Don't Stop

This is a hodgepodge of a blog, with comics and my feelings about them being a big chunk at the moment (I tag new comic spoilers as #wednesday spoilers, fyi.) Also, other things that make me happy. And hopefully you too. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-37368619-1']); _gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'tumblr.com']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

[chipthekeeper]

it's like poetry, they rhyme

[twofingerswhiskey]

"oh food now has so much added to it, past food was so pure and untainted" victorians used to cut bread with chalk and aluminum powder. romans put lead in the wine, which was made from dirty feet mushing unwashed grapes covered in horse shit and road dust. i think our species will survive a few additives in food. our food systems have never been cleaner and safer. it has room for improvement, but we're not putting fucking plaster of paris in the milk

[thelordsoftherings]

Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends.

[lliveonthesunn]

i get why people don't believe in marriage as a social construct but legally it is the best and easiest way to say "this is who i trust to take care of me when i can't take care of myself" and i'm so glad gay people fought for that right bc when shit gets scary at least i know im in good hands

[paradoxspaceheater]

the thing about misogyny is that femininity is both devalued AND forced on women (and those misgendered as women). if you fail to meet the arbitrary standard of Womanly Charm you're ugly and unwanted and hate yourself and if you succeed you're shallow and brainless and weak. if you don't try to conform you're lazy and if you do you're vain. it is not possible to beat this system. feminism needs both "feminine doesn't mean weak or less-than" AND "women don't have to be feminine to have value", and if you are fighting for one of these the people fighting for the other are not your enemies, nor are they privileged over you.

this post is inclusive of trans people, including but not limited to trans women and transfeminine people. exclusionary sentiment is not welcome.

[kvothes]

a good thread

[thetangledsheet]

The emphasis on intention and creation in the previous episodes find such an excellent culmination in the scene between Vaelus and Hannan at the end. Vaelus, has felt alienated from creation for so long, owing to being under the thumb of an entity that tore away their ability and right to create on their own, and later owing to her own endless grief. It is in this eminently changeable, dynamic, mortal world, with the pretext of having her grief recognized as belonging to people, that she finds a means of attaching herself to creation outside of Sylandri, through intention, will, understanding, things she has already possessed in spades. Hannan, who has lived in the anger and pain of his loss, nevertheless attempts to secure creation with intention as a last bid in his very long life.

Vaelus reaching out to him, in fellowship and doubt and compassion, is also allowing him to return to something other than seeking death. Their acknowledging each other as kin in a world where their experience of life is both unique and commonplace, in that they doubt and fight and create along with mortals but they also remain forever, iterates the beginning of the true end of the Shaper's War in a front where it is still being fought in ceaseless memory. To relinquish the binds on creation no matter how beautiful they may appear (directly opposed to Yanessa's earlier "say something beautiful"), to stand in your own intention and assume responsibility for it even when it frightens you, to stand with each other above all. This is how plowshares are made.

[chipthekeeper]

Thimble & Occtis being inseparable and supportive

[jonnyrig]

Wick's occasional outbursts of anger are such an underrated aspect of his characterization. Beyond just being something refreshingly different from his usual sweet/sad/scared trinity, I think it shows A LOT about the environment he was raised in.

Wick is a patient man, he only actually breaks down into anger when he's already been pushed to his limit with stress. His grandmother refusing his pleas to spare Thjazi and Tyranny continually ignoring him, his first time on death's door, being insulted (and even punched) constantly by his allies, etc. And when he snaps it only directed at the cause of his frustration (Tyranny disobeying him, Thaisha killing one of the luxes in a spur of the moment, Julien punching him). And when he doesn't have someone in particular to snap at, he just simmers in self-resentment.

When he does lose his temper, it reflects on Yanessa in a couple interesting ways. For one, it honestly makes him resemble Yanessa's aggression a lot. It's quick, it's loud, and it's mean.

But moreso it reflects the effect growing up around her anger had on him and his ability to stand up for himself. He may have been his family's favorite child, but his reaction to Yanessa's outburst in episode 3 reads to me as someone who is used to seeing it and being cowed into submission by it, or seeing others be cowed by it.

It explains a lot about Wick, despite sometimes having misplaced confidence, being so hesitant to actually stand up for himself until his stress boils over into rage and he can't stop himself. Then he usually feels the need to apologize immediately afterword. Being in that environment trained him to be obedient and passive, even in the face of anger and insults.

He never learned to stand up for himself normally, so now he just lets his stress build up continuously until it boils over into aggression.

Angry Wick you'll always be famous I love you.

[chipthekeeper]

"We have a seed, yeah?" "My liege, precious few are left."

[trailertrashgrog]

love the different ways brennan handles NPCs whose roles are exposition heavy, especially when it comes to "i am here to tell you things i overheard." he's the GM and if he wants to info dump, he simply can do that, but instead he builds in justifications for why this particular NPC would be able to deliver this information and gives them a distinct style when doing it

romina is a washerwoman. she overhears things and is told gossip by coworkers and has decent memory recall but the stories tend to have gaps because she's in and out of the room and making a concentrated effort to not look like she's listening for her own safety

demodus is a wizard, so he's very good at information recall, so he can pull together almost the whole story with minimal gaps, but in a high stress situation there are bits he missed or didn't understand, and gaps because he didn't realize he should've been paying attention

cyd's been a spy for over a decade. his ability to recall what he heard even after a stressful situation is excellent, because that's been his whole job for thjazi since he moved to dol-makjar. he pretty much gives them the whole picture, is able to note gaps where they didn't mention a specific topic within earshot, and make connections. one conversation makes it very clear why thjazi asked him to spy

all NPCs are narrative devices in one way or another but it's enjoyable to see the different flavors they can take while fulfilling ultimately the same role

[academicssay]

academic self-regulation explained

[64mpg]

(muttering to myself constantly for the past ten years) i just need a little time haha and then i’ll jump right back in

[captainkirkk]

What they don't tell you about writing is that as you write, you discover scenes and entire plots that you hadn't accounted for that need to be written. So you can spend two hours writing and editing only to realise you're further away from the finish line than you thought you were when you started

[mysweetoddbird]

sorry but once you notice how often ppl use a southern accent as shorthand for being unintelligent you can never unsee it. classism is baked so deeply and why are you acting like anyone who talks the way my grandfather talks is stupid.

[maidslime]

mom's minion memes for real justice

i posted these originally like 9 or 10 years ago or something but I can't find them anywhere, so now you get retortured.

[audible-smiles]

My memory of The Birdcage (1996) is always that it's more dated and more difficult to watch than it actually is. You hear "drag-themed comedy from the 90s based on a musical from the 80s based on a play from the 70s" and you brace yourself just a little, right? But the film has a strong gay perspective, so the fruity fag jokes mostly come off as warmly affectionate. There is a surprising amount of poignancy in Robin Williams' portrayal of Armand, grudgingly agreeing to his beloved son's request that he go back into the closet for an evening ("do me a favor and don't talk to me for a while"). The drag club's staff attempting to redecorate the apartment with stuff straight people might like (a taxidermy moose head, an enormous crucifix, and Playboy magazine) is extremely funny. Albert's histrionics are a point of tension because he does often come off as a stereotypically pathetic/comic figure, but towards the end of the movie he makes it very clear that he's aware of how people see him, and asserts that trying to copy a stoic masculinity he doesn't possess for the sake of social approval would be more pathetic. In the 1983 musical adaptation, they give "Albert" (Albin) the only good song in the whole show, "I Am What I Am", which Gloria Gaynor covered to the delight of gays everywhere. Apparently Nathan Lane wasn't (publicly) out yet in 1996, which is amazing because it means that at one point in this movie you're watching a gay man playing a straight man playing a gay man playing a straight man, in a movie about how it's important to be yourself, an absurdity that does seem to encapsulate the state of gay America in the 90s.

[silverhand]

I'm seeing a couple of posts circulating about the gay 90s and this movie. The above is a very good summary, and I think it's worth adding a few other points.

This movie got made because Robin Williams said yes to it (and it's important that Gene Hackman did as well). Williams in the 90s was a mega-star of a type that's not present in the current media environment (maybe Tom Cruise, but I personally think that's echo from his salad days). Even his flops made money on the back end in the video rental market, which also doesn't exist anymore (streaming is different). Hackman was on the other side of his A-list career but still Hollywood nobility if not full royalty.

Playing gay was considered career suicide in the 90s. There had been a number of actors who put lie to that belief stretching back decades, but this was Williams and Hackman (yes, being on screen next to a gay character was enough to get you blacklisted) saying "screw that" and doing it anyway.

Being gay and out was career suicide in the 90s.

Nathan Lane had a really nice gig going for himself. The Lion King put him into the Disney rep company with people like Williams, Bette Midler, and Whoopie Goldberg (check their IMBD list from the 90s--they were making bank at Disney).

Lane didn't come out until several years later (nice summary: https://deadline.com/2024/06/nathan-lane-robin-williams-advice-coming-out-birdcage-1235975010/).

I don't want to imply that this was a Sorkinized moment where everything changed because of one thing, but this was a very important movie that caused real movement in the needle on queer acceptance.

It also proved that there was a market for films with gay characters, which had the knock-on effect of gay filmmakers being able to find distributors of their gay-themed films. Which meant that more people than ever (queer and non-queer) got to see representation on-screen.