The Poor, Obscure, Little and Plain Blog

Another place to put my fanfiction until the plot bunnies decide to leave me alone.

[porcupine-girl]

Please don’t use collections to track your reading on AO3!

Someone is going through all my zimbits fics and adding them to a collection called “completed stories I’ve read.” Well, they’re trying to, but I’m denying all their requests.

Yes, ao3 has fixed the thing that made it possible for collection owners to anonymize your fics without your permission, so why do I not want all my fics in these random collections?

Well, imagine if 10% of the people who read my fics tracked their reading via a collection like this. Unlike bookmarks, all the collections a fic is in are listed directly on the fic! The fic I just got a request for has 12000 hits and 1300 kudos. If even 10% of the people who left kudos added it to a collection, every person who reads it would have to scroll through a list of 130 collections to get to the fic!

Please track your reading using bookmarks, not collections!

Bookmarks just add to a number on the fic itself, but if you click that number you’ll see the many ways people use them to track their reading. Some people use tags like “to read,” “read,” “complete,” etc. Other people use bookmark collections, which unlike regular collections don’t get listed on the fic - plus, they don’t require the author’s permission, so you can actually have an accurate list instead of just a list of the fics that got approved!

Whoever you are (I know their ao3 name but since they have no works of their own I have no way to contact them), I am very flattered that you like my stuff enough to go through and read all of it, and I very much appreciate it. But please stop using collections just to track your reading.

[porcupine-girl]

Bringing this back because people seemed to stop doing this for a bit but I’ve gotten two more of these requests in the past week.

If nothing else, it’s not an accurate record of fics you’ve read if some of the authors are rejecting your requests! Authors can’t prevent you from bookmarking or making bookmark collections!

[bomberqueen17]

BOOKMARK COLLECTIONS ARE FREE AND EASY TO MAKE PLEASE USE THEM

[redlightofdawn]

There’s someone going around adding fics to a collection called something like “fics I haven’t read yet”

ffs people have some common sense

[porcupine-girl]

I only just now saw this reblog. People PLEASE if you have ANY temptation to do this let me introduce you to my best friend, THE MARK FOR LATER BUTTON.

AO3 has AN ENTIRE BUTTON just for this! It’s on every dang fic if you’re logged in! Right there at the top! Then you go to your history and hit another button and it filters it down to just stuff you’ve marked for later.

This makes even less sense than a collection for fic you’ve read, because there is literally a whole-ass button at the top of every fic just to do this for you! *headdesk*

[thememedaddy]

[ghostisredacted]

just saw someone say "a fandom is small, so like only 1-3 fics posted per day" . you wouldnt survive a day in the place where im from

[jun-hug]

"The Princess and The Knight"

My entire sky craves only your star

- Pavana Reddy

✶ carrd | print | stickers

Towards the end of last summer, I came across a small clearing full of clover, i remember being amazed how its greens were spreading from light to deep shades. It inspired me greatly, but at first I didn't know where would I include it in a piece; it wasn't until September, on my trip to Vilnius with my best friend, that I got a burst of inspiration. It was wonderful in Lithuania, but of course we didn't miss on adventures, so before l'd finished the line art, I got distracted and autumn began. And then my mind of course had lots of other ideas taking their place over this one. Every few weeks, however, I'd return to it, especially during lone visits to cafès, I had so many good times working on it that I almost didn't want to end it (so l made more art of Star and Sunshine in this AU - click 'stickers' if you're interested;p). Recently though a very interesting opportunity pushed me to finally finish it! You'll see what l'm talking about very soon on my profile :)

[robntunney]

[cosmonaut-observer]

If you live in the UK you need to see this

Protect Internet Freedom from now until forever. It's important existentially! Americans stand with UK citizens in our struggle against government censorship

[russettrush]

Growing up in the online world: a national consultation

We are consulting on further measures to prepare children for the future in an age of rapid technological change. This includes potential ag

Got the link via @finalducc

If you live in the UK, please be sure to take part in this!

[memewhore]

[2urban2fantasy-deactivated20241]

Woman murders man in broad daylight

[theknightinslippers]

[halorvic]

[no-one-offical]

‎

[crypticgoose3]

beautiful like to reblog ratio on this

[drtanner]

That's because people are reblogging it every time they see it. Like I'm doing right now lmao

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

this video was always funny but I found this guy’s Instagram and he is Always Doing This, like it’s hundreds of slow motion videos of him walking muscled and shirtless through crowded streets around the world as people react to him—many of them appear to be filmed on the same street as in this video. which means this lady probably sees him doing this all the time and was like OH THERE HE IS AGAIN lmfaoooo

[itsladykit]

That does beg the question--did he upload this himself?

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

yes and he did not acknowledge it in the caption or tags at all 😂

[heatherfield]

[insp]

[babushkahihi]

I miss madly

[tomatoluvr69]

Get enough sleep get enough fiber get enough iron wear sunscreen every moment of every day dont get dehydrated don’t slouch brush perfectly floss too keep your tires full of air get your oil changed check your brakes and alignment get new tires get your yearly inspection get your yearly pelvic exam remember your flu and covid shot research the candidates for district attorney take your recycling to the curb on the right day try to limit red meat, alcohol, ultra processed food, sugar and sitting down don’t use screens before bed exercise constantly you’re not socializing or being touched enough meditate daily make sure your clothes are constantly acceptable wash your hair before there’s even a hint of grease don’t have any unsightly hair anywhere don’t drink foo much coffee or sugary drinks or carbonated drinks or anything with citric acid or your teeth will rot change your sheets every few days and your pillowcases daily and you should be also throwing out your pillows every year or two apparently don’t use any kind of cutting board due to the unique drawbacks of each available kind walk 15 min after every meal don’t eat right after brushing but also don’t brush thirty minutes after eating yet somehow brush your teeth every morning and be on time for work also and make sure you’re weight training and make sure you’re doing everything you can to prevent eventual osteoporosis and arthritis moisturize your skin every day keep your prescriptions filled try to avoid being stressed at all costs because it’s the silent killer prioritize your mental health but don’t let any of these habits slip and don’t lose your important documents and keep the batteries in your carbon monoxide detector fresh and deep clean your fridge often and clean your entire house often and exchange pleasantries with every acquaintance and keep yourself polished and presentable at work and stretch before bed every night and buy new kitchen sponges when they wear out and make sure you have laundry detergent and dish soap and olive oil and only eat healthy fats and make sure you’re doing everything to prevent the skyrocketing rates of colon cancer in young people and soak all your berries so that they actually get clean and wash all your produce and buy organic so you aren’t ingesting four million pesticides and avoid animal products but also eat a lot of lean meat and dairy for the protein and eat 30g of protein at every meal and prioritize whole grains and complex carbohydrates and moderate your sugar intake and replace your toothbrush every six months and your running shows every 90 miles clean your car out often and make sure no one smashes your tail light in the parking lot and keep a printout of your up to date proof of insurance in your glovebox even if you don’t own a printer and put a sizeable portion of each paycheck into retirement portfolio replace your windshield wipers and close your kitchen down every night and eat two servings of dark leafy greens per day and do all of this and still get enough rest so that you’re able to give the 40 hour workweek your all. And if you fail to do any of these things you’re a disgusting failure slob

[dailyjamesspader]

James Spader at the Baby Boom premiere, 1987

[pointnclick]

im going to post old cat images now

ceiling cat

monorail cat

long cat

the OG can i haz cheezburger cat

the lesser known graphix cat

invisible bike cat

my planet needs me cat

cat with the gat

[brunhiddensmusings]

[tzikeh]

Good lord we need MOAR of the original LOLCATS (or cat macros, as they were originally known)

[anarchistmemedistro]

the OG memes

[sailor-arashi]

[undefinedbehavior]

Ah, the ancient texts.

[lightningstrikes-art]

[lightningstrikes-art]

[catchymemes]

[prof-grace-aspen]

This is the best description I’ve heard for this method, I always thought it was bullshit because I never heard a description that actually explained how to do this other than “tap your head 20 times”.

I have anxiety-induced hissing, which sounds/feels different from sound-induced tinnitus (which I have also experience). Sound-based tinnitus actually sounds like you’re “hearing” something in your ears, whilst the hissing I have feels like it’s “inside my head”, if that makes sense. But this technique still helps!!

[mieaouy]

Here’s a visual I found because I couldn’t understand the instructions well

[sushinfood]

My ringing just went away for the first time in years. What is this blissful quiet.

[roseverdict]

wait wait i gotta try this, i don’t think i’ve had Actual Silence since i was like 5

[roseverdict]

HOW THE FUCK

[alex51324]

Reblogging to save a life, and also because, even if you don’t have tinnitus, this is totally worth trying if you like new sensory experiences.  

[storm-of-the-swarm]

@theshaddowedsnow

[beggars-opera]

I don’t know if I can contain my “The Muppet Christmas Carol has better costume design than most Oscar-nominated period dramas” rant until after Thanksgiving you guys, I have…so many Thoughts

[beggars-opera]

Ok, buckle up kids.

Basically they did not have to go as hard as they did here. A Christmas Carol covers 60 years of fashion through flashbacks and they still manage to do nearly everything right. 

I’m mainly going to be talking about the human actors here because it’s harder to judge Muppet costumes proportionally, but those costumes are still on point 90% of the time.

First off, A Christmas Carol was published in 1843, and anyone who knows me knows I love the absolute train wreck that was mid-19th century men’s fashion. Do you like plaid? GOOD, BECAUSE IT’S ALL PLAID. Mixed with whatever else your little Victorian heart desires, color schemes be damned. Go wild.

This of course means I absolutely love Fred.

This outfit is hideous and it is also 1000% on point.

We also get to see him in a different outfit the next day, along with his wife and some friends.

First off, MORE PLAID, good for you. Second, I can literally find near-identical images of both these ladies’ dresses just by googling “1843 fashion plate”, I shit you not. To the damned year.

A good part of the story involves travelling through Scrooge’s life, so we get to see the costumes varying wildly over the course of several scenes. This was a time when styles were changing rapidly, and you had to keep up if you wanted to be fashionable and keep up appearances. Fashion changed so fast that you can often pinpoint an outfit to within a year or two like the ones above. 

First, we go to Scrooge’s childhood school. Given the timeline that’s normally put forward Michael Caine is definitely not old enough to play Scrooge, but ignore that for now. Let’s say if Scrooge is 75ish in 1843, it’s about 1783 when we see him leaving school and going off to be an apprentice. We actually see a few years of Little Scrooge fashion, but it’s fairly standard stuff. Scrooge doesn’t have a super childhood and his clothing is pretty plain, but it’s totally on par for the time. Why this haircut though? It makes me sad.

Then we jump ahead a few years and it’s about 1789. The whole group is attending the Fozziwig Christmas party and have gotten tarted up like they’re about the storm the Bastille, including Gonzo and Rizzo.

Again, they look absolutely ridiculous and it is absolutely accurate. 

Now, this is super ostentatious and a lot of people would have considered it way too French for their taste in this time period. But it definitely did happen (I’ve seen stripey bubblegum pink menswear in person) and like. It’s the Muppets. So, Rule of Funny.

Scrooge and Belle are dressed way closer to average Londoners of the time, and it’s worth noting that both are supposed to be somewhat poor. Fozzy pays everyone well but Lil’ Scrooge is still a skinflint and Belle is just getting by. They’re both looking darn good but their clothes are much more understated than everyone else’s and maybe even on the verge of out of style. 

Even their hair is pretty good. Including his. Also, holy shit does this guy look like he could be a young Michael Caine. Like, he doesn’t actually look how Michael Caine looked when he was that age, but if I didn’t know that I would totally buy it. Wow.

Then we jump ahead another ten to twelve years or so. This is the period I know the least about, especially when it comes to outerwear, so Jane Austen stans please comment. I don’t think it looks too bad though.

Here’s a couple of fashion plates from 1801 and 1803 for comparison.

I’d also like to point out that there is a wide variety of costumes based on social class that we get to see in the 1843 “present” that you wouldn’t really notice. So while the Scrooge family that’s doing alright for itself is wearing the latest looks, the rest of the town is not. A few of the women in the crowd dancing around Scrooge during “It Feels Like Christmas” are wearing dresses a couple of years out of date. Not too far, but you can see some looks from the tail end of the 1830s before women started shrink-wrapping their sleeves onto their arms.

You can see something similar to these outfits from 1839 in the crowd.

Contrast this with Mrs. Cratchit, who is living in poverty and has put on her absolute best dress for Christmas; it’s silk but it’s ten years out of style. 

This would have been the height of fashion in the early-mid 1830s.

And that’s important for making a world look real. Fashion was super important back then, but even so average people weren’t necessarily chucking their clothing out every year to keep up with the latest fashions unless they could really afford to. You would get there eventually, but you don’t want everyone in your universe, rich and poor, to look like they just stepped out of the latest fashion magazine. 

It’s absolutely astonishing to me that they put so much effort into this. I don’t tend to go down the rabbit hole of nitpicking historical costumes in movies as much as some, but when a movie that you never expected does it very right it just throws me for a loop. 

Was everything perfect? No, I don’t think any movie is. But this is the damn Muppets. They were under no obligation to do this. Add to that the fact that it’s one of the more accurate renditions of the story, to the point of including a ton of the original dialogue, both through the characters and through the narration, and they just created a masterpiece. 

[enjolrant]

Credit where credit is due!  Ann Hollowood and Polly Smith were the Costume Designers!

[beggars-opera]

A very important addition!!

[vinceaddams]

Look at how closely Gonzo and Rizzo’s coats resemble this extant one from the early 1790′s! 

And shawl collar waistcoats like they’re wearing start appearing in the 1790′s too, though you see more of them a bit later. They’ve even got wee little cockades on their hats!! If this was any other costume movie I’d complain about the shiny plastic wigs, but I can’t very well do that when muppets have plastic hair anyways, so it’s fine.

Scrooge’s suit in that late 18th century scene does have a very modern looking fit in the shoulders and sleeves, and shoulder pads (ugh!), but does have the shoulder seams nicely angled and set back so I think they were trying their best and were just not familiar with historical tailoring techniques. His waistcoat looks great though! And not a single shitty stacked lace bib to be seen, which makes this better than a tragically large proportion of 18th century movies.

Someone pointed out on another thread that Miss Piggy would have altered her dress to be more up to date, which is true, but still! Darn good costumes.

[beggars-opera]

I’ve been thinking about this recently and it’s true! In the book Mrs. Cratchit’s dress is referred to as “twice-turned,” meaning that she had literally picked apart her dress and remade it into a more modern style, likely turning it inside out in the process, twice, to save money. This was very common in the period. Generally much older women were more likely to wear out-of-date fashion, because once you hit 80 you stop caring what people think. But it does beg the question how much of this detail in the movie is for the benefit of the few and how much of it is for the benefit of the general audience.

A few historians of the internet variety have liked to point out similar movies that really go above and beyond in costuming, to the point of doing things like using outdated prints to denote a character of lower status, which is what the obvious choice would be here. But I wonder if anyone outside of the special interest bubble would realize that. If Miss Piggy had worn that pattern in a more modern style, would your average Muppet lover be able to say “ah yes, clearly that is an 1830s plaid, what a wonderful detail?” But then for that matter, would an average Muppet lover look at the current costuming and know what it is telling us either?

It’s a very thin and wobbly line that historians must take when making things for public consumption, where to stretch a metaphor a bit more than one should in order to get a point across, and where to hold back so the nerds can have a fun easter egg.

(I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer to this).

[gothiccharmschool]

Yes, I do reblog this every year. Fabulous historical fashion nerdery AND the Muppets? YES.

[miscellaneousmao]

Vulpix pumpkin snickerdoodles for some autumn vibes 🦊🧡