Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 49m

Visiting Japan has really confirms that cities are more vibrant with lots of small restaurant/retail spaces vs fewer big lots.

What I didn't expect is how that multipleies when bars & shops are allowed to take up multiple stories instead of just the ground floor (as it mostly is in North America).

Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 4d

vertical village (shinjuku, tokyo)

A bunch of signs for different queer bars along the entire face of a building

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 10h

Do you happen to know the date yet? I didn't see it on the TIFA website (at least not through search). No worries if not, I can look later!

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 11h

Congratulations! That's really amazing. Looking forward to it (especially as I hadn't known about TIFA and am excited to check it out). 🥳

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Reposted by Alex Koppel

Anthony Oliveira @meakoopa.bsky.social · 17h

alex has the giggles so bad i am worried one of the draculas is gonna bounce us…

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 17h

i couldn't take this picture for 5 minutes, I was laughing so hard

A truly sad little ghost cut out of a rice cracker with black eyes and little red food colouring mouth, leaning on a black coffin-shaped sandwich

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 1d

"this is the flute from the Netherlands" (samurai restaurant, tokyo)

An actor in yellow on stage holding a flute, a big moon projected behind him

Two actors on stage. Behind them on the screen are the words "this is the flute from the Netherl"

Two actors on stage. One holds up a popcorn bucket triumphantly, the other runs

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 2d

I am going home with IDEAS

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 2d

the way my Hopes and Dreams meter me just refilled from drinking a butter chicken-infused gin negroni 🧡🧡🧡

If you're ever in Shinjuku, visit Sleeping Tales!

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 2d

spotlights (tokyo)

Anthony Oliveira standing in a spotlight in a dark hallway, looking away. His legs seem to disappear into the floor, which is actually cloudy water.

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 2d

This reflections brought to you by having missed the chance to chat with the cute guy wearing an actual ruff(!) in the club we were at in Shinjuku, or the cool-looking women visiting from New York 🫠

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 2d

Craigslist used to have a Missed Connections category. You didn't post there to actually connect with the person you missed—writing a post was more of a ritual to move a regret from your mind to the world. It's a real loss, RIP.

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 3d

Impressively deep and on-the-nose thoughts from a four-star review of Mickey 17

laborkyle @laborkyle.bsky.social · 3d

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 3d

posting through eternity (tokyo)

Taking a photo downward with LED strings reflected from a mirror floor look like streaks of light

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 4d

vertical village (shinjuku, tokyo)

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Reposted by Alex Koppel

Richard Kadrey @richardkadrey.bsky.social · 5d

The mystery of medical diagnosis!

Anyone: Why are there suddenly so many AHDH diagnoses?
Dr. Jen: Same reason there are suddenly more stars after we built telescopes.

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 5d

Had my first dumplings tonight but oba ja nai

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 5d

someone promise if I leave Japan without eating any oba gyoza you'll throw me in the Hole

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 5d

Temple bird (and friend)

A black bird in flight with shrines in the background

A bird fluttering down to a bowl of bird food, while a cat eats a few feet away

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Reposted by Alex Koppel

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 6d

We need a bigger national spotlight on this building raid, fam. Agents dropped from helicopters onto the roof. Citizens and non-citizens alike were dragged from their homes in the night. People who weren't kidnapped during the raid had their belongings seized after the fact. This is madness.

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 6d

"Jones, 27, is among the residents left at 7500 S. South Shore Drive who are trying to piece together what remains after an early morning, high-powered federal immigration raid led to the arrests of dozens of their neighbors at their South Shore apartment building."

Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: 'I feel defeated'

The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 6d

Kamo river, Kyoto

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 6d

This burger made me want to eat beef again soon, which is really saying something. The something it is saying is that it's toppling The Bird in Berlin as my own favourite.

Anthony Oliveira @meakoopa.bsky.social · 6d

okay, now I understand.

also this place in Kyoto is dethroning Austin Texas For officially the best burger I’ve ever eaten

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Reposted by Alex Koppel

Julie the sometimes oblivious @turtle-egg81.bsky.social · 6d

Me when I figured out I was trans lol.

Anthony Oliveira @meakoopa.bsky.social · 6d

the way this egg instantly exploded

Trudging Spineripper @grudgingsignup.bsky.social · 6d

"Should we use egg slices, or..."

"No fuck it, whole egg, let them figure it out."

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 6d

Awesome! Sorry about the delayed response, just got back from Koyasan in the mountains.

We have a bunch of recommendations! I can DM you our lists and some notes today/tomorrow.

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 6d

a graveyard at night (Koyasan)

A Buddhist stonework showing two figures, with a night sky above and a graveyard lit by lanterns in the background

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Alex Koppel @arsduo.bsky.social · 6d

Amazing piece! Thank you so much for doing the intense research and putting it all together so well.

If it came up, I'm curious how Palaver/etc. engage with non-Christians? That 70% of humanity doesn't share the Christian crucifixion narrative seems a problem for Girardian theory re scapegoating...

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