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It's not Christmas without a Malazan Christmas thread.
Merry Christmas ya filthy animals!
Merry Christmas to all!
#3
Tsundoku 
- A what?
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- Group: Malaz Regular
- Posts: 4,843
- Joined: 06-January 03
- Location:Maison de merde
Posted 24 December 2022 - 10:25 PM
Have a happy and safe silly season.
May it extend as long as possible.
May it extend as long as possible.
This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 24 December 2022 - 10:26 PM
"Fortune favors the bold, though statistics favor the cautious." - Indomitable Courteous (Icy) Fist, The Palace Job - Patrick Weekes
"Well well well ... if it ain't The Invisible C**t." - Billy Butcher, The Boys
"I have strong views about not tempting providence and, as a wise man once said, the difference between luck and a wheelbarrow is, luck doesn’t work if you push it." - Colonel Orhan, Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City - KJ Parker
"Well well well ... if it ain't The Invisible C**t." - Billy Butcher, The Boys
"I have strong views about not tempting providence and, as a wise man once said, the difference between luck and a wheelbarrow is, luck doesn’t work if you push it." - Colonel Orhan, Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City - KJ Parker
#6
Gwynn ap Nudd
- High Fist
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- Group: Malaz Regular
- Posts: 468
- Joined: 17-February 08
Posted 25 December 2022 - 04:57 AM
Merry Christmas all. Hope everyone has a fantastic holiday season.
#7
Tiste Simeon
- Faith, Heavy Metal & Bacon
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- Group: Malaz Regular
- Posts: 12,143
- Joined: 08-October 04
- Location:T'North
Posted 25 December 2022 - 07:14 AM
Happy Christmas to my favourite bunch of weirdos. Been here since 2004 and I still love it.
Hope you all have a lovely time doing whatever you do!
Hope you all have a lovely time doing whatever you do!
A Haunting Poem
I Scream
You Scream
We all Scream
For I Scream.
I Scream
You Scream
We all Scream
For I Scream.
#8
Lady Bliss
- Shameless Minister of Silly Catwalks of the Abyssmal Army
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- Group: The Abyssmal Army
- Posts: 553
- Joined: 08-December 11
- Location:New York
Posted 25 December 2022 - 08:24 AM
Merry Christmas!
"If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?" - Shylock
#10
Macros
- D'ivers Fuckwits
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- Group: High House Mafia
- Posts: 9,001
- Joined: 28-January 08
- Location:Ulster, disputed zone, British Empire.
Posted 25 December 2022 - 12:07 PM
Merry Christmas to all
I got a Biltong maker!!
I got a Biltong maker!!
2012
"Imperial Gothos, Imperial"
"Imperial Gothos, Imperial"
#11
Silencer
- Manipulating Special Data
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- Group: Administrators
- Posts: 5,682
- Joined: 07-July 07
- Location:New Zealand
-
Interests:Malazan Book of the Fallen series.
Computer Game Design.
Programming.
Posted 25 December 2022 - 12:33 PM
Merry Christmas all!
***
Shinrei said:
<Vote Silencer> For not garnering any heat or any love for that matter. And I'm being serious here, it's like a mental block that is there, and you just keep forgetting it.
#12
Slow Ben
- Ranger
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- Group: Malaz Regular
- Posts: 4,729
- Joined: 29-September 08
- Location:Southern Illinois
Posted 25 December 2022 - 01:46 PM
Macros, on 25 December 2022 - 12:07 PM, said:
Merry Christmas to all
I got a Biltong maker!!
I got a Biltong maker!!
Random note to Malazanites in the states. They sell biltong at Wal Mart now! At least here in the Midwest. It’s obviously not as good as homemade, but it’s still way better than all the jerky.
I've always been crazy but its kept me from going insane.
#13
QuickTidal
- Lord of the Waters
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- Group: Team Quick Ben
- Posts: 21,451
- Joined: 05-November 05
- Location:At Sea?
- Interests:DoubleStamping. Movies. Reading.
Posted 25 December 2022 - 04:22 PM
Merry Christmas to all you fine people!
"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora
"Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone." ~Ursula Vernon
"Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone." ~Ursula Vernon
#14
HoosierDaddy
- Believer
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- Group: Malaz Regular
- Posts: 7,958
- Joined: 30-June 08
- Location:Indianapolis
- Interests:Football
Posted 25 December 2022 - 04:52 PM
Merry Christmas everyone!
Enjoy the time off, with the ones you love, or however you celebrate best!
Enjoy the time off, with the ones you love, or however you celebrate best!
Trouble arrives when the opponents to such a system institute its extreme opposite, where individualism becomes godlike and sacrosanct, and no greater service to any other ideal (including community) is possible. In such a system rapacious greed thrives behind the guise of freedom, and the worst aspects of human nature come to the fore....
#15
Gorefest
- Witness
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- Group: Malaz Regular
- Posts: 2,988
- Joined: 29-May 14
- Location:Sheffield
Posted 25 December 2022 - 05:38 PM
I'd love to spend it with the ones I love, but I am in our house with my in-laws, my brother-in-law and his wife and their 2 year old who just got a f***ton of predominantly rather noisy toys. Where is this festive merry season you all speak of? I think you are all making this shit up.
Yesterday, upon the stair, I saw a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. Oh, how I wish he'd go away.
#16
Gorefest
- Witness
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- Group: Malaz Regular
- Posts: 2,988
- Joined: 29-May 14
- Location:Sheffield
Posted 25 December 2022 - 05:38 PM
But to be fair, the kid is cute at times.
Oh, and there is alcohol. The saving grace of Christmas.
Oh, and there is alcohol. The saving grace of Christmas.
This post has been edited by Gorefest: 25 December 2022 - 05:39 PM
Yesterday, upon the stair, I saw a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. Oh, how I wish he'd go away.
#17
Mezla PigDog
- Malazan Yo Yo Champion 2009
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- Group: Mezla's Thought Police
- Posts: 2,711
- Joined: 03-September 04
Posted 25 December 2022 - 05:57 PM
Merry Christmas, buggers! We're watching Home Alone. We've done 16 hours in the car in the last 8 days visiting relatives across the country. My son gets unfettered access to downloaded movies in Netflix and Disney+ during long journeys. Turns out he has spent the last week memorizing all of the words in this movie 🤣 Feeling quite proud at his dedication.
Burn rubber =/= warp speed
#18
JPK
- Lemming of High House Mafia
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- Group: High House Mafia
- Posts: 1,491
- Joined: 18-January 11
- Location:Oregon City, Oregon
- Interests:Sacrificing myself for everyone else's greater good!
Posted 25 December 2022 - 06:22 PM
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah everyone! This is a rare year that Hanukkah ends on Christmas Day.
You're a wonderful group of people and I wish you all nothing but the best for you and yours.
You're a wonderful group of people and I wish you all nothing but the best for you and yours.
#19
Coltaine -
- First Sword
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- Group: Malaz Regular
- Posts: 630
- Joined: 01-March 16
- Location:Germany
Posted 25 December 2022 - 08:44 PM
Merry Christmas everyone!
#20
Azath Vitr (D'ivers
- Ascendant
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- Group: Malaz Regular
- Posts: 3,323
- Joined: 07-February 16
Posted 25 December 2022 - 09:36 PM
Io Saturnalia extensa, merry Christmas, Hanukkah sameach, blessed Kwanzaa eve, et al.!
Spent most of the day practicing my new instrument (like most of my free time since it arrived about a week ago); most of the rest will be spent electrocuting my abs and pacing while listening to the Wall of Storms (not the literal one... it hasn't been howling quite that loudly here).
Did get a little Christmas reading in:
'From the medieval period onwards, people have speculated that Dec. 25 was selected because of Sol Invictus. [...]
It's unlikely, primarily because the chronology is a bit off. [...] @religionforbreakfast) explains that Sol Invictus only became popular during the later third century. It was only in 274, after the Emperor Aurelian credited Sol Invictus with assisting him in battle, that resources were dedicated to the god's cult.[...] But before this point Sol Invictus was a bit-player in the Roman pantheon. Because Christians had begun observing Christmas in December in the early third century, the two celebrations seem to be independent. [...]
Then there's the winter solstice. [...] Roman authors [...] placed it on Dec. 25. [...] It was observed by a variety of ancient groups including the Druids, who (according to Pliny) marked the day by sacrificing bulls and gathering mistletoe. Some of that feels familiar.
Finally, there's Saturnalia [...] like Christmas today, it was part religious festival and part opportunity to skip work and drink too much. [...] Catullus called it "the best of days" complete with food, drink, games, gambling, and gift giving. Homes were decorated with evergreen wreaths and berries and, on the final day (Dec. 23), candles and small terracotta figurines (sigallaria) were given as gifts, particularly to children. [...]
[...] was Saturnalia the source of Christian revelry? [...] Saturnalia finished by Dec. 23 [...] the precise date was enormously important because it said something about the importance of Jesus.
[...] According to a broad swath of ancient thinking, a person who lived a perfect life would die on the same day as their birth. Christians, who were more focused on the date of Jesus' conception than his Nativity and clearly believed that Jesus was perfect, started with the death of Jesus and worked their way backwards. [...]
[...] calculated the date of Jesus' death as March 25. This, according to some Roman writers, was the date of the spring equinox. [...] Hippolytus selected March 25 because it also corresponded (in his calculations) to the date of creation. [...]
Assuming a perfect nine-month pregnancy, [...] put the date of Jesus' birth as Dec. 25 and came to celebrate the nativity on this day. [...]
[...] while the actual date of Christmas probably wasn't determined by the Solstice or Saturnalia, the celebration of pagan festivals probably did affect how Christians marked their holidays. There may have been "some incentive, whether conscious or otherwise, [for Christians] to commit to that date."
[...] linked the death of Jesus to the winter solstice because of the symbolism of darkness and light. The idea of Jesus as a light breaking into the world on the darkest day of the year was too good to pass up.
Saturnalia, too, resonated with the Gospel portrayal of Jesus [...] Saturnalia was a brief period of role reversal when lower status people did not work, and enslaved people were permitted to dine with their enslavers. Adults would serve children and the cap of freedom (the pilleum) could be worn by anyone. [...] it resonated with the Christian message of future salvation for the marginalized. [...] If you squint a little, Saturnalia was a debauched X-rated pagan version of that'
Did Christians Really Steal Christmas From the Pagans?
'How the Union Army's Beloved Marching Song Became a French Christmas Favorite
An abolitionist standard, now with nutmeg.
[...] "The origins of the song are very much as an abolitionist song," [...]
A tune that began as a camp revival call-and-response hymn in the early 19th century had, by the start of the Civil War, gained its familiar chorus ("Glory, glory, hallelujah!") and a salty set of anti-slavery lyrics inspired by John Brown, who was hanged in 1859. ("John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave/ His soul is marching on!") With a nudge from her pastor, Howe decided to pen lyrics of a higher tone.
"She wanted to elevate 'John Brown's Body,' which had become the most popular song in the Union Army,"'
'"As He died to make men holy / Let us die to make men free … "'
'Though her intent with the words was clear, the elevated [abstracted] language allowed later generations to interpret the piece for their own ends.
"Because [it] doesn't [explicitly] identify who the enemy is or the patriot is, and because of the open-endedness of the song, it's been endorsed by conservatives, progressives, and radicals,"'
Battle Hymn of the Republic Christmas song? How the American standard became a French holiday favorite
Spent most of the day practicing my new instrument (like most of my free time since it arrived about a week ago); most of the rest will be spent electrocuting my abs and pacing while listening to the Wall of Storms (not the literal one... it hasn't been howling quite that loudly here).
Did get a little Christmas reading in:
'From the medieval period onwards, people have speculated that Dec. 25 was selected because of Sol Invictus. [...]
It's unlikely, primarily because the chronology is a bit off. [...] @religionforbreakfast) explains that Sol Invictus only became popular during the later third century. It was only in 274, after the Emperor Aurelian credited Sol Invictus with assisting him in battle, that resources were dedicated to the god's cult.[...] But before this point Sol Invictus was a bit-player in the Roman pantheon. Because Christians had begun observing Christmas in December in the early third century, the two celebrations seem to be independent. [...]
Then there's the winter solstice. [...] Roman authors [...] placed it on Dec. 25. [...] It was observed by a variety of ancient groups including the Druids, who (according to Pliny) marked the day by sacrificing bulls and gathering mistletoe. Some of that feels familiar.
Finally, there's Saturnalia [...] like Christmas today, it was part religious festival and part opportunity to skip work and drink too much. [...] Catullus called it "the best of days" complete with food, drink, games, gambling, and gift giving. Homes were decorated with evergreen wreaths and berries and, on the final day (Dec. 23), candles and small terracotta figurines (sigallaria) were given as gifts, particularly to children. [...]
[...] was Saturnalia the source of Christian revelry? [...] Saturnalia finished by Dec. 23 [...] the precise date was enormously important because it said something about the importance of Jesus.
[...] According to a broad swath of ancient thinking, a person who lived a perfect life would die on the same day as their birth. Christians, who were more focused on the date of Jesus' conception than his Nativity and clearly believed that Jesus was perfect, started with the death of Jesus and worked their way backwards. [...]
[...] calculated the date of Jesus' death as March 25. This, according to some Roman writers, was the date of the spring equinox. [...] Hippolytus selected March 25 because it also corresponded (in his calculations) to the date of creation. [...]
Assuming a perfect nine-month pregnancy, [...] put the date of Jesus' birth as Dec. 25 and came to celebrate the nativity on this day. [...]
[...] while the actual date of Christmas probably wasn't determined by the Solstice or Saturnalia, the celebration of pagan festivals probably did affect how Christians marked their holidays. There may have been "some incentive, whether conscious or otherwise, [for Christians] to commit to that date."
[...] linked the death of Jesus to the winter solstice because of the symbolism of darkness and light. The idea of Jesus as a light breaking into the world on the darkest day of the year was too good to pass up.
Saturnalia, too, resonated with the Gospel portrayal of Jesus [...] Saturnalia was a brief period of role reversal when lower status people did not work, and enslaved people were permitted to dine with their enslavers. Adults would serve children and the cap of freedom (the pilleum) could be worn by anyone. [...] it resonated with the Christian message of future salvation for the marginalized. [...] If you squint a little, Saturnalia was a debauched X-rated pagan version of that'
Did Christians Really Steal Christmas From the Pagans?
'How the Union Army's Beloved Marching Song Became a French Christmas Favorite
An abolitionist standard, now with nutmeg.
[...] "The origins of the song are very much as an abolitionist song," [...]
A tune that began as a camp revival call-and-response hymn in the early 19th century had, by the start of the Civil War, gained its familiar chorus ("Glory, glory, hallelujah!") and a salty set of anti-slavery lyrics inspired by John Brown, who was hanged in 1859. ("John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave/ His soul is marching on!") With a nudge from her pastor, Howe decided to pen lyrics of a higher tone.
"She wanted to elevate 'John Brown's Body,' which had become the most popular song in the Union Army,"'
'"As He died to make men holy / Let us die to make men free … "'
'Though her intent with the words was clear, the elevated [abstracted] language allowed later generations to interpret the piece for their own ends.
"Because [it] doesn't [explicitly] identify who the enemy is or the patriot is, and because of the open-endedness of the song, it's been endorsed by conservatives, progressives, and radicals,"'
Battle Hymn of the Republic Christmas song? How the American standard became a French holiday favorite
This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 25 December 2022 - 09:39 PM
