Jimmy Eat World
Monterey Bay Aquarium
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Kiana Khansmith
Keni
Origami Around
ojovivo
Sweet Seals For You, Always
Show & Tell
tumblr dot com
RMH
Fieri Frames
2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
Game of Thrones Daily
blake kathryn
Noah Kahan
Sade Olutola
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
Cosimo Galluzzi
The Stonewall Inn
seen from Malaysia
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@christinaroseandrews
PSA for anyone who uses ingramspark, or anyone you know who does, you now need to opt out to prevent them from selling your books to AI tech companies to train their AI. 🤦♀️
Ummm... @thebibliosphere I hate to add to the bullshit but... Um Ingram spark is back on its fucking fuckery.
I have been enjoying seeing people experience food this World Cup
The person who wrote this has almost certainly never been to Japan- if they had, they would know that Japanese restaurants also offer table appetizers in many contexts. Some of them? Mexican restaurants. You can get free tortilla chips when you eat Mexican food in Tokyo Osaka Kobe Kyoto and rural HIMEJI for fuck’s sake. Those are just places where I’ve personally had free tortilla chips in Japan.
This is chat gpt trash prompted to “sound Japanese” and it’s based off of racist old movie dialogue. There’s zero correlation here to Japanese grammar and how Japanese translates into English or how a native speaker of Japan uses English. It’s slop. It’s racist ai slop rehashing Western exceptionalism, fantasizing about a Japanese person being in awe of how great the USA is. It’s depressing that people fell for this. I know it feels good to think that other people like us, and sometimes they do, but this only works if you assume Japanese people have extremely limited experience and worldview. It’s mortifying.
If someone other than me would push back against this propaganda, it would be nice.
I've been waiting for someone to say this. Because I haven't had the energy to refute the original Twitter bullshit.
So I've been to Japan. I have been to Japan a lot. Probably something like 10-15 times in the last 20 years. I also have several friends who lived and worked in Japan for years. And over the course of these years that I've been to Japan I've also had people come from Japan who would talk about their experiences and we eat out places like Mexican restaurants (side note: the most common place after a good steak dinner that our Japanese a visitors would want to go to was an American sushi restaurant because American style sushi and Japanese style sushi are very different)
I have been to a Mexican restaurant in Japan. It wasn't great. It was probably on the level below what you could get in the Midwest of America. But at the one Mexican restaurant that I have been to in Japan you absolutely had free tortilla chips come to the table because it was a thing. I've also been to Italian restaurants in Japan where we got free breadsticks.
I have also been to many many many other non-western restaurants in Japan. And while most of them you don't get a free appetizers/snack at the table. At some you do. Most memorably at an izakaya that we went to brought a crap ton of fried fish skin as their free to the table appetizer. And I know for a fact that nobody ordered it ahead of time, because it just appeared as we sat down. But at another restaurant we got an entire plate full of fresh in season persimmon. But yet another boiled and roasted ginkgo nuts.
This doesn't even get into the completely racist bullshit way of speaking that is portrayed in the op screen grab.
I have absolutely seen Japanese people being in awe of stuff that they've encountered in the US. The cereal aisle at the grocery store being a big one. But I've also had Japanese guests who have very very shyly asked me "Can we go to a Japanese restaurant, I'm feeling homesick. Can we please go to an Asian grocery store so I can pick up some snacks?" Because in their mind, Japan is home and better than the US. Which, fair Also many Japanese people speak English fairly decently even if they don't feel comfortable because they're worried about being perfect. So there was something about the way that this tweet was presented with the grammar that they were using that just didn't hit right.
So yeah, the rebuttal to the OP tweet perfectly encapsulates what is wrong with this whole American exceptionalism. I love that people are coming to America and discovering it and having great experiences. But we didn't need to have this fake racist experience.
From Veronica Tucker via Pinterest
I actually saw this dress in person when it came through my local art museum as part of a Muppets retrospective on Jim Henson.
It's even more amazing in person let me see if I can find pictures....
You can totally see that she was probably sewn into this dress. And that there is a really subtle pattern on the arms.
I also have pictures of Jareth's costume because they were in the same display, but because of glare they didn't turn out very well.
Honestly this was one of the highlights of the exhibition for me.
I got 60 out of 1000 😂
Based on the number of ratings each book has on Goodreads. And if you haven't read them, maybe you can use for a literature bucket list.
Anyone who says they’ve read all 1000 is a liar because one of them is a huge cookbook and no one is actively joy reading that.
with some of these it’s like “fuck, I did read that,” and with some it’s like “Oh fuck, I did read that.”
I got 99, but I counted a few that I had only mostly-read before deciding I didn’t like them and never finishing them.
Damn, I’ve only read 97 of these.
179, an astonishing number legitimately thanks to high school.
Also, lol I absolutely did read The Joy of Cooking for fun. Still do sometimes. It’s the closest thing my family has to a Bible. And since my older brothers got to leave home with the old version that showed you how to skin a squirrel, I took away the replacement version on that list that I previously in my childhood bought my mom for Christmas.
chump numbers
i used to reflexively loathe anything that got more than 5 copies in the library, so i’ve got a lot of catching up to do
214. Side effect of growing up before YA was really a thing. I read a loooooot of Stephen King and old SFF.
232. Entirely due to the fact that my mother was a teacher I would get books ad infinitum for birthdays or whatever for years. I grew up pre-internet and pre-screens so books and in particular anthologies were very much a thing on road trips and traveling. I also worked at a library for a time again pre-internet so I read a bunch of these as they came in because I could. Finally I really got into science fiction and fantasy and anime and read my fair share of Stephen King (which this list was massively biased toward). Plus my high school had so many of these books like probably a solid 75 of them as required reading throughout my time there. I also read a bunch of these in my Spanish literature courses that I took in college the fact that the professor for that course was from Chile meant we read a lot of Allende. And I absolutely read The Joy of cooking multiple times as enjoyment. I own the book and it's something I will go to regularly. Also I counted a bunch of these as I started the book hated it did my requisite red first 10 chapters and then said "nope" and got the fuck out... I am looking at you Cassandra Clare and Stephanie Meyer.
There are a few books that I am surprised aren't on this list but in all it's not bad
Just as a note to future generations, it is not normal to have helicopters circling overhead.
This reminds me of the start of a dystopian movie from the 1980s or early 2000s.
And in those movies, the good guys were not the ones flying the helicopters.
Spring Is Loading
Here They Come, Just A Friendly Reminder. Get Ready, Prepare..
There was already an EF3 in MICHIGAN the other day. And based on what I've seen from experts analyzing the damage, there's some suspicion that it may actually need a higher rating than a 3.
It's not coming, it's here.
It was seen peeling ice up off a frozen lake, which is an absolutely fuck wild sentance to type out.
This was just south of me. And they're predicting that area is about to get another round of severe weather later this week.
The time to prepare is now. Oh and as a note... We haven't started having our tornado siren testing yet... Yet we've already had at least 4 confirmed tornadoes (the ef3, an ef2, and 2 ef0)
MULTIPLE CREATORS ON MTS/MOD THE SIMS HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED
A few hours ago, Kuttoe sent an announcement in Sims After Dark that NateTheL0ser's MTS account was compromised with several uploads containing a new script file called "silkrose_debug" that attempts to download files from a third-party website. It was confirmed that more creators have had their accounts compromised in the second announcement.
It would be highly recommended to avoid the site completely until everything is back to normal. And if you really want to download something, do so at your own risk. Make sure to scan your PC and download ModGuard. If either of them have detected something, delete it and immediately change all of your passwords. And in a worst case scenario, wipe your OS and change your passwords from a different, uninfected device.
Decor and clothing should not have script files included!
Current list of confirmed, affected creators: PurrSimity, jellyheadDimbulb, and NateTheL0ser (has regained control of their account, however you should still be VERY cautious), o_pedrão (on LoversLab, intentionally malicious)
UPDATE 02/03/26: NEW MALWARE HAS BEEN FOUND IN A MOD CALLED VIRGINITY SYSTEM BY O_PEDRÃO HOSTED ON LOVERSLAB
Hey so Rose and I actually met in The Sims community, and we both still enjoy the games... So if this seems like it's coming out of left field, it's not.
This is a pretty big deal. ModTheSims is one of the biggest mod sites for The Sims, bigger even than NexusMods. The fact that they're trying to affect the Sims 2 content, which doesn't even use a script extension, is concerning.
Be careful out there.
So today in even professional writers with journalism / English degrees can get tripped up on homophones, I was reading NPR and found this gem.
I mean considering what's going on in Minnesota and everything to do with ICE, I do not doubt that people want to douse the whole thing in alcohol / other types of liquid, but this is the wrong verb in this context.
The correct one is "pores over." Yes, I know that looks weird, but this is English for you.
I'm also not throwing shade on NPR, they've been hit hard when it comes to budgets and I suspect that a lot of the copy editors / proofreaders are no longer there. And to be honest the article is still a good one, and an important one, about what people are doing to document ICE's crimes. But it's still amusing to run into funny homophones in the wild.
Some good news for the indie authors (and all authors, really) today: Draft2Digital is now enabling ebook distribution to bookshop.org, which means you can now support more authors and local indie bookstores with your ebook purchases.
It'll likely take a while for distribution to roll out, but this is a huge part of bookshop.org continuing to challenge Amazon/Kindle, and partnering with Draft2Digital just made that a lot easier on the author side.
31 Things I Want You to Know I Love About the Twin Cities When We're Not Under a Violent Occupation by Federal Agents
1. We're the home of A Klingon Christmas Carol, a.k.a The Christmas Carol "in the original Klingon." Actors in Klingon make-up, speaking Klingon, tell the story of a cowardly Klingon who is visited by three spirits and regains his honor.
2. People's Pride in Powerhorn Park, an escape from the corporate Pride downtown, with free food, free clothing exchange, and amazing local artists.
3. If the sidewalk in front of your house in St. Paul cracks, you can get it replaced with one with a poem stamped into it. Any resident of the city can submit a short poem in English or another language to a contest to be added to the bank of poems used.
4. The beautiful murals and mosaics down Lake Street, illustrating the different groups that have immigrated to the area over the years and the amazing artists they brought with them.
5. The Smallest Museum in Saint Paul, a defunct fire hose cabinet outside of Workhorse Coffee that features ever-changing small but beautiful, thought-provoking, and wonderful exhibits.
6. The cat tour where you walk through the Wedge neighborhood taking pictures of cats.
7. The secret art gallery in the alley behind the Mississippi Market co-op where someone has painted words onto shards of mirror.
8. A 20 foot pencil that gets annually sharpened.
9. Going to the closest Native American coffee shop every October and stocking up on bear grease for my aching back.
10. 2nd highest number of theatre seats in the country after New York, baybeeeeee!
11. I can't just list theatres or we'll be here all day, but the May Day Parade put on by Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre with the most amazing and evocative puppets and masks.
12. When you're marching in a pro-immigrant rally down Lake Street and everyone is cheering and whooping and honking their horn and the Somali community members run out of their businesses with cold drinks in the summer and hot sambusas in the winter
13. The Aztec dancers
14. That moment when all the cottonwoods shed their fluffy white seeds in spring and it looks like we've been covered in snow again
15. That other moment in spring when the lilacs are blooming and you can't walk five feet without smelling a lilac
16. And then it rains and all the cherry trees bloom and the entire city smells like candy
17. All of the art on the Green Line stations tying directly into the history and culture of each neighborhood
18. Midtown Global Market, where you can get delicious Lebanese cheese, bubble tea, tacos, camel burgers, Scandinavian sandwiches, Alaskan Native hot sauce, and more, all under one roof
19. The Hmong farmer's market near my library, the most reliable place to get the vegetables I want that I can't find anywhere else and also a place I could buy an entire bushel basket of hot peppers if I wanted
20. Whoever is drawing fat chickens all over town
21. Whoever is drawing pubic hair on lamp posts
22. Fireweed Community Workshops, a masks-required woodworking workshop dedicated to making woodworking welcoming and accessible to people who aren't straight white men
23. Naomi Kritzer's incredibly specific local election guides every year, and the way she uses it to raise money for local classrooms
24. The little faucet at the back of the Saint Paul Cathedral with the sign that says 'free holy water'
25. The Ecuadorian women selling mango with tajin on the street corners when work lets out
25. The trails by the river where you can make a turn onto the beach and have an equal chance of coming across a beaver or a live college production of "Dune"
26. The U of M experimental garden where they've found a cactus that can survive Minnesota winters (it's from the mountains of Peru)
27. The way I have seen lost keys and ID badges get hung up on branches of trees and left there for the person to return and find, untouched, for months
28. Urban foraging wild grapes, serviceberries, and mulberries
29. That morning I walked into downtown St. Paul, frozen, silent, still, empty but for the pervasive and delicious smell of bacon, a mystery until I came upon a whole pig being slowly roasted over the coals in front of a fancy French restaurant
30. The roving bands of wild turkeys
31. The fact that you are never more than a 5 minute walk from a coffee shop, bike repair shop, or combination coffee shop/bike repair shop
Who would win?? All are ANGRY but still abide to their moral code
Bruce Wayne
Dick Grayson
Alfred
Nice to see we're all in agreement.
Writing Wisdom: You Deserve to Love Your Writing
"Let's get this right... you deserve to be comfortable and you deserve to just love your skating again."
That's what coach Tracy Wilson told figure skater Jason Brown last season. Jason, who is known for his artistry and is the only male skater capable of medaling without a quad, was plagued by boot issues. Every practice was painful. His performance suffered. Tracy said she couldn't bear to watch his practice sessions because of the struggle.
So they paused. They fixed the equipment issue. And once Jason found boots that worked, his skating transformed.
"You deserve to be comfortable and you deserve to just love your skating again."
That stuck with me.
Figure skating is brutal. Skaters wake up at dawn to train for hours. They condition off-ice. They deal with injuries, sometimes requiring surgery. The mental pressure is immense. And yet, skaters like Jason, who have the agency to walk away anytime, choose to return to the ice year after year.
Writing isn't an extreme sport, but it has its own physicality. Wrist strain. Eye strain. The sedentary toll on your body. And mentally, it's exhausting to take something that exists only in your head and translate it to the page so others can see it in theirs. There's also the vulnerability in sharing your work. And the rejections that come with the publishing business.
And yet, writers return to the page.
Around the same time Jason was struggling with his boots, I was struggling too.
The thought of sitting down to work on my manuscript was painful. My brain and body wanted to do anything but write.
Hearing Tracy say, "You deserve to be comfortable and you deserve to just love your skating again," hit me hard.
Because it's true.
Just like Jason deserved to be comfortable and love his skating again, I deserved to be comfortable and love my writing again (and now I do!).
That doesn't mean every day is easy. Even elite skaters fall. Even books you love writing will have difficult chapters. But if the act of writing, the thing you've chosen to do with your creative life, fills you with dread, then something needs to be addressed.
Maybe it's the project (wrong story for right now).
Maybe it's the process (forcing a method that doesn't fit you).
Maybe it's the pressure (external expectations drowning out your voice).
Whatever it is, you deserve to pause and figure it out.
You deserve to be comfortable.
You deserve to love your writing again.
Source
Okay, I will preface this with the GIGANTIC disclaimer that I promise I know how this looks, and I *swear* this is not personally motivated:
Hey everyone, it looks like there's some hinky stuff going on with LiveJournal in a way where it might be shutting down relatively soon -- and if not, who knows what will happen to it?
Obviously most of us aren't active users there right now, but a lot of us were active users there at some point, so... if you want to save your blog, this thread includes a few ways on how to do it, as well as a lot more detail on exactly what's going on.
(We also suggest screengrabbing or saving the page of any fics that you care about that are based there, as well as anything else you might have bookmarked.)
Just in general, as a reminder, despite what the old adage is: the internet is not forever. So back up anything you care about!
Note: edited to add screengrabs below the cut in case anyone doesn't want to click on the link.
I keep seeing gif sets for Outlander going past my dash and getting excited to see Sam Heughan in a kilt again (the man has excellent legs and I am weak, weak, trash) and then I saw a picture of Diana Gabaldon and had this weird transportive memory moment where suddenly I am 18 years old again working in the tea house on Sauchiehall Street and I’m taking the order of this really polite American couple who keep telling me about all the tourist things they have done here and asking me if I have been up to Inverness and visited XYZ. And I’m just there for the tip man, Americans tip so good I am just giving it my all, laughing along and chattering away, I’m one step away from doing a jig for them if it will get me a tenner I can keep to myself.
And then the husband goes off somewhere, and it’s just the dark haired lady sitting up by the window seat watching the Glasgow world go by, and I refill her cup several more times and talk her into trying the freshly baked shortbread and soon she’s my only table left and I’m just sort of lingering nearby polishing cutlery. And then this dark haired woman with bright eyes turns to me and says “you said you’re going to college for literature, right?”
I confirm, yes, that is what I said, but then for some reason I say “I figure I should try and teach or something. There’s not much stable work for writers.”
And there’s this frozen in time moment where she turns to me and says “oh you’re a writer? what do you write?” and 18 -year-old me only has half-baked ideas and is too embarrassed to say, so I just sort of shrug and say “nothing yet, some sci fi I suppose…” and then I get asked “have you read a book series called Outlander?”
It’s only my customer service facade that saves me, because yes, I had read Outlander, everyone and their nan, has read some of Outlander, because everyone and their nan wants to commit several types of sin with Jamie Fraser but other than that I think the book is awful. It was like the Fifty Shades of Grey of its time in terms of popularity but with period clothing. So I say, “yea, I’ve read it” and she sort of half laughs and says “You don’t sound that enthused.” and I sort of shrug and say “it was all right, it waffled a bit for me. You can tell the author has never been to Scotland either.”
And on the conversation goes for several more moments before this lady turns the conversation back to what I want to write and I admit I really don’t know but I just want to write eventually and she smiles and nods and then she hands me a business card along with my ten pound tip and tells me “when you’re published let me know” while I smile, nod and glance briefly at the card—remembering vaguely the name Watkins and an address in Arizona—then move on with my life.
Until this very moment in time, over a decade later, I am sat frozen on my couch watching this dark haired woman speak about how she came to write Outlander, and then an image of her husband comes up and I’m just like no, no, no so I look up her website and his last name is Watkins and they live in Arizona guys…guys I’m not 100% sure, but I think past me might have told Diana Gabaldon her book was shit.
Context, for those coming from the other blog, lol.
So I stand by my original post on that poll that you made her cry. You probably didn't make her cry immediately in that moment but from what I know of Diana Gabaldon and how thin of a skin she has, you absolutely made her cry. Because she needed that validation that you'd heard of her and you liked her books and you thought they were great. And you didn't give it to her. In fact you did more than imply that her books were absolute crap. And that is something that she just could not take. I can't find the links anymore, but I have seen her meltdown when she ran into bad reviews. And this was back in the 1990s/early 2000s. I remember reading about it on either fandomwank or ohnotheydidnt which was on live journal. And her bitching about it probably came from her personal website blog that she ran at the time. The same website where she went off on people writing fanfiction of her stories and equating it to sexual assault and not allowing people to play in her sandbox.
By the way, I miss the old live journal. And I miss when you could actually find shit using a search engine. The internet has become enshittifyied to a really unusable degree.
Do you recognize this TV theme song? #237
I know this and can name the series
I know this but can't name the series
I might know this
I've never heard this
And I will never not be reminded of the time @thebibliosphere made the author cry... Or at least made the author very very sad about their mediocre book series that is NOT a romance.
There's a really cool retrospective from Graham Fletcher, the dancer in the pig costume, about filming this & his career in general at this link!
