m1k3y

quirkyprotagonist:

Nastya Zhidkova – albino model

She captivates me tonight.

Holy shit.

“Coming up,” said Beard Number One, nodding to Beard Number Two, never once looking at Tallow. Together, they cut and smashed and wrapped the sandwiches in maybe twenty seconds. They’d gotten faster. Judging by the previous customer, Tallow thought word had really gotten around about the place. He imagined the pair training at night, listening to Animal Collective on repeat as they beat sandwiches into shape, racing against the same stopwatch they used to time their beard trimmings.

from page 155 of Warren Ellis’s brilliant new novel GUN MACHINE which you should already have in your hands reading. If you are too poor to buy one, request one from your local library.

(As an auxillary note, how long does it take for a novel in this day and age to be completely reproduced by people typing in quotes they liked from it? (or didn’t like.) How much of, say, Harry Potter or 50 Shades of Grey has been retyped and is out there, almost query-able and known but not quite and split in a dozen places by a thousand people? Is there that one shit sentence of an inordinatly popular book that has never been retyped?)

darklyeuphoric:

“Look Dave, I can see you’re really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over.”

pixelnoizz:

randall on Flickr.

randall weiss and the missing point

betaknowledge:

“Hugo Gernsback wearing his TV Glasses in 1963 Life magazine shoot.”

theremina:

laurennmcc:

Sworn Virgins of Albania – Women who have chosen to live their lives as men.

(Portraits by Jill Peters)

“Sworn Virgin” is the term given to a biological female in the Balkans who is chosen, usually at an early age, to take on the social identity of a man for life. As a tradition dating back hundreds of years, this was necessary in societies that lived within tribal clans, followed the Kanun, an archaic code of law, and maintained an oppressive rule over the female gender.The Kanun states that women are considered to be the property of their husbands. The freedom to vote, drive, conduct business, earn money, drink, smoke, swear, own a gun or wear pants was traditionally the exclusive province of men. Young girls were commonly forced into arranged marriages, often with much older men in distant villages.

As an alternative, becoming a Sworn Virgin, or ‘burnesha” elevated a woman to the status of a man and granted her all the rights and privileges of the male population. In order to manifest the transition such a woman cut her hair, donned male clothing and sometimes even changed her name. Male gestures and swaggers were practiced until they became second nature. Most importantly of all, she took a vow of celibacy to remain chaste for life. She became a “he”. This practice continues today but as modernization inches toward the small villages nestled in the Alps , this archaic tradition is increasingly seen as obsolete. Only a few aging Sworn Virgins remain. The number of new cases are scant and tend to be considered less authentic by younger generations.’