MetaFilter posts tagged with romance

Neda Soltan's Boyfriend

netbros — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:08:58 -0800

Neda Agha Soltan, killed on camera by a sniper's bullet, became the symbol of opposition to Iranian President Ahmadinejad this summer. Her boyfriend, Caspian Makan, who has just fled the country, talks to Arash Sahami and Angus Macqueen about their romance, his imprisonment after her death and his terrifying escape.

(not-so) Real Housewives of Lancaster County

Miko — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 05:21:49 -0800

A new subgenre is rising to meet the significant demand for romance novels that won't corrupt the flesh: Amish Romances. The relatively chaste romances, mostly written by non-Amish authors, the books are selling well, with Cindy Woodsnall's Sisters of the Quilt trilogy leading the pack on the New York Times bestseller list, and many new authors jumping into the game.

The Immaculate Tirant

Iridic — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:18:12 -0800

"God save me!" quoth the priest, with a loud voice, "is Tirante the White there? Give me him here, neighbour; for I make account I have found in him a treasure of delight, and a mine of entertainment. Here we have Don Kyrieleison of Montalvan, a valorous knight, and his brother Thomas of Montalvan, and the knight Fonseca, and the combat in which the valiant Tirante fought with the mastiff, and the smart conceits of the damsel Plazerdemivida, with the amours and artifices of the widow Reposada; and madam the empress in love with her squire Hypolito. Verily, gossip, in its way, it is the best book in the world..."

-Don Quixote de la Mancha, Part I, Chapter 6 Tirant Lo Blanc, written in the late fifteenth century by the Valencians Martorell and Joan de Galba, combines a fictionalized history of the two-fisted mercenary general Roger de Flor with elements of The Decameron, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, and Ramon Llull's Book of the Order of Chivalry. A sense of life lifts the work above both its influences and the third-hand tropes of its contemporaries; as Cervantes writes, "here the knights eat and sleep, and die in their beds, and make their wills before their deaths; with several things which are wanting in other books of this kind." This realism was a revelation to Cervantes, whose own exploration of the border between high duty and base necessity inaugurated the Western novel. As such, Tirant the White is perhaps the most quietly influential book in all of literature. Bonus Cervantes Inspiration: Amadis of Gaul - in blog form!

"No One Told Me the Price of Admission Would Be...a BROKEN HEART!"

kittens for breakfast — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:43:13 -0800

The Woodstock Festival ended forty years ago today, on August 18, 1969* -- and roughly, um, two years later, Marvel Comics was there! Writer Gary Friedrich and (wildly overqualified) artist Gray Morrow bring you an improbably cleanly tale of romance that first appeared in issue #14 of Marvel's My Love (November 1971): "It Happened at Woodstock!" (Guest-starring Janis Joplin, among others.) *...Although the story in question would have you believe it was 1968.

Why chicks cry

paduasoy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:52:37 -0800

Why chicks cry. Images of women and girls crying, taken from DC romance comics 1957 to 1968. via Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

One Gentleman's Quest to Find His Goddess

everichon — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:22:46 -0800

Mark is looking for his Goddess. From Mark's site: My Global Vision addresses and integrates a large number of disciplines. Its ultimate goal is to greatly reduce human suffering on planet Earth. It is deep, complex, and mind-boggling. Here is its title and table of contents: The Political Manifestation of World Peace and World Joy — A Grand "Symphony" to Be Performed by the Light Workers of Planet Earth.

Transformation of Computers and the Computer Industry into the LIGHT.
Transformation of Science into the LIGHT.
Transformation of Health Care into the LIGHT.
...and so on and so forth.

The Cost of Self-Publication: Ebook vs. Print - One Person’s Story

Joe Beese — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:30:37 -0800

"I don’t know for certain what big publishers are doing to make their prices so high, or what they think they’ll get out of it. I only know that I made a deliberate pricing decision to discourage Amazon and Kindle sales because I needed Amazon’s visibility but I didn’t want to lose my shirt, bra, AND panties." [some language may be NSFW] related posts here, here, here, and here.

Movies from India:

hadjiboy — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 05:07:02 -0800

Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Naa (You don't know, and neither do I) = A guy who's in love with a girl falls in love with someone who he thinks is right for him, but he realizes his mistake, only after the girl has decided to marry her perfect match [or so she thinks]. Taree Zameen Par (Stars On The Ground) = A boy who has difficulty with school work gets put into a Hostel for boys where he discovers a teacher who understands him and is willing to fight for him. And Jab We Met (When we met) = A story about a guy and a girl, who meet on a train and get hitched to each other; the guy finds himself by the end of their travel but has to leave the girl because she's run away from home to marry a guy, only to find out that he doesn't want to marry her... three Hindi movies which I would suggest that everyone watch!

NorthWest Passage

hortense — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 20:19:13 -0800

Ice:A Victorian Romance , is an exhibition of fifty-five rare books and journals, with lovely illustrations. Online exhibition of rare books and journals commemorating the British "infatuation with the Arctic," which began in 1818 "with the Admiralty trying to find an outlet for naval officers and seamen who had been idled by the end of the Napoleonic wars." from the growing collection found at the Linda Hall Library.

"... He clutched her in a semi-muscular embrace"

terranova — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:40:37 -0800

Despite sagging paperback sales in the publishing industry, romance novels -- and particularly hen lit -- fiction featuring older female heroines -- are thriving. In 2006, according to Romance Writers of America, 26.4% of all books sold were romances, generating $1.37 billion in sales. In hen lit aka Matron literature, heroines typically are over-40, widowed grandmothers whose romance yearnings are secondary to family, work, and hobbies.

Romance Novel Cover Design

meech — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:23:57 -0800

The Best Romance Novel Covers of the year - click on the winner of each category to see the Top Ten and explanations. Also the site doesn't avoid the snark with a worst cover category [The winner is Big Spankable Asses [maybe NSFW]].

Man For Young Girl To Become My Wife

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:04:09 -0800

Man For Young Girl To Become My Wife is the Time Cube of romance

Hush, the babies are sleeping...

Christ, what an asshole — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:53:34 -0800

Justine Dream Experiment (NSFW)

Men of Honour

hadjiboy — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:43:35 -0800

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away--there lived men who dressed in suits of glittering steel... their purpose: to roam the lands in search of good deeds to be done in order to earn their salvation. The journey, although perilous, would be one of virtue and piety. Having to face down monstrous creatures and beastly men, they would sometimes take the help of other beasts in carrying out their conquests. (Of course, there were still others who may have been a bit misguided, but the myth endures, if not accurately portrayed.)

Online Mixtapes For Friends & Awkward Crushes

jonson — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:34:08 -0800

Have a crush on someone you only know online? Want to make them a mixtape but you don't have their physical address? Not a problem, thanks to Muxtape, an online mixtape manager. Just upload up to 12 tracks, and a custom URL is provided.Via.

Arabian Nights

hadjiboy — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:49:28 -0800

Ladies, have you ever dreamt of being ~~whisked away~~ kidnapped by a dashing young Prince? Or being swept off your feet and losing your virginity to a dark and mysterious stranger, who happens to be a Sheikh? Or how about being sold to an Arab aristocracy and living off the rest of your days in married bliss. No? Then how about considering a Royal who is so down-to-earth you won't meet anyone else quite like him? Much better than the alternative of marrying his polar opposite, don't you think? Of course, you can always try and keep it platonic if you wanted to. Welcome to the wonderful world of Sheikhs and Desert Love, where all of your fantasies can come true! (via)

Amusing (if Messy) Stop-Motion Valentine's Day Ad

dbarefoot — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:47:31 -0800

An entertaining stop-motion animation from an AdHack (a DIY-ad startup) user. The audio is slightly unsafe for work, and it gets a bit weird and, uh, extra-chocolatey near the end, but it's certainly worth 30 seconds out of your Valentine's Day.

Mr. Good Enough

Horace Rumpole — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 09:29:45 -0800

"Everyone laughs a little too hard for a little too long, not because we find these sentiments funny, but because we’re awkwardly acknowledging how unfunny they are. At their core, they pose one of the most complicated, painful, and pervasive dilemmas many single women are forced to grapple with nowadays: Is it better to be alone, or to settle? My advice is this: Settle!" An interview with the author, Lori Gottlieb Some reactions: "What ticked me off was Gottlieb's, possibly unconscious, propagandizing on behalf of perpetually adolescent men and her advocation of marriage as an economical form of ensured quality day-care." "Well that's a story in the latest issue of the Atlantic Monthly by a single mom who dares to advance the iconoclastic argument that Rachel would have been better if she'd just married the orthodontist."

Love at first smell, and what stinky t-shirts tell us about attraction

iamkimiam — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:08:37 -0800

"There's no Brad Pitt of smell," Herz says. "Body odor is an external manifestation of the immune system, and the smells we think are attractive come from the people who are most genetically compatible with us." "Not only does kissing serve the utilitarian purpose of providing a sample of MHC, but it also magnifies the other attraction signals--if only as a result of proximity." — Time Magazine But sometimes the tastes and scents can trick us, or other factors, such as the "divorce pill" make us think something is right for us when it may not be so. These insights found in a pile of stinky t-shirts. Cover stories this month in both Psychology Today and Time magazine reveal why we kiss, why we flirt, why women's menstrual cycles sync, and many other keys to attraction. It's all so...romantic.

A 1950s Woman's View on Women and Sex

shivohum — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:21:19 -0800

Sex and the College Girl, by Norah Johnson A view from an educated woman in the 1950s: "Two criticisms rise above the rest: people in college are promiscuous, for one thing, and, for another, they are getting married and having children too early. These are interesting observations because they contradict each other."

Please help me find her!

Phire — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 07:25:59 -0800

NYGirl of my dreams. Romance in the technological age. :)

Some Old Ass Movie With Skaters who, uh, date, kinda.

snsranch — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:24:12 -0800

Noel Black's first project after graduate film school at UCLA was writing and directing Skaterdater, a short subject cinematic romance without dialogue, which used only music and sound effects to advance its plot. It won nine international film awards. The film is circa 1965, just few years prior to my freewheeling days, but it still makes me nostalgic for simpler times. Warning: google vid, about 20 mins long, lots of artsy depictions of "old school" skateboarding. Enjoy.

Bicycles

phrontist — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:45:37 -0800

"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of mankind" - H.G. Wells

Romance via vague, anonymous e-mail

ThePinkSuperhero — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:52:22 -0800

ProposalToMary.com I will send out the proposal to Mary to 50 complete strangers, people I don't know – hoping, that they will forward my proposal to as many people as possible, which in turn forward it etc. And some day, I hope, it will reach Mary, after it has travelled a very long way. Guess this guy isn't in a big rush to be with his one true love?

The New Comedy of the Sexes

Jasper Friendly Bear — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 10:31:21 -0800

David Denby and Joe Queenan on Knocked Up and the new genre of romantic comedy.