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I have sympathy for high school English teachers. A lot of the material they have to teach is good but you're never going to get a room full of teenagers to fully engage with a lot of it. My mum pushed me to read as a kid, by high school I was pretty avid. Even so there were times where I found my mind wandering in English class. I remember quite vividly not getting along with Geoffrey Chaucer, we have since made up.

https://schoolreadinglist.co.uk/tag/gcse/
https://schoolreadinglist.co.uk/secondary-ks3-ks4-reading-lists/a-level-english-set-texts/

Here are our modern high school reading lists. I will say there's been a decent amount added since I was in school. A lot more contemporary stuff too by the looks of it. I think Maya Angelou might have been the most recent thing we read, and those poems were 30+ years old already.

I've not read a lot of it but I've been able to follow it just fine. It's a weird rhythm but it's not overly challenging. I've just slowed down my usual reading pace a bit as there are obviously less natural places to pause. My slight issue is not having historical/local context when it comes to Portugal. The book isn't written needing that but I still find myself googling and looking at maps.

Virginia Woolf (English) and James Joyce (Irish) are two that come to mind. They both used a 'stream of consciousness' method in their writing. If you've not seen that before it's a way of directly showing a character's, often messy, thought process. Syntax and grammar are often thrown out so it can better imitate human thought. It's very much a cool when done well but seemingly very hard to do well type of thing.

Yeah, the watermelon symbolism goes back to the 60s and the 6 day war. It was essentially a way people got around Israeli suppression of the showing the Palestinian flag. In the modern day some people it's a case of keeping the old symbolism alive. Some also have said that showing the flag normally online has resulted in accounts getting shadow banned and the watermelon slice helped with avoiding that. No idea if it's true though.

Started reading Baltasar and Blimunda yesterday. Too early to comment about the actual story but you were certainly right about his strange style. I've not really encountered anything like it.

I don't think that's quite true, there are still loads of grass roots bands here in the UK. I think the age of the bedroom DJ making catchy, high vibe stuff (like Avichii) is repetitive and even normies will crave change. Rap is also falling out of charts too apparently. Looking at US and UK charts there's an awful lot of basic white girl music. I'm just saying, there's a void there and I think culture, being something that ebbs and flows, will fill that void with rock.

Watermelon slice emoji is for Palestine, it's the colours on the flag.

Also picked up a collection of Josè Saramago novels for my Kindle. 13 or 14 of them in one collection, so that will keep e busy.

I have a theory that metal, rock and even classical music will return to the mainstream. Perhaps not to the extent of metal in the 80s but a return all the same. If I were a music industry big wig I'd be looking at the view/listen numbers on video game and film soundtracks, there's obviously a hunger for different styles of music. On youtube there's a French rock opera piece from Expedition 33 with a similar amount of listens to the song that's top of the streaming charts right now (a song which has been top for a record number of weeks apparently, i gave it a listen when I saw the headlines and it's shit).

Surprised you'd not heard about that. Rape gangs, primarily made up of muslim pakistani men, were essentially allowed to operate in this country for decades. Social services, police and the government all knew but they did nothing as they didn't want to ruin social cohesion (or upset large groups of voters). Some conservative estimates suggest 250k British girls were abused. There's documented evidence in papers that they literally started doing it the moment they got off the boat in the 50s but it's been mass issue from the 90s onwards.

Whilst I'd agree with your key stance on Russia/Ukraine even that has some caveats. There are a lot of ethnic russians in the area Russia are yoinking. There's a good chance that if they could vote they'd flip. I tend not to get super invested in arguments about that, it's not like we can change it and I don't feel the need to share my opinion with strangers. No watermelons, Ukraine flags or black fists are in my bio.

I think men that are into neo-paganism are often just into the women that are into it (Okay honey, what does Aphrodite think we should do tonight?). Not all of the time but a lot of it. Also some people are just into it for fun, the renaissance fair/reenactment type communities. Perhaps you're right about the metal guys, although with the metal guys I've known over the years I can see that being an autistic hyperfixation. Naturally some just like the aesthetic.

Islamic immigration is way older than 2000s in the UK. Imported loads post WW2 to help with the rebuild. It's been more of a conversation recently for a couple of reasons. We've had a horrendous, nationwide rape gang scandal and of course the ongoing Merkel wave.

I don't get overly invested in current thing conversation about foreign wars. They're always more complex than they seem and we only ever have half of the story. ''The first casualty of war is truth'', as the old saying goes. The Islamist x lefty alliance in modern Western politics is quite bemusing to me. I get the temporary gain but that can't end well. I had to laugh when I saw that car ramming attack on the pride parade in Germany being spun as ''right wing hate''. I have a feeling the ''queers for Palestine'' stuff is not going to age well.

Eu também não tenho mulher e filhos xD Vive aqui em casa uma pessoa masculina e eu e dois gatos (a Lucy e o Nelson) <3 Eu fantasio com os husbandos (e waifus) porque eles *não existem*, não creio que possas objectificar algo que JÁ É um objecto. A Nami tem muito tema de conversa com as viagens todas dela tho, mantém a esperança xD

De resto, nunca vi Dr House mas eu própria sou doutora (de animais xD) Gostava de ser tão médico como o Black Jack. O OVA está mesmo mesmo mesmo bom wooo Eu sou mais do tempo do Serviço de Urgência, que era lokissimo, e agora saiu uma série nova que kind of recicla essa série na modernindade, o The Pitt. Foi muito inspiradora!

Neo-Paganism is absolutely a larp, and not a cool larp based on good history and theology. A lot of them flip the role of the Gods from primordial entities that need to be appeased/feared/ect into beings that exist to emotionally validate the ''worshiper'', it's like therapy for them. There's an irony there, people (let's be real, white women) are rejecting modern organised Christianity only to project Christ like characteristics onto the old Gods they're attempting to revive.

Not that men aren't immune to surface level spiritual larping. I just think we're more likely to larp organised religion. What % of crusader posting online do you think is male? Almost all of it.

I have a theory that a lot of men that larp religion now are actually the edgy online atheists of 20 years ago. I think it's essentially counter culture. Christianity was heavily buffed in American culture post 9/11. That in turn spawned vocal critics, in normie culture that's people like Dawkins but as the internet took off it was people like The Amazing Atheist. Once that lost it's fervor people moved onto dunking on other things. Feminism first, then ''gamergate'' happened, then social justice warriors and wokeness really hit it's peak with BLM and the covid era. Now the big issues are Islamic immigration and Israel, so naturally the crosses come out.

Bem, à medida que vamos nos adultificando, e trabalhando e fazendo famílias (de todos os tipos e feitios) é natural que uma pessoa tenha de seleccionar os seus hobbies, pois o tempo é escasso. Eu nunca me desinteressei de anime, mas consegui desinteressar-me de filmes/séries/cartoons ocidentais, e já não tenho attention span para ir ao cinema ver um filme com mais de 90 minutos, tenho de sair a meio para beber água ou apanhar ar, wtv Houve muitas coisas que deixei, desde tocar piano a andar de cavalo, mas anime is 4eva xD

Eu sei que há coisas nos animes que são muito infantis, mas eu gosto, só nao gosto de shounen porque os tropes são sempre todos iguais e desde o Tetsuwan Atom nos anos 60 que o género é todo muito parecido. As histórias de romance ainda me cativam, porque gosto de pensar que podia voltar à escola e ser bem sucedida no campo social, coisa que não aconteceu na realidade, e apaixonar-meeee outra vez e outra e outra, enfim, estou in love com novos personagens e novos husbandos sempre que vejo um (bom) anime novo.

Por exemplo, agora o Black Jack do Tezuka passou a categoria "husbando", porque o homem é médico, é fixe e é giro com as suas cicatrizes todas. E respeita as bacanas. :3

Edit: A app chama-se Mihon, yay

I've always liked reading mythology and other texts from the ancient world. Taking a glimpse into the ancient mind and realising that we really haven't changed that much is always interesting. The fact we can read a lengthy and fairly complex story from over 4000 years ago will never not feel impressive to me.

Thanks for the suggestions. lol at the fish soup guy. Writer's barely disguised fetish or an easy way to get some viral marketing? I wonder.

Vou-te mandar as infos do evento por DM =D Estas coisas costumam ser divulgadas via IG, que eu deixei de frequentar, mas acho que dá para aceder mesmo sem o ter :)

Tenho um conhecido que é 2nd key animator do MHA haha, portanto ya, devia continuar a ver aquilo. Mas detestei a segunda season, então nunca mais lhe peguei ;-;

Quanto a burnout de anime, eu tive um uma vez, resolveu vendo Futurama xD Depois nunca mais tive. Se fores ver, estou a assistir a uma quantidade *considerável* de animes a cada season, mas como vejo em grupo torna-se mais fácil. De resto, tenho um para ver no trabalho, um em casa sozinha e um ou dois em casa acompanhada xD Mas ultimamente ate tenho gostado mais de ler manga, agora que descobri a app para o tablet para o ler. =D

Not necessarily school. We only spoke about it too, we read a shorter Greek play (Iphigenia in Aulis) instead. Reason I thought you would have is because you're obviously open to older media and Homer's Odyssey is one of the most famous stories ever written down.

Do you have any suggestions of Portuguese books or authors? I've only read historical empire/exploration stuff from your part of the world.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I do. I go to my local shop every couple of days, usually as it opens or not long before it closes. It has self service checkouts so I can go weeks without saying ''hi'' to somebody. lol

A cena da vergonha é que quando chegamos a uma provecta idade, parece que temos de entrar no conformismo e vestir de bege, ou o que nos adultificar, sei lá. Eu decidi que sou sempre criança e pronto xD Uma ita bag é uma mala/mochila que tem uma parte para tu meteres alfinetes e pins e buttons :)

Como vou a muitos eventos (tu nunca foste a um Iberanime eu fui a todos desde o primeiro, em 2010 xD) acabo por conhecer muita gente do online na vida real... Daqui do MAL já conheci uma série de gente de outros países yay, sempre que vou a algum lado pergunto se alguém quer meetup e quando vêm aqui também lhes faço uma tour :3 Ao longo dos anos fiz muitos bons amigos online, até tenho um amigo muito próximo com quem falo há mais de 20 anos (22 para ser concreta) que conheci num fórum sobre animais hahaha Eu costumava ser alto bicho do mato, não falava com ninguém, mas o online ajudou imenso (e o teatro. Quando comecei a fazer teatro soltei-me e libertei-me) Agora até faço sessões de anime cá em casa com algumas pessoas, mas só pode ser anime mau xD

Quanto ao Naruto na search bar, já não me lembro D: Mas vi o Naruto o ano passado (ou terá sido há dois anos?) e posso dizer que *detestei* xD Agora compreendo que não tolero shounenslop sob qualquer forma, mas continuo sempre a ver porque... Bem, tenho de ver todos os animes do mundo. Um amigo fez a conta e diz que iria demorar uns 3 anos, se vir anime 24 horas por dia. Conseguirei? xD xD

Edit: Also, já não me lembro de que zona és, mas se quiseres vai haver um evento para a semana aqui em Almada que é super na boa e super acessível, bora ir? =D (eu vou competir, como sempre vou, anda ver-me a performar hahaha)

Edit2: Porque é que não podemos ver a tua lista T_T

That's reasonable, I'll respond here but obviously won't repeat much of what you've said.

Surprised you've not read at least Iliad and Odyssey but I suppose we all have gaps in ''classics'' we've not read or seen. Could also be worse, the actress that played Helen had apparently never even heard of Homer's Odyssey before getting cast in it. She has an Fine Arts degree from Yale.

Nah, when I said I've dropped out of society I truly meant it. Including out of work. I see my parents and sister's family maybe twice a year. My local shopkeepers are the people I see most. Hermitmaxxing.

I can see where you're coming from with the response to the journal idea. I did mean it as an occasional thing where you jot down positive, potentially fleeting memories as opposed to a deep chronicling of her life. Although I understand that a metaphorical spark can cause a forest fire.

We signed Sainz on a free after a relegation release clause activated in his contract in Turkey. Then sold him to Porto for £14m a couple of seasons later, Certainly one of our more Football Manageresque transfers in recent memory.

We've actually done a bit of our shopping in Portugal recently. Sporting keeper Kovacevic, who didn't play much so I'd be surprised if you remembered him. Mirko Topic is the other one, a big midfielder who played a couple of seasons in Famalicão. Looked pretty good before doing his ACL last season.

Nolan does some things well, I enjoyed the practical effects used for the giant, pig transformations and the storms. Virtually everything being thematically flipped, events being changed to fit those themes and characters being rewritten for modernism. I'm just not a fan. He had something with the ''sea people'' but it was way too on the nose. I wish I hadn't reread Iliad and Odyssey before watching it.

You're right about expensive hardware but I still think GTA6 will be a rare console seller this generation. I also think it'll be a game that relocates many Playstations from little Timmy's room so that dad can play his first game since Red Dead Redemption 2. It'll break regular gaming news containment because of scale and development cost (most expensive entertainment product ever™). Wonder if they'll manage to roll back the years and have media complaining about content in the game too.

I moved around a lot as a kid so I was always good at making friends. Maintaining those friendships after leaving school, not so much. I've very much fallen into the same traps as you over the years of not engaging enough. That being said, if you're willing to take the plunge (I am not) it is a pretty easy fix. Find a club, evening class or something like that and put yourself out there. In the UK we have charities and schemes that look to tackle the loneliness epidemic by introducing people with similar issues. Not sure if you have them in Portugal but the value there is obvious.

Have you considered keeping a journal to help with preserving your own memory of your mother? Just add to it as you remember something. Feels like something you might appreciate having in 20 years time.