wordwings

[wordwings]

“Authors should not be ALLOWED to write about–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“This book should be taken off of shelves for featuring–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Schools shouldn’t teach this book in class because–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Nobody actually likes or wants to read classics because they’re–” you are an anti-intellectual and an idiot

“I only read YA fantasy books because every classic novel or work of literary fiction is problematic and features–” you are an anti-intellectual and you are robbing yourself of the full richness of the human experience.

[wordwings]

RECORDING

TRANSCRIPT TAKEN FROM THE PHONOGRAPH ARCHIVES, HOLMWOOD BUILDING, SURREY

DATED 1899

[RECORDING BEGINS] JACK: My name is Doctor John Seward. I am making this recording on the Twenty-first of September, in the year of our lord Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-Nine.  I am standing in what will be, come Monday, the Holmwood Research Building. Finally, we have a place in which to observe and record. A true laboratory. The rest of the vampire’s remains are being kept in cold storage in Purfleet, but today Mina returned to us from London with a package that has haunted my dreams these last months: the hand of Count Dracula, packed in ice.  The necessary arrangements are being made, and within the week we shall transfer the hand to a large storage tank in the middle of this room, within which we may properly examine it for any abnormalities.  And yet I cannot wait a week. I find myself unable to sleep, unable to eat. I do not understand the…hesitance of Arthur and the others. With just a room and a light source we may examine anything we please. What need do we have for cages and tanks? I will not wait for such…measures of safety. Not when I can work now. I shall begin.  [HE CLEARS HIS THROAT] Object is a severed left hand, decapitated at the wrist. It is sinewy and pale, longer than average. The skin is faintly wrinkled, and there is a small mole on the underside of the thumb, otherwise it is unblemished. The nails are exceptionally long and sharp, and of a slight reddish hue, when compared to the rest of the hand.  The hand itself has hardly altered in composition or colour since we retrieved it from the Carpathians. One would expect extreme decomposition at this late stage, or at the very least signs of mummification, and yet there is nothing. We might have carved it from the fiend’s body only a few hours ago, for how fresh it remains. One can only assume that–  [FOOTSTEPS ENTER THE ROOM]  ARTHUR: Jack? What are you doing in here? We were about ready to send a search party after you. JACK: Arthur.  [FOOTSTEPS PAUSE] ARTHUR: Oh Jack.  JACK: Not a word. Not another word. I am doing my job. The job you agreed to let me perform.  ARTHUR: Once a suitable laboratory was constructed. Once we had safeguards in place!  JACK: And how long will that take? Another year? A decade?  ARTHUR:  We are dealing with a monster, Jack! I won’t have you harming yourself for the sake of haste!  [BEAT] JACK: It is the 21st.  ARTHUR: I know.  JACK: Today’s the day she– ARTHUR: I know.  [BEAT] ARTHUR: Come on. We’re leaving this for today. You are coming back to bed.  JACK: I’m not finished yet.  ARTHUR: Yes, you are.  [RECORDING ENDS]

[wordwings]

Hey, if you’re not as mentally quick as you used to be because of your illness- that’s okay. If you’re can’t think as fast or handle as many tasks that’s okay. You aren’t stupid, you aren’t unintelligent, and you aren’t less worthy of love or respect. It’s okay that your brain won’t or can’t go back to how it used to be. It’s different now, but it’s okay.

[wordwings]

We had Quincey and Scott's last kiss, now here's their first

(Click for better quality)

( @thegoatsongs this is especially for you for putting the idea into my head xD )

[wordwings]

A 2000-year-old Roman blue glass bowl was unearthed in immaculate condition at an archaeological dig in Nijmegen in 2021.

Photo and info found in Facebook

[wordwings]

changes and trends in horror-genre films are linked to the anxieties of the culture in its time and place. Vampires are the manifestation of grappling with sexuality; aliens, of foreign influence. Horror from the Cold War is about apathy and annihilation; classic Japanese horror is characterised by “nature’s revenge”; psychological horror plays with anxieties that absorbed its audience, like pregnancy/abortion, mental illness, femininity. Some horror presses on the bruise of being trapped in a situation with upsetting tasks to complete, especially ones that compromise you as a person - reflecting the horrors and anxieties of capitalism etc etc etc. Cosmic horror is slightly out of fashion because our culture is more comfortable with, even wistful for, “the unknown.” Monster horror now has to be aware of itself, as a contingent of people now live in the freedom and comfort of saying “I would willingly, gladly, even preferentially fuck that monster.” But I don’t know much about films or genres: that ground has been covered by cleverer people.

I don’t actually like horror or movies. What interests me at the moment is how horror of the 2020s has an element of perception and paying attention.

Multiple movies in one year discussed monsters that killed you if you perceived them. There are monsters you can’t look at; monsters that kill you instantly if you get their attention. Monsters where you have to be silent, look down, hold still: pray that they pass over you. M Zombies have changed from a hand-waved virus that covers extras in splashy gore, to insidious spores. A disaster film is called Don’t Look Up, a horror film is called Nope. Even trashy nun horror sets up strange premises of keeping your eyes fixed on something as the devil GETS you.

No idea if this is anything. (I haven’t seen any of these things because, unfortunately, I hate them.) Someone who understands better than me could say something clever here, and I hope they do.

But the thing I’m thinking about is what this will look like to the future, as the Victorian sex vampires and Cold War anxieties look to us. I think they’ll have a little sympathy, but they probably won’t. You poor little prey animals, the kids will say, you were awfully afraid of facing up to things, weren’t you?

[wordwings]

most important part of the writing process actually is when you loop a single song on max volume and stare at the word document and imagine the characters doing things for 14 hours. this is known as getting in the zone

[wordwings]

I copy pasted parts of this but I do hand letter everything, because while I'm trying to work easier as I'm chronically ill, I am still chronically stupid

[wordwings]

"The sea by moonlight" (1848)-Simeon Marcus Larson (1825 – 25 January 1864) was a Swedish painter

[wordwings]

So I work at an 18th-century historical site, and my work uniform is 1780s: shift, stays, stockings, shoes, two petticoats, pockets, kerchief, short gown (which is like...hip-length jacket, I guess?), cap, the whole nine yards. Today it was like 95 degrees, and as I was sitting there waiting for visitors to come by my station, I was thinking:

Why do authors and television writers confine themselves to "my corset is too tight and I can't breathe" when there are so many other minor inconveniences of eighteenth century dress to choose from?

(btw I am aware that they are most often called stays in this period, not corsets! I am very aware! -- the necessary disclaimer)

A laundry list of my hot-weather issues today:

- I just starched and ironed my cap but it's so humid my pleats have fallen out

- I'm so sweaty my (linen!) shift won't stop sticking to my legs

- my stays were laced exactly the way I like them but the heat has made them wilt and they're not supportive anymore

- I chose the wrong second petticoat to wear underneath today and it's too warm and I should have picked the lightweight linen and not the heavy linen

- my stockings got sweaty and keep sliding down

But like...

Yes, these were minor annoyances. Honestly, though, I wasn't any hotter than I am on any other 95 degree day where I'm outside all day. The hottest part was the polyester gym shorts I was wearing underneath everything.

In other words,

NO, VISITORS, I AM NOT ANY HOTTER IN THIS THAN YOU ARE

and I'm tired of answering the question. But I can't say that to real people, so here I am on tumblr.

[wordwings]

they call me the information withholder for reasons i won't get into

[wordwings]

Apparently a lot of people get dialogue punctuation wrong despite having an otherwise solid grasp of grammar, possibly because they’re used to writing essays rather than prose. I don’t wanna be the asshole who complains about writing errors and then doesn’t offer to help, so here are the basics summarized as simply as I could manage on my phone (“dialogue tag” just refers to phrases like “he said,” “she whispered,” “they asked”):

“For most dialogue, use a comma after the sentence and don’t capitalize the next word after the quotation mark,” she said.

“But what if you’re using a question mark rather than a period?” they asked.

“When using a dialogue tag, you never capitalize the word after the quotation mark unless it’s a proper noun!” she snapped.

“When breaking up a single sentence with a dialogue tag,” she said, “use commas.”

“This is a single sentence,” she said. “Now, this is a second stand-alone sentence, so there’s no comma after ‘she said.’”

“There’s no dialogue tag after this sentence, so end it with a period rather than a comma.” She frowned, suddenly concerned that the entire post was as unasked for as it was sanctimonious.

[wordwings]

me making my oc a worse person

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period typical handjobs

[wordwings]

today's warm up: Being the ghost of the stalwart lighthouse keeper in the deepest winters, doesn't stop you from being the best Grandmama

[wordwings]

Dorian Gray

[wordwings]

I am 100% serious when I say that the cowboy in Dracula is completely thematically fundamental. The story stops working every time ppl try to take him out. Its why they just end up making it another story entirely.