Waking Dreams

My overgrown mind-garden. Beware the topiaries. She/Her Fandom Witch

[diygabl]

Did You Know Tomatoes Hate Cucumbers? Secrets of Companion Planting

While they might taste great together in a salad, tomato plants actually dislike growing in close proximity to any member of the cucurbit family, which includes cucumbers.

Companion plants assist in the growth of others by attracting beneficial insects, repelling pests, or providing nutrients, shade, or support. They can be part of a biological pest control program.

Keep reading

[andreii-tarkovsky]

To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995)

Dir. Beeban Kidron

[brehaaorgana]

This was such a formative movie

[musicalhell]

This shit was revolutionary for the mid-90s. Among other things it helped me understand that transgender and cross-dressing were completely separate things.

[aqueerkettleofish]

To this day, I am in awe of the fact that Patrick Swayze not only campaigned hard to get the audition, not only auditioned in dress and makeup, but spent most of the day leading up to the audition walking around LA in dress and makeup.

This was a man who could sing, dance, act, ride a horse, fight, and walk in heels, he had nothing to prove to anyone, and he is MISSED.

[aqueerkettleofish]

Okay, I’m not done feeling about this.

If you’re younger, you may not know Patrick Swayze; he was Taken From Us in 2009. But Patrick Swayze was an icon of masculinity. Men were willing to watch romantic movies because Patrick Swayze was in them.

Patrick Swayze was fucking beefcake.

And this man didn’t just agree to do a movie where the only time he’s not actually in drag is the first three minutes, which involve stepping out of the shower, doing make up, and getting Dressed. He has ONE LINE that is delivered in a man’s voice, and it’s not during those three minutes.

And if you watch those three minutes, you see a stark difference between his portrayal of Miss Vida Bohéme and Wesley Snipes as Noxeema Jackson. (I am not criticizing Snipes’ performance. They were different roles.) Noxeema was a comedy character. Chi-Chi was a comedy character. But Miss Vida Bohéme was a dramatic role, played by a dramatic powerhouse.

When Vida sits down in front of the mirror, she sees a man. And she doesn’t like it.

Then she puts her hair up, and her face lights up.

“Ready or not,” she says. “Here comes Mama.”

And while Noxeema is having fun with her transformation (at one point breaking into a giggling fit after putting on pantyhose), Vida is simply taking pleasure in bringing out her true self. And when she’s done, she sees this:

And you can FEEL her pride.

All of this from an actor who, up to this point, walked on to the screen and dripped testosterone.

[impossiblemonsters]

the fact that some of you history-ignorant children in the notes are trying to shit on groundbreaking historical queer cinema because it doesn’t meet 2021 standards is infuriating. sit down, shut the fuck up, and listen to the elders in the room for fucking once

[darkshrimpemotions]

This. If you have never lived in a world where queerness was universally pathologized and criminalized to the point that even IMAGINING a world where it wasn’t constituted a radical and potentially dangerous act, you don’t have any business judging those of us who have for how we survived it and how we found (or still find) comfort in the few imperfect representations we got.

You don’t have to like it. You probably aren’t capable of “getting” it. And to be honest, I don’t want you to! I am glad that young queer people will never know exactly what it was like “back then.” But what you also will not do is refuse to learn your own history and then shit on everything that came before you, because like it or not what came before you is the reason you will never have to get what it was like back then.

[hussyknee]

On Wesley Snipes’s role Noxeema and John Leguizamo as Chi-Chi Rodriguez.

“I grew up in the ‘70s and even within the street culture, there was a lot of flamboyancy,” Snipes told TODAY of his perception of drag before filming. “Pimps wore the same furs as theprostitutes wore.

“Some of the great musicians of the world, like Parliament-Funkadelic, were very androgynous. So it wasn’t really new for me to see men dressed as women or men dressed as drag queens.”

Snipes attended the famed LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts and then State University of New York at Purchase. He wasn’t a dance major, but most of his friends were. “That exposed me to the world of glam, vogue, drag, transgender and gay people, LGBTQ… but it wasn’t in fashion those days. But it existed and I was around it.”

Not only did “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” pave the way for “To Wong Foo,” so did films like the 1968 documentary “The Queen” and “Paris Is Burning,” the 1990 doc that chronicled ball culture of New York and the various Black and queer communities involved in it.

Even though he was known for his action roles, Snipes’ portrayal of Noxeema wasn’t the first time he played a drag queen. In 1986, he made his Broadway debut in the play “Execution of Justice,” playing Sister Boom Boom, a real-life AIDS activist and drag nun who acted as the show’s voice of conscience. Snipes pointed out, “Sister Boom Boom did not have Noxeema’s makeup kit.”

On whether he got any pushback for stepping into Noxeema’s pumps, he said, “Not so much professionally but the streets weren’t feeling it, and there were certain community circles. The martial arts community… they were not feeling it at all.”

“In fact, when the movie came out and they would come down the street, I would see them in Brooklyn sometimes, they started listing all my movies. I noticed they would always skip that one. I would correct them, ‘Now you don’t got the full count!’”

Lesser-known than his co-stars at the time, Lequizamo didn’t really anticipate becoming a transgender icon, but he did know that they were working on something special when they started filming.

“Drag didn’t really exist in movies,” Lequizamo, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal, told TODAY. “There were straight men pretending to be women to get out of trouble or into trouble but this was not that. I was trying to make Chi-Chi a real life trans character and Patty and Wesley were trying to be real drag queens.” Never fully articulated in the film, Chi-Chi Rodriguez has always been perceived as transgender, something that ending up making an indelible mark on LGBTQ people in the late ‘90s as trans representation in media was limited.

“Chi-Chi was a trans icon, but she also showed us that gay men and trans women can both perform and work in drag side by side, and that those relationships are symbiotic,” Cayne explained.

“It was a powerful thing. I get lots of fan mail from LGBTQ teens telling me how my character helped them come out to their parents,” Leguizamo said. “They didn’t feel like they were seen, so that was a beautiful gift from the movie.”

Lequizamo also articulates that if “To Wong Foo” were cast today, a trans actor should be cast in his role. (And that just may happen, since Beane is developing a musical for Broadway.) “Anybody can play anything, but the playing field is not fair that way,” he said. “Not everybody is allowed to play everything. So until we get to that place, it is important for trans actors to get a chance to act which they don’t. In the project I’m doing, I’m making sure that the person playing trans is a trans person so we can make it legit, make it real. That just needs to be done right now.”

Source: How Hollywood heartthrobs and Steven Spielberg helped make a drag queen cult classic

[fedorahead]

a monumental film in the library of queer history.

it was formative for modern society, too.

there are a lot of action fans out there who learned from their idols that respect doesn’t cost a damn thing to give. i know plenty of people who aren’t queer saw trans women and drag queens presented as people to them for the first time in wong fu. suddenly, strange and foreign queer identities that had only been presented to them as jokes if they’d even heard of them, seemed a little more relatable, and very human.

we’re all just people.

snipes, swayze, and leguizamo were willing to play people a lot of their fans didn’t respect yet or didn’t even know how to respect and demand they figure it the fuck out.

[jam-etc]

This is a HUGE reblog but I watched this as a little girl on cable TV and I’m so glad I did. GO WATCH THIS AS SOON AS YOU CAN

[hollyevolving]

I’d love it if To Wong Foo was inescapably broadcast once a year, like A Christmas Story.

[animentality]

For every terf that sends me anon hate, I just reblog this post again.

[horse-on-a-porch]

again i want to say that non-queer and non-trans actors (although first of all, it is not up to you or me to write that identity for or over people we have never met and do not owe it to us) are fucking important. A lot of these actors have taken career hits. They’ve taken hits for the queer community because they could stand to take hits that we could not.

and i am so fucking grateful for these people and i’m grateful when we can do re-makes, but never forget that we are able to do those because others took shots that were intended for us. and that we have taken shots in the past.

and nobody owes you their identity. It is utterly insane to ask actors to disclose their sexuality or gender to play a character on the screen. it is utterly important to cast queer and trans people and to have that representation. these thoughts can and do coexist.

[vaspider]

A little on Sister Boom Boom, the very real Sister of Perpetual Indulgence who Snipes portrayed on stage.

[action]

Ways to support Ukraine 🇺🇦

More than 500,000 people have already left Ukraine due to the invasion by the Russian Federation. The European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management estimates that roughly 18 million Ukrainians will be affected by the conflict in humanitarian terms, with 7 million internally displaced and 4 million seeking refuge elsewhere. To help those still in Ukraine, as well as Ukrainian refugees, we’ve compiled this list of resources.

HelpUkraineWin.org has a collection of vetted and trusted resources, charities, and organizations to help Ukraine.

Some additional ways to donate:

Vostok SOS provides immediate evacuation support.

Malteser International provides essentials for Ukrainian refugees.

Ukraine Crisis Media Center provides fundraising links and a list of tips for sharing information.

Misinformation spreads fast on social media. It is more important than ever to share accurate, verifiable news and information. Here are some resources to learn how to identify misinformation:

This link from the nonprofit WITNESS shares tips for identifying authentic video sources (available in English, Spanish, Ukranian, Russian, and Arabic).

These visual verification tips, also from WITNESS, provide information on verifying images and videos (available in English and Spanish).

This interview with NPR contains tips for identifying fake TikToks.

[drakansa]

A sad pupper sketch.

Pen and alcohol ink markers

[drakansa]

I polished up an old sketch I tore out of a notebook years ago and forgot about.

Nightcap Moon - Alcohol ink markers and digital editing.

I ordered a couple stickers of this. I’ll let yall know how they turn out.

[mrspider-deactivated20221213]

sooooo can yall help me determine if this is a fireable offense

[mrspider-deactivated20221213]

a lady just came in asking if we have oat milk and we dont so i said “our soy milk is pretty good though, thats what i use in my drinks!” and she looked at me and went “yknow soy milk lowers a mans sperm count” and without thinking i just went “cant lose something you never had”

[mrspider-deactivated20221213]

youre laughing. i got called a soy boy and youre laughing

[mrspider-deactivated20221213]

okay to the people confused by this allow me to shed a little light on the subject

[mrspider-deactivated20221213]

icant fucking breathe

[world-heritage-posts]

world heritage post

[drakansa]

Starship Troopers Book Review

I don’t use my blog a lot anymore but I have a lot of THOUGHTS and FEELINGS about this book I just read so here’s my review.

There might be spoilers ahead. I will also be comparing the book to the movie at times.

I wanna start out and say that even without knowing anything about him or looking him up I could tell right away that the author was from a military background. He worships the military and it’s clear in every word he writes - even when he’s cussing them it’s with a weird sort of reverence.

He actually talks bad about the military a lot, especially in the first half, but much like the teacher character in the book, Mr. Dubois, he does it in a way to make you want to like it. What’s the reverse of a backhanded compliment? His insults are like that.

The teacher in question is the reason our main character, Johnny Rico, joins the army. When asked about the teacher Johnny claims to hate him, but he constantly thinks about the conversations they had in class and the points his teacher made. The running theme of the book seems to be that punishment is good and criticism builds character. The more the teachers and authority figures yell at Johnny the more he remembers them and respects them. Mr. Dubois talks about joining the army as this hugely difficult thing that no one wants to do, that only the best of the best could every possibly hope to succeed at. Of course this has the effect of making impressionable high school teenagers want to do it all the more,

Corporeal punishment is a running theme throughout the book which couples nicely with his other theme of the glories of war. He extols ad nauseum the theory of “spare the rod, spoil the child” even going as far as to claim this has been proven as a mathematical fact in the future society he paints. In one chapter he spends a nauseating 20 pages expounding on that theory at length using a flashback memory of Johnny in class as a way to indirectly lecture the reader.

And the glories of war? He doesn’t talk about accolades or medals of honor. He seems to feel that being a soldier is it’s own reward, that the act of doing your “social responsibility” is a gratifying accomplishment in it’s own right. I suppose for him it must have been. He lovingly spends half the book describing boot camp and the drill sergeants and the toils and hardships that drove weaker men to quit. I’m not even exaggerating. Literally half the book. For the first 129 pages of the book’s 263 Johnny Rico is not even a solider and there is no mention of the war aside from the first chapter. The war is like an after though, tacked on to the story to give the author an excuse to wax poetic about the good old boy’s club that takes care of their own. 

The army in the book is, in fact, very much a boys club too. There are no wild and dashing women soldiers like in the movie. The original Dizzy character was a man. Women in the book rarely speak and are regard as mythical ethereal creatures. The author always describes them as dainty, small, and pretty. They’re “What make the war worth fighting” and they’re on the army ships (in separate guarded quarters of course) because it’s “good for moral.” The only jobs he talks about that women do well is piloting spacecrafts.

Johnny Rico mentions in passing and usually after the fact going on two or three dates with women. The dates are never fully described and there is little to no emotional attachment with the women. He speaks more lovingly of his comrades in arms and the whole book has a slightly homoerotic overtone. That’s honestly one of the most enjoyable aspects of the book. When he describes two men slugging it out shirtless in the bathroom and then ending with a mutual bond and respect for each other we know what was really going on. Or at least what we like to imagine was really going on...

But aside from all the patriotic propaganda, war mongering, chauvinism, patriarchal old fashioned thinking I did really enjoy this book. Everything is written from Johnny’s point of view. We only know what he knows, what he thinks, and how he feels, and he feels like a whole complete character in a well fleshed out world. He talks about his world in a way we might talk about day to day things in our world. Like “Oh that? Yeah, it’s the powered suit the mobile infantry uses. You’ve seen one you’ve seen them all.” He gives us exposition in a way that doesn’t talk down to us or over explain. The author trusts the reader to come to the correct conclusions and fill in the blanks with context clues and the course of the plot.

The aliens leave a strong impression and honestly were the reason I was so eager to read the book. The movie changed pretty much nothing in regards to their appearances or the different varieties. This novel was groundbreaking and inspired hundreds of other authors throughout the years. Written in 1959 it’s impact on the science fiction genre is still seen to this day. I love the parallels and contrasts with the 1985 novel Ender’s Game in this regard. I love how this book said war was the answer and Ender’s Game replied with a resounding “No it’s not” It’s like they’re written from two different perspectives in the same universe.

The heavy armor suits the Mobile Infantry use are really iconic as well, clearly a strong inspiration for later sci-fi classics like Stormtroopers and Masterchief. There’s a lot of well developed and intriguing ideas.

The character Johnny Rico is a macho man’s man in a man’s world - dumped headlong into this idealized version of the army - but he’s believable and relatable. He makes mistakes. He gets scared. He grows and changes his ideals and his goals in a way that not only feels genuine but also borderline autobiographical. I knew by the end of the book the author was a career military man just from the way he wrote about moving through officer school and the reverence he gave to those of rank.

Over all this novel feels like a giant military parade circle jerk designed to make impressionable young men set their comic books down and go enlist. However the sci-fi elements are on point and I enjoyed reading this iconic work.

[ffegs]

[drakansa]

Sign the Petition

Demand NORCOR end any and all collaboration with ICE

I'm my community the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facility had a contract with ICE. We protesters long and hard and finally they decided to end that contact...

But they increased their US Marshals contract by 3700%

US Marshals can be used for almost anything. They have few limitations and restrictions. They have been used for undocumented immigrant detention in the past and our fear is that this contact is a way for them to continue working with ICE behind the scenes.

Join us in asking them for transparency and for their written commitment to end any and all collaboration with ICE for good!

We need to shut down all of these concentration camps - even if it's only one at a time.

Our community will not be complicit. We refuse to collaborate with the uterus collector.

Please SHARE and let them know how important this is!

[byjove]

Me: *Removes my cat from my lap to do something else.*

My cat: Father is…evil? Father is unyielding? Father is incapable of love? I am running away. I am packing my little rucksack and going out to explore the world as a lone vagabond. I can no longer thrive in this household.

[cryoverkiltmilk]

The spiritual successor to Miette

[manicgoblinnightmarewoman]

Might I also add

[shydestinybread]

May i add the piece from artist Verbal Vomit

[unyanizedcatboys]

Glad to see we’re all in agreement that cats talk like disparaged victorian children

[explorerrowan]

I am so incredibly glad we finally moved on from “i can has”. Cats are clearly smart enough for advanced sentence structure and dumb enough to draw entirely incorrect conclusions about what they’re talking about.

[dualclock]

My cat, banging the cabnet door over and over and over: bang bang bang

Me: you will not earn what you desire by banging the cabinet door.

My cat: This is a test of wills, is it not? We shall see if your ability to put up with my incessant banging outlasts my eternal lust for snackie treats. Years of conditioning have hardened me for this purpose. bang bang bang

Me: ksst!

My cat, throwing herself to the ground like she’s been shot: Oh! Oh I have been assailed in my own home! Have mercy, have pity! Surely in the cruel darkness of your heart there is some mote of goodness that might stay your hand! Do not strike me, I pray you!

Me: ok

My cat, after waiting about 3 minutes: bang bang bang

[notcaycepollard]

[callmebliss]

Can haz snackytreat

[ladyshinga]

(source)

[blackqueerblog]

MAILING ADDRESS 

Town of Tusayan 

P.O. Box 709 | 845 Mustang Drive

Tusayan, AZ 86023 PHONE [phone] 

EMAIL

Mayor Craig Sanderson 

[email protected] 

Vice-Mayor Becky Wirth 

[email protected]

Councilor | Brady Harris 

[email protected]

 Councilor  |  Al Montoya 

[email protected] 

Councilor  |  Robb Baldosky 

[email protected] 

if you don’t have time to write an email, here’s a pre-written letter: https://pastebin.com/Cc3YBWYA 

just copy, add your name, and send the email to a town member!

Please do! Corporations are the biggest criminals of climate change, environmental damage and pollution. Capitalism is rooted in destruction. 

[jenniferrpovey]

This project was rejected in 2016, but the developer resubmitted it last year without actually addressing any of the issues.

The Grand Canyon Trust is collecting comments here: https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/protect-grand-canyons-precious-water-mega-resort. These comments will be sent to Heather Provencio, supervisor of the Kaibab National Forest, Cal Joyner, the Regional Forester and to USDA Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen. They are not public,

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

OP: May 2019

Comment: Jan 2020

[gothhabiba]

here’s an article about the original thread, including a transcription of the tweets & some context (May 28, 2019)

another article that goes more into the issue of water (May 28, 2019) (“The Havasupai Tribe has, in fact, voiced concerns about groundwater pumping near the Grand Canyon. In 2016, the tribe sued the city of Williams and other well owners, saying the drilling of more wells for resorts, developments, theme parks and uranium mines, among other businesses, increasingly threatens the tribe’s water. […] Duthie said those sorts of concerns shouldn’t hinder Stilo’s proposal for the hotel on Kotzin Ranch because the company wouldn’t use a well.”)

as of January 24, 2020, Stilo had submitted a “a revised proposal for roads and utility easements connecting to parcels of land they own that are surrounded by the Kaibab National Forest” (unanimously approved). opening these roads would require “some blasting.” as regards the groundwater:

Gitlin also worried that the new proposal did not adequately protect the area’s groundwater.

The proposal promises that commercial water needs — which during peak season, would be 275,000 gallons a day — would have to be hauled in by truck. It still allows “residential uses” to be met by pumping groundwater.

In the proposal, Stilo offered to agree to a “complete prohibition” on commercial groundwater use, except in the event of “technological breakthroughs resulting in proven zero-impact upon groundwater resources.”

It suggested a restrictive covenant or a conservation easement to enforce that restriction, but it’s not clear who would be responsible for that enforcement.

effectively, plans for development are going forward, & previous reassurances that no immediate proposals were being made seem like lies.

it’s worth mentioning in light of some other comments going around that the issue here isn’t preserving the untouched pristine beauty of nature or something–this kind of terra nullius-inflected rhetoric in fact relies upon colonialist & genocidal logic–but rather the responsibilities & livelihoods of the people who belong to the land & stand to be harmed by these proposals.

incidentally, the Havasupai Tribe have a COVID-19 relief fund that you can donate to here, in addition to emailing & calling the people listed above.

[toadschooled]

*thinks about very small frogs* *angrily wipes away tears*

[solepunk]

Oh, but to be like @markscherz and cry over very small frogs for a living

[markscherz]

It is a delight, that’s for sure

[findersfeeders]

Allow me to introduce you to

THE PUMPKIN TOADLET

They smol

But they mighty

Don’t mess.

(They’re so ity bity they can’t hear themselves call.)

Used to be most smol. Bu has been out teenied by the MINI genus. Srsly.

Sciencey name? Mini mum. Other species? Mini ature.

It’s clostest fam? The most lorge.

😁

[markscherz]

You’re welcome. (I’m the one who named the genus Mini and its three ridiculously named species. You missed Mini scule)

[the-desert-dancer]

@dragonie

[debbietrash]

the degree that parents of young children seem to think Baby Shark came out of nowhere astounds me. this is a DECADES-OLD camp song, that has spanned generations. 

[virginiaisforhaters]

i am not a parent of a young child but i worked at summer camps for years and let me tell you before it was ruined by parents of young children baby shark was the most fun camp song ever. kids went buckwild over baby shark. but then it had to be commercialized. you ruined it. yall motherfuckers stay away from the bear song or we’ll have words 

[thequantumqueer]

#part of the problem w/ commercializing camp songs#other than you know Everything#is that it canonizes a specific version#one of the best parts of baby shark was that every camp had slightly different versions#does the singer die and go to hell?#are they reincarnated as a shark?#are they left as a concsious severed head bobbing in the waves?#it was different each time it was sung and its fucking beautiful

[celtic-pyro-deactivated20230725]

Never thought I’d get this much Baby Shark deep lore but I’m here for it.

[renthony]

When the Baby Shark re-emergence happened I was confused as fuck because I remember my friends and I annoying the ever-loving fuck out of our teachers in elementary school with it.

[drakansa]

My bff brought it back from camp one year and we did it ALWAYS.

We had the hand gestures and swimming and everything.

But the time was just a little different so this version confused the heck out of me.

tfw someone calls you their friend for the first time

[littleprxgrammer-blog]

tfw someone calls you their friend for the 323,729,425th time

[thetrashthatsmilesback]

Friend

[thesealfriend]

tfw you see someone’s face light up because you called them a friend:

[abyssal-glory]

i love my friends……………..

[steph-plez]

FRIENDS

[animalwoonz]

nose job turkey

[cryptidsyrup-deactivated2021011]

an addition…

-maximus

[ghostcat3000]

WHO IS ENTERING MY HOME AND STEALING MY SOUL???

[the19thduckpotato]

my new moodboard

[milfkarlmarx-deactivated2021081]

take my quiz and find out whats wrong with you!

https://uquiz.com/ijjhC7

[transpichu-remade-deactivated20]

[a-wild-rosette]

[courferre-stan]

This came for my fucking throat—

[drakansa]

gifted kid burnout

you used to read so much and now youre jared 19 where has the inspiration gone?? your life goals are basically nothing at this point your only hope for the future is that you'll be able to sleep one day. iced coffee is not a meal eat something solid king

[crown-prince-zuko]

Zuko who spent years at sea with sailors: *stubs his toe* “Ow! Fucking son of a bitch, motherfucking god-fuck fuck fuck. Holy-“

Aang:

[uberguber89]