#the amount of money i needed

[sergle]

ALSO IMPORTANT TO NOTE, people dropping mad mad sums of money on gfms and charities and stuff are extremely impressive but that DOES NOT MEAN that putting like $5 towards someone's fund or any good cause is any less valuable, a lot of crowdfunding is about momentum and those single digits add up super fast, you do not need to be Rolling In The Dough to make someone's day!! moving the dial at all is extremely positive!!

[inkskinned]

the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

[egophiliac]

LEON

LEON YOUR EYEBALLS

[sclappin]

SHOP UPDATE!

The ill-advised Hamlet pins made about 5 or 6 years ago are currently on sale for $5.

I simply have too many of these things in my home. They have stayed with me, mostly unsold, through four separate moves. They're an awkward shape for storing in large quantities. Surely some of you must know a goth or an english major or a theater kid who thinks this is kind of funny.

For the love of god, please take these tiny Danish skeletons off my hands.

EDIT: SOLD OUT!

[xolaanii]

Help my dad not be literally toothless

Hello, i hate to do this so relatively soon after quite a few generous people on here pretty much saved me from being in trouble with my university, but, right now, I'm making this post to ask for some help in giving my dad some of his confidence and life back.

When my dad was very young he fell down a wall and on his head and was in a 3 week long coma, turns out though that this had some very nasty long term consequences for his jaw. This fall coupled with the fact that he is a smoker (he is doing his best to stop and I'm very proud of his progress rn) has caused at least 97% of his teeth to fall out over the years.

This is obviously not just an aesthetical problem (no matter what the health system here says) it is also slowly but steadily sapping him of his health because he can't eat properly, and also of his confidence since ya know he is just 52 years old. He is mortified of leaving the house except to go to work and he is so so skinny it's pretty sad to look at.

All this to say that I am making this post in an attempt to help him get at least some new teeth on his lower jaw, since that's where he has none right now. The whole procedure to replace ALL of his upper and lower teeth is so frighteningly expensive that there is no way it would ever happen, so any help in getting him those lower teeth would mean the world to me, my mom and most all to my dad.

If anyone can and would like to help (pls don't if you can't I'm serious mwah <3) my ko-fi is right here.

Under this cut is proof, including a picture of his mouth that was hell to get because my dad was mortified to even take it:

Toothless on the bottom and almost toothless on the upper jaw as well as you can see, there's also the scan the doctor made of his mouth just in case.

[jarchaeology]

when i first started this blog i got an anon saying that i shouldn’t tag jensen in my finds because it was unfair to embarrass him.

anyway, i wonder if that anon came from one of the twitter people who repost my finds without credit and get 20k views on “never before seen” pictures.

[angel-clouve]

The overworked moms ghouls trio, on their way to go bar-hopping and taste-testing new liquors outside Darkwick :)

(because the dads and the children have stressed them enough today that they decided to hold the drinking session in places faraway from home oops)

Putting the silliness aside... if we only consider the different backgrounds and personalities, these trio are actually quite an unusual housewife friend group 🤔

Not counting the fact they entered Darkwick on the same year and knew each other's name during The Weighing of Souls... when and where they first actually meet and get to know each other? I can only think of them getting assigned to a mission together and it ended with a success, thus a celebratory drink in a bar somewhere outside Darkwick? And maybe as they spent time sharing alcohol and chatting with each other, they eventually also bonded through their similar experiences as people who always end up dealing with troubles happening inside their dorms 💭

(Speaking of "people who always end up dealing with troubles happening inside their dorms", there are two certain vice-captains that also fit this criteria... makes me wonder if they also used to be part of this friend group before The Clash and the whole spy shenanigans fucked up relationships among some ghouls)

[sergle]

yall are about to piss me off by not having any PASSING basic knowledge of the way the u.s. military manipulates its recruits into joining by typing up one of your uninformed, unresearched, unempathetic, individualistic, unbelievably annoying posts about how 100% of the people in the military ended up there because they just Love America So Damn Much! they're extremely mature and informed at time of recruitment, they can totally leave anytime they want, they totally had tons of other avenues in life they could've taken, there was no rush at all to get income as fast as possible, and everyone in the military also totally is part of the combat divisions and personally enjoys being IN the military very much, big believers of violence. everyone in the military is shooting guns all day, that's how that works. they LOVE BLOODSHED. also I love the "amewicans haha" twang to this type of shit because you're actually TOTALLY stealing our Thing, which is turning systemic issues into Individual Issues. Instead of talking about the powers that be, it's so Personal Choice up in here. It's, "well you shouldn't have done it then. I totally wouldn't because I know better." you don't wanna talk about the military industrial complex as a whole, and you don't want to talk about recruiters, you just want to pin the blame on Specific Individual People one-by-one, as if they're responsible for the system that they're being ground up in. someone was in the military? bad person, no matter what. it's easier to believe that, I guess, than to acknowledge that Normal People (with high school educations) are manipulated and incentivized into joining a system that is Bad. at like age 18. but yeah no that 18 year old should have just been smarter lol haha anyway here are some screenshots for no particular reason

side note this reply of someone going "umm just get loans and go into a high paying field it's easy XD" as a direct response to someone trying to explain how most americans joining the military are being funneled in that direction out of a need for money.

and another person who Decided that americans join the military just CLENCHING their teeth thinking of other people, and not thinking completely selfishly about their own selves and their own income/housing/healthcare.

[surlifen]

surli classic: teal and orange monkey with summer aesthetic FINALLY some personal furry art

design by funeralmoon

[lost-in-fandoms]

Rich business owner Daniel is on vacation, staying in a fancy beach resort, spending a lot of time at the beach bar and at the pool. Resort worker Max who stumbles all over himself to be around him and bring him everything he asks for (and everything he doesn't).

One night after Max has asked for the fifth time if Daniel needs anything else (he doesn't), Daniel tells him listen you're very cute but you're way too young for me and also this is your place of work, you need to lay off a bit. Everything Max hears is "you're very cute" and kind of stops listening after that, but Daniel is right, it is his place of work, so he tries to be a little less obvious.

The thing is, Daniel is on vacation with a couple of friends, but he's still kind of bored? They have a few activities planned, but mostly they just hang around and go for swims (which Max really appreciates) and he's used to be busy all day every day, so this is not exactly his thing.

On day four he ends up asking Max if he knows of anything he could do to entertain himself (Max needs to work very hard to not answer "yes, me") and Max tells him a few things and then very selfishly kindly offers himself as a guide.

Daniel says okay fuck it and they start hanging out a lot, Max driving him around to places, showing him the island and taking him to secret spots, and Daniel forgets he is not only working but also several years younger and just enjoys himself. Max is funny, hot as fuck, laughs at all his jokes and is very clearly into him, so one night they stay out a bit too late at a bar in town and Daniel gets slightly too tipsy (Max is sober since he's driving) and they end up kissing. Max uses literally every last bit of his self control to not give in when Daniel asks him if he wants to go back to his room, because Daniel is drunk and also he had told Max he had to lay off before, but does end up dragging Daniel back and if he leaves a kiss on his forehead when he lays him in bed nobody needs to know.

Daniel has sort of a freak out the day after because he thinks he took advantage of Max's kindness, staying in his room with the excuse of being hungover, but Max knocks on his door that evening bringing him dinner (that Daniel hadn't ordered) because he's a no-bullshit man.

He tells him that it's fine if Daniel doesn't want to do anything, but Max is plenty old enough to know what he wants and to know what he can and cannot do at work, so if Daniel wants to fuck him, Max is free after nine, and then he leaves as Daniel bluescreens.

At 9:30 he calls the front desk to ask about Max.

The next morning they talk about it, Daniel insists Max can't risk his job over this so they need to be discreet, but he does want to keep seeing him. Max tells him he can do whatever he wants, but they find out the secret is actually exciting, and the hidden touches and glances during the day are almost better than being able to kiss by the pool.

[sixofravens-reads]

Book Haul: Whoops, it's Almost My Birthday Edition

Went to the bookstore downtown today to get a present for my friend and a little treat for myself...ended up with about 30% Friend Present and 60% Me Present, whoops lol

(friend's present is not pictured bc I'm not sure if she checks this blog)

[bisclavret]

what SICKO wrote the last scenes between gwaine and merlin is what i want to know. because even lancelot's last episode with merlin - which had to have been intentionally gay-coded since it's obvious the man is grappling with his feelings for merlin morphing from platonic to explicitly romantic - is still subtext because he doesn't have the tools to healthily express his feelings so he goes for the biggest romantic gesture he can think of: sacrificing his life to save a loved one. the writers also make sure to root this gesture back to gwen by adding a scene where she's inadvertently asking him to make that sacrifice first, so although it's very obvious that it's more for merlin than for gwen that lancelot dies for, she is there to add some plausible deniability, thus keeping his sexuality within the realms of subtext.

i don't want to delve too deeply into arthur's last scenes with merlin as there is both so much to unpack about what they mean to each other and there is also somehow nothing left to say that hasn't been said before. my point is just that there's so much at stake that if the viewer doesn't want to deal with the romantic subtext between them they can hang onto the 38 other dynamics merlin and arthur have represented to each other that the writers spent 5 years plastering on top of the gay subtext. basically, while the romance feels textual emotionally-speaking, it isn't "canon".

i don't mean to say that any relationship is better than another (even though i obviously have a preference) but that in gwaine's final scenes with merlin there's just no subtext anymore. his becomes the most explicit expression of romantic love towards merlin, and therefore the most explicit acknowledgment of homosexual love and the existence of queer people on the show:

it starts out with merlin suggesting that gwaine saved a girl from the saxons and then looked after her because he has a more than platonic interest in her, and they show us that merlin is right - gwaine and the girl eira slept together - even as gwaine half-heartedly denies any interest (which, why even deny it? merlin saw them holding hands! unless the lie is part of the point). then in that very same scene and directly after this exchange, merlin needs rescuing from the saxons, calls after gwaine, and gwaine performs the exact same role for him that he performed for eira: he saves him from the saxons and looks after him (for as long as merlin lets him).

the parallel between merlin and eira with such quick cause and effect (it literally all happens within the same minute) is where the shift from subtext to text becomes undeniable. yes, there have been other moments on the show where a character's affections towards two different genders are beat-for-beat the same, but, again, there has always been plausible deniability. in this case the parallel is meant to be taken at face value: the core point of it is to show us how gwaine expresses his attraction.

then, the dialogue they chose to bookend this scene with takes it a few steps further by functioning as a textual love confession to merlin himself: the scene opens with gwaine thanking merlin for everything he did for eira, and merlin saying that there is no need to thank him as it was the least he could do. a minute later, after merlin thanks gwaine for protecting him from the saxons as both merlin and the show just concluded gwaine did for eira for romantic reasons (even as he denied it by outright lying), gwaine parrots what merlin said when gwaine thanked him: no need to thank me, merlin, it's the least i could do.

but this comes off as the opposite of dismissive: in fact, this echoing of merlin's words is meant to jolt both merlin and the audience. by saying this right after saving merlin from the saxons, gwaine has now intentionally pointed merlin's attention towards the explicitly romantic parallel between himself and eira. gwaine is directly implying he just did for merlin what merlin correctly deduced he did for a woman because he desired her sexually and romantically, and he is using merlin's own words to challenge him into seeing past the initial flimsy lie that there is nothing between them. and what's behind the lie, of course, is that gwaine has done all of this and more because he desires merlin sexually and romantically. the camera even lingers on merlin, allowing him and the viewer to absorb what just happened. that for as long as we have known gwaine, his motivations have always boiled down to "i want to be there for merlin". and now both the audience and merlin finally know for sure what was motivating him the entire time.

what's more, by using merlin's own dismissive words, gwaine also implicates merlin's penchant for repression and denial and never allowing himself to be given credit where it's due. this unfortunately never properly gets dismantled on the show, but this moment shows that gwaine knows merlin well enough to know that he goes above and beyond for people, and that merlin's reasons for this ring as false to gwaine's ears as gwaine's reasons for saving damsels do to merlin. it also bittersweetly implies that gwaine has accepted that these are the platonic, repressed terms on which he can have a relationship with merlin. but i think the way in which he explicitly points all of this out to merlin is meant to imply that he isn't entirely happy about having to accept that. or, to circle back to eira, that merlin seems to be cheering for him to enter a heterosexual relationship when gwaine would clearly rather be with him.

what's additionally interesting to me about this is that this is one of the only scenes on this show that touch on same gender attraction that isn't using magic as a metaphor - because merlin doesn't have magic at the moment, yes, but also because gwaine is the more active character in this sequence, and he's an adventure hero, so he simply fights the bad guy to protect the person he loves. there is no metaphor to wrap this in, so he just gets to explicitly state his bisexuality. in the next scene, the very last one he and merlin share, it all becomes about magic again, which is both representative of merlin's sexuality and the show's "plausible deniability" approach to gay-coding, and so neither gwaine or merlin are permitted to acknowledge it. also, and this is for another post altogether, but all things point to "gwaine knew". not least because he gets to come out as queer without the complications of the magic-as-gay-metaphor which in turn emboldens him to ask merlin for the truth as directly as the metaphor-suffocated narrative will allow it.

tldr gwaine textually and canonically expresses and then confesses his feelings to merlin in a shockingly well-written and layered scene which makes gwaine the most explicitly queer character on bbc merlin and it's entirely because he exists outside the magic-as-gay-metaphor plot while loving someone who embodies that entire metaphor and it's crazy to me that we don't talk about this more. once again i ask what SICKO wrote this and where were they for the entire rest of this fucking show

tldrtldr at least gwaine is bi. its like i always say. at least gwaine is bi. at the end of the day. gwaine is bi. dont cry ok? gwaine is bi. at the end of the day. gwaine is bi. when all else fails. gwaine is bi. we'll always have. gwaine is bi

[leofrith]

obviously the quality of all these shows is suffering from the fact that their primary function is to provide the setup for future star wars projects (mcuification, baby!!! who's ready for the infinity war style team-up movie where the gang takes down thanos—i mean thrawn?). but i also think a big part of why the book of boba fett, mando s3 (and to a slightly lesser extent, s2 as well), and ahsoka all suffer from the same issue of having their main protagonists cast aside in favour of side characters—which in itself might not be as annoying as it is if those stories were even remotely interesting or well-written—is because filoni & co. want to be making an ensemble piece. but instead, they're stuck having to make a bunch of solo projects that are ostensibly about individuals or smaller casts of characters, which they then stumble their way through in the most half-assed, half-hearted way possible because it's all just setup for the "mandoverse movie," a phrase which makes me want to projectile vomit.

[ricciardover]

where’s the rocketship i was promised. where’s the beast of a car that had zak brown pissing and shitting his pants. why am i having to watch my goat qualify p18

[huellitaa]

dear universe. may my bank only grow bigger and my ass only get fatter. amen

[w1lmutt]

Most haunting moment of a design conference I went to last week was when the ai enthusiast was talking about the future potential usages of ai. "In the future we might go to a restaurant with friends where we need to split the bill, and you can tell the ai to generate an app that does that for you" HELLO????????????? LEARN TO DIVIDE????????????????????