![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juushikaMore on cannibalism, much to the delight of all possible readers: This Guy Served His Friends Tacos Made from His Own Amputated Leg
Which is fascinating but relatively unsensationalized. TL;DR: man loses use of foot after motorcycle accident, has it amputated, keeps the foot; serves foot-meat (as fajita tacos) to a group of friends. I love it! I love how bizarre is the idea and apparently act of treating one's own flesh as meat—to no longer see it as "self"; to give it associations entirely separate from an accident/disability. I love an inarguable case of legal cannibalism to help recenter the issue and examine the taboo. And I envy/appreciate people given the chance to confront the hypothetical "would you eat a people?" I'd rather eat people than animals, but since I haven't eaten flesh in ~20 years, and I doubt red meat is a good place to start, and I don't want to desensitize on animals ... probably no foot-fajitas in my future. But for the chance to think outside the theoretical!
You know what, I lied; it would probably make me hella sick, but if given the once in a lifetime opportunity? I couldn't not.
Anyway, the money quote:
but the entire thing is great.
I approach the incipient death of Tumblr with equanimity, although it does mean posting "yay cannibalism" on my, uh, real? serious? long-form blog, rather than making it a causal reblog. But the timing of the Tumblr apocalypse with the approach of Yuletide has put that anxiety-about-social-media/-fandom into high gear.
Every year I wonder why I don't Yuletide; every year I look through the spreadsheet of requests, as if I were going to send a treat to a stranger but without the responsibility of an actual sign up, and I never. never ever. do. Not doing Yuletide makes sense—I don't really fandom, I don't really write anymore, I'm too crazy for social stuff. I know some people write just for this, and it's also the only time I read fanfic (except when bitten by a new OT3), and I appreciate the event and its energy so much that it makes me wish I were that kind of fan, with completionist knowledge about popular or cult releases, able to stick to things instead of just reading a new book. It makes me feel like I do fan wrong. Placing those feels alongside a fandom migration is weirdly lonely. It's not so much that my social sphere is changing as it is a reminder than this isn't really my sphere.
I suppose the holiday season is prone to that sort of loneliness, particularly in this, the post-tragedy, mid-change, pointedly lonely point in my life.
Instead of having feelings, I've been playing Kirby: Triple Deluxe, which turned out to be my own non-Pachimari Hannukah present (since we just ... kept going back for more pachi plush. Final tally: vanilla Pachimari, Pachiking, Pachilover, Pachilantern, Vampachimari, Gingermari, and Pachimummy, aka everything but Snorkelmari, which I distinctly didn't want because of hydrophobia and because the snorkel felt texture is unpleasant. I love them all—Gingermari is the best but vanilla pachi is a close second—and regret nothing). I watched Edobean play it during the sequence of discover Kirby via Edobean's hosted block at Games Done Quick > watch Kirby Let's Plays > consider playing Kirby > suddenly, have played seven Kirby games.
Even having watched it, Triple Deluxe is great. The foreground/background mechanics are strong; the level design in this series is so solid; the more boring dirt/jungle/etc. levels are less boring here than elsewhere (except fire—fire levels are still boring). The true gift of discovering Nintendo as an adult, having never played it as a kid, is the Playmobil/plastic/toy-like feel of the franchises. Pixel art Kirby is great, N64 Kirby is ... N64—but post Return to Dreamland Kirby is so round, so smoothly 3D, so marshmallowy and squishy silicone and plastic. That gentleness (in aesthetic! what they do with content, the aggressively family-friendly baseline with fridge horror and Pikmin-slaughter, is a different story and perhaps a more interesting one) is the perfect choice for low-stakes, forgiving escapism.
The luck I'm having with the game as a pseudo-replay makes me wonder about replaying Kirby's Epic Yarn in a year or so. It's my favorite Kirby by far and objectively one of the best games I've ever played, flawless in aesthetic, unendingly clever in marriage of concept to level design, and my only regret (other than the train mechanic, which is ... flawed) is that I assumed it wouldn't be as surprisingly perfect the second time. But I suspect now that my memory is bad enough & the game strong enough that I'd enjoy a replay.
Which is fascinating but relatively unsensationalized. TL;DR: man loses use of foot after motorcycle accident, has it amputated, keeps the foot; serves foot-meat (as fajita tacos) to a group of friends. I love it! I love how bizarre is the idea and apparently act of treating one's own flesh as meat—to no longer see it as "self"; to give it associations entirely separate from an accident/disability. I love an inarguable case of legal cannibalism to help recenter the issue and examine the taboo. And I envy/appreciate people given the chance to confront the hypothetical "would you eat a people?" I'd rather eat people than animals, but since I haven't eaten flesh in ~20 years, and I doubt red meat is a good place to start, and I don't want to desensitize on animals ... probably no foot-fajitas in my future. But for the chance to think outside the theoretical!
You know what, I lied; it would probably make me hella sick, but if given the once in a lifetime opportunity? I couldn't not.
Anyway, the money quote:
People think it tastes like pork because in movies we hear it called "long pig." But that term originated in places like Papua New Guinea, where they eat wild boar. They're not eating our big, fat, domesticated pigs that have white meat. Boars don't have white meat. They just don't. I remember eating a heritage pig and it was some of the reddest, most flavorful meat I'd ever had. It was almost like venison. And I think it's more akin to that.
This particular cut was super beefy. It had a very pronounced, beefy flavor to it. The muscle I cut was tough and chewy. It tasted good, but the experience wasn't the best.
but the entire thing is great.
I approach the incipient death of Tumblr with equanimity, although it does mean posting "yay cannibalism" on my, uh, real? serious? long-form blog, rather than making it a causal reblog. But the timing of the Tumblr apocalypse with the approach of Yuletide has put that anxiety-about-social-media/-fandom into high gear.
Every year I wonder why I don't Yuletide; every year I look through the spreadsheet of requests, as if I were going to send a treat to a stranger but without the responsibility of an actual sign up, and I never. never ever. do. Not doing Yuletide makes sense—I don't really fandom, I don't really write anymore, I'm too crazy for social stuff. I know some people write just for this, and it's also the only time I read fanfic (except when bitten by a new OT3), and I appreciate the event and its energy so much that it makes me wish I were that kind of fan, with completionist knowledge about popular or cult releases, able to stick to things instead of just reading a new book. It makes me feel like I do fan wrong. Placing those feels alongside a fandom migration is weirdly lonely. It's not so much that my social sphere is changing as it is a reminder than this isn't really my sphere.
I suppose the holiday season is prone to that sort of loneliness, particularly in this, the post-tragedy, mid-change, pointedly lonely point in my life.
Instead of having feelings, I've been playing Kirby: Triple Deluxe, which turned out to be my own non-Pachimari Hannukah present (since we just ... kept going back for more pachi plush. Final tally: vanilla Pachimari, Pachiking, Pachilover, Pachilantern, Vampachimari, Gingermari, and Pachimummy, aka everything but Snorkelmari, which I distinctly didn't want because of hydrophobia and because the snorkel felt texture is unpleasant. I love them all—Gingermari is the best but vanilla pachi is a close second—and regret nothing). I watched Edobean play it during the sequence of discover Kirby via Edobean's hosted block at Games Done Quick > watch Kirby Let's Plays > consider playing Kirby > suddenly, have played seven Kirby games.
Even having watched it, Triple Deluxe is great. The foreground/background mechanics are strong; the level design in this series is so solid; the more boring dirt/jungle/etc. levels are less boring here than elsewhere (except fire—fire levels are still boring). The true gift of discovering Nintendo as an adult, having never played it as a kid, is the Playmobil/plastic/toy-like feel of the franchises. Pixel art Kirby is great, N64 Kirby is ... N64—but post Return to Dreamland Kirby is so round, so smoothly 3D, so marshmallowy and squishy silicone and plastic. That gentleness (in aesthetic! what they do with content, the aggressively family-friendly baseline with fridge horror and Pikmin-slaughter, is a different story and perhaps a more interesting one) is the perfect choice for low-stakes, forgiving escapism.
The luck I'm having with the game as a pseudo-replay makes me wonder about replaying Kirby's Epic Yarn in a year or so. It's my favorite Kirby by far and objectively one of the best games I've ever played, flawless in aesthetic, unendingly clever in marriage of concept to level design, and my only regret (other than the train mechanic, which is ... flawed) is that I assumed it wouldn't be as surprisingly perfect the second time. But I suspect now that my memory is bad enough & the game strong enough that I'd enjoy a replay.
no subject
Date: 2018-12-17 12:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-12-18 02:28 am (UTC)Unrelated, but: I just finished Fifth Quarter and while actual review upcoming as always, as a recommendation it was absolute superb, spot on, A+, thank you so much! Recommendations can be so hit & miss just because books (and tropes) are a personal experience, but you absolutely got what I was looking for. I can't wait to read No Quarter and other things on your list.
no subject
Date: 2018-12-18 05:19 am (UTC)And I'm glad you found my yuletide advice helpful. Good luck if you ever try implementing it!
no subject
Date: 2018-12-17 01:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-12-18 02:42 am (UTC)I say "things like consuming the placenta" as if there were other things which are shed naturally, doesn't require death or disfigurement, but is made of people, and there really isn't anything else like that, which is what makes the placenta case a weird middle ground. But in human history there's non-incidental examples of eating parts of people (no death; yes disfigurement) or, now, of eating your amputated foot—which is the nearest equivalent, and is what tips the placenta cannibalism-ward. The other tipping point is that there's examples in non-human animals of parents creating flesh for babies to consume. Is this a natural part of procreation/rearing? yes! (just like eating the placenta, in non-human animals.) Is it also cannibalism? obviously yes! So probably placentophagy can be considered cannibalism.
Schutt tries placenta in the book, btw, and describes it as consistency of veal; taste of dark red meat, organ meat. Like chicken gizzards.
no subject
Date: 2018-12-18 08:43 pm (UTC)It's interesting how most people aren't too freaked out by eating placenta though, but the foot thing is too much. I feel it too, even if it's irrational. Thank you for coming up with the answer for me btw!
no subject
Date: 2018-12-17 02:29 pm (UTC)Full disclosure: I did Yuletide twice I think, but overall I find it way too overwhelming to even look at signups let alone participate or even read. (Also the timing is bad for me.) I am a person who writes and does exchanges, but Yuletide is so big and open, like going out into the wilderness.
no subject
Date: 2018-12-17 03:56 pm (UTC)I do Yuletide (though maybe not after this year--but this isn't the first year I've said that), but I still feel like fanworks fandom is not really my sphere, and friending memes where the primary lines are things like "What is your fandom?" really highlight that to me. I like books; I occasionally like writing or reading extensions of and expansions on books. That's . . . about it. It feels very alienating when people assume that of course fanworks fandom means m/m and television and erotica.
no subject
Date: 2018-12-18 02:48 am (UTC)