Albert Camus, from The Myth of Sisyphus
!SPOILERS!
ANOTHER BIG THING INTERNATIONAL VIEWERS MAY NOT PICK UP FOR SQUID GAME:
any viewer for squid game will understand that each game/round in the show are all childhood games from korea. this is well known.
but a smaller, unsubtle nod to another korean classic is actually the very last episode. it's titled 'A Lucky Day' or in korean '운수 좋은 날'. a modern classical literature text written by a korean author in 1924 about a rickshaw driver who went out to work despite his sick wife's protests, had a unusually lucky day and earned enough money, but upon returning home found his wife dead.
a big symbolism noted in the book itself is its showcase of rain and the wife's yearning (for warm broth). the very last game/battle between gihun and sangwoo ends in rain. when gihun returns home its raining heavily. gihun gets fish (well albeit rather reluctantly takes it from sangwoo's mom) for his own mother only to find her dead. despite how the games initially seems favourable in gihun's part, his world ends up rotten to the core when he returns back home. everyone he cared for now died.
i just feel like the director-writer made it such that the whole plot is a big nod to old korean classics (be it games or literature) and i just didnt see this noticed in social media so just wanted to share this! very happy to see such symbolism of korean literature in squid game.
p.s. anyone notice that both junho and inho, the two brothers, are actually playing hide-and-seek throughout the show— 👁👁
More hacks at http://1000lifehacks.com
the hardest lines ALWAYS come from ao3 fanfics and I stand by this
Mostly thanks to @emilyelizabethfowl (their reblog contains many of the fic links!! thank u sm) and a few deep dives into my ao3 history, the sources of the quotes have mostly all been recovered! I apologise for not posting them all with proper credit originally, I truly didn't think the post would blow up so much, but the lesson is very much learned :) enjoy!
- number 1 is another merthur fic, called Destiny Ordered You To Die, But I Willed You To Live by ironfamjam (apparently also appears in Filling the gaps, a spiderman fic by the same author!)
-The klance one (number 2) is from reach out for you (break these walls) by Paladin-Pile (UserFromPluto)
- number 3 is a batman fic called Home (jason centered) by Daisybirb
- number 4 is a zukka fic by I'm Not Angry Anymore by team_avatars_eyebags
- two are from The Art Of Burning by hella1975, an amazing ongoing atla following zuko (also zukka but it hasn't quite happened yet) - numbers 5 and 9 to be exact
- number 6 is a hualian fic called No paths are bound by cataclysmic_calamity (originally a thread fic but also fully uploaded on ao3)
- number 7 is a merthur fic called tell me every terrible thing you ever did (and let me love you anyway) by Stardustwrites17 (the quote is also originally from a poem by Sade Andria Zabala or Edgar Allen poe apparently)
- The batman one (number 8) is from Nature and Nurture by lurkinglurkerwholurks
- number 10 is from a steddie fic called let me know (everythings alright) by bexiguess (had too dig deep to find this one - the stranger things phase last summer was no joke 😭)
ALSO there is now a part 2 !! (which I swear is better organized)
Plant Care MasterPost
nothing makes me more upset than the thought of plants not being taken care of so here are some helpful links!!
House Plant Watering for Dummies
Lighting for House Plants
Ideal Conditions for Specific Plants
Potting Plants; the Basics
Easy Plants for Beginners
25 Best Indoor Plants/ With Care Guide
Keeping Your Plants Healthy and Disease Free
Cacti and Succulent Care
Feeding Your Plants; Fertilization
Rescuing Almost Dead Plants
Plants Respond to Music!!!!
10 Songs to Play to Your Plants
Ne crains jamais d’en faire trop,
car je n’en ai jamais assez de toi.
Je me délecte de tes paroles,
et tes soupirs sont mon oxygène.
Si seulement je pouvais fondre contre toi,
je ne connaîtrais plus jamais ni le froid,
ni la crainte
de te voir partir
à tout jamais
Never fear to be too much,
for I can never have enough of you.
I revel in your words,
and your sighs are my oxygen.
If only I could melt into you,
I would never know cold again,
nor the fear
to see you go
forever
It is said that 'Well behaved women seldom make history'. This is commonly taken to mean that in order for a woman to make an impact she has to make noise, she has to rebel against the norm, she has to misbehave. Yet when Laurel Thatcher Ulrich first coined the phrase in 1976 this was not the meaning she had in mind. Well behaved women are important, but they are seldom remembered. Women have been ignored by historian for centuries, dismissed by many men as incapable of great achievement; forgotten.
from this article: https://womeninhistory.education/well-behaved-women-seldom-make-history/
So much of modern media celebrates the kind of woman that makes noise and rebels against the norm, but let's not forget the quiet women, the ones behind the scenes, the ones that might not be rocking the boat. They can also have an impact. They also matter.
Let's not belittle one kind of woman to uplift another.
I think this is one reason why 2022 Persuasion has angered so many people. The way they changed Anne's character communicates that only one kind of woman is admirable, only one kind of woman deserves to be the heroine of story. It does a disservice to the nuanced, complex, varied personalities and characters and stories of women.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of literature we can learn from. Baby books bore you, but you’re not ready for any type of novel, so what’s left?
For beginner/A1/A2 learners
Watch a YouTube video in your target language, then read the comments
you’ll already have vocabulary from watching the video, most of the comments will probably use that vocab
it’s a short enough text that you won’t get fatigued
the only downside is that sometimes people utilize abbreviations and slang terms, but even these are good to know
Read news headlines and if you find one you understand almost fully, try to read the full article
sometimes the vocabulary used is not common in everyday usage, but it’s a total win for an A1 learner to fully read and mostly understand any text
while vocab is not used everyday, it will give you the ammunition to talk about that particular topic
Watch Netflix in target language with subtitles in the same language
believe it or not, you will learn to read better, especially because you don’t have to understand written description of visuals (usually uses very niche vocab) or emotion
and now you can slow down or speed up
I watched DARK in German before I felt like I could read a book, and I understood 85% of it. This is because I looked up some vocabulary in the first episodes and they continued to use it throughout the show so it really cemented in my head to the point where I don’t even think about it. Now, I had to rewatch some conversations the characters had, but that’s much better for understanding than switching it to English or looking up full phrases and sentences.
For intermediate/B1/B2 learners
read fanfiction
it’s ALWAYS good to read about something you’re interested in so if you like any major movies, books, television, this is the perfect option for you
most people use relatively basic language and you can choose the length
find a comic book or graphic novel
like watching tv, that visual aid really helps with understanding of the plot without all those tricky descriptions
read a book in your target language that you’ve read and loved in your native language
this is by far my favorite way
you don’t have to worry about trying to understanding the bigger picture because you already know what’s happening/what will happen, you really have to discover the meaning of each sentence and then you begin to picture the scene using only your target language
Check out my other post for methods of how to get the most out of reading !
inner thigh workout