#it found me on mushroom wikipedia

[jojo-oliver]

Rosy bonnet / Rosa Rettich-Helmling fungi? Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

[flock-of-cassowaries]

So my hot take on NBC Hannibal is that is is a remarkably and relentlessly cynical story, in that every. single. character. abuses the power vested in the virtue of their profession.

Like, all the cops, all the doctors, all the psychiatrists.

Almost all the murderers, too - the bee lady is killing clients, as is the mushroom man, and the social worker; Randall Tier and Mason Verger are using the tools / items available to them from their jobs to commit murder; and Tobias Bunch and Garrett Jacob Hobbs are transforming parts of their victims into materials they use / sell at work.

The only characters I can think of who are not show to be ludicrously unethical at their jobs are:

1. The pharmacist-colleague of the Mushroom Man whom Jack inexplicably screams at;

2. Will’s long-suffering s2 defence lawyer;

3. Georgia Mädchen and Abigail Hobbs (no jobs, Literally Minors™️);

4. The child-kidnapper from Oëuf (no job); and

5. The Angel-Maker (deus diablus ex brain-tumor).

…but of the law-enforcement / law-enforcement-adjacent characters, we have:

- Hannibal

- Jack (routinely flouts rules and does things that endanger his subordinates and which are probably illegal; which, points for verisimilitude, I guess)

- Zeller (leaks info to Freddie Lounds)

- Beverley (a bit more of a stretch, but I’m fairly certain showing an accused serial killer / mental patient confidential information on other crimes isn’t okay; and she definitely broke into a suspect’s house without a warrant)

- Chilton (the most unethical psychiatrist since the CIA stopped funding the Montreal Experiments)

- Alanna (starts out straight and narrow, but becomes willing to take on the role of her ex’s keeper - incredibly unethical for a psychiatrist, especially with a patient being held in custody)

- Will (again, starts out reasonably ethical, but then slides into such ends-justify-the-means nonsense as [1] defiling corpses; [2] traumatizing museum staff with defiled corpses; [3] knowingly eating human flesh; [4] warning a serial killer of his imminent apprehension; [5] attempting to use various serial killers as tools to kill and/or bait other serial killers; and [6] attempting to extrajudicially execute a serial killer [via cliff]. )

And like, technically, you could just read it as “Hannibal’s influence corrupts those around him”; that certainly seems to be the case with Alanna and Will.

(And arguably, that is how we’re supposed to read Jack, but… as the self-appointed president of the Jack Crawford Hate Committee - fuck Jack.)

I think Hannibal would certainly find it flattering to read it that way. It would appeal very much to his narcissism.

It’s also quite possible that was the writing team’s authorial intent, too.

But that is absolutely not how people work.

Hannibal would’ve encountered people who were just stubbornly immovable in their refusal to endanger patients / subordinates / whatever.

And people who just found him creepy.

People who got a bad vibe the first time they met him, and just refused to ever reassess their first impression - not particularly fair, in most cases, but there definitely are people who operate that way.

And sure, perhaps Hannibal would have just killed some of them, but… we never see that happen. It’s just everyone in Toronto Baltimore, in every profession, is apparently either just as laughably crooked as the real RCMP, or as corruptible as soft cheese on a hot day.

Tangential postscript:

This inspired me to read the Wikipedia article on “Controversies surrounding the RCMP”, and while I will not get into the horrifying details, this sentence made me laugh out loud:

“A subsequent public inquiry concluded that the RCMP was at fault, showing a lack of professionalism…”

Which like… yeah. Technically true.

Sort of like saying that Andrew Tate lacks a firm grasp of intersectional feminism.

But not incorrect, per se.

[mixed-up-media]

HOW THE LAIKA MOVIES CONNECT TOGETHER!!!!!

Also known as history of the beldam!

Warning: most of this is just crack. This was my shower thought this morning and the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. None of this is canon. This is just dumb crap. It is held together by 2 strings, 3 old gum pieces, a roll of duct tape, and a used bandaid I found behind the school bleachers. This post is also a long one. You have been warned.

Ok, let's start off with something that has been bothering me, and the rest of the Coraline fandom, FOR YEARS! What is the Beldam? As far as the internet is concerned, she's the villain in Coraline, not much more than that. However, other sources say that another meaning of beldam is "old hag" or "witch" which makes sense. Something that also stuck out to me was another website stating she was an evil fairy. I feel like a beldam is not a singular term for the other mother but rather a species of evil fairies. Once again this connects to one of our favorite detail in that movie, the mushroom circle.

Mushroom circles are known throughout folktales as gateways to fairy realms. Keep this in mind! So what other thing is connected to fairy realms? OH YEAH, TROLLS!

So, I have not read "Here be monster," that is my summer reading goal, it just has to come. So I don't know what lore drops are in there, all I know is that the book is the reason people say Egg's real name is Arthur, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯! What I do know that that in most mythologies trolls are evil and here that is not the case. Something that I noticed in Boxtrolls and in the little info piece on amazon for "Here be monsters" is that both towns end with a bridge. Cheesebridge, Ratbridge, you get the picture. So that means to me is that the trolls are connected to bridges. If you don't know what I'm going for here is the trolls that live under toll bridges. You know that thing that we were all terrified of happening to us from Monty Python and the Holy grail, yeah that thing. They make it very clear there is some sort of connection." Lindow states that the etymology of the word "troll" remains uncertain, though he defines trolls in later Swedish folklore as "nature beings" and as "all-purpose otherworldly being[s], equivalent, for example, to fairies in Anglo-Celtic traditions". (Wikipedia)

Otherworldly you say? Well as a fandom, WE KNOW PLENTY ABOUT THAT! So I'm getting that there is some sort of fairy world situation going on. Like there's a world with magic separate from our own where creatures come from, K.

Some else I noticed was the similarities between Kubo's aunts and the other mother.

Notice the white faces,red lips, and lack of eyes. Now I'm aware that the sister's designs are biased off of the Geisha, however there is something else that connects them, the obsession with ripping a child's eye out, which I would assume is something Geisha women don't do ( I could be wrong.) So I feel like there is some sort of connection between the Beldam and the moon king. A partnership, a teacher of how to remove the eyes of kids, the biological mother of his children. (Low key shipping them)

Then there the witch situation. Witches have been known throughout history as evil, but we watched ParaNorman, and we paid attention! WE KNOW THEY'RE JUST MISUNDERSTOOD! So we've established that there's magic, but we've never really come up with where the magic comes from. I have a whole theory on why Norman can see ghosts, ( I'll post that one later) but I'm pretty sure the magic effects genetics. Now, hear me out, what if the magic comes from the magic fairy realm thing from earlier.

SO POSSIBLE TIMELINE, MAYBE!

A LONG LONG LONG LONG TIME AGO, the Pre-Beldam Fairy was just livin her life. She discovers some sort of dark magic and turn evil. She goes down to earth but uses a portal thing to get there. Out from that portal thing comes some trolls that find a home under a bridge. After years of evolution they become boxtrolls. Then Beldam fairy meets the moon king and has his daughters helps him tear his grandsons eye out. The fairies in charge are like: Dude, the frick is wrong with you, and banashes her to what would become the american continent. They also strip her of her powers which then finds its way to the other side of the soon to be continent. There her magic connects to several families including the one of a little girl with long black hair. Over in Oregon country the beldam finds herself hiding for years and years. Eventually a family of pioneers show up and build a house. Not wasting any time, the beast uses her dark powers and finds a small hole in the wall. She discovers that it's made out of some of the magic ripped from her and uses it for her advantage. Eventually she develops the persona of "The Other World," and The other Mother. She eats kids souls until a blue haired girl defeats her. Who knows if she actually killed her or not!

How does Missing Link fit all this? Well TADA

Lionel found an old monkey carving from a old Japanese town, a newspaper clipping from a few years back about "Boxtrolls" and an old book from back when the mayflower first set sale (I feel like the book was something Aggie's mom brought with her to the new world and read it to Aggie for years)

THE END

People who might find this humorous

@evenceflux18

@officermaddie23

@kpyeeper

TAG MOREEEE

[batbrownies]

My sweetest and dearest Marygold! 🌼 If ya want to know more about her please keep on reading :]

One of my favorite n oldest ocs of mine!!!! Her name is Marygold, she's 16 and a bit reckless, but a sweetheart all throughout. She's not a yaelokre oc, she's just wearing her mask (these are not her normal clothes) instead of letting her ears out :] , however soon I hope to post about the ones I've been creating with @musefromspace ...

In her story her hare/bunny aspect is kind of a reference to the religious motif of the three hares that are in sacred sites all across the world! (Paraphrasing:)

Through her life she goes through a lot of treachery and rebirth. She lets go quite easily, it seems, although she never fully forgets and most of the things that cause her pain often come to bite her right back in the ass after being pushed aside. The boat in which she travels from peace to pain is not sailed by her own force and smarts, but by the inevitability of affliction. All that said, she's trying to learn how to appreciate the intricacies within herself, how to take care of them and shes gaining an understanding of the ways of the land n sea :]

She knows a hell of a lot about mushrooms and collects them from the "forest" outside of Hyacinths' (my other OC and kind of her father figures') lybrary! She has two very close friends: Aster and Agatha.

She adores the theatre, but specially Shakespearean plays! Her favorite is Much Ado About Nothing. She much prefers the comedies.

A song that reminds me of her at this stage of her life, when she's found a place to call home:

[radinthelavish]

Hi, today I made a walk in the forest. I found some fungi and mushrooms that looken interesting and I thought you might like them as well.

I am no specialist. I just like nature.

Polypores

And one I never saw here: Tremella mesenterica (common names include yellow brain, golden jelly fungus, yellow trembler, and witches' butter)

Feel free to corect me.

[aliquistis]

Circle of (cute) Spores

So as I was finishing up the last chapter of Witch Ways I realized Echo's fungal zombies only get a passing mention in like one chapter, then I bring them up again like everyone should just remember them?? So anyways I decided to put this visual guide together.

Amanita

' the corpse's jaw cracked as a fungal frond broke through the upper neck. The top of the cranium split, revealing slivers of Amanita's red cap between the broken skin. A thin white tendril pushed through one eye socket and the limp jaw quivered, then pulled itself closed.'

Amanita was the leshy that Echo summoned at the tiefling party, later put inside a corpse to make it more ambulatory (the leshy, not the corpse, but I guess-) I picked amanita because of Skyrim, but also because the mushrooms are cute (as pictured). Then later I found out that death cap is in the amanita genus, so I decided Amanita would be Echo's most dangerous zombie.

Lepiota

'Lepiota had come second, with long, white, feathery-gilled sprouts that looked almost like wings.'

As per the first description, Lepiota has long white frills that look like wings or maybe a robe. I chose this mushroom because I thought it'd be pretty (you know, on a zombie, yeah) with its delicate white frills flowing around it like a feather boa. Like the other fungal zombies, Lepiota was made at the battle of Grymforge. Lepiota is in the family Agaricacaea and it's name was almost Agaric but I figured that'd be too similar to Agaricus (they share the family)

Ramaria

'Ramaria had been the first, and its pink frills had demolished most of Thrinn's white hair'

Ramaria, since its host is Thrinn, was the first fungal zombie Echo made! I chose Ramaria because it looks like coral and water is an identifying element for Echo (to contrast with Gale's fire). It's also pretty. Honestly like 80% of the reasoning on these is aesthetic. Ramaria's frills are pink, which is nice and feminine on the fungus-infested corpse (this Barbie is reanimated!)

Agaricus

'Agaricus had come third, with its white bubble-top mushrooms sprouting along its hosts arms and neck, looking like a festively chubby little patch of clouds.'

Agaricus is another large genus like Amanita but I chose it because it is the genus of button mushrooms. And button mushrooms are delicious. (Let's all imagine Gale's horror as Echo snaps a mushroom off her fungal zombie and tosses it into the stew) Also I thought it'd make for a cool visual to have big clusters of tiny button mushrooms that look like plague sores spread all over the zombie. Idk why I made this the delicious one there's clearly something wrong with me.

Cortinar

'Cortinar, with large brown spouts that looked like mold, only a few of which rose off its skin as proper fronds.'

Last but not least there is baby Cortinar, named for the mushroom genus Cortinarius. I chose this one because not only does it have some crazy looking guys like in the picture (with the cap flipped up like it's throwing up its arms going I GUESS) but it also has some mushrooms in the family that look like the purple caps we see in-game in the Underdark. I wanted at least one zombie that shows how much meeting the Myconids influenced Echo's magic.

And that's the family. I am not a mushroom expert in any way. All my information (and pictures) comes from Wikipedia. I just think they're neat.

[david-goldrock]

Stalbet in the Kibbutz

A praise song for the kibbutz, which is probably the closest to the communist commune humanity has ever achived

How stressed is it, so why a city? Stalbet in the kibbutz for half-a-price Idon't work hard to be rich I do not search for claps if it's not in the end of the -

Until I found what I was searching for I felt a bit stuck Like a delivery guy who doesn't get that in the kibbutz there're no streets "Do you see a bin?" "There's a bumper here" "Wow, you ain't even close" Until something opened up in me Like the yellow gate (most kibbutzim have a yellow gate at the entrance to allow only people in the kibbutz in - no outsiders)

I didn't know then that I searched for an old woman on a mobility scooter That will be angry at me: "Fella, you fly like a spaceship" (also move fast) Wallah Here's not a race, here there's no need to press Here it isn't so bad if there wouldn't be a rhyme (a rhyme)

I tried then to flourish in the reinforced concrete (also fucking) It took me time to understand the concrete gives me a rash (also a flowering) It took me time to answer all who said "Listen, you live far" "Yeah buddy, I live far, From you"

How stressed is it, so why a city? Stalbet in the kibbutz for half-a-price Idon't work hard to be rich I do not search for claps if it's not in the end of the -

And there were days when I was a bit of a city-mouse (referring to the work "the city mouse, the village mouse") Wireless Sister, it's the bicycle path there At the end, not even the village mouse Just a man, who likes to live in a hole (nickname for a remote place) And to call it the center of the world Or periphery? A war movie or "Bet She'an Empire"? Speakers on the bank of the Sea of Galilee Tiberius Good fun or a tragedy? Nisman, I think some kid changed the result for the Asi river on Wikipedia (The Asi river was in a controversy, in which it was partly private property of a kibbutz and partly not... the whole affair is extremely complicated, and I will not make a comment about it) Leave it Jimbo, relax To the Galilee and the (Jordan) rift valley To the Arava and the Golan Families pilgrimage in the weekends like to the western wall Sweat dreams About green fields But all the roads lead to the dining room (Kibbutzim traditionally have a common dining room in which the entire kibbutz eats together)

How stressed is it, so why a city? Stalbet in the kibbutz for half-a-price Idon't work hard to be rich I do not search for claps if it's not in the end of the -

How stressed is it, so why a city? Stalbet in the kibbutz for half-a-price Idon't work hard to be rich I do not search for claps if it's not in the end of the song

I do not want to fight over parking Why should I live in a construction site? Give me a mic and a singlet Yallah Jimbo take me to the mushroom (probably referring to a building which is shaped kinda like a mushroom) Sitting here in the kibbutz, thinking what to do Living in a movie like we have options (to live in a movie is to have unrealistic expectations) Want to go on a pizza, but it will arrive in two days Want to go out for a drink? drive for two hours

But there's a silence like a sea here (as plentyful as the sea) And alarms like a sea And grass like a sea And there's here also sprinklers like a sea And sun like a sea Which tans lizards like a sea And there's a sea here - pools like a sea

How stressed is it, so why a city? Stalbet in the kibbutz for half-a-price Idon't work hard to be rich I do not search for claps if it's not in the end of the -

How stressed is it, so why a city? Stalbet in the kibbutz for half-a-price Idon't work hard to be rich I do not search for claps if it's not in the end of the -

How stressed is it, so why a city? Stalbet in the kibbutz for half-a-price Idon't work hard to be rich I do not search for claps if it's not in the end of the -

How stressed is it, so why a city? Stalbet in the kibbutz for half-a-price Idon't work hard to be rich Wallaq I do not search for claps if it's not in the end of the song

I am at the gate Nisman Opening it, bye

[bestanimatedmovie]

Sorry in advance for dragging on the Wes Anderson discourse, and sorry if this is the wrong place to send this!

I am definitely not here to try to defend his honor or something - even as a kid I found it weird how his live action films seem to be filled with white people - but I finally read that Isle of Dogs article you linked and found it… strange.

The author of the article critiques the supposed disregard for the Japanese language demonstrated by the title, when plenty of articles written by Japanese journalists point out it’s a pun referencing a demon island in a well-known folktale. She has also decided that there is a racist stereotype that Chinese people eat dogs, and China is also in Asia, therefore Anderson can’t differentiate between Asians and that the film portrays the Japanese as dog-haters? (It doesn’t.)

The sushi preparation scene appears to be pretty much universally praised, with comments in the youtube clip linked in her article even pointing out cultural details foreigners might have missed, but the author seems to believe the scene portrays the Japanese as “cruel savages”. I don’t know, a lot of the points in the article, at least in its Isle of Dogs part, feel like weird projection.

The more general criticisms – the white savior stuff and not subtitling Japanese – I get, even if I don’t completely agree with them (Tracy felt more like a self-deprecating stereotype of an American busybody who accomplishes very little, and the fallibility and subjectivity of translation is a major theme of the movie. International audiences get the basic dog story with some simple outside exposition, while Japanese viewers also get a ton of extra stuff the core audience is not expected to pick up on.)

Anyway, these articles by Japanese-American journalists convinced me to watch the movie when it came out (they are both also at least somewhat critical of the film, but seem much better informed):

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/what-isle-of-dogs-gets-right-about-japan, https://www.vulture.com/2018/03/what-its-like-to-watch-isle-of-dogs-as-a-japanese-speaker.html

Don't apologize, I love having these conversations, and you certainly raise very interesting points. I already said what I personally felt watching the movie here.

Here are the articles you sent for those who want to read them, and I decided to do a quick search on my own of Japanese articles.

The Japanese wikipedia article briefly mentions criticism of stereotypes, whitewashing, insensitive (specifically the mushroom cloud) and "English supremacy". Sadly the article linked in the sources no longer exists. Reading reviews I found mixed impressions, but from what I read a lot of people did feel a lot of love for Japan from the movie. The fact that the dogs spoke English was one of the things I found people disliked the most, and I also found several people mentioning stereotypes and in general a bad feeling (as well as people saying it didn't feel like stereotyping). Several people also said it felt more retro than futuristic, but not necessarily as criticism.

That said, everyone praised the stopmotion, which I agree was something impressive. Another thing many people praised was the music (the Japanese drums, the Akira Kurosawa homage).

So yeah, mixed impressions but I'd say more positive than negative.

These are the articles and reviews I read, you can run them through google translate.

[your-local-uwu-artist]

how's the smurfing going?

it's going good! my google doc is at over 5 pages, I got some nice sketches and the responses have been very helpful and fun >:D (shout out to isopod guy) the only problem is trying to not make my bias of who's my favorite smurf to be tooo obvious fndkjsa

plus the constant struggle between needing to do research and rewatch episodes and read wikipedia articles and the fact that i get what i call 'withdraw-l'... bassically I can only go so long before I just gotta doodle fdnjak

anyway: I SUPPOSE i might as well explain what the fuck I've been doing (if anyones noticed a lack of posts in the past handufl od days: the reason for my absence is that I was busy iwth my smurfing fdja )

bassically I've always had a LOT of questions regarding the smurfs, (many of which I've had sense childhood) and it's been plaguing me because nobody else seems to care to answer these questions, I'll be like 'what chemichal do you think makes them blue?' and 'what form of asexual reproduction do you assume they use' and 'i don't think it makes sense that they'd crush on smurfette, i'd imagine their mono-sex mono-gender society wouldn't really have those concepts or well, be heterosexual for that matter' and everyone responds with 'what aere you on' (the autism spectrum) 'why are you asking me this?' (i want to here your answer) and 'it's just a cartoon' (AND SOMETIEMS YOU GOTTA ASK SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS ABOUT CARTOONS) so I decided if I must do everything myself so be-it.

essentially I'm planning to make a very silly half video essay half my nonsense 'if i was in charge of a smurfs reboot' video. heres some of the doodles so far!

vanity's always been my favorite so i'm having a hard time convincing myself to draw some smurf other than him fndasjkfnask (Azrael has always been my second favorite lol) I'm really excited to draw more fo smurf village! mushrooms houses my beloved <3 tbh the village is def a plus for the live action films, while giving the smurfs eyelids and lashes and pecs did not work I do enjoy seeing cute fantasy mushroom village in a photorealistic style <3

anyway one very fun thing i learned about while researching is about these really pretty very epic and pog mushrooms that are native to new zealend and just the most brilliant shade of blue

these things are blue-tiful! And there are actually pigmented! (a lot of things in nature aren't actually blue and rather the structure of it refelcts light and shit to give it a blue appearance) the thing that gives em the blue pigment is a kind of 'azulene' but somehow just a brighter varient: they're so whimsical looking!

a funny thing I've found just through research is that a LOT of people aren't aware of smurfettes origin story, or thought that the origin story was from the live action films, this is so strange to me cause like ????? it's been there sense the begining comics, and theres plenty of episodes where it's mentioned

I'm also suprised by how many people seem to be fond of the new female smurfs: so I guess I'm on the unpopular side here, I've always imagined them as sorta sexless and generless, and that female smurfs (excluding artificially made ones like smurfette) just discovered and decided they preferred feminine gender expression/presentation. (i do wish i included a question asking if people as kids assumed them sexless, cause i always have)

idk I'm still working through the new cgi series and my cartoon pirating site doesn't have the second season, so maybe I'll change my mind on them

ufdnsjafnsdk sorry for rambling the hyperfixation has taken hold lmao

[thefaestolemyname-ecobioposting]

iNat Adventures with thefaestolemyname part 2: Golden Beach Campground, New York State!

Part 1/?

I made this post earlier, but it didn't save properly in drafts so I gotta start over :/

Before I begin with species and fun facts, first a question for anyone who might live in NY: What is this? Why??

It was a simple 4-way intersection!

In Ontario we have this for the same scenario:

Is this an American thing? Just a New York thing? There's gotta be a good reason for that mess.

Back on topic, we start off with a banger:

Wood Frog (Lithobates Sylvaticus)

(The pic is rotated that's why the grass is weird) Recognized them right away because I found one in a swamp nearer to home in June, can't find the post to link. They can handle freezing 65-70% of the water in their body, and the reason why has to do with urea, glucose, and "amino acid substitutions in the ... ATP binding site" (Wood frog - Wikipedia). They depend on multiple habitats, breed in seasonal pools, and have large ranges.

Dragonfly/Damsel fly (order Odonata)

I know, I know, hear me out. At first I had no idea who this shed exoskeleton represented, but apparently Dragonflies have a life cycle in which little things that look like this hatch out of eggs, moult many times, and after their final moult look like a proper dragonfly. Now, this suit of armour's abdomen looks too large for me to be fully convinced it's a dragonfly, but it's the best guess so far.

Dragonfly | Description, Anatomy, Habitat, Life Cycle, & Facts | Britannica

Leopard Earthball (Scleroderma areolatum)

As usual with mushrooms, not 100% confident with this ID, and not a ton of info on the species. The inside is supposed to be full of black spores so the mushroom, instead of raining spores from gills, is like a pouch of spores. I'm pretty sure I'm in the ballpark though, as it's definitely an earthball of some sort. I couldn't find a species on iNat that had pics that showed the same amount of flakiness as these guys.

Scleroderma areolatum, Leopard Earthball fungus (first-nature.com)

Ghost Pipes (Monotropa uniflora)

Re-writing this section is a shame because I just cannot re-produce the excitement. I was nothing less than ecstatic to find a mycoheterotroph. I had read about this almost mystical, otherworldly, ethereal treasure of a living being in Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life, but never thought I had a good chance of seeing any in real life. These guys have a history of baffling scientists, and are the source of much of our understanding of the nature of Mycorrhizal networks. In short, they have no chloroplasts and no roots - they cannot photosynthesize and they cannot bring in nutrients or moisture from the soil. How then do they survive? Fungi! All the carbon, energy, and more that it uses to build and sustain itself comes from other plants through the Mycorrhizal networks that span forests. I could go on and on about how these plants represent magic living on and even through a scientific world, but this caption is already too long.

All About Ghost Pipe (Monotropa uniflora) - Unruly Gardening

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake | Goodreads

Yellow Club Fungus (Clavulinopsis Helvola)

At first I thought it was Golden Spindles fungus, (C. Fusiformis), but after looking into more detail I figured C. Helvola was more likely because of size. Honestly, I thought they might be Cordyceps at first because that's the only club-shaped fungus I remember reading about, but nope. Apparently the spores are covered in warts, which distinguishes them from other Clavulinopsis species, but I was not prepared to take specimens for further inspection this time. In a rare occurrence, I am almost semi-confident about this ID. Surely I got the right genus?

E-Flora BC Atlas Page (ubc.ca)

Northern Red Belt (Fomitopsis mounceae)

This one I am also semi-confident in my identification of. It's got a red belt at the end and is in North America, it's bumpy/warty and has a white underside, and was found on a dead tree at low elevation, all characteristics of F. Mounceae. This species was distinguished from F. pinicola by Irene Mounce (A Canadian! 🇨🇦), after whom it was named.

Fomitopsis mounceae (MushroomExpert.Com)

[norcalbruja]

Not-Fun with Hypnos

What's up, today/yesterday (August 5, but I posted this at almost 2AM) was incredibly stressful! First of all, I woke up to a power outage at 10am, and I had to hunt around for the new landlord's business card for several hours while I worried about the food in the fridge getting too warm. (Don't worry, I found the business card and the power's back on! No spoilage!)

While I was dealing with that, I waited about an hour past a scheduled job interview, only to get the response that they'd already filled BOTH positions I applied for.

That would have been nice to know an hour or so BEFORE my interview, not afterward. Fucking hell.

Dionysus recently went Therapist-Like on me a couple of weeks ago, and he said that since I'd been asking the spirits to try and help my insomniac ass get to sleep with mixed success, he figured it was time to ask Hypnos for help. I'm constantly trekking to an Otherworld cave to try and "soundproof" my way into sleep, so Dionysus was like, "if you're gonna sleep in a cave all the time, you might as well go to the cave owned by someone whose JOB is to put you out."

Behind the cut for Freaky Shit!

--

Hypnos is a young-looking brunette with a very soft and high-pitched voice. He's also very laid-back and sweet. So laid-back that he often sounds like a stoner, but that is beside the point.

He lives in a cave with a giant mass of flowers and greenery covering the ground. I was surprised to find this is literally his home in mythology, when I checked Wikipedia to make sure my gnosis matched up with known records.

Dionysus was like "Babe, I tell you all the time that you're not crazy, why did you check Wikipedia right now? DON'T ANSWER, I KNOW YOU HAVE A HISTORY OF PEOPLE CALLING YOU CRAZY."

And I was like, "But I also thought I was mistaking Hypnos' name for a Pokemon, so it wasn't ALL for that reason!" (Note: Hypno is the Pokemon, Hypnos is the Greek god.)

So the not-fun part about Hypnos' cave is that the plants, at least for me, TRY TO CLIMB ALL OVER AND CARPET YOU IN THEM.

Naturally, I freaked out when they started doing that and I went, "NONONO I AM NOT DOING 'THE LAST OF US' REENACTMENTS!!! I DON'T WANT TO BE A MUSHROOM ZOMBIE!!!"

Hypnos kept assuring me, "Honey, they're not trying to hurt you! Just listen to the plants, they're really happy and they know you want to sleep! Relax!!!"

Then the Green Man showed up for like, emotional support. He was also assuring me that the plants are nice, and they are not going to eat me, and the whole point of getting to Hypnos' cave is to let yourself go and sleep.

But as my dear readers probably know by now, I am anxious as FUCK even when I'm not freaking out. I have a hard time relaxing anywhere.

And Hypnos' plants REALLY like the Green Man, so they were just rooting in and tearing his skin up. And he started vomiting plants while he was trying to help me calm down, so THEN the Water-Spirit tried to help.

But the Water-Spirit's real form is made of water, and the plants don't seem to mind too much that he's seawater. While they started climbing all over HIM, they started "reverting" him from his human form back to his waterspout/man-made-of-water form. And he was like "No, plants, stop! I'm trying to calm her down, and I can't do that while I'm splashing everywhere!"

So with two out of three Emotional Support Men accidentally scaring me more once they got there, my first visit to Hypnos was a disaster.

But there's nothing else I can do right now, so I've been trying to go to Hypnos' cave and like, ACTUALLY go to sleep there at some point.

To his credit, Hypnos has pegged me for "the chick who can't sleep because she's got Too Much Stuff going on in that head." And not just because Dionysus brought me over--he senses how I'm always restless and unhappy all the time.

Rather like Dionysus, he knows that a lot of my unhappiness would be gone if I could just get a fucking break, have an art career, and afford my own place, but for now I have to go to Hypnos' cave and let the Sleepy-Time Plants try to engulf me.

[fledgesfancies]

So we had to photograph mushroom anatomy for some scavenger hunt points. Or put up silly pictures of things which fit the terms but weren't actually mushrooms. I decided to build my own mushroom/toadstool in Minecraft and then label the parts. The whole process - from updating Minecraft since the last time I played (probably before Microsoft took over!) to working out why it wouldn't load, to building the mushroom, to getting a decent image, to resizing and putting it up here - took about six times as long as just drawing a diagram. But y'know. Commitment!

And here's the same shroom but with a spire shaped cap for another illustration. With little lamps hung on it for lighting.

Pictures of the Common Ink Cap (Coprinopsis atramentaria) which is widespread in the UK. It grows wherever there is buried wood. (Photos from the Woodland Trust UK.)

Historically it was used to make ink for important documents. It would guard against forgery as the spores could be detected under a microscope!

It is edible, but also known as ‘tippler’s bane’ because it contains an enzyme which inhibits the ability of the liver to process alcohol. If alcohol is consumed up to three days before or after eating it, it will cause extremely severe hangover symptoms!

And a picture of the Wood Ear or Jelly Ear fungus (Auricularia auricula-judae) also from the Woodland Trust and also common in the UK. They grow mostly on elder (also beech, sycamore & ash) and can survive after being frozen solid!

It is also known as Judas's Ear because the elder is the tree upon which Judas hanged himself after betraying Christ to his executioners. The charming legend is that the ‘ears’ which emerge from elder wood represent his tormented soul!

'Veil' was another anatomical term, so I found this amazing picture of a Bridal Veil Stinkhorn (Phallus indusiatus) on atlasobscura. Also known as bamboo mushrooms, this species is edible, but only the stems - the stinky gelatinous cap and veil are stripped off first. Wikipedia shows how the veil looks more commonly, on any species of young mushrooms as they are just sprouting.

More Fungal Foraging posts to follow! I've got to say, this hunt has taken me longer than the entire Plague-fest Riot of Rot scavenger hunt in the coli, from which I won EIGHT badges. This hunt is only getting me one badge. You could pay for it instead, but I was determined to earn it, and the idea seemed fun at the time. It is less fun now, but I am stubborn. This is, incidentally, both the first and last RL scavenger hunt I have - and shall ever have - taken part in! I'd be cool with it if you could just submit links like a normal person, but having to photograph the screen with an ID card, what's up with that?!

[gayhenrycreel]

found some of these on a reserve today. they smell like sweaty mushrooms. i was looking at them and some people behind me said "uh... what are we looking at?".

i explained that wood roses are a very interesting and endangered parasitic plant and they did not care

[toastloafley]

Found and photographed on an appalachian mountain biking trail in West Virginia

ID by: me, as Fishbiscuit Russula & Blacktailed Red Sheetweaver

This russula is named after its fishy smell, and there's even a bonus eight legged friend!

See more photos, and learn about Fishbiscuit Russulas and the Blacktailed Red Sheetweaver below the cut!

The "Russula Compacta" starts off white and browns over time as it bruises, ages, and/or dries. This process causes the mushroom to release a fishy smell that has described to "become more disagreeable with age"

But we're not just here for the mushroom, the"dwarf spider" here was an accidental bonus!  These spiders live in low grass and underbrush, called a Sheetweaver because of its sheet-like web. They catch prey by creating a hard to see non-sticky two part web. When a bug flies into the vertical web section it's knocked out of flight, falling onto the horizontal eating platform where it quickly becomes lunch. 

Thank you for reading! Theres an entire world under your feet, you just have to look.

Mushroom

Edibility: inedible

Rarity: common

Genus: Russula

Regions: Eastern North America

Spider

Rarity: common

Genus: Florinda (the only species of this genus)

Regions: USA, Mexico, & West Indies

Please do your own research, I am an enthusiast not a scientist. I'm here to share and have fun. 

Mushroom photos by me: Toast Loafley/Juno S.

Sheet web photo from Wikipedia by: Kelton Welch

[redeclipse27]

Okay this reminded me of something really cool in the real world so imma do a little nerdy hyperfixation infodump if I may. There’s several types of fungi that work as parasites like this. But there are 3 that stick out to me the most.

1. The powdery piggyback (Asterophora lycoperdoides). This mushroom releases its spores onto other mushrooms and then they “piggyback” onto it, take over, and grow. It mostly does this to mushrooms of the Russula genus

2. Cordyceps (specifically Ophiocordyceps unilateralis) this mushroom has become famous for being in nature documentaries because it zombifies ants to spread itself, which then was used for the last of us, in which the cordyceps turns humans into zombies known as clickers. What it does to the ants is it gets inside them, infects and controls their brains into going up high, and then grows through them to reach the light to grow and eventually release new spores. Ironically several cordyceps mushrooms are being researched for medical benefits to the brain and body! I actually take gummy vitamins made from them

3. Lion’s mane (Hericium erinaceus)

These are considered to be both parasitic and saprotophic (grows on dead and decaying matter, usually trees) they’re found on both decaying trees and logs, but they can also be found growing in wounds on living trees. Much like the cordyceps, they have medicinal purposes that are being researched and I also take a vitamin made from these. Lion’s manes are also very popular in the culinary world, they’re known for having a crablike taste and are often used as a vegan friendly and allergy friendly substitute. The spores to grow them can easily be bought online as well.

Sources:

Also if you’re into stuff like this I’d HIGHLY recommend this book. I have a copy at home and I use it all the time, plus the illustrations are gorgeous

Thank you for letting me infodump lol

Ok I just got to know. Do the pick-me flowers from your fnf vmix mod have ANY significance, at all, in the lore and story? Or are they just random ass flowers that grow when an infected person dies and are there just for aesthetic purposes?

Little of both, "Pick me" Is supposed to sound like a mix of the joke about "Pick me" girls, and the term "CLICK ME" from most virus/scams/adverts.

This is to hint at the fact that not only are the flowers incredibly toxic to all enviornments (because they outgrow EVERYTHING, theyre like lovecore Kudzu plants.) but they are the thing that ultimately causes the rebirth of the virus.

It infects everyone, it rots away, Pickmes bloom on the body, the codes of the world, everything. Till all that's left is the seed for some new soul to click and effect their game with.

All thats left is Pickme.

Pickme.

PICKME!

PICK ME!!!

[sysig]

Enoki mushrooms - white coloured and a sweet taste. Cultivated mushrooms have not been exposed to light, resulting in a white color.

Gotta test out new ways to optimize Sugar output