Hi. I'm Birdie and I'm a theatre professional who is occasionally about a billion other things including but not limited to a musician, a painter, a writer, a damn good cook, and a traveler. I wish words were physical so I could crunch them in my teeth. This is a blog an absolute mishmash of things interesting to me... fandom stuff, art, music, interesting political, medical, and science posts, cute animals, and homesteading and crafting stuff. Lately, it's started to morph into an art blog because in 2024 I started oil painting and I've been using Tumblr to trawl for inspiration. I am not very good at tagging, so follow with caution, especially if you're worried about harsh language, violent or NSFW images or medical stuff. I also don't censor words. I definitely understand this blog won't be for everyone just as every blog isn't for me, so feel free to block me, but I don't need to hear about it. Know that I respect your decision just as I hope you respect my decision to post what I want. Due the influx of bots making it harder to figure out if new followers are actual people or bots, if you want to follow me, send me a message or reblog a few of my things. Especially if your blog is blank. Otherwise I'm blocking you outright. I don't bite, I promise. Also please don't send me requests for money or gofundmes unless I know you in real life. As in, we could go get coffee together. I absolutely will report you since it's obvious you haven't actually looked at my blog. If you're interested in fanfiction for Hannibal, AoS, MCU, and Newsroom, find me under the handle Hesterbyrde on AO3. If you're interested in classical music, my music blog is @mygrandmotherspiano. If you're into Hannibal, I'm over at @drowningortolan. If you're interested in my painting you can find my stuff at @oilpaintingfortheendoftheworld
So, to sum up last night. It was special. Always is at Agua Fria under moonlight. The Moon coming up, clouds forming. All the little desert creatures that come out at night making noise. Wall to wall petroglyphs. Here is the first panel and a couple of shooting stars in the bokeh.
Honestly this is one of the reasons I consider Astartes (and custodes even more so) to not be a power fantasy but more an exploration in powerlessness. Their bodies are not their own, their lives are not their own. There’s ultimately always a theme of depersonalization and of lack of ownership of your own body.
Oh, very much so. Lore is very consistent on this point. 40k is not the satire GW claims it to be, but it still has quite a few subversive elements that it uses to emphasize the horror/dystopia of the setting, and occasionally the humor. From the drug fueled psychopathic goons of Rogue Trader to the stunted, brainwashed transhumans of today, space marines have always fallen in that category.
This is such a great way of describing it, you can’t leave it in the tags. Satire, at least good satire, is specific in its subject and aims. 40k media covers far too wide a range of topics, tones, and genres to really be called a satire, and a lot of its humor is just black comedy. But running through the franchise is this sly, kinda smirking undertone: “Look at these idiots. Can you believe what just came out of their mouths? What a pack of losers!” It feels very British to me in a way that I can’t define—they’re taking the piss. You’ll be presented with situation after situation that is over-the-top to the point of absurdity, but they’re all being played so straight that you just kinda go with it. And then you look back at what you just read or saw and go, “Wait, was I supposed to take that seriously? Or was that a joke?” And the answer is yes.
Once when I was in undergrad, someone described something as “problematic” in class and our professor was like, “That’s cool, but ‘problematic’ doesn’t really mean anything. It means that the thing you’re describing has a problem, and in and of itself that’s not bad. Art, especially, should always have problems, or else it’s not interesting and not art, either. It sounds like you’re trying to say that this is bad, but you don’t want to say ‘bad.’ Is that right?”
So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”
Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.
Anyway. Whenever I see the word problematic, I can’t help but think of this professor being like, “Good starting point, now let’s get specific.” I think when we have to commit to saying “that’s ___” it requires a lot more careful thought about the truth and impact and complexities of whatever we’re claiming. Sometimes there really is some bullshit afoot, and also sometimes it’s art, and it should be full of problems, because that’s what art is.
#'this is present in the text' is often a good first step #but those second and third ones (naming it; describing its function) are vital (via @elucubrare)
Pixel post dividers for everyone! It's not much, but feel free to use them if you'd like.
I don't know the ideal size for these, so let me know if they're too tall. I can make them a bit shorter next time.
we're heading towards some record setting humidity this summer so JUST A REMINDER that if you're in any way prone to migraines, this weather is great at triggering them! Be EXTREMELY diligent about staying hydrated if you're going out, EVEN TO AN AIR CONDITIONED SPACE, and ESPECIALLY if you are drinking any alcohol at all! even a single glass of wine or a cocktail! You will feel fine for an hour or two but then you will NOT FEEL FINE. If you have a headache that isn't responding to painkillers and it gets noticeably worse when you move or change elevations (sitting to standing, not like, going to the mountains) then drink a full glass of water and go lie down in a cool, quiet, dark room until it passes! DO NOT LOOK AT A SCREEN UNTIL THE DANGER HAS PASSED. I know you're bored but it could be so much worse!
I see this is going around again! Happy Migraine Season everybody! Remember to keep a damp washcloth in your freezer so that if you feel the migraine coming on you can lay down and press it against your forehead and temples to give yourself a better chance of ducking it before it's too late!
Also a reminder that for some folks, big changes in air pressure can also be a migraine trigger. So if you’re in an area that, like mine, is having a lot of really wild temperature swings (ie multiple very hot days that end abruptly with storms at which point it cools down a lot), might be a good idea to have your migraine remedies locked and loaded, because with migraines the sooner you intervene, the more likely it is you’ll avert the worst symptoms (and will need less medication to do so).
If cold doesn't work for your migraines/makes them worse, get a heat pack- either those instant hand warmers or, better, a bag with rice that you can stick in the microwave for a minute. Slap that puppy on your eye or your neck (specifically around your sternocleidomastoid muscle/that tendon in your neck that gets stiff) and wham, instant relief.
Caffeine can also help. It constricts blood vessels which can get them off your poor beleaguered cranial nerves.
Seconding hydration. And in addition to having a glass of water as a response to symptom onset, make sure you're staying hydrated generally. It helps keep symptoms controlled.
Mint can help you get a bit of relief... a peppermint candy or gum, brushing your teeth, having a bath/shower with strong peppermint soap (I like Dr Bronners) can all help or at least get you through to a more effective treatment.
Wait, so you’re not supposed to leave tampons in too long because the tampons have toxins in them that it takes time to absorb, or because the blood it soaks up was supposed to be carrying toxins out of the body?
hi anon,
those are both incorrect understandings of toxic shock syndrome. toxic shock syndrome is caused by overgrowth of specific types of bacteria commonly found in and on the body, which will in turn release toxins. the version affiliated with tampons, which is probably what toxic shock syndrome is most well-known for, happens because tampons provide a great place for that bacteria to grow.
leaving tampons in longer increases the risk of bacteria growing and releasing toxins, which is why it's recommended to change them frequently. the same is true of anything placed in the vagina for extended periods (no pun intended) of time, including other menstrual collection items such a menstrual cups or disks or forms of birth control such as the sponge or diaphragm, both of which have become less popular with the availability of hormonal birth control.
it's important to stress that toxic shock syndrome stemming from tampons and other devices have decreased sharply in the last few decades, ever since the health risks became widely known in the 1980s, and the majority of toxic shock syndrome reported today is not affiliated with any menstrual complications.
okay this is going to sound nitpicky, but menstrual cups do not cause toxic shock syndrome. toxins released by excessive growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes cause toxic shock syndrome. that can happen whether you use a menstrual cup or not, whether you menstruate or not, in a vagina or not. you are in fact more likely to develop toxic shock syndrome in an infected wound than from a menstrual device.
again, I know this sounds like quibbling, but saying that a menstrual cup or tampon "causes" toxic shock syndrome makes it sound like they're not perfectly safe menstrual collection tools, which they both are. they can very slightly increase the risk of toxic shock syndrome but they aren't the cause, in the same way that... I don't know, people going jogging outdoors isn't the cause of people being hit by cars. there's a difference! important difference!
hey, that's a really good practice! a lot of health and wellness grifters get by using terms that sound scary without being able to back them up at all (or even define them), and it's smart to look out for that.
I'm happy to report that the toxins affiliated with toxic shock syndrome are literally just called toxic shock syndrome toxin-1
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