Game of Thrones - Winter is coming

 

Game of Thrones is a new, amazing tv series that started a few months ago and has already completed its first season. It's based on the fantasy novels of George R. R. Martin, it takes place in an imaginary, medieval spacetime and it has it all: noble ladies, proud kings, valiant knights, luxurious palaces but also, intrigue, crime, adultery, even incest. An overwhelming atmoshpere in a perfectly set background, which brings in mind movies rather than tv series. Game of Thrones displays crude realism combined with metaphysical aspects and beauty combined with terror and atrocity.

If you are into medieval fantasy, I highly recommend it.

Game of Thrones on IMDb

Game of Thrones on Wikipedia

The Book on Amazon

One of the official trailers:

Deviant Art (dA)

DeviantART (dA)  is a huge community, that hosts various forms of art, from traditional painting to the most extravagant pieces of artwork. I can spend countless hours browsing galleries, as there's such a great variety of forms and ideas! Unique creations of some exceptionally talented people, who would definitely deserve to be recognized.

Domain : http://www.deviantart.com/

These are some of my personal favourites:

Bastet by silverfox-5213 . A cute painting of the Egyptian feline goddess Bast or Basted, protector of the home, arts and pleasure.

On a darker note, here's a doll by nicolaiguza

Artisan crafts are not missing from dA. An amazing leather cross wristband from the self-taught artist morgenland .

and The March Hare by the super talented leatherworker RPG-AnimeOtaku 

but also fractal art, like these Toxic Nanoballoids by hyperben2  

and how about amazingly photographed animals? Arkanys-12 Fancy Rat by DianePhotos

steampunk meets leatheworking:CAR by pushok1983 .

Wonderful fantasy inspired digital painting by nathie : Longest Journey: Waiting

Stunning fanart from my favourite game Wolrd of Warcraft by cocoasweety , Lament of Highborne.

http://fav.me/d286zip

Mystical Nature

Last week, I had to take a short trip to a nearby village. Fog is not so common here where I live, so when I was up on the mountain and saw this bewildering image in front of me, I was stunned.  

Remember the Irminsul by Sevenannine

I couldn't help but stop the car and take a couple of photos. It felt like space and time collapsed and there was just me, Earth and the powerful presence of Nature.

Mystical moss agate ring by sarantos

In moments like this, everything appears solid, real and alive and at the same time on the verge of dissolution. It's out in the nature that the mind becomes still, like it was supposed to be.

Scarlet Woodland by Raceytay

How far have we gone?

535 Griswold (Detroit) by ashleydinges

And the cars 
Lost in the drift 
Are there 
And the people that drive 
Lost in the drift 
Are there 
And the cares i've 
Lost in the drift 
Are there 
Theirs, ours, 
Lost in the drift 
Are.. 
Driven together 
And driven 
Apart
("Driven Like the Snow - The Sisters of Mercy")

Eugenics - Gattaca

Eugenics is "the study of, or belief in, the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics) or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics)." 

The word eugenics derives from the Greek word eu (good or well) and the suffix -genēs (born), and was coined by Sir Francis Galton in 1883, who defined it as "the study of all agencies under human control which can improve or impair the racial quality of future generations".

(From Wikipedia)

Yesterday we watched a highly underrated film in my opinion: Gattaca. The film presents a sterilized version of the future, where people are born only after exhausting gene tests that would guarantee that the new-borns would be brought to this world with the best combination of genes possible. Those few born in the "traditional way" were considered invalids and they stood almost zero chance of becoming successful in personal or professional level. 

I've been thinking that a future like that is not so unlikely. We are already capable of creating clones and mutations. The ethical and moral implications of such an extreme form of racism and elitism would be disastrous: just remember what nazis did in the name of the aryan dream. 

This is a treasury I made today inspired by this issue:

*clickable image*