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ryttu3k · 1 year

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"The question has never been: Can you build cities?

Ants do that.

The question has never been: Are you capable of considering your own existence and getting kind of depressed about it?

Any animal in captivity does that.

The question has never been: Can you use tools?

Crows do that. Otters do that. Apes do that. Good Lord, everybody does that.

The question has never been: Can you perform complex problem solving?

Dogs do that.

The question has never been: Can you experience love?

Nobody doesn’t.

The question has never been: Can you use language?

Parrots and dolphins and cuttlefish do that.

The question has never even been: Do you understand object permanence, can you recognize yourself in the mirror, do you bury your dead, do you bond emotionally with your young?

Elephants do all those things, and some humans definitely don’t.

The only question is this:

Do you have enough empathy and yearning and desperation to connect to others outside yourself and scream into the void in four-part harmony? Enough brainpower and fine motor control and aesthetic ideation to look at feathers and stones and stuff that comes out of a worm’s more unpleasant holes and see gowns, veils, platform heels? Enough sheer style and excess energy to do something that provides no direct, material benefit to your personal survival, that might even mark you out from the pack as shiny, glittery prey, to do it for no other reason than that it rocks?

Everything in the universe has rhythm. Everything pulses to a beat laid down by the Big Bang. Everything feels the drumline of creation from star to sex to song. But can you make that rhythm? In order to create a pop band, the whole apparatus of civilization must be up and running and tapping its toe to the beat. Electricity, poetry, mathematics, sound amplification, textiles, arena architecture, efficient mimetic exchange, dramaturgy, industry, marketing, the bureaucratic classes, cultural critics, audiovisual transmission, special effects, music theory, symbology, metaphor, transportation, banking, enough leisure and excess calories to do anything beyond hunt, all of it, everything.

Can everyone else trust that, if you must declare war and wipe out half a quadrant, you’ll at least write a sad song about it?

Yes?

Well, even that is not quite enough.

Are you kind enough, on your little planet, not to shut that rhythm down? Not to crush underfoot the singers of songs and tellers of tales and wearers of silk? Because it’s monsters who do that. Who extinguish art. Who burn books. Who ban music. Who yell at anyone with ears to turn off that racket. Who cannot see outside themselves clearly enough to sing their truth to the heavens. Do you have enough goodness in your world to let the music play?

Do you have soul?"

- Space Opera, by Catherynne M Valente

#this part absolutely made me feel some sorta way #space opera #catherynne m valente #books #book quotes #eurovision #(it counts the book is literally eurovision in space)

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allmykindsofthings · 6 years

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It's me, an asshole, 1 to 30 please

…… I hate you…….YOU BETTER READ IT ALL!!!

1.favourite place in your country? Pairi Daiza, a zoological and botanical park.Most beautiful thing ever! Nothing to do with a freaking zoo I swear

2. do youprefer spending your holidays in your country or travel abroad? I actually haveno preference. But I like to meet new cultures, which I definitely do not dooften because well that cost money, so this July will be the first realvacation far away I’ve book since 2005. I’ve been to Holland and France butthey’re like neighbors… it’s pretty but it still feels like staying in Belgiumsomehow. It’s not different enough I guess.

3. doesyour country have access to sea? Yes we do! Though another language is spokenthere. And sometimes it feels like I’m supposed to be able to speak it to enjoythe place? I don’t, not really… I’m not a beach person anyway, I get boredreally easy if you try to make me spend hours just playing rotisserie chickenon a sunbathing mat…

4.favourite dish specific for your country? Maybe the Boulet Liégeois (s’ily a des liégois-e-s qui lisent ceci, chez moi ça a toujours été boulettesliégeoises, corrigez moi je sais que c’est pas bon)… or just waffles, eitherfrom Brussels or Liège. Alsowell chocolate obviously

5.favourite song in your native language? FYI my native language is French. Myfavorite song… mmh… I don’t really have one… I like Coeur de Pirate, her songsare really beautiful. Maybe the one song that comes to mind in a split secondis Que je t’aime (I hate saying that because I actually hate the artist). Ialso like a few songs of Jacques Brel if the question was aimed for nativeFrench artists singing in French, I’d say that’s the guy. I haven’t listened toFrench songs in a long while though.

6. mosthated song in your native language? Any dumb summer songs or soccer songs thatjust stay in your head for a freaking long time with meaningless lyrics. I’drather not think further about any by fear of repercussions.

7. threewords from your native language that you like the most? Une touyette (a tiny spoon),une guindaille (a party) and une baraque à frites (literally a fries house – it’susually a type of food truck that sells fries along side the highways or onmarket places)

8. do youget confused with other nationalities? if so, which ones and by whom? I’ve beenasked if I was from Danemark once… because of my English accent I think. Otherthan that maybe French from France?

9. which ofyour neighbouring countries would you like to visit most/know best? Visit most:Holland because I know it least. Know best: France because (real Parisians withstanding)the people are really great and the scenery is stunning.

10. mostenjoyable swear word in your native language? PUTAIN FAIT CHIER BORDELDE CUL!

11.favourite native writer/poet? I don’t know any but if song writer is all thesame, Jacques Brel. His texts are beautiful.

12. what doyou think about English translations of your favourite native prose/poem? I don’treally read prose or poems from my country specifically. If I happen to, and it’spretty I’ll like it. But I suck at remembering stuff like that.

13. doesyour country (or family) have any specific superstitions or traditions thatmight seem strange to outsiders? My mom has that weird thing where you can’treplant parsley, like if you have it in a pot, you can’t just take the pot offand plant it again or someone will die apparently. Also there’s that thingabout never being 13 around a table, or one person will also die… okay theremight be a recurring theme…

14. do youenjoy your country’s cinema and/or TV? Not really though I know we have qualitystuff it’s mostly not in my language and I don’t want to make the effort ofreading the subtitles at the moment.

15. asaying, joke, or hermetic meme that only people from your country will get? Jevous sonne et je vous dis quoi. Meaning literally: I call you and I tell you that.It’s a bit hard for the French people to understand this because there isnothing after the “that”. It’s just common knowledge here that there is nothingafter. It just means that I’ll call you to tell you that this or that went wellor bad. It’s silly but I like it

16. whichstereotype about your country you hate the most and which one you somewhatagree with? I hate the stereotype saying that my side of the country issupposed to be lazy af and just living off of the government. I agree with theone saying that we eat a lot of fries. They are not FRENCH fries okay, they’reBelgian. Just live with it, French people! :P

17. are youinterested in your country’s history? A bit. I guess the grass is always more interestingin the neighbor’s garden :P

18. do youspeak with a dialect of your native language? Not as much as my parents wouldlike me to. I sometimes understand it. It’s called Wallon and it’s really funnyto hear.

19. do youlike your country’s flag and/or emblem? what about the national anthem? We havethat? Yeah probably… I couldn’t sing it to save my life except for the lastline: le roi, la loi, la liberté (the king, the law, and liberty).

20. whichsport is The Sport in your country? Soccer, probably. I’m not interested insports.

21. if youcould send two things from your country into space, what would they be? A tinystatue of the Manneken Pis and a waffle from Liège.

22. whatmakes you proud about your country? what makes you ashamed? Proud: must I be? We won the Eurovision once, does that count? Ashamed: the politics.

23. whichalcoholic beverage is the favoured one in your country? I don’t know which isthe favoured one of all but the official one on my side is Peket (a type ofgenever, well that’s what Flemish people like to think but Peket is Peket). It’sglorious and comes in many many tastes! My favorite is the cuberdon one whichis a type of candy. It’s delicious!

24. whatother nation is joked about most often in your country? France probably.

25. wouldyou like to come from another place, be born in another country? No… I don’treally care about where I was born. I grew up in another country, I have noattachment to this one, this is how I was raised. Without wanting to offendanyone, I’d more describe myself as citizen of Earth, inhabitant of Europe,born in Belgium.

26. doesyour nationality get portrayed in Hollywood/American media? what do you thinkabout the portrayal? OMG yes. Belgium is mentioned SO many times in movies andshows it’s actually ridiculous! I have no idea why…

27.favourite national celebrity? Yes we probably have that too… I have no clue

28. doesyour country have a lot of lakes, mountains, rivers? do you have favourites? Wehave a lot of rivers. We don’t have mountains like the Alpes but my side of thecountry is far from flat so we have quite a lot of valleys and ups and downs.Big forests. Probably many lakes as well. A favorite? uhm not really nature oriented though I don’t mind it… I live in the city and I don’t have a car, me going in the country is quite a trip that I never really do…

29. doesyour region/city have a beef with another place in your country? I think we’repretty chill… I have never heard of Namur being angry against any other place…now the Flemish side of the country is mad at us because they say we’re lazy.Well they’re arrogant so we don’t care :P

30. do youhave people of different nationalities in your family? YES! I have a Greekcousin in law! Other than her, unfortunately no… I find that really sad, I’malso the only LGBT member of my family… not much diversity in my family I’mafraid…

#aboutme #Belgium #IT'S LONG DUDE!!#WHY!#thank you BUT WHY!#I love you tho

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