[forked-tongue-blasphemer]

Smiling Bats

Bodleian Library, MS. Ashmole 304; 13th century; England, St. Albans; f.47v

[etherealacademia]

photos from work: rare books and vintage calligraphy nibs

[folklorespring]

Woman with a cat from Ukraine

[elwenyere]

— Ursula K. Le Guin, from “A Rant About ‘Technology’”

[trans-neptunian-objects]

Ursula K. Le Guin — Ursula on Writing: A Rant about "Techonolgy"

Ursula K. Le Guin on the presence of technology in her work

The whole piece is short and worth a read.

[nightmare-from-heaven]

"One way to illustrate that most technologies are, in fact, pretty “hi,” is to ask yourself of any manmade object, Do I know how to make one?

Anybody who ever lighted a fire without matches has probably gained some proper respect for “low” or “primitive” or “simple” technologies; anybody who ever lighted a fire with matches should have the wits to respect that notable hi-tech invention."

[louisegluckpdf]

olga tokarczuk you mad dog

[breadandm]

somebody posted this Calvin and Hobbes strip and i cannot overstate just how topical this fuckin thing is

[m--bloop]

My Favourite Cake dir. Behtash Sanaeeha & Maryam Moghaddam (2024)

[stupidlittlespirit]

This is so silly but I'm watching a short video essay on sincerity in cinema and the creator is talking about how he watched Lord of the Rings for the first time at 17. He explains that he'd grown so used to the 'ironic' meta style commentary in the movies of the 2010's that as he was watching the opening narration of LotR, he spent the entire time waiting for the joke to come. For someone to take it all back with a zinger line. He listened to Blanchett describe and explain the backstory, and he waited for the other comedic shoe to drop.

And he kept doing it. Scene after scene.

He spent the film expecting someone to make a joke about how unserious things were or to break the fourth wall or do some other self referential type thing.

Now, maybe I'm just at that point in my cycle or maybe I'm too delicate in general, but I literally teared up hearing that. Straight up cried a bit. It is so fucking sad that sincerity and genuineness is being bred out of people.

People say all the time 'this generation can't take anything seriously!' and really, is it any wonder? Younger people have been trained out of it. You are no longer encouraged to be genuine or show emotion or be honest. You are actively punished for it. In fact, you are almost guaranteed to suffer for it.

That is so fucked up. I'm sorry to go on a bit of a random ramble rant but it's so fucking gut wrenching to see younger people lose that element of themselves. You can't express your passion without being told you're 'crashing out' or 'cringe'. You have to live in this neutral state of fear of perception, and god forbid anybody step outside of it!

You're told you should only consume and succumb and be ironic and emotionless and cool.

Listen, if you're following me and you're like.... 25 or under, let's say. Please. I beg of you. Do not fall for this rhetoric. Please, for the love of all things, feel. Feel and create and be honest with yourself. Indulge in things that make you happy. Be sincere. Wear your heart on your sleeve. Do not let this hyper-capitalistic, hyper-consumerist, self-centred, individualist culture take that from you.

Bleed yourself into the work you create. Live. Don't fucking let anyone tell you different.

[multiverse-of-misfits]

I would say this to everyone. Everyone needs to feel.

[omtai]

Normal groceries like milk or bread or whatever running out is whatever. Just anotha day. But when stuff like salt or cooking oil or rice runs out it feels like You’re supposed to be here for me and you’re leaving. You’re just like everyone else

[quietwingsinthesky]

thank god vampirism is a flexible metaphor

[quietwingsinthesky]

it’s about being queer it’s about surviving assault it’s about alienation and most of all it’s about how everyone who loved you before might not be able to even look at you now, no matter how many times you try to explain that you didn’t ask to die and you didn’t ask for that death to leave you only half-eaten when it got bored of you.

[marypsue]

This is without even mentioning the broader metaphorical implications of disease and contagion; foreign invasion; colonial or imperial violence; interpersonal abuse; generational trauma; religious trauma; violent cultural assimilation; repressed or suppressed desire; the fear of no longer being able to recognise or relate to someone you love; and on and on and on.

Vampirism is a flexible metaphor that reflects the anxieties and desires of its age and its authors, and I love that for it!

[myjetpack]

My latest New Scientist cartoon

[fashion-runways]

TADASHI SHOJI at New York Fashion Week Fall 2017 if you want to support this blog consider donating to: ko-fi.com/fashionrunways

[catie-does-things]

Star Wars really said "Anakin Skywalker had issues rooted in childhood trauma that was not his fault" but also "Anakin made his own choices as an adult for which he alone is responsible" but ALSO "In spite of the truly evil things he chose to do Anakin was still capable of being loved and redeemed" and I think that's important.

[rainformation]

formative years? aren’t they all?

[thoodleoo]

oh so when other people call a baby "cute enough to eat" it's sweet and charming. but when i, cronus,

[notanupstandingcitizen]

people who learned about greek mythology due reasons that DONT involve having read percy jackson at 12 freak me out, like what the FUCK was going on in your life that you found out that zeus turned into a pigeon to woo his wife like HOW

[cavegirlpoems]

tumblr users baffled by the concept of engaing with things that aren't YA fiction and fandom.

[thrassa]

*Tumblr users baffled by the concept that Greeks still exist.

[thelordsoftherings]

Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends.