Tagalog tale of hudhud

The Official Approved Names for Star and Exoplanet by the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach / NameExoWorlds: List of The Origins of Names from ASEAN

2024.05.13 01:46 stormy001 The Official Approved Names for Star and Exoplanet by the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach / NameExoWorlds: List of The Origins of Names from ASEAN

https://preview.redd.it/8bp40dk6130d1.jpg?width=1202&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7b43fcdf6f4ef541dbccfd5d95b419a42803581c
Both star and planet received each a name by The IAU100 x NameExoWorlds contest in 2015, 2019, and 2022 making a pair of names connected by a common theme, which allows other planets, if discovered in future, to be named after the same theme.
These are the Approved Names from Southeast Asia:
2015: Thailand Star: Chalawan (47 Ursae Majoris) is a mythological crocodile king from a Thai folktale.
Exoplanet: Taphao Thong (47 Ursae Majoris b) is one of two sisters associated with the Thai folk tale of Chalawan.
Exoplanet: Taphao Kaew (47 Ursae Majoris c) is one of two sisters associated with the Thai folk tale of Chalawan.
2019: Brunei Star: Gumala (HD 179949) is a Malay word, which means a magic bezoar stone found in snakes, dragons, etc.
Exoplanet: Mastika (HD 179949 b) is a Malay word, which means a gem, precious stone, jewel or the prettiest, the most beautiful.
Indonesia Star: Dofida (HD 117618) means our star in Nias language.
Exoplanet: Noifasui (HD 117618 b) means revolve around in Nias language, derived from the word ifasui, meaning to revolve around, and no, indicating that the action occurred in the past and continued to the present time.
Malaysia Star: Intan (HD 20868) Intan means diamond in the Malay language (Bahasa Melayu), alluding to the shining of a star.
Exoplanet: Baiduri (HD 20868 b) means opal in Malay language (Bahasa Melayu), alluding to the mysterious beauty of the planet.
Myanmar Star: Ayeyarwady (HD 18742) is the largest and most important river in Myanmar.
Exoplanet: Bagan (HD 18742 b) is one of Myanmar's ancient cities that lies beside the Ayeyarwardy river.
Philippines Star: Aman Sinaya (WASP-34) is one of the two trinity deities of the Philippine's Tagalog mythology, and is the primordial deity of the ocean and protector of fisherman.
Exoplanet: Haik (WASP-34 b) is the successor of the primordial Aman Sinaya as the God of the Sea of the Philippine's Tagalog mythology
Singapore Star: Parumleo (WASP-32) is a Latin term for little lion, symbolising Singapore's struggle for independence.
Exoplanet: Viculus (WASP-32 b) is a Latin term for little village, embodying the spirit of the Singaporean people.
Thailand Star: Chao Phraya (WASP-50) is the great river of Thailand.
Exoplanet: Mae Ping (WASP-50 b) is one of the tributaries of Thailand's great river Chao Phraya.
2022: Thailand Star: Kaewkosin / แก้วโกสินทร์ (GJ 3470) refers to the crystals of the Hindu deity Indra in the Thai language, alluding to the ancient belief that the stars were gemstones.
Exoplanet: Phailinsiam / ไพลินสยาม (GJ 3470 b) is the Thai term for the blue "Siamese Sapphire", alluding to the detection of Rayleigh scattering in the planet’s atmosphere – suggestive of blue skies.
Source
Source 2

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2024.03.28 01:48 Mersault26 After the End Oceania (CK2) Religions and Discord Server

The Map
Hi again. So like I said yesterday, I’m making another post to go over what Oceania looks like in what I’ve finished so far for my personal After the End Oceania mod, and what I envision for some other places. My last post gained plenty of attention, there was only really 2 people who expressed any interest in helping me mod, so I would still really encourage anyone else who interested in modding reaching out. I decided I should probably make a discord server if I want to gain more attention, so I made one here https://discord.gg/ptdTqsHW Feel free to join, and message me directly if you’re interested in contributing, or if you live in or are from Oceania, because input from locals is useful. Outside of that, if you want to contribute ideas, you’ll have to put in the work to helping with modding.

List of religions. Work in progress. The last 4 are from vanilla.
Anyways, here’s the lore for religions and regions I’ve done so far, sorted by religion because that makes the most sense. Keep in mind everything is a work in progress and subject to change, and many mechanics I’d like to add, like decisions or crusades, have not been implemented.
Religions which are already mostly/somewhat implemented

Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga
Congregationalists:
In modern day Samoa, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Niue, Nauru, and the Marshall Islands, Congregationalism (a branch of Calvinism) is the predominant denomination of Christianity. Congregationalists essentially believe that religious matters are not beholden to a central authority, and are instead each congregation has complete authority over it’s own matters. In the post-apocalyptic world of after the end, I envisioned these independent Congregations existing on isolated Pacific Islands drifting further and further from Christianity, and syncretizing with Polynesian traditions to form a pagan faith, where Noah, Moses, Jesus, Mary, Peter, Paul, and other biblical figures and saints are understood to be semi-divine mythological heroes, or even minor deities, and their stories read more like modern Polynesian folk tales than modern Christianity.
This religion has spread to include Kiribati as well, forming a block of mostly tribal pagans in the map’s northeast, raiding their neighbours, taking concubines, and conquering surrounding islands. However, they are quite divided, mostly being made of counties, with a couple duchies. The duchy of Samoa was traditionally Congregationalist, but it recent years at the behest of missionaries from Tonga, Petty King Arona Maivia has converted to Mormonism along with most of his fairly expansive family, though his great-nephew, and some say the true heir to Samoa, Ioane Ioane.
Mormons:
In today’s world, Tonga is the most Mormon country on Earth, with about a third of the population being Mormon (though the LDS church always inflates those numbers). However, today the more predominant religion is still a Wesleyan branch of Methodism. After the Event, these two religions have been in constant conflict, with rulers of both ruling Tonga at different times. However, when the Kingdom of Fiji united under the Methodist King Sakiusa Wainiqolo in the 2550s, they supported the rise of a Wesleyan dynasty in Tonga. With the Collapse of Fiji in the 2620s, the Mormons overthrew the Wesleyan Petty King Semisi Fonou and he went into exile in the outlying Islands of Fiji, while a the Mormon ‘Alipate Latu became Petty King of Tonga. His son Sifa now rules, and has spread Mormonism to Tonga and intermarried with the Maivias. However, the unlanded Semisi Fonou, now an old man, still lives in Fiji with his children, the Niuas in the north of Tonga still follow the Wesleyan faith, and some heretic branches of Mormonism (Smithites and Trinitarians) can possibly rise up.
Methodists and Fijian Hindus:
The religion of the native population of Fiji, Methodism in After the End has been shaped by having to share Fiji with Fijian Hindus, the casteless descendants of Indian indentured servants imported centuries ago by the British. Methodism has reacted to this, and it’s myriad of neighbours following foreign faiths, by instituting a religious tax on provinces following a different faith. However, this harsh treatment of the Fijian Hindus may have contributed to the twin uprsings of the 2620s in which the Fijian Hindus took over the two main islands of Fiji and left the methodists ruling only the small surrounding islands. The former Kings still rule the county of Lomaiviti, and can try to regain Fiji, as can the other counts. Count Jeremaia Tawake of Lau hosts former Tongan ruler Semisi Fonou, who married Jeremaia’s sister, and had a son and a daughter. An ambitious ruler could potentially intermarry with them and try to topple the Mormons as well. Meanwhile, the two Hindu Dukes in Fiji can both try to unite Fiji and convert the entire archipelago to Methodism, and build a Hindu empire in the Pacific.

Vanuatu and New Caledonia
John Frum Cultists:
Probably the most famous cargo cult in history, the Cult of John Frum in Vanautu dates back to WWII. It blends a return to traditional practices and rejection of the influence of Christian missionaries, with unusual rituals meant to encourage the return of the Americans, who during WWII brought all kinds of cargo with them when they arrived on their planes. John Frum Cultists are probably most famous for trying to encourage the return of cargo by building landing strips from local materials, and hosting their own imitations of American military marches, treating them like strange rituals. They also prophecize that John Frum, their mythical God-like figure, will one day return, especially if they continue their rituals. Although this religious is almost extinct in 2024, in After the End it has seen a large-scale revival due to the Event, as now many more dream of the return of John Frum and the cargo that was commonplace in the days before the Event. By 2666 the John Frum Cultists have taken all of Vanuatu, and have even begun to spread their faith to the southernmost of the Solomon Islands.
Franco-Catholique:
This is one I’m very unsure of. New Caledonia, the island southwest of Vanuatu, is today controlled by France, and it’s population is split between the Kanak people native to the island, and Caledonians, who are descended from French settlers. I considered splitting New Caledonia into two cultures, but each would only have 3 counties, and I could not find separate name lists for Kanak people and Caledonian people, so instead I have one culture I call Kanadonien, although I still have some rulers who have French ethnicity to try and show how mixed the culture is. Honestly, knowing how to institute the diversity events from AtEFF would be useful for here, as well as New Zealand, Australia and the Mariana Islands. Anyways, the Franco-Catholiques of New Caledonia, as well as the French controlled Islands of ‘Uvea (Wallis) and Futuna, are a branch of former Catholics that have not created a new pope, and instead follow a form of autocephaly. The large Lefebvre dynasty controls New Caledonia, though they often fall to Marist uprisings. Marists are a heresy of Franco-Catholique, the name coming from the Marist brotherhood that was very influential in converting New Caledonia. The Marist heresy, because of it’s reverence from Mary, has instituted equality for men and women among rulers and the clergy. Honestly, I was tempted top make this the main religion of New Caledonia, but French Catholics with female priests is just Ursuline in the Pacific, but Ursuline is really fun. I could also just make them all John Frum Cultists, but I thought that would be steam-rolling New Caledonia’s own identity. I’m open to suggestions on this one.

Most of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Mariana Islands (including Guam)
Katolikos:
The name is subject to change, as it’s just Catholic in Tagalog (the language of the Philippines). Essentially, in the modern day, the religion of Micronesia, Palau, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands is predominantly Catholicism. After the Event, with the shattering of the structure of the Catholic Church, the overwhelmingly Catholic Philippines became the predominant Catholic power in the region, and has spread their particular version of Catholicism, Katoliko, to nearby Micronesia. Though the Philippines are off the scope of my map for the time being, I did create a Filipino Pope title. I also plan to have Katoliko have more a Cult of Saints influence, with traits for branches and such, but for now it’s just vanilla Catholicism.
Shinto:
The Shinto religion of After the End Oceania is the same as the one followed by the Japanese invaders of AtEFF. I plan to have Japan be the off-map empire (assuming that’s feasible, as Japan, would be interacting overseas instead of overland like China or Brazil). For now, Japan has a tiny influence on the map, with the county of Pagan, the northernmost of the three counties of Mariana Islands. In 2024 Pagan and it’s surrounding islands are uninhabited, but by 2666, Japanese people from the Bonin Islands, north of the map but far south of Japan, have settled on these uninhabited islands. From here they can try to conquer to the south, and gain control of the holy sites from lands Japan controlled in the 20th Century.
Purakau:
Purarkau, a Maori word for stories, storytelling, legends, myths, etc. Is the name I have given to the revival of traditional Maori religion. New Zealand in 2024 is a very irreligious country, so after the Event New Zealand would be ripe for new religions or movements. On the North Island, This took the form of Purakau, a revival of traditional Maori beliefs. Although it originates it the heavily Maori area of Gisborne, Purakau has spread amoung the North Island (save Wellington), with most of it’s followers being largely of European descent, though after 800 years of sharing New Zealand, everyone has at least partial Maori ancestry. I am yet to make rulers or the political map for the North Island, this is the next area to work on.
Religions I am yet to Implement

A very rough outline of what the religious map might end up looking like.
I’ll be brief here, but here’s my ideas for the rest of the map

Tolkienist: Followed by Wellington and most the South Island of New Zealand, believes the works of Tolkien are literal history. This is incredibly obvious for New Zealand, but it has to be done.
Anglican: Followed amoung most of the Solomon Islands, parts of New South Wales and Tasmania, and the fledgling Archbishopric of Canterbury (because every mod needs one of those) in New Zealand, which is not the religious head unlike in AtEFF.
Presbyterian: Followed amoung a few counties of traditional New Zealanders with large Scottish influence in Southland and Otago, as well as some currently uninhabited antarctic islands that they’ve colonized as the Tolkienists have spread to the south.
Philosophical Religions: Inspired by the irreligion of Australia, and how the Stoicism and Epicurianism were contemporary belief systems with early Christianity while not having gods, and how East Asian religion often doesn’t follow a god or gods. My idea is to have a family or 3 or 4 different religions that a person can switch between like the Dharmic religions in Vanilla, based more on how modern science and philosophy might be understood without our technology. This might include strange interpretations of topics like evolution (begins to border on animism with life being interconnected), astronomy (worship aliens, interpret the big bang as a creation myth), microbiology (tiny invisible creatures control life and death), chemistry (everything is made of the same tiny particles, “we’re made of star stuff”), or philosophical ideas like individualism, Utilitarianism, Empiricism, Post-Modernism, though they probably won’t use any of those names and will be based on ideas that would be common amoung the average person. This group of religions needs a lot more thought.
Highway Cultists/Road Cultists: credit to u/spirintus or whoever came up with this for the other Australia mod I was part of. Essentially Mad Max religion meets Rust Cultists. Followed in South Australia west of Adelaide and southeast Western Australia.
Imperial/Sun Worshippers: I don’t have a name for this one. The inspiration comes from wanting to find out how I could include a religion with divine marriage, In AtEFF they didn’t include one because they felt it would be offensive to a particular region or culture (like adding it in Alabama, that would be reinforcing a mean stereotype). However, it was a fun mechanic I wanted to add, so I looked at peoples that actually had divine marriage, like the Ancient Egyptians, the Zoroastrians, or the Inca. I found they were large, powerful empires that existed in relative isolation or were empires much more powerful than their neighbours (as Egypt and Persia were for centuries), and that they worshipped the sun, and saw their emperor as a semi-divine figure. Looking at this, I thought the best region would be Western Australia, centered on Perth. This isolated city would quickly be united under a single figure after the Event, who conflated himself with a God, and in the incredibly sunny desert environment of Western Australia, that god being a sun god would make sense. Plus I see it being a bit like Ceticism, with the Emperor being the highest religious figure in this isolated empire in the west. Also I think the northwest of Western Australia might still follow a more pagan variety of this that would just follow the sun god without conflating it with the Emperor.
Dreamtime: Like the Maori and Purakau, the aboriginal peoples of Australia revived their beliefs after the Event, especially in the Northern territory and northeast Western Australia. And just like the Maori, they had a relatively easy time spreading these beliefs to the largely irreligious European population of Australia. However, it wouldn’t be a pure revival, as it would also be largely influenced by new age, nature beliefs. I envision this being a bit like Gaian with the focus on nature and with the decision to take dream quests and such.
Indonesian Colonizers: The very multi-religious Indonesia, with islands that are protestant, catholic, sunni, or hindu is just north of western Australia, so I also envision that perhaps some of those counties have been conquered by these indonesians, or that they’ve spread their religions to the native pagan rulers.
Australian Catholic: Much of Queensland and New South Wales is Catholic in 2024, so I see room for a Catholic religion there with an Australian pope? But maybe that’s boring.
Papuan/Animist: The Island of New Guinea is another one I’m a bit unsure on. It’s one of the few places on Earth where large segments of the population still live as hunter gatherers with minimal contact with the outside world, so old fashioned animism, or maybe some Christian-Syncretism would fit here and even on northern tip of Queensland. But I’m unsure.
Sunni: Some small bits of eastern New Guinea follow Islam, so I’ll be sure to include that.

Okay. So there are my ideas basically. I wrote most of that from memory. I’ve spent way to much time thinking about this and I really need a life. And yes, I know I consistently went with the most obvious ideas, sue me. Here’s the mod in it’s current state https://github.com/CountBinface/AtE-Oceania Here’s the discord server https://discord.gg/ptdTqsHW Tell me what you think. I hope you found that interesting. If you have any interest in modding this, let me know. Again, no promises, this will probably come to nothing, but it can be fun to work on, and maybe someone else will pick up my work for whatever I do get done. My files and ideas are open to anyone to use however you like.

submitted by Mersault26 to AfterTheEndFanFork [link] [comments]

2024.02.23 14:25 Decent-Bench-7534 Is the Ibong Adarna story imported or does it have a native origin?

I've always wondered about this. On the one hand, Ibong Adarna obviously has a "Western" setting, and the word "Adarna" itself doesn't look like it comes from Philippine languages. But on the other hand, there doesn't seem to be a foreign story that could have served as its basis (If I remember correctly, Fansler and Eugenio identify tropes or themes in the Adarna story that are shared by foreign fairy tales but don't identify a specific story where it could have come from). Also, the Adarna shares common themes with Filipino epics. E.g., the hero's quest for multiple wives from different parts of the universe (underworld, skyworld, etc.). There are also other native/non-western elements like the dayap used by Don Juan to keep himself awake. The word "manusia" is also mentioned twice in the korido, which is interesting because it's a Malay/Sanskirt word for "man" that I don't think I've ever seen in Tagalog literature.
In my (wishful thinking) headcanon, the Ibong Adarna is a heavily Westernized version of an original but now lost Tagalog epic, haha. But that's just me.
Anyway, thoughts?

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2023.12.26 16:52 EmmalynRenato SFF books coming in January 2024

SFF here means all speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction, horror, alternate history, magical realism etc).
The following SFF books will be published in the U.S. in January 2024. Other countries may differ.
If you know of others, please add them as comments below. If I've made any mistakes, just let me know, and I'll fix them up.
If you are using the Chrome browser, you might find the Goodreads Right Click extension useful, to find out more information on books that you are interested in:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/goodreads-right-click/fbicpmopjallgdpklipffmihodimmcbe?hl=en

Key
(A) - Anthology
(C) - Collection
(CB) - Chapbook
(N) - Novel
(NF) - Nonfiction
(O) - Omnibus
(R) - Reprint
(YA) - Young Adult and Juvenile

January 1

Heartless by H.G. Parry (hardcover) (N) (#io9)
Of Auras and Shadows - Jennifer Karter (N)
Scorpio (Frontlines: Evolution 1) - Marko Kloos (N)
The Sunder Blade (A Thousand Li Novel) - Tao Wong (N) (#rjhspb)
Winter's Spell - Ursula Klein (N)

January 2

A Fragile Enchantment - Allison Saft (N)
Always Practice Safe Hex (Stay a Spell 4) - Juliette Cross (N)
Among the Gray Lords (Indrajit and Fix 3) - D. J. Butler (N)
Bird Life - Anna Smaill (N)
Courtesy of Cupid - Nashae Jones (N) (YA)
Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White (Song of the Last Kingdom 2) - Amélie Wen Zhao (N) (YA)
Down These Mean Streets - Larry Correia, Kacey Ezell (A)
Eye of a Little God - A. J. Steiger (N)
Hana the Thunder Dragon - Maddy Mara (CB) (YA)
Here in Avalon - Tara Isabella Burton (N)
House of Ash and Shadow (Gilded City 1) - Leia Stone (N) (YA)
Hunted (Operation: Crossroads) - Thomas Parrott (N)
Last Laugh - K. R. Alexander (CB) (YA)
Newbie Fairy - Kate Korsh (CB) (YA)
Shores of a New Horizon (Terraforming Mars) - M. Darusha Wehm (N)
The Curse of Eelgrass Bog - Mary Averling (N) (YA)
The End of the Overworld! (Minecraft Stonesword Saga 6) - Nick Eliopulos (CB) (YA)
The Five Impossible Tasks of Eden Smith - Tom Llewellyn (N) (YA)
The Immortal Games - Annaliese Avery (N) (YA)
The Selkie's Daughter - Linda Crotta Brennan (N) (YA)
The Three Little Superpigs and the Great Easter Egg Hunt - Claire Evans (CB) (YA)
This Plague of Souls - Mike McCormack (N)
Vampires Ruin Everything - Elizabeth Eulberg (CB) (YA)
Weird World War: China (Weird World War) - Sean Patrick Hazlett (A)
Wild Magic (Magic for Hire 1) - Alexandra Ivy (N)

January 4

Ancient Sword Shattering (Luke Irontree and the Last Vampire War 10) - C. Thomas Lafollette (N) (#rjhspb)
Remnant (The Palimar Saga 1) - K.R. Solberg (N) (#rjhspb)

January 5

Drowning Earth (Portalverse Elemental Origins 1) - Sean Willson (N)

January 7

Demon Daughter (Penric and Desdemona 12) - Lois McMaster Bujold (CB)

January 8

The Serpents of Eden - R. W. Goldsmith (N)

January 9

A Feast for Starving Stone (Chefs of the Five Gods 2) - Beth Cato (N)
A Reckoning of Storm and Shadow (Heirs of War 3) - Jamie Edmundson (N) (#rjhspb)
Deep Freeze (The Revival 1) - Michael C. Grumley (N)
Dreamer’s Folly (The Wayward Light Saga 1) - A. Samuel Bales (N) (#rjhspb)
Idolatry - Aditya Sudarshan (N)
Lulu Sinagtala and the City of Noble Warriors (Lulu Sinagtala and the Tagalog Gods 1) - Gail D. Villanueva (N) (YA)
Mislaid in Parts Half-Known - Seanan McGuire (CB)
Of Heroes, Homes & Honey (Coronam 3) - Johnny Worthen (N)
Recipe for a Charmed Life - Rachel Linden (N)
Sanctuary of the Shadow (Elemental Emergence 1) - Aurora Ascher (N)
Somewhere in the Deep - Tanvi Berwah (N)
Termush - Sven Holm (Author), Sylvia Clayton (Translator) (CB)
The Atlas Complex (Atlas 3) - Olivie Blake (N)
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years - Shubnum Khan (N)
The Glass Box - J. Michael Straczynski (N)
The Good Soldier - Nir Yaniv (N)
The Hunters (Tales of the Plains 1) - David Wragg (N)
The Lost Ones (Dark Ascension 2) - Lauren DeStefano (N) (YA)
The Night Island (The Lost Night Files 2) - Jayne Ann Krentz (N)
The Rest to the Gods (Song of the Sleepers) - Joshua Walker (CB) (#rjhspb)
The Slain Divine (Vagrant Gods 3) - David Dalglish (N)
The War of the Witches (Dragons in a Bag 5) - Zetta Elliott (N) (YA)
The Witch of Tophet County - J. H. Schiller (N)
Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock - Maud Woolf (N)
To Root Somewhere Beautiful: An Anthology of Reclamation - Lauren T. Davila (A)

January 11

Horror As Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales - John L. Steadman (NF)
The Fiction of Dread: Dystopia, Monstrosity, and Apocalypse - Robert T. Tally, Jr. (NF)

January 12

A Little More Ruthless - Zoe Cannon (CB)

January 16

A Drop of Venom - Sajni Patel (N)
A Place for Vanishing - Ann Fraistat (N)
A Savage Moon (The Wanderer Chronicles 4) - Theodore Brun (N)
A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing - Amy Allen (N)
Beasts of War (Beasts of Prey 3) - Ayana Gray (N)
Beautyland - Marie-Helene Bertino (N)
City of Laughter - Temim Fruchter (N)
Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde 2) - Heather Fawcett (N)
Emma the Easter Fairy (Rainbow Magic Special Edition) - Daisy Meadows (C) (YA)
Evergreen - Devin Greenlee (N) (YA)
Kit and the Nine-Tailed Fox - Lauren Magaziner (CB) (YA)
Machine Vendetta (Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies 3) - Alastair Reynolds (N)
Mary & Ethel ...and Mikey Who? - Stephen Cole (N)
Midnight Ruin (Dark Olympus 6) - Katee Robert (N)
Moonbreak - Lise MacTague (N)
Not Quite a Ghost - Anne Ursu (N) (YA)
Pilgrims of Fire (Warhammer 40,000: Adepta Sororitas) - Justin D. Hill (N) (paperback)
Pillar of Ash (The Four Pillars 2) - H. M. Long (N)
Sea of Souls (Dawn of Fire 7) - Chris Wraight (N) (paperback)
So Let Them Burn (The Divine Traitors 1) - Kamilah Cole (N) (YA)
The Beast of Skull Rock (Monsterious 4) - Matt McMann (N) (YA)
The Lion: Son of the Forest (Warhammer 40,000) - Mike Brooks (N) (paperback)
The Longest Autumn - Amy Avery (N)
The Magic All Around - Jennifer Moorman (N)
The Midnight Washerwoman and Other Tales of Lower Brittany - François-Marie Luzel (C)
The Parliament - Aimee Pokwatka (N)
The Treacherous Tower - StacyPlays (CB) (YA)
The Tusks of Extinction - Ray Nayler (CB)
This Wretched Valley - Jenny Kiefer (N)
Three Eight One - Aliya Whiteley (N)
To Challenge Heaven (Out of the Dark 3) - Chris Kennedy, David Weber (N)
Unbound - Christy Healy (N)

January 19

Crazy Guilty - Zoe Cannon (CB)
Curse of Souls - Niranjan (CB)
Heralds of a Fallen God (The God Engine 3) - Mars G. Everson (N) (#rjhspb)

January 20

Beneath the God’s Tree (Children of the Nexus) - S. Kaeth (N) (#rjhspb)

January 23

A Wolf in Space (The Raoke Gang) - Alex Valdiers (N) (#rjhspb)
Destroy the Day (Defy the Night 3) - Brigid Kemmerer (N) (YA)
Emma and the Love Spell - Meredith Ireland (N) (YA)
Exordia - Seth Dickinson (N)
Faebound - Saara El-Arifi (N)
From the Forest (The Saga of Recluce 23) - L. E. Modesitt, Jr. (N)
Gothikana - RuNyx (N)
Into the Sunken City - Dinesh Thiru (N) (YA)
Kindling - Kathleen Jennings (C)
Kinning (Everfair 2) - Nisi Shawl (N)
Mine (The Lair of the Wolven 3) - J. R. Ward (N)
Not Dead Enough - Tyffany D. Neiheiser (N) (YA)
Rendezvous with Corsair (The Lost Fleet Universe) - Jack Campbell (C)
The Bullet Swallower - Elizabeth Gonzalez James (N)
The Fair Folk - Su Bristow (N)
The Last Immortal - Natalie Gibson (N)
The Sanctuary by Andrew Hunter Murray (N) (#io9)
The Summer Queen (The Buried and the Bound 2) - Rochelle Hassan (N)
Walter Benjamin Stares at the Sea - C. D. Rose (C)
Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase (N) (#io9)

January 24

Elegy of a Fragmented Vineyard (Paladins of the Harvest 1) - Kaden Love (N) (#rjhspb)
Don’t Blood the Black Flag (Malitu) - James Lloyd Dulin (N) (#rjhspb)

January 28

The Masked Crows (The Masked Crows 1) - Chad Retterath (N) (#rjhspb)

January 30

A Quantum Love Story - Mike Chen (N)
A Reckless Oath (Witch's Dice 2) - Kaylie Smith (N) (YA)
A Silent Country (Low Country Trilogy 3) - Morgan Shank (N) (#rjhspb)
Blightslayer (Age of Sigmar) - Richard Strachan (N) (paperback)
Escape Plastic Island (The Fifth Hero 2) - Bill Doyle (N) (YA)
House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City 3) - Sarah J. Maas (N)
Midnight on Beacon Street by Emily Ruth Verona (N) (#io9)
Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind (Momo Arashima 1) - Misa Sugiura (N) (YA)
Monsters Take Manhattan (Monster Club 2) - Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel, Lance Rubin (N) (YA)
Once a Queen - Sarah Arthur (N) (YA)
The City of Stardust - Georgia Summers (N)
The Dark Fable - Katherine Harbour (N) (YA)
The End and the Death: Volume III (The Horus Heresy: The Siege of Terra 10) - Dan Abnett (N) (hardcover)
The House of Last Resort - Christopher Golden (N)
The Invocations - Krystal Sutherland (N)
The Thirteenth Circle - MarcyKate Connolly, Kathryn Holmes (N) (YA)
The Wishing Well - Steven Lenton (CB) (YA)
The World-Famous Nine - Ben Guterson (N) (YA)
These Deadly Prophecies - Andrea Tang (N)
Wish Upon a Star - Steven Lenton (CB) (YA)
Your Utopia - Bora Chung (C)

January 31

The Timeless Legion (Everlands Cycle 2) - J. C. Rycroft (N)

Edit1: Added in books from the January io9 SF/Fantasy list that I'd missed (tag #io9).
Edit2: Added in books from Rob J. Hayes' January 2024 list of self-published fantasy books, that I didn't already have (tag #rjhspb).

Archive
Previous "SFF books coming ..." posts have been collected here. (Thank you mods).

Main Sources

Forthcoming books at https://www.isfdb.org
Upcoming Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books listed at Risingshadow: https://www.risingshadow.net/library/comingbooks
Rob J Hayes' monthly blog posting on new self-published books: https://www.robjhayes.co.uk/blog/
io9's monthly list of new sci-fi and fantasy books.
Locus Forthcoming Books https://locusmag.com/forthcomingbooks/
Publisher "new" and "Coming Soon" web pages such as: https://publishing.tor.com/coming-soon/ and https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/imprint/orbit/
Reviews of ARC books by various users in this sub.
Other occasional posts to this sub announcing up-n-coming books.

submitted by EmmalynRenato to Fantasy [link] [comments]

2023.12.13 20:45 thisishardcore_ My updated, detailed, SUPER LONG future DLC roadmap

A while back I posted my idea for future DLCs. Well now I'm going to post these civs in full.
I can't take credit for all these ideas, as a lot of them came from this topic on the original forum, in particular the UUs and UTs and the specifics around them. But I hope you like the base ideas for DLC focus and the civs that will be added to them.

1. MONARCHS OF THE ORIENT (2024)

A much wanted DLC, the follow up to The Mountain Royals will entail a focus on East Asia and in particularly the Sinosphere.
Jurchens
UT1: Tungusic System - Farm yields 50 more foods
UT2. Guazi Ma - Camels and Steppe lancers do blast damage
UU: Tiefutu: Fast cavalry lancer with better pierce armor
Tibetans
UT1: Bon Temple - Monks are created faster
UT2: Navigating Himalaya - Villagers move faster on elevation
UU: Khampa: Infantry that can also heal and convert like monks
Campaigns
Chinese: Taizong - Tang Emperor
Jurchens: Aguda - Founder of the Jin dynasty
Tibetans: The Dharma Kings - The rise and fall of the Tibetan empire through the stories of Songtsen Gampo, Trisong Detsen and Ralpacan

2. RETURN TO AFRICA (2024)

Another hugely in demand DLC is one which sees the game return its focus on Africa, so the title is rather obvious and self-explanatory. More specifically, the civs are from the northern half of Africa.
Kanembu
UT1: Lifdi - All light cavalry units are immune to anti-cavalry damage
UT2: Zaghawa Trade Route - Trade carts have more hp and now carry more gold
UU: Bornu Rider - Light cavalary that gain bonus damage when trade cart is near
Somalis
UT1: Horn of Africa - Dock LOS increased and if any ship is detected by dock the location of the ship is always visible.
UT2: Ottoman Support - All gunpowder units get faster reload
UU1: Malassay - Somali hand cannoneers that are faster and cheaper but weaker than hand cannoneer
UU2: Markab - Galleon that is stronger than galleon but slower
Songhai
UT1: Salt Trade - Teamwide Stone Trickle
UT2: Tuareg - Camels units take -8 damage from anti-camel attacks
UU: Gao Lancer - Camel lancer
Campaigns
Kanembu: Idris Alooma - Extended the Kanem-Bornu empire to its greatest height
Somalis: Imam Ahmad - Led the Adal Sultanate in a war against Ethiopia
Songhai: Sunni Ali - Invaded and conquered Mali

3. CHIEFTAINS OF THE NEW WORLD (2025)

And yet another popular, in demand DLC is one which adds more American civs to the game. In Chieftains of the New World, the focus is central America.
Purepechas
UT1: Chimali Ahield - Cuitzeo's Chosen and Eagle Warrior have more pierce armour
UT2: Curicaueri's Spirit - If a unit is being converted by enemy monks it will get speed and damage boost
UU: Cuitzeo's Chosen - Faster, cheaper and weaker version of Jaguar Warrior
Zapotecs
UT1: Warchief - Thunder Warrior gains bonus armour
UT2: Cloud People - Villagers cost wood
UU: Thunder Warrior - Faster and weaker Jaguar Warrior with damage bonus against melee infantry
Campaigns
Mayans: Hunac Ceel - Founder of the Cocom dynasty who waged war against Chichen Itza
Purepechas: Erendira - Legendary princess who led a revolt against the Spanish
Zapotecs: Cosijoeza - Fought wars against the Aztecs and reportedly never lost a battle

4. THE SLAVIC NOBLES (2025)

Yep, we return to Europe because a final Slav split just has to be done. The Slavs, to make them sound more like "the Russian civ",
Croats
UT1: Bans - Castles fire twice as many arrows (garrisons included)
UT2: Shrewd Recruits - Knight-line gold cost reduced from 75 to 50, Zupan reduced from 35 to 20.
UU1: Zupan - Cavalry unit with bonus damage against the Spearman-line.
UU2: Kondura - Naval trash unit with bonus damage against the Fire Ship-line.
Serbs
UT1: Saxon Miners - Gold miners work 20% faster
UT2 - Arming Doublet - Guszar +2 armor
UU: Guszar - Light cavalry, similar to, you guessed it, the Hussar
Vlachs
UT1: Impalers - Calarasi damage boost now stacks up to 5 enemy killed
UT2: Warrior Peasants - Villagers armour and attack increased
UU: Calarasi - Light cavalry that gets damage boost for every enemy killed (stack up to 4)
Campaigns
Croats: Petar Snacic - Led the downfall of the Kingdom of Croatia and its eventual subjugation by Hungary
Serbs: Stefan Dusan - Founder of the Serbian Empire
Ruthenians: Ivan the Great - Grand Prince who ended Mongol/Tatar rule in Russia and laid the foundations for modern Russia
Vlachs: Vlad Dracula - No changes but Vlachs now replace the Turks, Magyars and Slavs in the campaign.

5. DEFENDERS OF THE PACIFIC (2026)

In this DLC, we return to Asia, with two new South East Asian civs added, plus a campaign for an old favourite.
Siamese
UT1: Naresuans Elephant - Elephants get bonus damage against elephant and move faster.
UT2: Kapampangan Mercenaries - Spearman line costs no food
UU1: Elephant Cannoneer - Elephant ridden by a hand cannoneer. Less pierce armour than other elephant units, and more expensive.
UU2: Ayutthyan Guard - Champion unit created at barracks, being garrisoned in a castle or defensive building makes it strong giving it increased damage and building armour
Tagalog
UT1: Mga Kawal - Militia and Maharlika lines take 25% less damage
UT2: Hukbong Dagat - Warships gain +5 damage
UU: Maharlika A powerful Skirmisher-type unit
Campaigns
Japanese: Hojo Clan - Major players in the Genpei War (which Kurikara takes place during) who went on to successfully defend Japan from Mongol invasions
Siamese: Maha Chakkrapahat - King of Ayutthya, who fought against Bayinnaung's sieges
Tagalog: Lapulapu - Pirate turned defender of Cebu from Spanish invaders

6. SULTANS OF THE SILK ROAD (2026)

We move our focus to the Islamic world for this DLC.
Afghans
UT1: Zamindars - Gain 50 gold for every house built
UT2: Bactrian Camel - Camel speed increased
UU: Zamburak - Short ranged cannon mounted on a camel, strong against siege units and buildings
Kurds
UT1: Solomon's Servant: Castles are built by villagers very fast
UT2: Kurdish Resolve - Foot archer units gain attack speed when hp below 50%
UU: Tirevan - Archer with bonus damage against unique unit
Campaigns
Afghans: Mahmud Ghaznavi - Ghaznavid Emperor who extended his empire from Persia as far as the Himalayas
Kurds: Abu'l-Aswar - Shaddadid ruler who had numerous interactions with the Byzantines and Armenians
Turks: Mehmed II - Ottoman emperor whose greatest feat was the conquest of Constantinople

7. TALES FROM THE STEPPES (2027)

This DLC has a bit of a wider focus but it has a theme of steppe peoples, or at least people with origins in the steppes.
Gokturks
UT1: Sogdian Merchants - Trade carts are created faster
UT2: Steppe Husbandry - All cavalry units get bonus HP
UU: Yabgu - Better version of Steppe Lancer
Khazars
UT1: Hebraic Nomads - Monks gain increased movement speed
UT2: Composite Bow - Cavalry Archers +4 attack
UU: Arsiyah - Strong cavalry archer that has all the advantages of Parthian tactics and more
Campaigns
Gokturks - Ilterish Qaghan - Founder of the second Turkic Khaganate who revolted against Tang Chinese rule
Khazars - Barjik - Prince who fought and died in the Arab-Khazar wars.
Magyars - Stephen I - Founder of the Kingdom of Hungary

8. THE IMPERIAL EAST (2027)

This DLC sees more focus on East Asia, with a couple of civs who have been in demand for that region.
Khitans
UT1: Orda System - Stables and archery ranges work 30% faster
UT2: Tielin Army - Cavalry Archers +2 Attack and Pishi Guards +3 Attack.
UU: Pishi Guard - Short ranged cavalry archer with low attack but high HP and armour
Tanguts
UT1: Chinese Crossbow - Crossbowmen fire two more arrows with 3P attack
UT2: Iron Kite - Knight and Cavalier deal 5M to surrounding units upon death (blast radius 0.5)
UU- Xia Horseman - Heavy cavalry with greater speed than generic knight line cavalry
Campaigns
Khitans: Abaoji - Founder of the Liao dynasty
Koreans: Choe Yeong - General who crushed rebellions in Korea and aided the Red Turban Rebellion in China
Tanguts: Xia Emperors - The rise, peak and fall of the Western Xia through the story of a number of its emperors

9. END OF AN AGE (2028)

The title is rather misleading as this won't be the final DLC, but rather it focuses on the late antiquity/dark ages period. The first DLC to be era specific oriented.
Nubians
UT1: Nubian Archery - All archers LOS increased
UT2: Nubian Mercenary - Archers generate gold on hit
UU: Alodian Archer - Archers with 100% accuracy without thumb ring
Vandals
UT1: German Levy - Suebi Warriors are created much faster
UT2: Plunder - Infantry units gains attack bonus against buildings and generate gold while attacking building
UU: Suebi Warrior - Cheaper version of Gothic Huskarls with more bonus damage against archers and less pierce armour
Campaigns
Nubians: Qalidurut - Repelled an Arab invasion of Nubia
Romans: Romulus Augustulus - The last Roman emperor who unsuccessfuly fought the Goths off
Vandals: Gelimer - King of the North African Vandal kingdom who unsuccessfully fought Belisarius off

10. THE ANDEAN WARCHIEFS (2028)

And now we move back to the Americas, and more specifically to South America, with three new civs.
Chimus
UT1: Braided Leather - Archers have better range
UT2: Offering to the Dead - Chimor Warriors now gain damage for any allied units die near them. stack up to 5
UU : Chimor Warrior - Heavy infantry unit which gains damage if an allied Chimu dies near them
Mapuches
UT1: Clansmen - Light cavalry line costs less food
UT2: Chemamull - Villagers can now build Chemamull . Unique Mapuche building that can heal and give bonus damage to nearby units. cost: 250 stone
UU: Malon - Light cavalry with bonus damage against siege and gunpowder unit
Muiscas
UT1: Tejo - Ballistics for skirmisher
UT2: Muiscan Resolve - Guecha now has bonus damage against skirmisher
UU: Guecha - Anti-archer archer
Campaigns
Chimus: Minchancaman - Leader of the Chimus in the Inca-Chimu war
Mapuches: Lautaro - Led a resistance against Spanish invaders
Muiscas: El Dorado - Remake of the old Forgotten campaign

11. NAWABS OF THE DECCAN (2029)

Another Indian split?? Well...yes. This DLC sees the Dravidians get split into four civs, with the Dravidians renamed as Tamils.
Kannadigas
UT1: Elephant Husbandry - Elephants can regenerate
UT2: Naymankara - Nayaks generate gold over time
UU1: Amara Footman - Very fast and weak light infantry who gains damage when near to Nayak
UU2: Nayak - Slow and strong heavy infantry who get bonus speed when near to Amara Footman. Only 5 can be present in the army
Oriyas
UT1: Paika Dance - Paika attack speed increased
UT2: Chasa - Villagers move on farms faster
UU: Paika - Unique light infantry that gains bonus damage when near to another Paika. Stakable
Sinhalese
UT1: Angampora - All units get extra damage against gunpowder
UT2: Spice Trade - Trade cogs move faster
UU: Nilame - Champion unit which takes lesser damage from firearms
Campaigns
Kannadigas - Krishnadevaraya - Emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire at its peak
Oriyas: Kapilendra Deva - Founder of the Gajapati Empire
Sinhalese - Parakramabahu - King of Sinhala who extended his kingdom and led military campaigns in South India and Burma
Tamils - Rajendra (no changes)

12. THE UNFORGOTTEN KINGS (2029)

So, a first, which some people have wanted. For the game's 30th anniversary, there will be a campaign only DLC. One campaign for the Vikings, and some historical battles for the original Age of Kings civs that haven't been featured in historical battles. In my previous topic I pitched the idea of shoehorning a Viking campaign into a DLC which featured the Dutch and Swiss but I'm sure such a DLC probably won't go down so well with the playerbase and I do agree that at this point Europe has more than enough civs. So I thought this would be a nicer way of doing it.
Campaigns
Vikings: Harald Hadrada -
Historical Battles
Byzantines: Chandax - Retaking Crete from the Saracens
Celts: Clontarf - The end of Viking rule over Ireland
Goths: Faventia - Gothic resistance against Justinian's attempt at reconquering Italy
Mongols: Kose Dag - Mongol conquest of Anatolia and disintegration of the Seljuk Empire
Saracens: Ain Jalut - The Mongol Ilkhanate stopped right in their tracks, and one of the very few Mongol defeats in history
Teutons: Lechfield - Otto I's resistance against Hungarian advance into Germany

13. MANSAS OF THE SOUTH (2030)

And here is our third African DLC, this time the focus being the southern African kingdoms and empires of the time period.
Kongolese
UT1: Natural Hunters - Villagers can attack with bows and are affected by archer upgrades
UT2: Bakongo Mask - All units get higher line of sight
UU: Zande Warrior - Heavy spear infantry with better pierce armour
Swahilis
UT1: Luhya Javelin - Skirmisher and Luhya Skirmisher gets more damage
UT2: Swahili Coast - Trade cogs transfer increased gold
UU: Luhya Skirmisher - Stronger skirmisher with greater damage against archers
Zimbabweans
UT1: Ivory Weaponry - Goromondo and militia lines cost less
UT2: N’aga - Units engaged in combat gets healed faster
UU1: Goromondo - Heavy club infantry. Slow but strong
UU2: Savannah Warrior - Alternative to scout cavalry. Similar to Eagle Warrior.
Campaigns
Kongolese: Afonso I - Kongolese King who interacted with the Portuguese
Swahilis: Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi - Persian who founded the Kilwa sultanate
Zimbabweans: Matope - Led Great Zimbabwe at its height

14. LEGENDS OF THE AMERICAS (2030)

Now, we have our third American DLC, this time moving northwards to North America.
Iroquois
UT1: Tomahawk - Iroquois warrior damage increased
UT2: Longhouse - Louses provide +2 pop
UU: Cheveyo - Double axe wielding light infantry with incredibly fast attack speed
Mississippians
UT1: Falcon War Dance - All melee units move faster
UT2: Mississippian Handcrafting - Villagers repair much faster
UU: Spiro Warrior - Light infantry which has poison damage. Enemy unit lose hp overtime after being attacked by it. Healing or garrisoning may stop this effect
Puebloans
UT1: Flying Shields - Skirmisher and Mantlet created faster
UT2: Siege of Acoma - Ballistic for Mantlet
UU: Mantlet: Shielded ranged siege unit with pierce armour
Campaigns
Iroquois: Deganawida - The "great peacemaker" who founded the Iroquois Confederacy
Mississippians: Tuskaloosa - Fought against Spanish invaders
Puebloans: The Ancestral Tribes - Something a little different. A campaign with somewhat fictitious scenarios focusing on the various groups of Ancestral Puebloan people

15. THE ISLAND KINGDOMS (2030)

And the last one of my DLC ideas. This one focuses on a handful of "island peoples" from across the globe.
Caribs
UT1: Navigating Caribbean - Ships move faster
UT2: Cannibalism - If a villager dies, all the other villager near it will work 100% faster for 10 seconds
UU: Blowgunner - Has ranged poison attack that deals damage over time. Can be cancelled by healing or garrison
Malagasy
UT1: Malayan Migrators - Outrigger canoe (new common fishing ship for Malay, Malagasy and Tagalog)
UT2: Cultural Diversity - All allied players' villagers work faster
UU: Assegai Warrior - Spearmen with attack bonus vs unique cavalry unit. bonus damage is more than samurai
Polynesians
UT1: Seafarer - Can create Waka Canoe
UT2: Miracles of Mo'ai - Villager building speed increased
UU1: Patu Warrior - Maori light infantry which can cause enemy to lose attack speed for 2 seconds when engaging melee
UT2: Waka Canoe: Canoe that can convert other ships from a short distance. The more near a ship the more chance for the ship to be converted. The enemy ship engaged with a Waka Canoe can not move or attack
Campaigns
Caribs: Kalinago - Story of the Caribs (Kalinago is their modern name), from rise to power against the Tainos to their resistance against European invaders
Malagasy: Merina - Fictitious campaign about the Merina peoples and a struggle against other Malagasy tribes, plus Arab and Portuguese invaders
Polynesians: Momo - Founder of the T'ui Tonga
And that's all my ideas. Who knows what may come afterwards? Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!

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2023.12.10 09:24 BlairDaniels New to my stories? Start here!

If you're into stories of everyday horror--spooky Walmart trips, cursed AirPods, doppelgänger husbands--then you've come to the right place! I've written 300+ stories, but here are my favorites:

ATTENTION SHOPPERS: Please hide at the back of the store immediately. (Novel in progress, preorder here.)
I listened to a true crime podcast about myself (posted to my alt account)
I Picked Up a Hitchhiker
We're not supposed to watch the local broadcast channel.
I tried to switch bodies with my sister
My husband left me a note
My husband insists on keeping this one painting of a woman

You can find more in my books:

Don't Scream (short stories)
Tales of Terror (more short stories)
Short Novels of Terror (novels)

And on my two writing accounts:

And if you want to stay up to date on stories, you can sign up for my newsletter! I usually send out 1 email every month, with links to all my stories for that month.

Narration & Story Use Policy: click here.

About Me

(I apologize in advance if this sounds like I’m bragging… I only have this up here in case some famous Hollywood produceexecutive/publisher stumbles on my page… hey, I can dream, right?)
I've written almost 300 horror stories. My stories have been translated to French, Italian, Chinese, Tagalog, and more, racking up millions of reads around the world. Every collection of horror stories I've released has hit #1 Horror Anthology on Amazon. Two of my stories have been made into short films, and two more are in production. My story “My Husband’s Painting” is in the top 30 stories of all time on NoSleep, a horror forum on Reddit with 18 million subscribers.
I've always been a big fan of horror; my childhood was marked by sleepovers with spooky stories, tons of Goosebumps books, and ghost-hunting with her best friend. I live with my husband and sons in a rural part of the US, where we lead a simple life growing vegetables, playing video games, and hanging out at Costco.

Contact Me

[author@blairdaniels.com](mailto:author@blairdaniels.com)

submitted by BlairDaniels to u/BlairDaniels [link] [comments]

2023.11.25 11:18 Open_Bluebird5080 List of Fat Public Domain Characters

Whether for the sake of comedy or empowerment or disparaging comparisons or simply adding some variety to one's own League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, this is the first list (that I've seen, and certainly the first that I've made), in no particular order, of characters in the public domain that can reasonably be called fat, accompanied by the media of origin and date of first publication in parentheses so as to allow readers of non-US countries to decide for themselves if they are, in fact, public domain.
This is, of course, not inclusive of any real-life historical figures such as Adam Lambert, Queen Victoria, Al Capone, or any circus fat ladies you might find plastered onto vintage posters -- I'd be spending the rest of eternity finding those if that wasn't the case, and let's not get into liabilities for using a non-public figure as a character in a piece of fiction without consent! Also not counting characters made fat as a one-off for comedic effect or in sparse adaptations, like what some political cartoonists have done with Uncle Sam to represent the American obesity epidemic.
Let it also be known that any character, public domain or not, can be fat or muscular or tall or skinny if only you decide to portray them so; this list, then, is for the purists, and those looking for fat characterizations with some precedence -- some weight behind them, you might say.

Van Crawford, Jr., aka Fatman (Fatman, 1967, orphaned work)

When pudgy billionaire/hobbyist Van Crawford, Jr. saves a crash-landing UFO by knocking over a tree to cushion the fall, he's rewarded with a chocolate milkshake giving him the power to turn into a giant metal UFO. In this form, he can fly, fire lazer beams, use a miniature satellite dish to pick up radio waves -- the works! Van's weight was a major feature of his character, constantly referencing foods in bizarre turns of phrase, but was otherwise surprisingly progressive in its portrayal, only making him try to lose weight once in the series when he accidentally gets too fat to fly in his UFO form. This guy was sporty, too -- and obviously fat people are more than just sacks of lard with no muscle mass, but this guy could pull feats of acrobatics most skinny people couldn't, even in his civilian form. And, I mean, he IS a hobbyist -- who's to say trapeze isn't one of such hobbies?

Herbie Popnecker, aka the Fat Fury (Forbidden Worlds #73, 1958, copyright unrenewed)

A fat, apathetic, nerdy-looking youth who is in fact the most powerful being in the universe thanks to his wealth of superpowered popsicles, on good terms with all manner of politicians from all time and attracting so many ladies it's unreal. And did I mention Alan Moore said this was his favorite superhero? Just don't put a plunger on his head, and he's good to go.

Pierre Bon-Bon (Bon-Bon, or The Bargain Lost by Edgar Allan Poe, 1832)

A restaurateur & proud philosopher whose overly-complex prose parodies the works of Aristotle & Plato. He is upset to find that while the Devil eats the souls of great philosophers, he is too polite to do so while Pierre is drunk. Say what you will about the Lord of Darkness, he cares about consent!

Little John & Friar Tuck (Robin Hood, 13th or 14th century AD)

Respectively: Robin Hood's heavyweight sidekick, and the friendly neighborhood mendicant who'd collect for the poor and sometimes need help from Robin Hood in keeping it that way. Granted, their inclusion on this list has more to do with popular portrayals (Disney comes to mind), but the extant irony of "Little" John's name and the archetypal image of the fat, bald friar give it a good deal of reason, especially when the image of a lean Robin Hood contrasts spectacularly with both.

Nebutori (Japanese folklore)

The Nebutori is a yokai (a supernatural spirit of Japanese folklore) that makes women fat while they sleep; in all likelihood, this was used to explain men's experience as they'd get drunk, have a one-night stand with a woman and wake up hung over and surprised to find their lay had "transformed" into a less conventionally attractive body. While more of a "spirit disease" than a character, it has occasionally been portrayed as the latter, and in my opinion, it's the more interesting option, story-wise.

Santa Claus & Mrs. Claus

Given fatness has long been associated with being jolly, the embodiment of a holly-jolly holiday is ripe for this, especially in the 1823 poem that immortalized his "bowlful of jelly", and so too is his loving wife ripe for it as well (though to a lesser degree than her more popular, Coke-addicted husband). While Santa arose clearly from the mythification of the real-life Saint Nicholas, his wife is a weirder case, apparently forming from the consensus that a good Christian man as old as Santa should have a wife. Her first real appearance was in 1849 with a short story titled "A Christmas Legend" by James Rees, so you could say HE came up with her if you wanted to be boring about it.

Hansel (Hansel & Gretel, fairy tale)

When a witch kidnaps Hansel & Gretel, Hansel is fattened so much that he needs to hold out a bone as if it's his finger just to convince the blind witch that he's not worth eating. Does this count for this list? Sure, why not -- the fairy tale says nothing about them putting Hansel on a diet after he escapes. Then again, the family is already so poostarving that the stepmother wants to abandon their children in the first place, so for all we know, it's compulsory.

Tweedle Dum & Tweedle Dee (Nursery rhyme/Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, 1805/1871)

Based on the then-common nursery rhyme of the same name (in which 'Dum accuses 'Dee of "spoiling his rattle", only for both to be scared by a large crow and forget all about it), Lewis Carroll & John Tenniel present them as a rotund set of twins which Alice finds on the giant chessboard of Wonderland, leading them to tell her of the Walrus and the Carpenter before reenacting their own tale. The Walrus might count if he was really more than a figment of the boys' imaginations... then again, isn't everyone in that series a figment of someone's imagination? If not the Tweedles', then Alice's? Or Carroll's? Or yours? Or mine? Or are we ALL just characters in somebody's dream? Who can tell? I can't! It scares me, quite frankly.

Tik-Tok & Musicker (the Land of Oz series, 1907/1909)

Tik-Tok is perhaps a lesser example as he has a round body but is hardly his own person so much as a mechanical slave and godawful video-sharing website for attractive people who are otherwise mediocre; the Musicker, on the other hand, is more mysterious -- his real name is Allegro da Capo, he lives on the outskirts of Oz and the reeds that fill up his lungs make a noise like a harmonica as he breathes. A man that speaks in music -- poetic... or it could be more like that kid with a gap in his front teeth that spits or whistles with every consonant. Take your pick!

Thor (Norse mythology)

Though nowadays he's often associated with Marvel's beach-blonde bodybuilder from outer space, the original myths, while not comprehensive in their descriptions of the hammer-wielding god of thunder, portray him as having red hair, being superhumanly strong, and a big eater -- put those traits together and it doesn't take a God of War game designer to come up with something closer to Eddie Hall than Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Dionysus (Greek mythology)/Bacchus (Roman mythology)

It's only natural the god of alcohol and generally having a good time would be represented with a beer belly, most prominently in Aristophanes's obscene comedy The Frogs (405 BC) which comes from a time when a tummy was seen as effeminate due to its resemblance to pregnancy, and Dionysus always was a bit femme. Also of note is Silenus, Dionysus's chubby mentor(s?) who, unlike the satyrs/fauns, takes on the features of a horse rather than a goat, and is even the deity that gives King Midas his famous golden touch.

John Bull (Law is a Bottomless Pit, 1712)

A personification of Britain in the vein of Uncle Sam, first appearing as an anthropomorphic bull in the world of satirist John Atbuthnot before being shaped into a peaceful, older-looking Anglo-Saxon farmer to represent "the common man" in the 1760s.

Everett True (The Outbursts of Everett True, 1905)

An early 20th-century husband who would often beat his fellow man for social ills such as ogling women, refusing to wear face masks during a plague, and generally being ignorant of their surroundings. Cathartic and timeless, Everett's fury is matched only by his wife's when she catches him in his own moments of ignorance.

Butterball/Buttercup/Butterbuck (fairy tale)

A plump boy who is repeatedly captured by a troll (carrying her own head under her arm for extra spookiness) with the lure of cutlery, but would each time escape through his own cunning, turning the very tools used on him against his would-be captors. Butterball was one of the fairy tales listed by the Brothers Grimm-inspired 19th-century Norwegian folktale collectors, Asbjørnsen and Moe, in the aptly titled series Norwegian Folktales, first published 1841, but even if copyright somehow extended all the way back to to the 1840s, A. and Moe can hardly claim to have created it themselves as they simply compiled the extant oral traditions of Norway.

Edward BeaWinnie-the-Pooh (1924/1926, respectively)

Everybody knows Winnie-the-Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood, I'm sure that at least everyone here does, but fewer have read the poem "Teddy Bear" by A. A. Milne, first featured in Punch magazine before moving to "When We Were Very Young," a collection of Milne's poems which was published that same year, illustrated by the iconic E. H. Shepard. In "Teddy Bear," the fat Edgar Bear (wait a sec... Edgar, Eddy, Eddy Bear, Teddy Bear... huh...) distresses over his weight and that nothing he does seems to change it, but upon reading about a king of France who was fat yet nicknamed "the Handsome", he sets out to find this king, and as soon as he falls out the window, he is helped up by none other than than the fat king of France himself! They chat (and apparently the king sees nothing unusual about a talking teddy bear) before Edward returns with a renewed satisfaction, knowing that whatever shape he's in, he will always have the chance to be well-liked and to do great things. As "Pooh", he seemingly retains this satisfaction, making his way through life in the Wood without much care for anything except food and good company.

Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, 1893-1908)

While Sherlock Holmes is energetic, nosy, and slender, his brother is reclusive, self-satisfied, and "absolutely corpulent"; and yet, not only is Mycroft the eldest of the two, but the smartest. Not many characters can claim to be smarter than Sherlock Holmes. In the original series, Mycroft is always on his own adventures somewhere in the background of the books' events. He's also co-founder of the Diogenes Club, a gentleman's club in which no talking is allowed -- just comfortable sitting and the occasional puff of a cigar. Later adaptations used the idea that Diogenes Club is a front for the British secret service, inspired by Mycroft's assertion in original Sherlock Holmes canon that he is the ultimate brain-trust behind the English government. Now THAT'S pretty dang smart! Er, depending on which country you ask.

Brad Runyan, P.I. (The Fat Man, 1951, copyright unrenewed)

The titular private-eye of a radio-inspired film that not even Universal Studios gives a shit about the rights to, and no wonder -- it's a surprisingly bog-standard detective story for one whose central plot involves a circus clown killing a dentist. Can YOU make something out of this fat dick? (NOTE: "dick" is Prohibition-era slang for detective) Try your hand at it! (I swear I'm not doing this on purpose)

Queen/Princess Fatima (of Sultania?) (Smash Comics #14/#39, 1940/1943, orphaned work)

Really scraping the bottom of the barrel for this one: the ingeniously named Fatima is the fair-skinned ruler of a fictional country (presumably in the Middle East) whose obsession with food and the main character, Archie O'Toole, not only borders the stereotypical but welcomes it. The comic, with its uncomfortable depictions of racial minorities (and everyone else) is almost certainly a product of its time, though more specifically a product of Will Eisner's art. O'Toole sure lives up to his name, evading with her by getting her stuck in a doorway just so he can run off and tell her to lose a few. Confusingly, in a later issue, there appears to be a princess (daughter of a rajah, which is a king of India, a country that is not in the Middle East but is in South Asia right next to it, separated by Pakistan which is sometimes lumped in with the Middle East but really isn't a part of-- y'know what? I'm getting off-topic) with the same name and the same gimmick of trying to win Archie's affections only to fail miserably, and yet she has a completely different design -- the second time 'round also sees her failing because her romantic gesture backfires rather than because of her weight -- but it's made clear Archie already knows this second Fatima and has pretty much the same relationship with her that he did with the first one... is she the same character? Is the name punny name for English-speakers just a funny coincidence that happened twice in different regions? Did somebody marry into the family and become her daddy the rajah, making Sultania some joint region between South Asia and the Middle East? It's especially frustrating because this is one of the very few principle females I could find for this list -- we really don't have that much representation for fat girls in the public domain or from around that time in general. The way her body was drawn was at least semi-realistic for what you might have seen at the time, but her second, briefer appearance in which she's drawn more cartoony (and thus more cohesive with the rest of the art style) is actually as good as it gets as far as her (their?) story goes.

King Eglon (Book of Judges)

Biblical ruler of the Kingdom of Moab, known for his 18-year oppression over the Israelites. It is said he was so fat ("HOW FAT WAS HE?") that the sword of his assassin, the God-appointed judge Ehud ben-Gara, disappeared into his stomach entirely where it punctured his bowels and emptied them -- it's a death with no respect, no respect at all.

"Bootleg" Pete (1925)

Yes, from Disney. His first appearance was actually before Mickey's, in a live-action/animation mash-up titled Alice Solves the Puzzle, making him Disney's longest-running character, although his current feline iteration (as well as his visible disparity in weight from the other characters) debuted in 1928's Steamboat Willie -- just a couple more months to go! And hey, did you know Disney made a modern riff on this version (or the name of this version, at least) by making Peter Pan into a fat crime boss called Sweet Pete, who bootlegs Disney characters by turning them into weird versions of themselves? That's weird, right?

Nell, aka Luce (Comedy of Errors, 1623)

Full name... Lucille? Lucinella, maybe? The impatient wife of a servant belonging to one of the main characters. It is said that her name ("an ell", or a yard) and three-quarters isn't enough to measure her hip-to-hip, followed by a graphic comparison of her physical features to various countries (take a wild guess where the Netherlands are). When she actually appears, she's ugly enough that the main characters (one of which is mistaken for Nell's fiancee) leave immediately! Poor gal...

Sir John Falstaff (Henry IV Part 1 & 2, 1598)

An often comedic or buffoonish character with magnitudes of depth, siding with the future King Henry V but leading him all too often into trouble, and living off of stolen or borrowed money, much of which goes into drinking. Like all Shakespeare's creations, adaptations and derivations exist in spades, and many are themselves in the public domain -- notably, Falstaff's Wedding (1766) sees him forced to marry amidst the Southampton plot before redeeming himself in the king's eyes by exposing said plot. Orson Welles once said Falstaff was "Shakespeare's greatest creation", though he may have been a bit biased -- and not just because he made Chimes at Midnight (1965, and almost definitely still copyrighted under US law).

Ambrose Bell, aka the Fat Connoisseur (Phantom Lady #18, 1948, orphaned work)

An art collector scheming to increase the value of a street artists' works by faking his death, while forcing him to create more works in secret. I may be biased as an artist myself, but this is probably the most realistic villain on this entire list.

Batibat/Bangungot (Filipino folklore)

An obese, female tree spirit that gives nightmares and sleep paralysis to those who use its home to build their own, doing so by sitting on their chest like the night-mares of Europe, and in similar fashion, its name is used in the Ilocano/Tagalog languages (respectively) to refer to such a condition. To fend off such nightmares, one need only bite one's thumb or wiggle one's toes... beforehand, maybe? I don't see how you could do either of those amid sleep paralysis. Maybe if you're having a nightmare while lucid dreaming...

Mrs. Sprat(t) (Nursery rhyme)

A woman of the stereotypical fat-and-skinny couple. Like other nursery rhymes, this may have its origins in satire, referring either to Queen Henrietta Maria, or Isabella of Robin Hood fame. John Clarke's 1639 version calls her by the first name of Jull, probably an accented version of Jill since "Jull" as traces of it as a first name are nonexistant, plus the whole poem is very heavily accented -- is she the same Jill that went up a hill to fetch a pail of water? YOU decide! Also, in Fables, Bill Willingham writes her as Dr. Swineheart's scornful nurse whose gripes, while reasonable, are often lost in a flood of other Fables. Her husband is shown to have died to an attack by an invisible killer, but I still like to imagine that "Jack Sprat" was really just another scheme of Jack Horner's -- we know he's womanized multiple women named Jill, so why not one we already know about? There's technically more to her character, especially in #100 beyond, but it's... really... REALLY not worth getting into. As a kid, I also gave her the name Nadine -- "Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife Nadine could eat no lean" -- fits, don't it? That's a freebie, just for you!

Mr. & Mrs. Fezziwig (A Christmas Carol, 1843)

Mr. Fezziwig, employee of a young Ebenezer Scrooge, defies the stereotype of the greedy, fat businessman by sitting in contrast to Scrooge -- while the latter becomes greedy as he is bought out by Fezziwig's competitor and is beholden to the whims and wants of shareholders, Fezziwig is emblematic of early-stage capitalism: idealistic, individualistic, and believing firmly in a balance between profit & humanity which Scrooge in the present seems to have abandoned entirely. The Fezziwigs, Mr. and Mrs., are only really seen at a Christmas party with the Mr.'s then-employee, Scrooge, but the thematic relevance of these characters resonates throughout the book -- the man Scrooge COULD be, the life of love & happiness he COULD lead.

King Ubu (Ubu Roi, 1896)

Ubu Roi is something of a legend in theater, created by Alfred Jarry and inspired by a play created with express purpose of making fun of his friends' physics teacher. The resulting work was so audacious that its first performance caused an actual riot. The first word is "shit" (in French, naturally, though with an added "r" for some reason -- "merdre"). Ubu himself has just about every nasty quality a king can have: he's cruel, dumb, cowardly, vulgar, evil, greedy, et cetera, et cetera, and his story takes much the same route as Macbeth: his wife gets him to stage a revolt on Poland, his reign of terror leads his wife to impersonate the angel Gabriel so he won't be mad at her for stealing from him while they're at war with Russia, he attacks his son with the body of a dead bear to end the play... you know. THOSE old cliches. Unfortunately, while Ubu Roi was originally published and performed in 1896, it was first translated into English in 1951, making it a very tenuous addition to this English-language list.

Porthos du Vallon (the d'Artagnan Romances, 1844-1850)

Based loosely on IRL musketeer Isaac de Porthau, this portly French soldier loves drinking wine and chasing women, and while he eventually settles down, his stomach doesn't, causing him to get bigger and bigger throughout the series -- his appetite even manages to impress Louis XIV during a banquet at Fontainebleau. I'll admit, I never read the Three Musketeers or any subsequent books -- heck, I barely remember anything from the Disney version with Mickey Mouse -- but a cursory Google search doesn't help either, and his Wikipedia page is surprisingly scant. Is eating really his only notable characteristic? Somebody oughtta get on that.

Countess Vera Rossakoff (The Big Four, 1927)

A Russian aristocrat who is as fat and vivacious as Hercule Poirot is small and methodical (which is to say, VERY). She's also the only woman Hercule has ever really fallen head-over-heels for. Ironically, while she's PD in the US, she won't be in Agatha Christie's home country of England or in the Countess's own Mother Russia til 2047 due to copyright extending to 70 years after the original author's death in both countries, once again confirming what we already knew, which is that Europe is overrated.

Ilya Ilyich Oblomov (Oblomov, 1859/1862/1887, explained below)

The book's titular St. Petersburg nobleman whose reluctance to do anything but eat is exemplary of a real-life character type found especially in Tsarist Russia called "the superfluous man" -- men born into wealth leading luxurious but otherwise dull, unimportant lives -- with a bit of Ivan Goncharov's own vices sprinkled in for that flavor of realism. The story's a grim one, ending with Oblomov beyond help and living out fantasies of returning to his childhood days before dying and leaving his best friend to adopt his son. Technically, there exists three versions of the original text, the latter two of which Goncharov corrected/added to as later editions, although no one can really seem to agree which version is canonical -- technically, there's four if you count the 1849 short story that later became a dream sequence in the finished book, and then there's the earlier version of Oblomov himself named Nikon Ustinovich Tiazhelemko, who appeared in Goncharov's handwritten magazine in 1838, which makes five versions of the same character across a single debated canon. Do I smell a multiverse? Hopefully... nyet. The earliest English translation is an abridged version published in 1915; the next earliest is based off the 1862 version, published 1929. You can find the rest on Oblomov's Wikipedia page, if you're just that interested.

The Duchess/Queen of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1865)

A tad obscured by stylistically disproportionate features in John Tenniel's art, the shape of their main bodies leave enough evidence that the two fit the stereotype of the fat aristocrat, especially when the Duchess's baby inexplicably turns into a literal pig, or in the animated Disney movie where the Queen's size is contrasted with her King's dwarfism (unlike in the original where he might even be taller than his wife).

Fatso (Debut unknown, appears in Captain Tootsie #1, 1950, copyright unrenewed)

One of the Tootsie Roll-powered Captain Tootsie's sidekicks in the Secret Legion, which would travel the universe in a rocket from Earth. Hardly stands out from the rest of the gang, aside from the physical limitations of his body; then again, he probably knows how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, which is something we'll never have.

Buddha/Budai (6th or 5th century BC/8th century AD)

While Buddha technically counts as a historical figure, how he gets mythologized is kind of interesting: the statue of a fat man people call "Buddha" is not the original Buddha, but another guy, Budai, often considered the Maitreya Buddha, or the new Buddha whose teachings will focus on re-establishing dharma (ie, the proper order of things). Many have claimed to be the Maitreya, but each time, the "future" Buddha is still thought to be somewhere in the future, much like the Jewish belief in the Messiah with Jesus. And yet, as individuals, the two are conflated, in some ways creating a mascot for Buddhism all of its own, especially as he became adopted in Shinto as a god of happiness and contentment... also, some people will probably be mad at me if I include the Biblical King Eglon and not some other religious "historical" figure, and this seemed like a good enough technicality.

Whiffy (Black Fury comic strip, date unknown, copyright unrenewed)

A gay, crossdressing gangster and Miss Fury villain notable for his overuse of perfume, and fairly progressive for a gay villain at the time, having used his talents to escape imprisonment by none other than the Nazis. Strange thing is, I can find info ABOUT Whiffy, but I just can't find him in the actual Miss Fury or Black Fury comics -- maybe he was in some of the strips that didn't make it into the collected version? He DOES seem pretty unconnected to the whole "Nazi spy" plot, so I could see why that'd be. If anyone can point me to where he first appears, I'd much appreciate it.

Lieutenant Fat Marvel (Whiz Comics #21, 1940, copyright unrenewed)

Young, chubby, ginger-haired Billy Batson was once a poor orphan boy before he was given the magical, lightning-based body of an adult superhero... just like Billy Batson, Billy Batson, and -- of course -- Billy Batson. It just so happened all three had the same name, so they stuck together -- even more so after the Billy Batson known as Captain Marvel shared his power with the rest in a situation where saying his magic word by himself was insufficient, so he took a page from Peter Pan's book and outsourced his power to a participating audience. As many users here have clarified time and time again, "Captain Marvel" and "Shazam" are both trademarked by DC, even if Billy himself is in public domain (as are Billy, Billy, and Billy), so be careful what you use in marketing, promotional material, front covers, etc.

Doctor John Dolittle (The Story of Doctor Dolittle, 1920)

An English physician who, through his pet parrot Polynesia, learned to speak the same language as animals and used this newfound skill to become a veterinarian, even going on grand adventures where exotic animals wait to be discovered! I wasn't sure about this entry at first -- I had seen him depicted as such in illustrations, but only through Public Domain Superheroes Wiki did I learn the source material referred to him as being 'round' explicitly. Never would have known it from any of the three film iterations, but that's Hollywood for you. (RIP, best Doctor Dolittle: Sammy Davis Jr.) And apparently he's still a rather athletically capable fellow, despite what his name suggests.

Meatball (Daredevil Comics #13, 1942, copyright unrenewed)

This pudgy, sweater-vested orphan was one Daredevil's crew of sidekicks, the Lil Wise Guys... for just two issues. What happened in #15, you may ask? He died of pneumonia. No, seriously! The grief of it even caused one of its other members, bald kid Curly, to defect from the group only to join back up the next issue, willing to prove himself to his now-reluctant teammates. Given just how many issues of Daredevil Comics there, this may be a situation similar to Jason Todd (pre-2005) where the character's death serves the story & characters more than his actions.

Well, that's all I have right now. It's a lot compared to most listicles, but considering just how impossibly many pieces of fiction exist out there, it's almost weird to have to dig this deep for this many. If you can name anymore, or you've spotted a mistake I made, be sure to bring it up in the comments down below!

submitted by Open_Bluebird5080 to publicdomain [link] [comments]

2023.11.21 02:36 eyeplague I’m completely out of touch with my heritage as an America.

I’m mixed Filipino on my mother’s side and we were both born and raised in America with American culture.
It wasn’t until I was in high school when I learned about my Filipino heritage and it was kind of a weird eye opening moment for me. Like so many things in my life made sense suddenly. Why kids pulled their eyes back at me growing up, why I was constantly asked where I’m “really from” and small comments like that.
Even as an adult now, it’s become normal for people to ask me “Hey so… What Are You?” or make sly comments about my “racial ambiguity”. It’s become pretty tiring and most of the time I’ll lie to people and just tell them I’m completely white (there Are plenty of white genes in me so I guess technically not lying.) because it spares the both of us from my tale of being mixed but being absolutely disconnected from my culture.
It just makes me feel bad when I think about it.
I was at a Club Fair on campus earlier this semester and saw a stand for Filipino students starting a club and I shy’d away so fast. I don’t look like them but according to most full white people, I don’t look like them either. I never grew up with the culture, I don’t know Tagalog and I know nothing about the history of the Philippines itself.
The past year I’ve tried really hard to get even just a little in touch with my roots. I’ve tried learning recipes, learning about traditional fashion and listening to popular artists but I kind of just feel like a liar. Like I’m appropriating their culture and I just give up. Every single time.
Idk I wish I could talk to my mom about this but she’s in the same boat as I am- even worse, she desperately tries to cling onto any Asian culture EXCEPT for Filipino culture. (Korean, Chinese, etc..) Also, we’re not exactly on good terms and are basically little to no contact with each other.
My boyfriend constantly tries to encourage me to do research or befriend more Filipino people so I can start learning about my heritage and embrace it more but I feel like it’s not the same. I can’t relate to any Filipino experiences and I’m certainly too old to start acting like I do.
idk. It kind of sucks.

submitted by eyeplague to offmychest [link] [comments]

2023.10.05 09:23 Chalchram Any suggestions for Tagalog media?

Hey I'm trying to learn to speak Tagalog and I want to know any good movies or shows I can watch because all I can find are romantic films, rom-coms and drama movies and I'm not really into that stuff. For example, what helped me a lot with Spanish was shows like "Narcos" because I already knew the very basics of Spanish from school but listening to the show and reading the subtitles really helped! It also helped that most of my friends are Hispanic, but at this point I have no Filipino friends to learn from and practice with. I am taking a language course but that can only do so much because of course there are different ways of saying something and some might be more common or easier or there might be slang and different abbreviations and pronunciations and stuff. Any help would be much appreciated, I'm into war movies, historic tales, sci-fi, some action, stand up comedy, adventure, biopics. Also any music suggestions because so far I've only been able to find one song that immediately got stuck in my head (Ako na lang - Zia Quizon), otherwise if I try to start a radio with that song, it either sends me to, a completely different genre in Tagalog, other languages like Indonesian or Thai songs, or stuff I already listen to in Spanish. Sorry if this has been asked before, if so, link me to the post please...

submitted by Chalchram to Tagalog [link] [comments]

2023.08.09 14:55 Naive_Duty220 Austronesian (?) Malay Archipelago (??) Maritime Southeast Asian Hero (???) Idea. Just trying my luck if they see this.

PREFACE - I honestly have no idea how to use reddit but the only reason I am using it now is to convey an idea I've been having for years to be put into For Honor yet have doubted myself. I remember a time where I was skeptical and somewhat laughing at people suggesting of a duelist, pirate, pistol-wielding character or an Inquisitor into the game and Aztecs because it felt so out of place on what the theme was (this was what I was thinking before Wu Lin came out).
Fast forward to the current day, these characters came into a reality and I was just baffled. So instead of keeping the idea to myself, best I share it to whoever is reading this and hopefully For Honor can eventually add this character.
______________________________
Now to the actual thing. The idea I wish to suggest is an Austronesian Hero; specifically Maritime Southeast Asia/Austronesian/Malay(outdated term). Before I wanted to do this, I've been searching if anyone else has been doing this but it is not to the best way of describing, so instead I will share several pictures and sketches I've made to convey the suggestion easier.
This is the base character concept sketch. The name will be talked about later.
The picture above would be the base gear concept for the Hero. This outfit has been taken inspiration from all sides of the archipelago with the best intention to not make it too specific to which region.
To SEAsians we are many, some may say too diverse. There is more than just standard Peninsular Malays, Jawa, Sulawesi, Kalimantanese, Tagalogs, Waray, Igorot and etc. While we are clumped into the same continent, we are very much diverse yet have some similarities between each other. The point of this character is to portray that.
Because we (SEAsians) know that if only 1 country gets represented; e.g: Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, the other brother is sulking. Malaysia and Indonesia been on it for years but even then sometimes people forget Brunei in the middle. (Lmao)
As for Ubisoft's team, this will make the designing, representation and development(?) of the character easier. And lets be honest, they tend to get things mixed up even when we don't asked them to like the Ocelotl having Cuauthli gear when the Hero is named after the Jaguar warriors.
This hero would (hopefully) makes things easier and (really hope) make Maritime Southeast Asians happy (Lmao).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Headwear

First of all is the headgear. This headwrap is shared all across Maritime Southeast Asia.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ppk7qsdLHmI/VOn2po-OpII/AAAAAAAAAwI/GaTROBHEDAg/w1600/rupa-iket.jpg - In Indonesia, since there are so many ethnicities, the come in various names but most commonly known as Udeng (Bali), Totopong (Sundanese), some style may come across to a Javanese Blangkon as well.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DelEEFUU0AELrDD?format=jpg&name=large - In the Philippines, most common name for it would be the Pudong-pudong/Potong-potong. This is worn in the Tagalog fashion.
https://scontent.fkul15-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/361615010_727559692507277_3417615831445810768_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&cb=99be929b-59f725be&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=58Rw9t2gzVEAX_d2jfn&_nc_ht=scontent.fkul15-1.fna&oh=00_AfCtiXadsx0OjlcLXicBaMraC6pLoZ2PGDQ4b9_G9rCRRA&oe=64D8DA6E - Where as this was based over the Visayan variant.
https://scontent.fkul15-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/117343439_658165944800510_5998933485280482039_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&cb=99be929b-59f725be&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=9267fe&_nc_ohc=80OH5_X75AsAX8R_mw8&_nc_ht=scontent.fkul15-1.fna&oh=00_AfBICAivuroP7Y3RIl5pxtTqRvcRU2lp05cLQTROgD6sAA&oe=64FB1BAC - In Peninsular Malaysia, it is commonly known as a Semutar.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Iban_Dayak_Couple.jpg - Even other interior ethnic group (this example focuses on Borneo/Brunei/Kalimantan region) wore it like the Dayak Labung/Lawung/Lavuung (worn by the man)
The idea of the headwear is a simple wrap. Yes, there are more elaborate styles but bear with me, this post isn't short (lmao). Since its the beginning stage, most of the items are a pretty basic piece of gear used by the ethnicities in the area.

Torso

While one can argue, the time of most MSEAsian ancestors were topless, I don't think Ubisoft will allow it. Even the Raider and Gladiator have some straps going around their chest so this is a mere suggestion instead. Something bare yet covered, a vest garment. This is also known by many names.
https://scontent.fkul15-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/300998105_832372091459760_4477620795629115203_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&cb=99be929b-59f725be&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=dd63ad&_nc_ohc=6np4TkS97pQAX_RztHj&_nc_ht=scontent.fkul15-1.fna&oh=00_AfAoz8CExFrYujdLKLNrHbBYGX5TPpW7g3PrlFJiKaqZ4Q&oe=64D7FDD3 - In the Philippines, it is known as a Kangan**.**
https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6ggrvKu1K1rsqusgo1_500.jpg - But these had sleeves. We will get there.
https://down-my.img.susercontent.com/file/8c69d345ff2ba358e9f9969ba3f525cc - In Peninsular Malaysia, it is known formally as a Baju Layang/Sikap or Tekua. Sometimes there can be sleeves as well.
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l7isV9TDyDQ/UJFRo1goTTI/AAAAAAAAAXE/uybPhuPKnkI/s1600/PSGD+(10).jpg.jpg) - These examples are too extravagant for the base gear so we will pick this up later on.

There are common variants too but it is what anyone would just call a shirt
https://scontent.fkul15-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/117836959_178163817081533_2602503238476884130_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&cb=99be929b-59f725be&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=XrX2xo6uzrgAX8Tt0-S&_nc_ht=scontent.fkul15-1.fna&oh=00_AfB3D7_3N4-p7JSOmFzsNrZ0Xeezr0VNMRIcg0VsyW-cCw&oe=64FB13CB - The best example would be from the Dayak Kelambi or sometimes known as Baju Burung.
https://www.yuksinau.id/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Pakaian-Adat-Suku-Nias-Baru-Oholu-dan-Oraba-Si-Oli.jpg - Then there is the Nias variant of Baru Oholu/Oroba as well
The reason for why I picked these type of vest/jacket-like garment is to at least show some chest while keeping the character covered and keeping more negative space within the character to add jewelry for more dynamic into the gear.
As for why I picked the sleeveless variants is because For Honor has the Arm gear which the Torso cannot manipulate. So the only suggestion I can give is; while following current FH gear trends, that the sleeved variants could be the alternate variants which I also have a sketch. The plain jacket is meant for the player to add any chest/back paint customisations, higher legendary gear would be adorn by the linings and embroidery.
https://i.redd.it/kl9usp4rvxdz.jpg
Some people may ask as to why not add historically evidenced torso like the closed Kangans we see in the Boxer Codex, which I would simply reply. Its honestly too plain, even with adding embroidery, it just felt short
https://farm2.static.flickr.com/1034/1391805551_3800127508.jpg
Even with a variant like how these Igorot men wear, unless done with intricate designs and jewelry will it make the character feel full. Otherwise it will be bland and too weird(?). Examples like the Aramusha, while he is wearing a casual Yukata/Shitagi/Samue at times, it felt full because of his tattoos, stitches, layers and overall ruggedness. Same with the Kyoshin, the Kamishimo he wears had layers over it which makes it feel full.
This part could continue to be discussed later on when talking about the legs.
There is another inspiration but it is highly controversial.
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BHXPkSWI_KQ/Vlr7JwuZt9I/AAAAAAAAEGY/REOyGRjxKTQ/s1600/baju-kebal.jpg - This vest would be known as Baju Kebal which meant Thick/Armoured Shirt.
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KPm9kK7x3Vc/UMYcTzW_ZhI/AAAAAAAAB3o/824O2YGaDxU/s1600/geliga+kinabalu+11+018.jpg - This one would be called Baju Wafaq.

The main idea for the torso was this padded vest which is typically worn by the time. The reason its called armoured is because of the Quranic/Arabic inscriptions embroidered on the vest which is believed to serve some protection to the wearer. This however is going to far into the spiritual/religious aspect of the MSEAsian ideology, but is hardly religious at all as the religion practiced doesn't even encourage this and is now categorised as sorcery/heresy to have this equipped. Hence why I opted the casual shirt instead.

LegsThis part cannot be equipped as its always paired with the torso gear but the legs gave me quite a ramble in the head as to pick which one would be suitable for this base gear so I sketched a few to give some of you all some opinions to it as well.

Starting from the top to bottom: Sarung, SeluaSalwal/Salawal, Sarung & Celana, Bahag/Sirat/Cawat
The first one would be a typical Sarung/Malung/Kain. Typically it is worn long and in Peninsular Malay customs, if you wore it above the knee, its either you're a serving warrior (since warriors need maximum maneuverability) or unmarried and if worn below the knee, you're married.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c3/e1/34/c3e134b9c8e684fb85ad151e76de5fa7.jpgI figured if worn like how most nowadays wear long, it is rather uncomfortable. Even for myself, when performing martial arts while only wearing it, I tend to tie it short as it will limit my steps at times. But I also took inspiration on HighlandeGladiator Kilt length which is around the knees which will also give some negative space for some added dynamic layers to the character.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Diety_wearing_Chang_Kben%2C_Phnom_Da%2C_Angkor_Borei%2C_Cambodia.jpgThe second type of pants would be the Salwal/SeluaSalawal variant which is heavily influenced by Indian culture since we were once a strong appreciator(?) at the time before Islam became the dominating influence.
While worn somewhat like a loincloth, it is long enough that it resembles more of regular pants than what is usually accustomed.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Siamese_boatman%2C_Siam_%28Thailand%29._Wellcome_L0055805.jpg/800px-Siamese_boatman%2C_Siam_%28Thailand%29._Wellcome_L0055805.jpgNowadays the only people who tends to wear it are Mainland SEAsians like Thailand and their Kben. (Of course India still wear it as well since its from them, just in case if someone got offended I did not mention them.)
https://www.mandarinmansion.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/aceh%20warriors.jpeg
https://archive.mandarinmansion.com/images/peudeueng/aceh-warriors1.jpg
https://assets.filipinaslibrary.org.ph/uploads/2018/11/maguindanao-datus.png
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/13/28/72/1328724fc81930e430e5f27ce3e3c71e.jpg
The third one would be a combination of the Kain and pants worn underneath. This one mostly appeared when Islam had influence over most of MSEA cultures.https://s3.tvstv.my/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ngajat-1080x600-1.jpg
Alas, the last one would be the loincloth but I specifically picked the longer model since its more longer which kinda makes it look cooler (impo) adds more movement to the character's appearance when running/walking.

Arms

Nowadays FH only implement ornaments on the Hero's shouldeupper arm area and like many heroes we have seen recently, they've always had this plate on them. Fortunately enough, MSEAsians already loved this garment because its a typical jewelry one wears for special occasions nowadays or was historically of noble jewelry.
https://i0.wp.com/www.romadecade.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Tari-Karonsih.jpg?fit=750%2C600&ssl=1
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Aq-e1sIzMGU/W8iNCiJks9I/AAAAAAAABSs/ZEZRmn1g538aTVF9AaM7uJGILm_Yy4RigCLcBGAs/s1600/tari-lambangsih.jpg
These are mostly from the influence of MSEA Hindu-Buddhist past.
http://www.baotanglichsutphcm.com.vn/Data/Sites/1/News/127/bvqg-10-ok.jpg - A sculpture of Avalokitesvara as an example.
Another example which everyone is accustomed to is the Muay Thai/Boran Prajied/Prajiut arm band. While most common in Thailand, Northern Peninsular Malayans and Coastal Malay Borneons does have these charms too. Not in the same manner as today but as it was historically. Cloth from loved ones or uhhh... sorcery(?)-imbued scriptures.
https://www.educatepark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/mae-mai-muay-thai-i-nao-taeng-grit-217x300.jpg
So in terms of ornamentation, this hero will have a lot of references to pull from. But in this sketch, I particularly favour the simpler kelat bahu (arm ring).
https://150103294.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/4-Ifugao_Centipede_Tattoo.jpg
As for the gauntlets... this is another stump I got myself into again. According to FH trends, every Hero including a culture that doesn't really wear gauntlets like Medjay, Vikings or even the Pirate, they will still include them with it along with greaves. So in order to make it seem acceptable, the only type of arm guards I can think of would be an accessory from the Baju Bodo. Yeah that's it unless anyone have any other ideas.
https://scontent.fkul15-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/98202997_1178562409150206_5260340313368559616_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&cb=99be929b-59f725be&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=nKd-XdsnHG4AX_ZCmwD&_nc_ht=scontent.fkul15-1.fna&oh=00_AfDZ2mHRjlgjtYwLPM1OTtUQDB75VAgGj59u5sWEHVAlew&oe=64FAED39
The only addition I can make to match the atmosphere is the bandages. But in order to make it more common to the culture, it isn't just plain bandages but somewhat of a charm (tangkal/pengaruh/ajimat) band wrapped around the guards.
https://abuhumayd.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/azimat-d-balut-dengan-kain-merah-jaga-badan.jpg
Now of course as the Baju Kebal before, making it Arabic will make it controversial, as for making it Thai... idk but then it will feel specific to that region so we can then introduce a great bridge scripture of the archipelago. Kawi.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Copy_of_a_stone_stele_written_in_Kawi_script.jpg/550px-Copy_of_a_stone_stele_written_in_Kawi_script.jpg - Example of Kawi script, even found as far as the Philippines with the Laguna Copperplate.

Other accessories

If you were to refer the initial sketch oncemore, you can notice these circles that cover the chest. This is a necklace (Kalung) but specifically a charm. In the olden days, the understanding of religion is very different today and back then, anything that can give an edge was accepted even to the point of stand-like abilities(lmao). Anyways, olden day necklace charms may come in various shapes but I was particularly inspired by this specific one seen worn by the man on the left.
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/0d/f2/1d/0df21d09e316dfb4fe28a462dc07b675.jpg
Now I am not accusing this man wearing a charm but this particular style does not seem specifically targeted to an ethnic group within the continent hence it is my choice to put it in since it is unique by itself while being simple.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-s03wWGwD4-g/UQ-3zQLBw4I/AAAAAAAAHIU/HZ_exMjE-TM/s640/blogger-image--426775837.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UWLW8hsihOY/SvjRKEhoPaI/AAAAAAAAAN8/4atuVryvMcc/s1600/coin+antik+001.jpg - You can make it complicated too as coin charms are rather the norm in the area.
There can be other examples like this shell necklace by the Dayak which is not specific as well.
https://preview.redd.it/zfkqcd5gd3hb1.png?width=215&format=png&auto=webp&s=a882e942c195e72cd76631d36c5fe3a4acb9d5ff
Another if you can notice is a line or thread behind the necklace as well, this is based of another charms that some people wear around their waist/belly too. Beliefs of this item may vary. But here is such an example.
https://assets.hmetro.com.my/images/articles/Copy_of_foreign-azimat_HMfield_image_listing_featured_v2.var_1658960121.jpg
Going below that now, we can see a sash (cindai/selendang/bengkung) that is worn under the belt. This is just a simple sash if were being honest. There are tales of people back then using it as a weapon as well and it is commonly worn around too.
https://deadliestblogpage.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/64362-sulu2bwarriors.jpg
https://khalifahgayong.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/aku-dan-gayong-89.jpg?w=584 - This art was lost for a long time and is now only revived but with everything being revived, it is not always the same as it was once intended for as well. Take it with a grain of salt.
The belt is the interesting part however I don't really know the specific name for it except Lampit which is used by the Iban (or Porik? for the Bidayuh) but Peninsular Malays do use it as well, I had seen a picture of some Moro people that wore it as well. But in an even ancient time when the Hindu influence was still around these were made of gold and were done with such finesse too.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Iban_Dayak_Couple.jpg
https://alchetron.com/cdn/datu-108c51c2-39c4-4d2a-b1ef-5aa70a19cb5-resize-750.jpeg
https://media.philstar.com/images/the-philippine-stalifestyle/arts-and-culture/20150831/Philippine-Gold-Surigao-del-Sur.jpg
The calf rings are also typical of the time too, reappearing on the region when the arm bands were still around too, another piece of jewelry I only know the Iban name for; Engkrimuk. But it also seen in the Boxer codex.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DelEEFTUEAARFub.jpg
https://edanantaiban.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/whp_6698.jpg
While I am unsure with references from Jawa, I bet they had them as well but unfortunately I do not know (please do let me know as I am really interested about it).
As for the greaves, I have no idea but the only reference I had was this discovered armour set that is on another reddit post too.
https://preview.redd.it/uflywvre44fa1.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=3b2d2b8cc6abe9fd2d09aad0b0e05f754a37eb21
And yea that is it for this base gear.
____
LEGENDARY ALTERNATE VARIANT
This would be the Legendary alternate variant
As you can see it does somewhat resemble the original while keeping the vest and as mentioned before, the sleeved version could be the alternate variant instead. Since the FH trend for alternates tend to be either something that gives more colour, I added a shirt underneath the Jacket and pants that could contrast the paint pattern done on the jacket or vice versa. But since I am in the topic, why not we go through it a bit

Headwear

This is based on more extravagant headwraps.
https://assets.hmetro.com.my/images/articles/0412rstanjakkk_1681282838.jpg - Peninsular Malay & West Coast Borneon Malays Tengkolok/DestaTanjak

Makassar Patonro/Passapu
https://cdn1-production-images-kly.akamaized.net/j8lmr9OLx1bvaXIaAy8RfrDaNzI=/1200x675/smart/filters:quality(75):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/kly-media-production/medias/1542414/original/024925500_1490064044-pasapu.jpg:strip_icc():format(jpeg)/kly-media-production/medias/1542414/original/024925500_1490064044-pasapu.jpg) - I find this headwear funny in the Malay context because this is a cultural wear for the Bugis people.
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/6e/5c/ba/6e5cba0914fac3f86d66cbdd28f90f11.jpg
But in Malaysia, this is a specific style for a Tanjak called Bugis Tak Balik which literally meant "The Bugis that didnt go back/home." (Context was that a lot of Bugis came to Malaya, mostly in Johor which is why there is a lot of Bugis descendants in the area)
Another example would be the Moro Tubaw
https://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/Moro%20Datu%20and%20Wife%20early%201900s.jpg
Something a bit more extravagant to reward the players for playing this hero thus far.

Jewelry & Textile

The necklace this time is a proper jewelry and not just a charm which is influenced by dokoh/kalung type of necklaces that appeared around the Hindu-Buddhist period and is still worn today for special occasions
https://kovermagz.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/1615522021-55616d990423bd24568b4567.jpg
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zfx-Z6zxMGc/UJCjsFm6coI/AAAAAAAAAfE/z0AgtQ5h7Fo/s1600/baju+layang,+baju+kutang,+dokoh,+keris.jpg
https://images.tokopedia.net/img/cache/500-square/VqbcmM/2022/6/20/7191dec7-0e34-411b-a55a-8fe17b139cb2.jpg
The textile is a luxurious Tenun (woven fabric) of a Songket/Pileh/Jongkit. It is not simply embroidered but it is done with metallic threads. Typically gold or silver which can be altered by the material slot like Zhanhu.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Ceremoni%C3%ABle_omslagdoek_TMnr_5957-3.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/Tenunan_songket_khas_Minangkabau.jpg/1024px-Tenunan_songket_khas_Minangkabau.jpg
An image of a Tagalog Kangan above also shows the usage of the textile.

Footwear

As for footwear, typically we don't wear it but when we do most of it came from India. One example; I cant find a MSEA image in Google, was a slippeshoe similar to a Jutti. Im not so sure what the name exactly is other than the word Kasut. But Jawa has a variant of it called Canela which either could be related or not I'm not sure.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/King_Rama_in_full_Regalia.jpg
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cvVV1onyWI0/Vuy_NAyfrCI/AAAAAAAAALY/fZwCTOOso0EPFmsb5w02VBb8JdeOADViA/s1600/IMG_20160312_184549.jpg
Another would be the Terompah Sepit/Kedau which is also... from India
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Paduka.jpg
And last but not least, the Capal... you guessed it.
https://down-my.img.susercontent.com/file/8f0faa09bac463402f2844173f2ff2c6
As mentioned prior, shoes was a luxury and most would rather be fine without them. Berserker may have a barefoot set but I imagine it may be hard so its only available for him so the only compromise I can think of is any random sandal could do too.
I'm really uninformed in regards to the topic of footwear, many apologies.
>>> Next post - https://www.reddit.com/forhonocomments/15nayhh/maritime_southeast_asian_hero_idea_part_ii/

submitted by Naive_Duty220 to forhonor [link] [comments]

2023.07.06 20:47 thisishardcore_ DLC concept #5: 'Tales from the Pacific'

And we're back once again with our fifth DLC concept instalment. This edition, we're returning to Asia. The new civs, Polynesians, Tagalog and Siamese are somewhat loosely connected, but they are all Pacific civs. And for the pre-existing civ campaign, what better "Pacific" campaign than the Japanese? Also it will see the introduction of the Oceanian architecture set.
JAPANESE (Campaign)
A lot of people think Oda Nobunaga or Toyotomi Hideyoshi would be perfect Japanese campaign protagonists, and while I don't disagree, I feel they've already been covered in Kyoto. So my pitch is the Hojo Clan, in which you will mop up the last remnants of the Genpei War (thus making it a direct sequel to Kurikara) before defending Japan from the Mongol invasions. Just I said like my Zhu Di campaign idea, we need more campaigns where we see those darned Mongols get their comeuppance!
POLYNESIANS
Spearhead invasions of the final uncharted remnants of the known world. Colonise the last pieces of land up for grabs. Use your naval prowess to secure your place on the throne of Tonga.
An often requested civ, and a rather unusual choice, the Polynesians are a civ who you can imagine don't have a great deal of recorded history about them. They are an umbrella civ that represent the various tribes in the Polynesia region during the AoE II timeframe. A campaign about the various T'ui Tonga, a monarch title of the Tonga area, would be quite fitting. Given the nature of the geography of Polynesia, they are a naval civ.
Architecture: Oceanian
Language: Samoan
Tech Tree: Cavalry Archers, Hand Cannoneer, Parthian Tactics, Cavalry Armor Techs, Heavy Scorpion, Bombard Cannon, Fervor, Block Printing, Theocracy, Crop Rotation, Guilds, Siege Engineers, Bombard Tower, Cannon Galleon, Heavy Demolition Ship
UT: 1. Seafarer: Can create Catamaran. 2. Miracles of Mo ai: Villager building speed increased
UU: 1. Patu Warrior: Maori light infantry which can cause enemy to lose attackspeed for two seconds when engaging melee . 2. Catamaran: Anti-building warship
Wonder: Moai
Bonuses

Start the game with an Eagle Scout
Fishing ships don't need docks to drop off food
Fishing ships gather wood equal to food from shore fish (if the above cant be coded)
Galley line has +2/4/8 attack vs buildings in Feudal/Castle/Imperial age
Eagle warrior upgrades are half price
Team bonus: Infantry take -20% population space

SIAMESE
Form the Kingdom of Siam and spread Buddhist fervor. Use your diverse army of elephants, infantry and gunpowder to repel invasions.
When Rise of the Rajas was released, my initial thought was that there is a great big huge glaring Thailand/Siam shaped hole in the game. So, 'Tales from the Pacific' makes up for that and fulfils my...Siamese Dream (get it, Smashing Pumpkins fans?) Because of their history, they are a defensive civ along with, as you can imagine, an elephant civ. Their protagonist is Maha Chakkraphat, defender of the Ayyuthayan kingdom against the Burmese, and provides a good mirror to Bayinnaung.
Architecture: South East Asian
Language: Thai
Tech Tree: Arbalester, Heavy Cavalry Archer, Parthian Tactics, Halberdier, Eagle Scout, Hussar, Paladin, Camel, Steppe Lancer, Siege Ram, Siege Onager, Heavy Scorpion, Galleon, Heavy Demolition Ship, Arrowslits, Treadmill crane
UT: 1. Naresuans Elephant: Elephants get bonus damage against elephant and move faster. 2. Kapampangan Mercenaries: Spearman line costs no food
UU: Ayutthyan Royal Guard: Champion unit, being garrisoned in a castle or defensive building makes it strong giving it increased damage and building armour. Also garrisoned building fire arrows
Wonder: Wat Mahthat
Bonuses

Town Centers cost -25%
Battle Elephants, Knights affected by Supplies
Castles recieve +75% Hp from building Hp upgrades
Barracks cost -75 wood
Repairers work 20% faster
Team Bonus: Gunpowder units +2 line of sight

TAGALOG
Your military is versatile, a real force to be reckoned with both on sea and land. Hop islands as you seize control over all of the Phillippine sea
I always felt a Filipino civ would nicely complete the SEA set, but when I have pitched "the Filipinos" in the past, I was subsequently informed that 'the Phillippines' is a postcolonial name and so an AoE II civ with that name would be anachronistic. After much ruminating, I thought I would settle for naming them after the language commonly spoken on that particular archipelago. The Tagalog are an infantry and naval civ, and for their campaign, Lapulapu, prate raider turned hero who fought off Spanish invasions would be a cool choice.
Architecture: South East Asian
Language: Tagalog
Tech Tree: Arbalester, Heavy Cav Archer, Elephant Archer, Parthian Tactics, Gambesons, Eagles, Paladin, Camels, Steppe Lancer, Battle Elephant, Plate Mail Armor, Siege Ram, Siege Onager, Fast Fire Ship, Treadmill crane, Architecture, Arrowslits
UT: 1. Mga Kawal: Militia and Maharlika lines take 25% less damage. 2. Hukbong Dagat: Warships gain +5 damage
UU: Maharlika: A powerful Skirmisher-type unit
Wonder: Daru Jambagan
Bonuses

Melee units gain +1 damage per 25% HP missing (starting in Feudal Age)
War Galleys are 20%/40% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age
Two Handed Swordsman available in Castle Age
Fishing Ships take no population space
Town Center technologies can be researched from Mills

Team Bonus
Walls and Towers are built 50% faster

submitted by thisishardcore_ to aoe2 [link] [comments]

2023.05.25 13:52 comfycal 26 [M4A] Fil-Am who's curious about the small parts of your daily life

Hiya! Just as the title says, I'm a Filipino-American wanting to listen to stories about the small, often unamusing parts of your day to day life.
Perhaps tales of a recent shopping trip, complaints about your commute, or how you whipped up a tastier-than-usual scrambled egg... I'd love if you shared your experiences with me. This can range from being weekly penpals, an online chat buddy, or just random guy you talk to messaged once. My shortcoming with all this, is that I'm not an experienced conversationalist.
And lastly, I'm in America, so we can't hang out in person unfortunately. I'll definitely be visiting the motherland some time in the future though. 👀
About me:

- Straight, Cis M
- Prefer text (discord or reddit mail) but can use voice when I feel comfortable with you.
- Slow replies, sorry. But if you catch me at the right time, I can talk for a good hour or two.
- 1/10 Looks. Putting this just in case you don't talk to uggos.
- Typical weeb interests: anime, manga, VNs, JP culture, JP music, admiring fashion, vtubers, gaming - If you wanna know more, we can talk~
- Artist. Peek at my profile to see a few drawings.
- Bicolano blood.
- Currently homebody/shut-in - however you'd like to perceive it
- Non-religious. I'll respect any kind as long as its teachings don't discriminate against any groups of people.
- INFP-T, if you're into that

About you:

- Lives in PH (i wanna hear ph-specific stories)
- 18+ as per rediquette.
- (optional) Send pics semi-often? Can be food, random scenery, the sky, your pet, etc.
- On the off-chance we hang out in the future: No Smoking please.
- I don't mind if you're awkward, chat slowly, or don't have the best english. I can understand a good amount of Taglish also. (full tagalog is where i'll nosebleed, ehe)

Just please don't hold hateful ideologies. Interpersonal relationships issues and trauma dumping are another thing... I can listen, but can't offer good advice for that.
If interested, maybe tell me about the yummiest thing you ate this past week. Or you can share your interests? o/

submitted by comfycal to PhR4Friends [link] [comments]

2023.05.16 12:11 EntireLi_00 The two different E's in Malay and how to pronounce it.

If you're learning to read and pronounce Malay, here is one tip for you:
But before that let's recap what you know; The Standard Malay alphabet (Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei) is the same as English alphabet and also uses the English name for each letters. There are five vowel letters but there are six vowel sounds in Malay. One of the vowel letter has two distinct sound.
e (e taling aka "Normal e or é" : ⟨e⟩ and ⟨ɛ⟩
e (e pepet aka "Schwa e" : ⟨ə⟩ (It's in the name pəpət)

"e in the first syllable is pronounced ə most* of the time. Including all the prefixes."

Example
Selamat= Slamat
Kerbau= kr-bau
Keris= Kris
Ten-tera= tn-tra
Sedap= Sdap
Mesti= Ms-ti
Emak= -'mak
Se-kata= skata
Ber-satu= br-satu
Per-satu-an= pr-satuan
Me-nyatu-kan= m-nyatukan
Me-ngata-kan= m-ngatakan
Negeri Terengganu= N-gri Trng-ganu etc.
Why is it it's own letter? Because it is a distinct sound and they are their own syllable. Eg: Ten- te- ra, Se- la- mat. Compare to non-syllable schwa sound. Eg: Trak- tor, Dwi- Ba- ha- sa. (Mostly loanwords)
(A little bit of history, In Old Malay, the modern e in the first syllable mostly used to have an sound, and that is also how we get Selamat from Arabic Salāmat^un from later century. If you know Tagalog, their language system have cognates with Malay that still use ⟨a⟩ like Kalabaw for Kerbau, Kalis for Keris etc. I think Meng- is a cognate of Tagalog prefix Mag- but not sure)
This is just one "rule", Please remember that it's not a fixed "rule" and not always. You still need to familiar with the words themselves. One of the reason is to avoid homographs eg:
Perang= prang (war)
Perang= pérang (brown).
Sepak=Spak (slap)
Sepak= Sépak (kick, like in ball)
(Originally copied from a Youtube comment and edited by me)

submitted by EntireLi_00 to bahasamelayu [link] [comments]

2023.05.10 14:51 DreamEnabler08 Planning to borrow books.

Hello! Ito po ilan sa mga books na nakita ko sa school library namin and balak ko sanang hiramin. 'Yung madali lang sanang intindihin kapag binasa.😭 Puro tagalog books (and wattpad) nandito sa kwarto ko (na marami pang hindi nababasa hahaha) tapos ilan lang yung english books.
-A Tale of two cities -Rose Madder (Stephen King) -Great English stories (Christopher Ishepwood) -Don Quixote (Cervantes) -Crime and punishment (Dostoyevsky) -100 years of solitude (Gabriel -The Picture of Dorian gray and other writings (Oscar wilde) -The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis)

submitted by DreamEnabler08 to PHBookClub [link] [comments]

2023.04.09 20:35 Flametang451 Pluralism in a Quranic Context, a tale of two Egypt's (The Tale of the Sage of Dreams, The Lonely Lover of the Seven Doors, the Eleven Brothers of Sorrowful Wrath, The Exception of Divine Mercy in Nineveh, and the Political Drama of the Lady of the Sun in Saba, and the Disbelievers

Asalamualaikum,
Looking at the quran, as well as general islamic currents of thought on other faiths, it seems to me there are three trends- 1) exclusivism in totality (surah tawbah is typically used for this), 2) pluralism that has expired with Islam abrogating everything (mostly common in orthodox circles today), and 3) actual pluralism (typically seems to be found more commonly in historical sufi circles)
It is in the 3rd point that I will be discussing- though not to refute it. The quran seems to imply in verses like 5:48 that each nation has it's own way set for them. Verses like 10:99 imply if god wanted everybody to believe- they would and that's not what god wants (though 10:100 also makes believing sound less like a choice and more like a divinely ordained coin flip- which carries some odd implications over exactly how does one punish a person who is being made to feel and believe as they do), and the implication that there are plural paths of peace in other verses. Other verses like 2:111-112 also seem to object to the idea that certain groups would have heaven to themselves (there are others in this vein as well elsewhere in the quran).
Typically, most muslims would extend this idea of pluralism to those with scriptures- while this traditionally (and in the modern day sense) extends to the jews and christians (and sometimes not even that due to accusations of shirk over the trinity and tahrif), other views have held those of the dharmic faiths and elsewhere (like the magians) were people of the book too. The sabians- who have ever remained a mystery- being associated with star exalting gnostics all the way to jewish splinter sects to the dharmic faiths to regular converts also are another such group of folk.
This of course, tends to be used to draw a line between polytheists and those of the book- one has guidance and one does not. What tends to puzzle me a bit however is the fact that several of these groups are from a muslim perspective, probably committing some level of idolatry. Perhaps on the most famous examples of this is the muslim discourse on that which was decreed in Nicea- the Trinity
The Quranic stories on the Christians- Criticisms to Praise
Typically, when most muslims speak of the trinity, it tends to go something like this "it is incorrect as the quran says they should not say "the third of three". Censure is also given regarding matters of worshipping Jesus or Mary and seeing the former as a physically begotted son of god (to this end, the quran always titles Jesus by his maternal parentage.)
The latter statement is true, but what of the former? Most link the two ideas together, but the quran (while denouncing god as having a physical son in Isa.), seems to give varying and sometimes even contradictory views on the trinitarians.
If we assume that the christians of today are not like those of the early days, then this would actually imply the quran isn't telling the truth in a few places- 61:14 for instance. Here, we see the quran delcaring those who followed Isa won out over those who did not. Yet if this group was that of the jewish-christians who were not pauline christians, then this statement is false- the jewish-christians had faded into obscurity nearly two centuries before Muhammad. It would also imply that the factions of the christians god disliked won in the end and no truth in their community remained- another thing the quran seems to rail at when it criticizes the jewish claims the christians have no basis for their faith (and it does the same for the inversed claim of the christians on the jews, and those who make similar claims from what appear to be other faiths). If the trinity- the very basis for christianity then as it is now- was a clear falsehood- then it would stand to reason that this claim of the jews should have been verified by the quran- not rebuked.
Then there is the fact that the quran has stories which discuss trinitarian Christians' in a positive manner- specifically the story of ashab al kahf (the people of the cave.). Some people may be familiar that this story is also a Christian story known as the sleepers of Ephesus- the popular narrative arguing that seven young Christians in ephesus hid in a cave for several centuries to seek refuge against the decian persecutions against Christians. When considering Ephesus was evangelized by pauline Christians, it is highly likely these Christians' were also trinitarians (the number is never mentioned in the quran explicitly- but there seems to be potential nudge toward the number of seven sleepers- the quran says their being three or five sleepers were idle guesses, but leaves the idea of seven sleepers unchallenged.). Their length of slumber seems to be given at 300 years, though tarried by nine. If we assume this story takes place in the backdrop of the decian persecutions, the sleepers awoke in the reign of the Justinian dynasty- a time when trinitarianism was swiftly considered proper orthodoxy.
It would also imply that the prophet was having relations with a pagan when with Mariam the Copt. Yet this is clearly not how the prophet saw this- and the quran makes it clear those of the christians could be marriage partners (even those who were trinitarian, which were likely the christians in Arabia- most were likely monophysites at the time or some flavor of proto-eastern orthodox, or potentially nestorian or coptic.)
Though in truth, the prophet and Mariam the Copt probably isn't the most interesting relationship to come out of the seerah in regards to the prophet's family. The story of Al-Aas and his marrige to Zainab (the prophet's daughter, not Zaynab bint Jahsh) is equally fascinating in how it crossed religious divides and showcased the deep love between them- indeed it is known that when badr came and Al-Aas was captured, Zainab sent Khadijah's necklace as ransom for him. Despite him being pagan, they loved each other (Al-Aas never capitulated to the Makkans when they pressured him to divorce Zainab, and it is said that Zainab may have been pregnant when leaving Madinah some time after Badr- which in interesting to consider when factoring in edicts like those mentioned in surah mumtahnah. They also never do not seem to have truly divorced at any point.)
In regards to pagans however, the quran seems to give us interesting examples of them- we have those who rejected their prophet altogether (Iram of the Pillars, Thamud of the Cliff-Houses, Madyan of the Thicket, the Cities of the Plain, etc.), then there are those who repent before destruction comes for them (Ninevah in Yunus's time), and those who convert after considering the matter (Saba- the Kingdom of the Sun- in the time of Suleiman). These groups all have something in common- they are typically labelled as having disbelieved/or rejected.
In each of these groups, we tend to see a common trend of events:

the prophet is sent to a community and begins preaching
The community begins splitting itself up between believers and disbelievers
those who do believe usually leave or are forced to after being persecuted
The remainder are punished- whatever towns or civilization they had tends to be wiped off the map.

And while this trend tends to repeat itself quite frequently- there are a few places where this doesn't happen, to the point of being oddly subverted in some places. It is this I seek to discuss in three stories- the people of Saba in the time of Bilqis in Surah Naml, Ninevah in the time of Yunus, and the people of Egypt in the times of Yusuf compared to Musa.
Part 1- The Game of Thrones in Saba, Sorcery, Diplomatic Mind games, Secret Ops, and Subversions- What makes a disbeliever?
In Surah Naml, we are treated to the story of Bilqis- the queen of Saba (Sheba). A propserous nation which stretched from the horn of africa to Yemen, this nation grew rich off the incense and spice trades. The gods worshipped in this land tended to be of the astral variety- the moon in particular was given great reverence in the form of the god almaqah- with at least two temples made for them, the Barran and Awwam Temples. Solar worship was practiced likely through worship of the goddess Shamash if done. The quran seems to lean more towards the people of Saba practicing Solar worship, as we see in the report of the hudhud bird.
What's particularly interesting about the people of Saba is that the quran labels them as a disbelieving people in 27:43. This is a very interesting label to give to those of Saba as there is no implication in the quran that there was no messenger sent to these people- and as the quran states- "never do we punish unless we send a messenger" (17:15). Some have tried to explain this a saying that Saba had messengers in the past they ignored- but then that opens up the question of how the kingdom was not a ruin in the ground.
The Queen of Saba is also a intriguing figure- unlike the many high standing figures that ran into prophets from disbelieving nations which quickly tried to smoke out prophets (example: Firaun), the queen takes a diplomatic approach- even going so far as to counter her advisor's advice to head for war by saying that "whenever kings come to a country, they ruin the land and make it's noblest the lowest, and thus do they do" (27:34). The quran also implies the queen was highly respected among her people- all of her councilmen (who were also potentially generals based on their mention of having "great prowess in war" (27:33) all defer to her command. The queen also showcases a willingness to listen to other opinions by consulting her court in 27:32. Rather than opt for war, she opts to send gifts- likely valuable gems, spices or incenses to see Suleiman's reaction. For a queen of disbelieving folk, she seems remarkably civil.
At this point, the quran shows Suleiman responds befitting of a war hawk and threaten Bilqis with invasion despite her not showing any hostile behavior (some exegetes try to excuse this by arguing that idolatry is not a faith to be respected and you may do whatever you please to such folk- which is a very interesting stance considering it makes no sense scripturally- there may be a explanation for this behavior in Suleiman's letter to the queen- the mention of him saying "do not exalt yourself against me" seems to imply Saba may have been expanding- and Israel may have been in the way- though it also seems neither country had contact with each other based on the hudhud bird's speech.
Most curiously however, is how the queen responds after she sees her disguised throne which had been swiped from Saba likely by some blessed human or a faithful jinn (whoever they were they were stronger than an ifrit- they brought the throne from Saba to Jeruseleum in the blink of an eye rather than the time it would take for Suleiman to rise off his throne). Depending on translations, 27:42 has Bilqis speaking the entire time implying she had been won over, alongside her chiefs, by Suleiman without him doing anything. She later repents in the glass palace inlaid with water- but the question should still remain- how does a nation that likely had no prophet disbelieve? And if they had past prophets they rejected, how did they remain standing?
This seems to also tie into how some of the many other disbelieving nations are mentioned- each of them seems to have serious issues beyond just religion.
Iram? Mentioned as likely being aggressive imperialists seeking unjust dominance (41:15).
Thamud? Based on how they slew the camel of the cliffs (potentially while it was nursing it's child)- they likely weren't fond of treating the vulnerable nicely.
The Cities of the Plain? While many will argue it was their sexual behavior that did them in in regards to their choice of gender- reading the story alongside the story of the Outrage/Horror of Gibeah of the book of Judges makes the story potentially imply the cities were steeped in a xenophobic culture that glorified serial rapists attacking travelers in mobs. Either view also implies they were serial highway robbers.
The people of the thicket in Madyan? Highway Robbery and rampant trade fraud- likely to enrich those who were already rich beyond counting.
The ruling nobles of the Pharaoh of Egypt in the time of Musa? Literal genocide, narcissism gone overboard, and mass oppression and enslavement- likely to the point of targeting their own people (28:38 seems to imply the pharoh might have done away with the traditional egyptian faith- the magicians he arranged to duel musa might have been forced on pain of torture to put on shows- 20:73).
Some may counter with the issue of Nuh- but even there, the accusation of disbelief is often levied upon those who engage in grave actions- not just of the religious variety, but just in general. It is also a trait not simply layered upon pagans- the jews and Christians' are given it in cases- so it is not simply a trait that those who do not believe in god have. Most of the people labelled as disbelievers don't seem to have been your average non muslim off the street- unlike how kafir is often used routinely on almost anybody not muslim, and even sometimes on muslims with differing opinions these days in some circles.
Of course, if Saba was a case of a ruler of a disbelieving nation somehow managing to convert, Ninevah is weirder in how it managed to swing itself out of hot water at the last minute.
Part 2- Dhul-Nun and the Exceptional Grace of Ninevah- Subversions of the punishment narrative
If Saba in Surah Naml is an example of a nation that somehow converted despite being disbelievers, Ninevah is a nation that somehow escaped punishment when it really shouldn't have. The quran implies Ninevah, out of all the towns that saw punishments, was the only one that ever decided to believe (10:98)- the traditional narratives imply dark storm clouds had begun hovering around the city and the Assyrians and others in the city remembered what Yunus had spoke of and repented (the book of Jonah goes into greater detail of the nature of this repentance- but it implies every soul in the city fell into repentance- garbing sackcloth and humbling themselves- from the king down the common folk- this likely also occurred after the ship which had Yunus on board sailing to tarshish may have docked in Ninevah after telling the people of the incident of the three lots- Yunus drew lots three times over and lost thrice in them all when wagering on who would be thrown overboard (the sailors did not want to throw him overboard)- Ninevah was a port city on the river Tigris.)
Ninevah thus becomes a exception compared to the many nations that had rejected their prophets- managing to turn themselves around and avoid punishment. The story becomes more intriguing in the biblical telling, where it is implied god gave Ninevah mercy as the people there "could not tell their right hands from their left" (they were in ignorance) and many animals lived in the city. Thus, god elected to show mercy- though this may have also been done as god had not decreed for Yunus to leave, but he had done so anyway out of general anger at the people in Ninevah. This also opens up a question- how exactly did Ninevah manage to squeak itself out of punishment when the punishment was already in their face? The Pharaoh tried a similar stunt but it didn't end very well for him what with jibreel (A) shoving dust in his mouth and drowning. The people of Assyria in this city become an interesting exception to the third and fourth stages of the traditional punishment narrative of disbelieving nations. The general wisdom is that if a nation can see it's doom, it's already too late, yet that idea is subverted here. Yunus also showcases more emotional complexity than just wanting to spread the message- it's highly likely his reasons of leaving Ninevah may have born out of a hatred of Assyria and what it's people had done to the Children of Israel rather than just them not listening to him- they were responsible for the expulsion and scattering of the ten lost tribes of northern Israel.
But the strangest of these types of exceptions is found in Egypt- where things seem to become so subverted it seems the quran is showcasing multiple viewpoints on the ground- Egypt in the Quran is a nation of two prophets coming in the midst of the same folk, but with very different results.
Part 3- A tale of Two Cities- Egypt in the time of Yusuf and Musa- From Love to Hate
Egypt is a interesting nation because the quran shows it twice- once in the time of Yusuf in Surah Yusuf, and again through the scattered mentions of the story of Musa. Despite being the same country, the way both are depicted in their people are as different as night and day.
On the surface, Egypt in Surah Yusuf seems to be the standard pagan nation- Yusuf is mentioned as having criticized egyptian religious practices in prison when talking to his cellmates in the surah (12:39-40). Yet what is very perplexing is how quran has the egyptians themselves talk when they discuss religious beliefs.
In two places (12:31 and 12:51- the word lilahi is used- a word commonly used in the quran to refer to allah.), by the egyptians. This seems.....an odd word choice- seeing as we have the egyptians of Musa's time distinctly speaking about multiple gods (7:127 is a good example of this). And as mentioned before, the quran also implies at some point in Musa's time, even the traditional Egyptian faith may have been put under fire by Firaun. Even stranger is the fact that it is highly likely that the gods both groups worshipped were likely one and the same- especially when factoring in the quran's differentiation of Egypt's rulers through their titles (more on this later).
Additionally, unlike the other prophets in the quran- Yusuf doesn't seem to be associated with a particular nation that he preached to. Most of the other prophets are mentioned as having been sent somewhere to preach in the quran- and that their people rejected or accepted them. Yusuf doesn't really get this treatment in Surah Yusuf- he basically gets fished out of a well and brought there- but god at no point in the story goes "start preaching" to Yusuf as an order. He is still a messenger, but to what extent he preached in Egypt is where things become fuzzy. Granted, this wouldn't be the first time a figure described as a prophet was not doing direct preaching (Maryam is mentioned in surah Anbiya at the end of a list of prophets right after Isa (A) in 21:91 - leaving some to see her as a prophetess (and if so, the last of the ones who came to the jews, being the eighth (there are seven prior to her that are mentioned in the jewish tradition). (note- while the idea of prophetesses is not considered dominant in muslim views- it is not without any adherents in medieval jurispedence.).
Surah Yusuf is also interesting in how almost all of it's "villains" are more than they appear- to the point of having somewhat legitimate motives, and all redeem themselves in the end.
Yusuf's brothers? On first glance they seem to be jealous kids who decided to murder in a fit of passion (which is very problematic), but the implication seems to be that their father was playing favorites a little too much (fratricide doesn't just start happening out of the blue unless there's some serious family issues.)
Zuleikha, the Wife of Aziz? She may have tried to seduce Yusuf and throw him in prison, but there's implications that her marrige to the Aziz was childless/ he was an eunuch- implying she likely was in a political marriage that was falling apart due to the lack of intimacy- the classism implied by the noblewomen in 12:30 implies they clearly thought Zuleikha's choice of love was foolish likely wasn't helping matters. Her threats of prison thus come off as somebody using whatever they can to gain some agency in their lives- and as a tool to channel anger over betrayal- if the Aziz was neglecting her, Yusuf taking his side likely was something she saw as a betrayal and alignment to one who had neglected her.
Unlike the biblical version, Zuleikha also repents in the quran (potentially out of love for Yusuf in 12:51-52 depending on translation viewpoints)- with later exegesis showing her as a companion of Yusuf's or his second wife (for this reason, her character has developed in an interesting way in muslim lore compared to Jewish or Christian exegesis- to the point that she is in some ways an anti-villain of the story with a redemption arc alongside- morally complex and emotionally complicated- doing wrong actions out of legitimate grievances- which is something seen in sufi tellings of her tale- her tale is that of the maddened lover.)
It's also odd that god doesn't say anywhere in surah yusuf that the egyptians were disbelievers as previously mentioned- the quran does break up surah yusuf at points where god breaks the narration to speak- but god never lambasts the egyptians for their religious practices- which is particularly odd seeing that with other rejecting communities there is plenty of criticism from god themselves. Even Bilqis, with her clear wanting of seeking diplomacy over war and her seeking of other opinions in ruling, is said to have come from a disbelieving people. Yet we never see this type of language directed in Surah Yusuf at the egyptians from god.
Yusuf also seems to de-emphasize/de-escalate preaching- aside from the time in prison, he doesn't bring up religion in front of the egyptians- and the incident of the silver chalice seems to imply the king was not a muslim (12:76 is particularly telling in how it denotes the king had a different sharia (law) than Yusuf's- and this word can also be utilized to mean religion too)- Yusuf didn't have the power to take his brothers- he had to manipulate egyptian property laws and his brother's views on theft punishments to get them in a double bind by making binyameen a hostage, with Rueben (the eldest) following suit (12:70-82 details the scheme of the silver chalice and Yusuf's plotting). If the king was a follower of Yusuf, he could have easily gotten them taken without any trickery, but we don't see that.
However, there does seem to be at least some criticism levelled upon the egyptians in Surah Yusuf- though not from god directly. In Surah Gharif, specifically verse 34- there's the continuation of a conversation between the pharaoh and his followers and what appears to be a secret follower of Musa in the pharaoh's court centuries after Yusuf's time, much as Asiyah was a secret follower until the hairdresser incident which led to her death, who was telling the pharaoh to stop antagonizing Musa and his followers out of fear of divine wrath. This fellow goes on to say that Yusuf brought them signs but the people rejected them- with the egyptians speaking after Yusuf was dead that god wouldn't send another messenger.
On the surface this seems to be an implication that the people in Surah Yusuf weren't as problem-free as Surah Yusuf seems to depict them- which tends to be more focused less on religious struggles and more on personal ones (though religion is not taken out of the picture entirely either). However, this verse still reads quite oddly. The people of Egypt are referred to in a grouped "you" in the verse- implying that this group had rejected Yusuf...except that doesn't seem to make sense considering Yusuf was probably dead by the time this group of people was even born.
The next time we see Egypt in the quran, the israelites have multiplied from one family of twelve sons into an entire ethnic group that's also a slave caste...which clearly is at least a few generations in time distance and likely a few centuries to boot.). The fact that the quran differentiates between the rulers in both surahs by the titles used (one is a king, the other a pharaoh) implies there was probably enough time in between that the time period of egyptian history being used as the setting itself had changed- for context, the term pharaoh was never adopted by rulers until the new kingdom in egypt, all prior eras used the term king.
Most of the popular dating's put Yusuf somewhere in the time period of the middle kingdom to the hyskos invasions, while Musa falls squarely in the New Kingdom- leaving a time span of several centuries in between (the biblical record seems to imply that by the time Firaun came about, the tale of Yusuf had been relegated into near legend- "there came a king who did not know of Joseph" is mentioned in the book of Genesis- though as we see in Surah Ghafir, some egyptians still held onto the stories of Yusuf in Musa's day.). When considering some of the other details we see in the biblical record (the mention of Yusuf marrying the daughter of a priest from Heliopolis- which was known for worship of Ra (the Hyskos on the other hand favored Set due to seeing him as equivalent to Baal (a very ancient cannanite diety (old enough that it is likely he formed a pantheon with Yahweh, Asherah and others- the histories seem to imply the israelites went from henotheism to monolatry to monotheism) who's worship the prophet Illyas (Elijah) had to deal with in Israel due to it being promoted by a somewhat nutty queen in the form of Jezebel), and the fact that the quran implies Yusuf was established in the whole of Egypt- it seems feasible to date Yusuf to the earlier dates of the Middle Kingdom proper.
If this is talking about the egyptians in the past, that would make more sense...except for the part where literally every Egyptian that speaks to Yusuf seems to be pretty much in the belief that Yusuf is not lying and not evil (the winepresser mentions Yusuf to be a man of truth (12:46), the king states Yusuf is held in esteem and trust by him (12:54), and the noblewomen who cut their hands dazzled by his beauty quickly state in front of the king Yusuf has no evil to him (12:51). And as mentioned earlier, Zuleikha repents in full.
The egyptians in surah Yusuf never seem to back away from these views of him either- by the time Yusuf's brothers come to Egypt, Yusuf was a decorated statesman of the country- and likely was widely adored by the citizenry and nobility alike for his work in preventing the famine from devastating Egypt- there's no mention in the quran that their opinion of him soured (the bible makes mention of the egyptians treating his brothers poorly- but this is not mentioned in the quran- and if it did happen, likely was brought forth from a combination of mistrusting strangers and the fact that it's likely the story of how Yusuf came to Egypt likely became common knowledge- so it's likely the egyptians disliked his brothers for what they made Yusuf go through (or they could have just been racist but Surah Yusuf doesn't seem to imply the egyptians were such)
Additionally, if we are to assume they began to disbelieve in what Yusuf brought to them...wouldn't god have punished Egypt in Surah Yusuf? Typically the trajectory of a nation which rejects a prophet goes something like this, as mentioned above:

Prophet comes to nation after being directed to preach, or is from said nation and starts preaching
Prophet attempts to preach
Divisions occur in society- some follow prophet some do not (27:54 shows this in action with Thamud when Salih came to them.)
After multiple attempts, prophet and whatever followers they have leave the area (if lucky, if not they were likely tortured/killed- Yahya was killed by the demands of Salome, of the house of Herod, according to the bible).
The area's remaining people are punished- their towns/civilization are wiped off the map

If we assume Surah Yusuf's Egyptians rejected Yusuf, the timeline that's formed looks like this:

Prophet comes to nation (but is not ordered by god to go there, nor is of that land's people- he basically gets fished out of a well and taken there)
Prophet is in a land which already seems to be worshipping Allah (12:31, 12:51), though likely are not considering historical context and egyptian religion.
Prophet begins preaching (prison discussion)
Prophet appears to de-escalate/stop preaching (silence on the matter in Surah Yusuf after prison incident)
Community is busy adoring said prophet and not badmouthing him or accusing him of lying/being crazy/being a sorcereopressing him etc. (noblewomen in the trial, Zuleikha's repentance, the king, the winepresser), yet said egyptians are also rejecting him (if combining the general neutrality/favorability of the egyptians in Surah Yusuf with the egyptians mention in Surah Gharif).
Community is somehow not destroyed despite said rejection and instead manages to prosper wildly in a multi-year famine to the point of being able to export grain internationally and make money off of it. Additional lack of labeling of said people as disbelievers by god.
Major ruling parties in the community still do not appear to be muslim (silver chalice incident mention of the king having a sharia different from Yusuf's), and have not suffered punishment nor are rebuked for such by god or Yusuf.
The multiple narrative breaks where god speaks in Surah Yusuf don't ever make mention of the egyptians disbelieving unlike the other nations- any such accusations are made by people.
Story ends with a basic happy ending with nobody dying in Surah Yusuf (doesn't make sense if egypt rejected Yusuf, there should have been something like the drowning of Firaun like in Musa's time.). There is also no mention of conversions like in the story of Bilqis. Some exegetes make mention that the king of egypt converted but we do not see this in the story either.
Egypt continues to propser for several centuries until the time of Musa (delayed divine punishment in effect?)

The overall timeline of events in Surah Yusuf assuming Surah Gharif's statement to be talking about the Egyptians there seems to basically throw everything out of order. How exactly did Egypt manage to prosper if they managed to ignore Yusuf or reject him? Nations in the quran that reject their prophets don't exactly get a do over or a grace period (an exception to this would be the children of Israel but they are the outlier rather than the norm due to having the covenant and other unique qualities)- and certainly not one lasting several centuries. The lack of mention of disbelief in Surah Yusuf also seems pretty significant, as are the ways the egyptians describe divinity in Surah Yusuf versus the egyptians in the Pharaoh's time.
Simply using the verse in Surah Gharif to state the people of Egypt were disbelievers/rejectors of Yusuf seems to make sense when considering Surah Gharif's verse only and the historical context of egyptian religion at either point (Yusuf likely was in Egypt in the Middle Kingdom to the Second Intermediate Period, while Musa lived in the New Kingdom if we assume historical context and the usage of different titles of Egypt's rulers in the quran), but when putting it together with Surah Yusuf itself stuff seems to just not make sense and be overall very convoluted.
At this point it looks like the only way both the statements Yusuf make in prison and the Egyptian make sense are that they were their observations on the ground- effectively, they were dealing in unreliable narrator traits. From a surface reading they are true (Egypt likely was pagan and to the egyptian in Firaun's time it may have looked like the Egyptians didn't listen to Yusuf centuries after the fact), but the quran seems to subtly not give them credence at the same time (the Egyptians in Surah Yusuf utilize a word commonly referring to allah with no criticism or punishment levied on them by god, and Yusuf himself stops preaching within Surah Yusuf after prison, with the king seemingly not being muslim years after the scrying of the dream of fourteen stalks and fourteen cows.).
Meanwhile, when we see Egypt in Musa's time, it's clear something has changed. Those in power are shown as cruel, unlike the King Yusuf worked for. Oppression is running rampant, and despotic behavior from the pharaoh has gone so far that even his own people are utterly terrified of him to the point of it being the reason they didn't listen to Musa (10:83)- Asiyah and the crypto-muslim mentioned in Surah gharif likely were stuck between trying to help out israelites and their own kin with whatever influence they had while also trying to keep their own faith secret- and in the case of Asiyah, the popular telling's imply she may have rebelled against Firaun publicly after witnessing the torturing of a believing hairdresser and her family, leaving her to be tortured to death.
These people also can't be compared to Saba either as in that case we see consistent escalation of preaching within the story and mentions of disbelief- though Saba also has the interesting question of how they were disbelievers in the first place if they had no prophets. On the other hand, they clearly are nothing like the people in Ninevah (as they are never mentioned to have been threatened with punishment nor did they convert- though Ninevah is special in how it avoided the axe at the last minute), and they certainly aren't like any of the nations that were punished (in that the famine never killed them off- instead they were blessed beyond their wildest dreams with yusuf assisting their king).
They seem to be this weird unique group out of the all the nations the quran ever mentions- neither truly believing, but never truly described as castigated or disbelieving by god themselves- and it seems interesting how we see Egypt in two different ways in the quran itself- once at it's best, and once at it's utter worst. The strangest thing is that it's highly likely in both eras- the same gods-those of ancient Egypt- were likely being worshipped.
Final Thoughts- Disbelievers and what they might be
Overall, these three nations are interesting in how they bend the conventional narratives mentioned in the quran regarding non muslim nations which had prophets in their midst, and that they to some extent subvert the very concept of what a disbeliever is- and suggest the term has less to do with religious affiliation, and more to do with other characteristics.
On the other hand, the quran also has moments where questions by disbelievers-such as those asking why god doesn't just show themselves and settle the matter or that they would have believed if god had willed it- are treated as being arrogant (the latter point in particular is particularly odd as the quran seems to imply faith is not a conscious choice, but the result of god's will only with no human input in 10:100- which seems to make prophets and their appointment little better than an exercise of smoke and mirrors, and actually looks to confirm the disbelievers arguments). The former question may be explained by the incident of Musa effectively blacking out over not being able to comprehend even a aftereffect of god's presence- but it raises the question of why god can't just...find a way to show themselves without basically driving people insane? However, the many other negative qualities ascribed to disbelievers may imply that these questions aren't being made out of genuine belief or questioning, but may be out of some other motivation (and potentially a much darker one)- but this might be a reach into apologetics territory on my end.
Despite this, it still seems to me that the disbelievers can't really be equated to people living now- even athiests probably don't make the cut- as the quran also seems to imply disbelievers know and even accept god as a extant entity- when considering the people labelled disbelievers in the prophet's time- they ironically all had some concept of god- the pagans, jews and chrisitans. Yet despite this, the quran also seems to differentiate between good and bad christens and jews, and even potentially between the pagans (39:3 seems to imply the pagans were not a monolith- even those who worshipped multiple gods seem to have differed in their behavior, and the quran seems to imply there were pagans who were not openly harassing them, and to treat them kindly. And considering Surah Yusuf's example, this only seems to make the case clearer that some pagans may be different than others in the eyes of god.)
The claim of the pagans that they worshipped others to gain closeness to allah and this line being related to the judgement between various groups within the pagans seems to imply some level of difference between pagans and the reasons for their worship rites and theology in relation to Allah in the eyes of god and the pagans themselves- though it's also clear the quran doesn't exactly see the practice fondly either.). There is also the question of why god took a very long time to address paganism in Arabia- if the people before the prophet were living in ignorance, why not send one earlier? What required one to come down in the era the prophet did? Was it because the arabs despite being pagan potentially were doing some things right, or something else?

submitted by Flametang451 to progressive_islam [link] [comments]

2023.02.26 18:47 cebu_96 What’s a historical “fact” you were taught in school about your country’s history that was proven to be misleading or false later on?

I can give one example. In the Philippines, the national costume (Barong Tagalog) was thought to be a symbol of Spanish oppression during the colonial era so that natives couldn’t hide a weapon (or were also considered slave clothes) but that’s all been disproven and that it’s merely an adaptation to the climate. The old tale was taught in schools but now more people know in the country that it’s false.

submitted by cebu_96 to AskEurope [link] [comments]

2022.12.08 00:19 Kastila1 Learning materials for kids/babies

Hi! First of all, I apologize if this is not the correct subreddit. I will delete the post if it doesn't fit here.

The thing is that I have been wanting to learn Tagalog for a while. I tried a year ago, but dropped it as it was hard to try to learn two languages at the same time. But now I have been studying again for a week and, this time, I feel I can have some improvement. For this time, I want to use a "method" that helped me with my previous languages, and that is to read fairy tales (or watch them on youtube with subtitles) and, in general, consume any kind of material with short sentences oriented to kids, to get a basic vocabulary and knowledge of the language. Normally I take note of all the words I don't know and, after filling tons of papers with those words and getting familiar with the language, I start to consume more complicated media, like tv series or newspapers.
what I look for is Tagalog media in form of basic sentences: "The frog went to the river", "The sun is yellow and big". Normally I use youtube channels for Fairy tales (There are a few that have videos in lots of different languages) but unfortunately all the channels I checked only have the audio in Tagalog, but with English subtitles. I need subtitles in Tagalog to don't become crazy trying to learn.
Then I looked for written Tagalog fairy tales, "kwentos", but found out that most of the websites only offer traditional stories of Filipino culture in English language. This is the only one I found in tagalog https://pinoycollection.com/bakit-may-pulang-palong-ang-mga-tandang/ but is a little complex, as those fairy tales have many long sentences and not the most basic vocabulary.

So, for now, the only material I found for my level are some flashcards with words followed by some basic examples of how to use the word. Copy and paste one as an example: Laruán: Toy Wala kaming laruang tren: We don’t have a toy train.
This is the kind of material I need for my level. Not for kids who are trying to learn to read, but for kids who barely can speak. If you guys can recommend me some youtube channels, webpages or ebooks with the most basic and boring content for kids, with the most simple kind of sentence, I would be very grateful. Not looking just for vocabulary (F.E, videos where they put a dog on screen and say "Aso") but videos with basic sentences, so my brain can become familiar with the structure of the sentences and the use of the most common words (Sa, ay, ano, sino, iyon etc...)
Thank you very much.

submitted by Kastila1 to Tagalog [link] [comments]

2022.11.21 18:20 JWCCartoonist Part 2: How I left the West and moved back to Asia - the PH

For the rest of this series of posts, I will outline my experiences in each location and then after, you can all ask questions and make comments if there’s any specific topic I missed that you’d be curious for me to address.
Please note that I will be replying only to questions/comments that I feel I’d have something meaningful to add or a topic I’m interested in continuing to discuss.
I will be discussing every country/region in Asia that I explored in. I explored with an eye for potential long-term stay but I finally discovered that I like to alternate among different places: Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Cebu. As for the rest, I explored them, but realized I could never live there long term, for whatever reason.
Part 2: First Trip to Southeast Asia
I Manila, PH
I remember the day of my flight to Manila. It was April 2015. I was huddling and shaking under the covers of a warm blanket at home in Canada.
I was trembling because I was about to embark on a crazy adventure. For the first time in my life, I was going to a Southeast Asian country, a place where I didn’t speak the language and where I knew almost no one. I only knew an internet friend that I met on a forum. She was Chinese-Filipina and was going to meet me at my hotel and show me around.
I had been to East Asia many times (Hong Kong and Mainland China), but Southeast Asia was going to be a big adventure.
It was going to be longest and farthest that I had ever been away from home. It was crazy of me! I had no friends or family in the Philippines or the PH. It was actually quite terrifying.
But I knew I had to go experience it. I decided to book a one-way ticket to Manila.
Luckily, I had heard much about it. I was attracted to tales of the sunny beaches, friendly Filipino people and the cheap cost of living.
For that first trip, I booked an Eva Air flight that stopped in Taipei for 1 hour for a layover. The flight from Vancouver to Taipei was 12 hours and the flight from Taipei to Manila was 1.5 hours.
Due to my Canadian passport, I was to be given 30 days visa-free in the PH. If I wanted to extend my stay, I would need to go to their Bureau of Immigration once in the PH to apply.
Unless you have PR (permanent residency) or a visa obtained beforehand at a Filipino consulate/embassy, or a Filipino passport, the government of the Republic of the Philippines requires you to show an onward flight or return flight at the airline counter at check-in. I had purchased an onward flight to Thailand within 30 days of my flight to PH so I merely showed that at check-in and I was allowed to board.
On the flight over, I met a very nice Canadian guy who told me he was going over to the PH to do some snorkeling and scuba-diving. He didn’t like the cold concrete of Manila though. He was planning to land in Manila and then head over to the island of Mindoro right away. I got his contact info but I never did end up meeting with him again.
When I first landed at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, I was disoriented. Manila was 15 hours ahead of Vancouver, so I was extremely jet lagged.
Moreover, after immigration clearance and customs, I exited the airport and the first thing I noticed was the humidity hitting me like a blast from the furnace. Since the PH was almost right on the equator, I later realized that it was always that humid all year long.
I took a taxi to the Tune Hotel (called Red Planet Hotel that time) in Makati, a central business district of Metro Manila.
I then had my friend Mary pick me up at the hotel. She was very nice Chinese-Filipina girl who had offered to show me around. Her friend Jen picked us up at my hotel and away we went to the Chinatown in Binondo. At 400 years old, it is the oldest Chinatown in the world.
We went restaurant-hopping, going from delicious Hokkien Chinese restaurant to delicious Hokkien Chinese restaurant. Hokiien or Fujian is a province in southern China. It is geographically close to the PH and lots of Chinese-Filipinos originate from that province. I admit I don’t understand their dialect of Hokkien (fu Jian hua), but I was able to communicate with them in English or Mandarin.
Fortunately, I didn’t learn Tagalog and didn’t really learn it later on, because most Filipinos I met spoke excellent English.
On the way back to Makati, there were child beggars that came up to the car while we were stuck in traffic. They said in Tagalog that they hadn’t eaten all day. Both Mary and Jen ignored them. They explained to me that if you give any money to children, that might attract more children and pretty soon, you will surround by hordes of them. They also said that sometimes the kids weren’t even homeless. They were merely pimped out by their poverty-stricken parents to make a quick peso. If you really want to give something, you should give food, never money.
It was my first time seeing homeless street kids. In Canada and Hong Kong, I had never seen anything of the sort. In the countries that I was familiar with, all poor kids are usually wards of the governments.
While my heart went out to the poor kids, I heeded my tour guides’ good advice. After all, I wasn’t familiar with Manila and they were.
After a few days at the Red Planet Hotel in the Makati area, I decided to change hotels and so, I went to another area called Novaliches, which was a poor area.
When I arrived at the hotel, the front desk asked me how many hours I was staying. I was immediately shocked. How many hours? It was when that I realized it was a shady cheap love hotel that charged by the hour.
I said I would be staying the whole night. I inspected the room and realized it was a dump. I went down, checked out and didn’t even ask for a refund.
Also, I had a peculiar incident happen to me. Later that same day, I was walking in a wet market when I stopped to talk to a stall owner.
He asked me, “Where are you from?”
I said, “Canada.”
He said, “You’re not white. How can you possibly be from Canada?”
My friend also from Canada later told me this is called reverse racism. I suspect it was just general ignorance from people who have never been outside their native country.
I realize the predicament I was in. I caught in between two worlds: I was neither Western or Asian.
Now, I’m very careful what I say when people in Asia ask me where I’m from.
In fact, when I’m in Asia, I don’t tell people I’m from Canada.
When I tell an Asian man who has ever only lived in Asia that I’m Canadian, they get cognitive dissonance. Because they can’t imagine a 100% Asian-looking man like me to be Canadian.
When they ask me where I’m from, what they really meant to ask me is what ethnicity I am. But I replied with Canada, the country that I grew up in, and an Asian man does not match their preconceived notion of what a typical Canadian looks like.
Although there was this one time that a local Filipino restaurant owner asked where I was from and I said Hong Kong and he replied that I sounded Western. I told him that I had grown up in Canada and that answer seemed to satisfy his curiosity.
Whenever someone asks me sure I’m from when I’m in Asia, I just tell them I’m from Hong Kong, which is technically correct, since I was born there and hold an HK passport.
The public transportation wasn’t that good in Manila at that time. There were buses and an MRT, but the condition of the trains was poor and almost falling apart, although it was cheap, costing only $10-40 Filipino pesos (PHP) or between $0.25 to $1 CAD, depending on how many stations you travel.
Everyone drove or used the Grab app, which is the Southeast Asian equivalent of Uber.
Although it was clear I wasn’t a local Filipino (I look quite East Asian and have been assumed to be Chinese, Korean or Japanese), the locals were very nice and friendly. It was quite easy to make friends with locals. I would use Tinder for dates and meetup to make new friends.
The malls were large and modern with everything you can think of for sale. I recommend Mall of Asia (at one time the largest mall in the world) right by Manila Bay and SM Mega Mall in Mandaluyong.
The hotels in Manila were good quality and relatively affordable, costing no more than $30 CAD for a 3-star hotel with no pool. Later on, I would book airbnbs for long time stays.
Some airbnbs would charge 1200 pesos per night or $30 CAD or 25,000 pesos per month or $700-$800 CAD.
I would stay in neighborhoods all over Metro Manila, such as McKinley Hill, Boni along EDSA (epifanio de los Santos) Avenue, near SM North mall, in Malate/Ermita near Manila Bay (which is a dangerous area full of poor people and drug addicts)
I was actually mugged one night at 11pm right outside a 7/11. This tall 15 year old kid came up to me begging for money. I refused and he reached into my pocket and stole some peso bills. The bills landed in a puddle of water and he reached down, grabbed as much as he could and then fled. I grabbed the rest and walked home traumatized.
He had gotten away with 800 pesos, which was only $20 CAD.
I didn’t fight back because it was dark and I couldn’t see if he had a weapon like a knife or a gun, both of which are easy to obtain in the PH.
I thought it was better to let him have the cash than me ending up in the hospital.
This was all my fault: I had been warned by acquaintances not to go out that late at night in an area like Malate and not to put cash in my pockets.
Oh well, live and learn.
In any case, I wasn’t soured on Manila by this incident. Muggings could happen in any big city anywhere on the planet.
After a week in Manila, I decided to go to Cebu, the famed Queen City of the South.
II. Cebu, PH
Upon arriving at Cebu-Mactan Airport, it was sunset. I grabbed a taxi at the airport. The first thing the driver, a local Cebuano man who seemed high on crack, said to me was, “I hope you give me a good tip.”
I said, “It depends on how well you drive.”
We drove across the bridge connecting the airport, which was on Mactan Island, to Cebu City. That view, of the bridge over the sparkling waters at sunset, was absolutely gorgeous. It was a view that I could never forget for the rest of my life. No words describing it could do it justice.
Before I went over to Southeast Asia, back in 2013-2014, I actually spent a lot of time in Las Vegas. I’ve actually been there more than 10 times. I’ve stayed at hotels on the Vegas Strip, in downtown Vegas on Fremont Street and just south of the Vegas Strip, at a residential condo called Paradise Hotel, which was near a strip club.
One time in Vegas, I was staying at the Palms, a 5-star hotel. I was swimming in their pool at sunset and I looked up at the sky. Vegas at sunset was just gorgeous. It was then that I realized why I kept leaving Vancouver: I was looking for new experiences.
And when I realized I was looking for new experiences, I knew going to Southeast Asia would give me lots of new experiences, starting with that beautiful sunset across the bridge in Cebu.
Anyway, back to the taxi driver.
After we arrived at the hotel, I paid my taxi fare and gave him a tip by rounding up the fare. It was an extra 30 pesos.
I wasn’t sure how he would react to that tip.
He turned around from the driver’s seat, took one look at the tip and said, “You are a very good man, sir!!”
I supposed because no one actually tips in the PH or Asia in general, a 30 peso-tip or $0.90 tip was not bad. Go figure.
Anyway, at the Castle Peak Hotel in Cebu, I met a friendly British man who invited me to meet his Filipina girlfriend. We all met and had a drink at the hotel bar.
However, my jet lag was already catching up to me. So, after an hour of chatting, I excused myself and retired to my room.
It was 9pm then and dark outside. I was exhausted, but I wasn’t quite ready for bed yet, so I thought I would just close my eyes and doze for an hour or so. I wanted to get up at 10pm to wander around the area and explore.
When I opened my eyes again, I looked at the clock. It was indeed 10 o'clock.
But when I looked out the window, I noticed it was daylight.
I thought, How could it possibly have been daylight at 10pm when it had been dark an hour earlier at 9pm?
I looked carefully at the clock again.
It turned out that it was actually 10 am the next morning! Somehow, my jet lag had made me so exhausted that I had slept for 13 hours nonstop uninterrupted!
Apparently, the British guy called my hotel room around 11pm to see if I wanted to hang out some more, but I was so tired that I didn’t even hear the phone ring.
The next day, I went to Ayala Center, which was a big mall that was a 20-minute walk away from the hotel. I had dinner at the food court, which was only 40 pesos or $1 CAD for meatballs and rice.
I ate a lot of local Filipino food including lechon (roast pork), liempo (pork belly), chicken adobo (chicken with soy sauce and kalamansi [filipino lime], beef kaldereta (a Spanish-Filipino dish akin to beed tomato stew), pinakbet (mixed veggies including eggplant, bitter melon, green beans). It was all delicious. Filipino cuisine is truly underrated.
After, I got a massage for only 200 pesos an hour or $5 CAD. If you like massages, southeast asia is where to go. I could never afford a massage back in Canada, but in the PH, I was getting it often.
I would normally tip 50 PHP or $1.25 CAD after massages in Southeast Asia, especially if I planned to return to that massage parlor.
I didn’t end up going to another famous mall, which was SM Seaside, a beautiful mall right by the ocean.
I also didn’t end up going to see the whale sharks, which is what Cebu is famous for.
After a week in Cebu, I flew back to Manila and then prepared for my flight to Thailand. Since I had already purchased a ticket from Manila to Bangkok due to the onward ticket requirement to fly to the PH, I had to use it.

submitted by JWCCartoonist to AsianHyphenatedWriter [link] [comments]

2022.10.01 00:07 cebu_96 Reason why Filipinos are good singers from an ancient perspective

So there’s definitely the famous stereotype that Filipinos are good singers, like we are known for being some of the best singers out there. And what isn’t talked about enough is the historical reason as to why that is.
Edit: the title should say why Filipinos like singing so much from a historical perspective but i can’t edit the title. Sorry.
TL:DR Our precolonial ancestors passed down histories and legends via singing and chanting so now indirectly we are a singing obsessed society.
Also disclaimer, I’m not a historian so this is just me giving a good guess as to where this phenomenon could have came from. I might not even be right.
Long answer: Sure, there are karaoke sessions and many national singing programs that go back a few decades to your grandparents age but there is also a deeper reason as to why Filipinos sing so much. Believe it or not, it goes back all the way to the precolonial era. Spanish explorers recorded that societies in the visayas would sing for any and every occasion, as well as for telling legends and old stories of their past. This is also recorded in singing and chanting traditions like the Hudhud chants and the Darangen epic in our Igorot and Maranao communities, these two in particularly are part of the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List. Many ethnic groups in the country today still practice epic chanting and singing, such as the Ibalong of the Bicol region, the Hinilawod in Panay and the Tudbulul of the Tboli peopleas just a few examples. Think Harana started in the Spanish period? Think again. The Kapanirong style for serenading exists among the Maguindanao people. Singing has always been a part of history of the archipelago.

submitted by cebu_96 to FilipinoHistory [link] [comments]

2022.10.01 00:05 cebu_96 Reason why Filipinos are good singers from an ancient perspective

So there’s definitely the famous stereotype that Filipinos are good singers and they like to sing a lot, like we are known for being some of the best singers out there. And what isn’t talked about enough is the historical reason as to why that is and as Filipino Americans it’s important to know more about your own roots.
Edit: the title should say why Filipinos like singing so much from a historical perspective but i can’t edit the title. Sorry.
TL:DR Our precolonial ancestors passed down histories and legends via singing and chanting so now indirectly we are a singing obsessed society.
Also disclaimer, I’m not a historian so this is just me giving a good guess as to where this phenomenon could have came from.
Long answer: Sure, there are karaoke sessions and many national singing programs that go back a few decades to your grandparents age but there is also a deeper reason as to why Filipinos sing so much. Believe it or not, it goes back all the way to the precolonial era. Spanish explorers recorded that societies in the visayas would sing for any and every occasion, as well as for telling legends and old stories of their past. This is also recorded in singing and chanting traditions like the Hudhud chants and the Darangen epic in our Igorot and Maranao communities, these two in particularly are part of the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List. Many ethnic groups in the country today still practice epic chanting and singing, such as the Ibalong of the Bicol region, the Hinilawod in Panay and the Tudbulul of the Tboli people as just a few examples. Think Harana started in the Spanish period? Think again. The Kapanirong style for serenading exists among the Maguindanao people. Singing has always been a part of history of the archipelago.

submitted by cebu_96 to FilipinoAmericans [link] [comments]

2022.09.30 22:48 StudioOnly222 Macnas Halloween show details as something ‘big and different’ presented

Galway’s most famous theatre company is ready for Halloween as something “big and different” has been presented.
Galway based performance company Macnas has organised something special for this October Bank Holiday weekend.
Macnas revealed that on Saturday October 29 and Sunday October 30 Galwegians will have the chance to meet giant Con Mór.
Read more: Popular Galway city pub hosts spectacular wedding as public stunned by bar's feature
Their website reads: “Inventors and explorers from all over the world are baffled by evidence of an ancient giant living underneath the Macnas workshop at Fisheries Field in Galway city.
“Professor Marjorie Morrigan, an expert Giants & Where They Come From, said: ‘This giant seems to have been here for centuries. There is a very large iron nose, so big and rusty, you could park a car in one of the nostrils.’
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submitted by StudioOnly222 to Rang_Cong_Only [link] [comments]

2022.05.13 01:51 cmzraxsn Gay media megathread

Recently I've come across a few people asking for gay film recommendations in this and other subreddits. I have watched a ton of gay films in my time, and I thought I should share the good and bad with you. And I've been tracking what films I watch and books I read since 2007. This took me much longer to write up than I thought, it ended at almost 15,000 words. I don't blame you if you don't want to read through it all. Also let me acknowledge my biases clearly - I'm a gay man, and the majority of media in this list is gay male oriented. I've marked with letters like (L) the films that belong to other members of the alphabet mafia - if they're not marked they're probably gay. But I may have missed some, especially if the characters are bisexual, which isn't always obvious. And my memory of stuff I watched 15 years ago isn't that great. I can remember what I thought in general but can't always remember details of the plot and had to crib from Wikipedia. I have not included most short films unless they're notable somehow. The list is sorted by authodirector. I've tried not to include spoilers but I may have missed one or two - sorry!
This list is, by definition, incomplete. Please feel free to comment and add reviews of stuff you have seen. And you're welcome to disagree with my opinion, but do so respectfully. If you don't, I'll just clap back. Anyway, without further ado, here is the list.
(if I hit a word limit, I will segment the list and continue in the comments)
Andre Aciman - Call Me by Your Name (book, 2007) / film, 2017, directed by Luca Guadagnino (B)
You'll have heard of this one I'm sure. Some people don't like the fact that the protagonist (Timothee Chalamet in the movie) is so much younger than the love interest (Armie Hammer). But I really like it, not least for the dad's soliloquy towards the end of the movie. And for me the Italian summer atmosphere is nostalgic. 5/5
Desiree Akhavan - The Miseducation of Cameron Post (film, 2018) - based on the book by Emily M. Danforth (2012) (L)
Coming-of-age story set in a conversion camp. Chloë Grace Moretz performs really well in the movie, and there's some romance. Not as spoofy/campy as But I'm a Cheerleader but it's a similar plot. I haven't read the book. 4/5
Miguel Albaladejo - Bear Cub / Cachorro (film, 2004, Spanish)
It opens with softcore porn, but it transitions into a tender story about the adoption of a kid by his gay uncle. All the guys in it are bears, as you'd expect. Decent. 3/5
Becky Albertalli - Simon vs. the Homosapiens Agenda (book, 2015) / film Love, Simon (2018), directed by Greg Berlanti
You'll have heard of this one too. Simon writes emails to a mystery classmate who is also gay, but gets outed by a bully instead. A classic coming out tale. Compared to the other ones in this list, the movie is perhaps nothing special, but it's one of the biggest releases in the list, it's a decent rom-com, and it's just... really refreshing to see people like yourself in a mainstream film. The book was written for teenagers, so a little simple for me reading it in my late 20s. 4/5 (book), 5/5 (movie)
It has a sequel too, about Simon's friend coming out as bi - Leah on the Offbeat - and a spinoff TV series Love, Victor, neither of which I've seen. lmk if you have.
Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera - What If It's Us (book, 2018)
Rom-com about two gay NYC teens who fall in love after bumping into each other at a post office. Cute. 3/5
Ed Aldridge - Tan Lines (film, 2006) (B)
Navel-gazing Aussie movie about surfers. Come to it for the nice bodies, that's really it. 2/5
Pedro Almodóvar - Bad Education / La mala educación (film, 2004, Spanish) (G/T)
Thriller about boys who were raised in the corrupt Catholic church. The plot is quite complicated to describe - it mixes flashback with investigation and a film-within-film production. But my god Gael García Bernal is sexy in it. 5/5
Pedro Almodóvar - All About My Mother / Todo sobre mi madre (film, 1999, Spanish) (T?)
After the death of her son, our protagonist (Cecilia Roth) goes back to her hometown in search of her youth, and of the boy's father. Spoiler alert - the father is now a woman too. Again, a hard-to-describe plot but well worth watching. 4/5
Pedro Almodóvar - Pain and Glory / Dolor y gloria (film, 2019, Spanish)
Semi-autobiographical piece with Antonio Banderas well into his DILF phase playing the main character based on Almodóvar. Featuring flashbacks to his childhood where he used to mentally undress the eye-candy house-boy his mom (played by Penélope Cruz) hired. Not as sexy as the others but definitely worth it. 4/5
Pedro Almodóvar - I'm So Excited! / Los amantes pasajeros (film, 2013, Spanish)
Comedy set on an airplane where all the flight attendants are gay and all the passengers are sex-crazed lunatics. I can't remember the specifics, but all the economy class passengers are knocked out by some gas or whatever, and the first class passengers all drink some kind of aphrodisiac, leading to an orgy scene... though this also leads to the most uncomfortable moment when Lola Dueñas's character gets so horny that she rapes an unconscious economy class passenger. Idk the movie was trash up to that point, would have only recommended it if you wanted something silly to watch. But that crossed the line. 1/5
Almodóvar has a lot of other works, which don't fall under the LGBTQ umbrella but that I'd generally recommend. He often examines the male gaze, critically perhaps but often leading to moments like the above where he either crosses a line or dances dangerously close to it.
Joselito Altajeros - Tale of the Lost Boys / 他和他的心旅程 (film, 2017, mainly in English, but also Tagalog, Mandarin, Atayal)
A story of friendship, not romance - Filipino guy lands in Taipei and has nowhere to stay, gets taken in by a gay Taiwanese guy. Our Filipino protagonist isn't gay, but he helps his new friend come out to his traditional family who are from a native tribal community. Nice story, does feel a bit like it was funded by the tourist board of Taiwan as they go to a lot of landmark-y places. 3/5
Brian Jordan Alvarez - The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo (TV/webseries, 2016)
Made on a shoestring budget, but it doesn't look like it, this gem is available on Youtube. Alvarez's comedy is subtle sometimes, and this piece feels very autobiographical as it's about late-20-somethings trying to make it in LA. Go watch it, you'll thank me. 5/5
If you like that, Alvarez has made a bunch of longer works with the same cast of friends, such as Everything Is Free (2017), Grandmother's Gold (2018), Webseries (2019) and A Spy Movie (2021) (the latter was directed by his friend Stephanie Koenig). The first of these is a drama in which he travels to Colombia to get in touch with his roots, the others are screwball comedies with nonsensical plots.
Charlie Jane Anders - The City in the Middle of the Night (book, 2019) (L? Q?)
Sci-fi set on a planet which is tidally-locked to its sun, meaning that it rotates in step with its orbit and one side of the planet is in perpetual daylight. Humanity resides in the twilight strip between the too-hot day side and too-cold night side. I can't quite remember why I tagged this as LGBTQ, but I think the two main protagonists, both women hook up at some point. Or one of the characters is non-binary. (Also the author is trans.) Anyway, the book was fine, some interesting ideas in it but I found it a bit slow compared to Anders' other work. 2/5
Gregg Araki - Mysterious Skin (film, 2004) - based on the book by Scott Heim (1995)
Featuring a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt, this film is, well, harrowing. It's really about child abuse. We follow two protagonists, one with memory loss, who uncover a shared dark secret. I have the opportunity to watch this again because it came up on a streaming service I have access to but I don't think I want to. 4/5
Gregg Araki - Kaboom (film, 2010) (B)
Guy has a lot of sex, with men and women, and there's some kind of Donnie Darko-esque light horror going on at the same time. I can't remember well, I think it was... fine? 3/5
Poj Arnon - Bangkok Love Story / เพื่อน...กูรักมึงว่ะ (film, 2007)
Gangster-themed romance. 2/5
Christopher Ashley - Jeffrey (film, 1995)
A film about living as a 20- or 30-something in post-AIDS New York. I don't remember the plot at all, I just remember it was a comedy and that it's worth watching for Patrick Stewart's character alone. 3/5
Roger Avary - The Rules of Attraction (film, 2002)
In here because one of the three protagonists is gay. If I remember rightly, they're in a kind of love triangle. It's set on a university campus, and the other thing I remember is that the film starts with a rape scene, so it's definitely got thriller vibes to it. So proceed with caution. 3/5
Jamie Babbit - But I'm a Cheerleader (film, 1999) (L, mostly)
A seminal classic of lesbian cinema, it's a comedy set in an ineffectual conversion therapy camp. Of all the lesbian films on this list this is the one I'd recommend the most to gay guys in general. 5/5
Lionel Baier - Garçon stupide (film, 2004)
A film about a sexy hustler. Unmemorable plot. 2/5
Sean Baker - Tangerine (film, 2015) (T)
Slice of life about Trans sex workers in LA on Christmas day. Notable mainly for being the first movie filmed entirely on an iPhone 5 with a special lens attachment, giving it a very intimate feel. 4/5
Jean-Marc Barr & Pascal Arnold - One Two Another / Chacun sa nuit (film, 2006, French) (B)
There's a whodunnit plot in this, but I don't remember it well, I just remember that everyone had sex with literally everyone else. Liked watching it at the time but it didn't stay with me. 2/5
Phillip J. Bartell - Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds (film, 2007)
Somehow worse than its predecessor (see below). 1/5
Jay Bell - Something Like Summer (book, 2011)
I really liked this little rom-com book, in which our protagonist Ben falls in love with the mysterious Tim, and his love is eventually reciprocated. But they drift apart and then the story follows Ben's new relationship with another guy as an adult. The book has a couple of problems, which I don't really want to spoil. But I loved the characters a lot. It has been made into a movie, but it didn't get a wide release and I haven't seen it yet. 5/5
If you like that, there's like ten books in the Something Like series now. I've only read five of them. The first two sequels are retellings from different characters' perspectives, and the next few feature new characters with the previous protagonists becoming side characters. Also recommended.
Greg Berlanti - Love, Simon (film, 2018) - see above
Greg Berlanti - The Broken Hearts Club (film, 2000)
Features Zach Braff in a pre-Scrubs role as part of a gay baseball team called the Broken Hearts Club. He's not the main character, though. I wasn't too impressed by this film, but it has its place - I'm sure there will be people out there who really identify with this movie. 2/5
Alain Berliner - My Life in Pink / Ma vie en rose (film, 1997) (T)
Story about a young kid who, when moving to a new neighbourhood, decides to present as a girl instead of a boy. Heartwarming, ultimately. 4/5
Bernardo Bertolucci - The Dreamers (film, 2003, French and English) (B)
This film has three main characters, two of whom are a brother and a sister. And I'm pretty sure they have sex at some point. Or at least they're both fucking the third main character. Icky. 2/5
James Bidgood - Pink Narcissus (film, 1971)
Never has another film been so blithely iconic. Every frame is a work of art. It's not for everyone, I suppose - there is no plot, and it's more of a series of disjointed scenes of provocatively-posed young gentlemen. And in the latter half of the movie it transitions to actual porn. But it is absolutely a feast for the eyes. 5/5
Chris Michael Birkmeier - In Bloom (film, 2013)
Story of a relationship in decline, looking back at the good times. Cute leads. 3/5
Q. Allen Brocka - Eating Out (film, 2004)
Comedy, not very good. Sexy though. 1/5
Q. Allen Brocka - Boy Culture (film, 2006)
Sexy with no substance. 1/5
William S. Burroughs - Junkie (book, 1953)
This is a dramatized memoir written mainly about Burroughs' heroin addiction. If you don't know, he was one of the foremost Beat Generation poets and a massive homosexual. He paints a very interesting picture of 1950s America and of his exile to Mexico. 3/5
William S. Burroughs - The Wild Boys (book, 1969)
This was written in Burroughs' cut-up technique period and as such, is incoherent. Shudder to think how many drugs he was on while writing this. I like the theme, though, about gay boys rising up to overthrow western civilization. 2/5
William S. Burroughs - Queer (book, pub. 1985, but written in the 50s)
A kind of sequel to Junkie, talks about the author's relationships in Latin America with various boys. 3/5
Robin Campillo - 120 BPM / 120 battements par minute (film, 2017, French)
Drama set in the early 90s during the AIDS epidemic in Paris, it follows several ACT UP activists. As you can expect with an AIDS movie, it's both heartbreaking and heartwarming. 4/5
Becky Chambers - The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (book, 2014) (L? Q?)
First in a (now) four-part series, it's a classic space opera which follows a road-trip narrative structure. Tagged it as LGBTQ because it has various queer relationships, some of which are alien-human, and various characters who fall outside the gender binary. Chambers is very inventive with her alien races and I really like the world she's created. I get mildly annoyed with her use of neo-pronouns (the audiobook narrator is never sure how to pronounce them), but then I step back and note that this is done as a way to denote the story being set far in the future and the characters not actually using English. 5/5
If you like that, the others in the series are good but they aren't direct sequels, they pick up another story in the same universe from a side-character's perspective. Books 2 and 4 are great, Book 3 is okay.
Becky Chambers - To Be Taught, If Fortunate (book, 2019) (T)
Including this because one of the four main characters is trans, though that's just one of his character traits rather than the subject of the story. It's a sci-fi about astronauts exploring other planets, but the planets are so different from Earth that they have to undergo some sort of biological enhancement before landing (and I guess that draws very strong parallels to the trans experience), such as muscular enhancement for landing on a planet with high gravity. Not a lot of story per se, but it has themes of being cooped up with the same people for months which I think a lot of us can relate to post-lockdown. 4/5
Leste Chen - Eternal Summer / 盛夏光年 (film, 2006)
Love triangle between two guys and a girl. Deals with the coming out themes well. 3/5
Craig Chester - Adam & Steve (film, 2005)
An early attempt at a gay rom-com in the style of There's Something About Mary - it starts with scatological humour and proceeds from there. Yeahhh not my thing. I was more interested in the relationship of the straight best friends. 2/5
John Chu - The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere (book, 2020)
Sweet little short story about a world where if people lie, water falls on them from nowhere. And when a guy tries to lie about being in love with his boyfriend, the biggest-ever torrent of water comes and floods him. Also got themes of coming out to immigrant parents. 5/5
S.J. Clarkson - Toast (film, 2010)
Biopic about Nigel Slater, gay British TV chef, about his childhood. Carried by Helena Bonham Carter as the evil step-mum, and Oscar Kennedy as the young Slater. Ruined by Freddie Highmore, who takes over the role of Slater in his teen years. Some of the most wooden acting I've ever seen. Worth watching for the cartoonish depiction of 1950s Britain. 2/5
Stephen Cone - Henry Gamble's Birthday Party (film, 2015)
Slice of life / coming of age about a twink on his 17th birthday. While the film is ostensibly about Henry, it's really more about the scandals and scruples of the adults, and there are heavy religious themes, as the dad is a pastor and most of the guests are also church-goers. Worth watching just because it opens with Joe Keery masturbating. 3/5
Garrard Conley - Boy Erased (book, 2016) / film, 2018, directed by Joel Edgerton
Memoir about conversion therapy camp. Heartbreaking but also optimistic. I watched the film before reading the book, you can do either order. 4/5
Catherine Corsini - Summertime / La belle saison (film, 2015, French) (L)
Lesbian French film, beautiful cinematography but forgettable characters. 3/5
C. Jay Cox - Latter Days (film, 2003)
Rom-com where a young Mormon man falls in love with his gay neighbour. A lot of people really like this one, I was lukewarm about it. I guess Mormons are a popular fantasy, the way they're so clean-cut, huh? It's got comedic elements to it like the over-the-top senior Elder but I didn't really consider it a comedy while watching it. 3/5
Michael Cuesta - L.I.E. (film, 2001)
More about child abuse than being gay, features a very young Paul Dano. 2/5
Beth David & Esteban Bravo - In a Heartbeat (short film, 2017)
This is a super-duper-cute animated short about pre-teens falling in love. It should be available on Youtube. 5/5
Russel T. Davies - Queer as Folk (TV series, 1999)
I have only seen a bit of the American version of this, which I gather follows a similar storyline for the first season and then spins off into its own thing. But this is the British version. Absolutely essential viewing in my opinion. Provocative and sexy. 5/5
Bavo Defurne - North Sea, Texas / Noordzee, Texas (film, 2011, Dutch)
I don't remember much about this one except that its lead was a tad too young for me to be comfortable objectifying. And that it was a very slow film. 2/5
Defurne also did some short films which I got on a BFI DVD, they're much better if you feel like objectifying some men.
Claire Denis - Beau Travail (film, 1998, French)
Also good for objectifying male bodies and not much else. Set in the French foreign legion, has a lot of macho men unable to work through their feelings. 1/5
Kirby Dick - This Film Is Not Yet Rated (film, 2006)
Documentary about the MPAA, the film rating board in America. Looks in-depth about their hypocrisy in rating LGBTQ-themed movies higher than "equivalent" straight movies, and their obvious fear of female sexuality (not just lesbians). 4/5
Xavier Dolan - I Killed My Mother / J'ai tué ma mère (film, 2009, French)
Xavier Dolan has mommy issues, the first of many such movies. The gay theme in this is anciliary to the main story, which is about his character's overbearing mother. But there's a nice sex scene in the middle with him and his boyfriend painting a room, which has been giffed many times. 4/5
Xavier Dolan - Tom at the Farm / Tom à la ferme (film, 2013, French)
Dolan's character Tom visits his recently-deceased boyfriend's mother at a farm. Boyfriend wasn't out to her. Turns into a psychological thriller. 4/5
Xavier Dolan - It's Only the End of the World / Juste la fin du monde (film, 2016, French)
Dolan's character visits his family, but doesn't tell them that he's about to die of ~~AIDS~~ an unspecified illness. Drama ensues. Overbearing mother again. 4/5
Xavier Dolan - Matthias & Maxime (film, 2019, French)
I think this is his best one yet. The two title characters get dared to kiss on camera, the video gets released as part of someone's art project, and then they work through their feelings about it - up until that point, both characters thought they were straight. Again an optimistic film. Also features lovely shots of rural Quebec. 5/5
Dolan has other movies too, I haven't seen all of them yet. If you're into the mommy issues theme, Mommy is the obvious one to watch. The son in that has mental issues, he isn't explicitly gay but it's implied a couple of times.
Alexis Dos Santos - Glue (film, 2006, Spanish)
Youths sniff glue and have sex with each other. Not interesting. 1/5
Róbert I. Douglas - Eleven Men Out / Strákarnir okkar (film, 2005, Icelandic)
Comedy about a dad coming out and then joining an all-gay football (soccer) team. I remember being pleasantly surprised by this one. 4/5
Olivier Ducastel & Jacques Martineau - The Adventures of Felix / Drôle de Félix (film, 2000, French)
Road trip about a guy travelling through France to try and reconnect with his father, after the death of his mother. It was okay. 2/5
Olivier Ducastel & Jacques Martineau - My Life on Ice / Ma vraie vie à Rouen (film, 2002, French)
Somewhat of an experimental movie, an ice-skating twink gets a camera for his 16th birthday, and the movie is filmed entirely from his point of view. Very voyeuristic in the metaphorical and literal senses, he films his step-dad and best friend almost obsessively throughout the film. An interesting one. 3/5
Olivier Ducastel & Jacques Martineau - Cockles and Muscles / Cote d'Azur / Crustacés et coquillages (film, 2005, French)
A high point for this director duo imo, a bit scuppered by its patchy release overseas with different titles in the UK and US. It's a classic farce - son's best friend is invited to stay at a family's country house on the south coast of France, and the parents quickly start to suspect the son of being gay. Well the best friend is gay, but the son isn't, we think. The story takes some twists, and it's very light-hearted and fun. And sexy. 5/5
Olivier Ducastel & Jacques Martineau - Paris 05:59 / Théo et Hugo dans le même bateau (film, 2016, French)
Cute little drama about two guys that meet in a sex club. Yah you heard that right. It does become a PSA for safe sex for a lot of the runtime, though. Double check the title, I'm not sure if it has the same title in different English-speaking territories. I think it was filmed with the conceit of following time exactly or having a single unbroken shot, as if nothing was cut out. Dialogue is a bit humdrum/mumblecore as a result. 3/5
Stephen Dunn - Closet Monster (film, 2015)
Coming of age film with magic realism elements. Deals with internalized homophobia and growing up with homophobic parents. Great soundtrack. 4/5
Joel Edgerton - Boy Erased (film, 2018) - see above
Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone - This Is How You Lose the Time War (book, 2019) (L)
Sci-fi about two time travelling enemies who leave each other messages. They gradually fall in love over the course of the book. I found this one hard to follow, especially with the time travel theme, so I will probably go back and reread it at some point. 4/5
Stephan Elliot - The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (film, 1994) (G/T)
Three Australian drag queens travel across the desert in Priscilla, their battered-up old van. An iconic early-90s road trip movie even without the drag. Stars Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, and Terence Stamp, all famous in their own right. 5/5
Gary Entin - Geography Club (film, 2013)
High school rom-com. Decent but not a lot of substance to it. 2/5
Jakob M. Erwa - Centre of My World / Die Mitte der Welt (film, 2016, German)
Twink falls for bad-boy. A tale as old as time. And I keep falling for it. 4/5
I think this might be based on a novel but I haven't read it.
Jim Fall - Trick (film, 1999)
Guys try to hook up after a night at the club, and keep getting interrupted. They get to know each other and gradually fall in love. Rom-com. This is one that I heard about a lot before seeing it and the plot synopsis itself wasn't too interesting to me. Actually watching it I was pleasantly surprised. Not my favourite but it's pretty decent, and better than a lot of other rom-coms of its era. 3/5
David Farrier & Dylan Reeve - Tickled (film, 2016)
Documentary - Farrier, a New Zealand-based documentarian, tracks down an American man who makes tickling porn - hires young men to be tickled on camera and gets off to it. The story gets madder and madder as it goes. Very interesting watch. 3/5
Christian Faure - Just a Question of Love / Juste une question d'amour (film, 2000, French)
It's a long time since I saw this one, but I just remember being blown away by it. Really heartwarming romance. 4/5
Glen Ficarra & John Requa - I Love You Phillip Morris (film, 2009)
Comedy with Jim Carrey and Ewan Macgregor as its leads. Based on a true story - Jim Carrey's character comes out after a near-death experience and then spends the rest of his life in and out of prison as he becomes a master at escaping. Hilarious and the romance is sweet too. 4/5
Travis Fine - Any Day Now (film, 2012)
Set in the 70s, the main characters unofficially adopt their neighbour's neglected kid with Down syndrome. They face homophobia from society and towards the end, start trying to fight for legal recognition. It has this absolute air of authenticity that made me surprised to discover it was not based on a true story. A bit of a tepid relationship though. 3/5
Dexter Fletcher - Rocketman (film, 2019)
Biopic about Elton John starring Taron Egerton. Great. 4/5
Tom Ford - A Single Man (film, 2009)
Stars Colin Firth. A lot of people seem to like this one, but I couldn't get on board with it. The way the director uses colour makes me think he's just out of film school, the film is more concerned with Firth's character's relationship with women than men, and the ending really pissed me off. I've been trying to avoid putting spoilers but I can't here: The plot is based on a redemption arc of Firth's character - he is contemplating suicide, and at the end of the movie decides that he actually has something to live for, so he won't commit suicide. And then he fucking dies anyway of a heart attack or aneurysm or something. Like what was the point of the movie then? Ugh. 1/5
E.M. Forster - Maurice (book, 1971) / film, 1987, directed by James Ivory
Forster wrote this book in his youth and it went unpublished for something like sixty years until after his death. A damn shame if you ask me. But anyway, this is an uplifting romance, between the titular character first with another nobleman (played by Hugh Grant in the film) and then with a lower-class character. It really examines that class system of 1910s England. 4/5
Émile Gaudreault - Mambo Italiano (film, 2003)
Cookie-cutter rom-com, pretty average. Set in an Italian community in Montreal. My lasting memory of the film is of a farcical scene just involving the parents, but of the acting being a bit wooden. 2/5
Cesc Gay - Nico and Dani / Krámpack (film, 2000, Spanish)
A story of mutual masturbation, where one boy realizes he's more into it than the other. And of summer holidays. It's nice but there's nothing special about it. 2/5
Steve Gaynor & Karla Zimonja - Tacoma (game, 2017) (L)
Sci-fi game, features lesbian and queer characters. The game is quite slow, it's an exploration/walking simulator really. 2/5
Jean Genet - A Song of Love / Un chant d'amour (short film, 1950, silent)
One of the most erotic films I've ever seen. Prisoners in adjacent cells try to communicate through a small hole in the wall. It is a bit pornographic in places, but not actual sex. Should be available on Youtube, though. 4/5
Adam Goldman, Jay Gillespie, Sasha Winters - The Outs (TV/webseries, 2012-13)
Comedy thing I saw almost a decade ago. Quite funny, relatable characters. Wouldn't be surprised if it's out of date now. 3/5
Noam Gonick - Hey, Happy! (film, 2001)
One of the worst films I've ever seen. Apart from the general lack of budget or production values, I think it was the scene where the bad guy of the story, a flaming queer guy, starts cannibalizing another character. 0/5
Yann Gonzalez - Knife + Heart / Un couteau dans le cœur (film, 2018)
Gay-themed slasher film. Good thriller aesthetics and sensibilities. 4/5
Dana Min Goodman & Julia Wolov - Faking It (TV, 2014) (L/G/various)
I only watched one season of this, it was pretty cringe. The two main characters decide to fake being lesbians for clout. But the main character gradually realizing she was actually gay was cute. And I had/have a crush on one of the gay guy actors in the series. 2/5
Simon James Green - Noah Can't Even (book, 2017)
Funny little rom-com / soap opera set in a village in England somewhere. A bit too YA for me really, but it was funny. The main character Noah spends the book denying he's gay, but ends up falling in love with his best friend anyway. It has a sequel, which I also read. I don't know if the series continued. I think gay young adult/children's books like this are very important and I will always support them even if they're not terribly great. 3/5
John Greyson - Lilies (film, 1996)
I saw this just once on an old VHS at my friend's house and fell in love with it. I haven't ever had a chance to see it again. It had the sensibility of a play rather than a film, but it was a decent gay drama. 5/5
Luca Guadagnino - Call Me by Your Name (film, 2017) - see above
Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson - Heartstone / Hjartasteinn (film, 2016, Icelandic)
Coming of age tale set in rural Iceland. Cute. 3/5
Alain Guiraudie - Stranger by the Lake / L'inconnu du lac (film, 2013, French)
Erotic thriller set in a cruising spot. Someone gets drowned and the police get involved. Expect lots of naked bodies on display, it contains 'unsimulated' sex. 3/5
Tom Gustafson - Were the World Mine (film, 2008)
Kinda weird but very interesting magic-realist film with a super-cute lead actor. I need to find my DVD of this to watch it again! 4/5
Andrew Haigh - Weekend (film, 2011)
Two guys fall in love over the course of a weekend. One has to leave at the end, and the relationship is under a time-limit as a result. An easy way to tug at the heartstrings, for sure. This is well-liked and well-known, with good reason. Good chemistry between the leads. (I remember being a little bit reverse-culture-shocked when watching this for the second time after being in Japan for a few years, because of the amount of drugs they take. But that's by the by I guess.) 5/5
Alexis Hall - Glitterland (book, 2013)
Something flimsy that I picked up via Audible. I think it was an opposites-attract type of rom-com. It was fine, definitely nothing special though. 3/5
Robert Hasfogel - Men to Kiss / Männer zum Knutschen (film, 2012, German)
I saw this in a film festival and it kinda sucked. No idea if it's widely available. The camera was really bad quality, and the plot was..... weird? I think is the best way to describe it. It's a comedy where one half of a gay couple gets very bitchy and aggressive towards his partner's female friend for... no reason? Idk I felt very uncomfortable watching it. 1/5
Todd Haynes - Poison (film, 1991)
Triptych art film, it's got sci-fi and horror elements. Sexy and based on the works of Jean Genet. Honestly, though? I wasn't that impressed. 2/5
Julián Hernández - Broken Sky / El ciele dividido (film, 2006, Spanish)
Way too long at 139 minutes, and incredibly slow-moving. Dramatic but mainly just an excuse for softcore porn. 1/5
Antony Hickling & Amaury Grisel - Little Gay Boy, ChrisT Is Dead (short film, 2012)
I felt viscerally offended by watching this short film (which I think might have been adapted into a feature-length film later). And I think that means it accomplished its goal by being provocative. But I couldn't stop thinking about it. The main character is sexually abused by everyone around him including his mother, and at the end of the film he goes into a BDSM club - so, does that mean all of that was his imagination? Or, was it all real? I think that's the strength of a movie when it can ask these questions and let the audience answer them. The title is also supposed to spell out "LGBT is dead" when read from top-to-bottom. Still not sure what to think about that. ?/5
Eliza Hittman - Beach Rats (film, 2017)
I wasn't too keen on this movie - guy has sex with men in private and is homophobic in public - and then it ended with him directly causing the death of one of his hookups and feeling no remorse about it which is the point that I decided the movie was trash. Sure, you can objectify the actors, but at what cost? 1/5
Christophe Honoré - Close to Leo / Tout contre Léo (film, 2002)
We follow a kid whose older brother has HIV, but he doesn't know about it. They go on a final trip together. It's a film about brotherly love and it's good at that. But... it's a bit creepy towards the kid as well and strongly implies that he might be gay as well. Some shots linger too long on the kid's body. Thinking about this I'm more and more convinced that that's not OK. 2/5
Nicholas Hytner - The History Boys (film, 2006)
High school boys in England and their creepy older teacher. Based on a play by Alan Bennett, and it has that sensibility to it. By the end of it everyone seems to be gay. It's a decent film, I think it's more notable for how many professional actors it's spawned from its young cast - James Corden, Dominic Cooper, Russell Tovey, etc. 4/5
Nicholas Hytner - The Lady in the Van (film, 2015)
This one is also based on Alan Bennett's work, but it's more like a biopic - he inadvertently ends up taking care of an old woman played by Maggie Smith. Bennett's writing is acerbic as usual. 4/5
James Ivory - Maurice (film, 1987) - see above
Derek Jarman, Paul Humfress - Sebastiane (film, 1976, Latin)
Full of mostly naked bodies languishing in the desert sun, this is a retelling of the story of St Sebastian - already a gay icon in his own right but to go into why would be an essay in itself. And all the dialogue is in Latin. It's decidedly not mainstream. 4/5
Derek Jarman - The Angelic Conversation (film, 1985)
I'm not really sure what I think about Jarman's work in general - I think it's very important from a film-historical perspective but it's not what you want if you want to be entertained watching, for example, a rom-com. This particular one is erotic imagery overlaid with Shakespeare's Sonnets, narrated by Judi Dench (yes that one). 3/5
Derek Jarman - The Garden (film, 1990)
Same as the last one, this is more heavily religious in its imagery. 2/5
Mitchell Jarvis & Wesley Taylor - ***It Could Be Worse (TV/webseries, 2013)
This is on my list, but I have zero memory of it. Welp. 2/5
Tomasz Jędrowski - Swimming in the Dark (book, 2020)
Romance set during the Polish revolution. Bittersweet, good writing. 4/5
Barry Jenkins - Moonlight (film, 2016)
This is one of the more famous ones, it rightfully won the Oscar that year. I love the cinematography, I guess I wasn't as much a fan of the triptych structure. Apparently the stage (or was it book) version switches back and forth between the three characters and it's not at first obvious that they're supposed to be the same guy at different ages. It works this way, it just doesn't have as much of a sense of connection. 4/5
Craig Johnson - Alex Strangelove (film, 2018)
Cheesy high school rom-com. Feels like a TV movie. I don't want to be too down on it, it was OK. But 2/5
Mischa Kamp - Boys / Jongens (film, 2014, Dutch)
Every frame is a work of art. But this is the PG-rated version*. Very cute teen romance. 5/5
*the UK DVD release is, annoyingly, rated 18 because of a bundled short film which is very un-PG. Don't let that put you off, the main feature is suitable for children.
Alexandra-Therese Keining- Girls Lost / Pojkarna (film, 2015, Swedish) (L/T/Q)
Saw this in a film festival, not sure how widely available it is. Magical realist story in which a group of teen girls drink a magic potion and become boys for a short time. One of them doesn't want to go back. Cute. 4/5
Justin Kelly - King Cobra (film, 2016)
Biopic / dramatized documentary about Brent Corrigan, the porn star. He famously faked his age when he first got into porn, and was actually 17. Meanwhile the producers are off hatching plots against each other behind the scenes. Based on a book, apparently. The movie is fine, I guess. Derailed a bit by James Franco. 2/5
Jonathan Kemp - Twentysix (book, 2011)
Erotic short story collection, one for each letter of the alphabet. A good starting point for getting into queer literature. 3/5
Beeban Kidron - To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (film, 1995) (T?)
This unwieldy title is supposed to be a letter, if that makes sense. With an address and sign-off. In my opinion this is kind of a remake of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert but in America, though it quickly ditches the road trip pretense and spends most of its time in one small town, where the drag queens win over the hearts and minds of the initially-reticent population. Unlike Priscilla, they aren't ever seen out of drag, and the film as a whole has a more comedic tone - Priscilla had more of a bite when it needed to. So not quite as much of a classic. But watch it just to see Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo in drag. 3/5
Kim Jho Kwang-soo - Just Friends? / 친구사이? (short film, 2009, Korean)
A young gay couple clash with Christianity and with the ban on gays in the Korean military. Cute. 3/5
Josh Kim - How to Win at Checkers (Every Time) / พี่ชาย My Hero (film, 2015, Thai)
Very similar plot to Close to Leo, a younger brother idolizes his older brother, who is descending into a life of hedonism. Heartwarming and bittersweet. 4/5

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