aredhel-erinti
Tolkien, Czech Republic, mythology, anything I like
115 posts
Latest Posts by aredhel-erinti
hi, a lot of you need a perspective reset
the average human lifespan globally is 70+ years
taking the threshold of adulthood as 18, you are likely to spend at least 52 years as a fully grown adult
at the age of 30 you have lived less than one quarter of your adult life (12/52 years)
'middle age' is typically considered to be between 45-65
it is extremely common to switch careers, start new relationships, emigrate, go to college for the first or second time, or make other life-changing decisions in middle age
it's wild that I even have to spell it out, but older adults (60+) still have social lives and hobbies and interests.
you can still date when you get old. you can still fuck. you can still learn new skills, fashionable, be competitive. you can still gossip, you can still travel, you can still read. you can still transition. you can still come out.
young doesn't mean peaked. you're inexperienced in your 20s! you're still learning and practicing! you're developing social skills and muscle memory that will last decades!
there are a million things to do in the world, and they don't vanish overnight because an imaginary number gets too big
*Insert your language* favourite songs ask
Native or chosen language songs! (anything but English basically)(because spyld :))
Song about love
Song about sex
Song about friendship
Song about a hobby/art
Song about sadness
Song about anger
Song of happiness
Song that helps with letting go/healing
Song that is/was a top hit
Song about history/a story
Song fit for a revolution
Song for drinking/party
Best sing-along
Meme-worthy song/jingle
Children's song/lullaby
Most poetic lyrics
Favourite duet
Song in multiple languages
Song that's a translation of a song from an other language
other song category of choice 🎵
ok im going to #seriouspost for a second here. I don't think Harry Potter is a manifesto. I think it was a flawed passion project that millennials latched onto because of the fantasy of sticking it to their mean teachers and arbitrarily categorizing themselves (hogwarts houses; it's the thinking millennial's astrology). I think the fact that the series got popular when and how it did was very much a product of its time.
I don't think Harry Potter is the biggest symbol of JKR's bigotry. I think the most flagrant sign of that was how she responded to critics. I watched her become radicalized in real time. I watched how she doubled down on her racism when she was called out for the ways she promoted her tragically mid fantastic beasts movies. I watched her chase marginalized teenagers with a double digit follower count off of twitter for daring to criticize her thought process, and no one with any kind of power standing against her because she was the one who was paying them. This isn't to say Harry Potter is without flaws. This is to say she really didn't give a shit about that. Getting rich and powerful is a hell of a drug, and she had enough sycophants that she had no reason to care about what her critics were saying.
She was convinced that she was a martyr; a voice for the unheard; a leader for the ages, so of course her detractors were the bad guys. And I think we should take this to heart. We should see this as an example of how easy it is to get radicalized; if you think of yourself as a paragon of virtue, you are going to think that whatever you see as good and right is an objective fact. Most people don't know this, but the majority of terfs start out as trans allies. You are not immune to propaganda! You are not immune to falling into dangerous ideologies!!!
This is why the most important thing you can do as an activist is to listen. Do NOT think you're above being wrong; do NOT develop a god complex; do NOT form an identity out of being right all the time. Involve yourselves in the groups you claim to speak for. Listen to trans women; share resources that help trans women; familiarize yourself with the diversity of experiences that trans people have and the struggles they face.
No, none of you are as bad as JKR because you don't have her money or her power. You will likely never have the capacity for harm she does. But check yourselves. Do not affirm yourselves into thinking you always have the moral high ground. Watch yourselves; humble yourselves; check yourselves for signs of cult behavior and internalized prejudice. You are always learning. You will always be learning. Do not allow yourselves to get a power trip from brushing off marginalized voices.
I want to leave the JD Vance and destiel memes aside for just a moment to tell you all guys that I, personally, as a Catholic, mourn the loss of Pope Francis.
Over the 12 years that he spent at the helm of the Holy See, Pope Francis proved himself one of the most progressive and reform-minded Supreme Pontiff we have had, perhaps ever, the pleasure of being led by.
For all his personal failings and blunders -and believe me, there's a list- he did tremendous work on dragging Canon Law and the institutions that make up the Catholic Church towards becoming a better and more modern version of themselves. I can only hope that whoever is chosen as his successor will be even half as committed to internal reform as Francis was, and that he will continue the work Francis sadly leaves unfinished.
Descanse en Paz.
Love without Sex
I’m doing a Philosophy paper on Asexuality. Please reblog if you think Love without Sex is possible! I really need the data. Like if you think love has to have sex.
One thing I really love about Genshin Impact is its lore. Someone (I don’t remember exactly who, but I think it was My Name for Now) perfectly expressed one of the main reasons why I’m so obsessed with this game (paraphrasing):
“GI is an archaeological game. Secrets slowly reveal themselves as you walk through the world and explore it, but that doesn’t mean the information is true – the unreliable narrator plays a huge role here. The information isn’t always accurate.”
Which isn’t exactly unique… as far as I know, many games work on this principle… but what makes it the ultimate ideal for me is the combination of various philosophies, religions, cultures, and even physics that shape this lore. I love digging into it, and I love when the story puzzles connect, for example, through real religions or philosophical concepts.
And that’s exactly why I always enjoy and care more about the main world quests (which often belongs to a new region) than the Archon quest itself… And what I love the most about these world quests are the stories of the so-called god-kings. The story about King Deshret is amazing… the story about Remus is even more amazing… and now? We have the story about Och-kan (who is not a god-king sensu stricta, I guess, but he has a similar poor little meow meow vibe as the previous two).
I was so taken by the story that I had to draw him… His design is based on the murals in the Ochkanatlan. I love these idiots so much that I’m thinking about drawing all of them (including Decarabian).
i am begging some of y’all to learn the difference between someone being critical of a state’s government/corporations and being phobic towards that state’s people
Thank you, thank you, thank you, OP.
I can't express how much I needed this. Kipling's Jungle Book is one of my most beloved pieces of fiction and I have a very personal beef with the Disney version (both of them really). It's really sad that the majority of people knows the story only from these movies.
There is a strange melancholy that pervades the story, it teaches about grief. Mowgli cries for the first time when he is to leave his pack, and is terrified, because he isn't familiar with the concept of tears (or grief for that matter). His friends encourage him to grieve, although they also don't comprehende the complex human emotions.
There is a sense of alienation between Mowgli and the people of jungle. They can't look him in the eyes, overcame by their instinctual fear of humans. Bagheera can last the longest given his past in human captivity, but even he fears Mowgli deep down.
There is a beautiful friendship between Mowgli and Kaa (the most fascinating character, thank you OP for your beautiful description) where there is respect and care and genuine worry for Mowgli's safety. When the dholes come, Kaa helps only to keep Mowgli safe - he even battles the temptation to take Mowgli and flee north, but he knows Mowgli won't stand for it.
There is Hathi who is calm and wise, but suffered at the hands of humans and never forgot, although he tried.
There is Meshua, the woman who may or may not be be Mowgli's biological mother and who is the one human that shows him genuine kindness. Mowgli's wolf mother wants to see her, to meet the woman who took care of her little frog.
There are so many beautiful themes and it leaves you with a sense of sadness and grief but also beauty.
I can't explain it, I am tired...
"The Jungle Book", or "How to take a Beloved Adaptation and Utterly Ruin It by Reading the Original Works"
not gonna lie, here: I blame disney's "the jungle book" for a few fetishes I have. most people can probably guess because there's a few there's an origin for. and I rather liked the disney film when I was in elementary school. I also tended to like the text-adaptations of the film. disney frequently does something right in text-adaptations by capturing mood as well as scene setting.
but then sometime in high school I was introduced to kipling's "rikki-tikki-tavi", and from there managed to find the original set of jungle books. yes, two, though they're now frequently sold as a collection because they are basically short-story collections. that being said, eight of the fifteen - more than half - are about mowgli and the characters that are used in the disney film, and they actually form a pretty cohesive narrative.
thing is, once you start to grasp the original narrative and characters, it completely ruins the disney films. because they're just so much better written.
it's not bad to have it be fun and amusing. but there's a couple of glaring plot-holes and enough flimsy characterization points that holy shit, unless you're in it for something specific, the film gets its ass beat by the books easily.
I'll break down the points that really stick for me as "why do you like the disney version so much when this is way better".
1) narrative
plot of disney film: shere khan is trying to kill mowgli because he's a man. we need to get him to a man village to make sure he's safe. baloo gets the biggest characterization because he needs to take responsibility.
[I swear I'm not trying to over-simplify it. this is literally what happens.]
plot of kipling stories: a man-cub orphaned by a tiger attack takes refuge with a band of wolves because a panther pays his debt. while trying to repay his debt to the wolves for taking him in, the man-cub seeks his revenge on the tiger, learns about man, and realizes whatever hard lessons he learned in the jungle are preparation for living among men because goddamn, most men are as fickle and vindictive as any jungle beast if not worse. mowgli gets the biggest characterization here, because half the stories are literally him going through the five stages of grief because he's spending his formative years trying to resolve the existential crisis of "where do I fit in here."
[this is me trying to oversimplify it.]
2) characterization: mowgli
mowgli's characterization in the disney film: "waaa I want to stay in the jungle because the jungle is fun. sure I almost get eaten by a snake twice, piss off the elephant herd, consort with a schizophrenic monkey, attempt to get high with the jungle's layabout, and am a twig so can't fight back against a tiger, but it's just more fun here."
mowgli's characterization in the kipling books: "I love my wolf brothers and would do anything for them... so why do they cast me out? I can learn to love these humans because they're not as experienced with the jungle as I am and I can teach them... so why do they treat me as a demon? where do I go when I try and give my all to both but neither of them treat me as one who fully belongs? what do I do when even my closest friends can admit I'm different and so unlike the rest of those they know that I won't ever fully fit in? ...perhaps its time for me to make my own way, using my upbringing but making my own path through here."
problem with this part two: mowgli's our viewpoint character in both circumstances. tying back to the narrative problems I have, baloo has greater characterization than mowgli in the disney film but we're left with a whining p.o.v. protagonist who really can't get a lesson through his thick skull, and it becomes really hard to root for him. kipling's mowgli manages to carry both the emotional heft with his inner turmoil and the physical heft of leading the narrative through his wit and ingenuity to overcome obstacles. mowgli is the primary planner of the books with one story exception ("kaa's hunting") and does well enough that he comes out on top physically, but it's balanced by the result usually lending itself to an emotional cadence that drives home "you're respected a little more but don't quite belong", either from outsiders or, towards the end, even from mowgli himself.
and if you're going to defend it by saying the disney version is like a child giving up their innocence, let me stop you right there. disney's mowgli isn't innocent, he's ignorant, willfully choosing to ignore danger in preference of hedonism and whatever pleasure he's receiving in the moment rather than truly thinking long-term. kipling's mowgli undergoes the true loss of innocence, believing that things would fine so long as he followed jungle law to realizing he doesn't fit in as well as he thought to realizing even the group he's supposed to belong to isn't that much more accepting of him.
3) characterization: baloo and bagheera
it's less the personality types themselves, as both baloo's and bagheera's personalities are present in the books. it's not even the fact that the personalities are inverted, where kipling's bagheera is closer to disney's baloo and kipling's baloo is closer to disney's bagheera.
no, it's the fact that, despite these two being our primary narrative force in the disney version, they're both very much 2-dimensional and flat.
bagheera in the disney film establishes himself early on as a firm friend of mowgli, caring about his best interests, but kind of sick of his shit early on. baloo takes a little longer but gets there eventually: he's lazy but really does like mowgli, and he can teach him something but needs to be spurred into taking true responsibility.
bagheera is the invert in kipling's stories. he's still mowgli's firm friend and occasionally sick of his shit while younger, but also more relaxed enough to indulge in his stranger interests and both emotionally supportive and caring no matter which way mowgli is currently feeling. of all the jungle residents, bagheera is the least inclined to send him back; it must happen, but it's going to happen on mowgli's terms and the best he can do is be a supportive friend and have his back either way. it might take a hard lesson or two, but bagheera will do almost anything to keep him safe until mowgli makes the decision.
baloo's role in kipling's stories is also an invert. he's the responsible one of the two here, and even mowgli's primary teacher about the jungle, but is shown to frequently go into a panic if something upsets what may be considered the natural order of the jungle. nevertheless, while one of the ones who most easily accepts mowgli going back to the realm of man, baloo still takes mowgli as his charge to make sure that, when he does go back, he can still respect the jungle and keep him as safe as he can in both situations.
what you end up getting is a bagheera and baloo is, in the disney film, are fairly one-note and single-minded in all of their scenes. meanwhile, in the book, you can have situations where scene one and scene two are very much different sides of the same coin; two parts of the personality but very much the same character. the best example is bagheera's behavior in "letting in the jungle", where you have the bagheera afraid of what mowgli's going to do to the man-village... and then giddily accepting that he has a part to play when mowgli informs him of it and carrying it out in the same regal and concerned-about-mowgli's-well-being manner in both scenes.
4) characterization of kaa
hoooooo boy. it cannot be denied that the disney kaa is where one of the fetishes came from. but damn... in a one-on-one kipling's kaa would put disney's kaa to shame.
this is not including how disney's kaa sounds like herbert from "family guy" and thus the pedophile jokes.
this does include that the kaa we have in disney is a powerful predator with an intimidating skill, but one who both only has a sole motivation in each scene and becomes one-note plus getting a little too caught up in his own pride and conceit to be a true threat. in fact, I would say both of the times he nearly wins it's rather less his own skill than the fact that mowgli is a little shit and too stupid for his own damn good (seriously, how did this f*ckin brat survive 10 years in the jungle by now!?). he's not one to be taken lightly, but at the same time a smarter protag along the lines of kipling's characters would likely have zero trouble dispatching him. he's also only motivated by hunger, less a blue-and-orange morality than a neutral party who's an antagonist by virtue of you're not supposed to root for mowgli to get eaten. but, depending on your p.o.v., even if you're not in it for the fetish content you likely will be rooting for that because mowgli's that stupid and he makes kaa look smart by comparison.
kipling's kaa is a true force of nature. head like a battering ram, capable of powers of fascination (read: hypnosis) that can knock the socks off dozens or potentially hundreds of potential victims, a temperament that even the wisest are afraid to cross, strength that even baloo and bagheera (the mightiest warriors and some of the most feared even in lore) can't match, and a mind like a steel trap with at least a hundred years behind it. kaa in kipling's mythology is treated as damn near a physical god and potentially borderline eldritch given how the other jungle creatures react to him.
and then you have his relationship with mowgli.
kaa's relationship with mowgli does two things. it first displays exactly how powerful and knowledgeable kaa really is that even the older mowgli is in later stories, where baloo and bagheera are starting to run out of things to teach him, kaa still can. but secondly, kaa's portrayal is one of the best and most sympathetic for any snake you can find. it's shown early on: "a brave heart and a courteous tongue. they shall carry thee far through the jungle, manling." kaa's first direct line to mowgli is a compliment - unveiled, without any sort of malicious intent, non-deceptive, and one of the first to fully give respect to mowgli. my favorite bit of kaa's characterization comes from the story "red dog": mowgli, looking for kaa, trips over him and kaa gets moody, but the moment he figures out it's mowgli who disturbed him, kaa drops the moodiness. these two are fire-forged friends: a young outcast and a temperamental but wise and surprisingly understanding emotional support. while still clearly showing his status as a force of nature, kaa is the weird benevolent half-god who intervenes when the time is right and the situation is as clearly out of our main protagonist's hands as much as can be stated.
most people who like jungle book fantasize about encountering disney's kaa and how that could go wrong. me, I want an encounter with kipling's kaa a-la "the king's ankus", where he and mowgli can bathe in the pool and participate in wrestling matches yet neither is in fear of the other, where one feels safe not in a false sense of lulled security but in a strange partnership-cum-friendship with someone who absolutely could snuff you out yet displays a surprising amount of gentleness and respect.
I go on about this point for so long because kaa's first appearance in both media is what cued me in onto how different these were and what the problem with the disney film is. by kaa's first appearance in disney's film, you have a whiny protagonist who isn't making things easier to root for him, a supporting character who is already settled into his position and won't see much more character development, and an antagonist whose motivations aren't much more fleshed out than our protagonists. at that point, if you aren't just entirely giving up and settling in for a popcorn flick, fully setting your disbelief aside, the animation quality is really the only thing going for it. by kaa's first appearance in kipling's second story, we've already seen two sides to every single character included in the disney film (except hathi, who is also a travesty but hadn't appeared yet in the kipling stories) and have both a protagonist and supporting characters we actually can root for because the emotional problems are much more than simple vanity and hedonism. and our support characters aren't the primary driving force but emotional and narrative bolsters that help progress but don't dominate the story.
if you like disney's jungle book? fine. but if you want to absolutely have your perception ruined of it, read the books. and in either case, at least do me a favor: realize that the disney film and continuity, by this point, is in name only to how the original books go. not adapted, hardly even inspired by, just with everything lifted off and pasted onto something completely different.
I was entertaining myself with Google Earth (as you do) and "found" this giant submarine channel southwest of Ireland.
This is the Gollum Channel System in the Porcupine Seabight basin.
The name catched my attention, of course, so I opened the first article about this huge underwater canyon (this one) and look what I found:
They're all there!!! Someone had fun with the the naming of these smaller canyons! This is the best thing in a long time...
Reblog to hug prev poster (they need a hug)
Za císaře pána, neboli Hercegovinu, mám spojenou s asi nejsilnější vzpomínkou na mého dědu, se kterým se písnička vždycky zpívala na chalupě u krbu. Děda byl úžasné zapálený do každého vstávání (rozhodně se muselo vstávat na císaře pána zvlášť a na jeho rodinu zvlášť) a jeho entusiasmus následovalo vždy aspoň sedm vnoučat za mohutných záchvatů smíchu.
A ano, naše verze je jediná správná, škoda že ji má zbytek světa tak nejak pomotanou... :)
1.v táborákovém provedení to zní líp, věřte mi, melancholické pocítěníčko, nemám co dodat
2. xxxxx
3. (tohle je nejbližsí text, co jsem našla tomu, co zpíváme - aneb když člověk zistí, že jeho verze písničky očividně neexistuje, protože ta originální písnička začíná jinde, má víc slok a některé ty sloky prostě neodpovídají, ehm). každopádně tohle si, dle mého názoru, zaslouží tu být už jen kvůli tomu vstávání a salutování, které člověk musí asi 6x podstoupit
If you see this you’re legally obligated to reblog and tag with the book you’re currently reading
There is no such thing as a real fox... :(
Within 100 feet of a fox, anywhere on Earth
I watched the Czech Silmarillion musical, and I LOVED IT!! Here's some of my favourite bits (though not all, this thing has a lot of gems, please check it out.)
Also, I decided to start posting my art on this account, rather than only on @evil-crayon , since this way, more of my mutuals actually see it.I'll make that same announcement over there too and then repost my old art from there here.
Včera jsem byla svědkem kratičké, ale krásné konverzace, která ve mně zanechala dojem alternativního vesmíru.
*maminka a chlapeček před pekařstvím*
maminka: "Tak si něco koupíme, ne?"
chlapeček: "Ne, já nic nechci!"
maminka: "Já myslela něco sladkého, víš?"
chlapeček: "Ne, nechci nic koupit."
maminka: "Nechceš koláček?"
chlapeček (už nasupeně): "Máme jablíčka!"
czech musical maedhros and maglor i would literally die and kill for you
doprdele řepka všude řepka pyl z řepky nevidím přes pyl z řepky na displej pyl z řepky na stole pyl z řepky v pití pyl z řepky v plicích pyl z řepky na srdci
Děti Húrinovy on youtube now with English subtitles!
Studniční hora (Well Mountain), Krkonoše Mountains, Czech Republic
Oh look! I did it! After (checks)... three weeks... Thanks to @myryathedreamer for tagging me!
I tag @myrtaceaae @eight-pointed-star @makerofrunevests (in case you didn't do it already)
rules:
1. Do this uquiz.
2. Do this picrew.
3. Tag people.
Love and Redemption Rewatch: ep. 2
This rewatch could take a little longer than I expected with how time consuming it is, but here we go...
And so we get our first shred of the Mirror... which really should have been better hidden, if they ever hoped thing such as this not to happen.... The Secret Ground isn't all that secure.
From the start, Bai Lin is extremely determined that some things just Must Not Happen!
This whole "we are deciding Xuan Ji's punishment" situation shows very nicely the priorities and motivations of several characters. Ling Long shows up as soon as the whole berating starts, ready to intervene but biding her time. When the punishment is announced, Min Yan reacts immediately and pleads for leniency (on his knees and all). He doesn't think about it at all. I believe his main motivation is (as always) Ling Long, who, he knows, is extremely unhappy by this development and wants to protect her sister. Additionally, Xuan Ji is his friend and he wants to help her, but his main objective is to make Ling Long happy. Ling Long tries her classic crying act but is immediately silenced and quickly realizes that the situation is too dire to save her sister like this (still she tries one more trick - to appeal to aunt Hong - but this also fails). Xuan Ji doesn't fear the cave because she has no point of reference for pain or discomfort (beeing pampered her whole life) and is by far the most chill with the situation. But she also doesn't have any real regard for the rules of her sect and doesn't get the severity of her transgression. And that isn't because of her non-existent emotions, that is herself. She isn't concerned with rules or great ideals, she lives in the moment. Her biggest concern at the moment is Si Feng's wellbeing as she feels a connection with him. (Lets face it - Si Feng is guilty for trespassing in another sect's Secret Ground just because he needed to find his spiritual beast - Xuan Ji isn't protecting an innocent, she protects the boy she had connected with).
Chu Lei's speech to Yuan Lang has strong "who allowed you to go into my bedroom, the door were closed, bitch!" vibe.
So, this happened 16 years ago, approximately when Xuan Ji was born... but what about in her previous lifes, was the Jade Cup always sealed somewhere nearby? Did I just forget this detail?
Such a clever little misdirection and at the same time a hint...
And another clever misdirection: the show keeps showing us Yuan Lang during Xuan Ji's visions (and sometimes even Wu Zhi Qi) giving audience the impression that THIS is Star of Mosha thatwe are battling. My friend was even confused that there seemed to be more of them as the face and the mask keeps changing! Good job confusing the audience! :)
The "Ling Long tries to teach her sister how to cry" scene is very funny... and adorable... I love Ling Long.
The chilli powder plan is genius... :D In my country we use onion - works every time!
Si Feng is getting flogged as a punishment and the justification is that losing the mask puts everyone from Lize palace in danger... and this is probably not untrue...
Also, Si Feng stammers only in the presence of Xuan Ji.
Bai Lin is here for ten (largely uneventful) years already... he must miss his bed...
It's very sweet how sincerely Min Yan cares about Xuan Ji (even if it is a fertile ground for future misconceptions). Actually Xuan Ji is very loved by her sect brothers and sisters...
Is there some hidden meaning to the fact that taste has been the first sense to be recovered?
As expected, Ling Long's cooking is terrible. And as expected, Min Yan eats it all anyway, because she doesn't want her to be sad. I love these two, but Min Yan is the one who truly treasures his beloved person.
Min Yan's reaction to Ling Long's bitching is priceless...
... OR they want to save their own mask (and skin). One of those options. (Just saying. Si Feng isn't motivated by personal feelings just yet.)
Min Yan can be quite sneaky... and his plan actually worked! Good job, even worth Ling Long's slight disappointment.
And... he isn't stammering anymore, yep... That was quick - must have been the shock in the first place.
When you have the luxury of knowing, this is truly heartbreaking... I must look out for the first tears.
The beginning of a beautiful friendship!
I feel like the internet needs to hear about judas buns.
If you have even a passing knowledge of the New Testament, then you know Judas was the guy who betrayed Jesus Christ for 30 silver and then hanged himself.
So the Czechs asked "Can we make a dish around this?" and didn't wait for an answer.
This soft sweet pastry is traditionally made for Easter Thursday (google tells me it's called Maundy Thursday in English) and usually takes a form of various knots and spirals to symbolize a rope. Some take this metaphor a step further, as shown by my mother, who hands covered in flour asked me "Do you know how to tie a noose?"
When we speak of fucked up Czech traditions, we usually think of whipping girls with willow sticks in exchange for eggs. But I believe baking rope-like buns in "honor" of a guy who hanged himself should be up there as well.