Cosmic Turtle Mytheme

The post title isn't a reference to any content that follows, I just really like the phrase. It's from a short article.

Why Is the World Always on the Back of a Turtle?

 . . . the cosmic turtle mytheme has appeared in disparate cultures across the globe for millennia. In honor of everyone’s favorite intellectual quandary, let’s take a moment to celebrate the tortoises that hold up the world. . . . 

I particularly like the word "mytheme." Just like, for no particular reason or reference, I like this description:

Black Light Express

The tendrils had detected her. They unlaced themselves and drew aside to make an opening. The opening was about the size of a human being, but it wasn't the shape of a human being. Zen was not sure what it was the shape of.

I also want to share some quotes I really like from the latest volume of Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples.

Anyone can kill you, but it takes someone you know to really HURT you.

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Some people hate waiting, but not me. Without anticipation, life can be comfortable, but it'll never be thrilling. Instant gratification is for boring assholes.

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My father used to say that there's no such thing as "heroes" or "villains," that they only exist in storybooks. Which is ironic, since pretty much all of his beliefs came from what he read in works of fiction. . . .

"If I worried how every evil son of a bitch out there would respond to what I typed, I'd never touch a keyboard again."

"All the more reason I'm going to stick to writing novels."

"Why, because you think made-up stories have never resulted in actual casualties? Putting new ideas into another person's head is an aggressive act, and aggressive acts have consequences. Face it, you can be a writer or a pacifist, but you can't be both."

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"Honey girl, I don't care what you do, as long as you're kind to everyone you meet."

"That's it?"

"That is the hardest part of being alive."

Wonderful storytelling, Saga.

http://inspirobot.me/share?iuid=088/aXm7923xjU.jpg

Speaking of storytelling as an act of aggression, I'm currently in the middle of the audiobook version of Lincoln in the Bardo. Though a work of fiction, it has some sections that are strings of quotes from a variety of sources. Many are primary. It's fascinating to see how first-hand accounts can differ so wildly on simple things like the color of his eyes or the appearance of the moon on a given night.

The short chapter of commentaries written during his presidency read as though they might have just been found on social media in reference to contemporary events. Here are a few of them (plus more in the pics).

So we have the dilemma put to us, What to do, when his power must continue two years longer and when the existence of our country may be endangered before he can be replaced by a man of sense. How hard, in order to save the country, to sustain a man who is incompetent."

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"You have seized the reins, made yourself a dictator, established a monolithic new form of government which must dominate over the rights of the individual. Your reign presages a terrible time when all of our liberties shall be lost in favor of the rights of the monolith. The founders look on in dismay."

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"Vain, weak, puerile, hypocritical, without manners, without social grace, and as he talks to you, punches his fists under your ribs.

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If you don't Resign we are going to put a spider in your dumpling and play the Devil with you you god or might god dam sundde of a bith go to hell and buss my Ass suck my prick and call my Bolics your uncle Dick god dam a fool and goddam Abe Lincoln who would like you goddam you excuse me for using such hard words with you but you need it you are nothing but a goddam Black nigger.

Saga, vol. 9

You can be a writer or a pacifist, but you can't be both.