Adventures and Ninjas

Living in Australia; wanting to live in Japan. Procrastinating. Fangirling. Derping all over the place. I like food and pretty clothes and games and books.

[respectingromance]

This is how literary authors should respond when romance novels come up

From an interview with Barbara Kingsolver in the Los Angeles Review of Books:

Interviewer Sarah Boon: “You’ve mentioned that storytelling can be used to introduce new ideas into receptive minds — in your case, environmental or social justice ideas. A colleague of mine once suggested that we should write romance novels that incorporate themes of environmentalism, climate change, and science because the market is so big for these books, and she thought it would be a subversive way to introduce these ideas into receptive minds. Do you think that the romance novel works in such a way that you would still be able to bring your political themes to bear in that genre?”

Barbara Kingsolver: “I don’t know anything about the romance genre, but I would suspect that it does work in the same way as literary fiction. Writers of commercial fiction are living in the same world that I am, so many of the same things must worry them. I’d imagine that racial tensions, gender issues, and perhaps even environmental issues do come up in the romance genre. 

“I’m not writing genre fiction, but I do set out to write a love story or a conquest story, and I structure a plot so that it follows some person trying to figure out how to do something. Fundamentally it’s a human story. I don’t start with saying, ‘This one’s going to be about capitalism,’ or, ‘This one’s going to be about climate change.’ I set out to write a story about people and the world in which they’re living, so the problems of that world are part of the setting and part of their lives.

“In Unsheltered, when I’m writing about the contemporary family (Willa et al.), they have student debt and employment problems and health care issues, especially since they’re living in the United States. This is what people deal with every day. So yes, I think that even genre fiction is focused on the world we live in.”

Be respectful and admit what you don’t know. It’s that easy.

[slight-ly]

This is a really interesting post for me because I know of a one or two eco-romances published recently in Australia. 

[sespursongles-deactivated201906]

I periodically feel so fucking sad for women in history. I feel like birth control in countries where it is widely used has made women forget an aspect of male cruelty and sociopathy that is now less apparent (giving the illusion that men have improved when only women’s defences against men have)—the fact that for most of history men could live with a woman for decades and not care that they were slowly killing her with endless back-to-back pregnancies which not only resulted in early death more often than not, but also in a total smothering of the woman’s spirit and talents. I saw a quote by Anne Boyer the other day that called straight relationships for women “not only deadly, but deadening”—as I was reading Jill Lepore’s Book of Ages, a biography of Benjamin Franklin’s sister Jane, who was bright and loved reading and wrote some poetry, but had little time to make anything of her life in between her 12 pregnancies. Benjamin Franklin’s mother had 10 sons and 7 daughters. What could they possibly accomplish when their husbands kept impregnating them year after year after year throughout their entire adult life? 

Charlotte Brontë eschewed marriage longer than most (writing to Ellen Nussey that she wished they could just set up a little cottage and live together) but she finally married at 38, became pregnant, and died before her 39th birthday. If she had married younger would Jane Eyre exist? I was reading that biography of Charity & Sylvia last month and comparing their life together in their little cottage to the life of their married female relatives, which was honestly hell on earth. One of Charity’s sisters had 18 children. Charity’s mother had 10 living ones, and probably some additional stillbirths. She gave birth to her first child age 19, in 1758, then to a pair of twins in 1760, then another child in 1761, another in 1763, another in 1765, another in 1767, another in 1769, another in 1771, another in 1774, another in 1777. Charity was the last child and her mother had been sick with tuberculosis for months when she became pregnant with her, and she died soon after giving birth.

I wish people would call this murder—this woman was murdered by her husband, like countless other women who do not ‘count’ as victims of male violence because straight sex is natural, pregnancy is natural, childbirth is natural. But when after 20 years of nonstop pregnancies this woman had tuberculosis and suffered from severe respiratory distress, severe weight loss, fever and exhaustion, and her husband impregnated her again, her death was expected. He must have known; he just didn’t care. This woman’s sister—Charity’s aunt—remained a spinster and outlived all of her married sisters by several decades, living well into her eighties. (Ironically, male doctors in her century asserted that sex with men was necessary for women’s health. The biographer quoted from a popular home health guide which said that old maids incurred grievous physical harm from a lack of sex with men.) And this aunt had the time and liberty to develop her skill for embroidery to such an extent that two museums still preserve her embroidered bed drapes. She accomplished something, she nurtured her talent and self. Her name was also Charity, and I find it interesting that Charity’s mother named her last daughter, whose pregnancy & birth killed her, after her childless, unmarried sister.

When I see women reblog my post about Sophia Tolstoy’s misery with her 13 children, adding comments like “thank god marriage is no longer synonymous with this”, I wonder if they realise that men have not magically become any kinder or more concerned about their female partner’s health and fulfillment, it’s just that women now have access to better ways of protecting themselves from their male partner’s indifference to their health and fulfillment.

[gemmarosity-deactivated20180906]

i cant believe americans on tv really say rock paper scissors like???? its paper scissors rock omg do u irl americans actually say rock paper scissors????

[gemmarosity-deactivated20180906]

rb this with whether u say paper scissors rock or rock paper scissors

[doing-talking]

me normally: linguistic differences are so interesting and cool! I love hearing different dialectal variations.

me, reading “paper, scissors, rock” with my own two eyeballs: the lord is testing me

[slight-ly]

It’s always been “scissors, paper, rock” where I’m from. 

Said in a chant while shaking your fist, sort of like 1-2-3. 

“Sci-ssors, pa-per, rock”

[dahliaborne]

My inspirational list for halloween

D O C U M E N T A R I E S

The Witches

The Truth Behind Serbia’s Notorious Witchcraft Subculture

Ghosts of Ireland

The Real Story About Lucifer and Devil

The Witches in Romania

Demons

Unnatural History of Vampires and Witches

The 3:07 AM Project

The Myth and Reality of Exorcisms

Witches: A Century of Murder Part 1 & 2

B O O K S

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Nineteenth Century Witchcraft by Henry Ridgely Evans

The Damned by Algernon Blackwood

Vampires: Myths and Methaphors of Enduring Evil by Peter Day

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

True Tales of the Weird by Sydney Dickinson

The Evil Eye by Frederick Thomas Elworthy

The Book of Werewolves by Sabine Baring-Gould

Scottish Ghost Stories by Elliott O'donnell

Demonology and Demon-Lore by Conway

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

F I L M S

Haxan

James Searle Drawley’s Frankestien

The Ghosts of Berkeley Square

The Ghost Train

The Haunted House

House on Haunted Hill

Vampyr

A Terrible Night

The Sealed Room

The Phantom

The Bat

Cry of the Werewolf

S H O R T S T O R I E S

The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe

Hello, Moto by Nnedi Okorafor

The Company of Wolves by Angela Carter

Lacrimosa by Silvia Moreno Garcia

Premium Harmony by Stephen King

Click Clack the Rattlebag by Neil Gaiman

A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman

A Diagnosis of Death by Ambrose Bierce

The Striding Place by Gertrude Atherton

How to Get Back to the Forest by Sofia Samatar

[deadlydelicious]

Stargate is honestly the greatest Sci-fi series of all time and i will fight you on this

Samantha Carter and Janet Fraiser are two of the greatest female role models in scifi canon. Both are brilliant, super competent at their jobs, not sexualised but not desexualised, and they’re friends with and support each other.  Both are ranking members of the US airforce, and have a core belief of helping people and doing the right thing. But they’re both human. They get to be fallible, they get to be angry, and frustrated, and sad, and flustered, and it never invalidates their abilities or importance.

Daniel Jackson is the scifi hero we all deserve. He’s kind, gentle, and so damn excited about learning. Just learning more. His life has been so crap any other show would have turned him into a broody mess but no, not Daniel. Even at his lowest and sourest, he still desperatly wants to help others, to preserve other cultures, and save people. He literally dies for it. Multiple times. He’s a scifi explorer who honestly loves exploring. He truly loves it

And then Jack again could have been the most grizzled anti hero imaginable (hello movie!jack), but instead we have this kind, kooky, sarcastic space hero who just wants to be everyone’s dad and protect people from bad things. But at the same time he never folds on his principles, or who he is.

Teal’c could have been this hostile angry alien, or this overplayed goofball who doesn’t ‘get’ humanity. But instead they gave us someone serene and gentle, but proud and fierce. Someone who actually believed that they might loose their fight against his oppressors, but was willing to die trying, and willing to help others along the way. 

And finally general Hammond. He could have been an obstructive burocrat, a pencil pusher with no respect for the other races they encounter, but instead he is the most sensible and level headed man in the series. and he cares  This is a man who has the president on speed dial 2, behind his granddaughters, but he will miss his granddaughters recital if one of his team is missing in the field. This is a man who loves his team so much that he all but admits he would rather have Teal’c die than hand him over to the tortures of the goverment when he goes evil, because he ‘won’t do that to him’. He never over plays it into incompitence though. He is always logical and practicle about his decisions. This is a man who continously strives to do the right thing not just for his people, but for his planet, and his galaxy. 

I could write a billion love letters to this perfect series that is an example of how amazing Sci-Fi can be if you just have characters who care.

[jonsnowsbiatch-deactivated20190]

Hocus Pocus (1993)

[listing-to-port]

Nine gothic misfortunes

1. You have an enormous black dog which must be walked for four hours daily or it puts its excess energy to use in lighting witch-fires in awkward places. One day you were feeling a little ill, so you asked the unreliable narrator to walk the dog instead. The unreliable narrator faithfully walked the dog for four hours. It is a complete mystery as to why everything is on fire.

2. You hid under the grand staircase to escape that thing that was knocking at your window in the height of the storm. Now there is a ‘delivery failed’ notice on the mat. You are going to have to pick up your artisan cheeses from the local depot twenty miles away.

3. The malign spirit possessing you has lapsed on its ghastly rent, and as a consequence you have been re-possessed by a bailiff. It is somewhat alarming to be in the possession of a supernatural bailiff. Your body spends more time in the high court of the dead that you would like.

4. You came to this graveyard on the cliff over the sea at the dead of night with the intent of digging up the grave of your long-lost love, which you believe to contain the silver dagger that alone can settle her unquiet ghost. It is a stressful situation. You were never very good at numbers when stressed. You believe you may have taken twenty rather than thirty paces from the old yew tree and may in consequence have dug up a badger.

5. A dread raven has settled over your door, from which it hourly proclaims your doom. You made a plan to get rid of the raven. The raven network appears to have got hold of this plan, because another smaller raven turned up to perch on the shoulder of the first and proclaim its doom. Now a third, even smaller one has turned up. You have recursive ravens. There is probably a lot of doom about to come down.

6. Lacking a cellar, you have walled up your rival beneath your floorboards. Unfortunately your rival is a mouse and seems to be enjoying it down there. Will the cheese board will never be safe?

7. Now that they the have closed the refinery across the bay, the mist no longer descends over the high moor at night and as a consequence gruesome deeds cannot be done unnoticed. You have a huge to-do list of gruesome deeds. The local undertaker has started to call you up regarding supply chain issues.

8. You have been staring into this abyss for some considerable time. It is not gazing back. In point of fact it is ignoring you completely. It looks like you will be going home alone tonight.

9. Your grandmother has refused to pass down the ancestral curse, instead bequeathing it to the local cats’ home.

[occasionallygiveadamn]

@lauralot89

[verysharpteeth]

@zombeesknees

[stcrlghts]

latin phrases worth knowing:

(in case you wanted to know because i fucking love this language) 

ad astra per aspera - to the stars through difficulties 

alis volat propriis - he flies by his own wings 

amantium irae amoris integratio est - the quarrels of lovers are the renewal of love 

ars longa, vita brevis - art is long, life is short 

aut insanity homo, aut versus facit - the fellow is either mad or he is composing verses 

dum spiro spero - while I breathe, I hope 

ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem - with the sword, she seeks peace under liberty 

exigo a me non ut optimus par sim sed ut malis melior - I require myself not to be equal to the best, but to be better than the bad

experiential docet - experience teaches 

helluo librorum - a glutton for books (bookworm) 

in libras libertas - in books, freedom 

littera scripta manet - the written letter lasts 

mens regnum bona possidet - an honest heart is a kingdom in itself 

mirabile dictu - wonderful to say 

nullus est liber tam malus ut non aliqua parte prosit - there is no book so bad that it is not profitable in some part 

omnia iam fient quae posse negabam - everything which I used to say could not happen, will happen now 

poeta nascitur, non fit - the poet is born, not made 

qui dedit benificium taceat; narrat qui accepit - let him who has done a good deed be silent; let him who has received it tell it 

saepe ne utile quidem est scire quid futurum sit - often, it is not advantageous to know what will be 

sedit qui timuit ne non succederet - he who feared he would not succeed sat still 

si vis pacem, para bellum - if you want peace, prepare for war 

struit insidias lacrimis cum feminia plorat - when a woman weeps, she is setting traps with her tears 

sub rosa - under the rose 

trahimir omnes laudis studio - we are led on by our eagerness for praise

urbem latericium invenit, marmoream reliquit - he found the city a city of bricks; he left it a city of marble 

ut incepit fidelis sic permanet - as loyal as she began, so she remains

[kirain]

Someone: Video games aren’t art.

Me:

[sixpenceee]

Evolution of the english alphabet. (Source)

[transpondster]

[iamyurekha]

[xxchumanixx]

Hilarious🥀👐

[lokiwholockfactory]

This is so my favorite Thor movie

[blanska]

that “oh shit” line is my absolute favorite moment in the history of Thor movies

[supacutiepie]

Why does this fucking movie read like a god damn crack video but ITS ALL CANON AND REAL WTF MR WAITITI

[mysharona1987]

Career goals: Repressed Victorian governess who stumbles across a mansion’s dark secret.

[mykidjustsaid]

[cerealkillerrr-blog1]

Holy shit

[your-uncle-dave]

Oh…damn…

[knights-of-kylo-ren]

.. My heart.

[mosaicabstract]

this proves that if you take away all the horrible dialogue, awkwardness, bad editing, and repulsive graphics from the prequels, they could have really been something worthwhile

[urulokid]

someone tell me how to walk in heels without crying

[hitter-loner-angel-trickster]

Ok. First: when buying heels make sure to buy at the end of the day. Like you should have been up and about for hours before trying them on. This way your feet at their most swollen which means when you wear them you will have room for when they swell up.

Second: break them in. Wear them around the house for 30 minutes a day for a few days before you wear them out the first time. I usually do this for 3-7 days, the higher the heel the more days you do. This helps your feet and leg muscles get used to walking in them. If they still hurt the same they did on day one by the third day though return them, they are cut wrong for your feet.

Third: if the shoes allow for it try wearing those little socks with the cushion pads on the heel and ball of the foot. If the shoe doesn’t allow for that use band-aids friction block stick to protect those areas and reapply when it becomes uncomfortable. do not wait until it already hurts, it’s a blister by then.

This is what I do with my heels and I’m usually pretty good wearing 4 inchers for like 6 hours (not daily mind you). So these tips should help.

[urulokid]

THANK YOU

[emmeetslawschool]

Missing addition: start small. If you’re used to wearing flats, you will not be able to jump to 4" stilettos immediately. When you’re buying your heels, you should be able to stand on tip toe to raise your heel at least an additional half inch out of the shoe. If you can’t, they’re too tall for you and you need to work your way up.

[thegloryof]

Additional addition: don’t walk on the ball of your foot. so many people have a tendency to walk in heels like they’re trying to tip-toe, and that’s what causes a lot of the strain on your feet and your shins. walk normally, trust in the structural integrity of your heels - whether it’s a boxy one-inch kitten heel or a stiletto. trust them, they’ll support you.

[slight-ly]

As a size 35 that’s fairly wide at the front I usually end up having to buy small shoes that need to be stretched across the front of my foot. 

Here’s my hot tip (works best if they are leather inside):

Use a hairdryer to warm up the inside of the shoe, particularly around the front (or wherever you are trying to stretch), for about 30-60 seconds. Then put your feet in (bare or with socks) and wear for around 30 minutes. Warming up the leather makes it more malleable and will stretch it to your foot shape faster. 

[cypresstheworld]