Vanitas Vanitatum

“We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.” — From Little Gidding by T. S. Eliot ❦ 𝔪𝔢𝔪𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔬 𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔦

[philcollinsenjoyer]

about 90% of fanfiction takes place in a utopia where men are thoughtful and unsure of their place in the world

[unempathize]

[zegalba]

Surrealist Paintings by Rob Gonsalves

[worldscoolest]

[bluevelvia]

Mayerling by Kenneth Macmillian, The Royal Ballet

i. Melissa Hamilton and Rupert Pennefather

ii. Lauren Cuthbertson and Thiago Soares

[enchantedbook]

"A Week of Kindness", Max Ernst, 1934

[bethanydelleman]

It is so human and so not romance novel that after Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice reads Mr. Darcy's letter and accepts that Wickham was the real villain and not him, her reaction is not, "Oh no, I loved and lost him!" it's "Oh shit, I fucked up! I hope I never see that man again in my entire life."

[firawren]

Mr. Bennet: Sure, I haven't taken care of my daughters' financial security, but have I at least taken care of their education? No. But have I taken care of their emotional needs? Also no. But have I been a good protector and supervisor? I'm afraid not. However, have I been a good example for my children of being a kind and respectful spouse, parent, and all around human being? No again. But through it all, have I nailed being funny? Yes. And isn't that the most important role of a father after all?

[mors-et-amor]

I’m currently reading P&P for the first time, and I relate so hard to Mr. Bennet and his tendency to read a lot while laughing at everybody else for existing... I clearly have some self reflection to do.

[akajustmerry]

friend sent me an Instagram reel yesterday with 1000s of likes that was basically like "pride and prejudice is timeless actually because it's about an autism romance 🥰" and then the creator proceeded to cite moments in the book and film where Lizzie and Darcy are "socially awkward" and....listen. I'm far from an Austen scholar, but I have taught Austen novels as an educator and this kind of psycho-pop analysis that views characters as individuals with autonomy over their actions, rather than tools in a story written at a particular time to say something about that time, pisses me off more than I can say without sounding like an asshole. I'm sorry but Darcy isn't rude and awkward and even cruel to Lizzie because he has autism, he says and does those things because he's a wealthy upper class land owning man raised to see a middle class woman from a large family with no male heirs like Elizabeth as inherently beneath him which he expresses to her multiple times because it is socially acceptable for him to do so in a society where someone like him is privileged above almost all others. He is "socially awkward" around her because of misogyny and classism (PREJUDICE) and she is "socially awkward" around him because a woman of her standing at that time simply wouldn't have had much to do with the gentry but to actually push back against the shit that Darcy says would be social suicide for her whole family so she protests the only way she can which is refusing his advances (PRIDE). not to be the "context collapse is the death of media literacy" guy. But this is the problem with the kind of head empty, let people enjoy things, if I can't relate to it what's the point type crowd. Youse think you're being so quirky justifying incoherent and anachronistic interpretations with your rampant individualism, ensuring that other people never confront anything that challenges them in these stories like patriarchal misogyny and classism. Pride and Prejudice becomes an "autism4autism romance", completely undermining the historical context of its status as one of the great social satires about the class and gender politics that Austen so expertly observed around her. This attitude is why we have nonsensical historical dramas that actively hate history like fucking edgy bdsm "Wuthering Heights", Bridgerton, The Buccaneers, and even a 2025 Frankenstein movie where the monster is just misunderstood and does no wrong uwu etc. because individual relatability and catharsis is king over anything actually saying anything about anything now. Everything is relatable and nothing is meaningful.

[thirdity]

“All that is set forth in books, all that seems so terribly vital and significant, is but an iota of that from which it stems and which it is within everyone’s power to tap.”

— Henry Miller, The Books in My Life

[ladyvictoriart]

The Latin princess Lavinia was made the object of a war between Trojan refugees, lead by Aeneas, and those loyal to the Rutulian king Turnus. A skilled priestess in her own right, Lavinia maintained a special relationship with the gods of her homeland.

[tieflingkisser]

[lesbianslimefriend]

here's where to find it on windows 10

[the-tiny-dragons-tea-room]

Ugh, it was in mine. It's off now.

[the-tiny-dragons-tea-room]

IT GETS WORSE

I had to turn this off, but it's something that allows Windows and anyone using your device to generate text/images.

LOBOTOMIZE YOUR MACHINES

[marougus-the-dragon]

AI is a freacking plague, I share this for any windows user.

[darkmacademia]

alignment chart: bookmark edition. tag yourself i’m scrap paper

[philosophybits]

“A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears.”

— Michel de Montaigne, Essais

[nijuukoo]

Times of the Day

It is inspired by Mucha’s series of the same name :D Glad I finally got to give my queens a fancy art treatment 8) I love art nouveau so much, and Alphonse Mucha is one of my biggest inspirations. I hope you like it!

[thirdity]

“To hear correctly is an art. To see things as they are is also an art. […] In learning to look at, to listen to all the content of that consciousness, in the observation of that consciousness, is action.”

— Jiddu Krishnamurti, Total Freedom

[cagedsanity]

Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964)

[sword-and-stars]