Sweet Fears and Bitter Courage

"To those who will see, the world awaits". I live my life with a firm belief that things happen for a reason and they have always have a wonderful habit of working themselves out regardless of how you plan them to the contrary...

[jackkdaniels]

look at me. listen to me. this is directed at americans for the record. the reason you think North American animals are boring is because you live here. there are so many cool and beautiful animals here. we have beavers. we have wolves. we have moose. we have sea lions. we have armadillos. we have mountain lions. we have alligators. we have foxes. we have bighorn sheep. we have manatees. we have bears. we have ocelots. we have BISON. and that’s not even touching on the birds! or the turtles! or the snakes! we have amazing beautiful and diverse wildlife right here and it deserves to be appreciated and protected

[matt-the-blind-cinnamon-roll]

Possums are the only North American marsupial, they eat ticks and keep down cases of Lyme, and they can't carry rabies! We only have two native boa constrictors; the rubber boa and the rosy boa! Bison and the American Alligator are LITERAL MEGAFAUNA LEFT OVER FROM PREHISTORY!

[scifigrl47]

When I was a teenager, I was hiking with my family on Cape Cod. I was not a willing participant to these hikes; I would've preferred to be back at our rental cabin with a book.

But my parents were birders, so hiking we did go.

And about a mile up the trail, a woman came rushing up to us, clutching her binoculars to her chest. "Come quickly," she said, with a British accent. "You have to see this!"

This is what birders are like. They are as excited about a life bird as any fan would be spotting their favorite celebrity. You have to see, you have to.

So my parents rushed off with her, and I plodded along behind them.

To find a cluster of Brits huddled in a bird blind, staring at..

A blue jay.

A goddamn blue jay.

And I was a teenager, but I knew better then to mouth off in front of my mom. So I nodded, and smiled, and bit my tongue, until an elderly man looked at me with tears in his eyes, and said, "Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?"

And I stopped. And looked at it. The way they were. As if it were new. And damned if they weren't right.

I think of that, to this day. That sometimes, you need to step back, and see the world as if it were new. Strange, and haunting, and beautiful, so beautiful.

[falconratesbirds]

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?

[cinematicnomad]

WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY (2025) dir. rian johnson

[gayofthefae]

I just wanna say also that, especially as an atheist, I love that Wake Up Dead Man was not Christian versus atheist. It was weaponizer of power Christian versus faith and kindness Christian.

Not to get on my soap box but I have a lot more in common with a Christian of my own values than a fellow atheist without. And a good-faith Christian has a lot more in common with a good-faith person of any other religion or lack-there-of than they ever could a manipulative, power-hungry, fear-mongering Christian.

I think the story often told doesn't draw those lines where they should be drawn, and it was something lovely to see. That Jud is in the same category as "proud heretic" Benoit. Wicks the same as Miles Bron.

[orangechickenpillow]

This is how the movie went right

[ifyouknowmeirlgoaway]

The best thing about Jud's ministry is how un-evangelical it is.

And I don't mean it's not like the Evangelical church, I mean he's not interested in convincing anyone to be a believer or a church goer. When the woman at the construction company starts talking to him about her mother, he doesn't tell her that God is there for her. He tells her that he's there's for. She already knows she can go to church, maybe she is even a Christian and feels like she has her God's love. But Jud knows that what she needs is another human being, because she's talking to him.

And that's such a better way to welcome people to your church than telling them to go. He's letting her know that there's fulfillment and safety and love there beyond just the religious side, because he's there.

Jud isn't interested in convincing anyone. He meets Benoit where he's at as an atheist, talking about the stories as just stories that we can take meaning from, and that works. It inspires Benoit to a moment of real, selfless kindness. He makes sure Benoit knows the doors are open any time he wants to enter, even if he enters as an atheist every time. Because the important thing is how you affect people and their actions, not how you affect their beliefs.

[tboy-molloy]

Okay but as an ambulatory wheelchair user I loved how Rian Johnson portrayed Simone. He didn't have her be miraculously healed, but had her learn to live and deal with her chronic pain.

Abled people really don't understand how big that is. Like just having an ambulatory wheelchair user is big!!! (I cackled at the scene where she gets out of her chair and someone says it's a miracle and she just goes "I can walk, it just hurts.") But also having her angry that she's in constant pain and trying anything to feel better is so realistic. A lot of disabled people, especially newly disabled people, fall into the idea that they need to be "cured" and that they need to get back to "normal".

Having her accept her disability and making her learn how to still do the thing she loves while still having chronic pain is amazing! Like, the idea that you can continue living after becoming disabled is so rarely shown! Like believe it or not, disabled people can lead fulfilling and happy lives doing things we love!

[astrotheyge]

"The hearts of men are easily corrupted." Wake Up Dead Man (2025) & Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Bonus for @mykingdomforasong:

[wuntrum]

my favorite boxer-turned-priest

[mevil]

[sailermoon]

this is how new yorkers @ mamdani

[sailermoon]

[yorgen-sh]

[sayhelloanimalfriends]

this is the first time in my life i thought oh i hope there’s music

[rohirric-hunter]

Somebody at work keeps adjusting one of the perimeter cameras to have this beautiful artistic angle on the museum in a historical building across the way. The sun sets just behind it and the whole sky turns golden-blue, clouds streaked across the sky above. The lush tree line beneath the museum is perfectly lined up along the rule of thirds and the building itself towers above, almost mythical in its evening glory. Like damn, take a still from this camera and send it to the museum to frame and hang on their wall. I do need the camera to be pointing at the parking lot. Tho

[rohirric-hunter]

The setting sun bounces off the skyscrapers downtown and hits the museum's windows and every one of them turns the same golden hue as the sky behind, reflected in the trees just starting to turn golden-orange beneath. The bottoms of the clouds take on the slightest tinge of purple and birds circle above, speckling the evening sky as they call autumn's last farewell. Someone's car got broken into in the parking lot last week, Tammy, point the damn camera at the cars

[deerfishing]

[kosmogrl]

[i-like-reblog-maps]

What month were you born in?

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Voting ended onMay 28

Doing a final project in my stats class, we have to pick a subject and collect data on it. We need at least 100 data points, and I figured this blog is big enough that a poll on here could get to that pretty easily!

Doing my project on if it’s more likely to be born in certain months :]

I have gotten the OK from my teacher to collect data using a Tumblr poll, btw. I’m also going to have to send her this post as proof of where I got the data from / proof I didn’t just make up the numbers. So. Behave

[edgar-allan-possum]

[agendermetalbender]

[penandinkprincess]

parenting commitment level 3000

[penandinkprincess]

apparently a requirement for working at poison control is a talent for stand-up comedy

[starsarefairylightsfornerds]

[sisterdragonwithfeathers]

this is your random reminder to CHECK IF YOU'RE STILL HAVING FUN

are you enjoying scrolling tumblr? watching youtube? reading that book? playing that game? drawing that art? doing that activity? if not,

YOU CAN STOP AND DO SOMETHING ELSE

you don't have to stick to something that you are doing for fun if it isn't fun for you anymore. You can come back! If you've loved it before you are likely to love it again! but you can stop!

Don't get stuck in a loop of doing something that you think should be fun when it isn't! You can put it down for a bit! Maybe that's the very thing that will make it fun again later!

[hatersmad]

thinking about that one wordless calvin and hobbes sunday strip thats just calvins dad ditching his work to go play in the snow... its going to make me cry

[hatersmad]

ohhhh my god

[faithful-grigori]

”#I LOVE that the comic keeps the lens on Calvin’s dad to the degree of not even showing Calvin’s excited face when his dad surprises him, #You can see the joy and excitement of the moment in his pose and reflected in his dad’s expression, #it’s a great little artistic decision, #I realized what gets me about it it’s the hat covering his dad’s head and hair so the dad just looks like Calvin. #you don’t HAVE to show Calvin! You already see him in the dad becoming a kid for a moment you only have to draw that once”