Stuff and Stuff

Stuff includes ???? books??

[days-of-reading]

Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts

[2manypdfs]

happy There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury day

[website-com]

oh quote from joseph gordon-levitt on being second, we're really in it now

[website-com]

[thebristolboard]

“The Militarization of the Police Department – Deadly Farce,” an original painting by Richard Williams from “The 20 Dumbest People, Events, and Things of 2014″ in Mad magazine #531, published by DC Comics, February 2015.

[spaceraptor]

Here’s the original, for comparison. And here’s a bit more about the artist and why he created the piece above for MAD Magazine.

[pennamerequired]

Richard Williams on Norman Rockwell:

“For most people, he was the painter of ‘America,’” he added. “But even he said his vision was what he wanted ‘America’ to be. It was a mythical ‘America,’ a place where all people were decent, honest and full of good will. His work was full of gentle humor that made you feel a little better; even if you knew it wasn’t really true… you just wished it was. My parody of Rockwell’s painting simply says, ‘That myth is dead.’”

[1-420-666-6969]

I think it’s relevant to add that even Norman Rockwell chose to leave his cushy job at the Saturday Evening Post because he wanted to make artwork that was more radical. The Post had rules that wouldn’t allow him to do artwork depicting black people as anything other than servants. The job paid really well and that was a huge reason he continued on. But he wanted change that and so he moved to Look magazine.

A lot of people know about the very first piece he did when he left the post which was the The Problem We All Live With which depicts Ruby Bridges walking to school under federal protection.

But I don’t think enough people know about Murder in Mississippi which depicts three real civil rights activists who were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan and sherriffs. The magazine ran the sketch instead of the finished piece because they felt it had a more striking statement to accompany the article. Norman Rockwell would finish that version after publication which is here

Rockwell’s legacy is sanitized because he decided to maintain his job at the Post for so long despite his frustrations with not being able to express himself. The civil rights movement was just his final straw to change what he could with the little time he had left. Look magazine received a lot of hate for Rockwell painting these as well.

Another favorite piece of mine is The Right to Know which depicts an integrated populace questioning their government. In 1968, the year of Vietnam and the year the Fair Housing Act only just got signed in months prior:

But I think it’s important to include the caption Rockwell originally wrote for the piece as well. I think it represents how a 74 year old Rockwell felt about the America he believed in and the people in it:

We are the governed, but we govern too. Assume our love of country, for it is only the simplest of self-love. Worry little about our strength, for we have our history to show for it. And because we are strong, there are others who have hope. But watch us more closely from now on, for those of us who stand here mean to watch those we put in the seats of power. And listen to us, you who lead, for we are listening harder for the truth that you have not always offered us. Your voice must be ours, and ours speaks of cities that are not safe, and of wars we do not want, of poor in a land of plenty, and of a world that will not take the shape our arms would give it. We are not fierce, and the truth will not frighten us. Trust us, for we have given you our trust. We are the governed, remember, but we govern too.

[specialagentartemis]

Regarding Norman Rockwell, I also want to shout out “New Kids in the Neighborhood (Moving Day)” in 1967:

Also for LOOK magazine, but leaning on his themes of youth and suburban life. Expressing both hope for the curiosity and open-mindedness of children, and the bitter recognition of the suspicion of adults towards racial integration (see the face peeking out of the window in background). It’s notable that this is what he wanted America to be, too. He hoped for a better future.

I think that MAD Magazine artwork is really good and really poignant, and it’s also interesting to put it in conversation with Norman Rockwell’s own political evolution in his art as well.

[edsrosetattoo]

This is the best idea in the history of film.

[kyrianne]

[lassie-farce]

I would pay real american dollars to see it

[clarelyobvious]

Genius.

[sheherlockholmes]

[kaban-bang]

no fucking way

[fervent-bookwomb]

i think that soy sauce fish and honey bear must be the very very best of friends

[fervent-bookwomb]

look at them. look at them!!! i bet they have tea parties together when the spice cabinet is closed.

[casualfoxwitch]

[animentality]

[true-bean]

You guys are never gonna fucking believe what it’s actually called

[elfgrove]

[jackscarab]

They can try, and spend absurd amounts of money, and they might even make absurd amounts of money back, but we all know the real metric of cultural relevance.

[the-official-ceo]

[matteoberrettini]

arthur ashe on court during wimbledon in 1964

[hypokeimena]

#oh my friend arthur ashe from the crossword!! (via @absolutehush)

[matteoberrettini]

okay i'm sorry people keep rbing this talking about crossword and i'm confused so can someone explain this to confused tennis enjoyer op <3

[andhumanslovedstories]

There’s a lot of words and names that come up very frequently in crossword puzzles because they are a useful and easy combination of letters—OREO, OSLO, ODE(S), ANYA, ALI, for example. “ASHE” is an insanely useful word for a tight crossword grid, so Arthur Ashe gets disproportionately featured in crossword puzzles. There are so many clues about him. He’s basically a recurring character in my lil word puzzles.

[reaandull]

...🦴

[reaandull]

a friend asked me if i could upload this to my print shop so here it is if anyone else is interested :o)

[insomniac-arrest]

it’s all “accidental hand touch” this and “brief longing gaze” that, where’s my support at for “reaching up and fixing someone’s collar for them” crew??

the intimacy disguised as helpfulness! the lingering contact! the optional subdued “you look nice” as they stand too close!!

expand your pining vocabulary people

[visenyaism]

The concept of modern AU Jaime Lannister is too absurd to exist with any fidelity. What if LeBron James killed the president and then kept on hooping for fifteen years?

[decadentcadence]

you people tricked me so cruelly with every single happy griddlehark fanart and headcanon, by the way, I was reading the books and thought SURELY. SURELY AT LEAST THERE WILL BE ONE SINGLE THING WHEN THEY GET TO BE HAPPY. IN A DELUSION, IN A DREAM, IN A SINGLE FLEETING MOMENT.

BOY WAS I WRONG.

[decadentcadence]

and the worst thing??? i know they both YEARN for romance. it's so low in their list of priorities right now but they DREAM of love. gideon basically acts like a happy little puppy when dulcinea and coronabeth give her any positive attention, and she can't help but thinking so softly and gently about harrow in htn. harrow, at her lowest, when she's lost and losing her mind, grabbing the first scenario she can, dreams of a gorgeous ball where gideon can sweep her off her feet – and of a sweet little coffeeshop meet-cute.

they both yearn for love so badly and so hopelessly, not just romantic love, but honestly? romantic love too.

[movietonight]

I wouldn't be a good sacrificial lamb I'd be like a huge bitch about it

[thanergetic-hyperlinks]

this is what Gideon Nav erroneously tells herself

[headspace-hotel]

tumblr is full of phrases that we are all so desensitized to that they're just normal, but if you say it to a person in real life its so funny to them its a one-hit insta kill

[krash-8]

my fave additions from the notes

[krash-8]

[palominodragon]

#i need you to know this is how braziians talks like. usually.#''i'll kill myself in front of them'' is usual talk#''i want them to come to impregnate me leave me and dont pay child support''#''please come to my house and fuck my family'#''guess i'll eat dirt now''#all things i hear daily

Hang on, I'm intrigued by this. Is this an example of convergent evolution or are their genetic ties between Brazilian humor and tumblr humor?

[las-lus]

i think its just the humor being very similar. We love explicit wacky expressions, especially online!

we uuuuh are also usually left alone on social media because so few people know portuguese outside of brazil (compared to, say, english or spanish). so we just. say shit thinking none one will see. like this one time someone tweeted to lil nas x "lil nas x break into my house and eat the asshole of my entire family".

[depsidase]