#i know we live in a capitalist hellscape and you can't just

[rofax]

I took a piece of art from my journal like, 2 years ago, and re-did it digitally bc it has been feeling ESPECIALLY POIGNANT LATELY.

#ro talks #art #line art #self love #you're here for more than that babes!! #you're not here to be attractive and demure and unobjectionable to others #your main value is not how young you look or how closely you mirror what is on the media #there is fucking more to life than anti aging #than going to work every day just to make ends meet #than constantly fighting your body because you think it should take up less space #take it from someone who had to stare her own mortality in the face #when that time comes #you aren't going to be wishing you were just a little prettier or a little smaller or had paid all your bills #you're going to wish you'd had more time with your loved ones #with your friends #your family #your pets #your hobbies #i know we live in a capitalist hellscape and you can't just #opt out #you have to work to pay bills and all that #but don't let it be your whole world #you're worth so much more than that #take care of you first #fuck the ideal body or face #fuck your boss #(not literally please) #take! care! of! you!!!!!

[lastoneout]

Ngl the concept of natural talent has done so much harm to our relationship to art and I hate it. No one is naturally talented at anything, get that idea out of your head. Artists are not like, special or gifted or blessed or whatever, we're just people who like art enough to keep making it, and thus there is nothing stopping you or anyone else from making art. You were not born without the artist gene and thus doomed to never find joy in drawing or singing or acting or sculpting, you're a person and people have ALWAYS made art.

It just like, it fucking kills me so much every single time I hear someone say that they would love to draw but they're just "naturally bad" at it and so they can't, especially when they then contrast themselves against me and imply I have some natural talent that means I can be an artist because no!! I don't!! The only reason I'm "good" at drawing is bcs I never stopped. I picked up a crayon as a baby and I never put it down and so I have like 27 years of experience drawing, that's why I'm "good" at it. So please trust me when I say anyone can draw. And cook. And paint and sing and act and dance. You were not born lacking, you're just new to it! You just have to keep going, you'll get better!

I just...it's so fucking heartbreaking to constantly hear the people around me essentually claim that they were born incomplete and thus they can never have fun drawing or singing or just making art. That's a horrible thing to believe, and I know our society does nothing but reinforce it by punishing us for not being perfect and making a mockery of amatures and pushing the talent myth, but trust me, you were not born wrong. There is no "make art gene" that you're missing. As cheesy as it sounds, you actually can learn to do almost anything if you put your mind to it. It might not be easy, but you are not broken. You're just learning.

I've posted this before but I'll post it again bcs he's right:

Making art is human. You can make art. Hell, you can make bad art! You don't have to improve! Art isn't about good or bad, it's about partaking in a human activity because it makes us happy. I really think society would be a better place if everyone was allowed to make as much art as they want, good or bad, bcs this weird dual reverence for talent and disregard for the actual work that goes into art just serves to bolster the capitalist, AI ridden hellscape that we live in today.

Anyway, if you are one of those people who is holding back from trying some kind of art bcs you're not talented, do me the favor of trying again. I want to see all of the beautiful, earnest, imperfect art my fellow humans make. We need that now, honestly. So please, don't give up. Make art. And if you can't, well, at least try to support the people around you who do, even if they aren't churning out masterpieces. Trust me, it's good for you. It's good for all of us.

#sorry time for my usual “you can make art actually yes you I'm not kidding” rant #art advice #writing advice

[qqueenofhades]

In light of OceangateGate, by show of hands, who still wants Elon Musk to send them to Mars?

I mean, this whole thing (like I kept saying in tags) is both grimly fascinating and utterly predictable. Because there's this whole culture that you could and should do absolutely anything anywhere on earth, if you're able to pay for it, and at the same time that the companies offering these experiences can do absolutely everything to cut corners and make profits while placing people in incredibly dangerous situations. Whether it's the mountain adventure companies who take tens of thousands of dollars to shunt total novices up Mount Everest, or this, it's just like... MAYBE YOU SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO MAKE EVERYTHING INTO A HYPER-CAPITALIST COMMODITY JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE RICH AND/OR WANT TO TAKE MORE MONEY FROM RICH PEOPLE! MAYBE!

Within 48 hours of this story breaking, we have learned that:

The sub is not tested or certified by literally any regulatory agency, because "innovation can't wait for rules"

The sub is built of fucking camping store gear and a video game joystick, they did not pay for appropriately certified parts for the depths they wanted to go, and the company fired the guy who pointed it out, rather than dealing with any of the issues he raised

The CEO (one of those now missing on the sub) gave an interview talking about how "at some point, safety is just waste"

In 2018, a literal group of esteemed submersible experts wrote to this guy about how his plans were bad and he should feel bad; he ignored it

The sub does not have basic safety equipment, a readily available backup vehicle, an acoustic beacon, etc, and has gone missing several times before; it is only luck that they found it those times

You can't get out of the fucking thing by yourself even if it is on the surface

It used Elon Musk's Starlink satellites for communication and cited SpaceX as a private adventure tourism model (as noted, you know, the rockets that keep literally blowing up)

You have to sign an enormous waiver (after paying $250,000 a head) acknowledging this entire thing is completely unregulated and you may very well die

Which it looks like these poor schmucks either have or are soon going to, either by imploding instantly at great depth (the merciful option) or slowly suffocating in a freezing coffin in the dark (the absolute hell option)

Like?!?! How was this not COMPLETELY predictable?

And this happened WHILE THEY WERE GOING TO THE TITANIC

You know, the most famous case of Man vs. Nature technological hubris in history

I mean. This is the ultimate outcome and perfect encapsulation of the "no rules no regulations ever, everything including the most dangerous things are crassly commodified for money, everyone is an expert and/or experience is irrelevant, safety rules only exist to hamper innovation and disrupt The Free Market, costs should be cut on everything for more profits, and this should all continue regardless of the consequences or the impact on the other people then required to endanger themselves to rescue them" late-stage capitalist hellscape we are living in. And maybe I shouldn't have laughed, but uh, I laughed:

#anonymous #ask #titanic sub saga #we live in hell! we live in hell! we live in hell!

[ltleflrt]

This whole backlash against printing fics irks the fuck out of me, and I got some shit to say about it. Mostly "Fuck You" but here's some nuance:

On the surface, I understand where the naysayers are coming from. It's a legitimate fear that making a profit from fanworks will bring down the C&D Hammer on fandom. I get that. Do not put on the One Ring, or you'll risk the Eye of Sauron.

But here's the thing. Fuck capitalism. Fuck digital only. We're living in the digital dark ages, and 100 years from now huge swathes of our history, fact and fiction, will be lost to our descendants because there will be no physical copies of our lives for them to find in old libraries and boxes in the attic, etc.

Creators deserve physical copies of their creations, and so do the other people in the world who love them.

I don't want to profit from letting people print my fics. That's why I use Lulu, since they have an option to set zero profit and make the links hidden so only fans in the know can get a copy. Other printing sites I've looked at in the past don't have those options. In fact, the first time I ever even thought about printing one of my stories was when I won NaNo for the first time and one of the prizes was a coupon for 3 free printings of your story. HELL YEAH, that's a copy for me, a copy for my beta, and a copy for the artist who made the cover for me. Perfect! But I ended up not using that coupon, because the site required I set a profit margin, and did not have an option to make it private. Ummm, no thanks. Not worth the risk. And even though the profit margin could be set as low as ten cents, I did not want to make ANY money from my fic, because I know that would be breaking Fair Use rules. I found Lulu instead, and decided to let other people get copies too, because I'm nice. And if I don't, it's not like I can stop them from doing it themselves, no matter how much I'd rather they not do that.

But that's not good enough for the Reporting Trolls. Their argument is that it's not possible for it to be completely profit free, since Lulu makes a profit on the printing costs and the shipping carriers make a profit off the shipping costs. Someone is making a profit, and that's unacceptable, even if that someone is not Me, The Person Who Made The Printing and Shipping Worth Paying For.

I would like anyone who thinks that to delete your accounts where you read fanfiction. AO3, Wattpad, FFNet, LJ, Dreamwidth, hell even Tumblr for the short ficlet stuff that only gets posted here. Because even if the website it self isn't profiting, (AO3 for example), the companies that sold them their server hardware made a profit. Since utilities are privatized, the electric company that runs those servers are making a profit. IF YOU PRINT IT ON YOUR PRINTER AND PUT IT IN A 3 RING BINDER, the paper, printer, and ink manufacturers made a profit from your dinky little print out. The companies that build all the parts for your computer or your smartphone made a profit on your portal to the internet, who profits from your monthly subscription, just like your electric company profits from the power it takes to run your pc or charge your phone battery. IT'S A SLIPPERY FUCKING SLOPE, AND YOU NEED TO LEARN WHEN TO BACK AWAY FROM THE LEDGE.

We live in a Capitalist Hellscape, and if a company could figure out how to charge you to breathe and for every single beat of your heart, they'd fucking do it. So get off your goddamn high horses with this "wELL SoMEonE iS makINg PrOFit" bullshit. Or if you truly believe that, shut off every account you own, turn off your utilities, and go live in the woods and make up your own goddamn stories, which you can only share orally to the local wildlife. They give kudos by biting you and giving you rabies.

(not to mention; these assholes don't go after fanartists who are ABSOLUTELY making a profit off their work. but noooo, Flirty can't format a fic for print and allow other people to pay for the printing service and shipping, while never seeing a penny of that herself, despite all of the GODDAMN WORK I HAVE PUT INTO IT, WRITING IT IN THE FIRST PLACE INCLUDED FUCK YOU VERY MUCH. fuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufucky--)

#ltleramblings #printed fic

[intersectionalpraxis]

Where to unpack? First of all, I'm not saying this person doesn't deserves a haven because of what they've been through -we all do (especially since we all live in capitalistic hellscapes) -but disavowing the corporate evils of Starbucks -who, time and again has destroyed their own workers' mental health, has shut down stores to deter unionizing, has committed violence against people who farm for their coffee beans, penalized workers who posted their support of Palestine -and, in turn, has consistently remained neutral during this genocide -and it is just vile. If you think that consuming products that have been a comfort to you is more important RIGHT NOW than the the liberation of an oppressed people or communities around the world -you have blood on your hands. You can recognize how much this place has meant to you in the past (as I have -I have MANY memories of Starbs over the past decade before I stopped supporting the franchise) -but deciding to boycott is a bare minimum way to show solidarity and if you can't do that, that's beyond cruel.

You can find other businesses to support (and sit/dine in other coffee shops and cafe's) -you can find another safe space. Even if it may take time -but you won't, and that's terribly pathetic. This is also coming from someone who has and manages anxiety, and was diagnosed with clinical depression.

The bottom line is: you shouldn't hold onto the familiarity of something like this if it comes at the expense of someone else's well being and/or life, for goodness sake.

It's one thing not to know, but when you do -do better.

#feminist #feminism #social justice #free palestine #free gaza #boycott starbucks #starbucks #fuck starbucks #capitalism #capitalism is evil #boycotting #bds movement #settler colonialism #settler violence

[my-patron-saint-is-jimmy]

There are a lot of companies and people to boycott because of their support for Israel. That list gets even longer when you factor in the companies that are exploiting and oppressing the Congolese people. When I first started boycotting for Palestine, I felt it because I very rarely buy myself extras and I couldn't have a rare treat anymore.

But here's the thing.

Buy local.

You don't need to go to Starbucks or Tim Hortons or McDonald's for a coffee - there is generally always a locally owned cafe for that. If you're hungry, go to the local restaurant or food truck. If you're struggling because you can't go to McDonald's in the morning for your breakfast before work, leave a bit earlier and hit a cafe or do meal prep to make your life easier. Fuck, buying a second hand coffee maker from a local thrift store can save you time and money and most of them have a timer you can set so it'll be ready for when you wake up.

There are businesses that are really hard to avoid (like Walmart, especially for us rural folks), but there are a lot of small lifestyle changes you can make to boycott shitty corps without constantly denying yourself the things that make life worth living in this post-capitalist hellscape. Buying local is better than buying from large companies anyways and with the COVID and current economic crisis combo, most small businesses are still hurting for revenue.

Buying second hand is also a great way to avoid supporting Israel or giving a market to the exploitation in Congo. Using things until their actually fucked beyond repair is a good way too. Learn how to sew, make things from scratch, basic repairs and maintenance on important items... Finding or building a community of like-minded people is so important too because maybe you don't have the expertise or equipment to fix your fridge, but you know a guy who'll trade you fridge repairs for repairs and reinforcements on his kids' winter gear. With that trade, you no longer need a new fridge and they no longer need new winter coats or snowpants.

Especially in North America, we are very consumerist, which I think relates back to when the colonizers and immigrants first came over to find a land of such abundance when they were used to living in relative scarcity. We need to shake our consumerism for the sake of not just the exploited and occupied, but also for the environment. Corps should have never gotten so big as they have, and we can take away their ability to make massive decisions (such as lobbying govts for changes in businesses' favour and helping fund genocide) by not giving them so much power in our individual lives and funding them. By weaponizing ourselves with knowledge, community, and the desire to reject extreme consumerism, corps will need to change their business models and product catalogs to reflect our spending habits and they'll have less money to fuck us over with in the end.

#free palestine #palestine #boycott israel #boycott congo #buy local #from the river to the sea #homesteading

[unicornachos]

Getting tired of seeing gotcha posts on Tumblr lately shitting all over vegans. They've gotten more common over the past few years...

Usually it'll be a post criticising a choice like maybe 3% of vegans actually make, or more usually an imaginary vegan they've pulled from thin air based on their own stereotypes and assumptions, followed by vibes along the lines of' "I know better, actually you don't care about sustainability or human rights at all! You're completely uneducated about (insert any topic here). Gotcha! Who's the morally superior one now, huh" Followed swiftly by the implication that there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, so why try at all.

Like yeah maybe there are some young idiot vegans who think buying pleather boots is ok for the environment, but every vegan I've ever met is more likely to get a second-hand pair of leather boots at an op-shop, because it's better for the environment. Every vegan I know has cared immensely about issues with soy and quinoa, about where their food comes from, about water use and microplastics, who picks their fruit and veg, and human rights in general. More than any non-vegans I know.

So why are we still constantly berated for not doing every single other thing that non-vegans want us to do? It's starting to feel like people have a very specific idea of vegans in their heads and need an outlet for weird anger and misery and frustration, and we're an easier punching bag than the large corporations and governments who dictate the rules of our late-stage capitalist hellscape, so why not have a go?

It really feels like people are unconsciously mad with themselves that they can't do more to help the world and possibly have unexamined issues or guilt with consuming animals themselves, and feel better about themselves after telling vegans they're just not doing their activism hard enough, and that everything they buy from the grocery store is a human rights violation, so really you're just as bad as the rest of us.

Idk man I just. It really feels like a lot of whataboutism most of the time from non-vegans who have a weird, skewed view of militant white vegans, while the majority of vegans (who aren't all white, might I add) are just living their lives, trying to make the world a slightly less shitty place. We should absolutely criticise racist white vegans. Take them the fuck down. I don't think you think vegans are who you think they are, though. Vegans are from intersecting identities just like everybody else, and come from many different countries. And also there are some silly, uninformed vegans with misplaced ideas, just like there are silly, uninformed non-vegans with misplaced ideas. But if you imagine a vegan to be someone you'd hate, it's a lot easier to ridicule them to make you feel like you're right and good.

I just wish that the people who make these posts and the folks who join in and/or reblog, would take a look at themselves and think about what they themselves are doing to prevent cruelty in this world, in any shape or form. Like are you painstakingly making sure you're not buying clothes with plastic in it? Are you checking the label of every food item you buy to make sure you knew where it came from? Do you only buy your veg from local farms within 10km or only eat things from your own garden? If not, idk what to tell you, but it's probably that you should give vegans a break if you're not doing all the very things you tell us we should be doing.

It just feels like a lot of misplaced anger. Why are you so, so enraged at vegans not being perfect people when you could be going and protesting outside the farms of migrant workers, if you're so pissed about where our fruit and veg comes from? If you're mad about fruit and veg, wait till you hear of the human rights abuses in abattoirs.

When someone tells a vegan that there's no ethical consumption under capitalism, it just feels like a cop-out. You're not trying so why should anyone else, right? I just think people should be allowed to try to make the world better in their own ways, and not be ridiculed for not living up to an unattainable standard set my non-vegans.

Being vegan is about doing the least harm you can, within your means. It's not an on-off switch- it's a sliding scale of effort to do less harm. It's not stupid to acknowledge unnecessary suffering and choose not to take part in what's within your means to abstain from. Some vaccines still use animal products. Some of my medication has animal product ingredients. Am I going to go off my meds and become an anti-vaxxer? No. Do I think Indigenous Peoples should stop eating the foods they have always eaten, often for tens of thousands of years before colonisation? Of fucking course not. It's possible try to unsubscribe to shitty things in this world without doing it perfectly. The whole world would be a lot better if most people consumed 70% less animal products, than 2% of the world doing veganism perfectly.

I think most non-vegans are too afraid of what they might find out if they actually research animal agriculture so they stubbornly make excuses not to bother. So that's their choice, but until you're as perfect as how you claim we should be, literally shut the fuck up and find something more productive to do with your time, like actively try to fight against the very things you think we've all somehow decided to turn a blind eye to. Because I bet the majority of people consuming whatever unethical product you've decided on aren't vegans.

Coming across one silly vegan on the internet doesn't mean you have permission now to write off the crucial need for our planet to massively reduce animal agriculture, and the possibility that you might potentially be able to opt out of it. Criticising veganism doesn't mean you've absolved yourself of any harm you yourself are doing, and also doesn't absolve you of finding ways to do less harm to people, animals, and the planet.

And if you're pissed about vegans having moral superiority, I'd really like to see non-vegans examine their own moral superiority they seem to feel they have over vegans.

Ok signing off lol

#that felt so good #i needed to get this out of my system so bad #its a trend that i am so sick of seeing lately #veganism #vegan #i hope my username adds another layer to this post lmao #apologies about the use of stupid im tryinf to avoid ableist language but i know some slipped in there #I've been vegan for 10 whole years now and the number 1 hardest thing about going vegan is people's reactions to vegans #ridiculing vegans doesn't make you the cool edgy critical thinker you think it makes you #it actually just makes you an asshole

[lemonhemlock]

Hi,I've recently discovered your blog and I Iove it.

I would like to know if you have any predictions regarding the second season of HotD. Do you think that the pessimistic attitude of many show watchers,especially TG fans, is warranted? Imho, if anything could irreversibly harm the greens is Rha*nicent. Not the ship itself, but the way the showrunners seem incapable of letting that ship sink after the time skip and are pushing it even after everything that has happened in season 1. Idk, the mere possibility of Alicent betraying her family and forsaking her children in any way to ingratiate herself to Rhaenyra is so illogical and outrageous, especially after B&C. The thing is, I'm almost certain that we are going to see a lot of Rha*nicent in the following season in some form and it could really irreparably ruin not only Alicent's character, but the greens in general. And, ofc, the show. What's your opinion about this and do you have any other predictions regarding the future seasons?

Thanks in advance :)

First of all, thank you, anon! 🌞🙏🌻

Preferences aside, I just think that white feminism sells in media. It manifests in tropes such as girlboss narratives (I know everyone is tired of this word by now), women warriors, female sexuality relayed through a male gaze-ish lens, overcoming adversity in an easily digestible way, scoring against some obviously misogynistic obstacle, framed in a way that appeals to a basic sense of justice etc. Lots of female characters that became popular in the last 15 years embody some of those markers, from Natasha Romanov to Katniss Everdeen to Arya Stark to Lagertha. And they're not even necessarily ~bad things~ or elements we shouldn't ever have in our fiction, it's just that this kind of tried-and-tested formula is what film executives think will bring them easy popularity and quick money.

Daenerys was such a hugely popular character that that it's to be expected (in this capitalistic hellscape we live in) that it would make monetary sense for HBO to try and recreate a straightforward empowerment narrative with the character of Rhaenyra. On paper, she has all the superficial storyline elements that could be converted into a blockbuster: powerful in some badass way (she is a competent dragon-rider), is A Rebel, owns her sexuality by sleeping with whomever she wants, which translates into 21st century mentality as empowerment, and has to overcome an obstacle posed by The Man.™ All wrapped up in a nostalgic package that reminds viewers of their beloved Daenerys.

So, unfortunately, I expect them to continue to build on these marketable points instead of focusing too much on finesse details, such as how Rhaenyra's already immense privilege and power as a princess of the Realm and a dragon-rider negatively impact those around her, how she can be both victim and perpetrator, how she perpetuates the cycles of violence and abuse + her less than palatable traits. Certainly, I'm not going to stand here and declare that they WON'T touch on those aspects either, before even watching the new season, because that would be silly. I DO expect them to address at least some of those issues and I'm sure there will be many moments which I will enjoy and even scenes that will be well-crafted explorations into certain questions. I do like this show a lot, at the end of the day, and will probably love S2, as well.

But, overall, I can't say hand-on-heart that the marketable concerns won't prevail in the end either, and I expect the framing to fall in the direction of "yeah, she did some bad stuff, too, but ultimately Rhaenyra had the right of it and was Betrayed by power-hungry woman-hating misogynists". Which does get frustrating in this media climate, because it is essentially the same message being delivered without much nuance or refinement: women* can't ever be wrong, anything a woman does is automatically great and should be supported, all delusions are valid if they're produced by a woman etc. I hope to be proven wrong, but only time will tell. Which is not to say that we should go back to making pro-patriarchy and pro-gender roles stories, which is kind of the vibe I'm sometimes getting from some "anti-woke" HotD critical pieces. An intersectional HotD - is that possible? At least a little class commentary on these people.

(*Of course, this only applies if the character fits into, what essentially is, another type of Ideal Woman: the acceptable amount of progressivism deemed appropriate at the current time, with the acceptable attitudes and interests. But that's a discussion for another day.)

So this is where rhaenicent falls for me. I've always thought it was an interesting addition and the change never bothered me, but there is a certain point at which it becomes unbalanced and, as you say, illogical. When is love ever "logical", though, you might question? Well, I think the prospect of losing your children + grandchildren + father + brother vs holding on to an unrequited lifelong crush might knock some sense into someone. Realistically speaking, the vast majority of people would nope out of that equation and the choice would be clear. How much can you truly love a person at the expense of literally your entire family? (including your extended family, because the Hightowers in Oldtown risked their lives for King Aegon). The reward is also so small, what exactly would Alicent be trading for? Yearning gazes and holding hands? Rhaenyra has not exactly been shown to reciprocate these feelings post Alicent's marriage to Viserys.

I think that the showrunners are holding onto this aspect because they're trying to make Alicent sympathetic to the general public, who are mostly on Rhaenyra's side, as a result of the show's framing. So their logic is that the viewers won't hate Alicent as much if she displays how sorry she is for everything, how reluctant, how much she loves Rhaenyra. And they think that her contradictory actions are a fair trade-off. So I do expect us to get more rhaenicent in the coming seasons.

All in all, this wouldn't be so bad, because indeed it could be framed as very romantic, a lot of pathos, star-crossed lovers etc and human emotions are messy and complicated. Our desires can often be contradictory in nature. Literature and mythology are filled with passionate love stories that defy all rhyme or reason. Doesn't Jaime tell Cersei he would kill every single person in the world for her? I just hope it'll get the presentation it deserves, delving into the complicated nature of love and difficult choices, and not turn into "Alicent would sell out her kids to save Rhaenyra from her self-inflicted predicament, all the while Rhaenyra is not sparing her a single thought or concern".

#not only that it would make little sense at this point #it would be an unsatisfying story if you ask me #are we really putting alicent in the cuck chair and calling it a day #ask #anon #hotd meta #hotd speculation #anti rhaenicent #anti rhaenyra targaryen #<- for filtering #alicent hightower

[johaerys-writes]

15 questions for 15 friends

I was tagged by my dear @elveny, thank you so much!! 💙

ARE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?: No! Well, yes, after a character in Greek mythology, but not after a parent or grandparent or anything like that.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?: Yesterday. I was reading the Iliad again for an anon ask and was going through the part where Achilles kills Hector and oooh that scene got hands 🥲 I cry a lot though, I'm a crier, and a lot of the time it's about patrochilles so it's par for the course really lol

DO YOU HAVE KIDS?: Nope.

WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY/HAVE YOU PLAYED?: I'm fairly active generally but I don't play sports at all because I don't like them. I tried several sports while in school before accepting that I simply don't like team sports and I'm not good at them, but I had much more fun with solo sports. I swam for several years somewhat competitively, and I also did track for a while. 

DO YOU USE SARCASM?: I think so? But usually only with people I'm very comfortable with, because I can never know what would go down well or not with a person I don’t know. 

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?: That’s hard to answer because I feel like it depends on the situation. Most of the time, it's body language and their general vibe. Meeting new people can be nerve wracking so I try to "read" them and act accordingly, if that makes sense? I don't want to step on any toes or say the wrong thing so figuring out what the other person's mood or interests might be usually helps. But that often means I miss out on other things on first encounter, like... their eyes or smile or something?? Lol idk man, socialising while on the spectrum is hard 🥲

WHAT'S YOUR EYE COLOUR?: Brown.

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?: I think I'll pick scary movies because I do like horror and dark stuff and I don't care if the ending is happy or not as long the story is interesting. 

ANY TALENTS?: it took me so long to think of something for this and I honestly don't know? I'm assuming by 'talents' we mean something you're born with, not something you've worked hard at like some kind of craft, right? In that case, I think I have pretty good visual memory, especially when it comes to books and articles and such, or the written word in general. Oh and I'm weirdly good at orientation, I can usually find my way no matter where I am. Which isn't such a huge deal now in the era of google maps, but back when there was no gps it was a pretty useful skill to have haha. 

WHERE WERE YOU BORN?: Greece.

WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES?: Writing, reading, gaming, crocheting, drawing, going to museums! I'm constantly on the look out for new exhibitions and stuff, it's my favourite thing in the world to do. 

DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS?: A darling and dastardly cat, aka my extension when I'm at home. 

HOW TALL ARE YOU?: 1,68m

FAVOURITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL?: Oh god I freaking hated school, absolutely hated it LOL I can't think of one thing I liked in it. I guess I only enjoyed the very last year of high school when I was preparing for the Panhellenic exams because like... it felt like there was finally some kind of purpose or reason to be there at all, even though there was a lot of pressure. I loved Ancient Greek, Latin, History and Philosophy. 

DREAM JOB?: I don't have one, I don’t dream of labour 🙃 I don't think there's any sort of job anyone could do in this capitalist hellscape we're all currently living in that would be enjoyable enough to make up for, well... living in a capitalist hellscape lol. If I could, I'd just go back to uni, probably. That was my happy place and I miss it. And I'd also write a bunch and read a bunch and take up all sorts of creative hobbies, and probably travel more. 

Tagging forth to a bit more than 15 friends lol sorry (and I know I'm forgetting ppl): @baejax-the-great @thiefylilelf @vimlos @mogwaei @gloriesunsung @aymayzing @cordelia---rose @knicknocknick @aristi-achaion @peachandfig @heypax @darlingpoppet @tevivinter @mary-aries @tragediegh @pikapeppa @figsandphiltatos always with love and without any pressure 💕

#tag meme

[queer-reader-07]

i'm thinking about the necessity of rest and how so many people don't allow themselves rest because they view it as "unproductive." and it just... hurts to think about.

i joke about how i'm the "no hw past 9 pm" friend in my chem study group but there's more to it. it's the fact that so many of my friends and peers work themselves to the bones on the regular that me saying that i have such hard limits on when i do and don't work is unfathomable.

like it should not be a shocking thing to hear someone say "you deserve rest. you deserve a break." i told my friends recently that burnout and being in physical pain is not the normal state of being, and i'm not really sure how much that actually got through to them.

i see my friends burning themselves out on the regular, i see them injuring their bodies and not allowing for proper healing, and it sucks. it fucking sucks. i don't want to watch people, especially the people i love, destroy their bodies for the sake of some mythical kind of productivity.

rest is productive. healing is productive. joy is productive.

you're not going to be proud of what you do or make if by the end of it you're so worn out that you can't do anything but crash.

i know it's hard to rest in this capitalist hellscape of a world, but i promise you whatever little amount you're able to find is worth it. sometimes that one assignment can wait until the morning. sometimes the laundry can wait another day.

i want us to get old and i want the lives we have ahead of us to be worth it. i don't want us to spend our lives crashing and burning, rinse and repeat.

because are our accomplishments really worth it if we never let ourselves enjoy the process? i don't want to get my degrees at the cost of my own well being, because i can't imagine being proud of something that completely destroyed me.

please, let yourself rest. let yourself find joy. because your rest and joy are so so precious and productive.

#hi i'm just being emotional on main don't mind me #rest is productive #joy is productive #musings on life #personal

[blinkpen]

inhales deeply

PREFACE: i covered the URL for a reason, don't go trying to find or harass this person or i'll kick your ass, and i will be ACTUALLY rude to YOU, i am speaking in good faith right now, in the event this person reads this)

i don't want to sound aggro or anything but this is so needlessly pessimistic and devoid of nuance. if you're not comfortable with gifts, thats fine, but birthdays were a thing humans have celebrated across many cultures for centuries before modern capitalism

it is a celebration of the fact you were born, that you are alive, that you have survived to see another year and hope to see another, it celebrates you, and long long loooong long before people's lives had to revolve around Buying Shit they were having parties, sharing drinks, making special food, handing you, the guest of honor a small crafted object they'd been working on, crafted with love, all year, just for you. in some cultures, we make gifts for people who have died. their funeral is not a somber affair, but a celebration. a celebration of the life you lived. you're not even here, so why are we placing this pile of gifts around what is left of you?

it's sure as hell not bc capitalism told us to. we were doing it back when we were handpicking all those flowers ourselves, not buying them from florist parlors that didn't even exist yet. we picked those flowers for you. we picked them when you were born, we picked them when you pass on. sometimes, we picked them for no reason at all, so you may enjoy them while we both are alive.

but i'm getting off track

making personal affects from hand isn't always viable. sometimes it's not even pragmatic, for you, or for that person. and you can definitely blame modern capitalism a great for that.

but you know what the average 30 year old, in this capitalistic hellscape would love? some nice new socks. as you go on to say, you'd still accept food for your pet rats - because that is in fact a very practical gift you would appreciate perhaps, a kitchen appliance they could really use but can't quite afford, or maybe they just barely could, but always hesitate n balk before they get it despite how much use they'd get out of it.

and you see that, and you KNOW, you know you can get them that electric kettle, or that pristine new set of tupperware to finally replace the same curry stained containers they've been rotating for over a decade, and if you can get it with a decal of their favorite animal on it, you KNOW their face will light up even more, bc it assures to them that you weren't just thinking of them, or just wanting to do something nice for them as a token gesture, just out of obligation, but also, that you KNOW them, and that goes a long way

maybe it really is something as "useless" as a plushie, and so despite how much they'd love it, this little superfluous joy, they will never be able to justify to themself to spend that money on that one little nice thing, but birthday or no birthday, you can take that hemming and hawing away from them completely, you can get it for them, because you love them, not because you felt pressured by capitalism, but because you know, this is something that would make their fucking day. and frankly, when i do that, it makes my fucking day as well.

yes the expectation to always be buying shit is annoying and if someone acts like a brat bc they didn't get All the Things they wanted and the Big Bash they feel entitled to, yes, they're probably a brat, and yes, the sense of guilt if you want to get something but can't afford to sucks and is definitely manufactured, the fact we get conditioned to treat an inability to spend frivolously as a moral failing is BOOOL SHEET! i agree!

but this? this is not a "capitalists just make up a holiday so they can tell you you're obligated to spend money on said holiday" situation sometimes gifts ARE given for gift's sake, which is to mean, "i don't have a reason, i just want to give this person something bc i know it would make their life a little brighter, so i want to" and it aint got a damn thing to do with money.

because if you know their favorite things, you can still sit down and draw the person their favorite animal. whittle one out of wood. make them a pancake in the shape of that animal! it can be something as small as that, you know! you know their favorite animal, you know their favorite flavor of cake, you know they vegan, you draw that animal hilariously badly with icing by hand on that cake and you both can laugh.

capitalism sucks but going "i want to give something to this person, but i don't know what what. i want it to be a surprise, so i can't just ask them - OH! i know they love this! i'll get them something like that" is all you need

i say this sincerely : you don't need to preface every conversation that has anything to do with giving people something for any reason or no reason at all with asterisks about capitalism. we know it sucks. i promise you that you are allowed to lighten up on a post that just wanted you to share what kind of animals you like and would be pleased to have something in your palm that shared its shape.

#may delete la8r but man that was such a needlessly Um Remmeber the World Sucks on such an innocent post #you didn't need to do that

[thessalian]

Apparently they're blaming social media for the unhappiness of the young. But ... see, there's a thing about that. The problem with social media isn't its existence. Social media is a window on the world, and nothing these kids are seeing in the world gives them the tiniest shred of hope that things will get better. The planet is well on the road to fucked and no one in power seems to give a shit. They're watching the economy, the job market - basically the capitalist hellscape we're living in. And they're blamed for fucking everything. And they're saying "Allowing children to use social media [is] like giving them medicine that hasn't been proven safe"? REALLY?

But of course social media's getting the blame. It's a way of getting news unfiltered by media biases (which are often bought and paid for). Just ... people, talking about what the job market's really like and how much their work is actually worth. Talking about what it's like to live in a country where a trip to the hospital costs nothing at point of use and therefore doesn't fucking bankrupt them. Stuff like that. It's harder to make people believe the pretty, petty lies that governments feed into their media machines when there's an actual person saying, "I know for a fact that's bullshit", and then proving it.

I am not fucking surprised that young people are "becoming less happy than older generations". And I feel for those poor kids, because I'm one of those older generations now, and I'm unhappy as shit. Apparently the only increase in happiness overall is in the over 60s - you know, the ones who have retired and are no longer basically abused by an employer paying them the wage of half a worker while expecting them to do the work of two or more.

So basically ... if the jackasses who ran this study are really concerned about the happiness of the young? Maybe they should stop talking about "getting the kids off their damn phones" and start talking about making the world they're seeing through that little electronic window a place worth living in. Or at least a place they can survive. Because right now, the world they see isn't either of those things.

But noooooooo. No, giving them things like a stable ecological and economic footing would hurt the poor beleagured 1%, and we can't have that...

Arseholes.

#Thess on politics

[pb-dot]

A little hardware rant

So today I went to a local electronics retailer to look for some thermal paste to soothe my poor overworked CPU's temperature problems. This, being a bit of a departure from the store's usual fare of prebuilt electronics actively hostile to modification, repair, or upgrades, I found no logical place for the thing, so I had to wander around a bit while waiting for someone who worked there to have a spare moment between hocking overpriced laptops to help me out on this.

So, being the impeccably efficient and very reasonable young man that I am, I decided to kill some time by browsing for a new keyboard. It's sad to say, but my current one has been with me since the days of the Party Rock Anthem, and it's getting a bit long in the tooth. So, what could this unnamed major Scandinavian electronics retailer offer me? Well, as it turned out my search would be more frustrating than I anticipated.

When it comes to pc parts, I'm reasonably utilitarian. As long as it lets me do what I want to do, it's doing its job. Keyboards are different though. I have preferences. As a writer, I like my keyboards to have the three following features:

Intuitive layout with some slight spacing between the letters to facilitate easier cleaning

A wired USB connection, this is non-negotiable. I don't want to fiddle with Bluetooth or whatnot.

No foofaraw. No fancy extra buttons, no lights, no fiddly gimmicks.

Now, do you want to know how many keyboards fulfilled all of my criteria in this big ol' store? Exactly none. I found an ergonomic one that seemed nice but was, unfortunately, wireless and one that was wired and had nice key placements but unfortunately also had this regrettable "Gamer"-branding and my old nemesis LEDs.

Now, if I may ask, what exactly is the purpose of LEDs on a keyboard? Are there scores of people who'd love to game in the dark if they could only see their input devices? It just seems alien to me since my ideal input device just lets me get into the zone while writing and stay there without disturbing me. This is, as one might expect, a taller task for a keyboard with pulsing RGB light and a dedicated button for playing the 2012 Skrillex hit Bangarang or whatever.

What frustrates me most about this is that I don't think my demands are particularly extravagant and that I assumed that having access to a wide range of Products was supposed to be the draw of living in this here late-capitalist hellscape that we navigate on the daily. It isn't the case though, as the selection of products that are deemed Most Profitable to sell to us narrows further and further. Sure, The Man could sell you parts to upgrade or repair your PC, but that's not as good of a deal (for them) as just selling you prebuilt underperformers that burst into flames if you even look at them with a screwdriver in hand. Similarly, there's no reason to say every goddamn keyboard has to be wireless now, but wireless tech is cheap enough (and harder for amateurs to repair) so it goes in everything. I'm convinced that is the reason you basically can't find high-end wired earbuds anymore.

Now, this is perhaps getting into a slightly conspiratorial headspace, but I do think there's something to this trend of consumer goods being less tailored to the needs of consumers and more kind of pushed through to the customer, which I don't love. Hell, I don't love the Faustian bargain of "live in an unsustainable unfair system that does a fuckery to our biosphere but you have infinite varieties of consumer goods to choose from to distract you," in the first place, but when that slowly gets replaced with "buy our garbage peasant" before my eyes, I can't help but wonder if I'm being played for an absolute fool.

So in short, capitalism bad, it's surprisingly hard to find the keyboard you want, perhaps the discontent of the masses should topple the fat cats of the world, turns out the place didn't have thermal paste in the first place, eat the rich, you know, that kind of stuff.

#writing #gripes #politics #capitalism #right to repair #planned obsolescence #sustainability #Peebs thinks

[uselessheretic]

You know, the other thing about the whole Anger Discourse that infuriates me is that it reeks of ableist rhetoric. It's just the other, faux-progressive side of "xyz mental health issue is fake actually" because the outcome is the same-- they're denying the existence of a condition that could use some support. Like, as disabled queer living in a rural area who grew up in an abusive household, I "reasonably" have depression and issues with emotional regulation. You could probably trace back my every negative action to some trauma from my environment, and you could probably see an internal logic to everything I do because of course you could. Everyone has an internal logic that they follow most of the time. Even mentally ill people when they're being mentally ill. It's absolutely absurd to think "Oh, you can't have problems with emotional regulation because your actions make sense when I think about them and factor in your history! Everybody knows people with real problems are completely irrational and have no possible other reason to act how they do beyond Mental Illness!" Like, at that point it comes off as trying to say "you can't have a problem! You're not crazy, after all! You're too understandable and relatable!"

And it's just. It's not helpful. I've been the target of this kind of approach to mental health irl and "No! You don't really have depression or xyz! You make sense! You're just suffering because of our bigtoed capitalist hellscape society!"-- even if it holds a sliver of truth in that Societal Trauma Bad-- has the same outcome as "Xyz mental health issue is fake actually." Because at the end of the day, both these people would deny me the medication and therapy I need to make me enjoy myself and my life because they're dismissive of the fact that I do have a problem that could benefit from support. It's just that one of those arguments also pats themself on the back for their forward-thinking.

Anyway, sorry to rant in your inbox, I just didn't want to make my own post because these discussions are always a magnet for harassment, which I don't handle well for obvious reasons, even when it's just tumblr discourse.

it's so weird because i feel like we keep bringing up mental illness and trauma with ed's emotional reactions and it's always just?? ignored or minimized. like above all other reasons the thing i care the most about regarding ed and anger is how it's a reaction to trauma and what it means to see a survivor of abuse who's imperfect, but still deserves love. i feel like this is a lot of people's experience with relating to ed! a lot of his storyline centers around depression, trauma, anxiety, etc. the scene in the bathtub of him experiencing a flashback/panic attack felt so incredibly real for how that manifests in my own mental health.

survivors aren't perfect. their reactions aren't always just fear and hiding away and being a bit insecure. being able to see ed be messy in his mental health feels extremely validating especially for it to be a moc. mental health topics are minimized severely in communities of color where our experiences are brushed off as not that bad, or that it's just reacting to a shitty system, or being told you're not actually mentally ill you just need to be more disciplined. even for myself, it felt really?? REALLY hard getting support for my mental health as a teen since the time i tried my dad pulled back from going through with the appointment because i was just having "some anxiety" and not anything severe enough to be referred to a therapy service that dealt with "actual" crazy people.

it's just like fndjdjdjd ed's character is everything i've always wanted in a character of color including the flaws. especially because survivors of trauma often view themselves as irredeemably bad people or as tainted. seeing ed be able to have major flaws, where even when he hurts people, the narrative still treats him as human feels? really unique? he can do bad things, but that doesn't exist in a vacuum. he wasn't born that way and he's not out here doing it because he's evil, but because he's hurting. he still deserves a chance to be better, he still deserves to live in a world that's kind to him, and he still deserves to be loved.

and i really like that the show emphasizes the need to be soft with him and that he is fragile. moc are rarely afforded this in media and it just feels? really good to see for an older moc as well? like ed and izzy's relationship is super fucked up, but a big part of that is that it gets worse throughout the season. but i really liked the end of ep4 where ed is able to admit to izzy that he's burnt out and he needs to get out, and izzy doesn't judge him even once. he wants to help him and he agrees to ed's plan to escape piracy. it feels shockingly vulnerable for the two when you dig into it.

ugh anyways i love ed. i love that he's angry. i love that his anger is so strongly connected to fear and insecurity, and how it's almost childish really. (something something trauma therapy and connecting with your inner child and how the parts that hold your hurt tend to be younger)

he's really my perfect girl and it feels wild to me for it to get reduced to some shallow assumption when it's just? so much more than that?

#ofmd #edward teach

[seelix-blog]

So, I've been thinking a lot about the Met Gala and the folks who are mad at everyone who showed up and I realized that there's a context that a lot of folks are missing: Skipping the Met Gala for people in fashion, music, art films, and other related fields is like skipping your biggest professional conference of the year and personally spitting in the face of your most powerful colleague (even if they're a complete nightmare like Anna Wintour). Only people of a certain status can do it - the Zendayas and Blake Livelys of the world. For a lot of the people who did show up - particularly the ones with various marginalized identities, they can't skip it and still have professional success. Because if Anna Wintour perceives a slight against herself and her precious empire, she will burn your shit entirely to the ground. Now, Kim K and the Jenners, etc? They could skip it! It would be a huge thing, and probably temporarily harm their invites to things, but they could do it! They made a choice to be there and I am absolutely side eying that choice. But there just aren't that many people with the personal power to go toe to toe with Anna Wintour and not have their entire careers ruined. Even someone like Janelle Monae can't really skip it. They're fairly newly out as a Queer Black Femme in a world that hates all three of those identities. And they've been very, very vocal about the choices they've had to make in their career to balance "career" with "personal truth". Janelle's career *needs* the good grace of Vogue. Overly online nerds know them and would die for them. But while they're very respected in their niche, they can't do what they do of fostering community and professional support of up and coming young Black femmes without playing along with the big players. Janelle is truly carrying the legacy of Prince forward, and knows the choices they need to make to do that. I would put Jenna Ortega in the same category, as well as Harvey Guillen. Lizzo absolutely could skip. But at the end of the day, Lizzo being there in her fat, Black, fucking gorgeous joy, eating fries in a kitchen is a bigger fuck you to Lagerfeld, Wintour, and the entire fashion industrial complex than her absence would have been In summary: Activism and ethics in this capitalist hellscape are hard and there are sliding scales to all of the choices we make. If you've ever sat through dinner during your work conference's keynote, trying to ignore the creepy well-known colleague who keeps rubbing his leg against yours while also holding a conversation with his buddy, who you need to tolerate in order to get a job, you know exactly how hard they are. But fuck the rich white ladies who showed up with "KARL" on their skirts like someone had a Cricut and too much time on their hands. They know what they're doing, and they're part of the problem. Go ahead and roast them to hell and back. I'll bring the marshmallows.

[noellevanious]

i wonder what would happen if at some point he just stopped presenting femme. one day he was on stream and just went back to being a cishet dude. i genuinely wonder. cause like the finn5ter stuff is really complex and i dont want to talk about it a lot, theres a lot of gender reps and my friends pushed back on it. but like. my stance has shifted (to be honest i just didnt articulate myself properly).

finn5ter as a person. i respect him. just like i respect belle delphine. if you can make a living off of your body, you deserve to abuse that fact. we live in a capitalistic hellscape, and you know if i started getting encouragement (and didnt have body dysmorphia) i'd 100% become titty streamer or get an onlyfans.

but finn5ter is just bad representation for the concept of gender expression and will do more harm than good the further this thing goes while being a punchline.

It's still a dude that, as a joke, dressed up like a woman. And woah, it's so crazy and funny that he's actually really hot! cause that's not normal! to be attracted to a guy that looks like a girl! It's like those funny songs and the bits from movies where the girl has a p*nis!!! WOAH!!!!

finn5ter can 100% fix this, and maybe he has (i'd LOVE to be proven wrong - i can't emphasize this enough). Donating literally just some of his profits to pro-trans foundations, supporting and advertising actual lgbtqia+ streamers, treating it as more than just like. his dayjob to play videogames dressed like a woman.

Because gender expression is deeper than that. and it should be a normal part of human life. And yeah, in the circles me and im sure many of my followers inhabit, it's totally normal to be open and abstract with regards to your gender! And that's awesome!

But that doesn't change the fact that this dude is making waves on twitch. For being a dude that dresses like a woman. And woah. he's so hot. And isn't it crazy. That he looks like a woman. That's so strange and funny.

#inanegargling