This Is Beautiful: Friends

I feel like I talk about this all the time, but I love friendship. Having friends is so important and great and wonderful and I love it. Don't get me wrong, I'm picky about friends and really like my space, but it's wonderful to have friends and people you can hang out with and go to when you need a bud or need to talk. And I finally feel like I have some friends in Michigan!

Part of it is the holidays are here and all the orgs are hosting cute bonding events, part of it is probably that it's the end of the semester and my birthday, but that's fine. I'm starting to feel more settled and that I belong and that's lovely.

I'm on hiatus for the next two weeks for the holidays! Have fun out there!

“Drowned in Milk Tea” by Anne Chivon

November’s free ebook from the Great Ace Digital Book Box is a book of poetry! This made for a really nice change, I’ve mentioned this before but I really want to read more poetry. This book focused on one relationship and how it comes together and falls apart.

The really unique thing about this book though is that every other page is a writing prompt. So you see a prompt, and then a corresponding poem on the next page. I actually really enjoyed this because it allows you to see a piece of the author’s thought process, what her writing is responding to, and possibly some dual meanings to her writing.

I also thought her poems captured really well this sense of memory, of how you can go through a breakup but thoughts about your ex still haunt you for a while. Maybe they never leave. I don’t know. But you clearly see the cyclical nature and how these memories can still flood you for ages afterwards. The end of the relationship never really is the end.

In case you missed it a couple weeks ago, I’d highly recommend signing up for the mailing list! Free ebooks! Support asexual writers and representation! I’ll be reviewing them as I get them so we can all have a discussion about it. It’ll be fun!

This Is Beautiful: Being On Air

Alright so I'm embarking on this journey where I am trying something new and training to become a radio DJ with the local student-run radio station. And today (the day I'm writing this) was my first time going on air and spinning some tracks. It was awesome!

It's a little odd because it involves a lot of sitting around and waiting and then hitting a whole ton of buttons, kinda like those video games where you're a server or something and have to plan out when you go where. But it's also addicting. I loved talking and playing music and navigating the sound board. I had such a good time, I can see how people love doing this every week.

So here's to trying new things! Here's to freeform radio! Here's to the radio in general!

Rereading “Watchmen” by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

While I was home for the holiday I reread the graphic novel “Watchmen” to prepare for my binging of the new tv show. My original thoughts are here, and I don’t think I’ve really touched the book since then. Going back to it was wild.

I can’t believe how much more you pick up on the second reading. The art and the writing is so meticulously planned. All of the different plots interweave and parallel each other, and they all come crashing together beautifully by the end. There are layers to it that I couldn’t have even imagined the first time I picked up the book. It’s really glorious. Bits of dialogue, or character positioning from panel to panel, connect the different perspectives being told on the page in a gorgeous way.

And the world-building is incredible, I had forgotten about the pages at the end of each chapter that are excepts from a newspaper or a book or some correspondence from the world of “Watchmen.” It really elaborates on the events of the comic, since not much is explained up-front, and demonstrates the extent of the thought put into the story.

I’d forgotten how… gritty the whole book is. Which I honestly really like about comics. I feel like so many are bright and bubbly and happy whereas I look forward to messy superhero stories like this one. Because this isn’t afraid to deal with the bigger problems of society and life that things like the MCU cheerfully ignore and make several million dollars in the process. Ticks me off. But yeah there are panels that are downright gruesome with blood and gore all over them. I don’t really have anything significant to say about that, other than you don’t see graphic novels like that all too often. Most fall into the bubbly MCU variety.

I’ve heard amazing things about the tv show but have yet to start it. I really hope that the rumors are true and that it lives up to its source material because this is a tough act to follow.

Hot take: the “Watchmen” movie is amazing and haters can suck it. I love it, maybe I’ll rewatch it as well as a run up to the show.

This Is Beautiful: Billie Holiday

Every once in a while I go through a period where the only soothing sounds are the smooth voice of Lady Day. I just think that she's incredible. She does so much more than sing, she tells a story with her voice and all its capabilities. Not to mention that she has one of the most distinctive voices that I've heard.

2019 marks 60 years since she died, so I've been on a deep dive through her work and various tributes. What a wonderful artist. Please check her stuff out if you haven't already!

“Bone Diggers” by Rose Sinclair and Alexandra Tauber

So I subscribed to The Great Ace Digital Book Box! Every month they send out a free ebook with an asexual character. October’s selection was Bone Diggers, a book about the various disguises we wear throughout our life. (If you want to sign up, click here!)

The story follows Owen, an investigative journalist who moonlights as a Bone Digger, or someone who finds out who players of a video game are in real life. Of course, he is also an avid player of the game. He ends up developing a close relationship with two NPCs, as close as irl friendship. It follows him as he tries to balance these two sides of his life and the relationships he forms along the way.

Now keep in mind that this is a free ebook. There are a number of grammatical errors, minor things like misspelled words and forgetting to close a quotation mark or things like that. So it could have maybe used an extra editor or two along the way. There are also passages where it’s really hard to figure out what is going on and whether we are in the video game or in real life. This is especially true for the video game since it takes place in the 1200s and it can be difficult to parse out the political motivations at play and things like that. As a result some plot points are pretty unclear.

Honestly the video game in general could have used some fleshing out. I have no idea if you can pick the character you play as, how much control you have over that. Clearly there’s some customization, but it also seems as though the game registers the avatars as their own individuals as well. Owen often speaks of his character, Daniel, as though he is a totally different person. And what happens if you leave the game for a long period of time? It seems as though the game is on its own timeline, but Owen often interacts with his real life friend Charlie within the game as well. So if they are on the same timeline, then what do their characters do if they abandon the game for a week? There’s also a side plot about Owen finding a glitch or a limit to the game or something that gets completely abandoned and never explained. That could have used a wrap-up. I found myself wondering about the mechanics pretty frequently, since the game is so important to the story here.

Having said that, the book’s biggest strength is its representation. Owen comes to terms with his bisexuality over the course of the story, triggered by his character’s sexuality and his relationship with the NPC Lance. (Which is where my confusion comes in, if Daniel was bi and Owen wasn’t, what would happen there? Did Owen choose to play as a bi character?) Over the course of the story Owen has relationships with both men and women, but the authors are careful to paint both in equal light and not as a competition between genders or partners for him. It’s a really great handling of bisexuality that is so rarely seen. Then there’s Charlie, Owen’s friend. Charlie is non-binary, and asexual. Our hero! I do wish that there was more of Charlie, but the parts they were in were lovely.

So that is my discussion of the first month I participated in the Great Ace Digital Book Box. I can tell already that this is going to be a lovely experience! Can’t wait for the next one!

This is Beautiful: Why I'm Sending This To You

I've talked before about the "I Wrote This For You" project and how much I love it, as well as the corresponding book. Well the makers of that are back with a new free e-book, "Why I'm Sending This To You." (If you click the link, it should let you download it.)

I don't know how, but somehow this author always seems to know when I'm having a tough time and need to see something wholesome. Because a big part of why I adore this is that I saw it at just the right time and place where I needed to know that there was someone out there caring about other people.

It's also just such a good example of using art to send out a positive message to the world. Not enough people are doing that.

And the handwriting on the images! It makes it look as though this was hand crafted, personally, for you. Not enough handwriting these days, now it's all typed out and impersonal. A really excellent detail that makes all of the difference.

I hope that this helps you if you need it. Pass it forward, let's take this love and spread it around.

On Hospice

This past weekend I sat with my family and watched over my uncle in hospice. I have a lot of thoughts about it that I want to smooth out but here's the rough stuff.

-The postmodern body. The human body used to be seen as a work of art, but now we see it as any other object. It's stripped down, devoid of any individuality, and placed on a stainless table to get poked and prodded by doctor's. They examine it and come to conclusions and ignore the individual. That's all any of us really are in the end.

-Watching role models collapse. It's part of growing up, but seeing adults that you look up to in compromising positions is never really easy. It means that they are weak and fallible too. Part of this is seeing my uncle laid out on a bed. I knew it'd be surreal seeing him like that, but I didn't fully realize that he'd be moving differently and barely able to talk. It wasn't like he was a shadow of his healthy self (even just a shadow of him would have been a huge personality) it was as though he was stripped down to the basics of existence. Water, pain, sleep. And seeing all of the adults grieving around him was also surreal. Seeing grandparents lose their child, or my mom lose her older brother. It's hard to watch.

-Holding vigil. Sitting with someone while they are dying is a surreal experience. There's nothing you can do but sit there and be with them. At first I kept freaking out, hanging on every breath. It was a strange kind of white noise in the room. Breath and the heartbeat are so unique as really the only audible evidence of life in a body (you can hear the nervous system make a high-pitched noise sometimes, but I'm not counting that since you rarely can hear that). But we never pay any attention to them, we take it for granted that we're breathing and our heart is beating and we are alive. So gathering with the express purpose of listening to that noise is really special. And after a while I got more comfortable with it, this could be the last one. Or this one. Or this. And it made me freak out less.

-Memory. This isn't the way I want to remember my uncle. But it definitely isn't an experience that I want to forget either.

Maybe I'll flesh these out later. But it was a hard weekend and I'm definitely not doing it now.

This is Beautiful: Presentations

Hear me out on this: presentations can be great! Especially when they are over. Last week I gave a huuuge presentation to the entire department. This is required for the first two years of my program, so I just got the first presentation out of the way! And it went well! I mainly wanted to work on my speed and clarity, I have a tendency to talk fast when I get nervous. But I tried to relax and go slow and I definitely improved even though it isn't perfect yet.

And I got quite a few compliments on it! Professors seemed to like my talk. I'm super proud, very ready to take a bit of a well-earned break. It's good to challenge yourself and do scary things, stretch your horizons a little. You never know how it will turn out!

“Debussy on Music” translated by Richard Langham Smith

This is the last of the books that I picked up at the used bookstore. Debussy has been a favorite composer of mine for ages, in part because he was critical for introducing impressionism into the world of classical music. We take it for granted now, but the idea of dismissing many rules of harmony in favor of evoking a certain mood or experience was novel and controversial during his time.

As a result, a book compiling his thoughts on contemporary music during his time is pretty invaluable. His opinions on other composers of his time, as well as classic composers, come to the fore. He wrote a regular column in a couple of newspapers speaking about concerts happening in Paris, which are all collected here along with some essays and interviews. It’s a comprehensive look at his writings and at the music of France at the time.

What I found most fascinating was the figure of Monsieur Croche. This is a man that Debussy invents in order to express some of his more controversial opinions. Croche is a fascinating character, kind of a ornery old man type, but interestingly enough is discussed heavily in this collection while we never quite get a good glimpse of the man. I think in the introduction it is mentioned that the bulk of Debussy’s writings with Croche are collected elsewhere, the point of this is Debussy’s writings attributed to himself, but it would have been nice to see more about him.

What is insanely hilarious is reading Debussy insult Wagner and his followers over and over again. Apparently Debussy finds the leitmotiv tedious and restricting since every character is constantly followed around by their own melody. He is more in favor of flexibility and expression of the music accompanying certain characters. And he never fails to bring this up whenever a concert of Wagner is being put on in Paris, it’s great.

In general, the collection itself is very well organized. There is an index of minor characters so that the reader does not have to look up every single composer or performer that Debussy discusses. Most of them have largely fallen out of the public eye by now, so it’s great to have an explanation of who he is talking about. The writings are also broken up into chunks based on the publication that Debussy is writing for. Each section also has an introduction discussing the purpose of the publication and other aspects of note. For example, Debussy wrote a column in parallel with another music column, this one being written by a young girl. The editors make sure to include relevant points from her column in their discussions and notes on Debussy’s writings. The result is that we get a well-rounded image of the society and atmosphere that these works were being published in, instead of exclusively what Debussy stuck on the page with no context.

Overall I would call this an excellent and fascinating collection into the mind of a musical great. Reading these works gives you an image of his world and his thoughts all surrounding music.

This Is Beautiful: Flow Arts Friends

Okay so I remember distinctly thinking when I graduated undergrad that I was done with circus and flow arts and all that other stuff. Because I really seriously doubted that I'd find another community like that again.

Well life in general and grad school specifically has a way of surprising you. I found a lovely flow arts club on campus, managed to join it, and love the people and the environment! It's so great to be back at a hobby that made such a difference in my life for the past few years.

And to build on last week's entry, it is really important to have a community of people like you, whether that's your orientation or a hobby. And having a flow arts community is important to me, because honestly that's the real reason why I do it, I definitely don't have the motivation to put things together without people seeing the tricks I'm working on.

So yeah, grad school is going well. People are fun and I'm finding common interests. Life could be much worse.

Robin of Sherwood vs. Robin Hood BBC

Okay so I have now seen both “Robin of Sherwood” (a British tv show from the 80s) and “Robin Hood BBC” (also British, from 2000s). The two shows are very similar, and not just because they’re both about our favorite bow-and-arrow wielding outlaw or because they both got cancelled after 3 seasons. 

In this post I’m going to try and convince you that watching “Robin of Sherwood” is definitely worth your time if you’ve seen “Robin Hood BBC,” and then below the cut I’m going to continue the comparison but with spoilers for both shows. Let’s have at it!

“Robin of Sherwood” season 3 cast

“Robin Hood BBC” season 1 cast

The biggest reason that I’ve got for watching both shows is that they both take the same approach to the characters in Robin Hood’s gang. Both are small groups (I think both shows make the same joke about there being 5-7 in the gang) which allows for plenty of focus on their individual interactions. Most Robin Hood movies show just about hundreds of men and only introduce you to a couple of them, but both of these shows go in depth to the 6 or so characters they create. It’s a wonderful change of pace.

“Robin of Sherwood” Much

“Robin Hood BBC” Much

Beyond that, the characterizations of the outlaws are rather similar. There is no way that “Robin Hood BBC” didn’t take some ideas from “Robin of Sherwood” which I’m going to get into more under the cut. But I think the best example of this is with Much. Your typical Robin Hood adaptation doesn’t have any particular connection between Much and Robin, usually Much is just kinda around or something. Both of these shows make Much and Robin very close. With “Robin of Sherwood” they are adoptive brothers as Robin was raised by the miller after his father’s death. In “Robin Hood BBC” Much is Robin’s loyal servant who went with him to the Holy Land and back. Either version expands Much more than is typically done (pun only a little intended heehee).

“Robin of Sherwood” Sir Guy and the Sheriff

“Robin Hood BBC” the Sheriff and Sir Guy

Then there’s the Sheriff of Nottingham and Sir Guy. I’ll be honest, I think “Robin of Sherwood” wins for the gayest of the two. There are scenes where the two are literally in tubs next to each other, or the Sheriff giving Guy orders from the tub. There’s even an instance where the Sheriff makes Sir Guy dry him off after a bath! In “Robin Hood BBC” the Sheriff definitely harasses Guy, but not to the same extent, probably because of the GuyxMarian love triangle they were going for. It’s freaking hilarious to see what happens to their relationship as soon as that disappears though!

“Robin of Sherwood” Marian

“Robin Hood BBC” Marian

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about Marian. I adore the Marian in “Robin Hood BBC” and the fact that she is a vigilante in her own right. But the thing that frustrates me SO MUCH about her character is that she never truly leaves the castle to join Robin Hood in the woods. “Robin of Sherwood” skips all that BS, Marian spends the bulk of the show out in the woods with the outlaws and it’s awesome. She’s a total badass, and the best part (to me) is that the love triangle isn’t a thing! So no Guy creeping around her (he creeps around other ladies)! Both shows present an excellent version of Marian and they compliment each other super well.

“Robin of Sherwood” Nasir

“Robin Hood BBC” Djaq

Finally I want to talk about the inclusion of a Saracen in the gang of outlaws. In “Robin Hood BBC” that’s Djaq, the incredibly clever and strong Saracen lady who is taken over as a slave and then joins the gang. But the thing is that Djaq would not exist if it weren’t for Nasir, the Saracen from “Robin of Sherwood.” This show was the first instance of a Saracen joining the gang. Basically he clicked really well with the cast, and didn’t look too bad either, so they kept him around for the rest of the show. And now almost every Robin Hood adaptation has a Saracen included in the group of outlaws as well, it’s such a cool example of how this myth is still growing and changing even in the present day. So if you’re a Djaq fan (and you better be) you should definitely check out Nasir because he’s the reason she exists.

One last point about the shows in general before I hide the rest. A major complaint about “Robin Hood BBC” is how it really isn’t that historically accurate. The show just didn’t have the budget for it, so they made do with what they could. The result is… entertaining at the least. “Robin of Sherwood” is the opposite where the writers made a point to try and make it as true to history as they could. So costumes and props are all accurate, and actual events that happened during the 12th century are peppered throughout. The result is a beautiful version of what “Robin Hood BBC” could have been with a little more money.

Alright, plot comparisons and spoilers below. You have been warned. I hope though that if you’ve only seen one of these shows that I have convinced you to check out the other!

There are numerous similarities between the plots of both shows. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “Robin Hood BBC” definitely took several of their ideas directly from “Robin of Sherwood” and you cannot convince me otherwise. Lack of images due to a lack of decent screencaps, but you’ve probably seen the episodes already.

Let’s start with the season 1 finale. I’ll go over “Robin of Sherwood” first and then “Robin Hood BBC.” In “Robin of Sherwood” King Richard returns to England, befriends Robin Hood, and pardons the outlaws. He even tries to make Robin part of his court. By the end Robin bails because he doesn’t want to be the king’s pawn, Marian gets shot as they run away, but is miraculously brought back to life!
In “Robin Hood BBC” they get news that the king is returning to England which means that Marian must now marry Sir Guy. She decides to rob him first, leading to her getting stabbed and nearly dying. Somehow she miraculously survives. They expose the king to be a fraud, stop the wedding, and save the day!
The similarities are obvious, both involve King Richard returning to England (which is then revealed to be not as great as the characters initially thought) and Marian dying and then coming back to life. Now you would be correct to point out that a Robin Hood story only has so many big cards to pull for an emotional season finale, and naturally two of them are the king returning and the audience’s love of Marian. But this is basically the same plot at the same point in both of the shows, you can’t tell me that that’s just a coincidence.

Moving on to the emotional wreckage that are the season 2 finales. “Robin of Sherwood” ends season 2 by killing off Robin Hood himself. The actor wanted to move on to other projects, so they killed him off in an emotional standoff.
“Robin Hood BBC” ends it’s season 2 by Guy killing Marian who was trying to protect the king. It’s also brutal and emotional and horrible ugh thanks guys.
Alright so they both decide to go balls to the wall and kill off a major character. To be honest, I think that there’s less ripping off going on here, “Robin of Sherwood” did this out of necessity to let the actor leave while “Robin Hood BBC” I think did it for more plot-related reasons. But it is still a fascinating parallel, and how “Robin of Sherwood” handled the title character leaving I think is much more interesting.

So “Robin of Sherwood” decided to keep the show going by turning the figure of Robin Hood into a legacy character. Another man takes his place as the outlaw hero. (Sidenote: this also means that they can resolve the conflicting theories about how Robin could be either a common man or a noble, and similarly how he has connections to both Locksley and Huntingdon. The first Robin in a commoner from Locksley and the second is the Earl of Huntingdon’s son. It’s really quite elegant.) And that is definitely what they planned on doing at the end of season 3 of “Robin Hood BBC.” Again, the actor wanted to leave and do something else so they had to kill him off. But they set up Archer as the next man to be in charge of the gang. I’m a real big fan of not giving “Robin Hood BBC” a season 4 since season 3 sucked soooo bad, but I’m almost certain that it would have played out similarly to season 3 of “Robin of Sherwood” when they have to pass that mantle onto a different actor as well. Additionally, I think both shows have a scene where Robin points to members of the gang and says that if he were to die, they would all carry on without him (”you are Robin Hood! and you are Robin Hood!”) so the idea that this is about more than one man is present in both. It’s a cool theme for both shows.

Finally one last point that is unrelated to a season finale. Both shows reveal at some point that Robin Hood and Sir Guy are related. They are half-brothers in “Robin of Sherwood” and they share a half-brother in “Robin Hood BBC.” Quite honestly I find this hilarious, mainly because it’s handled so poorly in “Robin Hood BBC.” But if you watch the “Robin of Sherwood” episode, there’s a subplot where Will and Much think they’ve come into contact with leprosy. And in the “Robin Hood BBC” version Guy’s father is a leper. It’s like the BBC writers only understood half of the original episode and then wrote “Bad Blood!”

Feel free to hmu if you’ve seen both shows and want to add to this list! I love discussing different adaptations of stories.

This Is Beautiful: Asexual Awareness Week

As you may or may not know, this past week was Ace Awareness Week! I love that week since it involves mostly me being super obnoxious on social media about asexuality. It's a good time. But I also made an effort this year to get involved with in-person ace meet-ups, and I had a blast. I hope that I remember to do this every year.

It's so important to have a community of people like you, there are things that other aces get that I can't explain to anyone else. It's so important to have people like that around you. Connect to your communities! Make new friends!

“All You Need is Ears” by George Martin with Jeremy Hornsby

I feel like I’ve been trying to find a copy of this book for ages. George Martin is one of my heroes so when I saw that he had written a memoir, of course I wanted to read it. But it isn’t very popular since while The Beatles are very popular, not many people know who their producer was. I found it in the end though at a used bookstore, and I am very glad I did.

Martin takes you through his life, starting with his childhood and upbringing, getting into the music business, and his projects with The Beatles and after. I quite liked how this was clearly a book about Martin, not The Beatles. Obviously they factor heavily into the story, but they are not highlighted and in many ways Martin tries to make it clear that they were one of many artists he was recording.

My favorite aspect of the book is how Martin clearly explains sound recording techniques he used, as well as how he thought about arranging. It gives a really cool insight into the music industry of the 60s and his thought process when coming up with music. It is almost certainly all outdated, but it still is a neat snapshot of how things were done.

To be fair, the book is a bit jumbled. Martin sometimes seems more interested in going from topic to topic rather than chronologically. The result is we keep jumping around and I had to double check the years a couple times to see whether this was pre- or post-Beatles.

Regardless, I loved reading this book. Getting a peak into George Martin’s head was incredible and I would definitely recommend this to any Beatles fan, or to any music fan in general.

This Is Beautiful: webOS

Alright so to absolutely no one's surprise the phone that I use is several years out of date. It's a Palm Plus, and it runs an operating system called webOS. This bad boy stopped getting made in 2011, and all the Palm servers went offline back in 2014. Doesn't have any apps, but it has a camera and can text/call and that's all I need.

I LOVE my phone. Like a crazy amount. It's partially because it's linked to my personality and aesthetic now, for sure, but I adore it. I love not having a ton of apps on me that are constantly distracting. It makes it easier to focus on what I'm doing.

I also get such a kick out of the online community of people who still use webOS phones. There are forums dedicated to using and developing apps for these phones. They've come to my aid a fair number of times when I ran into problems with getting a new phone up and running. I just adore that there are people like me who won't buy into the monopoly that is Apple and everything else.

I hope that someday phones will shrink again and I won't hate all of the technology around me. But until then, me and my tiny phone are doing just fine thank you.

“The Truth About Robin Hood” by P. Valentine Harris

I picked up this book at the used bookstore in Detroit! It’s a quick read, just under a hundred pages. But boy is it a time. Harris here is trying to debunk the theories claiming that Robin Hood is nothing more than a myth or legend, primarily because the evidence suggesting this is lacking, and put forward his own theory that there was a real outlaw.

But first some background is in order. I tried to do some digging on this book, to see how reliable it is, and surprisingly I couldn’t find much. There isn’t a publication date in the book, but I managed to find some information off of the internet indicating that it was published around the 1950s-1970s. So it could be over 50 years old, I have no real way of knowing.

Related to that, I tried to find some reviews or critiques of the book to indicate whether or not Harris’s theories have been challenged or updated in any way. I could find literally nothing. I have no idea whether his ideas or accepted by the historian community or dismissed. And I am no expert on this subject, so take this all with a heavy grain of salt.

The book can be divided into roughly three parts. The first goes over the primary sources that we have about Robin Hood, as in the legends and ballads. The earliest known one is called the Lytell Geste and this is what Harris refers to again and again. Many changes have been made since there (primarily the addition of Maid Marian and Friar Tuck) so the original stories aren’t super familiar to contemporary audiences. Harris goes through them, as well as inferior ballads as well to sum up the evidence that we have.

The second part consists of Harris tearing down other historians’ theories of Robin Hood’s existence. This is honestly quite funny in places, as Harris seems to tire of coming up against the same incorrect ideas repeatedly. There are also points where he takes shots at their researching ability; I sense some animosity going on here… Regardless, the bulk of the book is dedicated to this section as Harris’s thesis is that you cannot prove that Robin Hood is a myth, therefore you cannot eliminate the possibility that he was real. Probably his most salient point towards this is that “Robin Hood,” or some variation thereof, was very common in medieval times and you would think that a legend would have a more unique name!

The third part is the shortest and consists of Harris’s own investigations in the legendary outlaw and his personal theory. Naturally, he thinks that he existed. Harris pins down several names mentioned in the Lytell Geste and evidence to suggest that the king at the time was King Edward II, known for associating with lower-class citizens and pardoning some. His personal idea is that Robin Hood was a small-time outlaw with a reputation for being an excellent archer and very kind to those whose paths he crosses. Over time, the story grew and changed, being associated with a variety of places and time periods. But originally there was an outlaw who started it all.

Knowing very little of the research, I thought this was a fascinating read. Obviously I wish it was a little longer; it is very short at only 100 pages. And I do wish that we heard more about Harris’s theory of the real-life Robin Hood, but since there is scant evidence and he focuses mainly on debunking others it is understandable that the focus is elsewhere. There are many things I would give to know how this information has been updated over the years, but until I find a book with a more recent publishing date, guess we will have to wait.

This Is Beautiful: Sherina Rodriguez Sharpe's Poetry

On a whim, I went to a Feminist Futures art launch party at a local gallery in Ann Arbor. There was some mediocre performance art, but by far my favorite part was a poet named Sherina Rodriguez Sharpe. She read this beautiful bell hooks excerpt, and some of her own poems.

My favorite part of her reading though was that after each part, she would ask "what in that bears repeating?" and people would speak up and suggest what parts were their favorite or what spoke to them. It was great because it forced us to process what we read and discuss it as a group. And I think it's a super important question to ask yourself repeatedly when you consume art.

What in that bears repeating?

Am I wasting my time here? What sections speak to me the most? What should be said over and over until everyone knows it? It's a surprisingly personal question, one that speaks to the audience and also to the artist. And it's definitely one that I want to think about more.

Oh and I'm definitely going to look up all of her poems, they were gorgeous, join me on that adventure if you'd like.

Detroit

So about an hour’s drive away from Ann Arbor is Detroit! It definitely has more of a city feel, and has more going on than Ann Arbor. I originally went up for the Detroit Jazz Festival, and would highly recommend that. It’s the largest FREE jazz fest in the US! But since it probably isn’t summer when you’re reading this, here’s other things to do.

In terms of museums, Detroit has a whole bunch of good ones. There’s the Detroit Institute of Arts which has a huge collection in a gorgeous building. The exhibits span ancient cultures all the way up to the present day. There is also a wonderful collection of African-American art that showcases Detroit natives. Then there’s the Detroit Historical Society, which gives you the history of the town. And the Motown Museum, a must visit for any music fans!

There were a couple of really nice stores that I stopped by on my visit. For music lovers, Third Man Records is an incredible record store with a ton of music paraphernalia as well. You can even tour their pressing facilities! But what really drew me was that they have a small record booth where you can record 2.5 minutes of yourself singing, talking, or playing, and it’ll spit out a record for you! So I am now the proud owner of a record of me playing “Smash Mouth” on a kazoo. Another great store is John K. King Used and Rare Books. It’s the biggest bookstore in Michigan! The store is in a warehouse with four floors of books stacked from floor to ceiling. It’s so big that the employees hand out maps at the entrance! I found several books that I’d been looking for in there. Lovely place.

Obviously there is much more to Detroit, but those were the highlights of my visit. Detroit tends to get a bad rep after the housing crisis/economy crash, but it certainly is making a comeback now. And as a prominent music city, there is plenty to do for any music lovers! Well worth a visit or even two.

This Is Beautiful: Love Fame Tragedy

Okay so I think everyone knows that I'm a big fan of the band The Wombats. Recently one of the members, Murph, split off to do a solo project with a whole bunch of collaborations with people like Bastille and the like. The group is called "Love Fame Tragedy" and their first EP just dropped, "I Don't Want to Play the Victim, But I'm Really Good At It." It is excellent!

There are only a couple songs on it, but it really meshes the sense of fun that all of The Wombats' songs have with a little more seriousness and less playfulness. The result is a very polished body of work that still will force you to have a good time. That's not to say that I think this is better than The Wombats, I really like their messy feel, but it's different and similar and still soooo good.

Check it out on Spotify here!

Ann Arbor

So I have now been living in Ann Arbor for a couple of weeks, and it is such a cute little town to be in! There isn’t a ton of things going on, but there are a couple of highlights. And it’s just nice being in a small town while I work on my PhD, so I don’t mind it.

First of all, the museums. There are a number of museums associated with the University such as the museum of art, archeology, and natural history. All of them are rather small, only takes an hour or so to go through them, but they all have some pretty cool things in their collection. I really liked the art museum in particular since there’s a Monet and a special exhibit right now on Schiele.

Besides that, there are a bunch of outdoors-y nature things to do. I walked up to the Leslie Nature Center and really got a kick out of the raptor enclosures up there. There’s a bunch of owls, and even a bald eagle! Then there’s the Huron River, you can catch people tubing and kayaking down the river at any point when the weather is nice. Finally, there’s the Arboretum. In the spring there are fields of peonies but it’s a lovely stroll at any point of the year.

And that’s the bulk of things to do in Ann Arbor! Like I said, not much, but it’s all very cute and very accessible to anyone, nothing I mentioned actually has an entrance fee. I’m looking forward to getting to know this city more!

This Is Beautiful: Departmental Retreats

This past weekend I was off on a departmental retreat with my fellow grad students and professors. I thought it was going to be long, exhausting, and fundamentally awkward since it's a bunch of PhDs all in close proximity. And it was all of that, but it was also so much fun as well!

It was great spending some time just getting to know everyone else in the department. As a new student, I don't know too many of them, but at the same time there isn't exactly an abundance of social events to get to know each other outside of the classroom or lab. So it was great to just take a weekend to hang out with them.

I had a great time, a better time than I expected actually, and I hope that this energy carries me though the next couple of days while all of the sleep deprivation catches up with me haha.

Vienna

Now the only other city I visited for the first time this summer was Vienna. I basically already knew that I’d really like Vienna since it’s THE city for music history. So many famous composers and musicians have lived in Vienna, it was quite a treat to see the sites in person.

Number one best place in the city might be the enormous food market, Naschmarkt. It’s enormous, and serves everything from Viennese food to Asian food. The slight difference in culture was really evident here, as I couldn’t hear many people speaking English. Nearby is St. Stephen’s Cathedral, a beautiful piece of Gothic architecture. The inside is gorgeous as well, it’s a quick visit but well worth it. Also nearby is the Vienna State Opera House. You need to be part of a tour to look around inside, but the guided tours are in a number of different languages and take you through several break rooms, the audience, orchestra pit, and the stage while discussing the history of the opera. Plenty of art is dedicated to the different composers, particularly Mahler since he was a very important director of the Vienna Opera. I didn’t know this before, but the Opera House was heavily bombed during WWII so a number of rooms have had to be reconstructed. Besides July and August there are operas being performed every day, and standing room tickets are only a couple of euros. I’ll have to come back and see that!

Unfortunately the only museum that I had time to visit was the Belvedere. The Belvedere used to be a wealthy art collector’s house, now it shows Austrian paintings, particularly by Klimt, Schiele, and Kokoschka. Klimt’s “The Kiss” is there and is probably it’s most famous painting. I quite enjoyed the Belvedere, possibly because I wasn’t as familiar with Viennese paintings beforehand, and was surprised that there were a couple of Rodin sculptures as well! Having said that, the collection is rather small and they seem to constantly be loaning paintings out, so check before you grab tickets!

My stay in Vienna ended by seeing a performance by the Vienna Mozart Orchestra. This is an orchestra that tries to recreate what music was in Mozart’s time by dressing in period costumes and showing a selection of pieces from different symphonies or operas instead of a full work. We purchased standing room tickets, which is about all that I would pay for it. The orchestra was fine, but nothing special. I’m sure that we could find much better in Vienna if we had planned it out a little better haha!

Vienna was a beautiful city with so much art and culture within it. I really wish that I could have spent more time there, but the taste I had was so much fun that I’m certain I’ll eventually come back for more.

This Is Beautiful: Urinetown the Musical

I went to go see a community theater production of "Urninetown" last weekend and absolutely loved it! I've been meaning to see this musical for literally years and I'm so glad I finally managed it.

The premise of the musical is that you have to pay to use the toilet and as a result all of the people are poor and unhappy. The idealistic young hero falls in love with the daughter of the man running the toilet company and starts an uprising! Chaos ensues. So the plot isn't anything much, but the best part is by far the sense of humor. It is a very self-aware or meta show, with plenty of jokes about how this is a musical and the characters giving exposition at certain points and things like that. So many of the songs are parodies of specific song styles as well, it's hilarious!

Probably the best aspect is that this show can easily be applied to any political scene you want. The production I saw had jokes thrown in about ICE and immigration and things like that, but by nature this is a show about water which is ALWAYS going to be relevant, certainly more so in the coming years.

Very good musical, would for sure recommend. Go see even if you aren't into most musicals, the self-deprecating humor would probably appeal to those who dislike singing and dancing haha!

Berlin

I did some travelling over the summer in Europe, mainly to places that I’ve already been to, but it was my first time in Berlin! I initially added it to the list because I have a friend who currently lives and goes to school there, but I am very glad that I went since I ended up loving the city much more than I thought I would. Unlike Munich, Berlin has a very modern feel, you can practically taste the energy in the air.

One of the first places I went was to the Brandenburg Gate. It’s very impressive, I would just caution any tourists as this is where the scammers and such seem to hang out. Just on the other side is the Tiergarten, a huge park in the middle of Berlin. It has more memorials and such within it, but makes for a very lovely stroll within the city itself. Also nearby is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. I think this is certainly worth the visit, it is very well designed and gets at the horror of the genocide very well in my opinion. First of all, it’s huge, takes up about a city block. The memorial itself consists of gray blocks of stone slowly rising from the ground as the floor drops down and forms these hills. The effect as you are walking through is incredible in how it isolates you from the others around you, and causes you to descend into the ground.

Another area of note is Museum Island. This island in the middle of the Sbree river has multiple museums on it, as well as the Berliner Dom. All of them are kinda expensive, so I only went into the Pergamon which focuses on ancient art. Unfortunately the museum is undergoing renovations currently, so only part of it is open to the public. The section that is currently visible primarily focuses on Islamic art which was all very cool. There’s the famous Babylon Gate that was brought over in pieces and reassembled in Berlin, as well as the Aleppo Room. The Altar Room is currently closed, but to make up for that, there’s Das Panorama down the street. The Altar Room houses the Pergamon Altar from Ancient Greece, and is the museum’s namesake. Since it’s closed, the museum now has a panorama of Pergamon, including the altar, on view along with selected statues. The panorama is huge and an incredible work of art. In particular, I quite liked how the lighting and music changed to reflect different times of day.

My favorite aspect of the city though is all of the street art. Primarily there is the East Side Gallery, where the remains of the Berlin Wall have been graffiti’d on to turn them into art. Nearby is the Wall Museum, a small museum, but it gives some social and political context for the wall and its eventual fall. I doubt that I’d return to the museum, you have to pay to get it, but it was useful. The East Side Gallery extends for quite the distance, but there is plenty of street art everywhere around the city. There’s Graffiti Corner and numerous buildings covered in art. All of the art around is partially why the energy feels so different and current, the other reason is all of the smashed beer bottles around from the vibrant night life. But I didn’t participate in that so I can’t comment on it haha!

To sum up: Berlin is both a historical and a contemporary city that has plenty going on. I liked it much more than I thought I would, it has a very inviting atmosphere that is hard to replicate. I would love to go back and see more of it sometime!

This Is Beautiful: Taking a Break

Yeah it's been a tough week. Not a fan. Couldn't really think of anything to include here for a while, but then just decided to write about how this weekend is going to be chill, and that's just what I need right now. Life is stressful, it gets hard, and it's important to take breaks and to know to take breaks.

I'm going to sleep and rest my tired body and take my time with the work that I have set for myself this weekend. And it'll be nice and relaxed. I've needed this.

“Swann’s Way” by Marcel Proust (translation by Lydia Davis)

I’m not a huge classics reader, this is actually the first time that I’ve read Proust. I wasn’t super impressed. There are passages that are gorgeous, but it is also so long and drawn out and that just doesn’t hold my attention.

It is semi-autobiographical, which makes me think that Proust is just a mama’s boy. He constantly talks about his mother and how he wants her affection and attention and of all the things that bored me in this book that has got to be number one. Primarily because nothing else really happens, he mostly just talks about society and who’s hot and who’s not and I don’t care for that either.

The one redeeming section is the middle story titled “Swann in Love” that describes Swann’s relationship with Odette years earlier. This one actually held my attention, primarily because there’s a plot and a story at place here. There’s also a number of characters which are much more entertaining and fleshed out. This is where the flowery, embellished language really shines as he describes how their relationship comes together and eventually falls apart. It’s a wonderful discussion also of how real people cannot live up to the romantic fantasies that we have.

Having said that, there are also like 50 pages on how Swann is a jealous lover and suspects her of sleeping with everyone. But it is implied that she has had sexual relationships with women! So there’s that representation, although to be honest I’m not sure if I love it since it’s also discussing how she sleeps around… I’m still mulling it over, but then again it didn’t super hold my attention so I’m not qualified to make a judgement on that.

So yeah, boring book, had some insightful points though. Give it a read but just don’t get bogged down in it.

This Is Beautiful: Steven Universe the Movie

Alright so the Steven Universe movie came out on Sept. 2nd. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this, but I love it enough that it for sure qualifies as something beautiful.

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD

Ok so the basic plot of the movie is that Steven is a teen now and returning to his life on Earth. But then a mysterious gem shows up, sticks a poisonous injector into the Earth, and slashes the Crystal Gems with something that returns them to their original selves, with no memory of the past few years. Steven also slashes the new gem with this. Steven realizes that he has to re-enact the Crystal Gems' memories to bring them back. Pearl remembers the new gem as Spinel, Pink Diamond's old playmate. Spinel tells Steven that she did this because she was abandoned by Pink Diamond once Pink left for Earth. Steven befriends her, and the other diamonds end up taking Spinel back to Homeworld with them since she needs a home and they want something to remind them of Pink.

Here's the good things: seeing Steven go through his relationship with the Crystal Gems is hella cute. Also Pearl pops out and starts serving Greg which is hilarious. And the music is top-notch. I also just think that it's really nice that you can go into this movie knowing nothing about the series and get a run-down of all that's happened. So would highly recommend.

All of the things I think are iffy have to do with the ending. Spinel's change of heart just seems... unrealistic to me. Steven didn't really do anything to earn it and it's a pretty hard about face. I expected Steven to use his power of love or something to help her start recovering from her last disastrous friendship, but he didn't seem to do anything to trigger it. Yes it's a kids show and it can't get that complicated, but this doesn't seem deserved for him. And then the diamonds just kinda swoop in like a sort of deus ex machina... That seemed very forced as well. Having to navigate keeping Spinel on Earth would have been more complicated, but more rewarding.

I would still highly recommend because it's wonderful and beautiful and touching and hilarious. But the ending just left me flat. Apparently we are getting more episodes soon, so maybe that will resolve my issues? I have no idea though.

“I wrote this for you” by Iain S. Thomas

So ages ago I wrote a This Is Beautiful post on the blog I wrote this for you which helped me a lot in the depths of my depression. After that I ended up buying his book of the same title to peruse while travelling this summer. It’s a wonderful little book, it contains both poems from his website and brand new ones.

The poems are divided into four sections: Sun, Moon, Stars, and Rain. They correspond to falling in love, being in love, breaking up, and healing afterwards. So it is primarily love poems, even though Thomas writes plenty about his depression as well. I really liked having these thematic divides since it brings you through the poems with more structure.

If you haven’t read anything by Thomas, I really can’t recommend it enough. It’s an experience completely unlike reading anything else that I’ve come across. All of the poems are designed to feel personal and uplifting and relatable. The book is a wonderful extension of that and it’s lovely.

This Is Beautiful: Orientation

Finally started orientation for grad school, and man it sure is good to be in structured activities. I was getting bored and lonely. I know that orientations can be boring and just an information dump, but I feel really good about this week and super prepared. I'm just eager to get this show on the road, I think it's going to be awesome and I just want to get there.

Oh and it's been good for meeting other people in my program, it's nice that I've finally started to talk to people again. Can't wait for what the next week holds!

Rereading Books

I used to reread books all the time, in elementary/middle school I made my way through the Harry Potter series at least once a year. But during high school I didn’t have time to read for pleasure anymore, and since then I’ve been more concerned with reading new books and trying to absorb as much information as possible instead of retreading old ground.

But for a variety of reasons, there’s been a number of books that I’ve reread over the past few months. The primary reason has been the traumatic breakup. I don’t bring it up again because I want to keep harping on it or because I’m looking for pity or something, but it’s something that has colored everything that I do and everything that I think in the past 6 months or so. I initially started rereading books because I wanted that sense of the familiar and I wanted to consume some art that I already knew was amazing and beautiful. The secondary reason has been that I’ve moved out of DC and have spent the summer traveling and couldn’t really bring anything new along. Either way, it led to me thinking about what books I wanted to reread and which would be worth a slightly different perspective on them.

I bring up the breakup for another reason which is that all of the books that I have reread have seemed slightly different to me in this light. I find myself drawn to different aspects of them and coming to different opinions of the characters as a result. I’ll tackle the works one at a time, but if you want to reread my initial interpretations of them, here are the posts on The Shadow of the Wind and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. The others I apparently read before I started this blog, funnily enough.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

So I initially came to this book with limited knowledge of postmodernism, and now am a postmodern nut. It's more or less responsible for many of my wacky ideas about art. It's also the first book that I started post-breakup, and I also rewatched the movie again. Hot take: I love both the book and the movie.

This time around I was more drawn to Sonmi-451’s story in the book where her revelations are a sham. Whereas in the movie that more celebrates love and all that when she is saved. This is primarily for obvious reasons (ie. breakup), but also the revolution being faked in the book is so powerful and a very profound statement about control and what we think we are doing vs what we are doing. The revolution did not exist because it was planned by the big guys in charge!

This story also comes to the conclusion that just because our actions are determined does not mean that all is for nothing. Sonmi still causes a revolution and becomes a religious figure in later stories, which is a great message about how even though the revolution is faked that doesn't mean we have to give up.

Finally the interconnectedness of us all is wonderful within this story, especially with the movie and how the different actors stand for different reincarnations. It shows how we can grow and change over time and how the way we treat each other is central to that, culminating in an important message of hope and justice.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I mainly remember this book being about reading and the power of books when I initially read it. Also remember disliking the rest of the series haha. But you can check the previous posts for more on that.

I had forgotten that it began with Daniel being manipulated and abandoned by a woman he loved. Again, post-breakup that struck me much more powerfully this time around, for obvious reasons. In general I am much more critical of the female characters in this story as they don’t seem to DO much, Beatrice does next to nothing and the rest just die. Not great. Also his relationship with Nuria Monfort is really strange and not super explained… Just makes me feel icky.

Having said that, I am in the habit of pulling quotes from books that I read, and my first time through this book I only grabbed a couple. This time through I grabbed at least 10. I think it has something to do with the fact that this is a book for reading enthusiasts, there are so many references to classical works and also many aphorisms or worthy quotes. So despite it's flaws, the writing really spoke to me. 

Another aspect I had forgotten is that while Daniel’s story revolves around love and its healing nature, Julian’s story revolves around letting it go and learning to live without love. Julian realizes that the love of his life is dead and then conspires to his own destruction, buy by the end he lets her go and stops the rest of that nonsense. Which is just as important of a story, because at the end of the day you have to be able to stand on your own feet as well.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Again, originally read this during my postmodern binge several years ago, and I don’t remember much about my reaction to it other than that I liked it.

The story here is basically about the realities of love, and how it cannot fix everything. You can be like Oscar and in love with every woman out there, but that doesn’t mean they will love you back or that the Dominican mob won’t kill you for it in the end. You can die professing your love, but that doesn’t mean that your death keeps your sister and her boyfriend together. Everyone in this book has been let down by love in some way or another. For obvious reasons, I was into it haha.

But that doesn’t mean that they are all miserable. Oscar starts writing, the boyfriend is the author of this book in the story, life goes on. Full disclosure though: I’m still not sure what to make of the family curse. Maybe the point is that we are all cursed. It just seems as though it could have been left out of the story and it wouldn't change. I'll have to think about it.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Oh man, this is still one of my favorite books of all time. The story is amazing, to be able to go back over it knowing the ending and how it all pans out was incredible because I picked up on so much more foreshadowing and meaning that I would have originally. And it is also is about a breakup of sorts, Strange and his wife end up separated by the end as he’s in an Impenetrable Darkness and she isn’t. I’ve seen stuff online about how their marriage isn’t based on love and I kinda disagree, Strange makes himself go MAD when he realizes that she’s still alive and trapped in an enchantment and that’s got to have a basis in love of some sort.

This time around, I found myself focused more on Childermass and Vinculus. I mean I’ve always loved those two characters but initially I was focused on Strange and Norrell since they are the titular characters. Seeing what the two lower class characters get up to is more interesting as they seem to do much of the work at times haha. I've also seen stuff about how the prophecy could apply to those two but I’m not really sold. Clarke does leave a little ambiguity in there but it’s so clearly referencing Strange and Norrell that I don't think this interpretation really holds water.

Then there's also the women. I didn’t think much of them first time around, but at second glance they really are shut up by society and doing their best to be independent. Honestly this all makes me want to rewatch the BBC mini-series but I haven’t yet.

Ugh I really hope that she finishes the sequel one of these days, it'd be so good.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Man I've been saying it for years, but I really need to read more Vonnegut. This is such a good book about life and war and the feeling of not being in control. Again for obvious reasons this is RELATABLE CONTENT for me. In general, the book is perfectly what it needs to be.

The idea of being unstuck in time, of not having free will, of experiencing time as a landscape, it all makes a lot of sense when you are faced with the randomness of the universe and lack of meaning. I found myself thinking a lot about the narrator, clearly Billy is meant to be a stand-in for Vonnegut. But at the same time, he is not. There are one or two places where the author is pointed out to be a fellow prisoner of war and not Billy. I found this confusing and contradictory, but whenever you go back into memories, you do sometimes find yourself inexplicably in third-person perspective of yourself. Or you want to frame it that way. Possibly this is Vonnegut doing that in story form.

I also thought a lot about Derby, the man shot for stealing a teapot. It’s given away very early on what his fate is, and it’s continually referenced. Which is interesting as the execution itself as a result is very underwhelming versus in the first chapter where Vonnegut is saying that he wants to make it the climax. I guess there isn’t really a climax anymore, given the jumbled nature of the story. You know what’s going to happen and know that it has to happen and it’s all fine. (Thanks Tralfamadorians.)

But also, I remember wondering about this before and it’s still bugging me but how does Billy get off of the planet of Tralfamadorians? No explanation is given in the novel but he somehow does end up back on Earth. I am just confused by that. But still such a good story.

This Is Beautiful: Living on Your Own

Ok so I just finished a big ol' move (moving is the WORST but this isn't about that) and now I'm in a studio again. It's so nice having the place to myself, not having to put up with people around me and just managing my own things. Having spent a month traveling and a month home, I really needed this. And the alone time is making me feel ready for grad school and for being busy and interacting with people 24/7 again. Here we go!

“21 Lessons for the 21st Century” by Yuval Noah Harari

It isn’t hard to pick up on the fact that I am a fan of Harari’s writings (please see these posts) and that I was pretty excited about his latest book. In contrast to Sapiens, which focuses on the past, or Homo Deus, which focuses on the future, this book is written for the here and now.

Mm, sorta. To be honest, I think that a lot of his chapters aren’t so much the here and now but actually quite a ways off. He writes a lot about the future of jobs and how AI will eventually take over all of them and leave us with increasingly limited and specialized job prospects. But come on, that is not happening anytime soon, although I think that he is correct in his description of that trajectory. What I like about his take on the future of technology is that it does not involve fanatical descriptions of robots killing us, it is more accurate to describe it as simply humanity’s errors writ larger. As in, robots won’t kill us, it’s the people programming the robots that’ll kill us.

What I found fascinating about the book is that he dedicates quite a few chapters to religion and meaning in our lives. And the side that he comes down hard on is that all religions and stories are invented and therefore incorrect. What he prioritizes instead is meditation and knowing yourself as opposed to seeing yourself in someone else’s story. Now you don’t have to read that much of his works to realize that he is firmly on the side of science, so it makes sense that he’s a bit of a nihilist and only wants to follow the things he can sense and observe. What surprises me is that he goes for it so head on in this work. And these parts are the closest he comes to actually giving a concrete lesson that he advertises in the title.

To be honest, the main thing I feel icky about when reading this book is that it is clearly a product of his earlier successes. By which I mean that even just the title, 21 Lessons for the 21^st Century, is pretty pompous in thinking that he can give us 21 lessons in the first place. And while the chapters are grouped together and he clearly makes an effort to link them, they can seem like just an assortment of advice he’s yelling into the abyss in order to say “I told you so” later. I highly doubt that he would have written this if his earlier works didn’t have so much success, and even then, quite a few chapters follow the same path as sections of Homo Deus, especially the sections I alluded to earlier about the future of technology. Which again, makes sense, but it does seem as though he is merely retreading the same ground at points.

Having gone through all that, I still think that this is a book worth reading. While it may not have very concrete answers to all of our problems, the section on meditation is probably the closest he will get to giving us solid advice going forward. And I maintain the belief that he is one of the greatest thinkers on subjects like the future of humanity and society. But could you also read his other two books and reach similar conclusions? Yes, absolutely. But that is really up to you, this work is more accessible than his others and shorter. Personally I would just go for the longer ones to get the most out of it, but maybe this will get others to at least think about these topics in a slightly different way.

This is Beautiful: Robin Hood BBC

So having seen that new Robin Hood movie, all I wanted to do was go back and watch some decent Robin Hood content. And the 2006 Robin Hood tv series is still one of my favorites.

I've posted about this show previously. But this is my first time revisiting it in years. My favorite part is still seeing a smaller band of Merry Men and getting to know all of their different personalities. Sir Guy has not aged well for me, the fact that he's an abusive sadist really turns me off, despite Richard Armitage looking fine as hell. And somehow the Sheriff is one of my favorites, mostly due to Keith Allen's tendency to chew the scenery and just go balls to the wall with the role haha.

Man, I wish we had some content like that again. I miss it so much, and it's over a decade old now. It makes me feel ancient.

The 2018 Robin Hood Movie

It's been a while since I've posted about any Robin Hood media on here and I think I should fix that. The 2018 movie, directed by Otto Bathurst and starring Taron Egerton, was supposed to form a franchise to rival Marvel movies and all that. Unfortunately, it falls super flat. And I'm a Robin Hood obsessive nut.

The plot is very standard, Robin goes to the Crusades, is sent home for sympathizing with the natives, and finds the Sheriff abusing his people. He is convinced by a man who followed him home from the war (he goes by "John" as in John, Little) to take up arms against the Sheriff and undermine his authority after hearing that Marian is now with a certain Will Scarlet. Hi-jinks ensue, and it ends with Robin getting Marian back, evacuating the people of Nottingham, and Will being made the new Sheriff after the old one gets killed.

Honestly my biggest problem with it is that it tries to say too much about the current political climate. Clearly there are parallels between the Crusades and the modern Middle East, but the scenes with Robin fighting in the Holy Land don't look medieval at all. Arrows apparently go off automatically, and explode everything around them like guns. And then he returns and doesn't seem to care too much about politics, until John forces him to. Which triggers a couple of dramatic speeches that seem out of character.

Then there's the characters. Robin, to his credit, hits a nice note of always enjoying stealing from the rich. What I'm confused about is why John followed this mess all the way back to England to just take revenge on one town that he didn't have much to do with. The switcheroo involving Will becoming the Sheriff just because his girlfriend broke up with him also confuses me as he was for the people right up until that moment. My biggest problem though is with this training montage where John teaches Robin how to fight once he's in England which makes zero sense as he just spent a couple of years fighting in the Crusades which I'm sure trained him to fight.

So it isn't a great movie. I still found it fun, but that's just me. I'm consistently amazed at how modern Robin Hood movies try to set up a series only to fall flat when all I want is a franchise I can enjoy. Maybe someday it'll come.

This Is Beautiful: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Up next in the series of me watching gay children's cartoons, "She-Ra" is a show on Netflix that started last winter. A friend of mine introduced me to it (she knew that I really liked "Steven Universe") and I've been hooked. It just came out with the third season, and I would bet that it's going to continue after this.

The show tells the story of Adora, a soldier in the Horde who is tasked with fighting the Princesses of Power. Eventually Adora ends up outside of the Horde's lands and sees the destruction that they are wreaking, learns that she is a mystical warrior known as She-Ra, and decides to switch sides. Along with new friends Bow and Glimmer, she starts uniting the Princesses against the Horde. However, she left her best friend Catra with the Horde and now Catra hates Adora and wants to make her life miserable.

It's very well-written for a children's show, definitely not as sophisticated as "Steven Universe," but it takes a great look at friendships. Particularly female ones. The main reason why it's been labeled "gay" my the mainstream media is Adora's relationship to Catra. I'm a little baffled by this since they have clearly a toxic relationship where Adora cares about Catra very much and Catra just wants revenge. Honestly I found it cathartic in the last season when Adora stands up to her and punches her in the face.

If you're looking for something to binge, I would highly recommend! Can't wait for more episodes.

“Wanderlust: A History of Walking” by Rebecca Solnit

I read A Field Guide to Getting Lost ages ago, which was also written by Solnit. You can clearly see how the two books came from the same brain, both are about walking/wandering and its place within history and culture.

Solnit looks at how walking has been portrayed throughout history and literature and dissects the underlying meanings within it. She starts with how we evolved to become walkers, and the various theories behind why this happened, and from there goes through the Victorian era, to the twentieth century, and to the present. One of my favorite passages was when she pulls apart different character’s walking habits in Pride and Prejudice and illuminates how this demonstrates their social class and views.

And of course with marches and protests it all spills over into politics, as well as how cities have changed over time to affect our walking habits. There is a really surprisingly diverse range of topics covered in this book, it sounds boring to read a book about walking but she makes it fascinating. Each chapter is accompanied by short snippets of Solnit’s own experiences walking and traveling, as she is an avid walker herself. These bring a personal nature to each of the chapters, and spice up the history.

At first I found this annoying, but what ended up being one of my favorite aspects of the book was how at the bottom of each page there are quotes about walking and famous walkers. The quotes correspond to the subject of the chapters as well, so quotes from literature about walking around cities can be found on the pages where city walking is discussed. And often the works cited in the quotes are not mentioned at all in the chapter, indicating just how much research and effort Solnit put into this. I thought it was a cool way to incorporate other views and insights, especially since so much of the book is about the portrayal of walking in writings of the time.

To no one’s surprise, I would highly recommend any of Solnit’s works, and particularly this one. It is a very thorough overview of all of her research, and very insightful as well. A Field Guide to Getting Lost is shorter and might be more accessible to those who aren’t sure if they are interested in the subject matter, but this book is an excellent deep dive into the subject of walking through the ages.

This Is Beautiful: American Gods season 2

Yo I just got back home and have been relaxing and binge watching the TV that I missed. Let me tell you, the second season of "American Gods" is really good! I've posted about the book and possibly the first season before, and I was kinda concerned about how the second season would do with all the delays and everything. But it's just as gorgeous as the first season was, the cinematography is GORGEOUS I love it.

There have definitely been additions to talk about race, particularly with Shadow cast as a black man. I really like it, it means that they can go into Anansi as a god and into race within America (the show is called "American Gods" so it should be in there). Personally I am into it.

Can't wait to finish this season! And I sure hope that they manage to get season 3 out in a more timely manner haha.

“The Book of Joy” by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Abrams

Final book that my counselor recommended! This book was a wonderful project involving the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop getting together to discuss joy and how to cultivate it in our lives. Abrams as a writer joined them to compile the book. Together, they create a wonderful book that highlights both the Dalai Lama as well as the Archbishop’s philosophies, as well as their friendship.

Joy here does not mean happiness or forcing yourself to be happy all the time, it is more in line with an attitude cultivating a healthy approach to life, accepting the sadness and finding ways to still see the joy in the midst of it. This book tries to not be religious, despite the fact that it’s a collaboration between two holy men. The Dalai Lama says somewhere in it that this is a practice for everyone, and they want to make it accessible to non-religious folks as well.

Chapters are organized by topic, highlighting different aspects of joy and questions about them. At the end of the book, numerous meditation examples are outlined, to help with cultivating joy in the reader’s life.

I found this book to be a ton of fun to read, it’s wonderful getting to know all of the authors while at the same time learning from them. I hope to someday be able to approach life like them, but we’ll see what happens haha. Reading this book seems to be a good place to start though.

Taking July Off

In the spirit of enjoying my last summer before grad school, I am going to be traveling around Europe for the month of July! So you won't hear from me again until August, so I fully intend to be back in business once I am back in the country with some posts about the new cities that I've visited. Have a nice summer!

This Is Beautiful: Not Working

Honestly taking a break from my job before going to grad school was one of the best things that I've done. I could sleep in, go do tourist-y things that I never had time for, and hang out with the people I wanted to say goodbye to. It was some well-deserved rest and relaxation.

I think stay-cations are awesome to be honest. Vacations have just been co-opted into the working mentality with the idea that you HAVE to take time off and HAVE to go somewhere else and HAVE to do all of these other things. But what if you didn't and just had a low-stress, stay-where-you-are-and-chill kind of vacation? Honestly I would highly recommend.

Summer is now here officially, so consider just taking it easy and taking some time off to just relax at home! Travel is a hassle, just stay put and appreciate what's around you.

Charleston, South Carolina

Just got back from visiting my sister in South Carolina for a couple of days! It was nice to get a bit of a break and spend some time with her. Charlestown isn’t a bad little city, it was my first time to South Carolina and I thought it was a lot of fun!

We visited Folly Beach, which is the big beach in town that everyone goes to. It is free to visit, which is super cool, and it’s a really nice beach. Then there is also the Angel Oak, which is the oldest and biggest oak tree in SC, really cool spot to see and take pictures. That is pretty close to North America’s only tea plantation, which features a free tour of the factory and a nice tea sampling area. (It has both hot and cold tea, very nice.) Another historic plantation is the Magnolia Gardens, which used to be a rice plantation, but now boasts beautiful gardens and nature.

One fun fact about Charleston is that it has the highest number of historic buildings besides Rome. A lot of it is very old! There are historic house tours that you can go on, I haven’t been on any, but my sister had a lot of fun on one of them.

My main complaint about Charleston was that there was not very much in the way of public transportation there. I saw a couple buses, but other than that it looks like everyone just drives everywhere. Which not only seems annoying, but it is bad for the environment around there.

So Charleston is a lovely city to visit and relax at the beach, while taking in some history and nature. Would highly recommend as a getaway!

This Is Beautiful: Museums

Having a little vacation in DC has been awesome! In my opinion, the best part of the city is all of the free museums (and even the not free ones) tucked all over the city. It has been wonderful to take the time to visit the ones that I've been wanting to see again.

Even though many of them are free, I rarely took the time to go check out a lot of the museums. Having the time now to do this has been wonderful! I've seen most of them before, but it has been so nice to just wander around the museums and see the highlights, check out what interests me, or to just wander. Learning is good for you! Take advantage of it!

“Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness” by Rick Hanson

Another self-help book recommended to me by my counselor. Hanson here takes 12 different aspects of resilience (compassion, mindfulness, learning, grit, gratitude, confidence, calm, motivation, intimacy, courage, aspiration, and generosity) and goes through each one giving explanations of how they relate to resilience as well as exercises to strengthen them. This produces a well-rounded view of resilience itself, and clear ways to try and cultivate it within ourselves.

I did quite like a lot of his advice, but I will say that each chapter could probably be spun off into a book of its own. It felt as though we were just scratching the surface of what could be discussed and explored. My other comment is that a lot of his exercises boil down to his practice called HEAL: Have a good experience, Enrich it, Absorb it, and Link the positive and negative material. In this way we can both cherish happy moments as well as repair old wounds. It is a great practice, and while variations of it can be performed for all 12 of these aspects, it did seem as though we were rehashing the same material at points.

Still, there is a lot of valuable advice in this book about building up your own strength. I found it useful to peruse, so if you are considering starting a self-help journey or whatnot, do consider this!

This Is Beautiful: Beaches

Got to spend part of last week in South Carolina with my sister (post incoming on Charleston) and it was just really nice to be at a beach again, I think it's literally been years since I had a beach day. I forgot how nice it was to be there.

Partially it's the stopping and relaxing and reading yes, relaxation is very important. And lounging around is something I tend to skip out on since I can be pretty high-strung.

But what I really find beautiful about the beach is the water and the sun and the waves and the sand. It is so unlike anywhere else with nature so close to you and yet it is all so relaxed. So you can hunt for hermit crabs and snorkel with minnows, all without any real planning beforehand. It's incredible!

And yes there are plenty of man-made beaches, and lifeguards are all over the place to keep people safe. But it is still such a unique environment in this day and age. I don't know, spending time at the beach is nice, I need to do it more often.