#Unique California

[hiddengemsreal]

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Discover California's secret places! Watch our video to see the special and beautiful parts of California that many people don't know about. We'll show you quiet beaches, pretty forests, and small towns in the mountains that are not famous but are really nice. Join us to find out about the secret places in California that are amazing. 🏖 Find hidden beaches with clean sand. 🌲 Walk in quiet forests that are very peaceful. 🏞 Visit small towns in the mountains that are not crowded. 🌅 Watch beautiful sunsets in places not many people know about. 🛤 Explore paths with great views that not everyone knows about. Come with us to learn about the secret and wonderful parts of California that you might not have seen before. It's time to see something new and special in the Golden State! #HiddenGems #DiscoverCalifornia #SecretPlacesCA #ExploreMore #QuietBeaches #HiddenTowns #BeautifulSunsets #EasyExploration #CaliforniaAdventures #NewDiscoveries

[p4perhearts]

Chappell’s face card is actually insane (2024 VMA’s)

[wutheringmights]

For CTB’s 3rd anniversary (holy crap!!!), I’d like to ask if there’s any fun/interesting lore u wish u could naturally add in, but haven’t had the opportunity to do so yet?

As you could probably guess with STP, I have so many ideas for New Hyrule that I will probably never be able to convey in CTB proper. STP only scratched the surface of all the little cultural differences that make New Hyrule different from Warriors's Hyrule.

Actually, there's a lot of tiny cultural things I would love to delve into more with all the various Hyrules across the eras that I wish I could explore.

Here's a few:

Skyloft has a lot of Greek trappings, such as valuing Gladiator-esque fights and masked theater productions as entertainment. Skyloft is also freaking huge, with multiple sky island clusters making various communities across the sky. Sky's parents are actually still alive, but they live far away from him and he hasn't had the chance to visit in years.

Four's Hyrule has very little concept of the Triforce, but the myth of the Master Sword is fairly prevalent across his time and is conflated with the myth of the Picori sword; his Hyrule is also the smallest with it being more a fief than an actual kingdom.

Even after stopping Ganondorf, tensions between tribes is still really intense in Time's era. The memory of the civil war / the Unification War is still recent and every side is still bitter about the outcome.

Twilight's era is the most similar to Warriors, with stark class differences and plenty of newly acquired land. Being from Ordon, Twilight identifies more with regular humans than Hylians and gets indignant when he's lumped with one but not the other. The humans of Ordon also worship spirits more than the goddesses, so Twilight is very culturally disconnected from other Hylians.

Legend's Hyrule is on the upswing after years of economic troubles, and is surrounded by much richer kingdoms. Magic is also the most prevalent and common in his era. It's not unusual for young men to leave Hyrule in search of riches to bring back to their families.

Hyrule's era is extremely poor, but so is the other kingdoms surrounding Hyrule. The aristocracy takes no responsibility for the lower classes, which leads to a lot of regular people not giving a shit who their princess is or what the laws are. Towns are very close communities, as being a wanderer like Hyrule is more risk than its worth.

The Great Sea is also far bigger and more populated than what is in the game. All of the myths about the sea portray it as an violent, uncaring father. There is so little fish in the world that deities are often portrayed as fish/human hybrids. There's a lot of tiny superstitions involving sailing too, such as never killing a gull out in sea or else risking the wraith of the sea god.

There's a underlining sense of fear in Wild's Hyrule that there are no other kingdoms beyond the borders of Hyrule or on the other side of the ocean. While the older generation can recall stories of foreign lands, the younger generation are more prone to believing that they are the last of humanity. Round-eared humans are unheard of in Wild's time.

--

And now, various New Hyrule facts:

While most other Hyrules have a traditional European fantasy biome, New Hyrule's biome resembles California. Trading Post's real world analogue is Canary Row in Monterey.

Hats and bonnets are essential outdoor wear; to leave your hair out is impolite at best.

Trainspotting is a common past time; people who are fans of the rail industry without being royal engineers are called rail rats. So mechanics like Jean would be a good example.

You probably noticed in STP that New Hyrule has a lot more modern trappings, such as gramophones, heated plumbing, and gas lamps; telegrams are on the way too.

New Hyrule has a significant celebrity subculture, which Spirit and other famous engineers get folded into; there are plenty of tabloids that cover Spirit sightings across New Hyrule

As New Hyrule becomes more industrialized, tensions are building between the people and industrialists, the crown and the common folk, and Hylians and Lokomo.

[un-pearable]

“miku as your home culture really shows that the USA has no culture” discussion has lost the plot. say it with me folks . it’s not that USamericans don’t have a culture it’s that we’ve so aggressively globalized it that people feel it’s the “default” rather than an amalgamation of the popular culture we produce and export and explicit geopolitical decisions. it’s neocolonialism. this is like. necessary to understand if you’re going to meaningful critique the USA’s impact on the rest of the world culturally and otherwise

[ameliafuckinjones]

The thought of Amelia/Alfred declaring independence and then being immediately thrust into parenthood appeals to me. Imagine if you will shortly after the Revolution the emergence of State Personifications coming about with each admission to the Union (Delaware was the first one). Whether they appear miraculously or are birthed via (unwilling) parthenogenesis (which I prefer) the bottom line is that suddenly America has all these kids to take care of, all of who grow up just as fast as America did. Regardless of how they came to be or how fast they grow, America loves them with his/her whole being and creates a system in which they are always protected and accounted for by the larger government. America promises to be there for them the way England never was.

Then fast forward to the Civil War, and America is waging a bloody war against half of her/his children that see hundreds of thousands of their people dead. Brother against brother, father against son, cousin against cousin. And each secession feels like a small death because they are part of America just as much as America is a part of them, practically inseparable, or at least America thought so. To add even more complexity, not all of America's children were white or white-passing. America being neglected because s/he was to far away or denied certain rights for not being British enough was bad on its own, but imagine your parent not being able to claim you or fully protect you or give you basic human rights without public/social/political backlash because your skin is darker and you're legal property in half the country. Or imagine having powerful politicians who want to keep people who look like your children in bondage and you have to compromise with them to keep the Union whole, knowing the opinions they would have if they even knew you had children who were black (some of them do know and make sure their opinions are known). Or your other children starting a war to selfishly keep this system in place at the expense of their black siblings. The relationship between America and his/her children, with America acting as both the federal government that protects the states as well as the greater whole that represents the Union and the states as the children, each an extension of America, an integral part of America's being, pushing back against the sometimes overbearing hovering of their parent, impeding on states rights (whether they believe America is in the right or not) and protecting others and sometimes America will helplessly throw his/her hands in the air and say "fine, ill let YOU decide on this issue because I am not a dictator, despite what some of you like to think, but if you fuck up im stepping in" because America doesn't want to make the same mistakes England made in the past but then America has to deal with the negative consequences of her/his children's actions when they do something unbelievably stupid while trying not to seem like a fire-breathing tyrant. Which, they end up thinking anyway, regardless if America wasn't entirely in the wrong about butting in and taking hold of the situation before it escalated. The negative reaction only serves to make America step away AGAIN so as to not seem completely authoritarian in their eyes. It's a never-ending cycle. Not to mention the complex relationships the states have with each other, especially the southern states among themselves and the southern vs northern states rivalry.

Edit:

also whenever America takes his/her eyes off the states for 1mili second to see what the rest of the world is up to (hopefully not another world war) while usually being like 'back off, geeze! 🤬' America's children immediately switch to 'how come you're not paying attention to ME instead 🥺 you always focus on the world instead of ME 😢'

[helena-bottom-farter]

The Chemosphere, 7776 Torreyson Dr. Los Angeles

Perched on the Hollywood Hills like an observatory, designed by architect John Lautner, Frank Lloyd Wright’s apprentice. In 1960, Leonard Malin, an aerospace engineer, was given a plot of land by his father-in-law to build a family house. The land turned out to be on steep hills and thus highly inhospitable to any type of development. Malin, who had a tight budget of $30,000, offered the challenge to Lautner, who came up with a one-story octagonal house design, which would be supported by several beams resting on a large concrete slab 30 feet high.

📸Julius Shulman, 1961

[rabid-catboy]

Loud sniffling sfx. Obviously more green energy is good but the installation of solar panels in deserts can destroy vital habitat and adversely affect the surrounding environment in a bunch of different ways, a lot of which we probably don't know about or fully understand yet due to a lack of study and the fact that solar farms are a relatively recent thing

[jayjedi555]

555

[givehimthemedicine]

ace max mayfield

just a couple quick thoughts on Max being aspec and relationship stuff *unfurls a huge dusty scroll that rolls across the floor and down the stairs and out the door*

let's start with Ralph Macchio. taken at face value this exchange is the #1 proof I'd point to for both allo Max and aspec El. but let's say it's not face value, and that Max could be saying this because of internalized stuff, and that's how she thinks she should feel, and that this is what girls say at sleepovers.

but I think there are motives specifically involving El here too. if milkvan is outkissing lumax, and I'm certain they are by a lot, Max has known it all summer. but now El has come to her for sage relationship advice and she doesn't want to let on that she's actually less experienced in that department than her little protégé, so she's trying to sound like she's some kind of expert but without actually lying.

her delivery of the amazing kisser line looks like she's more interested in El's reaction than she is in actually thinking about kissing this boy (otherwise I'd expect her to keep staring at the picture).

btw you know that post about teenage girls strategically choosing a harmless boy to decide to be in love with? Ralph Macchio is 1000% harmless boy material.

I don't think there's any arguing that Max is aesthetically attracted to guys. you can definitely experience aesthetic attraction without realizing it isn't also more than that, and that would explain Max's behavior for me

it's funny that she's in a relationship for a year and yet we really only ever see her express physical interest in anyone from a distance (a safely unattainable celebrity and Steve 50 yards out in the dark).

actually I just realized I don't think Max or Lucas have ever complimented each others' looks in any way. ily lumax

anyway it's surprising to me that Max would ask about Mike's kissing skills given her relationship with him (if anything I'd hc El volunteering something and Max being like "ew TMI"). maybe she's not so much a fan of kissing, but figures it must be super enjoyable if El is doing it so often, right? so maybe El and Mike know something she and Lucas don't, and maybe she can find out while still sounding like she totally already knows?

methinks the lady doth hype kissing too much

wouldn't you think somebody written to be this pro-kissing would be the one who's constantly making out with her boyfriend?

milkvan ditches the party to go make out for the millionth time and Max defends it as romantic

Lucas makes fun of Mike for wanting to make out with El forever and Max tells him to stop

Ralph Macchio is probably an amazing kisser

is Mike a good kisser

no but the fact that she brought up kissing at all, when El did literally nothing but silently look at a picture of a boy

she might've let the topic go but she's still thinking about kissing when she opts to use spin the bottle as a means of random name selection when there are easier ways. El has no idea spin the bottle is a thing. that was Max's idea.

like, check that ralph moment again and tell me you'd guess the character who's only shyly kissed (1) time is the one on the left? Max is all bark and no bite, El is all bite and no bark.

have you ever kept bringing something up because that would make it true somehow?

this eyeroll at the couple making out in the hallway could be explained as any combination of Max being unhappily single, depressed, and judgy about PDA. where's "aw, it's romantic" now? did she get disillusioned by milkvan?

this is the only time we ever see Max react to the idea of kissing when she's alone with no one watching, in a way that's definitely not performative. if you ask me, this is how she really feels about it.

lumax's only kiss

Max kisses Lucas in a very "quick before I lose my nerve" way, and that can of course be explained as they're kids and first kisses can be nerve wracking.

but it's very easy for me to read this kiss as Max checking off a box, like she wanted to have kissed more than she actually wanted to kiss. or as the panic of oh boy this situation is a high kiss risk Ima take charge and get it overwith 1 song in so I can actually enjoy my evening.

after the kiss she looks relieved she's done it and hugs him, which is the part she really was looking forward to. I can debate the kiss but that hug is sincere affection (and a huge chunk of why I love lumax). a hug isn't really a social milestone or something anyone feels much pressure to do or brag about having done in the way that kissing is, she really just wanted to hug him, not out of attraction but because he's her first friend who's really cared about her in a while, maybe ever, and she feels safe with him. (and as a bonus the hug also closes the door to a second kiss)

as of the snow ball they're about on par with milkvan, but we don't see their physical attraction level up at all as they get older.

Max acts very 😒 about her relationship

I started writing a post about whether lumax was even supposed to be Max's first relationship because she acts so much more experienced. she displays the weary aloofness of a girl who's seen it all and is long over it. but she's 12? where are the butterflies? the only moment I can think of is that 1 second smile when she kisses Lucas. what she'd have you think is maturity and confidence I think is actually just her not giving a shit.

Drive Him Wild! 9 Ways To Sit That Scream "Cool Story, Bro"

she's not the slightest bit pleased that she's brand new in school and 2 boys immediately have crushes on her

she confidently says she thinks Lucas is making up all the upside down stuff to impress her or fool her for "experience points"

Steve's advice to Dustin doesn't work on her at all, which is hilarious because the advice is "treat girls like you don't care" and Max is the one who doesn't care for real

when Lucas is trying to ask her to dance, he's all fumbly and she's just like lmao let's go loser

compare the pre dance scenes, Lucas is rehearsing nervously in his mirror, Max is sulking while her mom tries to do her hair and rolls her eyes when she says it looks pretty. (and ok I'm getting into a tangent here but she wore pants <3 if her mom didn't intervene Max would've gone to that dance in the same thing she wore to school that day)

when El said Mike was her first boyfriend that would've been a perfect time for her to say if Lucas was also hers, but I really think Max preferred El not to realize that

throughout s3 while Max clearly has affection for Lucas she gives me the consistent impression that she's the one less invested in their romance. the closest she ever gets to flirty is sarcastically calling him smooth or don juan (actually has she ever said anything genuinely nice to him?). she dumps him at the drop of a hat to the point where he's paranoid about it. by dump #6 she doesn't even have to tell him so, he just correctly assumes.

I know a lot of that just chalks up to Max's personality and them still being kids, but you'd think a 12-13 year old girl might be a bit more twitterpated about her first boyfriend?

this relationship seems mostly like a comfortable friendship, especially for Max. in fact in s3, if you blink at the wrong few moments, you could almost miss that Lucas and Max are even a couple.

Max's "romantic experience" is secondhand from media

this doesn't exactly fall under orientation but it's worth mentioning how Max's perspectives on romance are informing her decisions.

Max has no positive examples of romantic relationships in her life. being a child of divorce, seeing her mom marry an abuser, and watching Billy grow up and start pursuing girls in what's probably been a gross way from the start, has not done anything to give Max a great impression about romance/sex/relationships, and she's had to look elsewhere for examples.

I imagine young Max spent a lot of time alone and, like El and her soap operas, gaining a lot of her ideas on relationships from media. and when you do that it's probably not all realistic, healthy or age-appropriate, only you don't always know that at the time.

Max seems very into magazines especially. to broaden El's horizons regarding boys and relationships, she supplies her with Tiger Beat, Bop and Super Teen, and sure that's just for fun, but it shows that a lot of what Max is taking in is sensationalized if not outright fantasy. probably the most realistic thing she reads is Skateboarder.

this whole family loves their periodicals

"oh but El already had those magazines before she was friends with Max! everybody read magazines in the 80s!"

nah. that's a TV Guide she's pretending to read. (and did Mike bring a Space Gamer magazine to El's house hoping to get El interested, or for himself to read there?)

anyway, notice how the parts of Max's advice that actually help El grow as a person are the parts that come from the heart (ha) and that's all the stuff about being independent. her relationship advice doesn't serve El super well (act like he doesn't exist! he'll come crawling back!! yeah, to Will lmao) because it's not from experience or real positive examples, it's just the regurgitated wisdom of shit-stirring teen gossip magazine advice columns.

Max thinks to lend El a Cosmo so she can learn about happy screams herself because that's probably how she learned. (I'm not putting any greater meaning in the way she's grossed out by that conversation in general considering they're talking about Billy and who wants to give their friend The Talk anyway)

I can only guess that not-so-healthy romantic relationships being glorified in media are how she can defend Mike and El ditching their friends all the time, even though she sure had a problem with similar behavior in season 2 when her new friends kept ditching her, but the difference is this is Romance and that makes the same shitty behavior okay, because romantic relationships are more important than anything else, right? (until she finds out El isn't actually having a good time, and maybe she's lowkey relieved to be able to drop that cognitive dissonance, and then suddenly there's more to life than stupid boys)

Max says "boyfriends lie all the time" like she's never been able to trust a word Lucas says. and yeah, in this episode he does back up Mike's lie, but he has not done that yet at the time when Max says this. as of this point, the only thing close to a lie I can think of him telling her is that out-of-order sign on the arcade machine (which he felt bad about). to me, in 1 and 2 he came off as the most honest one in the party. if he's become a huge liar since then, we didn't see it. I feel like Max might be regurgitating external stuff again that isn't really even about Lucas but just boys in general.

maybe the "emotion not logic" stuff is because it makes no sense to Lucas how Max goes straight to petty tactics and breakups whenever they have an issue. in his parents he has basically the show's only healthy marriage to look up to, and we even see him ask his dad's advice at one point, so when he and Max are having a problem he wants to talk and work through it. Max, having only broken relationships and fake bullshit to refer to, doesn't know how to deal with someone caring about her so seriously and she gets cagey and runs.

high school hits different

I know she's just deflecting but oh boy is that line easy to read in an ace way.

I also just noticed the banner behind Max's head that says "all the way in 86" when she says this, which is an interesting choice of wording and timing when it could just as easily have said "go tigers" if it wasn't supposed to evoke anything besides basketball. Max talked a good show for a middle schooler but now her peers are starting to get sexually active for real and she could be starting to feel social pressures (not from Lucas, but in general) and it's becoming rapidly more apparent that she's Different. OR it's just random set decoration!

anyway she still cares about Lucas and loves him at least as a friend, but still keeps him at a distance. of course depression has a lot to do with that, but it could be that she's afraid if she lets him too close even platonically that he'll get romantic ideas again.

which he does. as soon as she says she's glad he's there, he asks her on a date. going to the movies isn't explicitly romantic but, that's a date. she sure took it that way.

so why might an ace Max not only accept but draw adorable stick figures holding hands? maybe she's remembering times that were happy for other reasons and she's going all in because her current circumstances are pretty bleak and she welcomes something to cling to. I feel like it's a little bit of a pipe dream to her at the moment, like mikvan's snow ball and jopper's enzo invitations made on the cusp of probable death. she knows full well she might not be alive on friday. maybe she figures if she survives by some miracle she'll give the romance thing another whirl and that'll magically work too.

there's probably more but this post is getting too long. tl;dr max internalizes a lot of stuff and doesn't know she's a gray ace. the end

[theeflowerofcarnage]

hello fellow californian. i say like too much as well.

like totally!!

[directyourfate]

do you think mother nature purposefully made the PNW the most seasonally depressing place in the universe

[handcraftedloghomes]

An update on the California project - The final layer of logs are now complete and ready for the roof beams.  We've also added the beams for the breezeway/laundry room that will attach to the garage.

Visit our website! cascadehandcrafted.com 

[loveslargebananas]

Retaining Walls Landscape Ideas for a medium-sized, drought-tolerant, full-sun front yard landscape with a retaining wall made of concrete pavers.

[cselandscapearchitect]

Guest PostEdward Scissorhands' Macabre Guide to Shrubs and Rebellion Against the HOA

Listen up, forlorn souls of the suburban abyss, Even Edward Scissorhands has occasional issues with his homeowner’s association. Edward Scissorhands, the dark connoisseur of melancholy, arises with a tale of pruning gone awry. Prepare to delve into the shadowy depths of my twisted wisdom as we navigate the eerie world of shrubs and the ghastly homeowners association that haunts our…

[iliketoseeeverythinginneon]

“Revisit history in this retro 1959 El Dorado Kropf home with multiple unique and magnificent upgrades thru out! Enjoy the exquisite details transpired by the artistic craftsman in this truly one-of-a kind. From the outside charm to the expansive interior transformation, this home is an experience to see!”

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