#hotels rooms

[tamurakafkaposts]

Is There Anybody Out There?

[firephoenix23]

Like I literally have second hand embarrassment for Vox after seeing what Alastor ACTUALLY is like in a rivalry.

Like homie wishes he could be that close to Alastor 😂😂

[thedogeveryonehates]

🦜🎶🍷

[jowbokitten]

"I don't condone hitting women, but I never said anything about strangling bitches." -Lucifer (probably)

[389]

migration Doug Aitken

[yippee-optimistically]

so ii16 huh

[diorstarr]

[jeyneofpoole]

[huariqueje]

Hotel - Nick Bierck , 2023.

Canadian , b. 1986 -

Oil on canvas, 15 x 11.25 in.

[tamurakafkaposts]

Liverpool, set in its ways, at the end of the line, at the beginning of time, with its back to the land, its feet in the water, its head in the clouds, its heart on its sleeve, hearts in its mouth. Liverpool, its being so cheerful that keeps us going. Liverpool, the first city to rock in Britain.

Paul Morley, The North

[cookinguptales]

You know... I had an experience about two months ago that I didn't talk about publicly, but I've been turning it over and over in my mind lately and I guess I'm finally able to put my unease into words.

So there's a podcast I'd been enjoying and right after I got caught up, they announced that they were planning on doing a live show. It's gonna be near me and on the day before my birthday and I thought -- hey, it's fate.

But... as many of you know, I'm disabled. For me, getting to a show like that has a lot of steps. One of those steps involved emailing the podcasters to ask about accessibility for the venue.

The response I got back was very quick and very brief. Essentially, it told me to contact the venue because they had no idea if it was accessible or not.

It was a bucket of cold water, and I had a hard time articulating at the time quite why it was so disheartening, but... I think I get it a little more now.

This is a podcast that has loudly spoken about inclusivity and diversity and all that jazz, but... I mean, it's easy to say that, isn't it? But just talking the talk without walking the walk isn't enough. That's like saying "sure, we will happily welcome you in our house -- if you can figure out how to unlock the door."

And friends, my lock-picking set is pretty good by this point. I've been scouting out locations for decades. I've had to research every goddamn classroom, field trip, and assigned bookstore that I've ever had in an academic setting. I've had to research every movie theater, theme park, and menu for every outing with friends or dates. I spend a long time painstakingly charting out accessible public transportation and potential places to sit down every time I leave the house.

Because when I was in college, my professors never made sure their lesson plans were accessible. (And I often had to argue with them to get the subpar accommodations I got.) Because my friends don't always know to get movie tickets for the accessible rows. Because my dates sometimes leave me on fucking read when I ask if we can go to a restaurant that doesn't keep its restrooms down a flight of stairs.

I had one professor who ever did research to see if I could do all the coursework she had planned, and who came up with alternate plans when she realized that I could not. Only one. It was a medical history and ethics class, and my professor sounded bewildered as she realized how difficult it is to plan your life when you're disabled.

This woman was straight-up one of the most thoughtful, philosophical, and ethical professors I've ever had, one who was incredibly devoted to diversity and inclusion -- and she'd never thought about it before, that the hospital archives she wanted us to visit were up a flight of stairs. That the medical museum full of disabled bodies she wanted us to visit only had a code-locked back entrance and an old freight elevator for their disabled guests who were still breathing.

And that's the crux of it, isn't it? It's easy to theoretically accept the existence of people who aren't like you. It's a lot harder to actively create a space in which they can exist by your side.

Because here's what I did before I contacted the podcasters. I googled the venue. I researched the neighborhood and contacted a friend who lives in the area to help me figure out if there were any accessible public transportation routes near there. (There aren't.) I planned for over an hour to figure out how close I could get before I had to shell out for an uber for the last leg of the trip.

Then I read through the venue's website. I looked through their main pages, through their FAQs to see if there was any mention of accessibility. No dice. I download their packet for clients and find out that, while the base building is accessible, the way that chairs/tables are set up for individual functions can make it inaccessible. So it's really up to who's hosting the show there.

So then and only then I contacted the podcasters. I asked if the floor plan was accessible. I asked if all the seats were accessible, or only some, and whether it was open seating or not. Would I need to show up early to get an accessible seat, or maybe make a reservation?

And... well, I got the one-sentence reply back that I described above. And that... god, it was really disheartening. I realized that they never even asked if their venues were accessible when they were booking the shows. I realized that they were unwilling to put in the work to learn the answers to questions that disabled attendees might have. I realized that they didn't care to find out if the building was accessible.

They didn't know and they didn't care. That, I think, is what took the wind out of my sails when they emailed me back. It's what made me decide that... yeah, I didn't really want to go through the trouble of finding an accessible route to the venue. I didn't want to have to pay an arm and a leg to hire a car to take me the last part of the journey. I didn't want to make myself frantic trying to figure out if I could do all that and still make the last train home.

If they didn't care, I guess I didn't either.

If they'd apologized and said that the only venue they could get was inaccessible, I actually would have understood. I know that small shows don't always get their pick of venues. I get it. I even would have understood if they'd been like "oh dang, I actually don't know -- but I'll find out."

But to be told that they didn't know and didn't intend to find out... oof. That one stung.

Because.... this is the thing. This is the thing. I may be good at it by now, but I'm so tired of picking locks. I'm tired of doing all the legwork because no one ever thinks to help me. I'm tired of feeling like an afterthought at best, or at worst utterly unwelcome.

If you truly want to be inclusive, you need to stop telling people that you're happy to have them -- if they can manage to unlock the door. You need to fucking open it yourself and welcome them in.

What brought all this back to me now, you may be asking? Well... I guess it's just what I was thinking to myself as I was tidying up my phone.

Today I'm deleting podcasts.

[locamotivednp]

Things are pretty awful, but at least dan and phil are gay and love each other.

[keekeenuggets]

ALSO

Can we talk about how the Vees always hang out in the same room???

We first see it when Vox goes to calm Val down:

It's the same table, TV, and couches that are in the extermination watch party scene, and they're also the same couches that Val and Vel are hanging out on in Stayed Gone:

This poster next to Vox when Val threw the glass is also visible in the background (on the left, behind Val) in the scene where Vel is watching the news on her phone:

After which Val immediately turns around and goes to sit on the couch to turn the TV on instead so he can see better. And when it switches to Vox's camera, there's a clear shot of the couches/table as well:

When their song in the finale starts, Vox passes these monitors, which are the same ones as in the first scene with Vox and Val (plus the little photo):

Then they're in front of the couch Vel and Vox were sitting on:

And then you can see the back of Val's couch when Velvette is filming the dancing.

And in her phone screen, you can see barstools in the background, which is probably where Velvette was sitting when she showed Val the news on her phone?

Also she was filming for 10 minutes,

And then remember that uh... weapons closet that Val gets guns out of? You can see it in the background when Val and Vox are singing (just to the right of Vox).

All of this is just to say the Vees 100% always hang out in this space, and it's adorable. It's their hangout space. I was always thinking it's a lobby/living room of some kind, but I've seen people refer to it as Val's room, and you know what? It's amazing either way because either Velvette and Vox both adore Val enough to have all his posters covering their common area wall, OR they have designated Val's room as their hangout spot, and he's just chill with it 😭

Bonus: look at how Velvette looks at her boys when they go off dancing:

These three are top tier polycule material and you cannot convince me otherwise.

[ecultured]

patti smith in her apartment

[louferrignojrofficial]

guys. remember this

[bitchslapblastoids]

much to be seen here much to be heard

(i yoinked this clip from this twitter vid but the actual original source is here)