I’m more likely to respond to ask games if you include the question with the emoji. (Thank you!)
I don’t do chain/copy paste ask games, but thanks for thinking of me!
I won’t post fundraisers sent in my asks or submissions. Being responsible for someone's life like that is harrowing, and I just don’t have the energy to vet them besides. I may reblog them, however.
I only accept anon hate in the form of limerick. Please be aware of this before sending or your message will be blocked & deleted without comment. My blog MUST remain a silly space.
Karibu karibu, enjoy your stay!
Blacklist and Personal Tags:
#important - catch-all politics & current events tag.
#this is cassandra - talks tag. From the song by Talis Kimberley.
#sadismposting, #the intersection where the bodies meet - horny violence babyyyy! Largely defunct as I work through some stuff.
#something rotten in the house - incest, haunted houses, and greek tragedy. context
#torture - Torture, trauma theory, and solitary confinement.
#echo's book club - books I've been reading!
#echoes of the past - don't worry about this one.
I can be rather inconsistent when tagging!
Interests:
Opera - #opera tag
Fashion and textile arts, focused historical techniques & materials. I’ve knitted hand warmers from yarn I cleaned, carded, and spun myself! - #textile, #move the sheep and the fences around, #clothing
Sub-Saharan African mythology & cultures, for nostalgia reasons. May rarely post in Kiswahili. - #africa
Farming, homesteading, animal husbandry, etc. No tag. Lots of chickens.
Feminism and transfeminism! No tag. Heads up: TME/TMA is not useful for the kinds of discussions I'm interested in, and I find the terminology personally upsetting; no disdain if you use them, but I will not. I use transfem/not-transfem.
Spiders - #spiders
World mythology, media analysis, meta narrative. Enemies to lovers, too; if the Epic of Gilgamesh did it, I can put it here. #can’t argue with a monomyth, #enemies with benefits, #stories
Character tags: #gawainposting, #gearposting, #ishtarposting, #xipe totec posting, #zoraposting
Misc: #heave ho bitches, #knightposting, #labyrinth, #the mask, #the body, #unified tag for posts like this, #unicorn
Fandoms & medias & sideblogs & such
No Evil (@f-yeah-no-evil)
Abzu, Journey, Sky cotl (@starsfallhome)
Hollow Knight (@bobbinbugs)
Kiwi Blitz (@normalkiwiblitz)
Project Hail Mary (@shitty-eridians)
Books: House of Leaves, The Left Hand Of Darkness, Piranesi, [quite literally everything by Borges], The Last Unicorn
Animations & Animes: Revolutionary Girl Utena, Dungeon Meshi, Blue Eye Samurai, Arcane (loved s1, s2 critical), Epithet Erased, Witch Hat Atelier, Princess Tutu + princess tutu abridged (what I initially started this blog for!), Lego Monkie Kid
Video Games: Death Palette, Outer Wilds, Portal 1 & 2, Ultrakill, Hatoful Boyfriend, Hades, Blue Prince
Podcasts: Mabel, The Silt Verses
Paul Shapera (no longer following but soft spot for older works)
Medieval literature
The Epic of Gilgamesh, Inanna's Descent Into the Underworld, various mesopotamian stone tablets (Agushaya Hymn my beloved)
Bullying is crazy... I spent 13 years of my life forced to be at a certain location for 6+ hours almost every day, and at this location multiple of my peers would verbally harass or insult me, physically assault me, sexually harass me, socially ostracize me, every single day, for factors entirely outside of my control. And every adult who was ostensibly supposed to prevent this from happening either willfully ignored it or actively contributed to the bullying. And like, I'm supposed to just brush it off as "just bullying" and something that everyone goes through? Like I was literally in psychological torment camp every day for nearly my entire childhood and now I'm supposed to just function like a human being. Anyways what did you want on your sub. Ham and cheese. No lettuce or mayo..got it okay
what a lot of people don't understand, and what leads to them falling for conspiracy(-like) pizzagate style narratives even if they think they're above that due to not being lowly right wing qanoners, is that buying underage kids for sex is not difficult or expensive. at all. i say this brutally because it is brutal.
most people can reach children through family and friends "for free" anyway, but paying for it isn't a wealthy people business in the slightest.
countless major cities have areas that are known for teen prostitution and the prices there are low because the kids are desperate; poor, often addicted to something, possibly homeless. and i mean really low. in an article i've translated and posted here before, one previously affected child said a handjob in the car from a 13-year-old would go for 20€ and their street was always busy. quick oral sex with a 15-year-old for 30€, vaginal for 40€. a couple hundred if you want to take them somewhere with you for multiple hours. one girl was bought from her parents for 100€ and later sold by her trafficker to the client who impregnated her for 400€. these are the price ranges.
if you want younger than that still, you wouldn't believe how many parents or legal guardians pimp out their kids and how cheap it is. just recently a woman in indiana sent men photos of her 7-month-old daughter through snapchat with "u can fuck her for $400" and that only made the news because she got caught. the price matches what i've read in similar stories. "even" in the first world raping a baby is affordable for less than a month's rent and only requires not getting automatically flagged by snapchat's policy against sex solicitation.
and if you do go abroad, sex tourism only costs you an average solo vacation. when i was in mombasa on the beach at night to buy weed, a woman propositioned to me and, upon being turned down, informed me that they had girls starting at age 8 available if that's what i was after. no hesitation or pretense. she herself seemed barely in her 20s. being a foreigner on your own is all it takes. you don't need a secret password or special connections. for those who want to, it's painfully easy, cheap and safe.
the world of underage prostitution and trafficking doesn't look like children being sold as precious commodities to handpicked clienteles. they're sold dirt cheap to whatever average joe bastard happens to show up because there are millions of kids in shit life circumstances with no one looking out for them. they're treated as a dime a dozen. poor and neglected children are literally mass produced goods. child labour is used precisely because it's so cheap, why would sexual exploitation be any different?
point being: rich and famous people don't need to do all that to get access to a child. in fact, celebrities probably have a somewhat harder time with the anonymity that makes it so safe, being in the public eye and all. whenever you're reading something about sex trafficking in general or children in particular, pay attention to if it's being suggested that one needs to be part of the elite or some other secret club to be granted access. that'll tell you it's someone's make-believe saucy crime fiction / political thriller.
I'm not quite sure how to phrase this, but what are your feelings on Cassandra and Apollo's relationship?
Okay, this is really, really hard to explain. Except that I think everyone else is wrong. I am going to give you an answer, but it is not going to be a complete or adequate one.
He is her god. She is his priestess. She calls herself his latris, his servant. She is devoted to him. He has also hurt her immensely, he has also caused her unbearable suffering.
She wears his garlands, carries his sacred staff. She calls him her philtatos, her dearest, her beloved. She also calls him her destroyer. She addresses him constantly; he is always with her, she can always feel his presence.
She was trying to consent to him, and could not. ξυναινέσασα Λοξίαν ἐψευσάμην, “In consenting to Loxias I lied.” The consent and the deception happen at the same moment; she does not make a promise and renege on it, it’s nothing so simple as that. Consenting to a god is difficult; sex with a god is unlike sex with a mortal. He overwhelms her with his sheer physical presence, with the intensity of his divinity, breathing charis upon her body. She cannot accept him. It is like a test she failed. He punishes for it, and this is a terrible cruelty, it is a disrespect against her own bodily autonomy. It shows that he believes there is no part of herself she should hold back from him.
It is cruel, but he is a god, and the cruelty of the gods is unlike human cruelty. They rarely respect mortals’ autonomy, their right to control their own bodies and their own fates. His cruelty is to be expected.
The text makes it difficult to tell whether he rapes her, or whether, at her refusal he steps back and leaves her body alone. I don’t know. It could be either.
One critic says that her rejection of him is about a refusal to bear his child in her body, arguing that she is one of the few women desired by a god who does not bear a divine child.
Even if she denies him access to her physical body, he is always within her. That is what prophecy means, this is what it means to be his priestess. This is its own, unique type of intimacy. He gives her visions which are agony. And she also experiences the joy and glory which is his presence.
She laughs, and sings, and invites him to lead her to Agamemnon’s bed: άγε συ Φοιβε νιν, κατα σον εν δάφναις ανάκτορον θυηπολω, “You, Phoebus, lead me; among the laurels I offer sacrifice at your shrine.” This means: “Look what you have done to me, take responsibility for it.” This means: “Look how I serve you still, even when you have forsaken me.” This means: “Help me find joy in my subjugation.” This means: “I love you.”
You don’t have to admit you have an open wound if you close the wound before anyone sees it, yknow? but the fucking problem is people do nothing but talk about how much they hate open wounds around you and it’s like buddy I’m trying to close the thing before you see it. and then they get out the wound salt “just in case” like okay great. now there’s wound salt in my open wound that you keep saying you hate and don’t want to see. give me some fucking breathing room to close the wound then damn……… but they already know about the wound because you’ve been trying to close it for years. they weren’t speaking in hypotheticals. they know. and yuuuup there’s more wound salt
one of my friends in a discord server was talking about how they were nervous about their first scheduled acupuncture appointment. another friend offered to do a tarot reading for them. sent this picture.
me: [posting in the maid gc] yeah my lady screamed at me and threw bottles at my head cus i talked while she was reading her novellas again. any advice
maid 1: poison her
maid 2: yea poison her
maid 3: i have a connect on some really strong untraceable poisons if you want
me: girls she makes me try all of her food before she eats it how am i gonna poison her
maid 1: put it in her mouth while she sleeps
maid 2: ^this. worked like a charm for my sister
maid 3: yeah dm me i have a bunch of techniques that might work
maid 4: have you tried seducing her? maybe she just needs to have her heart warmed so she may show you the kindness you deserve
maid 2: MARY
maid 1: cmon mary
maid 3: just because YOUR lady has sex with you doesn't mean everyone's lady does
me: no wait she does like to put her fingers in my mouth to check if i swallowed her food. and i'm pretty sure she squeezed my ass once
maid 4: yeah exactly. message me i can tell yoy more
maid 3: whatever. if you need the poison just hit me up
maid 5: girls do you know how to get wine out of satin
Yeah man, this wizard sleepover is cozy. I just saw a guy gently clap his hands together and say "hot beverage conjuration" or something, and suddenly everyone was holding a perfect mug of their favorite warm drink in their hands. Nobody who was already sleeping even woke up, that's how cozy it is. I'm over here casting pillow and level 2 pyjamas. I think I just heard "power word: blanket fort" two groups over. I gotta get in there.
can anyone on this gay ass website give me an opinion on which translation of the epic of gilgamesh i should read? ive been wanting to read it for ages but theres a number of common translations and i know translations can make or break a story; i dont want to start with the wrong one
I've read a few so I can offer recommendations! I started with the Sandars translation, which is a good starting point but a pretty early translation. Benjamin Foster's translation is one of my favourites, and the version I read (Second Norton Critical Edition) includes some really interesting discussion essays with it. Andrew George's translation received an update a couple of years ago so is up to date with Foster's translation, though I prefer how the language flows in Foster's.
I would also recommend Gilgamesh Retold by Jenny Lewis for a translation with a more modern poetic take.
Benjamin Foster’s Gilgamesh condenses all the different tablets we’ve found together to make one cohesive narrative which is way less intimidating and therefore my go-to if you want something that feels cohesive while also sticking very close to the language of the original. 10/10
Andrew George is the most thorough and up-to-date, and sticks as close to the text as you can get. It does, however, separate out all the different tablets, and feels very unedited in its style. Definitely not a “pretty” version. 10/10 cuz he’s a legend and this is the most definitive scholarly edition but don’t start with it.
Maureen Kovacs has a lovely translation with some very interesting footnotes on word choices. Her Ninsun is absolutely incredible and if you want to cry your eyes out over Gilgamesh’s fate that’s the one for you. It’s one step up from Foster’s in terms of poetic-ness but still pretty close to the original. 8/10
Sophus Helle is more poetic than Kovacs but BRILLIANT, one of my favourite Enkidus and his Shamhat is wonderful. Top favourite of all time. This is a very good starting point. 9/10
I wouldn’t recommend Sandars simply because it’s prose, and also condenses the twelfth tablet into a nice tidy ending that doesn’t really work with the Standard Babylonian narrative. 6/10
Lewis’ Gilgamesh Retold is more of a poetic retelling than a translation; it’s beautiful but definitely not a starting point. Sweet and gentle Enkidu though, very charming. 7/10
Stephen Mitchell I’m not a fan of. He smooths the poem out into something tame and very expected. This is my personal bias but I really dislike his Shamhat. His Enkidu and Gilgamesh are also explicitly more like brothers, which is a valid interpretation but also again not one I lean towards. 5/10
Herbert Mason’s Gilgamesh has some stunning moments in it (Enkidu! They do not know you like I know you!) However it is nowhere near the real text BUT closer than Lewis’. Changes the ending of the poem so it’s about Gilgamesh mourning Enkidu rather than mourning his own mortality; a much sadder conclusion with less resolution than in the Standard Babylonian. 7/10
BONUS ROUND:
Derek Hines’ play GILGAMESH is fucking DERANGED guys. Ten Gilgillion out of ten.
Yeah, you know what? You DO need to also have all of your background anxieties and needs met without fear of losing them. AND be kissed until you cant breathe and fucked until you cant think.
