What Else Are You Reading/Watching/Listening to Right Now?
Regarding Kurt Cobain... I saw Nirvana live when I was 16. They played in my hometown (Tallahassee) about 4 months before Kurt's passing.
Also, I credit myself with getting you into LotR 😉. So glad you're enjoying the books!
Quote from Heatherlly on September 14, 2024, 8:29 amRegarding Kurt Cobain... I saw Nirvana live when I was 16. They played in my hometown (Tallahassee) about 4 months before Kurt's passing.
Ah, lucky! I have to content myself with obsessively rewatching their legendary MTV Unplugged performances.
Also, I credit myself with getting you into LotR 😉. So glad you're enjoying the books!
OH YES! Yes, thank you for that! 😀
I'm following two manga series right now. (Well, three. But Made in Abyss is released so irregularly, it doesn't really count as now.)
First there's Gannibal, a really wonderful, suspenseful story about a cop moving into rural Japan with his family and encountering, well, cannibals, and then there is Witch Hat Atelier.
Apart from the absolutely stunning art that WHA has and the pretty awesome characters, I can't help but imagine Severus in that setting. I think he'd be pretty good with that type of magic (=magic circles), because it lends itself to plenty of improvisation. In fact, it relies on it more often than not. (That said, he'd most likely be the type of wizard who'd want to master magic as well as healing, which is a big no-no in the world of WHA)
I rarely touch fiction and it’s kind of in that jist nowadays also for me (besides rereading parts of the books involving Snape for the sake of having some food for thought and hyperfixations) but I have recently gotten into more random topics I’ve been circling around for a while…
That includes, history, namely the poetry of the Polish interwar and post-war period and coming from it specific, very interesting context and impact of incredibly tough times on literature and other forms of art. I think I always had some appreciation for it as many my favorite authors were impacted with this sort of burden. It’s also very often a very fascinating balance of either non-fiction put poetically or some fictional setting but it’s very obvious it’s only a symbol for something else.
And on a bit off basket I haven’t put my hand fully into before… it’s all the nuance (and nuisance) around reading of hermit crab care. I don’t ever seriously consider getting a pet hermit crab nor ever did, but it’s simply fascinating. The hermits sold at mass pet stores are very often caught wild (as it’s very rare and complicated to get them to breed in captivity) as well as despite their name, they are often mistakenly taken as solitary animals even though their natural needs include complex social dynamics (antisocial social club pretty much) and colonies consisting of at least 3-4 individuals. Most of species also require to have in their enclosure both fresh and saltwater atop of just the land part (which needs to be deep enough to dig into). I can’t help but feel bad for them not getting that need met as often. I asked my friend even on the topic and they turned out to have those guys when they were 5… lol. They also weren’t afraid of them at all and were unbothered walking around their hands, which also is apparently uncommon for a crab to tolerate or enjoy handling.
Quote from Waldemar on September 17, 2024, 6:20 pmThat includes, history, namely the poetry of the Polish interwar and post-war period and coming from it specific, very interesting context and impact of incredibly tough times on literature and other forms of art. I think I always had some appreciation for it as many my favorite authors were impacted with this sort of burden. It’s also very often a very fascinating balance of either non-fiction put poetically or some fictional setting but it’s very obvious it’s only a symbol for something else.
Some Polish students were just telling me stuff yesterday about their country's dealings with Napoleon and the arrival of some Poles in Haiti. Was pretty surprised, but then again, I don't know much about Poland.
Quote from mmlf on September 20, 2024, 11:50 amQuote from Waldemar on September 17, 2024, 6:20 pmThat includes, history, namely the poetry of the Polish interwar and post-war period and coming from it specific, very interesting context and impact of incredibly tough times on literature and other forms of art. I think I always had some appreciation for it as many my favorite authors were impacted with this sort of burden. It’s also very often a very fascinating balance of either non-fiction put poetically or some fictional setting but it’s very obvious it’s only a symbol for something else.
Some Polish students were just telling me stuff yesterday about their country's dealings with Napoleon and the arrival of some Poles in Haiti. Was pretty surprised, but then again, I don't know much about Poland.
Yup, it’s pretty much true. Whereas Poland never owned any kind of colonies in the literal sense even during times it was one of biggest empires in the world/Europe, Haiti is that specific case where our guys were sent by the France to repress and put out the uprising of local black slave population (thus having a very close and strong affiliation with a small country overseas). Although a big chunk of these Poles actually supported and joined their side instead of fighting against them, which resulted in Haiti being one of the first (if not even first?) independent Caribbean countries. The caesar of Haiti also granted Poles the title of “the White Negroes of Europe” and during times when any settlement of white people was prohibited in Haiti, said ban didn’t entail Poles (and Germans as a honorary mention). He also gave an order to give all the soldiers taking the side of Haiti’s a Haitian citizenship.
It’s nice to hear in general that you have Polish students though, or at least enough to tell you various stories (especially if you are not European it might be a small surprise). It brought back some of my own memories.
Reread the first three books of the Twilight series at the end of last year, after a break of well over a decade. Well, let's just say that my views on the actual romance are somewhat different to what they were when I was in high school. But I actually enjoyed reading them. I was enjoying the action of reading a book again. So, props. I have Breaking Dawn to finish right now.
I have this other book called The Long Shadow, set in the time of Charles II. Well, first, I wanted to know about the fictitious "Popish Plot" cooked up by Titus Oates. But there was also a mention of Anne Boleyn, and I used to love reading about Anne Boleyn. So, I have been hooked on Lacey Baldwin Smith's biographical essay on Anne Boleyn (almost finished). And then I got a biography of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the mentions of Henry VIII in both books led me to, yes, Henry VIII.
And I am hooked! Watched three documentaries in the space of two days, then rewatched two of them in short order. And I have a Henry VIII biography to read.
So, yeah, history is where it's at for me. Not sure why I took such a long break, but who cares? Got to thank Twilight for a lot of this, I must say.
P.S. Also started Utopia by Sir Thomas More (guess why?). I got a copy of this years and years ago (20 years ago or less, I think), but I was way to young to understand it. I started it yesterday, and I am actually enjoying it. The reasoning style reminded me of when I briefly started Cicero's Tusculan Disputations, and, well, people in More's age were kind of mad about Cicero. I didn't think I liked philosophy, but this philosophy seems understandable.
