A Well-Read Fan

I am a fan of Many Things. This blog is occasionally NSFW. I am a woman who has been on the Internet for too long and will likely always be here.

[vigilantsycamore]

"Well the hate crimes are worth it if they get Netanyahu to back down!" first of all, no they fucking aren't, second of all, I'm far from an expert on Israeli politics but when exactly did Netanyahu and his government give you the idea that their response to antisemitic attacks against the diaspora would be anything other than "see? this is exactly why we need to keep doing what we're doing!"

[dancinbutterfly]

This is my new reaction image for anyone who thinks that antisemitic terrorism in the name of Palestine abroad is IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM going to make Israel less appealing or sympathetic to Diaspora Jews:

[tockthewatchdog-deactivated2020]

[findingfeather]

Every time I see this quote I realize how poor even very smart people are at looking at the long game and at assessing these things in context.

One of my favourite illustrations of this was in a First Aid class. The instructor was a working paramedic. He asked, “Who here knows the stats on CPR? What percentage of people are saved by CPR outside a hospital?”

I happen to know but I’m trying not to be a TOTAL know it all in this class so I wait. And people guess 50% and he says, “Lower,” and 20% and so forth and eventually I sort of half put up my hand and I guess I had The Face because he eventually looked at me and said, “You know, don’t you.”

“My mom’s a doc,” I said. He gave me a “so say it” gesture and I said, “Four to ten percent depending on your sources.”

Everyone else looked surprised and horrified.

And the paramedic said, “We’re gonna talk a bit about some details of those figures* but first I want to talk about just this: when do you do CPR?”

The class dutifully replies: when someone is unconscious, not breathing, and has no pulse.

“What do we call someone who is unconscious, not breathing, and has no pulse?”

The class tries to figure out what the trick question is so I jump over the long pause and say, “A corpse.”

“Right,” says the paramedic. “Someone who isn’t breathing and has no heartbeat is dead. So what I’m telling you is that with this technique you have a 4-10% chance of raising the dead.”

So no, artists did not stop the Vietnam War from happening with the sheer Power of Art. The forces driving that military intervention were huge, had generations of momentum and are actually pretty damn complicated.

But if you think the mass rejection of the war was as meaningless as a soufflé - well.

Try sitting here for ten seconds and imagining where we’d be if the entire intellectual and artistic drive of the culture had been FOR the war. If everyone thought it was a GREAT IDEA.

What the whole world would look like.

Four-to-ten percent means that ninety to ninety-six percent of the time - more than nine times out of ten - CPR will do nothing, but that one time you’ll be in the company of someone worshipped as an incarnate god.

If you think the artists and performers attacking and showing up people like Donald Trump is meaningless try imagining a version of the world wherein they weren’t there.

(*if you’re curious: those stats count EVERY reported case of CPR, while the effectiveness of it is extremely time-related. With those who have had continuous CPR from the SECOND they went down, the number is actually above 80%. It drops hugely every 30 seconds from then on. When you count ALL cases you count cases where the person has already been down several minutes but a bystander still starts CPR, which affects the stats)

[myfatfuckingface]

That Vonnegut quote brings this particular moment to mind:

Yes, it’s just a pie. Yes, the pie itself doesn’t do much direct damage in the grand scheme of things. But the pie is resistance, and resistance inspires resistance. Resistance inspires survival. Throwing pies sometimes starts a movement. Throwing pies sometimes saves lives.

And of course, we haven’t spoken about the inherent morality of throwing pies at oppressors in a world where oppressors have outlawed pie throwing. At the very least, pie throwing is a reminder to the oppressors that no matter how much money they have, no matter how much power they have, there are still some people, some moments they can’t control.

I’d rather go out throwing pies than just rolling over and accepting that pie throwing isn’t going to solve anything. Yeah, the pie throwing doesn’t immediately solve the problem, but it doesn’t have to because it’s just a starting point. So throw the damn pie.

[holy-muffins]

So throw the damn pie

[madlori]

It’s worth noting that since the above pie incident happened, Anita Bryant is NEVER mentioned WITHOUT the pie also being mentioned.

[cricketcat9]

Kurt Vonnegut was a wise man and a great writer, but VERY WRONG on this. ANY kind of resistance counts!

[the-alethiometer]

Resist. Throw the damn pies.

[paddingtonicon]

[jimhensonreject]

[losingbenni]

JACOB ANDERSON as Louis de Pointe du Lac

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (2022) 1.03 - Is My Very Nature That of a Devil

[sophsun1]

#That's it, that's them. "Petty and in love" - Jacob Anderson

[leztat-deactivated20230701]

Parenthood.

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (2022-)

[haflacky]

Lingering kiss

Commission for @nalyra-dreaming

Prints in my store

[nalyra-dreaming]

AHHHHHHHH THERE IT IS!!!!

Ah gosh let me tell you HOW MUCH I LOVE IT!!!

It's my phone background, and I gushed about it to friends and family^^. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!

We never talked about it but you used my favorite colours for the background stage, and I just love that you can feel the excitement of the stage there, what is beyond. This kiss is not really described in the books besides the "lingering", but it is mentioned twice, and it is important!! And you managed to capture the intensity of it, the need, the unwillingness to let go 😭 And that they are in their own little bubble of reality there, totally gone on each other despite all that has to be happening around them. Was happening, and will be happening.

And the style? Just beautiful. That leather looks like butter???? The striping of Louis' jacket, and the dog collar Lestat wears??? Their hair and skin?! The softness of it all????? The position you chose for them, clinging, holding and refusing to let go... It's just... ugh I have no words, you wizard.

I love it.

Thank you.

If we never get it on the show I will be happy because we have it now as art. Just beautiful. 😭

[redversaillesrose]

Lestat in the 18th century on his way to turn Louis, with only one coffin under his arm, about to create the most relevant fanfic trope of the 21st century: Mon Dieu, the girls are going to love this one.

[bumblebee-whiskey]

[utilitycaster]

There are actually only two genres of high fantasy:

Once there were more dragons and more magic in this land, but those days have passed; perhaps the dragons shall return some day and bring a new era.

How the FUCK do we get rid of these fucking dragons

[tschulijulesjulie]

the amount of times i almost accidentally tagged something as 'damen of vere' instead of 'damen of akielos' is truly astonishing

(there is a fanfic in this, i feel it...

"the first time it happened, it was truly accidental. a nervous courier stumbling over his own words while delivering the message.

'To King Damianos of Vere', he recited, stopped, flushed and continued with a wavering voice.

'To King Damianos of Akielos and Prince Laurent of Vere'.

It was all so new yet, it happened.

The second time it was decidedly not an accident. It probably wasn't the second time either, only the second time, Damen heard.

The Kyroi were speaking in hushed voices, arguing. Not all of them were equally convinced of the alliance.

"The King", one said.

"Damianos of Vere", another one interrupted. He spit the false name out like it was an insult.

Damen didn’t feel like it was.

There was the sound of an open hand hitting a face, hard.

"The King of Akielos", the first voice said.

Damen memorized who had argued for him and who needed some convincing, then turned and departed without his presence ever been noticed.

The third time it was spoken as a joke.

The men of the Kings guard - the Veretian Kings guard, although it weren't all Veretians anymore - were cramped into one corner of the great hall of Makedons humble home.

At the other side there were Laurent and Makedon engrossed in conversation and drink.

Damen had stealthily exchanged a couple of Laurents goblets with water but there still was a heavy blush on his cheeks.

The wine was good and heady and Damen would probably still have to carry Laurent to their bed later that night.

'It's alright, I can handle it', Laurent had said, privately, to him earlier. And then more quietly, 'I trust you.'

It had made Damen want to punch something, someone.

Now Lazar invited him to sit with them. Pallas, next to him flushed even more. It was edging on improper to invite a king like this.

But Damen had fought with these men, listened to their gossip over a campfire and cheap wine.

Their conversation was bawdy and Damen listened with a smile playing around his lips. There was an easy companionship with these men, that he couldn't find with anyone else.

'They call you Damianos of Vere', Lazar proclaimed, "behind your back." It was with a curiosity in his eyes, daring.

Pallas flushed even more, looking scandalized, his tanned skin not enough to hide any of it.

Jord threw Lazar a heavy look.

Damen had heard these and other men often enough refer to Laurent as a stone-cold son of a bitch. He had thought they could come up with better.

The fourth time it again was an accident. The villagers had never seen royalty before and were openly staring at them, high on their horses.

A Child, not even reaching to their mothers hip yet, peaked up at them and asked, 'Are you the King of Vere?'

Their mother flushed, opened her mouth to apologise, or correct it.

Damen smiled openly at the child. 'No, that is Laurent, the King of Vere. I'm Damianos of Akielos. But we rule this country together. Is there anything we can do for you?'

The fifth time it was a messenger again, rushed and without noticing his mistake.

Damen looked at Laurent when he said 'King Damianos of Vere'. There was a smile in his eyes that he carefully kept from his mouth.

---

They lay sated in bed, the sheets tangled around their limbs and the sweat cooling on their skin.

In a moment Laurent would get up to get something to clean up. In a moment Damen would let him.

Right now he was holding onto him a little longer.

'I like it, when they call me that', he said. 'Makes me feel like I belong to you.'

'Don't you?', Laurent asked, his fingers slipping to the gold cuff around Damens wrist.

'Yes. But i like the way it sounds.'

Laurent made a content sound when Damen pulled him a little closer, a little up, so he could bury his face in his neck.

He kissed him there, then moved up to his ear, where he bit carefully.

Laurent breathed out a laugh.

When he finally lifted his head to gaze at him, Damens eyes were sparkling.

'There is a nice ring to it', he said, eyes crinkled. 'maybe I'll put it on my official signature. Damianos of Vere, King of Akielos and Vere, Husband of Laurent, King of Vere and Akielos."

[imtheherodontneedtobesaved]

i do think if you're famous then you better be entertaining as all hell. So for that reason i think anne rice was amazing. Every time i read something about her i am always entertained! Brava 🥂

[greedandenby]

Sam's mouth scar 👉👈 Jacob's chin dimple.

You agree.

[jeans-marrow]

Why is no one talking about Dark Rise #2 called Dark Heir coming this December like dude these are the biggest news ever you don't get it I'm fucking dying CS Pacat is releasing a new book and it's the sequel of Dark Rise like dude this should be a new holiday

[wellreadfan]

I am so excited!

[teethclawsbones]

every eldest daughter deserves to be evil

[rederiswrites]

Actually, ancient glass, having been rather neglected by archaeology for decades, is a pretty exciting topic in scholarship right now. The main thing is that glass persists–it’s very stable. After fabric rots and metal turns to a scrap of rust, there will lie a necklace, still scattered across a chest that itself has turned mostly to earth. 

Bead typologies, for example (that is, the classification of different styles/shapes/decorative motifs/colors) can allow scholars to trace trade routes, as they study the distributions of different bead types over time and geography. Glass production is kinda industrial in nature, not like spinning or beer that make good cottage industries. It was often produced in one place, and then sold on to artisans elsewhere, and then the beads themselves were traded across entire continents. 

Chemical analysis of the glass can do even more to trace routes, since different compositions and incidence of different mineral contaminants can allow archaeologists to trace glass production to individual sites, thousands of years after the fact. It’s dizzying, really.

The downside is that for a long time, archaeologists regarded beads as unimportant trinkets, and antiquities dealers understood that they were easy to take and easy to move. So an awful lot of the most exceptional beads we have from the distant past spent time in private collections or uncategorized drawers somewhere in a museum back room, so they’ve lost much of what we could have learned from their original provenance. Maybe we’ll be able to turn new analytical tools on some of these to reconstruct more of their past.

[rederiswrites]

This is one of the nerdiest posts I’ve made on this site; why does it have notes? I love you. What the fuck.

[sy-wen]

Auguste was the protector. He would do anything for his little brother.