My Heart's The Battleground

14/02, Italy. Will contain spoilers, however I'll tag as #spoiler every spoilery post. Avatar is by Ilya Kuvshinov

[blackheartbiohazards]

I'm gonna say it.

It's unhinged to assume that someone's taste in fiction equates to what they believe is moral or good, or is something they want to see or experience in real life.

That is a bonkers assumption to make.

I'm tired of humoring people with long arguments about it when the simple fact is it is a totally fucking absurd reach to accuse someone who enjoys something in fiction of being in favor of it in real life.

I'm tired of pretending like this is a legitimate position to hold-- that they should be afraid of fiction's dire influence on a reader's moral decay or that it's a sign of what the author secretly wants for realsies in real life.

[orchidvioletindigo]

It should 100% be illegal for companies to make you give them your payment information when you sign up for a free trial version of their product. It is not necessary and there is no good fucking reason for them to do it. It’s blatantly just so they can steal forgetful customers’ money.

[saint-batrick]

oh hey, thanks for reminding me to cancel a free trial i had going on.

[tattooedzombigirl]

Reblog to save an unnecessary charge cause it also reminded me to cancel a trial lol

[6thlovelanguage-deactivated2020]

dark green is a nice color. underrated

[hesitating]

ladies and gentlemen, Phtalo Green

[takenbythestarcatchers]

This is literally my favorite color. 😩 Smaragd green is another dark shade of green that I’m absolutely obsessed with.

[rozentias-deactivated20240103]

in the latest cyber-news: the internet archive has lost their case against 4 major publishing houses (verge article). they’re going to appeal, but this is still a bad outcome. the fate of the internet is currently hanging in the balance because 4 multibillionare publishing groups missed out on like $15 of combined revenue during the pandemic because of the archive’s online library service. it’s so fucking stupid.

for those who don’t know what the internet archive is, it’s a virtual library full of media. books, magazines, recordings, visuals, flash games, websites - a lot of these things either don’t exist anymore or cannot be found & bought. heard of the wayback machine? that’s part of the internet archive. it is the most important website to exist, and i don’t say that lightly. if the internet archive goes down, the cultural loss will be immeasurable.

so how can you help?

boycott the publishing companies involved in this. they’re absolute ghouls, frankly, and don’t deserve a penny. the companies involved are harpercollins (imprints), wiley (imprints), penguin random house llc (imprints), and hachette book group (imprints). make sure the websites are set to your location as it may differ worldwide.

learn to torrent. download a torrent client (i recommend transmission), a vpn (i recommend protonvpn - sign up and choose the area that’s closest to your continent/country), and hit up /r/piracy on reddit for websites. with torrenting, you can get (almost) any media you want for free in high quality, with add-ons such as subtitles, and with no risks of loss. i would also recommend getting into the habit of watching stuff online for free. the less you can pay to a giant corporation, the better.

get into the habit of downloading and archiving materials. find a TB external hard drive, ideally the higher the better. it’ll probably cost around $60 for 1TB and continue to go up, but they’re so so useful. if you can’t afford a drive, look for any GB harddrives or memory sticks you have lying around and just fill them up. videos, pdfs, magazines, songs, movies, games - anything you can rip and download and fit on there, do it, because nothing is permanent.

donate to the internet archive. this is the most important option on the list. the IA relies entirely on funding, and it’s going to need more to fight this case. whatever you can donate, do it. i promise it’s helpful.

and finally…

[charaznablescanontoyota]

cannot stress enough that donating to the internet archive to help them appeal this without going broke is the most important thing you can do right now. my day job revolves around fulfilling digital article and book scan requests at an academic library and a huge part of that is borrowing from other libraries that do controlled digital lending (incl. the internet archive!). copyright law is already hugely restrictive on what we can and can't lend, and we absolutely don't have the option to pirate anything for our patrons due to being a large academic institution. it's difficult to overstate just how bad this ruling could end up being for libraries that have digital lending programs, esp ones that rely on CDR for old/archival/hard-to-find texts.

[anxietyproblem]

[katco-cereal]

Thank you, /r/ProgrammerHumor, I love you endlessly.

Redditors competing to make the worst volume sliders possible...

[katco-cereal]

special delivery for @soffies!!!

[displayheartcode]

Let me know if anyone wants a list of Jewish fantasy novels

[longsightmyth]

Hit me

[displayheartcode]

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid (adult, based on Hungarian Jewish history)

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (adult, based on Lithuanian Jewish history)

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (adult, urban fantasy)

The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos (YA, urban fantasy)

Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Schanoes (adult, anthology)

A good amount of Alice Hoffman’s books

Same for Jane Yolen’s short stories and Briar Rose

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (adult, historical)

People of the Book edited by Rachel Swirsky and Sean Wallace (anthology)

Anything by Shira Glassman

[displayheartcode]

Adding more!

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros (ya, historical urban fantasy about a series of murders in 1900s Chicago). Also read his sophomore novel Bone Weaver!

From Dust, a Flame by Rebecca Podos (ya, urban fantasy)

The Ghosts of Rose Hill by RM Romero (YA, ghost story told in verse)

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb (ya, historical about angel and a demon coming to America)

Ravenfall by Kalyn Josephson (mg, urban fantasy murder mystery)

A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft (ya, romantic fantasy about a fox hunt)

The Way Back by Gavriel Salt (ya, historical portal fantasy)

The Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke (ya, historical time slip) and their stand alone, This Rebel Heart (ya, magical realism and historical)

Feverwake by Victoria Lee (ya, dystopian with magic)

Death’s Embrace by HL Moore (adult, sci-fi)

[duckdotcom]

wearing sky-colored shoes to hide from the devil. earth colored hat to hide from god

[ancient-debris]

Iron breastplate to ward off fairies, Fishnet leggings to ward off cod.

[frightfullytreeish]

[solarchaotica]

[randomitemdrop]

Item: outfit to hide from various supernatural forces (and certain fish)

[beetlefreaker]

water creatures for your eyes

[nyancrimew]

i am literally the cat from the "it has 72 mental illnesses and is banned from most public spaces" meme

[nyancrimew]

apparently some people here don't know this yet, but yea i am effectively stuck in switzerland since 2021 since i risk immediate extradition to the US if i enter any other country

[imposterogers]

every once in a while I remember that hannibal lecter would show up at crimes he committed and be like “girl WHO did that???”

[hcnnibal]

[tanoraqui]

it’s just hard not to think about the fact that in 1915, JRR Tolkien went to war not with but certainly in the same army and many of the same battles as his 3 best school friends, all nicely upper class young men who had never known much loss, and only he and one other came back alive - and a couple decades later, he wrote a book in which 3 nicely upper class young men (and one very excellent gardener) who have never known much loss go to war together, or at least they start out together, and they all come home alive. (Though one cannot bear it, and does not stay.)

[meerius]

What more it wasn’t just losing his friends, he was a commanding officer of a battalion of working class men. All farmers and miners from the same area of Lancashire. He felt affinity for them, but wasn’t allowed to socialize between the ranks due to military protocol and he hated it. 

 "The most improper job of any man … is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity.“

I don’t think it was even 6 months later that he contracted trench fever and was sent home. 

His entire command was wiped out in one charge shortly after, the majority of a whole countryside’s youths slaughtered while he survived. Youths who were brave and steadfast, but thought of as lesser than their superior officers while still being the ones carrying the actual battle. Youths who deserved fellowship, respect, and above all to go home and dance with their own Rosie.

“My Sam Gamgee is indeed a reflection of the English soldier, of the privates and batmen I knew in the 1914 war, and recognised as so far superior to myself”. 

[seriousfic]

[themightyglamazon]

TRIES NOT TO CRY

[jenniferrpovey]

There is a reason Frodo, who represents the English gentry, in the end falls and is caught by Samwise, who represents the common man.

But there is a soldier in Lord of the Rings who does not come back, and I don’t mean Boromir.

I mean the being who was a common hobbit, but who became corrupted by darkness and poison, who’s face is described in ways reminiscent of a gas mask.

The soldier who doesn’t come home, who is poisoned by gas and stress and insanity.

Is Gollum.

[sniperct]

The Lord of the Rings repeatedly stresses the horrors of war. Eowyn’s entire arc is about the truth of warfare versus the way it’s glorified. She starts out glorifying war and combat and soldiers, even when her own brother is telling her war sucks and is terrible. And then in the end, she sees first hand what war does to people.

Aragorn’s entire arc isn’t to be the steadfast hero saving the day, it’s to hold the line in terror and horror and blood while the overlooked folk are the people who save the world. And then, what makes him a king, is not his skill in battle, but his healing hands.

Which then ties into both Eowyn and Faramir’s arcs. Eowyn goes into healing not because she’s a weak and meek woman, but because war is horrible and saving lives is better than taking them. Aragorn is glorified within the text for his healing, and so is Eowyn.

Also, tying into the common man thing, in the movies it’s Faramir but in the books it’s SAMWISE who questions what brings a man so far from home to fight in a war and if he is really so different.

LOTR is anti-war propaganda.

[lookashiny]

And this is why I don’t get people who find Eowyn’s fate to be anti-feminist. She doesn’t become a healer because she’s a woman, she does because it’s the right thing to do. Both her and Faramir’s futures are to renew the world. That’s a good thing.

[thephilosophersapprentice]

It’s because people still take Joss Whedon’s view of feminism, even in the year 2020 CE.

[kurisutarusu]

Aragoen himself is a healer (built over the god Odin). He's the one who heals Eowyn in the House after the battle of Pelennor fields.

[eyanin]

[stimman4000]

.

[wildlyunlikelybabe]

I suddenly understand why jewelry is expensive

[pwntishness]

Hopefully people will start to realize why trades in general are so expensive. You're paying for someone's experience to make a good finished product that takes skill and years of practice.

However there is also a giant gap that needs to be filled in trades. As people are aging out of jobs like tailors, carpenters, bookbinders, leatherworkers, etc, there aren't enough young people going INTO the trades to repopulate the jobs.

Please. Please. Consider going into trades.

[wemblingfool]

These are the kinds of jobs people "fall into," because they aren't visible, and are never talked about.

Kids never grow up telling people they want to be a bookbinder. They don't know they even exist. And schools never ever present them as valid options. And if they do talk about them, they are treated as invalid compaired to NFL Linebacker, President, and Brain Surgeon. After all "jewelry maker" is something people do to supplement their "burger flipping" income, and not an extension of blacksmithing.

But that's the crux of it, isn't it? Crafting and trade skills are an extension of artistic skills, which are often seen as completely invalid, and a total waist of time.

[foreheadkissesforzewu-jun]

As the daughter of a professional bookbinder/book restorer, I had to reblog.

[abz-j-harding]

reblogging because I was in a course at college that covered Artisan skills such as these. I have friends who have since gone on to do Jewellery, Carpentry, Ceramics, Glasswork AND Blacksmithing. Ironically I ‘fell into’ comics. 

windows to Artisan jobs are still around, the rising interest of upcycling and restoration has brought young folk into doing them.

Boosting because Artisan trades should be valued and carried on. 

[classicintp]

@bekkathyst

[filthyprotozoan]

we make fun of thorin getting lost in the shire but you know the nazgul also had to keep asking for directions to find bag end so maybe hobbits’ city planning is just wack

[that-catholic-shinobi]

The Hobbits have spent generations making their roads complex af to keep Gandalf out

[under-the-arch]

Theory accepted 

[ioannemos]

#which is why they’re always so sulky whenever he shows up………….#oh………….you found ur way back………………how nice…………….. (via @thisbrilliantsky)

[enjolrasapproves]

Which is also why Gandalf is always late

[ivanaskye]

but of course this is the absolute Least successful way to keep GANDALF of all people out, because-

it’s a challenge

that WON’T potentially kill him

which is really in short supply lately.

so while the hobbits think they are being hostile. what they are actually saying in Gandalf-speak is “please come back. we love you.”

[heyhosers]

Gandalf needs environmental enrichment

[farmlesbians]

stole this from the tl but i need to know