i don't like where this is going...

I pick ideas up, I carry them around with me, I water them so that they'll grow, and sometimes I write them down. This is a grab bag of some of the stuff that inspires me.

[raymukada]

make me choose - kim wexler or jesse pinkman? (asked by anonymous)

[michaelsheen]

And you love this shit. You love being a temperamental star. I know you do. If you were sitting at home with that kid, your life would just become anger and resentment. No work, no husband. You would burn up in a smoldering ash heap of rage and disappointment. You think that’s good for you or your boring baby? It’s not.

[taekenbysurprise]

[astralspacedragon]

[elpy17]

The most beautiful story I've read possibly ever.

[periodically80s]

[elpy17]

Still miss you, David. 

[elpy17]

The Epilogue, by Crosses (2014)

[elpy17]

Silent Scream, by The Black Queen (2016). 

[elpy17]

Another classic 90s video. I made a reference to somebody being “a total Bee Girl” a few weeks ago and then had to explain the reference to the 19-23 year olds who were listening. Y’know. Because they hadn’t even been born yet in 1992 when this song came out. 

Also, I am like 90% sure that Sam Bayer, the director of this video, also directed the video for Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” 

[elpy17]

You always hear about MTV, and music videos in general, spoken about in terms of their genesis in the 1980s, but I think the medium really peaked in the 1990s, when directors like Tarsem Singh and Mark Romanek were doing interesting things. Of course, “Closer” is probably Romanek’s most well-known video, having earned itself a spot in NY’s MoMA. 

Personally, I was about 9 or 10 when this video was in heavy rotation on MTV and it was about 85% of the reason that channel was banned in our house. I remember being a little scared and a lot intrigued when I finally saw it years later. 

[elpy17]

David Fincher again. Not only do I love A Perfect Circle (I was an anxious, depressed teenager in the early 2000s, ok? Of course I love APC) but I love the grimy aesthetic of this video. You can always count on Fincher to perfectly nail whatever look and feel he’s going for, and this video is a perfect example of that. 

[elpy17]

Another 90s video that I love, directed by David Fincher, a director I also love. I cried for about ten minutes straight when I heard he’d passed. 

Freedom 90, by George Michael

[elpy17]

I checked out NBC’s new ~dark and gritty Wizard of Oz reboot yesterday, and it is so, so stupid but also very pretty, because the whole first season is directed by Tarsem Singh, probably best known for his movie The Cell and this R.E.M. video, which is still one of my very favorites.

[itsdansotherblog]

[elpy17]

me at work, trying to be a good HR person

Wow, a lot has changed in my life since i posted this seven months ago. I am no longer at Martins, no longer retail, and no longer technically HR. 

[skepticalavenger]

Why Did God Create Atheists?

There is a famous story told in Chassidic literature that addresses this very question. The Master teaches the student that God created everything in the world to be appreciated, since everything is here to teach us a lesson. 

One clever student asks “What lesson can we learn from atheists? Why did God create them?”

The Master responds “God created atheists to teach us the most important lesson of them all — the lesson of true compassion. You see, when an atheist performs and act of charity, visits someone who is sick, helps someone in need, and cares for the world, he is not doing so because of some religious teaching. He does not believe that god commanded him to perform this act. In fact, he does not believe in God at all, so his acts are based on an inner sense of morality. And look at the kindness he can bestow upon others simply because he feels it to be right.”

“This means,” the Master continued “that when someone reaches out to you for help, you should never say ‘I pray that God will help you.’ Instead for the moment, you should become an atheist, imagine that there is no God who can help, and say ‘I will help you.’”

ETA source: Tales of Hasidim Vol. 2 by Mar

[scyphozoans]

I started reading this and was worried it would be something attacking atheists, or bashing religion, but this makes me really, really happy.

[mother-gaga]

I want to hold you close, Soft breath, beating heart. As I whisper in your ear, I wanna fucking tear you apart.

[elpy17]

Please tell me I'm not the only one who thought this sequence straddled the line between "homage to" and "blatant ripoff of" The Hunger. They used a shitty new-Goth song in lieu of Bauhaus' iconic "Bela Lugosi's Dead," but come on, that song even showed up in a scene like 10 mins later. (And seriously, Ryan Murphy, wtf was the point of that? Like ~the youth obviously wouldn't get the reference to The Hunger from the sequence itself but now that you've played this now kind-of-obscure song that is also a reference to that movie, they totally will get it now? Or were you trying to be precious? ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH.)

[elpy17]

GUYS IT'S OCTOBER

[deathandmysticism]

Martín after Jacques Gamelin, A skeleton awakes to the last trump on Judgement Day, Wellcome Images, 1778-79

[feminesque]

The next few sketches show the skeleton grasping the trumpet, bending it in half and tossing it into the distance before flopping back down and dragging a pillow over its skull.