#Merrick Butte

[rabbitcruiser]

Light and Shadow

What do you think about my pic?  

[mid-nighttiger]

[Image ID: Photograph of the East Mitten Butte and Merrick Butte, large red rock formations in Monument Valley. Merrick Butte is on the right side and closer to the viewer; the East Mitten is to the left. In the foreground are orange sands and many small green trees and plants. /End ID]

[thorsenmark]

My Time for a Getaway in Monument Valley by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the east while taking in views across eroded formations and sandstone buttes in this northern Arizona high desert landscape. This is at the Monument Valley Tribal Park Visitor Center with a view looking to Merrick Butte​ and East Mitten, from image right to left.

[a-contemplative-soul]

[pepperjunkie]

Merrick's Butte, Monument Valley, Brad Randleman, 2011..

[shitty-mh-aus]

Au where everyone has a huge ass

(I let my keyboard type that)

RIP to the butts of marble hornets

[jessmindspace]

Close call with a con that forces the Merrick father/daughter duo to skip town real quick! This is actually a redraw of a very old picture (kudos if you remember it from my LadyPep account on IG), but changed things up to suit the new designs and personalities of the characters 😎

[gunnrblze]

Thinking about Merrick being like a mentor type to Hesh post beach

Hesh would be the most insufferable person to be around. He’s depressed, irritable and angry as fuck, has rage episodes and just generally having the worst fucking time with his dad being dead, his brother missing and experiencing god knows what, and his country still being ran into the fucking ground, all at the hands of The Worst Guy Ever.

I think he’d butt heads with Merrick a lot for a while, the two both being quite hotheaded/reactive in general, but after allat…? Kick and Keegan have to diffuse many arguments and fights because Hesh is struggling not to fall off the deep end and with Merrick now being their commanding officer, he just isn’t taking any of the BS regardless. Hesh has to learn how to handle himself he decides, especially considering they may never get Logan back. That they still have a mission regardless of how anyone feels.

So Merrick sucks it up. He lets Hesh get away with some of those smartass remarks, tries to quell his own argumentative nature, cuts him some slack in the emotionally and psychologically fucked up department, etc etc. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t try to redirect the younger man’s energy.

Hesh is ever observant, despite being so wound up and ready to pop at any moment if necessary, that he notices Merrick slowly easing up on him. So he asks why. Maybe Hesh mouths off to him one day, and instead of Merrick arguing back, raising his voice about learning a lesson in respect or needing an attitude adjustment, he lets it slide. Gives him that stern look, tells him to walk away, whatever.

Hesh is all confused because honestly, he knows he’s acting a fool. How could he not? Nobody expects him to be having an even remotely okay time, and he knows he’s always one slight inconvenience away from bursting everyone’s bubble.

So why is Merrick of all people letting him get away with some of this behavior all a sudden? Why is he responding so differently? It almost makes him more upset. Hesh is so pent up that arguing and fighting and going on missions to shoot people’s heads off just fuels his fire, the chaos almost feels comfortable because it matches how he feels inside. It’s a distraction from missing his people so bad that he can’t even breathe sometimes.

When Merrick explains, in his own stiff way, that he’s trying to help, that he knows the old man would hate to see his son like this, that he knows yelling back doesn’t help, won’t help them find Logan anymore than they’re already trying, it clicks a bit for Hesh.

If Merrick can reel it in a little, maybe he can. Maybe he doesn’t need to slam doors and raise his voice at people and cry himself to sleep most nights because Merricks there to talk, if he wants. He’s there to go to the shooting range with him and let him waste a dozen rounds when he’s upset, there to let him rant or get his emotions out, there to not replace Elias, but to give him that older male guidance that he lost.

Why? Cause Merrick knows exactly what it feels like to have everybody you care about torn out from under you.

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV Musings - Incest, Pedos, & SA (Pt2): Louis & Claudia

(A follower asked my opinion on this post by @natandacat about Louis & Claudia's incest. It's related to a similar point made by @aleelewisharlot about Lestat & Claudia, that I'd already spoken on. So this is just Pt2 of my IWTV!Incest posts.) There's a few things to point out that weren't mentioned wrt Louis:

Shattered boundaries/dynamics post Ep5

Claudia & Antoinette are proxies

The Perpetual Virgin(s)

1: Shattered Boundaries/Dynamics Post Ep5

Yep, and those boundaries got effed up in 1x6--or rather, in the wake of Ep5. The most diabolical transitional scene was in 1x6 when Loustat was banging in Antoinette's house, and Daniel goes "But there were THREE of you," and even though the convo's about Antoinette, the camera fades from Antoinette (Les's side-companion) to Claudia (Lou's side companion).

Claudia herself says "I've been a third all my life." (The closest she'd ever been to having Louis as her companion were the 2 worst moments for Louis, post-Lestat/missing Lestat--in the 6 years Les was gone after Ep5, and the 9 years Lou was with her in Europe.) The reason why Claudia thrusts herself in Louis' sex life is cuz the borders between parent & child got scrambled. Louis' NOT her parent/Daddy Lou anymore. In the 6 years of 1x6, Claudia is Lou's surrogate MOTHER. She thinks it's HER JOB to intervene & butt in for Louis' sake.

Yes, and the incest vibe comes from Claudia's imposition as the one now solely responsible for Lou, cuz Louis FAILED his protective role. Crippled after Ep5, he's emasculated by Lestat & infantalized by Claudia. But it's purely out of the deep love, care & concern for her FAVORITE parent: she feeds him & clothes him & taught him to walk & shooed Lestat away from calling on Lou & decided what the rules would be when Les moved (back) into HER home/territory--SHE cleaned that nasty house from top to bottom, SHE decided if the busted mantle would ever get fixed "we leave the damage." She'd firmly asserted herself as the Alpha controlling the roost--inc. butting in when Loustat had sex, cuz she hates Les being with him.

It's an interesting twist on book!Claudia's attitude towards book!Louis, saying in Merrick that he was easier to control.

Instead, AMC!Claudia knows/feels that Louis is dependent on her cuz she LITERALLY takes care of him. He's "dead weight" all the way into Europe, where she's STILL the one feeding him & translating/speaking for him cuz he sucks at languages; in Paris she's the one counting the money they pickpocket and watching their finances. Louis is USELESS, and she quickly realizes that he CANNOT be an adequate parent, companion, ANYTHING for her. The best thing he did for her was make Madeleine.

So I agree with Natandacat, but we have to also contextualize the ramifications of how Ep5 affected their family dynamics, and WHY Claudia takes up so much space in Loustat's bed in 1x6.

2: Proxies: Claudia & Antoinette

Going back to that transitional scene, a quick thing to point out is that Antoinette & Claudia are both proxies of affection/companionship for Lestat & Louis respectively.

Antoinette is Lestat's emotional support & replacement for Louis, when Louis' libido evaporates cuz of his poor diet & Lestat's scared Lou DGAF about him anymore; and esp. post 1x6 when Claudia stays on his effing neck ("I seek refuge from complaints when I visit you, dear").

Likewise, Claudia is Louis' emotional support & replacement for Lestat, when Lestat starts cheating on him cuz of his evaporated libido & Lou's scared Les DGAF about him anymore; and esp. post 1x6 when Claudia is his constant companion & nursemaid/mother. But unlike Lestat, Louis is NOT having sex with Claudia, despite her asking/challenging Loustat to pick up the slack.

3: The Perpetual Virgin(s)

Her diary implies that she's had plenty of sex; experimenting at the same time as her killing spree with the 56 Floaters, tryna make her own companion. And just like the Floaters all dying whenever she Turns them, her sexcapades are also a failure. Cuz her hymen keeps growing back "every single time I do it."

Claudia's experiences with sex SUCK. There's very little (if ANY) physical sexual gratification she can achieve with ANYONE, Charlie included, because she died a virgin with her hymen still intact. Just like Jessica from True Blood, it HURTS every time she has sex.

She's severely punished physically, by her own body's inability to provide anything good. She can't even Turn her own vamp companion, and has to crawl to Louis & Armand for help.

And like, don't forget Bruce, the longest sexual encounter she probably ever had, constantly getting raped by him for a week straight. So there's an additional trauma put on her sexual experiences, that likely impacted her body dysmorphia too; cuz the way she looks keeps attracting creeps, pedos, rapists, etc.

So she's a teenager with all these hormonal impulses out of control, and literally ZERO outlet to alleviate or gratify those urges, not without considerable emotional, mental, AND physical agony. The ONLY source of safety she's ever felt, incidentally, is with LOUIS.

But once again, that boundary is shattered when he explicitly chooses Lestat over her in 1x7, and actually chokeslams her to stop her from burning his husband and permanently killing him. In that moment, she sees Louis PRECISELY for what he is: hopelessly whipped for Lestat.

But there IS another boundary between them still. Louis draws a line in the sand in 1x7, where he's willing to be her "mindless accomplice" and go through with the Murder Plot and leave NOLA and wander around war-torn nasty grimy Europe and do anything Claudia wants--EXCEPT kill Lestat. Claudia finally imposes herself too much, and crosses LOUIS' boundary insisting on burning Lestat, tryna destroy Lou's one source of sexual gratification. Louis reminds her that she CANNOT be his companion--she'll never be "enough" for him, cuz she's not a man. And Claudia gives Louis the silent treatment all the way to Romania, cuz she KNOWS Louis will NEVER let go of Lestat and be PRESENT FOR HER and choose HER first, when he's still "chasing it!"

Cuz Louis died a virgin, too. But he has the benefit of not being a female with a hymen, a constantly reopening bleeding wound. Instead, his sexcapades are always a failure cuz of the emotional punishment he puts himself through--DreamStat calls Lou "you little wh*re" cuz Lou feels guilty; he thinks he's CHEATING on Les when he sleeps around. In SanFran he kills all the 100+ guys he sleeps with, not cuz he CAN'T Turn them into vamp companions (a la Claudia), but cuz he WON'T Turn them--he doesn't REALLY want any of them--he esp. doesn't want Armand. And NONE of those men satisfied him "to the rings of Saturn" or fulfilled his needs the way Les did. Little girl Claudia certainly never stood a chance with Louis. 😅She'll ALWAYS be his baby girl, his daughter, as much as she tries to shuck labels & emancipate herself as anyone's child/daughter.

Cuz traditional nuclear family units DO matter to Louis. It's been effed up since 1x6, when he had to choke down being forced to call Claudia "Sister," when that's NEVER been how he feels towards her. Cuz unlike Lestat, Louis is NOT her actual Blood Father--he has no parental tie to her. But he raised her, and they forged a bond thicker than blood/water, by establishing that he'd be her Daddy Lou and she'd be his daughter--but remember: Louis put that on HER terms:

Louis let HER decide & choose if SHE wanted to see them as a family or not. He wants to do everything he can to make HER happy--Lestat said Louis spoiled her & coddled her all thru S1 with his "timid child-rearing, this is the result of compromise!" Even in 2x4 Lou says "I didn't wanna wreck that for you" when SHE insisted on staying in Paris to join the coven he TOLD her was dangerous.

So alas, Lou goes along with whatever Claudia wants, esp. in S2, all to overcompensate & make up for the ONE time he told her "I SAID NO!" Hence: making Madeleine, and Claudia joining in--shattering that last bastion of familial borders by technically having a child WITH Claudia.

Exactly. Cuz it forces Louis to realize that he's NOT her father; he's MADELEINE'S. The link he feels with "this stranger" Madeleine brings into sharper focus that he HAS NO BOND with Claudia--he NEVER had one in the vampiric/blood sense, and he's totally LOST the emotional one they had back in NOLA pre-Ep5.

Louis says "I did not care," because the BOND doesn't care that Claudia's gone. The distance he feels between them is just in HIS head/heart. But the bond between him & MADELEINE is "the cord you cannot see, but it is real!"

And Louis is FURIOUS--he's gone cold. He did what Claudia wanted even though it HURT him--he "finished the job," like he was just servicing her--"I did not care" disassociates in direct parallel with the 1x6 scene with Claudia between Loustat, as Lou just does what's expected of him; lay back and think of England.

AMC deliberately superimposed Bruce's face in a diabolical transition, swapping him out for Lestat, cuz Louis' body & mind are just wide open for the vampires in his life to run roughshod over him--Lestat sexing Lou up when Lou's just phoning it in, Claudia yapping away in his head tryna get him to go where doesn't wanna.

All Lou wanted was a happy family--Lestat as his husband & Claudia as his daughter. But by making Madz with Claudia it just cements Madz as a constant walking reminder he'll always feel, that he and Claudia have done something together that officially puts them on a level he didn't want with anyone but Lestat: a couple that made a vampire child together. Those disgusting rumors back in NOLA about Claudia being his "child bride" are now true in Paris, after 2x6.

And it makes Louis sick to his stomach, puking up all of Madz's blood; he feels tainted; something precious has been violated; he's driven nearly to suicide tryna bleed out every scrap of evidence that Madz represents.

He's uncomfortable around her and doesn't want her using their bond together at all. His soul is wide open to Madz too, but this time he refuses to have ANOTHER child of his impose themselves on his inner mind & heart. He feels he owed it to Claudia to make things "even" with her, but he feels no such obligation towards Madeleine, even though she IS his Blood Daughter. This time he will establish boundaries & draw the line firmly in the sand from Day Effing ONE.

GTFO of my soul, stay OUT of my personal relationship with my husband Armand, mind your frikkin business, and stay in a child's place, cuz I AM your parent, Madz, even if I'm not Claudia's. Period.

[beadyeyes]

Merrick's Butte by Ernst Brötz X

[kafkalex]

alex kralie forcefem... alex whos very nervous abt transitioning (wants it really bad but is scared shes 'faking' it somehow) vs jay merrick who had to be so Very brave during his transition (deathly afraid of needles) and hes basically holding her down to make her take her hrt

AGDJAKFJDJ THIS VISUAL IS SO CUTE. Just picture alex/lexie laying down on the bed writhing and squirming like a cat while jay sits on her thighs and trying to stick the needle in her butt for her while also shaking like a leaf bc just looking at the needle is making him anxious

[rabbitcruiser]

Monument Valley, AZ (No. 25)

Perhaps the most iconic of the buttes are the West Mitten Butte, East Mitten Butte, and the Merrick Butte. The East and West Buttes are collectively called the Mittens. When visitors view the mittens from the south, they appear as two giant mittens rising from the desert with their thumbs facing inwards.

Height Above Sea Level:

West Mitten Butte: 6,176 ft (1,882 m)

East Mitten Butte: 6,226 ft (1,898 m)

The Mittens are only around 0.6 miles from the state line with Utah. West Mitten Butte is 1.1 miles from the Monument Valley Tribal Park's headquarters.

One tip for visiting is to come at the end of March or mid-September and see (for a few days only) the West Mitten shadow appear on East Mitten. It is called the Mitten Shadow and is a magnet for photographers.

For anyone wondering, the difference between a butte and a mesa is the size of the formation. Buttes are wider than they are tall. Mesas are larger and less elevated.

Source

[thorsenmark]

Letting Nature Pamper Me with Snapshots of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at an overlook viewpoint at the Monument Valley Tribal Park Visitor Center with a view looking to the east-northeast to other sandstone formations and buttes of in the distance. This is in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. East Mitten, West Mitten, and Merrick Butte are in the image, from left to right.

[cantfuckbracket]

Can't Fuck Bracket - Group Stage. Group 31: Bitchless Brits

Prince Charming (Shrek) versus Wallace (Wallace and Gromit) versus Steven Merrick (The Old Guard)

[ID: The unfuckable pride flag overlaid with the "no bitches" meme. Over it are pictures of the contestants. Prince Charming is a white man with blonde hair, shown screaming; Wallace is a bald white man with a huge mouth, shown wailing; and Merrick is a white man with big ears and eyes very close together. Over them are sparkles and a heart with a butt, and in between them are peach emojis crossed out with the word "vs" in them. End ID]

Prince Charming: "Their whole personality" / "British royal. Need I say more?"

Wallace: "The man is too obsessed with his inventions and also cheese to ever pay adequate attention to a lover. Also he’s British"

Steven Merrick: "British rich evil ugly AND annoying. Introduces himself as 'Steven Merrick, youngest CEO in Pharma'. Couldn't get less fuckable if he tried"

[bouncinghedgehoglikestotravel]

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park 😲😲😲, situated on the Arizona-Utah border in the southwestern United States, is a breathtaking landscape renowned for its iconic sandstone formations. Managed by the Navajo Nation, this park holds profound cultural and spiritual significance for the Navajo people, known as the Diné. The towering buttes, mesas, and spires that dominate the horizon are not only natural wonders but also integral to Navajo mythology and traditional ceremonies.

Visitors to Monument Valley can explore the park via a 17-mile scenic drive loop, offering unparalleled views of formations like the Mittens and Merrick Butte, which have become symbols of the American West. Navajo-guided tours provide deeper insights into the park's history, culture, and sacred sites, including ancient petroglyphs and traditional Navajo dwellings known as hogans.

The park's visitor center serves as a gateway for information, permits, and tour arrangements, emphasizing sustainable tourism practices that respect the environment and preserve Navajo heritage. Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park stands as a testament to the enduring connection between the land and its indigenous stewards, inviting visitors to appreciate its natural beauty and cultural richness.

[thingsdavidlikes]

Monument valley with the Mittens and Merrick Butte by Bernd Thaller