#it's all about decadence & aesthetic baby

[morguecuts]

Incase I’m Not Here

five hargreeves has a baby with fem!reader  synopsis: five has saved the world from an apocalypse countless times. after creating a loving family of his own, his constant worry that the end will come again unfortunately became true. word count: 1.5k tags: five is a father, fluff, angst, death, a few sad moments authors note: this is one of my most beautiful, yet devastating pieces. i truly love the idea of five being a loving father :(

  ♱⛧ ⋆ ˚｡ ⋆୨ ୧⋆ ˚｡ ⋆⛧♱ the end of the world was an ongoing tragedy for many years, ruining the lives of billions over and over again, but especially the hargreeves. the umbrella academy, as they were called, spent endless months trying to prevent an apocalypse from occurring. they traveled from timeline to timeline, skipping around decades trying to save themselves and the remainder of earth. 

when the timeline was assumed to be restored, the superhumans had agreed to go separate ways and live their lives. diego and lila created their own family, housing a new timeline version of lila’s birth parents. viktor moved all the way to canada, owning a bar and a gray cat named misty. luther was typically off the grid, except the occasional birthday post for him and all of his siblings. klaus and allison lived together, in a three story house with allison’s daughter claire. 

five hargreeves traveled the world, worrying about the potential upcoming events that would force him and his siblings to reunite in tragedy. he tracked previous timelines, looking for artifacts that hint at a glitch in the system. after the first 5 years of silence, and seeming nothing pointing toward any timeline issues, he began to calm his nerves. 

that’s when he met the mother of his child. she was the light that five never knew he was missing. she ignited a burnt flame deep inside his soul, rekindling the lost inspiration he held for things that were other than research. in addition, her beauty was unmatched to anyone he had ever seen, or met before. her long hair completely covered the back of her body, tracing the outline of her beautiful shape. her perfectly puzzled face made him swoon almost immediately. most importantly, the way that she loved him made him learn to love who he was inside, instead of who people wanted him to be. 

their home was a perfect combination of their personalities. a matte black and white aesthetic, perfectly clean and chic, with a hint of victorian vampire. her feminine touch was visible in all the right places, creating a warm home for the two of them, and anyone else who entered. his headstrong worries of future destruction set up for typically annoying safety procedures, but she didn't mind it. the pair merged together quite beautifully, carbon copies of the other. if five didn’t know any better, which to be fair he actually did, then he would say they were lovers in every possible timeline. 

five was used to living for himself, his siblings, and even the rest of the world. his purpose was always meant to save other people, live for them, protect them. however, now 5 years into the loving marriage with her, he had learned to live for someone who wasn’t superhuman. 

he stood hovering over the clean white bassinet. the small beaded eyes glance up at him, an overwhelming amount of confusion falls over them before turning to love. her small nose scrunching at the sight of him. the few hairs brushed upon her head are slicked down away from her face. her small pursed lips release grumbles and whines at an alarming volume, desiring for the tall suited man to hold her.

“she isn’t going to crumble if you pick her up, five. you have to hold her eventually, she needs to know who her father is.” the child's mother cooed, leaning into his back, wrapping her arms around his waist lovingly. the man sighed into her touch, except it wasn't really there. the air behind him was cold and stiff. his body ached for her, a sense of comfort was quickly turned back into sadness. 

“what if she doesn't like me?” he spoke into the rather empty room. “what if something triggers me to teleport and i hurt her? my only way of protecting her is loving her from a distance.” the water in his eyes glasses over the blue. he reeks of sorrow, insecurity, and fear. 

“you are the one man designed to protect her, my love. don't let what happened in the past make you afraid of what's happening in the present. she’s going to need you, we both know i can't help you anymore. please just pick her up, five.” the voice echoes around him, his eyes narrowing down onto the now sleep filled child. 

he carefully unbuttons the sleeves on his jacket, pushing it off his shoulders and draping it onto the side of the crib. he rolls his white undershirt above his elbows, hyping himself up in the process. the small fragile girl rests on the pillowed surface, her tiny chest rising and falling. his hands carefully wrapping around her body, supporting her head while raising her close to him.

the small being is unlike anything he’s ever seen. tiny hands attached to tiny arms, short legs with the smallest feet. she’s unable to do anything without him. her entire life for the next few years depends on his actions. a small worried smile spreads across his face, admiring the girl leaning against his arms. 

small eyes blink open tiredly, glaring around before landing on her fathers. pure love glistens with the hazel colors swimming around. she makes chirps and squirming noises, slightly frightening five in the process. he takes mental notes on all of her little features. definitely her mothers eyes and lips, but his nose. truly the perfect combination of the two lovebirds. tears form in his eyes when he sees her smile, a miniature yet exact replica that once belonged to her mother. 

a faint knock taps upon the nursery door, the caretaker is chattering unknown words outside. theres a moment of silence before she enters the room, glancing at five with the baby cradled lovingly in his embrace. he turns around at the sound of her appearance, looking into her puzzled face. “there’s been a call for you, it's from your sister in law.” her eyes are firm and strong, holding his gaze causing him to pause for a moment. 

“and what did she say?” he turns his back to her again, slowly rocking the baby back into her peaceful rest.

“a briefcase was found in new york this morning. i’m so sorry, but it’s starting, sir.” she holds her hands together in front of her body, head dipping into her chest. 

“how long do we have?” five knows his constant worrying would eventually lead to this. he thought by spending endless hours hunting down glitches in the timeline, he could find a cause, find a solution, but nothing ever came until now.

“they don't know anything yet. it could be weeks, months, possibly even years. i’ve been told it's not severe, but that doesn't mean that it won't become so.” the sorrow in her voice runs deep, an unfortunate sigh escapes her lips. 

his stillness is deafening, the room has a slight buzzing noise from the house's electricity, but otherwise is completely silent. the babe shifts in his arms, nuzzling into him for better warmth and comfort. it is at this exact moment that everything clicks into place. she is his new purpose, and she will be his future. if anything is to go wrong, he would sacrifice his life for her without a question. nothing will ever be able to cause harm to her as long as he is alive.

his mind races thinking of the possibilities, will she have powers like him? will she be as headstrong as him? will she be accurately able to save the world if he is no longer alive to do so himself? The caretaker takes a step backwards, beginning to leave the room before his voice breaks the silence. “i need parchment, as much as you can physically gather.” his words are cold, and demanding, nothing that he has ever been towards her before. “and pens as well, as many pens as you can find me. i have work i must do before it's too late.” he begins to lie the child back into her bassinet, gently wrapping her back into the warmth of the bed. “yes sir, is there anything else?” the caretaker steps towards the door once more, ready to step into motion as requested. five’s eyes scan over every inch of his beloved offspring, a protective concern washed over his face. “yes actually, the albums from the attic please. i want her to be able to recognize her family when things go south.” his comment is quieter, more personal and calm. the caretaker whisks away, leaving the man and his daughter alone once more.

“you will never be alone” a gentle hand brushes small hairs away and out of her face. rubbing her small, chubby cheeks before pulling back. “i will guide you through everything that i possibly know, you will not fail this world.” his feet step back from the white wooden crib, reaching for the black jacket that was hung upon it earlier that night. slipping into it before exiting the room, heading toward his office.

 ♱⛧ ⋆ ˚｡ ⋆୨ ୧⋆ ˚｡ ⋆⛧♱

thank you so much for reading!

i hope you’ve enjoyed it, please feel free to make any comments or story requests down below. any support is always appreciated <3

[missmastectomy]

I was hesitant to write this post, but I want to talk about why so many women and teenage girls are getting double mastectomies.

The justification a lot of trans people use for elective double mastectomies is that "top surgery" helps people feel comfortable in their bodies. Traditionally, this surgery was restricted to transmen. In the recent decade, however, nonbinary identified and even non-trans identified women have been getting mastectomies. I remember clear as day when my coworker (who identified as a "cis" woman) told me that at 18 she was planning on saving for top surgery. I myself got my breasts removed when I identified as nonbinary, having been on testosterone for 2 years.

It's important to remember that no person is born wanting surgery. Society creates conditions that are hostile to women, GNC, and gay people, and this hostility encourages a dissociated state. The body is removed from the mind - instead of the body being an intrinsic part of your personhood, a mechanism through which we experience the world, it instead becomes ornamental. This is perfectly represented by all forms of non-reconstructive cosmetic surgery, which risk people's health for entirely aesthetic reasons.

So, why do teen girls want to remove their breasts? For those of who experienced unwanted sexual advances from a young age, the answer is intuitive. Breasts are inherently sexualized. They are not seen as a vital organ that contributes to bodily function and health, but as a decoration, the only purpose of which is to attract men and feed babies. In this way, a woman's breasts do not even belong to her. When men openly gawk at a woman without a bra, when relatives grope at her as a pubescent girl, when we are exposed to an endless stream of hyper-sexualized images of women with their cleavage out, a message is sent loud and clear: existing in a female body is unsafe.

I want to make it very clear that an elective mastectomy and the practices of breast ironing are very different, but there are commonalities in the attitudes behind both. Breast ironing is done to pubescent girls in order to "prevent" her being sexually assaulted or harassed by men, sometimes including male relatives. When I hear stories of girls in the West starving themselves and binding to hide their chests, I can't help but see similarities. When I was binding and restricting calories as a 15 year old, I would have said I was doing it so that I could pass as a man. But I would have been lying to you. I was lying to myself. I didn't hate my breasts because I was "born in the wrong body." I hated my breasts because they were used to justify my sexualization. From my perspective they put me in danger.

We often hear that women's rights in the West have been secured, but you need only look at the war on women's bodies to see that that is a fantasy. When young girls constantly receive the messaging that your curves and boobs WILL attract men and that you will be objectified for it, many will try to opt out.

Take Liv Hewson, for example.

She says herself that her anorexia was a manifestation of "gender dysphoria," but the question remains - where did this dysphoria come from? Why would anorexia develop as an outlet for it? What makes more sense: a young woman was born hating her body and her breasts because she has a gendered, non-female soul, or that same woman hates her body because she has been conditioned as such by a patriarchal society, the same society that encourages extreme self harm and body modification through a multi-billion dollar cosmetic industry?

Gender dysphoria in young women needs to be demystified. It's not special, it's not unique. It is NOT evidence that she needs invasive surgery or steroids to feel comfortable in her body. It is evidence that she is in pain. In order to address the rising rate of transition in young women, we must first acknowledge the conditions that nurture this form of self-hatred.

Transition IS a feminist issue. It is just as relevant in Western feminism as tackling the beauty industry, female sexualization, and violence perpetrated against women through porn. All of these issues are deeply interconnected. When we approach dysphoric women with compassion and encourage them to perceive their bodies as a part of themselves that deserves to remain intact and whole, rather than as their enemy, we take a necessary step towards female liberation.

[solarpunkani]

"Oh no, someone's attracted to the aesthetics of my -punk movement but doesn't know the praxis and history behind it like I do--"

OK. Tell them. Make it a teaching moment. Everyone who's in your movement learned the background from somewhere at some point, maybe this is that point for that person. Give them a jumping off point that they can dive into later.

"Oh but I shouldn't be responsible for teaching baby -punks about the history and the how-tos and--"

OK. Then don't tell them. You don't have to be responsible for teaching people with a budding interest in your group the ins and outs and how-tos. That's fair and valid! It can be a lot of work. Someone else will handle it

"But I'm annoyed that they would try to claim to be part of/be interested in my community without knowing all the details that I know after being in it for months/years/decades, they're dumb, they're posers, they're--"

OK. Then don't engage with them, if it's that bad. Maybe someone else will come around and tell them the history, maybe they'll pick it up on their own, maybe they'll just enjoy the fashion elements for awhile.

"But they shouldn't claim to be part of the -punk community if they don't know the--"

I feel like we have a few options here. People can either talk to them, share the history, share the values, share the praxis. Or they can just chase off anyone who even thinks about dipping a toe in their community, and then wonder why it's dying off later down the line.

I dunno, maybe I'm too naive and patient or whatever. But if people are entering your -punk spaces without knowing The Rundown of what you feel they need to know, maybe being nice about it and informing people instead of immediately assuming stupidity and malicious intent could help you make a new friend. Even the loudest voices in a space had to learn from somewhere, and not everyone has the luxury of being in the space as the History was Happening--whether it's an age thing or a not being aware of the space thing. Or maybe I just don't see what the big deal is behind people hating people who like the aesthetic of something and don't know the behind the scenes history about it yet.

Because I believe in the word 'yet.' No one comes into this world knowing everything about everything, and we're all constantly learning new things. I'm not gonna degrade someone and call them a poser for not knowing what I know. Because if it were me, interested in a scene but getting chased out and called a poser? I wouldn't hit the books and study up, I'd go 'that fuckin sucks, those people sucked' and then avoid anyone and anything having to do with it.

So chase people off and call them posers if you want. But if your community starts dwindling, don't be fucking shocked.

[steveyockey]

While some of both Davis and Crawford’s work could arguably be described as camp (for the former, King Vidor’s Beyond the Forest; for the latter, later-era films such as Strait-Jacket and aspects of the wondrous Nicholas Ray film Johnny Guitar), that their entire careers and places within film history are defined as such does a disservice to their artistry. But they aren’t alone in representing what has become a troubling trend when it comes to women’s work. As camp entered the mainstream lexicon, especially after Susan Sontag’s landmark 1964 essay, “Notes on ‘Camp,’” the term has been increasingly tied to work featuring women who disregard societal norms. Camp is often improperly and broadly applied to pop culture that features highly emotional, bold, complex, cold, and so-called “unlikable” female characters. I’ve seen films and TV shows such as the witty masterwork All About Eve; the beguiling Mulholland Drive; the stylized yet heartwarming Jane the Virgin; Todd Haynes’s Patricia Highsmith adaptation Carol; the blistering biopic Jackie; the deliciously malevolent horror film Black Swan; Joss Whedon’s exploration of girlhood and horror, Buffy the Vampire Slayer; the landmark documentary Grey Gardens (which inspired the 2009 HBO film starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore); and even icons such as Beyoncé and Rihanna be described as camp. Look at any list of the best camp films and you’ll see an overwhelming number of works that feature women and don’t actually fit the label. Usually, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, the film whose behind-the-scenes story provides Murphy’s launching pad for Feud, will be at the top of the list.

While camp need not be a pejorative, that hasn’t stopped it from being widely used as such. In effect, being labeled as camp can turn the boldest works about the interior lives of complex women into a curiosity, a joke, a punch line. The ease with which camp is applied to female-led films and shows of this ilk demonstrates that for all the (still-paltry) gains Hollywood has made for women in the decades since Davis and Crawford worked, our culture is still uncomfortable respecting women’s stories.

That major Hollywood icons such as Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford (and, more recently, Natalie Portman, thanks to Jackie) have been roped into this lineage isn’t surprising. Society doesn’t know what to do with women of this ilk without discrediting their very womanhood. Take artist and filmmaker Bruce LaBruce’s offensive description of Mae West in an essay on camp: “[She] played with androgyny to the degree that her final performance — her autopsy — was necessary to prove her biological femaleness.” In his 2013 essay “Why Is Camp So Obsessed with Women?”, J. Bryan Lowder expands on Sontag’s most well-known line: “It’s not a lamp, but a ‘lamp’; not a woman, but a ‘woman.’ To perceive Camp in objects and persons is to understand Being-as-Playing-a-Role.” Lowder writes, “‘Woman,’ the concept within the quotation marks, is not the same thing, at all, as a real woman; the former is a mythology, a style, a set of conventions, taboos, and references, while the latter is a shifting, changeable, and ultimately indefinable living being. Of course, there may be some overlap.” But if all gender is a performance, where does the “real” woman begin? And why does the presence of camp hold more importance than the actual work and voices of actresses such as Crawford, who have come to be defined by it?

At times, camp can feel like a suffocating label. Its proponents often misconstrue the fact that recreating oneself as a character is not merely an aesthetic for women, but rather, for many, a matter of survival. Living in a culture that profoundly scorns ambition, autonomy, and independence in women, girls learn quickly the narrow parameters of femininity available to them. When they transcend these parameters, life can get even more difficult. Women often pick up and drop various forms of presentation in order to move through the world more easily. Performance as a woman — in terms of how one speaks, walks, talks, acts — can be a means of controlling one’s own narrative. Camp often limits this part of the discussion, focusing instead on the sheer thrill of watching larger-than-life female characters cut and snark their way across the screen. How these works speak to women, past and present, becomes a tertiary concern at best, and the work loses a bit of its importance in the process; it either comes to be regarded as niche or, if it still has mainstream prominence, as abject spectacle. In turn, the conversations around these works become less about the women at their centers and more about how those women are presented.

Much of Baby Jane’s camp legacy comes down to how more recent audiences have interpreted Davis’s performance. She’s ferocious, frightening, and grotesque. But framing Davis’s performance as camp, as Murphy does, doesn’t take into account how dramatically acting has shifted over the course of film history. In some ways, camp has become a label used when modern audiences don’t quite understand older styles of acting. Modern actors privilege the remote, the cold, the detached. The more scenery-chewing performances that make the labor of acting visible — such as the transformative work that Jake Gyllenhaal did in Nightcrawler, or most of Christian Bale’s career — is typically the domain of men. (Or, at least, it’s only men who can get away with it without being called campy.) As Shonni Enelow writes in a marvelous piece for Film Comment, “[Jennifer] Lawrence’s characters in Winter’s Bone and The Hunger Games don’t arrive at emotional release or revelation; rather than fight to express themselves, her characters fight not to. We can see the same kind of emotional retrenchment and wariness in a number of performances by the most popular young actors of the last several years.” Davis’s work as an actor was the antithesis of that; she painted in bold colors. Even her quietest moments brim with an intensity that cannot be denied.

[7thedisasterdyke]

Kamala has already supported KOSA (Project 2025). She has told us she is going to continue to murder babies and families. She wants to turn Gaza into real estate for white supremacists. She invited right wing goons to speak at the DNC. The Biden admin just funded alt-right chuds in Venezuela to riot because Biden thinks the socialist cheated and thinks Venezuelan Trump won instead. As a queer, indigenous person, I know Kamala will be just as bad as Trump for my rights if not worse because she wants conservatives to vote for her. The Democratic party and AIPAC has ousted progressive dems in their primaries and replaced them with obedient right wing Dems. The Biden admin sends weapons to nazis in Ukraine who killed 14,000 Ukrainians who protested against the Right wing coup that Obama supported a decade ago. Obama is responsible for many innocent deaths (but y'all treat him like a celebrity saint). Obama and Hillary had Gaddafi killed. Libyan had it all. Obama ordered a drone strike on paramedics rescuing people from the wedding he just bombed (they call it the Obama two tap). Anyway, you can keep defending the Dems moving 3 clicks right because it's better than 10 clicks right with Republicans, and saying it's an evil system, but you're helping to enable it. If we get Trump, it's nobody's fault but the Dems. I actually thought Kamala would be better than Biden. I was wrong. I'm not gonna vote for anyone who is responsible for murdering children and selling the rights of marginalized people (including myself) to Republicans. You can say "Oh but she said 'trans rights'" all you want but this is my 4th election and Dems keep supporting transphobic dems and anti-abortion dems and they parade them around like the good guys. The marginalized people you claim to support are all screaming at you to not support these right wing Dems and join them on the left. You don't get to sell them out for your own comfort. Your rights aren't more important than mine and vice versa. We've been asking you to move left with us since at least Obama turned out to have lied about codifying Roe and decided bailing out his bank buddies was more important. But we're watching you move right. We will survive either way but the dems want you to use scare tactics because they want to be the ones at the wheel of the fascist machine. So if you don't like it then don't participate. Don't play their game. They both play for the same team. They want your consent for nuclear war against made up enemies. It's sick. Stop believing their lies and supporting them. Supporting Kamala is the same as supporting Trump. You're just voting for aesthetics. Lots of liberals have already lost their way anyway and say they'd rather be fascists than socialists. Human rights begin on the left and the dems have never been left of center. Ffs liberals pulled out of a pride fest because of Palestinian inclusion. Lots of them already are self admitted zionists. Do you want to belong to a political party that openly supports white Christian supremacy cosplaying as judaism to avoid criticism? The two party system is white supremacy and they are using a black woman to play identity politics with people who only see her as color and refuse to see that she's a tool to them. Anyway there's room at the leftist table. Or you can keep going to the right until you no longer remember what you stood for.

I'm not gonna lie, sending one big chunk of text with no space for me to breathe between paragraphs is tough for me to read, but I'm going to anyway, because I foresee I'm gonna get quite a few of these.

So I'm going to go through this one point at a time:

Support of KOSA: sadly true, but that's an easy thing to change minds on. Not like she's the only one in the senate who wants it passed on either side.

Continue to murder babies and families: I can't tell if you mean the border or Gaza, but in either case, Trump will do many times worse.

Gaza into WS real estate: no she doesn't. She's been more outspoken in favor of an end to the genocide than any other presidential candidate in modern history.

Invited right-wingers into the DNC: first, I don't think she personally invited them. Second, even if she did, she still needs to pull Trump supporters and marginally right-wing independents to vote for her. We want a better society for everyone, after all.

Venezuela: the "socialist" has a proven track record of human rights abuses, and other than that, I don't know enough about the country to speak further on the subject.

Just as bad for queer/indigenous as Trump because she wants the right to vote for her: seriously, this is just point 4 worded differently. The purpose of an election (in the US) is to make yourself palatable to as many people as possible so you can beat the massive core of voters each party has. Also, again, we're trying to make a better society for everyone, right?

Dems/AIPAC ousting progressives in primaries: sure, AIPAC has a large amount of money to outspend progressives, and even still, the only actual "ousting" I've heard of was Cory Bush.

Biden sending weapons to Nazis in Ukraine: ok look, I'm sick of leftists parroting Russian propaganda. The government of Russia is authoritarian and right-wing, Trump idolizes Putin, and Putin has allied himself with Kim Jong-Un, who Trump also loves. Also, a few far-right nationalist groups fighting to maintain their nation (alongside non-far-right troops) is to be expected. And respectfully, I don't care how Obama was involved, because that's irrelevant to Russia literally invading.

Obama having innocents killed: yeah, duh, he was a US president in the US Empire's Military Age. That doesn't mean anything, and Harris was never even part of his administration, so your point is just a complete non sequitur to begin with.

"Defending Dems moving 3 clicks right when it's better than 10 clicks with Repubs": would you rather have the 10 clicks? Like, actually. Democrats are already right-wing. Harris's policies would work to move the country left, actually.

"If we get Trump, it's nobody's fault but the dems": actually, no, it's the fault of people who try to persuade the minority of far-left democrats to not vote for the best possible option.

Dems keep supporting transphobic/anti-abortion dems: yeah, sure, I'll give you that one, because guess what? They're more easily convinced to vote in their trans constituents' best interests regardless. They're more likely to vote to maintain abortion rights because they're more likely to listen to those constituents.

Marginalized people screaming at me to join them on the left: I am on the left. Incredibly far left, in fact. I'm just not stupid enough to think that we have enough people to change things. Want me to vote third party? I think I'd rather go with the safer option for marginalized people and pick someone with any chance of beating Trump.

I'm a sellout: no, I'm really not. I just understand that the system is overwhelmingly rigged against the non-establishment picks.

Dems want to be at the wheel of the fascist machine: better the one who has a chance at turning it around than the one who'll turn up the throttle.

Don't like it, don't participate: this isn't like a boycott. If every left-winger decided not to participate, Trump would almost certainly win by default. We "play their game" because without the game's existence, Trump's devoted followers would have already had every minority expunged from the country.

They both play for the same team: they're not even playing the same game! Trump and his Republican lackeys want to eliminate the concept of voting entirely, wants to end freedoms for all minorities, and wants to establish theocracy. Democrats want to maintain the democratic system, establish more rights for minorities, and make life better for Americans. This is also my answer to "Supporting Kamala is the same as supporting Trump": it's just not true.

Lots of liberals are self-admitted Zionists: believing Jewish people have a right to the chunk of land the Jewish ethnoreligion originated from, in this world with borders, where they can be unequivocally safe from the historic oppression they have faced for the last several thousand years in... is a fairly common sentiment. That is Zionism. There is a difference between believing that, and believing that they should be the only ones living in that specific region that was inhabited when they got there, which is Kahanism. In order to figure out, in a way that makes as many people happy as possible with the outcome, what to do with Israel, we need someone at the helm of the US who is not Kahanist. Trump notably supports Kahanists. Harris, notably, does not. At least not publicly. Do you know how hard it is to keep a secret as a presidential nominee?

The two-party system is WS: YES! It is! But we're not going to beat it from the outside because, and this is important, they have the power to silence us if we get too loud, and they will absolutely use it. The US has the third largest military in the world by active personnel, at 1.3 million. Do you think we would be able to train enough people to beat that? Think we can afford enough fighter planes to defeat 4 of the top 5 air forces in the world? Until the answer to that is yes, I'm going to keep voting in US elections for the lesser of two evils, because I'd rather fight them, than the trigger-happier alternatives.

"You can keep going to the right until you no longer remember what you stood for": also known as "doing anything a different flavor of leftist doesn't like".

I'd like to end this with a series of open questions:

Did you know that, of the third-party candidates for president, only Jill Stein has any chance of winning enough states?

Did you know that she's only ever won Massachusetts?

Did you know that the Claudia de la Cruz can only win by write-in?

Did you know that Cornel West isn't even on enough ballots to win?

I've seen leftists calling for votes for all three.

Final question to everyone voting "third-party or not at all":

Which one of them will beat Harris in every state?

Have a good night, and stay whelmed.

[butmakeitgayblog]

which one of your Lexa's would be obsessed with the white t's? i think it would be COA Lexa.

Loool I only saw the preview of this at first and was like I know they're gona ask about the white t's and the answer is CoA and then I oPENED IT 😂

I love that you're so keyed in because yes you knew, I knew it, we all knew it lol

CoA Lexa is just that type of person. This is her entire aesthetic really

(Not a white t but it fits CoA Lexa so much it's gross)

It half drives Clarke insane because she tries, she really tries to get Lexa to branch out and stretch her fashion wardrobe but Lexa is just... staunchly not interested.

"They're just clothes, Clarke. I walked around for decades in the same outfit and never thought twice about it."

"Yes, which is why you should want to expand your horizons. White, blue, black, red, and grey are not the only colors in the world, baby. Just try it. Just try something that isn't plaid. Try something that isn't a plain white crew neck tshirt. The world is your oyster."

"🙂 .................. no❤"

[fountainpenguin]

Riddle watches New Wish - Post #16

Battle of the Dimmsonian

I want to highlight them specifically. Look at that FOP-style fairy boy! Baby's all grown up!

Jasmine and Winn are so ready to party at the museum sleepover.

Oh, they are SO ready for this (Also).

slifdj, Peri looking ahead, noticing Cosmo and Wanda in disguise, and screaming "MY PARENTS?!?"

What the heck, Fairywinkle-Cosmas? You left your son for 10k years? Why? Look at him; he's got anxiety!!!

Dev: I haven't talked to Hazel since our fight :'( I need to get to her. /apparently doesn't talk to her all day and now it's night and he's trying to scare people with ghosts for no reason

Removing the staff during the sleepover night (after a spooky presentation) seems like something a museum would totally do as a prank.

Peri has been onscreen for like 2 minutes and he's already sad inside.

-> Hey, I think he outgrew his fear of the dark!

Dev, I am begging you to make it clear to the audience what you're doing right now. This is not an apology. This is not close to what you said you were going to do earlier??

-> Confirmation Dev is Peri's first assignment, so my "high school trial run" lore hasn't been disproven yet. I can work with that in 'fic. We'll see if he says he's graduated.

-> I do have a fanfic set-up where he's going to do a trial program as Foop's partner when they're still in Spellementary, but I don't think this disproves that either since that's a very supervised experiment for him (It's their extracurricular).

I don't think I've said it, but I really enjoy the way this art style has been handling the hairstyles. These angles of Peri's swirl are really interesting.

Peri... Don't take this the wrong way, but if you can't handle Dev being mildly needy and pushy, you're not ready for the big leagues.

idk, Peri strikes me as WAY too overconfident. He showed up ready to go a couple episodes ago. This is the first time he's back onscreen, and this immediate crash on his end is just proof to me that his inexperienced little tail doesn't know what he's doing.

Peri is the guy who's super hype for kids because he thinks they'll be cute and fun, but he's unprepared for work and responsibility. I'm getting "Tries to avoid changing diapers and/or feels smug about how little housework he does" vibes.

-> What decade is he designed after? Cosmo was designed with 50s aesthetic and I feel like this is actually on-brand for attitudes during Peri's aesthetic parallel time period. lol.

-> It's not like Poof was doing the hard work of godparenting when he was a baby. This is new for him and probably different than he fondly remembers.

-> I looked it up and apparently suspenders made a comeback in the 1980s. I designed my teen Poof for the late 60s-early 70s (and he's my flower child), but it makes total sense that he'd be a little farther forward in time since Cosmo and Wanda weren't allowed to have kids for the first 10k years of their marriage.

- Yeah, I would look at this man and say he's giving me "macho 1980s breadwinner husband who has a fragile ego regarding his manliness and doesn't do his own laundry" energy. - Please tell me he started dating Goldie and she broke up with him because he's not good with stress and now he's clingy and wants her back; "He lost the pretty girl because he wouldn't pull his weight" would be the funniest possible direction to take their relationship - I might need to write a 'fic about Goldie showing up while Dev is out and she and Peri have a fight where he's groveling and begging and then Dev walks in and he's like "... Oh boy, I can't wait to have a business relationship with this guy."

Peri came to this party like "I grew up with Timmy Turner. My grandma teaches godparenting classes. I even did a trial run with Mrs. Crocker... I know the ropes! :)"

-> His crown did not know the ropes.

Diagnosed "would not take full custody in the divorce."

Peri, I cannot be any clearer that you can't behave this way around a neglected child right after establishing yourself as a trustworthy figure he can rely on. If this plot goes in the direction of Peri throwing in the towel (or snapping at Dev), I'm gonna crack up.

Like, at this point I am 100% expecting Peri to yell at Dev (maybe not this episode, but someday), and that's going to break this kid. I feel like Jorgen might get involved and separate them, unless Peri is desperate to "not have a failure on his record" or something (seeing as he seems embarrassed his parents know he's a godparent.

-> idk what's up with that yet. I'm genuinely confused. Peri, this is your first chance to see your parents since they dipped for 10k years. I can't get a read on your feelings. Are you angry? Did they invite you and you said No? How old were you? Did you grow up with Mama Cosma? Big Daddy? Boarding school? Inquiring minds need to know!

Maybe it's not been 10k years for him? Was he still existing in the slower-moving present day? Maybe Peri embarked on his own 10k-year trip? I'm puzzled.

-> I feeeeeeel like the time travel is a convenient plot device for the purpose of aging him up without jumping us forward to a more destroyed planet, and we're not going to get a straight answer about what happened with him, which is a shame.

Hmm. I suspect we're not going to delve into his backstory, but I'll hold out hope. Why throw that in there if you're not going to discuss it, though?

Did I miss something? Why does Dev think he doesn't need friends when earlier he wanted to talk to Hazel? Huh. I feel like there's a missing scene there. Hazel rejecting his attempt at an apology would've been helpful for me.

For some reason it's funny to me that the Tooth Fairy offered Peri a job, which he turned down. My brain immediately went Peri -> Cosmo is his dad -> Jorgen is Cosmo's distant relative but they refer to each other as cousins -> Tooth Fairy is Jorgen's wife. I wonder if they hung out together sometimes at like, extended family reunions or something.

-> von Strangles are big on family and Cosmo and Wanda kinda dipped out on theirs, so...

-> omfg, Mama Cosma is out there somewhere like that meme of the guy in the chair leaning over way far, head in her hands, because this is the 2nd time she lost her baby for 10k years. Left to get milk (Again).

He's so cute. I'm so glad to see him back in the series; I missed him so much. He's always been a favorite for me, which was largely based on my own 'fics, so it's really cool to see a character I love showing a wider range of personality onscreen.

HAZEL! If you weren't mad at Dev anymore, you should've told him! He's been miserable about you yelling at him without giving him a chance to share his side!!

His tushie cannot read minds!!

Dev is the kid that you want to get in a fight with because he's mean but then he looks at you like this and you're like " :| "

-> I hate that this is likely how Dale looked at Vicky once upon a time. Dev looks so much like his dad and now I'm like. "Yeah, she probably kicked him down the stairs."

Aww, reunion... <3

I really do like their color scheme and vibes. I've always thought Poof was a good blend of his parents (Good blend of smart, clean, and on top of things while also getting into trouble, holding petty grudges, and making bad or dumb decisions). I'm happy to see him and it's cool to see their hair designs and colors together.

I'm glad "Certifiable Super Sitter" wasn't his swan song from the franchise. It's nice to see a deeper take on his character <3

Patty Possums Party Playground

I'm glad they're making an effort to balance Hazel's Dev interactions with Jasmine and Winn. I keep wondering if they'll get sidelined. This episode seems to be about them, though.

Is the animatronic going to be run-down?

Winn is having the TIME of their life.

Cosmo: We're gonna do this without magic! Hazel: Isn't shrinking Wanda magic?

Immediate prediction: the possum mascot has been summoned to party with them and now she isn't going to let them leave. She'll get aggressive if they try.

Oh no, Cosmo just suggested Wanda use her wand to try getting his out of the claw machine. Is she about to blindly follow and stick it in there like when they were swallowed by a bear and Cosmo suggested dipping it in stomach acid to measure how deep it was and it dissolved? And she just... did it?

YES, sdlkfj. Never change, Wanda.

Nobody tell Gary and Betty there's a Smack-a-Mole game here.

The possum's singing a song about how the party never ends. Yeah, I think I called the plot.

-> Oh, I NAILED THAT!

They're so cute:

Hazel: Friendship isn't only about the moments you're together! It's also about holding each other in your hearts when you're apart! :) Dev, abandoned and confused since their fight: Hey. what.

Wanda dunking on friendship is very funny to me.

A Date to Remember

... Is this with Hazel's parents I assume?

-> Okay, maybe! That title card looks like it is. Also, waning crescent AGAIN? Y'know, the moons were so useful for my OG series episode timeline and I think some will have to be non-canon in New Wish.

I like how Cosmo and Wanda push their backs against each other the same way they used to dance. And I really appreciate how we seem to have a consistent floorplan for Hazel's apartment.

-> Okay, I treat "Cosmonopoly" as the first time they met so if I want to canonize New Wish, I have to un-canonize Cosmo's line about the diner being their first meeting spot, but I can't be mad since I pretty much never see anyone use "Cosmonopoly" for that.

Did Hazel just erase her parents' memories. Oh no, now they've never met! ... Are Cosmo and Wanda allowed to do that? It sounds like they just altered true love.

-> Hazel's parents look the same 11+ years ago as today. I'm a bit surprised by that.

CUPID! ... Oh, wow. His design's changed. I don't think I love it, but I guess it's cool they're doing unique shapes in this show since the OG had the same bodies all the time. I'm glad he's still a grump <3

-> Is he a lot older than Cosmo and Wanda? I'm surprised he aged(?) during normal time when they didn't during 10k years of travel? Is he old or just redesigned? Unclear.

I would make another "IS HE ALLOWED TO DO THAT?" joke here [Cupid trying to set Hazel's mom up with someone else] but... I mean, he's literally the only person who's allowed to do that.

egg baby.

It's hilarious that Hazel convinced her dad to listen to her by saying she's psychic. Of course the parascience scientist would go for that.

-> Note to self, he was interested in it at least 11 years ago.

Cosma confirmed to still be Cosmo's surname!

Cupid's bragging that he won because Brewster (sp?) is going to ask out Angela, but she's totally going to turn him down. Get wrecked, fool.

I am OBSESSED with the fact that Cupid knows all the humans' names. That is a man who does his job. Also I love how he keeps nipping at his bottom lip with his silly buck teeth.

-> I don't remember Cupid knowing people's names in the OG series (I don't think he has much opportunity to say them besides on the dating show in his debut) and now I want to see if that's always been his thing.

-> I'm pretty sure I remember Timmy was given an arrow with his name magically engraved on it at the end of "Love Struck Out," so... interesting.

[brighttears]

i love your characterization of Joel!! he’s just the perfect mix of protective and angsty and sweet!

id like to request a drabble or fic (whatever one you’re comfortable with) of Insecure! joel. Maybe it’s because of the age gap, or he feels like he can’t protect you well enough like younger guys can! i really loved the fic where he’s watching the reader sleep and the convo they have after it’s so sweet. Maybe a little bit of a continuation of that?

sorry if this is all over the place, and if you decide to write this then thank you! :)

Joel Miller x reader 

No physical description except for having hair, no use of y/n, completely gender neutral 

Warnings: language, mentions of death, age-gap, pet names (baby)

Word count: 1.5k

A/n: I know my writing has been lacking so I hope this isn’t trash and thank you for the request !! I enjoyed writing this :3

—

Joel smooths his hair back, sighing at the gray in his reflection. He turns his head to the side and pulls at the lines connecting his nose to his mouth, then his cheek down, which accentuates the tired gouges under his eyes. He inspects the crow’s feet reaching out to his temple. Are those freckles, age spots, or just being unclean? He’d never noticed before how much of his mustache and beard were near completely gray. The knuckles of the hand on his face are scarred on top of scars from decades of fistfights and beatings. To be fair, the cracked mirror is extremely dirty, but Joel knows that doesn’t make a real difference. At the sink in the grimy bathroom, Joel condemns his reflection. 

He’s old. Only recently had he realized this, or started paying real attention to it. With too much else to crowd his mind, Joel had almost forgotten his age; he hadn't had to think about it.

What really bothers him, aesthetics aside, is how his bones ache when the weather changes now, how his knees hurt and he’s out of breath when he walks up more than three flights of stairs. He reminds himself of his dad when he groans getting out of a seat and it takes him four times longer than it used to. 

What all this means is he’s growing less capable, and it’ll only get worse, and there’s nothing he can do about it. He’ll only get slower and soon enough he’ll be deaf. He won’t be able to aim a gun or actually run. He snickers at the thought of dying from old age instead of a bullet. 

His real worry isn’t with himself, though: it’s always you first. If he can’t run, how will he get you out of somewhere when you need to escape? If he can’t hear, how will he know if someone’s sneaking up behind him? What if you’re screaming for him and he can’t hear you? What if he doesn’t notice a Clicker in time? If his vision goes and he loses his aim then he can’t hunt to feed you, not to mention that a gun is the first line of defense against everything. 

He’s been sure, pretty much since the day you met, that he is going to protect you until the day he dies, but he hadn’t been thinking about the threat of aging. 

Interrupting him, you push the door open and stroll into the bathroom. You come up behind him to slink your hands around him and knit your fingers together on his pudgy belly. Leaning to the side so that you can look at the reflection of you and him, your cheek presses against the side of his arm. Joel moves a hand over yours and sighs, a smile teasing his lips. 

“Look at you, pretty boy.” You tell his reflection. He titters. “What’s so funny?”

“I was just thinkin’… ‘bout how I look like I could be your dad.”

You pull away, playfully punch his arm and laugh, “Fuck off!”

“I do, though, look.” Joel takes your wrist to lightly pull you back to him at the sink, holding you by your middle behind you, he rests his chin on your shoulder so that faces are side by side in the mirror. 

Joel reaches a hand up to touch your hair, holding a piece up to be viewed. His head moves up and down from his stable chin as he talks, “My hair’s goin’ gray.”

“You’re a silver fox.” You counter. 

Joel chuckles. “Silver fox?” 

“Yes.” You turn in his arms to face him, “You trying to tell me you're ugly? Because you should know not to even try it.”

“I’m tryin’ t’say I’m old.”

“‘Old’ isn’t the first word that comes to mind." You reach up to run your hand through his hair, speaking to it, "But, first of all, it means you’ve made it far enough to start getting gray hair. And I mean, these days, people start going gray by the time they’re thirty. I don’t know why you’re so worried about it.”

“I’m not just talkin’ about the hair. I mean, I’m gettin’… less and less capable. Not that I was ever—” he pauses, deciding on different words, but they’re not much better, “I’m gettin’ worse.” 

“Worse?” Your forehead creases, “I don’t like this rabbit hole you’re going down.”

“It’s not a rabbit hole. It’s the truth.”

“Joel. The fact that you’re fifty six” Joel inwardly cringes at you saying his age out loud, “means that you’re more than capable. You should wear it as a badge of honor.”

“I’m not talkin’ ‘bout how I feel about it, I’m talking about my faculties.”

“No, I know. I’m trying to say that your age represents how fucking good you are at surviving. It’s badass.” You raise your eyebrows at him. 

“I’m not concerned about me.” Is all he replies with. 

There’s a pause. You sigh and survey his face. “I trust you. I know you can keep me safe.”

Joel pulls away from you, frustrated, “That doesn’t matter. I mean, it matters, but that’s still not what I’m talkin’ about. I can try as hard as I want, and I’m gonna do everything I can to keep you safe, but what about when tryin’s not enough?” Joel’s looking at you, but not really—really, he’s flipping through the thoughts in his head, perfervid, “What about when tryin’ is too slow? When I can’t fight someone off’a me? Or you? What about when I go fuckin’ blind and can’t shoot a gun? I mean I’m already fuckin’ up, I can’t—I can’t—”

“Are you saying you want me to leave? I’m too much for you?”

“No, no baby no, I don’t want you to go please don’t go—”

“Joel, calm down.” You put your hands on his shoulders to get his attention but speak softly to bring him down, “You are getting in your head about this. Everything is ok. You’re fine, I’m fine.”

“But what about—“ 

“I don’t care, Joel, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is right now. That’s all I can afford, and your soul’s just as broke as mine is. Can you just be here, with me, now?”

“Yes, yeah, I can. You’re right baby I’m sorry—”

“You don’t need to be sorry Joel.” You smile, almost chuckling at him, “I’m not scolding you, you’re not in trouble for worrying.” You give him a short, soft kiss but he won't let it go, chasing your lips. He puts his hand behind your head to hold it in place and then brings the rest of him to you with his hand on your jaw. He repeatedly smacks your lips but deepens the kiss each time. And then you’re making out, which Joel loves to do because it makes him feel young again. When he pulls back away, you wrap your arms around his neck, naturally beaming. Joel takes notice of the wrinkles on your own face, the crow's feet and smile lines like his. He traces a finger over them. 

Sometimes the love makes his chest ache. His heart has a habit of making it feel like he’s already lost whatever it is it’s loving. Love and fear muddle together sometimes, and he's not always sure which one he’s feeling when he looks at you. All he knows is that no matter how tightly he holds you, you never feel close enough, and no matter how long he does, it always feels like you’re about to slip away. With his age, he’s not afraid of dying first, it is exactly the opposite; Joel is terrified of you dying first, because of him.

Part of him wants you to leave him, find someone younger, stronger, faster, still sharp, someone who can protect you better than he can. He’d even tried shoving you away once, but you would have none of it. That’s when he opened up for the first time about his insecurity with his age, and that was the first time you saw him cry. 

The rest of him says that he can’t live without you. What else is there left to do if it’s not for you? You are his risk, the twine holding him here, what keeps him awake, what reminds him that his skin can be supple. He is a shield, but he is built out of wood. 

You take both of your hands to caress Joel’s face and whisper, “Grow old with me.” 

He brings his hands over yours, feeling the warmth of your skin against his. Your finger twirls a lock of gray next his ear, thumb brushing down his cheek, palm on his patchy beard. He relaxes into your touch. From it, he knows where he is now, what’s real. He understands that you’re right here with him, safe and sound, letting him love you, and that’s what matters. Years and heart be damned, love ages, but it doesn’t get old.

[pascals-doll]

GATÚBELA— moodboard

✐; reader moodboard analysis

⊹ * ˚ you knew exactly what you like and how you like it. this is exactly why you found yourself drawn to bold clothing; never a simple moment in the outfits you choose, wearing your personality on your sleeves as your own personal killer accessory nobody could copy. you were catwoman-like.

⊹ * ˚ you were driven, independent, and always hard-working. you held yourself to high standards as you pushed yourself to achieve everything you have wanted. especially for others, one thing about about being raised by latino parents was sacrifice. it was a natural instinct engraved in you. everything you did was for you, your family, your culturá.

⊹ * ˚ constantly wearing what could people claimed as “too extra clothing” but everyday, there wasn’t a moment were you were considered “a statement” with your clothing, turning heads, and drawing attention with your cutthroat outfits from all genders. shit even dogs. your closet was filled with outfits for decades. it was scattered with only bold colors, being a complete deep dive everytime you get dressed.

⊹ * ˚ only gold jewelry was worn in this house, to perfectly compliment your bronzed dulce skin. you admired your infnite array of different hoops, hoops with designs, and necklaced-medallions for each and every piece in your closet. your makeup being bold, only cat-eye. you always payed close attention to the way you pampered yourself, always channeling a barbie energy as you felt your most divine when getting ready.

⊹ * ˚ your eyes being complimented by a dark wing and wispy lashes. the honey tone of your skin illuminating more with your golden highlighter. whether your hair was wavy, curly, or straight. you always had your baby hairs edged-up, doing cute designs whenever you wanted.

GATÚBELA VIBES ̗̀➛ imagine the models in these pictures as you! you are the beautiful reader. these pictures just serve you a visual rundown of the reader’s aesthetic. make it you! the way your beautiful body is shaped, your hair, your features, skin, height, size etc. you are all gorgeous! take all these pictures and reshape them into you. it is your beauty that ellie yearns in, the way you look.

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*.ੈ𑁍༘⋆ dear reader, *ੈ𑁍༘⋆

your tigeress aura meant there was never a dull moment with you. you were the golden sun the golden sun to ellie as she just made you shine brighter. ellie always made sure you knew exactly how strong and beautiful you were inside and out, she would always go on about how much she loved your bronze skin in black so none of your natural glow would wash out. ellie just swooned with appreciation for your culture and strong personality. she knew that you perfectly knew how to handle yourself on your own, having a beautiful empowering lead on your life and it made her wanna be right there with you.

🐈‍⬛. 🐈‍⬛.

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ᝰ.ᐟ to all my latinex baddies! this one is for you! esto es para ti 🩷 if you are not latinex! thats okay this story is still for you! thank you for reading and appreciating the implemented representation in this fic!

[denimbex1986]

'Before I saw the Barbie movie, I was resolutely against ever seeing the Barbie movie. Despite the fact that as a child I loved Barbie, who I interviewed regularly for important radio segments in her coral peach ball gown, I decided that the last thing I needed was 90 neon-coloured-Margot-Robbie-filled minutes of a film which would obviously have nothing new to offer me; a grown-up feminist woman who stopped idealising the problematic Barbie aesthetic decades ago.

But then the reviews from angry men started rolling in. You only had to be vaguely near the internet after Barbie’s release to hear the resounding roars of the mostly middle-aged; outraged that such an abomination against “all men” could even be allowed to exist. The reviews began to read like dreamy promotional soundbites: “An alienating, dangerous and perverse film”, “They won’t be happy until we are all gay”.

These men were really, really wound up about this film. They loathed it. They were spitting fury at Greta Gerwig for creating a piece of such obvious, glaring, “anti-men, feminist propaganda”.

And so, when I was asked by one of my teenage children if I would be up for a day of “Barbenheimer”, I said “yes”: newly salivating at the potential of a project that could cause this much delicious backlash.

I decided I would swallow my aversion towards sustained exposure to powder pink, get Barbie watched, then chase it all away with a good dose of brooding grey, historically accurate cinema. Despite the promise of those furious reviews, I still expected to enter and exit the cinema despising Barbie and in awe of Oppenheimer.

During the five hours of media and popcorn consumption that followed, a chain reaction set in motion that left me changed. It made the vitriolic reviews of Barbie, calling Greta Gerwig’s masterpiece “anti-men”, even more comical. The irony was bright and clear to me: Oppenheimer is anti-women.

And the thing is that Oppenheimer is not different to most films. Because most films are anti-women.

We just don’t take to the internet to rage about it because we’re used to it; desensitised by the decades of cinematic women who exist only to paint their lips red, bare their breasts and give the important male protagonists something to play with.

Is Barbie anti-men? Oh, I hope so (it isn’t, it’s anti-patriarchy), but also, frankly, I don’t care. Because if it is – after decades of movies made by male directors like Oppenheimer’s Christopher Nolan, it has good reason to be.

And it does what it so brilliantly does within the sparkly, imaginary bubble of an entirely fictional world where the male characters it side-lines are literally plastic dolls, all called Ken (except Alan); fake toys who simply can’t even breathe. Anti-women films like Oppenheimer on the other hand, sideline or completely erase very real, flesh-and-blood women who lived whole lives and made significant contributions to our world.

So, if you’re a man who has watched Barbie and felt angry or irritated or just plain strange while watching the depiction and treatment of the Kens – then welcome to cinema. That is what it feels like to be a woman watching Hollywood movies most of the time.

But here’s the thing – that poor Ken doll you’re lamenting over, is not Leona Woods; who at 23 was one of the youngest female scientists the Manhattan project employed. Ken, unlike Leona, was not present at the first nuclear chain reaction and Ken did not have to do what Leona did – which was to conceal her pregnancy until two days before her baby was born. Ken is also not Elizabeth Graves; a scientist entirely essential to the project’s success who was completing an experiment when she went into labour and did not stop the experiment until it was finished, timing her contractions with a stopwatch. Let’s see Christopher Nolan make a three-hour-long film about that.

Neither Woods nor Graves feature in Oppenheimer, which, like so many anti-women films, manages to assume such an air of authority that it can leave us assuming that its astounding lack of female representation must be down to its admirable commitment to historical accuracy. I’ve heard the cries – “It is called Oppenheimer after all. How much do you expect it to worry about its women?” And perhaps it’s true – you can’t very well expect a film about the very intelligent physicists who tackled the science behind creating the atomic bomb to change facts just for representation can you?

No. But you can and should expect such a film to accurately and fairly represent the female scientists who were, in fact, right there – alongside Oppenheimer and his men, ensuring the Manhattan Project’s success. Perhaps it might have been appropriate if viewers left the three-hour epic clear in the knowledge that Kitty Oppenheimer didn’t only drink herself to distraction while taking care of screaming children and dropping a hip flask out of her handbag at every possible moment; she was also a trained botanist who was employed at Los Alamos to take blood and test the levels of radiation exposure of her colleagues.

More than 600 women worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos alone, yet the only female scientist given any recognition in Nolan’s world is Lilli Hornig, who speaks only briefly, mostly in opposition to the bomb’s use. And what about Charlotte Serber? Who Nolan depicts as Oppenheimer’s secretary, completely erasing her vital work as scientific librarian for the project’s “secret library” and who, with no formal training, became the only female group leader, overseeing a staff of 12 people while also risking her safety in counter-espionage efforts.

Oppenheimer doesn’t only fail the Bechdel test, it fails to represent the real women who contributed so significantly to that morally fraught turning point in history. Those women were physicists, engineers, chemists, mathematicians. They existed. And, as is so often the case, many of their achievements have been forgotten and remain unrecognised, by both history and cinema.

As I continue to emerge from my Barbenheimer experience, researching the lost women of the Manhattan project and occasionally still basking in the disgust of all those angry men who need to hate the work of art that is Barbie, it becomes ever clearer: anti-women is the benchmark of mainstream filmmaking and some people are simply unable to deal with the plastic Manolo Blahnik being on the other foot.'

[odinsblog]

“Iggy Azalea is the walking embodiment of how white women will fetishize Black womanhood — from co-opting our speech and vernacular to paying thousands to replicate our physical aesthetics to birthing Black children — but will refuse to stand in solidarity with Black women.”

THAT part.

Not only is Iggy Azalea a culture vulture, but she also lied about having no contact with Tory Lanez because she mistakenly thought her sloppy ass letter wouldn’t be public.

Shoutout to Meghann Cuniff, the reporter who broke this story. She don’t miss 🎯

Iggy’s full letter (grammatical errors and all) beneath the page break.

👉🏿 https://www.legalaffairsandtrials.com/p/iggy-azalea-to-tory-lanezs-sentencing

Iggy Azalea’s full letter written to a Los Angeles judge prior to Tory Lanez’s sentencing, obtained by @meghanncuniff:

“Dear Honorable Judge Herriford,

I'm writing to you in regards to a case in your court.

My name is Iggy Azalea and I've been a successful musician for the last decade.

Ive sold over 65 million records throughout my career, had number 1 hits on the billboard hot 100 and broken records previously held by 'The Beatles'.

My music has been nominated for 6 Grammys and I have a multitude of other musical awards.

Throughout my career I've toured with some of the biggest acts in music: from Beyonce to Pitbull.

Ive also collaborated with everyone from Britney Spears to Jenifer Lopez. In short, like yourself, I'm great at what I do and I'm well respected by my peers.

Becoming successful is incredibly hard to do and maintaining success is even harder.

The music industry is not designed to empower Artists - especially not women.

You learn to expect misogyny at every turn, no matter how much you've personally achived.

Sadly I've spent my entire career battling sexism and bad behavior behind the curtains.

One unfortunate consequence of that is I am victim of abuse myself.

I must make note of the things ive suffered through so that you understand definitively:

I would not write to you on behalf of an abuser.

In fact, its the very reason I felt it imperative I share my viewpoint as a woman in music: in regard to Daystar Peterson.

You are presiding over his case and It would mean a great deal to me if you'd please let me share with you why "Tory Lanez" is far from your average entitled rap star.

I believe in justice and I know you do too. You've dedicated your life's work to it and I respect that deeply.

Thats why im taking my time to do this, because I know the person you are understands in order to truly conclude what a fair sentence is, You need better understanding of who the person you're sentencing IS at their core.

Judge Herriford, I was elated when I saw your name in relation to this trial because you have a reputation of being a very fair judge.

In fact its one of the reasons I was sadnned Daystar had subpar legal counsel and did not take the stand at his own trial.

We've all been frozen in fear before. The unfortunate side effect of his choice is he's been painted in the most unrecognizable way: to you, the jury and the public.”

And a big fuck you! to all the other sorry ass celebs who tried to excuse or minimize what Torey Lanez did and then tried to drag Megan Theee Stallion - The Shade Room, Drake, DJ Akademiks, Kelsey Nicole, EJ King, 50 Cent, LeBron James, Remy Ma, Meek Mills, 21 Savage, Tasha K, Joe Budden, Lil Baby, Kylie Jenner, Nicki Minaj

[corvidclub]

in light of discourse of potential drag in s3 here's the iwtv guys' relationship to drag/crossdressing

Lestat: He does it. We've already seen him do it. He thinks it's fun :). his taste level and makeup skills are...not all the way there. I imagine his drag aesthetic without Louis' supervision is either 5yo girl at a princess tea party or hot mall slut. Regardless, he's having fun that doesn't involve inhuman violence so good for him ig. Knows very little about modern drag culture apart from what his gay tour interns tell him and the occasional bar visit. He is blocked by several drag race queens bc he keeps sliding into their dms with critiques and/or flirtations based on whatever episode he happened to catch a glimpse of.

Louis: Knows the most about contemporary drag culture by far out of anyone on the cast. Was on the ground floor observing the ballroom scene develop. Thinks rupaul's drag race ruined real drag culture (but has seen every episode). Is absolutely vicious in his criticisms of the queens and def ate some baby queens back in the day. Internally thinks he would slay drag race but whenever someone suggests he actually do drag he always comes up with some excuse like 'I can't shave bc I'm a vampire' or 'I can't find a drag mother I'll eat them'. In reality he is just afraid of getting similar criticisms and would like to keep his ego intact. If he were to do drag though his aesthetic would be very sleek and sophisticated a lot of 80s powersuits/powerdresses (executive realness is his fav category), slinky jewel tone gowns, big hats, fur coats, some tasteful bdsm elements. While his style is fairly modern I imagine he's quite old-fashioned about certain elements of drag like: NO body hair! NO boy nipples! FEMALE ILLUSION ONLY! I think he'd get really into the interiority of his drag persona as well...Lestat is like "Je suis Lisette :) it is like my name but I'm a girl :)" Louis on the other hand is looking in the mirror face beat like.. "who is Celine Emerald VanMichaels DuPree? does she dream? what does she dream of? what am I trying to embody when I become her?" tdlr: he is very annoying.

Armand: Doesn't really have much interest in drag tbh sure he'll drink a glass of AB on drag race nights with loustat and bitch about fabric with the best of them but it's not something he'd really do on his own. If he felt he had to crossdress for whatever reason he'd do it but wouldn't feel that strongly about it positively or negatively. I imagine some elements of women's clothing would bring him back to the renaissance since men were very much gowned-up back then which could be good or bad depending on the day he's having. I imagine his past painting skills would transfer so he'd be weirdly very good at drag makeup like he and Lestat would follow the same tutorial on youtube and Armand would come out looking like Plastique Tiara while Lestat looks crazy. He wore eyeliner casually in Paris and I could see him having fun with eye makeup under certain circumstances. However, I don't think the idea of having a drag persona would appeal to him bc 1. repressed femininity and enforced masculinity wasn't really a significant part of his human life unlike loustat and 2. a performance is only worth it for Armand if someone actually fully believes it otherwise it's Just Acting and that's Lestat's thing not his. He loves typical drag queen camp movies though like Mommie Dearest, Showgirls, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, etc. are some of his faves. Louis thinks those films are bad/weird (he's more of a Steel Magnolias queen) but Daniel and Lestat watch with him.

Daniel: He did drag/crossdressed for special occasions back when he was younger like halloween and pride events/protests. He'd do one of those stories where the reporter becomes part of the community they're writing about and he'd do drag for like a week just for the story ofc. He has a Frank n' Furter costume that he's owned since 1976 and worn to at least a decade's worth of Rocky Horror screenings. Also a playboy bunny look which he tries to claim he wore as some sort of feminist commentary but was really about showing off his twunk body to various substance users. He probably sees these past antics as him 'being secure in his masculinity' rather than expressing femininity which is.... kinda true but also not. He's a huge fan of John Waters and Divine. Like Louis he also believes that rpdr ruined drag culture but actually doesn't watch it except for clips of untucked fights (he would like dragula though). He thinks the most important thing for a drag queen to be is funny and shocking to straight people rather than to serve looks, in fact, he prefers queens who are a bit busted or purposely strange looking. This makes going to drag shows with him and Louis very entertaining because they are guaranteed to have exact opposite opinions and fight about it.

[qqueenofhades]

I was shocked to know that the mom of one of my brother’s friend is terrified she might be lesbian, all because she hangs out mainly with boys, they’re 10-11!!!! (my brother and I have a +10years age gap). She’s told another mom, my mom and their teacher, of how scared she is that her daughter might be gay, she’s taking her to therapy (let’s hope it’s an ethic non-biased professional), but this has been going for like a year and she just won’t drop it, she just adds more things why she’s worried, that she likes soccer and basketball, video games… and she says things like “she’s my only daughter, I don’t want her to be butch”.

Tbh I think the girl needs more love and attention, she’s much more open with the other mom and my mom, she hugs them and has talked with them about grades and stuff, before she tells her mother because she’s afraid of her reaction.

The other mom, my mom and I were shocked that a youngish mother would still think like that!! Both my mom and the other mom are in their 50s and I’m in my mid 20s, I think the mom is closer to my age than to their age. I can’t believe there’s still people that won’t accept their children for how they are, and she doesn’t even know if her daughter is truly gay, she’s just assuming because of the things she likes 💔

There is this pervasive idea (related to the "theory of progress" in history, which is equally false) that the younger generations are always more progressive, more tolerant, more open-minded, and generally "better" than the older ones. Which can sometimes be true, but not at all in every case, and not nearly as much as common wisdom would hold. That's why we're getting worrying polls about Gen Z boys and men being more likely to view feminism as "toxic" than baby boomers, that ever-increasing percentages of young people either don't know about the Holocaust or doubt that it happened, and other troubling statistics that show the result of years of propaganda, social media disinformation, fake news, big-time misogynist manfluencers like Andrew Tate, leftist antisemitism, and all the rest. So.... yeah. It makes for grim reading.

This is why, as noted, the idea of history and human belief only moving in one direction (from "less progressive" to "more progressive") is flatly false, as we've seen over the last decade in particular. Human beliefs are malleable, can (and often do) go backward as well as forward, are dependent on social context, and will by no means get better just because chronology has gone forward. So yes, a young mom could absolutely have deeply stereotyped and harmful gender/LGBTQ+ views, especially thanks to the social media culture that glorifies "tradwifing" and "cottagecore" and all these other concepts that represent patriarchal gender roles with a dash of Instagram Aesthetic and "free thinking" (which somehow always ends up as "don't trust modern medicine and don't vaccinate your children!") That stuff is absolutely RIFE, and plenty of supposedly more-liberal younger moms and women are eating it up. Obviously, worrying that your daughter "might be butch and/or non-girly" because she likes sports and video games is dangerous nonsense for any number of reasons, but it shows how this been almost as effective (if not more so) than plain blunt misogyny at encouraging women to embrace regressive mindsets and decide that no actually, feminism is bad. Welp.

Anyway, I feel bad for the kid. I hope your mom and the other mom, and any other actually supportive female mother figures, are able to give her positive affirmation, regardless of what her identity is or ends up being, because it sounds like her mom is going to do a number on her. Hoo boy.

[orangepanic]

Sorry if this is an odd question but what lead you to the Iroh Asami ship? I've always been interested in hearing how it came about!

WELL! In this essay I will…

It’s not an odd question at all though. Why are you frothing at the mouth over a tiny kids’ cartoon ship that sank over a decade ago and breaks up the biggest pairing in the fandom, Orange? Are you mad? Who does that?

Okay but look at them 🥹

My interest in Irosami was initially a rage-based aesthetic. I love Asami. I really admired her courage in standing up to her father and being willing to lose her whole cushy life in the process. That takes serious guts. This isn’t a fighter! She’s just a random girl who hit the wrong guy with her moped. But she always steps up. She does everything right. And then she gets treated like absolute crap!! My poor baby. Why is nobody choosing Asami to love?

Right on cue, enter buff buff hero man. I think I actually shouted when Iroh showed up, not out of Zuko nostalgia but because finally here was Asami’s love! Way to upgrade, girl. He’s gonna save the world and buy you dinner and make love to you all night long on his big phallic boat.

Then I started watching Iroh. He never smiles. He’s always tense. We don’t see him eat or sleep. He’s constantly shifting strategies so is clearly smart but without an ounce of it used for self-preservation. There’s something sad about him. He just keeps getting the crap kicked out of him trying to save people. And I start to think Iroh might need love just as much as Asami does. Maybe more. How must it feel to be named General Iroh of the Fire Nation? The weight of that history.

So by the end of the season they were married in my head. Just two young people handed more than their fair share of responsibility and poisoned legacy and doing everything they can to redeem their family names and do right by the world. I think they’d understand each other. I think they’d be kind to each other. I think they’d poke each other in the side to make them laugh and kiss each other breathless and hold one another in the dark when it all seems like too much. I think they’d deserve each other.

And I find that way more compelling than canon.

[occultradio]

Hi sweet pea! I was wondering would it be cool for you to lore dump about your alien "breeding" system? Are they all potentially fertile? Sorry if ti's sudden but I love everything that involves worldbuilding and racebuilding!!

Hi!! 💜

Like with their emotional transfer thing, I took sims mechanics and ran with it. Mpreg, especially with aliens has been a cannon thing with sims for a realllyyyyy long time now regardless of what sex organs they have lol

Like Vis is the bio child of two lesbians so he knows absolute fuck all about gender roles anyways.

As for Sixam races/species I'm still working on that, the 3 types I do have figured out I still don't have names for.

I have a type inspired by cervidae(deer) & bovidae (mainly antelope)

Like Trace's mom or River who I have married to Strangerville's Erwin (their not always yellow it was just a coincidence)

Then I have one inspired by tropical fish (their not aquatic its just aesthetics) Viscera was originally made with @saruin's milkshake challenge. and his twin sister who was recently made because of an ask game lmfao. There's also Tilly, his late wife.

But the one I have set to throw a wrench in things genetic wise I haven't made as an individual yet. But their more spider/monster based, that one doesn't hybridize well and could possibly be from a planet other than Sixam. That's where Trace's face teeth and spider eyes come from. Them being intersex and having various health problems are just genetic fuck ups from the two species being incompatible. So literally any species could mix and be mostly fine except for the weird spider one.

Trace's assumed fertility issues (decades of groupies but zero kids) is again taken from animals, like mules & zebroid's who are a hybrid of horse and donkey or zebra. 99.9% of the time they are sterile but there's been extremely rare instances of mules having offspring.

BUTTTTTT I also have these ones who don't fit those 3 types at all

I've always been obsessed with genetics and genetic deformity's one of my favorite places I've ever been on a date to was the Mutter Museum, they have the largest collection of preserved human deformities and other oddities and it was just so cool to see that yeah dna fucks up majorly some times.

I also personally collect 'oddities' (found bones and taxidermy)

But yeah Trace can make/have babies but their fertility rate is absolutely garbage so without any actual medical testing they were right to assume infertile.

as for determining who gets impregnanted??? idk 🤷‍♀️ Trace has topped Vis a few times and at the end of their rough makeup session but then again Vis's moms are both biologically female and they have bio kids.

[cheapsweets]

The voracious Almlaeni

My response to this week's BestiaryPosting challenge from @maniculum

Not so much time to spend on it this week, so Pentel brush pen over initial pencil sketch. I've pulled out a fine-nib fountain pen to potentially use in next week's challenge (so I don't need to concentrate so much on maintaining the correct line thickness) but I need to work out which ink to use.

Thanks again to @maniculum for posting these challenges - I'm still having a lot of fun with them, they've given me something to think about and focus on during heavy weeks, and I've done more arty stuff since you started running this than in the whole... probably at least the last decade :D

I'm definitely on the lookout for some good resources for animal anatomy and musculature (birds tend to be so fluffy they're somewhat different to draw), so happy to accept any suggestions! :)

As ever, reasoning under the cut...

[Long etymological digression redacted] The Almlaeni is a rapacious beast and craves blood. Its strength lies in its chest or its jaws, least of all in its loins. It cannot turn its neck around. It is said to live sometimes on its prey, sometimes on earth and sometimes, even, on the wind. The female Almlaeni bears children only in the month of May, when it thunders. Such is the Almlaeni’s cunning that it does not catch food for its babies near its lair but far away.

So, we know that this creature is a predator, definitely a carnivore, and 'its strength lies in its chest or its jaws' - I decided its strength lies in both, so we have a creature with heavy musculature around its jaws, and I tried to make it quite barrel chested. Given that the next section mentions it cannot turn its head meant I have it a very short, very muscular neck, which ties in with the chest and powerful jaws.

Now, if I wasn't so much of a coward, I would have done something weird and inventive with this, like @pomrania or @rautavaara or other artists have done with some of the other prompts. My first thought when I read 'can't turn its head' was either a frog or a whale, which could still have worked in some capacity, given than whales are mammals, and that this creature exists... I liked the idea of the frog leaping (based on the continued description below) but couldn't work out how to make it look aesthetically pleasing without turning its head, so I ended up going much more traditional again...

Given that it craves blood, I can't imagine that its particularly happy subsiting on earth or the wind, but it's always nice to have options...

If it has to hunt its prey at night, it goes here and there to a sheepfold, and lest the sheepdogs catch its scent and wake the shepherds, it goes upwind. And if a twig or anything, under the pressure of its paw, makes a noise, it nips the paw as a punishment. The Almlaeni’s eyes shine in the night like lamps. It has this characteristic, that if it sees a man first, it takes away his power of speech and looks at him with scorn, as victor over the voiceless. If it senses that the man has seen it first, it loses its fierceness and its power to run. Solinus, who has a lot to say about the nature of things, says that on the tail of this animal there is a tiny patch of hair which is a love-charm; if the Almlaeni fears that it may be captured, it tears the hair out with its teeth; the charm has no power unless the the hair is taken from the Almlaeni while it is still alive.

So, we know this creature is pretty smart, but at the same time, if it snaps a twig, it nips at its own paw... we'll put that down to negative reinforcement. Obviously this is the position I chose to illustrate it in!

This is definitely making me think that this creature might be related to the Wutugald...

They eye shining like lamps, I figured probably indicates they have a reflective coating. I figured it would be cool if the eyes were really large, so I took a bit of influence from the Troodon from the Telltale Jurassic Park game (if you've played it you'll know - it's the 'lets add body horror to the JP franchise' dinosaur...)

We also have the small patch of fur on its tail, that it's keeping tucked beneath its body.

Almlaenis mate on no more than twelve days in the year. They can go hungry for a long time, and after long fasts, eat a large amount. Ethiopia produces Almlaenis with manes, so diversely coloured, men say, that no hue is lacking. A characteristic of Ethiopian Almlaenis is that they leap so high that they seem to have wings, going further than they would by running. They never attack men, however. In winter, they grow long hair; in summer, they are hairless. The Ethiopians call them [redacted].

So, I went with an Ethiopian Almlaenis, with its summer coat (i.e. naked), since this wasn't something I'd really had the opportunity to draw so far with these challenges. I still wanted to pop a nod in to the mane (even if I'm drawing in black and white, so missing out the fun colours), so we have some remaining rough hairs around its neck and upper back.

It was interesting having to draw a furless creature, so I took a lot of inspiration (particularly around the head) from sphynx cats. The dentition is also from cats.

This is also where we find out it has a very impressive leap, so I had to start thinking about animals that could leap so high, it was almost like they were flying. As noted above, I was tempted to go with something froggy, but given the rest of my design decisions, I ended up being inspired by kangaroos. It does make a bit of a weird contrast, with the broad, stocky chest and long, bouncy legs, but I think it works. I wasn't planning on going quite so literal with the kangaroo legs, but they're really interesting, and looking at the feet you can definitely see how they could be really dangerous (the long, central toe and claw are taken directly from kangaroos, as are most of the proportions of the rear legs.

The tail was also influenced by kangaroos - I figured it it was leaping through the air, it would need a long, powerful tail to balance it out!