Tumgik
#the macmillan company
holmesoldfellow · 9 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
1940 Studies in Sherlock Holmes plaque
19 notes · View notes
garadinervi · 2 years
Photo
Tumblr media
Tito Lucrezio Caro, De rerum natura, II, (114-124), Edited by Armando Fellin, UTET, Torino, (1963-)2004, p. 138 (1893 Macmillan and co. Edition here)
«Osserva infatti, ogni volta che raggi penetrati infondono la luce del sole nell'ombra delle case: molti minuti corpi in molti modi, attraverso il vuoto vedrai mescolarsi nella luce stessa dei raggi, e come in eterna contesa attaccar battaglie e zuffe, a torme contendendo, e non far sosta, da aggregazioni e disgregazioni frequenti travagliati; sì che da ciò puoi figurarti quale sia l'eterno agitarsi dei primi principi delle cose nel vuoto immenso; almeno per quanto una piccola cosa può dare un modello di cose grandi e vestigi di loro conoscenza.» – Tito Lucrezio Caro, De rerum natura, II, (114-124), Edited by Armando Fellin, UTET / De Agostini Libri, Novara, 2013
43 notes · View notes
ecoamerica · 1 month
Text
youtube
Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc
The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!
16K notes · View notes
uwmspeccoll · 5 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Publishers' Binding Thursday
Today's Publishers' Binding Thursday book was found while simply browsing our stacks—and what a find it is! This is Poems, Dramatic and Lyrical by English poet, coin enthusiast, and botanist John Leicester Warren, Lord de Tabley (1835-1895). It was published in London by Elkin Mathews (1851-1921) and John Lane (1854-1925) at the Sign of the Bodley Head and in New York by Macmillan and Company in 1893. The book features five engravings by British artist, illustrator, and printer Charles Ricketts (1866-1931) and the bookplate of John Leicester Warren designed by Scottish artist William Bell Scott (1811-1890). Warren had an interest in bookplates and became an authority on them.
The binding was designed by Charles Ricketts, possibly with help from someone with the initials H.L.S. (or those initials in another order). Ricketts's initials and those of the mysterious H.L.S. are stamped in gold in opposite corners of the covers—C.R. in the top left and H.L.S. in the bottom right. The cover features in the upper righthand corner an angel inside of a golden heart holding a lyre made from wings and a heart. Surrounding this is a pattern of repeated rose petals, which to us look a bit like teeth or hot air balloons. The book cloth is a leafy green color that on our copy has either been glued unevenly or has become rumpled with time.
View more Publishers' Binding Thursday posts.
-- Alice, Special Collections Department Manager
40 notes · View notes
retrocgads · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media
UK 1985
10 notes · View notes
elliot-amy · 12 days
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
The Trapper Nendoroid by Good Smile Company
1 note · View note
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Book 203
Great Prints of the World
Gabor Peterdi
Macmillan Company 1969
This is one of those books that I don’t understand why I have it until I open it up. The image reproductions are simply superb. With examples from most every significant printmaker from Antonio Pollaiuolo (1429-98) through Picasso, it’s a wonderful overview. The only real problem with it is that it’s almost entirely in black-and-white.
0 notes
ecoamerica · 2 months
Text
youtube
Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared
The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!
16K notes · View notes
persona5soundtrack · 1 year
Text
If I've learned anything from researching how e-books really fucked shit up between libraries and publishers, it's that MacMillan sucks the most and can gargle my dick and balls
1 note · View note
lepetitdragonvert · 2 months
Text
Tumblr media
A Treasury of Verse for Little Children
selected by M. G. Edgar
The MacMillan Company
New York
1908
Artist : Willy Pogany
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat
265 notes · View notes
detroitlib · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
From our stacks: Illustration for "Sea Fever" from Rainbow Gold. Poems Old and New Selected for Boys and Girls By Sara Teasdale With Illustrations By Dugald Walker. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1927.
442 notes · View notes
romione-trope-fest · 2 months
Text
Capture My Heart
Title: Capture My Heart
Author: adenei
Trope: Muggle AU
Brief Summary: Work meets play at a work picnic/team bonding event. Hermione gets a little more than she bargained for when a certain redhead is held captive during a healthy team bonding game of Capture the Flag.
WC: 2,541
TW: n/a unless you count excessive forearm mentions
*************
What am I, twelve?
  Hermione paces back and forth in front of the currently unoccupied ‘jail cell.’ Really, it’s a piece of rope tied around a few trees just off the beaten path of the trail that is her team’s home base. Swiping through her phone, she’d rather be anywhere else than playing this stupid game at the stupid company picnic. 
  Don’t they realize she still has a ton of work to get done? Cases never end for a public defender, especially not when certain detectives seem to be a little too good at their job, putting deadbeats who can’t afford their own lawyer behind bars.
It’s not his fault. She should be grateful that there’s someone who actually does their job and takes it seriously, but her workload is screaming otherwise. And since her department refuses to hire an additional person, Hermione will continue to aim all of her resentment at him.
  Now, if only the other side would just capture her team’s flag so they can be done with this God forsaken children’s game. Then she can get back to the office. Yeah, that’d be great.
  Bored out of her mind, Hermione goes back to scrolling the newest set of case files that were emailed to her that morning. It’s the only thing she can do considering she was given the most boring position on her team. Like a group of lawyers and paralegals are going to catch and apprehend a bunch of detectives. And even if they did, what was she going to do? Hold them in contempt? Honestly.
  A rustling from nearby catches her attention, and she locks her phone before shoving it into the back pocket of her jeans. At least the fall weather and smattering of dead leaves on the ground prevents anyone from sneaking around too stealthily. 
  “Oi, Hermione, where are you?” Ernie MacMillan, her desk partner, calls from down the path.
  She rolls her eyes, though no one can see her. “Right here, where you left me, remember? To guard an unoccupied makeshift jail cell.”
  “Hey, not my fault McGonagall forced you to participate. And lucky for you, it won’t be unoccupied anymore.”
  “Yeah, right.” She scoffs. “Like any of you caught one of those egotistical prats.”
  “Hey, I take offense to that!” The second voice makes her freeze, a shiver running up her spine.
  Of all the people, does it have to be him?
  Hermione might not just be resentful of that one particular detective for keeping her overworked. It might also have something to do with the fact that he is extremely attractive, charismatic, and all around swoonworthy. And she’s not the only one who thinks that. He’s also way out of her league given all the single straight women in the county building have a crush on him. 
  And who wouldn’t? With messy waves of striking auburn hair that’s faded on the sides, piercing ice blue eyes that can spot the assailant in any situation, and a lopsided smile that’s not only welcoming but inherently trusting, it’s hard not to be attracted to him. But that’s nothing to Hermione. Sure, he’s easy on the eyes, but it’s his intelligence that turns her on—that and the infuriating way he always rolls his dress shirts up to his elbows, showing off his perfectly sculpted forearms any time he books a criminal. 
  If he ever is single, she assumes it’s never for long. There’s probably a line of women waiting to date him. Not that she’d know or anything. She refuses to delve that deep into his personal life—if for the sole fact it’ll kill the tiny shred of hope she has for something as minimal as getting a drink with him sometime.
  Screw getting a drink with him. You’re about to be left alone in the woods with nothing to do. Take advantage of the situation!
  Oh my god, no. Get it together, Hermione.
  Right. Even as images of potential scenarios flow through her mind, she shakes them out of her head. The last thing she needs is for Ron Weasley to see her drooling over him. Especially since he and Ernie are fast approaching.
  “Well, it certainly wasn’t meant as a compliment,” she retorts, unwilling to let him get under her skin.
  Before the detective can speak again, Ernie cuts in. “Yeah, well, try not to insult him too much. Even holding one hostage increases our chances to win.”
  “I thought jailbreaks were against the rules?” Hermione asks. Not that she cares. She’ll willingly let him go in five minutes just to have her peace and quiet again—if only to daydream about him behind his back.
  Ernie makes a big show of shoving Ron into the makeshift jail cell then looks back at Hermione. “They are. So make sure he stays there.”
  “Or what?” Hermione crosses her arms. “You’ll make me buy coffee for the floor Monday? Sorry, I can’t. I have a full day in court.”
  “Again?” Ernie groans.
  “Yes, which is the reason I’d prefer to be back at the office and not in the woods for a silly picnic to begin with.”
  Ernie grimaces and attempts to placate her, even though they both know it means little to nothing in their field of work. “At least there’s overtime?”
  “I suppose. Though it’d be nice to have a weekend to myself once in a while.” Then Hermione turns to the captor and grumbles. “All thanks to you.” 
  “On that note, I’m going to get back to the rest of the team.” Ernie backs away a few steps, then takes off at a jog.
  Hermione side-eyes the bane of her existence—pointedly as she leans against a tree. Ron holds up his hands in defense. “Hey, don’t blame me for doing my job. You’d think crime rates would start to go down eventually.”
  “Please, Ron,” she chides. “You of all people should know that crime is always going to exist.”
  He saunters—fucking saunters—over to her and props himself against another tree, once again showing off his forearms. Of course he’s still managed to highlight them despite dressing casually with jeans, a heather gray t-shirt, and a dark blue flannel unbuttoned over it. It’s in striking contrast to her jade sweater, jeans, beige peacoat, and brown leather boots.
  Ron looks at her through his light blonde lashes. “So what do you suggest, Hermione? That I not do my job? Turn a blind eye to evidence in an investigation or stop asking key questions during interrogations?” 
  His gaze never falters, and she can’t help but feel like it’s piercing through her, like he’s trying to solve the mystery that she is to him. It’s uncomfortable in all the right ways, sending jolts of energy through her and making her forget where she is and what she’s doing. In all honesty, it’s making her want to jump his bones.
  Which would be completely unprofessional.
  Ugh. This is why she tries to avoid work functions outside the office. It’s much easier to avoid her attraction in that environment. But here, in the woods with the sun shining through the trees and the foliage creating a warm ambience, it’s hard not to let her imagination run wild. It’d be too easy to let herself believe he’s eyeing her with the same want she’s been harboring for over a year.
  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she forces herself to say. “Just, I don’t know, try a little harder to suggest other lawyers. I’m only one person, and I can only do so much.”
  Ron twists his mouth and cocks his head as he thinks about her suggestion. “I guess I could, but then what excuse would I have to come see you if I’m not delivering cases?”
  His playful demeanor hosts an undertone of seriousness that causes Hermione’s breath to hitch. This time, she’s the one to search his eyes for a deeper meaning, but she’s absolutely terrible at reading people. That’s why she took the public defender position—it was meant to be a stepping stone while she strengthened her abilities to read a jury. Then, she’d be able to go after the job she really wanted. One that would help her do some good in the world. 
  Giving up, she decides to just ask him outright. “Why would you think you need an excuse?”
  “Because detectives don’t usually hang around with attorneys.”
  “Probably because all they do is pile on more work for us.”
  If ‘they’ means Ron and ‘us’ means her, then yes, that would be true.
  “So, you’re saying I could drop in to say hi whenever I feel like it?” Ron raises an eyebrow to accompany his question.
  “If you want, but then people might think we’re friends…”
  He pushes himself off the tree and steps toward the rope separating himself from her. The motion sends an uninvited thrill through her. “Aren’t we?”
  “I figured we were closer to work acquaintances.” 
  She shrugs, attempting to keep things light and breezy while her body is on fire, desperate for her to open herself up to something more. But she won’t. Not yet. Especially when she’s wary of his intentions. After all, the rest of his team is vying for their stupid flag that’s somewhere on the grounds of the park. 
  His hand claps his chest, and he makes a show of stumbling to his knees. “Oh, you wound me, Hermione.”
  “Please, stop being so dramatic.” She lets out an unbecoming snort through her laughter. He grins at her and she rolls her eyes. “This better not be some ploy to distract me in an attempt to get the flag.”
  Ron stands back up and places his hands on his hips, once again flexing his forearms. God, she hates it so much. “Come on, Hermione. If I cared about the game, I wouldn’t have let myself get captured.”
  She bursts into more laughter. “Yeah, right. There’s no way you got captured on purpose. That’s even more suspicious.”
  “Why?” 
  “Because all I’ve listened to this week is how ‘we have to take down Weasley.’ How you’ve ‘single-handedly won the game for the last three years.’ Who’s to say you’re not distracting me just to get closer to your goal?”
  “Maybe my goal isn’t the flag this time.” There’s something about the way he says it that wipes the smile right off her face. 
  “W-what?” she squeaks.
  “Maybe I got captured under the guise of sacrificing myself for a teammate to get closer to the flag when really, I just wanted to spend time with you outside the office.”
  Despite the fact that her heart is positively pounding in her chest, she keeps up her front with an eye roll. “Why?”
  “Because I like you.”
  The words hang between them as she blinks blankly at him. “I—you—” She swallows hard. “You do?”
  Tentatively, he lifts the rope and steps underneath it. The tips of his ears are pink, something she’s noticed every once in a while but never thought anything of it.
  “Uh, yeah. Thought it was obvious.”
  Oh my god, is this actually happening?
  For a moment, she’s completely enraptured by the way he inches closer in an almost tentative matter. But then her mind chooses logic and once again blares the warning signs that this is a game.
  “Not as obvious as ‘no jailbreaks,’” she reminds him.
  He stops and she inwardly kicks herself for ruining the moment—if there’s even a moment to be ruined. But then he grins at her and takes another step forward. “Yeah, well, maybe it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
  She can hardly believe it. Hope rushes over her again, and it’s all she can do to try and keep it contained. The last thing she needs is for him to see how completely enamored she is with him. Even still, a little giggle escapes her throat as she volleys a quip. “That’s rather bold, don’t you think?”
  “Maybe. But hopefully it’s worth it.” 
  “Why?” She quirks an eyebrow at him, the unknown meaning behind his words suddenly sobering her.
  A million possibilities flood her mind until he offers a sheepish grin and elaborates. “Because maybe I’ve forfeited the game for personal reasons.
  “Personal reasons?” she repeats. 
  “That center around asking you out.” 
  Asking me—holy shit.
  He waits for a beat as Hermione stares, slack-jawed, at him. Then, he adds, “So, uh, any time you want to put me out of my misery and let me know if it was a wise choice would be great.”
  He’s serious. He’s actually serious. Ron Weasley came here with the intention of asking her out. He could have any girl he wanted, yet he’s here, alone with her, detailing his plans of asking her out.
  She wants to savor every moment. Taking her time, Hermione steps closer to him, memorizing the hope in his eyes, the worry on his browline, the way his cheeks are completely red like he’s embarrassed. Then, a smirk forms on her lips. “That depends.”
  “On what?”
  “You technically haven’t asked me anything yet.”
  “Oh. Oh. Well, uh, would you want to grab dinner or something?”
  “Hmm, I don’t know.” Hermione taps her chin. “I’ve got quite the case load right now. I really shouldn’t. Next week is going to be brutal. There’s no possible way I could give up part of my weekend. Unless…well, I suppose I could be persuaded.”
  Even though she’s messing with him, she still finds herself succumbing to his gravitational pull. Because despite it all, the last thing she wants to convey is the possibility that she might say no. Of course, she’d have to question his detective skills if he could ever believe that.
  Thankfully, she doesn’t have to. She’s not quite sure where the brazenness comes from, but she doesn’t resist the pull urging her even closer. Her hand reaches up, sliding the soft fabric of his flannel between her fingers, which invites him into her personal space, and he grasps her hips. 
  For a moment, she forgets that there’s even a game going on, and that they’re at a work function—one she’d very much like to leave right now if at all possible. But first, there’s another thing she’d prefer. And luckily, he doesn’t make her wait.
  His voice is suddenly husky, filled with lust as his eyes flit down to her lips. “I think that can be arranged.”
  She tilts her head up as he leans down. Their first kiss is gentle, tentative, as if he doesn’t believe she’s given him permission. But from the moment their lips meet, the fire within her reignites, and Hermione wants more. Hungrily, she reaches up, fingers combing through his hair, urging even closer and deepens the kiss.
  Ron moans, squeezing her hips as he backs her into the nearest tree, and if she’s not careful, she might just let him do whatever he wants to her right then and there.
  That thought seems to snap her back to her senses, and she breaks away, her eyes taking a moment to catch up to her mind. Though heavy, she forces her eyelids open and meets his gaze. “So, dinner?”
  Ron nods. “Don’t think they’ll miss us if we leave early, do you?”
  “Not a chance.”
35 notes · View notes
dance-world · 4 months
Text
Tumblr media
Harris Bell - The Royal Ballet - photo by Kosmas Pavlos
Scottish dancer Harris Bell is a First Artist of The Royal Ballet. He joined The Royal Ballet’s Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme from the start of the 2018/19 Season and was promoted to Artist in 2019 and First Artist in 2023.
Growing up in Dollar, Scotland, he started ballet at the age of seven and went on to train at Elmhurst Ballet School and The Royal Ballet School, graduating through the school. Awards included Most Promising Boy 2013 at Elmhurst Ballet School and third place in the Lynn Seymour Award for Expressive Dance 2016 while at The Royal Ballet School. 
Roles in the School’s annual matinees included Didy Veldman’s See Blue Through, Frederick Ashton's The Two Pigeons, Robert Binet's Self and Soul pas de deux, Liam Scarlett's Third Movement and Aurora's Wedding in Anthony Dowell's adaptation of The Sleeping Beauty. 
He represented The Royal Ballet School at the Gala Des Ecoles 2017 performing the 2nd Movement from Kenneth MacMillan's Concerto at the Palais Garnier, Paris. He performed with the Company as a student in Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Winter's Tale, Kenneth MacMillan's Manon, Frederick Ashton's Sylvia and Liam Scarlett's Swan Lake. 
His repertory with the Company includes Spanish dance (Swan Lake, The Nutcracker), Matvei (A Month in the Country) and roles in Like Water for Chocolate). He created a role in Untitled, 2023.
39 notes · View notes
uwmspeccoll · 10 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Publishers' Binding Thursday
I found this week's Publishers' Binding Thursday selection while simply browsing the stacks. I noticed the spine first, and when I pulled the book out saw the three, bright, galloping horses on the cover. The book is The Boy Apprenticed to an Enchanter by Irish poet, author and folklore collector Padraic Colum (1881-1972). It was published by the Macmillan Company in 1920 with illustrations by American illustrator Dugald Stewart Walker (1883-1937). This book is part of our Historical Curriculum Collection of children's books.
The cover is a cream bookcloth with blue, yellow, and black color stamping. A white horse, a yellow horse, and a black horse rear up as a cloud of dust rises behind them on a blue background. The title is in a cream banner at the top and is stamped in yellow with a black outline. The title, author's name, and illustrator's name are stamped on the spine, with the publisher stamped at the bottom.
View more Publishers' Binding Thursday posts.
-- Alice, Special Collections Department Manager
62 notes · View notes
a-big-apple · 9 months
Text
ok locked tomb fam, we’re getting closer to october and the original release date for Alecto, and i’ve been seeing an uptick in anxious/aggravated fans in the tags wondering when we’ll get any new info. waiting is very hard, i feel it too, so i wanted to share some things i have gleaned about publishing through a masters degree and a decade of bookselling!
the book is not coming out in october. the marketing would have started months ago if it was—and there’s no way that the final book in a series as on the radar as TLT would have less marketing than the previous books did. the galley isn’t out there yet either, as far as i’ve seen. i think a fall or winter release is extremely unlikely at this point.
book publishing, for the most part, is not willy nilly. marketing has to thread the needle between starting too early (risking losing the attention of the casually interested) and starting too late to build a good buzz. release dates have to take into account what other books are coming out at the same time—not just what Tor is putting out, but likely what their parent company, macmillan, is putting out. i know this is capitalism at work, but this is the system we live in: they don’t want similar or similarly big books in the same company or imprint competing with each other, it can hurt sales all around. 
Tamsyn said in an interview back in december ‘22 that Alecto was written, but editing had not begun yet. editing takes a lot of time, and marketing steps are frequently linked up—announcing a release date hinges on how close the book is to being ready, especially since the original release date is no longer applicable, and getting books ready for print takes a lot of time and a lot of steps!
the biggest times of year for book releases, especially highly anticipated books, are Oct/Nov before holiday shopping starts, and Mar/Apr/May. obviously that’s not true for every book, but this is a big book for Tor, and big books get better spots in the release calendar. if i had to make an educated guess, i would wager Alecto will probably come out in spring ‘24, and we won’t start to see announcements or marketing until after the official release of the Nona paperback on Sept 12. again, this is sales driven: news about Alecto could muddy the waters for the Nona paperback and impede sales, especially since there’s new content in there. i think it’s likely we’ll hear something a little later in the fall.
i’m not as plugged into publishing as i used to be, so i am fully prepared to be wrong about any of this—it’s just assumptions based on what i’ve experienced of the book industry.
either way though, a point i want to make is that nobody at Tor is witholding information from us maliciously. there are a million moving parts in making and marketing a book (and i’m sorry, but huge Hollywood movie releases that are topically resonant but not actually related do not have any effect on publishing schedules). most of those moving parts are human beings: Tamsyn, trying to tie up the series under enormous pressure, still during a pandemic; her editor, who has other books to edit at the same time, and surely wants to do this work justice; Moira Quirk, hopefully, bringing her genius to recording the audiobook; copy editors, designers, marketing people, all of whom are people, many of whom are overworked and underpaid in an industry that is largely not unionized. 
they’re not trying to fuck with us. i understand where these impulses come from, but getting angry, begging, pestering, none of that is going to change the plain fact that you can’t market a book until you have an almost-ready book, and Alecto is one that Tor will want to put the best tactics and timing behind. be patient a little longer. fuck corporations and capitalism, but have empathy for the individuals who will put Alecto in our hands from within a very flawed system. Tor has a long and successful history in speculative fiction publishing, they know what they’re doing.
82 notes · View notes
antiqueanimals · 2 years
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
The Call of the Wild. Written by Jack London. Illustrated by Robert Todd. 1960 Macmillan Company edition.
449 notes · View notes
historicalbookimages · 2 months
Photo
Tumblr media
🦌 A history of land mammals in the western hemisphere New York, The MacMillan Company, 1913.
19 notes · View notes
Text
tuesday again 3/12/2024
Tumblr media
beat breath of the wild and have no real interest in rot13’ing spoilers for a seven year old game. also early thoughts on the first couple hours in tears of the kingdom. so if you don’t want to see that don’t read the playing section
Tumblr media
listening
there is a particular piece of exploring ambient music that plays in a particular cave in genshin impact's fontaine and i adored it. i kept going back to that cave to trigger the music. it reminds me very much of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who won several Oscars for early Technicolor swashbucklers-- The Sea Hawk, The Adventures of Robin Hood, et al. this particular piece leans into it the most and really grabbed me bc that's what Fontaine is all about: the romanticism, the folk heroism, the seafaring swashbuckling. i wish they leaned into it a bit more across fontaine, but i haven't played since i got fired and had to give my laptop back so perhaps the last patch has more similar music?
the use of bells in this is super great and pulled my attention first, but the way it ends-- a sort of sliding violin halt, some woodwinds fluttering up, a flute twining in. i hope their composing team wins some fuckin awards this year bc all the genshin music is good but the fontaine music is really a cut above.
youtube
either you've seen enough lavish technicolor adventure movies to know what the fuck i'm on about or you haven't, i hope this makes sense for why i was so excited about hearing this particular style in such an unexpected medium. here actually listen to this
youtube
-
reading
Tumblr media
The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang, i think a post on here influenced me bc it promised gay genderfuckery but i put it on hold SO long ago i could not tell you when that was or what the post was. it’s not NOT gay and genderfucky. but that’s really not the point of the book. this also wasn’t the easy read i was expecting it to be. let's yoink both the photo and the pitch from macmillan:
Lin Chong is an expert arms instructor, training the Emperor's soldiers in sword and truncheon, battle axe and spear, lance and crossbow. Unlike bolder friends who flirt with challenging the unequal hierarchies and values of Imperial society, she believes in keeping her head down and doing her job. Until a powerful man with a vendetta rips that carefully-built life away. Disgraced, tattooed as a criminal, and on the run from an Imperial Marshall who will stop at nothing to see her dead, Lin Chong is recruited by the Bandits of Liangshan. Mountain outlaws on the margins of society, the Liangshan Bandits proclaim a belief in justice—for women, for the downtrodden, for progressive thinkers a corrupt Empire would imprison or destroy. They’re also murderers, thieves, smugglers, and cutthroats. Inspired by a classic of martial arts literature, S. L. Huang's The Water Outlaws are bandits of devastating ruthlessness, unseemly femininity, dangerous philosophies, and ungovernable gender who are ready to make history—or tear it apart.
this book kept me company through a particularly bad bout of insomnia and i did enjoy my time with it, i'm glad it exists in the world and i'm glad to have read it essentially in one sitting. if i owned a hard copy, i don't think i would hang on to it. it was Fine, it's simply not for me. a bit too chewy and for bigger fans of Chinese history and/or wuxia i think.
there is an extremely large cast of characters (i often found myself referring back to the dramatis personae) and quite grim in parts. sexual assault, cannibalism as revenge, a very realistic war. a lot of really terrible, really grievous things happen to bodies. the fight scenes are clear and competent and will in fact unfold in your head like a martial arts movie.
it does take quite a while to get going and unfolds more like a TV show than a political thriller movie. this is a fat fucking book. this is a twenty hour audiobook. it strongly benefits from shifting POVs over its length, Huang is particularly good at differentiating tone and what each character pays attention to for maximum effect. she's also really good at one of my favorite things, displays of political deftness where you can’t see how someone would have made any other choice. some really top tier leftist infighting
while it is gay and it is genderbending, i would not say discussions of sex and sexuality are at the forefront. this is a group that has been pushed to the margins for their gender and sexuality, but this is a book concerned with how they survive and there isn’t a lot of space for discussions that aren’t about survival. there’s no fucking on page, but this book did not advertise itself as a romance or erotica so i don’t fully understand other readers' criticisms here.
this is a very competently written book. i am not going to remember it in a month's time. i don't normally emphasize it to this degree bc i feel a little bad about going "meh" at this tale of women fighting for societal and personal freedom, something i too have done but with less gore, but there is a wide gray sea of books that are simply fine and i don't particularly love or particularly hate bc they weren't quite what i needed or what i expected at the time. so it goes.
-
watching
Tumblr media
there is a revelation in Yellowstone season 3 episode 7 (picture unrelated i just like having a picture for each section) that made us (me, my bestie, my bestie’s husband) all SCREAM and have to pause it and leave the room for a moment to compose ourselves. the amount of Things per episode that happen in that show. they really fuckin use all of their forty-four minutes.
i watch so little modern prestige tv i i keep thinking about why this has its hooks in my brain so, and i think this is the same concept as homestuck and soap operas and war and peace: once you get sucked into a huge sprawling semi-nonsensical drama you are In It BayBee
-
playing
Tumblr media
i didn't know lizalfos could do that. i don't like that. stop it.
Tumblr media
somehow i had never gotten up to this platform near dueling peaks stables and was rewarded with...some arrows. but the sun rising turned the marsh all gold, and all the atmosphere shading was firing on all cylinders, and it looked real pretty. the weather in breath of the wild is fun.
i had been under the impression that the divine beasts had been slowly siphoning away ganon’s energy or something and had not realized that they were lining up shots and were the equivalent of little laser sniper dots. hearing that joyous musical cue and watching ganon get got by that tremendous beam of light was maybe the funniest moment in the game???
anyway did finally beat breath of the wild!!! did tear up at the end! im annoyed that the postgame just vworps you back immediately pre-castle but i get it from a game architecture perspective.
Tumblr media
at the very last bit of the fight i fell off my horse who got stuck against the beast’s leg taking damage and i was SO scared it was going to kill my horse but we were ok!!! i think i overprepared for that fight. the thunderblight light ganon fight was way harder imo.
popping that map back open postgame and seeing a cheery little 43% completion in the corner was. good god. i had 105 shrines and 66/77 side quests, all but four of the shrine quests, and like 250 koroks. i guess the koroks count for way more than i thought??? or perhaps i didn’t actually discover as many named places as i thought??? i would probably have more coherent thoughts about the end of this game if i were not Extremely Depressed and wasn't able to immediately jump to tears of the kingdom. as it is, i feel sort of "huh. ok. that's checked off. next task: ganon But More"
Tumblr media
on to tears of the kingdom: i love zelda with her little bi bob. i do NOT love link with longer hair. give him his ponytail back
Tumblr media
i loooooove these little grotesques on the temple of time-- i was spoiled for the end of tears of the kingdom bc i watched my bestie’s husband play through the last three hours. i have just enough context to make everything more confusing. also, i was fully expecting the time skip to be like several thousands of years but it’s like a month at most???
Tumblr media Tumblr media
it is So Funny to me that the lord of the mountain in the last game is an extremely rare occurrence you have to go visit at a specific place, and in this game he just wants his appy slices :) this is an excuse to talk about other rideable animals: i started a new switch profile to replay botw lo these many weeks ago, forgot to choose that one when starting totk, and don’t have any of the horses i spent the last month with :( the horses from my first playthrough several years ago are, quite frankly, not very good stats wise.
i went right to hebra to start the rito quest (where is the divine beast??? what has happened to the divine beasts???) but keep getting my shit kicked in one blow so i think i will fuck around the castle and do some more shrines. my overall impression is that this game is way more fiddly. there’s more Stuff to combine and keep track of. i wish i could premake fire and ice and bomb arrows instead of having to select them every time. that’s a lot of button presses in the middle of a fight. also my controller is succumbing to some fatal connectivity issues so this portion of the tuesdaypost may be slower for a bit. i will scrape up some money for a new controller bc this is a real loadbearing activity but it’s going to take a minute to ship to me i assume.
-
making
listen i deep cleaned my living/dining and bedroom today in a fit of remarkably productive anxiety, that’s about all that’s happening this week. i finished repainting some large frames, i framed one thing but don't like it, i fucked up framing another thing and i have put it back in the closet to simmer/until i remember how to measure things again
19 notes · View notes