Pop Culture Critic

Writer, Host, and Podcaster available for hire

[stoneyboboney]

This is Lesbian Money Lincoln. Reblog to enhance your chance to find a lesbian or $$. Or a $$$ lesbian. Also good for protecting your favorite girlfriend jeans from tears or shrinkage.

[joellemonique]

I could use both.

[omgthatdress]

I couldn’t find any pics of Connie Britton on People or E!, and I fucking wonder why. Best dressed bitch!

[alplabetmafiahead]

That shirt costs $400 lmaooo

[hundondestiny]

The shirts are expensive but the entire point is hundreds of dollars are being donated to charities working within anti-poverty efforts. Over $160,000 was donated last year from the sales of these sweaters. 

While we can argue that celebs could be putting all this money directly into charities, there is a certain benefit in them displaying these messages where they will be seen by the millions of people who follow them && bring awareness to the causes that they are supporting.

The common (poor) person doesn’t need to wear a shirt hand-stitched by a White lady anyways like lol. Our existence is resistance.

[chloeniccole]

Thanks for this addition! I saw a post about the cost of the shirt earlier but didn’t know about the charity which definitely changes the message.

[chandrilasky-deactivated2018052]

People’s misinterpretation of Luke’s character on TLJ is astoundingly bad and I expected better of Luke stans…. his final acts toward his nephew were to BRING him CLOSER to the light, not giving up on him. Luke admits he cannot save Ben. But he does have to apologize. He does allow Ben to be ANGRY and to have that chance to express his anger safely without harming others in that moment.

Luke projected himself across the galaxy so that he could protect those he loved – INCLUDING Ben Solo. He protected his nephew from his own self in his final acts.

That is so essentially Luke. How can you be disappointed in that ending for him? Luke will always be with Ben, and he has given Ben the apology and closure with him that they needed. Ben can’t forgive Luke yet, but now there is room for that forgiveness to begin to foster.

[purple-hazard]

This /\

What I’m actually disappointed about is they made him want to kill Ben. It felt completely out of character to me. This is the guy that refused to kill his father, the big baddie, neck deep in the dark side, a known killer and terror to the galaxy already, because he believed there was good in him, and then he decided to kill his nephew only because of conflict? It’s disproportional, regarding his last experience AND his personality. One of my only disappointments with the movie.

[kylo-wouldnt-like-those-chips]

See, this doesn’t feel out of character at all for me, because I don’t think we necessarily should be shackled to the deeds of our past, good or bad. Yes he made spectacularly good decisions before, but Luke is a man. A man who struggled with the dark side. A man who had a momentary lapse in faith and judgment that had dire consequences. Even good people have bad thoughts. He let his fear lead him to a moment if darkness. The goodness, the kindness, comes from deciding not to act. And that’s ultimately what Luke did. He chose good, only a moment too late.

If these movies are about growing up, then the lesson if Luke is that even out parents have flaws. But it also shows us that you can still make things right and find peace, even if you make a whole series of bad decisions.

Like Yoda said, Luke’s flaw was always looking to the horizon. He looked at where his nephew was and could only see the potential for pain and suffering he would bring, and because of his fear, this became a self fulfilling prophecy.

Not everyone can be Obi Wan, as much as I adore his steadfastness. People fuck up. Even good ones. And for me that was so important and comforting to see, as much as it was painful.

[chandrilasky-deactivated2018052]

Yeah, I agree. I’m ok with Luke haven’t a momentary lapse in judgment. It’s normal. It’s a thing that parental figures face – disappointing those they’re caring for. Honestly, even one slip up can cause an avalanche of problems – it’s not necessarily his fault that things turned out the way they did… but his doubt in his nephew sparked what became Kylo Ren. It’s very Robert Bly – the young men without direction and guidance, getting lost in repressed emotions and toxic masculinity and poor self image… all due to lack of support and pressing down their inner emotions and desires for emotionality. I think Luke’s peek into his nephew’s mind is a violation, and his repulsion to what he saw is even further violation. He realized immediately the mistake he’d made, but it’s something he could never take back.

But he apologized. He’s human. That’s really all he can do anymore. And it gave him hope in his nephew, and a sense of peace that the light in him could return.

[yellowtreeelectricityfeminist-d]

it really bothers me how people who saw the movie missed the whole part where luke tells the story of how it happened. he literally says that he considered it for only a moment, and that he had to deal with the consequences

[pep-no]

👆 This.

Luke did consider killing Ben,

then he realized how horrible that thought was, and refrained.

But he forgot to turn off his lightsaber.

The fact that such a thought crossed his mind, though, made him feel guilty and led him to a bitter life full of regret and self-blame.

Because he thought he had to be perfect.

Only after Rey found him, and Yoda revisited him, that he realized two things:

1. He did NOT have to be perfect; that’s a burden too heavy for someone whose Jedi Training was woefully inadequate, and without support.

2. That the Jedi Order, with its inherent phobia of the dark side, does NOT need to be rebuild. It needs to be replaced.

The ending, though, is outright heroic. Luke totally deserved that redemption.

[romancingalbion]

[the-goddamazon-deactivingsoon-d]

LOL man.

[wakeupslaves]

never forget white people did nothing first neither the best, they sleep and eat false propaganda,

[wingleader]

Ugh, why the shit does that have to turn into a race thing? Why does EVERYTHING have to turn into a race thing?

[potootagath-deactivated20150202]

because white people have made sure that everything is about race

as proved by the fact that when you say explorer, you think of a bunch of white guys walking the world and discovering it ~exotic wonders~ even though Zheng He travelled through Asia, to the Middle East, and even East Africa. But you’d likely never heard of him before.

Same reason you never heard of Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, an Arab traveller who, as early as the 10th century, went to the Volga area for diplomatic reasons. He wrote about it, much as Marco Polo would do later for his own travels, and is one of our sources on what viking were like (and by all accounts, he wrote about them more accurately than western scholars of the same period did)

Oh, or Ibn Battuta who travelled throughout Africa long before europeans did, and even went to Europe himself.

And that’s just some example of Muslim medieval travel writers

Everything is about race because white people keep telling everyone that their race is the only one who every got anything done.

[chickwithmonkey]

i have heard of precisely zero non-european explorers ever in my life, and that fucking sucks. this exhibit is amazing and i need to learn more.

[deducecanoe-deactivated20161213]

That boat is a frickin aircraft carrier comparatively. Holy crap. And no. Never heard a peep.

[ourobous]

Zhenghe went to over 40 countries in Asia and Africa and probably went even further, but I didn’t encounter that in history books before. He brought gifts from China to every country he went to and everyone loved him. It was just like “Hey, I’m here with a water-helicarrier and a gift,” and the kings of every country were lilke “holy shit son well here have a giraffe.” There are paintings depicting him leading a giraffe as well. Check him out guys, he’s really cool

[deducecanoe-deactivated20161213]

That is so awesome. Fuck western history. This is the real shit.

[thepushyqueenofsluttown]

I only heard about Zheng He when I took a Chinese History class in college. He wasn’t even mentioned in my Asian History class. Western students miss out on an enormous amount of history that is ignored or whitewashed in our textbooks. It’s a travesty.

[frislander-deactivated20220305]

And the best bit about Zheng He for me is that he was a Hui Muslim by birth (if not so much when he grew up).

[southernsideofme-deactivated201]

[thats-sowild-blog]

All hail the King of the North

[rookkub-deactivated20181203]

Santa isn’t fucking around this year

[patrickat]

Brace your elves. Christmas is coming.

[dr-archeville]

[source]

[joellemoniquereviews-blog]

‘The Last Jedi’ is the Sum of Star Wars Best Parts *No Spoilers*

 To love something is to accept its faults. Star Wars fans know this well. Wheather it is the endless search for an original cut of the first trilogy, trying to figure out what part of legends are and are not canon, or living through the excitement and then the guttural disappointment of the prequels, Star Wars fans have lived and loved through a lot. Which is why The Last Jedi is going to be such a sensation.

A fan is at the helm. Most enthusiasts will be praising the name Rian Johnson as they leave the theater. Johnson has managed to take every folly in Star Wars and answer it in within the story. Thought Kylo was too childish and out of control? Johnson addresses the rage and the sorrow and makes his decision-making process clear. Tired of arguing about whether or not Leia is force sensitive? Johnson ends that debate cold. Wonder why, in a film where balance and hope are on everyone’s lips, the audience rarely gets a taste of either? Bet, Johnson’s taking care of that, too.

On top of bridging many gaps, he also introduces three new characters with so much personal history and lasting impact on the Star Wars universe only a fan could have created them. Laura Dern will not get the respect she deserves in her understated but explosively dynamic role as Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo. With her purple hair and intent look, there’s a lot to learn about feminine leadership from Holdo. She leads in a flowing dress and soft but commanding voice. It will go unnoticed by most until a moment of extreme heroism, but it’s everything leading up to that moment that makes Holdo a true leader. It’s some of the best and most understated writing in Star Wars cinematic history.

Newcomer Kelly Marie Tran is a breath of fresh air as Rose Tyco. Tran radiates hope and light to such a degree that when she smiles, inevitably so is everyone else. Rose doesn’t know she’s a fighter, but she does know her beliefs. She’ll stop anyone from abandoning the cause, even her personal heroes. Something Last Jedi does that many of the other Star Wars films struggle to do is balance the horrors of war with survival. Rose has lived it, not just on the rebel ship but as a youth in a colonialized mining town. That attention to detail and world building usually left for the novels makes Last Jedi a stand out.

Perhaps this exploration is done best with DJ, played by Benicio Del Toro. This is the first time a speaking character has decided not to pick a side. He’ll play rebel against imperial and a citizen against a droid. Survival is the name of his game and there’s never a need to feel guilty about surviving a war. 

In the theater, someone described the experience of watching The Last Jedi as a, “…fan-fiction with a budget.” During the Los Angeles press conference, several of the actors described Johnson’s set as an indie-style production. It shows in the final product.

Rather than tackle galactic size problems with a handful of characters like Clone Wars, which wastes a lot of time explaining political diatribe and traveling from planet to planet, The Last Jedi focuses on the balance between non-romantic couples. Intimate moments between an Admiral and a commander, a war hero and a ship worker, two beings with the force and no guidance on what to do with it shape the structure of the movie. This is a film less about the cosmos and more about how an individual scope is limited but easily broadened and sharpened with love and trust. If there’s a more important lesson today I don’t know it.

On top of having an incredibly powerful story, the visuals are breathtaking. Last Jedi builds on the beautiful scale work done in Rogue One. Between the planets, ships, and carbon-based life forms, the film maintains it’s larger than life feel while remaining grounded. 

Puppets make an integral return, helping to bridge a visual gap in the 40+ year saga of Star Wars. With original puppets, modern CGI, and the best possible use of silence  Last Jedi nails and enhances the Star Wars look. In addition to a great story and impressive visuals, the film is laugh-out-loud funny. Every single character engages in comedic moments that are perfectly well timed and sure to become part of the zeitgeist lexicon very quickly.  

In fact, Johnson gave me everything I ever craved from a Star Wars film. This is the first film that has felt truly blended to me. The representation is on an entirely new level. There’s a space Monte Carlo, new horse-like creatures, and fights so good there will certainly be parking lot debates as to where they rank in cinematic history. Enjoy The Last Jedi. It’s your childhood fantasies manifested into your wildest adult dreams. In a word, it is spectacular. 

#thelastjedi, #lastjedi, #starwars, #kellymarietran, #MarkHamil, #HanSolo, #BenSolo, #KyloRen, #Rae, #Finn, #Poe, #LukeSkywalker, #LeiaOrgana, #GeneralLeia, #PrincessLeia, #RoseTyco, #JohnBoyega, #BenicioDelToro, #DJ, #OscarIsac, #Jedi, #JediKnight, #JediMaster, #Yoda, #Skywalker, #LucasFilm, #GeorgeLucas, #Disney, #LauraDern, #ViceAdmiral, 

[joellemonique]

Check my new Tumblr page which will strictly house my reviews. Feel free to share and let me know what you think! Thanks. 

[clarke-mason]

#stop giving them ideas 2k16

[alphagravy]

[arc-trooper]

“i hated the prequels! the dialogue was so cheesy” watch the clone wars

“and there are SO many plot holes in the prequels” watch the clone wars

“anakin was the worst! bad lines, bad acting, whiny, annoying af!!” watch the clone wars

“and like Padme’s scenes were like all cut out! I’m so mad the prequels don’t go over the women more!” watch the clone wars

“we barely went over both the clone and war part of the clone wars” watch the clone wars

“i want more darth maul, count dooku, and general grievous! they seem so cool but died too shortly!” watch the clone wars

“why are they all human? its a galaxy, why not focus more on other species?” watch the clone wars

“overall the prequels were just executed so poorly” watch the clone wars

watch the clone wars honestly you gotta trust me

[thefingerfuckingfemalefury]

The Clone Wars is everything that the prequels SHOULD have been…

[joellemonique]

AND FIXES SO MANY ISSUES OF THE SECOND TRILOGY! WATCH CLONE WARS! 

[beaiank]

Because cosplay has no age.

[joellemonique]

OMG! Yas, please. ADORABLE! 

[black-to-the-bones-deactivated2]

Say her name. Never forget the struggle of being black in America. Honor the victims of police brutality. Fight against The Police State.

[futureblackwakandan-deactivated]

Guys please reblog this. The death of black women must be mourned too.

[behindthefourthwall]

[goldstarzzz]

*screams into a pillow* this is literally the equivalent of “White character should just be adapted as white, not be racebent”

[boredpanda]

Elevated Bus That Drives Above Traffic Jams

[benepla-deactivated20180521]

if this fucking thing started training over me while i was driving i’d slam the breaks and kill everybody behind me

[rubitrightintomyeyes]

vore for the Cars universe

[jbaby]

“When I first got this role I just cried like a baby because I was like, ‘Wow, next Halloween, I’m gonna open the door and there’s gonna be a little kid dressed as the Falcon.’ That’s the thing that always gets me. I feel like everybody deserves that. I feel like there should be a Latino superhero. Scarlett does great representation for all the other girls, but there should be a Wonder Woman movie. I don’t care if they make 20 bucks, if there’s a movie you’re gonna lose money on, make it Wonder Woman. You know what I mean, ’cause little girls deserve that.

[alexdecampi]

Do Not Let This World Cause Your Steps to Falter

I am here for all you motherfuckers that never made it onto the 30 under 30 list and are still secretly not okay about that. I see you who got to be the responsible one with all that entails, or who just got dealt bad cards and now you’re taking care of kids or parents or siblings or hell maybe all of them and when you rush into the coffeeshop because you’re already late doing things for someone else you see all the young faces in there tapping away at their macbooks and you think, I used to write. You can still. There is no expiration date. I am here for you who started 100 stories and haven’t finshed one yet. You will. Keep walking.

I am here for you, who did the things everyone said you should and are now washed up on the far shore with a dull ache in your chest and the lurking worry that you are so far from where you wanted to be. I am here for Raymond Chandler, who didn’t even start writing fiction until he was 44. I am here for Annie Proulx, who wrote short stories for 30 years before getting her first novel published when she was 57. I am here for all of you that will never see your stories published, and I am here for those of you that will and have your heart broken when they do not sell. I see you looking out the side of your eyes at other people’s lives, lives where bodies don’t hurt, that don’t seem to involve bills or shitty jobs or just having to give and give and give of yourself to others until there’s nothing left for you except that old composition book by the bed that you haven’t picked up in a week.

I am here for you freelancers where every day is a new war; I am here for you day-jobbers where it’s all the same old battle and then family at night and you’re too tired to work on the story and all you want to do is watch TV. I see you and I want you to know that you’re okay. That we all fight this battle in different ways, and I know you’re doing the best you can. Living is hard. Creating is harder. I am here for you on the weeks you write zero words and the weeks you only write 500 and the weeks it all flows out of you like salt water and you’ve written 10,000. I see you when you look back over it and wonder if any of it is any damn good at all. Keep it. It’s good. Keep going. You can edit when you are done.

I am here for you when the work is too raw, too personal, and you lay down your pencil in fear of what people will think. Writing is an act of opening, of empathy, of love. It is an act, above all, of hope. It traffics in feelings we are too scared to show in our public lives, and that is one of the great consolations of fiction: it reassures us that others feel like this, too. Do not shy away from these emotions; embrace them. Cause them. It is the greatest thing you can do with your pen: make people feel. Creating is a strange, teetering walk between a terrifying self-criticism, and not giving a damn what anyone else thinks. Go too far one way and you will never finish; go too far the other and what you finish will never improve. Listen to the whispers in your mind about the weaknesses in your work, but do not let them shout.

I see those of you waiting for permission to begin. Waiting to afford a course or read that How to Write book or improve your grammar or find a publisher or even just some assurance that your story is worth hearing in an industry dominated by loud people who don’t look or sound like you. I hereby give you permission: please begin. You need nothing more than a cheap notebook and a pencil and the contents of your beautiful, unique, experienced mind. We’re all faking it; we all stepped off the cliff and learned to fly on the way down. We’re still faking it every damn day. It looks scary but I promise you: you will fly. There is craft to learn but it can come later, once you’re flushed with the habit of putting words on paper as often as you can. Please begin. You have a voice that is made only the sweeter for being heard. You have a story that is all the richer for waiting.

I see you who begin over and over again, and then become tired or frustrated or stuck. I want you to forgive yourself.  I want you to let this be fun. You don’t have to be fancy. You don’t have to be literary. You don’t have to write the Great American Novel straight off the starting blocks. Be silly. Write smut. Write sci-fi. Write a sonnet. Put the big story aside. If you keep writing, the problems in the big works tend to unknot themselves on their own. It can take years, but one day you’ll be working on something else and have an extra scene and realise that’s what the old story needed all along, and all the pieces will cascade into place with a simplicity and a beauty that will stun you. Or maybe that old work will be the one lending scenes and moments to a newer, more confident story. Keep writing. Be excited for endings. Writing a great ending is one of the most satisfying creative experiences in existence.

I am here for you writing at midnight once everyone else is asleep, for you alt-tabbing away at work to a Google doc with a tenuous few sentences, for you tapping notes on the subway, for you just telling stories in your own head that you hope you’ll find time to write down later. I am here for you daydreamers and dawdlers and misfits, finding yourself on the page one difficult mark at a time. Whether your notebook holds poetry, cartoons, short stories, novels, fanfic, comics, essays, autobio, or anything else, the way you express yourself is valid and worthwhile. Do not hold yourself to popular forms; hold yourself only to your heart’s desires. You will probably never make money out of this so you might as well make yourself happy. Move towards joy, but know that there is also work. Do not be afraid of the work. Do not be worried about critics; once the story leaves your hands it begins a life of its own, apart from and no longer beholden to you. And you won’t mind to set this delicate paper ship onto the cold and contrary sea of opinion, because you’ve already started on a new one. 

I am here for you. There is no too late or too early. There is only now. 

It is time to begin.

[joellemonique]

Alex De Campi is a goddess we did nothing to earn, but I’m so damn happy she’s here. I’m in literal tears. Bless her and her message. 

[clientsfromhell]

I was approached by a client to redesign their business card. I asked them to send me their current design, and they emailed me two blurry photos from their phone.

Me: Hello. I received the photo of your current card, but I’m afraid I can’t make out any details. Would you like to take it again, or alternatively just supply me with all the info you need on your new car?

Client: Oh no really? I’m sorry, I can’t take another picture right now, but what I can do is just mail you my business card from the post office.

Me: Are you sure? That may take a bit longer.

Client: I’m heading to the post office now, so it won’t take long.

I wasn’t sure I saw the logic there, but hey, what do I know. The following day she had called me back, upset that I haven’t emailed her a proof of her new design.

Me: Because you physically mailed the business card to me, it will take at least a few days to arrive. But if you want you can email me a photo or a scan of your card and I’ll get started on it right away.

Client: No! I am very busy. I do not have the time to do that. You’re the designer – fix the blurry photo.

The mailed card arrived a week later. By that time the client had already called me, saying she was unsatisfied with the time it was taking me to get started and that she will no longer need my service.

[intheindigo]

Fake Movie Meme - The Addams Family: The Courtship and Wedding 

Morticia Addams - Naomi Harris

Gomez Addams - Oscar Isaac

Look at her.  

I would die for her….I would kill for her….Either way… 

what bliss.