The Copper Cow

Politics (Labour - well, ex, of the Kill-Jeremy-Corbyn kind), fandom (Discworld, Cabin Pressure, Au Service De La France, others), and feminism (radical, desi-centric, tamil).

[vintageindianclothing]

Text from the Gatha Saptashati.

There are a lot of drinking women in Sanskrit literature.  Hold this thought and have a good weekend!

The actresses: Raakhee, Nalini Jaywant and Meena Kumari.

[vintageindianclothing]

“Hair disheveled by the touch of a lover and lips made fragrant with wine - to attend the festivity of love this much of make up is enough for a young girl.”

[askvetvimes]

Is there one thing about each other that you don't think you'll ever completely understand?

Remember to reblog

[askvetvimes]

Do the doggos get to sleep in the bed with you guys? If not who is the mean dad that makes Mr. Fusspot sleep on his own bed?

It’s a fight

please reblog

[discworldtour]

“…Anyway, we shall be leaving shortly. I am just collecting some rocks.” “I’m sure they will come in useful,” said Lord Vetinari. “Actually, sir, they will be very valuable,” whispered Ponder Stibbons. “Really?” said the Patrician. “Oh, yes! They may well be completely different from rocks on the Disc!” “And if they are exactly the same?” “Oh, that would be even more interesting, sir!” Lord Vetinari looked at Ponder without speaking. He could deal with most types of mind, but the one apparently operating Ponder Stibbons was of a sort he had yet to find the handles on. It was best to nod and smile and give it the bits of machinery it seemed to think were so important, lest it run amok. “Well done,” he said. “Ah, yes, of course… and the rocks may contain valuable ores, or possibly even diamonds?” Ponder shrugged. “I wouldn’t know about that, sir. But they may tell us more about the history of the moon.” Vetinari’s brow wrinkled. “History? But no one lives th– I mean, yes, well done. Tell me, do you have all the machinery you need?”

– on completely different wavelengths | Terry Pratchett, The Last Hero

[thecoppercow]

The one paragraph that encapsulates the Vetinari world view better than that infamous evil vs evil speech in GG - people are what make his city. (Either that, or this is just Pterry riffing off STEM grads vs PPE grads)...

[discworldtour]

Lord Vetinari advanced cautiously and peered into the big round glass. He frowned. “All I can see is what’s on the other side of it,” he said. “Ah, that’s because it’s set to here and now, sir,” said a young wizard who was still adjusting the device. “Oh, I see,” said the Patrician. “We have these at the palace, in fact. We call them win-dows.” “Well, if I do this,” said the wizard, and did something to the rim of the glass, “it looks the other way.” Lord Vetinari looked into his own face. “And these we call mir-rors,” he said, as if explaining to a child.

– Vetinari I know you’re stressed but your sass levels are off the charts this morning | Terry Pratchett, The Last Hero

[pratchettpatricianpages]

“They made rocking horses here.”

“Really? I’ve always thought there was something slightly sinister about rocking horses,” said Lord Vetinari, but he looked subtly disappointed. Then he brightened up. He pointed to the big stone on which the type was arranged.

“Aha,” he said. “Innocently taken from the overgrown ruins of a megalithic stone circle, this stone is redolent with the blood of thousands, I have no doubt, who will emerge to seek revenge, you may depend upon it.”

“It was cut specially for me by my brother,” said Gunilla. “And I don’t have to take that kind of talk, mister. Who do you think you are, coming in here and talking daft like that?”

William stepped forward at a healthy fraction of the speed of terror. “I wonder if I might just take Mr. Goodmountain aside and explain one or two things to him?” he said quickly.

The Patrician’s bright, enquiring smile did not so much as flicker.

“What a good idea,” he said, as William frog-marched the dwarf to a corner. “He will be sure to thank you for it later.”

Lord Vetinari stood leaning on his stick and looking at the press with an air of benevolent interest, while behind him William de Worde explained the political realities of Ankh-Morpork, especially those relating to sudden death. With gestures.

-The Truth, Terry Pratchett

[thecoppercow]

In which the Patrician is remarkable genre savvy and schooled in the ways of Narrativa, but Wrong Genre Savvy.

(I’ve also read theories where he’s not so far off the truth here too; up until this point, any major invention, especially those invested in by CMOT Dibbler, gets “reset” at the end of the book. See Moving Pictures or Soul Music, for example. He knows his city is in a kind of fantasy stasis, because he’s a keen ruler. But when the press is here to stay, and doesn’t explode or burn or get kidnapped by aliens or whatever... he realises that his city is about to move into the fantasy-Industrial Revolution, and can start implementing his plans.)

[tuinendraws]

Inktober day 7 - Exhausted

An illustration of a scene from Terry Pratchett’s ‘Thud!’.

[askvetvimes]

We know that back in the day Havelock was an amazing assassin. Does, or has he ever, used those skills to visit Sam when he shouldn't?

he does that regularly 

[rem-ir]

Vetinari’s Come-On Lines

• “Please let me detain you”

• that’s all, actually

• lady Roberta raised a clean-spoken young man

• he just doesn’t feel comfortable saying filthy things

• I’m not saying there’s not room for learning, but realistically, that’s all he needs

• it’s marvellously effective on Sam Vimes

[lesbianshepard]

i’m in tears over this holy shit

[lesbianshepard]

It’s a little known fact that in the 60s and 70s the CIA was actually run by fucking wile e coyote

[your-villainous-neighbour]

As someone who spent September 6th 2018 alone in her bedroom,

As someone who had to lie and say it’s no big deal when I got asked why I couldn’t stop smiling,

As someone who was forced to scream into my pillow to muffle the sound when I found out my existence wasn’t illegal anymore,

As someone who had nobody to hug when section 377 was abolished,

This movie gave me a do over. This movie allowed me to experience every emotion I experienced all those months ago, and more, but surrounded by the right people this time. This movie gave me the opportunity to watch two gay men celebrate their identity, celebrate that day, on the big screen. This movie let me relive that historic moment again, but this time with people I love, and in a theatre full of people who understood.

And I won’t ever forget that.

[smudgedhenna]

SHUBH MANGAL ZYADA SAAVDHAN dir. Hitesh Kewalya

“When people don’t understand a kind of love, they try to suppress it. But this is our battle, and even we deserve a happy ending.”

Coming out on February 21st, 2020

[kulfiiis]

the bollywood gays stole my heart 

[taxingninja]

All my favourite moments from Kartik and Aman during the wedding. I can’t really get over how they both look at each other throughout this entire sequence. Kartik being all suave and loving and ‘how-cool-am-i-right-now’, and Aman being sorta shy, but also proud and ‘I-want-him-so-much-right-now’. 

Aaaaahhhh… Haha.

[enoughtohold]

this post amazes me every time i see it because almost every single thing in it is wrong. blatantly wrong, even. but everyone passes out around as fact because no one on this site knows a god damn thing.

there were genderqueer people in the ’90s but the “genderqueer movement” isn’t really a thing people talk about from that time? google it and you’ll get people talking about the last ten years. they’re probably thinking of queer nation, whose chant that actually was

they probably have no clue ACT UP was founded and was most effective in the late ’80s

they got the fucking chant wrong, it’s “get used to it” for fuck’s sake

decontextualizing the chant, which was of course aimed at straight people, and the word “queer” which was used along with “gay” and “lesbian,” but don’t take my word for it

neither queer nation nor ACT UP nor the “genderqueer movement” made the fucking AIDS quilt. that’s the NAMES project. many ACT UPers hated the quilt

i’m almost certain this user thinks die-ins were mass suicides which they absolutely were not no matter what tumblr tells you

neither queer nation nor ACT UP nor the “genderqueer movement” were about same-sex marriage, again for fuck’s fucking sake! the demand for same-sex marriage did grow largely out of the need for relationship protections in the wake of AIDS, but that doesn’t mean it was ACT UP, read a fucking book!

total lack of awareness of the ACTUAL accomplishments of ACT UP because that would involve like ACTUALLY learning shit about AIDS activism and not just using ACT UP as an empty name you can attach to your petty tumblr bullshit to give it radical cred

the word queer was definitely popular in ACT UP but i doubt everyone used it. not every ACT UPer uses it now. it’s not required. why? because these internecine terminological squabbles are KIND of beside the point of an organization dedicated to ENDING AIDS.

actually, historically, ACT UP has been much whiter than it should be! this is an odd case where someone’s desire to make themselves look good by associating themselves with a renowned group leads them to give that group MORE credit than it actually deserves. ACT UP’s racial makeup did change over time; its latino caucus and majority action committee did important work, as did other groups ACT UP worked in coalition with. ACT UP is currently working to preserve the relatively forgotten history of people of color (and women) within ACT UP, and people of color have been CRUCIAL to the fight against AIDS. honestly, in my opinion, it’s inappropriate and frankly racist for this white user to erase the actual experiences of people of color within ACT UP and to pay lip service to the many heroic AIDS activists who were not white, not out of real respect or knowledge, but out of shameless ignorance in order to make THEMSELVES look better and lend a radical veneer to their, again, personal, petty, non–AIDS-related tumblr bullshit.

the people who spread shit like this should be ashamed and should channel that shame into actually going and learning something about HIV/AIDS and AIDS activism.

[persianflaw]

a quick addition re: act up members being comfortable with the word queer:

larry kramer visited my university last year to talk about his new book and his activism history and stuff, and afterwards the moderator read him some student questions that had been written down beforehand. the first question used the word queer and when the moderator read it, larry kramer immediately cringed and shook his head, saying that he hated that word, that “queer” had been a valuable rhetorical tool for act up but that it had also been the word that accompanied screaming and violence.

i honestly think it’s deeply fucked up how people pushing this narrative try to wash over the horrible violence of the way “queer” was used against act up, just because it’s politically convenient for them

[henryclervals]

study this well folx and femmes

[thecoppercow]

@tom-at-the-farm omg

[helenhuntingdon]

Detective Llewellyn Watts x snickerdoodles