Index Of Frightful Friday Posts 101–200

V.F.D’s Codes (Happy bi visibility day!)

Updated Reading List 6.1: Ancient Jewish History

Historiography, Theory, Methodology, Construction, and Philosophy of History American History Ancient History Atlantic World History European History

Jewish History: Ancient-Late Antique*

A History of Ancient Israel and Judah, Second Edition by J. Maxwell Miller and John Haralson Hayes

A Brief History of Ancient Israel by Victor H. Matthews

The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World: The Jews of Palestine from Alexander the Great to the Arab Conquest by Peter Schlafer

The Ancient Jews from Alexander to Muhammad (Key Themes in Ancient History) by Seth Schwartz

Surviving Sacrilege: Cultural Persistence in Jewish Antiquity by Steven Weitzman

*A lot of my preferred books in the realm of “Ancient Jewish History” fall under the heading of “Biblical Studies,” which will be in a separate, “History Adjacent” reading list. Some of these are also featured/repeated in the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict Reading List, which I am presently editing. NOTE: I’m an Amazon Affiliate; I will receive a small portion of the proceeds from ANYTHING [hint] you purchase on Amazon via my links. I am an independent scholar, and need $$$ to pay my translators etc for my book on Jewish women’s Holocaust resistance, so anything you can do helps! If you’d rather not give your $$$ to Amazon but still want to help this independent scholar out, my paypal is here.

I just realized, I just bloody realized, Moist Von Lipwig’s story arc is a game of Monopoly through the eyes of a conman going through the board and winning all the pieces.

He has the top hat, the dog, the train (which replaces to automotive in newer boards) the friendship of the Seamstress’ Guild (thimble), the walking iron called Gladys, the boot (he’s the incarnation of the Disc God Fedecks who has winged boots) and also the bag of money.*   He goes to jail, but eventually gets to pass and go. He’s integral in the rehabilitation of civic buildings (post office, bank, mint, the acquisition of land to build a railway and then adding stations to said railway), the owner of up market private property, and also he invents paper money which everyone sort of thinks of as a bit of a game.

His very name, Moist Von Lipwig, is a pun about wearing a fake lip wig or mustache. Like so:

Lord Vetinari is quite literally using him to play a life size version of Monopoly with the city. And winning.

(Amendment: Adora with hear deadly footwear is also the shoe/boot.)

(* Alternates: Sam Vimes is boots, Gaspode and Beggars Guild is dog, Wheelbarrow is Harry King, Thimble is Seamstress Guild, Battlehsip/canon is Assassins Guild/Nobility, Money Bag is Thieves Guild, leaving Moist as Top Hat and Train. ANKH-MORPORK MONOPOLY, GIVE IT TO ME) 

((edited for typos, too busy flailing))!!!!!

Who burned down the Baudelaire mansion?

The series ended on an island but its bad beginning is still rife with controversy, confusion and contempt. As of today, we have no idea how the Baudelaire fire happened, or who escaped it, or why it was so important. In one of the most infuriating and frustrating pieces of dialogues Daniel Handler has ever written, we, the readers, are denied any answer to this mystery:

Klaus knelt down beside his sister, and stared into the villain’s shiny eyes. “You’re the one who made us orphans in the first place,” he said, uttering out loud for the first time a secret all three Baudelaires had kept in their hearts for almost as long as they could remember. Olaf closed his eyes for a moment, grimacing in pain, and then stared slowly at each of the three children in turn. “Is that what you think?” he said finally. “We know it,” Sunny said. “You don’t know anything,” Count Olaf said. “You three children are the same as when I first laid eyes on you. You think you can triumph in this world with nothing more than a keen mind, a pile of books, and the occasional gourmet meal.” He poured one last gulp of cordial into his poisoned mouth before throwing the seashell into the sand. “You’re just like your parents,” he said, and from the shore the children heard Kit Snicket moan. [Lemony Snicket - The End, Chapter Thirteenth]

There are about a million different ways to interpret Olaf’s reaction:

Someone else was actually responsible for burning down the mansion.

A group of several people (including Olaf) burned down the mansion for different reasons.

Olaf did burn down the mansion but the Baudelaire parents’ death had nothing to do with the fire, as at least one of them escaped the fire.

Olaf was coerced into killing the Baudelaire parents and was only an accomplice to the murder

Olaf feels that Bertrand and Beatrice are responsible for their own death and that they essentially brought it upon themselves

Klaus is more or less right but Olaf just enjoys not leaving the Baudelaire orphans any closure or certainty on this topic as a final “screw you” to his enemies.

The ambiguity of the universe and the inability to acquire perfect knowledge are major themes throughout the series, and Olaf’s ambiguous response is a testament. Nevertheless, there seems to be a kind of poignant sincerity in Olaf’s flippant dismissal. This is a dying man who has nothing left to lose; why would he lie? If a drama-queen has to make a final speech, said drama-queen uses it to send a deeply personal message. And the message here is that Klaus is… not wrong, exactly, but that his understanding of his parents’ death is biased and simplistic. Let’s take some time to examine Olaf’s point of view on the day of the Baudelaire fire.

Simply put: what the hell happened?

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in the latest cyber-news: the internet archive has lost their case against 4 major publishing houses (verge article). they’re going to appeal, but this is still a bad outcome. the fate of the internet is currently hanging in the balance because 4 multibillionare publishing groups missed out on like $15 of combined revenue during the pandemic because of the archive’s online library service. it’s so fucking stupid.

for those who don’t know what the internet archive is, it’s a virtual library full of media. books, magazines, recordings, visuals, flash games, websites - a lot of these things either don’t exist anymore or cannot be found & bought. heard of the wayback machine? that’s part of the internet archive. it is the most important website to exist, and i don’t say that lightly. if the internet archive goes down, the cultural loss will be immeasurable.

so how can you help?

boycott the publishing companies involved in this. they’re absolute ghouls, frankly, and don’t deserve a penny. the companies involved are harpercollins (imprints), wiley (imprints), penguin random house llc (imprints), and hachette book group (imprints). make sure the websites are set to your location as it may differ worldwide.

learn to torrent. download a torrent client (i recommend transmission), a vpn (i recommend protonvpn - sign up and choose the area that’s closest to your continent/country), and hit up /r/piracy on reddit for websites. with torrenting, you can get (almost) any media you want for free in high quality, with add-ons such as subtitles, and with no risks of loss. i would also recommend getting into the habit of watching stuff online for free. the less you can pay to a giant corporation, the better.

get into the habit of downloading and archiving materials. find a TB external hard drive, ideally the higher the better. it’ll probably cost around $60 for 1TB and continue to go up, but they’re so so useful. if you can’t afford a drive, look for any GB harddrives or memory sticks you have lying around and just fill them up. videos, pdfs, magazines, songs, movies, games - anything you can rip and download and fit on there, do it, because nothing is permanent.

donate to the internet archive. this is the most important option on the list. the IA relies entirely on funding, and it’s going to need more to fight this case. whatever you can donate, do it. i promise it’s helpful.

and finally…

Hello, that's trully a wonderful playlist! Thanks for it. I strongly recommend "Bored to Death" by Coconut Records - it's like the intro to the whole ATWQ series for me

All The Wrong Questions - fan playlist

Extreme Ways - Moby

Calm Like You - The Last Shadow Puppets

The Game - Deine Lakaien

The Shrine/An Argument - The Fleet Foxes

Black Sun - Death Cab For A Cutie

Brave New World - Kalandra

Familiar - Agnes Obel

Me And My Friends Are Lonely - Matt Maeson

Hi! I made this playlist taking into consideration both atmosphere of the song and its lyrics. Obviously, it’s not like every word in those songs fits into Snicketverse lore, but those songs just remind me of ATWQ, mostly the darker aspects of the series. I hope you’ll like it. I'm also making Ellington x Lemony Playlist right now, so stay tuned. And if you want me to make more playlists for fandoms listed in my bio, I’m open for suggestions. The songs are not only chosen for Lemony’s perspective, but for the other characters too. 

I do not own any of the songs or the book series All The Wrong Questions written by one and only Lemony Snicket. 

Link to my playlist on YouTube

Extreme Ways - Moby //

Extreme ways are back again / Extreme places I didn’t know /  (…) I’ve seen so much in so many places / So many heartaches, so many faces / So many dirty things / You couldn’t even believe / I would stand in line for this / It’s always good in life for this //

Calm Like You - The Last Shadow Puppets //

I can still remember / When your city smelt exciting / I still get a whiff / Of that aroma now and then / Burglary and fireworks / The skies they were alighting / Accidents and toffee drops / And thinking on the train(…) / If he was calm like you / Locked up inside of your loops / Then he’d know for well / That all he had to say was / All he had to say was goodbye//

The Game - Deine Lakaien //

(…) Air full of grief / It is you now / Stuck within / Soul is burning / No chance to win / (…) And the hot sun / Paints the door / Your philanthropist / Sighed once more / Wind was blowing / Air through pipes / Holes in bodies / Mortal crimes / What have you done to the game / Was it a victory, a shame(…) //

The Shrine/An Argument - The Fleet Foxes //

I went down among the dust and pollen / To the old stone fountain in the morning after dawn /  Underneath were all these pennies fallen from the hands of children / They were there and then were gone / And I wonder what became of them / What became of them (…) / I’m not one to ever pray for mercy //

Black Sun - Death Cab For A Cutie //

There is whisky in the water / And there is death upon the vine / (…) / There is a desert veiled in pavement / And there’s a city of seven hills / And all our debris flows to the ocean / (…) / There is an answer in a question / And there is hope within despair / And there is beauty in a failure, / And there are depths beyond compare //

Brave New World - Kalandra //

Witnessing the smoke that’s rolling in (…) / The scent of embers lingers in the air / It`s like a web / There is no escape from / It’s got you trapped / (…) / Never knowing what they demanded / (…) / You want to fight but you’re all divided / It’s not a world everyone can thrive in / Is this the world we were meant to grown in?

Familiar - Agnes Obel //

We took a walk to the summit at night, you and I / To burn a hole in the old grip of the familiar true to life / And the dark was opening wide, do or die / Under a mask of vermillion ruling eyes //

Me And My Friends Are Lonely - Matt Maeson //

I cope smothered in smoke / Deep high, drape my soul in / I know things that you don’t / I’ve met murdering folk / And they took one of our own / They took our innocent home/ (…) / If I leave it does not stop here, no / So is there any treason in the tricky little price I pay?

A photographer’s portrait in a mirror, a hundred years ago, Japan, ca. 1920. Text and image via Old Japanese Photos on Facebook

so weird how in english some words are really just used in expressions and not otherwise… like has anyone said “havoc” when not using it in the phrase “wreaking havoc”? same goes for “wreaking” actually…

reply with more, i’m fascinated

I bet octopuses think bones are horrific. I bet all their cosmic horror stories involve rigid-limbs and hinged joints.