#le oof speaks

[le-oof]

if anyone’s looking to support someone directly for the SoCal fires, i have a coworker who has family who lost everything

totally cool if you can’t donate right now—just please spread the word 🙏

[agendabymooner]

☏ SNOOZING ON THE JOB, cl16 voicemail blurb (f)

☏ MOONY’S VOICEMAIL — a series in which formula one drivers send a voicemail to the reader. what about? prompts may vary. (maybe fluff or smut, idk)

voicemail summary: charles fell asleep watching his kids, so his eldest boys hervé and jules reported to their maman through a voicemail.

content warning: nameless mom!reader (maman), fluff, translated french dialogues, dad!charles x ocs (hervé and jules + mentioned baby pj), nosy kids but they’re cute so they’re valid, humour

note: i used the same kids from of long lines and names haha sorry— enjoy xx

a - n masterlist

o - z masterlist

somewhere in the background, the film toy story 3 was playing.

the microphone neared a soft breathing as a small voice spoke, “maman? hallo- maman? ‘s hervé—“

“oh herb, pourquoi est-ce que tu touches le téléphone de da?” why are you touching da’s phone, another voice rung out on the side. “‘member? no touching phone!”

“wanna say hi to maman! wanna say hi, jules?” the toddler, now identified as hervé, asked his twin brother jules.

“nah uh,” jules replied with a slight reluctance on his tone, “da va se fâcher.” da will get upset.

“hm, d'accord,” hervé hummed before speaking directly to the phone, “maman— da ‘s sleeping with sacha— look—“

the phone moved around and neared a soft breathing— assuming that it was coming from a baby — before a loud snoring erupted in the voicemail.

then the snoring had faded as hervé spoke, “da has his mouth open like this—“ hervé let out an airplane-like sound before his brother jules giggled alongside him. “da said we watch toy story together but da’s sleepin’!”

“da also said we nap,” jules piped up on the side, “but he and pj are napping. da is sooo sleepy, maman!”

hervé giggled hysterically, surprisingly he hadn’t woken his father up from his laughter as hervé continued, “da a dit que nous aurons de la crème glacée aujourd'hui - je pense que je vais prendre du chocolat!” da said that we will get ice cream today. i think i will get chocolate!

“ooh! good ice cream, h!” jules let out a gasp, “i think i will get uh… mango!”

“mango? bleh,” hervé stuck out his tongue. “i no like mango!”

“ooh- i think we should end call, herb,” jules told his twin, “maman’s no answer. stop call.”

“okay, bye maman~” hervé dragged his word out as he greeted the phone.

“bye byeeeee~” jules’ voice got higher.

“byeeee mamaaaaan— je t’aimeeee—“ hervé paused and let out an ‘oof’ before footsteps appeared in the background of the voicemail. “da— da…”

a deeper voice spoke hoarsely as charles stirred awake, baby pj still sounded asleep on the driver’s chest as charles asked, “mmgh— hervé? why are you not napping?”

“da, turn this off?” there was a long pause.

charles, still half-asleep, said, “hervé, jules— did you call maman?”

“yes— we say hi, da,” hervé and jules reasoned.

“oh mon dieu,” charles groaned quietly, “boys, we do not call maman when she’s worki—“

— beep —

[its-elioo]

Incorrect quotes Part 3 (RnM fanfic related)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 4

Knock Out: I just can’t believe you would do this to me.

Rarity: I’m sorry, I had no idea…

Knock Out: It’s called a betrayal of trust. Does that mean anything to you?

Rarity: Of course it does. I didn’t mean to hurt you-

Knock Out: You don’t just get me a gift out of nowhere and I have nothing prepared for you! Now I look like a big old jerk!

-

Sideswipe: If your leg gets cut off, would it hurt?

Rainbow: Duh!

Sideswipe: How tho?

Rainbow: Cause your leg got cut off, foo.

Sideswipe: Where you gonna feel the pain?

Rainbow: In your le-…

Sideswipe: Exactly, bruh.

Sideswipe: How you gonna feel the pain—

Both: If your leg is gone!

-

Steeljaw: It’s really cute that you’re gonna defeat me with the “power of friendship” and all but again I am the devil from the bible so—

Sunset: You mf, you didn’t let me finish!

Steeljaw: Uh-huh, go ahead.

Sunset: I have all this power in my hands—

Steeljaw: Dadadadada— shut up, shut up, stfu- I’m the- I don’t care. I DO NOT CARE.

-

Predaking: Your existence is irritating.

Fluttershy: How so?

Predaking: Your presence is annoying, but the thought of anything bad happening to you upsets me.

-

Reporter: Hello miss, did you witness anything strange in the area?

Rainbow: Wha- witness?

Reporter: Yes.

Rainbow: Is this camera on?

Reporter: Yeah, we’re live!

Rainbow, trying to distract her while Sideswipe is slowly sneaking away: Ohhoh- Oh nah, I ain’t seen nothing. Ha, I ain’t seen nothing. Matter of fact, I’m blind in my left eye. And 43% blind in my right eye, I don’t see much of nothing. A matter of fact I can’t even see you, sir!

-

Pinkie: And if I run and leap at Smokey, he will most certainly catch me in his arms. COMING IN!

Smokescreen: NO WAIT- I’M HOLDING ENERGO- [drops it on the ground and catches her]

-

Rainbow: Giraffes, they can fight.

Sideswipe: You’re more afraid of a giraffe than a gorilla?

Rainbow: Hell yeah, I’m more scared of a giraffe than a gorilla.

Sideswipe: Imagine you’re in a zoo, you mean to tell me you’d rather fall into the gorilla pit?!

Rainbow: Yes.

Rainbow: How tall am I?

Sideswipe: 5.7

Rainbow: How tall is a giraffe?

Sideswipe: Probably like 12ft.

Rainbow: Exactly.

Sideswipe: How strong are you? Very weak and fragile. How strong is a gorilla?

Rainbow: I could talk to a gorilla—

Sideswipe: You’re gonna TALK TO HIM?!

-

Ultra Magnus: I’m not going to lie, Optimus. I’m a little scared of your daughter.

Optimus: Sunset? She wouldn’t hurt a fly.

Ultra Magnus: Well, that’s reassuring--

Optimus: She would kill a man, however.

-

Rarity: Why are there little handprints all over the walls?!

Wheeljack, whispering: Why are there little handprints all over the walls?

The CMC: Because we have little hands.

Wheeljack: Because they have little hands.

-

Bumblebee: What am I doing wrong?

Sunset: You want me to answer as a therapist or your friend?

Bumblebee: Friend.

Sunset: Go see a therapist.

-

Applejack: What do ya think Wheeljack will do for his distraction?

Bulkhead: Who knows? He’ll probably throw a rock or make a noise that’s what I w-

(a big explosion appears behind them)

Bulkhead: …or he could do that.

-

Twilight: Can I be frank with you guys?

Grimlock: Sure! But I don’t see how changing your name is gonna help.

Pinkie: Can I still be Pinkie?

Smokescreen: Shh, let Frank speak.

-

Ratchet: We call that a traumatic event.

Ratchet, turning to Rainbow: Not a ‘bruh moment’.

Ratchet, turning to Sunset: Not a ‘major L’.

Ratchet, turning to Sideswipe: And DEFINITELY not an ‘oof LMAO’!

-

Sideswipe: Maybe you shouldn’t pick fights with people bigger than you.

Rainbow: Then I wouldn’t get to fight anyone.

-

Twilight: Do you ever want to talk about your emotions, guys?

Ratchet and Arcee: No.

Fixit: I do!

Twilight: I know, Fixit.

Fixit: I’m sad…

Twilight: I know, Fixit.

-

Pinkie: Never stop wishing Smokey and all of your dreams will come true!

Smokescreen: [sarcastically] Even the scary ones?

Pinkie: [laughs]

Pinkie: [seriously] Yes.

-

Strongarm: Why are Rainbow and Sideswipe sitting with their backs to each other?

Twilight: They had a fight.

Strongarm: Then why are they holding hands?

Twilight: They get sad when they fight.

-

Sunset: Watcha doing?

Bumblebee: Looking for my will to live.

Fluttershy: [walks in]

Bumblebee: Ah, there it is.

-

Rainbow, listening to the radio: I really like Eminem.

Sideswipe: I prefer Skittles.

Rainbow: No, like the rapper.

Sideswipe: Why would you eat the wrapper??

-

Predaking: I only had Fluttershy for a day and a half.

Predaking: But if anything happened to her, I would kill everyone on this planet and then myself.

Fluttershy: PLEASE DON’T—

-

Rarity: You know, not every problem can be solved with a sword.

Wheeljack: That's why I carry two swords.

-

Pinkie: That’s one of my biggest fears. Like, if I ever woke up as a donut...

Smokescreen: You would eat yourself?

Pinkie: I wouldn’t even question it.

-

Bumblebee: What are you doing?

Fluttershy: Cooking pancakes for the squirrels outside.

Bumblebee: …why are you cooking for the squirrels outside?

Fluttershy: Because they don’t know how to.

-

Sunset: What is it called when you kill a friend?

Bumblebee: Homicide.

Twilight: Murder.

Sideswipe and Rainbow: Homiecide.

[solaireverie]

dr3 | deep blue but you painted me golden

part three — long live all the walls we crashed through

[ series masterlist ] part 1 | part 2 | part 4

pairings: daniel ricciardo x f!leclerc!rbr driver!reader, lestappen

summary: [ social media au ] red bull's second and third drivers learn to get along, y/n wins her first grand prix, and things get... complicated

warnings: mentioned/implied sex (13+ only please) (if you're -13 get off tumblr)

faceclaim: barbara palvin + random faceless checo/max pics + pinterest

author’s note: technically max and charles aren't together yet. they're still in the friends-with-benefit-in-denial phase. oof. also the lack of gay paparazzi photos is a CRIME. enjoy!

liked by charles_leclerc, redbullracing, danielricciardo and 249,736 others

yourusername back home and ready for the monaco gp 🤟

view comments

pierregasly whoever places lower has to pay for dinner?

↪ yourusername i'll hold you to it, gasly

↪ user pierre is this really a wise bet to make with red bull's current pace 😐

↪ yourusername shhh 🤫 i want free food

lorenzotl maman wants you and charles to bring arthur home before midnight

↪ arthur_leclerc why am i the only one with a curfew 😨 y/n's barely older than me

↪ yourusername formula 1 privileges 😌

↪ charles_leclerc more like maman knows you'll just sneak out like always 😶

↪ yourusername charles marc hervé perceval leclerc i know who you've been pining after for the past decade. watch your words

↪ charles_leclerc i thought we agreed not to speak about that???

Max Verstappen, Y/n Leclerc, and Daniel Ricciardo on Monaco — Oracle Red Bull Racing

liked by yourusername, danielricciardo, maxverstappen1 and 569,420 others

tagged: yourusername, maxverstappen1

redbullracing We're ready for the Monaco Grand Prix as Y/n takes her first-ever pole position with Max locking out the front row in P2 🥳

view comments

user literally can't wait for the race

user i wonder if y/n will be able to keep p1 🤔

↪ user i mean at least she'll have an advantage on a track like monaco 🤞

user rbr 1-2 loading...

liked by redbullracing

liked by charles_leclerc, maxverstappen1, danielricciardo and 998,574 others

yourusername je ne peux pas le croire, mais c'est la réalité 💫 aujourd'hui est le plus beau jour de ma vie. merci aux fans, mon équipe, mes amis, ma famille... je n'ai pas de mots pour ma joie 🇲🇨🥇

[ i can't believe it, but it's reality 💫 today is the best day of my life. thank you to the fans, my team, my friends, my family... i don't have words to describe my joy 🇲🇨🥇 ]

view comments

charles_leclerc notre étoile et notre championne ❤️🤍 [ our star and our champion ❤️🤍 ]

liked by yourusername, pierregasly, arthur_leclerc, lorenzotl

pierregasly félicitations! mon portefeuille est prêt 🫡 [ congratulations! my wallet is ready 🫡 ]

↪ yourusername haha je veux du homard [ haha i want lobster ]

maxverstappen1 if someone else had to win at least it's you 🙄

↪ maxverstappen1 jk great job y/n! looking forward to racing you

↪ yourusername awwww tysm maxie 🥰

danielricciardo fantastic driving! guess i lost the bet 😅

↪ yourusername time to make good on your word, ricciardo. i want that falsetto to be PERFECT

↪ charles_leclerc do i want to know what's going on?

↪ yourusername daniel said that if i placed higher than max today he'd go karaoke-ing with us AND that he'd do a cover of heart attack 😇

↪ charles_leclerc oh dear...

↪ maxverstappen1 please no i don't need a repeat performance from monaco 2018

↪ danielricciardo too late, max, i'm a man of my word!

likes and reblogs are appreciated!

masterlist

[yaboysafttheenby]

MLP Comics: Part 1

Having a reading mlp comic marathon, rn (Ik, ik, late to the party). And, the facial expression are ridiculously funny. It's AMAZING on how laughable they can look. (Yes I know this isn't canon)

Issue #1-4:

-THE CMC WERE KIDNAPPED BY CHRYSALIS??? -They didn't even take it seriously (TT), they just drove Chrysalis mad by talking non-stop about the mane six or cuties marks, it's hilarious.

-But my point, WHY IS THAT NOT BROUGHT UP. KIDS KIDNAPPED BY A VERY DANGEROUS PERSON.

Issue #5-8:

-Mable Pines (Gravity Falls) reference!

- LE GASP, NIGHTMARE RARITY!!!!

- NOT SPIKE!!! NOOO MY BABY

- Diamond Tiara got hit on the head with something, pfft.

Issue #9-10:

-Uhhhh, don't let Sugar Belle see that, um.

-TWO MARES IN A ROW, BIG MAC???

- Oof, Apple Bloom! You had it stashed in the club house without telling somepony???? Tsk, tsk.

Issue #11-12:

-So, Candence and Shining met at CANTERLOT HIGH???? WHY DID THEY MAKE THE SCHOO1L IN EG CANTERLOT HIGH WHEN IT ALSO EXSISTED IN THE PONY UNIVERSE???

- WHO THE HAY IS BUCK WITHERS???

- "Cranky-Wanky", ha. Also, Shining is an awkward lover boy, huh.

- Shining, did you just yelled your ideal person/ describe your crush, infront a whole crowd?? OKAY, FORMER CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD.

- Typical highschool romance, ngl.

- Says you, YOU'RE NOT MUCH MORE OF A DORK THEM HIM TWILIGHT.

- WOAH, CADENCE. CHILL. Also, Twilight, both adult and foal in this is...pretty savage.

- Yes, indeed. You two will get along.

- I AM SUCH A SLOW PROCESSOR, SHINING, CADENCE AND CHEERILEE WENT TO THE SAME SCHOOL???

- Did Cadence just predict the future????

- Woah, BUCK. YOU CAN'T JUST LEAN AGAINST CELESTIA.

- EVEN CELESTIA AGREES YOU DITCH HIM.

- Who's gonna tell Cheerilee she does become a teacher?

- ...Eh. It's actually the other way other, YOU do NOT, I repeat DO NOT deserve him, Cadence.

- "Hur derp werp" Really, Shining? Is this really the Captain of the royal guard?

- HECK YEAH, BUCK'S NICE NOW!

Issue #13-14:

- AYE, IT'S SOUNDIN' LIKE A PIRATE ADVENTURE, ARGGG!

- Awe, Flutters!

- Rarijack flirting?????

- Oh, geez. Ain't that a bit possissive, Fluttershy?

- KNEW IT, PIRATES!

- Love??? Make sure Discord didn't hear that!

- PIRATE FLUTTERSHY????

- Yeah, no kidding, AJ. It doesn't fit Flutters but... we'll see. Never underestimate her.

- AJ WITH A PIRATE HAT!

- FLUTTERS WITH A PIRATE HAT :-0

- WE'RE GREETED WITH THE CMC DANCING OKAY.

- It's BASICALLY a pirate version of Ponyville!

- BIG MAC!

- Granny Smith with a X scar on her cheek!

- OF COURSE DASH CAN SPEAK PIRATE SHE 100% COULD

- RD HAVING A SWORD FIGHT????

- RD! WHY GIVE TWILIGHT'S IDENTITY?! NOW THEY'RE LOOKIN' AT HER WITH GREEDY EYES-

- WOAH, RANSOM FOR TWILY???

- YEAH, DON'T GET TWI MAD! TALK TO TIREK FOR EXAMPLES!

- BIG CRAB, UH OH

- PONY MONA LISA!

- PFFT, DID RAINBOW SAY "DUDETTES"?!

- Of course. Pinkie calls a HERD OF CRABS.

- RD, you expect TWI to NOT ask questions?

- PIRATE MANE SIX, LES GOOO!!!

- MerMARE. Really?

- ... Fluttershy set off a CANON???

- So it's basically little mermaid, but the human/pony falls in love instead of the mermaid/mermare.

- I read "Despite all odds." In the comic, WHILE LISTENING TO PERFECT AND THE LINE "All odds" COMES UP, LIKE WHAT?

[mumms-the-word]

Hello friend! I am wondering if you have any book recommendations where the main character speaks in a similar style to Gale? <3 I find myself struggling with writing his dialogues and would love to read some references. 🙃 No pressure and thank you in advance! <333

Oh man I might be the worst person to ask because everything I’ve read is either for academic reasons or probably doesn’t fit Gale’s vibe (and I also read it aeons ago)

Let me think…honestly when I write Gale I sort of mimic my own academic speech patterns 😅 so I’m trying to think where I might have picked those up outside of English literature articles

Gale, to me, speaks in a kind of formal/elegant English. His sentences are fluid and he chooses his words carefully. Sometimes he speaks poetically (that part I struggle to write) and sometimes he speaks academically (a breeze for me). So with that in mind…

Dracula by Bram Stoker - first of all its a classic and it’s my favorite Victorian novel. But even though it was published in the 1890s, I find the writing pretty accessible. There are multiple narrators writing different accounts of the events, so there are multiple “voices” you can read. Personally I think Gale speaks closest to how the characters Dr. Seward and Mina Harker write. Plus it’s free online if all you want to do is scan passages rather than read the whole thing. There are also MANY audiobooks if hearing as you read it is easier for you.

Ursula K Le Guin - I’ve only read A Wizard of Earthsea and scraps of her other writing but her writing is just beautiful. Sparrowhawk/Ged (same character) doesn’t exactly speak like Gale but just reading any of Le Guin’s works will get you a step closer to writing elegance the way Gale speaks it. You can find free passages of her books, speeches, and essays online, and she often read her own work out loud so you can find YouTube videos if you want to hear some of her work.

I’m horrible and I don’t have any contemporary fiction ideas. When I tell you my “to be read” pile it’s mountainous…oof.

@elspethdekarios might also have thoughts! *waves in English major*

I’d also attempt some poetry reading. I know @sorceresssundries likely has thoughts on this but to me the poetic stuff Gale says or recites is often a little Shakespearean at times (“Doth thy mirror crack?”) but is more often just full of imagery (his favorite motifs to use are universes, a thousand, stars, multitudes, magic, music, divinity, eternity, etc)

Oh god do I have to do a literary analysis deep dive into Gale’s speech patterns and preferred metaphors now

BOOK TUMBLR! Come to my aid! What other books would you recommend to my friend? Bonus points if these books have audiobook options or are more easily accessible!

[gailyinthedark]

Hi tumblr I'm back and I have company

(posting pics without guilt since newborns aren't exactly distinguishable from week to week anyway)

Her name is Bleoberys. Kidding. It's Harry le Fyz, Bleoberys is her big brother who speaks in Shakespeare quotes, sometimes inappropriate ones.

Did you know braxton hicks aka false labour can last for literal months? I did because I saw my mom and sister deal with it but this was my first time round. Oof.

Did you know actual non-false labour pains can start off at 3.5 minutes apart? I did not. Also, not that they're exactly fun regardless, but they get way less fun when you have to lie on your back with monitors strapped to you for what was probably much less than five hours but did not feel that way, at all.

Harry wasn't feeling it much either, to the point that she had to be surgically removed posthaste. (This was actually part of The Plan, Harry just sidetracked it a bit by deciding to show up early.) They were going to wheel me there but I was all NO THANKS, I'LL WALK because I was very very tired of being Not Upright by then.

Did you know you can actually feel a c-section with a spinal block? It doesn't hurt just sort of feels like people lightly tapping your torso all over and sometimes tugging it. Sometimes tugging so hard it lifts you off the operating table a little bit and your ribs are sore for days after. True story.

Anyway I am now the proud guardian of a daughter and a second surgical scar on top of the one Bleoberys left behind.

Bleoberys cried when he met her because baby sisters are fun to talk about but a little overwhelming in person. That's how we ended up with an excellent family photo which I will not post, where Bleoberys is visibly crying into the shoulder of my visibly drugged up self, while everyone else smiles beatifically from behind with Harry in their midst.

Here's a pic of Harry in a nightgown I made her from an old cotton pillowcase I found in a thrift store because that sort of thing brings me joy.

Now I get to spend a few weeks watching my tissues and displaced organs miraculously knit themselves back into place, and being very grateful I don't live in either the sixth or fifteenth centuries when the success rate for c-sections was considerably lower, or so I hear.

[gay-impressionist]

5 10 and 18 for the non American ask

5. favourite song in your native language?

oof, tough question. idk about favorite but rn one song i really love is Nous les amoureux by Jean-Claude Pascal. but so so many good french songs, from all eras and genres

10. most enjoyable swear word in your native language?

putain 💯😌 you can use it in any situation and it's satisfying to pronounce when you're frustrated (putaiiiin) or angry (putain) or anytime really

18. do you speak with a dialect of your native language?

nope, i was born and raised in paris where we don't have any dialect. my dad comes from picardie though but his family hasn't spoken picard for at least 3 generations, so i only know a few words. my mom comes from the region île-de-france so no dialect either

[callmegkiddo]

oof lol i had to account cause i was getting harassed

-bee

I will murder them

But first, have some Terzo speaking in Italian to you

"Ciao, amore mio, è passato molto tempo dall'ultima volta che ci siamo parlati… Farò in modo che Omega e il resto dei Ghoul si prendano cura di chi mai ti ha dato fastidio… Vieni qui, mio tesoro, e riposa tra le mie braccia…"

[abbyindenhaag]

Arts and Architecture

On Wednesday morning we visited the Museum of Sydney, a small building on the site of the original governor’s house that taught us a lot about the city’s origins. Much of it echoes Euro-Indigenous conflicts with which I was already familiar, but it was interesting to learn about specifics. The first governor, Arthur Phillip, showed a somewhat admirable inclination to learn about the indigenous peoples’ perspectives, but when they (the Gadigal people) decided they wanted little to do with the English and started avoiding them, Phillip decided to implement his initiative by kidnapping two men and holding them hostage in his house while trying to get them to interpret their language and culture. And then he was shocked when one of the hostages, Bennelong, who had been charming and cooperative, escaped as soon as they removed the shackle from his leg. (Pikachu face) who could have predicted?! For Bart the history provoked questions of what the most ethical version of first contact would have looked like, given that leaving the first Australians in isolation would have left them without the benefits of trade, but also that it might be impossible to ethically organize trade arrangements with a people that had completely different concepts of ownership, territory, institutions in general, etc. And that’s also setting aside the whole inevitable devastation of smallpox thing. Should the British have just established a barricade around the entire island to prevent any European from bringing the disease? What a different world that would have been.

Another part of the museum had an exhibition of artwork supported by the Coomaditchie center, which was a center for Indigenous culture established during the (relatively late) efforts at Indigenous policy reform in the 1960s. I really enjoyed these artworks in particular:

First painting: Black Swan, by Allison Day

Second painting: Our Fish II, by Allison Day and Dereke Brown

The dots and lines style is so cool, and I love the earth-toned color palettes.

Our next cultural experience, in some ways at the opposite end of the establishment spectrum, was an evening at the Sydney Opera House. We went to a performance of “great opera hits”, which was not necessarily the first choice for either of us but was better than all the alternative performances that were on (a Cinderella opera and a Beatles tribute show………. Oof.) There were a couple of arias we really enjoyed — the Habanera from Carmen, which also features (instrumentally) in Up, and E lucevan le stelle from Tosca, which had really beautiful imagery in addition to the lovely voice of the tenor who sang it. I also enjoyed the “Flower Duet”. But overall, I think most opera is not for me — some combination of what feels like a lack of momentum in the music, plus I find the high dramatic soprano notes kind of uncomfortable to listen to. But! I expanded my cultural touchpoints, and I also got to be inside the Opera House, which was super cool.

To be honest, my first impression walking into the building, which you do from the ground floor level, was: this feels like the DC metro. Lots of concrete, maybe some uplighting. But you go upstairs into the area around the concert hall, and it becomes incredibly airy. This was extra special in the gloaming just before sunset.

Two obligatory “we’re alive and really here and not kidnapped” photos in front of the view follow:

On Thursday morning we visited the White Rabbit gallery, a free museum of contemporary Chinese art. Also very small, it was the right size for an hourlong visit. Many of the art pieces did not speak to me, but there was one that delighted us both and, according to Bart, made the whole trip worth it on its own. Big words. Let me explain.

You take an elevator to the 3rd floor and step out into a room full of trash cans. Comme ca:

Actually, their lids were closed when we arrived. The docent says to you: “We’re almost ready to have them play automatically.” You think: oh, must be pretty fiddly that they are still working on whatever it is, but I suppose we’ll get to see it happen manually. Then she says: “The performance is about to begin.”

The trash can lids all open up and you can hear an orchestra tuning up. There’s one instrument per trash can. The lids close. After a moment, they open again, and you hear the opening notes of Beethoven’s 5th. Dah dah dah DAHH. Oh. Wow.

After the performance, the lids close. We have to let the trash cans rest for two minutes, but then we can wander through them and open each lid at will. When you open it, you hear the particular instrument assigned to the can as they play through the piece again — clarinet, violin, cello, oboe, bass. Trumpets, too, if you’re lucky. There was a map to show you which instrument was where, which allowed me to find the one (!) viola. It was so fun to walk through and feel like you were enabling the performance by letting an instrument’s voice be heard. Also, what a great piece.

Bart and I had only two constructive suggestions (ha, arrogant, I know). First, we thought it would be cool in the automated performance part for each lid to open only when the instrument was playing. Second, Bart thought it would be fun in the interactive portion for the viewers to modulate the volume with how far open the lid was. But overall, a total delight. (And it checked Bart’s box for unexpected good music, which is all he really wants in a vacation. Oh, and good tea, but we got that at the tearoom downstairs.) The artist’s name was Shyu Ruey-Shiann, I think, and the orchestra was the Taiwanese symphony orchestra, again, I think, because unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the wall label.

The other piece I liked in the museum was an autobiographical series by Yu Hong, which depicted a number of self-portraits at different ages reflecting the artist’s growth in parallel with the tectonic changes in China over her lifetime. This is the closing pair of paintings:

We walked back through a fun university-ish neighborhood — look at the greenery!

and we saw this fun street sculpture:

And that was another day and a half in Sydney. This afternoon (in about 10 minutes) we are heading out to the zoo with friends who are also in town for the wedding. I am a little concerned it will be somewhat depressing, as my last zoo visit was, but you can’t go to Australia and *not* see a koala or a kangaroo, so here we go!

[le-oof]

to my fellow stem nerds who are trying to figure out this “art” thing later in life, through learning to draw, to write, etc.:

art is not this perfect process where each step leads to the next and to the next in a nice orderly fashion, which can be scary, if, like me, you’re not used to that

instead, approach art as an iterative process, like an interpolation algorithm

(for those who never took Numerical Analysis, it’s the process of writing a function to graph a series of points or to approximate a function as a polynomial)

the first run through the algorithm (your pencil sketch or first draft) is going to be shit, AND THATS EXACTLY WHAT ITS SUPPOSED TO DO AND EVERY MATHEMATICIAN EXPECTS THAT

because then: you feed that first run back into the algorithm, for your second iteration (use the sketch as a guide for outlining, or use the first draft to edit or template into the second draft)

continue feeding the prev iteration into the algorithm until you reach the iteration with your desired accuracy (keep drawing, keep writing until it’s there)

and just like with interpolation, each round gets closer than the last, so you just gotta keep going. whatever’s not perfect in this round will be fixed in a later one

does it feel inefficient? hell to the freaking yes. but so is interpolation, especially if you already know the “correct” function, e.g. sin(x), and you’re trying to approximate it as a polynomial. no matter how many thousands, millions, or billions of iterations you do, that polynomial is never going to match sin(x)

BUT that’s not the point: approximating a known function like sin(x) is the simplest way to tell a computer how to graph it

in the same way, the point of art is not to be perfect. it’s the simplest way for us humans to bring our ideas into the world, annoyingly imperfect process and all

[i-will-sing-no-requiem]

hi hi 🧑🏻‍🎄 i’ve written down all these recs and will look them up, thank you ✨ and YES absolutely, i love parks and rec, ben and leslie are two of my faves, i have indeed been told i’m (a lot) like ben lol but totally, killian sees the savior as a role that was given to emma not as what she is as a whole, and i think emma needed to have someone lift that responsibility from her shoulders. OOF great quotes, santa will also keep that in mind, so now… what type of music do you like? artist/song?

Hi again!

Totally agree (I think I’m also pretty ben wyatt-coded lol) and I love that killian tries to help emma shoulder the burden of being savior!

I’m a big taylor swift fan, my favourite songs of hers are you’re on your own kid, the black dog, cruel summer, the archer, champagne problems, and basically anything on the folklore and speak now albums (especially cardigan and my tears ricochet, and dear john and last kiss)

as well, I’ve been mostly into pop music recently, I really like maisie peters, chappell roan, noah kahan, boygenius, olivia rodrigo and gracie abrams,

i’m also really into musical theatre, specifically epic, les miserables, 36 questions, dear evan hansen, heathers and hamilton rn

other than that i really love the songs widows of normandy by rye lachance, i know the end by phoebe bridgers, and mother i by te/mo

hope this helps! happy to name more favourite songs by one of the specific artists if you want!

[whentherewerebicycles]

my favorite reads of 2024

if you follow me on instagram you already saw this but i want to preserve it on tumblr too! here are my 13 favorite books of the year.

13. ursula k. leguin, the word for world is forest

quiet, spare, and devastating. i felt physically sick reading parts of this, not because its depictions of violence were gratuitous but because it makes you viscerally feel the ache of losing culture, landscape, freedom, and a way of life under a brutal colonial occupation. i'm not as into le guin's novels (i find them too dense at the expense of story/character), but i think she is unrivaled in the sci-fi novella/short story space.

12. susie boyt, loved and missed.

i don't feel that having a baby has fundamentally changed who i am as a person, but it has changed the way i read in ways i wasn't expecting. in particular, i feel gutted by books about people losing their children, whether to untimely death or, in the case of this novel, to addiction and mental illness. despite the heavy subject matter (this is about a parent living with an all-consuming grief that defines every aspect of her life), this was ultimately a beautiful and strangely hopeful book about healing through relationships of caretaking (here, through raising her absent daughter's child).

11. james frankie thomas, idlewild.

lol this book was written for weird intense closeted queer teenage girls who came of age in early to mid-2000s america and processed their sexuality mainly through gay fanfiction. my goodreads review just says "oof!! this resonated!!!"

10. chris beckett, dark eden.

a small spaceship crash-lands on a dark alien planet that has no sun (heat is provided by its molten core and the only light is provided by its phosphorescent fauna). the two astronauts who survive the crash decide to restart the human race, instructing their children to remember their stories of Earth and to patiently wait for Earth to rescue them. the book is set 150ish years into the future, when the small, insular community (known as the Family) is slowly beginning to splinter into competing factions. intensely dark, claustrophobic, and at times repellent (warnings for incest + underage sex/pregnancy) but damn i could not stop thinking about this world.

9. ann leckie, ancillary justice.

i read and adored the murderbot series this year, which were very fun, very light sci-fi reads. this book was like, murderbot but make it super serious and philosophical. lots of fascinating stuff here on artificial intelligence and what makes us human (both in terms of AI vs. human and in the colonial mindset sense of who "qualifies" as fully human or fully "civilized"). i did not find the "genderless culture" aspects of the book at all compelling (your mileage may vary) but i was largely able to ignore that.

8. colson whitehead, the nickel boys.

i felt straight-up haunted by this book. i thought about it for days after finishing it. it's a ghost story of sorts, but you don't understand whose ghost is haunting the narrative until the very end. it's also a horror novel, except the horror is just the reality of american history. SO intensely atmospheric. it felt, emotionally, like the hot, sticky, claustrophobic, suffocating humidity i associate with living in the south. i will remember how this book felt long after i forget the plot details.

7. naomi novik, spinning silver

i love, love, LOVE fantasy rooted in slavic folklore/culture and can't believe there isn't more of it out there (what a rich terrain for fiction!!). i also loved reading about a jewish protagonist navigating anti-semitic sentiment in (fictional) medieval poland. i stayed up past my bedtime several nights in a row to finish this.

6. jacqueline harpman, i who have never known men.

thirty-nine women and one young girl wake up imprisoned in a cage in an underground bunker, guarded constantly by men who never speak to them or touch them. the women vaguely recall some kind of "emergency" the night of their capture, but retain no memories of what happened or how they came to be in the cage. after years of imprisonment, an alarm sounds and the guards flee, allowing the women to escape the bunker. what they find beyond is SO FUCKING SCARY AHHHHHH WHY DID THIS BOOK SCARE ME SO MUCH I WILL BE FOREVER HAUNTED BY THE IRRATIONAL FEAR OF WAKING UP IN THIS UNIVERSE!!! this was one of the best things i've read in years but also so unbelievably unnerving. WHERE ARE THEY??? WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM???? if you read it come speculate with me about it i can't be alone with this book lol.

5. katherine arden, the bear and the nightingale series

take the alanna series but set it in medieval russia and make it about the clash between dying folk religions and an ascendant christianity. oh and throw in a romance with the ancient god of Death, because why not? i loved vasya so much as a protagonist and thought this trilogy was gorgeously written. the first and second books were my favorites; the third didn't quite stick the landing for me, but the series was still a 10/10 reading experience overall. thanks to my sister for the rec!!

4. claire keegan, small things like these.

I loved this book so much I read it twice this year, which was easy because you can read it in one sitting. a short, simple, profoundly moving depiction of one man's moral courage in a situation where he has nothing to gain and much to lose. i spent a lot of time thinking about this book this year, and here was one thought: for all that we on the left love to talk about Dismantling Structures of Oppression, most of us are not in positions where we can personally bring down oppressive institutions or undo deeply entrenched inequities. not that it isn't worth trying, but just like, realistically, in our day to day lives, that is not the primary form of political power available to us. but we can be deeply compassionate in our interactions with others. we can extend hospitality to the stranger and the outcast, particularly in our own communities. we can recognize when people in our lives or workplaces are being treated unjustly and we can act to help them or advocate for them in whatever ways are within our power, even if it means risking our own social capital or status. we can empathize beyond the boundaries of our own experience and we can try to act in ways that honor the best in ourselves and others, even when it is challenging. i have more complex feelings about this story than i can articulate here, but I think that this book was a gentle, welcome counterbalance to a politics that thinks primarily in terms of Systems at the expense of thinking in terms of relationships and our individual capacity to care for each other.

3. jeff vandermeer, annihilation.

well this scared the everloving crap out of me. i picked it up thinking oh i'll just read something short and easy to hit my goal for the year, and then this book was like how about we make it impossible for you to sleep for the rest of the year? this was as good as it was hyped up to be (when it came out literally ten years ago... i'm so late to the party lol). so bizarre, so unsettling, so unlike anything i'd ever read before. the imagination that produced this... i'm scared but into it lol. i don't want to say anything more about it because i think this is a book that is better Experienced than summarized, but hoo boy what a read. i also feel like it has a lot to teach me about craft, if i can ever bring myself to read it again (preferably with the lights on in the middle of the day lol). my biggest complaint is that this is apparently the first book in a series... no. no. i feel emphatically that this book would be cheapened by further explanation of its mysteries. i am going to pretend that the sequels do not exist and that vandermeer was brave enough to let this terrifying work of literature stand on its own.

2. sally rooney, intermezzo

it truly pains me that my second favorite book of the year was a novel whose amazon page prominently features the words "#1 on BookTok!" but let's face it: i'm basic!! i love sally rooney!! this was my favorite of her novels by a long shot. i loved the relationship between the two brothers and enjoyed seeing her move beyond her more typical focus on romantic relationships to explore the other complex interpersonal dynamics that shape our lives & senses of self. and of course i was deeply into the stylistic and thematic homage to james joyce... i am a ulysses girl forever. side note: peter was my favorite character and I found his emotional defense mechanisms DEEPLY relatable lol. except that literally everyone else i talked to was like wow peter kinda sucks i hope he goes to therapy so he can stop being Like That. WELL FINE!!!! lol but really i loved this book. booktok sucks but it can be right about this one (1) singular thing.

1. kelly link, the book of love

sometimes when i write fiction I have an Ideal Reader in mind, ie someone who will share my exact tastes but also bring their own unique perspective to ear on the subject matter, and who will above all else enthusiastically Pick Up What I'm Putting Down (shoutout to kit who is often that reader lol). well, i am kelly link's ideal reader. this book felt like it was written FOR me and directly TO me. honestly i need to find a way to meet kelly link so i can communicate to her that we are fiction soulmates. this was strange, dreamlike, fantastical, and so fearlessly experimental it left me breathless. I don't think it will be everyone's cup of tea (it's SO weird and has such a strange, irrational dream-logic to it) but that doesn't matter as it was written specifically FOR ME. i loved it passionately and also feel like i can't remember huge chunks of it because reading it felt kinda like hallucinating lol. am i selling you on it? IT WAS SO GOOD. favorite book of 2024!! huge thank you to @ferryboatpeak for the rec.

2024: a year in books

FIRST, some general reflections on reading this year.

my original goodreads goal for the year was 70 (increased to 80 sometime in the late summer) and my total books read for the year was 87! i did count four or five fics early on in the year towards that total, but my rule of thumb is that they have to be 70k+ and they have to "feel like" a novel (a seemingly arbitrary designation but one that makes sense to me lol. not every long fic feels like a novel!). every year i go back and forth on whether i should only count published fiction towards my goodreads goal, but idk, if i am reading hundreds of pages of a single work i feel like it should count.

during the pandemic and just after i skewed heavily towards nonfiction, for whatever reason. in the last couple years, but especially this year, i've really swung back to reading novels and it has been GLORIOUS. god i love STORIES!!!!! i stayed up way past my bedtime reading many times this past year and often felt like i was recapturing that breathless exhilaration i associate with reading in childhood. what a wonderful way to feel!!

I gave in, fully, to reading on my kindle this year. this was initially out of necessity (first i couldn't hold a physical book because of my carpal tunnel syndrome, and then i couldn't hold a physical book while feeding a baby). but i also have to admit that it is easier to replace a phone addiction with another screen, and the kindle at least is a screen free from notifications that allows me to read with total focus for many hours. i also find it easier to quickly acquire ebooks (through [mumble mumble] means) which means i can start reading a book mere minutes after someone recommends it to me. it's also way easier to have a bunch of stuff queued up so that i know that the next thing is waiting for me. i also like that with ebooks i don't know how long they are, so i have sometimes ended up reading books that were much longer than i expected (which sometimes i avoid doing if i'm not sure a super long book will be "worth it" in the end). so idk. lots of things to like about ebooks and i think this was the year i finally saw the light on that front.

HOWEVER i do worry about my turn towards ebooks a little bit because i want my kid to see me reading voraciously, and i worry that seeing your mom staring at a screen all the time is not going to have quite the same effect as seeing her read books all the time. i mean all you have to do is ride the bus or stand in line at the grocery store or sit in a doctor's office if you want to see every single adult around you staring at a screen lol. so that's something i want to think about in 2025. maybe i can deliberately try to mix it up a bit, like trying to ensure that a certain percentage of books read are physical books or something. and i can think about other ways to incorporate lots of conversations about reading into our daily lives as he gets older. i will have to think about that some more!

reading is just so good.... it's so so so so so much better than scrolling on my phone... but even though i was reading at a rapid clip this year and regularly experiencing the AAAAA NOVELS ARE SO GOOD high, i still had weeks and months where i'd get out of the habit and then it would be really, really challenging for me to get back into it. so the solution is to just never stop, lol. but like for real. i think the solution is to just make nightly + weekend reading so integral to my routine that i don't even have to make a decision to pick up a book. i also found that in moments where i was stuck this year, it was really helpful to reread old favorites to get myself restarted. reading something i already knew i was going to love helped me get back into the saddle and gave me some time to start looking for my next new book. so yeah just want to remember that!

i really discovered the pleasures of rereading this year... i used to very rarely reread except for my All-Time Faves because there are so many books out there and i didn't want to waste time on stuff i had already experienced. but that is silly. it is an immense pleasure to reread books, even ones that you just thought were Quite Good the first time around and not All-Time Faves. there is always something new there, and there is a particular kind of pleasure in reading a book already knowing how things are going to unfold. so! i might also reread more next year. we'll see.

next up: my faves from the year.

[laleywashere]

Not the best scribbles and I actually posted some of these sketches before. But I suppose here is some context for all the anger. lol 

WTNLS adventure definitely had it’s frustrations. This frustration was le laptop not cooperating. And now with the workout my tablet has gotten, It now glitches once an a while and I think it is about to die soon. Sooooo. may have to drop monies on a new tablet soon! Oof. I also would like to get a stronger computer. Because the one I have lags when I draw on it. So those big files for The If the northern light could speak book took gawd damn forever to get through because I think my graphic card is a lil wimpy. 

ANYWHOS AND WHATSITS. I was anger. and instead of actually destroying my laptop, we just sketch out the anger, ya? lol.

[coltii-romanesti]

[/ Instead of doing obligated and mandatory listening to their nation-gathering meetings, Mer decided to poke Vladimir on his side and discreetly slides a piece of paper to him and whispers ] Psst, Vlad. Can you check my article to see if it was written correctly? I had to write in English but I’m not sure if I did it correctly. I tried my best you know…I feel like your English is better than mine so any help would be nice.

[Document Title: Le iseberg iron contents en da fertilstation of chickens and carbon solutions using da dating oof the core of le iseberg. That is enough to tell they Mer was off by a lot. ]

[ he was already very much not listening to whomever was speaking at that moment. Honestly, he couldn't quite remember when the speakers changed, only that he was certain it was someone else a second ago. The topic... hmm, not striking enough to stick in his half sleep-deprived memory ] Hm? [ one glance and already a sigh escapes him. At least this should cure his boredom. he scanned the title and the following paragraphs, and began scratching on it in red ink ] Not entirely sure what the topic is, but start off with these spelling errors. Poke me when you're done so I can check grammar.

[emmabee14]