#i'm not a christian but this jesus guy is pretty cool

[brontesaur]

c'mon guys. his re-birthday is coming up

Jesus Christ art by @wolfythewitch

[licorishh]

"The Bible is so sexist blah blah blah" okay. When it talks about how you can avoid doing stupid things in Proverbs it uses a man in its examples and personifies wisdom as a woman though which I think is pretty funny

[neroushalvaus]

Tumblr in the 60s

☮ monkeewholock follow

🎉🎉CONGRATULATIONS UNITED KINGDOM 🎊🎊🎉🎉🎉🎉BYE BYE GROSS INDECENCY!!!!🌈🌈🌈 62 countries have now legalized sexual activities between men🌈🌈🌈

🐞 homophilespock follow

SPIRK CAN FINALLY FUCK

🚀 starrfleet follow

They are American, not British... But I'm pretty sure spirk has always been able to fuck since the show is set in the future.

📻 lesbianbobdylan follow

Christ, this is not about your cutesy uwu yaoi otp, go outside and smoke some grass

10,8 t. notes

🌻 flowerpower follow

Politicians are not your friends but damn Kennedy is fine, I look at one (1) picture of him and my head literally explodes

🌻 flowerpower follow

...i just woke up, why is my askbox full

🌻 flowerpower follow

WHY IS HE TRENDING I'M SCARED

🌻 flowerpower follow

guys stop reblogging this it's been like five years i've changed

290,9 t. notes

🎹 nixonsafascist follow

do you think they call him little richard because he has a little. Richard

🎹 nixonsafascist follow

easy website

58,1 t. notes

🇻🇳 shirellesofficial follow

Being the only lesbian in your friend group sucks so bad. "beatles or stones??" i will kill you

🗣 lavendermenaceisreal-deactivated72537262

Disrespecting female social groups for male validation? Typical lesbian behaviour.

🇻🇳 shirellesofficial follow

Mike Jacker isnt gonna fuck you

🇻🇳 shirellesofficial follow

Oh no I think she couldn't handle that

77 notes

✌ draftdodgerdyke

DM me for the addresses of my Swedish and Canadian friends. Do not put your personal information in the reblogs.

🙍‍♀️ silvermilk follow

You should be ashamed of yourself.

✌ draftdodgerdyke

huh??

🙍‍♀️ silvermilk follow

I said, you should be ashamed of yourself. You disgust me. I assure you, when the commies attack us, you will not find your silly little post "groovy" anymore.

✌ draftdodgerdyke

Jesus, don't flip your wig

🙍‍♀️ silvermilk follow

My father fought in ww2 for you ungrateful degenerate.

✌ draftdodgerdyke

Don't see what your daddy's unsexiness has to do with me and my lads taking a sexy sexy trip to Sweden.

#anyway only hot guys dodge the draft

587 notes

🪕 prostitutesandlesbians follow

in every interview i watch of the beatles they are so DONE and trolling everybody, these fucking annoying BITCHES, i need them inside me so badly

🪕 prostitutesandlesbians follow

#this but not john lennon #i just can't forget the heinous things he said about jesus

idk I actually think it was very sexy of him, stop trying to cancel john in my post

✝️ jesusrevolution follow

The reading comprehension on this website is piss poor. John literally didn't mean he was greater than Jesus or better than Jesus, he was just trying to make a point about the world becoming more secular. Cancel culture has gone too far.

🚷 to-hell-with-the-beatles follow

How dare you say we piss on the poor?? Jesus died for Mr Lennon's sins and it's not "cancelling" to send him a few respectably worded death threats to remind him of that. He cancelled our Lord first!

✝️ jesusrevolution follow

Girl Jesus literally said it's cool, I dropped acid yesterday and saw Him and He told me.

🪕 prostitutesandlesbians follow

help the girls (christians) are fighting in my beatles thirst post

6,008 notes

🛼 donovandyke follow

I will be glued to the tv today. If you don't want to hear about it, just blacklist #moonlanding !!

0 notes

🗣 claudeberger4ever-deactivated98975287

Hi I'm new to the Hair musical fandom so I'm not super invested in the whole discourse, but I just felt like this needed to be said: Friendly reminder that not being against the war in Vietnam does not make you a bad person!

🥁 ringoforpresident follow

it literally does tho

✌ draftdodgerdyke

Another win for us hot guys

17,2 t. notes

[coquettesophia]

Major ahh vent cuz I'm a whiny person who should shut up, but wont.

Tw- none of this crap is happy

I did my first act of physical sh today. I usually just did mental sh like being on my phone way too much and knowing I've been on it way too much but continuing to be on it too much, if you understand. The sh wasn't that bad, I just grabbed a little needle and stabbed it into my shoulder a few times. Enough for it to hurt but not enough for it to start bleeding.

I really love my mom, I appreciate her so much and I know she's trying her best, but recently she has just stopped caring for me. She doesn't cook my food anymore (she used to always make sure I ate) and I know that someone of my age should know how to cook food for themself and yes, I know how to cook some stuff but I know my mom shows her care and stuff by doing things for me. She always fights with my dad nowadays and she takes that anger out on me too. Not physically or anything, she just passively aggressively hurts my feelings and she puts me down quite a bit. I know I should just fucking lock in but shes my mom and she's loved and cared for me my whole life. She used to care for me so much. She used to put my clothes in the dryer during winter in the morning so I would be extra warm. She used to do my hair everyday and always make sure I have lunch, and if I didn't have lunch, she would just buy me McDonald's or something and drop it off at school. Nowadays she won't even talkto me unless it's to demand me to do something. She just expects me to grow up and do stuff for myself. She took away my headphones. I really love my headphones but she thinks they make me ignorant. But headphones actually help me listen better.

If you're wondering what the case with my father is (and you're probably not, I doubt anyone's even reading this.), he's nice to me. He bought me a McFlurry today. But he's barely around, and if he is i have to cover my ears because my mother is yelling at him

Note: my shoulder still feels weird

My friends aren't the best either. I have one or two friends here that I know I trust. But my school friends aren't the most ideal. They don't really care about my problems and if I tell them they wouldn't know how to respond.

Usually when I do a big art project, it's to drown away my sadness. That drawing I did of all the genderbend neighbours form joydoesathing's au? Yeah I did that project to distract me from a fight with my friends. The major art project I did of people's tnmn oc's? Yeah, I did that when I was feeling empty, like nothing mattered. So yes, do expect another big project. It will probably be another big ass drawing of the gb neighbours or another tnmn oc thing. Idk yet, please have mercy on me and my procrastination.

Eh new topic, I'm Christian. Or atleast I think I am. My parents (specifically my mother) are religious, so obviously they'd bring me to that too. And while I do believe that God is real and Jesus is my lord and saviour, i feel like I won't even make it to heaven because I'm part of LGBTQ. There have been some online discussions about homosexual Christian's but I've been told my whole life if you're gay you're not gonna make it to heaven and you will suffer. I really don't know atp. Guys are cool and all but girls are also pretty attractive to me. I wouldn't DARE tell my parents this because I know they would hate me, especially my mom. I don't even know if I'm part of LGBTQ, I don't know my sexuality atp.

On the last sentence, I don't really know anything about me. Someone could ask me to describe myself and I would just stand there, thinking of something. Tnmn fan? No don't say that, they probably won't know what it is. Joydoesathing fan? My friends don't even care to listen to me talk about that, even though I really love Joy's au. Artist? Cmon, there's people out there who are better at drawing than me. Smart person? I'm not the smartest, so in my mind, I'm not smart at all. Content creator? Cmon who gives a shit about what i post. The list of arguments goes on and on and on and on and on.

I just feel sad. Sometimes I wish someone cared about me. But I know no one really does, I understand they have their own lives to live and mine isn't enough to be a priority to them, so who am I to complain about this?

I just want to die at this point.

I'm no longer the 'best' in anything.

Number one smart kid in the grade? I used to be, the other kid is now.

Number one _______ friend? I used to be. Anna is now.

Number one Wilma fan? I used to be. Pr3ttygore-juju is now.

Number one Soph? There's more sophs in the world who I'm sure are way better than I could ever be.

Uh I've gotten to the point where I can only describe my feelings in Taylor swift lyrics, so please, take these ones.

"And you say I abandoned the ship, but I was going down with it." -So long, London

"I just wanted you to know, that this is me trying." -this is me trying

"I made you my temple my mural my sky, now I'm begging for footnotes in the story of your life." -tolerate it

"When you are young they assume you know nothing." -cardigan

"And I wouldn't marry me either, a pathological people pleaser." -You're losing me

"I think I've seen this film before, and I didn't like the ending." -exile (ft. Bon Iver)

"I'm still trying everything, to keep you looking at me." -Mirrorball

"Don't want money, just someone who wants my company." -The Prophecy (this one really hits hard because all I'm seen as at my school is a spoilt brat who gets everything she wants, if only they knew.)

"You're on your own, kid, you always have been." -you're on your own, kid

"She would've made, such a lovely bride what a shame she's fucked in the head, they said." -champagne problems

And here's some non Taylor ones

"Oh, I think you're holding the heart of mine (my heart is yours) squeeze it apart, that's fine.." -step on me by the cardigans

"Nothing I do is ever good." -I Can't handle change by Roar

"It's just anatomy, you're only half of me, and still you don't know me at all." -anatomy by Kenzie

Update: my mother is yelling at my father again.

[systemofstarkid]

ah, the ever present question of “do i need the approval of jesus or a restraining order against him?”

sometimes. you gotta take a step back and think.

"Is this something I should feel actually feel bad about or is it the catholic guilt getting to me again?"

and sometimes it really do be the catholic guilt

[deservedgrace]

Idk who else to tell this but I only just today realized that Paul could have just lied. Maybe people weren’t even having incest orgies. Maybe he just said that he heard that so they would send him money and attention.

Christians are allowed to eat pork bc a guy said he had a dream that god said it was cool. Easiest lie in the world to tell??

Also I have a plausible idea what happened with the whole resurrection thing. The entire world is so different when you realize that manipulation was always an option.

bless i love talking shit about paul

yes absolutely. if we assume it's true that paul was going around killing christians before he became one, that's an "ends justify the means" mentality where he so strongly believes in his cause that he feels it's justified to kill for it. who's to say he's above lying for his new cause? (i have also had pastors knowingly lie or manipulate and feel completely justified in it as long as it brings people closer to jesus)

so he very easily could have just made it the fuck up, or someone else could have made it up and he believed them, or it started as a joke or a rumor and he decided to take it seriously, or there was some truth (like one couple had a threesome) but he exaggerated it to make it seem like a much worse and widespread problem it wasn't, or other things i'm not thinking of. there are plenty of ways manipulation/untruthfulness could have been involved

even outside of paul himself, the scholarly consensus is that half the books attributed to paul were not actually written by him but by people around him that wanted to sound more credible and like they had authority. i gotta say, posing yourself as an authority to lend yourself credibility is pretty manipulative. clearly some people didn't (and still don't) see a problem with using manipulation

i think it's really important to consider that manipulation was always an option

[comparativelysuperlative]

What was the book? With the Definitely Real Banishment

Spoilers (obviously) but it's the Lightbringer series. That villain was pretty good! The word-by-word writing is fine! The plot is, for several books' worth, aimed at being Very Generic Fantasy (for reasons that will make sense later). Incoming long post about its philosophy, with even more spoilers.

It's not often that I read a book and immediately go "I can tell you what kind of middle school this author went to." In this case, it was drawing on the author's experience of exactly the theology I grew up with, which was almost eerie.

(I read book one years and years ago, and didn't retain much other than "cool magic system." Probably everything in this post is true about book one as well, but I wouldn't know.)

Google will tell you that the series gets gradually very Christian, to the point where the climax of the last book contains a sermon. But it's more specific than that. These books scream "Protestant, American, classically educated, does not travel internationally very often, male, straight, probably white, the kind of person who would vote straight-ticket Republican until that meant Trump at which point all bets are off." I did not bother confirming most of those. They're just obvious.

The loudest part--to me at least--was the "classically educated." (If you're not familiar, it's this thing.) The series would mention quotes from fantasy medieval Catholics or fantasy ancient Greeks or whatever, and I'd recognize the quotes or the names because they'd be real people I ran across in school. Sure enough, author went to Hillsdale.

Lightbringer is interesting for having an actual vision of a conservative society, not just about hating the right/wrong people. Not being on that team anymore I don't actually like this vision very much, but compared to current conservatives, credit for having one at all.

Differences between people obviously don't affect your value as a person, they just might make it easier or harder or mean you have to specialize differently to accomplish as much For The Group.

(That opinion makes perfect sense for characters in an elite military unit/training for that unit. But that context is mostly specific to book two, and the philosophy really isn't.)

This applies to everything. Physical condition, including strength/weight/gender. Color-blindness. Superpowers. Being straight. (I'm genuinely not sure if that part was intentional. Characters kept getting distracted at terrible times, and the narration outside their head sounded exactly the same as when someone can't run a mile without Trying Very Hard.)

It does not matter whether your mental illness turns out to be literally demons in your head. Either way you've still got to either work through it or specialize around it.

Tradition matters, even when we don't understand the reason behind it.

If you happen to be in a fantasy book and have access to magic, consorting with demons is evil but fancy physics is fine. You can just BET this author got into fights with other Christians about whether Harry Potter was anti-Jesus.

"Irredeemably bad" isn't really a thing. "Not in fact going to be redeemed" is, but it's worth trying to show mercy if you have the chance. If you don't have the chance, kill 'em. Don't enjoy it, though.

Forgiving people for actually-bad things is hard, can't just go "idk, they're good guys now," but it's also important. (I do think this is underrepresented in secular fiction, where it's either depicted as "how could you work with THEM" or "come on, get over it already and team up against the whatever.")

One of the big reveals at the end is "the Christian God is real." The answer to the problem of evil is indeed the popular answer in the denominations I grew up with. Human choices something something mumble free will.

Very incrementalist. You do as much good as you can as fast as you can, but obviously without overthrowing the entire order or anything. Only evil opportunists would want to do that. Yes, even if the existing order is corrupt all the way through.

Speaking of which, you know that organization/political entity claiming to represent God? Corrupt all the way through. God is more personal than that. Protestantism!

Personal morality matters. Your leaders absolutely must be good people, or at least trying to be, or you're screwed.

Personal morality matters. It is safe to assume you'll end up as exactly what your peers expect of you, so pick good peers.

A man should be faithful to one (1) wife. Viewpoint characters speedrun figuring out the philosophy behind this.

(IMO monogamy was a legitimate human rights win by early Christianity, relative to what came before, and I think something similar applies in this setting. But since the real-life alternatives today are so much better than women being property, giving this a lot of screen time sounded like the book is fishing very hard for things historical Christianity did right.)

Also, once you are married you Are Married. It's not that changing that would be unthinkable, just that if you do treat it as an option you're obviously doing it wrong.

Gay people don't exist. Any variety of non-straight, really. Nobody says that it should be that way. It just doesn't come up. Characters are written in enough detail that I can tell you how they'd react if you asked them, and it's mostly the "not my business" + "prefer not to think about it" kind of low-grade homophobia. A few would be explicitly okay with it. But it does not come up. If there were a gay relationship depicted, I'd expect it to be "coincidentally" problematic in some other way.

(I guess there's that one slaver-antagonist whose sexuality is just "sadist." Yeah, one might call that problematic.)

Practically dripping with Great Man Theory of History. There's a scene where the protagonist has a self-affirming/emotional moment about not relying on his family name and meritoriously earning his first kingdom. This is played completely straight.

Don't worry, he uses it for good. At least as much good as he can without overthrowing the existing order etc.

If there are end times prophecies, they might well be true but you can't trust any specific interpretation so it's wiser to just do your best without reference to the prophecy. (This is an interesting take! And not heresy but also not common! I bet the author's reacting against some interesting strains of fundamentalism there.)

A cool idea where angels and demons can be anywhere in any world at any time in history, but are very reluctant to actually do that because they can't pick the same time twice. You can just tell it's the author's Christianity headcanon.

You win by doing your best and having faith in God. The villains are very much a sideshow.

(I think if everyone followed this book's philosophy more it would be a mostly bad thing. Let's not do that.)

(But wow, I wish modern conservatives were only this bad.)

It probably sounds like I didn't like this series. But I did read five doorstoppers' worth. This post is just about the opinions, and the opinions sucked.

Anyway. This has to be on purpose, right, and 10 or 15 years ago I was pretty much the target audience for this. Guess I'm old.

I used to explicitly think "I'm Christian, but atheist fiction is more interesting," and this book is the kind of thing that...tries...to counter that. Fails, because resolving major conflicts with divine intervention is tricky to make interesting. But you'll see why it's going for Every Other Book, But Christian. (Also, the amount of sex in these books is much higher than you might think, given everything. I wish I knew less about what body types the author is attracted to.)

Anyway, I can't really say I would recommend it. But if you're interested in what would happen if Card or Sanderson tried to be Evangelical Lewis for adults, Lightbringer isn't bad.

[b-kut]

Honestled Reverse 1999 had me the moment i saw the trailer. I really like that the game takes place in a modern setting and i do like the mixing of actual history with the magical stuff, like how the Great Depression still happens and Christianity being a thing is mixed with magical creatures and places like "France" or "England". I'm waiting for the reveal that Jesus Christ was actually a arcanist.

Also, big props to them for making a femMC, not a blank self insert or a after tought gender option that still gets called "that guy" in the rare dialog that acknowledges gender(I mean it happens here too but I'll let it slide). Vertin is her own character, don't see a lot of that in most gacha. Pretty cool one too.

The variety in characters is amazing too, i love the designs, i love 99% of the voices, the different accents. Gameplay is also pretty engaging imo and the gacha does feel pretty generous so far. Can't say much about progression for now but it doesn't feel as bad as Path to nowhere. Only thing i got to dislike so far is that some lines in the story mode don't really land, like, the text tells me that they are in danger and like, scrambling for their life, but the reading is way too calm. It's just a minor error in what, im my eyes so far, is a pretty neat package. Games good.

[goodluckclove]

hey clove! i'm taking an ap visual arts class this year and we need to do a "sustained investigation" aka create a series of works connecting to and exploring a theme. one i'm thinking about a lot is relating queer people and the essence of queerness to divinity and also the occult, as a lash-back at christian nationalism and a celebration of queer joy. some examples of this would be comparing the transmasculine experience to the christian creation narrative and gnc/genderfluid people to figures similar to dionysus. i'm still workshopping the concept, do you have any thoughts on this or experiences you'd be willing to share so i can think of specific pieces and ideas to explore?

also i recently bought a binder and i felt so pretty and masculine but at the same time felt this overwhelming freedom to be feminine. it was really cool and i've decided i'm going to grow my hair out long again. i felt a lot like scott, just having this sort of wild feminine whimsy, and it felt really nice

hope you're doing well!! glad you were able to relax a bit :))))

Dude I'm literally planning a short story about a transmasc man who forms a relationship from childhood with the voice of God. This is crazy. I'll tell you about it later but there's so much potential there and it's such a cool idea. The words virgin birth in terms of the virgin Mary herself being Jesus Christ. An idea of a god that arranged for the circumstances of something that has to grow into an intended outcome even if through struggle. A god that like learns from trans people and finds it interesting because it's different and it's the same and now people are making new genders? You made new ones? Why did it take this long for you to think of new ones? I threw up about five minutes ago because I am the child of severe alcoholics and yet if you allow me two cocktails my body will collapse on itself like a dying star.

Also fun fact you can still be Scott-core without your binder if you want. He's got a chest too. His secret is that if anyone tries to question the validity of a man with breasts he gets really, truly, openly bored and politely waits for them to make their point before changing the topic and not acknowledging what they said at all.

The binder sounds very useful though. I miss my old binder. If that's the thing that makes you feel powerful being masculine and feminine that's fucking radical as hell. Wear a pretty skirt and a cool shirt and put like a fucking scrunchie in your hair. There's so many options and if you're a guy or masc leaning person who takes advantage of them you are just objectively more interesting, case closed. Anyone who is locking themselves out of half the amount of baubles and drapery that exists because of gender or body type is at a strategic disadvantage.

I was going to say that if my man Scott saw you on the street he'd be proud, but I know he would be unable to perceive the potential risks or fears. He's so insufferably Non-judgemental that he could bump directly into you by accident and come out with no other thought than "I am the same height as who I believe to be a child".

Edgar, on the other hand, would absolutely stare at you too closely until they felt weird and looked away, but would think about your style and freedom on and off for days afterwards.

I need to sleep for a few hours you people need to stop being interesting and important to me.

[bruciemilf]

Harley after she heard Riddler's been hanging with Joker: Okay, so, remember when we got drunk at that party and I had to write your thesis because you were too drunk?

Bruce: Yes and I specifically remember I promised you a Morally Questionable Favor coupon... Which you'll use right now. Harley, --

Harley: It won't be me! It'll be a friend of a friend. Well, not friend, I'm pretty sure they're fucking. And I'm not sure Chris is my friend because he did murder the one decent guy I had a connection with, so.

Bruce: ...Fine. who's this friend?

--

Chris: Why'd you have tell Batman me and Vigilante are fucking?

Adrian, packing his chainsaw for Arkham: Wait, we're fucking? I thought we were dating

Chris: Babe. Don't correct me in front of the maniac woman

Adrian: Oh its ' babe' now? And you don't even care about Batman, you're saying he's a pussy all the time!

Bruce appearing out of thin air: That's mature.

Chris: JESUS

Bruce:...I was going to make an amusing irony joke about me not being Christian, but considering we're both Jewish--

Chris: Wow wow wow. Hey man, I'm progressive as hell, but I draw the line at Jesus being Jewish, okay? He was Christian. That's what the church paintings say

Adrian: Mm, no, no babe, he was Jewish like Hanukkah.

Chris: We'll see what Facebook has to say about that

Adrian: By the way, Batman sir, Harley's told me everything this guy did, do you want me to cut his fingernails off or his toenails off? Because Fingernails would look weird, but walking with a limp is REALLY funny when you're him

Bruce:...Toenails

Chris:... That's a pretty romantic proposition for someone you're not fucking

Adrian: And if we were DATING, I'd feel bad about it

Harley: I told you my friends were cool :)

[a-trick-or-two-with-lepers]

I finally watched Swedish Christ Superstar

Remember how I did a whole deep dive into the 2018 one? Yeah well, I was gonna try to do that with this version, but it is so unbelievably, completely, utterly, insanely unhinged that I just had to have my post about it match the energy. So without further ado, here are my literal first reaction notes to Jesus Christ Superstar (2014 Swedish Arena Tour).

Overture-

• Ooh the stuttering guitar is so metal

• Love the outfits, give me more apocalyptic leather headbanging nonsense

• Love how the choreo goes with the music rather than pure immediate chaos

• Admittedly the orchestra could be a bit better, but not terrible

• The shopping cart is my favorite character

• This feels almost interpretive

• Ok. Jesus is hot

• Draculacore

• Is he orgasming?

• I think that's an appropriate tone to be set

• I will say, I like productions with more color, but I see the style they're going for and I don't dislike it

Heaven on their minds-

• I like how they translated the lyrics to sound good in Swedish

• Also gives extra context and connotation to the words

• Love judas' mesh top!

• Really good singer wow

• This is how the song is supposed to be sung!!!

• I like boys with long hair hehehehe

• Symbolic that jesus is sleeping while judas is trying to get him to listen. Shows how closed off and resigned to his fate he was

• And also how no matter how hard judas tried he would never really be heard

• Painted nails!

• The subtitles said fuck? Lol

• I seriously love this guy's voice

• Oh my god they're so boyfriends

What's the buzz/Strange thing mystifying-

• Jesus is serving so much cunt

• So. Much. Touching.

• AHAHAHAHAGSVSBAZHDVWH THEYRE SO BOYFRIENDS HWWGGA

• Yes Maria feed him that orange

• "A man like him" you mean... 💅?

Everythings alright-

• I really like Mary's voice and look

• Mommy vibes fs

• He's in the shopping cart hhahahaha

• The masculine urge to sleep in a shopping cart while wearing shades

This jesus must die-

• Caiaphas sounds like a toad LMAO

• "It's seduction! It's blasphemy!" -Christians watching this 😭

• Caiaphas saying "STOP" such a jumpscare

• They kept the jesus is cool line and for that this is now one of my favorite productions

• AND THEY SAID IT TWICE AM I IN HEAVEN??

• Well I won't be after watching this 😌

• Caiaphas has a pretty cool voice ngl, my timbers are shivered

• HELIKOPTER 🚁 HELIKOPTER 🚁

Hosanna-

• A bit faster rendition that's neat

• Interesting how judas is participating in the fray

• It's so nice to see his character happy for once though

• The jesus balloons are killing me

Simon zealotes/poor jerusalem-

• Ooh it's a fight

• The ladies are sangin and dancin 💃

• THEY SAID FUCK AGAIN

• Well okay I'm just gonna give up on the notion that this play will be family appropriate in any manner, it's better that way anyway

• Pretty cool how the choreo is militaristic, as well as the costuming

• They way Simon is pronounced 😃

• I am unilingual my brain is incapable of not making a joke about that

• Jesus your nail polish is chipping baby fix that

Pilates dream-

• Love pilates robe, very pretty

• Ok but the sparkly suit is better

The temple-

• Fuck counter: 3

• They have a bit more speaking in this version which I really don't mind

• The lyrics make it really clear how the crowds used their connection to God to justify their actions, an issue which is still prevalent today

• Annas shaking that tail go off

• Jesus jumpscare

• He called it "A whorehouse" 💀

• The beggars all have little hand lights, that creates a really cool effect

• Wow the music got really fast

I don't know how to love him-

• Yayy Mary hi Mary hi 😍🥰👋

• Da smoochy???

• Judas ain't gonna be happy bout this

• Her voice is so good!!

• Interesting how jesus is awake for this

• ITS JUDAS HE'S PEEKING

• Uh oh

Damned for all time/blood money-

• OH NO

• MY BOY GOT SLAPPED

• HE JUST WANTED A SMOOCH

• Ok now it just feels like he's betraying him cause he got rejected 😭

• Annas is such a little shit oh my god

• He's giving Draco Malfoy vibes somehow

The last supper-

• Act 2 baby here we go

• Okay so he's dragging them to absolute hell, love that for you jesus

• The girls are FIGHTING!

• "Tell us what happened to the good vibes" I'm loving this translation

• Judas actor once again killing it, he has a really lovely rock voice

• The apostles throwing shade at judas and planning to blame him in the gospels 😙🤌

• This shit crazy

Gethsemane-

• Ok I'm gonna try to be serious for this once

• So far pretty good

• The lyrics are hitting the important parts of the song I feel

• HE GOT THE NOTE!

• Pretty damn good

• My bias still lies with Neeley but that wasn't gonna change really

• I like how he made the g5 actually part of the song rather than separating it. This whole performance is actually very natural and easy to watch

• The last verse goes so incredibly hard

• *rips shirt open*

• 👌

The arrest-

• Here it is the kiss

• Here we go

• Literally the only part of this play I'd seen before

• Okay that's just. So romantic. JESUS kissed JUDAS! What a twist!

• "Why did you date a whore" goddamn

Peter's denial-

• Annas is basically the main character he's in so many songs

Pilate and christ-

• "Yeah we know you're 'hot'" I mean 😏

• Fuck counter: 4

• My notes are seriously lacking I apologize

King herods song-

• Herod is me I am Herod

• Me in my robe on a Monday morning imposing judgement onto others:

• Did they just use a slide whistle?

• Goofy ahh sound effects 💀

• "Fine I'll do it myself- look, no hands 😚"

• He's my favorite

• Herod being silly and goofy:🤪

• Jesus: 😐

• Loved that

Could we start again please-

• Fuck counter: 5

• Not the song I expected it to be in tbh

• Maybe it doesn't hold the same weight in Sweden

• "How are we going to explain it so it looks good on paper?" This is a new angle that is actually really interesting, and reminds me that the Bible is pretty much ancient RPF

• Yay they included the ensemble

Judas death-

• "For one measly kiss" I'd call that kiss a lot of things but measly does not come to mind

• He is talking to jesus instead of christ

• Something tells me this production is not very religious 🤔

• Which I am very ok with

• He's goin through it

• He's got the rock screams going on 🤘love it

• RIP Judas, too gay to live 😔

Trial before pilate-

• He called Jesus a clown, bitch this isn't Godspell

• Ouchie

• That's a lot of blood

• It's easy to overact in the role of pilate and this guy isn't doing that, which is good

Superstar-

• I prefer when Judas is wearing white in this song, but the glittery red robe kinda slays ngl

• And once again judas is a pretty boy

• They kept the "jesus christ, Jesus christ, who are you what have you sacrificed" line in English

• Oop the robe is off

• Get those dance moves judas damn

• This is insane

• What is happening

• Why am I turned on

John 19:41-

• Ooh this is rather scary

• The way its literally just him on stage suffering is pretty intense

• IT IS FINISHED

Hope you enjoyed sluts

[porlatamconlouis]

puerto rico has been a bit bittersweet, if i'm honest. but first... louis in san juan! caribe louis!!!

so cool to have been at el choli! iconic pr venue! it did feel very usamerican though, but still pretty cool. it's a big arena, but only two levels and like half the floor were open. the seats right in front of the stage, the stands, those were empty. i had a puerto rican girl sitting next to me and she was saying that she knew it wasn't gonna sell as much so she bought the ticket the same day. the thing is that, and that's something she said as well, puerto ricans in general are not big on non-latin music, and that's fair. the atmosphere was still so amazing (even if i felt like panamá had slightly better collective energy imo) and the show was incredible. people lost it at the 1D songs of course, which i noticed people around me only knew those ones, but hey, thanks for coming to see this boo. he's amazing, isn't he?

anyway, nothing much else about the show that hasn't been said over the past few days. oh, the christian opener was even cringier than i thought, he literally introduced one of his songs about his faith and jesus and blah blah. and he got carried away with his set, and had to be told his set was over. lmao. i know how hard is to get up on a stage like that, but man, this was NOT the crowd for someone like him. when i told the puerto rican girl next to me who he was she was like "what? christian? but everyone here is gay". lol

i did record almost all of saturdays. i say almost because i was only recording lucía and once she went up i stopped. louis was emo and thankful as he always gets when he's so far away from home. we were close enough to see his face without needing to see screens which is always lovely. he had some cute interactions with fans. and... yeah. i love him. 💚

got to thank my friends at the soundbooth again. tom for sure recognized us, and said "i hope you enjoyed the show" and i was like, "of course! you guys make it look so good!" or something along those lines. now they'll get a break from my annoying ass for a few shows, hajshha.

the bitter part. puerto rico is so expensive. :c we stayed at the cheapest place we could find and that's still gonna be the most expensive stay on this trip. and it was located in a local barrio, so at least the groceries you could get nearby were cheap but not much variety. at least uber wasn't too expensive, but... *shrug* it also rained on and off after sunday (ofc), so couldn't really enjoy the beach again. and we got soaking wet yesterday and some of our clothes are still wet, lol. but it was kind of a little bit fun, hehe, being in that caribbean rainstorm.

had some yummy vegan eats (although expensive 😭) and passionfruit juice my most beloved foreverrr.

we're now flying to dominican republic, for a vacation within our vacation, lol. hoping the weather treats us better.

[oldkamelle]

ok so there's this sculpture, and i know nothing about sculptures save like the very famous ones, and i like it a lot.

(this is me just free flowing my thoughts as they come. it got kind of long, so open at your own discretion i guess.)

so the piece is called "lamentation over the dead christ". in christian art they do that thing fanartist would do back in like 2015 where they'd draw a specific moment from a gameplay video. same thing here, but with the bible instead. think the crusification of jesus, all the different paintings and sculptures of that. or pieta, the scene where, after taking him off the cross, mary is holding and cradling jesus' dead body. that's what "la pieta" by michelangelo is depicting. anyway,

this piece by niccolo dell'arca shows jesus after he's been taken down the cross and has been rid of the wooden stakes. he's laying down on the ground surrounded in a half circle by a group of figures who are expressing horror over the death of the son of god, y'know, it's a big deal and whatnot. so you have this half circle which creates a really nice flow for the piece, for the composition, but also, more importantly, for the flow in emotional depth in the figures.

you start of with this guy, joseph, who's equipped with tools in both his belt and his hand, so it's implied essentially that he's the one to have removed the wooden stakes from jesus' hands and feet. he has this poised and composed look, held together strongly. he's the only one staring out, towards the viewer, almost pushing you to bare witness to the death of jesus and what that means. i'm not religious, but its still interesting, y'know the thought behind details is always a fascinating part in art. next to him you have this woman, salome, i don't know who she is either. she has this pose of buckled knees, fingers spread and digging into the thighs. her pose alongside mary's, who's next to her, are really fucking nice. mary's especially is my favourite between the two, with her clasped hands pushing towards the chest, elbows pointing outwards, as this sorrowful expression with the mouth open mid-cry. just.. aughh. seeing depictions of such human poses, mundane, no embellishments, i live for that shit.

next is saint john. he's a guy. a dude, even. y'know how back in the day women would do these shows of hysterics, with loud cries and begging, at someone's death/funeral (they still happen sometimes today, i know, but it's rare), and men were of course forbidden in divulging in anything of the sorts. they had to remain composed, strong, like my guy joseph at the beginning. but its so cool with this fucking guy, john, because you see him physically trying to adhere to that social norm, hand on face trying to conceal, to forcefully compose, nostrils scrunched up, eyebrows furrowed, you see the physical, the muscles strongly in play trying to hold back the grief of witnessing the dead son of god. and even his overall pose kind of shows that, right? the pull back with the shoulder, this contrapposto, it's another manifestation of physically trying to hold back the grief. of course, he's failing. you see his face and it's almost like he's mid cry, swallowing it down. this entire piece is made in terracotta, which had become like a trend back in the renaissance, as it was pretty cheap and allowed for far more detail, like thin strands of hair for instance. terracotta could also be painted. you can see the remnants of the color in john's shirt, joseph's sleeves, kinda. so all these figures were at one point fully painted, bringing another layer of life to the piece. the point was to really make the scene feel as though real, the anguish, to prompt the viewer even further into fully engaging and joining the figures in the grief. its just really fucking cool to think about.

back to this shit. the piece de resistance, the last two figures: mary of something and mary magdalene. when looking at this piece, especially for the first time, your eyes will immediately go towards them, and its natural of course. they hold the most amount of dynamism in the piece, not with just their expressions (remember the intensity of physical grief is ever rising in the piece), but, as you see for yourself, their poses as well. now these two are fucking amazing; like i said, they hold the dynamism, the biggest displays of horror but they also hold a beautiful contrast.

both marys are running towards jesus with these wails of denial, right. but the mary of something else is trying to stop her galloping, her rush towards the body, a repelling denial of "no this cannot be true." she's in a semi contrapposto; we see and feel all the energy of her run trying to maintain the push forward in its moment, what with the way her front knee is holding the weight of the body, the way her hands are splayed out in front of her, trying to desperately block this truth, the pull-back of the upper half of her body, the cloth draped on her shoulder billowing in place with the abrupt stop in motion. look at the cloth on her head! ughhhhhhhhghghghgh.

speaking of cloth, mary fucking magdalene. my brother in (dead) christ, mary magdalene.

the hell do i even say, lads. she's running full sprint, horror perfectly etched on that open mouth scream, fingers spread open wide. both these gals are saying "this cannot be true" but magdalene's is the denial of rectification. it's as if she's ready to drop down on the ground and change reality to what it should be with those anguished hands, full of frightful energy. it's, it's fucking harrowing looking at her. the flow of wind coursing through her clothes, the fanning-out motion of it, oh brother, its so beautifully captured. look at the wave of her head scarf!

and all for a motherfucker in a "i had to do it to them" pose

(pic credit: https://medium.com/@alejandro.orradre/lamentation-of-christ-niccolò-dellarca-b74c8e6f10a7) the lighting is of course adding a lot to the drama of the photo, kind of achieving a sort of a chiaroscuro effect maybe, but goodness gracious, look at this!

(second pic credit: https://medium.com/@alejandro.orradre/lamentation-of-christ-niccolò-dellarca-b74c8e6f10a7) this is mary's expression. you can almost hear the wails, perhaps the short bursts of grieving songs between the wails, just oh man.

look at this freaking guy. the wrinkles on the side of his nose as his face scrunches up in an attempt to save face. his lower eyelids, that careful look over the grim reality on the ground.

the amount of emotion depicted throughout this entire piece is kneecap breaking, it's beautiful. i've kind of run out of steam at this point, but yeah, this is a banger sculpture (group of sculptures?), i really like it. if you have any favourite sculptures that are not that well known, please tell me, i want to see more art.

[polyamwitchymom]

My personal beliefs on the matter of divinity

(this is a long post, if you want me to get to my point, scroll down for the purple text)

I grew up in the Bible belt, both my parents were/are members of the RLDS church (Reorganized Church of the Latter-Day Saints, or as I like to call it: diet Mormonism or Mormon lite), and when we weren't attending the RLDS church, we were going to a Baptist church. My parents homeschooled me and closely monitored who I made friends with. I grew up with a narrow, but common belief that big G is up in heaven, watching and knowing everything that happens and will happen, is all powerful but uses his power sparingly, has strict rules for how he wants humans to be, and requires sacrifice of some type to be appeased (in this case, Jesus was the sacrifice, but before him, they made animal sacrifices, and at one point God asked for a child sacrifice as a test).

But all of that was ok, because there was God in the flesh as Jesus. And to be fair, Jesus seemed like a pretty cool guy, he seemed to care less about The Rules, and more about people loving one another. And then Jesus brutally died because humans are evil and the only way God could tolerate us is if someone died.

While I was told that God is perfect, I kept seeing him contradict himself and act very... "Human" like (angry, jealous, needing praise, being violent, etc). I was told that there was no way to truly comprehend him, but also that he made himself comprehensible to us/he was now comprehensible to us because of the first sin (eating fruit from the forbidden tree, gaining knowledge of good and evil).

As I got older, other beliefs intrigued me, and I had plenty of experiences that the "Spiritual Leaders" around me either dismissed or just had no explanation for, along with feeling like I was evil for having same-sex attraction. I eventually delved into polytheism, at first believing that the Christian god is not real and never was, to then believing that he is real and is just a dick. Sure, there were other gods that were dicks too, but at least they didn't claim to be perfect like he did. But then I did research as to how monotheism came about and learned that the Christian god is most likely two gods that got morphed into one over time and tradition.

So where do I stand now on Divinity, gods, goddesses, monotheism, and polytheism?

Pardon me for how woo-woo this is about to get, but:

-Divinity, The Creator, "God", whatever you want to call it, I believe it is within all things. It is life itself. It is what animates us. A fragment of Divinity is inside you and me and is what is commonly known as a "soul."

-Divinity is also within the gods, spirits, etc., perhaps to some greater extent than us, even.

-The main source of Divinity is somewhere outside of all time and all space, and can hardly be comprehended as a person. It creates infinitely, and sends itself into its creations to experience it.

-Does it love? Does it have morals? Look around you. If you've been paying attention you've surely noticed by now that there is no One Human Experience. That even among our own species, so much can vary- from morals, sexuality, culture, empathy, wants, and needs to circumstances we were born into and what we choose to do with the gift of life. No, I don't think it truly has any morality or love, or at least any that I can comprehend. I think it's main objective/need is to experience all things.

Do I worship this thing? Well, no... Not exactly. But also, in a way, yes. I occasionally work with and devote myself to various gods and goddesses. I believe life is sacred and should be preserved. I give other humans respect, and in some ways love all humans for having the gift of existence. I do my best to take care of myself and learn so I can better myself and those around me. I don't directly worship this source of existence, but I respect existence itself as it is in all things.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has thought of all of this, but I've not heard anyone talk about the same thing and so I don't know what to call it. It seems kinda New-Age-y but not quite because I've not heard it expressed the same way. The closest I've heard is "You are the universe experiencing itself" which sums this up well but lacks nuance. Does anyone else believe this/know what this line of belief is called?

[gaykarstaagforever]

Oh no! @alatterdayknightofjesuschrist is going to block me! Someone tell the President!

You are clearly taking this stupid nonsense way more seriously than I am. Chillax, dude.

To actually answer your weird whatever, there is no evidence for any of these people actually existing, either, besides ancient Harry Potter books about them. The basic Wikipedia article about Theudas has a whole section about how scholars are debating about what exactly any of this is really about, and whether any of it is an actual historic thing.

In that specific case I would accept that some guy named Theudas / Judas led a revolt against the Romans in the 40s, because that was the cool time for that shit and that is a pretty common name. But the fact that scholars think there is confusion in the sources between potentially different revolts by at least two guys with that name, utterly proves my point.

John the Baptiat was a relative of Jesus who, EVEN IN THAT STORY, is so willfully eclipsed by Jesus that he left nothing behind. He's fake too. What point are you even trying to make with this? All of these people were fictional, until I see solid evidence they lived. Otherwise it is just a big pile of fictional literary nothingness.

Also, giving me a reply timetable ultimatum is one of the simultaneously funniest and assiest things anyone has ever done to me on here. You are a dick, but I almost respect the dork balls on you. So kudos, if only for being surprisingly interesting.

You can block me all you want. I don't intend to follow you and do not care. But before you do, I would love for you to go through my tags of "bible" and "christianity" and reblog any of those genuinely funny, well-written posts with your yelling. So few people on here fight with me about my brazen gay antiChristianity, and it is disappointing.

You could be my own personal Ben Shapiro.

Plus you obviously enjoy this too so you are totally missing out on ample opportunities to do whatever it is you think you are doing.

I'm still looking for one person on this website who knows the Bible as well as I do. If you do, go after my shit, please. Especially if I state a wrong fact. No one ever challenges me.

I'm dead-serious. Me being corrected when I am actually wrong has led to lots of personal growth on here. Me being challenged to evolve as a person is the last fun thing life has to offer me. You might be a valuable tool for that growth.

...So long as you criticize genuine factual errors and stop being a regressive fundamentalist bitch. It isn't a good look.

You should evolve too. Try it. You might find you like it.

[omegasmileyface]

The Forest, the Trees, the Fire I: CATALYST

Chapter 2

Here's chapter 2! Most updates will be Tuesdays and Fridays, this one wasn't late on purpose hehe. Authors: @attackradish, @ectolemonades, me. Artist: @/crunchysart

For the full characters list, word count, content warning, and a directory to all the currently available chapters and related content, see the Table of Contents!

full summary: The world outside of Amity Park has learned about the existence of ghosts, and the time for first impressions has arrived. The delicate public consciousness could be disrupted by the slightest ripple. Danny Fenton is being ripped apart from all sides, and when he finally breaks, the ripples will be very big indeed.

warnings: none for this chapter

words: 2121

AO3 link

first chapter

next chapter

===

October 2, 2006

Tucker was already on his PDA— Florence— by the time Danny sat down for lunch. "It looks like the outside world is finally getting with the program on the whole 'ghosts existing' thing. I'm seeing ecto opinion pieces now that don't even spend half their length shouting about how they're not crazy!"

"Ooh, fun!" Sam unzipped her lunchbox to reveal it was full of crackers and some kind of fruit spread. Tucker dipped a finger in the spread to taste it and his face immediately scrunched up. Sam ignored this. "Maybe we'll see some new forms of Evangelism come out of all this. Mix up the American Christian playing field a little."

(Danny tried a taste too. It tasted sort of like blueberry, but way more bitter. The kind of stuff that grew in nature preserves and wasn’t sold in stores. Not bad.)

"Eh," said Tucker after a hearty swig of soda, "if they do appear, they'll just stick to one tiny area like every other Bold New Jesus Cult that's popped up in the last few decades. I've been thinking we should make some kind of blog about ghosts. We're experts! The rest of the world is gonna want to hear from us." He swooned in his spot at the lunch table. "Maybe we could even sell merch…"

"Hmm. Well, I think it could be good! No, not your newest business model. Calm down, Henry Ford."

Tucker pouted.

"The whole… public getting used to ghosts thing. I mean, it's gonna be a sensitive time for the public consciousness, since what people hear now is going to shape how they feel about ghosts forever, but… the more people hear about the dirty details, the harder it will be to hide stuff like the torture devices and whatnot." Sam hummed. "Though, it hasn't stopped the CIA before…"

"Oh! Conspiracy jar." Tucker held out his hand.

Sam rolled her eyes and handed him two quarters. "It's true, though."

Danny started tapping his foot. "What if it ends up being a bad thing?"

"Oh, so you were on earth for the conversation! Glad to see you, space cadet."

"Yeah, whatever." Danny took a bite just because he knew talking with his mouth full would annoy Sam. "Honestly, I was pretty cool with the thing we had going on where ghost things stayed in ghost land and the only people who bothered to interfere were the Guys in White. And UW Madison, I guess. What if it gets all… publicized? What if there becomes some kind of ghost fighting bureaucracy?"

The ghosts didn't even have a bureaucracy for themselves. Danny would know! Not that he could tell his friends about his involvement in ghost politics.

Tucker shrugged. "We might get money or college credit or something for our ghost fighting, then. Health insurance, even."

"No, Tuck, we're high schoolers. They'd probably just make us stop doing it."

"Oh," said Sam, "I thought you wanted to not have to be responsible for keeping the town safe."

"Duh!" Danny leaned onto the table. "But it's not that simple. It's like when you don't want to do the dishes, but you can't just let somebody else do them because they won't clean them correctly and that's just not worth it."

"Can't relate."

"No idea what you're talking about."

Danny huffed. "They'll probably do it wrong. Professional ghost fighters might try to take ghosts into custody instead of sending them back, or completely ignore why the ghosts came in the first place, or not understand what kinds of fighting are cool and what kinds are just straight-up evil."

Tucker smiled. "Ahh, you're afraid the humans will fight like humans."

"No! …Yes. I guess. And while help would be nice… I just feel like it wouldn't be worth the scrutiny. Generally speaking, the dead don't want to hear the living's opinion on them."

"Well, it's a good thing a lot of ghosts aren't dead, then," Sam said.

Tucker put Florence back in his bag. "You've both got points. From what I've been reading, there are people who are trying to push for ghost laws in other states, using the Dairy King thing as some kind of warning. 'They're already hiding among us! Quick, invent new kinds of bigotry, before it's too late!'"

Ew. Couldn't get one news story without it making things harder for him, huh?

Sam growled. Like, genuinely growled, as much her human throat could. "Well, if that's the case, maybe we couldn't trust America with such important knowledge of life and death just yet."

Danny rolled his eyes.

"Tucker," she continued, "maybe your info blog idea wasn't so bad."

Tucker reached out for a fist bump. Danny obliged.

"Hey, losers!"

And right on queue, it was time for Act II of lunch.

"Good evening, Dash," Tucker and Sam said in unison. Clearly, they'd been rehearsing that. Dash was taken aback for a second. He shook it off.

"You're all gonna be on my team in laser tag, right?"

Great, another permission slip Danny had missed. "Laser tag?"

"Yeah. On Friday. Keep up, Fen-fun-in-the-sun."

Sam tilted her head. "Dash, no offense, buddy, but if you don't like us, don't you want us on the opposite team? Not yours?"

"There is no opposite team. It's ghost laser tag. It's, like, a sponsored field trip by the GIW or something. Either way, students won't be targets. If I want an opportunity to tackle you when nobody's watching, I need you on my team."

Ghost laser tag? What did that even mean? Would they have ecto-weaponry? That couldn't be safe. Danny hoped he could skip out by getting detention or something.

"What a tantalizing offer. I bet teams are randomly assigned anyway."

"You'd better hope they are!" Dash turned his gaze directly onto Danny before backing away dramatically. "I'll see YOU on the field, Fenton. Better catch you carrying on the family legacy."

Tucker took his head out of his bag once it was safe. "…What did he even mean by that?"

Danny just sighed. That said it all, really.

===

"Ghost child, did you really not think to get me a gift for my birthday?"

"Skulker, you don't have a birthday."

Skulker ignored him. "Well, you're lucky that I got something for myself!" He brought out some absolute doohickey of a weapon, gleaming chrome in the turquoise moonlight. Those tubes couldn't serve any logical purpose, could they?

While Danny was questioning his understanding of Euclidean space, Skulker lunged forward and a part of the weapon flew off, angled right for his head.

Danny just barely swirled his body out of the way in time. "Hey!"

Skulker dove. Danny fled. The chase was on.

"What could you possibly want from me this time?"

"What do you think? I want my prize!"

Danny shouted to be heard over a swarm of missiles. "Oh, so we're back to hunting me for sport, then? Maybe stop trying so hard to damage the goods!" He spun around and aimed some sticky ectoplasm in Skulker's general direction.

"Nonsense!" Skulker turned his suit invisible. "If you can't avoid these attacks, your pelt's no good anyway."

Danny concentrated on his ghost sense and dodged a grapple from his left just in time. "Y'know, maybe it's for the best. If I'm hung up in your lair somewhere, I don't have to go to laser tag!"

Skulker halted his onslaught and smiled. "Laser tag?"

Danny huffed. "Yeah, my class is doing this ghost laser tag thing on Friday. My parents heard about it somehow, and they won't let me miss it. They think it'll help me 'prepare myself to join the family business!' or whatever."

Skulker continued to smile.

"Um. Sorry. So, laser tag is like a—"

"I know what laser tag is! As a matter of fact, ghost child, I'm a big fan of laser tag."

Danny sighed. "Of course you are."

"It is a shame that I cannot join you. But since I cannot, you are going to be my laser tag champion this Friday."

"Your what? Oh my God."

"If you will be representing me on the battlefield, you're going to need to have some skill! Beginning shooting practice!"

"No—" Danny caught a small ecto-gun automatically. "Huh. I didn't even know these came off your suit." He was shot in the side.

"Get gunning, boy!"

Just after Danny tore off invisibly to find somewhere to trap Skulker, one of the shots hit an apartment building and an alarm started blaring.

Danny returned to visibility to check it out. Why would an alarm go off from some brick siding getting shot with a low power ectoblast? Was somebody hurt somehow? There weren't any windows or anything there. Could it have ricocheted and hit someone?

Then a van screeched to a stop in the parking lot, and it all made sense.

Just like always, when the GIW filed out of their clown car, they aimed at Danny first. He shielded against most of them, but when one shot went a little wide, it hit the same building and exploded on impact, weakening a couple of the bricks. These blasts were much stronger than the shots he and Skulker had been playing with.

First things first, he darted back over to Skulker to capture him. The ghost didn't complain. Better to get captured for now than to have to put up with a government chase all the way back to the portal.

Danny dared to look back at the hunters below him. "There! Fight's done. That means you don't have to shoot anymore, right?"

They continued shooting. Wow, just like his parents!

Danny tried to go for an escape through the ground, where they couldn't see him or reach him, but they managed to aim for him anyway. When he came back up, the ground was full of new potholes. Even one of the manhole covers was ruined. Did they even think at all before firing?

So he took to the skies instead, hoping that there would at least be less collateral that way. Sure, he got shot in the foot (ow) and in the shoulder (ow) and almost got locked into one of those stupid ectophobic nets, but he made it home nonetheless.

The alarm was still audible, and Hemlock Ave. probably had a few thousand dollars in repairs. He couldn't wait to hear at school tomorrow how this was his fault for playing tag.

===

Spooky, Scary, and Scientific: What do Ghosts Mean for Me?

4 Oct. at 11:00 AM

This time last month, you were thinking about what to cook for dinner and when to go return that DVD. But now ectology has entered the mainstream, and the same thing is on your mind as everyone else's: death!

Well, not the sad, existential kind of death thoughts. More like… "Is anybody I used to know a ghost now?" "Would I still recognize them?" "Was everybody wrong about Heaven?" "Will I become a ghost when I die?" It just feels like we all know so little about ghosts.

But I've gathered as much research as I could find from the top ectologists, and I'm going to help you make sense of it too. If you want philosophy, this isn't the blog for you. But hopefully, going in with the right scientific knowledge will make the emotional parts easier!

Let's start with a pretty fundamental one:

Are these ghosts really the spirits of the dead?

Interestingly, as much as a lot of them look like they could have been human once, we don't have any proof that humanoid "ghosts" come from the souls or identities of real humans. In fact, it's looking more like ghosts, which form out of invisible concentrations of ectoplasm in the air and ground, just take after humans because they're the best source of emotional energy.

That's right, emotional energy is a real thing! Since our brains work via patterns of electric pulses, those pulses can imprint the same patterns into ectoplasm and cause it to act in ways it normally can't. See Fenton 2003 for more info on that.

Ghosts are just functional forms of ectoplasm, and have no ability to relate to humanity or have emotions of their own, so it seems they take forms like ours to gain more access to human emotional energy. I wouldn't say they do this on purpose, but then, it's tough to say ghosts do anything "on purpose", since they just automatically work toward their goal. It's just how they function!

Some are capable of doing this in really complex ways, actually. It's very interesting! So let's talk about…

How many kinds of ghosts are there?

[read the rest of the post on kristenscorner.blog]