Me Holding A Gun To A Mushroom: Tell Me The Name Of God You Fungal Piece Of Shit

Arabic dark academia

Having tea first thing in the morning, the afternoon, evening, night and whenever you have nothing to do and whenever you have everything to do

Practicing calligraphy, hoarding calligraphy pens and quills like a dragon hoards its jewels

Youre now a calligragon btw

Pretentious hand written letters

Fragments of poetry and prose on the wall

In Egypt you can buy a vintage gramophone (as far as I remember)

Wrinkling your nose at orientalists who have clearly never been anywhere near the culture they're trying to portray.

Appreciating the orientalists who have in fact been there and paint like it. (Sorry to disappoint but there were never sexy slave babes roaming the streets)

Mourning for the scholars of Al Andaluas and times when Arabic was the language of science

Arguing over e'arab (the value of a word with regard to others in the sentence) and balagha (it translates to "eloquence" but is more like a complex version of figures of speech) of words

Arabic being such a complex language you get carried away sometimes

Passing the allotted wordcount so you start going over your paper and compressing a whole sentence, consisting of a conjunction, a subject, a verb and two objects into a word in desperation

Words like فأسقيناكموه (faa'skainakumooh) meaning "and so we have let you drink it" being an example.

Tea over burning coal. Over logs (hatab) tea over bokhour/oud hits different and you know it.

Brewing coffee over low heat and humming to Layali Al Ouns

"No offense but I like real coffee" when someone mentions starbucks

Um Kulthoum and Asmahan are superior you cant change my mind.

NO I DID NOT FORGET ABDUL HALIM HAFEZ I WANTED HIM A BULLET OF HIS OWN.

Fareed al atrash concerts at 3 am.

Nothing you ever cook will be under seasoned.

Reciting poetry to yourself in the mirror

Big chunks of jewelry (usually gold) engraved or woven through with intricate patterns and swirls. Wearing four bracelets in one hand is absolutely fine and under dressing is a myth

Owning swords is not out of fashion (ancient arabs were well known for their swordsmanship) but using them is, unfortunately <3

Wondering how they won wars with these swords. I couldn't even lift it enough to stab myself if I wanted

Extra names. People called شهد honey (shahd), جمال beauty (jamal), زهرة flower (zahra), ليلى night (laila), سماء sky (samaa), مهند/سيف sword (mohanad/saif) and صفاء purity (safaa) like it's the most normal thing in the world (which it should be, along with names of ancient gods)

Poetry from the abbasid era describing palaces and fountains and music so eloquently your heart skips several beats and you wonder how it is still beating at all and if, after all, you have been born in the wrong era.

Classic poetry from the school of Apollo brimming with romance and yearning you have never seen matched.

Poems that tear at your heart and stitch it whole with every bayt (verse? The equivalent for it) and you keep coming back for more.

Stories so well told that you swear you can see the princes and charmers and musicians and dancers all flicker to life in the flames before you

Historical masjids and churches.

Going to the palaces and shrines and towers from the ancient days of yore

Not exclusively (as neither is anything on this list) arabic but BRAIDS and braid jewellery that clinks when you shake your head

The unwavering belief that poetry is meant to be sung.

Singing poetry because it is meant to be sung

Thick eyebrows

Lining already lash lined eyes with kohl.

Beautiful brown eyes. Honey eyes. Chocolate eyes. Freshly turned earth eyes. Eyes that hold all the ethereal beauty of the world.

Hair styled in dark, thick curls or braids

Savouring the way the words move around from your throat to your chest to the tip of your tongue, like liquid gold,

The sweet music from the strings of a qitharah (string instrument)

Scented candles are cute, but have you ever heard of oud (perfume infused wood)? Anyhow one of my Sudanese friends make it AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL.

Wanting to study with the scholars of baghdad and azhar so bad

Recognizing that for all your culture, some of it is inspired by others and that's okay.

Please add what you can to this list. It is far from complete.

some video essays that make me go absolutely bonkers fucking yonkers:

how media scares us: the work of junji ito

control, anatomy, and the legacy of the haunted house

joel schumacher’s phantom of the opera: a video essay

who’s afraid of modern art: vandalism, video games, and fascism

the most disturbing painting

whiplash vs. black swan — the anatomy of the obsessed artist

van gogh’s ugliest masterpiece

a brief history of the dead in art

the nightmare artist

horror books have lost their identity

gone girl — don’t underestimate the screenwriter

Despite a lot of Hozier’s songs having sexual overtones, his music isn’t immediately associated with sex, or called crude. Common reactions  to mentioning him, depending on who you are talking to are “bogman!” or ‘that guy who did Take Me to Church”. Even though his music is just as sexual as pop music written by male artists, it isn’t immediately recognized as such because of how he shifts the power dynamics to favor women. In this essay I will…

70 horrible questions ... Fuck it

01: Do you have a good relationship with your parents? 02: Who did you last say “I love you” to? 03: Do you regret anything? 04: Are you insecure? 05: What is your relationship status? 06: How do you want to die? 07: What did you last eat? 08: Played any sports? 09: Do you bite your nails? 10: When was your last physical fight? 11: Do you like someone? 12: Have you ever stayed up 48 hours? 13: Do you hate anyone at the moment? 14: Do you miss someone? 15: Have any pets? 16: How exactly are you feeling at the moment? 17: Ever made out in the bathroom? 18: Are you scared of spiders? 19: Would you go back in time if you were given the chance? 20: Where was the last place you snogged someone? 21: What are your plans for this weekend? 22: Do you want to have kids? How many? 23: Do you have piercings? How many? 24: What is/are/were your best subject(s)? 25: Do you miss anyone from your past? 26: What are you craving right now? 27: Have you ever broken someone’s heart? 28: Have you ever been cheated on? 29: Have you made a boyfriend/girlfriend cry? 30: What’s irritating you right now? 31: Does somebody love you? 32: What is your favourite color? 33: Do you have trust issues? 34: Who/what was your last dream about? 35: Who was the last person you cried in front of? 36: Do you give out second chances too easily? 37: Is it easier to forgive or forget? 38: Is this year the best year of your life? 39: How old were you when you had your first kiss? 40: Have you ever walked outside completely naked? 51: Favourite food? 52: Do you believe everything happens for a reason? 53: What is the last thing you did before you went to bed last night? 54: Is cheating ever okay? 55: Are you mean? 56: How many people have you fist fought? 57: Do you believe in true love? 58: Favourite weather? 59: Do you like the snow? 60: Do you wanna get married? 61: Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby? 62: What makes you happy? 63: Would you change your name? 64: Would it be hard to kiss the last person you kissed? 65: Your best friend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? 66: Do you have a friend of the opposite sex who you can act your complete self around? 67: Who was the last person of the opposite sex you talked to? 68: Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? 69: Do you believe in soulmates? 70: Is there anyone you would die for?

theyre talking about us again

just came up with a really good 4 word cooking horror story but idk if you guys are ready for it

5 favourite Youtube Documentaries

Because I like making lists.

This isn’t “Documentaries that have been illegally posted on youtube.” this is “video essays people have made specifically FOR youtube but have cinematography and research and editing to categorise them more as “documentaries” rather than just “Video Essay” (I adore video essays as they make up 80% of what I watch on youtube, but they’ll get their own list at some point)

ANYWAY! With all those quantifiers out of the way, in no order;

1: “Mystifying UFO Cases” - LEMMiNO A skeptic youtuber decides to research documented UFO cases and finds a handful of them are at this point impossible to properly explain or rationalise

2: POLYBIUS: The Video Game That Doesn’t Exist - Ahoy Using investigative journalism, Ahoy tracks down the source of the urban legend of the ‘Polybius’ arcade cabinet. A rumoured video game said to have appeared in the late 70s in certain American arcades and induce migraines, insomnia, paranoia and other symptoms similar to the effects of LSD.

3: The Impact of Akira: The Film that Changed Everything - Supereyepatchwolf SuperEyepatchwolf discusses the anime scene of the late 80s, Japan’s painful history during WWII, and the economic situation of the country at this time, all of which lead to the creation of the film version of Akira, and how the movie’s short theatrical run in America opened the doors for the west to start importing anime

4: Down the Rabbit Hole: Henry Darger - Fredrick Knudsen Fredrick presents a documentary about the artist Henry Darger, who throughout the course of his life, every day, wrote about the lives of 7 fictional young girls, complete with elaborate paintings, tracings and collages, all of which was only discovered when he was admitted to hospital in at the age of 81. His writing eventually measured up to 15 145 pages over 13 different volumes. At 250 words a page on average, the story is thought to be 3,786,250 words long and is often thought to be the longest story ever written. (It’s difficult to be absolutely sure as no-one has managed to read the entire work on their own)

5: A Journey Through ‘Rule of Rose’ - Ragnarox A documentary of the often forgotten video game Rule of Rose. Despite its cult status, the game is rarely talked about. Ragnarox explores the game in detail, including its themes of politics and social castes, child abuse, psychological trauma, homosexuality and deep visual symbolism. Content Warning for obvious reasons.

(if you like my long essay length posts and stuff consider buying me a coffee)

writingsforwinter:

Once, I died my hair to change colors with the seasons

and finally settled on red out of the mistaken belief

that it would lend me all the courage fire lends to wood.

Beneath the wave caps I thought I loved you the same way the sea loves

the coral that tattoos it to the ocean floor.

Now, I remember my legs, my phantom limb syndrome,

how I used to run so fast along the shore even the seagulls couldn’t catch me.

Those were the days when my head was still above water,

when I never once thought of shedding the scales on my wrists

and ending it all.

One day I’ll go back to those legs, to coming up out of the deep

and tasting the salty air again

without wishing to drown.

One day seaweed will stop reminding me of a noose.

One day I will love you with lungs full of fresh air.

There are still so many seashells on the shore left to collect,

and I’m finally going to find them all.