/culture/ - arts & literature

Not a novel but an anthology. I recently read The Apex Books of World SF, vol II, and some of the stories were fascinating. While a few were betrayed by translation, I feel, or just generally weak, there were some genuinely beautiful and haunting pieces too. I'm definitely interested in a lot more African science fiction now because of it.

Really liked The Magus by John Fowles

L'Amant by Duras, I read it when I was 17 and could not help reading and loving it even if I had no free time since I must prepare for university.

I can not read french but the translation is just amazing.

robinson crusoe is nice, call of the wild, Mao's great famine was interesting to me to see how the situation got worse in china and the buildup before the cultural revolution

My favorite books would be:
Zhuangzi
Journey to the West
The Mahabharata

>>1464
wow it's me in 20 years

I read this unfinished half essay, Capitalism As Religion, by Walter Benjamin. Its a strange and crude theological analysis of capitalism as an extreme cult. Unlike traditional religions, this cult is the first characterized by an all pervasive guilt which is hammered into the human psyche, from which there is no atonement or forgiveness. Its also permanent, there are no days off, no holy days, you must worship at the alter all the time. The cult increases psychological suffering and despair. The cult doesn’t care about reforming the world but ultimately destroying it. Benjamin describes it as a parasite that grew out of Christianity and ate it, like a chest bursting xenomorph.

Author is short on details and his concept of religion is flawed. It would have been interesting to see what it would have looked like had he finished it. It reminded me of Marx’ allusions to Moloch and the famous scene in Metropolis where workers are fed to Moloch.

I'm reading And The Band Played On by Randy Shilts. Written like a thriller, its probably the book that shaped how the 80s AIDS crisis was seen in the US. Shilts is a pretty good writer and he captures the human side of the crisis and political battles within the American gay community pretty well. He's too harsh on the medical establishment and some of the stuff written here doesn't pass the sniff test. The infamous scapegoating of so called patient zero seems to contradicts Shilts' own point that AIDS was a social issue not an individual problem. He's also too quick to pin the blame on Reagan and homophobic Christians when there were a bunch of other factors involved. Good read.

I just finished The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem. It got kind of repetitive to read front to back, but I still really enjoyed it. I think its probably something better to read stories of every once in a while.

The two main characters were really fun, I like that kind of draumaturgical diad of the skinny pessimistic friend and the stout energetic friend. Some of the stories were really fun too, I particularly liked the mechanical beast one.

I'm trying to read this book but its giving me fits. Its really giving me fits.

>>521
I wish there was something similar to Shoujo Shumatsu. Girls travelling the wasteland without much point to it just hits well for me.

I can see that no one else has recommended it yet so let me start by warmly recommending Ayakashiko!
It's a cute story about a serious girl who has youkai friends of many different kinds. Together they create all kinds of antics but also have comfy times together at home. There aren't any prevalent male characters but there isn't any real yuri either.
This manga will soothe you when you need it. -w-

I've been reading Taimashi to Akuma-chan. It's about a demon girl who has a crush on an flirty charming exorcist who decided she is a good girl who shouldn't be harmed.

>>521
love how squishy those two are

I'll recommend the manga Hakumei and Mikochi: Tiny Little Life in the Woods, which also has a short anime adaption.

It follows the daily life of two inchling women who share a house carved into a tree trunk. They eat, drink, work, make friends, and live amongst talking animals and insects. Mostly eat and drink though. Seriously, a good numbers of pages are focused on food, either the potatoes cooking, eating, and getting shitfaced. Even the anime ED is has two characters singing about the types of food and alcohol they want to for a picnic. It's a pretty comfy seinen series that despite the fantasy elements feels very down to earth.

The anime isn't the most "animated" but I like the pacing and music. It introduced me to the series so I have a soft spot for it.

>>1496
You should throw the Confucian Analects in there as well to really get on the three teachings grindset.

>>1496
You may like reading the poetry of Hanshan & co. There are two translations available, by beat poet Red Pine and by sinologist Paul Rouzer.

>>1497
>>1498
I appreciate your recommendations.

>>1497
Reading Confucius changed the way I look at life. I'd also recommend the Great Learning and the Mencius.

>>1490
>if you are religious, then you believe in a metaphysics at all, as in, something more than our base reality
Even self-identified atheists do believe in non-observable phenomena that transcend our everday existence e.g. the market, the invisible hand, cooperate personalities, not to mention stuff from theoretical physics that cannot be empirically proven. I prefer to see the secular worldview as akin to a religion itself. It is traditional and has its own particular quasi-theological structure and value system. It just pretends its not one. It hides itself. Other rival systems of belief and morality are boxed in under the name "religions" and some pejorative labels are applied to them, this is designed to cement the secular worldview as the only one allowed to be socially dominant. It would be a mistake to flip this around and simply say "well religions are good and have these positive features" because its buying into a false distinction. The need to confront a secular modernity might bring religious people together, but I think struggling against a common problem isn't really the best way to build a positive solidarity because each religious community relates to the secular worldview in different ways. If you're a Protestant Christian or a Shintoist, it really isn't much of an issue to co-exist with it. If you're a Muslim, a Confucian or an Orthodox Jew you find yourself ostracized. Buddhists seem to be let off the hook, despite their teachings contradicting some secular dogmas (faith in the individual, that the world exists and is permanant etc). I'm guessing this is a mix of orientalist fetishism, lack of conflict between Buddhist communities and the West, and Buddhists being too passive.

>>1503
I hope so but maybe only one episode next time.

>>1504
Today or sometime else?

>>1505
Idk ask on the IRC or the mygaypolycule or whatever the girl running the stream uses.

>>1503
no

>>1505
>>1507
I ran the stream last time. someone else can but i'm not hosting and encoding it

Maybe this one? It's a CIA documentary. There used to be lots of old documentaries about all sorts of countries and stuff from the 50s and 60s. i can't remember who produced them exactly, maybe it was the CIA. But I don't remember the others being as propaganda-y as this one, so maybe they were made by a different organization. Like they could've been done by Department of State or Commerce because I think they were intended for diplomats and such to watch before they go there. They'd talk about the local culture and economy and customs. They used to be all on vimeo, i downloaded a bunch but they're on one of my old drives now.

The audio on this one is a bit yucky here, but it's still an interesting old thing. i like seeing the old buildings and stuff. I'll have to look through my old drives to find the other series.

>>1454
This is such a nice zine. I wish I could contribute but I really suck at anything artistic.

>>1455
thank you! but don't feel discouraged. flip out your phone and start BLASTIN photos. you can share it on our discord as well, we have a creativity channel as well as spring appreciation event going on right now, you can share some photos there.
if you have any artsy friends though, let them know about the zine :)

>>1456
Do you guys have any other means of communication aside from discord? I can't use it in this country. Anyway, thank you for your hard work. Also do you guys take non-fiction/creative non-fiction?

>>1457
I'm sorry to hear that. communication not really, but submissions can still be sent to my email.
non fiction sounds interesting, I could explore that. just keep in mind for issue #4 I dont really accept writing except poems. but if its something compact, lets say 4 pages max, I could put it in, why not.

>>1458
I guess I can translate some poems for you but I don't think they'd fit your zine. Anyway looking forward to #4.

album is sorg by Afsky. the painting that they used is the Death of Chatterton. Its a beautiful painting on its own but i also like the black and white version here.

Here's a few I like.

Arbol - Mild Sorrow Integrated
Four of Arrows - Great Grandpa
Manhattan Projects - Johnny Foreigner

>>1241
Uau, rad bi tudi jst obiskal ta Mofucon, škoda, saj ne živim v Sloveniji :/ Morda bom šel na knjižni sejem, ampak videli bomo
Rišem character sheets (nisem prepričan kako se po slovensko reče) za vizualni roman, ki ga želim napisati. Gre za zorenje enega fanta, ki postaja član študentskega sveta, da bi povečal svojo samozavest. Navdihnil me je drug VN, no seveda ga ne bom skopiral

>>1242
Škoda da nemoreš na mofucon.., Če bi rad naredu VN iz tvoih risb lahko programiram VN ko najdem čas.

Same sushi roll as >>458, I've been improving myself

baka

>>1436
very cute pink baka