A Librarian's Paradise

Shannon: Children's Librarian, Former English Major, Coffee Addict, Writer, Asexual, Collector of Fine Writing Instruments. I write like crazy and work on making kids smile. She/Her Pronouns.

[the-disney-elite]

Original storyboards for Disney’s Mulan (1998).

[jpaddey]

Hogwarts commission done a few months ago!

[mienar]

commission for @enlasmontanas and @sunnybeam78

instagram | shop | commission info

[seahawksmoustache]

guys! i made a quiz to determine which primal source you connect to!

[gdfalksen]

Chiune Sugihara. This man saved 6000 Jews. He was a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania. When the Nazis began rounding up Jews, Sugihara risked his life to start issuing unlawful travel visas to Jews. He hand-wrote them 18 hrs a day. The day his consulate closed and he had to evacuate, witnesses claim he was STILL writing visas and throwing from the train as he pulled away. He saved 6000 lives. The world didn’t know what he’d done until Israel honored him in 1985, the year before he died.

[bemusedlybespectacled]

Why can’t we have a movie about him?

[elasmata]

He was often called “Sempo”, an alternative reading of the characters of his first name, as that was easier for Westerners to pronounce.

His wife, Yukiko, was also a part of this; she is often credited with suggesting the plan. The Sugihara family was held in a Soviet POW camp for 18 months until the end of the war; within a year of returning home, Sugihara was asked to resign - officially due to downsizing, but most likely because the government disagreed with his actions.

He didn’t simply grant visas - he granted visas against direct orders, after attempting three times to receive permission from the Japanese Foreign Ministry and being turned down each time. He did not “misread” orders; he was in direct violation of them, with the encouragement and support of his wife.

He was honoured as Righteous Among the Nations in 1985, a year before he died in Kamakura; he and his descendants have also been granted permanent Israeli citizenship. He was also posthumously awarded the Life Saving Cross of Lithuania (1993); Commander’s Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (1996); and the Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2007). Though not canonized, some Eastern Orthodox Christians recognize him as a saint.

Sugihara was born in Gifu on the first day of 1900, January 1. He achieved top marks in his schooling; his father wanted him to become a physician, but Sugihara wished to pursue learning English. He deliberately failed the exam by writing only his name and then entered Waseda, where he majored in English. He joined the Foreign Ministry after graduation and worked in the Manchurian Foreign Office in Harbin (where he learned Russian and German; he also converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church during this time). He resigned his post in protest over how the Japanese government treated the local Chinese citizens. He eventually married Yukiko Kikuchi, who would suggest and encourage his acts in Lithuania; they had four sons together. Chiune Sugihara passed away July 31, 1986, at the age of 86. Until her own passing in 2008, Yukiko continued as an ambassador of his legacy.

It is estimated that the Sugiharas saved between 6,000-10,000 Lithuanian and Polish Jewish people.

[returnofthejudai]

It’s a tragedy that the Sugiharas aren’t household names. They are among the greatest heroes of WWII. Is it because they were from an Axis Power? Is it because they aren’t European? I don’t know. But I’ve decided to always reblog them when they come across my dash. If I had the money, I would finance a movie about them.

[westsemiteblues]

He told an interviewer:

You want to know about my motivation, don’t you? Well. It is the kind of sentiments anyone would have when he actually sees refugees face to face, begging with tears in their eyes. He just cannot help but sympathize with them. Among the refugees were the elderly and women. They were so desperate that they went so far as to kiss my shoes, Yes, I actually witnessed such scenes with my own eyes. Also, I felt at that time, that the Japanese government did not have any uniform opinion in Tokyo. Some Japanese military leaders were just scared because of the pressure from the Nazis; while other officials in the Home Ministry were simply ambivalent.

People in Tokyo were not united. I felt it silly to deal with them. So, I made up my mind not to wait for their reply. I knew that somebody would surely complain about me in the future. But, I myself thought this would be the right thing to do. There is nothing wrong in saving many people’s lives….The spirit of humanity, philanthropy…neighborly friendship…with this spirit, I ventured to do what I did, confronting this most difficult situation—and because of this reason, I went ahead with redoubled courage.

He died in nearly complete obscurity in Japan. His neighbors were shocked when people from all over, including Israeli diplomatic personnel, showed up at quiet little Mr. Sugihara’s funeral.

[fahrlight]

I will forever reblog this, I wish more people would know about them!

[rhube]

I liked this before when it had way less information. Thank you, history-sharers.

[mousezilla]

Tucked away in a corner in L.A.’s Little Tokyo is a life-sized statue of Chiune, seated on a bench and smiling gently as he holds out a visa. 

The stone next to him bears a quote from the Talmud; “He who saves one life, saves the entire world.”  

I had no idea it existed until a few weeks ago, but it’s since become one of my favorite pieces of public art. 

[peashooter85]

Many Lithuanian Churches venerate him as a saint even though he is not recognized by the Orthodox church. Here is his unofficial icon.

[iwillfightu]

drained of blood, the heart is white

[thepowerliftingpinay]

woah

[stan-leigh-bowery]

No, that is NOT what this is. You’ve taken an amazing medical invention, a total game changer, and made up some stupid, faux-deep sentence fragment for it that is a complete falsehood. You should be embarrassed and ashamed, honestly.

This is a ghost heart. What they’ve done is taken a pig heart and stripped it down to, basically, a cell framework that they can use to BUILD A NEW HEART UPON. You could inject stem cells into this framework so that a newly formed personalized heart can be transplanted into a donor with a significantly reduced chance of rejection. FUCKING AMAZING. It’s not been done with human tissue yet, but the promise this given to people who need hearts - or kidneys or livers or whatever - is beautiful. Science is beautiful.

And it’s IMPERATIVE to mention that a woman, Doris Taylor, at the Texas Heart Institute developed this. And she started with a rat heart and worked up to he bigger, more complex (and more human) pig heart. What a total bad ass.

So look, quit making shit up, learn to do a reverse image search on stuff you find on the internet, and STOP ERASING WOMEN IN SCIENCE.

[dailypirates]

[zombeesknees]

#this entire scene is a fucking masterpiece  #the building tension in Barbossa’s cabin  #the strings in the score rising ominously  #and then the entire movie turns on a /dime/  #‘oh okay’  #I remember thinking  #‘fucking GHOST PIRATES’  #it drops from historical swashbuckler to fantasy swashbuckler in one set piece  #in which the rules for how the crew work are given to you purely in visuals  #and you get to see that sharp difference between horror-horror and fun horror  #because this scene genuinely terrifies Elizabeth  #and delights /you/  #instead of being awful for both of you  #god it’s just so neatly done and raises the stakes for the film and puts everything into context and adds depth to the characters  #and comes as a complete surprise  #this is all the things you want in a set piece  #we should all aspire to storytelling so economical  #(incidentally so should THE SEQUELS  #christ)  (via wizzard890)

[prismatic-bell]

Also a demonstration of how to do CGI and do it WELL. Very little of this scene looks hokey or “dated” even fifteen years later. They really thought through how it should WORK, not just how it should LOOK, and it shows.

[writing-questions-answered]

Character Development: Recognizing a Flat Character

Anonymous asked: How do I actually recognize it when my characters are “flat” ?

Ask yourself the following questions

Can I imagine the character in my own head?

Would a reader be able to pick the character out in a lineup?

Can I quickly think of three words to describe the character?

Could a reader come up with three words to describe the character?

Do you know your character’s biographical details?

Do you know your character’s history and familial details?

Does your character have believable flaws?

Does your character have notable traits and mannerisms?

Does your character have hopes and dreams?

Does your character have a life goal before the story starts?

Does your character have a story goal and a believable motivation to achieve that goal?

Does your character have at least one complex relationship?

Could you describe at least one outfit or several items of clothing that your character commonly wears?

Do you know how your character would react to good and bad news?

Does your character have any verbal or vocal mannerisms or traits?

Do you know what your character would order at your favorite restaurant?

Does your character or their circumstances change in a meaningful way by the end of the story?

Does your character make mistakes?

Do you have some idea of what happens to your character after the story ends?

If you can honestly answer ‘yes’ to most of these questions, odds are good that you have a well-rounded character. However, if you answer ‘no’ to more than a few of these questions, you may need to try some character development exercises to flesh them out a bit further. :)

[whitepeopletwitter]

That sounded expensive

[sunder-the-gold]

What are your elected officials doing with all of your tax money?

[asswatthama]

Embezzling

[risarodil]

Got a little sidetracked and made a quick illo inspired by To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before 💖

S6 | RB | TeePublic

[estecatehokte]

mvto for this!

[taibhsi-moved-deactivated201903]

YES. So important!

[milesgmoralles]

I don’t want another single, pop culture reference outta you for the rest of the trip. Understand?

[robdowneyjr]

Dr. Banner has been out of the loop for a while.

[casibarria]

[death-by-lulz]

These are photos of children crying for kid reasons

[redstainedledger]

Avengers: Comics vs. Movie

[phdna]

I can’t stop staring, this may be my favorite post ever

[p0dunkpunk]

For those of you who don’t know, I work at an anarchist co-op coffee shop.

Apparently, all the Chicano/Cholo boys in my neighborhood have caught on the the fact that I sneak food and stuff to all the little punk kids and homeless kids at the coffee shop.

There are three in particular who call me Mom. Not Mami, not Ma, Mom. The rest refer to me as “Miss”.

They’ve decided to always have one of the three of them there with me on my night shifts. (Especially after they witnessed the last bad shift where I had to kick a bunch of tweakers out. Said tweakers lit my fucking bulletin board on fire.)

Tonight, one of the boys actually charged up a crackhead who wouldn’t get out when I told him to leave.

About an hour later, I was emptying bus tubs when that same lovely boy walked in and wetted a wash rag. I asked what he was doing and he told me not to worry. So, I went about my business, doing dishes, bussing the main dining tables, etc.

I’d left a broom in the smoking room and a fresh trash bag in the bathroom for once I was done with the dishes.

When I walked out, everything was spotless and the trash had been replaced. He’d wiped all my tables, swept, mopped, and emptied all the ash trays.

He’d also picked the lock on the bathroom so his friend could take out the trash for me. (Which I’m not sure whether I should scold him for. Haha)

They snuck around and did my closing shift duties to thank me for keeping them warm and fed.

I’m fucking crying.

[casanova-lives]

Kindness begets kindness.

[kotas-dump]

Picking a lock so you can take out trash for someone who’s nice to you is the most chaotic good thing i’ve ever heard. <3

[teashoesandhair]

I actually love the ungrateful millennial trope, because I went to the V&A today and took a lot of photos of statues’ butts, and it tired me out, so I went to the café and had a cup of tea. In the V&A café, there’s a piano that customers can just use without asking, and a man sat down at it and started to play. I know nothing about music, but it sounded great to me.

At the table next to me was an old couple, probably in their late 60s, and the man kept tutting and sighing as the chap played, and I heard him mutter to his wife, “this is a [insert musty dead white composer here], there should be more MELODY,” and he just kept griping.

Now, to me, an ignorant and uncultured millennial, it just seemed super cool that we were essentially getting a free piano accompaniment to our Earl Grey, and so I stayed a while to listen, because this guy had some balls getting up there to play in front of us all, and I wanted him to feel appreciated. I also live tweeted it, and the old man kept glaring at me for being on the phone. I kid you not.

When he was done, we all (including the grumpy old man) applauded for him, and he looked really surprised. I thought I’d let him know how much I loved it, because I have terrible social anxiety and am trying to get out of my shell a bit, so I approached him and said “I know nothing about music, but I really enjoyed hearing you play,” and he BEAMED.

Turns out that he’s a concert pianist over from Toronto and we essentially got treated to a free preview of his concert tomorrow night. We chatted for a bit and then I left, and the old couple still looked really grouchy.

But hey. Ungrateful millennials!!