#french is very much not the same

[intimate-mirror]

hot take: the reign of terror was bad

it's not strange that lots of internet contrarians/communists think that it was fine, because it was undoubtedly Cool, but there seems to be some idea that it was simply a necessary part of overthrowing the monarchy, which, because it happened afterward, clearly cannot be the case

like, the reign of terror shouldn't be compared to what came before and after, because it was not the only alternative to what came before and after

it should be compared to not doing it

(why mention this when other things at the time were worse? well, because people think it was good, whereas effectively nobody thinks the french monarchy was good)

#this is the result of listening to an fictional retelling of the french revolution #and then looking up how much is the same #which turns out to be everything #besides the magic and motivations #it's not very good as a book #“robespierre turned evil because a vampire seduced him” #but it's more factually accurate than any historical fantasy i've read before

[coquelicoq]

crying laughing @ this edition of le fantôme de l'opéra that my dad got me for christmas it's just. i don't know how to describe it. every page is a scan of a page of the 1926 edition, with like 1-2 inches of margin around it??? and the letters are so small and the scan is not of very great quality so it's kind of hard to see the words?? interspersed with scans of pictures but some of them are upside down??? there's one page where the scan didn't really work in the upper left corner so it's just totally black???

the back of the book says

Le présent ouvrage s'inscrit dans une politique de conservation patrimoniale des ouvrages de la littérature Française mise en place avec la BNF. HACHETTE LIVRE et la BNF proposent ainsi un catalogue de titres indisponibles, la BNF ayant numérisé ces œuvres et HACHETTE LIVRE les imprimant à la demande.

(my rough translation: This publication is in line with a policy instituted in conjunction with the BNF (National Library of France) for the conservation of important works of French literature. In service of this goal, Hachette Livre and the BNF are offering a catalogue of unavailable titles digitized by the BNF which Hachette Livre will print upon request.)

so like this is on purpose but i have so many questions. first of all why the margins. okay i guess that is my most important question. why not just make the book correspond to the size of the pages in the original? or, if the size of the book is fixed, you could at least size up the images to use as much of that wasted space as possible, no?

i want to say how ridiculous this is and how there's no market for it but there clearly is one because i asked my dad to get it for me! i'm the market!! i told him to buy this edition because it was the only french-language print edition i could find to buy in the us for less than $50 (outside of amazon because fuck amazon). but like, why is that the case? the full text of this book, in plain text which could easily and legibly be printed, is available for free on the internet. why isn't there some publisher who's just printing that out and binding it? seems easier to do than printing scans. not to mention a lot easier to read!!

(to see what i'm talking about, go to the hachette BNF webpage for this book and click on feuilleter to download a sample of the pages in PDF)

#is there like. some copyright reason??? i'm really baffled by this #i get needing to scan the pictures but the text??? #even if you wanted to preserve the page numbers and so forth i'm sure you could make that happen... #just print it in the same font with the same page size as the original. right??? i feel like i'm losing my mind here #it's just. this is an extremely famous work of literature and a manipulable printable plain text version is available for free #on the internet. why is no one printing that??? or why is everyone charging so much money for it??? #books #french #my posts #oftentimes when i'm trying to order a work of classic french lit from my local bookstore #the hachette bnf version comes up in the search results. and sometimes it's the only version that does #i've always avoided buying one though because i could tell there was something off about them. the covers look very... #idk. unprofessional? not unprofessional but clearly they are not important. no one is trying to make them appealing #so i was like. not at all confident that they would be any good. but i finally decided to get one because there were no other options #and lo and behold i open it up. and it's this. i guess i was right to judge this book by its cover #gonna try to read this now because i certainly won't be able to read it when i'm old and my near eyesight is bad lol #my near eyesight is already getting worse so i better get cracking

[dq1]

thinking again

#feel like i have become too complacent with watering myself down into an easily digestible identify for society #partially bc of my career is very conservative.. so #no piercings or tattoos. cut my long hair off to a mens hairstyle. i pass exclusively as a cis straight man as much as i can #especially around the old head bosses i meat #stopped learning japanese even though im mixed so i could learn French because its more useful where i live #i dont want to be useful and i dont want to be seen as some creature mimicking human anatomy like a robot i just want 2 be myself #but ive been doing this so long idk who myself would even be anymore #sometimes i get into old interests i had as a kid and i feel that spark like that 12 yr old didnt die on the inside but then its gone again #i wish a version of myself thats not palatable to my peers could exist #i want to relearn japanese and i want to ride motorcycles and i want to get into certain types of music or clothes #but it also feels like none of it really matters anymore at the same time #if i could be anything i would be a funeral director in nagoya but thats something that can never happen #i shove everything i like down so deep you have to reach to find it #this whole blog is an amalgamation of who i was and who i wished i could be #but being human we r just cursed with bodies that dont feel like our own and having to cut and shape them in a way #that u feel better but not enough so that the people around you are frightened #this is mostly the fact i have avoidant personality disorder and i know i can never be what normal is for most people #i want 2 be myself but myself died somewhere in a past life i think #i am not even human on the inside. half the time i joke w people that im an rpg slime or the human version of those sponge slimes #hence my nickname irl literally being gelo / jello / jelly #and if not that then black German shepherd dogs r also literally just me #but alas i am stuck in a human body #one thats too fat too hairy too sick too broken and i have to deal with it and rebuild myself everyday so people aren't uncomfortable #ANYWAY!!! maybe ill add onto this later ...idk. #to be born again.. sighs.

[shirogane-oushirou]

thank you, tv room, for giving me a brain blast and helping me FINALLY decide between some different ren origin options after mulling over them for months :) he may have come fully formed in my brain personality-wise, but i'm still working on details.

still waiting on that voice claim brain blast tho KJANSFKJN

#literally been listening to two tv room tracks for MONTHS... and when i finally looked up the full albums last night #it was like a neon sign pointing me to something obvious that i hadn't thought to look up ;; #currently: mom's french canadian > immigrates to maine after meeting his dad there > ren's born > he moves south for college / to escape #and i'm gonna hide this in the tags bc despite it all i'm still nervous KJANSDFKJN but #after all this time i'm wondering if i'm building up the voice thing when it isn't like... i'm-gonna-be-crucified bad? #he is absolutely peak white liberal + everything but his most recent stuff is Genuinely Bad... maybe this will give it away #but i only knew about him from vine and from other white liberals talking up his most recent n/etflix special when it released... #so seeing the other stuff while looking for ren-isms Took Me Out. but he's clearly... grown? i guess?? still irony poisoned #and cynical and annoying as shit but... yknow... more harmful comedians are given bigger platforms etc etc. #if that's enough to give shit away and you know anyone who has a similar voice and isn't. yknow. him? i'm Begging and Pleading. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 #evil brain blast cursed me and i've been working to break the curse ever since... so any and all recs are VERY much appreciated ;;; #currently searching through queer comedians to see if i can find anyone w the same tone but not having as much luck as i thought i would. #SEND TWEET KJSANDFKJn been sitting on this for a couple of hours. Debating. it's gonna happen eventually tho so it might as well be now. #📌 [ my posts. ] #🍄 [ lying on the blade of an emotion. ] #🦦 [ can't escape it. ] #✨ [ oc lore. ] #✏️ [ my scenarios. ] #🐸 [ look ahead. ] #🧃 [ who is in control. ]

[i-mybrunettelady]

Just saw a post about realizing you had crushes on certain characters before you know they were crushes and it brought in the forefront of my mind the way I latched onto Eugène de Rastignac the first time I'd read Le Père Goriot when I was 16. Like, it's highkey embarrassing how I didn't realize. I have a lot to credit to that book regarding my current reading tastes, especially my fascination with the young opportunist trope in 19th century literature, but also how's that serving ya now Nero

#nero's random thoughts #les aventures françaises #this is limited to french lit - i am a french lit/language student #but yeah. im so very open about my liking of bastard men now that the fact I throught I “identified” with a mean social climber Eugène bc #of a “dark side” in personality... girl please #there's a lot of difference in me who writes and me irl #They're not the same person alas #im so much more jaded and rough in writing i feel like #but that's for another post #thank you formative character Eugène

[yamchaas]

complete the tag: Dragon Ball addition

tag this with the first thing to appear when you type the following into the tags:

Goku

Yamcha

Tien

Bulma

Gohan

Piccolo

Launch

Vegeta

Videl

Chichi

Krillin

#did this for my kh blog #used to do em on my old blogs all the time #theyre good fun! #dragon ball #goku is my baby and my dad at the same time. #yamcha and tien have become french #Nothin agaonst ol rad boy i just only fuck with yamtien #but its always this he cheats on bulma and is a sleaze bag that fucks everyone #LMAOO of course im ranting anyway #gohan thats my lil baby #Piccolooooooooooooo #still remember when i first said launch mai like 2 years back and everyone was like 👁👄👁 wait thats so good and i was like YEAH #ngl home g this ask was a roller coaster- like veghetha and then fuck vegeta but hes fave but yamcha but what about outfits. #videl smokin cigars.... 😏 #turns out i have strong feelings for chichi #he loves like tien and goku and krillin and gohan and stuff very much too #tag game

[lafcadiosadventures]

And another thing I want to thank Petrus Borel for is registering that spanish speakers of the world have been saying “carajo” at least since 1833

#it’s funny bc it’s very much still in use #funny bc spanish writers of the day don’t use it (in the same way that hugo balzac don’t really use french cursewords)afaik

[mystacoceti]

people want reading to be a social activity you partake of in between salon attendances. and not that I don't understand that feeling but how many books have people read and enjoyed that came out of some literary backwater, with hardly another boat in sight? The scan I did myself on my parents' printer of a college-owned copy of Max Raphael's The Demands of Art which I asked a friend to check out for me is, I think, the only digital copy of the English translation of that book in existence (jk the Max Raphael Project got the book up as of 2020), and I've assumed, more or less since elementary school, that kind of thing as one basic pole of reading as a social phenomenon. I've been reading a lot of essays from about 1960-'80 and the number of appealing books referenced that are unarchived, unavailable on libgen or out of stock on legal sites is always striking. and even if you can find it, what then? there's always the option of google searching through the blogs of the world, but that's hardly the fantasy people have in mind.

#for example: #I like Robbe-Grillet very much at least what I've read of him #and I tried to describe him to a friend who a) lives in France b) speaks French and c) likes much of the same literature I do #and he'd never heard of the author in his life #in part it's just that there is so much in any medium to take in. and while a bookclub or analogous thing would structure the social in+ #+a way that would prevent isolation- to some degree an individual's own interests will always lie outside those things somewhat #if you'll let me be florid a minute: there's a real loneliness to this whole living thing that just is #but that could be my own acclimation to the social setting I've been in for 6 years now

[ilovefredjones]

there seems to be an unused ration of… water? yes.

martin crimp, cyrano de bergerac / raoul walsh, captain horatio hornblower

#i heard ‘hornblower? he ain’t human’ and blacked out for the rest of the film #watched chh last night bc a) he was inspiration of jim kirk’s character and b) hornblower is played by ethan peck’s grandfather #so a very full circle moment #and. gah this scene this SCENEEEE #the dehumanisation of authority figures the same way jim is constantly being compared to caesar #their struggles never being visible bc they have to be strong for their crew #and thus almost becoming godlike and infallible #HE AINT HUMAN???????????????????? #and god don’t even get me started on the cyrano extract #how he saves his water for CHRISTIAN?????? the woman he loves’ husband????? oh im evil #he values christian’s life more than his own bc ROXANE values christian more!!!!!!! AAAAAAAGGHHHHHHHH #and how much HIS men respect and admire him even tho he isn’t a general or anything he’s just an ordinary solider #and how the rest of the men and even cyrano himself almost start to believe he’s untouchable #he takes the flack and he’d go to hell and back and thus he’s lifted into this high position #when in reality it’s like. because he hates himself. and his sword and his words are all he has #and if that kills him then it kills him #and it DOES kill him!!!!!!! he walks out of hospital to confess to roxane and he dies and aaaaggggghhghh #normal normal i’m normal #god why can’t i have normal interests like everybody else #no one else is like ‘omg the parallels between this 1951 film and an adaptation of an 18th century french play’ #and how they relate to captain kirk from star trek #what is WRONGGGGGG WITH ME WHAT IS MY PROBLEM #god. anyway #jesus christ jemima. have you ever tried to like things a normal amount #anyway. i’m finished now i think #how tf do i even tag this #cyrano de bergerac #captain horatio hornblower

[whimsicalcotton]

.

#some songs off masterpiece fit both rachel and time-looper max and that is Accurate #bc in my french vanilla fantasy they have a weird fucked up unspoken Understanding. they look at each other and they're like #'ah; i see you too have grown addicted to putting yourself through The Horrors. same hat' #that's why rachel has a slightly easier time 'reasoning' w max than chloe. her priorities are Also skewed to fuck. she Gets It. they Vibe #she's also the type who can waltz around issues if needed #meanwhile chloe is more the type to kick the metaphorical door in and go 'dude look at all these fucking issues' #tbqh tho both approaches are very much needed for the poor suffering hare #simmering in the thought of amberfield just both being silently enamored w each other #that 'she can have whatever she wants' line goes Both Ways btw #looking at each other like fascinating creatures. looking at each other like they're studying the finest oil paintings #hgjhjghjf They; #nebular.txt

[friendofthecrows]

I have a job interview today, everyone who believes in that stuff send me luck ok? (灬º‿º灬)♡

#i am VERY fluent in writing but speaking is a different matter so I'm a bit worried #i actually just changed my fluency level on my application for French bc you know I'm fluent in French #but then my mom asked me to describe something to her in French and I blanked #but then she asked me to describe THE SAME THING in English and I STILL COULDN'T #so anyways my French is sitting at intermediate now in my resume bc they had no between intermediate and fluent #and I KNOW what everyone considers intermediate in this country and I'm waaay above that #but anyways the downsides of being mostly raised by a wolf #I'm not actually a fluent English speaker even though it's my first language #fine writing but I don't have too much experience speaking #putting sentences together is like doing a puzzle it's hard #often there's a word at the back of my head that I can't pull to the front so I try to describe with other phrases #i hope this doesn't make me sound unqualified #like I could show you all of it or write essays on it but speaking is hard #and i could do it in French but y'know since I can't verbalize in English well I can't in French either #i was literally raised by a wolf and then spent the rest of my life mostly isolated in the forest #i write and read a lot and correspond with people electronically all the time #but I only speak to like 5 people once a week and that's only been for the last few years #you get it? #so I'm nervous bc I KNOW the English capabilities will leave #imagine a language that you're kind of good at but you've been on and off studying #now imagine you have to do a spoken interview in that #that's me with any of my languages including English #this DOES make it really easy to learn foreign languages quickly #which is why I can WRITE in 5 very well #speaking is a different matter

[coquelicoq]

i love it when dumas describes what someone's wearing because though i only recognize about half the nouns, it doesn't matter. the syntax is very formulaic and though the sentences are long, it's mostly just lists rather than a bunch of nested subordinate clauses, so i can easily follow it. and the takeaway is always "this person has clothes on. probably the specific clothes they're wearing says something about their place in society and/or their personality, but you don't know enough about fashion in france in the year 1833 anyway to pick up on that, so don't worry about it."

#i also love it when i do decide to look up an item of clothing and the translation is just the same word #helpful! lol #maybe the reason i only recognize half the nouns has nothing to do with my french knowledge #maybe i'm just fashion-illiterate #fashion #french #the important thing is i can recognize the words even if i don't know what they mean #so if he uses them later i can be like 'oh we're talking about the same person from before' #which is important in a book where the main character is theoretically in disguise for much of it #and there are very other characters undertaking various other schemes #so even though i don't speak french and can't actually see what any of these people are wearing #i'm still doing better on a character-recognition basis than 90% of the actual characters in the novel

[professorlegaspi]

AU in which Aunt Agatha is more uptight and disallows Celia to go to Renasci. Instead, she sends her to finishing school

#in this au Celias had a very different unbringing #where she was forced to learn how to dance and speak French and eat with five different forks and be a lady #and because she is learning new languages so much earlier than she did in canon #she discovers early on that she’s really good at it (*cough* gifted *cough*) #and she develops a passion for language #it’s one of the few places where she feels she can be herself and she is unrestricted by aunt Agatha who is very pro having-a-child-prodigy #and so when she is sent to finishing school she’s actually sent abroad #this rightfully sends everyone at Renasci into a tizzy #her space in Mensaleon is still reserved and there’s an empty bed in room 3 #(Doxa’s way more chill on account of this and becomes a mentor figure to Maddie who is pretty lonley) #they eventually decide to teach Celia remotely using the book as a sort of Zoom stand-in #and Celia has to cram a double schedule of learning while she goes to her own classes #also because i want it #in this au Maddie due to her isolation becomes in tune with her intuition way earlier #and has frequent contact with the kynoseur similar to Tainn in Bellicose #she has visions concerning Celia and the two become long distance friends using their mind gifts as their only connection #Celia’s finishing school is a four year university and immedietlg after she graduates the kidnapping attempts start #this is right about when she is growing into her telepathy and that combined with them finally being on the same continent #means that Maddie and celia are finally able to talk rather than meeting in dreams or getting updates via kynoseur-post #Celia also knows way earlier that she has a sister #the fifth book still launches a school-to-school tour #but rather than doing it through a Renasci exchange program #the two besties have to use more illegal methods and go on a cross-country breaking and entering spree #Maddie runs away from Renasci and they’re on the run until the final battle #they manage to find Huperpetra in a dramatic revelation and they break in using Celia’s block-breaking prowess #and the showdown happens there instead of at villandre #celias journey #celia fincastle #alternate universes

[docholligay]

Looking back on her life, Haruka would roll her eyes at herself. How quickly and easily it rolled off Michiru’s tongue should have been her first clue that she was out of her depth, and if that hadn’t done it, listening to her exchange with her mother in French too rapid to be understood--even if Haruka had known enough to understand--should have. Failing even that, she might have considered that MIchiru’s mother was, in fact, from France, and so whatever two years of almost-failing a Japanese French class taught by someone named Madame Fujiwara might have given her might not be up to snuff. 

But Haruka, in her younger years, rarely stopped to consider such things, and, she would say with a chuckle, running a hand through her greying hair, any brain cells she had when right out the window when encountering a pretty girl. 

Which is how she ended up telling Michiru she had a very soft and beautiful pussy. 

Perhaps she should not have been so quick to rely on her own knowledge (she often contained this word in air quotes, telling the story as an adult) of French construction, a quick glance in the dictionary all that was needed. 

She cleared her throat, petting the little white thing that was easily the most affectionate member of Michiru’s family, although the sparrows would have said it was just as prone to casual murder, and inelegantly let it out in a stammering French

“Your pussy...is...very very soft...and very beautiful.” 

Michiru could not stop herself from giving a true laugh as she turned around and smiled “Ah, bon?” 

Normally, Haruka loved the rare moments when Michiru let enough of herself drop to allow that laugh, but heat flushed her cheeks as she realized, somehow, that she had made a mistake. 

#This is based on an actual French mistake that is very easy for a non-native to make #I guess not MISTAKE #since it's the same in English #and like pussy very much can mean a cat #but like..DOES IT? #same deal here

[crazyw3irdo]

i don’t really have a strong country accent but man as soon as i start writing dialogue i realize how much i say y’all and ain’t

#child me trying to suppress any countryism i have would be so disappointed in me #child!me: aint isn’t a real word >:( stop saying it!! #me now: y’all’re’all idiots man like y’all’d’ve done the same thing if i’d’ve #now i just gotta suppress my countryisms when i’m writing a character that is very much not country #like hm no i don’t think this old french lady would say aint actually

[widevibratobitch]

just got called a communist in the comments under some opera blogger's post because I said I prefer traditional to modern productions. i mean sure. why not.

#like??????????????????? #i am honestly speechless lmao #for context: #it was a post reporting about the possibility of a certain Polish opera being performed at the Met in one of the future seasons #in Treliński's production (operablr remember The Cage Incident in that one Don Carlo? yeah. that's the same guy). #now the opera we're talking about is Halka. It's obviously never been performed at the Met before. #And it's probably the most famous and significant Polish opera. It's full of folk themes and traditional Polish dances etc. #It's an opera that gives so many opportunities for a beautiful colorful staging. With beautiful traditional costumes (not to be a patriot #because im very much not. but ngl traditional Polish clothing especially from Podhale aka where Halka takes place is GORGEOUS) #it basically takes place in the mountains so you could make some great scenography and just gaahhhhh it could be So Pretty. #but obviously. Treliński's production is his classic monochromatic pseudointelectual bullshit which. i understand that some people like it #not me. but it's ok. i simply said what i said above and that i think a colorful traditional production with Polish folk elements #would be something new and fresh especially since it's (potentially) being performed at the Met in the US #where this folk stuff is not really an everyday everpresent element of their culture. #but. apparently. that is a 'communist anachronism' because Halka (which premiered in 1848) is a modern opera??? somehow??? #idk #anyway i love Halka and im glad there's a possibility of the Met staging it even if the production is horrible. #i just think it would be more fun for a typical American to see something new and pretty and colorful that will give some background #for the music that has some strange elements when compared to your typical italian french or german opera #opera tag #halka