Pearls and Pumpkins

Merryn ♥ '94 | Australia. I'm here for getting way too invested in tv shows and ~ a e s t h e t i c ~ shit. I've been on this dang website on and off since like 2010 ↖︎

[chirasul]

we got a full redbox and now we're playing go fish with the redbox movies

[chirasul]

I would never pay money for a redbox. if you ask politely and are very very persistent (i.e. annoying) they will let you take it away

here's my dad and i taking it away

a redbox makes a wonderful addition to your patio

[fishmech]

for those wondering why they're free to take now, it's because the company that made those "chicken soup for the soul" books bought them a few years ago and then completely collapsed so bad they couldn't afford to dispose of or even take the blu rays and dvds out of their kiosks all over.

so any of them is free game because they're all located on other business' property and they usually don't want to have to pay to get rid of them either. so asking the store manager usually gets you the ok to pull it out and keep it.

[chirasul]

there was a period of time right after their bankruptcy where you could put in any debit or credit card and it would spit out movies without charging you. you could even put in like an expired or deactivated card, or a visa gift card with a $0 balance, didnt matter, they'd just start spitting discs out. a lotta people raided redboxes for movies for a couple months, with some people doing what me and my brother and my dad did here, taking the whole box and signs and marquees as well. because managers sure as hell don't want a big abandoned piece of trash on their sidewalk disappointing customers. BUT they're also often too cheap to pay someone to remove it. so they just sit there.

luckily there are no shortage of freaks like us who will just take them away on our own volition. we did it all "by the book", too: we set up cones and caution tape, disconnected electricity properly, used an angle grinder to grind down the bolts in the concrete so nobody would trip on them, then cleaned everything up afterward and sealed off the electrical panel so the store would know everything is safe and tidy. though they were hesitant when we were first contacting them, they were honestly very relieved and grateful when we finally took it away, especially once they saw that we "knew what we were doing" (we don't) and look like we've "done this before" (we haven't).

the fun part: the reason why this redbox, in particular, was completely full and unraided is because the computer hardware inside had failed some months before the bankruptcy, and a failing company sure as hell wasn't gonna send a tech out to our podunk dipshit city to fix it, so it was impossible to rent movies or take any discs out. plus, for who knows how long, people were returning old redbox discs to this machine and not taking any out, leading to a much higher variety of movies than your average redbox.

there is a thriving community of redbox hackers and modders out there, as well, creating open-source software for repurposing the machines and not letting their very interesting and robust disc-management hardware go to waste. this one belongs to my brother (who was very annoying persistent and did all the legwork of contacting managers and securing permission) who is a programmer by trade and will be hacking it into a family-access movie library, with whatever discs we want. i mean the machine is completely weatherproof and has a built-in AC unit, it would be such a waste to not try to turn it into something cool.

if we get another one, i'm gonna try to mod it into some sort of art or zine vending machine. the disc boxes are just the right size for small print art or stickers. would make a great "little free library" too.

remember: the rules are made up. act like you belong there and you can get away with anything. this applies to your own life

[ghostowlattic]

[sea-salted-wolverine]

Hey. Heyhey. Do me a favor real quick.

If you don't already know you have issues doing so, squat down real quick. Bend your knees all the way and touch the floor. Just make sure you can do it. Okay? For me? And then stand up all the way and make sure you can balance on one foot.

Like. You don't need to blow it into some huge thing. Just. Make sure all your bits and peices still work the way you think they do.

[sea-salted-wolverine]

Can you turn your head to look behind you without twisting your shoulders? What about standing on your toes? If you sit down on the floor can you get back up without using your hands?

If there was ever a tumblr post worth sending to your mom, it's this one.

Just saying, bodies are a use it or lose it kinda thing.

[sea-salted-wolverine]

okay so every time I see this post crop back up in queues and notifications I end up thinking about it. Because I made the post and even I'm still doing the thing where I read the post about maintaining range of motion in my delicate meatsuit and I nod and hmm and think yeah that's a good idea and then dont move from where I'm curled up shrimp style staring at the nightmare rectangle.

So like. Thinking real hard about moving doesn't count as moving. Major bummer. Anyways. Joints.

[alexanderwales]

Here's a legal PSA:

If you've committed a crime and a detective gathers everyone involved in the room, especially if he's not actually a detective and is instead a novelist, puzzle-setter, psychic, fake psychic, dog, chess grandmaster, etc. ...

YOU SHOULD NOT CONFESS.

Every year, hundreds of people are put away by non-traditional "detectives" who have either inserted themselves into the case or are working with the police in a dubiously legal capacity as advisor. In 99% of these cases, the murderer gives a full confession even though the evidence against them is circumstantial at best and often requires a long just-so story which can only guess at motive.

If this happens to you, stay quiet, do not attempt to defend yourself or talk your way out of it, only say "I want a lawyer".

Now if you find yourself being investigated by a boy genius, magician's assistant, anthropologist, classics scholar, or philosopher, it's likely that refusing to talk to the police (or investigator with no legal authority) is merely the end of the second act, and by the end of the third act they will have you dead to rights.

YOU SHOULD STILL NOT CONFESS.

Make them take it to court. Force the eccentric detective and his straight-laced police partner to take the stand and explain their methods to a jury of your peers. Have your lawyer look at the chain of custody on the evidence, especially if you believe it to have been handled by someone who has only bumbled into detective work through their natural charm and/or unique set of skills and outsider perspective that come in handy more often than they should.

Know your rights. Don't let eccentric detectives put you away.

[catasters]

[bethanydelleman]

I would totally watch an annotated adaptation of a Jane Austen novel. We have so many technological options for this now, but like subtitles with historical context notes, David Attenborough-type voice over where he explains the mating rituals politics of ballrooms, a "directors commentary" but instead it's a literature professor and three historians.

Annotated novels are popular! This would be like watching footnotes. I would pay for it. I think other people would pay for it. I think it would be a delight.

[gcballet]

Not quite what you asked for, but may I recommend the BBC documentary "Pride and Prejudice: Having a Ball" (2013), presented by Amanda Vickery, in which they staged a historically accurate version of the Netherfield ball for the bicentenary of P&P's publication, with candlelight only and the right size of room (not anywhere near as big as in most adaptations) and historically accurate food and clothing.

The commentary from the historians is great, and the thing that really struck me is that the professional dancers struggled with the stamina required for the accurate choreography. Turns out Regency ballroom is a crazy workout.

[mumblesplash]

no but the “”ai”” boom is crazy bc they made the entire internet so shitty that the only reason to use it is because it’s where all the people are and now they’re getting rid of the people. like i’m straight up logging off and going to the library there’s nothing on here anymore

[mumblesplash]

‘here’s how to tell if an image is ai’ ‘signs the person you’re talking to is a bot’ ‘how to tell if a song is ai generated’ ah but consider this: i am shutting my laptop and walking outside

[jedusaur]

I saw a bsky post last year where someone said their grandma couldn't tell what was real on the internet anymore so she stopped using it and I really, genuinely think the techbros currently ruining everything have never even considered that possibility. their projections and pie charts and market share research and whatever simply do not take into account a scenario where people lose interest in being online. like yeah we're pretty much all gonna keep using the internet to book travel and look up words and order pizza, but in terms of how we spend our leisure time? I'm still extremely online, but in the last few years I've been learning candlemaking and carpentry and sewing, and I was already spending a lot of time cooking and reading books and skating at the rink and hiking, and an afternoon spent on any of those things always leaves me feeling better about myself than an afternoon spent doomscrolling. I think my daily life is going to keep reflecting that more and more as the slop encroaches, and it sounds like I'm far from the only one feeling that way. silver lining to everything, I suppose.

[recently-reanimated]

[bethanydelleman]

One of the things that they didn't get into in the movie Project Hail Mary but was so emotionally poignant for me in the book is that it really was a last and only hope, and they partially destroyed Earth just to send the spaceship off.

The breeding of the astrophage to make fuel for the spaceship took so much energy that Eva Stratt paved over half of the Sahara desert, causing the weather to change in Africa and Europe. She blew up Antarctica to speed up global warming so they wouldn't die of cold before the probes could return. Stratt is playing supervillain with the Earth in the hopes that at least half of humanity would survive. After sending the three astronauts to certain death, her job is to keep humanity together for long enough to save the sun.

I think it adds a lot to her decision to send Grace away. Yes, it was cruel, but she knows what is coming for her and perhaps many of the people on the Hail Mary project. She is going to hold Earth and humanity together for decades, as people blame her for destruction and as nations in all likelihood go to war over scarce resources. Then, even if they succeed, she will probably be vilified or even executed for what she did.

Stratt is standing in the wreckage of Earth, knowing she'll live and die in infamy. She sent Grace off knowing that if he succeeded, he'd be remembered forever as a hero. She tore the Earth apart so he could save it.

Edit to add a quote:

"I'm curious," I* say to Stratt. "Once we launch Hail Mary. What will you do then?"

"Me?" she said. "Doesn't matter. Once the Hail Mary launches, my authority ends. I'll probably be put on trial by a bunch of pissed-off governments for abuse of power. Might spend the rest of my life in jail."...

"Are you at all concerned about that?"

She shrugged, "We all have to make sacrifices. If I have to be the world's whipping boy to secure our salvation, then that's my sacrifice to make."

"You have a strange logic to you," I said.

"Not really. When the alternative is death to your entire species, things are very easy. No moral dilemmas, no weighing what's best for whom. Just a single-minded focus on getting this project working."

*the novel is First Person POV of Ryland Grace

(and yes she says she won't be in charge anymore after the launch but I feel like they'll leave her in charge because no one else wants to so she'll actually be done after saving the sun. The movie supports this. And the fact that Earth saves the sun in the novel tells me our girl held everything together because I don't feel like anyone else could)

[devincastro]

[tguzz]

I will always reblog this

[bradspace3000]

still remember how revolutionary this ad felt 10 years ago

[annesophiewashere]

excuse me but it still feels revolutionary

[stevviefox]

Keep reblogging until it feels normal everywhere.

[ruffboi-mags]

For context: this came out in 2011 in Australia. Same-sex marriage would not be legalized until December 2017.

It was only legalized in 8 US states (the 8th only a few months before), and wouldn’t be legalized nation-wide until 2015.

It was only legal in TEN COUNTRIES in 2011. We wouldn’t hit 20 countries until 2017. (Australia was 23rd)

As of today (April 14, 2026), I believe only 38 countries have fully legalized same-sex marriage. Out of somewhere around 200 countries in the world. That’s only ~19% of countries.

This is still revolutionary.

[gleerant]

if you ever find yourself thinking “wow I scraped the bottom of the barrel with my energy with that and came out okay!” that’s the devil talking. you did not come out okay. you borrowed energy from the future. you will repay it if you don’t rest and replenish the borrowed energy first.

[gleerant]

this one took off quickly - are you guys ok

[wizard-of-interesting-failure]

WIZARD PSA: Chronomancy might be weird and confusing, but one of the few solid rules of the discipline is keep your promises. Time is a library, and you don't want to meet the librarian.

[sensiblereblogifposts]

Reblog if you have met the librarian

[archdemoning]

[kaijuno]

[ghost-hugg]

bigger version if anyone wanted to zoom :]

[ablazeinhim]

[skyrigel]

and they say romance is dead when shane hollander is teary eyed remembering their sweet nothings while his girlfriend tells him he's gay.

[foldingfittedsheets]

Had a coworker tell me they hadn’t texted once because of the time. “I didn’t want to wake you.”

I stared at them through the dawning realization that they lived in a world where that was remotely possible. “My phone is on do not disturb if I’m sleeping. Why would I let random texts wake me up? My sleep is important.”

Equally baffled they replied, “What if someone at work needs you?”

“I am not a manager. No one at work will ever need me badly enough to interrupt my sleep. If I’m not working then there’s no reason to be calling me.”

“Not even if you need to cover?”

I laughed, “I don’t need to cover. They could ask me to cover but good luck getting ahold of me if I’m sleeping.”

They looked distressed at this idea.

To console them I added, “I have important people like my mom and my wife set to override. If they call they get through no matter what.”

There was a small pause before they asked, “You can do that…?”

So friendly reminder. Become unreachable. Work does not need you that badly. Sleep.

[vincentbriggs]

I ought to get photos of my outfits more often. Though most days I don't put this much effort into them. (Shirt is the one I made in my shirt tutorial video.)

[fairycosmos]

[sentientfloatingeyeball]

Possibly the greatest NPR exchange ever recorded

[jinxquickfoot]

Because I don’t need ten ideas when I’m stuck.

I need one. THE one.

I’m not saying there’s only one way to write, but when I’m stuck, I go for a walk in the woods until the answer comes to me. Not ten answers. THE answer. The answer to how to tell the story I want to tell, in the way I want to tell it.

Art takes time. It takes mistakes. It takes courage. And we’re devaluing it by just trying to make products as quickly as possible.

I don’t want to have a book. I want to write a book.

[librarychair]

As much as I want to support ethical farming practices I will be buying the cheapest bag of frozen chicken thighs as much as the next frugal/poor person which is why animal welfare needs to be legislated, not left up to the invisible hand of the free market or some bullshit. Invisible hand of the free market finds itself around a lot of throats.