“proba” (see the url of this blog) means “trial”

all these years should be enough for that, shouldn’t they

//whoisnot//

Reality was a bad dream. At least, some realities were. Alexander’s reality had been exactly that ever since he’d arrived in London a year ago. A bad dream. Not just poorly written and directed here and there, but actively twisted and evil, seriously bad. The worst thing was that he wasn’t sure whether he was the protagonist or merely some walk-on. Although it was more like a run-on at the moment.

The street, irritated by Alexander’s noisy stumbling, tried to shake him off. It threw people right into his path. He was too tired to dodge them, too slow, so he crashed into them. Some of them pushed him backwards. Or sideways. Muttering. Shouting. Shaking fists. At other moments, the street opened unexpected doors that he had to dodge. It loosened cobblestones that tried to trip him. Worse still, the street granted his pursuers freedom of movement — and they were catching up with him, in their black suits, with their gunmetal hands and foreign curses. The street, under suddenly doubtful skies, wanted to get rid of him. Quickly.

Read the rest of “A Taste of Bitter Gold” at Red Phone Box

(…and do read all the other stories Salomé Jones’ RPB has to offer as well. ;))

holnap megmondom. :)

via The Great Old One (again)

ROFLMAO

‎’If “well-read” means “not missing anything,” then nobody has a chance.’

The Sad, Beautiful Fact that We’re All Going to Miss Almost Everything

Now that’s a real thoughtful article. Nothing revolutionary, but it excellently sums up a concern a lot of us seem to share.

What it discusses… is the reason why I think even devouring tons of books is pointless, especially if the haste takes away from the depth of the experience. I’d rather read a good book twice and slowly than read through five quickly and not remember or understand them for real. (And it holds true for other media too, as far as I’m concerned.)

And in case you’re a writer, just consider your chance to make ripples that last for more than 15 minutes, that touch people for real. I guess that requires enormous talent and skill… let alone a huge amount of luck. Yet we all try (for a while at least), don’t we?

(link via Smashing Magazine’s Facebook Feed)

the point is that it is here, you see.

that something is here again.

still, this is just a test.

also, spring is coming.

Unfortunately I’ve missed the announcement of the results of the contests, but since it’s been ages ago, I most probably did not win. (Coming to think of it… has there been an announcement at all? :)) However, I wouldn’t want my humble, quite Lovecraftian MiddleVillain to disappear without a trace, so I’ll post the concept here.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome…

Dr. Murphy* Hollow
The Head of The Psychology Department
at a University Not Far Enough from the Middle HQ

Brief Character Profile
Dr. Hollow resembles Gary Oldman. Without his head. Well, sometimes with and sometimes without his head. Without, when he’s out villaining in the night. During daytime, when he’s pretending to be normal, his head is attached to his body with a strange machine overgrown with weird fungi (fhtagn!) But his head can be detached, which releases his body from a serious amount of restraint imposed upon it by the constantly thinking, plotting head’s fears for itself. At times like this the body becomes a kind of Headless Horseman, but since the MiddlePeople live in a modern age, picture him, that is, Dr. Hollow’s body as a headless motorcycle-rider, way nimbler and stronger than anyone who has to mind their head.

Yep, Dr. Hollow’s body is the Headless Rider, obeying the orders of the Head of the Department, its own head that rests safely in a safe at the University Labs meanwhile. The body sees and perceives the world through the Unspeakable Machine’s sensors, and acts like a wild, cunning, stealthy and powerful predator – yet it always comes back to its master, doing the head’s bidding (and many other things, for its own sake, of course.)

…and the Head of the Dept keeps asking for more and more heads. It wants to enter and conquer the Lovecraftian Dreamlands, to rule Humanity through its dreams, but it needs extra brainpower for that. Extra brains. (In weird jars. Iä! Iä!) And extra headless minions.

Seems like getting ahead of Dr. Hollow and stopping his mad dreams won’t be an easy ride for the MiddleGuys. Perhaps playing the body (bodies!) against the head could help… but how? :)

* “During the episode”, hint that the name Murphy refers to Morpheus, god of dreams in Greek mythology – so Dr. Hollow’s kinda… Sleepy. ;) All the time.