insignificant or bizarre

Everyone’s a critic - Non so cosa pensar

[athemag]

a few lines from Peter Brook and Patrice Chéreau about their work with Peter Mattei: - P. Brook: Playing by Ear. Reflections on Music and Sound. Nick Hern Books, 2019 -P. Chéreau: Les visages et les corps. Skira Paris, 2010

[lena-oleanderson]

also a poem from the new, unreleased collection. very possibly my own all-time favourite.

[malcolm-f-tucker]

I’m ready to suffer and I’m ready to hope It’s a shot in the dark aimed right at my throat

↳ stream Don Giovanni (1787)

[discardingimages]

demonic pigs attack

Vincent of Beauvais, Le Mirouer historial (French translation of Speculum historiale), Paris 1463

BnF, Français 50, fol. 256v

[sherdnerd]

How your email finds me

[isaddeos]

opera stream alert!

what: rossini's 1828 comedy/farce "le comte ory", at the glyndebourne festival in 1997

when: saturday 25 april, 21:00 EEST/18:00 UTC (check your local time)

where: kosmi

language: french with english subs

duration: 2h 20min

cast: Marc Laho, Annick Massis, Diana Montague, Ludovic Tézier, Jane Shaulis, Julien Robbins. Conducted by Andrew Davis, directed by Jerome Savary.

plot:

the music is the real highlight, not the story, but the gist is this:

notorious libertine and spoiled brat Count Ory wants to seduce the hopelessly depressed Countess Adèle

figures that the best way to do this is to first give her therapy to awaken her repressed sexuality, and then dress up as a woman to awaken her repressed bisexuality

in true Rossini fashion, there is a thunderstorm and everyone is really scared

in true Rossini fashion, half the music was borrowed from one of his own earlier operas

very low/nonexistent bar to watch this stream! you don't need a kosmi account, and you can ofc join or leave the stream at any time. (the plot is very simple and vibes-based, so you can miss plot points without being terribly lost later!)

[solarpunk-century]

saving what you have: visible mending

Visible mending is a way to fix clothes with holes in a decorative way. Instead of trying to make the mend invisible as possible, it can be fun and creative to hi light the tears and holes with stitching that adds to the garment. I think this method is super cool to repair clothes you may really want to keep but also make more beautiful.

There are many techniques to mending clothes and here are some popular techniques that will help you save your clothes and also reduce your consumption of fast-fashon!

darning

The embroidery technique used to repair holes in fabric by using running stitches and thread woven in-between those stitches to repair a hole. If you’re interested in employing this stitch, check out this awesome darning tutorial by Evelyn Wood!

sashiko

This type of traditional Japanese mending practice is used to reinforce the strength of fabric as well as decorate. It is a great solution for mending holes with patches and well to reinforce thinning fabric! For learning the basics of Sashiko there is a wonderful beginners tutorial by Benzie Design.

patches

Patches are very versatile when used for repairing clothes. You can sew it over a hole in your fabric or you can also so the patch in the inside to have it peek out. There is a great tutorial for custom DIY patches by wastelesscrafts and Creating with misp has a tutorial on mending with a peek-through patch. 

happy mending!

[luminouslumity]

Beautiful!

[alexa-santi-author]

I once showed this video to a friend of mine who was an opera singer in her youth and had actually sung Queen of the Night.

She loved it and agreed that, yes, this absolutely is a valid translation and update of the original 18th-century German lyrics. 😂

[indeedgoodman]

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

hello fellow non-Black tumblr users. welcome to my saw trap. if you'd like to leave, please name one (1) Black woman author who is not Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Octavia Butler, or N.K. Jemisin. bonus points if she's published a book in the last five years.

[evegoldenwoods]

For my own future reference, and for anyone else who wants it, a list of authors mentioned in the notes. (I cannot promise this is comprehensive, there are a lot of reblogs and I might have missed some.) I've included a link for each author, where possible I've tried to find one that leads you to their books, prioritising own websites/publishers, falling back on wikipedia otherwise.

If you find any mistakes in the links let me know and I'll edit. This post will be in two parts, because I literally broke tumblr with how many authors there were. I think it's about a hundred and fifty.

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé - speculative fiction

Marguerite Abouet - graphic novels

Elizabeth Acevedo - fiction, poetry

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - fiction

Tomi Adeyemi - young adult fantasy

K Ancrum - speculative contemporary young adult

Lily Anderson - fiction

Ashley Antoinette - fiction

Ama Ata Aidoo - poetry, fiction, plays

Kemi Ashing Giwa - speculative fiction

Kalynn Bayron - young adult, fantasy

Malorie Blackman - childrens' books, young adult

Natasha Bowen - fantasy

Gwendolyn Brooks - poetry

Natasha Brown - fiction

NoViolet Bulawayo - fiction

Constance Burris - speculative fiction

CL Clark - fantasy, speculative fiction

Wahida Clark - urban fiction

Lucille Clifton - poetry, fiction

Alyssa Cole - romance, thrillers, graphic novels

Kamilah Cole - fiction

Claire Coleman - fiction, essays, poetry

Maryse Condé - fiction, non-fiction, plays

Emma Dabiri - non-fiction

Edwidge Danticat - fiction

Angela Davis - philosophy

Carolina Maria De Jesus - memoir

Hayley Dennings - fiction

Tracy Deonn - fiction

Nicky Drayden - speculative fiction

Tananarive Due - horror, comics

Camille Dungy - memoir, poetry

Esi Edugyan - fiction

Zetta Elliot - childrens' books, teen fiction, adult fiction

Bernardine Evaristo - fiction

Conceição Evaristo - fiction, non-fiction

Eve Ewing - poetry, fiction, non-fiction, comics

Radna Fabias - poetry

Namina Forna - young adult fantasy

Latoya Ruby Frazier - non-fiction

Stella Gaitano - fiction

Camryn Garrett - fiction, middle grade

Roxane Gay - fiction, non-fiction, comics

Nicole Glover - fantasy, speculative fiction

Nikki Giovanni - poetry, essays

Jewelle Gomez - fiction, plays

Annette Gordon-Reed - non-fiction (history)

Pumla Dineo Gqola - non-fiction

Deanna Grey - romance

Yaa Gyasi - fiction

Andrea Hairston - fiction

Lorraine Hansberry - plays

Saidiya Hartman - non-fiction, theory

Alexis Henderson - dark speculative fiction

Adriana Herrera - romance

Talia Hibbert - romance

bell hooks - fiction, non-fiction, poetry

Pauline Hopkins - fiction, non-fiction, plays

Nalo Hopkinson - speculative fiction

Jordan Ifueko - comics, fantasy, young adult

Samantha Irby - non-fiction

Justina Ireland - science fiction, fantasy, comics

Meka James - contemporary and erotic romance

Tiffany D Jackson - young adult

Beverly Jenkins - romance

Alaya Dawn Johnson - speculative fiction

Micaiah Johnson - science fiction

Mariame Kaba - non-fiction

Petals Kalulé - fiction, poetry [Petals is noted as using she/they, I'm not 100% sure of their gender identity and past a certain point it feels weird to investigate too much]

Mikki Kendall - fiction, non-fiction

Jamaica Kincaid - fiction, non-fiction

Zaire Krieger - poetry

Nella Larsen - fiction

Karmen Lee - romance

Kirsten R. Lee - young adult

Margot Lee Shetterly - non-fiction

Audre Lourde - poetry, non-fiction

[evegoldenwoods]

And here's part two:

Terry Macmillen - fiction

Robin Maynard - non-fiction

Amber Mcbride - poetry, young adult

Janet Mock - non-fiction, screenwriting

Brittney Moris - comics, young adult, fantasy

Bethany C Morrow - fiction, science fiction, young adult

Leila Mottley - fiction, poetry

Beatriz Nascimento - non-fiction

Leticia Nascimento - I think non-fiction primarily

Gloria Naylor - fiction

Zora Neale Hurston - fiction, non-fiction

Grace Nichols - poetry

Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu - fiction

Trifonia Melibea Obono - fiction

Shirlene Obuobi - comics, fiction

Nnendi Okorafor - science fiction

Melatu Uche Okorie - fiction

Chinelo Okparanta - fiction

Helen Oyeyemi - fiction

Nell Painter - non-fiction

Morgan Parker - poetry, non-fiction

Nikki Payne - romance

Koleka Putuma - plays, poetry

Claudia Rankine - poetry, plays, non-fiction

Sarah Raughley - young adult

Dia Reeves - fantasy, horror, science fiction

Kiley Reid - fiction

Stacy Reid - romance

Djamila Ribero - philosophy

Legacy Russell - fiction, non-fiction, poetry

Layla F. Saad - non-fiction

Sofia Samatar - fiction, non-fiction

Liselle Sambury - fantasy

Analeigh Sbrana - romance, fantasy

Namwali Serpell - fiction

Ntozake Shange - plays, poetry

Christina Sharpe - non-fiction

Nisi Shawl - fiction, alternate history

Jamison Shea - dark fantasy/horror

Patricia Smith - poet

Tracy K Smith - poet

Zadie Smith - fiction

Sister Souljah - fiction

Kiki Swinson - fiction

Mildred D Taylor - young adult/children's lit

Katerina Teaiwa - non-fiction

Teresia Teaiwa - poetry

Angie Thomas - young adult, middle grade

Leah Thomas - non-fiction

Spike Trotman - comics

Tloto Tsamaase - science fiction

Nikki Turner - urban fiction

Maxine Tynes - poetry

Ngozi Ukazu - comics

Shola von Reinhold - fiction

Wanjikũ wa Ngũgĩ - fiction

Jasmine Walls - graphic novels

Alice Walker - fiction, non-fiction, poetry

Jesmyn Ward - fiction

Monica West - fiction

Phyllis Wheatley-Peters - poetry

Rita Williams-Garcia - young adult, middle grade

Stephanie Williams - comics, non-fiction

Tia Williams - fiction, romance

Raquel Willis - non-fiction

Jamila Woods - poetry

Jacqueline Woodson - childrens' books, young adult, fiction, poetry

Alexis Wright - fiction, non-fiction

Zane - erotic fiction

Fiona Zedde - fiction

[bespectacledbunnys]

Attica Locke - Mystery/Thriller Fiction

Oyinkan Braithwaite - Fiction

Isabel Wilkerson - Non-fiction

[leebrontide]

Hell yeah!!!

[ahundredhundredheartbeats]

Hey non-Black people this is not an ally test! You don’t win an ally badge if you can name another author! It’s a reminder to seek out more diverse reading material AND a reminder to acknowledge the underrepresentation of Black women in the publishing industry!

[sandersstudies]

National Theatre is streaming their rendition of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde this week for free on YouTube. The production is a delight.

This show is one I constantly return to as a theatre educator for middle/high school, and it is MUCH better enjoyed when performed rather than on paper.

[sandersstudies]

Whatever the opposite of rolling in his grave is, Oscar Wilde is doing it

[sandersstudies]

I just found out they also have accessible BSL (British Sign Language) and audio description versions. The closed captioning has also been done correctly (a bare minimum many YouTube videos do not meet).

[herpsandbirds]

Striped Owl (Asio clamator), family Strigidae, order Strigiformes, Panama

photographs by Charles Filiberto

[rosieandthemoon]

owl cigarette box, 1915

[derring-do]

Free Opera for Black History Month!

The Metropolitan Opera is streaming three operas for free this month, celebrating Black performers and stories:

Fire Shut Up in My Bones (2021) with Will Liverman, Angel Blue, and Latonia Moore

Il barbiere di Siviglia (2014) with Lawrence Brownlee

La forza del destino (1984) with the one and only Leontyne Price

[derring-do]

Opera Streams: Early-Mid February 2026

1st: Génération Opéra Showcase from Paris. Featuring emerging opera singers performing popular arias and twelve art songs written for the occasion. Free!

6th: Verdi's La Traviata from Wiener Staatsoper. Featuring Kristina Mkhitaryan, Xabier Anduaga, and Artur Ruciński. Free (with registration)!

6th: Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice from Teatro Regio di Parma. Featuring Carlo Vistoli, Francesca Pia Vitale, and Theodora Raftis. Free!

8th: Gounod's Faust from Bayerische Staatsoper. Featuring Jonathan Tetelman, Kyle Ketelsen, and Olga Kulchynska. Free!

8th: Handel's Giulio Cesare from Müpa Budapest. Concert performance. Featuring Jakub Józef Orliński, Sabine Devieilhe, and Beth Taylor. Free!

12th: Nearly the same cast as above, with Sandrine Piau in place of Devieilhe, performs Giulio Cesare, this time from the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. Free!

13th: Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana & Leoncavallo's Pagliacci from Opéra National Montpellier Occitanie. Featuring Marie-Andrée Bouchard-Lesieur, Azer Zada, and Tomasz Kumięga. Free!

14th: Lully's Le Carnaval, Mascarade Royale from Teatro Comunale Ferrara. Modern premiere. Featuring Philippe Talbot, Cyril Auvity, and Valeria La Grotta. Free!

Date unknown because Teatro Real likes to see me suffer: Dukas's Ariane et Barbe-Bleue from Teatro Real. Featuring Paula Murrihy, Gianluca Buratto, and Silvia Tro Santafé. Subscription. (Not clear if it'll take place in this fortnight or the next, but it's going to happen by the end of the month)

Archive note: On the 2nd, Medici adds the 6-part series Opera Now, about contemporary opera. Stage+ adds the Met's 2022 Lucia di Lammermoor with Nadine Sierra on the 6th. On the 14th, Medici adds the 2013 Salzburg Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the 2020 London Fidelio.

In Cinemas: The Met's 2022 English-libretto Cendrillon will hit movie theatres in the US and select other countries for Valentine's Day. Dates & times vary. More info here.

[bogkeep]

actually in the style of the siúil a rúin post, i wanna share some other instances of "hey!!! it's that song!!" that have been very exciting to Me Personally.

Královna z Dundrum Bay (Nedvědi)

this used to be my mother's ringtone for years and years and i sincerely love this song so much. we always sing along when it comes on. the czech lyrics are about a Really Good Horse, the queen of Dundrum Bay

sooooooooo the original version of this song is called Star of the County Down, which is NOT about a horse. i will say that dundrum bay is indeed in county down, northern ireland! i know this because when my family went on a trip to northern ireland (in 2013? 2014?), i convinced my mother to stay there (do it!! for the song reference!!!) because one of my very first tumblr friends lived in the area. it was a brilliang and well executed plan.

anyway i love this song also (i convinced the violin folk music group i was in that we play it) and it was REALLY exciting to find the wealth of covers out there. Loreena McKennitt's version is lovely, obviously, but i'm gonna share Lyriel's version because that's my obscure nostalgia band (and possibly the reason i found the english version of the song)

the first time i shared my findings someone commented that they recognized the song as Canticle of the Turning, which, in my humble opinion? also a banger

NEXT SONG!! Luxtos by Eluveitie when i was a teen i befriended some pretty hardcore metalheads, one of whom was especially excited about sharing their music with me, who, and this cannot be overstated, primarily listened to enya and soft gentle celtic music. eluveitie is one of the bands that really stuck with me (and i've gotten to see them live!). i am really fond of this song, luxtos.

so one time i was visiting the bretagne/brittony area of france with my family, and in a souvenir shop i found a little music box playing the EXACT melody of luxtos. i still have it somewhere! that is how i found that it had to be a breton folk song or something. it's called La Jument de Michao, and this one actually is about a horse!!

ok ok ok we all know Scarborough Fair. i just really like this czech version, Trh ve Scarborough (direct translation of the original title) by Nedvědi again

my next song - Já s tebou nepojedu (I'm not going with you)(asonance)

this one is so catchy and i love it a lot. the lyrics are essentially "no i'm not going with you because you would try to kiss me and i'm not a slut and also i've got someone else so get lost".

through some kind of algorithmic magic i fairly recently stumbled a scottish gaelic song with the same melody!! Hùg Air A' Bhonaid Mhòir by Julie Fowlis, though i can't seem to find any other search results for this song except for her version. translated title seems to be Celebrate the Big Bonnet.

another Asonance fave of mine - Alasdair, syn Collův (Alasdair, son of Collin)

this one actually seems to be a faithful translation of the original! it's funny, actually, i had found Capercaillie's scottish gaelic version of Alasdair Mhic Cholla Ghasda right before finding out that Capercaillie was playing in my town. i got to see this song live!!

there's a ten video limit so i'm gonna add my last song in the reblog hang on

[bogkeep]

the last song i'm bringing to show and tell is Sally Grey by Nedvědi

i was absolutely convinced that this was a straightforward translation of an english (or england adjacent) folk song, about a lady who dresses up a man to join the military to look for her boyfriend (he was already dead and she kills herself). i couldn't find ANYTHING on "sally grey" so i turned to tumblr, and quickly found out that it is indeed a faithful translation... of the song William Taylor.

[cour5t]

[jabberding0]

Ancient technology

[spiralsketchbook]

Here are two sources i found for this.

https://wuxiawanderings.substack.com/p/flame-stick

https://yomkey.com/blogs/brife-of-chinese-culture/the-magic-bamboo-tube-unveiling-the-secret-of-china-s-ancient-instant-fire

[thatdisasterauthor]

Huh! Neat.