#pua culture

[elijones94]

🌺🌸 Moana and two palm leafs 🌴🌊

[the-cryptographer]

thinking of irvine kinneas and zelos wilder and wondering if stupid traumatised playboy manslut chad is still a jrpg stock character in this year 2023 (and if not can we bring that back for my sake pls thx)

[diamondnokouzai]

actually the oldest story is the child growing up. this is why sim-pua/tongyangxi is soooooooo good for drama

[artist-issues]

Idk if you still think about Wish (2023) but I feel like a huge problem with it, specifically Asha's character, was that she just fit the "adorkable" stereotype instead of being her own character.

It made sense with Rapunzel - she's never been outside before, so of course she will be a socially awkward clutz. The same goes for Anna, but this character archetype started going downhill for Disney in Moana. It might seem like it fits since she's never been off of Motunui before but it's not like she's never talked to anyone.

The "adorkable" trend became its worst with Asha. What do you mean she's socially awkward and clumsy but still has the trust of the ENTIRE KINGDOM and wants to be the King's apprentice??? How???

I feel like if they made her personality a little more like Cinderella's and Tiana's she might have been more likable and believable - being a stern, gentle, and hardworking woman who takes no crap but is still kind and caring deep down. This could contrast her with the naïve, cheerful, and bubbly Starboy (I always mourn the storyboard drawings of them together) and even make a comparison between her and King Magnifico, maybe even becoming a central conflict with how Magnifico's ambition for power turns him evil because of his lack of morals, and without Starboy Asha would've gone down the same path if it weren't for him reminding her about what really matters - being purely good and not letting anything stray you away from being a good person.

Sorry for the ramble but I just have SO many thoughts about how Wish could've turned out 😭

I don’t find Moana “adorkable.” If “adorkable” means “socially awkward” or “spazzy with her emotions,” (like Rapunzel going “I KNOW! -playing it cool- I mean…I know.” Or Anna going “It’s TRUE LOVE”) then that’s…kind of just “being young.” And I’m sure, with Rapunzel and Anna, being lonely for a long time contributed to that My-Emotions-Splash-Everywhere-Every-Time-I-Get-the-Chance thing their personalities have.

But Moana doesn’t have that. If you mean she cracks jokes, like rambling to Pua about not eating pork, or singing at Maui, those aren’t “adorkable” traits. They’re just a teenage girl’s sense of humor. Teenage girls mock their friends’ little phrases all the time. Teenage girls shriek at the top of their lungs when they’re excited. Teenage girls ramble when they’re nervous. That’s just one shade of normal teenage girl behavior. If you’re tired of seeing it, maybe you’re tired of teenagers.

And she has her own personality besides all that. Moana is intensely stubborn in a way that can be insensitive or bullheaded. She is prideful—she thinks she’s special because the Ocean choosing her validated those feelings. She also has what Asha does not—believable motivation for most of her decisions.

I mean, what do you want instead? Is it time to admit the “adorkable” thing started with Ariel and Mulan? Did you want a mature-adult-type teenager, who have “maturity,” or “patience” as character traits, like Belle or Cinderella? Or were you hoping for a Jasmine type—immaturity in the form of sharp tongue and temper? “They tried doing the whole “no jokes, this is a serious adventurer” thing with Raya, and it sucked.

What I’m saying is, giving a girl a rambling mouth—especially when she’s on a solo-adventure for a significant portion of her movie—isn’t a cardinal sin. Neither is giving her moments of dorky clumsiness (especially in Moana’s case, it’s humanizing when she runs into something or gets something wrong, because she’s otherwise phsyically pretty capable.)

As far as Asha goes, I definitely still think about Wish, and I actually agree with what I think is your main sentiment—she doesn’t have any personality so they just slap “sometimes clumsy sometimes unflatteringly goofy” onto what’s an empty husk.

The thing is, her main motivation isn’t relatable. It’s not very human. She spends three seconds in the presence of the leader of her whole known world, worldview, and culture, and instantly knows exactly what’s wrong with that worldview, world, and culture. No confusion, no hesitation, perfect right answer instantly. She wants her grandfather to have his wish—but he was fine without it, and nobody ever clearly defines what a wish even is in this movie in a way that’s relatable, so we can’t relate.

It would be like if you took Mulan’s desire to save her father from physical injury, mixed with a desire to prove herself—and then you replaced that with “Mulan desires to speak with the tongues of dragons.” Mmmkay that sounds neat but what the heck does it mean and why should I care, or remember it when I leave this theater?

Everyone who defends this movie likes to say, “Asha’s selfless, she just cares too much about everyone else’s wishes, she wants them all to be happy!” But you know what, that’s not relatable. Because it’s flawless.

Belle is selfless. Belle gives up all her dreams and goes into her worst nightmare—living with a selfish, conceited monster—to fave her father.

But did you catch that? She has dreams. She doesn’t know exactly what she wants, but she wants to have a big, important life. That;s not necessarily selfless, and it’s part of her personality. Guess what else? Her worst nightmare is living with a selfish, conceited monster. So she actually has something to develop.—being able to be kind and loving, anyway, and give conceited monsters a chance.

Asha has nothing like that. From the first moment conflict is introduced, she knows what the right thing to do is. She has no self-focused desires, allegedly. She’s just a told virtue with no showing, no real person inside.

I mean jeez, even Aurora, whose whole character is supposed to BE a “Symbol of Virtue, Personified” still lays her head down and cries when she can’t have the man she loves. Even Cinderella gets annoyed with Lucifer.

And what’s the deal with that recently? Where’d all the annoyance go? Why is it Moana doesn’t get into any serious, believable arguments with anyone on her crew in Moana 2? Loto starts chopping up the BOAT THEIR LIVES DEPEND ON and Moana’s just like, “heyyy budddyyy could you maybe nooot?” All passive-aggressive and smiley, she’s not even a little irritated. Neither is Loto. And no matter how grumpy the old man is, nobody is ever fed up with him. What’s the deal with that?

Why is it Asha is never fed up with or loses her temper at Valentino? Nobody hurts each other’s feelings in these movies anymore. (Sabino yelling at Asha doesn’t count because it came out of nowhere and again, the THING he’s yelling about isn’t believable, it’s nonsensical.) Why doesn’t she talk back or argue with Sabino at the table like Mulan does? Why is she fine to argue with Magnifico, though, the villain? What happened to all that self-righteousness? Oh, we can’t use it. Not when it’s a character that is a good guy. Because our good guys can never do anything slightly unlikable to fellow good guys.

What’s the deal with that in these movies nowadays? The relationships have no flaws or teeth. What’s with that? Am I the only one noticing that?

Anyway

[bestiarium]

Manu Keu Renga, the bird spirit [Rapa Nui mythology]

Traditional body paints play a role in the culture and religion of the native people of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Though several different kinds of paint were (and are) used, the pigments made from the pua plant stand out because of a local legend attached to them.

Rapa Nui tradition claims that one day, the great spirit Manu Keu Renga descended from the sky and landed in Te Pito o te Henua. Not much is known about his appearance, save for the fact that he had feathers and wings like a bird. On his back, he carried a wooden grate, which was tied to his neck.

The spirit came from Hiva, a legendary landmass that supposedly existed to the northwest of Easter Island. According to legend, it sunk into the ocean long ago.Manu Keu Renga taught the people how to shred pua plants on a grate over a hollow stone, so that the fluids are caught into the the hole of the rock, and how to make durable paint with these pigments.

The people were grateful and used this new paint to decorate their clothes and their bodies.

For example, a 'nua mahute' was a type of cloak traditionally made by women and coloured with pua paint.

Satisfied with the gift he had bestowed upon mankind, Manu Keu Renga left, and the people of Rapa Nui never saw him again.

Sources:

Englert, S. And Huke, T. P., 2001, Legends of Easter Island, Anthropological Museum of Easter Island, 291 pp., p.127, p.286.

Englert, S., 2004, La Tierra de Hotu Matu'a, Historia y Etnología de la Isla de Pascua: gramática y diccionaro del antiguo idioma de Isla de Pascua, Editorial Universitaria, 361 pp., p.180-181.

Image 1: a contestant in the Takona festival, wearing body paint resembling the symbol of the god Make Make. Image source: Imagina Rapa Nui

Image 2: another contestant in the Takona Tapati festival. Image source: Imagina Rapa Nui

[zabchan]

answer pt. 2, because i went hard on a tangent when i first tried answering.

this shot appears in a japanese moana 2 trailer with zero context. either maui is on motonui in the sequel, someone is dreaming, or homeboy invented the first life-sized cardboard cutout.

My shipper heart really hopes Maui does get a chance to hang out with moana at home. and not just for the "Meet the Parents" cliche. Maui may pretend to be a Lone Wolf, but within 2 seconds of meeting him anyone can see the big demi-guy is an extrovert. He needs public facetime. He lives for attention. Get this poor man-child a support structure. Get him some therapy too while you're at it, but baby steps.

also i really love the headcanon that tui is gonna fanboy the heck out when he meets maui because COCONUTS. this is the guy who made COCONUTS happen. i need to draw tui and moni decked out in maui fanclub gear, tui thrusting a signed coconut aloft like he personally wrestled 3 other baseball fans for it.

[moni at moana's front door like "have you heard the word about our lord and savior who slowed down the sun?"]

also moana's front door is a full sized maui tapestry ahhhhh my heart

ye olde polynesian body pillow

havent seen any in-movie preview clips of maui meeting lil sis simea yet. :(

but there is this adorable not-canon promo

but i wouldnt put any hopes on them meeting being canon based on this. similar splash promos were put out for the first film with maui & pua interacting, and we all know that didnt end up happening.

i have a micro-fic about them meeting sitting in my google drive, just waiting for me to finish the accompanying drawing though, so look forward to that :D

AS FOR maui's background,

irl polynesian history/tradition/mythology gives us plenty. disney might not go these routes, but given how well theyve treated his stories so far (imo extremely well), theres a great chance the broad strokes of his family life makes it into the disney canon.

with the caveat that every pacific island east of new guinea has its own culture and nuances they bring to the maui legends, there are enough overlaps to form a general 'myth-maui origin story'.

Maui was born the youngest of several (1-4) brothers and a debatable amount of sisters (1-4). His father was chief or royalty or half-god or all of the above, his uncles and grandfather likely the same. some of his uncles are described as giants. Theres a tongan legend that Maui senior invented the Umu (the underground oven we see them use in moana) and kept the secret of it for himself and his immediately family, the island elites (ali'i). Maui the trickster thought that was a shitty elitist idea and stole the secret of underground fire to share with the other islanders. Maui's father shows up in several versions of maui's underworld exploits, usually the fire stealing one, and usually after maui senior is already dead.

[UmU what's this? OwO]

Maui's mom has variations of godliness herself. sometimes she's the goddess of tapa-making, sometimes she's the daughter or granddaughter of gods. sometimes she's the guardian of the door to the underworld, where she occasionally meets up with Maui's dead father. she cant join him down there, but Maui follows her one night and being half divine, he slips thru and meets his deceased relatives. Sometimes she's just a human woman who has 4-7 mouths to feed with a dead husband and unfortunately Maui the youngest is just one too many.

she cuts her hair, her topknot, and puts baby maui into it, throwing him at the mercy of the sea. most myths give her credit and say maui was mistaken for inviably premature or stillborn at this point, and that she didn't mean to murder her infant.

but most agree that it was from the sea that the gods found maui and raised him apart from his family, bestowing upon him strength and supernatural gifts. in myths where he's got godly parentage, his hook is made from the jawbone of one of these divine ancestors, usually a grandparent.

and then, at an age no one can quite agree on, maui is sent back. he meets his family again, his elder brothers all grown, his sisters mostly so. they all seem to be doing just fine without him. theyre upstanding community members, good fishermen, and the eldest is even chief. they dont believe maui the trickster is their brother at first, and it takes some timely memory jogging by mom to get them to accept him. the eldest maui bro is the most chill about it, but soon enough he too joins the ranks of the permanently peeved male maui-relatives. Our maui tries wowing them with feats of stength, cunning, magic- mostly he succeeds in making them jealous and angry. maui's tricks are all at their expenses. maui fouls their fishing lines, scares the fish, steals dessert, beats them silly in contests of strength.

the one thing they can do that he cant is fish. maui is terrible at it, resorts to stealing fish straight off their lines. maui is so bad at fishing that he gets his hook stuck in the floor of the ocean and pulls up an island, rather than the tuna he was aiming for. retroactively of course he claims he MEANT to do that-

but yeah. thats maui's home life.

maui's sister hina is way nicer to him. in one version of the sun pulling myth, she donates her hair to him to braid into the magic rope he lassos the sun with. the rapunzel-flower crossover potential is through the roof.

his mom was either terrible at names, calling all her sons 'maui' and her daughters' variations on Hina- or Hina is based on the word wahine, which is an intra-pacific term for generic womenly types. on any given island, in any particular telling you'll hear maui's mom called hina, his wives called hina, his sisters are called hina. makes it really fun tracking maui's genealogy let me tell you. it also explains why the woman in the eel story is anyone from maui's mom to his aunt to his sister to his sister-in-law to his wife to his daughter.

I'm sure everyone has that one relative who always mistakes them for another, sometimes cycling thru the entire family roster like a drop down box before hitting on the right name. "and this is my sister-in-law hina- i mean sina- hine? hima? Irena?" a hundred years or or of that and i guess i cant blame maui for making it easy on himself and just calling all the women of his family Hina.

not sure if this proves that maui was an overprotective brother to his favorite sister, but one of the more common stories is maui fucking around with his brother-in-law. the 100% mortal brother in law doesn't have a consistent name, but lets call him Doug. Doug hangs out with maui at hina's insistence. they go fishing together (bad plan) and predictibly, doug is slightly better at it than maui. hje also apperantly talks a lot, and it gets on maui's last nerve. maui picks doug up by the mouth and stretches his face & body out hill he has a muzzle and walks on all fours. maui then tattoos doug's lips black. This seems unnecessary but its the maori explanation for why dogs have black lines around their mouths so go figure. anyway, maui creates the first Dog out of doug then gives the creature back to his sister, saying he doesn't mind doug so much this way. Hina is horrified and runs away, inspiring her own epic adventures that have nothing to do with her brother until he shows up at the very end to pick her up in time for mom's funeral. at least thats the version i remember. my source material for hina's adventures in a post-dog world is very textbook dry and hard to parse. maybe one day i'll try rereading it and giving it a jazzy paraphrasing for yall. wont that be nice?

[pictured: artists rendition of maui's sisters and shitty-brother-in-law. circa 1200 BCE. probably. ]

TLDR Maui is a dick to all his family except his mom. and once maybe even his mom.

[useless-catalanfacts]

Hi! wikipedia is not being super helpful - I am curious about whether support for Valencian independence is similar to the support for Catalonian independence; I am just assuming that "Catalonian separatism" refers ONLY to Catalonia, not necessarily the other Catalan-speaking regions? is there any solidarity for independence movements between Valencia and Catalonia because of shared language? I have heard a lot about Catalonian separatism but I haven't ever really heard of Valencian separatism even though I am sure it exists.

thank you!

Hello!

Catalan independentism doesn't necessarily mean only Catalonia. Historically, it has meant all the Catalan Countries, often with a focus on the ones under Spanish rule of it's being done from those territories (Catalonia, the Valencian Country and the Balearic Islands being the focus) and pretty much all pro-independence organisations work in all the areas, not only Catalonia.

This is going to be a long answer, so I'll leave it under the "read more".

When you see Valencian pro-independence posters, pins, etc that have the map silhouette, you'll see this shape:

which is the shape of all the Catalan Countries, usually excluding L'Alguer (L'Alguer —the Catalan-speaking city in Sardinia, Italy— will be included when we're talking about language rights and cultural rights, but not about independence or political unity). That is, the shape you'll see includes the Valencian Country, Catalonia, la Franja, and the Balearic Islands (from Spain), Northern Catalonia (from France), and Andorra.

(Source of the examples: posters calling for pro-independence protests in València. 1. From Cartells PUA, year 1999. 2. From MDT, 2012. From endavant, 2019.)

You can search on Google images for "cartells independència València" and you'll find more. I also found this one where the silhouette is only the Valencian Country but in huge letters it says "Valencian Country. Catalan Countries" so, yeah, same thing.

The Catalan independence movement having a significant part dedicated to "Catalonia only" independence is quite recent and mostly due to strategic reasons. If you look at early to mid 20th-century independentist texts, you can find the word "Catalunya" ("Catalonia") is often being used for all the Catalan-speaking countries, because it was the terminology used at the time including in València (and even as late as Joan Fuster's early texts, that's the word being used). However, it doesn't necessarily mean only what we now understand as Catalonia proper. After the popularization of the term "Catalan Countries" by Valencian writers (especially Joan Fuster), that's what will be used and the word "Catalunya" will surely mean only Catalonia (whether it's all of Catalonia including Northern Catalonia or only the area that the Spanish administrative region system calls Catalonia —aka the Catalonia at the south of the Spanish-French border— will depend on the context, but for texts written in Southern Catalonia it will often mean the 2nd).

"Catalonia only" (or, at least, "Catalonia only, for now") only became majoritary in Catalonia's independence movement around 2010, when many new people in Catalonia joined the independence movement. New people were arriving who previously saw independence as a dream impossible to achieve or as a radical communist thing, but now were realising that it was the only possible solution to the repeated attacks from Spain. Then, Catalonia's independence movement quickly grew and gained so many followers that we were more than half the population at the very least in favour of a referendum. (Previously, right after the end of Franco's dictatorship, it was the Valencian Country where the Catalan independence movement was the strongest, which is why the right-wing created and pushed "blaverism", a Catalanophobic ideology aimed at dividing Valencians from the rest of the country and weakening the social movements and language use). At this point, Catalonia had such a strong independentist movement that its independence was finally a possible short-term goal. And, because of the way that European politics work, most people believed we could achieve it through democratic means; because every administrative region in Spain has a regional parliament and regional government, in Catalonia we voted for pro-independence politicians in our "regional" government, who would follow the necessary steps to organise a referendum and, if won, declare independence. However, at the same time the independence didn't have nearly as much support in the Valencian Country; in fact, in the previous decades, the right-wing had been very focused on encouraging Catalanophobia in the Valencian Country with "blaverism", and their chosen politicians clearly showed it. So it only made sense to focus on declaring independence for the place where the majority of its population wants it. The underlying idea was that, once we have an independent Catalonia established, the rest of Catalan Countries can hold their own referendums to decide if they want to join us, often with a union of federated states being brought up.

But this was very controversial at the time. I remember many people (the more left-wing anti-capitalist type, pretty much everyone in the CUP and related) were saying that we cannot leave Valencians and Balearics behind, we cannot save ourselves and leave them in suffering. There was also the fear that Catalonia declaring independence would cause retaliation from Spain against the other Catalan areas, the Basque Country and Galicia to strip them from more language rights and regional governance to make sure they couldn't follow our path. There was the chant "sense València no hi ha independència" (without València there is no independence), but slowly over time most of these groups came to agree that the best thing we can do for our brothers there is to declare Catalonia's independence to lead the way, show that it can be done and that a better country with more egalitarian and respectful ways of working is possible; and with the hardest part of the process already behind us, it will be easier for them to join us.

To sum up, Catalan independence nowadays can mean either Catalonia only (understood to be a real possibility in the short-term) or all the Catalan Countries (generally thought of as a longer-term project).

This is not to say that nobody wants a Valencia-only independent country. I'm sure there are people out there who want all kinds of things. But this is extremely minoritary. Valencian people are generally either one of the three: 1) in favour of the independence of the Catalan Countries (Valencia included), 2) follow the blaverist idea of Valencian regionalism as a Spanish identity, or 3) directly full Spanish nationalism.

However, blaverism sometimes backfired in a strange way and made a few people really hate Catalans but still love their land, and you'll find a few people who defend Valencian rights in a very isolationist way while still believing the blaverist conspiracy theories or pseudohistory to justify its separation from the rest of the Catalan Countries. So I'm sure you can find some people who argue for a Valencia-only independent state, but it's going to be a handful of people and it's not an organized political movement comparable to Catalan Countries independence movement.

Thank you for your interest. I hope this answers your question; if not, please feel free to ask again!

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

"No one actual hates straight people. That's a lie."

*Meanwhile, plastered all over every social media in existence*

Modern culture can just go crawl in a hole somewhere.

As lot of LGBT activists shit on het people non stop, women tell men they are sad, boring, pathetic, and gross, when they identify with pictures like this, and fake "alpha" men who can't find a date must of the time project their rage onto other men that identify with this picture.

Really I see the reactions to this and I'm left in awe of how awful people are. And a bulk of the women that shit on men for identifying with this picture are why men like Andrew Tate even HAVE a platform. Otherwise he'd just be some no name PUA on the Internet. A large chunk of why LGBT acceptance is down is because every time pictures like this go any level of viral, we see shit like, "Ew straight normalization", or, "Gross hetero couples" or other bullshit. Or those "fixing" the art by making the characters the same sex.

I'm sorry but maybe all of you should go and reflect on things. Because little is as shit in a relationship (not the most shit thing) as not being able to communicate and be yourself at all. If you're never able to be vulnerable at all around you're significant other, they REALLY don't love you. They love the image of you they've created in their head of you that lives on a pedestal, that your will NEVER be able to continue living up to. No. When you parents die. Don't cry. Brood a bit, then go take off your shirt and chop lumber so your woman can fawn over how masculine your are. */S*

I hate modernity. I hate it so fucking much. If I had a dime for every women that's ever said, "you can be open and honest about your feelings" to men, only to be grossed out when they do it and crack because they've been holding it in for years, I'd be richer than Jeff (Lex Luthor) Besoz.

[emo-gremlin]

Adventures in Incorrect Quote generation!

Starring: My friendly neighborhood!

(Some dirty jokes are ahead!)

Tax: Are you tall enough to play basketball though?

Noir: Are you calling me short?

Tax: I'm calling you vertically challenged.

🤣

Ricky: Hey.

Noir: *pissed off* You… complete …ASS, Ricky! You show up here after WEEKS, and you say “hey”?!

🤣

Noir: Valentine’s day is just a consumerist holiday that holds no real value other than drive people insane buying heart shaped chocolates for their significant others and pos-

Dennis: I wrote you a poem.

Noir, already crying: You did?

🤣

Gordon: No more making fun of me when I misuse dated cultural references, alright? Are we cowabunga on this?

Norman, sighing: Fine. We're cowabunga.

🤣

Gordon: I do two things and two things only. I devastate sorry motherfuckers, and get shit done as an awesome leader.

🤣

Norman: I'm having problems with a guy...

Dennis: Like his dead body won't fit into your trunk kind of problems, or you like him kind of problems?

🤣

George: *Locks Junebug in the car.* Act like a child, get treated like a child.

Junebug: What? Isn't it illegal to leave a child locked in a car?

🤣

Lenard, learning to drive: What happens if I press the gas and the brake at the same time?

George: The car takes a screenshot.

Gordon: Please pull over. I’m driving now.

🤣

Noir: sapnu puaS.

Norman: What??

Dennis: What language is that.

Noir: Turn your phone 180 degrees.

*Noir was removed from the groupchat*

🤣

George: I like your new pants!

Norman: Thanks, they were 50 off!

George: I’d like them better if they were 100 off. *winks*

Norman: The store can’t just give away clothes for free.

George: Thats’s… not what I meant.

Norman: That’s a terrible way to run a business, George.

🤣

Norman: *banging a pen on the table out of frustration*

Dennis: Stop that. How would YOU feel if I banged you on the table?

Norman: I—

Norman: I don’t know the correct answer to that question.

🤣

Lilianna, with a headache: Advil me up, daddy.

Gordon: I will short out the language centre of your brain if you say anything like that ever again.

🤣

Tax: Fine! Judge all you want but...

Tax, points at Dennis: Married a lesbian.

Tax, points at Lilianna: Left a man at the altar.

Tax, points at George: Fell in love with a gay ice dancer.

Tax, points at Noir: Threw a girl’s wooden leg in a fire.

Tax, points at Lestat: Lives in a box!

🤣

Pillbug: Lilith taught me to think before I act.

Pillbug: ...So if I smack the shit out of you, rest assured that I thought about it and am confident in my decision.

🤣

Norman: Someone take me to art museums and make out with me.

George: But they said not to touch the masterpieces.

Norman: Well somebody's got to pin the artwork to the wall.

Gordon, on the walkie talkie: This is Gordon, those idiots are fucking around in the East wing again.

🤣

Noir: Bro-

Tax: No, no, hold up, rewind.

Tax: My tongue was down in your throat just a second ago and now you're calling me bro??

🤣

Lenard: You call yourself my soulmate, but where were you when my meme only had four likes?

Norman: Making four accounts.

Lenard, tearing up: Really...?

🤣

Gordon: Hey, it’s your turn to wash the dishes.

Noir: I’ll wash the walls red with your blood.

Gordon: Okay, but before that, wash the dishes. Also, use soap this time.

🤣

Norman, carrying a box: What would you say if- if I, hypothetically, came home with 7 kittens one day?

Gordon: …

Gordon: What’s in the box?

Norman: What woul-

Gordon: Norman, what’s in the box?

Norman: I think you know.

🤣

Dennis: My knee just cracked so loudly that I half expect it to glow in the dark tonight.

🤣

[brazenautomaton]

Personally, I find the term "aromantic" to be generally informative as a category for thinking about people. However, I find its cultural connotations extremely funny. Like, most people who use the term clearly intend it to evoke a twee and fasionable vaguely queer college girl/enby who has esoterically found herself through the term. But it seems pretty clear to me that the archetype of person best described by the term is, like, the Barney Stinson PUA-or-wannabe douchebag who doesn't care about women as people but sure loves fuckin' em. (Side note, but in my experience, all the people I've gotten to know well who identified as acearo or some variant turned out to actually just be crazy, and were more sexual and romantic than the baseline but lived in a subculture that forbade questioning people's chosen identities. But I don't think that that invalidates the term, per se, so much as it's a commentary on that subculture.)

if the term does exist only in that subculture then it does actually invalidate it. if only a certain group of people use a term, and all of them use it in a way contrary to what they claim it describes, it is not a good or useful term

the fact that a word or concept has been presented in a context of gender or sexuality does not mean we have the responsibility to "redeem" it. I see way way way too many people fall into this trap and i think it's the assumption that "well people are probably misusing an academic concept, so the academic concept must exist, and therefore it must be accurate because it was made by smart serious people" mixed with the assumption "there is a Secret True Real version of my ideology that is definitionally good, anything we're saying must be correct, and any appearance otherwise has to be a misunderstanding"

[maslows-pyramid-scheme]

I'm reading Laura Bates' Men Who Hate Women and I think Bates is far too willing to believe some men find and join extremist communities because they're shy, socially inept, or unsure how to approach women - I disagree, I think men have to dehumanise women to some extent in order to find/join these communities (and I'd imagine they're getting that base dehumanisation from pornography).

For example, Bates notes that 'pick-up' communities frequently feature racist and homophobic/biphobic ideas about women of colour and lesbian/bisexual women:

Like much of the manosphere, the PUA ['pick up artist'] community presents deeply problematic racist stereotypes, particularly through sweeping generalisations about the 'types' of women in different countries, suggesting that they all conform to dehumanising stereotypes. (Women from a particular European country are sex-crazed; Asian women are submissive to white men; etc.) One well-known pick-up guru's website, for example, offers an 'American Man's Guide to Seducing Oriental Women,' which, after a disclaimer to reassure readers he's not a racist, goes on to promise it can tech men how to 'get all the yellow and pink you can handle' by building their own 'harem of willing, docile, obedient Oriental chicks' ... [featuring topics like] 'how to use your vastly superior knowledge of American culture to appear as god-like superman in her eyes, who she is compelled to obey, serve, and satisfy!' ... Pick-up gurus present damaging and prejudiced stereotypes about lesbians (who are often portrayed as simply not having been 'banged' by the right man yet, thus actively encouraging straight men to harass them) and bisexual women (who are presented as exotic, sexually greedy creatures, whose main reason for existence is to spice up the sex lives of heterosexual men). Some pick-up gurus even capitalise on these stereotypes to the extent of branding themselves 'experts' in bedding such women.

But Bates never addresses the dehumanising wants these communities purportedly address (or use to suck men in): if they're about overcoming shyness, insecurity, or talking to women, then why would men get invested in communities aimed at helping men where (enthusiastic) consent is either entirely absent (for lesbians, who are not sexually attracted to men), or mitigated by coercion (for Asian women, who get reduced down to sex toys; for bisexual women, who get reduced down to a real-life pornographic film)?

[happy-mokka]

I love documentaries. I like to watch them while I'm eating. Just now I had dinner and watched

"America's National Parks, s1e5 Hawai'i Volcanoes"

This one above is focusing on the nature, especially around Hawai'i Volcanoes. But since Hawaiian culture is completely about living in unity with their natural wonders, it also covered beautiful things on the culture as well.

A few things came up, that I was dying to share:

Pua lehua

Quote:

“The lehua is the first tree that springs up from a recent lava flow. It's for that reason, when we speak in Hawaiian and we speak of people who are skilled, strong, and beloved, they're often referred to as pua lehua, or lehua flowers.

Aloha

(Wikipedia here)

Extract:

Aloha (/əˈloʊhɑː/ ə-LOH-hah, Hawaiian: [əˈlohə]) is the Hawaiian word for love, affection, peace, compassion and mercy, that is commonly used as a greeting. It has a deeper cultural and spiritual significance to native Hawaiians, for whom the term is used to define a force that holds together existence.

The word is found in all Polynesian languages and always with the same basic meaning of "love, compassion, sympathy, kindness."

The word aloha is hard to translate into any other language because it comprises complex ways of being and of interacting with and loving all of creation. An ethic of care and respect for all people and all elements of the land is wrapped up in aloha; it is a way of showing connection and reverence. Queen Liliʻuokalani is known to have said, "Aloha is to learn what is not said, to see what cannot be seen, and to know the unknowable".

Another way to interpret aloha is as an energy exchange — the giving and receiving of positive energy is the spirit of aloha. As we create positive thoughts and interactions, they ripple out into the world and are merged and multiplied with the actions and energy of others. Aloha has been described as the coordination of the heart and mind to foster connectivity and peace.

The state of Hawaii introduced the Aloha Spirit law in 1986, which mandates that state officials and judges treat the public with Aloha.

The University of Hawai'i's Center for Labor Education and Research resorts the statute of the Spirit of Aloha which breaks down the concept into an acronym using each of the letters of the word:

"'Akahai,' meaning kindness, to be expressed with tenderness;

'Lōkahi,' meaning unity, to be expressed with harmony;

'ʻOluʻolu,' meaning agreeable, to be expressed with pleasantness;

'Haʻahaʻa,' meaning humility, to be expressed with modesty;

'Ahonui,' meaning patience, to be expressed with perseverance."

Aloha ʻĀina

(Wikipedia here)

Extract:

Aloha ʻĀina, which literally means "love of the land", is a central idea of Native Hawaiian thought, cosmology and culture. Aloha ʻāina brings a perspective that pervades many aspects of life. Its ecological and cultural orientations are founded upon a sense of being connected to all living things. This mutuality between all things exists on many levels: spiritual, social, and the scientific.

Aloha ʻĀina also means Hawaiian patriotism; love for the land and its people. It is an in-depth relationship between the places and communities that hold significance to the individual.

Ohana

Ohana is a Hawaiian term meaning "family" (in an extended sense of the term, including blood-related, adoptive or intentional).

🌴🌺

I love this sooo much. It does so completely express a way of living I've always firmly believed in, even before I knew that somewhere someone put it into such beautiful wise words.

It fits perfectly that it is the beginning of a new year and maybe someone out here is still searching for suitable resolutions to pick up.

Here's my suggestion:

Make room for ALOHA in your lives! Live by it. Give it freely. With all its aspects!

Also, go ahead and tell someone you love and admire, that they are PUA LEHUA!

Tell them that they are SKILLED, STRONG and BELOVED!

😘 @uncleadelheid-will-eat-your-soul

Practice Aloha ʻĀina here on Tumblr. This our land and our people. Love your mutuals.

Build yourself your little Ohana. Share people around you that complete you and with whom you can share all of the above.

[cosmicretreat]

Over on Reddit, there’s a lot of discussion about the breakdown of voter demographics, and every time someone realizes Gen Z males went harder than expected for trump, some Zoomer redpiller swoops in whining about “I got tired of being called a cis white male (derogatory) so I decided to do the most racist, sexist thing possible and alter the course of history for the next hundred years in the worst way possible FOR THE LULZ!”

It’s Comicsgate again, but with political power. It’s a generation of selfish stupid nihilist incels who were raised by manosphere YouTube nazis who kept telling them chicks won’t fuck them because of the 19th Amendment. And now these broccoli-haired bros are all over social media giggling about how they’re “embracing absurdity” because there’s no future and patting themselves on the back about “restoring the rightful order.” Because they couldn’t get dates and figured there must be some grand reasoning behind it. Really it’s just that they’re spewing PUA nonsense and thinking they’re owed submission. They cannot WAIT to take away your rights.

I studied history and sociology in college. People like me saw this coming for decades. The parallels to the period between WWI and WWII were uncanny. The road here was paved with people telling us to stop overreacting. And the Roganification of America steadily continued. Kimmel will have a lot to say even though The Man Show played a crucial role in getting us here. Almost thirty years ago I complained about the return of frat bro “boys will be boys” sexism. I called it Maxim Culture. People told me to calm down. And now a generation of incels raised by Maxim Culture losers into believing Me Too was a personal attack on their future are guffawing about how scared everyone else is. They think they’re going to be kings of the new world and not sent to die in trump’s wars.

They were raised badly. The Bush-Cheney years really dismantled education and crippled the power of teachers. When I was a teacher you could see the impossible limitations we were up against. It’s only gotten worse. Trump’s failure on Covid led to a lot of kids getting an irreparable gap where they were isolated and brainwashed by abusive algorithms that delivered them divisive rage bait. The richest country in the world can’t raise their own kids because wealth is concentrated in the hands of a very few.

We let this happen, but we didn’t know it was happening because we’ve been stuck on a hamster wheel of just trying to survive for most of my adult life. Now progress is in danger, peril seems inevitable, and prosperity seems like an impossible dream. The sheer force of apathy and the lack of urgency in dealing with even a single problem in America has led me to a pretty cynical mindset. I don’t think I’ll live very long through the coming destruction of what safety net we still have. Thank god I live in one of the few blue areas left.

Please love each other the best you can, and for fuck’s sake support each other. Stop mocking each other’s values and concerns and try listening. Be caring even when it’s hard to do because it’s going to be one of the best ways to fight the encroaching darkness. But also, maybe stop giving people the benefit of the doubt when they’re spewing fascism for years and years. We were not overreacting. We’re still not. You can’t just wait for this to blow over. Speak truth to power, shame the devils and eat the fucking rich.

Also, don't feel bad about cutting anyone out of your life who supported trump or any of his cronies. Don't feel bad about cutting out anyone who didn't take this seriously and didn't vote. You have no obligation to interact in your personal life with people who make you feel bullied and dehumanized. You're not being selfish, you're trying to survive.

[synergysilhouette]

An alternate take on "Moana" (2016)

I really enjoyed "Moana." It was a beautiful film with a gorgeous story and a nice twist. However, as with all my rewrites, I did have some nit-picks with it.

More deities. When creating "Moana," the directors used Fiji, Samoa, and Tahiti, which are part of Polynesia or Micronesia, respectively. I recall there was some criticism on what specific culture Moana was supposed to be emulating, and while I think it'd be fine to include other Polynesian-inspired deities, but perhaps original ones could potentially be well-received. I could potentially see it as a cross between "Big Hero 6" and "Hercules" in terms of having a fun and bubbly group of characters, as well as showing why Te Ka is such a threat to all forms of life.

2. Make Moana less obsessed about the sea, keeping it a secret from the chief. She sees how it upsets him, even before learning why. As such, she keeps this to herself, so that she can be a chief that's not distracted. This is just me, but I was slightly annoyed that her wanting to explore the reef was moreso for herself than her people, and later she was given reason to indulge in it.

3. Moana's brothers. A big issue I have with "Moana" is that the major cast is so small; once on the ocean, it's just Moana, Maui, and Hei-Hei. I'd have loved including a couple of brothers from the original concept--not all of them, since it'd be too many characters (or perhaps some go with her while the others stay home).

4. Bring Pua instead of Hei-Hei. Personal preference; Hei-Hei was annoying and Pua seemed a little bit smarter.

5. Maui's design. A critique of Maui's design is that he's portrayed as obese, whereas culturally he's seen as athletic, and it was seen as embracing the derogatory stereotype of the obese Pacific Islander. Making him more athletic physically would've been an easy fix. Along with this, I'd probably tweak his personality. In the film, his vanity is sourced from being a hero to mortals, but it would be neat if he was a more submissive character, instead being a people-pleaser. While it wouldn't make him stealing the Heart of Te Fiti right, it'd make him look less evil and cruel; it'd feel more like he was being manipulated and taken advantage of after his mother threw him away.

6. The Ocean's duality. Moana gets frustrated at the sea for bringing her to what she thought was an abandoned island (which was actually Maui's island), but we never see her or Maui question the sea; Maui just says that the ocean made bad judgement picking her. I do wish Moana had hesitancy cooperating with the sea due to almost drowning her and drowning her father's friend. Heck, maybe make this flashback happen earlier to explain why Moana isn't as hooked on going to the sea; she's traumatized, even if she finds it alluring.

Lemme know what you think! I know this movie is beloved as-is.

[gothicprep]

i like contrapoints because, in my opinion, she's one of the few big names online that understands that coming off as non-judgmental is a lot more rhetorically powerful than it's often credited for. the one really big criticism i do have of her is though that her grasp on internet history isn't the greatest and i think it drives her to bad conclusions sometimes.

two claims i'd contest are the one in her incels video about alana's involuntary celibacy project in the incels video, and some of the framing she does around chris-chan in her cringe video. the alana/invcel thing comes up a lot when people talk about the incelosphere because i think people almost *want* it to be true. like, how much of a dunk would it be for this community to be the corrupted downstream of a concept first articulated by a queer woman! but this isn't really true, to act like there was a linear progression from alana's involuntary celibacy project is leaving a lot out, mainly that what we understand as the contemporary incelosphere is mostly a backlash to PUA and early red pill stuff. even the term "involuntary celibate" wasn't something alana influenced, someone with too much time on his hands dug it up from a henry flynt book from the 60s. and like, as for chris-chan, there's so much to unpack with that one, but it is probably worth pointing out that she does have kind of a symbiotic relationship with her trolls.

another thing i've taken issue with is her paywalled tangent vid about new atheism. this one can probably be chalked up to it being more intended as, like, a retrospective of her experience in the youtube atheism scene, but new atheism was mostly a product of usenet coming about when one of the big culture war issues of the time was creationism in schools, and this was all hot off the heels of the satanic panic. 9/11 didn't help, but it definitely wasn't the genesis point, nor were the "four horsemen" as they liked to call themselves. talk.origins went up in 1998, and alt.atheism goes back to 1990 and was incredibly popular. also, like. feminism did very much kill atheism. it's not because of anything malicious that feminists did, but because there are always topics that take up more oxygen online than anything else, and feminism became that thing after we all sort of tacitly decided that we were fucking sick of arguing about religion.

i know this sounds like a nitpick, but when you deal in the domain of internet bullshit, it's generally best practice to have a firm grasp on the origin stories for all these varying trends and how the moving parts interacted with one another. it just lends to more accurate analysis,. as a boomer would say, the more things change, the more they stay the same. ime this has been extremely true of the internet.

[canonisdead]

Tinky Winky with his electric spear: I know you killed my friend with a rock Guardian.

Guardian, thinking: *play dumb*

Guardian: Who’s Guardian? 

Guardian, thinking: *Not that dumb!*

-

Tinky Winky: Welcome to Fucking Applebees, do you want apples or bees?

Guardian: Bees?

Tinky Winky: HE HAS SELECTED THE BEES!

Guardian: Wait-

*Po approaches, shaking a jar of bees menacingly*

-

Laa-Laa: My therapist started crying mid-session.

Dipsy: I think that means you win!

-

Laa-Laa: *gasps horrified and rips her wanted poster off a wall* Oh no….nononono, this is bad. This is very very bad. This is REALLY bad!

Laa-Laa: They just can’t get my antenna right! 

Tinky Winky: Does that really matter? 

Laa-Laa: Well that’s easy for you to say! *gestures to Tinky Winky’s wanted poster* You look amazing!

-

Finn: sapnu puaS.

Miles: What??

Richard: What language is that.

Finn: Turn your phone 180 degrees.

*Finn was removed from the groupchat*

-

Blinky: Do you know that we are made out of atoms? And atoms never touch each other. So in my defense, Papa. I did not punch Gary.

-

Guardian: Wait, you're gonna lie to people?

Lenny, mostly joking: It's not lying when you're in charge, Snowball. It's politics.

-

Blinky: I’m going out

Gary: Okay, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do

Blinky: Like what, get a boyfriend?

-

Miles: I’m telling you, if you want boys to respect you, you have to show them that you’re serious. Blow something up. Shoot someone. Nothing gets a guy’s attention like violence.

Laa-Laa:

-

Anne: Hey, do you know the password to Dutch’s computer?

Finn: Fuck you, Anne.

Anne: Hey!!

Finn: No, you misunderstood, the password is "fuckyouAnne".

Anne: Oh, no numbers? Not very safe.

-

Dutch: What's worse than a heartbreak?

Finn: Stepping on a fox’s tail and not being able to explain that you're sorry.

-

Dipsy: Yesterday, I overheard Baa saying "Are you sure this is a good idea?" and Duggle Dee replying "Trust me." I have never moved from one room to another so quickly in my entire life.

-

Lenny: *master chef* 

Cave: *knows a few recipes* 

Blinky: *can follow instructions on a box* 

Yeti: *made toast once* 

Arrow: *banned from the kitchen*

-

Lenny, pointing to the wall: What color is this?

Finn: Gray?

Dutch: Gray.

Lenny, turning to Richard: Now tell them what color you think it is.

Richard: Dark white.

-

Miles: Why is Richie making me do the dishes again? You haven’t washed them in a week, Lenny!

Lenny, currently has a broken arm: It’s because I’m Richard’s favorite.

Miles: I hate you.

-

Ping: My mom died when I was little so whenever someone jokes about fucking my dad I’ll pretend to be really sincere and say some shit like “Glad to see he’s moving on, my mom’s death hit him pretty hard.” Then watch them absolutely fumble trying to figure out a response to that statement.

Ping: Update, he got a new partner I can no longer make the joke.

-

Umby Pumby: Whoops

Mi-Mi: Whoops? Whoops? This is not a “whoops” situation. We are far past whoops. “Whoops” is a distant speck in the rear view mirror. We are solidly in “oh fuck” territory, and I expect you to act like it.

-

Daa-Daa: How do you tell someone that you wanna have sex with them in a polite way?

Ru-Ru: Excuse me Sir. Would you give me the honors of indulging in sexual activities with you?

Baa: What the fuck is wrong with you two?

-

Nin: Shh, here comes Po! 

Duggle Dee: Quick, Baa, start talking about boring nerd stuff! 

Baa: You know, nerd culture is mainstream now, so when you use the word “nerd” derogatorily, it means you’re the one that’s out of the zeitgeist. 

Duggle Dee: Yes, that’s perfect. Just like that.

-

Baa: I typed "bitch" into my GPS and guess what? I'm in your driveway. 

Mi-Mi, struggling to not laugh: 

Baa: Vroom vroom, come out already.