#they're here for two seconds but still

[maulfucker]

Some sketcheys of this AU because I needed to get some of it out of my system

#hm i should make an original art tag #darth maul #maul #asajj ventress #senator maul au #the other two nightsisters are just random designs not ocs or canon characters i just wanted to add more dathomirians #because making maul the shortest in a group is one of my favorite visual gags #and i think it's fun that he'd be the most 'colorful' of the group #all clothes are reds n grays because i got lazy . i am not great at designing outfits. and even worse at picking colors for the designs #i gave him (all of them really) silver-ish jewelry because 1. i like the color more and 2. more fitting imo. silver is more magic propertie #i think in this au ventress is in the age range wookieepedia lists as her legends age. so she's like. younger than padmé #an apprentice senator. still learning about the senate and senatorial life so she can take maul's place when he quits #i think the other half of the delegation (or at least the other senator) would be significantly older than them. they're both so young #they need an older person who can be the voice of reason and experience #ventress gets big clotheys because 1. she's a teen here she deserves the proper coverage and 2. it's fun to go the opposite route of usual #fantasy designs where the guy gets a lot of layers and the girl gets clothes that show too much skin #but don't worry he IS wearing space underwear. a bad (or good) camera angle will not catch sight of his peanus in that second sketch

[maskyartist]

im gonna assume we're all SO cool here okay? okay.

so here's Eden and Neon :) they both work at the Hidden Reef, run by Beatdrop

Neon is a full-time performer and works with another OC I havent designed yet, P1-RANA, usually partying on stage with him. She's permanently grey but covers herself in colorful powder, glitter, and stickers to make up for it! :D

Eden, however, is a part-time performer and personal hit-for-hire for Beatdrop. for the time being she keeps an eye on JD on her off hours because of the debt he's accumulated for the Casino. Beatdrop wants to make sure he doesnt just disappear off the face of the earth and not pay his dues. Eden thinks his antics are funny. they're like..."dating" dating. not labeled but she does wear his shirts when she stays over

thank u for ur time :)

#masky says #doodles #trolls dreamworks #trolls ocs #i'm kinda into oc content rn?? #i have a whole plotline for these two in mind #with like main characters n shit dont worry i wont leave out the boys #or poppy n viva #i wanna stuff the whole cast into that casino #battle royale this shit #anyways- #oc: neon #oc: eden #i still gotta design the twins too #but eden's fun! shes easily my favorite design ngl #but neon's a close second #i made her at first cause i had such a trio visualized in my head #a grey pop troll who made herself colorful- #-a funk/rock troll who never found a genre they loved so they hop a lot- #-and a techno troll who does techno music but mostly cause its all he knows #they're all buddies they're work besties they get together after for drinks and rant about their boss #i hope you'll notice anytime i draw someone who works in The Hidden Reef?? #they will have cyan and magenta on their person :) #its to show they're contracted to Beatdrop but thats neither here nor there dont worry about itttt :D

[polter-heist]

Dp x Dc prompt 5

Danny's class goes on a field trip to Gotham. The day goes great but at night, the bats stop on the roof of the building and get into an argument.

Danny, half tired, annoyed from all the noise and at the fact that his ghost sense keeps going off, phases through the roof with his thermos and soups the problem(s) and calls it a night.

The batfam isn't very happy that multiple of their family members got souped.

#can pick who all got souped or you can just do one #i also like to imagine that his arm wassticking out of the roof with the thermos so they didn't see his face #imagine it was just two people and like idk jason got souped #and tim just stands there for a second like #''did that actually happen or has lack of sleep finally gotten to me?'' #and tim tries to tell them but they're all just like ''tim/drake you haven't slept in like. a month. just get some sleep.'' #so tim launches his own investigation into the soup arm and slowly the fam realises ''he. he might have been right???'' #meanwhile danny is chilling looking at museums with a fairly upset jason soup #probably planning to take him to frostbite because ''there's something wrong with this one :/'' #dp x dc #dc x dp #dp x dc prompt #dc x dp prompt #dp x dc crossover #dc x dp crossover #PLEASE work this time tumblr i know ur broken as hell I've been here for like 2 to 3 years but still #danny phantom #danny fenton #polter prompts

[schmweed]

#Gerri Kellman #Roman Roy #I love how Roman I-can't-stand-still-for-two-seconds Roy #at this INSANE time no less #is sitting placidly at Gerri's feet. not pacing like everyone else. #Roman who's always flitting in and out and around and up and down #just gravitated towards her and sat there at her feet and is just... existing. content. calm. their whole life is upside down #but she's here and he's nabbed the closest spot possible to her #and even if he can't chat because they're all listening to Logan at least he's near her and that's enough for him #sigh. <3 <3 <3 #and you know what he does when he gets up in the second gif? #now that his dad is getting on the plane? he turns around and stands there talking to her. #It'll have to be a separate post because it's blurry like the Hunting dinner background scene we got but I love it. I miss them so much! #They're on their way to their happy ending now. Roman and Gerri both had the BEST endings actually when you think about it. <3 <3 <3 #Succession #my gifs

[welcometogrouchland]

Also in the replies of the Steph concept art on twitter announcing she was gonna be in a new project at DC (posted by Travis Mercer), there were at least 3 comments saying "will Tim be there?" I don't care how hard you ship timsteph I'm exploding you with my eyeballs if you do that on my girls post again

#ramblings of a lunatic #taking a step back to acknowledge that my stanning may be getting overzealous #but then again I'm not in ppls quotes or replies I'm vagueing on an entirely different website with no relevant tags. it could be worse #anyway I know tims had it rough these past couple of months ever since zdarsky shifted focus of the batman title to have less tim #but it still feels. idk. just a wee bit uninspired to act like steph can't go two steps without tim being behind her #im ngl i like timsteph when they're cute but timsteph twitter has been. pissing me off a tad lately #the refusal to acknowledge the sexism in dixons robin run and how it impacts stephs writing and their relationships writing #the refusal to acknowledge tims occasional condescension and hypocrisy when it comes to stephs vigilantism #seemingly only wanting her to be spoiler when he wants her around and telling her to give it up most of the time #also the constant disrespect of stephs batgirl era on there weirdly enough? #I've harped on about this on main and in drafts but despite it's flaws it's a good turn for stephs character #she's the focus she gets development (an upward trajectory! which had previously been unheard of for her! bc she did have flaws as spoiler- #-its just that both writers and characters alike seemed to arbitrarily decide she didn't have the capacity to grow past them! but she did!) #hell i saw a BIZARRE take today i just have to bitch about #which was them saying that Batgirl was a ''heteronormative mask'' steph put on #with spoiler being her more authentic self (and this being paralleled to gender expression with stephs isolation from the batfam as spoiler- #-showing how she ''wasnt like them'') #which. I'm not denying you the view that spoiler has a certain genderific swag to her but the needless dragging of her batgirl persona #steph got treated badly as spoiler bc she was A Girl. it's genuinely that simple dixon felt batman and robin would never stand for a girl- #-running around doing the things they did and would need to chivalrously stop her. he's gone on record saying this #she's constantly getting belittled by mostly men (cass also dismisses her but it feels distinctly less gendered) #and in the end it's barbara who learns to give steph a second chance despite her mistakes and they have a positive relationship #something ppl are quick to dismiss as being in and of itself sexist bc they're pairing the two girls off together #as if batgirl isn't a legacy and as if babs and steph don't have parallels in their resilience and refusal to accept when ppl tell them no #for better and for worse!! #like. idk how you took the strongest feminist element in that comic (bc there are elements of sexism here and there! 2009 n all) #and somehow turn it into ''heteronormativity'' YOU PPL ARE JUST SAYING WORDS AT THIS POINT!!! #anyway. someone take away my internet access

[flintbian]

Well, one year to go

#well at least im trying for that #ive scheduled round two for alaska and hopefully i see the lights this time #and my second favorite band announced yesterday they're coming here with guess who? another of my favorite bands #(blackbriar and battle beast may 2024) #i literally said the other day id be happy if i got to see them and now they're coming! can you believe it #but im tired...my health has plummeted and i am not doing well #im not going to last #ive just got to hold out for these last bucket list items #so im trying for the auora again in september around the equinox #ugh it's so bad im hooked up to shit all day now and constantly have to monitor tachycardia for instance #im exhausted. i can barely breathe. it hurts so much. i never stop shaking and spasming now #but hey ive started playing dnd...finally found a group. so that's crossed off my list too and it's been very fun so far #i need to get the motivation to read all the books i want to read #it aint in my control though...i just have to hope i can hold out until september #ive been trying lots of new foods but there's still so much more i want to try #but yeah im tired...every day i wake up from pain and feel like im going to die...if i sleep at all #even clare has given up it's progressed too much #but im trying. im trying #and ive been gathering all our family photos and things so theyll have memories #me and my dad take a selfie every time he visits too #idk. there's not a whole lot i can say without making people sad but it's been so much lately #i struggle to scrape through the pain every day. it's been 14 years. i just want to be free #it's not like i want to die...i just want to be free of the pain and rest finally #wish me luck #p

[whysamwhy123]

Any unpopular opinions?

(Sleepover Sunday, I guess, because I'm only getting to this now, whoops!) ALL I HAVE ARE UNPOPULAR OPINIONS, LOL. Seriously, I'm lucky I only have, like, seven followers because otherwise I'd be chased off this website with torches and pitchforks. I'll try to give a mildly spicy one and not to be too much of a bitch...we'll see...

Toni Storm's current character/gimmick is A THOUSAND times more creative and original than anything any man on that roster has done in YEARS. And the fact that she's not on this PPV card is a fucking travesty. But I'm not surprised because TK hates women, and wrestling fans simply do not show up for women's wrestling the same way they do for boring white guys doing the most generic, tired, old Heel 101 bullshit 🙂🙂🙂

Ah, fuck it, one more because I bitch about this every week anyways - that Nigel wanker on Collision is one of the worst commentators I've ever heard. He's so annoying! He spends more time putting himself over than the talent in the ring (literally the opposite of a commentator's job) and he clearly has no respect for the women because as soon as a women's match starts, he immediately starts talking about unrelated male wrestlers. Or just himself! And that's when he's not making pervy comments about them - dude makes JR sound like a feminist icon by comparison. I am uncooly judging everyone on here who thirsts over him. Come on, people, standards! Y'all gonna start thirsting over the Qanon moron next?

#Thanks for sending this in - sorry for going off and being a huge bitch! #*swirls my brandy glass from up here on my high horse* Why I could NEVER thirst over any random shitty white man in his forties! Poohoohoo! #*grumbles under my breath* #No I merely thirst over 20-something fuckboys who look like they have to call their moms on the phone every night without fail #So I really shouldn't judge but I am anyway *shrugs* #*looks both ways* OK is everyone gone? No one still paying attention? #Then a BONUS SUPER SPICY SUPER UNPOPULAR OPINION APPEARS! Read at your own risk... #Better Than You Bay Bay is some of the lamest shit I've ever seen #I already found both of those characters relentlessly uninteresting and/or stale but now they're so watered down it's UNBEARABLE #It drives me crazy how much TV time is dominated by this one thing #AND IT SIMPLY WILL NOT END!! #Max should have turned on Adam months ago then we could have moved onto something new but nooooooooooooooooooo #This thing has to DRAG ON FOREVER while the women can't get more than 30 seconds to cut a promo #Also it sucks how they took Maria out of the Kingdom just for this storyline #Because TK didn't want a GIIIIIIIRL getting her gross COOTIES all over his precious bro-tastic manfeels story #And everyone's eating this shit up with a spoon #Because nothing drives fandom crazier than two mediocre white dudes queerbaiting 🙂🙂🙂 #....but like I respect other people's opinions if they enjoy it power to them! Good for y'all- at least someone's eating well #But I will never understand and I'll ALWAYS wish that a women's storyline could get half as much love and attention #....please don't hate me for this! #Is this my personal Gripebomb? LOL #*CM Punk voice* Contrary to popular belief I'm a very nice guy...

[unproduciblesmackdown]

feeling SO SO NORMAL about the beloved BLADE GUNNBLADE

#could've waited to make this post but no i couldn't and why would i #there's little about them that inspires Restraint in this oeuvre #i've been on a feverish blade gunnblade quest like how last night was a feverish lucifer from the mysteries quest #these are NEW pics like we've seen a couple of similar shots to the couple familiar ones but not These specifically and whew #and THE TOP ONE...i got misty #weapons swap there....they do have a gun+blade weapon #although blade is presumably gendered she/her / as a woman in this performance. i'm just presuming Now they could be them/them nonbinary lol #also apparently the entire second part of the saga is Mainly abt blade. they get that conclusive battle & everything so i have to suppose. #and that there's also a brief but full Episode from that part two...but w/a prior(? or subsequent. maybe prior) diff actor #in which blade is a man so i have to suppose the gender is completely flexible. why wouldn't it be #me learning that blade's tragic backstory involves their adult spouse & infant child being killed by robots in front of them....soooo #😳👉👈 what i'm getting is that they're single? #one of those ''gay sex won't fix this situation & will probably make it worse but i think we should try it anyways'' things #blade gunnblade #asia kate dillon #kapow-i gogo #oh and i kept being surprised at overlap between this and the mysteries lol like what do you mean jesus is also here #(the connection is the flea theater / the bats....) #Yet More Media Of Asia Kate Dillon As Blade Gunnblade Being Out There Still: i believe in you #same goes for akd as lucifer in the mysteries #in the course of looking around for blade pics found a few pics of them from some completely other production too... #oh and frankly that's a handy ref to compare their right forearm tattoo there w/what lucifer seems to have (matches well enough i think) #the triumvirate here of lucifer / blade gunnblade / the adjudicator like HELLo. Hiyeee. Holy shit. #(that's not necessarily Respective. any/all goes for any/all of them)

[allpromarlo]

just saw a ravens fan say we need to sign cam newton...

#let's be serious for one second here #in what way would 34 year old washed up cam newton help us. when was the last time that dude even played a game #i love cam he's the original babygirl qb but it's not 2015 anymore cmon now #let's leave things from the past...in the past #also it's just one more game with snoop clownery. and lawd knows when that game is even gonna be played #bc bills bengals still need to play and they're not gonna send a cincy team with two days rest against us #i pray that they won't have to play each other bc of what happened today but i know the clowns upstairs are gonna make them do it #so just. keep the takes to yourself #we don't need more dumbassery than we already have #nfl #baltimore ravens #cam newton #i love him he deserves the world #but lmao don't do this

[naivesilver]

10 or 13 or 19 for Pinocchio + Lampwick, please and thank you 💘

Something simple, to wrap up for the night 💗

Casual Affections Prompt

19. Tugging at the other's clothes to keep them close

"So," Lampwick says, a breath away from Pinocchio's lips, "is this the most adventurous place you've kissed me yet?"

Pinocchio snorts, wanting to shake his head but unwilling to move even an inch. "It's the most adventurous place I've ever kissed anyone, idiot."

"Thought Twinkle had more fire in her."

"She was twelve, Lampwick."

"I fought off a knight when I was twelve, what d'you mean?"

"Funny," Pinocchio mutters, the hint of a grin on his face. "I remember that night going a bit differently."

Lampwick debates telling him to sod off, but he's not in the mood for wasting even a single second of their time together, so he settles for making himself as big a nuisance as possible without leaving, putting a little teeth into the next kiss and then trailing down the other boy's jaw and neck. Pinocchio half-heartedly tries to swat him away for all of thirty seconds, then relaxes with a heavy sigh, cupping Lampwick's head with his hand as his fingers catch into tousled red hair.

There's nothing very adventurous in the spot they've picked, truth be told, but anything's better than a place where people could catch them at any given moment - which is pretty much everywhere around their parts, really. For being such a small town Storybrooke seems immensely populated, and there are prying adults at every corner, it sometimes looks like, ready to scold them for being so sappy in public.

The rotting cannery near the docks is as private a choice as they could make - one, because no one works there any longer, and two, because it's as close as Pinocchio will ever willingly get to the sea. Nobody would think to come looking for them in a shithole like this, and as such, they can look forward to a long time of free, uninterrupted bliss.

Or maybe not. After a few minutes Pinocchio pats Lampwick on the back in a quick succession, warning him as he begins to pull away. "I should go. I've got homework to do."

"Like hell you do." Lampwick takes him by the lapels of his jacket and tugs him closer once more, back within nibbling range. "Fuck that noise. It can't be that important anyway."

"I've got a test tomorrow. Differential equations. Do you want me to fail that?"

"I can help you. Later. It'll be a breeze. I'll make you notecards so good you won't even need to study, you'll see-"

He's pressing soft kisses close to Pinocchio's ear as he speaks, words punctuated by pecks, but then he feels the other moving once more - not trying to break free, not this time, but merely turning around so they are nose to nose again. Pinocchio is smiling, too, the bright, long-suffering grin he reserves for Lampwick and Lampwick alone, where all his features soften in the blink of an eye and he looks as warm as freshly made bread.

"I could consider it," he concedes, full of pretend self-importance. "But I'd like to make sure the bargain's worth my while first, please."

Lampwick scoffs, closing what little distance is left between them. "Well, why didn't you say that sooner, doll?"

Yeah, adventurous might be a stretch, but he thinks he can make it an enjoyable enough afternoon - lingering smell of fish aside, that is.

#bewilderedmoth #ask meme #thousand problems verse #ouat #cannery my beloved #I still suffer from mess is mine brainrot jsyk #that scene lives rent free in my brain #though the other night I suddenly remembered puppet strings again...god WHAT a fic #this isn't so articulated but it's bc they're just besotted teens #god I've kept the two saddest picks I made for tomorrow woe is me #fanfic #lampwickcore #pinocchwick #damn I was forgetting the ACTUAL tags for a second here LMAOOOO

[artemislosthunter]

why is it so hard for an almost 53 year old man to understand that, sometimes in life you will be wrong about things and that it is completely okay?

You can’t be up to date in everything, but if you refuse to hear out others, because you think it is a personal attack, you kind of suck

#he has a habit of hating it when people explain stuff to him ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY'RE YOUNGER THAN HIM #bcs yes he has said that before 'young people know nothing yet they're too young they haven't lived that much' ... okay and? they can still #know more about a topic than you do if that topic is something you don't bother to keep up to date with? #I'd never claim to know more about like the 20s to 60s than him because that is his field of interest and he is very well informed in that #aspect! but then he refuses to listen to my mom or me when it comes to psychology or pedagogy ... 'I know better I read this article once' #which he often tells us about our own mental illnesses? 'I know people who are on meds and have depression and they don't act like you two' #buddy ... they're on antidepressant ... first of all that's the point second of all maybe listen to us when we tell you that mental illness #is never exactly the same (also we're not just suffering from depression but he also refuses to acknowledge that bcs he doesn't think so #has he ever done research on anything mental health related? no absolutely not he also thinks therapists are useless) #I've kind of lost my point here sorry I have been pissed off about this for a long time but yeah anyways you can't always know everything #and sometimes the people that know more stuff about something than you do are younger than you and that's okay and that happens #and no they're not just arrogant little know it alls who have no life experience

[soy-sauce-and-mothra]

Hey! Are there blacksmiths in your story? I'm a hobbyist blacksmith and I'm here to help!

Blacksmithing is one of those things that a lot of people get wrong because they don't realize it stuck around past the advent of the assembly line. Here's a list of some common misconceptions I see and what to do instead!

Not all blacksmiths are gigantic terrifying muscly guys with beards and deep voices. I am 5'8, skinny as a twig, have the muscle mass of wet bread, and exist on Tumblr. Anybody who is strong enough to pick up a hammer and understands fire safety can be a blacksmith.

You can make more than just swords with blacksmithing. Though swords are undeniably practical, they're not the only things that can be made. I've made candle holders, wall hooks, kebab skewers, fire pokers, and more. Look up things other people have made, it's really amazing what can be done.

"Red-hot" is actually not that hot by blacksmith terms. when heated up, the metal goes from black, to red, to orange, to yellow, to white. (for temperature reference, I got a second degree burn from picking up a piece of metal on black heat) The ideal color to work with the metal is yellow. White is not ideal at all, because the metal starts sparking and gets all weird and lumpy when it cools. (At no point in this process does the metal get even close to melting. It gets soft enough to work with, but I have never once seen metal become a liquid.)

Blacksmithing takes fucking forever. Not even taking into account starting the forge, selecting and preparing metal, etc. etc. it takes me around an hour to make one (1) fancy skewer. The metals blacksmiths work with heat up and cool down incredibly fast. When the forge is going good, it only takes like 20 seconds to get your metal hot enough to work with, but it takes about the same time for it to cool down, sometimes even less.

As long as you are careful, it is actually stupidly easy to not get hurt while blacksmithing. When I picked up this hobby I was like "okay, cool! I'm gonna make stuff, and I'm gonna end up in the hospital at some point!" Thus far, the latter has yet to occur. I've been doing this for nearly a year. I have earned myself a new scar from the aforementioned second degree burn, and one singe mark on my jeans. I don't even wear gloves half the time. Literally just eye protection, common sense, and fast reflexes and you'll probably be fine. (Accidents still happen of course, but I have found adequate safety weirdly easy to achieve with this hobby)

A forge is not a fire. The forge is the thing blacksmiths put their metal in to heat it up. It starts as a small fire, usually with newspaper or something else that's relatively small and burns easily, which we then put in the forge itself, which is sort of a fireplace-esque thing (there's a lot of different types of forge, look into it and try to figure out what sort of forge would make the most sense for the context you're writing about) and we cover it with coal, which then catches fire and heats up. The forge gets really hot, and sometimes really bright. Sometimes when I stare at the forge for too long it's like staring into the sun. The forge is also not a waterfall of lava, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Welding and blacksmithing are not the same thing. They often go hand-in-hand, but you cannot connected two pieces of metal with traditional blacksmithing alone. There is something called forge welding, where you heat your metal, sprinkle borax (or the in-universe equivalent) on it to prevent the metal from oxidizing/being non-weldable, and hammer the pieces together very quickly. Forge welding also sends sparks flying everywhere, and if you're working in a small space with other blacksmiths, you usually want to announce that you're welding before you do, so that everyone in a five-foot radius can get out of that five-foot radius. You also cannot just stuck some random pebbles into the forge and get a decent piece of metal that you can actually make something with, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Anvils are really fucking heavy. Nothing else to add here.

Making jewelry is not a blacksmithing thing unless you want jewelry made of steel. And it will be very ugly if you try. Blacksmithing wasn't invented to make small things.

If there's anything here I didn't mention, just ask and I'll do my best to answer.

#yes some of this was directed at steven universe #the only thing su got right was bismuth crying when her anvil broke #cus those things are goddamn expensive and hard to transport #blacksmith #blacksmithing #writing #writing prompts #writing advice #writeblr #writer #writer problems #writerblr #writerscommunity #writers on tumblr #writers and poets #writers

[celestial-kestrel]

It's that time of year again where Mari Lwyd starts to be talked about and shared around and an INCREDIBLY misleading post gets shared a lot. As someone who grew up with Mari Lwyd I wanted to clear some things up.

Also hello, if you are unaware who Mari Lwyd is. This is about the Welsh tradition of the horse skull who visits houses during the Christmas to New Years period in Wales asking for alcohol.

First off and probably the most important one:

Mari Lwyd is not a cryptid!

I can not emphasise this enough. She. Is. Not. A. Cryptid. There is no story or mystery about a ghost or zombie horse roaming the Welsh valleys. She's not even supposed to be a ghost or a zombie. It's just a horse skull on a stick with a guy under a sheet. She's a hobbyhorse and a folk character used to tell Welsh stories and keep songs alive. When people spread the misinformation that she's a cryptid, it's the equivalent of saying Kermit the Frog is a cryptid.

She is actually only one character in a wider cast of characters who go door to door or, in more modern times, pub to pub. The cast of characters can change town to town and village to village but there are some common ones I see time and time again. The Leader, the Merryman, The Jester and The Lady are just some I see regularly. Punch and Judy used to be more popular a few years ago but I haven't seen them in a while as their tradition has mostly fallen out of popularity. In most cases, almost the whole cast will be played by men. Even the characters are considered and referred to as female. Though this again depends and varies by which group is partaking in the Mari Lwyd tradition.

This point also goes onto my second point,

Mari Lwyd does not rap.

I think this comes from a very common misunderstanding of what rap is vs spoken word. Rap is a very specific style of music originating from the African American communities of the USA and has it's own structure and motifs unique to it. It's a lot more complex than people give it credit for as a style of music and just flippantly assign anything similar to it as being rap. If someone is talking fast or reciting poetry, it is not rap. Or anything that is an exchange of words between two people is not a rap battle. Mari Lwyd does not do rap, actually something that gets left out of these posts is the fact Mari Lwyd does not even speak. It's actually the Leader, who does all the speaking and song based banter between the house/pub owner for entry. Mari Lwyd just clicks her mouth, bites people and bobs her head around.

I think Mari Lwyd is a really beautiful and unique part of Welsh culture. She's not actually as wildly celebrated as a lot of the posts make her out to be. Actually, I think most Welsh people themselves learn about Mari Lwyd through the internet as well. Her popularity is increasing thanks to the drive of local groups wanting to keep the traditions alive and a renewed desire to document Welsh traditions before they're gone. Which is why it's such a shame that she's turned into something she's not to earn horror points on the internet. I think this is why it bothers me so much to see the misunderstandings of the culture and the folk tradition. Mari Lwyd's origin is very hot debated as well as how long it's been going on for. But I think it's thanks to a lot of traditions like this that the Welsh language and our stories weren't lost forever. Welsh culture is recovering as is the language. But it's still in a very fragile place. I think it's why it's important to document and correct information when it's spread.

Anyway, if you want to see the tradition in action, here's a lovely video from the Cwmafan RFC going to one of the pubs for charity. It includes the song exchange with the pub owner for entry and the whole pub singing and joining in once Mari Lwyd and the rest are inside.

As well with another video from St Fagan's showcasing the more traditional and door to door form with the larger cast.

#Mari Lwyd #Wales #Welsh #Welsh culture #Youtube

[okiidokii]

I really do adore the idea of maximalism in the designs, but Coachella/Music Festival dolls? In the year of our lord 2024?

#music festivals peaked popularity in the mid 2010s #i'm genuinely curious what the market for these are #i feel children might still be attracted towards them due to their maximalism #but i think they're as a whole....eeegh? #clawdeen is forever curse with being mid to ugly (i like the actual fur on her boots rather than it being sculpted though) #cleo is... fine but her makeup's the worst #i think this goes for frankie's second ugliest doll #and the only standout to me is lagoona #which just further validates my idea you should only put lagoona pink in cool colours #i think making them concert dolls would have made more sense with the idea that their going to different genre of concerts #like clawdeen dress punk to go for a missfits concert #cleo dress in 70s party wear to match with Amped Up Frankie's Glam Rock influence #Catty seems to a mix of contemporary American pop (she's obviously alluding to famous black female pop stars) and K-pop with her makeup #so lagoona and draculaura could be a two-pack k-poping together with light-sticks and those fan-languards with the idol's face on them #like do you see my (horrible very bad no good completely unsolicited ) vision #monster high #my post #ohh boy here comes a bunch of tags

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

There's a viral video circulating from the Fort Worth Zoo, of two keepers who ended up in a habitat at the same time as a silverback gorilla. Spoiler for good news: neither the humans nor the gorilla got hurt. It's a bad situation that ended extremely well, and that's why I want to talk about it.

The audio for this video is mostly someone praying loudly, so if you need to turn the audio off to watch it, you won't miss anything relevant. If you don't want to watch it, here's the summary: it starts with a keeper running around the corner into the main exhibit, pursued by a large male gorilla. She is quickly able to get into a doorway at the back of the exhibit, but does not completely close the door because the gorilla is standing across from her, watching. He eventually moves off to the right hand side of the exhibit, where we can see a keeper is trapped in the corner at the front. She was trying to move towards the exit as he moved to the right, and she stops, standing very still behind a tree, while he stays along the far right wall. They stay like that for a minute, and then the gorilla runs to the front right corner, and the keeper is able to run to the door in the back of the exhibit and get to safety.

Let's start with basic information. Even though it's just going viral now, this video is from October of 2023. It was taken not by a guest, but by the zoo security officer responding to the situation. Hmmm, seems like he maybe should have been doing something else during that situation, instead of than taking a phone video. It's going viral now because the guy (who is no longer employed at the zoo) decided to post it on TikTok for his five minutes of fame. This guy immediately started giving all sorts of media interviews, answering questions like "why no tranquilizers" inappropriately, making memes out of his own video, generally distasteful shit.

Zoo spokesperson Avery Elander gave a public statement that "thankfully, there was no physical contact between keepers and gorilla, and all staff and animals are safe." A comment from the zoo has also indicated that the incident was due to keeper error. (As opposed to, for instance, something in the fencing breaking.) According to the guy who posted the video, a lock was left unsecured and the gorilla was able to open the door to the habitat. I don't know if I buy it, and again, this just... is probably why he doesn't have a job anymore. By sharing that detail - real or not - he places a ton of public scrutiny and blame on that keeper team. (If that's what happened, I can promise you it will have been dealt with internally.) He also was nice enough to say he wouldn't name the women in the video... but verified they're still staffers at the zoo... which means they're eminently identifiable! Excuse me while I ragequit for a second.

So there's two reasons I wanted to talk about this. The first is to make sure it is well known that this guy is purposefully and intentionally exploiting the worst day of someone's life for media attention. Their lives were in danger, and he's using it for fame. His name is in the media articles - I'm not going to share it because he doesn't deserve that attention. The second reason, though, is because this video is a masterclass on how to survive if you end up sharing space with a gorilla. Every zoo person I've spoken to or seen comment on the video is so, so impressed with how the keepers handled themselves.

The gorilla in this video is 34-year-old Elmo. All apes in AZA zoos are managed in protected contact, so keepers are supposed to be separated from them by a barrier at all times. The zookeepers were in the habitat putting out a mid-day meal when he got out. Watching the video, you can see he's not actively being aggressive towards them - he's not making threat displays or trying to approach them. Mostly, Elmo seems like he doesn't know what is going on and he's kinda freaked out about it. (This is confirmed in the zoo's press statement, too). The staff stayed calm, and importantly, watched and waited to see how he'd move and act.

The zoo did say one thing, though, that's a bit misleading. In one article, their press person I quote as saying “In general, gorillas are considered the “gentle giants” of the great ape species.” Just because this may be true in comparison to other great ape species doesn't meant gorilla aren't still incredibly dangerous. This type of messaging always worries me, because I think it leads people to misunderstand the risks of being close to megafauna. Gorilla are extremely strong animals, and their social norms/behaviors are very different from that of humans. That's why it's such a big deal any time people end up in gorilla habitats, and why sometimes in those circumstances lethal measures have to be taken to protect human life.

These keepers are incredibly lucky to be unharmed. These women stayed safe specifically because they're trained professionals who knew how to act around gorilla, they knew this particular animal well, and they'd learned the escapes from the exhibit just in case this ever happened. We should applaud them for their cool heads and quick thinking.

As for the guy who posted the video? As a colleague put it, may he always step on a Lego.

#gorilla #gorilla video #viral video #zoo animals #zoo animal welfare #fort worth zoo

[ljf613]

Alright, Chanukah starts tonight, which means it's time for me to finally make a post about different kinds of menorahs.

This right here? This is the Temple Menorah:

There's some debate over whether the branches were straight or curved, but here's a few things we do know:

It had seven branches of equal length.

It was made of one solid piece of gold

It was at least five feet tall.

It used pure olive oil.

The Temple Menorah is what people mean when they talk about The Menorah. It's what you'll see on historical or commemorative artifacts such as the Arch of Titus in Rome or Israeli currency:

During the time when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, the High Priest lit all seven flames on this Menorah every day (using the aforementioned pure olive oil):

No one lights this on Chanukah.

This is a Chanukah menorah:

There are countless variations, but here are the important things:

It has eight branches of equal length, plus a ninth "helper" branch, known as the shamash, which is set apart from the rest of the branches and used to light the others.

It can be made of any material.

It is usually used with wax candles or oil, but, if necessary, one can use anything that burns.

In Hebrew, this kind of menorah is called a chanukiah.

Some Chanukah menorahs, like the one shown above, have the shamash in the middle. Others have it on the side:

Regardless, this kind of menorah is the one that has been lit by Jews on Chanukah for thousands of years. It's the menorah you'll seen in photographs of Jewish households, including this famous picture taken in Germany in 1931:

(The message written on the back of the photo reads: "Death to Judah"/ So the flag says/ "Judah will live forever"/ So the light answers)

On Chanukah, whoever is lighting the menorah will first light the shamash, then the number of candles corresponding to whichever night of Chanukah it is. The first night, only the rightmost candle is lit, the second night the two rightmost, etc. (The newest candle is always lit first):

Again, a valid Chanukah menorah has eight branches of equal length, along with a shamash. There is no such thing as a Chanukah menorah with six branches of equal length and a longer seventh branch, and no valid Chanukah menorah has eight branches of completely different lengths.

If you see either of the above designs (or anything similar) on Chanukah-themed decor, it tells you the creator has absolutely no idea what they're doing and couldn't be bothered to do more than two seconds of research to make sure their product was accurate. Anyone who knows anything about the holiday will laugh at these. (They may buy them anyway, especially if that's all that's available-- my new Chanukah sweater has an invalid menorah pattern, but it's adorable, so I'm still going to wear it. But I am also laughing about it and invite you all to do the same.)

Anyway, have a happy Chanukah, everyone!

#real life #jumblr #thoughts #menorah #chanukah #hanukkah #arch of titus #history lesson #the more you know #all queued up