Like a boss

...because I can't talk about these things in real life...

[no-longer-another-bondi-blonde]

In 2006 a high school English teacher asked students to write a famous author and ask for advice. Kurt Vonnegut was the only one to respond - and his response is magnificent: “Dear Xavier High School, and Ms. Lockwood, and Messrs Perin, McFeely, Batten, Maurer and Congiusta:

I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer (84) in his sunset years. I don’t make public appearances any more because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana.

What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.

Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood, and give it to her. Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on. Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you’re Count Dracula.

Here’s an assignment for tonight, and I hope Ms. Lockwood will flunk you if you don’t do it: Write a six line poem, about anything, but rhymed. No fair tennis without a net. Make it as good as you possibly can. But don’t tell anybody what you’re doing. Don’t show it or recite it to anybody, not even your girlfriend or parents or whatever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?

Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces, and discard them into widely separated trash recepticals. You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.

God bless you all!

Kurt Vonnegut

Nimbus Publishing and Vagrant Press Goose Lane Editions Breakwater Books Ltd. The Acorn Press Bouton d'or Acadie Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada

[three--rings]

When I was 15 I spent a month working on an archeological dig.  I was talking to one of the archeologists one day during our lunch break and he asked those kinds of “getting to know you” questions you ask young people: Do you play sports?  What’s your favorite subject?   And I told him, no I don’t play any sports.  I do theater, I’m in choir, I play the violin and piano, I used to take art classes.  

And he went WOW.  That’s amazing!  And I said, “Oh no, but I’m not any good at ANY of them.” 

And he said something then that I will never forget and which absolutely blew my mind because no one had ever said anything like it to me before: “I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them.  I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.”

And that honestly changed my life.  Because I went from a failure, someone who hadn’t been talented enough at anything to excel, to someone who did things because I enjoyed them.  I had been raised in such an achievement-oriented environment, so inundated with the myth of Talent, that I thought it was only worth doing things if you could “Win” at them. 

[nicserenity]

I am really not a fan of Lucy's behaviour in the last episode (truthfully a few more episodes) and it's not about being badly written, because I think this is all very much in character: You can't have it both ways, you can't insist on not being treated differently because of the relationship and then take liberties nobody else would walk away from without consequences. I know she is having a tough time but ignoring a direct order just doesn't fly because you think it was wrong - that is entitlement that stems from being in this relationship. Also the possibility to talk it through? That's also a privilege she is willing to accept, and it is kind of special treatment.

I appreciate all the work she is willing to do for the relationship, and that she is self assured in her wants and how that really changed Tim and how he handles the relationship. But not respecting chain of command when others would be in hot water is not okay.

That said, great work from Melissa in the last scene with the sister, I could really feel her pain.

[queenhelenblackthorn]

Ilia Malinin skates to Fear by NF at the 2026 Winter Olympics Figure Skating Gala

[officialfoxsquadron]

audiences have no idea how to be uncomfortable anymore

[officialfoxsquadron]

watch movies that make you uncomfortable read books that make you uncomfortable go to plays that make you uncomfortable watch tv that makes you uncomfortable look at paintings and sculpture and artwork that makes you uncomfortable. it is spiritually and morally and ethically and artistically really really good for you. think about why you are uncomfortable. what biases do you bring to art? what biases does the art bring to you? how do you reconcile this? how does your worldview grow and expand and change? all this and more will be answered and available to you if you just engage with art that does not coddle you and treats you like an intelligent human being that can sit through discomfort

[kragehund-est]

it actually is insane to me that it's a cultural norm for men to suck ass at getting their wives/gfs gifts. especially when they whine about how they have no idea what women like.

man, you're not getting a gift for Female Domestic Partner. you're getting a gift for Natalie, a person whom you have been married to for 7 years, whom has lived in the same home with you for a decade, whom speaks to you every day about her thoughts and interests, whom you presumably love, and whom you can directly or indirectly ask what she wants. it's not that you don't know what half the human population wants, that's irrelevant. you don't know what Natalie wants and that is inexcusable.

[funsizedshark]

the pitt, but it's other iconic medical shows

[theconcealedweapon]

[lynati]

I'm reminded of that one post where a guy said put a sparkly pink unicorn sticker on the best forklift in the warehouse, and confirmed that it is indeed always available for him to use now.

[desasterdan]

Oh. My. Fucking. God. This is 100% true.

I was employed at a workshop and somehow, every time I needed it, the 5.0 allen wrench was missing from its dedicated places. That was why I ordered a set of allen wrenches just for myself. And since I'm a horrible queer and also a huge fan of color coding I ordered the rainbow allen wrench set. Nobody ever touched it, not a single one went missing. Ever. You couldn't find my colleagues dead with them in their hands. One time someone even refused to use them after looking for his set and finding it missing.

Seriously, there's nobody as insecure as a middle-aged man working in maintenance.

[anxietyproblem]

[rylandsgrace]

Guillermo Del Toro on AI "art"

SDCC 2025: Lucas Museum Of Narrative Art

[lost-on-t-umblr]

Realizing you can like people aesthetically without it dictating your sexuality is so liberating tbh. Like, one can adore, even be obsessed with, the looks of someone of the same sex and still be straight. One can find people beautiful, and handsome, and fascinating, and still be asexual. I can like the physical appearance of someone of the opposite sex and still be gay. Finding physical beauty in people doesn't equal to being physically, or sexually, or romantically attracted to them. Human beauty isn't inherently sexual. Just wanted to put it out there.

[mirokata]

THANK YOU

[kosmogrl]

[nicserenity]

Hope there is some good signal wherever I'll be then...

[lotrlorien]

"I wish it need not have happened in my time"

[the-road-betwixt]

I think Aragorn’s acts of heroism that Tolkien shows on the page as opposed to just describing are incredibly indicative of his priorities. Aragorn the healer is given far more focus than Aragorn the warrior. Tolkien chooses to focus on Aragorn as wise councillor, poet, guide, friend and especially as healer. I think this is a very intentional choice by Tolkien in what he considers to be acts of heroism, and comment on war. Lord of Rings, while depicting battles, conflict, and war isn't about the physical fighting/violence its about choosing to have hope in the face of despair, being kind/helping people and about healing from the impacts of war/conflict not about being a great warrior.

[nicserenity]

I want a scene with Langdon at the end of his first shift back that resembles Aragorn coming to Helm's Deep after he fell in the battle with the wargs and was believed dead where he has his head down and nearly runs into Legolas and Legolas gives him the Evenstar pendant - with Langdon being Aragorn and Robby(?) being Legolas giving him the Dad bracelet Frank thought he lost during his shift, saying something like 'You look terrible' but looking at Frank like he wants him to know that he did a good job on his first day back - is that too much to ask?!

[thesituation]

i can’t stand “it’s not that deep” attitudes like even if it really really isn’t that deep just PLAY WITH ME. just fucking PLAY. have a meaningless but deep analytical conversation with me. just like think about shit for fun. does anyone else like to think about stuff for fun. it’s so lonely

[nicserenity]

Thinking is not for the weak

[miracle-and-wonder]

Thinking about the ambulance bay scene when Robby tells Langdon that he let this place "break" him but that's not actually what happened. Langdon was addicted to painkillers because of a genuine medical issue. He stole the pills to deal with withdrawal, not to block out what was happening in the ED, and we're even shown multiple times that Langdon is able to move between patients quickly, not linger in a patient room, not let it bother him longer than it needs because he has a family waiting for him back home, but that's what Robby values in Langdon.

He's everything as a doctor that Robby is not. That's why Robby says that Langdon is his "best resident" because he's the one who's least like him.

So when they're arguing, Robby immediately starts to project his own insecurities in anger at Langdon, including giving him one of the things he hates most about himself, that he's too affected by the ED, because that means Langdon is becoming more like Robby and thus has failed him.

[nicserenity]

I wait for a rewatch, so I have seen this scene only one time - but Robby throwing this in his face destroyed any possibility of further real communication, it was just lashing out after.

[reddwoods]

they went off with this

[nicserenity]

Got me in the feels