Zompist Bboard Again

rotting bones wrote: ↑Fri Oct 31, 2025 4:36 am The Darkness that Comes Before

The novel by R. Scott Bakker? I read that one years ago, but I didn't go on to read the rest of the series; I've been thinking that I might want to revisit it.

Glenn wrote: ↑Fri Oct 31, 2025 1:09 pm The novel by R. Scott Bakker? I read that one years ago, but I didn't go on to read the rest of the series; I've been thinking that I might want to revisit it.

Yes. Thought I might as well give it a shot since lectures have apparently been built around it: https://medium.com/gregory-b-sadler-ph- ... 7a6da628d4

Normally, I dislike stories like this, but it fits my mood right now. (I'm thinking of going to a rage room.) I can see why people say it was noticeably written by a member of the American Philosophical Association. I haven't been wowed by anything so far. I was more impressed with psychological observations like (IIRC): If you sit down with a merchant and a beggar, it's the beggar who will buy you lunch every time.

So far, the insights haven't been connected to form anything exciting. I'll see where it goes.

The Figure of the Migrant by Thomas Nail.

The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard.

I subscribed to Zeteo on Substack.

The Seventh Seal, a great movie and somehow a lot more heartwarming than I expected.

From the opposite end of the culture spectrum, The Boys -- a great piece of, among other things, political satire.

Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism by Varoufakis. I'm about halfway through the book. I'm not sure I entirely get what he's getting at.

Ares Land wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 2:09 am The Seventh Seal, a great movie and somehow a lot more heartwarming than I expected.

Looks interesting. Recently, the Three Colors trilogy was recommended to me from a cinematographic point of view.

Ingmar Bergman and Krzysztof Kieślowski are two late, great filmmakers,
who both explored the meaning of life and the human condition,
and whose films leave a lasting impression...

https://youtu.be/nHFrsFYMtqM?si=BifZ0CIUmuf4J_Na
Modern Mee music. It's really surprising how much the quality of these recordings has improved in the last years. Also, the subtitles are in Papua Indonesisn, which is fun.

The footnotes to LotR. Surprisingly engrossing.

Like a New Sun: New Indigenous Mexican Poetry

From the language near the Olmec heartland:



(Click to expand)

rotting bones wrote: ↑Wed Nov 12, 2025 6:14 am Like a New Sun: New Indigenous Mexican Poetry

From the language near the Olmec heartland:



(Click to expand)

Precisely which language is this? Looks like some Mixtec variety to me.

I am currently reading Elves in Anglo-Saxon England by Alaric Hall.

bradrn wrote: ↑Wed Nov 12, 2025 6:38 am Precisely which language is this? Looks like some Mixtec variety to me.

This is just Tsotsil Maya. This book has Zoque poems too, but I don't understand those even a little bit.

WeepingElf wrote: ↑Wed Nov 12, 2025 6:41 am I am currently reading Elves in Anglo-Saxon England by Alaric Hall.

Judging from the online summary, that sounds like quite an interesting book! (And quite apropos, given your own work.)

rotting bones wrote: ↑Wed Nov 12, 2025 6:46 am

bradrn wrote: ↑Wed Nov 12, 2025 6:38 am Precisely which language is this? Looks like some Mixtec variety to me.

This is just Tsotsil Maya. This book has Zoque poems too, but I don't understand those even a little bit.

Oh, OK. That’s obvious looking at it again…

bradrn wrote: ↑Wed Nov 12, 2025 6:51 am Oh, OK. That’s obvious looking at it again…

The Zoque poems do look good in translation:



If you have any advice on how to study it, I would try.

Books I want to read:

The Encyclopedia of Ignorance
The Good Book by A.C. Grayling, an atheist bible written by a philosopher.

Glenn wrote: ↑Wed Nov 12, 2025 6:51 am

WeepingElf wrote: ↑Wed Nov 12, 2025 6:41 am I am currently reading Elves in Anglo-Saxon England by Alaric Hall.

Judging from the online summary, that sounds like quite an interesting book! (And quite apropos, given your own work.)

Precisely that!

Meshuggah – “Closed Eye Visuals”

WeepingElf wrote: ↑Wed Nov 12, 2025 9:43 am

Glenn wrote: ↑Wed Nov 12, 2025 6:51 am

WeepingElf wrote: ↑Wed Nov 12, 2025 6:41 am I am currently reading Elves in Anglo-Saxon England by Alaric Hall.

Judging from the online summary, that sounds like quite an interesting book! (And quite apropos, given your own work.)

Precisely that!

Of course, there is no mention of actual Elves living in Anglo-Saxon England; the book discusses what the Anglo-Saxons believed and what kind of ideas they connected with the word ælf. But there are some interesting points. Apparently, the Anglo-Saxon idea of the ælf was more like Tolkien's Elves than like the diminutive fairies of later times. Elves were, first of all, people rather than "monsters", as opposed to dwarves, giants and such. They were fair to behold, and harmful only to wrongdoers. I also found in the book that illnesses caused by elves (such as "elf-shot") are a later concept that arose only after England was Christianized and pagan concepts such as Elves were demonized, and that expressions like wudu-ælfene or wæter-ælfene do not denote actual Anglo-Saxon beliefs but are merely ways to translate designations of various types of nymphs from Greek-Roman mythology into Old English.

New anime:
Zatsutabi That's Journey
Flower and Asura
Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night

Old anime:
Blue Period
Welcome to the NHK

I'm really on a bender. I can't afford to be watching so much TV.

Books:
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Pursuit of Truth by W. V. Quine
Stoner by John Williams