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mariacallous · 2 months

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The myth of Russian humiliation

Looking back over the past quarter-century, it isn’t easy to name a Western policy that can truly be described as a success. The impact of Western development aid is debatable. Western interventions in the Middle East have been disastrous.

But one Western policy stands out as a phenomenal success, particularly when measured against the low expectations with which it began: the integration of Central Europe and the Baltic States into the European Union and NATO. Thanks to this double project, more than 90 million people have enjoyed relative safety and relative prosperity for more than two decades in a region whose historic instability helped launch two world wars.

These two “expansions,” which were parallel but not identical (some countries are members of one organization but not the other), were transformative because they were not direct leaps, as the word “expansion” implies, but slow negotiations. Before joining NATO, each country had to establish civilian control of its army. Before joining the European Union, each adopted laws on trade, judiciary, human rights. As a result, they became democracies. This was “democracy promotion” working as it never has before or since.

But times change, and the miraculous transformation of a historically unstable region became a humdrum reality. Instead of celebrating this achievement on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is now fashionable to opine that this expansion, and of NATO in particular, was mistaken. This project is incorrectly “remembered” as the result of American “triumphalism” that somehow humiliated Russia by bringing Western institutions into its rickety neighborhood. This thesis is usually based on revisionist history promoted by the current Russian regime — and it is wrong.

For the record: No treaties prohibiting NATO expansion were ever signed with Russia. No promises were broken. Nor did the impetus for NATO expansion come from a "triumphalist" Washington. On the contrary, Poland's first efforts to apply in 1992 were rebuffed. I well remember the angry reaction of the U.S. ambassador to Warsaw at the time. But Poland and others persisted, precisely because they were already seeing signs of the Russian revanchism to come.

When the slow, cautious expansion eventually took place, constant efforts were made to reassure Russia. No NATO bases were placed in the new member states, and until 2013 no exercises were conducted there. A Russia-NATO agreement in 1997 promised no movement of nuclear installations. A NATO-Russia Council was set up in 2002. In response to Russian objections, Ukraine and Georgia were, in fact, denied NATO membership plans in 2008.

Meanwhile, not only was Russia not "humiliated" during this era, it was given de facto "great power" status, along with the Soviet seat on the U.N. Security Council and Soviet embassies. Russia also received Soviet nuclear weapons, some transferred from Ukraine in 1994 in exchange for Russian recognition of Ukraine's borders. Presidents Clinton and Bush both treated their Russian counterparts as fellow "great power" leaders and invited them to join the Group of Eight — although Russia, neither a large economy nor a democracy, did not qualify.

During this period, Russia, unlike Central Europe, never sought to transform itself along European lines. Instead, former KGB officers with a clearly expressed allegiance to the Soviet system took over the state in league with organized crime, seeking to prevent the formation of democratic institutions at home and to undermine them abroad. For the past decade, this kleptocratic clique has also sought to re-create an empire, using everything from cyberattacks on Estonia to military invasions of Georgia and now Ukraine, in open violation of that 1994 agreement — exactly as the Central Europeans feared.

Once we remember what actually happened over the past two decades, as opposed to accepting the Russian regime’s version, our own mistakes look different. In 1991, Russia was no longer a great power in either population or economic terms. So why didn’t we recognize reality, reform the United Nations and give a Security Council seat to India, Japan or others? Russia did not transform itself along European lines. Why did we keep pretending that it had? Eventually, our use of the word “democracy” to describe the Russian political system discredited the word in Russia itself.

The crisis in Ukraine, and the prospect of a further crisis in NATO itself, is not the result of our triumphalism but of our failure to react to Russia’s aggressive rhetoric and its military spending. Why didn’t we move NATO bases eastward a decade ago? Our failure to do so has now led to a terrifying plunge of confidence in Central Europe. Countries once eager to contribute to the alliance are now afraid. A string of Russian provocations unnerve the Baltic region: the buzzing of Swedish airspace, the kidnapping of an Estonian security officer.

Our mistake was not to humiliate Russia but to underrate Russia’s revanchist, revisionist, disruptive potential. If the only real Western achievement of the past quarter-century is now under threat, that’s because we have failed to ensure that NATO continues to do in Europe what it was always meant to do: deter. Deterrence is not an aggressive policy; it is a defensive policy. But in order to work, deterrence has to be real. It requires investment, consolidation and support from all of the West, and especially the United States. I’m happy to blame American triumphalism for many things, but in Europe I wish there had been more of it.

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lilolakes · 1 year

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Ekvillan - 'The oak villa'

Ekvillan is a spacious family villa inspired by swedish architecture from the turn of the last century.

I chose to call it 'Ekvillan' - 'The oak villa' in swedish, since there is a big oak tree in the garden. It has a vegetable garden, bees, a chicken coop, and a treehouse. There's plenty of cozy little spots to hang out and eat 'fika'.

Please note that this was built using cc. The lot is partially playtested. DOWNLOAD (SFS)

Some of the cc is included, the rest is linked below. The lot can also be fould on the gallery (ID: Lilolakes)

My lovely friend @zebrasimmer_ on Instagram had her one year instaversary recently, and to celebrate she hosted a little collab were we created different builds inspired by her (and also my-) home country - Sweden. This was my contribution.

Check out the other builds in the collab, by @zebrasimmer_ , @simsaga_ and @sims.erezkigal on Instagram.

Packs used

Ep:s All of the ones released before 2023 Game packs: Werevolwes, My Wedding Stories, Dream Home Decorator, Journey to Batuu, Realm of Magic, StrangerVille, Jungle Adventure, Parenthood, Vampires, Dine Out, Spa Day, Outdoor Retreat Stuff packs: Paranormal, Nifty Knitting, Tiny Living, Laundry Day, Vintage Glamour, Kids Room, Romantic garden, Spooky Stuff Kits: Country Kitchen, Courtyard Oasis, Decor to the Max, Everyday clutter

Required CC

Here are the links for all the cc required for the lot to look as intended.

This is my first time sharing a build using cc. I might have gone a biiit overboard with it, so it's pretty cc heavy. Sorry 'bout that! ;)

All credit goes out to the amazing creators! I have done my best not to miss anyone, and to respect all of the creators TOU. Please tell me if you notice something that I've missed!

Anniee sims -Area rug

ATS4 (Around the sims 4) -IKEA-like stepstool -Cereal box -Crate seat -Toy train set -Candle and old book -Grocery paper bag (the first one) -Harvestable aromatic plants, Basil, Rosemary and Thyme -Rocking toy alligator, Farm puzzle and blackboard -Preschool blocks and House

Charly Pancakes -The candle, moodbooster

conceptdesign97 -Pumpkin vine

Cowbuild -Pleated curved floor lamp and lazy loveseat throw pillow

Dew of the sea -Accordion wall rack, S4, unmerged

Fadedsprings -William Morris-ish wallpaper set

Felixandre -Grove part 1 -Grove part 2: bowls, cups and salad bowl -Grove part 3 -Grove part 4 -Kyoto part 2 -Berlin part 1 -Shop the look Season 1 -London set exterior

Harlix -Tiny Twavellers Binoculars, crocodile, hot air balloon lamp (short), swing (medium), hanging wall world map -Baysic (different items)

Harrie -Shop the look 2

Icemunmun at ModTheSims -Harvestable corn stalks

Leaf Motif at Curseforge -Wall lamp and vintage tiles

Leniad at ModTheSims -Pumpkin plant

Leosims -Carton of eggs

Lilis-Palace -Jugendstil tiles set -Folklore set

LittleDica -Deligracy Delicato Stuff Pack

MadameRia -Back to Basics Pot Holder (Wall version) and Wire Basket Dish Rack

Maman-Gateau at Sims Artists -Whicker basket with lid from this set

Mutske at TSR -Alda arch with private doors 2x1 -Alda arch 2x1 -Alda privatdoor 1x1

MXIMS -Ikea ypperlig table and mirror -Stokke high-chair -Aesop Bathroom Tray -Plants 1,2,6,7 -String Shelf System (Shelf B):

My cup of CC -Tiny dreamers set (merged)

Novvas -Pumpkins in a basket -Random Runners -Elo bathroom IKEA rug -Kids drawings from this set -Painting collection

Nutter-Butter-1 at ModTheSims -Old Floor Tile Set

Picture Amoebae -Allisas Fall '18 Panels

Pierisim -Oak house part 3 -Oak house part 2 -Rold Skov kitchen mini kit -Domaine Du Clos part 1 -Domaine Du Clos part 3 -Domaine Du Clos part 4 -The COLDBREW coffee shop pt 1 - 1/2 -The COLDBREW coffee shop pt 1 - 2/2 -The COLDBREW coffee shop pt. 2

Plumbob Tea Society -Deco Botanical Scroll, woodpile and raised garden beds

Raindrops on cowplants -Gothic revival build set

Severinka at TSR -big pumpkin 02 -small pumpkins 07

SimC (Simcredible designs) at TSR -Coastal Extras - daisy in tall vase

Simspell -Autumn & Spooky-ish Paintings (Part 1)

SixamCC -Birker Line ceiling light (different versions) -Small Spaces deco pantry items -Small Spaces Pantry CC Pack - Mixer (Standalone version) -Dreamy Outdoors floor light

Soloriya at TSR -Two candles -Collection of candles -Pencil sharpener and erasers

TaTschu -Lighted fence (Leosims recolor)

Tech Hippie -Plants from these two sets

Vintage Simmer -Patchwork set -Noah plush rabbit -SBP Octopus -L&C Plush lemon

Wondymoon TSR -Lybica Kitchen Hanger -Protactinium Rug

Wondymoon.com -Ceratonia kitchen counters 1 and 2, island counter, cabinets, corner cabinet and stove hood.

Credit for the cc included in the download: 13pumpkin, Aggressive Kitty, Aira-cc, Awingedllama, Baufive, DK Sims, Honeycuts , IllogicalSims, KKB, Linacherie, Meinkatz, Mio-Sims, Myshunosun, NynaeveDesign, Peacemaker IC, Pocci, Sanoysims, Sforzinda, Slox, Spirashun, Syboulette

Reshade used for screenshots: Dove 2.0 by Kindlespice

T.O.O.L-mod by Twisted Mexi was used to create this build. You don't need it to place the lot, but I recommend that you go check it out. It can be found here: https://twistedmexi.com

I hope you enjoy my build. Please tag me if you share any gameplay pictures from the lot, I'd love to see it!

♡ Lilolakes

#thesims4 #thesims4house #thesims4build #sims4build #sims4house #simblr #sims4cc #thesims #showusyourbuilds #thesimscommunity #ts4 #sims4housedesign #sims #simshouse #simstagram #ts4cc

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rockyp77mk3 · 1 year

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Germans celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz, 12 November 1989. Note to revisionists: No one did this to flee capitalism,

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val-velocityy · 7 months

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Birthday Surprise aka The Berlin Episode.

I'm a history student and I had a good laugh about this episode and some thoughts I wanted to share:

This is about the Episode "Birthday Surprise"

Summary: "The kids prepare to celebrate Sportacus's birthday, but Robbie has built a wall across LazyTown that makes it impossible for the kids to play together."

So the episode goes that Robbie builds a wall, separating the town from east to west. This is very similar to the events that happened on 08/13/61 when the Berlin wall was constructed. Much like in the Episode itself, it was seemingly built overnight.

That's obviously not completely true, it took multiple years, however whole families were separated, houses were destroyed that were in the way and nobody could enter or exit. Which is also pretty similar to the Episode.

This is most likely just a huge coincidence, but much like Lazytown itself, the city of Berlin has a round(ish) shape.

Another similarity is that much like Sportacus' Airship there was the "Berliner Luftbrücke" the air supply chain that helped out West Berlin.

Much like in real life, the townspeople themselves started to take the wall apart. Also since this is the point where the wall fell, it would technically be Checkpoint Charlie.

This victory was later celebrated with the Song "I've been looking for freedom" by David Hasslehof... Stephanie obviously sings Bing Bang at the end of every episode, but to think they celebrated the fall of the wall the same way was nice.

While I was doing my little research I stumbled upon the Lazytown Wiki and found some interesting trivia:

The Wall fell on November 9, 1989. So the production of this episode was exactly 17 years after it happened.

Also, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought about the Berlin wall. Apparently, this was the intention of the episode.

This makes me really happy to see, to have some of your history represented in media, even if it was obviously way oversimplified. Which is also fine, this is a children's TV show after all.

If you want to watch the full episode, you can watch it on YouTube:

youtube

#lazytown #robbie rotten #sportacus #stefan karl stefansson #stephanie meanswell #theory #yes i cited my sources #also yes a lot of it is from Wikipedia #sorry not sorry #Youtube

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rabbitcruiser · 7 months

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Tag der Deutschen Einheit

German Unity Day is celebrated on October 3 to commemorate the unification of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic into a single federal Germany on the same date in 1990. A public holiday, the day is characterized by concerts, communal meals, speeches by politicians, and fireworks.

History of National Unity Day

After WWII, Germany was divided into four military sectors, each controlled by France, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. In 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was formed and, on October 7 of the same year, the German Democratic Republic (also known as the DDR — ‘Deutsche Demokratische Republik’) was formed.

The political tensions in post-war Europe did not allow much interaction between the people of the two countries. The DDR exercised strong resistance against repression of its political opponents. Thousands of people were kept under surveillance by the German police.

On September 4, 1989, a peaceful protest was carried out by the people of Leipzig against the DDR government. More such demonstrations in other DDR cities took place calling for political reforms and the opening of the borders. And on November 9 that year, the checkpoints between the two German countries were opened and people could travel freely once more. This date marked the ‘fall’ of the Berlin Wall.

Democratic elections further paved the way for the people to come together in the DDR. Finally, in August 1990, the leaders of both countries signed the Treaty of Unification, and Germany’s unification was made official on October 3, 1990.

The Berlin Wall and the Brandenburg Gate are two very important symbols of Germany’s division and the unification of Germany in 1990. Images of both of these are put on display on German Unity Day all across Germany. The day is celebrated as a three-day festival around the Brandenburg Gate and at the Reichstag around Platz der Republik.

National Unity Day timeline

May 23, 1949

Federal Republic of Germany Forms

The German sectors of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States come together to form the Federal Republic of Germany.

October 7, 1949

German Democratic Republic

The sector controlled by the Soviet Union becomes the German Democratic Republic (also known as the DDR — ‘Deutsche Demokratische Republik’).

November 9, 1989

Berlin Wall Falls

On November 4, an estimated 50,000 people gather for a mass protest in East Berlin — five days later, the Berlin Wall dividing communist East Germany from West Germany crumbles.

August 31, 1990

Unification Treaty is Signed

The Unification Treaty is signed, allowing a reunited Germany to become fully sovereign the following year.

National Unity Day FAQs

What is German Unity Day called in German?

German Unity Day is called ‘Tag der Deutschen Einheit’ (The Day of German Unity).

What does German Unity Day celebrate?

The Day of German Unity is Germany’s national holiday. It commemorates the German reunification in 1990 and is celebrated with a festival around Platz der Republik, Straße des 17.

What is closed on German Unity Day?

German Unity Day is a public holiday in Germany so post offices, banks, and many businesses are closed. Nearly all stores are closed, although a few may be open in some city areas.

How To Celebrate German Unity Day

Celebrate the local cultureCelebrate with all the locals at the Charlottenburg Palace. Experience the neighborhoods of Berlin while taking a stroll through Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, and Mitte.

Watch films and documentaries about GermanyThere are many famous documentaries about Germany and the Berlin Wall. Some of them include “Busting the Berlin Wall,” “Stasi – East Germany’s Secret Police,” “After the Wall: A World United,” “Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall,” and more.

Visit the specific city of observanceA famous feature of German Unity Day is the observance of the day in one of the 16 states’ capitals every year, which hosts the celebration.

5 Interesting Facts About The Berlin Wall

Two walls: The 27-mile barrier separating Berlin into east and west had two concrete walls that had a 160-yards-wide ‘death strip’ in-between with watchtowers, guard dogs, floodlights, machine guns, and more.

Death on the Wall: More than 100 people died while trying to cross the Berlin Wall, by gunshots, fatal accidents, or suicide.

The great escape: More than 5,000 people escaped by either going over or under the Berlin Wall.

Berlin in Vegas: A piece of the Berlin Wall is now in the bathroom of the Main Street Station Casino in Las Vegas.

In memory of Ida Siekmann: The Berlin Wall cycle route has a glass plaque honoring Ida Siekmann who was the first person to die while trying to cross the wall and flee to East Berlin.

Why German Unity Day Is Significant

It celebrates the unification of Germany: The establishment of Germany as a federal country after years of division since 1945 and the unification of East and West Germany is worth celebrating.

Fall of the Berlin Wall: It commemorates the day when the wall dividing communist East Germany and West Germany crumbled. This was just five days after almost 50,000 people gathered in a mass protest in East Berlin.

Dissolution of the German Democratic Republic: The date marks the dissolution of the German territory controlled by the Soviet Union and the day it joined the Federal Republic of Germany.

Source

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rainbowcarousels · 1 year

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Happy New Years!

I've been stuck at a family thing for about three hours and have decided to write this on my phone. As such, if there's typos, I'll fix them later.

Thank you for putting up with my nonsense all year, folks!

five new years eves with daniel and armand

Preview:

“Daniel,” Armand’s voice brought him out of his mind. “It’s after midnight.”

So it was. “Happy New Year,” Daniel said, just for something to say.

Armand did nothing but stand like a statue for thirty long seconds before blinking and shifting, like said statue coming to life. “Happy New Year, Daniel.”

There was something about the timbre of his voice when he said Daniel’s name that made Daniel want to weep.

Next year, if he survived long enough, he was going to get fall down drunk. He couldn’t deal with this shit sober.

The first New Years Eve that Daniel spends in the company of his dead stalker isn’t the first one since he started running, but the second.

In the year and a bit since this game of predator and prey began, something had begun to shift. Armand had shown himself more often. Daniel wasn’t naive enough to think that he hadn’t always been tracing his steps, so he must be allowing himself to be seen – this faux youth sitting on a bench as Daniel came out of a grocery store or sitting down beside him on a bus only to stare at him. Daniel wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted. Armand hadn’t been forthcoming with much communication, only stared at him as if he were some grand crossword puzzle and he was trying to work out how all the words intersected.

Daniel found himself in Krakow for his second New Years Eve since meeting Louis, since everything had changed. Being one of a million faces in the city gave him a modicum of anonymity, or so he had thought until Armand grabbed the menu out of his hand to look at it. They were holed up in an old town cafe on a corner, black and white photographs adorning the walls and a grand chandelier dropped down uncomfortably close to the tables. There was a contrast there in the dented walls, the peeling paint and promise of better times.

“What could you possibly want that for?” Daniel demanded, ignoring how white Armand looked in the ambient light. An unearthly child, an angel that swooped too close to the ground and had its wings torn off. “You don’t eat.”

“I drink,” Armand told him. “I’d be careful about inciting that hunger. I can hear your heart.”

As if to prove the point, Armand reached over and pressed his fingers against Daniel’s rib cage. They pressed hard with every slam of his heart and Daniel could only watch, mesmerised.

Then he was gone, and Daniel ordered himself a stronger drink or three.

—

The following year, Daniel chose to spend his New Year's Eve celebrating the fact he was still alive by eating takeaway in his hotel. He’d been in West Berlin less than twenty-four hours, so he thought he’d have more time before his demonic familiar showed up to chase him to his next destination.

But no, Daniel had been in mid-bite when he became aware if Armand at the window. Had he climbed up into it without being seen, as he had done in Paris? How did no one notice such things? The city was a crowded metropolis on New Years Eve, someone had to have seen this weird little creature coming up a building like he was reenacting incy wincy spider.

“What's an incy wincy spider?”

Daniel tried not to startle as the thought seemed to be plucked from his mind. “It’s a children’s song.”

Armand’s nose wrinkled ever so slightly. “What makes it a children’s song?”

“I don’t know,” Daniel shrugged. “Simplistic rhymes? Easily relatable subject matter? Grown men probably shouldn’t use the words incy wincy?”

“You did,” Armand replied, glancing over him in a way that made Daniel’s skin prickle. It must have been nerves. “You are fully grown.”

“Have been for a while now,” Daniel agreed. “But I’m not a shining model of mental health and fortitude, am I?”

“What’s wrong with your mental health and fortitude?” Armand phrased it like it was a genuine question, as if he was curious about how Daniel’s mind worked – or didn’t, as was often the case.

“I doubt most people would run away from their lives to play chase with a vampire,” Daniel pointed out lightly. He pressed his finger to his temple. “Something must have gone wrong in there.”

Armand looked at him with an electrifying scrutiny, like he could see inside each of the parts of his body and mind. How the mechanisms that formed him functioned and failed, how the neurons in his brain fired off and dulled once they’d completed their purpose. It was uncomfortable, but strangely, not in a way he disliked. That was something else he could probably chalk up to his brain being a little on the peculiar side.

“What caused it?” Armand asked. Maybe he didn’t know either.

There was no real answer to that. If anything, Daniel could have, would have and should have been living the fabled American dream. He came from a ‘good home’, in that he was sure that his parents and grandparents loved him in their own way. They’d provided for him, sent him to Sunday school to learn right from wrong, paid for college and he’d gotten his first job right out of it. By now, he probably should have met a nice girl and gotten a ring on her finger. Maybe an ankle biter on the way.

It was just all so…mediocre. There was nothing grand about it, nothing special. No grand romance, no heart stopping pleasure, no – no this.

“Daniel,” Armand’s voice brought him out of his mind. “It’s after midnight.”

So it was. “Happy New Year,” Daniel said, just for something to say.

Armand did nothing but stand like a statue for thirty long seconds before blinking and shifting, like said statue coming to life. “Happy New Year, Daniel.”

There was something about the timbre of his voice when he said Daniel’s name that made Daniel want to weep.

Next year, if he survived long enough, he was going to get fall down drunk. He couldn’t deal with this shit sober.

—

“Why don’t you attend the parties?”

Armand showed up like an apparition on the seat opposite Daniel’s in Brooklyn. True to his word, Daniel had started drinking as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon and other than eating his weight in fries and the occasional piss, he hadn’t moved since then.

“What parties?” Daniel asked, fingering the glass. Everything was a little buzzed but he was pretty sure he could still walk without swaying so he wasn’t nearly drunk enough to deal with Armand yet.

“People go to parties,” Armand said, as if he were stating something he’d read in a magazine somewhere. That clinical detachment. “I’ve seen them. They dress up. They dance. You don’t.”

“I haven’t spoken to my friends in years,” Daniel pointed out. “How would I be invited to a New Years Eve party?”

“Do you have to be invited?” Armand asked.

“No, it’s perfectly normal to show up uninvited to a stranger's home or insert yourself into the holiday plans,” Daniel replied. Actually, if this was what Armand truly thought, then this would explain a lot about him. “Did you eschew manners as a mortal too or is this just a vampiric development?”

“You’re drunk,” Armand said.

“You’re dead,” Daniel said. “If we could find someone to be another d-word, we could form a jazz trio.”

“Do you play a musical instrument, Daniel?” It should be illegal, the way he sounds when he says Daniel’s name.

“No,” Daniel admitted. “I’d have to sing and then we’d get thrown out of places. That’s real music for you, it’s not real if you don’t get thrown out.”

Armand grabbed the glass out of his hand – at least, Daniel thought he must have because it was now inexplicably in his hand and he was sniffing it. “Call yourself a cab,” Armand said suddenly. “If you fall and get yourself killed before I’m done with you, I’m going to be very upset with you.”

Daniel called the cab.

—

The first New Years Eve Daniel spends with Armand as his lover is in Scotland. They attend a Hogmanay street party spilling out from a seventeenth century church in Edinburgh and Armand is enraptured by the clothing, the food and the dancing. There were large bonfires and fireworks with a torchlight procession through the area. People dressed in traditional clothing, but others dressed like Vikings.

(No, Armand, I don’t know why.)

At midnight, people began to come into large circles and take each others’ crossed arms. They sang Auld Lang Syne, a thundering rendition by hundreds of people and finally, people kissed one another. A tradition that Daniel was familiar with, but he wasn’t sure if Armand would appreciate him doing it now in public.

“Aren’t you going to ask me why they’re kissing?” Daniel whispered into Armand’s ear, his nose brushing against the cold of it.

“It’s for good luck,” Armand replied.

Daniel tried not to feel dampened by the idea someone had already told him. Most of the time, it could be annoying to have to explain things but he also felt possessive about it. A mass of confusion, as all things with Armand are.

Armand smiled ever so slightly, “We did this too, when I was human.”

Oh.

Daniel hadn’t considered that. He wasn’t sure how far back the tradition went or where it came from, but Armand so infrequently spoke about his life at all – and even less so about his mortal life – that he hadn’t thought of it.

“You had parties and masks, to ward away the evil of the last year.” Daniel listened as Armand went on. “Then tore the mask away, inviting love and luck into you and banishing the bad things.”

“We don’t wear masks,” Daniel said, almost afraid to say anything at all in case he broke this spell and Armand stopped talking.

“No,” Armand said. “We should kiss now.”

Daniel swallowed hard and nodded, sliding his hand into Armand’s hair and drawing their mouths together. It would never cease to amaze him how oddly cool the inside of his mouth was, or rather, no temperature at all, like putting your fingers in body temperature water. Something in him wanted to push his tongue against Armand’s fangs, but given the noises that tended to come out of him, they’d probably get arrested for public indecency.

It would be worth it, but Armand pulled away with the promise of later in those big, indulgent eyes of his.

—

It took three years to make it to Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve.

The problem was that they corralled the people into the area early, often just after dark. Then no one else could come in or out, so you either got in or you didn’t.

Thanks to some finangling from Armand’s mental powers, they made it there on their third try. They could have bewitched someone to let them in the previous years, but they’d gone ice skating instead and then stolen someone’s car and attended house parties of people they didn’t know. Sometimes he thought back to telling Armand that people didn’t do that, but maybe neither of them really classified as mere people anymore.

People were cheering, waving around the signs and he kept his hand around Armand’s wrist so he didn’t lose him in the crowd. The cheering was deafening, the crowd excited for the lighted apple as it slowly began to make its way down and there it was, the giant lit up letters of the New Year on the side of the building as balloons and confetti dropped. A rousing edition of Auld Lang Syne took over the crowds, the same but different.

“Happy New Year, beloved.” Armand whispered it aloud, but he could hear it as it was a beacon inside his head.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Daniel was gripped by the terror that another year had passed, that it crept closer to a decade since he had learned about this other world and he was stuck, mortal and dying within the passage of time.

“You only grow more beautiful to me.” Armand said it with such sincerity that it was almost painful. It was something he’d want to fight him on, that he wasn’t more beautiful, he was getting older and slower and he’d want to find a new play thing soon.

“Maybe this is the year I finally convince you,” Daniel suggested,

“I hope not,” Armand’s hand grasped at his clothes like a drowning man reaching for purchase against the waves. He couldn’t even look him in the eye to say it. “I don’t want to lose you.”

How could making him immortal, how could them being forever amount to losing him? Daniel wanted to argue it, but they’d argued it so many times. Right now, drunk on alcohol, Armand and atmosphere, it was hard not to get swept up in the joviality of the moment: in being seen as beautiful, in Armand’s honey voice in his head and the feeling of his curls against his cheek.

“Dance with me?” Daniel suggested, his heart swelling in his chest when Armand lifted his eyes to him and he saw his smile bloom on his face.

They could argue any night. This was their fresh new start to the year and he wanted to start it as he meant to go on: enveloped in his lovers arms, dancing to to their own music and utterly, desperately in love.

#happy new years eve #devil's minion #daniel/armand #vc #fic

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beesinspades · 10 months

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oh my god I haven't been tagged in one of these in what feels like AGES. thank you @the-13th-battalion!

What book are you currently reading? I started the sun and the star but I've been way too distracted with fics, writing, and drawing :(

What's your favorite movie you saw in theaters this year? in theaters? I haven't seen many, but I'd say suzume!

What do you usually wear? ever since I tried cargo pants for my milo thatch cosplay earlier this year, I've been wearing almost only that, with a teeshirt or a tank top. I also got my first pair of combat boots and I'm obsessed with them even though I still haven't managed breaking them in. but also I love jeans and a good shirt paired with a waistcoat! and when it's not hot I almost always wear an old man's cap

How tall are you? 5'7 (173cm)

What's your star sign? Do you share a birthday with a celebrity or a historical event? scorpio. I share my birthday (not the year though) with the fall of the berlin wall. but also with lillium from countdown to countdown which is a webcomic that you all should read :3

Do you go by your name or a nickname? yes

Did you grow up to become what you wanted to be when you were a child? i didn't know who i wanted to be as a child and i still don't. but i do believe teen me would think I look cool at least!

Are you in a relationship? If not, who is your crush if you have one? eternally single, and I haven't had a crush in years #greyarostruggles

What's something you're good at vs. something you're bad at? I'm good enough at writing (it's the only thing I've got going for me alongside cooking hahaha), and I'm very bad at keeping in touch with friends, especially if we don't share an obsession over the same special interest to start conversation about. which sucks because interests aligning like this doesn't happen often :') i hate how my brain works

Dogs or cats? love dogs but i'll always be a cat person :3

If you draw/write, or create in any way, what's your favorite picture/favorite line/favorite etc. from something you created this year? this year and one favorite line? mmh maybe this one: “I'm a priest, remember? I’ll show you all the other ways I can worship you.” also I'm really proud of my ace vash pride art!

What's something you'd like to create content for? baldur's gate 3! I'd like to write a fic with my tav and astarion, but ah, I'm not sure I'll manage with all the trigun stuff I already have in the works.

What's something you're currently obsessed with? [glances at current state of my blog, then at my reflection in the mirror: tristamp vash hair, vash glasses, vash teeshirt, vash's gay earring, vash tattoo] do i really have to answer this one

What's something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year? nah it's fine so far in terms of things I was excited about

What's a hidden talent of yours? i can blink and whoop i've impulsively spent money I shouldn't have spent again!

Are you religious? nope

What's something you wish to have at this moment? a hug and a miracle cure for my stupidly resilient acid reflux issues

I tag @curiosity-killed, @piyo-13, @wrathyforest, @graphitedemon, but no obligations of course~

#tag chain

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purlturtle · 2 years

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German Reunification/Unity Day (Tag der Deutschen Einheit)

Today, October 3rd, is German Reunification, or Unity, Day. The literal translation of Einheit is unity, the commemoration is of the reunification of East and West Germany, so I put both into the headline. The official English name of the holiday is German Unity Day.

October 3rd is a national holiday in Germany, and as I might have mentioned before, it is my absolute favorite.

Why?

Two reasons: one, it is not a religious one. And two, it's a celebration of a remarkable event: a peaceful revolution. More on both points under the readmore; I'll also add my personal experiences (as a ten-year-old) with the Fall of the Berlin Wall in a reblog.

Germany has nine* country-wide holidays, of which only two, today and May 1st, are unequivocally non-religious (May 1st being, of course, Labor/May Day). And only October 3 is an actual federal holiday (as in, enshrined in federal, as opposed to state, law).

(*dear German pea counters, or nit-pickers of other nationalities: yes, we have more public holidays than that, but they differ by state. Only nine are recognized in every single German state: Neujahr (New Year's Day), Karfreitag (Good Friday), Ostermontag (Easter Monday), Maifeiertag/Tag der Arbeit (Labor Day/May Day), Himmelfahrt (Ascension), Pfingstmontag (Pentecost) Tag der Deutschen Einheit (German Unity Day), erster und zweiter Weihnachtsfeiertag (Christmas Day and Dec 26). And if you think Neujahr isn't connected to religion: have you ever asked people of other religions when *their* new year is?)

Also, October 3rd marks an occasion that is unprecedented in the history of this country (and perhaps even this part of the world): the fall of a regime without a single battle fought, a single shot fired. Many factors came together to allow for this; if the Soviet Union hadn't been on a massive decline that caused her to step back from the aggressive Brezhnev Doctrine ("any threat to socialist rule in any state of the Soviet Bloc is a threat to them all, and therefore justifies intervention"), it wouldn't have happened. If Gorbachev hadn't implemented his policies of Glasnost and Perestroika, it wouldn't have happened. If the East German people hadn't amassed and persisted in their peaceful demonstrations, it wouldn't have happened. If Hungary hadn't opened her borders or the Prague embassy her doors, it wouldn't have happened. If Schabowski hadn't said what he said in the press conference, it wouldn't have happened. If any Berlin border crossing guard had decided (or been instructed) to use lethal force, it wouldn't have happened. And no, neither Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" nor David Hasselhoff's concert was in any way crucial; those are some nice 'Murican myths some people like to tell themselves.

There are plenty of things to criticize about the ensuing political and social process of the reunification - it has left plenty of scars, economic, social, political, that endure to this day, especially in the eastern states - but every year on this day, Germany celebrates the success of those of its people, predominantly in the East, who stated, over and over again, "Wir sind das Volk": we are the people. As in "for the people and by the people", you know? And the will of the people was heard, could not be denied, and thus came about. And fuck yeah, that is worth celebrating.

Important side note on the date: the Wall came down on November 9, 1989. All those pictures you might remember, of people standing on top of the wall? That was November 9. Then why, you may ask, was November 9 not chosen as the holiday to celebrate this? Because November 9 is, among other things, also the date of the Night of Broken Glass, the first Nazi-led mass attack on Jewish businesses, synagogues, private homes etc. - and celebrating anything on this day, in Germany, is poor taste to say the least. October 3rd was the date on which the new eastern states joined the rest of the German states in formal reunification, and so was chosen as the date for the holiday.

If you have further questions, don't hesitate to ask - I'm not a historian, but I'll still try to find you answers!

#tag der deutschen einheit #german unity day #german reunification #german history #october 3rd

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gardengnosticator · 2 months

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West Germans flying the Confederate flag to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall and i'm meant to believe that's the better more moral Germany?

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mariacallous · 1 year

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Ukraine is now bearing an unthinkable price for the fall of the Berlin Wall and the so-called Friedliche Revolution (or Peaceful Revolution) of 1989 that was so much celebrated in Germany. It was famously called Die Nachholende Revolution, the “catch-up revolution,” by the de facto German state philosopher Jürgen Habermas—a term that symptomatically reveals the basic Western understanding of Eastern Europe’s role after the collapse of the communist bloc. The only task the region was assigned was simply catching-up with the West regardless of its actual historical experience. The ongoing war shows that this catch-up revolution became a catch-up regression into complacency, mirroring the general trajectory of the West after the proclaimed “end of history.”

Ukraine’s victory over Russia would indeed mean a genuine revolution for the West. It would require, foremost from Europe, a radical transformation. Eventual European Union and NATO enlargement are necessary—but only what lies on the surface. That is the same reason why the European Union couldn’t accept the political outcomes of Ukraine’s Euromaidan revolution of 2014. As a political marketplace—or agora, in ancient Greek—reclaimed by its citizens, the Euromaidan revolution dragged Europe back to its roots of democracy, justice, anti-oligarchy, and freedom. In its revolutionary nature, Euromaidan was so fundamentally European that it turned out to be too European for today’s EU. Ukraine appeared to be a test that Europe failed to pass. But Euromaidan is not just a story of an exciting revolutionary past; it has allowed Ukraine to survive and effectively resist Russia’s atrocious war of aggression today.

In reality, Ukraine has experienced three Euromaidans—all different but driven by the same political intention. The first one in 2014 was a revolutionary Euromaidan, which successfully opposed an authoritarian bloody assault on society. The second one in 2019 was an electoral Euromaidan, which elevated to the presidency a person capable of maintaining the state during an existentially critical moment. And the third one was a war Euromaidan, when the whole country became one armed revolution opposing Russia’s military invasion in February 2022. The juxtaposition of the first and the last is pivotal—in 2014, the Euromaidan social movement was against an internal oppressor, the state repressive apparatus seized by a criminal autocrat; in 2022, the Euromaidan movement unified with the state to resist an external military oppressor. The history of the Euromaidan thus demonstrates that revolutions can improve the state in a progressive direction, away from authoritarianism—indeed, this is exactly why Russia launched a war of annihilation against the country.

Why the West Is Afraid of Ukraine’s Victory

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soapkaars · 3 months

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For the ask game: 31, 61, 62 and 98?

Asks come from this post: https://www.tumblr.com/soapkaars/742324378777403392/weird-asks-that-say-a-lot

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?

I think I love this question now because I went through my selfies and I found so many fun outfits I’ve worn that I feel so much better about myself now! It’s hard to pick a favourite, but I think my favourite outfit range is between divorced Parisian femme and con-artist/disgraced nobility masc

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?

Oh there are so many great films I’ve seen that it’s hard to choose one but here are few that I often mutter to myself:

‘Impossible? Napoleon said that word isn’t French!’ (Dr Gogol, Mad Love)

‘Morirá!’ (He will die) ‘murió’ (he died) ‘ha muerto’ (he is dead) from a video art installation by two old Spanish artists who shown sitting on two plastic chairs and listing off all the celebrities who had died or who will die

‘Tell their mother they’re doing quite well and they will leave us soon, yes they will be going on a journey… how did Shakespeare say it? Ah yes, From which no man returns.’ (Abbott from The Man Who Knew too Much, said with a typical Peter Lorre shit-eating grin)

The whole cerulean sweater speech from The Devil wears Prada

62. seven characters you relate to?

Definitely Abbott from the Man Who Knew too Much, that man is goals… as well as David Suchet’s Hercule Poirot. I’ve even got the arrogance and grandiosity down pat! For the rest I relate too much to loser men like Marcello Mastroianni in Eight and a Half and Joel Cairo from the Maltese Falcon. Other characters would be terrible women like Miranda Priestly from the Devil Wears Prada, Cruella de Ville (she only wanted to fulfill her vision of a fur coat made from puppies!), and Helen Sharp from Death Becomes Her (played by Goldie Hawn!)

98. favorite historical era?

Oh definitely the Weimar era - I am in love with Dadaism and artists like George Grosz and Otto Dix from that period of time. It fascinates me to no end and almost all of the art movements from that time have been a huge influence on my own style of drawing and art. Other close contenders are late 17th century Netherlands (1672, the ‘disaster year’ when the country was invaded by the French and a prime minister was eaten up by an angry mob who were also part of a coup d’etat carried out by the Prince of Orange), the French Revolution, and the Cold War era, particularly from the 70s to the 80s with the rise of counterculture and the fall of the Berlin Wall which released an explosion of art, design, architecture (post modernism babeyyyy!!)… I have this fascination with periods of transition and I always love learning more and more about them!

#ask soap #ask game #weird asks #thanks for the ask!#soapbox #my weird interests

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sixteen-juniper · 8 months

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Ok ok so i didn’t want to ask this in a comment on your fic so I’ll ask here, since you clearly got some classical music love in ya do you have any pieces to recommend for those classic musically illiterate i.e. me? Or just any that ya really really like? Cause those are some bops you’ve been dropping in your authors notes and I’m wanting more sweet sweet tunes 😆

Oh my god, do I ever. This is the greatest ask, thank you! I made the biggest word doc to catalogue everything, because I love classical music and love spreading that love. Obviously Mozart is his own section. I'm adding some explainers as to why I like these pieces / the mood you might want to be in to listen to them. Linking to Youtube because it's the most accessible! If you do listen to anything on this list, please tell me what you think. I left out so much but these are my favorites!

Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring: If you want to cause a riot in Paris in 1900, (which actually happened) this is the way to do it. God, this one goes SO hard from beginning to end. Firebird is gorgeous as well, but there’s nothing like dancing around your apartment to those drums. Rite of Spring is around 35-40 minutes depending on the recording and just one of my favorites.

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony – I’m deliberately linking to the Berlin Celebration concert, played to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall because it’s so incredibly moving, especially the Ode to Joy, as sung here. There's this raw emotion in this recording that really hits for me (1h,30mins)

Prokofiev – Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet – Another piece that has no rights to go as hard as it does!

Tchaikovsky – You can’t go wrong with any of his ballets! Swan Lake , Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker Pas de Deux are all gorgeous, full of great highs and lows. Tchaikovsky is popular for good reason!

Saint-Saens - Danse Macabre It is almost Halloween!

Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto #2 aka Rach2. I love this one in particular because it really is a piece that feels of its time in a way that has to be heard. It’s about 40 minutes long.

Erik Satie – Gnossienes 1-6 and Gymnopedies 1-3. God these are so soft and beautiful. My go to work music at the moment when I need to focus. They’re each fairly short, so they’re good quick listens.

Holst – The Planets Suite I think my favorite is Jupiter but they are all good. The full suite is around 45 minutes, but you can jump around!

Antonio Vivaldi – The Four Seasons You will probably know this from commercials or movies, I feel like Spring and Winter especially are very well known, for a reason. They’re great! Each is a pretty quick listen! (under 10 mins)

Aaron Copland – Appalachian Spring. The Doppio movimento was my #1 most listened to song of 2021, but it’s all great.

Mozart!!

He's my guy! I went to Vienna specifically because I love him so much. It was a struggle to not give you only Mozart on this list.

Opera Overtures/Arias

The Marriage of Figaro, Cosi fan Tutte, Die Zauberflaute/The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, Idomeneo

Arias (mostly Flute bc this list is too long already)

Tamino’s Dies Bildnis (obviously you knew this one) Papageno’s Der Vogelfanger bin Ich ja. The Queen of the Night/ Der Hölle Rache <- god OP this one slaps so hard it can’t be contained. Soave sia il vento from Cosi fan Tutte which is a trio and gorgeous.

Instrumental

Eine Klein Nachtmusic, Piano Sonata 16, Symphony 29, The Requiem, I’m linking you to the Lacrimosa for some haunted vibes, Symphony No. 25, Symphony 40

Let's get weird!

Olivier Messiaen - Turangalila Symphony (for Futurama fans, iykyk) and the Quartet for the End of Time. I saw Turangalila when I lived in Seattle and it was transcendent.

#classical music #ask #opinions

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scotianostra · 1 year

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Happy Birthday world renowned photographer Harry Benson, born in Glasgow December 2nd 1929, making 93 today!

And yet another with nothing online about his early life, Harry left school aged thirteen and began working for a local paper, the Hamilton Advertiser. In 1958 he graduated to the cut-throat centre of the tabloid press on London’s Fleet Street, working for the Daily Sketch and then the Daily Express.

On an assignment for the Daily Express, Benson travelled with the Beatles to America in 1964. Continuing to live and work in the US ever since, Benson’s photographs have graced the pages of the most influential magazines and newspapers of the twentieth century.

This guy has been around during some of the worlds most famous events, he was feet away when Bobby Kennedy was assassinated; in the room when Nixon resigned; with Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Meredith march; and with Coretta Scott King at her husband’s funeral. Benson chronicled the building of the Berlin wall and its fall, and covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Celebrities Benson has photographed include Bobby Fischer, Elizabeth Taylor, Muhammad Ali and Michael Jackson, hi pics have graced the pages of the top magazines including Life, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker and was the subject of a BBC Scotland documentary, called Photography: Harry Benson which was written by William McIlvanney.

Benson has taken over one-hundred cover shots for People Magazine, and his photography has been featured in Architectural Digest and Newsweek. He has had more than forty solo gallery exhibitions and has had fifteen books of his photography published.

Harry Benson’s photography is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. Both museums exhibited the 2006-2007 exhibition, Harry Benson: Being There, and the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow held a major retrospective of the photographer in 2008.

Benson was honoured with a Doctor of Letters from the Glasgow School of Art and Glasgow University in 2007 and has too many awards to his name than I have room to post here! He lives in Wellington, Florida with his wife, Gigi, who works with him on his book and exhibition projects.

Pics are of the man himself ,then three in Glasgow, the fountain one is from the 50's the 70's and third Diane 1992. Dolly Parton next, then the Beatles twice, the second with Ali, James Brown trying to do the splits is the final photo.

#Scotland #scottish #glaswegian #Glasgow #photography #photographer #history #happy birhtday

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justforbooks · 2 years

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For once, the rumours have proved true. Annie Ernaux, the 82-year-old French writer, who for the last couple of years has been touted as a favourite, has been announced as the winner of the 2022 Nobel prize for literature – only the 17th woman out 119 laureates in the award’s history.

The Swedish Academy is famous for its secrecy and its often apparently obscure choices. The October announcement frequently has journalists and editors frantically Googling that year’s recipient – and perhaps a decade ago, Annie Ernaux might have received the same treatment. But, while her work has been well known and well received in France since the 1970s, and published in English translation from 1991, it is only since around 2019, when The Years, her monumental work of fiction-memoir was shortlisted for the International Booker prize, that Ernaux has made a big impact on the anglophone world.

The Years covers six decades of social and personal history, from Ernaux’s working-class childhood in wartime and postwar Normandy – where she was born in 1940 – through the 1968 student uprisings, initial joy and later disillusionment during the long presidency of François Mitterand in the 1980s and 90s and on into the new millennium. It spans politics, literature, music, television, education, marriage, divorce, advertisements, popular slogans – all recounted through a narrator who never once uses the word “I’.

The book, which ends in 2006, was celebrated in France as a modern In Search of Lost Time. In terms of prose style, however, Ernaux has little in common with the more flamboyant Proust – her writing is more austere, the sensuality more analytical. Her work as a whole is reflective, intimate – but also impersonal and detached. The Nobel committee described her oeuvre on Thursday as “uncompromising and written in plain language, scraped clean.”

Nowhere is uncompromising style more apparent than in Ernaux’s account of the illegal abortion she had in 1963 as a student in Rouen. This episode of her life, which first appeared as the short, sharp book Happening in France in 1999, was crafted – like much of Ernaux’s work – from the diaries she kept at the time. Her family was solidly religious, and Ernaux was the first to attend university. Matter-of-factly she states: “Sex had caught up with me, and I saw the thing growing inside me as stigma of social failure.”

The sense of shame, of the intransigent hierarchy of society, abounds in her brilliant scrutiny of her father’s life, A Man’s Place, first published in 1983. Ernaux’s father died two months after she passed her teaching exams. (She would go on to teach in schools and university, from 1977-2000, alongside writing books.) A Man’s Place is very much part of what Ernaux calls the “lived dimension of history” – it is dispassionate about the life of a working-class man of his time, a struggling grocer with minimal education: “no lyrical reminiscences, no triumphant displays of irony,” she warns us. Similarly, her brief, electric, I Remain in Darkness, about her mother’s dementia and subsequent death, with Ernaux by now divorced and middle-aged, is – while neutrally and starkly written – saturated throughout with a daughter’s grief.

Passion and grief often exist side by side. Ernaux’s twin books Simple Passion – the story of her affair with a younger, married Soviet attaché in Paris in the months before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and her most recently published English translation, Getting Lost, the diary of that affair, are incendiary works which remind us how close we are in life to death – whether it be morally, physically, existentially. Margaret Drabble has commented that “Ernaux has inherited de Beauvoir’s role of chronicler to a generation” – now the great chronicler been justly rewarded with the greatest of literature prizes.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #Annie Ernaux #book review

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