I was watching Coraline today, great movie. In one part, two acrobats, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible start reciting a poem.

“What a piece of work is man!

"How noble in reason!"

"How infinite in faculty. "

"In form, in moving how express and admirable!"

"In action like an angel. "

"In apprehension how like a god!"

"The beauty of the world!"

"The paragon of animals!"

I always wondered why I liked this poem and it’s because it has no verbs like “is” or “are” (those types of words, I wasn’t sure what to call them, online, they’re described as verbs)

Anyway, is there a name for this type of poetry? Poems that are simple and every word has a purpose, I guess. They don’t use words like “is” and don’t use contractions like “isn’t”. The poem kind of sounds like fragmentations but it works so well (IMO).

Personally, when I saw this scene, listening to it was very soothing.

If they had used words like “is”, it would be like a piece of string between two pieces of candy on a candy bracelet. You just want the candy, not the string.

irish accents are my favorite accents

coincidence?? i think not

Is there genre called poetic prose? Writing that treats prose with the precision of poetic tools like allusion, metaphors. I read a book by Herta muller " Hunger angel" which essentially uses every situation with the metaphor of the Hunger angel. And writing with rich allusion and metaphor seemed to me different than prose.

I'm interested in learning more about (premodern) Sanskrit-language Buddhist poetry from any era. I have read chunks of the Buddhacarita, but I would prefer more devotional or lyrical poetry than kavya. Does anyone here have experience with Buddhist poetry in Sanskrit, and would you be willing to help me out with some information? I would be very grateful for a brief rundown of major genres of Sanskrit Buddhist poetry, or for pointing me toward a good place to read more about it. Aside from that, is anyone familiar with Buddhist poetry of other languages? If so, please share something - I would love to learn more about it.
I added my translation of an Uyghur praise poem to Maitreya below as an offering to anyone else who wants to share information. This is a 14th century alliterative (all lines in a stanza start with the same word) poem, very representative of the style.

With the four-śloka text,
I praise, continually and in unbroken manner.
As merit for that, may I be given fruits;
May I meet you, Maitreya!

One such as I in Saṃsāra
Had given it no thought.
Upon unflinchingly having become a Buddha,
Think of me, Maitreya!

From the one mixed with the three poisons,
In the domain of the three dhātus,
In the strength of the dharma of leaving the household,
Raise me up, Maitreya!

The six senses are my enemies,
They are present to take me down to Hell.
So I have turned to you;
Receive me, Maitreya!

Poisoned by passions,
I am ready to fall down into Hell.
The cure of the teaching of the four truths,
Set me free completely, Maitreya!

tört šlokluġ nom üzä
tutčī ögärmän üzüksüz
tüš birip munung buyanï
tušayïn sizing maytri

sansarta irinč mini täg
saqïnsar ärti kim mä yoq
sašmaqsïz burxan bolmïšta
saqïnġïl mini maytri

üč aġu üzä bulġanmïš
üč uġušluġ qïlïqtïn
ünüš nomnung küčintä
üntürgil mini maytri

altï qačïġlïġ yaġïlarïm
alïp iltgälir mini tamuqa
anï üčün sizing ävirtim
alġïl mini maytri

tügün nizvanilarqa aġuyup
tüšgälir män una tamuqa
tort kirtü nomluġ agatïġ
tüzüni taturġïl maytri

Leeds-bred DJ star Daley Padley in LA for a poolside chat.

Reviews for the Halo Infinite campaign are rolling out as of December 6th, 12:01AM PT. This is your last warning to go dark to avoid spoilers.

We’ll be compiling a ton of reviews from various press outlets and linking them, their score and a brief quote from their content here.

It goes without saying that there will be spoilers in these reviews. While the press have been asked to keep some details under wraps, it will still include major and minor plot details. We ask that anyone wanting to discuss Campaign spoilers do so with well-marked spoiler tags, or to not do so at all.

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 86 average - 94% recommended - 107 reviews

Critic Reviews

AltChar - Adnan Kljajić - 8 / 10

>Halo Infinite multiplayer is truly a love letter to old school shooters and a proper return to the qualities that originally made the series famous. Whether you are looking for smaller, more organised, matches or all-out warfare with vehicles, you have a lot to enjoy in this game.

Area Xbox - Kevin Arbelo - Spanish - 9.7 / 10

>The Master Chief's latest adventure feels very solid and has quickly become one of my favorite titles of the year. It is difficult to find FPS with better sensations at the controls than those that Halo Infinite has transmitted to me. From its gunplay, through its artificial intelligence, its performance and of course its spectacular sound section. Without a doubt, an adventure designed for the enjoyment of the player.

Areajugones - Alfonso Cánovas - Spanish - 9.2 / 10

>Halo Infinite's compendium is a remarkable one, a game that excels in all areas and that properly shows the hard work that 343 Industries has put in the game. The campaign is cool and th

This 42 year old man is idolized not just as a sex symbol, but as a model of tender masculinity and responsible fatherhood. His relationship to Bonet was held up as an example we should all aspire to. Nah sis:

"I am a full-fledged stalker. I didn't tell her that until we had two babies—otherwise, I'd be creepy and weird...Ever since I was 8 years old and I saw her on TV, I was like, 'Mommy, I want that one! I'm like, 'I'm going to stalk you for the rest of my life and I'm going to get you.'" > You ARE creepy and weird Jason, all of that is just obsessive, manipulative grossness.

"We just happened to be at the right place, right time, mutual friends...I convinced her to take me home, 'cause I was living in a hotel". > So a homeless hobosexual glomming onto an established name in the business, got it.

"Momoa also revealed that his exit from “Game Of Thrones” had a huge financial impact on him and his family. “I mean, we were starving after ‘Game Of Thrones’,” he confessed. “I couldn’t get work. It’s very challenging when you have babies and you’re completely in debt.” > HOW? How are you and your family STARVING? Surely you earned as much as a middle class single mom, what the hell did you do with that money that you couldn't feed your kids?

Momoa and Bonet started dating in 2005 and married in 2017. > It took him TWELVE years to marry the woman he stalked and idolized? Either he couldn't commit to even his dream girl or she wasn't having it. Maybe it was the aforementioned debt. He left GOT in 2011, maybe she wouldn't make it legal till he was in a better financial position.

"When you meet someone you're completely infatuated with and then find out she's amazing, intelligent, and funny and she's a goddess and you're a degenerate." > When someone tells you who they are, believe them.

"My wife is very sophisticated and smart and [our kids and I are] kind of like animals that need to be trained a little better," he said. "I'm constantly a work in progress, and I've just been trying to get better as a father and a husband." > Dudes 42. When is the man child bullshit gonna stop? Why have kids, why get married, if you're so inept as to compare yourself to an untrained animal? Sounds like Lisa was put into the role so many of us are: mother to her husband, manager of the home, the one keeping it all together while this free spirit finds himself on her dime.

Alcohol appears in a lot of Mamoa's photos. The first night Lisa and

I’ve read tons of fantasy and I’m currently writing a fantasy novel right now. I’ve noticed that some of my prose is a bit lacking when compared to other authors of my genre. I’m wanting to improve my prose and I mean to do so by learning from books that have really good prose. When I said “best prose” in the title of this post I didn’t mean flowery and poetic. The best type of prose for me is the prose that puts you in the head(s) of the main character(s). In my opinion George R.R. Martin’s prose is really strong in the way it puts you in the head of each of his POV characters.

So I was really never into fps games. Up until recently I had never bothered to play anything like that, it just never appealed to me. One of the reasons was that the adrenaline rush you get with these types of games was a bit too overwhelming, considering I had NEVER played any game with a mouse before. Back in 2020 however, I decided that I wanted to try new things and do other stuff. I started with Minecraft ( Obviously I did); I could go in Creative or Peaceful Survival and have a lot of fun. Then I started to look into other games, and gradually I began to feel more comfortable with shooters. After that my venture into the abyss led me to play the FREAKING AWESOME game that is Mirror's Edge (yes, I am very much aware it's not a shooter, it's a PARKOUR GAME, but whatever, shut up; I liked it, okay? There's a little bit of shooting in it as well).

I had heard of Bioshock before from a lot of other people. I saw the reviews and the gameplay of the Original Bioshock and kinda liked it so I got it. Unfortunately I didn't play it through. I was still new to the fps genre, and the fact that I was playing in Easy and having a hard time, combined with the fact that I had such a BAD laptop that the Game maxed at 30 fps in LOW RES, I just ... gave up. I remember the part where we first heal a Little Sister from the meds that doctor lady gives us, and that's it. I stopped.

Recently though, I got an upgrade (yes, I am choosing to call and 8 gb ram laptop with an amd hd 8690m graphics card an "upgrade", because it FREAKING IS), and so I decided to play the third installment of the game: Bioshock Infinite. Why? Because it looked freaking pretty, that's why!

I LOVED this game. I loved how it touched so many things, and how, despite the sci-fi going around it managed to perfectly blend the era of 1920s America along with it. I loved the setting of Columbia and genuinely enjoyed the magnificent scenery it provided. The story was freaking incredible too. I loved the religious aspect of it all, I loved its themes of poverty, slavery and racism. I personally enjoyed the character of Elizabeth. Other games would just stick with "damsel in distress" and give her as much as love as they would give an NPC (with an addition of large bo- ahem! Balloons), but Elizabeth is generally very helpful during battle. I can't count how many times I had no ammo or low health and she was right there to help.

The story was a solid 9/10. I give it 9 because the ending felt a little over

Thought i'd share some thoughts on all the books i've read this year and perhaps we can turn this into a thread where everyone posts some of their favorite books and we all get some nice recommendations for the new year. :)

I'll keep my blurbs for each book short and sort them roughly from favorite to least favorite, so you can easily tl;dr this.

Started the year with two goals: Switch to paper books and read 20 pages a day. Ended up with something closer to 30 a day and started targeting 30 finished books for this year, which i just hit today. Big old stack of books.

Anyway, here's the list. Please do go ahead and share your own thoughts/recommendations in the comments. :)

人間失格 - Dazai Osamu - ★★★★★

The most-sold japanese novel of all time. Some of those feelings Dazai shares, about his childhood, about his disconnect with the world in general, i found to be incredibly on point. The whole thing is sort of pseudo-autobiographical, much like Mishima's 仮面の告白, so he uses a different name, twists his own life around a bit, but it's still about him of course. And i've probably never read a more personally relatable book than this one. Not even so much regarding the greater context of his life, but the many small details that i have never seen anyone else express as accurately as Dazai.

Language wise Dazai tends to be easier than Mishima or Akutagawa, but there is a bunch of poetry later on that is pretty tricky.

草の花 - Fukunaga Takehiko - ★★★★★

I only bought this because of the pretty cover (like most of these lol), but it's a close contender for my favorite of the year. A terminally ill man at a sanatorium tells the story of two crucial relationships in his life. The moods and sceneries this conjures up are honestly more vivid than any book reading experience i ever had. The first half in particular, set in a coastal town around the Izu peninsula is just magical. It deals, like a bunch of these, with the pressure of the war both hindering and accelerating certain decisions and relationships, and there are some great bits on faith and christianity as well. Heart-rending melancholia somewhere between romance, friendship and solitude.

If there's one recommendation you should take from this list, it's this one.

小さいおうち - Nakajima Kyoko - ★★★★★

A 女中, live-in maid, recounting her life during the war.

Any suggestions for graphic novels with poetic language?

Can anyone suggest songs that have extremely poetic lyrics? I want to make a new playlist and this seems like a worthwhile list to create

As is yearly tradition, over the month of December I posted two songs per day in the Daily Discussion threads (one single and one album track (mostly)) that I felt went unnoticed by most people but would potentially be enjoyed, and this is a compilation of those write-ups.

There’s a definite pop focus but I picked these tracks with an ear for diversity of sound/artistry so there’s quite a few different things going on here and some picks that might make you roll your eyes, but I think there’s something for everyone! FFO means “For Fans Of,” it’s a reference point for who I think would like each song.

Here is a link to a playlist I made of (most) of the songs.

#Singles:

> Joyce Wrice (ft. Freddie Gibbs) - On One (from Overgrown)

> FFO: Tinashe

It seems like everyone is nostalgic for the ‘00s these days but if you were specifically missing those block party busting r&b jams, Joyce Wrice has you covered. She oozes the essence of this era of r&b starlets thanks to her flirty-yet-fiery delivery and the Aaliyah sample (“Rock The Boat”) takes this connection even further, but the charismatic rap verse from Freddie Gibbs has a distinctly more modern feeling that still flows well. One of many stellar tracks on her debut album but it stands out thanks to the pop friendly hooks and crazy replay value.

• Riri - Wheel Of Fortune

> FFO: Red Velvet

In tarot the “Wheel Of Fortune” card is supposed to invoke good luck and prosperity and the song really captures that vibe with the bright melody and hopeful lyrics, both of which Riri carries perfectly. The quirky production makes everything even more exciting, it’s got a new jack swing beat but then there’s all sorts of horns and synths and samples layered on top so it’s just brimming with energy while still being perfectly in control.

> LØLØ - Hurt Less (from overkill)

> FFO: Avril Lavigne

Emo pop-rock meets self-deprecating Tik Tok music, and that’s a compliment! Canadian singer LØLØ started with this sound last year (so she was actually a bit ahead of the curve on this trend) but she took until this year with the overkill EP to really nail it. This song is indulgently relatable and the chorus just creeps up on you, it’s so catchy and

Right, this is a list of my horror and horrorish reads of the year. Many of which have come due to recommendations on this great sub. A big thanks goes out to all of you for non-stop horrific inspiration.

The Book of Accidents - Chuck Wendig 1,5 / 5

I had no idea what to expect from this author and solely bought it based on random Internet hype. Turns out I really shouldn't have. The story was a complete, tangled mess of decent and terrible ideas, the characters ridiculously stereotypical and the constant quaint and quirky pop culture references made me nauseous. I don't think I'll pick up another Wendig book again, ever.

The Invited - Jennifer McMahon 2 / 5

Boring, predictable and utterly harmless ghost story. One of those books that I only finished because I hate dnf'ing.

The Ruins - Scott Smith 3 / 5

Having heard about it countless times before here on this sub, I decided it was time to finally give it a go during last summer. I knew exactly what I was in for. The young folks were god damned annoying and did god damned annoying stuff from start to end, and I almost rooted for the vines. Decent, predictable horror fun that I'm not going to revisit.

A Song for the Void - Andrew Piazza 3 / 5

Cosmic horror mixed with historical fiction set during The Opium Wars on the South China Sea! What's not to love here?! Well, actually now that I mention it, there's a couple of things I absolutely did not love about this book. First and foremost, the story at a certain junction became somewhat silly, and the former sweet, brooding air of what the heck is going on just evaporates. Secondly, I really hate it when I feel that the author seems to think that the reader is dumb and can't figure anything out for themselves, and in turn needs to explain what you already have figured out. I had that feeling a couple of times, which blows. Fantastic fucking premise with some cool imagery all in all, but not too well executed.

The Loney - Andrew Michael Hurley 3 / 5

Neat prose didn't really make up for the lacklustre story for me. I usually dig this kind of slow, folkish, brooding suspense/horror, but I honestly don't recall a whole lot of this book as we speak, which goes well in line with what I felt back when I was reading it; it just really didn't touch me anywhere neither good nor bad.

We need to do Something - Max Booth III 3,5 / 5   Cool little story with some surprisingly gnarly scenes. I caught myself at times wondering a

It shouldn't take that much courage to be a conservative lawmaker who believes in climate change. After all, Republicans created the Environmental Protection Agency and the Endangered Species Act. Republicans were also the ones who were in charge when the international community and the United States quickly responded to the Ozone crisis banning chemicals worldwide that were responsible for the endangerment of human and nonhuman health around the globe.

Truly, environmentalism was a bipartisan issue until about 1992. That's when public opinion on one side of the aisle began to change dramatically as public confidence among conservatives in the integrity of the academic environment began to waver. In steps Bob Inglis, who once was a climate skeptic while serving in one of the most conservative congressional districts in America. Bob, though, is also an intellectual and a deeply committed Reformed Christian. This meant he accepted an invitation for a generous listening journey to Antarctica in 2006 with some of the leading scientists that Earth has to offer.

They visited places first hand. They opened up their data to him and presented evidence like they were council in a court case and he was the jury. They patiently answered his good faith questions without shaming him for not knowing already what they had known for decades. As a result of this table set in the frozen desert, some of our kindest intellectuals on either side began to see eye to eye for the first time in over a decade.

So what. Is this fiction? Why don't you know about this? Why are so many good faith Republicans still so anti-climate? Easy. Inglis was voted out of office in the primary as soon as he came out as a climate advocate.

He is happy with this. He has no regrets. He has dedicated his life to lobbying for the common welfare (I can picture him cringing at this description of his effort), and he has convinced almost everyone on his side of the aisle. However, everyone is too afraid to be primaried to do anything about our climate crisis. That, or they are afraid to lose their taxpayer funded employer health coverage.

1 2

his lyrics are phenomenal, he created a totally new genre blending traditional irish music and traditional irish instruments with punk/rebel music. They way he sung(before he lost his ability to sing energetically due to his alcoholism catching up to him in later life) was raw and gave u the feels/goosebumps. It was almost poetic and like he was telling u a story in song form. and he managed to do all this while constantly inebriated which is quite a feat. and was always a staunch supporter of irish nationalism. and despite this mans appearance i think hes a gem and underrated. A Pair Of Brown Eyes, If i Should Fall From Grace with God, Spancil hill with christy moore, The Sickbed of Cuchulainn, A Rainy Night in Soho, Sally Maclennane, The Boys from county Hell, just to name a few of my favourites and of course i cant leave out Fairytale of New York tho ive heard it way too many times but that was incredible and now they want to ban the song at xmas which i find absurd.

Hi again. Three weeks ago I posted about a project I'm working on. For those who haven't seen it yet:

>So, I am embarking on an interesting project. I intend to experience the best art and media humanity has to offer before I die. Namely this is all the highly notable and interesting books, plays, art, music, films, TV shows, and video games. I guess you could call it a bucket list. I've been indexing it chronologically and downloading it to an external hard drive.

I then solicited suggestions for highly notable/significant ancient and medieval literature that I was missing from an early draft of what the list would cover. I got over 100 responses; it was clear I was missing a lot. So, I pretty much started from scratch, doing multiple sweeps of any pre-Renaissance literature, and incorporated many of the suggestions I received, ranging from missing individual works to missing authors and cultures.

I should also note that in order to prevent this list from becoming unwieldly, I am limiting myself to 10,000 entries total, forcing myself to take a more deliberate and top-down approach. So far, I have 261 entries for the time span 4000 BC to 1400 AD: 12 Ancient-era, 121 Classical-era, and 128 Medieval-era works. 251 are literature, 10 are music. In other words, 2.61% of the list is Medieval era works or earlier, which seems quite reasonable to me and leaves plenty of room for more modern works spanning across more mediums.

I thought I would share what I have so far before I begin work on more modern stuff. Note that bolded entries are in the top 1,000 works, the cream of the crop, the most notable of all. If you're following along with me and don't want it to take a decade or longer to get through the whole completed list, just sticking to the bolded entries will give you a good taste too.

Ancient Era (4000 BC - 1001 BC)

We see a lot of threads about bad titles, e.g. the ___ of ____, so I'd like to hear, in your opinion, what makes a good title? Short and snappy? Longer and more descriptive? Something else?

For me, I have a real soft spot for older fantasy style titles: "The Magic of Recluse" or "The Death of Chaos", even though some people would consider these poor titles, they just inspire magic in my mind. Some of my other favourites that are more short and snappy would be "Stormfront" and "Mistborn", which pique my imagination in a single word, and make me wonder at what the book will contain, not to mention, they just sound cool! Another good one is "Howl's Moving Castle", which certainly makes my mind wander on the premise!

So, I'd love to hear, what are your favourite titles and why? What goes into a good title? Thanks!

Occasionally, I will come across people in music discussions claiming they dislike rap/hip-hop, and then someone else may respond to them with "you're just being racist". This is something I really don't get. Just because someone doesn't like a genre popularized by a certain race, that doesn't automatically make them a racist.

I don't like rap myself, but it has nothing to do with race. I dislike rap because I think it's boring, lacks proper instrumentation (why use a drum machine and not an actual drum set), and lacks the very essence of what it's supposed to be in the first place, poetry. I know there are a definitely some rappers out there who are poetic in their subject material, but for the grand majority of the time, I feel like rap lyrics are quite disingenuous (it's one of those situations where everyone wants to talk, but no one actually has something to say).

So yeah, you can very well dislike a certain genre of music for reasons unrelated to race. Also, I wanted to mention that I have these issues with white rappers such as Eminem as well, as I don't like them either.

Another year nearly over, and many stories consumed. 2021 was a weird year for me and I've been fairly absent around here recently aside from the occasional comment. I got really burnt out but life just kept happening, so participating here and reviewing books were activities that got dropped. But I also found a great community of people that helped me re-engage and kept me from getting too isolated. I hope to get back in the swing of things soon, but I'm not putting any hard dates or goals on myself for now. I did want to write up a review of this year's reading for now though. So, without further ado:

The Highlights

Highly Recommended Books, in order of my consumption of them

Firewalkers: A novella set on post-apocalyptic Earth where what remains of humanity is confined to climate-controlled cities due to scorching temperatures outside. Recommended for people who like post-apocalyptic sci-fi and a 'Fuck The Rich' attitude.

The Chronicler Saga: Companion (book 2) released early this year and I enjoyed catching up with these characters again so much. Full review for Construct here. I have 3 US Amazon ebook codes for book 1, Constuct, if anyone wants one. Recommended for people who like character-driven, slower-paced fantasy in a steampunk-ish setting.

Los Nefilim: The third and final book released early this year and landed the ending in such a satisfying way. Love this series. Recommended to people who like fantasy stories set around real-world historical events.

The Kingston Cycle: Another series whose finale released this year and was just so damn good. Recommended to people who like historical or political fantasy.

The Four Profound Weaves: A lovely novella that was beautifully written, following two trans elders. Recommended for people who like poetic writing.

The Masquerade: Very political and often heart-wrenching, this series follows a protagonist trying to take down a colonial empire from the inside. Recommended for people who want to be hurt by their books.

Joe Hill once said that musicians and filmmakers have the advantage of being able to remake films, TV shows and songs, while if an author tried to do that he/she would be sued. This, Hill continues, is why authors write "parody" novels or stories, homages to what they want to honour. If this is true, then Ghost Story, released in 1979, is American author Peter Straub's homage to the gothic horror that he most likely grew up reading (with him being in his late seventies), and his way of honouring the stories that are responsible, in one way or another, for what horror is today.

It follows a group of aging men known as the Chowder Society, kept together by a dark past, who meet every now and then to tell each other stories. However, they are struck by grief when one of their members dies - or is killed - at a party. At their next meeting, the theme of the story is based on a question: "What is the worst thing you have ever done?" The reply: "I won't tell you that, but I will tell you the worst thing that's ever happened to me" (or something along those lines), and so begins the "supernatural tale" era of the Chowder Society's storytelling. Years later, the men of the Chowder Society slowly begin to fall prey first to horrifying nightmares, then to terrifying phenomena that rocks not only them, but the town as well. Desperate, they call for their deceased member's nephew, an author whose supernatural horror novel is believed to have been based on a frightening event that occurred in his past, to help; they subconsciously hope that he will arrive and tell them that they are simply looking into the situation too much. However, when the author arrives, he confirms the Chowder Society's darkest fears: that their shared past has come back to haunt them, and that they are now the characters of a shockingly real ghost story…

While Ghost Story was not his first novel - and not even his first work of horror - it is the book that put Straub on the radar, quickly pushing him up to the level of horror giants like Stephen King. And while I personally don’t see this as his best book, I can’t deny that it is still a pretty good book.

Ghost Story has a few similarities with King's vampire novel 'Salem's Lot, most noticeably the beginning: a man flees with a child who is not his own (although he claims that they are); soon the narrative delves into how these two characters got to be where they are, and what they are running from. You also have the idea of a small town bein

I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.

Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.

Can you recommend me a book that you just can’t put down? My favorite genre is YA fantasy, but it can be another one too if the book is really good! The only type of book I’m not that into are very poetic books, with tons of similes and metaphors.

I used to be an avid reader but I haven’t really read anything in the past 3 years… I’m trying to get back into reading but I’m having a hard time finishing a book.

Thank you!!!

EDIT: Thank you everyone for all the amazing recs!!! I have a huge list of books to read now, it's gonna be hard to choose which one to start first!

I have a favorite interview with the poet Ada Limón where she says: "Right now, I think I write very “poetic” fiction. You know, there’s a lot of a woman standing in a field thinking about other times she stood in a field. All my plot shifts are emotional and psychological. What I love most is describing—both the landscape and the humans and their interactions. I love dialogue, too. But I think I’m a little too satisfied when nothing happens."

Any recommendations for books like this? I personally prefer when characters just wander and ponder, without depending on conflict to drive the book. I'm thinking of Virginia Woolf's The Waves, Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest & Relaxation, Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, or like those long discursions found in thick 19th-century novels where they talk about birds or bridges for twenty pages.

Looking more for novels and fiction, and not essays, but I'm also open to genre-bending books. Thank you!

All timestamps refer to this version that should be watched with captions on.

BLACK HOLE is not on that same Spotify playlist Sayonakidori also isn’t, so I heard it for the first time at the end of my run through Unseen World. And so did mostly everyone else who got to experience it, I believe. Which is a good thing, because this song needs the context.

In its most available version, Unseen World starts with a very modern read of a Purcell-like chamber music piece, with a very haunting interplay of three different melodies by plucked and bowed violins, and a glockenspiel, woven into each other and punctuated by timpani and distant cymbal crashes, all of which very loosely support a tension-building tuba that’s constantly descending in pitch to the point where the song seems to start just because the tuba can’t get any lower. Some sort of unnatural noise fades in from nowhere then takes over...

That is the opening of this absolute contemporary masterpiece of an album. An album that is hopeful and positive but also filled with all the anger and frustration of a tightly knitted group of people who used to be with each other 300 out the 365 days of the year. And BLACK HOLE is its the closing argument. When I talked about Sayonakidori I said it was “the romantic love poem ballad 2021 deserves”. Well, BLACK HOLE is this year’s theme song!

It almost got called “CHAOS” and it is often described by fans as “controlled chaos”, but to me this tune is more akin to turbulence - chaos in motion. Kanami, taking hints from Dadaism and Futurism, wrote an impossible song that feels almost like a Force of Nature. All its interacting moving parts feel uncontrollably powerful and unpredictable, almost unquantifiable. And yet, there’s a point to it. It is chaotic, for sure, but it also flows very deliberately in a certain direction.

A black hole is a real thing. It is an infinitesimal point in space with infinite density (i.e. super small, super heavy), which makes it a hard thing to describe or measure and an impossible thing to escape from ([Hawking radiation](ht

Disclaimer: you’re probably only going to appreciate this game if you consider yourself advanced in fps. To me this game is the ultimate trial of this genre.

They really got everything right in this game. I have never experienced one more run syndrome as hard as I did in my last play session of DD.

The entire game is just one small circular arena level that always plays out pretty much exactly the same each time, and your objective is simply to survive as long as possible. You shoot daggers out of your hand at monsters as they spawn from tentacled hives and as you collect crystals it powers up your daggers. There is standard machine gun mode and shotgun mode both of which push crystals away, the shotgun more forcefully, so make sure to let up on firing sometimes before the crystals despawn so you can collect them.

The monster design, ps1 style aliasing, and sound design are perfect. Even the start up sound when they display the game dev logo feels like the ps1 start up sound but in hell. When you shred every crystal off of a centipede it sounds like running your hand across a digital chain link fence, in hell. Seeing a pattern here?

In order to survive you have to destroy monsters in a poetic ballet of strafe hopping and precision wave targeting all while leading a horde of skulls and demons around the arena as you kite and whittle them down in between killing spawners. As the time goes on even more insane monsters begin to spawn, to the point where players who make it to 1000 seconds are truly in the most accurate depiction of a hellscape ever achieved in gaming. I’ve only made it to 315 seconds so far and it takes every ounce of my gaming ability. Watching a top players replay is something akin to a dark religious experience. The skill cap to mastery is extremely high.

If you like the idea of a hellish fps schmup that truly tests the limits of your humanity give it a shot.

Game Information

Game Title: Halo Infinite

Platforms:

• PC (Dec 8, 2021)
• Xbox One (Dec 8, 2021)
• Xbox Series X/S (Dec 8, 2021)

Trailers:

• Halo Infinite | Multiplayer Season 1 Cinematic Intro
• Halo Infinite | Campaign Gameplay Premiere – 8 Minute Demo
• Halo Infinite | Campaign Gameplay Trailer
• Halo Infinite - E3 2018 - Announcement Trailer

Developer: 343 Industries

Publisher: Xbox Game Studios

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 86 average - 94% recommended - 93 reviews

Critic Reviews

ACG - Jeremy Penter - Buy

>Video Review - Quote not available

AusGamers - KostaAndreadis - 8 / 10

>In the end though it’s hard to fault what 343 Industries has accomplished with Halo Infinite. It’s very much the spiritual successor it purports to be -- with forward thinking design and elements that flow in a way that reminds you of the timeless nature of the fluid, stylish combat of old. The lack of co-op is something you feel, but in terms of cinematic spectacle this is the Master Chief carrying the flag once more for Xbox. Albeit in that new-school form of being able to jump in and, well, play anywhere.

CGMagazine - Khari Taylor - 9.5 / 10

>Unencumbered by the baggage of the upcoming story campaign, Halo Infinite Multiplayer is arguably the definitive incarnation of the franchise’s online competitive component and is strong enough to stand on its own despite its F2P leanings.

COGconnected - Garrett Drake - 76 / 100

>I’ve shared many gripes I have with Halo Infinite. I’ve shared them meticulously because I love this franchi