#post spotlight

1. I love it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. “Passionately screwed” is my new favorite phrase.

2. Well-chosen pics - those really are Doug in a nutshell I think. Except that first one, that’s just the entire show in a nutshell. It’s also my new desktop wallpaper.

3. Your tag about it being “sixteen shitposts in a trenchcoat” made me laugh as hard as anything in the post.

April 10, 1979 Early afternoon Teynham House in Little Britain held little splendor for Alec when compared to the beauty of the Bheemili manor house and the rolling, verdant hills of the plantation. Their city residence was not without its virtues, of course: the marble, the jali lattice windows, the framed arches, the inlaid calligraphy. It provided ample room for the three of them, but Alec felt boxed in on all sides. It was too alike London. He felt like a specimen, to be peered at each time he set foot out of doors, even if it was just along the mezzanine or taking tea on the veranda. There were far too many watchful eyes. Of course, those without the walls didn’t matter half as much as those two within them. It was for them that Alec tolerated the rabble and the noise for a short span until he could bring them home once more. He and Evelyn had come full circle again, existing together in that fleeting moment of pleasant cohabitation, but it never lasted long. It didn’t matter what they tried, it didn’t matter how civil they were to each other, nor that they’d lain together as man and wife for the first time in over a month. Alec could already feel their relationship slipping into that pit of bitterness and blame. It would always be his fault. He had promised her a life of happiness in England, and had swept her away to India instead. Expecting a caller, Alec stooped over the basin and threw a handful of lukewarm water against his face, the water salty from perspiration as it ran past his lips. He blotted the skin dry with a towel, stubble catching on the cloth, ran wet fingers into his hair to control it. He prodded at the hem of his undershirt, smoothing a loose tail back beneath the layers of his clothing. Somewhere in the house below, Celia shrieked, her little feet thumping up the stairs, another set of feet behind them.

Calling all movie and television lovers of period cinema!  Taking suggestions for SUtD movie club so that from this list we can pick something to host as a viewing party for this coming March!  Read below, or click here, to see what we have on the list already. 

Studdy's Cinematic Experiences Well... movies, tv shows, and such.

We're always discussing Bollywood. Every now and then someone has a pretty fabulous recommendation. We also talk about books and oral traditions, but no matter. This is all about good shit we can stream online. Our inspiration for PBs come from global and multi-cultural films, and plot inspirations come from period pieces.

Now, we're making this a more organized thing. Our goals are two-fold: To share the existence of films and series with each other, and to watch that together so we can discuss it like fangirls on steroids.

Right now, I'm calling for recommendations. When we have a good list going, we'll vote on what to watch next and when for a movie date. Now, we don't have to watch it together, especially with the wide range of time zones! We can spend the time discussing what's already been seen and is on the list. I've listed the criteria below, but welcome suggestions for it.

Here are our criteria:

Can be streamed online via Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon.

Has English subtitles.

Cultural/regional subgenres or setting recommendations:

Period / era recommendations:

For genres, we're open to all from documentaries to romance to thrillers.

British.

French.

Russian.

A lot of East and South Asia, most particularly South India & Thailand.

Period pieces between 16th to 19th century.

Ancient eras and dynasties, for historical and religious significance prior to our time period.

Modern is fine, because there are still beautiful scenery of places we're not familiar with that our characters might be. Plus, I love accents.

Movies

Loev

, Drama/Romance (2015)

Gay romance set in Maharashtra. Available on Netflix US & UK.

Baahubali: The Beginning

, Action/Adventure/Drama (2015)

In ancient India, an adventurous and daring man becomes involved in a decades old feud between two warring people. This film was filmed with the Telugu language and in the City of Hyderabad. Not available on Netflix, but definitely on Amazon damn it. I am dying to see this one.

TV Shows

Stories by Rabindranath Tagore

, Drama (2015)

A sitewide event during the year of 2017. Posts are still occurring in some of the threads which are not closed, or are side threads, to let them be finished out though the event is no longer running.

The Set Up

"Vizag is a city that sits by the sea; she is a glittering jewel of wealth and promise for the English, and a dream reclaim for every other power in the area. Everyone feels the impact of British economics. If you aren’t fortunate enough to be a rich man on a pile of gold, then you are a man working for his fortune. God forbid you be poor, for the world will want to break your back along the wheel. The wheel is turning in the direction of immediate, violent change. Natives petition the old gods for glory. The colonists fears the pagan influences, looking to his church he brings with him to help set his stage for world conquest. As tension mounts and desire bring about violent exchange? Everyone must ask themselves one question: Who are the real savages?"

One sees lesser, the other sees themselves as superior. Who takes those words and distributes them for meaning like a god depend on who has the most resources to their cause. Will it be the colonists? Is it the natives spread among the Maratha Empire or the Mughals in Hyderabad? Vizag holds all of the people, and all of them seeking keys to rule.

The people will dance for Kali-Ma. People will pray to the one and only God for salvation. People with no power will try to seek it. The world will burn. The world will cheer. The only way to see where one will stand is to join in lot of it all. To become the turning wheel or to break a back beneath it.

This theme will cross through featured subplots and stand out on its own with distinct events. Each thing made, be it what admin has designated or what you, the member, create, has a chance to impact something that will be felt, known, and experienced across the entire board. More info can be found in the Subplot Directory, Reply #2 - The Key.

The Main Focus Threads of Civility & Savagery

The Hope of a Wife - Processional for Kali-Ma: March 1, 1797. The Velama family takes up the faithful’s duty to lift up an idol to beseech the favor of the gods. Natives and colonists alike are watching. Natives and colonists alike are planning, taking everything to an unexpected and climatic razor’s edge. >> Thread Concluded 

Sati for the Widow - A Clash of Tradition and Culture: March 15, 1797. Chirayu Velama, the husband for whom the processional was held, has died. His wife Deepika and brother Rajesh mourn him, and take him to the banks of the Saradha River in the city for his final rites..and unknown to Deepika..her own. >> Thread Concluded 

Holi Street Scenes - The Sights and Colors of Spring in Vizag: March 25, 1797, Day-Evening. The sun only just begins to sink into the sea, leaving a riot of color in its wake. A fitting display for the time of year! All day has been a riot of color to chase away the dry, dull auspices of winter’s last breath. There is nothing a new shade of brightness can’t cure, even to go so far as to relieve the gash cut through Vizag from the blade of the Simha Brethren. The bonfires rise up in the night air, fueled by frivolity, instead of the destructive plague that cuts into the Honorable East India Company’s profits. The streets erupt with neighbors visiting neighbors visiting one another. People go in to the streets in various states of inebriation. Some are delighted to seek adventure. Others wondering if there could be anything harsh waiting. Fate seems to be walking beside them, with warning and blessing alike. The seaside taverns to the boarding houses, the homes of the native merchants and elite, and even the whore houses of the colonists look for ways to get in on the fun. 

The Mirza's Birthday Party -The Elite Indian Display: March 25, 1797, Evening. At a house situated in the districts where the land is open and the torch light bright, a dear friend of the Mirza has given him his house that he might host a special occasion. An intimate affair of the Mirza’s closest friends and acquaintances. How kind of his highness to allow the rich, colonial elite to come! The government officials, the officers, their wives! After all, it isn’t every day such a display of Indian beauty, culture, and magnificence can be put on to show them who the real Lords and Masters of Hindustan are. Be prepared for the most sumptuous food, the most skilled naucht dancers, and the magic of a hijra or two. It only takes the beating of a drum and the singing of an unknown dialect to tell you that this will not be a party in the comfortable auspices of European civility tonight. Welcome to the Birthday Celebration of Mirza Sarvaiya of Jesar! Leave your inhibitions at the door and prepare to be amazed. 

March 27, 1797 Horse Market, Bazaar 10 o'clock in the morning

So great was the docility of the horse that he would be readily trained to most any purpose, from the wilds of the beast's genetic legacy to occupations most unsuited to its natural gentleness, that it became quite easy -- intellectually lazy -- to conflate the horse's spirit with the man or woman who owned him. Even more confusingly, so did the beast represent the owner him or herself, liberating a man by its apparent docility, and any woman who sought to own such an animal was dangerously independent, a person of far too much agency who might now go wherever she willed rather than where man spurred her to be.

The Smyttan girls were not to be bridled, lashed, or sold, and the first Smyttan man to use the word nag in relation to his female relation was the first to find himself out cold on the street of a rainy Vizag evening. Not to say that there should not be an argument for a bit more docility among the Smyttan women. They were a precocious bunch, and their curiosity so often led them utterly astray, complicated by their fierce independence and complete lack of desire to ask for help when hopelessly lost. They were competent enough to seek adventure, blithe enough to talk their way through most any adverse condition, and ... well. There was a certain sense of humor required of anyone as well traveled as the Smyttans tended to be. Where others would despair at bad luck, the Smyttans broke out a deck of cards to pass the time until the inevitable passed and they could get on the road again. It was a charmed life, and few were quite as charmed as the bookish Poppy. When tasked to procure a horse for herself, her family perhaps willing to overlook Poppy's absence from the supper table on occasion but certainly not the theft of a family horse, Poppy set about with her usual routine of obsessive research. She couldn't just buy any horse. She needed the fastest. The most handsome. The best. If she was going to spend good money on an animal, she wanted a worthy animal. It helped if he was cute and had a little white star on his forehead or maybe white socks -- she'd seen a few with socks before and they were soooo elegant -- just like in her stories....

Today’s Post Tid-Bit

Durga x Tomasz x Marzena

The day had gone from the top of God's own kingdom to returning to the world below. Within a Little Palace, two women came to bond all the more over hopes, fears, and stories of the past. Now, it was time to celebrate all of that which brought them together to their state. How was it a family could form in so short a time? It was nothing short of miraculous. Nothing that did anything more than prove that by whatever name the group called him, be it God, Christ, Vishu, or Allah? In that moment, they were safe in the hands of God. They were one put together because of his love that said none of them should fair well on their own. A home of three now would grow to that of five. Lives that had no place together made every sense together now. It would be these things that they celebrated.