AH Cultural Descriptions

[Whitewings]

Code Geass

In a totalitarian and extremely sexist future analogue to the USA, women have been programmed to respond to specific patterns of stimulation, referred to as "codes," which activate various responses and behaviours. The codes are supposed to be extremely secret, but the database is leaked and the women become unwitting (and essential) tools in the overthrow of the regime. But the codes can't be removed, and one code, code "Geass," will turn a woman into an eager slave to the one who applies it. The majority of the book focusses on this code, its use and misuse, and the ethical and societal implications. Many feminists condemn the book's author for showing women having varied reactions to being subjected to Code Geass, from suicidal self-loathing or murderous rage, to actively seeking out their controllers to have the experience repeatedly, and everything between.

Mighty Magiswords

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Mighty Magiswords

A comic book series about a pair of 'Mighty Magiswords' magic swords with immense power. The comic takes place in the fictional land of Harox, a land modeled after the later Roman Empire made up of powerful Magisters of (Area) who report to the Imperial Protector and his/her spouse, each of which hold one of the Magiswords and use them to keep a hold onto power. However after King Alcus murders his wife Queen Kaldea and seizes the second Magisword the rest of the realm devolves into civil war over who should get the second Magisword, Alcus, or his son Harzog. Meanwhile to the far east a storm brews that threatens to plunge the entire land of Harox into a endless summer that will scorch the land clean of life.

The comic is gritty fantasy and is known for its killing of presumed major characters and graphic violence/sex scenes. The success of the comic pushed "Fantastic Realisim" into the forefront of pop culture spawning multiuple attempts to capture the thunder in a bottle that was MM to varying success. Recently Mighty Magiswords was adapted to TV to mixed reviews and is soon to enter its 10th season.

Throngism

 

[The Professor]

Throngism

Political ideology named after Marcus P Throng who described it in his book of a utopian future American society Liberty. It promotes an extreme social darwinistic individualism and anarcho-capitalism. Widely criticised as being immoral and essentially flawed the ideology has some vocal adherents who notably fail to live up to its standards or practices.

Ticktock Politics

 

[Aviennca's Pupil]

What’s a Yuezhi? It's an extraterrestrial being from the planet Gesethl. The Yuezhi are a race of small moth-like humanoid creatures with opposable thumbs; they are known for their colorful wings. The Yuezhi are all a part of a hivemind known collectively as Eram which is controlled by a singular Yuezhi dubbed by researchers as the Grand Vizier of Eram. The Grand Vizier is the only Yuezhi which possesses a sense of individualism and self-reflection and so it is the Grand Vizier which all other Yuezhi derive their personalities from becoming imperfect copies of the Grand Vizier. The Grand Vizier is capable of psychically controlling the rest of it's species by merely thinking about what it wants them to do or, perhaps more aptly, what it's sub-conscious wants them to do. The Grand Vizier resides in the Marble Palace of Eram, hidden deep underground beneath the catacombs of Gesethl's previous occupants.

 

[Aurantiacis]

Good post, but remember to put a title for someone else to post off of.

 

[Aviennca's Pupil]

Oh yeah!

The Flying Road Fuckers of the Great Wall of China

 

[Dargonaut]

The Flying Road Fuckers of the Great Wall of China is the third installment of the R rated Flying Road Fuckers series after "The Flying Road Fuckers of the Effiel Tower" and "The Flying Road Fuckers of Big Ben". The Flying Road Fuckers is a critically acclaimed series with many praising its propensity to break cultural boundaries has recently got in hot water with the democratic Chinese government over the content of their newest addition, the Flying Road Fuckers of the great Wall of China, the movie tried to appeal to their crypto-fandom in China but instead it insulted the conservative chinese government and is facing multiple lawsuits from Chinese citizens.
The cult of Zaybir

 

[Petike]

The Cult of Zaybir

One of a multitude of prog-rock bands that emerged in the 70s, with a focus on abstract philosophical lyrics referencing fantasy elements. At first, they were considered a blatant ripoff of Blue Oyster Cult, but they gradually developed their own following. Dare we say... cult following. Were somewhat infamous as an in-joke in British Doctor Who fandom, due to one superfan initially misreading their name as "The Cult of the Zarbi", thinking the band's name references the show.


Now describe the following:
Belize City, Mon Amour

 

[Aurantiacis]

Belize City, Mon Amour

This is a memoir written by Manvaille Lanvicois, a French author in the 1980s while visiting the beauty of Belize City after its devsatating fire 3 years ago. He was amazed by the landscape and the ultimate city skylights and written this in his ferry ride through the Haulover Creek in midnight. It was a bestseller by the New York Times for 1 and a half years and was translated into 4 different languages.

An Ode to Petra, 1976

 

[Whitewings]

An Ode to Petra, 1976

Famed Chinese explorer and trader Fu Chin Ran penned this, the only know example of her poetry, upon visiting the famous "hidden city" in the year 1976 of the Chinese calendar. Forgotten for many centuries during China's isolationist period under the Ming and Qing dynasties, the poem was eventually rediscovered by gweilo scholars given the privilege of examining the ancients treasures of the second library (translation: allowed to rummage through the stuff nobody cared about). Translated into English, the relatively lengthy ci has been recorded as a song in Mandarin, English, French and German, as well as published as a poem, despite the still largely inward-looking government's displeasure with its praising of a foreign place by a Chinese national.

Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones

 

[ennobee]

Can a movie be at the same time a parody of its genre, yet also that genre's most famous example? Well, if the movie is written and produced by Danny Kaye and his wife Sylvia Fine, don't be surprised if it is. And thus MGM's 1955 "Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones" has now become the most famous of the string of productions known as 'Dungeons and Dragons' movies that flourished during the early 1950's. This despite, or just precisely because, it set out to mercilessly poke fun at all the conventions and tropes of the genre. According to IMDB, the movie has been played on American television more times than all other 'Dungeons and Dragon' movies combined.

Next up:
Coolsculpting

 

[The Professor]

Coolsculpting

Self aggrandizing term applied in 2023 by originator John Sylvio who sculpts coloured plaster figures of the latest popculture icons. Adapted images of his work hit peak memage in 2025.

Tears of a Clone

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Tears of a Clone

A 1987 movie by Steven Spielberg about a man in the far future who hunts clones of dead people who try and adopt the deceased personality and live on. One of the tell tale signs of clone is that a clone cannot be sad or cry so as part of his hunt, the man makes everyone he meets cry in some way. The movie is regarded as rather excellent cinematography wise and a jewel in the crown of the Spielburgian Age of Cinema, it made three times its budget in the US alone, about 5 times is budget overseas. However where the movie really shines is its exploration of humanity and whether the clones deserve to live. In the end of the movie its implied that the hunter is a clone himself, although the question is left open ended and has left the internet theorizing for decades, and when asked about it Spielberg never gives a straight answer. It spawned a sequel in 1995 called Avenues of Humanity that was also well received but was regarded as the inferior of the two movies.

Saving General Patton

 

[The Professor]

I'd like to watch that film. Though how would you make someone cry?

 

[ThatOneGuy]

I'd like to watch that film. Though how would you make someone cry?

I imagine you could use some eyewatering scents like onions or something, so i think he just like carries around a thing that deploys an aroma to make someone cry

 

[The Professor]

I imagine you could use some eyewatering scents like onions or something, so i think he just like carries around a thing that deploys an aroma to make someone cry

Ah, you meant faulty tearducts!

 

[phx1138]

Saving General Patton

A 1947 noir thriller, directed by Ed Dmytryk, written by Earl Felton, starring Lee J. Cobb, Glenn Ford, and Robert Ryan. Ford plays a G-2 Major who stumbles on a plot to assassinate Patton, reveal the FUSAG deception, & foul up the Neptune landings. Ryan is the German agent, Cobb has a small role (but star credit) as Patton; Gloria Grahame stars as a British sympathizer. The film, shot in Canada, takes two Oscar nominations, and another for Ford.

State 305 Revisited

 

[Triune Kingdom]

State 305 Revisited

Highly praised and very influential documentary detailing the decay of US road system, and negative effects it had on the many smaller cities and towns of the American Midwest. Is often cited as one of the main reasons for the renovation of US road infrastructure.

Now my turn: Drina Line

 

[Homer Simpson & the Brain]

Drina Line

Historical front where the liberation armies of Bosnia and Serbia met each other near the end of the Great Balkan Rebellion, the war that destroyed the hold of the Ottoman Empire on Southeastern Europe while the rest of the continent was busy dealing with Napoleon.

Great Wall of Europe

 

[Triune Kingdom]

Great Wall of Europe

Series of fortifications built by Greater Germanic Reich, in an effort to protect their possesions from a possible naval invasion. Stretching from Spain to Norway, this was a gigantic project, widely criticised for the expense, but would prove to a be a detterence against any attempted Anglo-American invasion. Even though its massive reinforced steel bunkers and obstacles would relatively quickly become obsolete in face of nuclear weapons, it served its purpose, and still exists to this day, but modern-day version relies more on its ABM and EW systems, rather then on concrete pillboxes and bunkers of yesteryear.

All along the Urals.