mostly books

some other stuff

[quinndolyns-deactivated20220403]

capitalists right now are terrified of the spectre of “automation”, which is, ostensibly, an incredibly good thing.

capitalists are writing articles that say “Machines Are Going To Replace All Low-Income Jobs” as if this is somehow a bad thing to be happening

machines taking the grunt work and doing it for us? order takers at restaurants being replaced by tablets? unnecessary work being done for us, automatically? these are all GREAT things!

but under capitalism, this reveals a fatal flaw; the poor cannot exist, cannot subsist, without being fed scraps by the rich. when our jobs are replaced by robots, the rich man has no reason, any longer, to hand us those scraps.

in an ideal world, robots doing trash collection and janitorial work and other such jobs would be a good thing. but under capitalism, it means the decimation and further poverty of the working people.

[songofilium]

ACHILLES IS SO EXTRA, pt 4

[spencerwan]

I finally got clearance to show my rough animation from Castlevania! I did a lot of animation for this show so I’m going to release these through several posts each week, starting with this one.

For the Alucard vs Trevor sequence there wasn’t enough time in the schedule for me to finish out the animation, so I completed a first pass and the drawings were sent over to Korea for the artists at MUA Film to to tie down.

[obsidianmichi]

@spencerwan This is my favorite fight scene in Castlevania. It is so rare to see such realistic whip combat in animation. I love the extra details in how Belmont controls his weapon, and the use of the second hand to change direction. The way he gains additional power by creating smaller arcs, the way it comes around and then back. The spins and arcs to wind up before Trevor uses it to try to disarm Alucard. The fact it’s constantly in motion, and when it stops it needs time to start again. The way Belmont uses the whip to keep Alucard at range so that the tip is what primarily connects. You can really feel it moving, and I appreciate that so much. This is probably one of my favorite whip related fight scenes ever.

The feel of kinetic motion in the animation with those little details is utterly fantastic. There’s a sense of the combatants combat styles, their tactics in the techniques. The constant movement, the footwork (oh god, the footwork), the difference between Alucard’s longer sword and Trevor’s short one in how their bodies move. We even see Belmont trying to close the distance in the overview. (Using his footwork! Glorious footwork! They don’t just go straight forward and back, but side to side and in circles.) That transition after Trevor loses his whip, and Alucard regains the advantage. Belmont has a wider stance than Alucard, who remains high in a more traditional fencing pose.

Ah, there’s so much to unpack! It really is a masterful piece of art.

[howtofightwrite]

I’m reblogging this and my commentary here because I know some of you have asked about whip combat in the past (and my thoughts on this fight scene from Castlevania.) This pretty much sums up my opinions on both. It really is a great example of whip work in a more fantastical setting and how it gets used as a combat weapon. (However, like Belmont, always carry a secondary weapon. The whip is predominately for harassment and support rather than say the rope dart, the meteor hammer, or the flail.)

Also because this scene is so fantastic, it deserves to be looked on in awe by as many people as possible.

-Michi

[lifeinpoetry]

I am the shape you made me. Filth teaches filth.

Sophokles, from Elektra, An Oresteia: Agamemnon by Aiskhylos; Elektra by Sophokles; Orestes by Euripides (tr. Anne Carson)

[maxknightley]

How come period pieces are almost always dramas, anyway? I want to watch a sitcom about a dude in renaissance-era Tuscany trying to get rich quick by scamming the local merchant princes.

[meta-hemeralism-blog]

You want The Lies of Locke Lamora

[allthestoriescantbelies]

if your gothic hero grasps your hand and marvels at how easy t’would be to break your wrist but marvels that he could never touch the powerful soul behind your faerie eyes TAKE TO THE FUCKIN MOORS GIRL

[assassinsmusical]

War and Peace Ghost Quartet au where Nikolai is an incarnation of the Astronomer, Marya B is an incarnation of Pearl, and Sonya is Rose

[malloymusicalmemes]

psychic: reads my mind

my mind: or rather a ghOOOǪ̶͋͝Ȍ̸̢̜̲Ö̵̧́̀O̸̡͂͑O̷̮͖͝S̶̟͓̈T̸̬̱̽͘͜ ŏ̷̼͌͑ ̸̼͗o̶͔̱̝͋̈ ̵̢̅̉̎o̶̳͆̆ ̵͙͒͐ǫ̸̛̹̈ ̴̻̓̔̈́ò̵̞̝ ̵̻̠̳́̓̅o̵̲̿ ̵̢͝Ì̸̛̠̣̫͕̟̲͎͔̲̮̗̩̯͐̄̈́̃A̵͍̹̓̕Á̸̛̩͉͍͐͆͛̽͘ͅͅÄ̴̢̻̫͖́̎̀̐̂̈͌̕̕̚̕͠Á̶̠͉̥̗̓̏̎̔̓̉̚͝ͅĀ̶̧̧̞̫̜̹̪̼̖̩̓͊͒̑̀̎Ą̸̭̜̺̳͎̀̉͊͒̊͆͛̓́̌͒̆̑Ì̵̮̌͑̔̇̅̋̾́̏̔̚̕̚͘Á̶̛̞̼͕̃̃̇͒̉́̆̏̍͐̈́̈́̂ͅI̵̠̅̏̔A̶̧̟̍̑I̶̢̢͎̬͔̬͇͙̬̣̗̫͓͑Ḁ̷̧̧̡̙͉̟͙͓̭̘̠̳̫̙̏̈͂̽̌̕͝Ì̴̧̧̧̢̜͖̳͙̲̦̄̎̄̀͋̾͘̚͝͝Ã̴̛̠̯̻̰͖̀Ȃ̷̲̭͇̝̗̘̥͚͐̀̈́̏̀͜͠͝ͅA̴̲̺̹̦̻̯͂͂͆͗́̋̀͑̏̋͜I̶̛͋͂́̅̾̆́͛͜͠A̷̲̰͎̟͎̣͊̍̂̈́̋́̾͒̓̔̎͗͜Ĩ̸̟̦̹͌̐̾͝͠A̸̩̐̾̋̇̑̓͗͒͊͑̿I̸̧̢̧̡̛͇̰̖͈̯̣̲̳̾̑̽͋̾͂̚̕͠A̴̳̻̞̳̣͕̮͔͕͔̳͚̖͛̉͝Ą̵̦̲͔̘͔̓̓̑͜A̴̮̩̥͔͈̺̞̟̲̺̲̭͈̽̌͊͆͘͜A̵̢̦̭̞̲̖̖̹̫̬̬̘̳͌͂̈́̍̑͝Ȃ̵̡̨̧͍̜̳̮̝̹̈́̔À̴̧͖̣͇̣̺̲̏̍͒̚A̷̟͉̹͍̳͈̪̹̲̦̩̤͎̙͗́̂̉̎̈́͗͋̾͗̄͐̇̚͠I̸̺͂́̎̿̀̓Ą̴̛̛̹̱̟̭͈̙͍̒̏̃̔̽͝ͅĮ̵̨͕̞͙̥̹̪̳͛̒̀̏͛͌̓̂̾́̓͌͜͜ͅA̵̝̼̟̙̥͈̰͊͛̄͂͛̒͛͊͒̅̕͘A̸̛̬̤͔͙̹̫̬̪̬̪͛͂͝Ǎ̶̧̞̗̳̜̮̗̟̠͍̭̃͜Â̷̧̦̼̲̲̼̫̟͖̭̎͠a̴̱͔̙̦͌͌̎̐̎͗̌a̵̩̟̐̑̓a̵̢̜̯̦̎̅̀̔͒̚͜ą̴̱̩͚̂͌͂̚͝ä̴̢͖̱̱͙̠̙͗͋̾̑͗̂̏͒̏̕͘͜͝͝å̷̧̧̡̩̼͍̗̯̻͕ͅ 

psychic: what the fuck

[nikkirostov]

for people that like ghost quartet: which plot line is your favorite (usher, four friends, ancient, subway, or two sisters)? i’m curious

[thewastedgeneration]

Virginia Woolf in a letter to Vita Sackville-West, 1927

[beryl-azure-blog]

that corpse you planted last year in your garden, has it begun to sprout? will it bloom this year? or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?

T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land (via beryl-azure)

[followthatdollar]

dark web showed me some ghost quartet stuff I hadn’t seen???

[followthatdollar]

fool: rose always asks “where is my brother?” no one ever asks “how is my brother?”

[meta-hemeralism-blog]

Some incarnation of the Ghost Quartet Family(TM)

Brent: Dad why is my sister's name Rose?Dave: Because your mother likes roses.Brent: Thanks dadDave: You're welcome Drinking My Life Away While Thinking About Ghosts And Death

[falsettoos]

natasha: I👏AM👏NOT👏AFRAID👏OF👏ANYONE👏

also natasha, anytime literally anything happens: IAMSOFRIGHTENED!!!!!!!!!!

[situpontheground]

lmao having read the first half of war and peace really puts the line from the beginning of pierre, ‘it has dawned on me suddenly, and for no obvious reason’ into perspective because the boy has an epiphany about Life like every 50 pages this is nothing new

[selinrkyle]

andrei bolkonsky: i hate life

natasha rostova: i love life

andrei bolkonsky: i love life too omg we have so much in common