#generally applicable

[penig]

Okay, so, I'm very much in favor of people doing something with their downtime other than just phone-scrolling, but, as a geezer, I think it's time to introduce a bit of perspective.

You know that Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album synchs perfectly with the action of The Wizard of Oz movie if you start it at the right point, right? Ever think about who happened to find that correlation? Well, I don't know who in the sense that I could tell you name, address, or age; but I know Who, in that it could only have been someone smoking weed while listening to albums in a dark room (probably a basement) and watching TV with the sound off when the movie happened to be what was playing on the channel they'd randomly landed on. It was the 70s.

In the 90s I read a memoir by a poet, in which she described a machine - I think they called it a "dream machine" - built by someone in her circle during the 60s. It generated lights and shadows and I think sounds and thirty years later the poet remarked that she couldn't, in retrospect, believe how much time they wasted, just staring at this contraption.

In 1909, E.M. Forster wrote a short story called "The Machine Stops," about a society where humanity interacted solely in and through a machine which did all the hard and even incidental labor; with the result that when the machine broke down, the society did, too. You think he wrote that in a vacuum?

Every modern generation (at least!) has an innovation which is Destroying the Youth. And sure, technology changes the way we interact with the world, and some of those changes aren't particularly good for us. But we all have to veg out sometimes, and technology puts us through veg-out fads to which certain age groups are particularly prone, and then the technology and our relationship to it changes.

The habits of individuals change.

Every older person with a longer attention span and a different pattern of reward-seeking OP knows had a period when they were doing something just as unproductive and apparently brain-altering as endlessly scrolling. They were sacked out on the couch watching game shows or soap operas or synching up The Wizard of Oz with Dark Side of the Moon or looking at a dream machine throwing light and shadows on the wall.

Eventually, they got bored with it. Or they got a pet, or kids, or got involved in the local community garden or looked out the window of their high rise office and saw a flock of hawks kettling ten feet away and had an instant conversion to birdwatching. Or they realized that they were happier in the evenings on the days they missed the bus and had to walk home than on the days they got home earlier and spent that time doing the vegging activity. They probably still do the vegging activity, but they do it differently. Less often. More selectively. Whatever.

Your brain keeps changing as you age. Technology affects some of those changes; but some of those changes are as old as mankind. You will not be in thirty years what you are now, and who that person is, is not dictated by your vegging out routine today.

Most anti phone advice is so inane and regurgitated to me but one thing I’ve been thinking about for days is “social media is okay, but the real danger comes in when you think your phone should be your go to during your limited pockets of leisure” like that’s literally the truest thing ever

[penig]

I was just spammed an ad for Grammarly with the tagline: Write as well as you think.

Dude, I write better than I think and I know a lot more about grammar than whoever programmed that crap.

[penig]

Getting a lot of new followers from various places, so:

If you came here from the Good Omens tag and are confused by all the reblogs of cartoony people, the tags you want to block are widespot at large, land grant university graduates, and land grant university. I've got a lot of it to reblog today because I just found a new Widespot blog, but it should calm down in a day or two.

If you came here for sims and are confused by all the fandom and literature content, the tag you want to block right now is Good Omens season 2, but you may want to block literature or specific author, fandom, or substack tags in the future.

Anybody who wants to get away from current events should block the I am so angry tag.

And feel free to block anything at all on here you don't enjoy. I try to tag everything. Let me know if I screw up - but keep a face on to do it. I will never turn on anonymous messaging, but the ask box is open.

If you came here hoping to find new things to enjoy, I hope you do too. Welcome aboard.

[penig]

Tomorrow will be better.

[penig]

I saw a tumblr staff post that claimed everyone has access to polls now. This raises questions:

Am I deliberately excluded from “everyone?” (Unlikely, but not actually impossible.)

Is there some trick to making them that I haven’t caught onto yet?

Do I have to activate something in settings?

Is “everyone” meant as “everyone who isn’t using an adblocker?”

Is “everyone” meant as “everyone who is using html instead of rtf?”

Is “everyone” meant as “everyone who has the browsers and OSes we all assume even the lamest-ass tumblr user is using by now?”

I suspect it’s the last, because we’re late adopters and our OS gets updated when we get a new computer. Also because my mobile app is on a secondhand phone and can’t use the recent tumblr mobile app update, so when I’m in bed I have to scroll through lots and lots and lots of empty posts that ought to be polls, and when I’m up I have to scroll all the way back to the last time I checked tumblr on the desktop.

But it would be nice to know.

[penig]

What Inspires your blog?

What an odd question. Who needs inspiration to keep a tumblr?

[runemyth0]

Oh, that's a terrible idea. You should totally do it.

[penig]

Nobody knows what they're going to do until they do it.

one of the most important things, perhaps the most important thing I have learned in my life is that nice people can fuck each other up in monstrous ways. people can be bone deep kind and loving and self reflective and still lash out under pressure. people can be earnestly neighbourly and charitable and hospitable and generous and still find themselves in situations where they become selfish. people can be well meaning and easygoing and gregarious and hold deep seated opinions that turn them into vicious little bullies under the right conditions. nobody is just one thing, and nobody stays one way. every person is a kaleidoscope and they will surprise you. you will surprise yourself. it's not a warning and it's not a judgement and it's not an excuse, and it's certainly not a reason to stop trying or to stop trusting. it is just a fact.

[knifearo]

“there are always more fish in the sea!” babe no offense but i just really sincerely do not want to go fishing

[the-agent-of-blight]

also, i really find it interesting how people can genuinely go about saying "Well this group isn't attacked for their identity so they can't be queer " while then turning around and. attacking said group. for their identity. and exemplifying classic __-phobic tropes. It's really dumb. You are being the thing that you claim does not exist

[cheese-water]

Generation Loss is a comedic tragedy in every sense of the word. Every character we see exemplifies this fact, but no one other than The Austin Show proves its truth.

We begin at the carousel. Austin, Gay, takes his turn by pleading for himself to live because he has a wife and children back home. The rest of the cast interrogates him about his “wife and kids,” clearly suspicious of his truthfulness without even knowing his dubbed “title.” Everyone in the room treats Austin like a joke.

In turn, so do we.

Next, we reach the closet and shortly after the failed drag show, Austin remarks, “Look, I uh… I didn’t expect to die here.” It’s a moment of pure honesty, whether we like it or not. It happens again when the Puzzler tries to party with them, and Austin has to angrily remind him that they are his captives and are actively trying to kill them.

Austin: “What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? We're trying to get out of here. I have children and wives— wife. One wife! What is this some sort of game? I’ve been stuck in hear for hours it seems. We’re trying to get out. Why is nobody else freaking out? We’ve got C4 strapped to our neck…”

It isn’t until Ethan’s death, his blood pooling out from underneath the door, Austin screaming at the others, begging them to have a reaction, to care about their circumstances, to care about death, that we finally understand Austin’s role in Generation Loss.

After all, in every great comedy, someone always has to play the straight man.

[penig]

It's okay to bother me even if you're not my mutual, as long as you're not being mean. I bother total strangers on the internet all the time.

REBLOG IF IT'S OKAY FOR ME TO BOTHER YOU IF YOU'RE MY MUTUAL

[lacystar]

The Maruki Labs Psychological Assessment - a Persona 5 fanfic formatted into a Uquiz. Answer honestly so we can tailor make a reality that best suits you!

Just like a real intake forum!*

Based on the psychological test puzzle in Maruki's palace!

21 questions to assess your mental wellbeing!

One fabulous free-write question to share your biggest dreams with Dr. Maruki!**

10 possible "endings!" (1 for each Phantom Thief!)

*Not at all like a real intake forum

**im not dr Maruki please dont actually look to me for therapeutic advice. actually, dont look to maruki for therapeutic advice either 😭

Inspired by the Jubilee Line Satisfaction Survey by @/peninkwrites

[nelkcats]

Application Rejected

When Danny adopted Cujo he saw him as a puppy, which was a little sad considering the implications. He always thought Cujo was the only one who had stayed, the only one whose soul had persisted. He thought Cujo was alone.

He was wrong. Not all adult dogs and puppies stayed, of course. But many had. Cujo was simply the only one who decided to return to the world of the living, probably because of his obsession with his toy.

One day Cujo showed him where they were all hiding; Danny knew that those dogs had not stayed for the same reason as Cujo, they probably had a myriad of different reasons, and that was fine.

The problem was that excluding some of the adult dogs (that obviously were fine on their own and didn't care), there were many puppies similar to Cujo running around in need of affection and he couldn't adopt them all (besides, Cujo would definitely get jealous). And while many ghosts agreed to take a couple, it wasn't all of them, so Danny did something extreme.

He held an adoption fair in Amity, which was a smashing success. He just forgot that a lot of people in Amity...were usually traveling, and the ghost puppies would follow.

Then, a few days later when a scowling guy showed up (he obviously wasn't part of the general Amity Park population) and demanded a "bright green" puppy, Danny said no and refused his application. He couldn't trust someone with no knowledge with a ghost dog. Although he did offer him a course to learn about their care.

Damian Wayne was offended with his overall assessment. He was obviously the right person to care for one of those pups. So he set out to prove that to the boy in front of him, without hesitation.

[susansontag]

I think the issue mainstream shows have with portraying lesbians and lesbian community in general is sort of that these shows have liberal outlooks and this sits uncomfortably with the fact that lesbian women specifically have historically, but also now, had a close proximity to feminism (something else that popular shows also have a hard time seriously portraying). sure there’s loads of young liberal lesbians but when it comes to lesbian organising and ‘lesbian culture’ it seems like a deliberate omission, like the writers don’t know how to approach lesbians politically. and depicting gay men and bi people is not the same, it doesn’t have that same connotation, so you can do that as fun and apolitical as you like. but when all your dykes are mostly feminine young women with shaved legs it’s going to feel inauthentic to real lesbian spaces in a noticeable and uncomfortable way. I guess that’s why these writers probably prefer gay men’s culture. an easier sell to the mainstream.

[penig]

And yeah, even in your 60s you'll wake up with a sick twist in your stomach because of that time when -

But then you wake the rest of the way up and remember that it doesn't matter. That you're the only person in the world who even remembers that. And you go back to sleep, with all the past layers of you that built you up into who you are.

everyone is embarrassed of their fourteen year old self trust me if you’re fourteen right now you will regret whatever it is that you are doing at this moment