#they WERE incredibly important

[monards]

been thinking so hard about how skirk assumed we knew the other two; i NEED to know who they are. PLEASE HOYO

[heyitsphoenixx]

of course brennan’s vip ep was an art house film about the metaphor of the self through the lens of false dream logic and time loops delivered by a wild man from the woods who is also a physicist from Newfoundland who carries around rocks in a briefcase that he has to hatch and doesn’t know the word alligator but does know the words centrifugal force and is afraid of bowls. of course.

[inkskinned]

you're grabbing lunch with a nice man and he gives you that strange grimace-smile that's popular right now; an almost sardonic "twist" of his mouth while he looks literally down on you. it looks like he practiced the move as he leans back, arms folded. he just finished reciting the details of NFTs to you and explaining Oppenheimer even though he only watched a youtube about it and hasn't actually seen it. you are at the bottom of your wine glass.

you ask the man across from you if he has siblings, desperately looking for a topic. literally anything else.

he says i don't like small talk. and then he smiles again, watching you.

a few years ago, you probably would have said you're above celebrity gossip, but honestly, you've been kind of enjoying the dumb shit of it these days. with the rest of the earth burning, there's something familiar and banal about dragging ariana grande through the mud. you think about jeanette mccurdy, who has often times gently warned the world she's not as nice as she appears. you liked i'm glad my mom died but it made you cry a lot.

he doesn't like small talk, figure out something to say.

you want to talk about responsibility, and how ariana grande is only like 6 days older than you are - which means she just turned 30 and still dresses and acts like a 13 year old, but like sexy. there's something in there about the whole thing - about insecurity, and never growing up, and being sexualized from a young age.

people have been saying that gay people are groomers. like, that's something that's come back into the public. you have even said yourself that it's just ... easier to date men sometimes. you would identify as whatever the opposite of "heteroflexible" is, but here you are again, across from a man. you like every woman, and 3 people on tv. and not this guy. but you're trying. your mother is worried about you. she thinks it's not okay you're single. and honestly this guy was better before you met, back when you were just texting.

wait, shit. are you doing the same thing as ariana grande? are you looking for male validation in order to appease some internalized promise of heteronormativity? do you conform to the idea that your happiness must result in heterosexuality? do you believe that you can resolve your internal loneliness by being accepted into the patriarchy? is there a reason dating men is easier? why are you so scared of fucking it up with women? why don't you reach out to more of them? you have a good sense of humor and a big ol' brain, you could have done a better job at online dating.

also. jesus christ. why can't you just get a drink with somebody without your internal feminism meter pinging. although - in your favor (and judgement aside) in the case of your ariana grande deposition: you have been in enough therapy you probably wouldn't date anyone who had just broken up with their wife of many years (and who has a young child). you'd be like - maybe take some personal time before you begin this journey. like, grande has been on broadway, you'd think she would have heard of the plot of hamlet.

he leans forward and taps two fingers to the table. "i'm not, like an andrew tate guy," he's saying, "but i do think partnership is about two people knowing their place. i like order."

you knew it was going to be hard. being non-straight in any particular way is like, always hard. these days you kind of like answering the question what's your sexuality? with a shrug and a smile - it's fine - is your most common response. like they asked you how your life is going and not to reveal your identity. you like not being straight. you like kissing girls. some days you know you're into men, and sometimes you're sitting across from a man, and you're thinking about the power of compulsory heterosexuality. are you into men, or are you just into the safety that comes from being seen with them? after all, everyone knows you're failing in life unless you have a husband. it almost feels like a gradebook - people see "straight married" as being "all A's", and anything else even vaguely noncompliant as being ... like you dropped out of the school system. you cannot just ignore years of that kind of conditioning, of course you like attention from men.

"so let's talk boundaries." he orders more wine for you, gesturing with one hand like he's rousing an orchestra. sir, this is a fucking chain restaurant. "I am not gonna date someone who still has male friends. also, i don't care about your little friends, i care about me. whatever stupid girls night things - those are lower priority. if i want you there, you're there."

he wasn't like this over text, right? you wouldn't have been even in the building if he was like this. you squint at him. in another version of yourself, you'd be running. you'd just get up and go. that's what happens on the internet - people get annoyed, and they just leave. you are locked in place, almost frozen. you need to go to the bathroom and text someone to call you so you have an excuse, like it's rude to just-leave. like he already kind of owns you. rudeness implies a power paradigm, though. see, even your social anxiety allows the patriarchy to get to you.

you take a sip of the new glass of wine. maybe this will be a funny story. maybe you can write about it on your blog. maybe you can meet ariana grande and ask her if she just maybe needs to take some time to sit and think about her happiness and how she measures her own success.

is this settling down? is this all that's left in your dating pool? just accepting that someone will eventually love you, and you have to stop being picky about who "makes" you a wife?

you look down to your hand, clutching the knife.

[ace-no-isha]

rewatching one piece Again and luffy told sanji “dying isn’t how you repay kindness!” it took so much for that to sink in for sanji. he tried dying for zeff at the battle with don krieg at the baratie. he’s struck down by enel. he tried to jump in front of zoro before kuma. he sold himself to big mom. he sees his life as so worthless for too long until luffy comes to save him. he’s one of the wings of the pirate king. he’s a beloved son to a fighting cook. he is worth so much and has a home in this world and it took his whole life to figure it out. it’s insane how much luffy can heal people’s deepest traumas with his love

[asexual-shelly]

Haven't been catting it out as much as I've liked, so as compensation here's all four leaders + some lore about the clans: Thunderclan

Born a kittypet named Christian, Eaglestar initially joined Thunderclan after being cast out onto the streets by his twolegs and the leader taking pity on him. However, Eaglestar proved to be incredibly cunning, working his way up the ranks and using his connections to eventually take the reins of the clan altogether. With this newfound power, Eaglestar naturally abuses it for all its' worth through using it to solve petty disputes and get out of hunting for the day. He has deep-rooted beef with the Shadowclan leader who he's been rivals with since apprenticeship, constantly taking any opportunity he can to one-up or antagonize her.

Riverclan

The youngest of the four leaders at just 23 moons, Reedstar was far from the first pick for leader in the eyes of his clan. After a flood destroyed most of their camp and took the lives of both their leader and deputy in one fell swoop, the clan waited with bated breath for the medicine cat to announce the decision of their new leader. To every cat's surprise however, the medicine cat chose to appoint the easygoing Reeddance of all people, much to the shock and outrage of most of the clan who saw him as unfit. Reedstar tries his best to meet the needs of these agitated cats, but his inexperience just leads most of his efforts to be used as more fuel for the hate mob as rumors of a possible civil war in Riverclan began to spread around like wildfire. Shadowclan

Azaleastar took up the mantle of leader many moons ago after the former deputy was mysteriously found dead in their nest, and she just so happened to be the next best cat to take on the new position. Being one of the best ambush-fighters in her clan, Azaleastar had always had a knack for spotting points of weakness she could exploit... and what better opportunity was there than a broken, divided clan with a hare-brained idiot for a leader? After the flood, she's been picking at Riverclan bit by bit, giddily exploiting their lack of unison for free territory with the intention of taking over their entire hunting grounds and putting her name in the history books. The only thing keeping her from invasion is the threat of Thunderclan, who've been making advances on her territory while they're busy with Riverclan. Windclan

Not wanting to engage with the other three clans, Mangrovestar keeps Windclan in a strict state of isolation. He doesn't care to involve himself in the conflict between Riverclan and Shadowclan, instead just wanting to maintain the prosperity that's reigned in his clan for these past few moons. Of the four leaders currently active, he's easily the most popular amongst his clan for his amicable nature and appearing (mostly) morally good in comparison. However, Mangrovestar tends to be very biased and easily swayed in regard to his judgement which can rub cats the wrong way whenever they're forced to clean the elders' den for a moon while his favorites get little more than a slap on the wrist.

[wonder-worker]

Wild how we know that Elizabeth Woodville was officially appointed to royal councils in her own right during her husband’s reign and fortified the Tower of London in preparation of a siege while 8-months pregnant and had forces gathering at Westminster “in the queen’s name” in 1483 – only for NONE of these things to be even included, let alone explored, in the vast majority of scholarship and historical novels involving her.

[batsplat]

[oakitty]

literally why are people so mad that this episode was about billy and not about agatha and rio. like who caaaaares !!! it was a good episode!!! if we never got a back story for billy non-comic readers would be so confused.

like, i am an agathario fan as much as the next lesbian, but romance isnt the be all and end all of story telling. i appreciated the building of the somewhat-familial relationship between billy and agatha, and the recontextualizing of said relationship.

that being said i definitely want them (agatha and rio) to have SOME kind of intimate scene bc i wanna see those hot women kiss

[kitthew]

i think the reason that kaos is such a successful adaptation, despite being so inaccurate to the myths, it’s that it’s so new, fresh, and entertaining

like, there isn’t one canonical Greek Myth. there are, of course, surviving texts from the era—homer, euripides, aeschlyus, etc. — but those are only what have *survived,* there are countless other myths and ancient retellings that have been lost to time. besides, even between the original myths, there are discrepancies and different interpretations. the myths originated in an oral storytelling tradition, and with each teller, the stories were different. sure, there were some things that stayed consistent throughout the retellings, but almost every myth has elements that varied across sources.

you could always argue that even though that might be true, they could have based the show more on less common myth alternatives that still have sources from the time period, but i personally think the fact that they’re kind of doing their own thing is literally just what the ancient greeks were doing with their myths as well lol

plus, the reason successful greek plays *were* successful was that they told existing stories in a new and interesting light. sure, it was more of a “no one goes to the theatre to find out what happens next, they go to hear how the writer is telling the myth in a new and interesting way” sort of vibe, and kaos *does* have an element of watching bc you don’t know what happens next bc so much has been changed from the original myths, but again, i think this is basically just what the greeks were doing. when something originated in an oral storytelling tradition, there isn’t One Definitive Way to retell it. kaos takes a lot of creative liberties with the source material, but there’s always room for new interpretations and ways of telling these stories

BUT the show is imo so engaging and successful despite all that bc it really gets at the heart of the myths, even though, again, it isn’t at all accurate. zeus is cruel, power-crazed, and incestuous. dionysus is literally just a boy. hera is trying so so hard to be a GirlBoss. hades and persephone are the only ones who seem to have their shit together. poseidon is a douche on a yacht. there’s some incredibly interesting and compelling world building. and at its core, the show is about two things: 1) the gods are human and fallible and 2) you cannot outrun your fate, no matter how hard you try.

and what’s more greek than that?

[topazgirlygirl]

AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES

[sparring-spirals]

oh, wait the bells were literally running naked through the woods at the end of the ep??? i mean. i guess of course they were. but also. what. .....nice? nice.

[ahalliance]

i think a crucial aspect of the codebreakers dynamic that is sometimes overlooked is how likewise enamoured phil is with étoiles . like étoiles is the god of praising and hyping people up so people tend to focus on how much étoiles thinks phil is the coolest guy ever but do not forget that phil also thinks étoiles is the coolest fucking guy to ever guy he will never pass up an opportunity to talk about how cool and strong and funny étoiles is . their relationship is built on their mutual ‘WOW this guy is awesome’ feelings for one another and it is amazing

[fortes-fortuna-iogurtum]

I've been reading Exodus lately and I've just gotten to the portions where God gives the first commands to the people via Moses (twice), and then goes on to give detailed instructions about the tabernacle and how it should be built, and I'm just... we think art is unimportant?? we think things only mean as much as their functionality?? we so easily fall into the trap of believing that beauty means nothing, that it's cheap and only worth whatever mindless distraction it brings, that it's barely more than a cheap sensual thrill, that buildings should just be practical and plain and cheap, that everything should be functional but ultimately disposable, that paintings and dresses and mugs and curtains and carpets are just pretty but have no real value, that beauty is fleeting and vain and therefore shouldn't be thought about too much, if even looked for at all... we fall into these traps so easily, and we forget that there are chapters upon chapters of painstakingly detailed plans to build one portable worship tent, and those plans have been handed down through thousands of years of human history, because beauty and art and skill in craft is important

[adrianlikesdinos]

im currently thinking about how forcfully my schools production of les mis's Grantaire threw all his body weight onto its Enjolras when they all died and how much VISIBLE pain and discomfort and rage was conveyed on that supposed to be dead face.

[ifindus]

Watched the annual Sports Gala earlier tonight and got inspired by all the sparkly outfits ✨

[swagging-back-to]

worst trope is found family separating as soon as the antagonist is dealt with.