Weird (Animal) Science

I am a real doctor but I'm not a real worm. Queer nerd who likes comic books, animals, and terrible puns. Genderqueer trans dude, 30s. He/him  

[superhell]

i just don't think 16 minutes is going to cover it

[bidonica]

a funny thing about having a Problematic Blorbo is that you'll periodically come across a post along the lines of "um let's not forget that [Blorbo] is a bad person..." listing their various crimes, and if you have a modicum of intellectual honesty you find yourself nodding along and saying yeah it's true... but it's the greyness of their character that makes them so compelling... At the same time though you have a little Saul Goodman in your ear going "your honor in their defense: who cares like omfgggg who caresssssss like come onnnnnn"

[marcarella-pizza]

“What’s so special about this one?”  “It has a sunroof!” Alastor chirps.  Angel mostly manages to contain the eyetwitch. Alastor’s done a lot for him the past few days, and a lot for Hell besides - if the guy wants a sunroof for his trouble, well, Angel guesses he can have a sunroof.

From the fic The Family You Choose (is better?) by @number1trashenthusiast (Chapter 26: And we went round and round)

There's just something really special about this fic that's spoken to me. I don't typically like fics enough to bookmark them, let alone draw fanart, but oh my gosh - this one was well worth the read!

There's something about the Alastor and Vox dynamic portrayed that really made me giddy - and I'm quite the opposite of a Vox fan. I think this one really made me reconsider their relationship, at least in this fic.

That's why instead of a classic RadioApple scene (there were SO many I loved), this one became my absolute favourite! A car chase/ BAMF moment that REALLY got me re-reading it over and over again. I don't re-read ANYTHING. But this? Absolute cinema.

Anyways. Maybe I'll draw some RadioApple from this fic sometime, it was SO good. Like, words cannot simply describe how much I LOVED this. So I hope my art/ animation can suffice <3

[number1trashenthusiast]

Oh my gosh, I can't believe someone took this scene on. I love all the tiny details, right down to Velvette and her phone. THIS IS INREDIBLE!!!! I'm seriously honored. This must have taken some TIME!

[queer-as-city-folk]

my predicament

[queer-as-city-folk]

I just want to go to the market or see a local band perform,

[queer-as-city-folk]

[queer-as-city-folk]

are all of you rich river boat owning fucks now????

[queer-as-city-folk]

people don't usually have a private train

[queer-as-city-folk]

the nearest bus stop is 3 miles away as the crow flys, next to a costco and a hospital

[bitchesgetriches]

The number of people who just can't comprehend the reality of travel in rural America is... kind of staggering.

I grew up in The Woods. There was absolutely no form of public transportation aside from the literal school bus. If you wanted to go anywhere besides school (10 miles from my house), you had to drive a car or ride your bike on unpaved, bumpy dirt roads. The center of town (a 2 mile walk) held the library, some churches, town hall, the village store, and the beach for the local lake. And I must've clocked thousands of biking miles just to go to the library, the village store for a snack, and the beach as a kid. Because I could go literally nowhere else.

The closest City Where Stuff Happens was 15 miles away. It might as well have been on the moon before I got a driver's license and begged to borrow my brother's car.

Trust me: people who live in places like this are aware of every single option for traveling. Car ownership is expensive (and unattainable for some), but it's one of the few escapes from these metaphorical desert islands across rural America.

[ferrousferrule]

It doesn't even have to be that rural. I lived in a town 15 miles outside the state capital and had no way to get there until i got a car. It was all highways and we had no intercity public transit.

America is not built for people its built for cars

[pangur-and-grim]

I felt bad accepting financial aid for my medication, but also, I DID NEED THE FINANCIAL AID. so maybe that’s alright.

and now I can finally get my immunosuppressants and pay zero dollars for them, so that’s good!

[pangur-and-grim]

this is very good advice, boosting this so more people can see

[lustcannibalism]

the desire to engage in my hobbies leaving my body as soon as I have the day off even though I was looking forward to it all week

[bitchesgetriches]

This is one of the clearest signs of burnout: not being able to engage in relaxing, enjoyable activities that you used to look forward to.

The good news is, you can stop the burn and recover. Learn more.

[mousegirlheart]

[tlirsgender]

White people have something wrong with them

[tlirsgender]

I can't stop thinking about that Baldwin quote about white gays' sense of injustice at not having the world on a plate like they were promised as White Children. You'll never unsee it. Same with white neurodivergent people oh my godddddddd

[puppygirlbatdoll]

the quote you're looking for!

[tlirsgender]

[ID: text reads, "Their reaction seems to me in direct proportion to their sense of feeling cheated of the advantages which accrue to white people in a white society. There's an element, it has always seemed to me, of bewilderment and complaint. Now that may sound very harsh, but the gay world as such is no more prepared to accept black people than anywhere else in society." /end ID]

YEAH that's the one

[existennialmemes]

I don't think cis men commit 90% of violent crimes because they are naturally more violent than cis women. I think cis men commit 90% of violent crimes because they are afforded more opportunity and leeway by society to do so.

I think there's an incredible correlation between insulating cis boys from the consequences of their actions and the prevalence of violent crime.

I think we teach cis boys from a young age that violence will be tolerated from them as long as they perform masculinity to society's standards.

That second part is the salient factor here. Because we also teach them that violence will not be tolerated from them if they defy society's standards of masculinity, even if it's self defense. If they're picked on for defying those standards, it's the violence against them that's validated.

I think cis boys who are performing masculinity to society's standards get in no real trouble for snapping their classmates' bra straps or pulling their hair or whatever else gets written off as "he likes you" & it sets them up for a life of violence.

It doesn't guarantee it. But it raises the probability that they will continue to express their desires via violence when they're adults.

[bitchesgetriches]

Hey, bitches. So I’m wondering how one can avoid losing acess to funds while going through the name change process. It would suck to lose your investments that you made as ‘Sally Silly’ because you became ‘Mrs Sally Serious’ or ‘Mr Saul Silly’.

This is something many name-changers have gone through before you. And whether it's married hetero women or elder trans folks or people in witness protection, they've all had to figure it out!

In other words: this is a common problem the system is set up to solve easily. Contact your bank/s and tell them about your upcoming name change. Ask them what sort of paperwork you'll need to fill out to make sure you don't lose access to your funds for even a minute. They might even have a tutorial!

I didn't change my name when I got married, but the practice is so common that the court literally handed me a printed how-to guide for changing my name in all legal ways so that I wouldn't face any troubles. I was like "I don't need this take it back!" but in hindsight I should've kept it to share with all y'all...

Did we just help you out? Say thanks on Patreon!

[hotvintagepoll]

the orpheum in vancouver (very old, beautiful theatre that I couldn't post about under my username for fear of doxxing myself) was playing silent films this year accompanied by an old wurlitzer organ that's literally built into the walls there, and going there has been so much fun. I feel like it really changed my appreciation for silent films and how it must have been to see them in theaters.

when phantom of the opera was playing, a woman behind me whispered "kitty!" to her friends whenever the cat appeared on screen. everybody laughed when clara bow made a guy ride the bus with her. the organist played bits of scotland the brave and yo ho ho and a bottle of rum and what do you do with a drunken sailor during the black pirate with douglas fairbanks. it's just been such an amazing, lovely experience to go to the theatre and see something beautiful and transporting, because that really was the goal, and it still feels fresh and new because you're watching people do things that haven't been done before!

if they start again this summer I highly recommend it for anyone in vancouver, and for people in other places, I recommend watching a silent film on a big screen in a dark room. it's a totally different way of experiencing it than just watching on youtube in the daytime!

oh that sounds so wonderful. good on you for going! and love that organist, they sound brilliant

[hannahnutwood]

I was the woman whispering “kitty!” and I am so relieved the author was charmed and not annoyed by it. 😅

[importantpics]

[a-book-of-creatures]

The dreaded shuttle cock

[toasthaste]

according to An Immense World, apparently giant squid eyes are, like, UNREASONABLY large, even for something their size living at those depths. the next largest eyes on earth, blue whale eyes, are less than half the size, and swordfish, who live at similar depths as giant squid and have the largest eyes of any fish, have eyes that could fit inside a giant squid's pupil.

eyes hit serious diminishing returns wrt resource costs vs vision quality as they get bigger, so the question became: what the FUCK do giant (and colossal) squid need to see so badly that they couldn't see with swordfish-sized eyes that's justifying that massive energy cost? that nothing else in the deep ocean needs to see so fucking badly??

turns out the one strength eyes that big really have over much smaller eyes is: seeing large glowing objects in water deeper than 500 meters from an appreciable distance.

sperm whales are the primary predator of giant squid. sperm whales don't glow. BUT! water that deep is full of bioluminescent creatures-- these creatures light up when bumped into. something a sperm whale's size is continuously bumping into those critters, it's just surrounded by a glowing field all the time when it's swimming at those depths, visible from a distance-- if you have the right eyes-- as a massive glowing shape. so basically the only reason to have eyes the size of soccer balls is if you live in the deep ocean and your life depends on having a heads up when a hungry sperm whale lurking around

and also I gotta say, the imagery... the huge lurking threat betrayed only by the ambiguous glowing shape of its movements through the water, is really evocative, if spooky deep-sea games aren't already using that to make things extremely ominous then they should really start

[gatesofminrathous]

there will never be anything as funny as the mutual disbelief between long form and short form fic writers about each other's style.

short form writers look at people writing 100k+ fics as though this is some sort of talent given as part of a fae bargain, that the commitment required shows some sort of ungodly mental fortitude.

meanwhile long form writers look at people writing 1000 word one shots like god I would cut off my left nipple to be able to say anything concisely. i would love to play with multiple ideas. free me from the shackles of this child I have birthed. i love them but I now must take them to t-ball and doctor's appointments and they're going to destroy everything I own.

[thecrumbez]

Happy Pride Month to those two women dancing together in the foreground of the boat scene in Godzilla (1954).

I’m sorry your romantic foibles were overshadowed by a big ass atomic lizard thing.

[erratic-dragon-fruit]

out of the tags with you

[garak-pussy-indulgence]

Star Trek won't show me enough queer rebellious counter culture on Cardassia so I will do it myself

[unamccormack]

The anarchist lesbian collective of East Torr salutes you and your style.

[garak-pussy-indulgence]

Thank you omg, I just know in my heart that the underground Cardassian industrial/goth clubs are a sight to behold and I KNOW you know this too 😭

[unamccormack]

I’ve seen your vision now and I believe it completely. Sensational. All I can offer in return is this small tattoo.

[nickyandmikey]

when two musicians sing into the same microphone and lean in very close to each other… like omg are you guys gonna kiss now to relieve the homoerotic tension?😳

[nickyandmikey]

THIS IS NOT ABOUT ONE DIRECTION I DON’T KNOW WHO THIS “HARRY” PERSON IS GO WATCH BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND CLARENCE CLEMONS KISS ON STAGE RIGHT NOW

[irrelevantlyvalid]

op is the only valid person i’ve ever met. everyone else needs to come to the light

[chokolattejedi]

Okay, but this is really important: Bruce Springsteen occupied this really weird place in music history. His songs were all from this pessimistic, nihilistic view of an America that had let him down:

Just like the anti-Vietnam War protest songs that we associate with the 1960s, or the early nihilism that spawned punk music in the 1970s. But he didn’t *sound* like a punk anarchist; he sounded like a country rock singer. When he released Born in the U.S.A. people completely misinterpreted (or possibly ignored) the lyrics in favor of the tone of the music.

Politicians used his music to promote their ‘Murica Yes! brand, and he had to literally explain that that was not what he was about. He’s over here asking when we’re going to have jobs and heathcare, not stanning the politicians who weren’t helping the people.

It was also kind of a big deal that he had an integrated band, because even as late as the 1980s music was still kind of segregated and MTV was straight up racist. They refused to play and promote black artists and then claimed that were no black artists in the first place. Michael Jackson’s record company had to threaten a boycott of their white artists to get MTV to play his Thriller video.

Plus, the first black/white interracial kiss on TV was in 1968 (OG Star Trek). Also it took us until the 70s to get sympathetic gay characters on screen, and the 90s to get gay characters to kiss onscreen. And all of those firsts were met with outrage.

So keep that in mind when you see Bruce Springsteen not just playing with an interracial band, but engaging in an interracial, gay kiss on stage repeatedly.

Passages from American Popular Music by Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman

[executeness]

I used to think that Bruce and Clarence kissing onstage was exuberance, showmanship, and telling racist homophobes to fuck off. Like, they picked up a certain kind of audience and went “Racist homophobes? Not in our house!” And started the kissing then but then I actually looked it up and

https://www.gq.com/story/this-fucked-me-up-bruce-springsteen-singing-about-clarence-clemons

It was a story where… we remade the city. We remade the city, shaping it into the kind of place where our friendship and our love for one another wouldn’t have been such an exceptional thing. - Bruce Springsteen

It wasn’t about showmanship or rejecting bigots or anything it was just. Damn right that was one of the loves of his life and damn right he was going to kiss him onstage

It gets me a little that Bruce has had a divorce, that he’s been married twice, but he loved Clarence for the rest of Clarence’s life and will presumably love him the rest of his own

Clemons said in one interview. “Bruce and I looked at each other and didn’t say anything, we just knew. We knew we were the missing links in each other’s lives. He was what I’d been searching for.” In another version of the story, Clemons says “He looked at me, and I looked at him, and we fell in love.”

I’m having some emotions about it!

“He was elemental in my life,“ Springsteen adds, “and losing him was like losing the rain.”

Not just! I love you pure and deep and true but! I am going to love you like that in front of the whole damn world!

We have fewer narratives about taking risks and making statements for platonic love rather than romantic and supposedly it would be easier to downplay this onstage than romance and! They refused! They fucking refused! In front of hundreds of thousands of people, over the course of years! In the spotlight, in word and deed, I love you!

God I’m not okay about it

[ramshacklefey]

Now I’m mad that this is not among any of the things I was ever told about this artist.

[jbbartram-illu]

I knew about this in general (& via all those fabulous photos), but this just adds even more beautiful context <3

[eregyrn-falls]

Just to add to the pile: this was the cover of Springsteen’s break-through album Born to Run, in 1975:

I mean, will you LOOK at this:

This was the pic chosen for the album cover from an extensive photoshoot, too. A few others:

There’s a lot more online if you search. They’re all pretty amazing. But the photographer is right, the one chosen for the album cover just pops.