As a newer tumblr user coming over from Reddit and other social media i’ve been having trouble getting into a rhythm of regular posting here. Well I’ve just had an epiphany and realized why: I’ve been using this site all wrong.
I’ve been treating my blogs and reblogs like social media posts i need to curate. Only repost the most useful or interesting things, only post when you have something clever or pithy or funny to say, etc. Make your blog cool and funny, and likeable
But the people on here i like most treat their blogs like the online equivalent of the laundry chair, or the sauce packet drawer, or an overflowing trashbin
So fuck it, i’m just using my blog for stuff i want now. If anyone likes it that’s cool, but if not fine, more trash for me
“Oh where to begin. Well my name is Sasc’ha Sumthist (Sas-sha Sum-th-est), the C is silent! I’m a 19 year old… ‘cargo mover’ for the rebel forces, although I wouldn’t say I’m apart of the rebels. My ship is named Brenda Fortana Pearl Sumthist, my one true love. I’m her third and last owner, she reeks of cigarettes and rust but damn is she fast. I can guarantee she can out run any ship in the galaxy. I’m 5”6 and 140 lbs, I can’t legally drive without my glasses, and I live with three morons who do nothing but break my ship and steal my lighters. I consider myself a more spiritual individual and I’ve been having lots of deja vu lately.”
So I watched the original Star Wars again, and now I have consumed way too much Star Wars content in a few month period. So of course I had to make oc’s. This is the first of four character sheets I’m planning on doing but when those will be done idk. So here is the first Sasc’ha!
Welcome to the Ubese Language Databank! We will be posting one Ubese word of the day each day. Ubese consists entirely of verbs, so all you need to know is how to conjugate them. In this introductory post, we will cover the alphabet and various aspects of grammar. Each word of the day will showcase the definition and conjugation of each verb. Ia-to! Tages! (Let's begin!)
Alphabet and Punctuation
The Ubese alphabet is simple, consisting only of fourteen letters and three punctuation marks. Stress in vital in Ubese for distinguishing between different words, such as "ya-tei," meaning "I concur," vs "yatei," meaning "dismember me." Stress falls in an alternating pattern— for example, "ya-teiset-ga," meaning "they are not agreeable," is stressed on the even-numbered syllables, while "yateis-etga," meaning "they are not separated," is stressed on the odd-numbered syllables.
Topic Markers
Topics in Ubese indicate the the subject or object of the sentence, depending on whether the verb that follows is active or passive. For example, "o, ta-chei" means "I hear you," while "ei, tasho" means "you are heard by me." The topic marker is often voiced as a comma in spoken Ubese and is transliterated in Basic accordingly. Not every Ubese construction requires a topic— for example, "ta-chei" means "my ears work perfectly." Third person verbs are inflected with either animate or inanimate pronouns. Sentient beings, droids, animals, and plants are considered animate; all other objects are considered inanimate.
Suffixes
Negative suffixes in Ubese negate a given verb. For example, "a, ta-cheitga" means "I didn't hear that," and "edchat-ga" means "that is not edible."
Optative suffixes in Ubese express a desire for something to occur or be true; for example, "os, yo-teish" means "I want to show you something," and "udis-esh" means "may they learn."
Polite suffixes soften an otherwise direct verb form. For example, "a, yuh-to" means "give me that," while "a, yuh-tocha" means "please pass the bloodworms."
Adjectival suffixes turn verbs into descriptions, which generally serve the role of nouns in Ubese. For example, "a, eg-teis" means "we eat," while "eg-taza" means "food," or literally, "it is for eating."
Mathematics
Ubese is a highly contextual language with no actual root nouns. Thus, they do not have base cardinals. Instead, numbers are expressed in terms of arithmetic. For example, to say "I would like to buy four jogans for one credit," one would say "a, de-go. Ei, ze-gei," or, "add four jogans to my cart, I will add one credit to your pocket." Inverse operations are expressed in negatives; for example, to say "I will only give you half that much," one would say, "O, gyuh-tatga," or, "divide the amount of jogans by two."
You now understand the complete workings of Basic Ubese grammar! With these construction principles, you can conjugate any verb in the Ubese lexicon. Yu-gyosesh-cha! (I hope this lesson was satisfactory!)
So, it's entirely possible that a Twi'lek authority such as yourself has already addressed this question somewhere, but... are you part of the school of thought that regards Hera's lekku markings as natural, or as body art of some kind? And/or has it been established in canon one way or the other? Would be curious to hear your take (I don't have one yet myself). Thanks!
I have been thinking about those markings this week!
Full disclosure, there are a few sources (mostly Star Wars novelizations) that I haven’t kept up with; please let me know if I’m missing something, anyone.
Short version:
Up to this point, I’ve made the executive decision that Hera’s lekku are tattooed. I am now having to reconsider.
Long version:
1) Most Twi’leks we see do not have such distinct markings on their lekku. Here’s a group from “Liberty on Ryloth” (in the first season of The Clone Wars), for instance:
A couple of them have spots like freckles, but these aren’t distinct shapes, and it’s not hard to believe that they’re naturally occurring.
2) According to the (canon) Wookiepedia entry on lekku, “ Despite the high sensitivity of those organs,[1] some Twi'leks like Cham Syndulla tattooed their lekku.” That’s getting pretty close to Hera, isn’t it?
Here’s the concept art of Cham from the Rebels episode “Homecoming,” with his nifty tattoos:
3) Hera’s tattoos do not look like naturally occurring patterns. They are deliberate geometric designs. I know we can say “but they’re an alien species and their skin patterns are not going to follow the same rules as humans,” but I have a hard time seeing these as natural variations of skin pigmentation, given that they look like they came straight from a graphic designer:
Here’s an image from Rebels:
Side note: Hera has no sharp edges. Pieces of her are elongated vertical lines--her lekku and her insanely long legs, for instance--but they’re balanced by these rounded pieces--the blousing at the bottom of her pants and the circular designs on the lekku. Even her pockets have rounded edges. She’s not soft, but she is softened by these design elements.
4) But wait, CC, why would someone as pragmatic as Hera get tattoos?
Eh, a dozen reasons. Presumably they’re culturally significant, since she has similarly basic designs stenciled around her bunk on the Ghost. (Even if they’re not culturally significant, we know that her aesthetic tends towards these simple patterns.) Possibly/probably lekku are tattooed using a painless process--Hera’s look almost as if spots had been bleached rather than inked into her skin. Since Cham has tattoos, they may be significant to her family, specifically, or they may even be a status symbol (the Syndullas are important). Also, why shouldn’t Hera have nice things?
BUT NOW WE HAVE THE BAD BATCH, in which we learn two significant things:
5) Eleni Syndulla, Hera’s mother, also has markings on her lekku:
Does this mean that the markings are hereditary or that the tattoos are a family tradition? I don’t know.
6) Hera, at ten years old, already has those distinctive marked lekku.
(I know she looks more like she’s 14, and baby Caleb looks more like he’s 10, but she’s 10 here; trust me; go with it.)
I find it really, really difficult to believe that anybody is putting permanent tattoos on a ten-year-old--not because it has to be a painful process in the GFFA, but because they’re permanent, and 10 is a little young to decide that kind of thing.
On the other hand, the lines of these markings are so clear, the borders so delineated, that I find it even more difficult to believe they’re naturally occurring.
Yet another side note: Eleni’s markings are less distinct, and when we see adult Hera in Rebels, hers are also less distinct. Surely this has to do with the lekku expanding as they grow. I’m not sure this is evidence for tattoo or birthmark, though; either would expand this way.
IF these are tattoos, the only reasonable explanation I can think of involves some rite of passage that she’s already gone through at ten, be it a test or a baptism or whatever.
SO, CONCLUSION:
I don’t know? I’m going to continue with my original headcanon that these are tattoos in the same way that I’m not planning to rewrite my backstory about Hera’s mother or her discovery of Chopper: I like the headcanons I have, and it’s not my fault that the official storytellers are late to dinner.
I think the matter of whether these are ornamentation or birthmarks is truly up in the air, though.
BONUS, apropos of nothing:
Suu Lawquane and her totally badass probably-tattoos:
I live in a state where you “have to” report anyone you suspect of being undocumented (that wonderful hellhole of Arizona). Now in practice this law has fallen far short, thank goodness. But if you live in such a place and they start enforcing it, here is how you get around it:
Assume everyone who doesn’t speak English is visiting.
Never ask about their job, because if they tell you they work here then you know they’re not visiting. You see them a lot for several weeks or months? Hm. Someone in the family must be ill. That’s terribly tough. They always dress in old, ratty laborers’ clothes? I feel you, my dude, I can’t afford new clothes either, and my dad has the fashion sense of an aardvark, so sometimes it’s not even about “affording” them. They say they’ve been here for years? You must have misunderstood. Spanish isn’t your first language, after all. First and last name? It never came up, or you don’t recall–you meet a lot of people.
And then, if you’re asked: no, you haven’t seen anyone residing illegally in the United States. Just people visiting.
Essentially, this is the civil society version of a work-to-rule strike.
Don’t do more than is expressly asked of you, and do what you are asked with such an intense attention to protocol that not asking you at all becomes more effective than even bothering.
In this case:
“Have you seen an illegal immigrant?”
“Could you describe an illegal immigrant, officer?”
*officer describes a person who is in the country without appropriate paperwork, or who has crossed the border illegally*
“No, sir, I haven’t seen any illegal immigrant.”
And this is correct. You have NOT seen an illegal immigrant, because you have no way of knowing if Jose Fulano is here legally or not. And since you can’t see his paperwork (or lack thereof), and did not personally see him cross the border illegally, you are only answering precisely the question asked.
So, I’m a lawyer, who deals with immigration though does not specialize in it. But here’s the thing(s):
1) Even someone who’s working could be here on a migrant (or other sort of) visa (hey, there are a few thousand per year, and *someone*’s got to get them, right?) or could be waiting for their case to resolve in immigration court, after having come to America to join a born or naturalized American family member.
2) Even people who are working improperly could have come into the country legally – and just overstayed their visa or be violating the conditions of their visa, and you have no idea what the niggly little regulations that govern that might be.
3) If a law enforcement officer asks you about a neighbor/friend/etc., take this moment to remind them that, unlike them, you cannot ask a random person off the street for their ID and be entitled to a response.
4) Even if someone has told you that they are undocumented, you still don’t know, do you? Humans lie all the time. How could you know for sure? You can’t, because they can’t prove that they have a lack of papers. Just because you haven’t seen papers doesn’t mean they don’t exist!
5) Don’t ever talk to cops in general. Why are you talking to a cop? Stop that, as soon as it is safe and feasible.
bro i LOVE indigenous fusion music i love it when indigenous people take traditional practices and language and apply them in new cool ways i love the slow decay and decolonisation of the modern music industry
Another one for Inuit artists is Piqsiq! Two sisters who’ve been doing traditional throat singing since they were kids. They make some really gorgeous, eerie, atmospheric stuff. Highly recommend watching this video of them performing live a cappella using a looping machine, because they might be the coolest people on the planet actually
For anyone into North Asian and Central Asian folk music, there's this incredible Siberian folk-pop band called Otyken! The group is mostly women and they're from multiple indigenous groups in Siberia, with songs being sung in their range of different languages. They're so much fun and their music videos are amazing!
i'll go ahead and recommend The Halluci Nation (formerly known as A Tribe Called Red), an EDM group from First Nations Ontario that do really cool fusions of First Nations music with dubstep, moombahton, and hip hop.
I really really really appreciate people who share videos on posts like these, because almost without a doubt every time I love the music but I’ve never got the spoons to click on links and look through a bunch of music or worse google the artist I always end up too overwhelmed to start and I hate that
Haven't seen Belle Sisoski here yet so here we go: she's the current Artist of Year for BURO impact Awards. She's from Malaysia and knows how to play an insane amount of ethnic instruments and mixes them with her own voice. She does covers and her own songs, mixes ethnic instruments with Techno and shows the process. And she's also a live DJ at 19!
And one of her own:
Oh and of course there's also the HU and Bloodywood for people who like more rock and metal mixed in:
Alien Weaponry, Māori metal from Aotearoa (New Zealand!). Their bass player Tū does a lot of videos talking to other Māori creatives as well, which is pretty neat.
It took me about 15 seconds in to realize what was happening in this vid, but the second I did, I legit came. This is… I got chills and got so much validation for my theories about tap and pretty much any genre of music here…
They’re tap dancing, a kind of dancing typically associated with being old-fashioned and kind of silly. Personally, even tap dancing to old music is awesome in my eyes, but this is on a totally new and exciting level
The thing about tap is that it’s so often seen as a fancy, old-fashioned dainty dance that only posh (and generally white) people do in tuxedos but it didn’t used to be the case.
Way back in the early days, it was where black performers in Vaudeville were legendary for it in Jazz and Jive routines. At about 1:37, this is where the Nicholas brothers go off.
It’s such an expressive and joyful kind of dance and matches so well with hip hop beats and rhythm, which is why the modern reworking of it is so awesome.
Im sure a lot of people also watch the op video and they assume that “clap” sound is part of the music just because a LOT of modern music samples that sound and in some music it is just the sound of hands clapping, but no that is a sound being made by all their shoes at once.
in both cases: always start on the lowest setting and wrapped in something soft!! if it hurts, stop!!
But, re: sinuses: look up a diagram of where they are, and when a spot feels particularly good or is particularly congested, hold it there longer. Definitely keep tissues handy for when it drains. Also it can help if your sinuses hurt like fuck but aren't actually congested (which happened when I had covid), but the effect doesn't last long.
Re: TMJ disorder: You can just push it against the joint, obviously; if your vibe has a small contact point you can REALLY dig in there (but again: stop if it hurts). But don't forget the whole area around the joint, around your ears, and up your scalp. There's a lot of muscles that tighten when your jaw is tight/stiff/in pain. Be especially careful when on a spot that's just skin over a bone without a lot of padding.
vibrators can also help if you have restless legs syndrome! Especially ones with fancy pulse patterns. When my RLS is severe I tuck them behind my knees or wherever & can finally lie still & sleep. You might need to wrap them in fabric to avoid skin irritation ymmv. There was even a paper published somewhere called "counter stimulatory devices for RLS" that was hilariously vague about saying the word "vibrator"
Once again adding also useful if you have dystonia or any kind of muscle spasticity. I have cervical dystonia (neck spasms) and dystonia in my left leg that's essentially like persistent Charley horse cramps from my neuromuscular issues and bought a Hitachi expressly for this purpose lol
I really have zero patience with the whole "man vs. bear" / "you're alone in an elevator with three adult men BUT you feel completely safe. Who are they" / "male night joggers are the natural predator of female night joggers" thing. Like, it's jokes, but it's also sincere, and it reinforces the idea that it's normal and good for women to be afraid all the time, especially of men.
It is not good for women to be afraid all the time, and we should not encourage it! When you consume a media diet of mostly true crime, buy a surveillance device for your house, and commiserate with the girlies online about how scary it is to see a man in a public place, you are basically cultivating an anxiety disorder. This will make your life more unpleasant, because you have trained yourself to be scared all the time, and it will not benefit you, because your fears are based on memes, not reality. You're not protecting yourself from anything; you're just giving yourself an extra flinch response.
And it plays right into the hands of conservatives! The right wing would love it if all women, especially all white and/or wealthy women, were terrified to leave their houses alone because they might see a strange man. They want you to be on a quest for One Good Man who will protect you from all other men and to be too scared to go anywhere without him. They want you to be on a hair trigger, ready to call the cops on anyone who makes you uncomfortable, because that is your function within their hierarchy.
If you are a woman, especially a white woman, then your fear is used to justify violence against poor people and people of color, especially men. From the perspective of conservatives, this is what your fear is for. And your fear is, in large part, what you are for.
Don't let them use you. Don't cultivate your fear.
It is far far more likely for women to be hurt, abused, and murdered by that One Good Man. Isolating yourself from others will in fact put you in more danger!
