frances-kafka

[frances-kafka]

I'm sure a bunch of you have seen this quote, which I hate, and which the internet seems to love, but I think my hatred of it is because it's connected to lots of other terrible takes about one's "childhood bullies", whether it's that they grow up to be nurses or grow up to be whatever. Anyway...

“I found myself remembering the day in kindergarten when the teachers showed us Dumbo, and I realized for the first time that all the kids in the class, even the bullies, rooted for Dumbo, against Dumbo's tormentors. Invariably they laughed and cheered, both when Dumbo succeeded and when bad things happened to his enemies. But they're you, I thought to myself. How did they not know? They didn't know. It was astounding, an astounding truth. Everyone thought they were Dumbo.

Everyone thought that they were Dumbo because they were FIVE YEARS OLD! Even if the other five year olds were assholes to you, then they were still powerless little five year olds, not powerful oppressors! They were Dumbo in that they were little kids who missed their moms! They were not malicious tormenters who had all the power over your five year old self! They were also five!

Even the most serious, harmful kind of bullying was done by some seriously disturbed children who needed some kind of serious adult intervention. But the bullies from childhood are CHILDREN and it's weird and creepy how often adults start talking about these children like they were organized, malicious adults.

I can see how it's complicated when we start talking about teenagers, but If you're talking about little babies who can't even tie their shoes or pronounce hard words like they somehow "didn't know" what wretched bulies they were, then you are more like Dumbo's tormenters than they were! I don't care how mean they were!

[frances-kafka]

From 1996

[frances-kafka]

Archer

[frances-kafka]

I (19F) have had acne for so long that I honestly can’t remember my skin without it. I used to wear a lot of concealer to cover it up, but that only made things worse. Eventually, I realized my skin was controlling my life (and draining my bank account 💀), so when I started at a new school, I decided to stop wearing makeup. My skin still isn’t great, but I’m on medication, so I have some hope that it will improve.

Here’s the problem: There’s a girl in my class, let’s call her Callie (18F), who has trypophobia. I had no idea until we were put in a group together. The moment I spoke to her, she started crying. Naturally, I asked what was wrong, and she screamed at me that my face was triggering her trypophobia. Her friends immediately jumped in to comfort her while I just sat there, confused, wondering if I was supposed to apologize for my skin, something I obviously didn’t choose to have.

When I tried to speak again, she told me to shut up and leave because I was "drawing attention to myself by talking." I asked what she expected me to do about it, and she said I could at least wear concealer. I explained that it wasn’t an option because it’s expensive and just worsens my acne. Her friends glared at me and called me selfish.

That was just the first incident. Ever since, anytime I sit near Callie or have to present in front of the class, she starts dry heaving or crying (having a panic attack?). It’s disrupting lessons so much that my teacher pulled me aside and asked if I could just wear concealer for the sake of keeping the peace. She admitted it wasn’t fair but said she couldn’t think of another solution.

I already feel like such a freak because of my skin. I know my skin is horrid, but why am I the one expected to cater to Callie? I didn’t choose to have acne any more than she chose to have trypophobia. I can’t help but feel like I’m being unfairly treated here, but at the same time, I know she can’t control her reaction either.

So… AITA? Should I just wear the damn concealer?

****

IMO: She's not the asshole. Bullies just got more power, they can now use victimization language and get the system on their side.

20 years ago, this person would have just been bullied for being "ugly" or something.

[frances-kafka]

Petition to rename “wetlands” as “moistlands”.

[frances-kafka]

Sci-fi cowboy showdowns

[frances-kafka]

Crazy how many people want characters in fiction to speak and act like they’ve had 20 hours of intensive therapy. Could NOT be me I want these bitches fucked up insane

[frances-kafka]

Nostalgic memory loss and cherry picking annoy me to the core.

2006 features other CGI-laden flims such as...

Son of the Mask

And Ultraviolet

While 2024 featured...

Dune 2

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

This shot was literally impossible to create in 2006.

Good CGI is made by good artists who have the proper funding, time, and resources. The year doesn't matter.

There has always been bad CGI. There has always been good CGI.

Current CGI is much more advanced and allows for much bigger stories to be told. Most of it is so good, people do not even realize they are looking at CGI. Yes, Top Gun 2 shot a lot of amazing practical footage. But they still had 2400 VFX shots.

And no one could tell the difference.

But also, movies with 2000+ CG shots usually have a quality delta. They run short on time and budget and they have to prioritize which shots get the most love. If there is one valid complaint about modern CGI, it is the lack of consistency.

You might have a weird looking floating head in one scene...

And that is very easy to cherry pick and say "look at how bad CGI is these days!"

But then later in the movie you have the shadow realm moon.

A gorgeous scene that used a groundbreaking lighting effect. Using a strobe technique and a high speed camera, every frame in the scene had six different angles of lighting.

They were able to show a fast revolving sun circling around the characters without having to rig up some crazy light that flies around the room.

Again, not possible in 2006.

When artists have proper resources they will blow your mind.

CGI isn't worse. It is better than ever. It's just that the artists making Davy Jones were amazing. They had the time and money to realize their vision. They had 1400 fewer shots to make than Top Gun Maverick. (Jurassic Park only had 63.)

They also understood their limitations and didn't try to force the CG to do something it wasn't ready for yet.

[frances-kafka]

It's weird how in the past 5 or so years the left's understanding of decolonization devolved into some kind of weird Nazi era eugenicist thing about how people's "true places" are something encoded in their DNA and no one in the history of the world should have moved anywhere and anyone decendent from people who moved at some point should be shot.

[frances-kafka]

Know what really irritates me about "10 year old bullies can spot an autistic kid at a glance?"

Somehow we've managed to socially construct bullying as something specific to being ND, rather than a broad experience - and system - a lot of people are experiencing. Fuck's sake, there were social rules when I was a kid and one of them was... don't be alone in public. Bullies would pick on anyone who was alone.

[frances-kafka]

qualeasha wood, "bed rot," 2024, woven jacquard, glass seed beads, and hand embroidery

[frances-kafka]

when i was a kid i got a 90% on my kindergarten "what are your favorite things?" test because for the question "what is your favorite animal?" i wrote down "puma" and it got marked wrong because my teacher said a puma isnt even an animal its a kind of shoe

[frances-kafka]

The problem with being an American Jew in the year 2025, it’s easy to imagine, say, someone firebombing a synagogue and people of literally any political ideology (depending on the arsonist’s stated or assumed beliefs) rallying for their release. Makes it hard to trust you motherfuckers

[frances-kafka]

Peggy Castle

[frances-kafka]

Your friendly Black History Month reminder that Black Jews are JEWS.

Born Jews, Jews by choice, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Ashkenazic, Sephardic, Mizrahi, Israeli, diaspora…they are an integral part of all of our communities and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.

We still have work to do as a community to uplift Jewish POC, particularly Black Jews, but to my Black Jewish friends out there know that I see you and I will keep trying to do the work.

Happy Black History Month. ❤️

[frances-kafka]

Fighting a Duel

[frances-kafka]