Tolstoyans are followers of the philosophical and religious views of Lev Tolstoy, Christian Pacifist Anarchists in a way. One of their principles is a vegetarian or vegan diet.

While I inked this page I listened a bit to Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God Is Within You (on Librivox). There are some quite interesting ideas. Actually it happens to be very similar to the kind of “Pacifist Anarchist Christianity” that my mum taught us (or the way I interpreted it and what has stuck to my memory), for example by claiming that Jesus wouldn’t kill a mosquito that was sucking his blood, but let it suck his blood to its content, or in various situations exemplifying the “turn the other cheek” principle.

I’m not really sure I agree with some other ideas in the book, though (let alone all the religious stuff). One is how it encourages people to leave their families (like Tolstoy himself did) and devote themselves to the Cause. To me taking care of your family is inextricably linked to the Cause. Of course, if you don’t get along with them it’s a different situation … And I guess if you happened to marry the wrong person in 19th century Russia you were pretty much stuck with them for the rest of your life. (^^); Which fortunately is no longer the case today in quite a few parts of the world.

Another idea I might not entirely agree with is how some proponents of the “doctrine of non-resistance to evil by force” that Tolstoy quotes say that dying for your ideas (like Jesus did) is better than succumbing to oppression. I used to champion that idea when I was younger, but now that I am older and wiser (?!) I am more cautious about it. One of the things I respect about Shia Islam, a religion that throughout its history has been subject to a lot of persecution, is that it is permissible to renounce your faith in a life or death situation (Taqiyya). Also, a scene from Catch-22 comes to mind — Nately, a young American soldier who is outraged at the opportunism of the old Italian guy in the brothel says, “It’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees!”, and the old guy says he’s got it backwards: “– It’s better to live on your feet than to die on your knees.” (He says he knows, because he’s 107 years old.)
Isn’t encouraging people to die for their ideas similarly bad as a government encouraging people to die in their wars (after convincing them of the necessary ideas)?

Plenty of food for thought, in any case, and quite interesting to listen to.

* * *

D’awww, someone found this site by searching for “sagittarius-horse with virgo-goat” – just like Shannon and Seraphine. It warms my heart in a perverse way to know that there are other (prospective) lovers out there with the same combination of astrological signs.

Yes, it’s 3 AM and it’s a two page update, as promised! … Go back one page.

Update notice, September 20th:
I’m not really sure about the script for the next page, so I’ll take a break this week. Maybe I can manage two pages next Monday to compensate … (This is really a pretty bad time in my life to try to write about romantic love … V`(oo)´V )

* * *

This update is a bit early, because I didn’t want to waste the unusually good mood I have been in today … V^(oo)^V

I don’t know why I’ve been so happy today. Maybe because I’ve been reading Inugami by Masaya Hokazono – one of the most incredibly amazing comics there are. Though I presume not everyone can appreciate evil fuzzy doggies with lethal tentacles sprouting out of their heads as much as I do.

Damn this was hard to draw. V`(oo)´V

* * *

For all the fangirls and fanboys who have always been wondering what the characters in Driftwood would look like if they were real people:

I’ll exclude Seraphine, because, uh, yeah …

As mentioned, Samona looks kind of like my sister.

I guess Shannon looks a bit like me, but with an Irish jawline, more badass facial scars and a less obscene mouth …

Those who have been following the Swedish language Eva blog (about her solo adventures) know that Eva looks like a redheaded, slightly curvier and a bit less tall Olga Kurylenko.

I haven’t really found anyone who would look much like Willie. Gabriela Hrabinova (also Czech) at least has the right colour combination and hair type (same age, too) , but some significant differences in facial features, not to mention body structure …

As for Aeron, I actually have met somebody who both looked and acted very much like him (which was quite disturbing). It was this Uighur guy who worked at a restaurant in Ulan Bator making shashlyk, dressed all in black and being very cool, friendly and efficient and not minding the immense heat at all. Damn, I should have asked him if I could take a portrait of him, or at the very least taken a paparazzi photo from afar … V`(oo)´;V
Since I don’t have any photo of that guy, here are some people who, if you mix them all toghether, could end up looking more or less like Aeron …
This Siberian dude:

ilhan Mansız for the Tatar influence:

This random Kazakh youngster with a weird hairdo for the Kazakh influence:

Eric Burdon, mostly the eyes and eyebrows (and he kind of looks like an old friend of mine from the Northern Caucasus who also looks a bit like Aeron, but of whom I don’t have any decent photo):

Petr Nalich (from some angles, and when he has been leaner):

Okay, this post looks like a list of all the most beautiful people I could think of (except that my mum is missing from it), but I guess it was inevitable … V^(oo)^V