ChiliandMint

Write it.

[chiliminter]

I entered the Assassin’s Creed Experience really, really late, and by that I mean I only started my first AC game - Rogue (the irony!)- in 2015. Fast forward a year and I am alternating controls with my sister as we have headed back to where it all started with Altair and Ezio. (Thank God for Steam!) 

Perhaps I have gone all fangurl, but I find AC1 and AC2 very alluring even today. Both Altair and Ezio are very engaging protagonists and their storylines undulate at a very well-balanced pace. Even though I have yet to start working on AC Revelations, I cannot help but feel so emotional at the AC Revelations trailer. I can only imagine how moving and nostalgic it must have been at its release to those who followed the series from Day 1, especially at that moment when Altair appears on the same Leap of Faith platform.  

[chocolateguru]

Mondrian Cake

[oupacademic]

“Insight” is not a very popular word in psychology or biology. Popular terms – like “intelligence,” “planning,” “complexity,” or “cognitive” – have a habit of sprawling out to include everyone’s favourite interpretation, and end up with such vague meanings that each new writer has to redefine them for use.

So do primates have insight? If so, what can it tell us about the evolutionary origins of insight in humans? And what does all this mean for cognitive psychology? Richard W. Byrne presents an important new theory on primate intelligence.

Image credit: Facing the Silverback by Dominik Bartsch. CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.

[realitys-abore]

Books and Cupcakes January Photo Challenge

Day Sixteen: I’ll Have This Book Forever 

All the Tolkien. 

[thorinds]

What is the very first book you read as a child?

[shmuelaa]

[bookmania]

Writers are historians, too. It is in literature that the greater truths about a people and their past are found.

F. Sionil Jose (via bookmania)

[thesilmarillionawards-blog]

The Silmarillion Awards 2016: a Summary

It’s been quite a day! In case you missed it, here’s an overview of all the winners and the assorted posts for them:

Best Fortress: Gondolin

To celebrate, belegsghost made this edit and we shared The memories I’ll bring to a place far from home, the beautiful and amazing fic by kanafinwhy about Turgon and Gondolin.

Worst Parent: Eol

tolkien-in-beleriand examined why and shared some Eol-themed tidbits here.

Most Under-Appreciated Character: Beleg

belegsghost mused on this victory and posted some art, fics, and edits here.

Most Inspirational Character: Fingon

baradduh sent us this spectacular portrait of Fingon; belegsghost compiled a bunch of highlights.

Most Annoying Character: Thingol

tolkien-in-beleriand shared her thoughts and some Thingol-themed art and commentary.

Most Badass Character: Tie between Luthien and Fingolfin

A tie, because there are too many badass characters to choose just one! adurna0 sent us this lovely Luthien, klngfili made an amazing playlist for her, and belegsghost and sam-bam-16 put together some highlights for both winners.

Best Female Character: Galadriel

There was a lot of stiff competition, but Galadriel has claimed her place at the top. sansael sent us this awesome video for her, tolkien-in-beleriand and belegsghost shared commentary, art, fic, and more.

Most Epic Fight/Battle: Fingolfin vs Melkor

tolkien-in-beleriand put together some highlights here to celebrate this truly epic duel.

Most Violent Death: Celebrimbor

There were an alarming amount of appropriate nominees for this category, but poor Celebrimbor was the clear winner. tolkien-in-beleriand, belegsghost and sam-bam-16 posted art, fic, edits and more to cheer you up.

Biggest Betrayal: Feanor burning the ships

Et tu, brother? Feanor’s betrayal of his (half-)brother won, tolkien-in-beleriand posted some relavant tidbits.

Worst Mistake: Everything Turin Does

Turin’s life is a series of mistakes worse than the release of Melkor, apparently. tolkien-in-beleriand shared highlights (lowlights?).

Most Relevant Creature: Ungoliant

tolkien-in-beleriand compiled some stuff around the web (sorrynotsorry).

Most Relevant Human: Beren

We got an awesome graphic by handofsilver and tolkien-in-beleriand posted some more Beren things to celebrate.

Most Relevant Elf: Feanor

galadariel submitted this super fierce Feanor, belegsghost and tolkien-in-beleriand put together some of their favorite Feanor-themed things.

Most Relevant Maia: Mairon|Sauron

that-pissed-off-tolkien-blogger and belegsghost shared art, fic, edits and more for this villain on the rise.

Most Relevant Vala: Melkor|Morgoth

and…

Prize Little Shit of Arda: Melkor|Morgoth

Two wins for Milker! I mean… Melkor. that-pissed-off-tolkien-blogger put together some highlights for the Dark Lord and tolkien-in-beleriand wrote about Ilúvitar’s designs.

Best Relationship (of any kind): Maedhros & Fingon

and…

Best Fandom Ship: Maedhros x Fingon

The tragic princes of the Noldor take home both awards! elennumen made a beautiful piece celebrating their friendship, and belegsghost went overboard on the highlights.

Saddest Event: THE ENTIRE FUCKING STORY

So much pain. So many tears. Here’s a tragic graphic by handofsilver and an inspiring piece by soraniizu.

Of course, we also took some time to celebrate the Professor himself.

We toasted, tolkien-in-beleriand made this fantastic birthday banner, and idahlart sent us the most wonderful portrait of Tolkien I’ve ever seen.

But most importantly, let’s hear it for the fandom!

The people who made things for the event: kanafinwhy, baradduh, adurna0, klngfili, sansael, handofsilver, galadariel, elennumen, soraniizu and idahlart

And the people who let us use their art in edits: eehn, luaen, cy-lindric, ten-thousand-leaves, givenclarity, em-niwa, cygnete, mythomagic-and-takeanap, gileonnen, and celebimber

Thanks to all of you, and to everyone who voted! That’s it for the awards, but this blog isn’t done! Stay tuned :D

Love, your admins: tolkien-in-beleriand, that-pissed-off-tolkien-blogger, belegsghost, sam-bam-16, and solitarypeak

[chiliminter]

The best part : THE ENTIRE FUCKING STORY.

[arcadiaquest]

[aminrlgn-deactivated20230803]

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

I feel like almost all of the guys who’ve had an unreciprocated thing for me developed it because I listened to them and was emotionally supportive, etc., but they themselves never thought to do the same for me. Which ended up with this weird situation where I knew them super well but they literally had zero idea about who I was as a person other than “listens really well and is emotionally supportive.”

Like, they didn’t know the first thing about what was important to me, my beliefs, my family, my work, how I spent my time when I wasn’t with them. Because not a single one of them wanted  to know. They would just… never ask, or they’d ask politely and when I started to answer they’d show extreme disinterest and change the subject back to themselves.

But they still thought they loved me, because to them that’s all love is - being emotionally supported by someone. It did not even occur to them that the support could ever go both ways, and they were always bewildered about why I never loved them “back” - even though all they gave me to love was a person so self-obsessed that he couldn’t see me at all.

Emotional labour is so, so important to be aware of in relationships. It has to have some kind of balance, or the person performing it will just burn out. And a relationship consisting only of one person demanding and demanding and never giving back is not love. Love is not a demand. It can accept, and it can ask, but love listens, love cares about how its requests affect the beloved. Love wants to give back.

[chiliminter]

@vetelgyus I think you might relate to some of this.

[chiliminter]

@vetelgyus Not sure if you have read this already?

[coisasdetere]

Chá com livros no País das Maravilhas…

[chiliminter]

Don’t you stop me now.

Yesterday, I returned from a long adventure abroad to the obligatory held-on-30th-December-in-preparation-for-the-next-year meeting at work. My past experience in this job had taught me that such meetings are really performative, a good 8 hours where the senior management extols on new visions and mortals like me patiently highlight key words in our handouts and applaud occasionally. Though said meetings are also the moments where new appointments for the following year are announced, it is very likely that these movements were already discussed and made known informally during earlier work reviews, and the announcements simply part of the performative nature. Compounded by the facts that I only passed immigration at 2am that morning and had a rather fulfilling past work year, I was all prepared to coast through yesterday’s meeting and go home ignoring work 2 days more. However, a turn of events ended up destabilizing its performative bliss and leaving me fearing that 2016 would be a horrible year to come. In the span of an hour I was feeling threatened that my hard work on a self-initiated project would be robbed of credit, had to navigate around a bunch of rude and lying stakeholders, and was ladled with the type of administrative hullabaloo with a tight deadline. 

It is difficult to feel confident about 2016 given what has happened, but I am trying to put my problems in the perspective of solving them and not forget the good that I have been blessed with so far. 

I have gathered good momentum over the past 2.5 years in this workplace and I will not let some fears halt my progress.

[theglitterguide-deactivated2021]

Try not to pay too much attention to what other people in your same field are doing. Keep focused on your own vibe and realize that your instincts and eye are what make your business unique. Looking over your shoulder is never going to be productive.

Michelle LeBlanc See Michelle LeBlanc’s home tour here. (via theglitterguide)

[cgbart]

I really liked this book. 

The characters, the predictable twists, the unpredictable twists, the idea of a bookstore on a New England island surrounded by cliffs and the sea. The way reading can change communities and the individuals within them. The references to other books, the notes about the main character’s opinion of other books, the fact that he recommended The Book Thief to an eighty-two year old woman and she was scandalized that the narrator was Death. 

So, yes: I really liked this one. 

[chiliminter]

This sounds interesting. *Tsundoku*

[allthingseurope]

St. Florian Monastery, Austria (by Wolfgang Grilz)