5/12/2023 0 Comments The vixen novel![]() ![]() Or, in Ethel’s case, for typing them up for her brother. Prose deftly reminds us of a chapter from nearly 70 years ago, during the Red Menace hysteria, when the government could jail and kill a couple for passing on secrets to the Soviets. This novel also comes at a perfect time in American history, as hard-won voting rights are being suppressed and the fabric of democracy itself torn apart. Francine Prose’s higher purpose as a novelist is fully realized in this delicious coming-of-age story in which everyone is afraid, anyone can be accused, and disinformation runs rampant. the underlying heartbeat of The Vixen isn’t political so much as literary-a book within a book that keeps the narrative thrumming. From the beginning, Prose places us firmly in the consciousness of an insecure young Jewish man named Simon who has just graduated from Harvard and who, for mysterious reasons, has been rejected by the only graduate school he applied to. ![]() ![]() ![]() This is one of the most satisfying novels I’ve read in ages. And yet, this is also a book steeped in the warmth of Jewish family life, post–World War II. Written by Francine Prose Review by Trish MacEnulty. It is a testament to Prose’s mastery as a storyteller that what emerges is a penetrating look at the underside of comedy-namely, how the human condition can be so predictably cruel and paranoid. The most surprising thing about The Vixen.is how laugh-aloud funny it is. ![]()
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5/12/2023 0 Comments The crystal world![]() ![]() The museum is an audiovisual creation by the TeamLab art collective of animators, programmers, architects, mathematicians and designers. The TeamLab Borderless Digital Art Museum is a permanent digital art exhibition in the Mori Building in Odaiba, Tokyo. What is TeamLab Borderless Digital Art Museum? TeamLab Borderless is moving to a permanent home in the Toranomon-Azabudai Project which is expected to open in 2023. Note: TeamLab Borderless is currently closed and will be relocated in 2023: TeamLab Planets is a magnificent alternative and is located in nearby Toyosu – check ticket prices here! After an enchanting recent visit to this amazing digital art museum in Tokyo, we wanted to share our tips for making the most out of your visit and how to reserve TeamLab Borderless tickets! ![]() From a mesmerising crystal world to gushing digital waterfalls and an extraordinary lantern filled room, a visit to TeamLab Borderless is a Tokyo highlight. ![]() A magical mix of colour, light and sound, TeamLab Borderless in Tokyo is the world’s first Digital Art Museum. ![]() 5/11/2023 0 Comments Jrr tolkien luthien![]() This led to the more common categorization of things as Seen or Unseen, with the Seen aspects of an object or person being only part of it. For Elves and Wizards, what others might call magic was not something special or different from the natural world, just a part of it that was not immediately visible. ![]() For Hobbits, it was a term used to describe processes and abilities of objects which could not be explained outside of their limited lore and knowledge. ![]() ![]() Magic in Middle-earth was not explicitly defined by Tolkien, and the term can have various meanings depending on usage and context. I believe though I do not understand clearly what they mean and they seem also to use the same word of the deceits of the Enemy" ― Galadriel, The Mirror of Galadriel Tolkien, Letter 155 " For this is what your folk would call magic. ![]() large question, and difficult and a story which. Nazgûl at the Walls by Ted Nasmith " I am afraid I have been far too casual about 'magic' and especially the use of the word though Galadriel and others show by the criticism of the 'mortal' use of the word, that the thought about it is not altogether casual. ![]() ![]() ![]() Cotton Mather, in the preface, presents himself as a simple chronicler of the facts. ![]() ![]() Although not directly involved in the trials which led to the execution of 19 people, Increase wrote in defence of one of the judges, albeit criticising the importance that the court had placed on dreams and visions as evidence in the trials. Cotton s father Increase, was a respected judge in the same community. This book contains the first account of these trials written by Cotton Mather (1663 1728), one of the leading religious authorities of the second generation of Puritan settlers in Boston. The trials of witches that were carried out within the community of Salem in 1692, are among the best-known examples of this infamous social practice of the 17th and 18th centuries. Bound in fine modern calf, all edges in red. Damp staining visible on upper-right corner of a few leaves at beginning and end mild marginal foxing throughout browning on initial and final leaves. Lower margins trimmed with occasional loss of catchwords minimal loss at right margin of G2. Roman letter with some Italic and Gothic type at headings and occasionally within the text. Title page backed, half-title including imprimatur on verso Author s Defense and Presentation Letter by Chief Justice William Stroughton. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posters addressed things like safety, urging Americans to wear white when walking during blackouts so they would not be hit by an car and to be careful at work so they were not injured, both slowing production and wasting valuable hospital resources. They used psychological tactics, guilt, and emotions to appeal to the patriotism and loyalty of the public. Posters were produced to encourage and inspire Americans, but also to warn, scold, and scare Americans as well. They were mass produced and distributed around the country and hung in train stations, post offices, schools, churches, factories, and grocery stores. Posters were an important part of the OWI's output. ![]() Artists, filmmakers, and intellectuals were recruited to work on this creative "factory floor." They produced posters, pamphlets, newsreels, radio shows, and movies-all designed to create a public that was 100 percent behind the war effort. The Office of War Information (OWI) was formed in 1942 to oversee the propaganda initiative, scripting and distributing the government's messages. Persuading Americans to support the war effort became a wartime industry, just as important as producing bullets and planes. During World War II, the US government waged a constant battle for the hearts and minds of the public. ![]() ![]() ![]() In The British Are Coming, Atkinson is once again operating at the peak of his craft, delivering the first in a proposed three-volume series on the American Revolution. The three magnificent volumes ( An Army at Dawn The Day of Battle and The Guns at Last Light) are really the holy grail of historical writing, combining impeccable research, sound judgment, and gorgeous prose to give you a saga as sweeping, enveloping, and memorable as anything Tolstoy has to offer. It is the WWII equivalent of Shelby Foote’s magisterial The Civil War: A Narrative. ![]() While all his books are good, his Liberation Trilogy, focused on the American Army in World War II, operates at an entirely different level. Simply put: Rick Atkinson is the best narrative historian I’ve ever read. Rick Atkinson, The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 And though it was fought in the age of reason, infused with Enlightenment ideals, this war, this civil war, would spiral into savagery, with sanguinary cruelty, casual killing, and atrocity…” Unlike most European wars of the eighteenth century, this one would not be fought by professional armies on flat, open terrain with reasonable roads, in daylight and good weather. Instead, what became known as the American Revolution was an improvised struggle between two peoples of a common heritage, now sundered by divergent values and conflicting visions of a world to come. “This would not be a war between regimes or dynasties, fought for territory or the usual commercial advantages. ![]() 5/11/2023 0 Comments Invisible planets book![]() issued for the study of Chinese SF, asks What Makes Chinese Science Fiction Chinese? Synopsis Finally, Xia Jia, who holds the first Ph.D. Chen Qiufan's The Torn Generation gives the view of a younger generation of authors trying to come to terms with the tumultuous transformations around them. Liu Cixin's essay, The Worst of All Possible Universes and The Best of All Possible Earths, gives a historical overview of SF in China and situates his own rise to prominence as the premier Chinese author within that context. In addition, three essays at the end of the book explore Chinese science fiction. ![]() Many of the authors collected here (with the obvious exception of New York Times bestseller Liu Cixin's two stories) belong to the younger generation of 'rising stars'. ![]() Some stories have won awards (including Hao Jingfang's Hugo-winning novella, Folding Beijing) some have been included in various 'Year's Best' anthologies some have been well reviewed by critics and readers and some are simply Ken's personal favorites. ![]() Award-winning translator and author Ken Liu presents a collection of short speculative fiction from China. ![]() 5/10/2023 0 Comments Casey mc quiston![]() ![]() So, you went from that to a love story whose center stage is a New York City train car - which, while a lot of things, glamorous is maybe not at the top of the list. ![]() KATIE TAMOLA: Red, White & Royal Blue was a cultural monolith, a queer love story involving a literal prince. Shondaland caught up with McQuiston to talk about the disparate world of the metropolitan subway, challenging herself as a writer, influential media from the early aughts, and what comes next. Relationships are hard, but, when you physically can’t get off a New York City train, they are infinitely harder. There’s just one catch: Jane is stuck in some kind of time warp, having been on the Q train since the 1970s. She feels quite lucky when she continues to run into Jane on her commute, and their mutual feelings grow deeper and deeper. Jane is the quintessential subway crush, and August has their life planned together before she even reaches her stop. One day, August is awestruck when, while on the Q train on her way to class, she sees the most dazzling and mysterious human she’s ever laid eyes on. ![]() Although she tries to fly under the radar, her eccentric roommates love her from the moment they meet her, which August isn’t exactly used to. August is just trying to keep her head down and get by. ![]() She’s pragmatic, guarded, and a 23-year-old recent transplant to Brooklyn. ![]() ![]() Keeping themselves safe and together may have been their goal originally, but as the trio travels across Cassia, through the garbage-strewn alleys of abandoned hamlets, to the opulence of the nobility’s drawing rooms, the effects of their journey leave behind a lasting impression.Ī rebellion is brewing in Cassia…sparked not from the lashes of oppression and cruelty, but born from love and a desire to see all of humanity treated as equals. It takes Reynard’s skills from his secretive military career, an unexpected ally from within the Cassian Dynasty, and the love between Percy and Edward to keep the three of them safe as Percy’s time draws near. Percy’s pregnancy progresses at a rapid rate, and the palace guards are always a step behind. Edward, no stranger to hard work, is still at a loss when the hardship of a life on the run catches up with them. Their friend, Abelard Reynard, a former captain in the Royal Guard, never strays far from Percy or Edward, determined to keep them both safe. ![]() His consort and lover Percy is pregnant with their child. Hunted by the crown, Prince Edward of Cassia struggles to adjust to his new reality. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Her poetry also contains direct life advice (“If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Through poetry, Oliver shared her sense of wonder (“When it’s over, I want to say /all my life I was a bride married to amazement”) often with a first person perspective and lean prose. And yet, her poems speak to something fundamental about the way we all want to live. At first glance, her quiet, woodsy life and reflective poetry has little in common with the screen-filled, dawn to dusk hustle that makes up the modern condition for most of us. In the backwoods of Provincetown, she wrote most of her poetry and essay collections, writing as she walked, including the Pultizer Prize-winning American Primitive (1984) and New and Selected Poems(1992), which won the National Book Award. And, according to Oliver, that is how she spent most of her time during the 40 plus years she spent on the coast of Massachusetts in a house she shared with her partner, the photographer Molly Malone Cook. Picturing her from her poems, I think of a white haired woman rambling through the woods, careful not to disturb the wildlife as she scribbles down her next verse. ![]() ![]() In some ways, Oliver is an unlikely pop culture phenomenon. ![]() |