WTH is going on

increasingly convoluted repository of shiny internet objects

[wokefrogvirus]

let’s have a blast with mama

[oblivioustoast]

photographer credit from the notes!

[fforsythiaaa]

Once when I was in undergrad, someone described something as “problematic” in class and our professor was like, “That’s cool, but ‘problematic’ doesn’t really mean anything. It means that the thing you’re describing has a problem, and in and of itself that’s not bad. Art, especially, should always have problems, or else it’s not interesting and not art, either. It sounds like you’re trying to say that this is bad, but you don’t want to say ‘bad.’ Is that right?”

So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”

Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.

Anyway. Whenever I see the word problematic, I can’t help but think of this professor being like, “Good starting point, now let’s get specific.” I think when we have to commit to saying “that’s ___” it requires a lot more careful thought about the truth and impact and complexities of whatever we’re claiming. Sometimes there really is some bullshit afoot, and also sometimes it’s art, and it should be full of problems, because that’s what art is.

[darkswamplurker]

I'm fully 100% on board with "Know why you think things, and be able to explain the reasoning", I'm always saying this

...but can someone explain the "Art should always have problems, or else it’s not interesting and not art"; what the hell does this mean? Why would you ever want something to have problems?

[exalteranima]

Depends what the "problem" is. It's not just shorthand for "this is racist/sexist/etc."

Back in the day art critics would've called Marcel Duchamp's Fountain problematic because he just used a mass-produced porcelain urinal and didn't "make" it himself, ergo it's not "real" art. And that's the point. Duchamp was obviously making a statement. Why a urinal? Why did he "make" it this way? What even is "real" art? These are all questions Duchamp wants us to ask about the work.

You could say the same about Mark Rothko, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock, even fucking Piss Christ. They want to confuse and question our preconceived notions of what art "should" be. They all want us to break out of our "standing at the museum nodding and pretending we understand why this work is important" modes by making something that genuinely doesn't make sense at first glance.

And this wasn't just limited to modern art or abstract expressionism. Go back far enough in art history and you'll find artists who were considered problematic because their subjects weren't religious figures, or they painted common folk instead of monarchs or historical/classical heroes.

[fforsythiaaa]

Once when I was in undergrad, someone described something as “problematic” in class and our professor was like, “That’s cool, but ‘problematic’ doesn’t really mean anything. It means that the thing you’re describing has a problem, and in and of itself that’s not bad. Art, especially, should always have problems, or else it’s not interesting and not art, either. It sounds like you’re trying to say that this is bad, but you don’t want to say ‘bad.’ Is that right?”

So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”

Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.

Anyway. Whenever I see the word problematic, I can’t help but think of this professor being like, “Good starting point, now let’s get specific.” I think when we have to commit to saying “that’s ___” it requires a lot more careful thought about the truth and impact and complexities of whatever we’re claiming. Sometimes there really is some bullshit afoot, and also sometimes it’s art, and it should be full of problems, because that’s what art is.

[kyt0ru]

Obligatory post to tumblr after forgetting it exists

[inkandpainter]

A prayer. An answered prayer.

Collective 2026 Trigun Trauma Bonded.

[andlatitude]

[atanerrum]

LOCK IN NOW!!💥

matching w this guy (z_z)

[darkcomedies]

evoking bertholt brecht’s “the way people cast a play!” quote as a spell against prescriptive, stereotypical, fatalistic typecasting

[darkcomedies]

idk what to tell you except go look at the fishwives

[jukojoestar]

Does anyone wanna go to the store for a unspecified reason 🫪

[thisistab]

back from the dead to post this inked and colored nightow sketch I've been chewing on

[ryanthel0ser]

Vashwood and Merylmilly matching with their hats/bows is very important to me

[atanerrum]

boy failure 🌹

[san-sebastienne]

Dashiell Hammett, who basically invented the noir genre (think: The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man) hung out enough in the queer scene in San Francisco in the 20s-30s that he picked up some contemporary queer lingo that he folded into his stories. In The Maltese Falcon, there’s a scene where the wildly gay-coded villain shows up at a meeting with a skinny little blonde with a bad attitude and a gun in tow, and detective Sam Spade tells him to “leave the gunsel outside” — gunsel being contemporary gay slang for a young, effeminate man who probably bottoms (from the Yiddish gansl, meaning gosling). Basically, he’s saying “I’m here to talk to you, not your twink.”

However, a lot of writers mimicking Hammett did not know gay lingo or Yiddish, saw the word “gun,” and assumed “gunsel” meant “scary bodyguard with a gun.” They took off with a word they didn’t understand and spread it so fast that it’s now basically impossible to read a noir story written between 1930-1960 without someone accidentally being called a twink at least once. Look out for it next time you’re reading Raymond Chandler or his ilk, I guarantee you’ll find it.

[totallynotagentphilcoulson]

Much funnier is how by a decade after Hammett’s death there were a bunch of Westerns also using it to refer to gunmen up to and including the HBO series Deadwood

[souvenirs]

[spitfaggot]

happy birthday, gilbert baker. (june 2, 1951 — march 31, 2017)

[jayrockin]

thegladhatter reblogged your post and added:

What do you do with winged mounts? I don’t know if i’ve ever seen a depiction that doesn’t have someone sitting where they’d interfere with the wings.

You’re talking about the horse pose with the wings over the legs, right?

Personally I don’t think this would interfere with the motion of the wings too too much, birds rarely need to move their wings straight forwards. Instead the glaring problem is: this is the least aerodynamic thing I’ve ever seeeeen

Instead, consider this:

Lying belly-down is the most aerodynamic, causes the least interference with motion, and minimizes the length of the reins; which would otherwise be flapping around in the breeze. The only issue would be your neck getting tired, which could be helped with a saddle chin rest.

[yeehawpim]

I can be the ship and its sailors

[doomdaysdecays-deactivated20251]

me: if only there was a fruit that looks like an apple but is actually a pear

the baffling papple:

[lesbeid0u]