Too Many Words and Not Enough Time

Hey guys- I'm Madison (she/her/hers). Aspiring author, certified chaplain, and lover of all things odd and unusual. mostly here to lurk, sometimes here to scream to the void to see if it answers

[charlataninred]

Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.

[meraarts]

Might I add:

The defeat of the wizard who made people choose how they’d be to be executed

The woman who raised the changeling alongside her biological child

The human who died of radiation poisoning after repairing the spaceship

[eater-of-hopes-and-dreams]

The adventures of a space roomba

Cinderella finding Araura (and falling in love)

I don’t know a snappy description but the my nemesis cynthia story certainly lives in my head

[blitzlowin]

hilariously, these are almost all in my fic tag. so, a compiled list from the notes (and some extras):

The God of Arepo (graphic novel 1 / 2 / 3) (ebook)

The Monster of Sentan

The Witch’s Cat

Raise Both Children

Stabby the Roomba (honorable mention)

Cinderella Marries the Prince (comic)

My Arch Nemesis Cynthia

Pirates and Mermaid

Eindred and the Witch

The Demon King

The Cornerwitch

Grandmother Beetroot

Apocalypse Daycare Worker

Grandmother Accidentally Summons a Demon

New Year Saga

A Story About Changelings

Ranger in the King’s Forest

The Difference Between a Hare and a Rabbit

Goblin Men (Canines)

[charlataninred]

I am in love with you /p

[inkvoices]

Adding Faceblind Prince Charming and Cinderella

[inkvoices]

21. The human who died of radiation poisoning after repairing the spaceship

22. The defeat of the wizard who made people choose how they’d be to be executed

[lightningladybug]

adding the Doctors Without Borders one

[inkvoices]

I LOVE tumblr storytime, so here’s a bunch more your weekend reading. Enjoy!

24. The Queen with Three Cursed Children

25. Tiny Dragon with one coin hoard

26. Haunted house

27. Shark hero was about to go rogue

28. Grandma lives in the woods comic

29. A Different Aftermath comic

30. Battery (microstory but I love it so much)

31. It’s A Date comic

32. Supervillian kidnaps rival’s kid and they want to stay

33. Narrative Town

34. I have been hired to clean the wizard tower comic

35. Robot Apocalypse

36. The Statues That Do Not Weather

37. Kushiel

38. Tooth Fairy

39. Alien abduction

40. Felonious wish-granting

41. When humans met actual space orcs

42. Space cousins

[dannnnnnnnnnnnex]

WAIT REBLOG THIS VERSION INSTEAD

[crackheadgremlin-deactivated202]

its not a book nor banned but honestly? unknown stories or those cherished by few are also important so here.

Also adding a couple of my favorites! Long Forgotten God and the kindergarten class

Angels and Demons accidental sandwich

[snakebites-and-ink]

May I add:

45. Intergalactic Red Cross

46. Being Villagers

47. The monster under the fridge

48. Humans are the only species with a concept of vengeance

49. The Blue Key

50. Different stories resonate with different people comic

51. Whalefall horror comic

52. The Fox God comic

53. The Stone of Possibility

54. Worthless War

[snakebites-and-ink]

Wait I have more: (including many from the notes)

55. A Pool in the Heart of the Forest (comic)

56. I am asking you to endure it (+notes)

57. You Help Kill Heroes

58. The witch who raised herself

59. My pilot is good

60. Hsthete (comic)

61. Variations on the Frog and the Scorpion

62. The monster under the bed

63. Cleric slamming healing spells (microstory)

64. The Priest of Arepo

65. The Villain Wrangler

66. Old Gods vs Aliens

67. Last Contact

68. Dragon on a farm

69. Antler Guy

70. Bakery with mythical customers

71. ‘Port

72. The king prophesied to defeat evil

73. The Night Gentlemen

74. In love with a sphynx

75. A fae asks for your name

76. Once their home

77. When you die in the ocean (comic)

78. Toad Words

79. Kisses and Curses (comic)

80. And the Heavens Wept

81. Healer kicked out of the party

Also “tumblr storytime” is such a cute thing to call it

[future-bog-body]

Something that is so interesting to me about the Iron Lung fandom is that everyone (that I've seen at least) is fully capable of understanding the reasoning of Ava's character arc (THIS IS A GOOD THING!!!!) but then I've seen many people not understand David's when.... they're the same arc in reverse. Yes, this is inspired by a specific post I saw (I genuinely don't remember who made it) and everyone who agreed with it. So let's take a couple looks at it.

Ava starts out actively hostile towards Simon. She accuses him of being a bad person at every turn, endangers him while claiming to not want to do it (but then denies giving him more oxygen when they have the chance), and breaks the terms of their deal to send Simon back into the ocean the first time. It's only after he proves useful to her and is literally crying and begging her to see him as a person that she acknowledges he's a human being.

David starts out in the opposite place. He treats Simon as a human being, albeit he's cruel. But in his defense, he's been lead to believe Simon is a mass murderer and, like Ava and Jack, he's just been hit with a shitton of radiation and Ava made him stay on the brigg to talk to Simon and drop him in the ocean as opposed to take him to the infirmary like she did herself and Jack. Later in the movie, David seems to change his opinion by accusing Simon of lying, but the thing is... that's not a change of opinion. David is still recognizing Simon as a person, and one who is scared and wants to live. The reason he lashes out and tries to stop Ava is because Ava chooses to save Simon (or at least the black box) via putting her and everyone on the ships lives in danger.

David acts entirely out of self-preservation and preservation of others. He tells Ava that it isn't worth losing her and don't forget that earlier in the movie, he also says "She cares about her crew. Some more than others, but...". What's their relationship? It's clearly close, he calls her Ava and has no qualms questioning her in front of others when he's scared for her, there's an implication she plays favorites with her crew, and we see her willing to threaten his life in the last scene he's in. He lashes out at Simon the same way Simon lashes out by hitting the camera button; He's scared. For his life, for Ava's, for the lives of everyone on the ship.

"Oh but he lied about the radiation" did he? David is the person we see analyzing the photos Simon takes and talking to Ava about them and about it being a skeleton. His lecture to Simon after he drops the sub involves talking about synthesizing foods, as well as discussion about the biology of speculative creatures in the blood ocean and how it could help them survive. David, for all intents and purposes, doesn't appear to be a welder or engineer, but a scientist. For one, there's a chance he genuinely doesn't know enough about how radiation works to know beyond what Jack, Ava, or others have told him. But two. He's not really lying. Remember that he's the one who wired the camera's energy source to the same one as the black box, he doesn't actually seem to know what he's doing with regards to the sub, not like Jack does.

"Oh but but but the booklet" the booklet says there is a RISK that COMPOUNDS with use of the camera. You know what else has a risk of radiation that compounds with the use? An x-ray machine. David saying that the walls of the sub will protect Simon and the blood will absorb most of the radiation is completely correct and I will die on that hill. Simon has been exposed to the same amount of radiation as a radiologist. Over years that's gonna build up and increase his risk for cancer, sure, but not in the couple days or so that the movie takes place. At no point did David lie to Simon about the radiation; he spoke with the understanding that he had. It might have been a lie in the end, but it almost certainly wasn't an intentional one.

"Oh but but but he was smug when Simon agreed with him" he was RELIEVED. Listen to the way he actually says things. When Simon agrees with him about the COI and Eden, he sounds utterly relieved that someone else agrees with his view. When he says "But after the Quiet Rapture, none of us get a choice" (I don't remember the exact quote at the moment) he's fully expressing a feeling of helplessness. He feels helpless and disenfranchised in the COI and about the world in general, it's why he gets excited when he talks about the chance the blood ocean can give them. It's also why he sounds genuinely hurt when Simon tells him to shut up. David doesn't know what Simon is seeing, he only knows that someone who apparently agreed with him before is now telling him to shut up. He's probably just genuinely hurt the way any person would be.

David is not an evil person. He's not even a BAD person. He's someone who is scared and helpless and lashes out at the end because of it, while able to put it aside to be a bit more gentle when he isn't as scared. David is, essentially, a foil to Simon.

[artsietango]

A few Iron Lung thoughts I had while watching it again last night:

the parallel between the hull porthole cracking down the middle with the crack that runs through Simon's pendant near the end of the movie. The crack in the porthole being a foreshadowing for the crack in the pendant, the object that simon sees as hope that he can still survive this. chef's kiss for that

The running theme of deals throughout the entire movie - bartering for more time alive, bartering for freedom, bargaining with maybe an eldritch god or the devil for your freedom. On an unrelated note, my personal theory is that Simon makes a deal with the god in the blood realm to get out of the ocean alive (This is not an on camera interaction - the only things they say to each other are "I see You" "I see you too" and then the god says "agreed' and Simon is somehow back on the ship, vomitting up blood wherein he sees a reflection of what he saw in the blood realm.) It's unclear what Simon has offered this god in return for his safe return to the surface (maybe this god did want the data from simon's ship to be dispersed above). However this scenario makes the most sense to me then why the Entity that chases simon's ship and later devours it explodes - my theory is that because the Entity broke Simon's promise, the god blew it up. This is genuinely my own theory, I would love to hear other ideas, but within the terms of bartering for more time and freedom it makes so much sense to me.

when he finds the SM-8 for the second time to download the black box data and the first picture (which they don't really show us fully) looks like animal teeth as a subtle foreshadowing that the data/the knowledge from the SM-8 will be Simon's undoing.

I also had a thought about the ship and Simon and the personification of the ship and their relationship with each other that I shared in the tags of another person's (@sajdd) post regarding Simon's relationship with the blood in the movie, which I will also share here:

Link to sajdd's post here because their take was also incredibly big brained and I'll be thinking about it for a bit

[blood-bla-bla]

Someone put a giant googly eye on the iron lung

[starbittie]

i’ve seen a lot of people talking about the pacing of iron lung, and i kinda think that people are overlooking that the pacing is the point.

movies right now are absolutely terrified of silence. every spare second is crammed with motion and noise and information. there’s always something new to look at, something new to process. look here. now here. don’t blink. don’t breathe. it’s constant stimulation. there’s no room left for a moment to land before the next one is already gone.

there’s good sci fi horror out there that do silence and restraint well. i can immediately think of under the skin, annihilation, and ex machina. sometimes the silence is the point. personally i think iron lung works in that lineage.

this isn’t a movie that will let you sit there and passively consume. this is a movie full of visual and audial clues waiting for you to unravel them. this is a movie that wants you to notice your breathing. to feel the silence press in until it’s oppressive.

isolation is the movie. it’s you alone with your thoughts, with time stretching and warping, with nothing to distract you from the constant dread creeping in. it’s not the monsters out there that you’re afraid of. not the constant drip, drip, drip of impending doom. but you, alone, in an endless sea of red.

can you count your breaths in the silence? can you hear your heart beating in your ears? can you live with yourself?

that’s iron lung to me.

[asphodel-asphodel]

always have. <3

[mlembug]

Now if Iron Lung the movie gets a Blu-ray release, I suggest adding in the director's commentary starting with "Hello everybody, my name is Markiplier..." and also Markiplier in the corner.

[iamonlyperson]

IRON LUNG NEWS (for those who still haven't seen the stream)

Mark showed some disc ideas (done by molly brown aka deadlymelodic) and the circle ones was fan favourite (the top row 2nd was mostly winner)

Mark has DVD cover and it's looking absolute amazing but doesn't reveal the cover yet

Digital will come soon on YouTube (Movies). Also it takes time because Mark is working a deal with YouTube for getting other movies (done by other YouTubers) getting released on YouTube Movies through him (easy access to streaming). Also a lot of legal stuff too.

He will be doing the DVD himself. There was a poll and mostly people voted DVD's so he probably will be doing more DVD's than Blu-Ray's. Also no DVD will be signed.

There will be behind the scenes and directors commentary on DVD

IRON LUNG merch shipping will take time because yall bought so much than was expected

[autonomous-dragon]

Dude I’m so excited for physical copyyy

Imma be buying ts IMMEDIATELY

[atimesfeeler]

I really can’t stop thinking about this scene

Where Simon challenges The Father. Because!!! It shows he is smart, he’s always been smart. He challenges authority when it he doubts what they are saying.

Do you know how dangerous a doubting child in a cult is??

The Father laughs like he likes the question and that’s the trick because Cults hate questions and doubts and independent thinkers- but they pretend to love questions.

Especially from new members. Simon is a new member (came from Mars- that one conversation with his mother “I don’t want to go- Simon don’t be like that.”) They love to answer questions from new members because it offers them a chance to nip any doubt in the bud, answer with absolutes and half-answers and usually end in humiliating or tearing down the person who asked the question. Not to get personal on main but trust me. You just see their teeth sharpen when you admit to a doubt or ask a question as a kid. They’ll make you feel stupid for asking and if you keep not understanding their half answers (asking more questions) they will get angry at you for persisting.

That’s why I headcanon that Simon has always been a doubter- especially with his monologue later about “what’s more likely? The stars disappeared or a few space stations?” (Paraphrasing) but it’s a very difficult and painful life for a doubting child growing up in a quite literally inescapable cult. But doubting doesn’t necessarily mean he didn’t listen. Doubting doesn’t mean he didn’t fall for the dogma. He can still doubt and be their Butcher. They made him a solider, they made him loyal, and just because he privately thought it was all horse shit doesn’t mean he didn’t learn to not to challenge authority (that he still struggles with). That the belief sank into him like thorns, that he can’t help but feel a religious reverence for the seed despite hating what they did in the name of the Last Tree.

Religious trauma is just so complicated and especially cult trauma because they are literally masters of manipulating large groups of people and they have systems in place to keep their members there even if they don’t believe and even if they do escape, they leave lasting gashes.

[spottedderp573]

[verdiris]

He's gonna iron that lung so good

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

In a soft chair under two blankets with a hot water bottle on my feet, heater next to me, crocheting a third blanket and I am. Cozy as fuck.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Grandmas were right about this.

[charlesoberonn]

No offense, but the group with some of the most unexamined internalized privilege are right-handed people.

A right-handed co-worker told me once that I put the papers in the plastic sleeve upside-down. I joked that from my perspective, she's the one putting them upside-down and she just didn't get it and started arguing with me.

I had to physically demonstrate to her that the papers are right-side up when you hold the sleeve so that the opening is on the left.

[charlesoberonn]

I feel you. I'm left-handed but I can't use scissors in my left hand (even left-handed scissors) because I got used to only using them with my right.

[homunculus-argument]

I genuinely hate how "lock in and grind like hell" is not a method that works for me. Like if I could do that, I 100% would, but I know from experience that it's not an efficient long-term tactic for me, I'll just grind myself down and get exhausted and burnt out, and that I genuinely cannot do my best work unless I'm mentally and physically well-rested. I know it's true but I still hate knowing how much it sounds like a lazy excuse to dilly-dally and do fuck-all.

I'm doing my work slowly, at a leisurely pace where I'm still on schedule but not feeling pressured about it. I know that this is the best way for me to work. I know that my boyfriend knows this or at least trusts my judgement about it even if he doesn't agree with that. But good fucking grief I hate sitting down like "today I will do work prep beforehand so I'll have everything already 50% done by the day of the deadline and can easily just do the other 50% on the day of", and the next time he looks over, I'm drawing owl feet.

[charlesoberonn]

Shitpost story idea: Came back wrong... with amnesia... and stuck in a timeloop... in the middle of a death game.

[ghostandlov3rs]

I would watch the fuck out of that. Dont know what that says about me.

[charlesoberonn]

It means you're on the right website.

[homunculus-argument]

Amazing how the difference between having fancy culinary little treats and eating unhinged goblin bullshit is just having nice ingredients at hand. Like ooh look at me, I'm making myself porridge sweetened with brown sugar and raisins, with a dash of cinnamon and bit of vanilla in there, because I happened to have those around and was craving something sweet.

In different pantry circumstances, I'd be eating jam straight out of the jar with a spoon.

[homunculus-argument]

Having a bowl of frozen peach slices with a drizzle of honey on top. The peach slices were supposed to go into a sorbet making attempt that I gave up on. It may seem and feel like a fancy little treat, but I am straight-up eating ingredients.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

I love grabbing a power drill and a circular saw and just building shit. If I had an unlimited wood budget I would never stop making stuff. I should've gone into the trades.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

You can just be like "I want some shelves" and measure all the different parts of your shelves and then screw them all together at the correct angles and bam. You've got shelves now. You can make cupboards, too. Walls. Tables. Stairs. If you want something in your house you just out the materials in the right place and you have that thing now.

Unfortunately, the materials are very expensive, but you can't have everything.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Also sometimes you have to lay concrete which fucking sucks to do by hand.

[nipple-brains]

This is what learning to sew feels like too!

I see clothes I like and I can just make them?? Can't find a blanket I like?? Make it!

Blows my mind every time, I recommend everyone learns a skill like this because realising you can just make shit is so freeing

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Sewing machine is a terrifying beast that cannot be reasoned with

[penig]

You don't have to reason with the sewing machine. Just keep your hands out from under the needle. I've never even heard of anyone who was harmed by a sewing machine. If I, who literally cannot see in straight lines, can sew safely, anyone can.

Whatever scares you about a craft will stop scaring you once you learn the basics.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

I don't hurt myself on sewing machines I just end up with a nest of tangled threads and broken dreams. I don't think I have ever correctly threaded the bottom part first go. Diagrams do not help. A sewing machine is a beast of broken needles and tangled fragments of cotton snapping under mysterious and seemingly unsolvable tension problems.