Space Teapot

[proxima-bee]

i saw the stupid ass mustache and drew this for my bestie and he said i had to post it

[bulionzkury]

tammy thompson doesnt know about the irreversible damage she did to hawkins queer community

[great-and-small]

I am constantly thinking about this

[great-and-small]

This mild Wikipedia sentence is like the understatement of all time

Here are some crazy grasshopper mouse facts for those who are not familiar with the most badass mouse species on the planet

- They are primarily carnivorous, and their diet is made up of not only bugs but also snakes, lizards and other mice.

- They hunt like true predators, slowly stalking and creeping up on their prey before ambushing them. They will sometimes let out a screech as they attack.

- Like wolves, they howl to establish territory and have a specially developed throat to produce louder vocalizations. They will stand up on their hind legs and throw their head back to howl- a sound that can be heard from 100 meters away!

- Grasshopper mouse behavior is linked to lunar cycles and they are more active during a full moon.

- These mice have been hunting bark scorpions and evolving alongside them for so long that they’ve evolved a mutation where scorpion venom that is lethal to other animals is converted into a painkiller in the grasshopper mouse’s body.

[neo--queen--serenity]

I think it’s easy to forget how Ah-Duo and the Emperor’s relationship haunts the romantic narrative between Maomao and Jinshi.

It’s not addressed often, but based on what little we’re told, it’s very likely that Ah-Duo was (and still is) the love of his life.

She was the Emperor’s childhood sweetheart. She was his only consort for over a decade. Ignoring how rare that is—how it would have been encouraged for a prince to take more than one concubine—he refused to take on any other consorts for the first ten years after Jinshi's birth. He only accepted other concubines after the former emperor passed away, and he ascended the throne.

For as the current emperor, he could no longer avoid the obligation of taking other consorts, producing heirs—especially since he knew Ah-Duo could no longer bear him children.

Despite losing her womb, the child Ah-Duo gave him is the only one that has survived into adulthood. A child he dotes on, loves dearly, and who he deeply wants to be his heir, despite Jinshi's clear objections. And it makes sense why he'd want Jinshi to succeed him. He's the only child he bore with the woman he loves most, who bears such an uncanny resemblance to her, who shares her intelligence, charm, and cleverness.

He loved her so much that he kept her—a woman who could never get pregnant again—in the rear palace for over eighteen years. It hurt their relationship to have her caged there. The one solace they had was being able to be near Jinshi as he grew up.

And by the time the Emperor gives in to the political pressure to replace Ah-Duo with a younger (fertile) consort, he does something that we haven't seen any other emperor do so far: he allowed Ah-Duo to leave the rear palace. Not only that, he gave her the Southern Imperial Villa: an entire compound (comparable to a small palace itself) to call her own in the royal capital, where she can live her life comfortably and privately. It isn't true freedom—not really—since she doesn't have jurisdiction to travel the world as she's always wanted, but it's a hell of a lot more freedom than any other consort has ever received up to that point.

And he leaves the palace often to visit her there. This is extremely uncommon; in theory, an emperor should have no further reason to interact with a former consort if the woman cannot serve the baby-making purpose she was chosen for. He gave her a residence in the royal capital because wants to keep her close. He wants continued access to her, even after she's comfortably installed in her new life outside the palace.

Jinshi knows all of this, and is painfully aware of how easily history could repeat itself with him and Maomao. Jinshi knows how trapped and stifled Ah-Duo felt in the rear palace, knows it strained her relationship with the Emperor, knows that it ultimately pushed her away from him, emotionally. It did not affect the Emperor's love for her, but it did affect Ah-Duo's love for him.

Jinshi watched his own parents' romantic relationship fall apart due to the absolute power that came with his position. He wasn't able to avoid claiming his title as the Moon Prince; he'll do anything he can to avoid making Maomao feel the same way Ah-Duo felt.

[rekas-bitches]

I love, love, LOVE it when I can tell a fic author has integrated their specialized knowledge in a fic. I was reading a fic that at some point included the character going to visit an art therapist, and it's so clear that the author is an art therapist themself, and the details included are just immaculate and I love it. I've previously read about a character doing fencing for no other reason than the author clearly wanting to write a sport they understood. A character being given a hyperfixation on bugs just so the author can infodump themselves.

I eat it up every time, it brings such a smile to my face

[rekas-bitches]

New favourite addition

[dfmm]

Warframe is wild for not only outright confirming that the primary, most personal antagonist for the player, the closest thing we know in this universe to an actual literal god, can be defeated by the actual literal power of love

but also that the example they use to confirm this is the toxic old man yaoi workplace situationship between unethical science georg who prepared for his time travel to 1999 by dressing up as a pokemon trainer and his pathetic failtwink Ygor

[neurodivergent-fruit-loop]

"And so, I lie here. Stubborn as the day is long, as my father used to say. I promised that you would live, little one. I will keep that promise. With your father watching over us, I will give you the gift of myself. And one day, these metal fingers of mine will dip in slippery paint and draw a smiley sun and a house and a dog, and all of us together, and I will hear you laugh. "

[oranzhs]

Every update DE finds creative ways to call Loid gay

[beemovieerotica]

Do u not enjoy tasting things

true story my spouse made me start chewing my food more often and I was shocked at how flavorful things are. I'm 32

[redrook]

when he first started dating he was sick a lot, and told me about a family legend that they were cursed with stomach problems because his ancestor was a samurai who had failed to commit sepukku, and now they all needed to experience the pain that he should have

and then one day we were having dinner and I was like. hey. are you not chewing your fucking food

and then I met his family. and they all just unhinge their jaws like snakes. horking shit down like wide-eyed seagulls at the beach

anyway he mostly chews his food now and the ancestral samurai's curse has left him

[beemovieerotica]

correlation is not causation

[aroace-polyshow]

honestly i never thought the phrase “i want that twink obliterated” was like a sexual thing. like when i read the phrase i imagine “a meteor like the one that killed the dinosaurs is summoned from the heavens and hits the twink in question” type situation

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Wait, it's a sex thing? I've always assumed it was a supervillain giving his henchman orders to destroy the lithe young hero invading his evil lair.

[hobbular]

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Yes exactly!

[smurny]

Traditional fantasy/romance: a 6000 yr old magic shadow daddy is obsessed with 17 yr old girl

Dark Rise: ok hear me out, there’s TWO 6000 yr old magic shadow daddies and they r obsessed with EACH OTHER

[quelmdn]

(DK/DH bookmark design with wames and sarcanha <3)

[tainted-scholar]

Rewatching Treasure Planet (great movie, watch it) made realize something about the way that stories convey information to their audiences. There's been a lot of discussion on the overuse of plot twists and how many stories prioritise surprising their audience over telling decent stories. However, if you instead reveal the "twist" to the audience before it becomes known to the characters, you can build tension and stakes. Treasure Planet comes right out and tells you that Long John Silver is the main villain almost immediately after his introduction (And even before he's introduced we're warned about a cyborg, so you'd have to be pretty dense to not put 2 and 2 together and realize he's a bad guy). So when the audience watches him and Jim bond and grow closer, it builds tension for when Jim finds out and it highlights the tragedy of their friendship, because we all know it's not going to end well. Then, after the truth is revealed, stakes are created because we want the friendship between Jim and Silver to be repaired, because we know it was real, but we don't know if can be after what Silver's done. And all of this would have been lost if Silver's true nature had been a cheap plot twist. The tragedy would be completely overshadowed by the surprise and betrayal, and any investment in their relationship would have been built on the false impression that Silver was a good guy.

Another good example of this is Titanic. Even if you were somehow ignorant of the ship's sinking, the film makes sure you know that it sank with its framing device of Old Rose telling her story to people salvaging the Titanic's wreak. And Titanic's plot structure could only possibly work if you know the ship is going to sink. I'm not just talking about building tension, tragedy, and stakes for the characters like with the above example, I mean that if you didn't know that the Titanic was going down walking into the film, the abrupt shift from romance to suspense-disaster would be an increadibly tough pill to swallow. But it works because we expect it. You don't walk into a film called Titanic without expecting the damn boat to sink.

However, the sad thing about both of these examples, is that despite all the benefits that came from telling the audience these things ahead of time, I think the main reason the creators didn't make them plot twists was because they couldn't have. Treasure Island is the single most influential piece of pirate media out there, and you'd have to have been living under a rock for over a century to not know the Titanic sank. So, the writers had to work around the fact that these important turning points in the narratives were common knowledge, and they wound creating incredible stories as a consequence.

I want to see more of this style of writing in stories where the writers aren't forced to do it. We've clearly seen that you can tell some really damn good stories by giving information to the audience before the characters learn it, and I just wish more works would do that instead of trying to surprise people with shocking twists.

[skeleton-richard]

@the-golden-ghost !!!

[laropasucia]

This is also why most adaptations of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde don't follow the mystery plot structure of the original book, since everyone already knows they're the same person, no one will be surprised by that twist nowadays.

As a consequence, most adaptations of the story are told mainly from Jekyll's point of view, and the conflict between Jekyll and Hyde becomes the main story, which makes for really compelling drama!

[beleester]

We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let’s suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, “Boom!” There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o’clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: “You shouldn’t be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!” In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story.

--Alfred Hitchcock, on the difference between surprise and suspense.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

This device is called dramatic irony and it's very fun.

[writing-prompt-s]

After the druid in your party leaves, a bear strolls up—oddly friendly. Suspicious, the mage casts Speak with Animals. The bear says, "I heard your fake-bear left. I'm real, I'm better, and I'll work for fish, meat, and honey. Deal?"

[finalexpenses]

was in the middle of getting apotheosis and i had a vision

[queer-here-and-in-fear]

shorthands for dumbassery that i have grown to love deeply

"how dare you say we piss on the poor" in response to someone misinterpreting your post

"_ isnt gonna fuck you" for suck up behavior

"woah. should we tell everyone? should we throw a party?" for who the fuck cares

"and what if the world was made of pudding" for when would this ever matter.

"and sharks are smooth both ways" for a group of people heatedly arguing with 1 guy who is fucking with them all

".. but its about a witch in the alps finding her lost cat" for someone trying to sanitize something to the point of absurdity

[queer-here-and-in-fear]

this is prime proof that this ENTIRE WEBSITE is autistic because nowhere else would a no tags post that's just an informative list about slang get this much traction.

[queer-here-and-in-fear]

anyway more addittions

“30-50 wild hogs” for someone making ABSURD excuses for violence.

“what were YOU doing at the devils sacrament” for how do you know that without being a part of it.

“anyone in this thread smoke weed” for the shit you people are saying is so off topic this might as well be a general discussion forum

“dogs are boys and cats are girls” for ooh ur mindset did not grow past 4th grade, huh

“color theory in a childrens hospital” for bending over backwards to not agree that YEA, that thing Came Off Weird

“you are a tar pit” for someone finding any reason to respond with outrage.

“is the __ in the room with us right now?” for I Don’t Think That’s Real.

“bean soup? im allergic to beans!” for ik this doesn’t work for you, but that’s not a flaw. not everything can be for you.

“people irl: hey man hows it going” for this will Never Matter irl

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Don't forget "and then everybody clapped" for calling "fake" on a heartwarming story about getting to put someone in their place with a sick burn

[myshallweplay]

Thoughts on Devil May Cry

Finished the new DMC on Netflix. I think all the criticisms that have been said may have already been said, but i'll put one up for new discussion:

Did they age Lady up to 30? I swear, I kept looking at her and seeing a 30 year old woman going around swearing like an edgy teenager. Maybe i'm so used to the sexualization aspect of animation, but I feel like visually Lady's design doesn't work for the age she's supposed to be.

Dante was actually really fun, and I really enjoyed his story. Wish he had more screen time

Some parts were good! I liked the childhood scene, Vergil's design was actually really good, and I liked the design of the White Rabbit!

Didn't match up to my expectations though. Was hoping for more cool fight scenes and discussions of humanity, not the "humanization" of demons and the "demonization" of humans.