#and then in many other directions

[picspammer]

Tom Sturridge as Dream of the Endless

[inkskinned]

the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

[vriskan8or]

let her go

[ruporas]

how to guide your mossball (ID in alt)

[the-last-butter]

HC they first met a year or two after Yelan got her vision; post fighting the in abyss but when Kaeya was still navigating his identity from Kaeya, Brother and Right hand of Diluc Ragnvindr to Kaeya Alberich, Cavalry Captain and Quarter master of the Knights of Favonius.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

No time to play. You are being sent away.

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[rambles-about-minecraft-ocs]

one of my favorite things about zedaph is that on a server full of people that find strange and oft-overlooked minecraft mechanics or rare events and then see just how far they can push them in the name of spectacle or efficiency or world-breaking, zed is over here finding these mechanics in order to do the weirdest things he can think of in as entertaining a manner as possible

like i 100% have faith in zedaph's theoretical ability to be just as efficient or spectacular or world-breaking. if he wanted to do that stuff, i trust that he absolutely could. but thats so far from being his priority. instead, hes going to spend around a week of irl time focused entirely on eventually having the good luck to spawn in something insanely rare so that he can convert it into something even rarer, the result of which being something that 99% of the server reacts with complete and utter shock that it even exists in the first place, just because its zany and funny and he wanted to. and i love that

[originalartblog]

Im sure you can still fit one more in there!!!

He believes in you↑

If this goes on for any longer I'm gonna have to open an actual daycare or something

(part 1) - (part 2)

@inkingkitsune, @ask-dazai-osamu-anything, @insanebsdfan

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

not enough discussion about the gavins' complicated relationship with feminine-coded/beauty products, i don't think.

[manchesterau]

happy 15 years of dan and phil!

[lorebird]

In which Ford struggles so badly to relate to other people that he wonders if he’s really human at all. The more isolated he becomes, the harder it is to reconcile with his own humanity.

[wistfulwatcher]

Criminal Minds | 7.01 It Takes a Village

[dare-to-dm]

One criticism I saw about Dragon Age Veilguard was that everything in the game was kind of sanitized compared to past titles, making for overall weaker and less impactful writing.

And I would agree that Veilguard feels more "family friendly", which comes with both pros and cons. There's definitely a thoughtful critique to be made.

But the specific example used in this post was the Lords of Fortune and how they have scholarly experts examine their acquisitions to avoid stealing objects of significance from other cultures. And how this effort to avoid being problematic makes the entire faction seem more shallowly presented.

I think that ignores the fact that the Lords of Faction is led by Isabela. Isabela, who in Dragon Age 2 stole the Tomb of Koslun not really realizing what its value was to the Qunari people. Her ignorance directly led to so much conflict and literally hundreds of deaths in Kirkwall. It makes perfect character and narrative sense for her to have learned from the experience and to take pains not to repeat that kind of mistake in the future.

Isabela was always the kind of person who wants to make money with a minimum of effort and have fun. But even in her more selfish days, she never wanted to hurt vulnerable people to do it. I think her relationships with Hawke and Merrill helped her grow into a more thoughtful person, and the way she runs the Lords of Fortune is a reflection of that. It actually makes perfect sense.

[onewordshy]

Wild that Phantom of the Opera is closing after 35 years on Broadway but I think the best adaptation of the Gaston Leroux novel is Scooby Doo! Stage Fright, specifically this scene:

[starcurtain]

I would pay such good money for confirmation of whether Ratio and Aventurine have worked together before Penacony. How did it happen??? The talks that went on before Final Victor... The initial spark of inspiration to stick Those Two Guys together...

Like, I just have to know if someone in the IPC deliberately tossed Aventurine and Ratio on to a team together (with or without good intentions). Are any of the higher ups in the IPC or the Intelligentsia Guild out there counting on this partnership working out for the best?

To be a fly on the wall when Ratio found out who he'd been hired to "consult" with...

And Aventurine, getting the IPC mission orders across his desk like "Ah, yes, finally. He's here. My Government Assigned Boyfriend™."

[scribefindegil]

I love love love when there are two characters who have nothing in common except their shared undying devotion to a different character. Working together not because they care about each other but because they both care about this other character SO MUCH. Relationship defined by intense devotion but not to each other. It's sooooo tasty give me one million versions of this please.