Vassal Homage for Fealtyperverts; Introductory Excerpts from M. Bloch

Imagine two men face to face; one wishing to serve, the other willing or anxious to be served. The former puts his hands together and places them, just joined, between the hands of the other man—a plain symbol of submission, the significance of which was sometimes further emphasized by a kneeling posture. At the same time, the person proffering his hands utters a few words—a very short declaration—whereby he acknowledges himself to be the “man” of the person facing him. Then chief and subordinate kiss each other on the mouth, symbolising accord and friendship.

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xviii//xxxviii

I love 1960s social housing flats because I grew up in one so they truly feel like home to me

You may not like it, but this is what peak housing looks like

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(scrolling my dash) trite. trite. trite. contrived. foppish. shameful. oh, a disgusting embellishment from one of my decrepit mutuals. to be cordial i will re-blogge it. JEFFREY! (a butler-type creature who is as tall as my knee and incredibly ghoulish skitters into the room from a crack in the wall) be a dear and block this fool for me would you? (jeffrey pulls out a rusted dagger from behind its back and licks it) thank you. begone. (jeffrey scuttles out of the door and into the road where it is immediately struck by a semi truck at 80 mph)

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Jeremy Irons by Michel Comte, 1990

When I was in high school we did an english unit on Octavia Butler and the teacher told us hey btw. You should call her "Butler" in your essays. Sometimes students call female writers by their first names unconsciously, but that's not acceptable. If you wouldnt call them William or Ernest you shouldn't call her Octavia.

And I was like cool whatever I was gonna call her Butler anyways. But that moment has stuck with me for my whole life because once you start seeing ppl calling women by their first names where men would be called by their last names you literally never stop seeing it.

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Pillion (2025) dir. Harry Lighton

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de avibus (the book of birds)

illustrations from a copy of hugh of fouilloy's moral treatise on birds, de avibus, from a composite manuscript containing texts by hugh of fouilloy, achard of saint victor, and gebuinus trecensis. produced in flanders, early 13th c.

source: Bruges, Grootseminarie, Ms. 89/54

you want to take the throne of thebes from me?? well that's not very polyniceys of you. is meanie actually

There is a certain American myth and it goes like this:

The USA, uniquely among all countries, is a melting pot. The USA has diaspora cultures from all over the world, unlike other countries, and US culture and identity is uniquely defined by centuries of immigration.

and that is a genuinely fascinating type of exceptionalism because oh my god. Are you under the impression that in Every Other Country In The World, immigration is rarified and unusual? Cause I gotta tell you, it is not.

Everywhere in the world, people move (and, of course, borders move over people, just like they have with First Nations and Mexican peoples in what's now the US). Every city in the world has diaspora communities and every place in the world has people whose recent family tree has roots in other places.

Genuinely the American national identity seems to include the undertone 'the foundation of America was the invention of migration'

and not only does it exceptionalise the US, but it also exceptionalises immigration. like no this isn't rare outside the US. most families are immigrants at some point. migration is normal.

thinking about this I think this is linked in with the idea of America as a place people go To and the rest of the world as a place that people come From

and I would connect this to the thing in the American mainstream imagination where uhhhhh. how to say. many countries are locked in whatever time is associated with the last major wave of immigration?

like it's always the 19th century in Ireland. It's always the 1910s in Eastern Europe. It's always the the 60s in Vietnam. it's always the 80s in Russia. etc.

those aren't places that Move and Change and experience things like migration and cultural evolution and contemporary political movements and mobile living cultures. they're static places where people are From and from whence they come to a Real Place (America) which is alive and therefore subject to actual dynamic forces.

This guy who lives in Siberia did an AMA on Reddit and he’s honestly hilarious

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Katsugyo fish transport bag (2021)

standing in front of a daycare spinning and flipping an infant around like a sign

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i found love in the labirynth….

I would never be mean to my friend and lover public transport but the bus does take the piss sometimes

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Discontinued moe raw oyster product 「牡蠣美味しいょん」 (Oysters are delicious.) sold by the Akebono Kaisen oyster company of Hiroshima 2009-11-05

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