hello vonnie
Xuebing Du
Peter Solarz
I'd rather be in outer space đ¸
No title available
i don't do bad sauce passes
Sade Olutola
cherry valley forever
izzy's playlists!
oozey mess
sheepfilms
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
JBB: An Artblog!
Cosmic Funnies
Aqua Utopiaď˝ćľˇăŽĺşă§č¨ćśăç´Ąă
dirt enthusiast
$LAYYYTER
No title available
NASA
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
seen from United States
seen from Hungary
seen from United States
seen from TĂźrkiye
seen from Malaysia
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Germany
seen from Malaysia
seen from Italy
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from Bosnia & Herzegovina
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from TĂźrkiye
seen from United States
@elelith
Reblog if you're a fanfic writer and you wanna know what your followers' favorite story of yours is â¤
@amarguerite Hmmm Dalliance for rereads, EFM for being my first of your fics and the IceSkater!Anne for making me like the character enough to reread Persuasion and enjoy it more as an adult.
Space Void with Moon Phases Eyes đ đ đ đ đ đ đ
Kestrel-dad not sure how to dad but heâs trying his best.
Dad loves you and feeds you. But he is also dumb and feeds you a wonderfully done wagyu steak. You are 3 days old.
Okay, but check out this video from mid-May 2022 of a Kestrel Dad who just kept piling up voles and mice beside his babies when the mom was injured/killed/miaâd by owlsâŚbut then watched one of his babies just swallow a lizard and went âOH. I can feed them small food!â and learned to tear it apart!
EDIT: Thereâs a not-zero percent chance that this could be the same dad???????? The source is the sameâRobert E Fullerâbut they could be different birds.Â
UPDATE: Not only has Mister Kes learned to feed his chicks all on his ownâŚ
âŚ.the three chicks who were taken out of the nest for intensive care after the mom disappeared were put back in, and he just started feeding them, too.
Heâs a single father of six who does not possess the instincts to feed even one of his offspring, but he learned and adopted that behavior without difficulty and is now hunting and providing for six kids all on his own.Â
Happy fatherâs day to the Krestel single dad of 6 Who is doing a wonderful job
jesus fucking christ look at all these fragile pieces of shit who canât watch a movie with women and poc in them I'mđđđ
everyone whoâs commenting âhaha wouldnât that leave like 5 minutes of the movie thenđđâ is missing the point SO hard
no, it wouldnât. cutting all the female characters, poc and gay ârepâ is actuallyâŚ.pretty easy. this guy did it and itâs still a solid movie.
you guys are giving marvel WAY too much credit. They donât give a shit about representation, they donât give a shit about you - the only thing they care about is money and looking Wokeâ˘
they did that by advertising how âprogressiveâ they are for adding the first openly gay character ever!! letâs see when we can get an openly gay main character. or at least, dare I suggest, one that has a name.
they did that by hyping carol the fuck up and then only using her for 3 scenes
they did that by putting all the female characters in one shot for a Girl Power UwU scene; âoh look at us! we have all these female characters in one shot! we donât hate womenâ isnât that sad? that you can fit all your girls into one single shot? that despite your claims, all the girls combined still only have 116 minutes of screentime while the men have almost 400? isnât that fucking pathetic?
it is. and look at this douche, look at all the assholes out there, this doesnât mean SHIT to them, they take half an hour out of their day and cut a few scenes and boom - everything marvel claims is âprogressiveâ is gone. none of their fake wokeness is important to the plot.
the gay character? who even is he?
T'challa and his family? their ~ 1 minute of screentime is easily cut
Sam becoming Cap? Where will we see that? In the show? Right. This person cut the scene and did that change the plot of endgame? the answer is no.
Carol? not much to cut since she was barely there
Natasha? The only thing she was good for is to die
Pepper? housewife. All he needed to do was cut the scenes where Tony washes the dishes and talks to Pepper, and cut Rescueâs, what, 20 seconds of screentime? and boom. ideal female, right?
Valkyrie? Oh sheâs there alright, in the background, doing jack shit until Thor calls her queen in one scene, but does that scene mean anything? Do any of her scenes mean anything? Not to them. 10 seconds is all it takes and her scenes are all gone.
Nebula? kidnapped. dead
Gamora? insignificant. cut
you canât mock this dude because âhaha he has no movie left now đâ. you gotta mock, no, hate marvel because thatâs just the thing - he does. not a single poc or woman or lgbt person did anything that, if they left it out, the movie would make no sense.
and thatâs just what he did. and yes, heâs pathetic for it, but donât think marvel gives a single fuck about you. they donât.
Aaaand someone said it ⌠every single time a dude can make such a cut and the movie still makes sense, the movie has failed.
New rule: If you can cut all minority characters and women without losing plot coherency it is a failure. We can call it the Rian-Russo effect.
the problem was deeply solvable, honey bunny
Tolkien trying desperately in letters upon letters and appendices upon appendices to find out why the orcs donât work when frankly it is very simple: you Cannot create a race of sentient, free-willed beings, make every single one of them an irredeemable caricature of what real-world human races you think look ugly today, and THEN expect them to make narrative sense in your narratively coherent fantasy world. You cannot attempt to make high-minded points about the evils of war and at the same time have an entire species that itâs okay for the heroes to slaughter indiscriminately, with not a single thought to prisoners, diplomacy, negotiation, mercy or peace but itâs all good because they have Yellow Skin and squinty eyes so dw abt it
Here is the very apparent solution: either make your Cannon Fodder Species be empty suits of armor powered by an evil spell, or give orcs a variety of inner lives and motivations. Theyâre either people or they arenât, no in-between solution is possible.
The way I see it, all these people creating Fantasy, Sci-Fi, etc narratives want their faceless goon species which basically amounts to 10000 mindless automatons to throw at the heroes so that they can have a cool battle scene and the heroes can be shown to excel at the art of combat by chopping off the heads of like 5 guys at once or whatever. Which is something that I think can probably be managed with some aforethought! But you have to commit to the bit.
You have to utterly, strictly, completely commit to the bit.
They have GOT to actually be soulless automatons. You CANNOT humanize these goons even a little bit. You cannot have the orcs talking among themselves of running off into the mountains to hide away from the slaughter. You cannot have the B1-battledroids crack little jokes and rejoice at promotions and fear for their lives. Because now youâve humanized them. Now a percentage of the audience will sympathize with them. Now youâve got Star Wars review podcasters running their mouths about Droid Enslavement. Now youâve got me ranting about orcs every day.
But, well, thereâs something awfully tame about having your heroes fight 10000 empty suits of armor powered by an evil spell, yes? Thereâs something bloodless to it? Sure, but if you want your heroes slaughtering People, you have to also deal with the ethical dilemma unfortunately. The moment you give your henchmen backstories and feelings and opinions and moments in the spotlight, be they just for comedy, your audience will say âWait a minute. Our heroes are murdering PEOPLE and no one cares. What the fuck?â
I mean, look at the goons in the MCU, for example. We remember most of the one-off villains but, can anyone remember the name of the aliens that helped Loki wreck NYC in the 2012 Avengers movie? No, no one gives a shit about them, we just want to see how the Avengers use their cool powers on them. Thatâs that well executed. Sure, a repeating plot that boils down to âthe heroes smash up faceless goons whom no one gives a fuck aboutâ renders the MCU an assortment of popcorn action flicks, but thatâs what theyâre supposed to be. The 2012 Avengers movie didnât take on deep moral issues, and no one needed it to.
Walking this back to Tolkien, Iâve seen academics use his moments of insight into orc minds and culture in his defense. âLook, he does care!â But it may have been a mistake on his part, because heâs done humanized them now. If we never heard the thoughts of an orc, we would not give a shit. Theyâd be like the exchangeable Marvel baddies, utterly cardboard. So now our friend Jirt is trapped. In LotR he wrote orcs to have thoughts, to even freely criticize Sauron, to long for a life that is more than theyâre given. So why now is it okay for Aragorn and the Silmarillion war crime elves to put them to death by the millions? He canât answer this question and it IS his fault for not thinking earlier. The religious angle by the other post up there also does not work btw
Hhhhhh I got several replies on this back then, and unfortunately none of them are even worth my while, and it frustrates me to this day
Folks rolling up here like âWell actually orcs were made from elves soooooâ like I didnât already know that?? Like I decided to just, head into the Tolkien debate without knowledge of even the most basic lore? Like I did that?? And yeah this is basic, Tolkien had several ideas for orc origins, the elf one is just the most likely one that ended up in the Silm as compiled by Christopher Tolkien
#Tolkienâs âhmm I did a free will crime againâ is deeply relatable#but also it shouldnât have gotten to that point buddy#if they have enough sentience to make war machines then they have enough sentience for everything else#if they can speak to taunt then they can speak and listen#he should have thought this through like ten steps before#and far wiser authors have done way better with his raw material than he ever managed to
God, finally, some people who understand the point of the post
A Tundra Nenets woman poses with her daughter and a pet reindeer calf. Gydan Peninsula, Yamal, Western iberia, Russia
#at least 1 thing is universal across all cultures #bundling up little kids in the cold until they look like they can barely move
A Tundra Nenets woman poses with her daughter and a pet reindeer calf. Gydan Peninsula, Yamal, Western iberia, Russia
#at least 1 thing is universal across all cultures #bundling up little kids in the cold until they look like they can barely move
A Tundra Nenets woman poses with her daughter and a pet reindeer calf. Gydan Peninsula, Yamal, Western iberia, Russia
#at least 1 thing is universal across all cultures #bundling up little kids in the cold until they look like they can barely move
UK government asks German residents to drive lorries even if they never have before
âŚ..
âŚâŚâŚâŚ.
âŚâŚâŚâŚâŚâŚ.
âŚ..
âŚâŚâŚâŚ..
âŚâŚâŚâŚâŚâŚâŚâŚ..
Okay but the statements from the German guy they interviewed are sending me.
Brexitâs going well then.
Broke: Germans love tubas, lederhosen and beer
Woke: Germans are born knowing how to drive HGV
so Iâm looking at short story publishers (fantasy)
Tor, cream of the crop. 25 cents a word. Stories can be read for free (YES). Slowish response time at ~3 months. Prefer under 12k, absolute maximum is 17.5k. Donât bother if itâs not highly professional quality. SFWA qualifying.
Crossed Genres. 6 cents a word. Different theme each month (this monthâs is âfailureâ). Submissions must combine either sci-fi or fantasy with the theme. Response time 1 month. 1k-6k, no exceptions. SFWA qualifying.
Long Hidden, anthology from CG. 6 cents a word. 2k-8k, no exceptions. Must take place before 1935. Protagonist(s) must be under 18 and marginalized in their time and place. Must be sci-fi/fantasy/horror. Deadline 30 April. Response by 1 October.
Queers Destroy Science Fiction. Sci-fi only right now, author must identify as queer (gay, lesbian, bi, ace, pan, trans, genderfluid, etc, just not cishet). 7.5k max. Deadline 15 February. Responses by 1 March. You can submit one flash fiction and one short story at the same time. (My network blocks the Lightspeed site for some reason, so I canât get all the submission details. >_>) Probably SFWA qualifying?
Women in Practical Armor. 6 cents a word. 2k-5k. Must be about 1) a female warrior who 2) is already empowered and 3) wears sensible armour. Deadline 1 April. Response within three months.
Fiction Vortex. $10 per story, with $20 and $30 for editorâs and readersâ choice stories (hoping to improve). Speculative fiction only. Imaginative but non-florid stories. 7.5k maximum, preference for 5k and under. (I kind of want to support them on general principle.)
Urban Fantasy Magazine. 6 cents a word. 8k max, under 4k preferred. Must be urban fantasy (aka, the modern world, doesnât need to be a literal city).Â
Nightmare. 6 cents a word. 1.5-7.5k, preference for under 5k. Horror and dark fantasy. Response time up to two weeks. SFWA and HWA qualifying.
Apex Magazine. 6 cents a word. 7.5k max, no exceptions. Dark sci-fi/fantasy/horror. SFWA qualifying.
Asimovâs Science Fiction. 8-10 cents a word. 20k max, 1k minimum. Sci-fi; borderline fantasy is ok, but not S&S. Prefer character focused. Response time 5 weeks; query at 3 months. SFWA qualifying, ofc.
Buzzy Mag. 10 cents a word. 10k max. Should be acceptable for anyone 15+. Response time 6-8 weeks. SFWA qualifying.
Strange Horizons. 8 cents a word. Speculative fiction. 10k max, prefers under 5k. Response time 40 days. Particularly interested in diverse perspectives, nuanced approahces to political issues, and hypertexts. SFWA qualifying.Â
Fantasy and Science Fiction. 7-12 cents a word. Speculative fiction, preference for character focus, would like more science-fiction or humour. 25k maximum. Prefers Courier. Response time 15 days.
Scigentasy. 3 cents a word. .5-5k. Science-fiction and fantasy, progressive/feminist emphasis. Fantastic Stories of the Imagination. 15 cents a word. 3k maximum. Any sci-fi/fantasy, they like a literary bent. (psst, steinbecks!) They also like to see both traditional and experimental approaches. Response time two weeks.Â
Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 6 cents a word. 10k maximum. Fantasy in secondary worlds only (it can be Earth, but drastically differentâalternate history or whatever). Character focus, prefer styles that are lush yet clear, limited first or third person narration. Response time usually 2-4 weeks, can be 5-7 weeks. SFWA qualifying.
Clarkesworld. 10 cents a word up to 4000, 7 afterwards. 1-8k, preferred is 4k. Science-fiction and fantasy. Needs to be well-written and convenient to read on-screen. Appreciates rigour. No talking cats. Response time 2 days. SFWA qualifying.
Orson Scott Cardâs Intergalactic Medicine Show. 6 cents a word. Any length. Science-fiction and fantasy (along with fantastic horror). Good world-building and characterization. Clear straightforward prose. Response time three months. Yes, OSC is editor-in-chief. SFWA qualifying.
Interzone. Sub-pro rates if anything (but highly respected). 10k max. Short cover letter. Science-fiction and fantasy.
Whenever I see a post like this, I feel like I have to tell people about the Submission Grinder. I just did a search on it and it came up with 135 markets that pay for fantasy short stories. You can search by genre, pay rate, length of story they accept, etc, and itâs constantly being updated, which a post like this canât be, and you can also use it to keep track of what youâve sent where and when, and since a lot of people use it for this purpose itâs got a lot of good data about response times and so on. If you are trying to sell fiction or poetry on the regular, it is such a useful tool and I encourage everyone to use it.
Story time:
In middle school biology, we did an experiment. We were given yams, which we would sprout in cups of water. We then had to make hypotheses about how the yams would grow, based on descriptions of yam plants in our books, and make notes of our observations as they grew.
Hereâs what was supposed to happen: we were supposed to see that the actual growth of the plant did not resemble our hypotheses. We were then supposed to figure out that these were, in fact, sweet potatoes.
What actually happened was that every single student in every single class lied in their notes so that their observations perfectly matched their hypotheses. See, everyone assumed the mismatch meant they had done something wrong in the process of growing the plant or that they had misunderstood the dichotomous key or the plant identification terminology. And, thanks to the wonders of a public school education, everyone assumed the wrong results would get us a failing grade. We were trying to pass. We didnât want to get bitched out by the teacher. Curiosity, learning, science - that had nothing to do with why we were sitting in that classroom. So we all lied.
The teacher was furious. She tried to fail every student, but the administration stepped in and told her she wasnât allowed to because a 100% fail rate is recognized as a failure of the teacher, not the class. It wasnât even her fault, really, though her being a notorious hard-ass didnât help. It was a failure of the entire educational system.
So whenever I see crap like Elizabeth Holmesâs blood test scam or pharmaceutical trials which are unable to be replicated or industry-funded research that reaches wildly unscientific conclusions, I just remember those fucking sweet potatoes. I remember that curiosity dies when people are just trying to give their superiors the ârightâ answers, so they can get the grade, get the job, get the paycheck. Itâs not about truth when itâs about paying rent. Thereâs no scientific integrity if you canât control for human desperation.
some choice moods from Murderbot
bonus:
It is a painful truth that actually none of my fics are abandoned, no, not even the ones that havenât updated in five years. I still know exactly what happens next, and after that, and so on. Theyâre not abandoned; theyâre right here, haunting me, characters climbing up my pants like kittens nagging for dinner.
prince phillip is dead and the newsreader was like âthis has come as a shock to manyâ babe where have you BEEN
sometimes you start reading a fic and immediately youâre like OH this was written by a child. okay. please know that i am proud of you but also i cannot keep reading this
âthis kid is in eighth grade, and their teacher just told them that using âsaidâ is bad, so theyâre plumbing the depths of the dictionary for every single other dialogue tag that exists - and some that donât - and Iâm proud of them for expanding their vocabulary, but I must depart all the sameâ
