Alex Koppel
@arsduo
book reader, software engineer @ Triumph, @awesomefoundgta.bsky.social organizer and @awesomefoundation.org board, 🏳️🌈, he/him, Toronto 🇨🇦
The level of production detail here speaks to someone with taste having a good time with a large budget
The Orthodox tradition of "MARY, and by the way jesus" is so fascinating to me
Stumbled onto a public rehearsal for a really cool-looking ballet of Othello in Sibiu! The full performance is tomorrow so if our schedule allows we'll catch it 🤞
"Relief represented two men embraced each other (beginning of the 13th century)" —Saint Michael Cathedral, Alba Iulia, Romania
🎶 He's here! The Phantom of the Opera! 🎶 (Saint Michael’s Church, Cluj, Romania)
Castlevania definitely gave me a warped idea of what Targoviste would be like 😅
The Baptismal Font in the Black Church is too powerful and must be contained
Find you someone who doesn't look at you the way this saucy Virgin Mary doesn't quite look at St Barbara in this mural from the Black Church
Two buildings in the dark, mood evoking The Night Ship by @alexwoodroe.com (Brașov, Romania)
Above one of the big banks, there were seagulls. So many seagulls, just flying around. Never seen anything quite like it.
The Aetheneum in Bucharest is a gorgeous, small musical venue. Incredible and beautiful artwork and great acoustics. Worth a visit if you're there, I'd loved to have heard a concert there.
On hour 28 with just 2 hours of airplane sleep: just gotta power through until the bf arrives
In particular, I'm glad to have learned so much about the repressive security apparatus from the Museums of Communism & of Romanian History. The Securitate & its tendrils in society + the cult of personality form background to the book I'm really enjoying (The Night Ship) and will now get more from!
2026 book #11: Skeleton Crew by @gre7g.com. Came for the story about geroo capitalism, exploitation, and identity; got quickly hooked by the detailed, thoughtful worldbuilding. One of my favourite generation ship novels I've read recently; I'm looking forward to picking up the sequels sometime!
Ich bin wieder in Deutschland! Die Einwanderungskontrolle hab ich auf Deutsch geschafft! Das hat mir tiefer fröhlich gemacht, als ich erwartet hätte. Ich freue mich so sehr, dass wir zwei Tage am Ende in München verpassen werden 😄
Headed to Romania in a few hours to meet up with @meakoopa.bsky.social! My trip reading is @alexwoodroe.com's awesome Romanian horror novel The Night Ship, set as the world is swallowed in a darkness as thick as the late communist-era distrust it portrays. I'm liking it so much, eerie & engaging!
It's Friday, I have no evening plans, and I'm sufficiently packed for tomorrow's trip, so now I get to just sit outside and take an edible and just eat and read generation ship scifi for a while 😇
I'm developing a taste for beet kvass, a drink made from beets, salt brine, garlic; in related news Drom Taberna is a Toronto treasure
"It's a nice summer's day," I thought, "why not let the laundry dry outside?"
May/Louise is legit one of the best Fringe plays I've ever seen, anywhere, any year. Top tier acting; tight, powerful, emotional script; and great lighting design (by a friend!). If you're in Toronto and have a chance, go see it!