A.H.H. by Tennyson. I know it is very well known but it's such a good exploration of grief and the sort of existential questions it creates.

Book I'm reading now: Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko.

Book that's been on my TBR list for a while but I still haven't got around to it: Any Akwaeke Emezi book 😭. I need to read them soon, I'm hoping to get to Pet this year at least.

Do you have any books in a language other than English: I have a Russian copy of War and Peace somehow, but apart from that, no.

Paperback, hardcover, or ebook?: Nearly always paperbacks, I have an irrational dislike of dust jackets. Hardcovers without them get a pass, haha.

No pressure tags @welcomingdisaster, @daegred-winsterhand, @thescrapwitch, @actual-bill-potts

#I had to take some books off my shelves for this and man...#the levels of dust were abominable 😭#tag game

5 notes · View notes

dcviated · 1 year

Text

TAG NINE PEOPLE YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW BETTER!

favourite colour(s): Jeweltones? At least that's what my wife says they are. Deep vivid colors- typically blues, greens, and oranges. But we'll go with blue for this.

favourite genre(s): Of??? Fiction??? Or writing? Either way I think my best time is to be had with adventure and mystery, but tinting both with a comedic edge. Not marvel level but some lightheartedness to break things up here and there. Things that play out on a bigger scale. Whether it's geographical or emotional. Toss some fluff in there.

favourite music: I've got a pic somewhere that makes fun of how varied my taste is. I dunno where I'd place it. Indie? Otakucore? The artist I've been savoring the most as of late is SIAMES. They're amazing. Just listen to this.

favourite movie: Have I waxed poetic about Everything Everywhere All At Once as of late? Because oh does that really get up there for me. Alongside Fury Road and Parasite. Consider it recency bias or something but those all are a jam for different reasons.

favourite series: For video games? Metroid and Rune Factory. Those explorathon and farm sim genres always scratch a good itch for me. I love upgrading powers and getting to open new doors man it's a problem. For anime? Gankutsuou. A fantastic rendition of the count of monte cristo. The visual style is amazing and I love the dub to boot. A series I go back to watch a lot. For TV? Idk. It's been so long since I watched current tv stuff. Better Call Saul sure was a trip.

last song: I'm always shuffling through tracks like mad and listening to random things on youtube or spotify. To pin down an answer in a better way. The last song I added to my favs on spotify is this one.

last series: 🤔 I guess the last thing I 'wrapped up' watching was Bocchi. Which was definitely the best of the season.

last movie: Puss in Boots Last Wish. :^) I'd see that again to be honest. Totally out of left field how good it was. Had no right going that hard with style, substance, and character. Hope it wins best animated pic.

currently reading: I tried reading the Bullet Train book but couldn't really get into it as much. I dunno what it says about me that I found the movie a lot more entertaining and compelling. The complete book I read before that was the 7.5 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. And that was a couple years ago.

currently watching: A few things. F to the Nier anime, because that was really good. I'm really enjoying Tomo-chan is a Girl, Trigun Stampede, and the campfire isekai tho.

currently working on: Kinda scattered right now trying to set my gears. I was doing drafts on @cadcnce and now I might do some more here or hit things on the sideblog. We'll see. My wife's about to leave for work and then I'll settle in and decide... perhaps... after a nice long workout. :V

tagged by: @ofliminalities thanks!! still squinting at you tho tagging: @psychcdelica @orderbourne @prinzessins @eliteimperialism @paraleech @sparklymuses @squidsavior @pastballads @musesofthemoon how about that grabbed nine, or you can steal it! :V

#dash :: games ooc #I am an entity comprised of various things

7 notes · View notes

collectionsofbitsandbops · 2 years

Text

Books I think characters would like

Note :this is a work in progress. This is just for fun. Maybe just view this as book recommendations ok. Also I am only putting books I have read on this list. And feel free to add books as well. I love a good book recommendation.

(also let me know if the links work. this is my first time trying this.)

Loki:

East of Eden- A book about brothers and choosing your fate, rather than accepting what people say about you. Also fantastic writing and some of the best descriptions of California I have ever experienced.

Arabian Love Poems- listen, Loki loves poetry. No one does love poetry better than Nizar Kabbani.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous- The chokehold Ocean Vuong has on the English language. Even if the story of a gay immigrant child writing to his mother in a language she cannot read doesn't appeal to Loki (which I think it would), the lyricism of this book would be appealing enough.

My Sister, the Serial Killer- Dark Comedy, I think it would be a light read for Loki, but the story would entertain him for sure.

Wuthering Heights- a) the writing is great. b) the line between love and hate is thin. its the passion that drives them. c) ghosts

The Count of Monte Cristo- Revenge with a flair of dramatics. Totally Loki's style.

Steve:

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland- This book covers complexities in war and also doing what you think is right even if others get hurt, in such an empathetic way. Like the author is clear bad things happen, but explains what drives people to do them and also why it isn't black/white. Also isn't Steve an Irish immigrant or something of that nature. anyway this is the rec that made me want to make this post.

Know my name- I think Steve is really into memoirs and this is one of the best ones I have ever read. Also he would totally be a feminist who fights rapists.

The Picture of Dorian Gray- Irish literature because Steve can now afford to read all the books he wants.

The Outsiders- boys fighting for friends.

Bucky:

The Martian- Bucky is a scifi dude and you can't tell me otherwise. This features isolation, being left behind, and yet your friends choosing to risk it all to save you. Which is basically the modern story of Steve and Bucky, so yea. oh and the sarcasm in this book is through the roof.

Mind of my mind- Scifi and mind control. That's the logic.

The Black God's Drums- this is a novella that has set the standard for all novellas. The story, characters, and world are all so vivid, despite how short the story is. It has the classic, underdog saves the day and I see this being a pick me up for Bucky.

Frankenstein: The story of a monster being created, the creator not taking care/responsibility, and then the monster coming after the creator. I think Bucky would relate to the monster honestly.

Astrophysics for People in a hurry- science yet digestible. This book would totally live on his nightstand.

Bonus:

Set Boundaries, Find Peace- the book I recommend to everyone, bust especially those who need to work on mental health and let's be honest nearly every marvel character needs therapy.

#book recommendations #loki #steve #bucky #marvel needs to pay their therapy #i would tag all the books but i feel lazy at the moment #loki headcanon #bucky headcanon #steve rogers headcanon #all personal headcannons btw #Natalie's reading club

18 notes · View notes

izupie · 2 years

Text

I'm finally on the epilogue chapter of a 370,000 word fic that's taken me all week to read

For context that's like reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 3 times, or reading the whole of The Count of Monte Cristo

In fairness I could have read it much faster if I hadn't had to go to work or still cook and clean my apartment and take care of my cat lmaooo

If I had been able to binge read it and do nothing else, trust me I would

It will officially be the longest fanfiction I've ever read and the slowest slow burn I've ever read !

It's been a bit of an odd one though, because the AU was just So AU that the characters actually ended up a bit OOC for me - which would usually bother me, but they were all so endearing and well developed that they all kind of took on a life of their own. The writing style was SO GOOD that it really didn't matter. The way the writer crafted the story was just *chefs kiss* so whether it was the characters I already knew, or basically OCs, I really didn't care - I was so invested anyway

The format was like watching a season of Gilmore Girls, where they celebrate each holiday and birthday and each season comes and goes and with each milestone you FEEL time passing. Character development was so on point as time passed, and the relationships developed so so slowly but so naturally and I just

I have been essentially reading a self published online novel for the last week, since the world was a unique AU and the characters were all basically OCs, and I've loved every second, even when the angst kicked in

This is gonna live rent free in my head for a long time and now I only wish it was a real book that I could have on my shelf to reread any time

#you know those fanfics that just Hit Different #ugh Im in love with this story #the amount of times Ive had to put my phone down and SCREECH #love it #izu says stuff

8 notes · View notes

faustandfurious · 2 years

Note

I've been trying to read more non-european classic literature, do you have any texts you would recommend?

Not my main area of expertise, though I’m also trying to branch into more non-European literature, but here are some works I’ve read and enjoyed, and a few authors/works I want to read because I’ve heard good things about them.

Japanese:

Tanizaki Junichiro: In Praise Of Shadows - this one is absolutely gorgeous. I want to read more by Tanizaki because I love his writing style and I’ve heard his novels are good. I have In Black and White on my shelf to be read

Murasaki Shikibu: The Tale of Genji - this one I’ve only started reading, so I can’t say much about the work as a whole, but good so far

Endo Shusaku: Silence and The Samurai

Chinese:

Poetry. Li Bai (or Li Bo, or Li Po because Wade-Giles romanisation) and his friend Du Fu (or Tu Fu) are good places to start with Chinese classic poetry

Cao Xueqin: Dream of the Red Chamber - apologies to the anon who keeps sending asks about this one, I live in shame for not having read it yet and for not having answered your asks either

Kenyan:

Ngugi wa Thiong’o is one of the authors I’ve been meaning to read for a while, and I suppose some of his older works could be considered classics by now

This is just a very short list of a few good places to start, and honestly I think the best thing you can do is pick a specific country and try to dive into its history and the cultural context for the literature written there, because otherwise you’ll miss out on a lot of detail and beauty in what you read, in the same way that you won’t really understand The Count of Monte Cristo or Les Miserables or War and Peace if you have no knowledge of the French Revolution and Napoleon. Don’t treat reading non-European literature as a «diversity checklist», but rather as a way of understanding countries with a cultural history that’s very different from the cultural context in which you yourself were raised. And, you know, as a way of finding good stories to read.

Also, if you’re a non-European (or non-Anglophone American), feel free to promote your favourite literary classics from your own country in the notes.

#anonymous elf #answered

233 notes · View notes

darrowsrising · 2 years

Note

What are your favorite things about the red rising series?

Do you have a lifetime?

Darrow of Lykos? Darrow of Lykos. He is the sort of protagonist I have always wanted to read. Only put my eyes on a similar character in The Count of Monte Cristo. However, Darrow starts off from way back and we are with him on his journey, instead of disengaging for mystery amplifying purposes. I started RR as a teen and I pretty much agreed with everything Darrow did, duh. I used to cringe at my first impressions, but I was glad to have a teenage protagonist that was very like me in personality. As Darrow grew, so did I and...I can't explain how much he means to me as a whole. He is very inspiring and such a good and badass person. His capacity for love and his determination boggle my mind and the way he embraces his darkness, yet proves over and over again how full of light he is, even when he doubts it. The way he is speaks to me, if that makes sense. The way he's written challamged me to explore myself, grow, mature, be more understanding, more open and caring. His vulnerability is beautiful, made me understand that in myself as well. His anger is a tool and I love that for him, that he gets to use his rage, instead of another fucking preachy shit lesson about how anger is the enemy. I find no one is worthier of love and happiness than Darrow, ironic, because he feels unworthy of that.

The writing! Pierce Brown had me from 'I would have lived in peace, but my enemies brought me war.' Poetic violence is very much my style. I love writing that feels raw - not as in 'unedited', but as in 'emotionally raw'. The way this guy juggles bodily fluids in one section and then the pain and the love of life not two seconds later, is genuinely impressive. Of course, he does have a first book syndrome, but never disasterous. I love how he handles the 'show, don't tell', because he explores a corrupt society from all of its angles, yet he mantains firmly that FASCISM SUCKS. I mean, you truly need another level of horse-glassed stupid to understand otherwise. It makes the reader wuestion their own beliefs which is extremely important for a book to be good - rip to your highly popular non-sense books, but Red Rising is superior (for legal reasons, I am kidding). I also like that the writing does not hide away from unglamourous/unromanticized things, if that makes sense. You'll have Roque and Cassius getting pimples, Sevro's hygene always put into question - it the cloak, not him, he does wash - and so on. It may be overly stinking of sun energy to some people with more moon energy, but I do like that side of the writing - not everything needs to be romanticized. I actually appreciate this kind of writing more, because it feels more honest with the reader. I feel like blue prose can't really impress me anymore - I read TCOMC and asoiaf, pretty writing must be ultra special to get to me. On the other hand, Pierce Brown's writing is beyond pretty, it's fucking beautiful. It touches every chord, it doesn't need extra words, it's incredibly impactful and to the point, while also building up things trough forshadowing and subtle seeds. It uses perspective and emotion to the max. It does not need flowery stuff to deliver, it is strong and beautiful.

I also love that violence isn't infantillized, but it also isn't a bulldozer tearing through a forest - it actually has purpose, it's a tool masterfully used as it truly is - nothing is overly dramatic, because it's well-used. Jn Dark Age the violence was meant to numb the reader - just like war does. Incredible!

The themes of Red Rising are important, but the most important of all for me is hope - because blue prose desensitized me to it, it really made me change my mind about it. I cared not one bit about how it was handled most of the time, I had a very dismisive tone about it even. Darrow became my hope, I genuinely clunged to him through my dark times and I always keep him close to my heart when I struggle or when I am good.

Another thing that I absolutely love is how a dystopian regime is handled. The world-building is making us question ourselves and our own reality. It explores all kinds of slavery, always condemning it and highlighting the importance of unity, while understanding the different experiences of the various casts. It also condemns the cast system - Pierce was inspired by the Indian Cast System, btw. It also exposes situations and experiences that echo the real world so much, it's scary at times. Very incredible writing.

It's also the fact that...the exploration of certain things are so thoroughly analysed through the narration, that makes the writing so good. You will not find simplostic surface bullshit in Red Rising, that's for sure. The skelleton of the world is bulletproof, so everything that happens with the characters is actually amazing, especially because Pierce is more of a character-driven plot person.

Speaking of characters, Pierce Brown wrotes amazing ones, but it's the depth he gives them - no surface level bullshit. Even with the episodic characters. He also actually tries not to play favourites, because more often than not, that ends up with such bad writing, it's sad to me that books like that get published. He is just opinionated enough to make us love him more for it z for example he had Darrow mourn Roque, but he would throw that bitch in the grossest ditch available.

The female characters are always a mood. Always. I love them. I get very inspired by them and I find it validating to have them have these powerful, intense emotions like rage and hatred, thirst for justice and love for their family.

I find the way Pierce explores humanity is very beautiful. There is a genuine sense of hope, yet he also allows unforgivables - which are severly punished, as they should. He explored similar themes as in The Count of Monte Cristo that I loved very much - justice and revenge, love and hope etc.

The action and the intrigue are exquisite, absolutely amazing. Politics and battles are some of my favourite aspects - the space battles got getting used to, but they are very visual, so that helped.

I love how good the plot is, it always keeps me on the edge of my seat.

The love side of the saga is also beautiful. I did not expect it at all, but Pierce writes better romance than some popular romance authors. WAY BETTER.

Thank you for the ask! It took a long time to gather all of my thoughts, I think I am still missing something, but I am posting it as is.

Howl on!

#red rising #pierce brown

29 notes · View notes

finalbride · 2 years

Text

I haven't really talked about my current reads in a while it feels! Right now I'm reading:

Mort by Terry Pratchett The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas The Winter Garden by Alexandra Bell Deerskin by Robin McKinley I'm loving them all so far apart from the Winter Garden, which I think has some really nice ideas and is a little enjoyable but is unfortunately ruined by how racist it is. I am doing my best to finish it so I can write up a proper critical review... But goodness, it is so... Just no. Terry Pratchett is one of my most beloved authors ever so I am really enjoying doing a Discworld reread. The death side of things has always been my favourite too! So, Mort is a great time.

LOVING the Count of Monte Cristo, it is so gripping and intriguing. I find it difficult to put down. Edmond Dantes already has my entire heart, I love characters like him. As for Deerskin, I haven't gotten hugely far in yet but I'm already loving it. The style of writing is so pretty and fairytale and evokes great imagery. I cannot wait to get further in. I'm also very happy because I managed to get an old paperback of the really pretty cover of it. There's something about a secondhand book!

#gosh here goes all my tags #talks #I talk books #I talk discworld #I talk mort #I talk the count of monte cristo #I talk the winter garden #I talk deerskin

3 notes · View notes

docholligay · 2 years

Text

Shamash answers: TV, Round three

I asked you: You are given the money and space to make a three season TV show! What do you do?

I want to do an anthology series. Each season, completely different from the other one, and each a different genre. It would be called "It was a Dark and Stormy Night." The reason for that is simple. Each series must start on a dark and stormy night. The first season will be a basic, easy, modern murder mystery type thing. Second season, bit more complicated. A southern gothic horror setting. Third season, sci-fi. And of course, each season must tell a completely contained story. No leaving wiggle room for renewal. Beginning, Middle, and End. -- @shavedjudomonkey

This is almost cheating, as I love a good anthology series and I think that is KNOWN, but man I think this is such an interesting idea nd to use such a ...played out? maybe is the word I’m seaarching for? Concept as the impetus is a FANTASTIC choice.

My show would be a documentary type series following language and writing - especially the history of writing letters, and how letter-writing has changed throughout the course of history. It would not be limited to 'English only' or 'Latin alphabet' only. We would examine handwriting styles, writing utensils, inks and their common components, writing on tablets (wax or clay) vs. writing on tablets (modern electronics). Each episode would have interviews with experts in their fields, as well as modern hobbyists and people who just love the subject. We would compare 'official historical documents' to just old letters from regular people going about their daily lives. We would go over major world events and how letter-writing was affected (or not affected). When talking about cuneiform script, the now infamous complaint letter about Ea-nasir would feature. And our narration style would actually be more like a conversation, with Sigourney Weaver and Morgan Freeman both narrating different parts. (Por que no los dos? as they say) [Not gonna lie - I'd absolutely love to watch this series, so getting to make it would be the icing on the cake. As producer (or developer, or just the general 'cool person') - I would get to be there for all the interview filming and talk to everyone who just loves the subject, maybe get a lesson on how to write cuneiform, etc.] -- @amberlilly

This idea FUCKS. I don’t really have a more articulate way of putting that, there were a couple people who put up documentary series, but this was absolutely my favorite idea. I’ve never seen anything like it! I find it inherently fascinating!

An adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo that actually follows through with the book's moral about how quests for vengeance destroy one's humanity. It would also focus on Danglars and Villefort being far worse than Fernand, because Dantes' primary reason for seeking revenge was his father dying of starvation while he was in the Chateau d'If. (I would focus FAR less on the romance between Edmond and Mercedes than any adaptation ever has, because heaven forbid we put the focus on anything but romantic drama, am I right? /sarcasm) --goblinqueen

I WOULD WATCH THIS. I LOVE CoMC, and I’ve never seen a version that I thought did it justice in all its weird, not at all swashbuckly, mildly/seriously Orientalist glory. But yes THE MORAL. It gets missed all the time? I would fund this immediately.

I would create a dramatic retelling of the life of Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) through the lens of his many letters (can be referenced in “Letters from the Raven”. Season 1: A Greek child given up by his mother, emigrates to the USA, works as a reporter first in Cincinnati and then to New Orleans — letters were mostly written to his mentor during this time. Season 2: Working in New Orleans, goes through some failed business ventures, eventually is sent as a correspondent in the French West Indies — letters to mentor and unknown love interest. Season 3: Eventually moves to Japan, marries and has children, is known for offering a glimpse of fascinating Japanese culture to the western world — letters to an unknown person (artistic choice — letters to the audience).-- @its-decido

I would fund this because it sounds incredibly fucking weird and also made me learn about someone and something I’d never fucking heard of.

Overwatch... DONE RIGHT These are such amazing characters and Blizzard is SO BAD. The deserve justice! Like:

Fareeha NOT looking as feminine as possible!

Mercy having an actual personality!

Tracer being more than a minor character!

LIMITED GENJI

The old guard was wrong! A lot!

AMARI FAMILY DRAMA

Actual canon Jewish Mercy!

AND MORE

-- @seolh

This is bold, brazen pandering, and I intend to reward it.

#eights days shamash drawing

6 notes · View notes

gilbertsannegirl · 3 years

Note

(for the book recs ask game!) 1, 13, 16, 24, 63, 77, 108! I hope you're doing well, Madelyn!! <3

Thank you! Hope you are well also xx

1. A book that’s close to your heart

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery always haha

13. Your favourite romance novel

I don’t think I read a whole lot of pure romance, I like romance in a story line but not the entire plot. That being said I loved Me Before You by Jojo Moyes even though it’s so sad and also pretty sappy in the middle bits.

16. A book you'd recommend to your younger self

Hmmm. That’s a tough one. I think that I dearly wished I’d read Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas way earlier than I did because I read it for the first time this year and I’m in love with it

24. A book on your nightstand

I don’t keep books on my bedside table because I have too much other stuff on it 😂 the only thing I keep on there is my Bible so there’s that

63. A book that actually made you laugh out loud

Emma by Jane Austen, all the way through I love it dearly.

77. A book so useless that you could use it as a coaster

All the textbooks I’ve had to buy for uni over the years 😂

108. a book with a small town setting

There’s 2 that I recommend for this actually, both Australian

The Dry by Jane Harper is excellent for a mystery, set in the outback of Australia

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak, he wrote The Book Thief and I really enjoy his writing style. This one is a bit dry in some places and it wasn’t my favourite thing ever but I did still really enjoy it overall

#asks #thebirdandhersong

4 notes · View notes

my-one-true-l · 4 years

Note

I’m a massive bookworm, so I’d like to know how much each of the Wammy boys (including B) like to read, and how much they’d like a bookworm as a partner. Thank you!

Hello my Dear Anon!!! Oh, I ADORE this ask SO MUCH!!! 🖤

Is a moderate reader. His time is taken up with his cases, but when he has some down time, he can often be found reading. He has a fondness for Mysteries and Adventures (and has a secret love of Agatha Christie, especially Poirot), plus has a many classics (British, Russian, and American Literature) that are among his favorites. He doesn’t mind the occasional spy novel either.

Favorite Author: It would be near impossible for him to choose.

Favorite Book: He has a hard time choosing one, but is quite fond of Le Fantôme de l'Opéra (The Phantom of the Opera) by Gaston Leroux, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.

Would love a Bookworm partner 8/10.

Beyond Birthday

BB Loves to read, but doesn’t always find the time to do so.

Deep dives into character analysis and motivation are things he will spend hours delving into and will draw complex parallels to himself to his favorite characters, often deriving personality traits from them to adopt for his persona.

He also loves Manga and Graphic novels and will endlessly talk about them to anyone that is willing to listen. He’s also a fan of Shakespeare.

Favorite Author: He will not be told he has to choose.

Favorite Book: Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Would love a Bookworm partner 10/10.

Near

He prefers to spend his time with his toys and games, but he is always a fan of reading at bedtime.

Favorite Author: Roald Dahl

Favorite Book: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (which he ‘borrowed’ from Mello when they were kids).

Would love a Bookworm partner 7/10.

Mello

Mello loves to read (believe it or not). He is a fan of writing as social commentary and will get way too invested in what the authors’ styles and themes mean in context to the times and society as a whole. He will talk for hours about this with someone that is willing to dive deep.

Favorite Author: Hunter S. Thompson (his style heavily influenced how Mello recorded the LABB Case).

Favorite Book: 1984 by George Orwell

Would love a Bookworm partner 9/10.

Matt

He prefers his video games to reading, but isn’t opposed to diving into a book that really grabs his attention, often finishing a book in one sitting if he really gets into it.

Favorite Author: Doesn’t have one

Favorite Book: World War Z by Max Brooks

Would love a Bookworm partner 6/10.

#L Lawliet #Beyond Birthday #Mihael Keehl #Nate River #Mail Jeevas #Death Note #The Wammy Boys #Ask #Answered #Anonymous #I hope you like this 🖤#books

46 notes · View notes

overthinkingkdrama · 4 years

Text

Exit Review: Itaewon Class

Synopsis

Park Saeroyi is a socially awkward high school student and son of a devoted and kind single father. His unvarnished righteous personality has a tendency to rub people the wrong way, but it is not in his nature to back down from what he believes to be right. After a run in with a bully named Geun Won, the son of the ruthless, vindictive CEO of a restaurant empire, Saeroyi winds up pitted against the powerful, unscrupulous Jangga Co. After a tragic incident shatters Saeroyi's world and winds up with him going to prison, he decides to dedicate his life to beating Jangga Co. on its own corporate turf while keeping his principles intact.

Review

Story: My first impressions of Itaewon Class were largely positive. The drama wasn't doing anything I hadn't seen before in another form, but there was something compelling about it. I wasn't sure whether to attribute that to the writing or the strong performances from the leads, but I was willing to give credit to both and see where things would go. At its most basic level, Itaewon Class is a classic revenge melo with a slick, modern coat of paint. As the drama went on I still found a lot of things I liked about it, and I was impressed out how daringly it dealt with certain topics that your average Kdrama has historically been reluctant to even hint at (racism and xenophobia in South Korea being one. The positive inclusion of a named trans character who even gets a love line later in the run being another.)

So, let it not be said that there is nothing praiseworthy or boundary pushing about this drama. That is not the case. However, as we got late into the run I started having more and more issues with the writing on a narrative level. Itaewon Class has some of the most uneven character development I've seen in a drama. Clearly some of the characters were a focus while others were decidedly not. That wouldn't be so bad in and of itself if the scripts for the last 6 episodes specifically hadn't felt in places like they were written by an entirely different writer, a writer with only a passing knowledge of the development and characterization that had come before. Geun Soo and Geun Won's character arcs are the most egregious example, but Soo Ah suffered from this as well. Additionally, Soo Ah--who was divisive for a lot of the audience but who I quite liked during the first half of the run--had a huge motivation gap for much of the drama leading into the finale week, one that was hastily pasted over in a way that made it no less frustrating as a viewer.

Although Itaewon Class has decidedly melo tendencies from the beginning, the first half of the run felt more or less grounded in reality. However, those problematic last 6 episodes during which the decline in writing quality was rapid took several makjang turns that made what was meant to be a serious ramp up in stakes into a source of unintentional hilarity.

I've already gone on too long, so I won't get into the love lines here. I'll only say that the romance, along with everything else in the plot, lost significant steam in the second half of the drama.

Acting: I really have nothing negative to say about the acting in this. Obviously, these things are going to vary from actor to actor and taste to taste, but I was very impressed with the acting in this drama as a whole. In the past I've been critical of Park Seo Joon (some would say unfairly so) but I do recognize that he's a true talent, and this is easily the most I've liked him in anything. He really manages the pathos, the fierce bullheadedness and the gut punch moments for Saeroyi impressively well. The extended cast is strong. Special props to my girl Lee Joo Young for her role as Hyun Yi. I hope she gets a ton more recognition in the future because this show did so well in the ratings. I also liked Kim Dong Hee as Geun Soo (even though I completely loathed the handling of his character arc) and I'm kind of curious to see what he could do in a better written role. This was my first time seeing Kim Da Mi in anything, and I will give her what I consider the biggest compliment I can give to an actor: I'm going to seek out other things in her filmography, and I'm going to watch her career, because she has something special.

Production: Itaewon Class is a good looking show. A little bit too squeaky clean for my tastes, but indisputably well shot and frequently quite pretty to look at. The sequences in Itaewon itself were considerably stronger and had better energy than any of the corporate stuff. However, the set they used for Jang Dae Hee's office was really neat looking and suited his character beautifully. I also liked everyone's styling. The sponsored clothing in this drama is on point.

Feels: This could definitely be a personal problem but I felt really let down by this drama. All the way through the climax of episode 8 and possibly even including episodes 9 and 10 this drama was probably a 8/10 for me or better. It wasn't perfect, but it was pushing boundaries, and it was surprising me with some unique characters. Yi Seo specifically is a female character I haven't seen before, and I was invested in her development. I know not everyone is going to agree with this or see where I'm coming from and that's fine. I don't begrudge other people enjoying this one. But I thought the last 3 weeks cratered hard and completely spoiled my enjoyment with the inconsistent and frankly sloppy writing. Beyond that, as a revenge melo I didn’t think it worked. Part of what makes a revenge story so satisfying is seeing a righteous character go up against a Goliath and succeed against all odds. The final combat in a truly great revenge story--a la The Count of Monte Cristo--happens within the hero. It takes place between the heroes sadistic desire to see his enemy experience the pain he experienced and his essentially decent and heroic nature. This drama didn’t give me that. By the time it ended it really felt like Saeroyi was bullying a dying, bitter old man. There was nothing triumphant and satisfying about it. As an avid consumer of the revenge genre, it just felt bad, to be honest, and subverted my expectations in an unpleasant way.

Would I recommend Itaewon Class? I bumped up my rating for some truly good acting and a strong first half, but I probably wouldn't recommend this drama to anyone. 6/10

#itaewon class #park seo joon #exit review #kim da mi #exit rant #drama review

16 notes · View notes

wisteria-lodge · 4 years

Text

10 Favorite Characters

Okay @missbrunettebarbie, I’ll bite.

1. Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle) Those books always feel like a loving portrait of a real person. What to say? You’ve been a neurodivergent icon for the last 100+ years. Personally I think you’re ace. Started up my interest in all things Victorian. I’ve met a lot of real good people because of you. All my love always. (my first Holmes & Watson will always be the 1950s Sir John Gielgud / Sir Ralph Richardson radio show. Couldn’t recommend it more. It’s got Orson Welles as Moriarty)

2. Myrddin “Merlin” Emrys (Mary Stewart) Mary Stewart’s Merlin Trilogy gets no love. because it has never EVER had a good cover.

You’d never know it, but this is one of the most beautiful, haunting, heartbreaking things I’ve ever read. It ruined me for any other King Arthur retelling. It is the reason I studied Post-Roman Britain. And Merlin himself is the first introvert hero I ever came across. His brand of quiet strength was the first that ever seemed accessible. And magic is treated as analogous with artistic inspiration, and it’s so subtle that sometimes he doesn’t even know if he’s using it or not, ah it’s good. This is one I re-read every year or two.

3. Esmeralda (Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame) My lady, who taught me about questioning authority, who can be a sexy pole dancer type and a spiritual earth mother and a white-hot revolutionary turning the mood of a crowd by not standing for cruelty. She’s wise enough to fall for the guy who thinks she’s funny and a pretty cool chick, and not the one who sees her as an angel. She’ll always be aspirational, but I wear headscarves a lot, and think of her.

4. Hermione Granger (JK Rowling) My prickly, difficult girl. So brilliant. So insecure. You were there for me when I was studying too much, had no interest in being pretty, and was a little too stick-in-the-mud. You just had to realize that you were cool, and you *had* been cool, the whole time. At which point you basically leveled up into Batman. And the movies did you dirty. Sorry about that.

5. Captain Jack Sparrow (Curse of the Black Pearl) This guy taught me about freedom, and happy nihilism, and how sometimes you’ve got to let go. Be suspicious of rules. He never wanted that much, really, and I respect that. Also got to give a nod to the ahead-of-the-curve gender nonconforming, and that fun way he’s got of mixing crazy SAT words with slang. “Bring me that horizon” is darn good motto. Also, can directly trace all my interest in sexy age of sail stuff back to him.

6. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) Hands down one of the most complex, fleshed out characters I’ve ever come across, star of the first romance novel I ever read where I was like... yeah. I *get it.* This is the lady who just point blank, flat out refuses to think of herself as a victim ever. (and in retrospect, that did get you in a little bit of trouble. Let people help you, Jane.) Reading this book, it felt essential to my happiness that things turned out well for Jane Eyre. If she couldn’t figure it out, there sure as hell wasn’t hope for me.

7. V (V for Vendetta, film) While this movie absolutely got me reading everything Alan Moore ever wrote, I’ve got to give a shout-out to the Wachowskis, who are charming cloud-people and I love everything they do. This is the movie that blew my mind when I was 15. I possibly was not supposed to find V as sexy as I did. But I was highly influenced by his decorating style, and memorized his cool v alliteration speech and started making eggs the same way he did. Also I read The Count of Monte Cristo because he was into it. And I’m so glad I got into Alexandre Dumas.

8. Elim Garak (Deep Space Nine) Still trying to figure out what what is is about this one hit me between the eyes. Guess I love me a complex assassin/spy who refuses categorization, and who I can just talk about for hours. Not going to overlook all the wonderful queer aspects to his character either. Anyway, this one sent me on a kick researching interrogators and secret policemen, because when I love things I just want to write essays about them, dammit. (Also I read actor Andrew Robinson’s in-character memoir A Stitch in Time. Adorable.)

9. Commissar Ciaphas Cain (Warhammer 40K) I know Sandy Mitchell’s Ciaphas Cain novels are parody entries in an already silly franchise. I love them. They’re hilarious, they’re clever, I love the meta conceit that they’ve been corrected, organized, and redacted by an in-universe Inquisition agent who is a character in the novels. And I like Cain’s energy. I like how he survives this bleak universe by carving out a happy little pocket for himself. I like his management style. I like that he’s got his insane imposter syndrome, but just kind of shrugs and goes with it. They’re happy little novels that feel like nice big exhales. It’s good energy to lean on.

10. Iago (William Shakespeare) I wanted to put in at least one one villain, because a good character is one who is complex - and galvanizes me into some kind of project/intense internal recalibration. And dear god if a good Iago doesn’t stare into your soul. Othello is my favorite Shakespeare play, and here’s this villain who is not cool, not redeemable, who is just every weakness of humanity put in front of you in a way that is way too easy to understand. He’s petty. He’s insecure. Othello was his life, and now Othello is gone, and he’s been passed over for promotion in favor of the younger, prettier, posher, more educated option. I put in some aspirational characters, so I’ll just leave this one here as a warning for myself.

HONORABLE MENTION - I did not mention either my favorite television show, Supernatural OR my favorite film, Lawrence of Arabia. They both have such complex, such tight ecosystems of characters that pulling out just *one* to talk about didn’t seem even a little bit doable.

I’m tagging @awinterrain @nocakesformissedith @ameliahcrowley @fromthemouthofkings @headless-horsepossum @the-phoenix-heart @persefoneshalott @hedonistbyheart @niche-pastiche @shadowsonasphalt

59 notes · View notes

kwat01 · 3 years

Note

Tis I! Your lovely secret pantom again🎅🌹 Oooo, those are the best kinds of fairy tales~ I love learning about the older tales, they are so much fun to read! Is there a particular tale that holds your heart, one you could read over and over again? Awe, sounds like she has fun though! She'll grow to love them when she gets bigger, eheh! The OG book is one of my favorites too! Is there any particular gothic literature you like to read besides POTO? I saw you like science fiction!

You know I don’t think I really have a favourite tale, but I remember when my love for them began. A girl in my 8th grade art class brought a HUGE book in with her one day that was an illustrated encyclopaedia of Celtic monsters and folktales. This thing was about 2 inches thick and as big as an old atlas book. The kind of book you would work a book collection around because it’s so awesome. I remember her saying it was her mother’s and that she would KILL her if she knew she’d brought it to school but that she wanted to create an art piece with the book as inspiration. I’ve never been able to find a copy since despite bookstore, library and, later when the internet became the norm, google searches over the last 20 years. Here is a webpage that is quite similar to the book, minus the tales to go with the descriptions and only a fraction of the monsters on offer. Gives pretty good idea of what I’m talking about though.

The other earliest memory I have is of an original telling of The Little Mermaid picture book I had as a kid and loved. The sea witch seriously scared me, but I loved the mermaids. I didn’t understand her obsession with the prince 😂 “Why didn’t she kill him?” I’d ask my mother, who replied “Because she loved him.” My brain screaming but he didn’t love her??!! And now she’s sea foam!! Uuurgh!

I've read at random real endings for some well known fairytales, like where the three bears eat goldilocks, there are multiple gorey versions of Little Red Riding Hood, I'm obsessed with the big bad wolf 🖤 The evil step sister that kept slicing off pieces of foot to fit into the glass slipper etc.

Gothic novels, hmm, I loved Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Wuthering Heights I can’t actually remember Dracula very well, it’s been too long. I read a lot of H.P Lovecraft and dabbled in Edgar Allen Poe, Anne Rice had a fair run. Then I’d dedicate an entire year to giant classics like the Count of Monte Cristo and become obsessed with revenge 😂 or War and Peace, my best friend said I drove her crazy when I was reading that one because I’d go off on tangents about Russian history or spout off Freemason facts, didn’t help at the time she was reading the biography of Che Guevara and was in a completely different mind space. I’ve been attempting to read Les Miserables over the last year and have been failing miserably. I couldn’t focus when I was pregnant and now I have no time 😤

Science fiction has definitely taken a backburner to fantasy and gothic novels, I love love love Terry Pratchett's Discworld and always will, I’ve read a few Dune novels and a few H.G Wells. The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is amazing, 1984 was terrifying, Slaughterhouse 5 was just mind blowing! I read a lot of science fiction in my young teens mostly and couldn’t even give you titles now! Then there was obvious fantasy novels like the Hobbit & Lord of the Rings, but lots of strange ones I’d just randomly pick from the bookstore or steal from a friends collection. A few years ago I bought the first 6 books of the Wheel of Time series on a friend’s recommendation. I made it through the first two and realised I really wasn’t having a good time, the characters just weren’t holding my interest enough. I do think about the plot now and again though and so I will have to come back to them eventually and find out where it goes. I did really enjoyed the settings in the book, very creative, I need to give it another chance i think, probably takes off in book 3 lol.

I make it a habit to never continuously read the same author because I don’t want to grow tired of their writing style. And i tend to never read a book more than once! I try to tuck it away in my mind and will reflect on them now and again, passages or chapters that will stay with you, but you can’t get the same shock, or surprise that you had in your first read, it just won’t be the same the next time around.

This was fun going down memory lane, now I’m thinking of other books I’ve forgotten about that I’ve read and loved, a good workout for a brain that’s been fixated too long.

On a side note, my girl laughed for the first time today! She’s been trying to for weeks, her attempts hilarious in their own right, but today was her first actual chuckle. It was one of the most magical things I’ve ever heard 💕😊 today has been a good day.

Thank you again for the asks Santa, so much fun! Sorry I waffled on a bit 😁

#poto secret santa

3 notes · View notes

nomanwalksalone · 4 years

Photo

ALTERNATIVE STYLE ICON: RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN IN WALLENBERG: A HERO’S STORY

by Réginald-Jérôme de Mans

The writer George Santayana famously wrote that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Ironically many who repeat his quote forget who first uttered it.

I had long meant to write about Richard Chamberlain in this role. I once referred to him as “the fey king of the miniseries” and I don’t regret it: foppish, almost milquetoast in fare as varied as a two-part TV version of The Bourne Identity (with Jaclyn Smith, natch), Shogun, and as a leading candidate for an honorary Seinfeld puffy shirt: Not only did he play the Count of Monte Cristo in a 1975 TV movie, but a bunch of what Elaine Benes would have called chandelier-swinging characters in other Dumas adaptations, including Aramis in Richard Lester’s The Three Musketeers and Louis XIV and his twin in The Man in the Iron Mask. Postmodern swashbuckler author Arturo Perez-Reverte even described a character in one of his own novels as looking “like Richard Chamberlain in The Thorn Birds, only more manly.” That same Thorn Birds role, Father Ralph de Bricassart, also inspired a certain Rhunette Ferguson to give her son, a future New York Jets player, perhaps my favorite name ever: D’Brickashaw.

Dubbing Chamberlain an Alternative Style Icon for his role as Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is low-hanging fruit. For years this TV special dwelt at the bottom of my Netflix queue for that express purpose. Former Savile Row tailors Manning & Manning won an Emmy award for the outfits they made for him; decades later Bryan Manning had some very interesting things to say to the inimitable Simon Crompton of Permanent Style about the 1930s and 1940s cutting styles he had to adopt for Chamberlain’s outfits for the movie. Chamberlain’s costumes are appropriately dashing, from the full diplomatic gala white tie ensemble worn while conspiring with the Papal Nuncio of Budapest to a tan double-breasted suit with horizontal peaked lapels that is, quite simply, magnificent. Zagreb, one of the most beautiful cities in eastern Europe, admirably filled in for 1940s Budapest and Stockholm in the making of this production. I’m fairly certain that I’ve stayed at the Zagreb hotel on whose esplanade Chamberlain wore that suit, in an early expository scene where the American and Swedish governments encourage Wallenberg to take a position with the Swedish legation in Budapest. I’ve been told Zagreb’s one of two cities in Europe where the street lamps in certain neighborhoods are still gaslit. Gaslighting happens to have been one of the reasons that I finally wrote about this icon.

Of course there’s plenty to mock in the conventions of this telefilm, even beyond Chamberlain’s indisputable 1970s and 1980s stock hero status: its heavy-handed setup and plotting, making Wallenberg out to be a one-man anti-Nazi force from his time at home in Sweden (wearing a U. Michigan sweatshirt to indicate that he had studied in the US - did college sweatshirts even exist back then?). Miniseries meant melodrama and its archetypal characters: an adorable child whom Wallenberg saves from the death camps only to die of illness; a shoehorned-in love interest in the form of a kindhearted baroness who lobbies her suspicious husband to relax the Hungarian government's strictures on Jews; a fiery Hungarian resistance fighter who provides the unofficial, combative counterpoint to Wallenberg’s diplomatic, humanitarian efforts through official channels. And, of course, Wallenberg’s kidnapping by the Soviets at the fall of Budapest meant his story was perfectly framed for 1985, when we still couldn’t trust those Russians. (In fact, to this day no one knows what they did with him.)

A few appropriately haunting and powerful moments do ring true, including Wallenberg’s cordial verbal fencing matches over contraband Scotch and cigarettes with Adolf Eichmann. Whether those meetings really took place in that form or not, their film versions appropriately capture the realities of how we are forced to engage with evil. Rarely are we simply battling an easily identifiable other, weapon to weapon. Instead, we encounter evil in the everyday – in fact, it seeks us out, finds shared ground, converses with us over pleasantries and hospitality even as we recognize its intentions. It identifies with us, we identify with it. Even as you know it is evil.

Eichmann had made it his avowed duty to kill the Jews of Europe. Wallenberg’s mission, as an emissary of an officially neutral power, was to help save as many as he could. And he did, through famously fearless, reckless endeavors including the distribution of thousands of official-looking Swedish passes to the Jews of Budapest, the creation of vast cultural centers and warehouses in the Swedish mission buildings in which these new countrymen could work under the aegis of their adoptive country, and savvy diplomatic maneuvering with the Hungarian and German authorities and military. He went as far as to climb on top of a train bound for Auschwitz and distribute passes to as many deportees as he could while soldiers fired shots at him. Looking back, historians suggest they were firing over his head to warn him as they could easily have dropped him at that range, but it’s not likely Wallenberg knew that at the time.

At that time diplomats of neutral powers could make fortunes more safely as armchair heroes: playboy Porfirio Rubirosa reportedly did so in Paris selling visas to the Dominican Republic to French Jews during World War II. In that respect, perhaps, both he and Wallenberg were heroes… of different sorts.

Wallenberg did not do it for money. The Wallenbergs were Swedish aristocracy (with, the film takes pains to remind us, an ounce of Jewish blood) with considerable means – hence the finely tailored wardrobe for Chamberlain. Thus, an easy cynical response to this essay could be that a rich aristocrat with diplomatic immunity risked nothing swanning around the salons of Budapest, just like the fictional gentleman spies we read about and watch on screen.

That response is wrong. Heroism is not just born of opportunity. It is recognizing when a choice confronts you and taking the difficult, unpopular and dangerous one in order to do what is right. Fictional heroes like Bond or Steed rarely suffer meaningful personal loss and rarely confront the reality of evil. Evil is your friend with many positive qualities, maybe more intelligent or cultured or better dressed than you, the one you looked up to, who gradually reveals the awful things he or she believes and has done. Evil is those complicit in carrying out those things by their inaction, their credulity, or their cooperation, not at the point of a gun but of a paycheck. Evil is legal, logically explained, repeated and reported until its baseless reasoning becomes fact and the foundation for more lies, more evil. Evil can so easily become the system.

Hindsight is a handicap, for it doesn’t usually permit us to see that there were no times without ambiguity in battles between good and evil and no certainty that good triumphs. We have the privilege of retrospect to acknowledge the dashing diplomat in Savile Row suits was a hero for saving innocents from deportation and death as part of the most ghastly genocide in history. We learned what genocide is, and had to invent the word to describe it. Because at that time the people singled out for persecution and death were unpopular, historically, socially and legally marginalized, supposedly easily identifiable and classifiable. A group that societies had made it easy - through regulation, ghettoization, oppression and antagonism – to hate, and whole false narratives drawn up to explain why that group hated and wanted to destroy us even more than we them.

One of A Hero’s Story’s most timely and inspiring lines is Wallenberg’s reply to the Hungarian ruler’s query why the King of Sweden cared so much about the Jews of another country, when he was a Christian. Wallenberg reminded the prime minister that the King’s “concerns transcend religion or national borders.” That concern is humanity, our lowest common denominator, our shared recognition of our capacity for suffering. That concern drove a man to acts of incredible selflessness, a generous mercy that seems to have cost him his liberty and his life. There is no romance to Raoul Wallenberg’s fate. It is worth remembering that he probably saw little romance in the actions he took in Budapest.

Now is no less an unromantic time, no less a time when others – so many different others –are easily denigrated, feared, distrusted, brutalized. Otherization, both of many within our borders and pressing against them, has returned, as has fascism, with apologists blandly elegant or brutally populist, like some inauspicious comet in our skies. Now, again, is a time for heroes – men and women who recognize how difficult and dangerous it is to do what is right. That struggle is far from those of Chamberlain’s habitual roles swashbuckling against a monolithic, universally despicable, evil. Evil is among us, habituating us, desensitizing us, gaslighting us. Far from frills and fanfare, celebration, or certainty of triumph, can we place ourselves in Wallenberg’s Budapester shoes and do what is right?

Quality content, like quality clothing, ages well. This post first appeared on the No Man blog in February 2017.

8 notes · View notes