Thepretentiousacademic - Quality And Beauty In The Everyday

i never realized cuneiform was made with the corner of a cuboid tool, i thought the wedge shapes were carved such that you would press straight down with the tool at a 90° angle to the clay

Balcony of a student dorm. Photo by I. Gavrilov (1983).

i am a big believer in letting music (and other media) come to you when you're ready for it. you may only know vaguely of an acclaimed beloved artist and suspect that you'd be into them but just... not ever get around to it. and then in 15 years one of their songs just hits you the right way and what a gift to suddenly have all of their works to explore! there is no hurry; what is good is always good.

Me: Did you know that medieval cathedrals weren't actually supposed to be dark and rundown places with only stained glass as color? They were bright places full of light... the reason they look like that now is because of the centuries of accumulated grime and dust, here look at this restoration of the Cathedral of Chartres in France:

It's based on actual paint from the times, and when you think about it, it makes a lot more sense, after all a church is supposed to be a bright place of hope. Yet when we think about the middle ages we think about grimy and dark cathedrals. I wonder how much of our conception of history is shaped by our current visions of historical buildings.

My Goth GF: listen, I don't think this thing between us is working,

University of Cambridge.

Honestly if you want justification for why it’s important that English/Language Arts teachers make you break down exactly why a given sentence made you feel a given way, the fact that it’s now a point of basic political literacy to be able to tell when a headline is trying to make you angry, and at whom, and about what, is a pretty strong case in point.

"Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven" - Paradise Lost Book I

The Color of Pomegranates, Sergei Parajanov, 1969