cetaceanhandiwork

[cetaceanhandiwork]

so I've argued before that "your maleness is contingent on your performance of [a particular toxic flavor of] masculinity" is one of the core subconscious assumptions of patriarchy. when put in those terms – ones that assume it goes without saying that "being a Real Man" is incredibly desirable and important – it's an easy notion to argue against.

but that same axiom can be flipped turn-ways into forms that are mathematically equivalent but apparently much easier to sneak past the guards.

consider this: the contrapositive of "you can't be a Real Man unless you perform toxic masculinity" is "if you are a 'real' man then you're toxic".

now that's a sentiment you see self-proclaimed feminists or allies stumble into all the time. it's the reason that halfhearted attempts to be conscientious about GNC folks by going "oh don't worry, when I say 'men are pigs' I don't mean queer men" can pour salt on the wound – because isn't it just another way of saying that, because they're GNC, they don't really count as men?

or to take a darker turn... consider separatist ideologies. consider transphobic gender separatism, where "toxic behavior is endemic to maleness" leads to giving up on dismantling patriarchy entirely and instead trying to solve the issue by cutting out anyone who they think is male enough to have the poison in them.

on the other side of the coin? consider MYC-style evangelical femininity (thankfully short-lived as a trend on this website), and its arguments that – if you can "decide" what gender you are – then you can't call yourself an ally if you identify as a man (because it means you 'decided' to take the side of toxic behaviors).

people actually believe this stuff! but it's literally just patriarchy again in a trenchcoat and sunglasses!

[cetaceanhandiwork]

I Wish I Could Turn Into Bowser So I Could Kill My Bus Driver

[cetaceanhandiwork]

cant stop thinking about this this was sooo crazyyyyy

[cetaceanhandiwork]

I really truly wish that bdsmovement.net had a consistent page you could go to that would list all currently active consumer boycotts

like. the whole point of a boycott is that you keep doing it until behavior improves, so that the company is incentivized to improve their behavior, right? and yet most of the campaigns they've announced on social media have no way to tell whether the company in question is still on the naughty list

(yes I'm aware of the Guide to BDS Priority Targets page. I check it regularly. but they consistently forget to actually include stuff on it somehow. notice how it says jackall about – for example – Microsoft? notice how it actively encourages not bothering with boycotts that aren't on the list to avoid losing focus? this type of mixed message keeps happening!)

[cetaceanhandiwork]

its probably not literally true, but it is spiritually true, that @octavio-world is why they changed the box art of gorilla munch

[cetaceanhandiwork]

yep.

[cetaceanhandiwork]

raidcore

[cetaceanhandiwork]

Im gonna be so real can yall actually talk about ways we can support trans women in the UK instead of giving all the attention to fucking JKR. I already know that Harry Poter sucks, I wanna know how to actually HELP people. Something something you have to love the oppressed more than you hate the oppressor

[cetaceanhandiwork]

What’s your favorite final fantasy!! :0 if you’ve played ofc.

I really enjoyed FF6, but I must admit I have a bit of a soft spot for FF8 as well. It's just such a hot mess of a game, absolutely bizarre, but I learned how to exploit the systems in it to make my characters gods which was very satisfying. I also really loved FF9! Such fun characters and worldbuilding in that one.

Might as well take this opportunity to post a bit of old FF6 fanart, why not haha.

[cetaceanhandiwork]

one of the ancestors of "youtube poop" was the internet's love of finding bizarre, funny, or just plain bad video clips and editing them into songs.

this has been happening for as long as there was a way to upload video to the internet; before YouTube, it was Shockwave Flash and/or embedded realplayer files.

one example of this art form that's stuck with me over the years is this 2010 edit of a DVD feature from "Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier (1989)". in the original video, shatner tries to explain his artistic vision behind opening the movie with Kirk freeclimbing a cliff in Yosemite as shore leave. his galaxy brain theory about the appeal of rock-climbing – about granite rock formations being (on some level) living creatures, which climbers are subconsciously trying to make love to by climbing – did the rounds as a minor meme in its own right, but the musical arrangement is what catapulted it to major meme status (to the extent that memes could be major back then).

[cetaceanhandiwork]

here are some books my friends have gotten published which you might enjoy

① "Wonders of Mundus"

An "isekai'd into my favorite VR MMO" story which combines glitch metaphysics, rabid historically-compatible worldbuilding, and an "oh no my character's body is a different gender and I think I like it better than my old one" plot.

Currently available for $15 – either the first volume as a physical book, or the first two volumes in ebook form (now 50% ON as a geopolitics joke!)

② "Two Truths and a Lie"

A science fiction murder mystery – one would almost go so far as to say "cybernoir" – which orbits around the themes of love and memory. Which is "you": the memories that fill your head, or the ones engraved in your flesh?

Available for $25-28 as a hardcover (depending on retailer), or $15 as an ebook or audiobook.

[cetaceanhandiwork]

they have this in Chuubos I'm pretty sure

[cetaceanhandiwork]

this monday I have been thinking a lot about a book I read a while ago: Seeing Like a State, by James C Scott

and in particular its repeated return to the theme that powerful organizations trying to impose a top-down scheme from far away will always have an achilles heel: certain kinds of context, which would be immediately obvious to someone on-the-ground, will nonetheless be consistently overlooked by the faraway governors.

to explain this concept he coins the term "legibility". that is, the kind of context that can show up on paperwork, and thus, be known even to a faraway bureaucracy. governments will sometimes try to impose legibility, but even when they do it tends to be via such clunky mechanisms that, at least at the local level, you can agree to put something innocuous on the paperwork and get on with doing things the right way.

you'll notice that I haven't mentioned the event which we observed today; all I've said is "this monday". I think it's a vital event, because it's impossible to grip onto each other for support, and to recognize that we're not alone, without making ourselves visible to each other.

but there's also that fear, right? that in the 21st century what we post on the internet can be scraped up by webcrawlers, or subpoena'd from a website's operators and then combed through at a hostile "efficiency" clown's leisure.

in other words, the trick is to be visible to each other without being legible. and that's a trick I'm still trying to figure out.

[cetaceanhandiwork]

@wonderhecko has been working on compiling a recipe binder for everything we like to cook and make, but right now the cover is just a piece of printer paper he wrote "cooking" on. so i spruced it up. we're making ye olde curry lol.

[cetaceanhandiwork]

Last time I wondered if Danish vagabonds, also known as Landevejsriddere (country road knights), live by some sort of code because even though they’re usually drunk they’re always very pleasant and friendly and as it turns out, yes they do. LINK

You can’t just put on a festive hat and push a pram with your earthly belongings and call yourself a vagabond in this country. You have to be mentored by an older vagabond and travel along the vagabond routes for two summers and one winter before you get your vagabond name at an annual ceremony at Hjallerup Marked where all new vagabonds are ”baptized”.

They also have an annual ceremony at Egeskov Marked where they vote on who should be their king for a year and help settle conflicts in vagabond society. They give the title to the vagabond who has been the kindest and best behaved all year.

The vagabonds have rules they live by: no lying, no stealing, no fighting and always be polite. If they catch any of their members breaking the rules they beat them up because it’s important to their survival that outsiders can trust them. They make their living by sharpening knives and scissors or doing manual labor like helping you chop wood, clean up your garden or the like.

That’s why if you see a vagabond you know you’re in safe company no matter how drunk they are. Should you come across one support an old tradition full of rituals and kindness by giving them some coins or a sandwich.

[cetaceanhandiwork]

[image id: the "if it sucks, hit da bricks!!" skeleton meme, but the head is replaced with zombiecleo, and 'exile' and 'poepoe if your quick' replace two of the things one can walk away from. /end id]

pictured: zombiecleo's grand plan to defeat exile,

[cetaceanhandiwork]

pokémaniac griffen has entered the chat

gelshocker can't even put out a good sludge these days. fuck this economy