Best book on Cartels?Dope Inc covers all in a general way but I know know Cartel operations in more details.
>>23899982Sergio Gonzalez Rodriguez is a good resource on the cartels in general. You can pretty much pick any book from him and it will be useful. The general accuracy and usefulness of his work is attested by the fact that he was kidnapped and beaten at one point, told that his published work was being watched very closely and not to give too much info.
>>23899982why not read a novel about it instead?
His feet are light and nimble. He never sleeps. He says that he will never die. He dances in light and in shadow and he is a great favorite. He never sleeps, the judge. He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die.
>>23901605https://x.com/fishtankislive/status/1843075061554778169
I started out this year intending to read through the silmarillion, children of hurin, unfinished tales, the hobbit and lotr. But once I finished fellowship I was bribed out and took months off. But after coming back I peered through the last two books and have finally finished. My overall opinion of these books are that they are very overrated. The silmarillion is something that would never be tolerated for being as dry as it is without tolkiens name on it. The history of middle earth is just not interesting enough to be that dry. Barely anything happens in thousands of years. No elf civil wars, no elf and dwarf wars, just elves vs melkor for thousands of years all becuase of a jewel. The premise is just not convincing. Why would all these elves fight these wars just so their king can get his jewel back? And the other Tolkien stories like beren and luthien, gondolin, and children of hurin are so bland and devoid of character depth of an interesting plot that they too are only talked about because they have tolkiens name on them. Beren and luthien is horrible actually. It makes melkor and sauron seem like Saturday morning cartoon villains. The story does not work for this supposed dark story he’s telling. Then unfinished tales has some of the most boring stories I’ve read. The one about the Gondor captain who loved the sea, the gates of gondolin. Then the hobbit. It’s decent, that’s all I can really say. And then the lord of the rings. It has a great story in it but Tolkien makes it so difficult to enjoy it with all his unnecessary detail of the geography. And the geography is often very mundane, nothing you wouldn’t see in real life so it can get very boring. Mordor especially. You’d think that the detail of Mordor would be one of the most interesting but it’s not. It’s just Frodo and Sam in barren uninhabitable lands again. And when they are in cirith ungul you’d think it’d be a good opportunity to describe how evil an orc tower is but he barely describes it at all besides the two watchers. The warfare is not that interesting. It’s just two battles where the bad guys throw all their forces against impregnable castles and then lose because reinforcements come. And the bad guys are pretty lame. The Nazgûl are said to be very scary and terrifying. The witch king especially. But they always lose badly especially in fellowship where they lose three times. The balrog is similar to where the fellowship acts like it’s this unbearable loan for but Gandalf is able to 1v1 it. Georgie deal also 1v1 a balrog do Gandalf plus Legolas should have been able to beat it pretty easily. Anyway, it was ok, but the way it was written was not to my liking.
>>23901277I've only read the Silmarillion proper, so I really can't imagine how CoH would have been received. Your dislike seems like a good sign that I ought to read it (and the rest of the posthumous publications).The characters, like those of myths in general, are great precisely because they are simple. The complexity and nuance arises in the conflicts and interactions between archetypes. Just read it as Eru's psyche and you'll have a complex enough character on your hands.The Silmarils are more than nice, shiny things to covet. They are the holy light of eternity in crystaline form. A cursed piece of technique representing the struggle against finitude that leads so many of Tolkien's characters to their doom. And the lore of Beleriand has a lot of significance for all of Middle-Earth. The remnants of the Elder Days found in the third age contribute to the sense of time and scale (see Glamdring or the Balrog). If it was just Eriador but way back in the day it would lose the sense of distance and mournful nostalgia tied to the ancient songs of a lost land. If it was just "Doriath was here and I guess it kind of petered out and now it's the lost Realm of Arnor", that would be detrimental to the sense of absence. The magical lands of the first age are truly gone, and that makes them more significant to the third age.From the birds-eye view (which is the general mode of the entire book) major conflicts seem like skirmishes. I really like the lack of detail. The conflict of archetypes wouldn't be improved by elaborating on long sieges with x amount of heads hewn and chieftains smote. There are a couple of those moments in the Silmarillion, but they are thankfully rare enough to be interesting. This is a "big picture" type of work, meant to feel like you're in the archives of Gondor or Rivendell looking up the ancient sources. If you read the Norse sagas or their equivalents from other cultures you'll find it's quite similar (and I guess you'd be bored). To me, the mythical mode is a nice break from the gritty, "low" nature of most novels.The overly-detailed landscapes of LotR are exactly the opposite of the birds-eye view, and this can also be a good thing. You've gotta be in the mood for it, though.I'm not gonna waste more words telling you to like something, however. It's not your cup of tea, and that's fine.
>>23901405Ya the actual novel of children of hurin is way too long. It was fine as a 30 page story. I mean the silmarillion was ok. But when I think if I enjoyed it I don’t think I did. But I had that nagging feeling that I should read it since I’ve read many wiki entries in lotr that come from that books
>>23901033It is a different context, time, etc... sodomites and depraved folk like you can't understand metaphysical concepts so in the end it will look shallow, the reason why people worship Gurm so much
^ the focus of Tolkien universe is the symbolism on it, people with 2 digits IQ like the OP will never understand this.
I think you have to be the right kind of person or be in the right kind of mood to enjoy Tolkien. I've only read The Hobbit and LOTR proper- finding that I lacked the autism to enjoy the Silmarillion. Plus, I think LOTR is a hard thing to critique. For example, while you could argue that the orks are one dimensional villains, at the same time, Tolkien was a very deliberate writer. He wanted to make a story where people went on an adventure and were changed, and I would say he succeeded at that.Also, I wanted to mention something I don’t personally see too often when it comes to discourse surrounding LOTR. While some people might call the series antiquated or old fashioned, it is pretty subversive when you think about it. Take Bilbo getting the ring from Gollum. Gollum wasn't some evil warlord terrorizing Bilbo's village, Gollum was a hobbit ccorrupted by the ring. And, Bilbo didn't win in a fair fight, he straight up cheated.
Does /lit/ know any good books that are smut but for heterosexual men?pic unrelated
>>23901104Lucky little bastards.
>>23901104maybe that's what makes it impressive. do you really look down on artists that can channel their antisocial urges into their art and make the world better prepared against those who practice the very thing they are restraining themselves from doing?
>>23901018the kid was retarded in the book
>>23901018just read hentai, that's the only place left for shota/milf contentyou may also look into AO3 but i find most stories incredibly boring and the language appalling, for example they call pussy, "my member" which is cringy as fuck
Anon was a horny bastard: The Way of a Man with a Maid by AnonThe Romance of Lust by AnonThe Lustful Turk by Anon as wellBonus:Look up Flaubert travel diaries including Egypt .Some of them were quite horny.He chronicled some of his brothel visits.
What are some great book covers?
A Halloween recommendation for lit: the Saga of Gosta Berling Sintram’s fiery performance as the devil come to take the soul of a cavalier followed by the explosive outburst of the Majoress at her cuckolded husband at the Christmas dinner is one of the most powerful scenes I have ever read. Sintram’s prophecy comes true for the cavaliers to own Ekeby while the mother of the Majoress’ prophecy is also foretold: she must leave her husband to live in haystacks as a beggar from now on.I like the tone and writing style of the book so far. How Sintram the Miller is indistinguishable from the devil himself and is implied to be one and the same. The novel is outwardly grounded in reality but inwardly hints at the fantastic (it is a Norse saga after all but for the modern times). The twelve cavaliers are crass beggars but their personalities harken to the cavaliers of old, to the knights of King Arthur or the gods of Olympus, twelve in all.
>>23899863Fantastic novel, anon.
>>23899863My reading list is too long to add this, but I've been looking for good autumnal movies, thanks for the rec
>>23901054I am currently reading it and I love it. It’s got knights (cavaliers), maidens in distress and a devil. It is the mythic world of the Middle Ages grounded in the real one of 19th century realism. It is as if Thomas Malory and Victor Hugo had a baby together. I love it.
When did /lit/ realize that Allen Dulles and CIA were the good guys?
This thread is a crosspost from /his/ from yesterday.Bootlickers AND rule breakers will not be tolerated OP.
>>23899614https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20161004-was-modern-art-a-weapon-of-the-cia https://www.blackagendareport.com/fight-power-work-it-chuck-d-public-enemy-and-how-cia-neutralized-rapThe CIA funded a lot of modern, degenerate art, outwardly claiming that it would show that the West was individualistic and free, but in practice it led to the undermining of traditional aesthetics and a subversion of values. Then there's the CIA drug-funneling into black cities in the USA, to prevent the black communities from advancing, ensuring that they would remain a blight on US society. Same with the destabilizing countries in Latin America. "Fighting communism"? A 12 year old would see how their methods would lead to hordes of people flee to the USA; the CIA wanted mass-immigration from south of the border.>>23899512They do do their job very well. Their job is not to promote the interests of the American people, on the contrary.
>>23897670This pic is for you agent OP
>>23901434u forgot operation sea-spray
Tbh the early CIA was kind of based but it should’ve been abolished in the 70s at the latest.
looking for a specific kind of story; the main character has a larger mystery to solve, person to catch, etc, but the moment to moment story is following a trail of clues, solving smaller mysteries along the way, talking with witnesses, that sort of thing. like a scavenger hunt, but set in the real world with real stakes and reasonable explanations for why the scavenger hunt exists like it does. is there a name for this genre? any stories come to mind like this?
>>23901464>just "finding clues in the house where the murder happened"like the other guy said, most detective or mystery novels. literally no mystery novel is your sentence above, they're all like 80% of the description you give in your reply. have you read any?
>>23901477to be honest i have not read very many, i've only had access to books and glasses the last three or four years and i've been working my way up with kids books. i read some Travis McGee books and some James Patterson books and neither feel like this either. i didn't like James Patterson books very much to be honest.
>>23901464Try Snow by John Banville. Or if you want less realism and more conspiracies there's always Grisham, LeCarré, or Dan Brown.
>>23901485haven't read patterson but read the mcgee book dress her in indigo and it's pretty close to your description of what you want. chandler books for deep labyrinths of pursuit, agatha christie for clue or riddles that will be interpreted one way then later another and desu a lot of varied elements from mysteries (and in a bunch of the poirot books government interest/glowie stuff), edmund crispin is really good, one author that uses 'experts' a lot is rex stout in the nero wolfe books wolfe will farm out portions of the mystery to others thru his lackey/narrator archie (i wouldn't say this is an enjoyable feature in mysteries, it's kind of an offscreen information delay filler type thing like in movies), simenon for a police detective where the crimes tend to still be ongoing and not just in the backstory, basically any mystery/detective author that's regarded as decent
What's the literary equivalent to Shot Dog Film by Tom Otterness?https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-avant-garde-art-far
>>23899498Your favorite book
Are there any good books on art and art criticism that discuss these kind of pointlessly destructive, edgy methods of creating "art" where art simply becomes ugliness for the sake of ugliness rather than art for the sake of art?
If Brahman is the omniscient real self, why do all these Vedanta gurus interviewed on YouTube who've supposedly realized themselves as Brahman still have to read books to know what academics are saying about neuroscience, consciousness studies, etc.? What is the nature of the "block" that stops them accessing Brahman's (their) omniscience?
>>23901438What I find confusing is that...okay, let's say Bob down the street has the illusory knowledge of 1+1=5 (or even the illusory knowledge of 1+1=2, if insisted). If I have access to omniscience, would I not still be able to know "Bob thinks 1+1=5 (or 1+1=2)" even if that omniscience means I myself don't think 1+1=5 (or 1+1=2)?
>>23901412Think of it like this, Brahman can know everything at once but then everything ends up becoming nothing. Like if you combined multiple projected images eventually you just end up with white light.
>>23901443>Also you are looking at this in a very anthropomorphic mannerPossibly. I was raised a Christian, so my understanding of omniscience is probably tainted with the Christian tendency to anthropomorphize God.
>>23901459What you would know is the fundamental shared truth if there is one.
>>23901466Well, I commend you for making the effort.
Pic related is one of the best short stories I've read in a while, and it was written by an Anon here a few years ago.Is there any kind of best of /lit/ list / infographic of stuff that people here have published in the various magazines which have come and gone?
>>23900784I liked it, kino horror concept that blends contemporary purgatory with ancient and eternal beliefs
>>23901098why do you keep doing this???? you know that I asked you to stop posting about it bc it makes me rlly upset why won’t you just leave it alone???? I hadn’t even tried to contact you in months and I wasn’t even thinking about it as much until you started posting about it again why do you keep doing this why do you keep trying to make the bad feeling come back and trying to hurt me(??,,,(, just stop just leave me alone just stop
>>23901130>How's it going now, btw?I've called the design and editing "done" and forced myself to move on. I accept that there might be problems pointed out to me post-release and that I can deal with them incrementally then. And bar harmonising some small changes, making a print-ready version is done and was not the challenge I was worried it would be; not sure if I'll rush to release once it's online or order a test copy before that, but a reasonably cheap (i.e. zero margin) copy should be available at release via Lulu and in good quality. (Sadly shipping as expensive, as mentioned earlier.)Writing an introduction now, which may sound stupid but I feel is important for this imaginary audience of mine; have written something satisfactory about & itself, and am now shifting to the "why" and "how" of the best-of, so call it 50% done before a little editing. (I won't make it a new avenue for my seething, don't worry.)I've also got a small website made for the best-of that I'll make live on release. It won't be too sophisticated and shouldn't hold the release back meaningfully.Cover is 99% done and decided and I won't be showing it here until release, but it's something I feel good about.(Thanks for asking. cya)
>>23901382
>>23901390Nah, I scrapped that.
Foucault just copy pasted bataille's philosophy and removed or downplayed the mystic connotations but his philosophical project is the sameBataille was a devout catholic who later read nietzsche which caused him to become antagonistic towards his former faith. He had Marxist leanings but wasn't committed to any socialist cause. He only detested bourgeois society. He was also active in the surrealist scene. His political project was to subvert Christianity unironically. He wanted to bring a revival of orgiastic cults in the modern era. Since his mysticism revolved around limit experiences being a bridge to divine ecstatic experiences and he hated how modern religion essentially removed these experiences from the sacred rituals. The bulk of his philosophical writings revolved around human sacrifice and these inner experiences.He saw two avenues of realizing his political project, either going the way of Italian fascism because he admired it's heroic violence. The other avenue was refashioning language itself and intellectual activity in academia. He wanted the human subject to reveal the bestial within him without shame and let loose these inhibitory forces. Foucault largely succeeded in refashioning western culture that was carefully being built since the times of Plato. If one wishes to know where western society is heading, well the answer lies in his works.
>>23900829I am sick retards shilling these gobbledygook """philosophers""". FUCK YOU FUUUUUUCK (You)
>>23900829And Bataille is just a froggified coomy Nietzsche
>>23900829>Bataille was a devout catholic who later read nietzsche which caused him to become antagonistic towards his former faith. What kind of intellectual cuckoldry is this? Imagine being so cowed and defeated by Nietzsche's silly posturing and assertions. His life was just another demonstration of the sin of pride. Ultimate example of intellectual vanity along with Joyce.
Books that repudiate “Capitalist Realism”?
>>23898619>if you really believe capitalism is bad you should let your wife and child starve in abject poverty instead of doing what you must to keep your bills paidyou need to be 18 to post here.
>>23901316Exactly what I was saying here >>23897755Jesus christ it's braindead. Ben Shapiro tier.
>>23898542>according to capitalist sources, the only legitimate modern economic system is capitalism
>>23901327>we do the exact some stuff every other capitalist does but when we do it's cool because ... it just is ok!ya totally not a grift
Spengler in all seriousness. I don’t remember if it’s in his book or essays but somewhere he discusses capitalism, communism, and notions of private property and capital.
The only truth of Nietzsche’s I can get completely get behind is that philosophy is primary to understanding life and primary to life’s intellectual pursuits.This is proven by the fact you can have the philosophy of anything but that can’t be said of anything else like science or mathematics.Those on here who say philosophy is unimportant, stupid or impossible are themselves making contradictory philosophical claims ie a philosophy of philosophy.However I’m not actually convinced it’s possible to settle all philosophical questions and even less convinced that even philosophers will come to converge on the ultimate truth of all philosophical questions.Thoughts?
>>23900914You can't have "philosophy of anything." By "philosophy" you just mean "words." You think that you can talk about anything because if there's something you can't talk about, you can just use the phrase "that thing I can't talk about." Then you can use tricks to manipulate the statement around and put it into other statements to see what happens, and you call that doing "philosophy." This doesn't mean you're actually getting anywhere when you do this. You are not any closer to the unspeakable by speaking about it.
>>23900914Gotta be one of the most misunderstood and dismissed philosophers by midwits.
>>23901027Isn’t this a philosophy of the unspeakable?
>>23901116No, the unspeakable is unspeakable. I am not speaking about it. I am only speaking about the phrase "the unspeakable".
>>23900914Philosophy, like culture and power, is a vacuum, everyone has some kind of philosophy. Being anti-philosophy is in its way also a philosophy. There are simply just different degrees to it. At best anti-philosophy is just against the more intellectualized aspects of the field of philosophy. Ol Freddy would disagree but if philosophy is someone's outlook on the world and understanding of it, everyone has one, perhaps not a very organized, intellectual, or wise one, but they have one nonetheless.
Has anyone read this? What did you think about it? Do you believe it's a good introduction to Schopenhauer's philosophy?
>>23898141Because aphorisms are short that’s why. I gain nothing from reading a single sentence, with nothing prior to this. I enjoyed his short essay about suicide, because it wasn’t only a “suicide sucks, it’s for the weak”. Instead it was more like, it sucks, here’s why explained briefly.
>>23897465I’ve read the book, and remember the essays, and nothing from the aphorisms. Now go kill your self mutt.
>>23900007>no rose without a thorn, yes, but many a thorn without roses there i remembered one now kill yourself
>>23900003>Because aphorisms are shortBy that logic, a novel is inherently better than a novella, which is better than a short story, which is better than an aphorism?
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