Continuing with the Sadler's Lectures podcast series on Kafka's story The Metamorphosis, here's an episode on arguably the second most-important character in the story, Grete Samsa, Gregor's sister
An exploration of #VideoGame performances, this book merges #MediaTheory with performativity, revealing insights from Western art to digital storytelling.
I've got my dvd of "Beggars in Ermine" and playing it to check on its quality. A sort of #MutualAid society for steel workers with Lionel Atwill getting back at corrupt capitalists. Pretty good quality so far. Doing some work; but there's too much romantic music on #ClassicalKING . Later, the "Dirty Dozen" on TCM will do as background for online work. #LionelAtwill#WorkingFromHome #narrative
Last November, within the wild space of three weeks, I was in Portland, Oregon, then Toronto, Ontario, presenting papers at two conferences. Both talks have everything to do with change, social and ecological.
A question I ask all the time in my classes--and it's not rhetorical--also I don't think there is one answer--is: What makes a story?
I love to think about what it is that gives me (or anyone--and it definitely varies) the sense of narrative, the sense of having read a thing that has... what... something like a point? I can't even define what the feeling is--but the sense that it's a story.
What does that for you? What makes a thing a story?
#Narrative spielen eine entscheidende Rolle bei der Vermittlung und Prägung kultureller Bilder, da sie komplexe Ideen und Werte auf eine emotionale und einprägsame Weise übertragen. Dies lässt sich besonders gut am Beispiel der Vorurteile über den #Wolf illustrieren. 🐺
Es brauchte nur zwei in der KiTa vorgelesene Geschichten, damit eines meiner Kinder eine Angst vor Wölfen entwickelte. In Kommentaren zu vermeintlichen Wolfsangriffen lese ich auch noch bei Erwachsenen die selbe Angst heraus. 😳
Sweat dripping from my brow, I head back towards home. Dinodas bounds towards me, shifting to walk on the customary left side as we stroll. My hand reaches up to scratch that comfortable spot behind his ear. It’s an instinctive move now, for both of us.
We’re kin for many years now, this massive hound and little me, a halfling from Kirtin, just off Slope.
On certain days in the field he’s closer to me than others. On rising full Glibbon he knows I’m going to cut wood and brush. The physical exertion helps me focus, or unfocus — whatever. Those things that happened down Slope, and the years after, normally sit back in my head, but since the Hornjaws started visiting on full moons I’m unable to avoid the thoughts.
Don’t know how they got me to open up — probably something to do with how well they treat Dinodas. He likes them, so I like them. It’s typical for a bond. Meeting Belni and Terdu was good for him, probably good for me too.
I don’t like thinking about those times. I don’t want to remember the decision I made.
So that’s why when a moon rises full I cut brush and start a burn pile. Because this evening I’m going to share some stories. Daytime cannot be about Down Slope and regrets. That’s what moons rise is for.
I think back to the week-moon Feylf’s rise in Autumn. Belni was at the door. I didn’t have the rituals then, no stories. Just a drink from second mug. First mug is for caf in morning; second mug is ale in evenings. I lost third mug a while ago, that’s the one that Serg’nt gave me with the bottle. The fire was blazing, a bit too hot for this time of the year. Din’s at my feet when the knock comes.
Out here in Cold Creek things are pretty spread out. Down by Iron Road they be more city types. Here we’re alone at night, and that’s why I live by Creek.
“Ho. Door’s open.”
I set second mug down. Looking towards the door, one eye on the dusty sword that hangs to its right. Dinodas lifts one ear, one eye. The old hound is apathetic.
“Sir, ‘s Belni. I been looking for Terdu. He late from bonds-day.”
I helped the older Hornjaw look for his younger brother. They human, Belni with a solid herding dog. Good size to his bond, smaller than Din.
We searched for a few hours, the light of Feylf helped, and a few hours after sunset the month-moon Glibbon rose too. That made things easier. We found Terdu crying in a briar. He was embarrassed. His bond were two little sheep — two little fluffy wool sheep.
So I talked and talked and talked. I told tale to Terdu of all the kin and their bonds I met Down Slope. Many dogs, horses too. But when you’re on the northern front you see a bit of everything. Cold Creek doesn’t have a lot of people. Most of their bonds are herding dogs, we’re a herding community and then Iron Road nearsby has the ford. Still mostall the bonds have purpose.
Telling Terdu and Belni about the bigger world helped. Terdu was willing to go home. Belni, his dog, the two floof-sheep and the now prideful Terdu waved away. On that first night I didn’t know they’d come back. They’ve been back five Glibbons now.
Winter on the Slope and Rise gets cold, so the fire rages and the Hornjaws started to bring their friends.
There’s a first-timer tonight. Someone from Iron Road? Not from Creek, that’s certain.
He’s with a pony, carrying a lance and shield. Oh, and the helm of a new conscript. Older than the Hornjaws. Hmmm.
Feylf and Glibbon are both rising now, full. Kin is three-quarters too. It’s a bright night, but bitter cold. The Dragon is tucked behind a cloud and years from being full.
“Terdu, is this everyone you invited?”
“Yessi.. I mean, yes.” They’d stopped calling me sir. I’m just a man, and a dog, and a past that interests them.
There’s three girls, not the same families, as one is a goliath. She’s got a flutter of sparrows round her, several braiding her beard while she sits and waits.
“Belni, serve the cider. Tonight I’m going to talk about Fer and his bull. Fer came from out east. Getting to know Fer was probably the best thing about serving Down Slope. Warm soul who knew warm songs, and would always smile.”
The new one is clearly disinterested.
“It was Fer who taught me talking-drum. I never picked it up the speed he could do, but didn’t matter. He made me practice. Made me good in the head. Hitting that little drum meant not thinking about the lines across the river with the people of Az and Sel, their mastiffs, their rage…”
New kid stops muttering to himself and just interrupts.
“How was he at fighting?!” He shouts.
“Fer would sing too. Not a deep voice, not falsetto — just that type of voice that is confident in itself and willing to share…”
“His fighting! Was he a master at the sword, or bow, or an axeman?” Another interuption.
It’s going to be one of those nights. This isn’t the first time a near-child has wanted the focus to be on the violence in the front. It most certainly won’t be the last.
“Others may tell you those stories. My tales are of the friendships made, the acquaintances held close, and the connections lost. I no longer swing a sword or throw my spear. But I still think warmly about the women and men with whom I serve.
“They are what I miss. They are my regrets. The people and their bonds are the only thing worth my time, for any other thought is sorrow and pain.
“Maybe you’ll find another to tell you your tales. Here, at my fire, under the full moons, my stories are of them, because these are the stories I have.”
Chided, the man-child laughs and storms off. No one joins him.
“Another custom Fer taught me…” I continue with my tale of my friend, the story I have.
Es zeigt sich auch, wie schlecht viele Menschen darin geschult sind, #Erzählungen bzw. #Narrative zu erkennen. Das wird inzwischen zu einem richtigen Problem, das eben nicht mehr nur Menschen betrifft, die kruden Verschwörungstheorien hinterherlaufen. Allein die Erzählungen der #Hamas und anderer Organisationen sind teilweise so perfide, dass sie selbst für sensibilisierte Menschen nicht mehr sofort erkennbar sind. Das ist gefährlich für unsere Gesellschaft. #medien
It’s false. They use the word, yes, but not as a slur. When they call us “groomers” they mean it literally. They’re saying we’re out to harm children. This is much worse than a slur. It’s #slander, used as a weapon to justify collective punishment over imagined #crimes.
Fight the “groomer” narrative because it’s #bullshit, not because of the word itself.
#introduction (re-drafted and re-posting for new wave of migration): I'm a #web veteran, online since 1990 who did 20 years in tech and computer #journalism writing about building the web and the culture of the net before returning to #academia as a #lecturer and Course Director over a decade ago. I'm currently doing a #PhD looking at #VR journalism #stories and #narrative and trying to make some too. I like #running, making music with Logic Pro and empty landscapes.
"Dominion of Darkness” is a strategy/RPG text game in which the player takes on the role of a Sauron-style Lord of Darkness with the goal of conquering the world. He will carry out his plans by making various decisions. He will build his army and send it into battles, weave intrigues and deceptions, create secret spy networks...
A new study by a team of mostly San Francisco Bay Area scientists that found human-caused climate warming has increased the frequency of extremely fast-spreading California wildfires has come into question from the unlikeliest of critics—its own lead author.
Lucifer did nothing wrong! He simply highlighted dubious CEO decisions. When they turned a deaf ear, he formed a union. But did they address the issues? Nope. HR swooped down, dismissed him on technicalities, and then PR rolled out a smear campaign.
We’re told that discretion equals compassion, but has this ever been true, in life or in literature? That we should bury character flaws in complex protagonists if those blemishes – however empathetically rendered – might fuel racist, xenophobic, or other hateful rhetoric. And yet, survivors understand viscerally how...
🟢 What Algorithms Can't Tell You about Art
On Prosecraft and why data analysis of fiction rarely says anything at all
by Lincoln Michel @TheLincoln #AI#narrative#writing#Art
Russia has not only weaponized information, refugees, energy, and food crises— but also the #Russophobia#narrative. In a UN General Assembly speech this September, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov blasted the West, stating “The official Russophobia in the West is unprecedented.”
This is not a surprise; for Moscow, the Russophobia argument is a powerful weapon that has historically crushed domestic opposition movements, scapegoated the West, and appealed to Western moral sentiments.
The U.S. Department of State details how, amongst its top “persistent #disinformation#narratives,” is Russia’s “#innocent#victim” Russophobia argument. Indeed, Putin’s use of racism and Russophobia to support his attack on Ukraine mirrors the strategies of his Kremlin predecessors
"Dominion of Darkness" - simulator of the evil overlord Polish
"Dominion of Darkness” is a strategy/RPG text game in which the player takes on the role of a Sauron-style Lord of Darkness with the goal of conquering the world. He will carry out his plans by making various decisions. He will build his army and send it into battles, weave intrigues and deceptions, create secret spy networks...
When fiction shrinks to memoir we all lose out - Dina Nayeri (www.fictionable.world)
We’re told that discretion equals compassion, but has this ever been true, in life or in literature? That we should bury character flaws in complex protagonists if those blemishes – however empathetically rendered – might fuel racist, xenophobic, or other hateful rhetoric. And yet, survivors understand viscerally how...