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iamanonniemouse · 4 months

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End of Year Book Asks

Okay, @vector-to-the-heavens, to add insult to injury, after I drafted a reply to your ask, and then tumblr wouldn't let me edit my draft but instead queued my incomplete draft, and then forced me to delete the queued post -- THEN it ERASED your ask!!!

the good news is I screenshotted my drafted reply so ALL IS NOT LOST no thanks to tumblr though

Seriously vec why does tumblr hate our friendship so much????

Anyway, you asked for 3, 11, and 16 from this list of books asks!

Putting this under a cut now cuz my ranting took up most of the post lol

3. What were your top five books of the year?

Oh man. VEC. HOW. WHY. God. Lemme see :pulls up list of the 265 books I read in 2023:

Okay, in no particular order:

Babel, by R.F. Kuang Incredible, mind-blowing, heart-breaking, just :flails: The magic in this world is fascinating in its own right but then Kuang turned it into such a pointed look at the results of colonization and how important language is to culture and identity andandand--

American Eden, by Victoria Johnson My friends know I have gotten into an absolute obsession with reading nature-related books, from the history of natural science to biographies about famous nature people to plain old books about birds and bees (literally. really.) This book is one of my favorites, it's the biography of a man who was a ground-breaking surgeon in America after the American Revolution -- who also was a huge botanist and created America's first botanical garden. (He was also the Hamilton's family doctor and was The Doctor present at the Burr-Hamilton duel.) I adored this book on so many levels, truly. It was just incredible to read.

The Scholomance Trilogy, by Naomi Novik (ssh I can absolutely count a trilogy as one book)@silverbrume has been singing this series' praises to me for AGES and I finally read it this year and WOW. It's just so good! Love the world, love the characters, love the found family, lovelovelove that it's a well paced and well tied-together trilogy where things from the first book that seemed like minor mentions turned into major plot points by book three. Just incredible and lovely and I already want to reread it.

The Seed Keeper, by Diana Wilson Really beautiful writing and so delicately handled. Speaks to so much about what America has done to the Native American peoples in terms of cutting off entire generations from their heritage with the boarding schools, and how difficult it is for someone to find their way back home when they feel so separated from it. I'm summarizing this one so bad, but just. Trust me. This book is incredible and you all should read it. I've got my MOM reading it, and she is awful about finishing books, but she is like...80% of the way through it and just keeps telling me how good it is.

Cherryvine, by Marina Vivancos Hey look since I've been reading majority MM romance I need to have at least ONE on here okay?? But more seriously, Vivancos is a phenomenal writer and almost always has stories that involve healing from past trauma/abuse. And what I love about her writing is how much she focuses on the healing process itself, and how gentle it always is. I could write you a laundry list of all the Vivancos books you should read, but that's for another post probably. This one is just beautiful though, really beautiful.

Honorable mention to The Cider House Rules, by John Irving, which honestly should be on this list but since I raved about it in my other ask response it felt like cheating to put it here again. But lemme just say -- JOHN IRVING MY BELOVED.

11. What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

I answered 11 in this one but I'm going to cheat and answer again because I also read Pride and Prjudice this year and omg it was ADORABLE. I was over the moon with how much I enjoyed it. I am shamelessly obsessed with the 2005 movie (Matthew McFadyen as Darcy my beloved) and I was tickled with how many lines from the book were in the movie! Anyway, 10/10 highly recommend, it was just FABULOUS.

16. What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

Okay, not necessarily over-hyped but I read More Than This, by Patrick Ness. As backstory, I read A Monster Calls years ago and omg. Talk about an incredible book. One of my all-time faves, forever on a recommendation list, just. Really good. And I never read anything else he wrote haha. But I heard a lot about More Than This, so I grabbed it from the library, and it was really intriguing at first. It seemed like some interesting, mind-twisty kind of story, like an inception limbo fic almost. I really really intrigued and I loved it. And then the last third of it just went....totally off the rails. Like what the FUCK. It was wild and whacky and also just so extremely violent??? In the final fight?? Like, in a way that was jarring because everything to that point had been suspenseful and tense but not gory. Anyway, yeah I was very disappointed in that.

#mousie rambles #omg i get asks now #ask thingy #vector to the heavens #books #mousie talks books #look vec i finally got this posted!!!

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axvoter · 2 years

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Blatantly Partisan Party Review IX (Victoria 2022): Health Australia Party

Prior reviews: federal 2016, VIC 2018, federal 2019

What I said before: “This is a party of anti-vaxxers, and they protest too loudly that they are not. Let me put this simply: if you have to protest that you are not anti-vax, odds are you actually hold anti-vax views. Nobody who clearly endorses vaccinations gets confused for a muddleheaded anti-vax conspiracy theorist.” (federal 2019)

What I think this year: I was sincerely delighted when Health Australia got deregistered federally and I did not have to review them in May. Sadly, they still have registration for Victorian state elections. I must admit, though, that I was curious how they would present themselves this year: in previous years they have tried to claim they are not antivaxxers, but has the pandemic caused their mask to fall?

It turns out their page claiming they are not opposed to vaccinations is still live. It’s just that they prefer homeopathy and support all the same policies as people who are openly antivaxxers. They want to prosecute medical specialists, politicians, and public servants for having the gall to implement an effective response to the pandemic. They rant against a “mad rush to vaccinate” and wonder what the “real motives” might be (hmm, gee could it be saving lives?).

Health Australia have released a bunch of documents with their views on covid, and perhaps the one good thing I can say is that they at least acknowledge that covid is real. I don’t really want to give these people any more of a platform than they already have, but the rest of their material is loopy and dangerous stuff. They talk down the efficacy of vaccines, rant against science (sorry, “non-science”!), and think that covid can be treated effectively with homeopathic remedies (no, really). It’s batshit stuff and it deserves no attention whatsoever.

I am amused, though, that one bullet point on their landing page states that "HAP believes in safe and non-toxic therapies not chemicals as the only treatment". Yes, this is vaccine scaremongering, but the reason why it amuses me is that their documentation suggests treatments for covid such as... magnesium and zinc. Have they looked at a periodic table lately?!

For the electoral trainspotters, Health Australia tried to change their name before the election to The Coalition for Freedom Prosperity Health. A letter to members explains that they withdrew this application partly because of the length of time the VEC would take to process it and partly because they think some nefarious opponents would launch legal action if they used this name (unlikely). The same letter also desperately tries to drum up candidates—people who “have not posted ‘crazy’ material which could harm HAP” to social media, which should tell you everything about their pool of potential candidates—and it claims that if they do not get anyone elected, this might be their final election. I sure hope so.

My recommendation: Give the Health Australia Party a weak or no preference. Remember to vote below the line on the large ballot for the Legislative Council so that your preference goes where you want it to go; all ballots with 5 or more preferences marked below the line are valid votes.

Website: https://www.healthaustraliaparty.com.au/

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wo-the-wolf · 6 years

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Warrants for Swing- One Shot

First of all big shout out to

@yugissisterdeath

for tagging me in a post where I can make a bunch of one shots for some fun writings :D and secondly ---->

This is inspired by

@sarcasmandfoxes

and their post regarding several different human like quirks. Hope you all enjoy!

FINALLY: Do note from now on with my stories, I will specify whether or not it is a one shot, a main character following, possible warning regarding rating, as well as how many parts I THINK it might be. Enjoy!

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Concept

“The way we repair things with tape or glue or whatever. Especially when it could still be dangerous to use afterwards, like wires wrapped in tape instead of replacing them.”

Setting

Ryker Station, One of the largest Hives of Criminal Activity (Essentially a second Citadel, or Omega Station for my fellow Mass Effect fans).

Demographic: Mostly Dangerous Criminals and Spice Traders, species level are highly mixed.

Galactic Location: Outer Rim, Southern Quadrant.

Characters

Name: Veccoth Re’zora

Nickname: ”Vec”

Species: Saurian, humanoid Lizard like being.

Age: 32

Occupation: Ex-Special Operations Counter-Terrorism Unit, Currently Detective

Name: Quinn Tethras Emrick

Nickname: ---- Species: Human Age: 32

Occupation: Ex-Black Ops Sargent Specializing in Wetwork, Currently Detective

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The music pounded away in a club filled with night owls of all different species, all out enjoying their evenings, some gambling and drinking, and others making their shady deals. Ryker Station was as it seemed, a place for criminals of all types to hide; From simple thugs and smugglers, to war profiteers, high stakes gamblers, and drug kingpins. Assassins and hackers galore, any criminal worth their salt would find refuge somewhere in the glowing casinos and hotels, or the grubby underbelly of the stations bowels.

It was here Vec and Quinn, our two Citadel Detectives, found themselves sitting at a table above the gambling den, watching over the suits and their cheers for the high rollers. “Ah the night life of casinos and strip clubs alike. The music is really what takes me back to when I was younger. All those bright lights, the electronic swing, the lower sections and the dark bass. Oh it takes me back Quinn.”

“Back to when you were smuggling guns and dope or?” Quinn leaned back in her chair, arms folded and keeping her sunglasses on. The glasses brightened a bit and showed her a HUD, scanning Vec who grinned at her comment.

“Back when my scales were nice and bright.” He chuckled before also putting on a pair of sunglasses.

“CT’s really hit home with you,” Quinn smirked.

Vec shrugged and opened his mechanical arm, taking a look at it before resting it on the table, “I’m certainly quite the catch, ask any lady on the Citadel.”

“Templar Squad, please focus on your objective,” a digitized voice stated. A red woman with red hair literally on fire appeared on their left portion of their eye glass screen. An AI, frowning at them, “Target Objective: Wasp is moving to your sector. Krusheayle Lien. Here is his picture,” she brought up a picture on both of their lenses to show a human, Asian, and probably in his early 40′s.

“We got it Ruby, just let me finish my cocktail real quick,” Vec smirked as he sipped on a bright clear liquid, topped with a festive little umbrella. From the front of the dance floor, their intended target entered the room with his entourage of four armed guards. He calmly walked around the dance floor, unaware of the hunters now stalking their prey.

“Agent Vec, please use reason, you must begin pursuit now if you are to catch him.” Ruby frowned, arms behind her back as she insisted.

“For thousands of years my species were the king predators of our world, let me decide when it’s right to strike,” he downed the last of his drink, as the target passed under them and continued on his way to another door.

“Agent Quinn?” Ruby inquired.

“Like now,” Vec chuckled before throwing the glass at the DJ. The cup shattered across his head, knocking him out cold as he face planted the DJ both, changing the music to something a bit more adrenaline inducing.

“Section, move in,” Quinn ordered, as the agents witnessed their target suddenly turn and look panicked. From behind them, the doors opened and two Cageth aliens moved in, executing the guards with silenced weapons and grabbing the target, pulling him back through the doors.

“Roger Agent Queen, target is secured, moving to extract.” a response came from their radio.

“When did they get there?” Ruby questioned with a frown.

“Too many people on the floor, we called for back up. Vec get moving on the door.” Quinn pointed down the walkway they were on at a maintenance entrance.

“You got it,” he smirked before leaping to action.

Upon getting to the door, Vec continued to try to get it open, but was becoming more frustrated as it wouldn’t budge. “Damn, security probably got a bead on us and is locking things down, it won’t open.” Vec growled.

“Hurry up,” Quinn nudged him along before seeing guards coming out of both doors. “Shit, Section we got bad guys inbound from your last location, respond, Over?”

“We are good, Agent Queen, moving to Extraction, enemies are right behind us but obstruction should be minimal.” The Cageth responded over the sound of blaster fire.

“Keep safe, Section.” She ordered before seeing the guards begin to point at them. “We don’t have time,” she brought her leg up and slammed it into the control panel for the door.

“Hey what the hell are you doing?!” Vec shouted before the door slid open. “That was sheer luck.”

“Come on we’ll argue later.” she said before stepping through and hitting the emergency lock on the door. It swung shut, and they nodded before heading off through the tunnels. Soon the alarms along the station in their area began going off like crazy, alerting every guard and thug looking to earn some favor with the local Kingpins. “Come on move!” Quinn shouted as they both ran into one of the hanger bays where a ship waited for them. The Cageth from earlier waved their hands for them to hurry and board, before opening fire at guards turning the corner to make an attempt at stopping them.

“Up and Adam,” Vec yelled as he had hopped on and turned to give Quinn a hand. The ship was already off the ground and preparing to depart, and as Quinn loaded up she hearing the tearing of flesh rip through the hull of their transport. Their Cageth alley had been shot in the arm, tearing open a massive gash in his arm.

The ship blasted away out of the hanger, Objective in the back and under guard as Quinn scrambled over to their injured comrade. “Shit, Medic!”

“We have no medical supplies aboard this vessel, we will shortly aboard the cruiser.” one of the other Cageth replied.

“He won’t survive that long with this bleeding,” Quinn shook her head before digging around in her bag, “Fortunately for us I have a solution,” she finally pulled out a roll of Duct Tape.

“What the hell? When did you start carrying that?” Vec looked at her with utter bewilderment.

“I always carry Duct Tape, it’s mother nature’s greatest bandage,” Quinn bit away at it and began wrapping it around the Cageth’s arm.

“That is highly dangerous, when you tear it off he will bleed again,” One of the other Cageth cocked his head to the side, as confused as Vec.

“It’ll keep him from bleeding out till then, besides my old man showed me how to keep your car doors on tight with Duct tape and industrial glue.” She replied as she finished wrapping his arm. “There. . . You’ll live,” she nodded, proud of her work as the bleeding was stopped temporarily.

“Damn that’s.... Remind me never to go driving with you on our day’s off, unless it’s my ride.” Vec shook his head, “I always wondered what the hell was on your car door.”

“My car is fine,” she rolled her eyes.

The ship continued to their large cruiser, loading up and shipping out before station security could come and pick a fight with them. What happened afterwards, is a story for another time.

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HEY YOU! How’s it going? It was a pleasure to work on this arch of the short stories I’m doing this to pass time during my last year of university. Once again don’t forget, if you have any prompts you want me to work on just send me them, tag me in them, anything at all! I will put them in the que if I like em! All my stories are connected so never fear, old characters will always come back! Until next time, Fly safe fellow Explorer’s of the unknown.

#HUMANS ARE WEIRD #humans in space #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell Review – Netflix Doc Unpacks Notorious B.I.G. Myth

https://ift.tt/2PlZwaJ

Biggie Smalls, born Christopher Wallace but AKA Notorious B.I.G., is a contradictory legend. A rapper who was always heard singing, a serious artist who never stopped clowning, he took the streets with him knowing it would take him down. His first album was called Ready to Die and his next was Life After Death, but he had a life in between. It is sad how his legacy is posthumous. He was 24 when his debut album was released. And gone 16 days later. But, as Sean Combs says at the very start of Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell, “This story doesn’t have to have a tragic ending.”

Combs, who co-produced the film, celebrates the contradictions and how they informed the music. When Biggie rapped he had “so much style I should be down with the Stylistics” he was being artistically autobiographical. Smalls had been singing those soul classics and listening to jazz greats from the earliest age. It’s what gave him the edge to win a legendary rap battle when he was just 17 years old. Combs says no one sounded like Biggie. He was unique. He remembers him as the “greatest rapper of all time.” Faith Evans recalls a force of nature who took everyone with him, so long as they would put in the work.

Musically, it’s disappointing that we get more talk about how great Biggie is over what makes his sound so unique. The most illuminating revelations come from jazz saxophonist Donald Harrison who recalls listening to bebop records with his neighbor, the young Chris Wallace. He explains how drummers like Max Roach incorporated syncopated rhythms which, if slowed down, are the pulsing root of Biggie’s delivery. They then expertly show how this works with a mix of Biggie rapping over a solo jazz drummer laying out a live bebop beat.

Biggie was known as a “gangsta rapper,” but he broke musical boundaries both on record and especially on stage. Biggie pulled in sonic impressions from the Geto Boys to Toto through Big Daddy Kane and into Kool G Rap. Wallace’s mother Voletta Wallace, talks about how the music of Jamaica figured strongly in Biggie’s musical development. His ears took in a wide range of music, he couldn’t even go to sleep unless country music was playing. That was one of the true revelations of the film. 50 Grand breaks down Biggie’s breakthrough “Party & Bullshit.” Easy Mo Bee talks about how “Juicy” developed. The film also talks with Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s Cease and Chico Del Vec. But the most obvious omission is Lil’ Kim.

Nick Broomfield’s 2002 documentary Biggie & Tupac and the 2009 biopic Notorious both covered Biggie’s death. Emmett Malloy’s Netflix documentary doesn’t dwell on it. It opens at his funeral, where Brooklyn represented with a communal outpouring of love. Malloy is innovative in how he stages the interviews, setting one up in a huge abandoned church, others in theaters or the expanse of Jamaican exteriors.

The warmest recollections come from Voletta, who also contributed family photos capturing Biggie growing up in Bedford-Stuyvesant and vacationing annually in her hometown Trelawny, Jamaica. She didn’t even know there were bad words in his songs until her friend bought one of his records and told her. The film may be worth watching just for the look on her face when she remembers his album was “reeking with profanity.” She adheres to his warning that his music is not for anyone over 35, and never played it at home. Voletta is a country and western music fan, so she doesn’t let it keep her up nights.

This isn’t to say the documentary makes it look like Biggie hid things from his mom. One particularly amusing clip is him explaining how his mother has no idea what rappers do or how much they make. Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell isn’t anywhere near a warts-and-all exposé. Wallace was forever upfront. On his song “Suicidal Thoughts,” the Notorious B.I.G. rapped “When I die, fuck it, I wanna go to hell/Cause I’m a piece of shit, it ain’t hard to fucking tell.” There is nothing the documentary can reveal which Biggie didn’t proclaim for himself.

Songwriter Chris Wallace knew the cinematic value of his material and dealt it out like cinema verité. Combs notes Biggie was “always trying to put movies on wax.” Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell works as a gangsta picture. This is mainly because Biggie has such a ready-made soundtrack to it. He actually didn’t spend a lot of time as a drug dealer. It was a temporary job on the way to hip hop stardom. He just knew how to tell it better.

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By Tony Sokol

Biggie was always honest about street life, but Malloy lays out specifics on an animated map of the city, showing the boundaries of Washington Avenue to Grand Avenue in Brooklyn. And we get a short explanation about the difference between the Clinton Hill section, which was in the middle of a cultural renaissance, and Bed-Stuy, which included at least one entire street run exclusively by drug dealers every 10 blocks by urban decree. In the eighties, crime was a viable employment option and crack sales were an entryway to Benz territory, which Biggie reached by cornering the local market. The documentary spends too much time on his day job. He lived it. We get it. We want to know what he did with it.

Another highlight is the exclusive camcorder footage caught by Damian “D Roc” Butler, who shot Biggie on tour in 1995. He catches the musicians sweating on the buses, goofing around in hotel rooms, and smoking an unending rotation of blunts. But the best thing he captures is the audience reaction. Biggie wasn’t interested in watching himself on stage, he wanted to see what made the people move.

Biggie, we get from an interview, was shy. He doesn’t seem at ease in the spotlight of overnight success. The documentary does show his commitment to his community. He wanted to bring everyone he loved with him on the way up. Fans won’t be getting much new information, though it is heartening to see playful photos of the rap legend. Fans will enjoy the retelling of the legendary battle on Bedford Avenue, his rise through Bad Boy and the feud with Death Row.

Biggie will forever be linked to Tupac Shakur, whose name isn’t even mentioned until after the first hour of the documentary. Tupac and Biggie were friends and rivals. Notorious B.I.G. would have turned 49 years old this year. His murder is still an open wound. Malloy doesn’t present enough of the Biggie’s final two years. He could have shown why audiences connected so concretely with Ready to Die. How he made his mark on a generation.

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We don’t learn much about Biggie we didn’t know before. The film manages to break past myth to show the man behind the words. But the documentary could have been rawer, more candid, more Biggie. Ultimately, Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell is an origin story, a coming-of-age film about a Catholic school kid in a uniform who hustled his way, almost, off the streets. It’s the chapter before the breakthrough.

The post Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell Review – Netflix Doc Unpacks Notorious B.I.G. Myth appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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