Tag: replies

today I met an early edition of Audubon’s The Birds of America, it was the size of my torso, I thought this would be relevant to your interests. Also I found out about Jardin de la Malmaison and how it proves that Josephine Bonaparte was growing Australian plants because Redouté included some in it.

ahhhh nice!!!! that sounds like a fun time! and yeah the original Audubon illustrations were HUGE. I went to an exhibit years ago and was quite startled by their size! 

Someone was fairly insistent in suggesting the goblin emperor to me a bit ago, is there anything specific that you’d suggest about the book? I’ve heard good things but they’re usually fairly good if vague

Well, personally I love it because it:

a) is very character-driven,

b) allows its protagonist to be both earnest and genuinely good without the narrative cynically punishing him for it, despite taking place in the sort of court intrigue setting that is usually rife with that sort of grim cynicism. someone else described it as “hopecore,” which I kinda love

c) has enough fantasy worldbuilding background that it feels like it’s taking place in a fully-fledged and unique setting, not a standard Tolkien and/or DnD knockoff, but doesn’t let itself get bogged down in the minutiae. 

d) (extra props for, despite being technically steampunk (gas lighting, dirigibles, and factories exist) not being either really goddamn annoying about it or forgetting that it’s not just adding decorative gears and unnecessary goggles to things: the country is in the midst of its industrial revolution, with all the grimness that goes along with it, and that doesn’t get ignored (admittedly, the POV character is the actual goddamn emperor, so is pretty sheltered from all the grimness, and also uh… is royalist kinda by default, but the issue is brought up and treated seriously by the narrative).)

e) has elves (etc) express their emotions with ear movement as well as our familiar human body language, which is a surprisingly charming touch and very… vivid. 

f) (actually all the descriptions are very vivid, I had fully-formed mental pictures of… everything… for most of the book, and I’ve wanted to draw it all.)

g) has correct and non-gratuitous use of “thou” as the familiar second person singular.

h) …listen, the protagonist is a darling, oh my god he needs about ten hugs, read it so you’ll want to hug him too.

Ahahsfsfsgsj I can’t believe someone’s in your post scolding you for your tentacle density joke methodology I’m going to die

I KNOW. I am trying SO HARD not to respond snippily but. pip I am being Tested.

…also by several people who are huffy about what they see as my…. apparent criticism of tentacle porn in the TGE fandom. like, friends, did I at any point criticize the tentacles or their purveyors? no, just expressed reasonable bafflement. ffs.

wait ok as someone who is curious about UU (it isn’t big here in Australia) what is the joke?

oh god okay how much time do you have?

….no but honestly every joke one could make about earnest/well-meaning middle-class white liberals applies doubly to UUs, and then there are all the ones about the actual religion itself. Like the fact it’s less a religion than a philosophy discussion half-hour followed by an hour of coffee, which is what I told anyone who asked what UU was when I was a kid. Just google “UU jokes” and you’ll find TONS of pages full of them, all lovingly curated by diligent UUs.

but also please enjoy this joke my mother posted on facebook last week:

Why can’t UUs sing hymns in a chorus? Because they’re all reading ahead to see if they agree with the next verse.