#great book really i recommend

[mememuses]

[aroaceleovaldez]

tbh my latest biggest theory for why HoO and onwards is such a dramatic drop in quality and consistency is just. Rick stopped making teaching guides.

Like, the Lightning Thief teacher's guide is SUPER in-depth with even stuff like sources about middle grade child psychology and exact specifications of where he's applying that, explaining what different character's goals/motivations are, their dynamics with each other and their environments, etc etc. Even specifying which specific myths certain plot elements are supposed to reference or be about.

That stuff just doesn't exist for later books. There's activity guides and smaller, significantly more simple teacher guides for later books but they don't go into anywhere NEAR the same level of depth. The TLT one is a full lesson plan that breaks down the book at every level and explains what's going on and more or less why Rick did that. The others are all basically just glossaries of terminology and some simple question guides.

And they didn't even use the TLT teacher's guide for the Disney+ show because they clearly aren't adhering to any of what's discussed in that breakdown of the book.

By creating a teaching guide alongside writing the actual book, that's forcing you to document what you're doing, why, your sources, and information about your characters and the story they're in. It's like an even more in-depth version of a series bible. But that's lacking for later books (and etc) and it shows because that level of thought and depth and attention just isn't there anymore.

[iambrainrot]

Very quick sketch of the postmaster himself i did last night. The day I learn how colors work will be the day that I die

[matimatti]

So i finished tgcf this week

[kittarts]

HEYO! Do you do traditional and scan it into your computer or do you do direct digital? Have a great day!!

Hi, the artwork I post is digital but the concept of them are drawn traditional in my sketchbook 😊

[kanansdume]

I read a post recently discussing how great Tamora Pierce's Winding Circle Temple from her Circle of Magic series is both as a school and a home for the people who live there and oh boy did it give me Jedi vibes like nothing else. I'm going to straight-up admit I was more of a Tortall universe fan as a kid than an Emelan universe fan, but I recently went back and re-read all of the Circle of Magic books as an adult, so I still feel qualified to discuss this a little.

The post discusses how a religious Temple is actually such an interesting place to use as a location for the main characters' adoptive home, with the little routines and philosophies and general lifestyle woven into the worldbuilding. It's not just a school, although it very much is a place of learning, but it's a HOME. There are people who just come to the Temple to learn, of course, but a large amount of the people who are learning there also consider the Temple their home. And it's this community built of people who have CHOSEN to be there and/or have been cast out of other societies for things they cannot choose or change about themselves.

While Star Wars has not truly delved into what life is like in the Jedi temple (not in high mainstream canon at least), I've seen plenty of fans coming up with detailed headcanons about what life would be like in the Temple, what kind of holidays the Jedi might recognize or practice, what the classes would look like, what kind of food they'd eat and the routines and traditions surrounding their food. Because the Jedi Temple isn't just a boarding school, it isn't a university, it's a HOME and a community made up of people who have chosen to be here above anywhere else and those who were cast out of their own societies. The people who live there consider each other a family.

The adults at the Winding Circle temple aren't PERFECT, but they are genuinely good teachers who take care of the children they have adopted. They're responsible and loving simultaneously.

The Jedi all encourage their children to question things, to tease each other, to take responsibility for their own emotions and their own actions, but also simply to enjoy the moment as it happens rather than getting caught up in thoughts about the future or the past. They love each other and are perfectly capable of being playful, but they also ensure their children learn discipline and good mental health, as well.

Each main child character is raised relatively communally by the Temple, capable of being taught by just about anyone, but are also being housed with two specific Masters and then each taught their specific magical abilities by one teacher who has more of a specialty in their type of magic. We see a similar set-up among the Jedi who have the children brought up by Masters who are specifically assigned to taking care of their physical needs, but are eventually matched up to a Master who can help them hone their SPECIFIC skills, and all the while they are being raised pretty communally with access to every Jedi Knight, Master, and Padawan in the Order who might have something to teach them. The Winding Circle Temple takes a very adoptive/found family approach to their relationships, same as the Jedi do.

What's interesting is I don't know if I've ever seen as much discourse about Tamora Pierce setting her series at a religious Temple as I've seen aimed at the Jedi. I don't know that ANYBODY who's read Pierce's works in the Circle of Magic series would claim these characters not to be a family or that Winding Circle isn't their home or that it was repressive and abusive because they asked their members to take responsibility for their actions, especially when they have such large amounts of power at their disposal.

[rpfisfine]

what hunter s thompson book would u recommend for a chubby white boy with a blog

obsessed with this ask ok fear and loathing is a must read obviously.... then hell's angels, the curse of lono, the great shark hunt and if you want like a shorter essay as an introduction then definitely the kentucky derby is decadent and depraved

[juno-infernal]

in possibly the only brag-worthy accomplishment of my entire career, a few days ago a notable musician was so struck by my extemporaneous recitation of mary oliver’s “the moths” that he bought devotions that same day. he’d never even heard of her.

[thedragonsfate]

LMAO can you imagine reading a story where two traumatized FIFTEEN year old boys going through a consistently life threatening situation and simultaneously learning that they have a lot to navigate in their romantic relationship revealed by this time that is Very Hard because it reveals a dissonance in their understanding of the world. where they then both become separately aware of and commit to amending and understanding one another, to the point that they are able to begin discussing how one of their Perspectives has been very hurtful to his bf followed by several apologies and acknowledgements that the former didn't understand but wants to.

Where the bf who had been feeling very hurt is able to safely and healthily express how the others perspective maybe wasn't fair to him and potentially counter to a lot of what he stands for but maybe has skirted around bc of perceived judgment. Where him doing so is in direct pursuit of his own trauma recovery. Where the bf who didn't understand proceeds to show several instances of him actively trying not only to amend his judgement but to show explicitly that he is actively working in real time to expand his world view, because he didn't understand before but that doesn't mean he can't come to understand.

Where they learn about conflict in a relationship and how it's not always explosive but can be insidious as it creeps up in the both of you quietly if you don't actively seek resolution. Where they show incredible skill at listening to eachother to understand, and the bf who has spent this time thus far exhibited as The Good One of the two is able to admit and understand where he has gone wrong and chooses to see that the world is more complicated than he thought. To realize that darkness can facilitate growth and that harsh reactions often come from a place of hurt and it's not fair to inflict punishment onto something just because it's scary, that it's important to extend your hand first and try for understanding, even with things you've spent your life considering Inherently Bad/Evil like death.

Where the hurt bf is able to focus on embracing the hard parts of his life and how they've shaped him and lean even further into his nature of Reaching Out to those in need that other folks shy away from while also maintaining the beginnings of a healthy conversation with his bf about what that means to him. Where he is able to acknowledge how the world has hurt and judged him and use his newfound safe space to find even more people he is ready to open up to and lean on separate from his partner and his partners individual journey into understanding him.

can you IMAGINE reading this beautiful story abt two fifteen year olds learning these really hard lessons together that so many adults cannot grasp, learning to navigate conflict by understanding that they love eachother and that is enough to facilitate the conversations required to keep going if they're willing to try

can you IMAGINE reading such a poignant story about the beginnings of recovery and escaping a state of Survival to become who you are and who you want to be, of showing that recovery is not as easy as choosing to ignore the torment build into your perception of the world - but that you can get to a place where you can begin choosing to understand and accept those things in order to be able to choose your own idea of happiness, of showing light in the dark and dark in the light, of showing the strength in being true to yourself as you depend on oneanother, of having a harsh and difficult past and getting to a point where you're able to look back and say I Don't Want To Do That Anymore, of opening your eyes to the beauty of dark things and letting go of a Very Human instinct to condemn them because you're able to see how you may have been wrong and can now choose to expand how you see the world

can you IMAGINE reading that book and your take away being

"this healing teenager is Cringy and OOC in his recovery bc he acts like a dorky teenager experiencing joy and his boyfriend is Evil bc he's OBVIOUSLY against everything the other stands for TOXICALLY and should be cast aside because he doesn't deserve his partner if he doesn't immediately understand every aspect of his trauma without them discussing it as, again, a FIFTEEN YEAR OLD"

[roamingbadger]

Books read in 2024 so far:

- Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

- Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

[headroom-moods]

Shoot me in the head and leave me in a dumpster.

[nothingmatters-everythingmatters]

I've recently been thinking about online aesthetics (basically glorified trends imo) and how I've noticed that they're mostly - not completely, but still very noticeabley - "aimed" at women. I'm thinking of "clean girls" and "pilates princesses" and "mob wives" and even as far back as the late 2010s vsco or soft girl. I'm also thinking about big/popular aesthetics without the word "girl" in them, like cottage core for example (an aesthetic I'm often described to have and do enjoy without necessarily actively trying to incorporate it into my life). Sure, no one is stopping a guy from being cottage core, but they're so obviously more aimed at women. (ex: the makeup or feminine clothing often at the centre of some of these aesthetics (although I firmly believe clothes and makeup =/= gender/sexe), the overwhelming usage of pictures of young women in mood boards, the female demographic which interacts with the aesthetic by a huge margin etc)

I don't think it's a bad thing in itself, but we all know by now how often aesthetics have become very centered around consumerism and can encourage harmful beauty standards, so it's interesting to me how coincidentally these very aesthetics often target women and have mainly women engaging with them. Maybe some food for thought?

BTW, when I talk about aesthetics being "aimed at" women, I'm mostly talking about the ones with the word "girl" in them (ex clean girl) since it's literally in the name and those ones often are especially consumerism centered and tend to get big thanks to tiktok or Instagram beauty/fashion/lifestyle influencers. I don't believe that all aesthetics, or even most of them, are carefully designed and spread by malicious corporations or something to prey on women. But nonetheless there is still an undeniable target audience I believe.

~🪼

jellyfish anon I swear you are in my brain sometimes because as someone who has fallen down the aesthetics wiki rabbit hole and the gender wiki rabbit hole I do in fact think about this and know a little too much about the fact these extensive wikis exist at all lmao

honestly, this topic could absolutely be the start of a research paper, as I'm sure that the history of tying femininity/womanhood to consumerism has actually been a complex trend that reflects the changing social position of women as a class over time. something about the "performance" present in the gender stereotype associated with being female. something about how men are allowed to exist without thinking how they look to others, how women are more scrutinized for the way they present. something how women's identities are tied to appearances first. maybe even something on how social media exacerbates this by adding yet another layer. a digital one, to the performance. actually, this reminds me of an interesting sort of topic to ruminate on, the performative nature of femininity and how that changes the way we even think about ourselves and identity, how we are almost trained to present ourselves for others before thinking about what we actually want for ourselves! I remember when I was first really thinking about the topic of aesthetics and femininity, I really wished I could find more opinion/analysis on the topic more than just "this aesthetic is weird and here's why" or "all aesthetics are fine and that's good" because it is a very branching subject with so much scholarly potential, but the avenues where I got my research was primarily video essays (unfortunately) and those were pretty simplistic in analysis. this ask is a good reminder that I should revisit the search for that kind of thing now that I'm (hopefully) better at research and finding more diverse bodies of work discussing this kind of stuff. obscure medium blogs and wordpress sites here I come! I am also definitely going to chew on this subject a bit now that I'm reminded of it. maybe write something once I feel like I have more of a concrete thesis in mind to explore? very fun stuff though.

keep these asks coming not only are they well written but they are an amazing start to some social analysis and discussion! literally I have been deprived of my usual rambly overthinking in the last week so it is nice to find myself here once again :)

[mostlikelyshutup]

just reread an essay i wrote two years ago and oh my god me from two years ago was serving

[essektheylyss]

Okay but I did finish the first Worlds Beyond Number episode and immediately picked up The Infinite Playground again and I do think anyone doing anything creative, anyone involved in a hobby- or fun-based community (like fandom!), and anyone who likes games of any sort or game-based media should check out this book.

[eli-am-confused]

Oh by the way guys I did in fact listen to the Great Gatsby music! Finally got around to it last night actually! If you saw what I posted last night you’ll know I enjoyed it quite a lot! It was so good I listened to it like three times!

[silverislander]

wish i could just. work at a bookstore