
祝日 / Permanent Vacation

Janaina Medeiros
ojovivo
trying on a metaphor
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
Claire Keane

#extradirty
hello vonnie

blake kathryn
DEAR READER
Sade Olutola

if i look back, i am lost
Keni
wallacepolsom

ellievsbear
cherry valley forever
we're not kids anymore.
will byers stan first human second
Mike Driver
seen from Malaysia

seen from Malaysia

seen from Norway

seen from Canada

seen from Türkiye
seen from Panama

seen from Singapore
seen from United States

seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Indonesia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Portugal
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from Colombia
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seen from Brazil
@aigiarne-blog
Ok as a Filipino I HAVE to give it up to Kuang on this very interesting detail on the Tagalog Grammatica. As far as I know, in my very limited history, Japan, China, and Korea weren’t as influenced by the West prior the 20th Century due to their distrust with Westerners/outsiders to the point their borders had to be forcibly opened by either Western forces or by one another (a gross oversimplification—forgive me or educate me where you can).
However, the Philippines was colonized in the 1500s by the Spanish—the country’s own name is derived from Philip II of Spain—and they didn’t leave until 1898, when they sold us to the US. So Spanish influence is deeply ingrained in our art, music, food, and most evidently, language.
However, unlike English, the Spanish language didn’t exterminate native languages as well as it could’ve. My great-grandparents would’ve spoken Spanish AND Tagalog, and a couple of other native dialects besides. Yes, the Spaniards taught (usually wealthy, usually mixed) Filipinos their language, but Spanish friars utilized our language to their own advantage to better spread the word of God to us “savages”… and also because it was unfeasible to teach so many people who spoke so many languages Spanish. So, they learned one of our most spoken languages to better win us over, to colonize us, to “enlighten” us with their civility.
It would make complete and total devastating sense that these Spanish/European scholars can translate so much of our native canon and oral or written myth and commit it to their own languages. And it makes so much sense Kuang flecks that detail there, in a book that mentions time and time again the silent but sinister undercurrent of imperialism and colonialism in everyday British life in the 19th Century and academia today. I am frothing in the mouth. I am banging my head against the wall. So much history behind one tiny fucking detail.
I was trying to work on my WIPs but this thought won't leave my mind. I find it incredibly heartbreaking and poignant how Babel is a book about the ones erased from history and yet it still fails in so many occasions in telling their stories (and how it is on purpose). SPOILERS AHEAD.
From the start, we never get to know Robin's name, the last thing he thinks about before the end, and this is his story, which makes the loss even more staggering (even though Robin remembering his mother at the end is also hopeful and tender, because he didn't lose that memory). Despite all the pages spent describing the tale of all those Babel and white people don't believe they're human deserving of rights, their stories are incomplete, lost, and not only because the book is written following Robin's perspective. It's the English fault if we never get to know more about the Hermes Society. Anthony is so important to the story, yet we only know a little about him: as soon as Robin dares to believe in creating his path with the Hermes Society, Anthony and the others are brutally murdered.
Griffin is–I could talk hours about Griffin. He is Robin's foil, his brother, the incarnation of where the story is heading. Since the beginning, he is there to remind us the golden years are just a dream. He is the Cassandra telling everyone that violence is the only way to change things, and he's right, but at what cost. We don't know anything about him. We only have scraps. His last words –which were of comfort, of hope, not a recrimination like Robin thought– are never showed to us. We'll never know the impressive work he did all his life to make way for the revolution. Sterling, Evie, Griffin and Anthony were probably as intertwined as the main quartet: what is their story? What happened between Griffin, rejected son, and Sterling, who calls professor Lovell Richard? Did they love each other before and while hate consumed them? (Of course they did.) What happened in Burma? How much of Robin's cohort is a terrible replica of Griffin's? How terrible it is that we never get to feel the depth of Griffin's grief when he learns Anthony is dead? We only see the moment Griffin and Sterling manage to kill each other, ending their portion of the story once and for all.
We, like Robin, see the possibility of learning more about these people taken away from us. Robin will never get to see Ramy again, they'll never meet Ramy's parents in Calcutta. Victorie barely remembers her native language, Griffin's was taken away from him almost entirely. It's so much loss, of knowledge, of potential, of people, the ending of the book really feels inevitable. And right at the end, when you could dare to hope for a better future, when Victorie chooses to live? The only hope is her, and the book telling the story of the people who took Babel under siege. The book is the only way Robin may ever get to say his side of the story to posterity. And we, the reader, won't get the see the future either.
drew the bird bros of Babel between reading 🪶 (no spoilers pls, im still reading)
robin and griffin from babel. also a doodle of the main 4 that i did back while i was reading. I wanna draw more from this book...hopefully sooner rather than later
Robin Swift and Griffin Lovell from Babel ✨
Sometimes I worry I’m not a nice person but then I remember R.F. Kuang wrote “Nice comes from the Latin word for “stupid”. We do not want to be nice.” and I go on with my day.
Can I mention the brilliance the RF Kuang did with Robin Swift’s name? No, not “Robin Swift,” but his original one. We’ll never know what his original name was. I was waiting, all 500+ pages, and on the last one with Robin’s POV, we get nothing.
But he gets his name back. After all his suffering, I’m inclined to believe that he deserves it.
Girls when translation is always an act of violence, but it can also be an act of love
It is coming my dudes
Man I love these
Found more
Found even more!
More
One is better than nth
More
This might be the last of it
I love that even though the female Au ra are so tiny, there are like, 6 or more tribes that have their females being the backbone of the group. Like hella strong warriors while the big beefy males are houseworkers and take care of the kids. Not to mention the whole female clan that struts around the steppes.
Like How cool is that :o
And if we are talking group dynamics here, big large males are usually just a show to get mates and they fight for that right. Which makes me believe that horn decorations,scale patterns, markings ECT are definitely ways to get mates. Some clans are probably pretty chill about the selection progress while others have a ‘fight to win’ type of attitude.
Go crazy with it. be different but most of all have fun~
bonus:
“You can’t love someone unless you love yourself first.” Bullshit. I have never loved myself. But you. Oh God, I loved you so much I forgot what hating myself felt like.
(insp.)
small letter
small voice
small baby au ra
Hello! I'm so sorry to bother you, but I can't find this information anywhere! I've seen hanfu on men that involve having some kind of long, open overcoat? There's something similar in Japanese fashion, and since I'm designing a Chinese character, I really want to make sure that I haven't gotten confused. Thank you!
Hi, thanks for the question!
By “long, open overcoat”, you’re most likely referring to Dachang/大氅, which is an open-fronted robe worn by men.
As can be seen in the pictures above, Dachang is commonly worn with Yishang/衣裳, which refers to men’s cross-collar top + wrap-around skirt. This outfit can be mistaken with Japanese men’s dress of the haori jacket + hakama, since both consist of a long, open overcoat worn over separate top & bottom pieces.
I don’t know enough to describe the differences from a technical perspective, but here are some general differences from a visual perspective:
- Yishang includes a skirt; hakama are trousers.
- Dachang is usually ankle-length; haori typically go to the knees.
- Dachang/hanfu sleeves are curved; haori/kimono sleeves are square or rectangular. Dachang sleeves are also longer (formal men’s hanfu generally have longer sleeves than formal men’s kimono).
- Dachang/hanfu often have contrasting collars/sleeve linings, while haori/kimono do not (kimono are made from a single bolt of fabric, so all pieces have the same color/pattern). Notice how in the comparison below, the maroon Dachang has a dark blue lining.
Hope this helps! :)