Ilzemijn

26. Dutch. Why are all my ships doomed :'(

[mythicalcoolkid]

Asexuality is weird because you’ll be 12 going “wow why are people my age concerned about sex we’re just kids” and then you’re 16 going “wow why are people my age concerned about sex we’re just kids” and then you’re an adult suddenly realizing that other people are attracted to people and want to have sex with them and that’s the normal thing at that age and you’re like oh maybe it’s me

[languill]

It’s sad how much of what is taught in school is useless to over 99% of the population.

There are literally math concepts taught in high school and middle school that are only used in extremely specialized fields or that are even so outdated they aren’t used anymore!

[flavoracle]

I took calculus my senior year of high school, and I really liked the way our teacher framed this on the first day of class.

He asked somebody to raise their hand and ask him when we would use calculus in our everyday life. So one student rose their hand and asked, “When are we going to use this in our everyday life?”

“NEVER!!” the teacher exclaimed. “You will never use calculus in your normal, everyday life. In fact, very few of you will use it in your professional careers either.” Then he paused. “So would you like to know why should care?”

Several us nodded.

He picked out one of the varsity football players in the class. “You practice football a lot during the week, right Tim?” asked the teacher.

“Yeah,” replied Tim. “Almost every day.”

“Do you and your teammates ever lift weights during practice?”

“Yeah. Tuesdays and Thursdays we spend a lot of practice in the weight room.”

“But why?” asked the teacher. “Is there ever going to be a play your coach tells you use during a game that requires you to bench press the other team?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then why lift weights?”

“Because it makes us stronger,” said Tim.

“Bingo!!” said the teacher. “It’s the same thing with calculus. You’re not here because you’re going to use calculus in your everyday life. You’re here because calculus is weightlifting for your brain.”

And I’ve never forgotten that.

[c-is-for-circinate]

THIS.

When it’s taught right, learning math teaches you logic and how to organize your brain, how to take a problem one step at a time and make sure every step can bear weight before you move to the next one.  Most adults don’t need to know integrals, but goddamn if I don’t wish everyone making arguments on the internet understood geometric proofs.

Scientific concepts broaden our understanding of how the world is put together, which does not mean that most adults ever really understand how light is refracted through a lens or why spinning copper wire creates electricity–and they don’t need to.  But science classes in general are meant to teach the scientific method: how to make observations and use them to draw conclusions, how to test those conclusions, how to be wrong and grow stronger from it.

History isn’t about dates and names of battles, it’s about people, patterns, things we’ve tried before and ought to learn from.  It’s about how everything is linked, how changing one circumstance can lead to changes in fifty others, cascading infinitely.  Literature is about critical thinking, pattern recognition, learning to listen to what somebody is saying and decide what it means to you, how you feel about it, and what you want to do with it.

Some facts matter: every adult should know how to read a graph, how global warming works, some of the basic themes and symbols that crop up in every piece of fiction.  But ultimately, content is less important later in life than context.

The good thing is, students who learn the content are likely to pick up at least some of the context, some of the patterns of thinking, even if they don’t realize it.  (The unfortunate thing is how the current educational system prioritizes content so much that a lot of students, and a lot of adults, don’t see the point in learning either, and teachers are overworked and held to standardize test grading scales such that it’s hard for them to emphasize patterns of thinking over rote memorization, etc etc etc, but that is a whole different discussion.)

[moi-ennepe-deactivated20251213]

thank u <3

[provst-deactivated20190401]

“Bilingualism strikes me as a kind of synesthesia. Instead of seeing colors associated with letters and words, instead of hearing melodies, what I hear with language is the play and echo of the other language. The option to say it differently, and thus to live it differently. Language is not only a means of communication or description. It’s a framework in which we process existence. Yi writes: “It is hard to feel in an adopted language, yet it is impossible in my native language.” As every bilingual person and translator knows, there are certain words—a feeling, a way of being—that is absent in one language but perfectly brought to life in another. A word that, by existing, gives permission to be. What if you need that which does not exist in your language?”

— Yoojin Grace Wuertz, “Mother Tongue”

[books0977]

Nissrine, a Moroccan girl, reads an application for a Dutch citizenship course. An alternative version of Johannes Vermeer’s painting Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window. Photo by Jan Banning.

“Xenophobia, especially Islamophobia, is rising in many European countries…I feel it is necessary to mobilize against such intolerance. My ‘National Identities’ series gives immigrants the main role, using them as models in my photographic variations on classic paintings.”

[withered-rose-with-thorns]

Wanda & Vision excerpts from Avengers Infinity War: Destiny Arrives novel by Liza Palmer →a christmas gift for visionmcu

[animals-are-other-nations]

[dalmonite]

“These are my children.”

“They look nothing li—”

“LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL THEY ARE.”

[daysofstorm]

for some reason I really like that she’s called Hilda.

[roddaprime]

This happened on my grandmothers farm when my mom was little,

baby ducks act a lot like baby chickens so in the beginning it wasn’t so bad

the main problem is that baby ducks  LOVE water, but baby chickens get very very dead from it,

so you can imagine the mother hens surprise and horror the first time they go by the farm pond and ALL THE BABIES RUN TO THE WATER AND JUMP IN

my grandmother had to come out of the house to investigate all the noise the hen was making

The mother hen was clucking and screeching in distress and running circles around the pond while the duckies were having the time of their lives.

This happened a few more times before Momma hen was like FUCK IT YOU WANNA SWIM SEE WHAT I CARE , and would sit a distance away watching them in the pond.

if the ducks ever abandoned any eggs my grandmother would always put it under that particular hens nest cause from then on she always knew how to deal with her “water loving” delinquent children

[gokuma]

BEST ADOPTED MUM

[advanced-procrastination]

“Half my children are fucking idiots but they’re my children and i love them”

[igotcursed]

what is WITH the last two years with all these major franchises and tv shows fucking up so badly in their last films/last seasons

endgame, rise of skywalker, game of thrones, supernatural……..like the endings just fuck up the whole journeys/plots/characterizations it’s ASTOUNDING

[priceforrottenjudgement]

Its the pressing need to write absolutely unpredictable plottwists, which forces them to write nonsensical shit bc god forbid some dude on reddit accidentally called the ending, and also the same old racism/homophobia/misogyny as always.

Its also a curious level of denial about who your core fanbase is. All of these wanted their Target audience to be someone else than who their most loyal fans were.

The typical comic fans are kids and teens, marvel wants to make blockbusters for adults. Star wars fans are hyperfocused sci fi nerds AND a lot of minorities and disney wanted to make Big numbers in china and also generally wanted to appeal to a larger audience instead of a loyal, smaller group. The initial got fans were fans of the books, history nerds and lotr stans, d and d wanted to write their own story and shifted the original Story around to basically make a sexed up talent show, you tune in every week to see who makes it to the next round. And now the most dedicated, loyal and borderline obsessive spn fans are of course young women, many of them queer. Same as with sherlock, the creators HATED this, bc they wanted their show to be for men. They begrudgingly played into the fanservice for the ratings, but deep down they hated themselves for it and let us know IN CANON how much they disliked their own fans.

All of these were very good at convincing their fanbase some kind of reward was waiting for them if only theyd stick around and none of them deliviered. But hey, at least many people were watching.

[bacchanta]

THIS.

It’s actually very obvious that 99% of mainstream media creators get visibly embarrassed by a female majority fanbase. The condecension is thinly-veiled even when they’re in the middle of asking for attention/money from a demographic they obviously despise.

It’s a mindset that says ‘women have bad artistic taste’ and concludes that ‘if women like a piece of artistic creation that means there’s something wrong unless it’s specifically designed for women, in which case it is already categorically inferior and peripheral’. It doesn’t necessarily have to do with conscious authorial decisions (although many of them are intentionally misogynistic in this respect), because it’s a mindset that runs deep and has a much longer history than capitalism - it is a reflection of men’s monopoly on the right to build and add to the semiotics of artistic expression. For centuries. Across many cultures.

It is harsh and cynical; once you start to notice that, it becomes practically impossible to whole-heartedly embrace any fandom of mainstream media at all. That’s why it’s not the fans’ fault for not seeing that, no matter how obvious it seems to outsiders - sometimes in some areas women are still so invalid that praise and love from them are detested and promptly avoided, even at the cost of bringing down the whole story.

This isn’t something we’d get rid of any time soon; people will get new mainstream media obsessions and get hurt when its creators do something silly to avoid women’s approval.

But in the long run we must create our own stories. If you feel like you don’t get what you want, if you feel like your perspective is being constantly invalidated, then draw, write, and support artists who are doing the same.

STOP the infighting and purity policing because we can’t afford to do that. We are in this together.

Our voices remain marginal till this very day, and our priority really shouldn’t be taking down someone who simply likes a differen ship, a problematic trope, or a character you hate. Tolerance is hard but try your best if you really want to see a win instead of these endless sequence of predictable disappointments.

This isn’t even about spn just about basically any mainstream fandom

[drsilverfish]

Just to add to this interesting discussion; the privileging of male perspectives in story, in film and television, is definitely evident from data, in terms of roles for women in front of and behind the camera:

https://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2019_Its_a_Mans_Celluloid_World_Report_REV.pdf

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/family-films-twice-many-male-female-characters-says-new-study-exclusive-193648252.html

https://seejane.org/wp-content/uploads/key-findings-gender-disparity-family-films-2013.pdf 

And it’s true, sometimes female fanbases are actively disliked and discouraged:

https://io9.gizmodo.com/paul-dini-superhero-cartoon-execs-dont-want-largely-f-1483758317

I don’t think we can analyse all these texts as suffering from exactly the same failings in terms of their ending, however.  

Game of Thrones may have tried to surprise fans, but Supernatural and Rise of Skywalker tried to please certain segments of the fan audience (at the expense of others). A Reylo ending for Rise of Skywalker and a Just-the-Brothers ending for Supernatural were fanservice.  And it was that, cartoonish idea of, fanservice which impacted narrative and character growth.  

Avengers: Endgame -  the privileging of the heteronormative family remains a given in products this huge. The ending wasn’t “leftfield” to evade fans who had guessed ahead. The ending was, predictably, normative. Women are seen as a “reward” for male heroism; Peggy becomes Cap’s reward. Women who are not family-normative are seen as expendable; hence Nat’s sacrifice for Barton (because Barton had a heteronormative family).  Elements capable of “queer readings” (the team as “found family”, the close relationship between Cap and Bucky) got shut down by a heteronormative ending - dull and regressive, yes, but not leftfield.

In fact, it’s not the narrative trying to “surprise” fans which unites the endings of Game of Thrones, Rise of Skywalker, Avengers: Endgame and Supernatural; it’s the unimaginative straightjacket of (white) heteronormative patriarchy. Disruptive elements allowed space in the middle of the story are given normative endings. 

Rey, is the hero of the new Disney Star Wars trilogy, and hey, that’s cool, a woman in the Luke role. But, she’s written by men (and the virgin/ whore dichotomy is, apparently, still going strong with them) and so she is girlish and un-sexual (virgin category) and her story evolves to revolve around a troubled white man (Kylo Ren). Rey’s “purity” saves petulant Alt-right manchild Kylo, changing him back into “nice” Ben. It’s Beauty and the Beast, in space. 

Wonderful female characters who were allowed to breathe and evolve over the course of Game of Thrones get put back in their boxes at the end. Cersei becomes just the bitch her “nice” brother couldn’t escape from. Dany becomes  just the power-mad bitch her “nice” lover Jon Snow had to murder. And the final scene is Brann’s council (all dudes except Brienne) discussing the need to rebuild the city’s brothels as a top priority. Proper patriarchy is restored…

Supernatural, well, what even was that fuckery. But there are no women, no POC, and no queer folk visible in that final Heaven, only white men-folk. All the interesting elements allowed to breath in the middle of the story were bleached out at the end; blood family was reinscribed as more important than found family; Sam got some blurry heterosexuality; Dean and Cas were not allowed to reunite, in case queerness “tainted” the final bow on the corporate product.

Greater diversity in writers rooms, directors’ chairs, producer roles and, crucially, at senior corporate levels in the film and television business is so, desperately, desperately, needed, to lift the curse of the Boring Dudebro Ending. 

[sheryl-lee]

“Costume designer Mayes C. Rubeo ensured the cast wardrobe enhanced the authenticity of each episode. […] As the series segued from black and white to color, Rubeo collaborated with the director of photography and production designer to ensure they achieved the perfect overall look. She describes the first three episodes as ‘particularly stunning,’ including a psychedelic 1970s print dress for Wanda in the third episode.”

Wanda Maximoff + outfits WANDAVISION (2021)

[nexya]

I love how humans have literally not changed throughout history like the graffiti from Pompeii has people from hundreds of years ago writing stuff like “Marcus is gay” “I fucked a girl here” “Julius your mum wishes she was with me” and leonardo da vinci’s assistants drew dicks in their notebooks just for the banter and mozart created a piece called “kiss my ass” so when people wish for ‘today’s generation’ to be like ‘how people used to’ then we’re already there buddy we’ve always been

[charlesoberonn]

The Hagia Sophia has inscriptions that were considered sacred for centuries until they were deciphered in the 70s to be Nordic runes saying “Halfdan wrote this”

[terminallydepraved]

my old english prof told us that theres a cave in Scandinavia where a viking gratified some runes like 14 feet up on the wall and when they finally reached it all it translated into was “this is very high”

[loremerchant]

Ancient Shitposting

Now on the History Channel

[self-critical-automaton]

‘People have literally just always been people’ is genuinely my favorite fact about the world

[skaletal-deactivated20190721]

“Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106 BC - 43 BC

[super-star-destroyer]

Common dog names have literally not changed in 3,000 years.

[ash-soka]

so not nearly as old but, this is a 12th century stave church in lom, norway (one of less than 40 left in the world)

it’s hard to see, but in the top left corner of this photo where the light comes in from the window, there’s a runic inscription

these photos show it more clearly, it’s easier to see in person. so of course one of the people i was travelling with asked what it said, and we were told it basically translates to:

“on this day, I climbed to this point, in the corner of the church”

people really have always been people

[thethingsioverthink]

this is and will literally always be the thing I love the most about history and why I love history so much

[fabtonch]

A Family is Forever

[bonesbunns]

The Kiss

[thorodinsson]

[chrishemsworht]

Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff WANDAVISION (2021) | Episode 9 - The Series Finale

[kendallroy-deactivated20210425]

people on this website be like “it’s actually school’s fault that i don’t know how to read because i wanted to write my essay on the divergent trilogy and that BITCH mrs. clarkson made us study 1984 instead. anyway here’s a 10 tweet thread of easily disproven misinformation about a 3 year old news story and btw, who is toni morrison?”

[kendallroy-deactivated20210425]

i KNOW most of y’all are lying about being in the gifted program as children because none of you could pass the basic reading comprehension assessment they give third graders today

[themself]

this post is mean and I never read divergent or whatever the fuck but 1984 sucks and is rape apologism so if somebody wanted to write about divergent or whatever good for them

[westenra]

this reply is like literally exactly what op is talking about lol. like firstly ops point isn’t “1984 is good”, ops point is that analysing complex stories teaches you how to form opinions and think for yourself. and like secondly in 1984 you’re supposed to think damn it’s fucked up that he’s thinking that way about her, i wonder if this ties in with the central theme of “a society like this will fuck you in the head”? (this is the thinking for yourself part). like do you think orwell just put that in for fun? do you think that just because winston is the protagonist you’re supposed to agree with everything he does?

[lunaescribe]

You know I feel like this post just gave me an epiphany for what is wrong with how Tumblr Fandom/Internet Fandom responds to media-or not *wrong* but makes it very hard to respond to anything but a morally correct, and heroic protagonist. 

When an English teacher, or reader, taught or picked up 1984, it wasn’t with the intention they were going to love the protagonist. They picked it up with the intention of reading a whole story and trying to grasp the theme or catharsis from the story. If the protagonist was a *shitty* person it played into the the themes or the story, because it wasn’t about morally judging the book or *liking* or feeling attachment to the protagonist. Sometimes and often times, books were just about gaining another perspective. 

No one read Lolita expecting to endear, or like, or be inspired by Humbert. You are supposed to be upset by his behavior, you don’t read Lolita with the intention of being inspired. You read it to learn more about what the fuck is going on inside someone’s head when they behave like that. How children get sucked into abusive situations. Or read “The Great Gatsby” not because they want to fall in love with Gatsby or Nick, but to better understand and analyze the experience of the 1920s or destitution of the American Dream. 

A lot of internet and fandom culture has changed that though. When we say something like “I love the Great Gatsby” it comes with the idea or association that means you must *love* or relate to one of the characters. And maybe you do, but the first assumption is not longer about the quality of the work or themes, or cathartic impact-it’s about character admiration. And with that character admiration, in tumblr stan culture, or kin culture, or exalting characters with fanart/romance/so on you don’t just ‘admire’ or find that character ‘compelling’ it now translates to ‘you LOVE that character’ or you ‘DIRECTLY relate to that character.’ 

You can’t say “I love how Humbert is written, it’s so fascinating and dark”, without it directly translating you somehow relate to a child abuser or condone his actions. Taking in media has become an act of worship and connection. We no longer watch meant to just see the story as a whole, we watch expecting to connect to a character and if we offer them our “worship” as it’s become, as opposed to just attention or interest study as it traditionally was, it means we are condoning the character or saying we directly empathize with all their actions. 

I think that’s why there is often now so much fuss over *toxic* characters or not. Or whether that classical novel is showing good or bad things anymore. We’re treating the characters as people we should love or want to draw or write about. Sometimes a story is just about getting the the theme or catharsis or learning another perspective. We don’t NEED to like the character. Or we don’t HAVE to like a character to be impressed by how they’re written or intrigued by their behavior. 

I think if internet culture could learn to view stories as small insights into other lives or single takes of one perspective instead of purposeful moral inspirations we’d be a lot less worried about how toxic or not toxic they are. 

[darthmelyanna]

Protagonists and heroes are two different things, and when we demand they be the same, we wind up assuming that a book about a bad thing is endorsing the bad thing.

[morabbots]

“But what is grief, if not love persevering?” (x)

[stream]

[ranmagender]

Public Domain Day 2021

Yesterday on January 1st was public domain day, the day when new things become public domain. So as I did last year I’ll feature some of the highlights of what has become public domain.

In Europe (and other areas with life of author + 70 years copyright)

The entire bibliography of Edgar Rice Burroughs, however do keep in mind to not use Tarzan or John Carter in the titles because ERB Inc owns the trademark for those.

George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984 are now public domain, along with all his other works.

George Bernard Shaw´s bibliography

In Canada, Japan, New Zealand (and other areas with life of author + 50 years copyright)

Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front

Guy Endore´s The Werewolf of Paris

All Perry Mason books written by Eric Stanley Gardner

In the United States

In the United States all things published before 1976 retain copyright for 95 years. All films, books and songs published in 1925 are now public domain including:

F.Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

Sinclair Lewis´ Arrowsmith

P. G. Wodehouse’s Carry On, Jeeves

Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway

T.S Elliot’s The Hollow Men

Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush

You can now find a lot of these over at Project Gutenberg or the Internet Archive.