Martian Sunset @sophiamcdougall - Tumblr Blog

A true story of something that happened to me at a con a few years ago! I just couldn't believe that bag saldjaldjalkd!!!

comicaurora

I had to read a Heinlein book for a literature class on sci-fi and it was HORRIBLE and the only thing that got me though it was thinking "it's time for more Deep Thoughts With Heinlein(tm)" what a strange man this author was...

my working theory is that the most foundational works of literature in a given genre are the ones that inspire the most concepts and tropes that are carried forward in the genre and this inspiring property is frequently because there is, to simplify, something deeply wrong with them

non-cannon

So, uh... following that train of thought... what's deeply wrong with the Lord of the Rings?

comicaurora

Johnald Ronald Rolkien Tolkien built fifteen different elvish languages and wrote poetry in all of them and you ask me what was wrong with him

insomniac7809

I've said before that hearing JRRT's creative process would, in any other case, be the worst writing advice anyone has ever heard.

"Once you've worked out the history to explain the constructed languages you've been working on in your spare time, it's time to start the process of writing the story. To do this, you'll want to decide which ancient narrative tradition you're most comfortable with to work as the basis. For me, that was Old English and Scandinavian epic poetry, but I want to stress that there's no right answer here; whatever your doctorate is in is the one that's right for you."

viohra

The Angel of Death

FISTS YOU

And then you Die

viohra

Context: my teacher translated the verb “to grasp with one’s hand” as “to fist” since that’s kinda what it literally means, but you can’t translate it like that into English because “to fist” means something ENTIRELY different, but she doesn’t know that.

So she was explaining how they use the verb to describe the angel of death taking your soul — he rips your soul out of you with his fist. Now that’s pretty damn metal, but she said word for word “the angel of death fists you, and then you die” which is the single most terrifying and powerful sentence to ever grace my ears

cassidyrld

Op i appreciate the context but i was going to rb anyway no questions asked

computer-voiced-by-majel-barrett

Shoutout to my favorite genre of TOS episode:

dduane

…I can’t think how it took me so long to run across this. I feel privileged to have been found by it. 😄

innerchildabortionclinic

this is how all high protein dessert vids look to me

doomedmutual

haridraws

high ambient background football levels reminded me to actually finish this Personal Lore That Caused My Books comic

ryan-sometimes

I love how Zohran Mamdani is wearing a suit everywhere. And if he has anything else he puts it ON TOP of the suit. A basketball jersey. A high-vis vest. All worn over the suit. He’s like the mayor character in a cartoon who’s always dressed as The Mayor. If I didn’t know who he was and he biked past me in NYC I’d be like holy shit was that the mayor

mankillercalledbunny

Not to bring the serious to a very fun post, but this reaction is exactly what Mamdani is working for with his image, because in a very real way the most effective way for him to be The Mayor is if he looks like The Mayor.

This is a man who is VIOLENTLY aware that when it comes to conservatives, he is a Muslim first, a Brown Man second, an Immigrant third, a Socialist fourth, and a human a very distant fifth, if considered at all. He was also a young adult during the Obama Years and will have seen Republicans rip Obama to shreds for wearing a tan suit instead of a dark one and use literally ANY excuse they could to try and degrade his image.

Despite the fact that a mayor who wears a T-shirt and jeans might "seem more approachable" in the eyes of the average American, Zohran Mamdani knows that someone with his profile fundamentally cannot get away with that the way his White colleagues can. He has instead put in the effort to look professional and BE approachable, because not only does it make it easier for him to reach and represent his constituents, it forces everyone, including both his opponents and establishment Democrats, to engage with the work he is doing instead of judging his image. The fact that he is always seen in a suit and is recognisably The Mayor is, while also something he has fun with, a deliberate choice to ensure he is as inarguably A Professional Politician To Be Taken Seriously. The added humour of e.g. the hi-vis is a bonus, only achievable because he works so hard to Look Like The Mayor.

mankillercalledbunny

Adding these tags from @haunted-stranger-garden bc they illustrate this brilliantly

tlbodine

For the last goddamn time...

"Kill your darlings" means "if something is holding you back, get rid of it, even if it sounds pretty."

That's it! That's all it means! It means if you're stuck and stalled out on your story and you could fix the whole block by removing something but you're avoiding removing that thing because it's good, you remove that thing. That's the darling.

It does NOT mean

That you have to get rid of your self-indulgent writing

That you should delete something just because you like it (?wtf?)

That you need to kill off characters (??? what)

That you have to pare your story down to the absolute bare bones

That you have to delete anything whatsoever if you don't want to

The POINT is that you STOP FEELING GUILTY for throwing out good writing that isn't SERVING THE STORY.

The POINT is that you don't get so HUNG UP on the details that you lose sight of the BIG PICTURE.

Good grief....

prof-grace-aspen

Also, you don't have to like, delete it from existence. Keep a second document full of the Darlings. You never know when you'll need it later.

earhartsease

yes, your killed darlings are ripe for rebirth

eldritchsandwich

compost your darlings

recycle your darlings

Darlings who don't fit this narrative go into the use later folder

horsesource

"You can say that [orangutans] are not dependent on social support and approval, and if you admire this in them, that an orang is irredeemably his own person, 'the most poetic of the apes', researcher Lynn Miles told me once in an unguarded moments. What she had in mind was the difference between orangs and chimps in the way they carry on their discourse with the world.

Chimps are much admired for their tool use and for their problem-solving relationship with things as they find them...the orang is, let us say, not so replete with enterprise. Give an orangutan the hexagonal peg and the several shapes of hole, and then hide behind the two-way mirror and watch how he engages with the problem.

And watch and watch and watch--because he does not engage with the problem. He uses the peg to scratch his back, has a look-see at his right wrist, makes a half-hearted and soon abandoned attempt to use his fur as a macramé project, stares dreamily out the window if there is one and at nothing in particular if not, and the sun begins to set. (The sun will also set if you are observing a chimp, but the chimp is more amusing, so you are less likely to mark the moment in your notes. An orang observer has plenty of time to be a student of the vanities of sunset.)

You watch, and the orang dreams...when casually and as if thinking of something else, the orang slips the hexagonal peg into the hexagonal hole. And continues staring off dreamily."

Vicki Hearne, "The Case of the Disobedient Orangutans"

magnesiumflare

Important tags from @sashayed

deadpowol

cornedbeefhashtags

Diane, clear my schedule. I’m attempting a recipe that says “prep time: 15 minutes.”

pseudomantis

is-the-owl-video-cute-deactivat

a squirrel or perhaps a cardinal posted this

phaeton-flier

How about you mind your own damn business

polarity-disturbed

"We know it looks like a butt plug, just drink the water, it's hot outside"

Seriously though he's right, stay hydrated

sunderwight

Some people in the notes are wondering how they came up with this... interesting design, and I was curious too, so I looked into it.

Tealdeer: According to Thames Water the design was one of several created by unspecified "international experts" and was selected by equally ambiguous "focus groups".

To be honest I think the issue is less with the actual design than the execution. The blue water droplet in theory is a good idea. It's bright and distinctive and let's people know there's water here in a way that transcends language barriers.

The problem is that they've shaped the droplet like a buttplug. Probably for construction or maintenance reasons. Since no designer is taking credit for it, I would not be surprised to learn that the initial design favored by focus groups proved considerably harder to build than it was to conceptualize (perhaps with a more elegant water droplet), and so by the time they were actually constructing them they pivoted.

But still, having public water fountains is good and it's, uhh, memorable, so most people should be able to find and use them to keep hydrated. Make sure to clean your reusable water bottles regularly.