Hey r/UnresolvedMysteries! Long time no see.
I'm back again with another benign mystery. I worked on and off on this for quite a while and found the research really interesting.
As always here is THE VIDEO VERSION for those who prefer it. I always try to make these with as little fluff as possible.
The biggest secret in art history
Imagine, if you will, you are a town-dwelling early 17th century European. Throughout your lifetime you have been exposed to wonderfully crafted paintings in what would be known as the baroque period.
As you leave the local tavern, walking the cobblestone paved streets home, perhaps familiar with locally renowned painters like Rembrandt, el Greco and Breughel, you catch a glimpse of something strange.
You spot a painting, not just any painting. A piece of art unlike anything you've ever seen before.
An indoor scene, details exquisitely placed, natural lightning that mimics the sun peering through your own windows. Truly a portal in to someone's life that seems indistinguishable from real life, as if a photograph taken centuries before the invention of the modern camera.
NOT JUST AN INTERPRETATION
In the 17th century, during what would be known as the Baroque period, important themes in art were emotional states, often dramatic and exaggerated. A sense of grandeur, drama, vitality and extreme movements. Paintings in a baroque style, as the word itself implies, did not ascribe to the regular or immaculate but would rather try to illicit an emotional response.
However, at around 1650 something changed. Some artists, mainly situated in the Netherlands almost overnight learned how to paint with the most exquisite of detail and perfect lighting, as if they had sold their soul to the devil in exchange for unprecedented artistry.
Perhaps the most famous of those artists was Johannes Vermeer. When I say famous in regards to Vermeer, I am actually referring to his paintings, not the man himself.
In fact, very little is known about this illustrious artist. His exact date of birth is unknown. As is the fact in how he gained his amazing painting skills.
In the 1600s in Holland, it was customary as an artist to train under masters. Which master you trained under could lend credence to your own skill
... keep reading on reddit โกIt's only a big deal if you make a big deal about it.
Sure, SH lets you in on Kelsier being around, but it doesn't tell you when or why or how he might come back into the picture. Some people might be more likely to guess that he's the Sovereign, but others still need things to be spelled out. (Heck, I understood that Kell was the guy in the metalmind, but I still needed to have it printed out that the guy in the metalmind <I>was</I> the Sovereign, and not that there were two dead guys somehow walking around). Sure, SH shows TLR going Beyond, making it inexplicable that he's around ruling SoScad, but without the context of SH it's just as inexplicable that there's a thoroughly dead guy who's now alive again.
What does make it far more spoilery is when people are going "Wait til BoM before reading SH! It's got massive spoilers!". Because then people will be looking for connections, and the obvious conclusion after reading Secret History is that Undead Kelsier is going to be majorly involved somehow. (Though even then, there's enough plot twists in BoM that wouldn't say it's <I>ruined</I>, especially since the coin reveal is an epilogue to the actual book's plot).
If someone asked me when to read SH and <I>I had no other information to go on</I>, I would say after BoM/Era 2 is best. But preferably I'd tailor my advice to the individual. If the person says they loved Era 1 overall but are feeling a lack of closure, or they really wish there was more Kelsier, I'd be more likely to suggest skipping straight to SH.
And if they read it in the " wrong" place? Not a big deal. Not a big deal at all.
#On this day (January 14) in Nintendo history...
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Tennis was released in 1984 for the Family Computer in Japan. In this sports game, developed by Nintendo, serve, point, match in this classic game of Tennis! Players can choose between five different levels of difficulty, ranging from Beginner all the way up to Advanced. If players want to become true chumps, they should be ready to show off their most brilliant lobs and most powerful smashes. Play a singles match or grab a partner for doubles, and go head to head with your opponent.
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Zelda II: The Adventure of Link was released in 1987 for the Family Computer Disk System in Japan. In this action role-playing/platform game, developed by Nintendo, the Hyrule fantasy continues. Link returns to Hyrule to search for the Triforce and to awaken Zelda from an endless sleep. Embark on a quest to find the Triforce of Courage and save Hyrule from ruin. Learn magic spells, talk to people in towns to get clues, collect items to increase your power, and explore six palaces where the underlings of the evil Ganon await you.
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Last Window: The Secret of Cape West was released in 2010 for the Nintendo DS in Japan. In this adventure game, developed by Cing, enjoy puzzling out the mystery behind Kyle Hyde's past and solving the crime in an adventure. A year after the events of Hotel Dusk, retired detective Kyle Hyde is fired from his salesman position at Red Crown, and his apartment at Cape West is due to be demolished. He receives a letter telling him to find the "Red Star" before the apartments are torn down.
* A third series of Animal Crossing amiibo Cards was released in 2016 in Japan. There are one hundred cards in total as part of this series.
What are you favourite memories of these games? How do you think they hold up today? Hash it out in the comments.
(I am a bot. I think that I'm posting Nintendo events from this day in history, but if I've made a mistake or omission please leave a comment tagging /u/KetchupTheDuck).
The book was about 600 pages long but I honestly did not want it to end! Donna Tartt has such a way with words that her prose has left such a big impression on me. Even her describing foliage and environment was beautiful, like each word was carefully picked to hold up a sentence. I completely get why people say her book feels like reading a classic with the way her prose is written (can't properly describe it in words, but having read classics for this month I get why people have said this). I loved the timeless feel that this book really gave off.
Some scenes are so vivid such as the winter part where I almost felt the same isolation that Richard felt, as well has the tension, that something bad might happen anytime during the second half of the book after the murder. Is this book realistic? I don't think so, but the way Tartt writes makes it so real for the reader and I really felt I was transported in the same place as the characters.
I know some did not like the characters, but it honestly did not matter to me that they are unlikable? You see through Richard's POV and he never really saw them otherwise until near the end when he got out of his head for a bit. When you truly step back, all the characters are to some degree horrible humans and what they do is horrible, but like Richard said, this is his fatal flaw, and once you step back from this book do you really see that for what it is.
The book is a murder 'mystery' but the whole murder was laid out in the prologue, so much of the book is about asking 'why' it happened, with Richard only asking himself that near the end. I thought the Epilogue ended right as it should. Although not a good person, I find Henry to be quite a memorable character and I think it really leaves you something to think about.
What are your thoughts on this book? Any similar book suggestions after this? (I might check out the Goldfinch sometime).
I am not quite finished it yet, about 400 pages in. They're at the >!funeral of Bunny, staying with the Corcorans!< Please don't spoil beyond that part as I hope to finish it soon.
I do wonder though why this book is so lauded? I mean it's well written but even the writing is pretentious. And I get she's satirising these people but at the same time.. I think there's an element of awe in it.
All of the characters disgust me.
No spoilers, but does anyone agree or am I a lone shark here?
Edit: My comments are being downvoted a lot and I'm just wondering how this encourages discussion? Reading can be both personal and subjective and to downvote just because I don't like the book is a bit gatekeeperish.
I love it. Iโve read it so many times; I always come back to it. I love the mystery, I love the setting, the eeriness of the characters. Anything similar that I must read?
I do own the Goldfinch and the Little Friend but havenโt gotten into them.
I got this book for christmas but have never watched the show and donโt know anything about it. Will I be completely lost reading the book?
Hi snarkers!
I asked this question last year too, in this post. There were a lot of great answers! With 2021 being such a dumpster fire, and with so many new snarkers on board, I thought it would be fun to bring this post back around!
Admittedly, I lurk more than I snark, so I don't have much post/comment history in general. If I were to base my Reddit Secret Santa Duggar gift off of my most recent comment, I'd be getting some Jed! campaign signs to sled on this winter!
Is Thaidakar (leader of the Ghostbloods) Kelsier?
Heโs referred to as โLord of Scarsโ and also weโre told he only presents himself in avatar form (as heโs dead I guess)
But also who is between him and Mraize. Weโre told the โsheโ is above Mraize but believe Thaidakar.
Letโs talk theories and evidence and stuff ๐
He says he was looking to buy me some lingerie for Christmas. Yeah right, Iโm sure he liked seeing those other girls half naked. I dumped that disgusting LVM pornsick scrote.
The Secret History is a pretty popular book on this subreddit and my favorite book ever. Since Iโve read it three years ago Iโve read at least 10 other books that have even recommended for fans and while some are actually pretty good, none even get as close. The prose, plot, and characters were all just working in tandem in that book and the entire novel canโt be described in words.
Donna Tartt is such a wonderful and special writer and her work can never come close to being replicated. The books I did actually like that were reminiscent of TSH were โThe Lake of Dead Languagesโ and โThe Likenessโ by Tana French.
I'm mostly looking for things like The Secret History-dark and clever with a little romance. Ninth House works with this and adds a paranormal experience (not needed but not a deal breaker). What are y'alls best suggestions?
Looking for fiction novels with beautiful prose essentially.
EDIT: I've added a few more specifics below. I was apprehensive at first because for us it was all such a revelation to find what we did. ...
My grandfather served in the Dutch Military Forces in the UK. He died over 30 years ago.
He signed up in 1946, and I have his ID card, military possession sheet, and a document from the UK, ordering him to go from London to The Hague via Hook, complete the mission, and report back to London. There is one other name also on the order. It's signed by the attache to the Dutch Forces in the UK. The letter is typed in red ink, and then typed over in black X's, but I managed to decipher what was underneath. It's written in English.
I have a hard copy paper trail of his location at intervals between 1940 and up to his departure from The Netherlands in 1952.
When the war started, he worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and, as all were, was forced to work for the new German government. However, he secretly did not comply; we know he was in the underground movement, and we know he "dealt with" more than one person. EDIT: We know that he forged documents for individuals and farmers so that they and/or thwir stock wpuld not be taken by the government. This is not heresay, we have evidence of it.
About a week after the war ended, he was sent to locate someone in The Netherlands from Zeist ( I have half that letter, it's torn vertically, I don't know who it was written by). Three weeks later he has a letter from the police attesting to his good character, as he was "wounded" and in hospital (it doesn't say which one). Not injured (EDIT: as in an accident), but wounded (which May or may not have implications. Why would he need a letter from the police to be released from hospital if he hurt his arm in a farm accident?).
And then of course came the military in 1946.
His immigration record in Australia is restricted for: a) personal safety b) international relations c) to protect Australia's defense and National security
FOI request is in the works in Au, but it seems unlikely they'll release it.
Dutch Ministry of Defence tell me he was never in the military. I have plenty of evidence he was. Searching his military number yields no results in Dutch databases.
Dutch Military Records Department tell me he went to the East Indies. I know for a fact he did not, I have evidence he was in UK and Netherlands when they say he wasn't.
I don't think I'll ever truly know, but I'd like to make an educated guess. Whatever i
... keep reading on reddit โกrecently finished reading the secret history and absolutely loved it, itโs definitely one of my all time favourites! anyone have any recommendations for similar books or books with a similar dark academia vibe? thank you x
The object of this post is to cast doubt on the veracity and historicity of the work of "Mongolian" literature known as the Secret History of the Mongols.
From Wikipedia: "The Secret History is regarded as the single most significant native Mongolian account of Genghis Khan. Linguistically, it provides the richest source of pre-classical Mongolian and Middle Mongolian.[2] The Secret History is regarded as a piece of classic literature in both Mongolia and the rest of the world."
However, Wikipedia goes on to admit that the origin of the texts and manuscripts are highly dubious, stating: "The only surviving copies[!] of the work are transcriptions[!] of the original Mongolian text with Chinese[!] characters, accompanied by a (somewhat shorter) in-line glossary and a translation of each section into Chinese. In China, the work had been well known as a text for teaching Chinese to read and write Mongolian during the Ming dynasty, and the Chinese translation was used in several historical works, but by the 1800s, copies had become very rare[!]."
So was the Secret History really a work of Mongolian literature, or was it Chinese?
Moreover, Wikipedia states: "Baavuday Tsend Gun (1875โ1932) was the first Mongolian scholar[!] to transcribe The Secret History of the Mongols into modern Mongolian, in 1915โ17. The first to discover the Secret History for the West and offer a translation from the Chinese glossary[!] was the Russian sinologist Palladiy Kafarov in 1866. The first translations from the reconstructed[!] Mongolian text were done by the German sinologist Erich Haenisch (edition
... keep reading on reddit โกSecret lab is a game that at its core is based upon scp stories and containment breaches layout. Over the course of playing this game and being a part of its community i have seen and heard many potential balance changes, what the community โwantsโ and mods
Do people think that secret lab should stray further from its source for a better game with stranger mechanics or lean back into it more and bring containment breach mechanics/more of the scp ensure things, or do people think that everything is fine how it is?
Well that was awesome! Iโve never plowed through a book series as fast as the Mistborn series. Dark Tower is maybe the closest.
Got a few questions for you all:
(1) The Drifter - who is he supposed to be exactly? It mentioned he was following Vin, was he a character from Well of Ascension, or someone new entirely?
(2) In Bands of Mourning, is Kelsier the โLord Rulerโ who gave those gifts to the mask people?
(3) Any recommendations for the next book to tackle? Iโve only read the 6.5 Mistborn books.
I listened to it for the first time the other day and been thinking about it, and honestly im a little sad about how some parts of it turned out. For instance, when the Lord Ruler died, I really really thought he would stick around to see how things turned out with his death, the man murdered an emperor, too the power of divinity, lived a thousand years and planned how to defeat a literal god; only to just nope out of there like "Nah i'm done with this, good luck".
I had really hoped he would stay around, even in the background just off exploring or whatnot.
|ALso same thing with Ati/Ruin, there was nothing at all he had to say after his huge defeat and death? nothing at all?
I really enjoyed this book and it connects a lot of dots, but it cites very few sources and makes obscure claims about well-known historical figures. However, the nature of the content itself makes it necessarily secret and obscure.
Do you find this book believable?
Does anyone have any relevant follow up information on any of the wide variety of topics, including but not limited to:
POSSIBLE SPOILERS
>!- Mystery Schools!<
>!- Horus/Jesus story connection!<
>!- Age of the Sphinx!<
>!- "Vegetable" people!<
"Donald Fagen on losing Walter Becker, developing Steely Danโs sound, and much more in an interview with host Brian Hiatt"
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-secret-history-of-steely-dan/id1078431985?i=1000546433167
Era 2 and Stormlight Archive spoilers too
So I've just finished my reread of Era 1. The only things I have yet to read in the Cosmere are White Sand, Mistborn Era 2 and all the Arcanum Unbounded mistborn stories.
So, I know SH is 7.5 and is supposed to be read in that order. Here's the thing: I know some spoilers. I don't know any specifics about Era 2, but I know that in Bands of Mourning there is a big revelation which involves Kelsier. I don't know if he just walks in there or if it's something more subtle, but truth is, whenever I read Bands of Mornings I'm pretty sure I'm going to spend most of the time reading it thinking about when is Kelsier going to show up. I also know that Kelsier interacts in some way with Leras and Ati in Secret History (again, I don't know any specifics) and I know that Kelsier is Thaidakar (so I assume he gets out of the Spiritual Realm or whatever).
So yeah, I don't know anything specific yet I do know those general things. Is it still worth it waiting and reading SH after Bands of Mourning or should I just read SH now?
The Curse of Oak Island: MASSIVE Spike Leads Back to the Knights Templar (Season 9) (5:45)
>Marty Lagina and Gary Drayton uncover a BIG spike while excavating Lot 32 and take it to get identified by an expert, in this clip from Season 9, "Chamber of Secrets."
In 2004, PBS and New York Times offered a look into the industry.
https://youtu.be/2mHsTKvAuZc
With so many people posting they have a high credit card debt they might want to watch this.
I've just finished reading TSH for the second time and I really want a book that can captivate me as much as Donna Tartt's writing does. I've also really enjoyed A Little Life, Shuggie Bain, Middlesex, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (so basically I really like novels that cover an entire lifepsan and have beautiful prose. Any suggestions? I don't really like YA or anything fantasy.
So I just watched Lost in Discovorys amazing video about Galvilars palace through all the books and he mentioned how Gavilar asks Szeth if Thaidakar sent him. We donโt hear the name Thaidakar again until ROW and that itโs Kelsier.
Just shows that even back in the early 2000โs when he started writing these he knew where they were going. Which makes me think even though heโs writing book 5 of SL he definetly knows what the ending of book 10 is which makes me happy
this podcast is about the us gov. secret cold war era bio weapons programs where they expirimented with ticks. and Tick born illnesses. If you dont know this yet it is very eye opening and it might answer alot of questions as to why we are treated like mental patients when seeking reliefe for our disease.
"Remember that meeting between "intelligence officials" who ran the present day AATIP, as depicted in History Channel's "Unidentified" Season 1, Episode 6? It created quite a stir... but was it fabricated? In 2019, a U.S. Army Counterintelligence agent contacted The Black Vault with the full story. 2 1/2 years later, they chose to go public with it. Here is an entire breakdown of what we know."
- John, Black Vault Originals
EDIT**
For those of us who would rather read John's analysis, you can find his summation on the The Black Vault website.
So Iโve read all of the Cosmere with the exceptions of White Sand and Mistborn Era 2 and Secret History. Iโm starting a full Cosmere reread and Iโm going to be reading Era 2 for the first time. Iโm not sure, should I be reading Secret History before Era 2 or after it? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
