I found out I'm lost inside

[bentlion]

Stereotypes in Stereo

The loneliness and boredom of recent life changes found me trying out Tumblr. After a lot of scrolling, I've noticed a pattern I'd like to throw out there for consideration:

There are so many posts fighting against stereotypes, which is great, but a frightening proportion of them seem to fight one stereotype with another one, which makes me sad. I feel that reality is paradox and ambiguity, and although facing that is scary, ignoring it is dangerous. No group (gender, race, nationality, etc) is homogeneous. Heck, we generally aren't even cohesive within ourselves. And I worry that fighting one stereotype by entrenching in the opposite stereotype just creates more toxic division.

I feel that it would be healthier and more successful to fight stereotypes by simply calling out their ridiculous aspects. Comedy seems like a great way to do that, even (especially?) if poking fun at your own stereotypes, but all angles seem valid as long as they provide a path to break down divisions rather than reinforce them.

Not to muddy the waters, but I'll also layer in the conspiracy theory that increased division serves the powers that be quite well, and the data collection/profile building/social manipulation machine of the modern world is purposely fine-tuned to exacerbate this issue to an unprecedented degree.

I realize I may be opening Pandora's Box with this post, but I'm honestly interested to hear anyone and everyone's thoughts on this, including any constructive counter arguments. Any takers?

[bentlion]

I went to the museum today and was particularly entranced by this glass (!) sculpture: Reclining Nocturne 3, by Karen LaMonte. It's like the veiled marble statues, in that the underlying form is palpable despite its solidity. But with translucent glass, the effect is even more striking.

The missing woman. There are many ways to interpret this piece, and I feel like I resonate with all of them.

[doesthisthingtakedieselgasoline]

the teaser is FREE!!! this was the final effort of jon and dj, my 2 new animator friends who i talk to on discord. thanks to henry aka dimwit for our digital introduction. and thanks to harper for introducing me to henry! a beautiful web. seb, my bandmate and co-captain, smashed it with the audio as well. each of our 11 music videos is featured.... i can't wait to share all of them with the world on May 26, 2026.

[bentlion]

feeble little horse is one of my favorite new bands, with with this awesome new album, bitknot. It's been awhile since I wanted to listen to an album on repeat like I've been doing with this one. 🤘

[limerencs]

cemetery of laeken, brussels.

the story of a marble worker evrard flignot who devastated by the death of his wife built a mausoleum for her. at first look inside, there is a mourner reaching out to an empty wall. but, once a year, on the day of the summer solstice, the sun draws a light that recalls this love for almost a century.

[bentlion]

This is one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful things I've ever seen. It's right up there with:

"When Our Atoms Turn to Stars I Will Miss You"

[bentlion]

muddled midlife musings

In the theoretical middle of my life, I feel like I regret most of my decisions up to this point. I didn't intend for things to be like this, but it feels like so much of it is my own fault. WTF?! Can I fix it, even theoretically?

Time travel isn't feasible. General Relativity gives a solid theoretical framework for traveling into the future; just travel much faster than the place you're time-traveling from, job done. But there's no negative speed of light, no way to reverse it to travel to the past.

The wider theory posits that time is just an abstract, a facet of spacetime. Perhaps if I try hard enough, I can change old decisions metaphysically. The Mandala Effect. Of course, in my linear perspective, I wouldn't know if it worked, but it feels like if I am succeeding in effecting that right now, I'm doing a right crappy job of it.

DESI DR2 reignites the possibility of a cyclical universe, a wheel of time, in which case maybe I could try to do better next time? But that's a trap, isn't it? For the universe to produce me in the first place, everything up to my birth would need to happen exactly the same way; no room for anarchistic butterflies. I can't have the free will to change it next time without sacrificing the free will of my forebears. Dammit. How much infinity do we really have?

The past is locked away right in front of my eyes, a diorama under impenetrable glass. I can't time travel from the present back to the past. The best way I can approximate time travel is to pass from the future back to the present, but in doing so I lose my retrospection, and thus decisions become possibilities and eventualities become probabilities.

It certainly could be worse, but that doesn't make it the best of possible worlds. How do I cultivate the garden? Do I decide what to plant or just focus on encouraging whatever blooms to produce fruit wherever it grows? Do I collapse the wave function, or do I just observe its resolution? Or neither one nor the other, and neither both nor neither?

¡¿???¿¡

[bentlion]

When guys cook

Frozen veggies, Boca burgers, and pierogies, topped with tater tots and provolone. I call it 'The Crassarole'. 🤪